NOVEL NEXT Chapter 41
Chapter 41: Monster Hunting (4)
-Tap, tap.
Beatrice walked with her sword hanging limply at her side.
Reiser and the other knights.
…Though they were fully aware of how dangerous her actions were, they couldn’t bring themselves to stop her.
[Young Beatrice, reckless as always.]
‘That creature dared to imitate me. I’ll kill it.’
[…How does one kill a monster that is already dead?]
‘You’ll see soon enough.’
She felt insulted.
The humiliation of a mere beast daring to mimic her swordsmanship.
Although it wasn’t something worthy of being called swordsmanship, just a crude swing imbued with mana.
It felt like her lifetime of swordsmanship had been dismantled by a being with less intelligence than a dolphin.
Even if it was a minor offense, it was something she couldn’t simply overlook.
-Screech.
The goblin let out a phlegmy croak as it approached Beatrice.
It wielded a rusted iron rod, now coated with aura.
Before they knew it, the two were within striking distance.
-Screech!
At that moment, the goblin lunged at Beatrice.
“You fool who doesn’t know its place.”
She swung her sword with a cold gaze.
-Slash.
With a chilling sound, the goblin’s head was severed.
[Be careful. Monsters affected by dark magic don’t die so easily.]
Solid's advice.
Beatrice was puzzled.
What kind of creature could survive with its head cleaved in two?
“Grrrk.”
“…!”
However, Solid’s words turned out to be true.
…The goblin was still alive.
Its severed head had already regenerated.
And, even more bizarrely—
“You… dare!”
-Woong.
The goblin now stood holding a sword in the exact stance Beatrice had just shown.
From raising the hilt to its brow to its stern gaze, it perfectly imitated her.
That’s right.
The goblin had copied Beatrice.
-Bang!
Beatrice moved like a flash of lightning and cleaved the goblin in half.
Her fierce movements brimmed with anger.
This time, she didn’t stop after one slash.
Two, three, four more strikes followed.
-Bang! Bang! Bang!
She mercilessly smashed the goblin’s remains.
The ground split, and goblin flesh scattered everywhere.
It was sheer madness.
“Beatrice?”
Argos, who had come to check on the situation, witnessed the scene.
Beatrice, who seemed half-mad, stabbing the goblin’s remains mercilessly, appeared utterly ruthless.
He widened his eyes in disbelief.
“…Captain, doesn’t that look like ‘it’ to you?”
“…Yes.”
“Dark magic, huh? I thought it disappeared after the Age of Magic.”
Falcon and Reiser exchanged words.
Argos turned to them and asked,
“What is going on here?”
“…Stay back, sir. This isn’t something a noble like you should see.”
“Is it my imagination, or is that Beatrice taking down the monster?”
Argos remarked incredulously.
Falcon flinched slightly before shaking his head vigorously.
“Well, someone as tough as her is an exception.”
Meanwhile.
-Boom!
A loud explosion echoed.
[Stop! Enough!]
“Hah, hah.”
Beatrice took a moment to catch her breath.
The goblin was already gone, leaving no trace behind.
“Is it dead now?”
[It’s been dead for a while. That was excessive, Beatrice!]
“It kept reviving, so I got a little excited.”
Beatrice loosened her tie slightly.
After breaking into a sweat for the first time in a while, she felt a bit warm.
“But what exactly was that thing? It regenerated even after being decapitated and split in half.”
The goblin no longer revived.
[You’re asking that now?]
“…I was too angry earlier.”
She had her pride as the Sword Emperor.
The goblin, which had utterly vanished, had deeply wounded Beatrice’s pride.
It would have been strange if she hadn’t gotten angry.
She cherished her swordsmanship more than anyone else.
At any rate, the situation had come to an end.
Beatrice headed back to the carriage.
The knights all stared at her with blank expressions.
‘You mentioned dark magic, right?’
[It’s magic that manipulates corpses. Low-level dark mages usually use monster corpses, while high-level ones can even animate human bodies. These reanimated corpses are called “Undead.” That goblin you just turned to mush was also an Undead.]
She’d heard of them before.
No, it was a name she was familiar with.
Because—
…She’d played a similar game before.
“Cadet Beatrice.”
Just then, Reiser appeared before her.
He wore a grave expression.
“What were you doing?”
“What do you mean?”
“It was a live combat situation. You should have followed our command, but you ignored it. If the monster had been stronger than Cadet Beatrice, you might have lost your life.”
She spoke confidently.
“Sorry.”
“……”
Reiser had intended to firmly reprimand her.
…But when she apologized so easily, he found himself at a loss for words.
“Please refrain from such reckless actions in the future.”
Reiser spoke quietly.
Beatrice nodded.
She understood Reiser’s perspective.
The situation earlier had been a reckless act, blatantly ignoring Reiser, who held the highest authority here.
If such behavior continued, the other cadets might follow suit.
It would only take a moment for the group to become a disorganized mess.
‘I’ll have to restrain myself.’
[Restraint doesn’t seem to suit young Beatrice.]
Of course, Beatrice let Solid’s remark go in one ear and out the other.
**
“It’s getting late. We’ll rest here and investigate the mountain range tomorrow.”
“Yes, sir!”
It was early evening.
There was nothing scarier than a mountain range at night.
Having just arrived at the village that had been annihilated, Reiser gave the order to rest.
They planned to investigate the mountain range when there was more daylight.
“Captain, don’t you smell something?”
“What kind of smell?”
“A stench. It’s awful.”
Falcon pinched his nose and furrowed his brow.
Reiser noticed the situation was growing increasingly strange.
‘The village has been destroyed, but there are no monsters.’
Other than the goblin from earlier, there were no signs of any monsters.
Could it be that a single goblin had annihilated the village?
Judging by its abilities, it wasn’t impossible.
After all, it was a goblin that used aura.
However, Reiser didn’t believe that a lone goblin could have caused all this destruction.
“Hey rookies, wake up already!”
“Pfft, is that how you talk to nobles?”
“Ah, damn it. What are they going to do about it?”
“They’re not even real nobles. Any of them inherited a title yet?”
“Like hell they have, idiot!”
The royal knights were beginning to stir.
Sometimes, Reiser felt embarrassed to share the title of knight with them.
Lately, he’d been seriously thinking about this.
‘Knights should at least receive basic etiquette training. Maybe not as much as nobles, but still.’
Their behavior was downright disgraceful.
But, …what could he do?
In Krapos, knights were heavily focused on “ability,” and even impoliteness was praised as a “knight’s virtue.”
Forcing them to adhere to strict etiquette would be a foolish endeavor.
Reiser shook his head and tapped Falcon, his vice-captain, on the chest.
“Keep the welcoming ceremony moderate. Just enough not to interfere with combat.”
“Pfft! Captain, trust me. Do you think I’d go too far with these softies? They’re nobles, after all.”
“…I’ll scout the nearby area. Make sure to keep things under control.”
“Control? My boys seem excited to taste blood after so long. Even I can’t stop them.”
“I’m not saying don’t do it at all. Just keep it reasonable. Reasonable.”
“Sometimes you sound like an old man, Captain. Fine, I’ll keep it moderate. But are you going alone?”
Reiser dismounted and answered.
“You all need to rest, don’t you?”
“What about you, Captain?”
“It’s natural for responsibilities to increase with rank.”
Falcon made an exasperated expression.
“No way I’m becoming captain, even if I die.”
Reiser chuckled faintly.
“I wasn’t offering you the position.”
“Captain!”
“Anyway, keep it under control and make sure they get to sleep, even if I don’t return. We’ll enter early in the morning.”
“…Got it. We’re not kids, you know.”
Reiser disappeared into the pitch-black darkness.
Falcon watched him for a while before shouting.
“Captain! Don’t come back dead!”
From afar, Reiser’s firm voice echoed.
“I’ll come back alive!”
Falcon chuckled and glanced at the cadets disembarking from the carriage with a hint of unease.
“Well then, let’s get started.”
Falcon’s expression was nothing short of ominous.
**
Beatrice was being scolded by Seria—not quite a lecture, but close enough.
“Sigh! Are you serious? I told you, you need to rest.”
“Ahem.”
Beatrice cleared her throat awkwardly and looked away.
‘But what can I do if I get angry?’
Of course, she knew that if she said that, Seria would immediately fire back tenfold, so she kept her mouth shut.
“…Give me your right wrist.”
“…It’s fine.”
“Is it really fine?”
-Press.
“…It hurts.”
Beatrice bit her lip slightly.
A sharp pain, almost like an electric shock, coursed through her wrist.
“See? It hurts.”
Seria frowned and cast healing magic on Beatrice’s wrist.
Beatrice’s expression relaxed almost instantly.
“As expected of a skilled priestess.”
“I told you, healing magic isn’t all-powerful. Your injuries are severe, Beatrice. You absolutely need to rest.”
“I know. I won’t step up again, so calm down.”
“I’ll believe you this time. But if you push yourself again, you’re going to hear it from me!”
Seria placed her hands on her hips and glared at her.
[Are you really planning to stay out of it? Young Beatrice, aren’t you serious about the Mana Heart?]
‘…With Argos around, it’ll be fine. As long as I strategize, I won’t lose the Mana Heart.’
Argos, whose skills were excellent in many ways, was on the same team.
She believed she didn’t need to take the lead to secure the Mana Heart.
“You rookies! Hurry up and get out!”
Noise came from outside the carriage.
Currently, only Seria and Beatrice were inside.
They had stayed back for Beatrice’s treatment.
“It’s noisy out there.”
“Let’s go out, too.”
-Nod.
Beatrice opened the carriage door.
“…?”
She was speechless at the sight before her.
Falcon, who had just noticed Beatrice stepping out, waved his hand and shouted.
“Tough lady! Come over and have a seat!”
-Sizzle.
Somehow, prepared in advance, delicious-looking meat was grilling on a fire.
Beatrice swallowed hard.