Chapter 72 - Five Stars

The grave of bones inside the cave was so vast that the flickering lights in the distance could not possibly illuminate it all.

As the soldiers at the front approached with their magical lamps, they noticed a peculiar sour smell wafting from within. It resembled the stench of half-digested vomit from a human or animal stomach, yet was somehow more complex.

Before they could wonder what it was, the ground suddenly surged up before their eyes and slammed into their faces. Having lost their balance and fallen flat, they stared blankly, their eyes unable to focus.

“Wh-what...!?”

“It's poison! Everyone, stay back!”

Sherin cried out sharply from the rear when she saw what had happened. Shan, who was also at the front, immediately grabbed the fallen soldiers and threw them behind him.

“Whew...”

Shan had inhaled the poison too, but unlike the others, he only felt slightly dizzy and remained on his feet.

Their companions quickly helped the soldiers back to safety, where priests and mages rushed over to treat them. Sherin personally examined Shan, whose symptoms were relatively mild. Pressing down on his shoulders to bring their eyes level, she asked,

“Look straight at me. Does anything look like it's swaying?”

“I'm fine.”

“Good, your eyes are focusing properly... How do you feel?”

“A little dizzy.”

“That's manageable. It seems building up your resistance to poison helped.”

Ever since coming to Pales, Shan had steadily built up his resistance to poison by regularly taking medicine Sherin gave him, just as they had discussed. Without it, he might not have collapsed helplessly like the others, but he would not have endured the poison this easily.

Once the commotion had subsided somewhat, Sherin received a priest's blessing of poison resistance and approached the grave of bones. She sniffed the air and grimaced.

“As I thought. This is hydra poison.”

“Hydra poison?”

“Yes. This is my first time smelling it myself, but it smells exactly like the descriptions in old texts. Sour, with sweet and pungent notes mixed in...”

Shan had heard the name a few times himself. A hydra was a monster shaped like an enormous nine-headed lizard, found primarily in swamps. Its regenerative powers were said to rival a troll's, and the poison in its saliva and blood was potent enough to dissolve even steel armor.

Now, it seemed merely smelling it could cloud one's consciousness or destroy one's sense of balance as well.

Sherin ventured a little closer, then staggered and hastily retreated. Shan caught her and pulled her back.

“Hmm. It seems we'll need a proper antidote to examine it any closer.”

“As it happens, I have an antidote that works against hydra poison.”

The speaker behind them was the expedition's alchemy specialist. He took a medicine bottle from inside his clothes.

“It wasn't developed specifically for hydra poison, of course, so it won't be quite as effective. Still, it should give us enough resistance to endure it, provided we avoid direct contact.”

A short while later, several priests blessed Sherin, Shan, who would be guarding her, and the mages. After taking the antidote as well, they were finally able to approach the grave of bones where the hydra's poison lingered.

“Good heavens...”

“My word.”

Those who approached the bones each expressed their amazement in their own way.

Judging by their shapes, most of the bones belonged to aquatic monsters that lived in swamps and along riverbanks—the same creatures that had recently begun creeping into Pales.

While the outer layers of the grave consisted of intact bones, the half-eroded fragments within had turned a translucent purple and gleamed like crystal. In places, they looked like enormous masses of amethyst.

“The hydra's poison dissolved the bones and congealed around them. If we neutralize the poison and refine this, we can use it as fuel or as fertilizer for growing powerful magical plants. There's enough here to supply all of Pales for a hundred years and still have some left...”

The mage who had produced the antidote murmured under his breath.

As they rummaged through the remains, they occasionally found what appeared to be human traces as well. Sherin gently lifted a small hand bone, then set it down and questioned the elderly fisherman behind her.

“Have you ever heard any stories of people going missing around here?”

“I'm not from these parts myself, Your Highness, but from what I've heard, the land bordering the mountains has long been thought ill-omened, so no one lived there.”

“I see. Ill-omened... Perhaps people in the past knew at least that something was lurking here.”

Customs of that sort generally began for a reason, but often persisted long after that reason had been forgotten. Most likely, as people who ventured into this area kept disappearing, the locals had simply taken to calling it ill-omened and avoiding it.

“So where exactly has the creature responsible for all this gone?”

Everyone nodded at one mage's question. The circumstances suggested that the hydra had been eating the monsters coming upstream here, and its disappearance had caused this whole affair. If it had left, it had most likely gone to the swamps beyond the mountains.

Sherin and the other mages began proposing various theories.

“For one thing, it certainly wasn't fleeing the pollutants. Hydras normally live in filthy swamps and are highly resistant to all manner of toxic substances.”

“Indeed. Some accounts even say they prefer rotting swamps. The waste flowing down from upstream was probably its favorite food.”

“Scaled monsters generally grow larger and stronger with age. Perhaps it needed a great deal of food to maintain such a body...”

Once the mages began their characteristic rambling, lost in their own little world, the others kept a casual watch on their surroundings and waited for the discussion to end. The mages devoted themselves to their investigation using various methods, occasionally taking bones from relatively recent meals and placing them in strange magical tools.

Fortunately, they soon reached a conclusion.

“Combining our findings with our theories, it seems the creature has lived in this cave for a very long time,” Sherin said, pointing to the grave of bones behind her.

“Hydras dislike sunlight and favor damp places, but they need to breathe out of the water. There are few hiding places this suitable. What's more, some monsters come flocking here after catching the scent of humans from far away. It could have fed itself simply by staying put.”

For at least several hundred years, it had fed mostly on monsters coming from the east, and sometimes on humans coming from the west. Sifting through all the bone dust might tell them for certain, but it had likely lived here since at least the imperial era. Perhaps it had even been here before the Arman Empire was founded.

There would have been people living in Pales even then.

The reason this ancient resident had suddenly left was that Pales had recently begun discharging huge quantities of pollutants and assorted alchemical waste from the manufacture of magical devices.

“It seems the waste from making magical devices suited its tastes perfectly.”

“If it liked the taste, shouldn't it have stayed here to keep eating what came down?”

“We released so much at once that apparently it couldn't eat it all here, and quite a bit washed out beyond the mountains. It left because it wanted to find and eat that too.”

Those who understood the implications shuddered.

“Then, surely it won't...”

“As long as we keep dumping alchemical waste, it will roam the swamps following the traces. But once it finds and eats it all, it will return. It might even come west out of curiosity about where all this delicious food is coming from.”

It was common knowledge that scaled monsters such as dragons and serpents grew larger and stronger the longer they lived. Similarly, greater vampires grew stronger the longer they lived and the more human blood they drank.

How large and powerful would a hydra be after living here for an unknowable span of years?

As everyone's faces grew grim, Sherin clapped her hands to break the mood.

“In any case, we're heading back for now! We're not ready to fight a hydra just yet.”

* * *

It was late by the time the expedition emerged from the cave, so they camped outside for the night before heading straight back to Pales Castle. Only the noncombatants, along with Shan and his squires as their escort, returned. All the remaining combatants stayed at the passage.

Holding this point would allow them to kill most monsters coming through on foot. Stopping those swimming through the water would require separate measures, but that was not a problem they could solve immediately.

“If you suspect the hydra has returned, retreat immediately and report it. Don't even think about fighting it.”

“Understood!”

It went without saying, but having the person in command give that order beforehand meant they could retreat without hesitation.

The journey they had sped through by boat in a single day took nearly three days on the way back. Traveling upriver was difficult even with sails catching the wind and oars at work, so they had to walk along the riverbank.

When they returned and delivered their report, Pales Castle erupted into an uproar.

“A h-hydra!?”

“To think such a monster has been lurking in a corner of the domain since ancient times...”

“At last, a chance to put all my hard-earned skill to use.”

“Why didn't you use some of it in the last war? You barely cut down a couple of archers.”

“Shut up.”

While the officials recoiled at the discovery of a centuries-old hydra, the knights' eyes shone with anticipation. After all, slaying enemies on the battlefield and hunting powerful monsters were how they advanced in the world.

Killing a hydra was a feat worthy not merely of inclusion in a family's chronicles, but of addition to its coat of arms. The knights of Pales, already lagging behind other regions in renown for monster hunting, could hardly help yearning for the chance.

Count Pales, who had been listening quietly, raised a hand.

“Your Highness, may I ask a question?”

“Go ahead, Uncle.”

“Must we hunt this hydra? What I mean is, if we could tame it so that it stays there...”

“That is impossible, Kladek.”

It was Orum, Count Palatine Tenon, who interrupted, irreverently addressing the count by name. With a self-important expression, he continued,

“From the days of the old Arman Empire to the present, no one has ever successfully tamed a monster. Even magical control can only pacify them briefly or force them to perform a few actions. Naturally, such methods wouldn't stand a chance against a large monster like a hydra.”

Just because the hydra had lived quietly for hundreds of years—perhaps over a thousand—was no guarantee it would continue to do so. In his view, it was like sleeping with a beast at one's bedside that might lash out at any moment.

Sherin and the other mages agreed.

“If the hydra emerges while most of our troops are away at war, it will be a literal disaster. We must find and eliminate it, then seal the cave.”

Sealing the cave itself would not be particularly difficult. They could divert the river's flow, then block the cave and the surrounding area with earth and rocks. It would be a major undertaking requiring at least several hundred laborers for a few months, of course, but it was an exceedingly small price to pay to preserve this paradise.

The problem was the devastating losses they would suffer if the hydra returned during construction. To work safely, they would therefore have to cross the mountains into the swamps and hunt down the hydra roaming there.

“I will entrust the selection of personnel for this hunt entirely to the Lord Guardian, along with the authority to requisition any supplies it requires.”

Everyone groaned at the prospect of granting him authority practically equivalent to the lord's, yet nodded all the same. At the very least, no one doubted that Shan was the finest monster hunter in the domain.

After the meeting, Shan immediately went to consult Roden.

“How should we do this?”

“For a start, we don't need a large force.”

As they had already confirmed, even approaching the creature would be difficult without priestly blessings and antidotes. Sending hundreds of soldiers would accomplish little when most would collapse at the mere smell of it.

Besides, it would not be leading hundreds of monsters like the ogre horde lord, so they had no need for that many troops. At most, they needed enough to kill miscellaneous monsters lingering nearby and spare the knights unnecessary exertion.

“Pales has twenty-six formally knighted warriors in all. We'll need to leave about ten in the domain for emergencies. That gives us sixteen, and if each brings two or three squires, that makes around fifty. Add a generous fifteen priests to bless the knights, and about thirty elite soldiers to guard them...”

Roden swiftly wrote down his thoughts as they came, then consulted Shan as he decided which knights to select. It was a difficult task. Beyond individual skill, they had to consider each person's political standing in Pales, relationships with the other knights, and whether they had joined the previous expedition.

“Huh? Sir Kibain wasn't on the last expedition?”

“That's right. If we leave him out again, he'll likely be unhappy.”

“Hmm. I'd completely forgotten.”

“Isn't that what you've got me for?”

Chuckling as he wrote down the name, Roden remarked casually,

“Still, at least I'll get to fight alongside you this time.”

In the last war, he had been confined to the role of commander, but this time was different. A hydra's body was not covered in sharp swords and spears.

Shan was privately worried about him.

“Well, a centuries-old hydra sounds a little dangerous...”

Hydras were generally considered not much different from cockatrices in strength, but this one was thought to have amassed tremendous power over its long life. Hadn't the mages themselves said its poison was far stronger than an ordinary hydra's?

Roden grinned at Shan's concern.

“Didn't you tell me before that I'd do fine because I was training hard? A knight has to prove his worth as a fighter. I can't refuse to fight just because an opponent is dangerous and I'm scared.”

Shan could not argue with his point: if he ran from even the opponents he could fight, he really would be stuck at the rear forever. Once, Shan would have said without hesitation, “I'm worried you'll die because you aren't good enough.” Now, however, he understood that those words would insult his friend.

In a sense, he had taken another step forward as a person.

“All right, let's settle on this for now. We'll ask the Magic Society for the equipment we need.”

After much more discussion, they finally finished selecting their personnel. Roden set the papers down with a slap.

* * *

Having Shan personally select the knights for the hydra hunt—though in reality, the decisions had mostly been Roden's—greatly eased Sherin's political burden. Dealing with knights who grumbled, “Why do I have to stay behind and guard the domain?” whenever something like this arose was a nuisance for everyone from nobles to kings.

While the chosen participants assembled, the Magic Society prepared antidotes for the expedition's knights and began mass-producing combat magical devices for the soldiers in earnest. The first batch, enough to equip fifty soldiers, was distributed among the squires and troops.

“These are magical devices?”

“Wow...”

The soldiers marveled at the combat magical devices they were handling for the first time in their lives. Understandably so: such things were normally beyond the reach of renowned knights and even territorial lords.

Of course, these fell far short of those genuine masterpieces, but what did the soldiers know?

Roden issued a low-voiced warning to the soldiers as they continued to exclaim in wonder.

“As I've warned you before, deliberately selling or passing this equipment to outsiders carries a mandatory death sentence, and your families may be punished as well! Remember, even if the equipment is damaged or impossible to recover, you must retrieve the magic stones embedded inside!”

“Understood!”

The soldiers swallowed nervously. Losing the equipment meant severe disciplinary action. Being caught diverting it meant not only losing their lives, but bringing punishment upon their families.

Because of this condition, all the soldiers selected to handle the first magical devices had families. Those with nothing to lose were, after all, more likely to defy control.

After delivering the first mass-produced batch, the mages began converting the participating knights' weapons and armor into magical devices. Unlike the soldiers' devices, each of which used only a few hundredths of a magic stone, the knights' items consumed nearly half a stone apiece.

“Your Highness, at this rate we'll soon use up even the magic stones we just acquired.”

“Then we'll have to solve that by obtaining the hydra's stone. Given its age, its power has likely grown disproportionately great compared with its standing as a monster. That should make its stone ideal for dividing into hundreds of pieces.”

That was how Sherin brushed aside Orum's complaints; he had wanted to use the remaining stones for his own experiments. Left with nothing to say, the old man nodded sulkily.

Before long, strengthening and regeneration-inhibiting enchantments were being applied to the knights' weapons, and corrosion resistance to their armor. The former was particularly easy, since Sherin had already gained some experience with it when making Shan's Heart Destroyer.

“Ooh...”

“At last, our family has a magical device worth passing down!”

The knights rejoicing at the permanent enchantments on their arms and armor looked little different from the soldiers.

Roden also acquired something suitable for the coming battle. His war flail, made from the ogre bones they had brought back before, had been turned into a magical device. In addition to a strengthening enchantment, it had been enchanted to increase its striking power using an entire troll magic stone.

“Wow.”

BOOM

Roden exclaimed at the deep crater left in the ground where he had slammed the flail.

It was perhaps a fifth the size of the mark left when the ogre horde lord they had seen before struck the ground with all its might. Put that way, it sounded unimpressive, but even this was far beyond the force a human should have been able to produce.

If Roden swung his flail with all his might from a charging horse, adding the power of his spirit, he might well smash an unenchanted castle gate in a single blow. His strength had always been exceptional.

“With that, you really could land a hit on a dragon.”

At Shan's words, Roden forced down the corners of his mouth, trying to hide his delight. A moment later, he pointed at Shan's armor.

“Still not as good as yours, though. How does it feel?”

Shan gave a nonchalant shrug.

“Well, fantastic.”

The full suit of armor he wore was the one taken from Kamad, repaired after being battered to pieces in the last battle. The limited skill of Pales's smiths showed in its various flaws. If anything had improved, it was that, as Shan's build gradually approached Kamad's, he looked less as though he had squeezed himself into someone else's armor.

Far more important, however, were the five gems embedded over his heart. Divided and refined, the ogre's magic stone poured immense power throughout the armor.