< 44 : Prelude (2) >
It had been five days since Peter left the city with Eutenia.
With the support of Viscount Shuron, they had prepared a carriage with their belongings and were smoothly moving towards the southwest of the empire.
Of course, they couldn’t travel all day long, so they would stop and make a fire and prepare a meal in the evening.
At the crossroad where they parked their carriage.
As usual, Peter lit a fire and was about to approach the carriage to get some ingredients.
If only he hadn’t noticed Eutenia sitting on a large rock.
“What on earth is that?”
On Eutenia’s lap, a strange creature was blinking its eyes.
Black scales covering its whole body.
Sharp horns sticking out of its head.
A small tail swaying from side to side.
There was also a golden pupil that was split vertically.
Peter recalled the picture that was displayed in the city and quickly realized that it was a dragon.
“Could it be… a dragon?”
“Are you curious about its identity?”
“…Anyone would be curious if they saw that thing.”
It was usually a place where a book would be instead of a dragon.
But now, instead of a book, there was a young dragon that he had never seen before.
It was a creature that he couldn’t even face until this morning.
Peter’s question towards the creature in front of him was natural.
Eutenia stroked the dragon’s head and said to Peter, who was curious about the dragon’s identity.
“This child’s name is Alpha. It is a descendant of the great one who sent it to me personally.”
“This thing is a descendant of the great one?
Peter made a puzzled face after hearing Alpha’s identity from Eutenia.
When people think of the descendants of the evil god, they usually imagine terrifying and powerful monsters.
But in Peter’s eyes, Alpha looked like it couldn’t even harm small animals, let alone people.
A tiny thing like that was a descendant of the evil god.
It was not a very believable appearance for Peter.
“It’s very small. It looks like it can’t even kill a rabbit.”
“Do you really think so?”
But Eutenia immediately denied Peter’s words.
It was an attitude that showed that Peter was underestimating Alpha.
Peter couldn’t understand why Eutenia said that.
No matter how strong it was, the difference in size was hard to ignore.
Unless Alpha used magic, it seemed impossible for it to catch an animal bigger than itself.
“Are you saying that this little thing can bite and kill a rabbit?”
“It can.”
“You mean it can kill it by biting, not by using magic?”
“This is not Alpha’s main body.”
This is not its main body.
Peter began to ponder after hearing Eutenia’s words.
If that tiny thing was not its main body, then Alpha’s real body existed somewhere else.
But when Peter looked around, he couldn’t see anyone who looked suspicious of hiding.
At least to Peter’s eyes, Eutenia and Alpha were all there was.
“If this is not its main body…”
“This is a kind of organ. An organ that acquires visual and auditory information and supplements information.”
Purr.
Alpha closed its eyes and snorted at Eutenia’s touch.
It seemed to like her touch.
Eutenia stroked Alpha’s head and looked at Peter with an innocent smile and asked.
“Do you want to see what Alpha looks like?”
“I’m curious, but…”
“Then I’ll show you.”
It would be a lie to say he didn’t want to see it.
Peter stared intently at Alpha.
Alpha was still closing its eyes and looked peaceful.
Peter added another word as he looked at Alpha.
“Is it going to pop out of thin air or something?”
“——Alpha.”
The moment Eutenia’s gentle voice echoed.
Peter stepped back from the change that occurred around him.
The anomaly happened on the ground where Peter was standing.
Eutenia’s shadow spread out and soon the shadow on the ground began to ripple like waves.
Woo woo woo woo woong.
Peter started to panic at the howling sound that shook his ears.
“What, what is this… Are you trying to use the hand of shadow?”
“That’s not it.”
A wall of shadow suddenly rose up around Peter, who was looking at the ground.
It looked like the shadow had a clear shape.
The large and huge wall blocked the way between Peter and the carriage.
It looked several meters high even to the eye.
Peter slightly distanced himself from the wall of shadow that rose from the ground.
“Wh, what…?”
Peter rubbed his eyes and checked the situation again after the sudden change.
What appeared in front of Peter was not a wall.
It was a huge creature wrapped in shadow.
Flash.
A part of the shadow opened and a golden eye looked at Peter.
The bright eye was the only thing that held light in the darkness.
Peter was then able to recognize what Alpha’s main body was.
“Is this…”
The huge darkness that existed in front of him.
That was the essence of the dark beast.
What it looked like on the outside was just an illusion.
Even the huge shadow that entered Peter’s sight was only a part of the dark beast.
Alpha was only sticking out a part of its head to consider Eutenia and Peter.
Eutenia laughed quietly at Peter’s attitude, who couldn’t hide his surprise.
“Do you still think Alpha is weak?”
“…Looking at its size, it seems like it could easily eat me too.”
He retracted his words that it looked like it couldn’t even kill a rabbit.
For a monster of that size, eating a small creature like a rabbit would be nothing special.
Rather, he was worried that he might be eaten by it.
It was not for nothing that the evil god chose Alpha as his descendant and sent it down.
“It’s okay. As long as I’m here, nothing like that will happen.”
A hand stretched out from Eutenia’s shadow and stroked Alpha, who showed itself from the ground.
The main body of Alpha also shook its head and enjoyed the touch.
Alpha seemed to have a gentler personality than expected.
It looked like a pet that was playing with its owner.
Peter looked at Eutenia, who was handling Alpha.
“…It does look tame.”
“Do you think so?”
A little dragon and a girl with ash-colored hair.
He saw the girl smiling as she stroked the dragon.
Peter thought that it was a pretty picture under the setting sun.
If only he could erase their identities from his mind.
***
Cloud, Leotis branch.
This was the place that governed the Leotis region, located in the southeast of the empire.
The branch chief and first-class investigator of the Leotis branch, Gedur, was a warrior of a minority race.
Red-eyed Gedur.
He was a person who rose to the position of branch chief of Cloud with his skill alone.
Gedur was appointed as the captain of the Kueberg subjugation team that he was forming at the headquarters, thanks to his outstanding skill.
There was even a rumor that Gedur would become a special-class investigator if he successfully handled this subjugation operation.
“How is the preparation going?”
Gedur wiped his huge muscular body with a towel and asked his subordinate.
He was asking about the preparation of the subjugation team.
The preparation of the operation was up to Gedur, the captain of the subjugation team, and the Leotis branch, which was the main force of the operation.
Gedur’s subordinate told him in a voice full of spirit.
“Personnel are arriving from each branch! So far, from Centrius…”
“Your voice is small. Did you eat less today?”
But Gedur’s mouth burst out with dissatisfaction at his subordinate’s voice that was full of energy.
Gulp.
The subordinate swallowed his saliva as he faced Gedur.
A vein popped up on Gedur’s forehead as he looked at his subordinate.
“No!”
“Answer louder. There can be no weaklings in our Leotis branch.”
“I’ll report again!”
“Yes.”
Gedur started to wipe his sweat again, and his subordinate reported in a louder voice.
His subordinate’s voice echoed in the office.
He was so loud that his throat turned red.
Gedur looked at his subordinate with a satisfied expression then.
“From Centrius branch, eight third-class investigators! Three second-class investigators! Among them, three are magicians!”
“…”
“From Upliod branch, sixteen third-class investigators! Two second…”
“Wait. Is that all they sent from Centrius?”
Gedur stopped his subordinate again as he listened to the report.
This time, it was a problem with the content of the report.
The number of personnel sent was less than what Gedur expected.
The subordinate immediately confirmed Gedur’s question.
“Yes! The total number of personnel sent from Centrius branch is eleven!”
“Agent? What about Agent? Didn’t he come here?”
“Agent Period, the branch chief, did not accompany the personnel!”
It was a monster that was causing a lot of damage.
He thought that Agent, the branch chief of Centrius, would come, but Gedur’s expectation was in vain.
Moreover, the number of personnel sent to the subjugation team was also too low.
Considering the number of investigators assigned to each branch, Gedur thought that Centrius branch had more room.
Gedur asked his subordinate, hoping that they would at least send a competent magician from Centrius.
“What about his subordinate, Hus Alemier? Is he on the list?”
“There is no investigator with that name on the list!”
“Agent! That damn bastard!”
Crash!
Gedur’s fist slammed down on the desk.
A large crack was made where his fist and the desk met.
The subordinate’s body flinched at Gedur’s gesture of hitting the desk.
“Why didn’t he come?”
“Agent Period, the branch chief, is currently performing another mission assigned by the headquarters.”
“What? He has another mission?”
“That’s what I heard from the personnel.”
Bang! Boom!
Gedur hit the desk a few more times.
Some parts of the desk that were hit by Gedur’s fist collapsed completely.
Unable to overcome the frustration in his chest, Gedur got close to his subordinate.
And he whispered in his ear with a small voice.
“There’s a monster attacking over there, is that mission so urgent?
“Th, that… I don’t know either. All I know is that it was a request from the holy land to the headquarters…”
“Where are the magicians? He had magicians that he always cursed at!”
“Th, that too… I haven’t received any reports…”
The subordinate’s body shrank as Gedur’s voice got louder.
But there was no solid answer from his subordinate.
All he knew was what he heard from the personnel.
“Why are there so few people!”
“There was an unpleasant incident recently, so they were short of personnel…”
“There was a problem on site? Well, that’s annoying but unavoidable.”
“Hoo…”
Gedur distanced himself from his subordinate after hearing why there were so few people.
His voice sounded like he understood.
The subordinate let out a sigh from his mouth.
But Gedur came back to his subordinate right away.
And he whispered in his ear with a small voice again.
“Your voice suddenly got small?”
“I’m sorryyyyyy!”
“Quiet! As soon as you go out, proceed with the formation of the magic soldier unit!”
“I understand!”
“Weakling! Get out of here!”
Crash!
Gedur, who had driven out his subordinate, breathed roughly.
It seemed that fewer people would gather than Gedur expected.
But it was impossible to delay the time indefinitely because of the lack of numbers.
Kueberg was moving towards the self-made spirit even at this time.
“I can’t miss this opportunity.”
The promotion to a special-class investigator was what Gedur had been waiting for.
It was unacceptable to lose this chance by failing the subjugation.
Grit.
Gedur clenched his teeth as he thought of Agent, the branch chief of Centrius.
Whether it was for the people or for Gedur himself.
This subjugation had to be successful.
