R4STWH - Chapter 120
Chapter 120
'It's an SS-rank monster!'
Heerin had thought that something like this could happen someday.
After all, her quest failure penalty was severe enough to make her wary.
It made sense to prepare for the possibility that someone might fail to clear their quest on time and face the consequences.
But she had never expected it to happen right above her head.
“Saintess.”
A hand on her shoulder finally brought Heerin back to her senses.
“Sir Crow…… what should we do……?”
Heerin lowered her voice so no one nearby could overhear her.
“It’s an SS-rank monster.”
“……So that’s what it was.”
Heerin hesitated before whispering, “Will the Duke be able to fight that thing?”
“I don’t know…….”
Crow, who had been silently watching the writhing black tentacles, sighed before replying.
“Even if he’s capable, it doesn’t look easy to escape from the range of its attacks.”
Heerin’s heart sank. As Crow said, if they fought the monster here above Tenaclad, not only she and Crow but everyone in the sprawling city below would be in danger.
If that happened, it was easy to predict that this world would be ruined in an instant.
Because more than half of the dungeons that had been spawning all over the continent had been dealt with by the Tenaclad and Lakdel that Elias was leading.
“Isn’t there a way to lure it out?”
“Where are you referring to?”
“To the place where Lady Ilesha is.”
After a moment of silence, Crow cautiously asked.
“Do you think that she will be capable of it?”
“Yes.”
Heerin nodded without hesitation.
She didn't know how she was able to, but she was certain that Ilesha was stronger than that. She could be sure of it.
“I think so as well.”
Heerin and Crow turned around at the sudden voice.
“However, the problem is that Ilesha, who was pursuing the boss monster that had escaped, had entered the dungeon.”
“Uh, when did you come up here?”
Elias, who had been standing below the city wall just one minute ago, was now standing by their side.
“Just now.”
Elias answered calmly, and stared intently at Heerin.
“Wh-why……? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Do you know what that thing’s name is?”
“Uh…… It’s called the Gluttonous Monarch, I think?”
“Then why do you think that thing has appeared here?”
Heerin stared blankly at Elias, who was asking those questions.
The method of asking questions one by one, even though he already knew everything, and having her figure out the answers herself, was the method of conversation that her god had mainly used.
“Because someone failed in their quest……?”
After a moment, Heerin added her words.
“Could it be, on purpose……?”
“Are you saying that something like that can appear as a quest failure penalty?”
Crow asked back in surprise.
“My own failure penalty is only a temporary stat decrease or the locking of a trait…….”
Indeed, it would be absurd to randomly spread quests that give such level of penalties.
'That means that the rewards for clearing it would be just as big.'
Thanks to the time that she had lived in this world while communicating with the god, Heerin had learned something.
That the greater influence an existence had, the more they had to exist within the framework of order.
Her god had clearly favored Heerin, but even so, he couldn't give her anything without any compensation.
He hadn't been able to give her the power and martial prowess to control the world, nor the courage to not tremble in front of Ilesha.
It's because existences that seek an opportunity might try to harm you the moment you break the order. So don't be too upset about it. Okay?
Whenever he said those words while trying to appease her, Heerin would only pout without replying.
But in truth, she could also feel it.
The heart that wanted to give her anything if he could. And that he was more upset than she was because he couldn’t.
Since her god was upholding the order, the ‘Gluttonous Monarch’ also couldn’t recklessly violate the rules.
That meant that he couldn’t spread malicious quests for the purpose of destroying this world to just anyone.
'Then…… does that mean that there’s a traitor?'
There might be someone who had shown a false stance as if they were trying to prevent destruction, had accepted a quest that would be helpful to defending the world, and had purposefully failed it.
It was too coincidental of a situation to call it just a coincidence.
“The only one who can control monsters in order to lure Lady Ilesha into the dungeon is probably the ‘Gluttonous Monarch’. It’s also possible that someone had plotted this so that it would appear at the right time.”
“……Also, the fact that it came at such a precise time means that someone was watching the situation here, right.”
Crow, who had roughly understood the situation, muttered as if he was groaning.
“It’s not the Duke, is it?!”
Elias chuckled in disbelief at the saintess’s accusation.
“There’s no way that I would want to destroy a place filled with memories of me and my wife.”
“Y-y-yeah…… that’s right.”
Heerin cleared Elias from her list of potential suspects without any doubt.
“It’s not me either…… Crow said that he hasn’t received a quest like that. Then…….”
“Now that I think about it, Lady Saintess, I haven’t seen the dragon since a while ago…….”
“Ermitar!”
The saintess shouted, interrupting Crow’s words.
“Was that lizard bastard the traitor?!”
“What is all this about?”
A voice that was filled with fatigue reached them, and when they turned around, they saw the former head of Tenaclad, Gerent, standing there.
And by his side, a pretty girl with honey-colored hair and sky-blue eyes was standing quietly and looking at Heerin.
'Huh? Could that be……?'
“Hello, Saintess. My name is Clea Protia. It’s an honor to meet you like this.”
The name of the girl who was greeting her politely entered Heerin's ears clearly.
'She’s the female lead?!'
Of course, Heerin no longer blindly believed in the novel that she had read, but she couldn't help but get excited at finally facing the existence that she had been curious about for so long.
“It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Clea. How did you end up visiting Tenaclad?”
Even though she had belatedly realized her mistake, after asking while calling her name so intimately, Clea didn't look at Heerin as if it was strange at all.
Rather, she smiled brightly with a relieved expression.
“I’ve been employed here and staying here, thanks to Lady Ilesha’s consideration.”
“Huh? Lady Ilesha?”
While Heerin was in a state of confusion, not knowing what was going on, Clea greeted Elias as well.
“Hello, Duke. I wanted to say that I will be relying on you in the future, but, by any chance, is that monster trying to attack us?”
Even at Clea, who was acting completely different from before when she was acting all shameless while calling him brother, Elias nodded without showing any sign of being fazed.
“You didn’t just come here for a stroll, right.”
“Do you have any measure to stop that thing? I don’t know any way to do it.”
At Gerent’s words, Elias glanced up at the sky above Tenaclad.
Everyone could feel the gaze of the thing that had now shown itself almost completely, on them.
“Someone needs to lure that thing away, and someone needs to find the dragon.”
“Are you really saying that a dragon has come nearby?”
“Yes. It’s probably watching us from nearby, without going far away.”
Heerin quietly raised her hand.
“Sir Crow and I will go and find Ermitar and bring him here.”
“Are you confident? He will be as strong as that thing, if not more so.”
“I don’t know if it’ll be of any help, but I’ll also go with you and protect the saintess.”
After staring at Clea, who had volunteered, for a moment, Elias nodded.
“Then, the old man and I will lure that thing away.”
“Trying to use an old man who’s retired until the very end.”
Even while clicking his tongue, Gerent didn't refuse.
He was well aware that, apart from Elias, he was probably the only one who had even a decent capability to escape.
Above all, as he had spent his whole life pouring all his talent only into martial prowess, it was clear that he wouldn't be of any help in detecting and searching with mana.
“You just have to give me a little bit of support.”
Elias, who had replied like that, had the knights bring several horses.
They were just knights who had awakened, so they were only barely able to move, ordinary soldiers and citizens were trembling with terror and were unable to flee, even.
“I don’t need one.”
“That’s a given.”
The horses that the knights had brought were for Heerin, Crow, and Clea.
Once the Gluttonous Monarch, who had revealed himself completely, recognized them and Gerent, even the well-trained army horses would foam at the mouth and collapse.
“……Duke. Please be careful, and don’t get hurt.”
As she got on the horse in front of the city gate, Heerin implored Elias.
It was pure sincerity.
Because she couldn't be sure how Ilesha would change if something were to happen to him.
'She might take the lead and destroy everything, even turning back time.'
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