Chapter 30: Meeting the manticore

The night passed without incident. I was relieved that the manticore didn't decide to pay the town a visit and feast on the residents. Even though everyone was safely indoors, the monster was so massive that it could easily topple buildings over like a miniature Godzilla, and then feed on the helpless humans that spilled out.

After waking up, I washed up before heading downstairs. The sun had already risen pretty high by the time I woke up – I was a night owl even before I became an undead and had a habit of sleeping late and waking up late – and the innkeeper was already working behind the counter. He looked up when he saw me descend the stairs.

"Breakfast?"

"No, thanks. I'm good."

I couldn't eat bread, unfortunately. I needed meat, thanks to my current physical constitution. It wasn't a very convenient thing, and I sometimes wished I could eat the same variety of food as normal human beings, but I had learned how to live with it.

"I'll be heading out now."

The innkeeper raised his head and stared at me in disbelief before I could step out of the inn.

"Are you really going to face the manticore on your own?"

"Yeah."

"…"

The innkeeper still didn't know whether he was supposed to take me seriously or not, but he didn't stop me. Shaking his head, he muttered something before returning to his task of wiping the mugs. Before I left, I had a question for him.

"Uh, sir, is there a blacksmith in this town?"

"Yes, there is. It is a few blocks down this road, you can't miss it. It has a sign with a sword on it. Look for Mr. Smith."

"Thank you, sir."

"Replenishing your weapons or maintaining them?"

"Repairing one of them, actually."

"Ah."

The innkeeper stared at the staff slung on my back and frowned. It obviously had no need of repair, but that wasn't the weapon I was talking about it. I kept Minamoto Kureha's sword hidden in my bag. I wondered if anyone would recognize the sword as the one wielded by the legendary Sword Saint. Then again, nobody had pointed out that I was carrying a staff that used to belong to one of the heroes either, so perhaps no one could tell them apart.

Furthermore, there was no Internet here, no photographs and visual media, so it would be hard for images of the heroes' legendary weapons to be distributed around Legnica. I shouldn't have to worry about anyone recognizing the weapons.

I tilted my head toward the innkeeper as one display of thanks before leaving the inn. Sparing the empty place one last glance before I walked out of the door, I felt sorry for the innkeeper. It was completely deserted – I must be the only business he had in weeks. At least ever since the manticore arrived to terrorize the town, anyway.

"Let's see…"

Following the innkeeper's instructions, I headed for the blacksmith's place. As he pointed out, there was a huge sign with a sword crudely painted over its wooden surface. Featuring the words, Smith's blacksmith store, messily scribbled over the wooden plank, it stood out in contrast to the other houses and shops.

Well, I guess this is exactly what I was looking for.

To be honest, I would have preferred to bring the sword back to the city, where more renowned blacksmiths resided in, but there was a high chance that they would recognize the weapon given how the heroes often patronized the place. Furthermore, I couldn't wait that long. I wanted to at least have the sword as an option against the manticore.

I have 16 gold…it should cover the repair costs.

If I wasn't mistaken, most repair costs were about 50 silver at most. There was no way the blacksmith would charge me 16 gold or more for a single sword, right? I could buy 160 new swords with that kind of money. Of course, they wouldn't be anywhere near the quality of this sword, but…

Taking a deep breath, I knocked on the door. There was a grunt on the other side, followed by a gruff "come in."

"What do you want?"

The bald, muscular man sitting at a bench and hammering at a piece of metal glared up at me. He blinked when he saw that I wasn't anyone he recognized, and softened his expression. Squinting at me beneath dark, bushy eyebrows, he growled gently.

"A traveler?"

"A mercenary," I corrected. The blacksmith, who I guessed was Mr. Smith, raised a thick eyebrow in disbelief.

"A kid like you?"

I shrugged. "Somehow."

"Well, Mr. Mercenary, what can I do for you?" Putting his hammer and the blade he was shaping down, he stood up and dusted his hands off a black, stained apron before placing them on his hips. A light shone in his eyes as he looked me up and down. "Well, I'll be. You must be one of them mercenaries Beltayn-sama called to exterminate the manticore."

"That's correct."

Smith grinned. "Finally…business has been slow for a while."

The guy evidently believed that I was part of a much larger vanguard, the first scout to arrive before the rest of my party. Just like the innkeeper, I suppose. Looking at how delighted that he was, I didn't have the heart to tell him the truth. Instead, I reached into my bag and pulled out the broken pieces of Kureha's sword.

"Do you think you can fix this?"

Smith's eyebrows rose when he stared at the broken sword. He had me place them on his workbench before appraising them closely. After a few minutes of studying, he raised his head and shook it in disappointment.

"Sorry, kid. This weapon is way out of my league. It was crafted not by men, but by elves. You'll need a demon artificer or blacksmith for a weapon as magnificent and powerful as that." he frowned suspiciously. "How did you get your hands on a sword like that?"

I couldn't tell him that I looted it from the late Minamoto Kureha, so I concocted a vague reply that wasn't far from the truth.

"I picked it up from the battlefield. It was broken, but it somehow caught my eye and I thought it would be a waste to leave it so I took it, hoping that I can find someone who has the ability to repair or reforge it."

"Ah, tough luck. I'm afraid I can't repair it. It's beyond my skills. The only way is to get those demons to fix it, but obviously they'll kill you the moment you step into their territory. Maybe wait for the heroes to conquer and enslave the demons first before you try your hand, eh?"

"…"

I didn't know how to respond to that. Enslave? The heroes were planning on enslaving the demons? Well, I wouldn't put it past Kobayashi to approve of such an absurd plan. The guy was so drunk in his self-perceived superiority that he viewed everyone in the world as his servants. The rest of my classmates were little better.

"You're nothing but a pathetic loser who should know your place! The strong eat the weak, and the weak succumb to the strong! Accept that fact of life!"

Kureha's words rang in my head and I sighed. Yeah, the whole class had gone insane, probably having allowed the power to go into their heads and swell their egos into unbelievable proportions. Maybe I should side with the demons.

Nah, I'm not going to take part in this war. My only goal is to kill my former classmates. Not to liberate the demons and save the demonic world.

That said, if helping them would further my goal of revenge, then I had no qualms participating in a demonic revolution.

However, before that…

"What about the blacksmiths in the capital? Do you know if anyone in the city can fix this?"

Smith snorted, as if insulted.

"Kid, I'm one of the best blacksmiths there are. I don't mean to be tooting my own horn, but I can forge and repair event he highest quality weapons forged by human hands. Take it from me, that sword was not forged by human hands. It was created by spirits, suffused with magic and blessings. Mark my words, there is not a human smith in Restia who can repair or reforge that sword, unless he's a hero. Perhaps the Sacred Swordsmith can, but you'll have a hell of a time arranging a meeting with one of the legendary heroes."

And they might just take away the sword from you. Even though Smith left that unsaid, I could almost hear those words.

"I understand."

I had no desire to meet my former classmates and ask them to help me repair a sword. The only time I wanted to meet the heroes was during an ambush where I had planned how to kill them. I doubted any of them would just accept my request and repair the sword – plus they would most likely recognize it as Kureha's sword and demand to know what I did with her.

That was, of course, assuming they didn't kill me at first sight.

With those thoughts running through my head, I bowed politely.

"Thank you, anyway. I appreciate the advice."

If there was no chance of repairing Kureha's sword at all, I would have just left it with Smith to scrap it for raw materials. I had no sentimental attachment to the sword, after all. However, after hearing that there was a way to restore the sword, I decided to hold onto it for a little longer. If even the demons couldn't repair it, then I would just give it to them for scrap metal.

It didn't matter to me. This weapon was just another tool in my arsenal.

Waving at Smith, I left the blacksmith store and proceeded to the outskirts of town. With the knowledge that no human blacksmith could repair the weapon (except the heroes), I decided to try my luck with the demons. Particularly if I could convince them that I would be useful in their efforts to resist the heroes' tyranny and genocidal cruelty, they might even repair the sword for free. Not that I was counting on that last bit…

What should I do now?

I glanced toward the mountains. Since Smith couldn't fix the weapon, there was no point lingering around waiting for my sword. I might as well go straight and tackle the manticore. The sooner I got this job done, the earlier I could return.

Except that I don't want to return to the city too early…not when the heroes are still there.

I didn't know how my former classmates would react to Kureha's disappearance. Would they send out a search party to look for her? Or dismiss her as running off somewhere by herself like Kijima and Tsukishima? Given her last conversation with Hoshizaki, they had to be complete idiots to continue assuming that.

I mean, there were stories that worked by virtue of the villains being too incompetent and stupid to pose a real threat, but reality didn't work that way. Kobayashi, for all his tyrannical personality, was shrewd. He would notice something was amiss.

Best to keep my distance from the city for a few days, at least until they give up and leave.

I had buried Kureha's remains in the middle of nowhere without leaving a gravestone or anything to mark her final resting spot. It would be a miracle for the heroes to find her, unless they had some sort of godly magic.

Despite my lack of enthusiasm regarding returning to the city early, I knew I couldn't allow the manticore to run rampant for much longer. The townsfolks' livelihood and even their lives depended on it. They had sought help but didn't receive any for too long because of the distance from the city. The mercenary guild owed them that much.

Besides, I might gain lots of experience and maybe a new special ability from defeating such a terrifying monster.

Thinking of the benefits, I proceeded toward the mountains. Summoning Matsukaze, I rode off from the edge of the town and toward the mountains. Under broad daylight, there was no sign of the manticore, but I refused to let my guard down.

There's no way something as big as the manticore would be able to disappear from sight like that. It's somewhere around here.

The sun had reached its zenith by the time I made it to the mountains. Urging Matsukaze gently up the slope, I scanned the mountains warily for any sign of the gargantuan monster. Slowly ascending to the peak, I glanced downward on the valleys.

"Holy Terra!"

I almost toppled over from the sight. For as far as the eye could see, there were bones. Mountains of skeletons, both human and animal, lay scattered in sharp and white heaps, piled atop each other indiscriminately. It was like a sea of white death, the flesh ripped off the bones and the skeletons bleached by the sun after a long while.

"God-Emperor of Man…" I mumbled, closing my eyes and making the sign of the Aquila. Seething, I dropped down from Matsukaze and cautiously drew near the bones. Using my necromantic magic and Absolute Appraisal, I was able to roughly estimate how long the skeletons had been lying in the mountains.

It varied. Most of them were days…months old. A few were fresh, their flesh stripped from their bones as early as last night.

I treaded through the boneyard, feeling a chill run down my spine despite the intense heat of midday. The manticore had to be here somewhere…it was the only culprit I could think of that was capable of such wanton massacre. A beast of that size surely needed this much food to sustain itself. But the ecology wouldn't last long…if not the humans in town, then certainly the organisms living in the forest would be preyed to extinction by this monster.

No wonder the heroes are so bent on the genocidal extermination of demons and monsters…

However, monsters were one thing and demons were another. My meeting with Lieutenant Elia Kratz and her subordinates had told me that demons could be reasoned with. They were sentient, intelligent beings just like humans.

If the heroes didn't drive them to a corner and into such desperation, there was a chance for coexistence.

The manitcore, on the other hand, was more likely to devour the poor soul who naively thought he could reason with it.

"Speaking of which, where is the manticore?"

I didn't see any sign of the manticore so far, despite traversing over large swathes of skeletons. It was a freaking boneyard filled with mountains of death. I winced every time my feet crunched over the brittle bones, crushing aging skeletons to powder.

"Sorry."

However, I had to marvel at the scale of death that the manticore had brought forth to these lands. While I felt sorry for the victims, I couldn't help but think that this was advantageous for me. A place full of countless skeletons.

There was no better battleground for a necromancer.

Well, even if this is advantageous to me, it's meaningless if I can't find the manticore. Maybe I have to wait until night.

From what the townsfolk told me, the manticore was only active at night. Just like me, a night owl, huh?

Then again, the whole point of me showing up during the day was to catch it by surprise when it was asleep and deliver the first, fatal attack.

Change of plans, I guess.

Fortunately, I still had a lot of time before the sun went down. I decided to spend it scouting the place and preparing for fields of overlapping fire and attack. At night, the dead was certain to rise, and I wanted to lure the manticore here at all costs.

The ground moved beneath my feet.

"?"

I glanced down at the skeleton I was inadvertently stepping on. Sighing, I rolled it over with my foot but it didn't move again. The skeleton was most obviously dead. Looking around, I saw that the ground had stopped moving.

It wasn't my imagination. I could tell from the clouds of dust that were fluttering down from the skeletons. A huge mass of them were rattling, rolling down each other as a result of being shifted by the earlier tremor.

"An earthquake?"

Now that I thought about it, this was the first time I experienced an earthquake in Restia. I had almost forgotten that such phenomenon existed. It had been so frequent in Tokyo that I was no longer afraid every time the ground shook beneath my feet, but at the same time I had gotten so desensitized to it that I forgot that they existed.

However, I was sure that wasn't an earthquake. Having experienced lots of them when growing up in Tokyo, I knew what a real earthquake was right.

This could only be one thing.

"The manticore."

Swallowing, I jumped up the skeletons and proceeded toward the peak of one of the hills. Matsukaze neighed from where I left him, but I dismissed him with a thought. If my suspicions were proven true, then I didn't need him. I would need more appropriate warriors to face my enormous enemy.

Boom!

A shower of skeletons were thrown up high into the air as something massive rippled from underneath. Roaring, the creature lunged out, swiping a colossal paw in my direction. Twisting around, I immediately switched my trajectory and hurled myself in an opposite direction.

Just in time, too. The claws swiped past the air where I had occupied a few seconds earlier. Hitting the spiky ground of the boneyard, which had turned completely black due to the colossal shadow that now loomed over it, I rolled to my feet just in time to catch sight of a titanic beast lumbering toward me, its scorpion tail stabbing forward to pulverize me.

The manticore.

It had finally shown up.