Ch.131Isn’t It Not My Fault…?

“Phew… I almost died. Really, I pick one job wrong and what kind of suffering is this?”

Frider still looked quite disgruntled.

Sitting in the carriage checking her weapons, she kept grumbling loud enough for me to hear.

Not very bold of her. Complaining about something that’s already over.

A real man would let bygones be bygones like water under the bridge and think about the future.

Her heart is as small as her chest.

“You’re right. We had some really bad luck, didn’t we?”

I should be understanding with my generous heart. Frider is just tired from all the continued misfortune.

Luck is in heaven’s hands, so it’s not something we can control.

With her pufferfish-like sensitive personality, I suppose she might get stressed over such things.

“You’re the most shameless person in the Empire. Don’t you—I mean, don’t we deserve some kind of apology?”

An apology?

Is she actually expecting me to apologize?

That can’t be right. My plan was perfect.

The ones at fault aren’t me but the ancient people who built ruins in such a fragile place and that gravity fellow who collapsed the rocky mountain, right?

But well, if that’s what she wants.

“I’m so—”

Frider’s eye twitched.

As if she couldn’t even imagine an apology coming from my mouth.

If that’s how she thinks of me, I should live up to those expectations.

“—I’m aware there were some miscalculations, but wouldn’t you say our dungeon subjugation was successful? That’s good, because when the results are good, everything’s good!”

Frider’s face twisted violently.

“You’re truly insane. Do Ka’har people die if they apologize or something?”

She’s surprisingly good at crude insults.

I wonder where she left her dignity as a duchess’s daughter.

Do I die if I apologize?

“Usually that’s how it ends up…”

I answered while recalling past memories.

Most times I heard apologies were situations where Jahan or Mersin misunderstood my words and executed someone.

Whether it was a subordinate warrior or just a simple servant.

Thinking back, those were… brutal times.

“Barbarians.”

Frider spat out the word as if she immediately understood Ka’har culture and was disgusted by it.

“Besides, what good results? You literally just buried everything and left.”

“What do you mean ‘just buried’? It was a perfect strategy utilizing the terrain.”

When you can’t defeat an enemy head-on, using nature’s power to bring them down—wouldn’t that make me a true strategist?

“And if our heads had gone flying, would that just be an unfortunate accident?”

“Exactly!”

Frider, unable to contain herself any longer, swung her fist at me.

While I tilted my head to dodge, a startled Millia grabbed Frider.

Though Frider shook her off with just one twist of her body.

“F-Frider senior! Please calm down!”

“Don’t stop me! I’m going to teach this bastard some decency today!”

As if blind with rage, Frider thrashed about with punches and kicks.

The carriage shook violently with each of her movements in the confined space.

I wonder if we might flip over at this rate.

I managed to dodge a few hits, but she showed no signs of stopping, so I finally had to restrain her arms.

Frider gritted her teeth.

…I should stop teasing her.

She might start swinging an axe inside the carriage at this rate.

“Alright, alright. I was wrong. How could I have known the entire mountain would collapse?”

“Grrrr…! Damn it, if only I were a Master…!”

Even if she were a Master, would that really…?

How would she defeat me?

In such a confined space, it’s more about strength than technique.

And in terms of strength, wouldn’t I be the best among Masters?

—-

Nothing particularly special happened after that.

Frider, who had been thrashing wildly, calmed down after I properly apologized, snorting as if she’d let it go just this once.

She really has such an easily exploitable personality.

People like her often end up ruining their lives by cosigning loans for friends.

You’re lucky you were born into nobility, Frider.

Millia and Demian didn’t say much since they had agreed to the plan too.

Or maybe Frider had already said everything they wanted to say.

Though Millia did look slightly upset.

On our way back, we briefly stopped by the village we had devastated.

The village landscape had changed quite a bit in the meantime.

When we left, it was half a hellscape, but now it looked fairly clean with soldiers patrolling around.

Only the remains of burned and collapsed houses remained as traces of that day.

The sacrificed women had already been transported by the Church of Elpinel for treatment, and the investigation team had cleared away all the villagers’ corpses.

That must have been tough work. There would have been hardly any intact bodies.

“Did you find anything?”

“Unfortunately, we haven’t found anything yet. With seven-tenths of the village burned down, there’s nothing significant…”

Frider glanced at me after hearing the investigation team’s answer.

“What are you looking at? That was the best way to wipe them all out.”

“Siiigh… Is this really the same woman who was so heroic during the great fire…?”

Frider sighed deeply enough to sink into the ground.

Unfortunately, it is the same person. I was just… fighting as if possessed back then.

I was probably in terrible shape both physically and mentally, suffering from guilt and injuries, with the heat of the fire and smoke making everything worse.

—-

While putting our heads together in the carriage to write the report for the academy.

It was when we were writing about the monsters.

“Come to think of it, I still haven’t heard about when you fought the monsters. You said you’d tell me later.”

I finally remembered. I had completely forgotten.

With all the shocking events that followed.

How could I remember a tale of three people defeating a monster when rocks were raining down from the sky?

“Oh, right. I’ll tell you after we finish this report.”

Frider tapped the paper she was writing on with her fingertip.

While we were discussing what to include in the report, the actual writing was entirely left to Frider.

She was the only second-year student in our group, and she had the best handwriting among the four of us.

Her handwriting was as elegant as an imperial letter. Is this what they call noble education?

It’s hard to believe given her usual behavior, but as a daughter of a ducal family, she’s actually second only to royalty in status.

Just when I’m about to forget, she shows this noble-like side.

It doesn’t suit her at all.

The content of the report omitted all parts worth concealing.

The permanent mana lamp, the ancient civilization drawings engraved in the ruins, the experiences of being sucked into the transfer gate, and so on.

As a result, it became half full of lies.

“To think the daughter of Faelrun is writing a false report… what would your father say if he knew…”

“Information that would only cause chaos in the Empire if revealed. It’s not a false report—it’s a selfless act of devotion to the Empire, sacrificing even your own reputation. Isn’t that honorable?”

“If only you couldn’t talk…!”

Ignoring Frider who was trying to scold me, I read through the report she handed over.

—-

Entered Carmine Forest. Arrived at dungeon entrance after 30 minutes.

Cave-type dungeon inside a massive rocky mountain.

Initial area consists of connected wide caverns.

Subjugated dozens of bat-frogs and about ten centipede-snails while advancing.

Transformed into ruins-type dungeon from the middle section.

Too damaged to confirm age.

Judging by the low ceiling, presumed not to be ruins from the Species War era.

Proceeded underground following the ruins passage.

Discovered a personnel-dispersing trap.

*Baron of Median separated due to his own carelessness.*

—-

“This part seems to have a strange malice to it, don’t you think?”

“What can you do about it.”

—-

Continued exploration with remaining personnel.

Dark Mana concentration rose to dangerous levels.

Subjugated about a dozen more monsters.

Monsters that appeared were identical to previous ones.

Advanced for about 20 minutes.

Encountered “Cursed Mother” in a sealed stone chamber.

Successfully subjugated after fierce battle.

—-

“Cursed Mother?”

“Yes, the three of us had a hard time fighting it.”

Frider shrugged her shoulders.

This must be the monster that melted Demian’s greatsword.

—-

Reunited with Baron of Median during rest.

Received report of discovery and repulsion of 3 new species of monsters.

Hybrid type.

According to Baron of Median’s assessment, presumed to be quasi-Master level monsters.

Baron of Median named the target monster “Locust Centauros.”

Meaning unclear.

Details on the new monster species are attached separately.

—-

“Meaning unclear? Isn’t it quite clear? I thought I named it quite intuitively.”

“Clear? No way. What’s a Centauros in the first place? Is it a Ka’har language?”

Ah, I guess people in this world wouldn’t know about centaurs.

Though there are plenty of monsters with similar silhouettes.

—-

At the deepest part of the dungeon, confirmed a contaminated area beyond purification.

Encountered highest-rank Deathknight. Engaged in battle.

Ruins collapsed due to battle aftermath. Abandoned subjugation and escaped.

Could not confirm the Deathknight’s demise but presumed it was caught in the collapse.

No special gains.

Most artifacts were completely damaged and deemed worthless.

As the entire dungeon has collapsed, additional troop deployment would be meaningless.

– Considering Dark Mana leakage, recommend designating the area as a restricted zone.

—-

It was a clean summary.

Except for the parts written with malice toward me.

She still had some lingering resentment. Really not magnanimous at all.

But well, this should be adequate as a report.

“It looks fine. We can report it as is.”

I handed the report back to Frider.