episode_0043

“…rabbit…la…”

“..I.. really!”

The mercenary, who had been actively telling the story, perhaps to alleviate the guilt of disobeying the governor’s orders and recklessly heading beyond the wall, hurriedly continued talking when it seemed that I did not really believe what he was saying.

“Dragon Soldier… Together with the female warriors of the Catenis family, we chased the monster in the forest, fending off attacks from barbarians coming from beyond the wall for several days.

First, follow the bodies and blood stains of the barbarian warriors killed by it.

Then, I finally found the monster… It may be hard to believe, but it was the shape of a woman who resembled a rabbit!”

“…”

It wasn’t that his words themselves were particularly suspicious.

Considering the world view of ‘Slave Maker’ in the first place, the image of a beautiful woman and the characteristics of a terrifying monster were not particularly incompatible concepts.

Moreover, if the place where the monster appeared was Britannia… it would not be strange if it appeared as a parody element of the killer rabbit in the original game.

‘…Are there any items like holy grenades? Or at least a specific item useful for dealing with that monster…’

But I quickly shook my head and erased those thoughts from my mind.

Knowledge of the game was certainly useful in a situation where the game became a reality, but there were also limitations due to the gap.

Moreover, it was somewhat unreasonable to think that far about something that I had never directly seen in the game in the first place.

They had already arrived in Britannia, and according to the man, the mercenaries had already found the monster, so there was no way to waste additional time looking for items that might exist.

However, the mercenary behind the bars must have taken my shaking of his head to have a somewhat different meaning, and began to be horrified and beg me to trust him.

“…Really. It’s not that I don’t believe what you say, it’s just that I have something to think about.”

“Ah, yes… thank you.”

“But if you found that monster, why did you come back empty-handed? Did the capture fail?

You said you moved with the female warriors of the Katenis family in the first place, but where are they?”

“Yes, I will tell you everything in detail!

When we first encountered that monster among ourselves, we really thought we were all going to die.

Some idiot looked at the monster’s appearance and insulted it, saying it looked like a prostitute in a brothel, and it must have understood that, so it got angry and attacked…”

He trembled with fear and confessed that many of them had died cruelly in front of the twin swords wielded by the monster, and that he still remembered that time.

“I heard that the monster was cursed to never die and could not be harmed. Was that true?”

“…Actually, we had no way to confirm whether that statement was true. The moment you thought you had crossed swords with it, the weapon flew away, and your hand or neck immediately fell off.

I couldn’t figure out how they pulled off such a trick, and in the end I never even touched the monster’s body.

But… they were able.”

Dragon Soldier, Spartoy.

Warriors who sprinkle dragon’s teeth on the ground, are armed from the moment they are born, fight for life and death, and only earn their name by surviving their first battle.

Did they, who originated from myth, finally succeed in catching the being born from their myth in a foreign land?

I continued to listen to the mercenary’s words to find out the answer to my question.

“It was the greatest match I’ve ever seen in my life. It was difficult to follow with the eyes how the two swords were moving.

Finally, the dragon soldier caught the monster and stabbed it…

It was obvious that she was going to break her neck because she was thrown headfirst into the ground, but somehow she turned over and placed Yongahyeong under her and stabbed the knife straight into her eyes.

At that time, I thought it was over and that after she died, we would all die too.

However, the woman who fell down immediately grabbed her sword again and blocked the monster’s sword, and another dragon soldier tied an iron net to the spear from behind and threw it.

The monster tried to escape by throwing away the spear and the net, but Yongahyeong, who had been fighting with his sword for a while, caught him and they were both tied together in the net.

That’s how we were able to survive.”

“…Hmm.”

After listening to the mercenary’s words, I thought for a moment to extract noteworthy information from them one by one.

What I needed to pay most attention to was information about monsters, things that I did not know or could not confirm before.

‘It seems like the information is correct that the body is cursed and cannot be hurt.

Even though his neck was hit with a broken shock, he was still fine, and seeing as how the mercenary soldiers even had to use methods like iron nets…

He is extremely skilled at swordsmanship, and he also knows how to use his invulnerable body in battle…’

It was certainly a being worthy of being called a monster, not simply for its notoriety but also for its prowess.

Although one mercenary soldier could engage in a fierce fight with a monster, it would have been difficult to capture it.

Because of that, in the end, two dragon soldiers came forward, and one of them even had to ambush him from behind, and it seems he was able to catch him.

But if he eventually caught the monster, why didn’t he return to the empire’s territory with the mercenaries he hired?

In fact, based on what I had heard so far, I, who had to hunt down the monster before Katenis’ mercenaries could get their hands on it, had to feel a great sense of crisis.

They could have simply separated the mercenaries and adventurers from their path and escaped Britannia through another route they had secured in advance.

But on the other hand, I could quickly dismiss that reasoning.

If he had planned to abandon them like that from the beginning, he would have killed them and silenced them so that they would never set foot on the empire’s soil again.

Moreover, looking at the way the trapped mercenaries mentioned the mercenaries, it didn’t seem like they had any grudges against them or the Catenis family.

In the end, there was only one conclusion I could come to.

Even after capturing the rabbit monster that was their target, the mercenaries have not yet returned to the empire.

But then, why on earth do they still remain beyond that barrier?

“And? If the hunt was so successful, how did you guys end up trapped here like this?”

In response to my question, he closed his eyes as if trying to recall the memories of that time and continued talking in a trembling voice.

“Many of us died, but those who survived were excited at the thought that they would now be able to return and receive the reward they had promised.

Even then, he couldn’t even dare to approach the two people who were walking in front of him with the monster tightly tied up.

…For some reason, even though it had clearly been caught, it kept smiling that creepy smile.

When I think about it, I think the lucky thing was that I already knew what was going to happen.

After some time, our excitement subsided, we couldn’t help but notice something strange.”

He swallowed his saliva once, quenched his dry throat a little, perhaps because he kept talking or because he was still nervous, and soon opened his mouth again.

“We clearly remembered the way back. When we entered every forest, we left a mark so we could clearly know where we entered…

At least it should have been that way.

But… for some reason, no matter how much I walked, the trees continued endlessly.

I walked along the trees that I had clearly marked with a knife in advance, but even though I walked for a much longer time than when I came in, there were still trees spread out in front of me.

…And at some point, someone was whispering. I wonder if that’s the same tree we passed by earlier.”

He described the situation at the time in detail.

Even after those words, the dragon soldiers still kept their expressions blank and took the lead, but for some reason, the smile of the silent monster among them seemed to have grown even wider.

After that, they continued to walk through the forest, but they were unable to get out of it.

Realizing that they were more than just lost, they stopped for a moment and tried to assess the situation.

In the meantime, I don’t know who said it, but it was said that this situation of not being able to get out of the same place and constantly spinning around was due to a curse or magic from the barbarians living here.

In the next moment, it was natural for everyone to look at the monster that had been cursed by the god they served long ago.

It was still smiling.

“…I started to see signs from there.

No matter how I looked at it, it seemed like I wouldn’t be able to get out of the forest unless I did something about that monster.

The problem was that not only was there no way to kill the monster, but our employers had no intention of allowing such a thing.”

Certainly, from the perspective of mercenary soldiers who must take monsters to the mainland of the empire under their master’s orders, killing a monster they barely caught would be unacceptable.

They knew that they were no match for them in terms of force, so they had no choice but to cry and obey.

But the situation was becoming increasingly serious.

“The forest seemed to gradually become darker.

At first, I thought it was just because so much time had passed that the day was setting, but that wasn’t the case; the trees were growing thicker, blocking out the light shining from above.

And as shadows of unknown origin began to move and cry among the trees… we could not help but become more and more anxious and afraid.”

One of them, finally reaching his limit, spoke directly to his employer.

He said that he would never be able to leave this forest if he didn’t kill that rabbit monster, and that if it was an impossible mission anyway, wouldn’t he have to save his life to leave?

The mercenary soldiers coldly rejected his opinion and turned around again and tried to walk in silence.

Then he finally exploded, drew his weapon and rushed towards the monster.

Immediately, he was hit by one of the dragon soldiers and fell to the ground.

“They told me to keep walking through the forest with them or to leave right away.

Of course, in the latter case, you will not receive compensation for giving up the quest, so all the hard work you have done so far will be in vain.

Even if you left the monster behind while it was still alive, there was no guarantee that you would be able to escape the forest again.”

“Then why did you change your mind?”

“My life was more precious than money, and I felt like I would definitely die if I didn’t leave.”

As if they were pushing their backs as they were struggling, or waiting for the moment when they were most shaken, those who were hiding among the trees revealed themselves and attacked them.

“I don’t even know what we were fighting about. I just frantically lifted my shield and swung my sword and ax while looking at the teeth, claws, horns, and hooves.

In the meantime, the moment I saw the net that was tying up the rabbit monster break… a few people, including me, gave up everything and ran away.

It was a wise choice. As I ran frantically, I realized that I was out of the forest.”

Of course, their road back to the empire was very difficult.

The number was greatly reduced, a lot of equipment was used up, and there were no longer any mercenaries to cut down the enemies in front of them in an instant.

I came out in a hurry and lost my way, so I had to fight off the attacks of the immigrants I encountered and somehow head back to the wall.

By the time the wall came into view after all the hardships, there was no time to think about the punishment he would receive later, so he could only beg the soldiers on the wall to save his life.

“…That’s how it happened.”

“Yes, I’ll be fine. That’s what we experienced in the land beyond the wall.”

“You may have survived, but you will be severely punished for disobeying the governor’s orders and recklessly crossing the barrier, right?”

“…Please just save me… I will do anything.”

As he bowed his head and pleaded, I looked at the governor for a moment.

When the governor nodded as if he knew what I was going to ask, I looked back into the prison and said,

“Good. Because I have something to entrust to you.”

“!! Thank you Nauri! thank you! With all my heart-”

“I’m chasing that monster too, so I’d like to use you as a guide. Guide me to the forest where I found the monster.”

“….Yes?”

I left the prison with the governor, leaving behind the man whose face had lost all color in an instant.

After coming out, I raised my head and looked at the seemingly endless barrier and beyond.

‘Anyway, it’s a rabbit… It’s better now that I at least know what kind of monster it is.’

I sighed and said hello to the governor, then hurried on to tell Rubia and Emma the new facts I had learned.

On the other hand, I was picturing the image of a rabbit monster somewhere out there.

‘How on earth did it come to be?’

——

She hummed unconsciously and sat down on a large rock.

While putting the sword he was holding next to the rock.

She was very happy.

After returning to the cave where he had been kept in the dark for a long time, he was able to bask in the bright sunlight on the rock in front of him.

Moreover, the battles and slaughter she experienced over the past few days were among the most enjoyable times in the past.

She thought for a moment that maybe she should visit the forest again later. You never know, you might be able to have just as much fun time.

Or get good loot like this time.

It looked with satisfaction at the newly acquired Yongahyeong sword and smiled with anticipation.

Thinking about who would come after her next.