Chapter 82: Tragedy
The townspeople, a group of Adventurers, and the Guards were watching us from a distance, making a commotion.
Well, we’re quite the spectacle.
After walking for a while, another group—or rather, a group that approached with the clatter of hooves—blocked our path.
“Halt! Suspicious fellow, drop your weapons and surrender quietly!”
‘Surrender quietly!’ What a dramatic line. I couldn’t help but laugh, but it seems that annoyed them.
“What’s so funny! I heard you committed violence against members of the Grandes Knights! Come with us quietly.”
《Bee-chans, come down here. But don’t sting anyone.》
《We can’t sting them?》
《It’s Master’s request, don’t complain.》
《Let’s go!》
The knight who had been shouting arrogantly from horseback turned pale when he saw the Killer Bees descending from above.
The horses were even more startled; they panicked, reared up, threw off the knights, and scattered.
The knights who were thrown onto the cobblestones are groaning, but I have no obligation to help them.
I kick the guide knight to his feet and make him hurry towards the Marquis’s mansion.
As we passed through the high-class residential area, the roof of a huge mansion came into view in the forest, but I could also see many unnecessary things.
There were fully armed knights with shields lined up, and I could even see long spears and halberds.
Behind them was a line of people who looked like a Magic Squad, and behind them, a group with bows was neatly lined up, waiting.
Hey, hey, I didn’t come here to wage a war.
Seeing the group waiting ahead, the guide knights stopped in their tracks.
When we stopped, a knight from the group ahead approached, but he was clearly hesitant, glancing nervously overhead.
“Halt!”
“We are stopped. More importantly, what do you want?”
“That’s what I want to know. Why did you kill the knights and come here with a swarm of Killer Bees?!”
Killed the knights, huh? It seems those four died too.
“I’m a Tamer, but I don’t have the ability to control Killer Bees. The Bees overhead are my escorts, sent by the Tamer God-sama.”
“Escorts… you say?”
“Yes, for someone like me with low abilities, he granted me Killer Bees as escorts as a Divine Protection. You said the knights died, but that happened when the Bees attacked the man who tried to slash me at the North Gate. The others panicked, and the Bees, considering them part of the hostile group, attacked them as well.”
“Do you think such nonsense will pass?”
“If you don’t believe me, you can attack me to prove it, but you and those behind you will die. Even now, they won’t leave my side because you all harbor hostility.”
“You infiltrated the city and are heading to the Marquis-sama’s mansion…”
From behind the man, fireballs were launched towards Bee-chan’s swarm, bursting with loud pop pop sounds.
What an idiot! Provoking a swarm of Killer Bees is suicide.
Some Bee-chans, their wings burning or enveloped in smoke, fell, while the enraged swarm surged towards the one who cast the magic and those around them.
In an instant, it became a hellish scene of screaming pandemonium. It was too late to stop it now, so I ordered the man in front of me and the eight guides I’d brought along not to move.
The frenzy of screams and buzzing wings ended in a short time, but the excited Bee-chans were flying around, and it was all I could do to order them not to attack those who had dropped to the ground or us.
Mii-chan and Hoo-chan, their fur standing on end, were cowering at my feet, covering their heads.
《Unforgivable!》
《Master, can we sting them too?》
《Many of our comrades died!》
《Kill them!》
There were also many Bee-chans persistently stinging those who had fallen and weren’t moving. Even I, who controlled them, could feel their chilling rage.
If I let them loose now, they might attack indiscriminately, so I ordered them to wait in the sky above until they calmed down.
“You can raise your heads.”
“D-d-d-did you… k-kill them?”
He managed to ask, shivering so much his teeth were chattering.
“If you attack a swarm of Killer Bees, they’ll retaliate. Even a child knows that, yet some foolish Magician attacked them. It’s reaping what you sow, or rather, a suicidal act.”
“Wh-wh-what have you done! You… the Marquis-sama’s knights…”
“Starting with the guy who attacked me first, is the Grandes Knights just a pack of fools? I came here wanting to know if this was instigated by Marquis Grandes or Consort Cindyra, or perhaps a grudge from the Halewood Viscount house, but it doesn’t seem like we can have a proper conversation.”
“What… are you talking about?”
“Do you know what this is?”
Perhaps because he was shown something unexpected, his thoughts froze, and his body stiffened too.
It was the same for the eight men who had been watching our exchange; I’m fed up with these useless guys.
I’m not kind enough to wait leisurely for him to come to his senses, so I gave the man who questioned me a round-trip slap across the face.
I held back considerably, but after two round-trip slaps, his cheeks were swollen and puffy.
“Listen carefully. The Killer Bees are agitated from that magic attack earlier. I’m asking them to hold back, but that won’t last long. If I can’t control them anymore, they’ll start attacking indiscriminately. I’ll give you one hour. Run to the mansion and tell either the Marquis or his Butler that I have something I want to ask, and that I’m nearby! Tell them the reason concerns Former Earl Halewood. Got it?!”
His face twitched as he nodded vigorously, so I made him turn around, said, “Hurry!” and kicked his butt.
He stumbled forward from the force of the kick. I wonder if today is ‘kick a knight’s butt’ day.
＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊
Reports came in that an Adventurer was rampaging and several knights had died. Then, a follow-up report stated that the rampaging Adventurer was heading to the Marquis’s mansion with knights as hostages.
Next, upon receiving a report that those sent to apprehend the rampaging Adventurer had been wiped out, Weruva Grandes, who was in charge in the Marquis’s absence, organized a new unit including a Magic Squad and sent them to subjugate the threat.
Later, it was discovered that the unit sent earlier had been reported as wiped out because their horses had panicked at the buzzing of the Killer Bees, causing the knights to be thrown off and unable to move.
He was indignant that knights, of all people, couldn’t control horses startled by the mere buzzing of Bees and had all been unhorsed.
Just then, the commander of the newly dispatched unit rushed in, his face twitching.
“Oh, have you captured the bandit?”
“A member of the Magic Squad launched an unauthorized attack, angering the Killer Bees, and we were wiped out. The Adventurer in question is a man named Shinya, who possesses the Queen-sama’s Identification, and he says he has something to ask regarding Former Earl Halewood.”
“Wiped out?… What are you saying?”
“Weruva-sama, a Magician attacked the Killer Bee swarm with Fireball, which is why the unit was wiped out. The man named Shinya is holding the Bees back, but he says if we don’t hurry, the Bees will attack the city. Please meet him quickly and talk about Former Earl Halewood.”
His head was muddled, and his words became vague. He only managed to blurt out the critical information, but in his confused state, it came across as if the Killer Bees were on the verge of attacking the city.
“The Killer Bees will attack the city?”
“You should be able to see the huge swarm of Bees even from here!”
He shouted and pointed out the window, and Weruva and the butlers, drawn by his cry, looked outside.
They were puzzled by what looked like a thin haze above the road leading to the mansion, but when the words “Killer Bee” came to mind, their faces twitched.
“Weruva-sama,” a butler said, “there are reports that the man called Shinya has received the Divine Protection of the Tamer God and is protected by Killer Bees. That is also the cause of Earl Halewood’s death.”
“Ah…”
“What is it?” the commander was asked.
“That man… has an Identification with the Royal Family Crest.”
“You should have said that sooner!” the butler exclaimed. “Weruva-sama, there are reports that this man summoned his escort Killer Bees during an audience with Queen Lillianju-sama. Earl Halewood also attacked him and died from being stung by those escort Bees. We must not attack him! Look at that! If the city is attacked by countless Bees, it will be annihilated! If that happens, the House of Marquis Grandes will suffer a worse fate than the Halewood family!”
Weruva’s face changed color at the butler’s words. He thought desperately, but no good idea came to mind.
“Wh-what should I do, Oruwez?”
“You,” Oruwez said to the commander, “you said Shinya mentioned he has something to discuss regarding Former Earl Halewood, correct?”
Seeing the commander nod desperately when questioned by the butler, Oruwez decided he had to meet this man named Shinya at least once.
“Weruva-sama, I will go meet this man and ask him why he is doing such things.”
The butler shouted this and, ignoring his usual etiquette, rushed out of the office.
He thought of ordering a carriage but couldn’t spare the time, so he dashed out the main entrance and ran towards the main gate.
Seeing the butler rushing over in an unusual state, I yelled at the flustered gatekeeper, “Open the gate!” and darted out through the gap as it began to open.
I ran towards the place where the Killer Bees danced like a spring haze, but my feet stopped when I saw a large number of knights fallen.
Seeing those collapsed on top of each other, their faces a ghastly dark color and twisted in agony, made my legs tremble, but then I saw the man standing beyond them and the knights sitting down, and I puffed out my chest.
The man who had run from the direction of the Marquis’s mansion stopped in front of the knights collapsed on top of each other, but when he turned towards me, he puffed out his chest and started walking.
He seemed to be a man of considerable grit, but from his appearance, he looked like a butler.
He stopped, his face contorted in fear, bowed, and then spoke.
“I presume you are Shinya-dono, but what is the cause of this tragic scene?”
“And you are?”
“I serve as a butler in the household of Marquis Blend Grandes. My name is Oruwez.”
“This tragic scene… it’s the result of your unit attacking my escorts. More importantly, at the North Gate, the captain of Marquis Grandes’s knights suddenly attacked me. I came to ask if this was an order from the Marquis, or an attack due to a grudge from Consort Cindyra or the Hailwood family.”
“Impossible…”
“At the North Gate, the captain of those knights sitting over there called out to me. He knew who I was and challenged me to a duel, but I had no reason to accept. Therefore, when I asked if it was an order from the Marquis, or due to a grudge from Consort Cindyra or the Hailwood family, he attacked me without warning. I retaliated by just slapping him across the face, but the ones who didn’t calm down were the Bees in charge of my protection.”