Ch.10Monumental Day (4)

What exactly is the “Destruction Ceremony”?

I didn’t know what it was, but I thought it must be some major revelation that had pushed D City into an abyss of annihilation.

That’s why I wanted to learn about this Destruction Ceremony as soon as possible.

I was certain of that, but…

“Hello, Princess Hoshino.”

“Princess! We have freshly made, piping hot takoyaki here!”

“Princess Hoshino, please take this crepe too. Boys love sweet things, you know.”

“R-really?! …Janghun, would you like to try this crepe?”

“Huh? Oh, yes… sure, why not…”

How on earth did things end up like this?

Miss Hoshino and I, hand in hand, had gone down to the city center of D City where festival preparations were in full swing.

In a place not much different from downtown Seoul, I had planned to quietly look around and then get straight to the point.

But, this is what it means to be a young lady, I suppose.

As soon as Miss Hoshino appeared in D City where the festival had just begun, we literally became the stars of the celebration.

Getting free food and drinks was just the beginning.

We could enjoy all sorts of entertainment for free, from shooting games to goldfish scooping.

Perhaps because of that…

“…Gasp! I got caught up in the fun without realizing it.”

I needed to find out about that Destruction Ceremony quickly.

By the time I came to my senses, I had already been swept up in the festival atmosphere, even wearing an animal-shaped mask while enjoying myself.

‘Is this the power of free stuff? It’s terrifying, truly terrifying…!’

“Hm? Janghun, why are you spacing out? We agreed to play whack-a-mole next.”

“Ah, yes. That’s right…”

The once blue sky had already turned red.

Soon it would be completely dark, and night would fall.

Thinking about how I, a 37-year-old mentally, had been acting like the child my body appeared to be, just playing around carelessly, shook me to my core.

I suppose this is what having a child’s body means.

My body still wanted to play more, setting a new record at whack-a-mole.

“W-wow! Amazing, Janghun! That’s a new record!”

“Oh… really?”

“Yeah! I bet we’re in first place!”

“That’s right! Now, for such a splendid young prince, I present our first-place prize—a panda doll.”

And just like that, I ended up with a panda doll.

I didn’t know much about it, but according to the whack-a-mole booth owner, this “Xiangbao Panda” is all the rage among boys these days.

“Oh, I’ve heard of that! It’s super popular among guys!”

“…Is that so?”

“Yeah! I don’t really get it as a girl… but I heard that when this panda moves from its original place to another city, men even come out and cry together!”

Perhaps in this female-dominated society, even panda popularity is reversed.

Usually pandas are popular with girls, but Miss Hoshino’s expression as she explained this to me was just “Oh, it’s just a bear~”

She didn’t seem particularly interested in my doll.

I didn’t really need such a doll either, but I couldn’t exactly return it and ask for a different prize.

So I decided to keep it as a souvenir.

“Ah, today was really fun!”

“Everyone at the festival seemed to like you very much, Miss.”

“Hehe. Yeah… well, to be precise, it’s probably my mother they like, not me.”

It was when we were thoroughly enjoying the festival.

Having spent all our youthful energy, we sat side by side on a park bench with the darkening sky behind us.

“I truly enjoyed today, Miss.”

“Me too! This is the first time I’ve had so much fun at a festival.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah… My mother, the star of the festival, rarely comes down to the city because she’s busy preparing for the Destruction Ceremony. I sometimes came alone to play, but until now, I’ve always been by myself…”

Indeed, even the most fun places become boring quickly when you’re alone.

There’s a limit to enjoying things by yourself.

In that sense, although it wasn’t my original intention to come along, I was glad I had spent the day with Hoshino.

“Um, by the way, Miss.”

“Yes?”

“What exactly is this ‘Destruction Ceremony’?”

Though it was getting late, returning to the main topic.

I handed Miss Hoshino some bottled water I had bought earlier and asked about the Destruction Ceremony.

“The Destruction Ceremony?”

With her energy seemingly restored from the hydration, Hoshino perked up her fox ears and began to explain.

“Well… honestly, I don’t know that much about it either.”

“I see.”

“Apparently, a long time ago, an extremely dangerous monster lived here in D City.”

“A monster?”

I asked about the Destruction Ceremony and suddenly she mentions a monster.

This couldn’t be a coincidence.

I started to listen more carefully to what Miss Hoshino was saying.

“The monster that ruled this place even before Hero City was established was sealed away one day by humans who came to settle here.”

“Sealed… you say?”

“Yes. And the first head of the Okami family, who defeated the monster back then, sealed its energy inside his sword. The Destruction Ceremony is when they slightly open the sword’s scabbard to check the state of the seal.”

To summarize, the monster sealed away by Hoshino’s family for generations, as mentioned by the devastated Hoshino in the original work.

The monster that would soon revive and turn D City into a sea of flames is currently sealed inside the sword of the former family head within the Okami family’s territory.

The Destruction Ceremony seemed to be a ritual to check if the seal remained strong.

‘Hmm… based on what I’ve heard so far, there doesn’t seem to be any problem.’

The Destruction Ceremony happens just once a year, at the New Year.

It takes place in early January as a way to welcome the new year and ensure the safety of all D City.

That means that soon, “some incident” might ruin the Destruction Ceremony.

It didn’t make sense that a seal that had been secure until now would suddenly break.

If that were possible, there must have been outside help.

I stood up abruptly.

“It seems the Destruction Ceremony will start soon. Let’s quickly return to the mansion.”

The mystery was completely solved.

I had just figured out how this peaceful D City had become an uninhabitable ruin in the original work.

So I wanted to get to the Destruction Ceremony as quickly as possible.

And to personally deal with whoever was going to ruin the ceremony, now that I’d enjoyed enough of the festival.

I was about to head back to the Okami residence, if only to put away the panda doll that was as big as me.

Thud.

“?!”

At that moment, Miss Hoshino pushed me from behind, knocking me down.

And simultaneously, the bench we had been sitting on literally exploded with a bang!

“Janghun, stay still.”

“Miss?”

“It’s dangerous. Don’t move carelessly.”

Between her golden eyes that had always shone innocently, a beast-like slit pupil had appeared.

Miss Hoshino reached down to her waist and gripped the handle of the sword she always carried.

“…!”

Indeed, regardless of the era, Hoshino is still Hoshino.

Watching her quickly assess the situation and enter a combat stance, I realized that at the lake, she had truly been caught off guard.

But what about the being in front of us now?

What kind of “monster” was this?

“Hiss, hiss, whoosh… hiss, hiss, whoosh!”

Its appearance was very similar to a “gargoyle” from fantasy games.

The difference was that it wore a white bone helmet on its face, and despite having wings, it crawled on the ground instead of flying.

What was certain was that its hostility was directed at us.

That’s when it happened.

“I… am…”

“…!”

“It can speak?”

“The faithful servant of the master, the ‘Stone Monster’…”

“Servant? Did you say Stone Monster?”

The monster before us identified itself as the Stone Monster.

Stones are things you step on or throw, not particularly frightening to humans.

Perhaps that’s why.

When I first saw its appearance, I thought it might be the “Bat Monster” or the “Bone Monster,” and cold sweat formed on my forehead.

But as soon as I heard its identity, I let out a sigh of relief.

‘Stone… According to veteran players of <Monster Front>, its danger level would be around semi-Class 4 or Class 4?’

Well, I still couldn’t be completely at ease since we were facing a monster.

Above all, the biggest problem now was Miss Hoshino, who was only about elementary school age.

If it were the future S-class hero Hoshino, that would be one thing.

But whether the current Miss could defeat this creature was another question entirely.

‘Damn it, couldn’t it have appeared when I was alone!’

Judging by the fact that no monster alarm had sounded yet, it seemed D City hadn’t recognized the appearance of the Stone Monster.

In other words, we couldn’t expect help from heroes in this situation.

“Wolf’s Breath…”

“Miss Hoshino?”

“Form One.”

Indeed, Hoshino is Hoshino even at a young age.

Perhaps she had inherited the “strike first, win first” spirit from the original work since childhood, as she had already drawn her sword.

“Ichinitchisen (One Day, A Thousand Autumns).”

Like a hunting wolf extending its bent hind legs to gain instantaneous propulsion.

With her draw, Miss Hoshino became like black lightning, and from my human perspective, she had already landed behind the monster in the blink of an eye.

‘So fast!’

More than that, she could already use the Wolf’s Breath sword technique at this age.

This was TMI that didn’t even appear in the original work.

And it seemed the power matched the speed.

“Guh, guhk…!”

A Class 4 danger level monster should be at least equivalent to a C-class hero.

Yet the Stone Monster’s head split like a cracked rock and fell to the ground in one strike.

It was a perfect victory…

“A-amazing, Miss!”

“Hehe. How about that? Does it make you fall for—?!”

“Huh?”

…or so it should have been.

Thump thump thump thump.

This crazy bastard.

It’s still moving without a head?

And the direction it was heading wasn’t toward Miss Hoshino who had severed its head.

It was toward me.

“Janghun!!”

Just before its demise, as if attempting a final suicide attack.

“H-he will soon return!”

The Stone Monster, dragging its crumbling body, somehow leaped on top of me and shouted.

“My lord! The ‘Sword Monster’ shall soon descend upon this land again!!”

Crack.