Chapter 21 - Chapter 21: On the Way Home
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Chapter 21: On the Way Home
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"Rodnyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!"
"What is it, old man?"
"What is this alcohol!?"
"It's beer, you know?"
"It's delicious! The fizz is good!"
"It's still a prototype, so I think even better beer will be made eventually."
"When it's done, let me know immediately!"
"Unlike Mariede, the aging period is short, so a few prototypes will be finished during winter."
"What!? You'll send them to me, of course, right?"
"Your face is too close, old man. Also, during winter is impossible. Our Dedel Territory is heavy with snow, you know."
"But Manas passes through, doesn't he!"
"No, Manas has a snow cart. Moreover, he uses Selvanui that aren't bothered by snow at all."
"Those are from my store. That's it! I'll give you a cart! So give me the beer!"
"No, you can just have Manas take them back when he comes, right?"
"That works too! Alright, I'll order Manas to do it!"
What a noisy grandfather he was.
After pestering Rodney, that grandfather went to pester Emilia. He was immediately kicked away, and while fallen, was stepped on by Shima, but he had a very happy face.
After staying four nights and five days, Rodney and the others departed from the Hacklehoff mansion. Heading north, they arrived at Kerupe, the production area of Mariede, and purchased three barrels of Mariede there.
It wasn't for Rodney to drink, but for his mother Sharume to drink and to give to his excellent subordinates. Rodney, who had downed beer in one gulp in front of Count Banyusas, doesn't like Mariede that much. He drinks beer because he likes the fizzy carbonation, but he thinks Mariede is just alcohol with high potency. So he thinks it's fine to drink Mariede just for social occasions.
I'm really glad I made beer... From now on, I'll work to have beer served at celebratory occasions.
It happened right after leaving Kerupe.
As they progressed along the highway, they saw panicked people running from the north. It came as a wave of people, so without doing anything reckless, they pulled the carriage to the side of the road and stopped.
"I'll go check."
At the unusual panic of the people, Yulin spurred his horse and went to check what was happening. When Yulin returned, he said that, surprisingly, a Selvanui was rampaging.
"Why is a Selvanui on the ground?"
"Probably, they summoned it but couldn't control it," Rodney answered Emilia's question. Lower-class Selvanui can be controlled with the source power of 'Summon', but that's not the case for middle-class and above. If the summoner's power is insufficient when summoning a middle-class or higher Selvanui, they cannot control the Selvanui. When that happens, the Selvanui goes wild according to its instincts.
"Ahead is Baron Menisas's Deldo Territory, right?"
"Yes, it seems the Selvanui came from Deldo Territory."
"I hear Baron Menisas is away at the battlefield, but who summoned it?"
Life Light Stones become more expensive as they go up in class. A middle-class Life Light Stone costs at least 4 small gold coins, and an upper-class one requires 10 large gold coins or more. Therefore, those who can summon are limited to the rich.
Kerupe's territorial soldiers ran past. It's getting quite chaotic.
When the wave of people subsided, Rodney and the others also approached. They saw territorial soldiers flying through the air.
"Whoa, that's no good."
"Wow, the territorial soldiers look like trash."
"Emilia. That's rude to the soldiers."
The Selvanui fighting the soldiers was a giant armored knight. Rodney searched his memory and thought it was a rare Selvanui called a Knight King Ogre.
Unlike the Headless Knight that appears on the 4th floor of the Abandoned House Labyrinth, this is a knight with a head. The Knight King Ogre has a huge body 2 lom (4 meters) long, and its head has splendid horns, hence the name 'Ogre'.
"That's an upper-class Selvanui. It's strong."
To summon and control a Knight King Ogre, you need strength enough to defeat an upper-class Selvanui with several people including the summoner. If there are such strong people, fine, but if not, the territorial soldiers will likely be wiped out.
"Surround it and fire 'Fireball'!" the captain ordered, but Rodney thought that an attack like 'Fireball' would be like a mosquito bite, and told Yulin to prepare for battle.
"Big Brother, me too."
"Emilia, you're wearing a dress, so you're spectating today."
"Ehh."
Emilia had several dresses made at Shima's favorite store. Today she was wearing one of those dresses, and it was not an outfit suitable for combat at all. Looking at that dress, he remembered that he hadn't worn the clothes made at the store he went to with Shima before. Those clothes were stored carefully at the Hacklehoff mansion.
I made useless clothes. Even if I receive party invitations from Count Banyusas, I'm busy and don't attend. Of course, I made excuses to skip, but I should attend soon. Maybe I'll participate next time.
Rodney, thinking he should at least attend Count Banyusas's parties, and with the debt repayment in sight, decided to gradually start doing noble-like things. But only gradually.
Leaving the carriage's protection to the territorial soldiers, Rodney and Yulin headed to the battlefield.
"I'll lend a hand."
"We appreciate it."
About half of the 20 or so soldiers had been taken down by the Knight King Ogre.
"Hyaaaaaaah!" Yulin readied his greatsword and slashed at the Knight King Ogre. The Knight King Ogre blocked the greatsword with its shield. It brought out its own giant sword in counterattack, but Yulin stepped back and stopped the giant sword. An impact strong enough to dent the ground pressed down on Yulin's greatsword.
"Yulin!"
Responding to Rodney's voice, Yulin, who had deflected the Knight King Ogre's giant sword, leaped back. Rodney's fired 'High Heat Flame Bullet' hit, but the Knight King Ogre blocked it with its shield.
The power of the 'High Heat Flame Bullet' was tremendous, and with a roaring explosion, the Knight King Ogre lost its left arm along with the shield.
"Wh-what power..."
At the same time as hearing the captain's stunned voice, Yulin, seeing the Knight King Ogre's left arm disappear, struck.
"Sei!" The Knight King Ogre tried to counterattack Yulin with its giant sword, but Yulin's greatsword slipped past it and cut the Knight King Ogre's right leg.
After that, the Knight King Ogre had no good points left, and was cut to pieces by Yulin, finally having its head cut off and stopped moving.
"We are grateful for your assistance."
The captain expressed his thanks, and reinforcements arrived from Kerupe.
There, they learned that Rodney was Knight-Baron Forbas who governed Dedel Territory, and the captain invited Rodney and the others to Kerupe's administrative office and entertained them.
This incident was immediately reported to Count Banyusas in Bassam, and at the same time, an investigation was conducted into where the Knight King Ogre came from.
The next day, a messenger from Count Banyusas came to Kerupe and conveyed his thanks to Rodney.
"That Knight King Ogre partially destroyed the Baron Menisas mansion, so the summoner is believed to be an associate of Baron Menisas."
Rodney felt that this was turning into a complicated matter.
Because an associate of Baron Menisas failed to summon that Knight King Ogre, two of Count Banyusas's soldiers died. Additionally, six were seriously injured and five lightly injured.
If there had been prior notice that the Knight King Ogre was rampaging and might invade Count Banyusas's Zabalujeen Territory, things might not have become this serious, but even after several days, there was no contact, much less an apology messenger.
This is a problem between the Baron Menisas House and the Count Banyusas House, so Rodney couldn't stick his nose in. So he decided to leave without lingering.
On the way back, they did not pass through Baron Menisas's Deldo Territory, but took a detour through Lilis Territory, then Seppa Territory, Aplan Territory, and back to Dedel Territory.
This incident spread quickly among the northern nobles.
Baron Menisas heard about it on the battlefield. Moreover, he heard it not from his own people, but from other lords. His reputation ruined, the enraged Baron Menisas immediately ordered his heir, who was managing his territory, to investigate the cause.
The summoning of the Knight King Ogre was carried out by the Baron Menisas's heir. He had ordered the cover-up and didn't worry. He thought it would be easy to conceal.
Then, when his father Baron Menisas sent instructions to investigate the cause, he panicked and ordered someone to be framed. He didn't know that this would create a decisive rift between the Baron Menisas House and the Count Banyusas House.
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