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Chapter 67 - Monster Stampede (1)

"My lord, there have been strange tremors coming from the mountains recently. Reports of eerie sounds have been pouring in from the townspeople..."

"Yawn. It’s probably just the wildlife acting up. Order the hunters to bring in some extra hides, and that should take care of things."

"Yes, I’ll do that for now."

One day, there came a troubling report.

The Count of Arient responded with a bored yawn.

How serious could tremors in the mountains really be?

There couldn’t possibly be anything as terrifying as the massive earthquake that almost turned the entire Arient territory upside down, right?

It was probably nothing.

The Count of Arient decided not to give it too much thought.

But the next day...

"My lord! It’s an emergency! The hunters have reported seeing monsters in the mountains!"

"Monsters in the mountains? Hahaha! What a ridiculous joke! Not even a dog would laugh at that! My father, my grandfather, my great-grandfather, and even my great-great-grandfather never heard of monsters coming from those mountains! Are you suggesting that the Vermont territory beyond the mountain has released them?"

"Huh?"

"...Huh?"

That sounds... surprisingly plausible!

The butler and the Count of Arient exchanged strange looks.

Vermont, a place infamous for all kinds of experiments and atrocities—releasing monsters wouldn’t be out of the question.

"No, no. Don’t speak nonsense! My dear younger brother would never do something like that!"

"Y-Yes, you’re absolutely right, my lord."

No, I mustn’t be suspicious.

Who saved Arient Construction from the brink of bankruptcy? Vermont.

Who kept giving us contract after contract to help us pay off our debt? Vermont.

Ah, my dear brother.

How could I have been so narrow-minded, letting old prejudices cloud my judgement?

The Count of Arient shed tears of repentance, deeply reflecting on his error.

"I must have misheard. There’s no way there are monsters. Tell the hunters this: if they want to prove their story, they need to bring back the corpse of a monster."

"Yes, my lord. I’ll relay the message."

The Count was convinced that the hunters, frightened by the dark night in the mountains, had embarrassed themselves and were now blaming monsters as an excuse.

There was no other explanation.

The Count of Arient quickly reached his conclusion and dismissed the matter once again.

But three days later...

"M-My lord! We’re in trouble! There are widespread reports of monsters!"

"What!? Did they all start hallucinating at the same..."

The Count of Arient’s words trailed off as he stood up.

Outside the window, far off in the distance, he could see the lush green forest of the mountains... collapsing.

"Aah!"

An enormous, black wave-like swarm, too numerous to count.

Ants. They were ants.

A massive horde of ants was swarming down the mountainside, and the Count of Arient’s face turned deathly pale.

"Get all the townspeople into the castle immediately! If you miss even a single soul, you’ll be severely punished!"

"Yes, my lord!"

"And... and send for aid from the royal palace... No, request help from Vermont first!"

If those things get inside the castle, we’re all dead.

The Arient territory will be wiped out!

The Count trembled in fear but clung to a single thread of hope.

"Brother, I need to ask for your help one more time..."

Aslan Vermont, notorious for his eccentricities.

Perhaps, just maybe, he had some trick up his sleeve to save them from this catastrophe.

Praying that it was true, the Count of Arient hastily threw on his coat and rushed outside.

***

"Julia! Hurry up! It’s urgent!!!"

"Wahhh! I was just eating a snack, what’s going on...!"

Thud, thud, thud.

Pulled by Charlotte, Julia dashed out of the room in a panic.

She was dressed in comfortable clothes, hastily throwing on a coat and hat. Judging by the crumbs on her lips, it seemed she really had been in the middle of a snack.

"It’s an emergency."

"Then we should bring Earthy too! ...Right?"

"Call for him."

"Earthy! Come here!"

[Kyaaa! What do I care for human emergencies...]

At that moment, Julia opened her mouth wide.

Shaa!

She let out a strange hissing sound.

[Kyaaaa! My body is moving against my will!!!]

"There you are, Earthy!"

Thud, thud, thud.

From far off, a cloud of dust kicked up as Earthy came running toward them and jumped into Charlotte’s arms inside the carriage.

Lucky guy.

"Let’s go."

"What about Knight Sister?"

"She left earlier, on horseback."

Sylvia couldn’t wait for us, so she had gone ahead.

Riding on horseback would be faster than traveling by carriage anyway.

Since I’d recharged her mana, she should be able to handle the initial situation for now.

With myself, Charlotte, Julia, and Earthy all aboard, the carriage raced out of the estate and sped through the night.

"So... what exactly happened?"

"There’s a monster stampede in the mountains, and the Arient territory is in danger. From what I’ve heard, a large number of giant ant monsters have appeared."

"A monster stampede...!"

Charlotte and Julia’s eyes widened, their mouths falling open in shock.

It was no surprise.

A monster stampede is an extremely rare disaster.

\'Then again, even monsters themselves are rare.\'

Monsters.

They’re animals that have been mutated by mana.

Normally, animals tend to avoid areas with high concentrations of mana, but if they are forced to stay in such areas for extended periods, they eventually transform into violent monsters.

If only one or two animals transform, it’s not much of an issue.

The problem is when an entire group of animals mutates into monsters.

That’s when a horde of monsters wreaks havoc, and this event is known as a monster stampede.

"Where could so many monsters have come from...?"

"Maybe Earthy knows something, since he used to live in the mountains?"

"Earthy! Do you know anything? Hmm?"

[Kyaaa!]

Charlotte grabbed Earthy and shook him, demanding answers.

[How would I know!? Do you think I’d let monsters run wild in my domain?]

"Who else would know, then? Think harder!"

[If I say I don’t know, I don’t know... Wait. Now that you mention ants, something does come to mind.]

"What is it!?"

"Tell us! Hurry!"

Thud, thud, thud.

Charlotte and Julia held Earthy tightly, shaking him for answers.

[When I was in hibernation, there was an ant colony that had settled beneath where I slept. They kept coming out and bothering me, so I sealed them inside a barrier.]

"Wait. If I recall correctly, a barrier is made of highly concentrated mana."

[That’s correct, human.]

"…"

A barrier, formed from concentrated mana.

The ant colony trapped inside would have been exposed to high levels of mana for a long time.

Which means...

"Earthy, this is all your fault!!!"

[...!]

Earthy’s barrier had caused the monster stampede.

Charlotte screamed at him, holding him tightly, while Earthy turned his head away, avoiding eye contact.

[Why are you blaming me? If the barrier had remained intact, the monsters wouldn’t have been able to get out. It’s your fault for dragging me away from the mountain, so I couldn’t maintain it!]

"You could have told us! This is all because you didn’t say anything!"

[I... forgot.]

"Hey!!!"

"That’s enough. We can argue about whose fault it is later. For now, let’s focus on solving this."

To calm the commotion, I opened the window of the carriage.

Rumble!

Like an earthquake, the sound of the ground shaking filled the air as a massive black swarm of ants covered the land.

In no time at all, they had overrun the villages in the Arient territory, destroying every structure they touched without leaving a trace.

"From here on, we have to fight those things."

"..."

"..."

Charlotte and Julia were speechless, their mouths hanging open in awe and terror.

.

.

.

"Has everyone from District 5 been evacuated?"

"N-No! We’ve confirmed the evacuation of Districts 1 and 2, but Districts 3, 4, and 5... still…"

The butler’s voice trailed off, and a vein bulged on the Count of Arient’s forehead.

Damn it! The monsters have already reached the outskirts of the village, and this is the current state of our evacuation efforts?

Districts 1 and 2, being close to the castle, were evacuated quickly.

But the outer districts were the most populated, and we haven’t even evacuated half the people yet.

"Why is this taking so long?! At this rate, all of my subjects will die! If they die, how will they pay their taxes?"

I haven’t even paid off my debt to Vermont!

I’m barely managing to pay the interest, and if we lose all those taxpayers, the Arient territory is finished!

A miracle! I need a miracle!

The Count of Arient’s hands trembled.

"All personnel and soldiers are being mobilized, but it’s not enough. Half of the guards left the territory a week ago for training, and it will take at least three more days for them to return..."

"Dammit! How can we be so short-staffed at a time like this...!"

"My lord! Look over there!"

"...!"

At the butler’s sudden cry, the Count of Arient turned around.

What he saw was a line of townspeople, walking in an orderly fashion towards the back gate of the castle.

That direction... isn’t that from District 5?

But there shouldn’t be any guards over there. Who’s leading those people so orderly?

"Who’s handling the evacuation over there?"

"I-It’s the knights from Vermont! And staff from Vermont Security are guiding the people to safety!"

"There’s a similar evacuation line coming from Districts 3 and 4 as well!"

"My goodness!"

Again! It’s them again!

Once more, I’m in debt to Vermont!

To be honest, when I first heard Aslan talk about starting a security company, I laughed behind his back.

Who’d hire a business like that?

But now, here I am, reaping the benefits first!

"Aaah! Brother...!"

At the arrival of the long-awaited miracle, the Count of Arient fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face.

Whether these were tears of gratitude for the mercy of Vermont, or tears of despair at the thought of how much more Vermont would take from him after this... only time would tell.