episode_0073

“…Tsk.”

Just as I sensed a significant increase in the chances of victory, she seemed to have felt the same, her expression darkening.

Spitting on the ground, Belita roughly scratched her head with her left hand.

“Ugh, damn it. Are all my senses dead? Have I been resting too long these days?”

Muttering what seemed like a feeble excuse.

“Why don’t you just rest forever at this rate?”

I taunted with a sardonic remark, taking deep breaths as if suppressing my labored breathing.

Feeling my slightly trembling arms and legs gradually regain stability.

…Good. It seems like Kang Wan’s recoil has almost fully recovered.

In that case.

“If you want, I’ll help you!”

A piercing thrust like a lightning bolt. Rushing forward, I thrust my longsword. Slightly extending my left hand, I press the pommel instead of the hilt, adding more penetrating power.

“Screw off, adventurer guy!”

Swapping the spear for the longsword, Belita hurls it towards me.

I thought there might be some hindrance in movement due to the shoulder pain, but it seems bearable.

The throwing speed was so fast it was reminiscent of a flash.

Whoosh!

Moreover, the flying tip of the spear was already engulfed in flames, as if the ignition spell had been activated.

“Urgh!”

If I continued forward, my abdomen or lower body would be directly hit. Desperately stopping my step, I leaped backward to avoid the explosion radius.

Right after that.

Kwaaaang!

The spear, embedded in the ground, caused a powerful explosion with a brilliant flame.

The earth erupted as if struck by a giant’s fist. Pebbles scattered in all directions like shrapnel due to the pressure.

Tak tak tak tak!

Crouching in mid-air in a defensive posture, the fragments flying towards me were deflected by the armor, making a clinking sound.

“To throw a weapon, it seems like you’re running out of options, huh?”

Sliding as if slipping while stirring up the dirt with my elbow, I landed and looked at Belita with a sneer.

The spear that seemed to have flown everywhere did not cause any harm to me.

The distance had widened a bit again, but… well, once we figured out the weakness of the charge attack, it was no longer something to worry about.

“Were you curious? Does it look that way?”

However, rather than rushing at me, Vellita wrapped her shoulders with the torn edge of her cloak and smirked.

“I just needed a moment to say a few words, that’s all.”

“…A few words?”

Vellita didn’t answer my reflexive question. Instead, she abruptly turned her head towards the fighting in front of the baggage cart, opened her mouth wide, and shouted loudly.

“Hey, adventurers struggling over there! Do you even know what you are moving right now?”

A resounding shout echoed in our ears.

“What…?”

It was a cry that was difficult to understand. What are they moving? Well, it was provisions and necessities, wasn’t it…?

“I mean, do you know why your lives are being threatened right now?”

Instead of rushing at her with a sword, I found myself involuntarily listening, waiting for what she would say next.

It should be okay to wait a few seconds.

Honestly, I was also curious about the reason for this attack.

“Did you think it was just ordinary provisions? That’s absurd! You’ve been deceived!”

There seemed to be no need to interfere. She, who had never properly answered no matter how many times I asked, was finally trying to speak.

“What…! What are you doing without fighting! The enemy has dropped their weapons, now is the perfect opportunity!”

Upon hearing Rug, the leader, urging me with a pale face, it definitely seemed a bit suspicious.

“Teach them!”

Vellita stretched out her left arm and shouted, pointing at the baggage cart.

“The item they were moving is the heart of Yotun, a treasure that you couldn’t get in your entire lifetime!”

The heart of Yotun.

“To sell the item stolen from the Goddess Sect, they disguised themselves as ordinary merchants!”

Vellita revealed that it was the identity of the cargo being moved by the Reville merchants and the reason they attacked us.

So, that’s why they were making such a fuss about the heart earlier.

Certainly, the heart of Yotun was enough to be attacked by a first-rate adventurer-knight and it was enough to leave others behind.

No, in fact, it wasn’t even that much. It wouldn’t have been strange even if a second-rate person had rushed in.

The giant race, Yotun, was a demon that could only be encountered after descending dozens of floors even within the deep dungeon, so in order to obtain the fresh heart of Yotun, one had to conquer the deep dungeon and break through.

“Livilla’s top, were they moving such an item?”

Honestly, it was hard to believe. Even Burgund’s Gunter or Herbor’s Heidjo were still improving their skills in the middle dungeon.

As they were not yet daring to enter the deep dungeon, the knights of each country were also maintaining a confrontational state by not entering the dungeon and blocking the entrance.

But where on earth did they get the heart of Yotun?

……

Surely, that giant corpse isn’t it…?

No, really, surely not.

Although it’s a giant’s corpse, originally, it was summoned by necromancy from a completely rotten corpse, so how could there be a intact heart inside?

I haven’t personally checked, but logically, it doesn’t make sense, does it? If you were to open the chest wide, only rotten flesh would pour out.

“Do you understand? You guys were decoy shields bought cheaply! A shield aimed at the presumption that they wouldn’t just use a mere bronze shield for transporting Yotun’s heart! That’s why we got caught like this!”

Bellita shouted with a passionate voice, like a union exposing corporate corruption. Perhaps because she had red hair, her tone sounded very international.

“……Hmm.”

“Surely, really…?”

“Did they really deceive us?”

Was I as suspicious as her speech? Barudo, Jane, Fredi, and Amy, who were engaging in a fierce argument, looked bewildered with suspicion on their faces.

“…What is Yotun’s heart?”

“Do you understand me…?”

“Oh, so…even if we don’t know what it is, that guy deceived us, right? That’s why we’re in this situation now.”

The trio of Amine seemed somewhat bewildered, as if they didn’t understand the meaning of Bellita’s words.

“How about that, an interesting story, isn’t it? It’s not because of me, but because of that guy that you’re dying!”

“Nonsense from a madman! Talking about the heart of Yotun, what absurd mockery!”

Rug vehemently denied with his veins bulging in his neck.

His face looked so wronged that it was hard to believe, yet he was sweating profusely as if taking a bath, making it hard to trust him.

“Hah, nonsense! Look! These women are the proof!”

“…What, me?”

Suddenly, Belita turned her arm and pointed at me. I flinched and took a step back reflexively.

Me, the proof? What nonsense is this all of a sudden? Could it be that news has leaked that I defeated the giant corpse?

No, the only ones who know that fact are Freida and Amy…?

“Don’t you get it? Just by looking at them, aren’t they clearly knights? Unique but firmly grounded swordsmanship, skills enough to spar with me and inflict injuries!”

Out-of-the-blue praise. Frankly, it gave me chills.

I’m just a mere Eastvale adventurer, but the owner of this body used to be a knight of the Raine Kingdom, so Belita’s words weren’t entirely wrong.

Of course, she had spoken the truth up to this point.

“Could something like that be possible for an Eastvale-level adventurer? No way! The Eastvale hanging around your neck is just a disguise, these are knights! In your terms, they would at least be equivalent to Silver-ranked knights!”

“But…”

That… seems like a bit of a stretch.

I do have the skills of a knight, but that doesn’t mean the adventurer badge hanging around my neck is a disguise, does it?

To hide the fact that I am from Brune Hilldale, drawing excessive attention would be troublesome, so after becoming an Eastvale member, I had planned to slowly advance.

…Come to think of it, isn’t that usually called a disguise?

“What knight would bother disguising as an Eastvale and escorting a stagecoach! It’s obvious. They might have put on a disguise as a precaution against any unforeseen accidents after stealing the heart!”

“That’s not it…?”

It seems like a precaution to protect Yotun’s heart, but it’s just a novel. I’m writing a novel.

Nonsense has its limits. I just found out that such a thing was hidden in the baggage cart for the first time, so what kind of precaution is this?

From my perspective, it was a truly absurd misunderstanding.

“Oh, so that’s why we said we won earlier.”

Only then could I vaguely understand the nonsense Belita was muttering.

Belita seemed to attack the upper echelon with a suspicious feeling, and immediately, skilled individuals were popping out two by two. It must have been then that she was convinced that the upper echelon was undoubtedly moving Yotun’s heart.

However, as someone who had nothing to do with the escort of the heart, even though it was an absurd and unjust feeling, I couldn’t help but feel wronged.

Of course, the only ones who would understand my grievance were my party members, Freda, Amy, and Kikel.

They knew perfectly well that I wasn’t some precaution hired for the top of Reville, but just someone who roughly took on a suitable request.

…In other words, it meant that other adventurers who didn’t know this fact could only suspect me.

“Indeed…”

Bardoo glanced at me with suspicion, completely different from the trusting gaze he had previously held, which considered me a reliable ally.

It was a look filled with doubt and mistrust, like a sympathetic man finding another man’s underwear in his girlfriend’s house.

Me… being looked at with such eyes, how dare he…!

Unconsciously, I turned my head away from his gaze and shuddered my shoulders. The sense of betrayal contained in his gaze was so intense that if I kept meeting his eyes, I felt like guilt would surge even though I hadn’t done anything wrong.

“No, it’s just that… I may be a bit strong, but it’s not like that…”

I tried desperately to explain, turning my gaze away from Bardoo in order to prove my innocence.

It’s true that my skills are knight-level, but apart from that, everything else is just a misunderstanding by this crazy guy.

But…

“Good grief…! There’s nothing left to hide now that it’s come to this!”

With a sudden shout and drawing his sword, Rug’s impulsive act completely buried the explanation I was about to give.

“Listen up, everyone! We abandon the rear carriage. Clear the way with your lives!”

It was a shout that fully affirmed the suspicions so far, like a confession.