CH 148

“I see….Ed-kun, you are not only good with a sword, but also with the head.”

“It’s not that big of a deal. It’s just an idea that came to mind, and it only applies to this one week. If it were a longer period of time, it would probably be different.”

I scratched my head as I said to Amelia, who looked genuinely impressed, and not in a flattering way. I was not being modest either, because I had no proof that this was the case. Well, I think the results were rather accurate since they were obtained by combining the [Akashic Compass] and [Auto-Mapping] but it would be too soon to explain them.

“Fufufu, No need to be modest. As a matter of fact, there have been a number of people like you, Ed-kun, who have investigated the possibility that there is some pattern to the attacks of demonic beasts. But for the life of me, I couldn’t make them coherent. … Well, I didn’t realize that the raid itself was further divided into different types of demonic beasts and and measuring time for each unit… that was a blind spot”

“Seriously, Ed is really perceptive to notice something like that. I, on the other hand, was just blasting magic from above and didn’t notice at all.”

“I guess it’s because I was fighting in the “death line”. You see, from above, you can just blow up all the dumpling-shaped targets at once, but the demonic beasts that come up to the “death line” are of different types due to their different speeds, right? So it just occurred to me to think of each one separately.”

“Hmm, I didn’t realize that fighting in the ‘death line’ would lead to such a discovery. … I should try fighting in the ‘death line’ at least once, huh?”

When Amelia said something disturbing with a serious expression on her face, I couldn’t help but raise my eyebrows and speak out in a reluctant voice.

“No, please stop, Amelia-san. I can’t help but worry when I think about what might happen if the Knight-sama fights on the front line and something were to happen… so please stop.”

“Why? My life and death have nothing to do with your work, right?”

Amelia tilted her head curiously at my words. What a naive …., or should I say, she is not really dyed in the color of aristocrats.

“Ah …. Maybe, but if you really want to do it, you could assign a few regular soldiers to the escort mission, pretending to be mercenaries, you know? Because The equality of the value of life applies only to the god without will and the demon beast without wisdom.”

Lifespans, natural disasters, accidents, and other “fates” take life equally, whether it be a king or a bandit. Wisdomless demonic beasts also just devour indiscriminately the life in front of them. But other than that,…. that is, for humans, human life was not equal. If you kill one person and save 100 people, it would be rational to kill one person, but if that one person was important to you, it would be human nature to kill the 100 people.

“Hahh, It’s a mess, isn’t it?

“Yes, indeed.”

Amelia smiled bitterly at me, and I made the same face as she did as I downed my glass. The wine, which was supposed to be of high quality, tasted a little bitter, probably due to the atmosphere of the place. We finished our meal without incident and returned to our fighting days. However, Amelia, perhaps because she liked our company, would occasionally ask us out for dinner after that. And today, we were having dinner with Amelia again.

“I’m sorry for dragging you guys all the time. I enjoy talking with you guys so much that I just can’t help myself.”

“Hahaha, we don’t mind. Right, Tia?”

“That’s true. Since we are treated to delicious meals every time, it’s worth putting up with some jealousy.”

“Mu…”

Amelia frowned at Tia’s casual response.

“I’m sorry. Is it bothering you guys that I’m calling on you?　If so, I wouldn’t mind if you refuse. …”

“You’re overthinking it. Of course, if you’re desperately trying to curry favor with someone important by being sycophantic, it’s unpleasant, but if you become friends with someone who happens to be important, there’s no need to worry about being criticized. You can just laugh it off at such a person.”

“I see… I’ve been thinking about this for a while now, but Tia-kun is something else. She’s stronger than I thought…”

Tia smiled at Amelia, who was choosing her words delicately.

“Ara, thank you. But I’m just being myself. Amelia-san, you are the same, aren’t you? There are many knights in this town, but you are the only woman.”

“Yeah, I am the daughter of a small baron. My brother has taken over my house, and the future that awaited me was to marry into a suitable lower class noble family or even a wealthy merchant family. …. but I really wanted to try living on my own. Rather forcefully, I overcame my parents’ opposition and became a knight. Well, that’s why I was suddenly sent to this town, which is on the front line, and yet I’ve survived to this day, so I guess I’m kinda of living….as I please?”

“There you go! See, Even you are strong, Amelia-san”

“Hahaha, is that so.. This is the first time I’ve been told something like that without flattery or sarcasm. Thank you.”

Tia’s straightforward words, without any hidden agenda, brought a beaming smile to Amelia’s face. I’ve heard before that having tanned skin as a noble lady was considered as something negative, but it seemed that the nobles in this country have no sense of judgment to cast aside such a lovely smile just because of that.

“Ah, come on, that’s enough! Anyway… let’s talk about something that may exist in the depths of the ‘Black Forest’ today!”

“What is it?”

She blatantly changed the topic, but I was not tactless or brave enough to poke into it. I took a quick sip from my glass of sake, and then got on the unusual topic.

“Yes, there’s something.  As I have told you before, there is no way that such a large number of demonic beasts can continue to reproduce naturally. There has to be a cause. … The question that arises is whether the cause is ‘something’ or ‘someone.’ ” I said,

“Hoho, something or someone?”

As for me, I was almost sure that the answer was “someone” …… that was, the Demon King, but I was curious to know what people in this world thought about it. Sensing my attitude, Amelia made a mysterious expression and continued the conversation.

“Yes. The most likely explanation for the “something” is that the magical beast is being duplicated by a far ancient magical tool. I don’t know if it’s true or false, but the technology to increase a single person into hundreds or even thousands of people existed a long time ago. …. I don’t know why such a thing existed a long time ago.”

“Ah, that sounds like something that might be possible.”

Every world had a story about a super civilization that existed far back in the past, which was unimaginable at present. Normally, one would think that since the technology was destroyed in ancient times, the current technology that was flourishing today would be superior, but I guess that’s what we call romanticism.

“Incidentally, the most likely explanation for ‘someone’ is that a vicious demonic beast sealed away in ancient times continues to create an infinite number of followers from its own body.”

“What is this ancient thing? For us elves, it’s hard to understand what humans mean by ‘ancient’ because there are usually records of it. ….”

“Don’t say that, Tia. It’s romantic!”

“Even if you say so…”

The average lifespan of elves was about 300 years, so if you look back five generations, they existed 1000 years ago. And since records are usually kept for about five generations, a story like “A great nation that died out a long time ago…” in the human sense is reduced to the scale of “My grandfather heard this story from his grandfather …..”. it may be hard to feel romanticism at that scale.

“Haha, it’s funny how different life spans can lead to different perspectives. So, what do you think? Do you two think that the abnormal proliferation of demonic beasts …. no, what, or who, or what kind of thing is responsible for the proliferation?”

“Well, yes, I do. I think it’s ‘someone.’ “

Since I’ve been asked to talk about a topic, let’s talk about one here. Amelia looked at me with interest again this time