Chapter 108
“Derby-sama, there’s something you need to know! Sarjes’ army has appeared at the village entrance!”
Upon hearing the words of the young centaur who rushed in, the old centaur turned pale and looked outside. Apparently, his name was Derby, but now was not the time to be concerned about that. It seemed that something bad was happening.
“Sarjes?”
“He’s the bugkin in charge of the demihuman village. He’s a disgusting spider demihuman.”
When Sei heard that he was a disgusting spider demihuman, he immediately thought of the male spiderkin they met in Draupnir. Considering his ability, it wouldn’t be mistaken to think he had a decent position, so it wouldn’t be strange if he was leading an army. Derby raised his hand to stop Sei and the others from going out, while he told them he himself would go.
“Maybe they’re just here to look around. You guys should stay here.”
Leaving Sei in the house, Derby took a few young centaurs and left for the village entrance. And then, they confronted the bugkin’s army. Led by a male spiderkin, the other side had a lamia, a dryad, and a merman as well as an a.s.sortment of bugkin with weapons standing behind them. On the other hand, there were only a few centaurs. If a fight broke out, the latter wouldn’t be a match.
“What do you want?”
“Humans have infiltrated the village. They should be here…Bring them out.”
“Don’t know. Those guys aren’t here.”
“They’re disguised as demihumans. You don’t remember them?”
“There’re so many demihumans, I can’t remember them all. Leave.”
Confronted by the intimidating spiderkin, Derby responded forcefully without a hint of weakness. The atmosphere between them was like a hair-trigger situation. It wouldn’t be strange if a battle broke out. The dryad, who was behind the spiderkin, puffed her cheeks and glared at the centaurs.
“How arrogant! Are you trying to oppose us?!”
“Do you want to attack us? Oh, good. Do it then. That will free Sagittarius-sama.”
“Annoying—!”
Vocalizing her annoyance, the dryad moved her plant roots. However, the spiderkin stopped her with his hand and said in a cold voice.
“Stop this pointless provocation. There’re children in the village, right? I know you guys won’t abandon your children. Otherwise, you’d have resisted already.”
“……!”
Derby couldn’t respond to the words of the spiderkin, who kept his cool all this while. In other words, it was a fact that things were exactly as he said. Seeing Derby clench his teeth, the dryad smiled as if she had thought of something.
“Hey, sergeant. I’ve a good idea. Just one person will do. How about killing one as an example? How about it?”
“…Hostages must be kept alive for them to be meaningful. It’s foolish to kill them pointlessly.”
“You’re saying that again. Isn’t it just because you don’t want to do it? I’ll do it for you then.”
The dryad said casually as she reached out her branch. The branch caught a centaur child who was watching from the back. The other centaurs couldn’t even stop her as she retracted her branch and caught the restrained centaur child.
“I—caught—you!”
“Eek!”
“What are you doing?! Don’t lay your hands on the kids!”
“Please be at ease. This is the only time I’ll do it…provided you guys are honest with us.”
“…Despicable!”
Some of the young centaurs charged angrily at the dryad. However, the dryad’s arm turned into a whip and repelled the centaurs.
“Well, this time, you’re reaping what you sowed. Be sure to learn your lesson next time.”
The dryad concentrated wind arcane magic in her hands and tried to cut the centaur child. However, the spiderkin grabbed her hand and stopped her ma.s.sacre.
“…Wait. What are you doing?”
“You’re too hasty in making a conclusion. The centaurs are certainly a threat right now, but even so, they are still fellow demihumans…If Sagittarius-sama cooperates with us sincerely, they would be our comrades. I can’t approve of reckless killing which could lead to future problems.”
“…Sergeant, you’re really sweet.”
The dryad and the spiderkin confronted each other and a tense atmosphere developed. Eventually, the dryad yielded, sighing as she looked away. Seeing this, the spiderkin relaxed as well.
“It can’t be helped. I don’t want to fight the sergeant. I’ll spare you this time—”
While saying this, the dryad extended the branch holding onto the centaur child towards the other centaurs. It seemed she was going to return the child to them. Everyone was relieved to see this, but in the moment when they relaxed, the dryad swung her branch high up into the sky along with the child.
“Uh, wah—?!”
“—Not! There’re so many hostages, so killing just one is fine! The sergeant’s method is so sweet that it makes me puke!”
The dryad laughed cruelly and swung the child down from the sky to the ground. If this continued, the child would crash to the ground. n.o.body could react to the sudden development as everyone’s faces turned pale in the face of the impending tragedy. Sei and the others rushed out, but they couldn’t make it in time.
In the next instant, a flash of a sword cut the dryad’s branch into two. At the same time, a silhouette flew forth and caught the centaur child. It was like a savior or a hero who appeared just at the right timing. The dryad glared at the person who interrupted her, while the centaurs gratefully looked to their savior. And then, both sides cried out at the same time.
“Wah! It’s a monster?!”
—Standing right there was an unidentified lifeform. It had the upper body of a tiger beastkin, the lower body of a horse, and horns on its head. There were even moth wings on its back. It made one wonder what kind of mating could produce a creature like this. The creature was none other than the Sword Saint, Friedrich.
And the child was caught by the female knight whose upper body resembled that of a gorilla. Her lower body was that of a spider, so she was yet another unusual creature. The child, who was saved, saw their appearances and fainted.
“Wai—What is that?! What is that?! Disgusting, disgusting, super disgusting! What is that weird thing?!”
The female knight charged at the dryad who was confounded by their appearances. Her hand held a sword, which was the pride of the knights, while her numerous spider legs moved creepily.
“No—!?”
Almost in tears, the dryad retreated, but the female knight was relentless. Striking at a child to make an example for the public conflicted with the code of chivalry. It was absolutely unacceptable. Swinging the sword roughly with an angry expression, she hunted down the retreating dryad. The dryad extended her vines in a half-frenzy, but they were all cut off.
And she jumped, agilely moving from tree to tree while approaching the dryad.
“Grr—!”
The tiger growled in response to the female knight’s activity and slashed at the spiderkin. The spiderkin defended with his arm and a.s.sumed a position to test their strength against each other.
However, the dryad and spiderkin were still superior in terms of combat power. Although they were surprised by their sudden appearance and their looks, such a situation would not last for long. Therefore, there was only one thing Sei and the rest could do. They had to defeat the spiderkin and free the centaurs.
“It can’t be helped if it’s like this! Everyone, let’s go!”
“Yes!”
“Great! I’ll pay them back for what happened to Nick and the others!”
“And the pain of the guardian dragon!”
At Sei’s prompting, Gants, Jean, and Kaineko rushed forth at the same time. Behind them, Virgo sent a slash of light with her sword, while Cruz shot a magic missile right after that. The two attacks were aimed at the lamia and the merman, successfully dividing up the enemy as they evaded the attacks.
At the same time, Virgo took flight and launched a sneak attack at the lamia. The merman tried to provide support, but Castor was blocking him.
“Sorry, but every one of you will have me as your opponent. It’s fine to come at me all at once.”
“Y—You make me sick. Don’t be cheeky just because you’re a little good-looking!”
“No, it’s just a racial difference…Your appearance is rather unusual even among merfolk…”
“A—A while ago, I tried the human’s facial beautification method. And then, the mermaid I had a crush on dumped me!”
“……”
Castor took the blows silently as the merman slashed at him while relating his tragic tale. Sometimes, no matter what was said, it would only add salt to the other person’s wounds. That was how it was for now. Therefore, in such cases, it was the greatest kindness to the other party to just be silent.
Silently, Castor swung his anchor first at the merman, then at the bugkin army. One after another, they were rendered incapable of further combat. Meanwhile, Virgo flew over as several magic missiles pa.s.sed her by.
“We meet again, little girl! Have you come to continue what we left off last time?”
“Why are you people doing this?!”
“You won’t understand our feelings of being treated as monsters!”
The lamia shot a series of arcane magic at Virgo, but unlike the previous time, it was one-versus-one this time. Virgo flew unrestrained through the sky, evaded the magic, and counterattacked with her blade of light. But the lamia dodged her attacks and so the two of them fired away at each other from a distance. Virgo soared through the air, while the lamia moved on the ground like a snake. The current battle situation between the two became a complete deadlock.
“We certainly met in Draupnir…I see, did you come here to kill demihumans?”
“It’s really not like that…Well, I can’t deny it either.”
the other hand, Sei, Gants, Jean, and Kaineko had to join forces in order to bring the fight to the spiderkin. Even as they boldly attacked from all directions by taking advantage of their numbers and combinations, they were all guarded against by his arms. When he started to counterattack, Jean was sent flying into a tree.
“Hey, spider b.a.s.t.a.r.d! You seem different from the others, so let me give you some advice! Stop following that idiot Leon! Otherwise, all the demihumans will fall together with him!”
“I was wondering what you wanted to say. There simply isn’t any other way for us!”
“I see. Then you’ve chosen to follow the wrong boss!”
Gants’ battleaxe and the spiderkin’s arm collided, making sparks fly. Even so, the difference in level was a serious problem. Even though he had the characteristics of a bug, Gants was still pushed back despite using a battleaxe against his bare hands.
“Grr—oh!”
“Hah—!”
“Why am I the only one who has to fight these monsters?!”
Faced with Friedrich and the female knight, the dryad was running away with a desperate expression. Although she would win in terms of combat power, she had lost the will to fight because of their terrifying appearances. Moreover, magic was being directed her way from behind. As she wondered who it might be, she noticed a gra.s.shopper monstrous humanoid using magic for some reason. Seeing this, the dryad came close to tears.
“No—?!”
The dryad ran away in tears. The tiger-centaur-moth and the gorilla-arachne pursued her, along with the gra.s.shopper monstrous humanoid. It was now impossible to tell who were actually the hero’s companions. Sweat streaked down Sei’s cheek as he saw the scene before his eyes. This was definitely not a hallucination.
“An—Anyway! We’ll stop you!”
“Do it if you can! Human brat!”
Sei refocused his mind and readied his katana, while the spiderkin received his attack.
Then, the blade and the spiderkin’s arm collided.