In a corner of Bainen’s estate stood the brick mansion of House Esther.
“Welcome back safely! I’m so relieved. I was a bit worried since you arrived late.”
My stepmother greeted us warmly with a smile mixed with relief, like a mother welcoming her soldier son back from leave.
“Um… I’m back.”
“Long time no see!”
Despite our awkward greeting, we couldn’t hide our discomfort… It wasn’t because we expected something from our stepmother.
What caught us off guard was not her reaction, but her outfit.
“Uh, Mother. Are you going out? Why are you wearing armor…?”
Indeed, my stepmother, Lady Veloren Esther, was fully armored unlike usual.
She wore slightly worn but well-maintained plate armor. A pristine white bear fur cloak and a backpack. With a longsword at her waist and a dagger at her side, she looked like a knight setting out to purge a dungeon.
“Oh, a notice came from the kingdom’s knights with a pension. Monsters have been appearing that are dangerous enough to require royal knights. If you’re interested, you might as well go and participate in the hunt.”
“Didn’t the kingdom’s knight order retire? Why…?”
“That’s exactly why. It would be a disgrace if a royal knight fell to wandering monsters, so they first deploy retired knights nearby.”
Royal knights represent the kingdom and the royal family’s core strength. They have to be cautious with troop deployment.
If they send too few and fail, it would be a complete embarrassment. If someone dies, it would be a disaster; sending too many would be shameful for the royal knight order.
So, every time such a problem arises, the knight order sends notices to retired knights to see if they can gather information or act as bait.
By using retired knights, they suffer no loss if those knights die or fail, and they can use their defeat to build a more solid operation plan, making it advantageous instead.
On the flip side, if a retired knight succeeds and slays the monsters? That would also benefit the knight order.
They could show that even a retired knight is exceptional, bolstering their reputation.
Using retirees as bait and disposing of them if they die while celebrating any victories; what a crafty trick that is.
“Of course, there’s no obligation to respond. If you don’t feel like it, you can decline.”
At least they weren’t forcing retirees, and if you succeed in the hunt, you’d receive a hefty reward; you could call it their last conscience, I guess?
Anyway, the reason my stepmother was fully armed was that very hunting notice.
“I’ve been declining until now, but… this monster seems intriguing, so I thought I’d go check it out. The appearance site piqued my curiosity.”
“To catch your interest, what on earth is this monster? Don’t tell me it’s a Dullahan or an Ogre?”
“I’m not sure if it’s a Dullahan or not. I can’t quite tell… maybe it is, maybe it isn’t…”
She tilted her head and trailed off. The knight order that sent the notice seemed unsure as well.
“Hmm…”
Even without fully identifying the creature, it was powerful enough to consider deploying royal knights…
That was quite the interesting story. I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea for us to go hunt it down instead of Mother.
“Is it completely unidentified?”
“According to the notice, it said it’s an undead type of monster. I heard it’s referred to as ‘Braum’s Nightmare’… Hilde, you’ve heard the rumors, right?”
What.
“Using Pinwood Forest as its base, it stains the lake with darkness and commands monsters that emerge from the polluted lake to slaughter knights.”
“……”
I was left speechless at the identity of the unexpected monster.
Braum’s Nightmare from Pinwood Forest? Who would have thought I’d hear that name here too?
Unbelievable, really.
With a blank expression, I looked at my mother, and Friede gazed up at the sky, bursting into laughter.
Seemingly unfazed by our reactions, Mother continued sharing information about that monster.
“Recently, it seems to have expanded its territory, and several adventurers heading that way have been killed. It’s horrific.”
…That was probably twisted information from thieves attacking them.
“Even paladins that went to hunt it have reportedly retreated after an unknown ambush. That’s why the knight order has moved.”
What the heck…?
Paladins lost? To whom?
“Um… isn’t that just a rumor?”
I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Surely, someone like a paladin wouldn’t lose to common bandits. What in the world could they be fighting that made them lose?
“It’s not a rumor. The retreated paladins reported that undead appeared with a black lightning strike and ambushed them at night.”
“…Undead?”
“Yes. Monsters with armor covering their rotting flesh. Unlike typical undead, they were resistant to divine miracles, so they suffered greatly.”
Uh… I think I know who that is.
That characteristic magic of black lightning.
Undead flesh resistant to divine miracles.
Since both are entities featured in the original story, as soon as I heard about the paladins being ambushed, I instantly recognized the identity of the enemy.
‘…That’s definitely Ariane.’
Ariane Babelos.
The witch who briefly battled with me after Ganaagl, her main powers were exactly those two types of magic.
The black lightning containing a curse of corruption and Kelbern’s dark strikes.
The magic that transforms humans into horrific monstrosities is called the Dark Baptism.
In the original story, Ariane transformed humans she had abducted into ‘Dark Baptism’ beings and paraded them around.
I could understand now why the paladins retreated helplessly. Those monsters appeared undead, but in reality, they weren’t undead at all.
Monsters created by the Dark Baptism are not undead; they’re simply humans twisted beyond recognition due to the curse, rotting and distorting beyond their original forms.
That’s why, unlike deadly undead severely hurt by divine miracles, they only receive basic damage like any ordinary creature.
In short, they were monsters that had to be physically killed.
Of course, considering that each was a monster surpassing even top adventurers, defeating them wouldn’t be easy either.
With Ganaagl, for some reason, she showed up alone, and I could drive her away, but if she brought those monsters then I’d have no means of dealing with them.
Anyway, thanks to that knowledge, I immediately grasped what the paladins had encountered.
Perhaps Ariane, intrigued by the widespread rumors, had come to Pinwood Forest and ambushed the paladins as soon as she saw them.
That woman always had a habit of attacking first when she sees a cleric of the goddess.
If the paladins discovered her identity, it was likely that the rumor of ‘Braum’s Nightmare’ took hold, labeling her as the one who summoned those monsters. But seeing there’s no talk about her, she probably wasn’t caught.
So, ‘Braum’s Nightmare’ took the blame for the bandits’ actions, plus Ariane’s misdeeds too.
What an absurd situation.
The only wrong I committed was slaying dozens of thieves and cutting down a few of Baron Braum’s soldiers.
Yet, whether by coincidence or inevitability, a convergence of events linked me to all sorts of heinous deeds, resulting in my infamy soaring sky-high.
I even received bounties from the royal knights who were busy blocking deep dungeons.
“I was actually a little worried because of that. I wondered if you might have encountered that monster on the way back. If you were injured or delayed, I was concerned. Thankfully, I was just overthinking.”
“Um… well…”
…I did encounter that monster. In fact, almost daily. Every time I washed my face at an inn or by the stream.
“In any case, I will go hunt that monster, so you rest for a while. It won’t take long.”
My mother smiled as she made a declaration of murder. I was left in a situation where I had to stop her.
I couldn’t tell if she was looking forward to a tough battle or if it was a knight’s sense of duty… Either way, pursuing Braum’s Nightmare would lead her nowhere.
That’s not a monster, it’s all a misunderstanding.
“Um, wait, Mother.”
I grasped my mother’s hand to stop her, forcing a smile to hide my embarrassment. My grin was probably incredibly awkward.
“Y-you really don’t have to go. After days of hard work, why not just stay home with us this time…?”
“Hehe. You can’t win me over that easily. Even as a retiree, I can’t leave such a dangerous monster unchecked.”
She shook her head with a smile as if she found my concern endearing. It was a gentle but firm rejection.
“No, I mean…”
I was sweating profusely.
“Don’t worry too much. I’ll be back soon.”
My mother began detaching my fingers from her hand, preparing to turn away. The only way to stop her… was one thing.
I had to reveal the truth.
“Um, about that monster from ‘Pinwood Forest’… that’s, um… it’s my doing…”
“……What?”
Its effectiveness was remarkable.
Her steps faltered as she was about to walk out the estate.
“What did you just say…?”
Stopping in her tracks, she turned to look at me like a child who just learned Santa Claus is actually their father.
“Listen, let me explain how this happened…”
I hurriedly recounted the entire chaotic tale behind the monster situation.
How I only dealt with bandits, but it got twisted into something attributed to a monster.
On the way back, I got in a scuffle with Baron Braum’s men, leading to the deaths of three knights and several soldiers.
Those two battles sparked rumors about the nonexistent monster of Pinwood Forest.
“…What about the rumor that it stained the lake to summon monsters?”
“After fighting Ganaagl, I washed myself in the lake, and an elemental that couldn’t handle the filth died. I’m not sure about this monster thing.”
That I killed the elemental with just a bath left her speechless in disbelief. I thought it was just as ridiculous.
“What about the rumor that claimed many adventurers were slaughtered?”
“That’s probably the bandits’ doing. It felt like every bandit in the world had come to the area.”
Sure, I killed some bandits, but there were likely plenty more causing chaos on the streets.
“What about the story of paladins being beaten back?”
“That was done by Ariane, not me. It was nighttime, so they probably didn’t recognize her as the attacker.”
“Ariane? The ‘Apostate Ariane’?”
“Yeah. Right after killing Ganaagl, she ambushed me and started shooting black lightning.”
Thanks to my coherent explanation of all the circumstances and speculation, my mother finally accepted that the monster was actually a made-up phantom encompassing my actions embellished by some misunderstandings.
“What on earth…?”
She was utterly stunned by the idea that I went to secretly hunt down Ganaagl and returned with an even more notorious monster.
She sighed, her face showing a blend of disbelief and incredulity.
“It seems you’ve quite the genius for earning infamy…”
Feeling resentful, I thought, ‘But this isn’t my fault, is it…?’
I felt unjust.
Though saying that led to nearly thirty minutes of scolding.
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