episode_0037

“…Did you tell me to catch the monster?”

I had no choice but to ask Empress Solaria once again.

Naturally, I was confident that the Empress would be the first to talk about what happened at the Colosseum, but she quietly called me to the imperial palace and immediately moved on to talking about the next request as soon as we met.

Well, in the first place, there was nothing strange about me, a hunter whose other name was a hunter, receiving that kind of request, but I didn’t expect that the Empress would give me a new request at this exact moment.

“Okay. I would like to entrust another request to you, the hunter of the empire.”

Empress Solaria said as she raised her hand to her forehead as if she had a headache.

“Originally, I would like to first discuss the reward for protecting me and preventing further damage along with the captain of the guard during the accident that occurred at the Colosseum, but…

As you can probably guess, there are some problems.”

He understood the Empress’ concerns.

The meeting, which was supposed to be secret, was revealed to the world due to the Chimera suddenly going on a rampage, so it might be best for me to leave the system quickly to somehow calm the situation down.

But at the same time, I was worried that it might already be too late.

Most of the ordinary citizens in the Colosseum would simply think of it as another part of my saga as a gold-level adventurer, but the emperor’s political enemies would no doubt have an idea of what kind of work I was carrying out for her. She was using me as her messenger to gather additional forces from all over the empire.

And if he had guessed what the Empress was planning, there would naturally be a response if something similar was repeated.

I don’t know if this was what the Chimera was aiming for from the beginning by feeding it something unknown to make it more threatening, or if the attempt to attack the Empress of Solaria was unlucky enough to reveal this, but either way, the situation was not going well.

In particular, it is presumed that the Catenis family is behind it, and that the head of the family himself made the move. If others, seizing the opportunity, unite around Catenis and move…

“…Yes. In fact, I am rather concerned about whether it will be okay for me to leave the system right away. Your Majesty, are you sure it’s okay?

I don’t know if this will be solved if I disappear from the system already. Wouldn’t it be better for me to be by your side and protect Your Majesty?”

The Empress answered my question with a smile.

“Clearly your concerns are valid.

But if you listen to the contents of this request, you will understand why I am sending you away right now.”

As the Empress said that, her expression was full of determination and confidence rather than fear, so I decided to first quietly lower my head and listen.

“This time, the monster I am asking you to deal with has appeared beyond the walls of Britannia.

The mission I entrust to you this time is to go there, cooperate with the legions stationed nearby, cross the barrier, find that entity, and subdue it.”

‘…Beyond the barrier?’

This too was unusual.

In addition to the fortresses of Ermania that maintained the front line with the Elves, the walls built in Britannia could be said to be the two major mountain ranges built on the northern and northwestern borders to protect the empire’s expanded territory.

Most of the requests I have received so far have been from within the Empire’s territory.

Of course, I have hunted monsters that crossed into the empire from outside the border, but this was the first time I was dispatched outside the empire to subdue them before they even crossed the border.

Moreover, as I carefully pointed out earlier, considering that it might not be a good idea for me to leave the system now, I couldn’t help but be nervous about how serious the danger of that monster was to why they were sending me anyway.

“…Is that monster that dangerous? Is the damage already very serious?”

“Fortunately, there has been no major damage to our empire so far.

Rather, it is said that the barbarians on the other side of the barrier suffered a great deal of damage as the monster was released and ran rampant. Some even approached the barrier and surrendered.

Most of the information about that monster was obtained through their testimony.”

One part of the Empress’s words particularly caught my attention. He was ‘released’ and went on a rampage.

I listened to her words with a serious attitude.

“It is said that it was originally a human a long time ago, a member of the Empire’s Legion.

I don’t know the exact gender. I don’t know exactly when it was when the Empire was in the midst of conquering Britannia, or after the Wall was built.

But I’m certain he served in Britannia. If you listen to the descriptions of those who surrendered, it appears that they were officers with the rank of centurion or deputy centurion.

As cruel as he was to his enemies, he was loyal to the empire… It may be a fact that doesn’t mean anything anymore anyway.”

“Is this a similar case to Lesala?”

She was a merchant’s daughter, but the lower half of her body was transformed into a sea monster by a curse from the witch Circe.

Did an old soldier from an unknown empire experience something similar in his conquered territory?

“In some ways, yes.

Those who surrendered said that, according to legend, he was on a mission in a barbarian land with four other companions.

Then, they discovered a witch and druid, the leader of a barbarian tribe, and rushed in to kill them. All five of them were cursed on the spot.”

“…What kind of curse is it that turns a soldier loyal to the empire into such a dangerous monster?”

The Empress sighed heavily and continued speaking.

“Hmm… Actually, looking at the curse itself, it was said that although it was powerful, it wasn’t that dangerous.

Even they don’t know exactly what the curse is…

It was a curse that borrowed the power of the goddess Istra, one of the gods they served, and was meant to make the person affected weak and unable to defy the caster.”

Just hearing those words made me wonder how such a curse could create a monster, so I waited in silence for her story to continue.

“After cursing them and making them kneel, the druid who dragged them back to the tribe is said to have made a request to them.

They tell them to atone with their body and mind for the tribesmen they killed, and until they do that, they will never be able to return to their original form or even escape death.”

As soon as I heard that, I started to guess where this could have gone wrong.

“The barbarians reported that the fates of all five people were different.

Some people broke the curse and returned to the empire, some people stayed with them without returning even though they broke the curse, and some people disappeared without being able to break the curse.

And even though someone was able to break the curse, he fell in love with the witch who placed the curse on him and remained by her side forever instead of breaking the curse.

However, there was one person who met the worst fate among them.”

Empress Solaria raised her head in a certain direction… perhaps toward the land where the events she spoke of took place and continued speaking.

“One of them could not suppress his hatred and anger even while atonement after being cursed, and despite the humiliation he could not resist the witch, he gradually began to be consumed by madness.

In the end, he let go of all hope and reason, and gradually even forgot who he was.

One day, when the witch was not looking, he succeeded in killing one of the tribesmen with a knife he had accidentally picked up again. At that moment, he remembered only one thing.

Slaughter. The only act that reminds him of the moment he lived as a soldier of the empire…

At that time, ‘it’ did not simply give up on breaking the curse, but turned the curse of not being able to die until atonement was completed into its own weapon that would never die as long as atonement was given up.

Even if it was a body weakened by a curse, it was a powerful enough weapon to commit a massacre against someone who remembered the experience of all the battles they had fought.”

“…An immortal monster that will never die and is crazy about killing has been born.”

The Empress nodded.

“They say dozens of their warriors were slaughtered by the witch before she came back.

And its madness was now at a level that not even the witch could completely suppress.

While we were unable to move for a moment, all the remaining warriors rushed in and the only thing we could do was to subdue them somehow.

Their story was that the Druid himself, who had placed the curse with the power of their god, was now unable to lift the curse, so in the end, with no other way, they just tied him up in the cave and blocked the entrance.”

“I wonder how the monster that was so barely contained was released.”

“They say that even the tribesmen who ran away didn’t say that. Either they don’t know or they’re hiding it…

Maybe it really was just the rock that blocked the cave that had been chipped away over time.

It’s as if so many years have passed that they have come to regard the legend of the monster as just a story and have forgotten its lessons.

However, it is true that the legendary monster they are talking about and the monster rampaging now are the same being, or at least of the same species. It is also consistent with what the soldiers of the Legion witnessed and reported.”

After hearing the story, I fully understood that Empress Solaria wanted to send me away despite what happened in the Colosseum.

Of course, there was the fact that the opponent was a monster dangerous enough to warrant sending a gold-level adventurer, but the bigger reason than that was-

“…Of course the Katenis family will be targeting that immortal monster, right?”

“That’s right. That’s because the head of the family will never pass up anything related to immortality and immortality. He puts everything else aside and only focuses on it.

So if you hear that you are being sent there…”

“On my side, I will only focus on what is happening in Britannia.

If the Catenis family, which will be at the center, does not actively participate in this incident, the impact of my exposure to His Majesty’s political opponents this time will be weakened.”

“…Okay. I’m sorry that I keep asking you to do dangerous things.”

Please don’t overdo it. Dealing with that monster, and competing with the Catenis family.

After all, our goal is to tie their feet.

In particular, rumors say that matriarch Katenis’ henchmen have already been dispatched to Britannia…”

The Empress was well aware that competing for the same goal as the Catenis family could be as dangerous as fighting an immortal monster, so she told me with concern.

“Don’t worry. your majesty. I will honor your orders and carry out your request.”

“In that case, I will command you as your emperor. Gold-rank adventurer Liber Catenis. Hunter of the Empire. Hunt the monster that has reawakened beyond the walls of Britannia.

Send it back into the darkness that awoke in the cave of Carbanog.

I hope your hunting will be successful again.”