Dark Fantasy’s Extra Chapter 128

The day after returning from Scale Bay, we received another mission to go outside.

This time our destination wasn’t far – it was a village near the Order that supplied various types of glass.

As the leader of the trainees, I had been there once before, and this was a kind of ‘field trip’ to make up for missing a day of training.

Of course, this was nothing like cultural tourist site visits from modern Earth.

“…”

“Dear lord…”

Shredded pieces of flesh lay before us.

We could barely identify what was what – those were fingers, that was bone… Though it was too mangled to make out much more, enough remained to tell it had originally been human.

“What in the world happened…”

Fear dripped heavily from one trainee’s voice, not entirely concealed.

“Isn’t it obvious? A Beast.”

I didn’t show even the slightest reaction.

I needed to appear as calm and unshaken as possible here.

“Looking at the state of things, it was an especially violent one.”

Still, even I had to admit this level of mutilation was rare.

Usually they would just eat organs like the heart or brain that contained some magical power, not needlessly tear everything to shreds like this.

“That means it’s dangerous too. The more cruel they are, the stronger they tend to be.”

“Th-then what should we do…?”

Asked the village chief who had guided us to this scene.

Though quite elderly, he must never have seen a person in such a state before – he was drenched in cold sweat when he first met us.

“The Order will send some hunters to guard the village.”

“What?! Is, is that true?”

Color returned to the chief’s face.

“Will they come today? Or perhaps some of you…”

“I’m not sure. It will probably take at least a month even at the earliest.”

The chief’s face drained of color again at the word ‘month’.

“A-a month? But that’s…”

“That’s actually quite fast.”

To be specific, these trainees would be dispatched here once they became official hunters.

Usually it takes half a year for trainees to become official hunters, but orders came down from above to reduce that period to 4 months.

It means these trainees would become hunters in a month.

Though it’s an unreasonable measure, the situation in the field is becoming urgent.

And even then, villages like Lasso Village that supply goods to the Order get priority – other places don’t stand a chance.

“In the meantime, the Order will specially form a guard squad to patrol this area daily. So there’s no need to worry too much.”

I heard this guard squad would even be led by mid-ranked hunters.

It’s not that they consider the guard duty that important – they just don’t have enough lower-ranked hunters to handle the work.

These trainees will probably all switch to being lower-ranked hunters once they officially advance.

“Oh that’s such a relief!”

They’re actually quite fortunate.

Though they were attacked, this place is relatively safe being near Order headquarters and gets quick responses like this.

But if even this village ends up like this, the villages on the outskirts are truly… hopeless.

Vinears settlement completely ravaged by Charmol and left with only undead.

Drang Basin and Cheshire Village where Vile used all the residents as research materials.

There will surely be countless more places like these…

“So just return to your daily lives and keep sending supplies. Then the Order will consider this village important and respond like this.”

“Of course, of course! We’d be completely finished if we ended up like Hameln after all…”

The chief shuddered as if horrified.

Hameln… the village that survived for hundreds of years by sacrificing children to a behemoth hiding in the mountain behind it.

What happened to Hameln after that practice was discovered?

It had been an incredibly wealthy village where even ordinary housewives had some jewels and rare Order-monopolized silver weapons.

Of course, the Order would have confiscated all the silver and jewels saying they were obtained illegally.

At least the woman who betrayed the village to request help and her son probably manage to survive through a plea deal…

But all other residents… The village itself must have vanished, being thoroughly marked by the Heresy Inquisition Department.

Since Hameln isn’t that far from here, the chief might have heard detailed rumors.

Though I have no particular desire to ask about it.

“Well, we’ll look around the village once more before heading back. And it would be best to cremate the body.”

“Yes. I’ll take care of it.”

“That’s alright. We’ll manage on our own, you should handle the body first. That won’t be an easy task either.”

“I understand. Thank you so much.”

The chief bowed deeply to me again before running back into the village to get people to help with the body.

“…Stand by.”

After confirming the chief was far enough away, I spoke to the trainees.

“No matter what happens, do not interfere.”

“What?”

“What do you…”

Though they were bewildered by my sudden order, they at least didn’t move from their spots.

Seems seeing the grotesque corpse made them a bit more disciplined.

I left them there and walked toward the forest in the distance.

As I got closer, the presence I’d been sensing became clearer about whose it was.

And after preparing myself mentally, I went toward the tree where someone was hiding.

“Eek!”

Someone lunged at me from behind the tree.

In their hand was a large, sharp piece of glass.

I… saw the attacker’s face and deliberately chose not to respond.

The glass shard pierced my thigh through my pants.

Though the wound wasn’t deep, I felt a sharp, burning sensation.

“Ah…!”

The glass shard in the attacker’s hand shattered and fell to the ground with a clatter.

Their blood-covered hand trembled.

“…”

I lowered my head to look quietly at the attacker.

“Ugh!”

Gerda quickly lowered her head when our eyes met.

“Why… why are you making that face…?”

Gerda asked.

“Why! You’re the one who did wrong! Just why!!”

Gerda clenched her bleeding hand that had gripped the glass shards into a fist and struck my stomach.

The chief had said.

Two people were missing, he said.

One of them was someone I knew.

“If you hadn’t come to the village…! My brother wouldn’t have left saying he’d become some hunter!!”

Gerda wailed.

“It’s all your fault! It’s your fault and yet…!”

“…”

A strong hunter who fights Beasts while receiving respect and good money.

Children’s thoughts usually don’t go beyond that, so they tend to admire hunters.

There are even cases of children running away from home with nothing but the clothes on their backs saying they’ll become hunters.

Just like Kai did…

“Give him back! Give my brother back!”

Gerda’s strength seemed to give out as she fell to her knees.

I grabbed Gerda’s arm.

“Let go…!”

Though Gerda tried forcefully to shake off my hand, I didn’t let go.

“I don’t need any of this! Just get lost!”

“Are you satisfied with that?”

“What?!”

“I asked if you’re satisfied with that.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your brother… might not be dead yet.”

“…!?”

“I saw the corpse over there. It was a horrific sight.”

“When you know that…!”

“Your brother is blonde, right?”

“…Huh?”

“But the hair over there was only brown.”

No matter how badly mangled, you can still roughly guess characteristics of the deceased from things like hair color or the size of identifiable parts like fingers.

And the remaining fragments at that horrific scene earlier belonged to an adult victim with brown hair.

“Are you going to give up on everything so easily? Without even trying to look for your brother?”

“P-please help me! Please!”

Gerda desperately grabbed my pant leg.

“I need to find my brother! Pl-please… ah…”

Gerda stopped when she saw the wound on my leg.

“Ah, I-I’m sorry about earlier! I’ll do anything… anything so please forgive me! My brother Kai… he…”

“…I can’t look for your brother right away.”

“Th-that… if, if I give you all the money I have…”

I knelt down on one knee to meet Gerda’s eyes.

“That’s not the issue. We have many things we must do too. Finding and killing Beasts. We’ll probably hunt down the Beast that attacked your brother too.”

“The Beast…”

“If there’s someone who needs to find your brother, it’s you. Only you.”

Kai and Gerda had no parents.

Gerda probably reacted so intensely because of the shock of losing her only family.

“But… alone I… I don’t have any power…”

Gerda is a smart child.

She must know well that she stands no chance on her own.

Kai probably snuck out in the middle of the night because the practical Gerda would have opposed it.

“Then gain power. I can help with that.”

“What do you…”

“You probably have talent. The talent to become a hunter.”

“That’s impossible. There’s no way…”

“Gerda.”

I grabbed Gerda’s shoulders again and looked straight into her eyes.

“We don’t know for certain if your brother is alive or dead. If you want to become strong enough to at least confirm that, then come with me.”

“I, I…”

“…”

I waited quietly for the hesitating Gerda.

Decisions are always difficult after all.

“…I’ll… come with you.”

“…Alright.”

I took out bandages and covered the wounds on Gerda’s hand.

“Thank… you.”

“It’s nothing.”

…There’s no way Kai could be alive.

Though it’s true there was no corpse, the reason for that is obvious.

It must have swallowed him whole.

But I couldn’t just leave Gerda in this village.

In Blue Paper Moon, Gerda was a child who grew strong almost as quickly as the protagonist.

She must have incredible magical power aptitude – if someone like her were to become a Beast…

I took Gerda’s hand and returned to where the trainees were.

“Who is she? And those wounds…”

“…She’s my younger cousin.”

“What?”

Both the trainees and even Gerda flinched at my lie.

“But…”

“She has magical power aptitude so I was planning to bring her sometime. Since I’m here now, I’ll take her with us.”

“But she looks quite young…”

“At this age… she can join now.”

That must have been one of the reasons Kai stepped forward saying he’d become a hunter.

Since they greatly lowered the entry requirements, he probably thought he could do it too.

“I see…”

Though the trainees seemed awkward and puzzled, they couldn’t say anything more.

“Well then, let’s do one final patrol of the village before heading back… Gerda.”

“Yes… Brother.”

Brother… huh.

Fortunately Gerda played along with this lie.

She’s a smart child after all…

“Go pack your things and come back. Don’t be late.”

Gerda nodded and ran into the village.

And after finishing our patrol of the village, we returned to Order headquarters with Gerda.