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Chapter 367 – An Unsung Hero
Translator: Kell | Editor: Weasalopes
An Unsung Hero
「Bullshit!」
A fist slammed onto the table, leaving a hole. The leaders of the Allied Forces gathered in the tent held their tongue. Rage was rising from the entire being of the Beastman King, Gerhardt Vatex Anchor.
「Calm down, Beastman King.」Lawrence the Master Swordsman said.
「Huh?! How do you expect me to calm down?!」Gerhardt shot Lawrence a vicious look.「Like hell I’m gonna use practice weapons in the tournament! I want serious combat!」
An uncomfortable silence descended. Gerhardt was angry because many of them agreed to the use of practice weapons in the tournament for safety reasons.
Only Lawrence talked to the king.「We already engaged in serious combats against monsters.」
Gerhardt was vastly superior to him in terms of status, but Lawrence spoke to the man casually.
「Are you saying you had fun against such weak monsters?」
「There are very few people who enjoy life-and-death battles in the first place.」
「All right. Then let’s gather those guys for the tournament!」
Lawrence heaved a sigh. Gerhardt was throwing a tantrum like a child. The Master Swordsman shot a glance at Gotthold, who was sitting beside Gerhardt, asking for back-up, but he acted like it was none of his concern. If it wasn’t to the detriment of Einbeast, he would let his king do whatever he wanted to let some steam off. That much was clear.
The other state leaders tried to avoid displeasing Gerhardt as much as possible. After all, he was the only head of a country that actually joined the expedition. The problem was only Lawrence could deal with this big baby.
No, wait. There is one other guy, Lawrence thought.
「What’s going on here? You guys sure are taking it easy.」
A voice came out of nowhere, and everyone turned their eyes to the tent’s entrance. There stood someone with a black hood and silver mask. He ignored the guard standing outside and stepped in.
「I’ve been waiting for you, Silver Face.」Lawrence said.
The captain meant it. Silver Face tilted his head slightly, and noticed that the table in front of Gerhardt had been destroyed.
「I see.」he mumbled.
「I’m glad you could make it, Silver Face! I’ve been waiting for you. We can’t hold the one-on-one tournament without you!」
「A one-on-one tournament?」
Lawrence took the opportunity to drag Silver Face into their problem.
「Yes. There are many who would like to fight you. We were in the middle of arguing whether to use real weapons or not.」
Silver Face’s mouth dropped open. Then he laughed.「I get it. If there’s anyone who still want to go wild, then I have the perfect opponent for you. There’s a huge lake in the middle of the continent where a gigantic eel lives. There’s also an extremely swift eagle, and a colony of Trolls, which are basically powered-up versions of the Yamamaneki.」
Even Lawrence didn’t see this coming. I see. You’ve been there.
Expecting Silver Face to take some kind of action, Lawrence visited him just before his departure. He most likely went to the northernmost part of the continent.
His clothes were dirty and tattered. His voice sounded somewhat strained, and he clearly looked exhausted.
「What I’m saying is, there are still many powerful monsters on this continent. Stronger than the guardians of the Roots.」
The color on Gerhardt’s eyes changed. The expression on leaders’ faces stiffened as well.
「Silver Face. Is this information reliable?」
「Of course. I was worried that the monsters retreating caused you to become lax, and I guess I was right.」
「Our men spotted a white monster flying through the skies.」
「About that one… I don’t think it’s an enemy.」
「Really? How do you know that?」
「Because it didn’t attack… I suppose.」Silver answered awkwardly.「Anyway, it should be clear what needs to be done.」
Gerhardt folded his arms and thought about it, while the leaders exchanged glances. Perhaps they were unsure whether to trust Silver Face’s information or not.
「We appreciate the useful information, Silver Face.」Lawrence said.「But we’ll need to send scouts to confirm it first. Also, we will maintain our current defensive set-up until we find out if the monsters retreated temporarily or the raids won’t happen again.」
Many nodded in agreement. With the information that Silver Face brought, they could no longer afford to hold a tournament. Lawrence felt relieved, but also a little unsatisfied.
「All right, then. Let’s have our match before the scouts return, Silver Face!」
Unfortunately, common sense didn’t apply to Gerhardt.
「No way.」
Silver Face, unlike Lawrence, had no position or status at all, so he was able to flatly refuse the king’s proposal. Lawrence even envied the cold treatment.
「Why not?!」
「Because I don’t want to.」
「You said you’d fight if I won against Grucel!」
「Oh…. The great Beastman King thinks that a match that ended because of a broken weapon is a win. I see.」
「Why, you…」
A wry smile formed on Lawrence’s face. Silver Face is probably the only person who can provoke Gerhardt this much, he thought.
His beloved king being worked up caused a vein to pop up on Gotthold’s forehead. But he was too occupied in keeping his enraged subordinates in check.
「Grucel! I want a rematch! This time we’ll do it on equal terms! Then I’m gonna drag Silver Face out to a fight!」
Grucel, who was present as the representative of Dream Maker, sighed.「Very well.」
To Lawrence’s astonishment, the commander accepted Gerhardt’s challenge.
Silver Face seemed surprised too『Are you sure about this?』he asked in the Dream Maker language.
「I just find it a little annoying that he thinks he’s already won.」A fire quietly ignited inside Grucel.
Lawrence found himself fidgeting. He realized he wanted to fight too.
「Good. Let’s go right now—」Gerhardt rose to his feet.
「But first we need to settle matters that need to be settled. We need to schedule a meeting to discuss the deployment of a survey squad and to share information. We can fight after that.」
Gerhardt grit his teeth.「Fine! Let’s get this over with!」He sat back down with a thud.
They then decided on the army’s next course of action.
After the discussion ended, representatives from each country left, leaving only Lawrence, Grucel, and Silver Face behind.
「Meeting’s over, Silver Face.」
「Hmm? Oh, okay.」
Silver Face, seated in a chair in the corner, seemed to have fallen asleep in the middle of the meeting. His presence was weak. Lawrence only saw him because he kept his attention on him.
「You look exhausted.」
「Well, yeah. But I can finally get a good sleep tonight.」Silver Face stood up and stretched.
「Is it over?」Lawrence asked.
「Yeah. I cut off the source.」he answered matter-of-factly. He then walked out of the tent and vanished.
「Cut off the source, huh?」
「Did he go way up north?」Grucel asked.
Lawrence nodded.「I think so.」
「I see…」Grucel said as he left the tent.
Lawrence, the only one left in the tent, looked at the damaged table and the huge map spread on top of it. The pins scattered across the north were the habitat of the monsters that Silver Face pointed out.
「That information alone is worth a lot, you know…」
Lawrence also knew that an extremely powerful evil being lurked in the northernmost part of the continent. He heard it was the root of all evil in this land.
「If you defeated it, then you really are a hero.」
Silver Face, however, didn’t brag about his feats. He maintained that he only took it down out of his own interest. He didn’t wish to be a hero that people admired, thanked, and given rewards to.
「An unsung hero, I suppose.」The boy’s outlook, Lawrence thought, was too pure, fleeting, and ephemeral.「No one may know, but I will not forget what you did.」
Lawrence vowed that if he ever asked for help one day, he would be there.