Chapter 64

Chapter 64

Fort Polrwin (3)

“You didn’t swing your sword through the air because you couldn’t see ahead and didn’t know where it was...?”

“Would it have been better if that were the case?”

“N-no, that’s not what I mean... How did you do it? Sword aura or something? Was it that?”

Judging by Yakuna’s words, she did not seem to have much knowledge about swordsmanship.

“...It would probably be easiest to think of it that way.”

And so, I decided to let it pass roughly.

If I were to explain this to Yakuna, who was not an academy student but only an ordinary soldier, the story would become too long.

There was no particular need to explain it in detail either.

“But now...”

I muttered softly to Yakuna, who was sitting on top of my body, staring blankly at the yeti.

Sierra, watching us, was narrowing her eyes more and more.

“Ah, ah... ah...”

Only then did Yakuna realize what posture we were in.

Her tail thrashed.

“...”

Yakuna rose without a word, her cheeks flushed.

I also stood and sheathed my sword.

[ Why would a yeti known for being gentle be so full of rage? Are you not curious, Disciple? ]

Then Sierra’s voice rang in my head as she examined the yeti.

Just as she said, yetis were not strongly aggressive monsters.

They were usually extremely gentle, so unless they were angered by some stimulus, they did not run around in particular.

“A stimulus, huh.”

There had never been an incident in the game where someone from the patrol squad died after being attacked by a yeti.

Was what had just happened a coincidence?

Or was it a deliberate attack?

—Thud...

Soon, the headless body of the yeti tilted and fell to the ground.

Yakuna approached the yeti’s body and bent down before it.

“It looked terribly angry... It was a creature that would normally just laze around in its shelter, so why...? I only watched it from afar and sometimes exchanged waves with it...”

Yakuna said this in a pitiful voice while stroking the yeti.

“It must have been a very gentle one...”

I seemed to have killed something that might have been something like this snowy mountain’s mascot.

“I think we need to find out what happened. Where is the yeti’s shelter?”

“Follow me.”

I moved after Yakuna.

Soon, a small cave that had been the yeti’s shelter appeared.

“The lich...”

The yeti’s shelter was located fairly close to the lump of ice where the lich was frozen.

“This makes it fairly obvious who provoked the yeti...”

The Demon God worshiper.

There was a high chance he had visited this area while pretending to check a barrier.

But there should still be two days until he resurrected the lich. Had he perhaps tried to check it up close?

Before long, I entered the cave with Yakuna.

A bone-chilling cold poured from the shelter whose owner had vanished.

Yakuna took the lead and searched the inside of the cave.

“I don’t find anything especially strange even after looking around...”

Yakuna muttered while looking around inside the cave.

I spoke to her.

“By any chance, what kinds of things might provoke a yeti?”

“Mm... Oh, right! Last time, the squad leader told me not to run recklessly near a yeti. I didn’t know why back then...”

“Because the yeti might be provoked... perhaps.”

“That’s probably it... Let’s go back for now. I don’t think we’ll find anything else by searching more.”

Just as she said, there was nothing greatly unusual either in the yeti’s corpse or its shelter.

“Let us.”

Yakuna and I left the cave like that.

“For now, whoever did this, it does not seem intentional.”

Just as various thoughts came and went through my head.

“...”

An object somewhat out of place for something on the snow-covered ground entered my sight.

[ What is that? There is something strange. Let me borrow your arm for a moment. ]

Sierra also found it then and grabbed my wrist, leading me.

Yakuna was walking ahead, so she did not see it.

Guided by her hand, I picked up the book.

What was in my hand was a small black book.

I opened the book and checked its contents.

The book was filled with “unreadable” letters.

“4042466... 3049732723...?”

The only things I could read looked like numbers, but there was no way these were numbers.

I immediately slipped the book slightly toward Sierra.

After all, Sierra had been the one who suggested picking up the book.

[ This is... Why is this here? ]

Sierra’s face grew serious as she read through the contents of the book.

If she knew what kind of book it was, then it made sense.

Then Sierra, glancing at me, continued speaking.

[...It is written in the language of the demons. There is no way a demon passed through this snowy mountain, and whoever dropped it, it is not something suitable for a human to possess. ]

I knew the owner of this book.

There was only one bastard who would have dropped a book like this here.

“So he lost it here?”

Information I could not have known from the game flowed into my head, and the puzzle pieces fit together.

The Demon God worshiper must have come to check the lich’s condition while pretending to inspect a barrier.

I could not know whether he was coming or going, but it seemed he had not known there was a yeti around here.

He must have run in surprise... and the yeti had been provoked by that sight and became violent.

He must have dropped this book while fleeing from the yeti.

I remembered the words the Demon God worshiper had muttered in the game during the scene where he resurrected the lich.

“To think I lost the book of all things... A complete resurrection will be difficult, but this should still be enough...”

There was a very high chance that the book he had mentioned in that scene was this book.

Since snow would have continued to pile up without stopping, by the time he realized he had lost the book, it would have been too late.

The lich’s complete resurrection.

Indeed, the lich I had faced in the game had been in a state of incomplete resurrection.

After all, it was only the second boss, and if it was too strong, the balance would not fit.

Suddenly, the word “incomplete,” which had been attached to the reward one could obtain from killing the lich, brushed through my mind.

If the lich succeeded in completely resurrecting through this book, and I caught it, would “complete” be attached to the reward instead of “incomplete,” or would the word itself disappear?

It was a rather tempting story.

I closed the book and sniffed it.

Because I was still not used to that man’s scent, I could not distinguish it.

Perhaps that was the limit of “Keen Senses” level 7.

But it seemed certain that he was the owner of the book.

In any case, before Yakuna noticed the book, I quickly tucked it into my clothes.

Just then, Yakuna turned around and opened her mouth.

“Zeto, why aren’t you coming?”

“...I was thinking for a moment. I will go now.”

At my answer, Yakuna shrugged once, then began walking again, her tail swaying.

[ Do you intend to bring that book with you...? If something goes wrong, it could create a great misunderstanding... ]

At Sierra’s question, I nodded while following behind Yakuna.

After confirming my will, she let out a hum.

[ Hmm... I cannot understand what this disciple of mine thinks as he lives. ]

I had no intention of holding on to it for long.

Because I planned to bring it to him right before he resurrected the lich.

“Instead... that will raise the difficulty sharply.”

Even so, the reward felt far too attractive.

***

When Yakuna and I returned to where the yeti had been, Kaen’s group was there.

They said they had heard the roar of the tree breaking and the yeti’s howl and immediately ran here.

Especially the Demon God worshiper. He was visibly flustered, asking how on earth I had caught the yeti.

This incident might have made him wary of me, but it did not matter much.

Even after talking with them, we could not easily find an answer for how the yeti had become enraged.

The Demon God worshiper also kept his mouth tightly shut.

Well, no matter what happened, it was decided we would move the yeti’s corpse to Polrwin.

If left alone, other monsters would come and go for a while, creating danger during patrols.

Besides, the yeti was ultimately a rare monster, so there were many useful parts.

However, Yakuna said the meat alone was absolutely not edible.

Judging by her expression when she said that, it seemed she had eaten yeti meat before.

After it was decided to move the corpse, Yakuna stepped forward and tied the yeti with rope to make it easier to carry.

The torso was handled by Kaen, Rooster, and Buckland, while the head was handled by me and Yakuna.

Because there were few of us, we had to reinforce our strength with mana to move the heavy yeti.

Still, thanks to the rope, we somehow managed to drag it along the ground and return to the fort.

Perhaps because it was dawn, there were almost no people on the street, but one bearded man was approaching us as if he had been waiting and had found us.

Soon, Rooster shouted loudly at him.

“Squad leader!”

It seemed he was the leader of Night Patrol Team 1.

“I was worried because it was your first patrol, so I was waiting...”

The squad leader, having approached us, stared at what had “been” a yeti and continued.

“...What happened here?”

The squad leader asked for an explanation, and Yakuna took the lead and reported what had happened.

After Yakuna’s report ended, the squad leader nodded, then opened his mouth.

“So that is what happened... It was such a gentle and mild creature that we did not bother subjugating it, but... it is truly fortunate no one was hurt.”

The squad leader said that, then turned around and approached me.

Then he placed a hand on my shoulder and opened his mouth.

“You said you were Student Zeto, yes? I heard the story. When the academy asked if you could be placed in the night patrol team, I was quite bewildered... but to think you could handle sword aura at your age. Thanks to you, Yakuna’s life was protected. Truly, thank you.”

It was the instructors’ intention to place me in the night patrol team, then.

It was probably Edward’s doing.

“Though it is temporary, I also think I merely did what I had to do as a member of the patrol team.”

“Hahaha, you are modest too. Still, gratitude is gratitude, so what do you think about letting me and these fellows handle the dismantling of this thing instead?”

“You mean us...?”

At the squad leader’s proposal, Buckland frowned.

“You little bastard, what are you frowning for... Is it because you want to meet Black Blood? Black Blood or whatever, you needed to learn this too, so think of it as doing it in advance.”

“Yes...”

At the squad leader’s bark, Buckland’s spirit drooped.

“After the dismantling, if there is no specific part you need, we will calculate everything in money.”

The squad leader turned his head from Buckland and spoke to me.

“Thank you for taking care of the complicated work for us.”

“Then go into the temporary lodging first and rest. You will have no problem finding the way back, yes...? I heard you have a special ability.”

“Yes, it is fine. Miss Kaen is beside me as well.”

I smiled awkwardly and scratched my head.

The patrol had ended faster than expected, so some time remained.

Since it was still dawn, it seemed the time had come to take care of work with Kaen.

“The timing is fine, but...”

If there was one thing bothering me, it was that Kaen looked terribly tired because she had not slept.

Well, unlike last time, this was a simple task... so would it not be fine if we finished quickly?

I thought there might not be many other chances to make time at an hour when people did not move around much.

“...Miss Kaen, let us go to the lodging and talk. It is about information.”

After finishing my calculations, I approached Kaen and whispered in her ear.

At my words, Kaen’s tired-looking face rapidly returned to normal, and her eyes began sparkling.

Then Kaen whispered softly in my ear.

“Hehe, I was wondering when you would mention it... So you finally need my body?”

That code, which was not even like a code, needed to be changed quickly.

***

After parting from the squad leader and the others, Kaen and I immediately entered the lodging and were having a private conversation.

“Pardon...? Where did you say we have to go...?”

Kaen, who had been listening quietly to my explanation, asked me back as if she wondered whether she had heard wrong.

“...A brothel.”

“A brothel... By brothel, you mean the brothel I know, right...? Student Zeto...! When you said you needed my body, did it truly mean something where my actual ‘body’ was needed?!”

Kaen stammered and hurriedly stepped back from me.

[ It seems I will need some explanation too? ]

At the same time, Sierra’s voice rang in my head as she glared at me.

“Th-then... that day at the inn, the reason you did not touch me... was because you had that kind of taste...?!”

At Kaen’s words that followed, I sighed and scratched my cheek.

“I had a feeling this would happen...”