Ch.57Wolf Blood (4)

The roar of the basilisk that we both heard wasn’t something only we had heard.

“Hurry! Quickly move to the new chief’s den.”

“””””””””—Yes, sister!”””””””””

Thanks to that, we were able to return to the village quickly without wasting time on additional explanations….

“Ah, Lord Alzar? Those people….”

“They’re hopeful settlers for the pioneer village and people who will help with the basilisk subjugation. Please arrange housing for them quickly.”

“….Understood. We’ll discuss the details later.”

Fortunately, thanks to the quick response of Charlotte Mainster, a capable, reasonable, and flexible administrator, these people were able to be allocated vacant houses in the village.

They didn’t have much luggage, probably because they had left their village in a hurry, but it was fortunate that the village had sufficient daily necessities.

Besides, the retired adventurers who were originally scheduled to receive these houses wouldn’t arrive for at least a week to ten days.

Now that they wouldn’t have to sleep outdoors, I quickly helped them settle in by first having them wash up.

“Come on, come on! Men this way! Men over here!”

“Women that way! Be prepared to face consequences if you enter the wrong one!!”

The public shower facility was one of several hygiene facilities installed to improve public sanitation in the village.

Even in a world where most common diseases can be cured with a single holy magic spell, hygiene is still extremely important.

Magical diseases and magical-bacteria undoubtedly exist in this world, and even holy magic cannot carelessly cure such ailments.

Anyway, as the werewolves entered the village much more easily and quickly than expected…

“Miss Hannah, Miss Gretel. This way.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Understood, Lord Alzar.”

Everyone who could be considered the village’s actual military force, except for Corin, gathered at the temporary government office located on the first floor of the additional building that now serves as my home.

Me, the village’s highest authority. Charlotte Mainster, in charge of domain affairs. Felix Jäger, leader of the hunting team (tentative name). Joanna, the ordinary priest in charge of the village church.

And now joining us were the sisters Hannah Wolfblood and Gretel Wolfblood, two intermediate (pureblooded) werewolves with names that somehow sounded familiar.

Naturally, the topic of the meeting was about the variant basilisk specimen confirmed to have approached the vicinity of the village.

The first opinion came from Ordinary Priest Joanna.

“Excuse me, I’d like to ask everyone. Is there… any way to drive away that basilisk or move it in another direction?”

Indeed, that’s a valid point. Considering the risks that combat itself could bring (casualties, property damage), driving away the basilisk might not be a bad choice.

However, there’s one problem….

“….There is no way to drive it away, Priestess.”

“I-I see…. I understand, Mr. Felix.”

Since there’s no particular way to drive away the basilisk despite such suggestions, this matter naturally aimed toward the goal of subjugating the basilisk.

And in connection with this decision, I proudly declared to them….

“Those who can actually participate in the basilisk subjugation are only us gathered here.”

“….May I ask the reason?”

“Of course. Actually, the basilisk as a magical beast possesses a power called the petrifying magical eye….”

I calmly explained this harsh reality, along with the reason why only intermediate-level individuals could participate in the actual operation to subjugate the basilisk on site.

In truth, for typical subjugations of intermediate-level or higher large magical beasts, lower-level individuals can certainly be helpful.

Giant arrows, closer to spears, fired from large ballistas can sufficiently damage intermediate-level beasts.

Additionally, shooting nets to restrain movement, using sticky substances to restrict actions, and even targeting weaknesses with ranged weapons.

Given that gunpowder weapons exist in this world, if there were sufficient budget for high-grade magically enhanced cannons and operating personnel, even lower-level individuals could adequately repel intermediate-level magical beasts.

But for this basilisk, I had no intention of using such lower-level assistance, naturally because of the basilisk’s petrifying magical eye that could slaughter anyone below intermediate level with just a glance.

Therefore, among those gathered here, only three at most could actually go to the basilisk subjugation site.

Currently just three: myself and the Wolfblood sisters who are pureblooded werewolves. Corin is excluded from our forces as he’s temporarily away from the village on a business trip to recruit immigrants.

“Both of you, I’m sorry but… would you fight alongside me?”

“I’d be glad to, my lord.”

“I-I too… though I may be inadequate, I’ll join you…!!”

With the sisters joining to avenge their parents, our subjugation force totaled three, which would normally be sufficient…

But for some reason, I was feeling an inexplicable uneasiness and discomfort from somewhere.

This was a kind of warning from my intuition. In other words, a warning that if we faced that basilisk unprepared, we might meet our deaths.

Therefore, realizing that inadequate preparation could lead to our defeat, I decided to plan thoroughly before formally embarking on the subjugation, perhaps even to the point of seeming excessive.

First, the most orthodox method for dealing with such a formidable beast would probably be traps.

With my “Goblin Craftsmanship,” I could create relatively sophisticated and well-structured traps.

In this short time, I mentally planned various traps.

Simple but reliable pit traps, ballista traps that activate in conjunction with other traps, and if we could make falling traps where something drops from above, that would be ideal….

“Miss Gretel.”

“Y-Yes. …What?! Ah, um….”

“It’s nothing serious. I was just wondering if there might be any poison suitable for trap mechanisms or giant arrowheads for ballistas.”

I decided to use poison obtainable through Gretel’s acquired witch’s secret art, Witchcraft, to supplement the somewhat lacking lethality of these traps.

Earlier, while looking at their moving luggage, I had noticed double boilers, large cauldrons, and various plant materials and byproducts.

When I posed the question to her as she was stumbling over her words out of shyness, she seemed to gain some confidence as her area of expertise became the topic of the meeting, and carefully began explaining the poisons to me.

“What I can use right now is moonlight celery and… red mugwort mixture.”

“What kind of poison is that?”

“Ah, yes. The red mugwort amplifies the mild toxicity of moonlight celery. Together they’re lethal.”

“Is there anything else?”

“….Yes, there is. Puipui sap, deadly hedgehog extract… though I’m not sure if they can kill an intermediate-level beast. ….Hehe.”

“That’s quite sufficient, Miss Gretel.”

Despite her awkward smile, the names of poisons coming from her mouth were nothing short of brutal. Hearing this, I smiled awkwardly before turning to the next person.

“Priestess Joanna. I have a request.”

“….A request?”

“Yes. It might be presumptuous, but I need as much holy water as possible.”

“Holy water…?”

“That’s right.”

Holy water, which holds a position similar to a standard remedy in medieval fantasy worlds, is basically blessed water with mild healing effects and holy power.

While high-quality holy water made by high-ranking clergy like bishops or cardinals would be extremely effective, holy water made by a mere ordinary priest would naturally be inferior even to Gretel’s potions.

To Priestess Joanna, who seemed unable to understand why I would make such a request, I calmly explained my reason for wanting holy water.

“We might be able to purify the variant basilisk’s acidic fluid with holy water.”

“Ah, so that’s why…!”

The purifying power contained in holy water is surprisingly quite powerful, so even if it’s made by an apprentice priest, with enough quantity, it might be able to purify the acidic fluid possessed by the variant basilisk.

Of course, since a large amount of holy water in this village is currently being used to purify the demon sword transformed from that goblin, I was feeling somewhat anxious about whether there would be enough holy water, but….

“….We have enough! There’s plenty of extra!”

Fortunately, it seems God has not abandoned us yet.