Chapter 69

After sprinting through the snowy mountains at full power, we arrived at the site that appeared to be the dwelling of the white Unidentified Mysterious Animal.

There, an extraordinary tension unique to a battlefield hung in the air—

“It’s poop! There’s poop over here too! Judging by the shape, it’s definitely not from a deer!”

“This is quite a lot… Does the sheer amount of poop mean there are actually quite a few of them?”

“No, no, don’t jump to conclusions. Poop in the snowy mountains freezes solid and doesn’t return to the earth. It might have just naturally accumulated over a long period of time.”

Correction: an indescribable atmosphere, devoid of any tension, was drifting about. Why were they engaged in a heated debate about poop? More importantly, why was this group of grown adults huddling together and chanting “poop, poop” like some kind of playground for kids’ dirty jokes?

To an outsider, it would be an utterly nonsensical sight, but for the Royal Foreign Hazardous Species Countermeasures Knights, it wasn’t all that strange. Talking about poop is a test of one’s education.

“Checking the poop is basic, after all. From the enemy’s numbers to their lifestyle, poop tells us so many things…”

“We’ve become real poop experts, haven’t we?”

“Though it’s kind of a thing that the true ‘Poop Master’ is Nonoka-san…”

“Ah, everyone, stop chanting ‘poop, poop.’ If Chronicler Yagara hears about this, ‘Poop Knights’ might be added as a derogatory nickname for our Order.”

It was a name that would likely be very popular among young boys, but at the same time, it was a name that would be mocked with incredible intensity. I suddenly thought of the future officer candidates I’d met in the Royal Capital—Amal and Rosalind—and honestly felt that passing such a filthy name down to my juniors would be cruel.

Meanwhile, at the same moment in the Royal Capital Officers’ Academy—specifically, the sparsely populated school library.

“Whoa, so in the Royal Foreign Hazardous Species Countermeasures Knights, you even have to study poop…”

“Excuse me, could you at least use the term ‘droppings’ (fun)?”

“Poop is poop (unko), isn’t it?”

“That may be true, but do you have no maidenly shame?! Goodness, you are impossible!”

“I mean, seriously, do we really need to study poop so meticulously at this point? We’ve seen livestock poop and wild beast poop since we were kids; there’s no need to read about it in a book now… Oh, hey? This rare beast called a ‘panda’ has poop that smells nice! What a mysterious creature~!”

“Please do not raise your voice. People will doubt the dignity of even me, standing right next to you.”

“What’s the big deal about a little poop?! Once you join the Knight Order, you’ll see it and hear about it whether you like it or not. Are you going to go around telling everyone ‘Say droppings!’ every single time, Rosalind-san? Even if Senior Varna says ‘poop’?”

“Urgh… well, that would depend on the situation.”

Sometimes—really, only occasionally—Rosalind would find herself at a loss for words against Amal’s realistic opinions. While realizing this fact, Rosalind thought to herself, That person would never shout ‘poop’! a thought that was slightly off the mark.

Back in Isberg, the “Poop Knights”—rather, the Royal Foreign Hazardous Species Countermeasures Knights—were already finalizing their encirclement of the cave. They hadn’t gained much information from the excrement, but looking at the waste kicked out of the cave, it was obvious that a living creature was residing inside.

Captain Garmon, with a sharp look in his eyes, pulled a smoke signal from his vest and stepped forward.

“First, we’ll check things out with the smoke signal. Is the fire ready?”

“Right here! Go ahead!”

Another knight held out a flame placed inside a special Knight Order lantern designed so the wind wouldn’t blow it out.

In the past, they used matches, but they often struggled because the matches would go out in the wind or rain. Now, they carry special lanterns designed to light fuses. However, they are treated as a sort of cursed item because they are incredibly expensive—if you break one, your salary gets docked.

“Good. Now, everyone, get into position so you can transition into combat at any time! We begin the suppression operation now!”

No sooner were the words spoken than the smoke signal, its fuse lit by the lantern flame, was tossed vigorously into the cave. A few seconds later, a massive amount of smoke billowed out from the entrance. Now, the beast will emerge…!

…Or so we thought as we stayed in our stances for over ten seconds.

Nothing came out of the cave at all; instead, a loud noise erupted from within.

“Geh!! Gah, gauh!! Hee, hee, hee… Geh-ha, gehaa?! Ogu, uu…?! Guugh!!”

“…Is it choking?”

“It’s definitely choking…”

Senior Garmon and I looked at each other. It seemed this was a first-time pattern for him as well as for me.

The painful sobbing and coughing sounded like someone with asthma being forced to drink spicy soup immediately after finishing a 42.195-kilometer marathon. It was so intense that I actually started to feel pity just listening to it, but if it was that painful, wouldn’t they normally come outside the cave? The seniors were also tilting their heads in confusion.

“It sounds like it’s struggling to even breathe. Did it inhale the smoke directly?”

“Zehyuu, zehyuu… Effu-effu!! Voo… Offu, effu?! Gahoh-gohyuh!! Gaha, gobogobo?!”

“Hey, Varna. Go take a look inside.”

“Don’t be unreasonable, Senior. A Knight Order smoke signal keeps pumping out smoke for three minutes to fill a wide cave, you know? Since we tossed it in, we won’t even have visibility for a while.”

“You can fight for about ten minutes while holding your breath! As for visibility, uh, feel it with your ‘Qi’ or something!!!”

“What do you think I am?! Honestly, these seniors… Eight minutes is my limit for fighting while holding my breath, and sensing an opponent’s presence with Qi alone takes a lot of mental focus. Don’t say it so lightly!”

“Eh, o-oh… right…”

Sensing that he had said something disrespectful, the senior nodded haltingly. He really says some irresponsible things, but as long as he understands, it’s fine.

I only learned how to use Qi for a brief period as a kid from an old man who was a traveler from overseas, so my usage of it is quite vague now. Well, I did pass the trial of being able to do “Qi Breathing” all day long, though.

Then, I noticed Senior Garmon was lost in thought. His gaze shifted toward me, then toward my junior, Calme, who was holding a crossbow.

“Um, Captain? It’s a bit troubling when you stare at me like that…”

Perhaps feeling self-conscious, Calme—who was so slender he apparently could only wear women’s winter clothes—blushed and fidgeted.

…I see, so the Captain has those kinds of tastes. No wonder I thought he never got married, but it’s probably best if I keep this quiet from his brother Nagi and take it to my grave—jokes aside.

“Varna-kun, how far can you sense presences with that Qi of yours?”

“Hmm, if I concentrate, a ten-meter radius. If it’s just one direction, maybe twenty meters?”

“Apply what we did during the snowball fight: couldn’t you scout the location while Calme-kun snipes?”

“Ah…!!”

Calme instinctively covered his mouth. I was surprised he came up with that method, drawing inspiration from the tactics in the snowball fight. I see, I hadn’t thought of it either—but that might actually work. As expected of a man serving as a Skirmish Squad Captain, his imagination is above average.

However, I had one concern.

“Geh-ha, gehaa?! Ogu, uu…?! Goboh!! Bobaa…!! Gahoh-gohyuh!! Gaha, gobogobo?!”

“Don’t you think the creature inside might die before I can even sense its Qi?”

“You can also check the number of creatures inside, so just get to it.”

“Yessir.”

—And so.

“How does it look, Senior?”

“Hmm, it seems like the cave isn’t that deep… I only sense one presence. Its Qi is very turbulent—or rather, it’s fading away.”

“D-do you think it was wounded by that bear we saw?”

Positioning myself close to Calme, placing my hands over his as he held the crossbow, I focused my nerves to sense the spark of life. According to the old man who taught me about Qi, every living being has a circulation of energy called ‘Meridian,’ and he used to ramble on about how focusing on that leads to ‘Primordial Breath’ or something.

I didn’t understand the meaning at all, but he said that if you could feel the fluctuations in Qi caused by those Meridians, you could clearly pinpoint the location of nearby creatures even if you couldn’t see them. I’d once longed for a development where I’d awaken to such incredible powers and tried all sorts of things, but apparently, I lacked the talent for sensing things at a distance. Therefore, at this range, checking the inside of the cave was the best I could do.

“A little more to the right… two meters back? No, about two meters thirty centimeters.”

“L-like this…?”

“Ah, it shifted. Forty centimeters to the left.”

“…L-like this?”

Having determined the general location, I rested my hands on Calme’s as he held the crossbow, guiding him toward the enemy’s position. I indicated the straight-line distance for the bolt, and Calme adjusted the firing angle to ensure a hit.

…Even so, Calme’s hair smells really nice.

Is he using some expensive shampoo?

His hair has been fluttering against my face for a while now, and the texture is so silky it would make a woman jealous. I found myself thinking girly thoughts, like wondering if I should ask what brand he uses, even as we steadied our aim together.

“…You know, having our hands overlapped like this makes it feel like we’re cutting a wedding cake.”

“Why of all things choose that comparison… I’ve never even seen one, only in books.”

“I’ve seen one once. I wonder if someday I’ll be the one doing the cutting instead of just watching?”

“You will, you will. As long as you aren’t picky about who it’s with.”

He’s popular enough with predatory women and certain men that he probably doesn’t need to worry—whether he wants that or not is a different story. Personally, I think the real issue is whether he can secure a budget for a wedding. Anyway, enough with the tangents.

“Three, two, one… Fire!”

“!!”

Thwip!! The bolt sliced through the air and vanished into the darkness of the cave. After a brief pause, a dull thud and a short shriek echoed back.

What they found inside the cave was a white-furred creature with a bolt through its head.

It was roughly the size of a human. Because the long white fur covered its entire body, it was difficult to tell exactly what kind of creature it was just by looking. Judging by its gouged abdomen and the scars carved all over it, it had apparently been so weakened that it could barely move on its own.

It wasn’t a bear. I confirmed the texture of the fur myself.

I wasn’t sure of its true identity, but this was undoubtedly the creature from the eyewitness reports.

“Smoked out by a smoke signal only to be shot dead while dying in the cave you fled into… What a miserable end.”

“If you’re going to put it that way, I feel like almost all the Orcs we’ve killed met a pretty miserable fate too…”

Hearing that from Calme, who looked haggard, I honestly thought he might have a point. To name a few: dropping them into pits to bury them alive, feeding them poisoned bait for a slow death, or gassing them with tear gas before stabbing them with spears. We certainly have a rich variety.

Currently, some members of our Skirmish Squad and the Recovery Squad are investigating the inside of the cave. The reason, of course, is to handle the corpse and the blood, but there was another important confirmation to be made.

“Hmm, we’re hardly finding any excrement or food scraps.”

“It must be the type that cleans its own nest, like Orcs. That explains the poop in front of the cave.”

“Cleaning, huh? Do you think that dying white thing could manage that? I think we should consider the possibility that there were other individuals after all.”

“It’s a tough call. If it was only injured for a few days, it wouldn’t be unnatural for the place not to be cleaned, but…”

Yes, it was the “possibility of multiple monsters” concern we’d had from the start. If this white creature wasn’t alone but part of a group, it wouldn’t be strange for them to use this cave as a nest, given it’s a perfect spot to avoid the snowy winds. Therefore, we needed to investigate whether this creature lived here alone, with others, or simply happened to flee here by chance.

Just then, I noticed Fia, one of the Recovery Squad members, looking excited as she pulled out a mysterious canteen. She is a rare case in the Knight Order—a young, married female knight. She’s characterized by three standing cowlicks and looks a bit spacey, but she’s surprisingly strong-willed at her core.

“Hey, Fia, what’s that? Tea?”

“Hehehe… Actually, before coming here, Nonoka-chan entrusted me with this! Its name is the magic potion ‘Remnare’! Apparently, it reacts with blood components and glows!! She told me to test it out since it’s a prototype!”

“Huh. Is it drinkable?”

“Eh? Well… Ah, I wonder if reporting the results of drinking it counts as part of the test?”

I was overhearing some terrifying talk. Isn’t that what the general public calls human experimentation? I really wish these people would memorize the words “Observe the correct dosage and usage” found in over-the-counter medicine manuals.

“Uh, Seniors. Please don’t drink things when it’s unclear if they’re safe. If anything happens, Nonoka-san will be held responsible, you know?”

“Oh, as expected of Nonoka-chan’s knight, Varna-kun! Your eyes get so much sharper when it involves her!”

“I’m not just Nonoka-san’s knight, and my eyes are only sharp because I’m exasperated by you seniors. Please look to Bevion for that kind of thing, not me.”

“Ehh, if we’re talking about someone standing next to Nonoka-chan, Varna-kun definitely looks better! Bevion-kun is a ‘no’ for me!”

“A direct denial of his entire existence?!”

I couldn’t help but shed tears of sympathy for Bevion, who was being openly dissed in his absence. He wasn’t supposed to be bad-looking, so why is the world so cruel to him?

…Is it his “preferences” after all?

Is that pervy reaction that goes beyond just liking children the problem?

“You’re being quite mean, Senior…”

“Well, if that’s the case, I guess I don’t have to make anyone drink it. Alright, let’s try splashing it on that white thing right away—Fugya?!”

Fia-san tried to run while opening the canteen lid, but she stepped on a walnut shell that happened to be on the ground and fell spectacularly. From the pain of hitting her face, she let go of the canteen.

“Ahhh! The precious medicine!! And the lid is open, so it’s all pouring out~?!”

The canteen rolled noisily through the cave as the transparent medicine called Remnare gushed out, pointlessly soaking the bedrock. …Would there be enough left in the canteen to make up for it? The senior next to Fia-san chuckled at the pathetic result.

“I guess this is a ‘Please look forward to Nonoka-san’s next work’ situation.”

“Ouchhh… my nose is stinging. Uuu, what excuse am I going to give Nonoka-chan…”

“—Wait, more importantly, Senior. This medicine glows in response to blood, right?”

Senior Fia didn’t seem to have noticed yet, but I realized the truth almost immediately. I confirmed it while feeling a cold sweat trickling down my spine. Clutching her nose, the senior groaned in pain but looked at me with a puzzled expression.

“In theory, it’s supposed to react even after the blood has been wiped away, but why are you asking that now…?”

“You’ll understand if you look, Senior. Come on, stand up and look.”

“Eh… W-what is… this…?”

The scene spread out before us.

It was a trail of countless pale blue lines of light, stretching over ten meters, appearing exactly where the canteen had rolled and spilled the medicine.

“Whoa, the ground is glowing like crazy!?”

“You mean, even if we can’t see it with our eyes, this place was a sea of blood…!?”

If this medicine was working as Nonoka-san described—if this was the correct reaction of the drug…

“Impossible… Over such a wide area?! The blood of just that one white thing wouldn’t be enough!!”

“M-maybe the prototype medicine is giving a false reaction…?”

“I don’t know… but I find it hard to believe a medicine Nonoka-san made would have such a blatant error…!”

Looking at the bloodbath that must have once spread beneath our very feet, we felt a chill as if our own blood were flowing backward. For the next ten-odd minutes, we could do nothing but stand there in silence until Nonoka-san, carried on Bevion’s back, arrived after hearing the news.