“Have you heard? A terrifying monster has appeared in Pinwood Forest!”
DUN DUN DUN!
“A monster? Everyone always makes a fuss… Last time, Max freaked out over a goblin!”
“No, this time it’s real! Just listen!”
In a shabby inn located about a day’s distance from Svinarant, three hefty guys were downing beers and chatting noisily.
They were chattering about a vicious monster in the forest called Pinwood.
I was quietly eavesdropping while shoveling down the tasteless stew I ordered at a corner table.
As the unimpressed local mentioned, monsters roaming the woods, not dungeons, are usually weak, low-tier monsters… but you never know.
It’s rare, but sometimes a powerful monster above troll level does roam out of the dungeon.
That likely happened when adventurers ran away from the dungeon’s boss monster, right?
Usually, they end up getting killed in the dungeon, but if they’re lucky enough to escape, the boss monster chases them out.
Seven out of ten times the adventurers die, but the remaining three become wild monsters, freely roaming outside the dungeon.
That was my understanding, anyway.
Once a boss monster escapes the dungeon, it becomes a disaster for nearby villages.
A troll rampaging in a village that barely dealt with goblins.
But hey, it’s still a mid-tier dungeon level monster, so it wouldn’t last long before being squashed by adventurers or knights… by then, a village or two might have been wiped out already.
So, it wouldn’t hurt to pay attention to the villagers’ fuss.
If it’s a real dangerous monster, maybe I could catch it in the name of Fernhilde on my way back and raise my renown!
So, I tuned in closer to their conversation.
“What kind of monster could make such a fuss?”
“A beast that killed thirty people! It’s covered in black shells, its head is all misty, and instead of eyes, blue flames burst out where its eyes should be!”
…An undead?
Coincidentally, there was indeed a monster I knew that matched that description.
‘A Headless Knight.’
It looked somewhat like a Dullahan, but unlike a Dullahan that rises and walks after being beheaded, it’s an empty armor inhabited by a restless spirit, moving as an undead type.
If you have a means to strike phantoms, you could take it down easily, but without that, it’s trickier than a troll.
…Looks like a more dangerous monster than I thought.
For someone like me and Friede, it’s no big deal, but for adventurers to take it down, they’d need at least a party with a priest suited for tackling such monsters safely.
It might be a monster I should go find and take down, not just one to deal with on my way back.
“Not just scary in appearance!”
A guy gulping down his beer continued the drama.
The men listening seemed intrigued, leaning forward to hear more of what he said.
“That monster shows up with a man-sized cannibal crow, piercing people’s heads with its mouth on its arm and devouring their insides! It’s eaten dozens!”
“Oh my god, that’s truly a horrifying monster!”
“Devouring heads? Goodness, I wouldn’t want to die like that…”
Uh, what’s this?
The description was a bit off. A headless knight doesn’t do weird stuff like eating heads.
Could it be an entirely different monster despite a similar appearance? With the whole brain-eating thing, it could be linked to Ganagl—
“Uh… Excuse me…”
That’s when Friede, who was sitting opposite, turned her head slightly, glancing around before whispering.
“Isn’t this about us…?”
“Ah.”
Realizations like this hit you out of nowhere. I dropped my spoon, mouth agape as I softly groaned.
What was I thinking? The monster the villagers were talking about wasn’t a headless knight at all.
It was a figure clad in black armor with an obscuring helmet, piercing a bandit’s skull with its arm and literally making a hole.
In other words, it was me.
…How ridiculous.
It seemed those who fled in fear spread stories everywhere, and panic-induced tales tend to get exaggerated.
Exaggerated rumors morphed, and the story of a wild knight became an outright monster tale.
Still, I was relieved there hadn’t been any word of lords or orders mobilizing a hunting party.
Adventurer rumors might spread, but by the time they arrived on-site, I would already be back at the manor, so no problem there.
…Right?
◆◆
The next evening. Having set off early, Friede and I arrived in Svinarant just before sundown.
“Fernhilde Esther… Siegfriede…. Yes, confirmed. Welcome to Svinarant.”
Being a fairly large city, sturdy walls encircled it all, with heavily armored guards vigilantly watching the four gates.
In the old days, I wouldn’t have even dared to enter.
Before getting the obscuring helmet, I would’ve avoided this heavily guarded city like the plague.
But thanks to the dyeing mage tool and disguised identity badge that Argantir prepared for me, I could now move in and out of such a major city without a care.
Even if the obscuring magic couldn’t activate, I still needed to conceal my face—just in case.
“Is this Svinarant…?”
Once inside, Friede couldn’t keep her head still, gazing around with an excited face, constantly marveling.
I understood how she felt. To me, it looked like a city famous as a tourist spot; there was a lot to see.
A lake city, Svinarant.
The massive lake in the city center flared golden in the dying sun, and the well-maintained roads and whitewashed buildings sparkled with reflected light.
Little boats floated on the lake, while small fish jumped up and down, creating gentle splashes.
Old men sat lakeside, smoking pipes next to their fishing rods, while a bunch of kids splashed around, playing happily.
Aren’t they cold? It is the north, after all.
I offered silent respects to the children cooling in the icy water and turned my eyes back to the streets.
“You can’t miss the special of Svinarant! Lake pig skewers!”
“Rent a boat! Three silver coins for two hours! If you’ve brought your lover, don’t miss this chance!”
“Hey travelers! If you’re looking for a place to sleep, come to our inn! Two silver coins per person! Free beer for two hours!”
The street was noisy with various hawkers. Even though the sun was beginning to set, the square was still bustling with walkers and merchants.
Somewhere, a well-dressed woman was admiring a display in a jewelry shop, while another group witnessed an adventurer in clunky armor flirting with his partner, waving his arms about.
While noble and commoner streets were strictly separated, everyone smiled and enjoyed themselves regardless of their status.
It’s like a completely different world.
Most cities I’ve seen were gloomy or full of rough neighborhoods, but this felt like a character gacha game’s beach event had come to life, bright and vibrant.
“Ugh… there are just too many people, it’s noisy… it’s dizzying…”
“Seriously. It’s overwhelming.”
Even the adventurer guild in Vespians wasn’t this lively. I couldn’t quite adapt to the overly cheerful atmosphere.
“Let’s go into an inn and rest. If we relax, the organization should reach out to us.”
That’s what the letter said. To find the marked inn, stick a feather in the window and wait.
“Sure, that sounds good… so where do we go?”
“Just a moment, the inn is written as… ‘Drowned Kelpie’. Seems like it’s over that way.”
“Uh… What’s a kelpie? What kind of name is that?”
Friede tilted her head, puzzled.
“Yeah, that’s strange.”
I felt the same way. A kelpie is a water monster that lures people to drown them.
Just having that name for an inn by the lakeside was eccentric enough, but adding ‘drowned’ made it all the more creepy.
It’s like naming a brothel “Orc Den of Venereal Disease.”
I was curious just who’d be crazy enough to name their inn that. You’d think anyone who saw the name would want to leave rather than stay.
Or maybe that was the plan all along?
If that inn was originally used as a ‘shadow’ meeting spot, having many ordinary guests would just get in the way of business, right?
“Well, at least it has such a unique name that we won’t pass it by unnoticed. Let’s go check it out.”
I patted Friede’s shoulder lightly and headed toward the location mentioned in the letter.
After roughly twenty minutes, we finally arrived at an inn that looked like it could collapse at any moment.
“Uh…”
No need to even enter; just the outside screamed filthy and unhygienic. It felt like every rat in town had gathered there.
“…Should we sleep elsewhere?”
A sigh escaped me.
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