Attack on the Ryan Barony (1)

When everyone realized what Titan meant.

We fell into silence for a while.

“Lost.”

“Well, such things happen. We’re not the only hunters around here.”

“There was human blood spilled.”

“Maybe someone got hurt fighting magical beasts?”

“Who fought whom? You mean this plant that doesn’t attack humans?”

“……”

He’s quick-witted.

Just not very tactful.

He hasn’t noticed Burke’s face turning pale.

He must be guessing.

He can naturally imagine what happened here, knowing what kind of misconduct his family has been up to.

Still, there’s nothing he can do. He’s been compromised.

So he can’t carelessly petition Duke Forys either.

“Titan.”

I close my eyes and kindle a flame.

After taking a drag of tobacco.

I speak after a slight pause.

“There are others who need to handle this matter. So all we need to do is report what we suspect happened here.”

“……”

“Understand? If you remember what I said, it’s better not to make any hasty moves here.”

“Y-Yes! I’ll talk to the Master about this matter.”

Burke, who had been watching, finally seemed to come to his senses and shouted.

Titan too, finally seeming to grasp the situation, spoke with a disgruntled expression.

“Fine. I remember what you said, so I’ll refrain from unnecessary actions.”

Bang!

Titan swung his hammer hard, shattering nearby trees. But he took no further action.

Though understandable, it was still an outburst born from his difficulty accepting the situation.

“Just needed to vent.”

*     *     *

After today’s training ended on an unsatisfying note and Burke hurried back to the hunter’s guild, we decided to have an early dinner.

“Come, sit. We need to eat.”

“Hmm.”

“Moving rashly there would have only caught the tail. To do this properly, we need to crush the head.”

“…You mean we need to identify who the head is?”

“Right. We just recently built connections with the information guild, so we can use that.”

“Hmm.”

Of course, I already know who the head is without needing to go to the information guild.

But taking that stance of already knowing would raise suspicions.

I’ve already been acting suspiciously lately.

In that state, if I declare that I know who the enemy’s head is, suspicion would likely turn toward me as well.

I need to put on a show.

“They really might have been accidentally attacked by other magical beasts there.”

“Getting attacked by magical beasts in the middle of an area with only plants? What a believable story you’re telling.”

“I’m just saying to keep possibilities open.”

“Lost, I don’t understand. Why do humans hunt their own kind? If you dislike someone, shouldn’t you crush their head honorably in a duel?”

“You’re right, perhaps humans are just stupid.”

And you shouldn’t carelessly crush heads even if you dislike someone.

“Not ‘perhaps’ – just stupid. If they were even half as good as orcs, this wouldn’t happen…”

What incredible pride.

Come to think of it, how often do I feel pride in being human? Perhaps never more than self-loathing.

Indeed, as Titan says, we might not even be half as good as orcs.

“Let’s eat first. What do you want?”

“Then I’ll have this……”

I choose my menu and pass the menu to Linea.

I’ve learned recently that, perhaps because she’s a beastkin, she mostly eats meat.

Doesn’t she get tired of eating meat for all three meals? Though maybe she’s used to it being a noble.

“Give it to me too.”

“Do you even know how to read?”

“Hmm!”

Titan didn’t answer.

He just practically stole the menu from Linea’s hand.

After glaring at the menu for a while, Titan reached a conclusion.

“…Can’t I just ask for everything written here?”

“Be honest, you can’t read, can you?”

“That’s right!”

“Why are you so proud about that?”

“Is there any reason I shouldn’t be proud just because I can’t read?”

“No, but you’re royalty.”

“That’s right!”

Shouldn’t he know how to read then?

His pride leaves me speechless.

“Study is nothing but tricks invented by weaklings who can’t solve problems with their bodies.”

“That’s a new take. Can your father not read either?”

“No, father can read and write. Originally, I should have received such education too. But…”

“But?”

Titan answered my question with a slightly serious expression.

“None of the orcs who tried to teach me were stronger than me.”

Is he saying he physically overpowered his would-be teachers? No, that method?

“I don’t take orders or teachings from those weaker than me.”

“…Just order everything.”

“Mm!”

Right, we’ll need to work hard soon, so we should at least eat well.

*     *     *

It was around the time we returned to our rooms, looking forward to tomorrow. While I was hanging my coat and refining future plans, I heard a knock.

“Lost, are you asleep?”

“Linea?”

“Yes, it’s me.”

“What is it?”

When I opened the door, Linea appeared in similarly casual attire.

What could she be thinking, visiting a man’s room so fearlessly this late at night?

…Though perhaps she’s confident she could easily subdue someone like me.

“About what happened during the day. Did you deliberately hide those people we met earlier from Titan?”

“Well, something like that.”

It’s a natural progression.

Evidence emerged of people being attacked in a place where attacks shouldn’t happen.

And in that state, there were others moving in large groups.

It’s only natural to suspect them as the culprits.

The hunter’s guild would surely place them under suspicion too.

Of course.

If a report was filed.

Burke would probably hide anything related to his family even if he made a report.

And based on that, he’d try to negotiate with his family.

But the side whose weakness has been exposed can’t hold the upper hand in negotiations.

The moment Burke tried to use it as leverage, Baron Ryan could implicate Burke as well.

Even if he threatened to tell Duke Forys, he’d only be detained.

Burke can’t handle Baron Ryan physically either.

If he’s detained like that, even the child he considers his only family would be in danger.

In the end, he’ll keep his mouth shut.

And what if by some chance he breaks through all these obstacles and reports Baron Ryan?

“If he reported it, it would destroy the family. Allowing a noble without territory to live in his domain, only for them to engage in human trafficking? Duke Forys would demolish the entire Ryan family mansion.”

Burke would finally be free from the Ryan Barony. But at the cost of losing everything.

That’s how nobility works.

They view not individuals, but the family as a single entity.

Duke Forys is no exception.

He would surely bury Burke Ryan and his sister along with them.

Though they might show some consideration given his position as a whistleblower, they won’t think about Burke and his sister’s future.

After all, looking after the family of criminals? What kind of nonsensical situation would that be?

Even if they wanted to, they couldn’t.

So I plan to resolve this at our level. Make it seem like the troublemaker was royalty rather than the barony.

Then Duke Forys won’t act rashly either.

Give them justification and steer it toward damage control rather than punishment.

“Linea.”

“……”

“I think Burke is a good person. This is the conclusion I’ve reached after spending this week with him.”

“…I think so too.”

“So we should give him a chance.”

A chance to choose how he dies.

That’s the minimum mercy I can offer Burke.

*     *     *

I sought out Shade to request information about the Ryan Barony, and the results came faster than expected.

Once they set the Ryan Barony as their target, they caught the trail in just a day.

“My, seems the Ryan Barony was up to some interesting business? Pretty bold. To think they’d dare in Duke Forys’s domain…”

“That’s enough of that. Since we know, just monitor the hostages’ locations and the movements of their retainers.”

“The payment?”

“I’ll pay after this is over.”

“Are you planning to skip out on payment, or are you saying you’ll have information worth the price when it’s over?”

“The information will be worth several times what you’re thinking.”

“Oh? Well then, I’m looking forward to it.”

Shade stroked his beard with a sly smile.

He seems to have been too busy to shave properly lately, probably because of the information I gave him.

Given his good mood, he must have been quite pleased with what I provided.

It’s not so bad, thinking we could establish a friendly relationship as initially planned.

“But what are you planning to do with this information?”

“Human trafficking is a crime not permitted in any country. They need to face the consequences.”

“If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be best to tell Duke Forys?”

“That person would punish the Ryan Barony with collective responsibility. We need to leave a path for the innocent ones to survive. I am a priest, after all.”

“The old man does have that tendency. Got pushed around a lot in his younger days? He tries to root out even the smallest evil.”

Though it sounds a bit chilling when put that way, Duke Forys isn’t such a bad person. He’s someone who takes responsibility first when it’s his duty.

He’s just living the most appropriate life as a noble.

“I’m curious how you’ll handle this. Planning to do it without Duke Forys knowing? That’s going to be quite troublesome, right?”

“Is there any need to hide it from him?”

In the past, I would have done so.

Until recently, I was wracking my brain over such concerns.

But now we have power too. Though it might be superficial, it’s enough power to serve as an indulgence.

“We’ll just put Titan at the front and smash through. Kill those who need killing and save those who need saving. Before Duke Forys arrives.”

“Oh my, this is going to be quite the spectacle.”

It’s not such a bad thing to push forward without thinking about the consequences.

If you have the ability or social background to take responsibility for it, what better method could there be?

We’ll strike like a storm. We’ll unleash Titan’s power to the maximum in the kind of stage he wants.

Make it so they can’t even think about the hostages, like an unprecedented terror suddenly descending upon them.

They’ll crumble without being able to mount any effective response.

“But that’s not all, is it?”

“……”

“If that were all, you wouldn’t need to track the movements of the barony’s retainers, right?”

“Don’t be too curious.”

I placed the pure white mask I had recently made on the desk.

A pure white mask coated and hardened with Beast Cephalotus mucus.

“That’s my business.”

“Oh my, if it’s that side of things, I’d rather not know.”

On the mask’s forehead was an inverted cross carved with rough knife strokes.

*     *     *

As Lost predicted, the Ryan Barony did not yield to Burke’s threats. They had no need to.

When weighing what Burke held most dear against a tail they could cut off at any time.

It was obvious which side would give in.

Burke ultimately chose to keep his mouth shut.

However, Baron Ryan didn’t simply trust Burke’s compliance.

Security at the mansion was tightened, and they began paying attention to recent information.

Thud!

‘Surely not…’

The two guards watching the Ryan family mansion swallowed hard at the sudden vibration traveling through the ground.

They knew.

They could easily guess the source of this vibration.

Such rumors had been circulating.

That someone had begun moving to strike at Baron Ryan.

Such blatant and bold declarations of war had been spreading subtly.

Thud!

But they had dismissed those rumors with a sneer.

No matter what, this was a noble’s mansion.

No one would dare attack such a place so boldly. Such actions beyond common sense…

“No.”

Thud!

Yet doubts arose.

Would that monster follow human laws?

Could the orc race really make rational judgments?

What if they didn’t think about the consequences?

And those hypotheses forming in their minds were easily confirmed by the regular, increasingly stronger vibrations coming through the ground.

‘This is insane!’

Thud!

There was no one in Duke Forys’s domain who didn’t know about it recently.

Even they, thinking this way, had heard rumors about it.

And a few days ago.

When they happened to see that being with their own eyes, they had realized something.

‘Please don’t come…’

Thud!

You must not fight against it.

The guards trembled at the approaching vibrations even as they readied their stance.

‘Don’t come…’

Thud!

Monotonously echoing vibrations.

The sound of something massive irritably stomping the ground.

One watched beyond the building while the other listened to the vibrations.

‘Once it passes that building…’

It would appear. The opponent had already come within arm’s reach.

There was nothing to block the view in front of the Ryan family mansion’s main gate.

That was natural.

Though they were merely clinging to the Forys domain, Ryan was still a noble.

Since they often used horses and carriages for transportation, the area in front of the main gate had to remain open.

Thus, it was easy to see anyone approaching the main gate.

“……”

So that ‘monster’ would have to reveal itself somehow.

The guards gripped their spears tightly while breathing roughly.

As they remained tense like that for a while.

‘The vibrations stopped?’

They could tell that the vibrations that had been shaking the earth until now had disappeared.

“Did it leave?”

“Seems like it?”

Still, the guards maintained their vigilance while listening carefully.

There was no sound.

The monster didn’t jump out from between the alleys either.

“Right, there couldn’t be a fool who would charge in from the front…”

Just as the two were about to breathe sighs of relief.

Crash!

Not from the alley they had been watching, but smashing through walls and buildings in an instant, ‘it’ appeared.

“Urk?!”

“Ugh… ugh?!”

They didn’t even have time to scream.

The guards found their faces caught in its grasp, that is, in Titan’s hand.

As if trying to prevent their screams from escaping.

“Lost said you’re guards, not warriors.”

In his kingdom, there were no guards.

Since all who protected their kin were warriors, they didn’t designate people specifically for such duties.

“I think that’s a good thing.”

That’s why it was surprising.

A profession solely dedicated to protecting others appealed to him.

By Titan’s standards, that was a profession worthy of pride.

“Though what you protect may be filthy and vile, one who tries to protect something deserves recognition.”

“Mmph…! Mph!”

Titan tightened his grip on the guards who were struggling desperately to escape his grasp.

His will to not allow even a single word was palpable.

“So you must understand. The difference between a call for help and a scream of terror.”

The guards wanted to scream in pain but couldn’t even do that with their mouths completely covered.

“A scream of terror spreads to those behind you, those you’re meant to protect.”

Someone who protects others should provide reassurance. They should be a reliable wall that allows others to rest easy.

They must never scream.

“So if you truly are protectors.”

Crunch!

“Die here and maintain your honor.”

The guards’ heads were crushed in Titan’s grip.

“I apologize. I’m sorry I couldn’t grant your wish to alert the others.”

They must not be discovered.

So that no one can escape.

He would seal off every rat hole.