Chapter 60

Promise (3)

While the soldiers dealt with the corpses of the large-class monsters, the Commander and I sat across from each other inside a hastily erected tent.

“What happened?”

“What happened?”

We asked each other the same question and both faintly furrowed our brows at the same time.

I wanted to hear his explanation in chronological order, but since I was the subordinate, I should answer first.

“I thought the signal flares had been fired incorrectly. I assumed there were six monsters or fewer, so I came with only Meursault and two newly commissioned officers. That was an error in judgment. If I’d known there were nine, I wouldn’t have come with such a small group.”

“That isn’t what I was asking.”

The Commander looked more confused than I had ever seen him as he asked,

“How did you drive them away?”

Oh. So that was what he meant.

But I didn’t know why they had suddenly fled either.

To be honest, it left me feeling uneasy.

It was fortunate that they had run away, but unless I knew why they had fled, there was always the possibility that they might return and attack again.

Still, simply saying that I had no idea would not be the answer the Commander wanted.

I had no choice.

I would have to offer Meursault’s theory.

“Actually… in the area our team searched, we didn’t see a single monster. Not even a small- or medium-class one, let alone a large-class monster.”

“Not even one?”

“According to the team members’ reports, only tracks remained, as though all of them had become frightened by something and fled at once.”

“Just like the ones that ran away a moment ago.”

A strange look entered the Commander’s eyes.

“I can hardly believe what I saw myself… but those creatures appeared to be fleeing from you. If the monsters in the area you searched had already escaped before you arrived, then it would mean you were the reason they fled.”

“But I don’t know why monsters would run from me. Until I arrived here and killed two of them, they didn’t seem particularly afraid of me.”

“That’s what I find strange as well. It isn’t as though you suddenly changed during the battle.”

Something had changed midway through, of course…

But I couldn’t tell the Commander that it might have been related to my title, so I gave him a plausible answer.

“Is it possible they became frightened after seeing me kill two of them so easily?”

“Perhaps. That is the most reasonable explanation. But right before they fled, they seemed enraged at you for killing their companions.”

“Then I truly have no idea why they ran.”

That should be enough to show I had made a sincere effort to answer him.

Now it was my turn to ask questions.

“But what happened here? How did you end up fighting nine large-class monsters?”

The Commander released a deep sigh and answered in a troubled voice.

“It’s the same for us. I don’t know.”

“Pardon?”

“As you know, large-class monsters do not normally travel in groups.”

Of course, I was well aware of that trait.

Large-class monsters devoured anything they encountered, including other monsters.

Monsters of the same class were no exception. It was common for one large-class monster to eat another.

That was why they avoided each other whenever they met instead of traveling together.

“And yet, after remaining completely unseen for several hours after we began searching the central area, they ambushed us from behind. As a group.”

“Large-class monsters launched a coordinated ambush?”

As I had explained before, smaller monsters tended to include more intelligent individuals, while larger monsters were often simple-minded brutes that rarely used their heads.

And yet not one or two, but nine creatures capable of advanced behavior like an “ambush” had appeared simultaneously?

‘Come to think of it, one of the monsters I fought earlier was unusually cunning…’

The situation had been too urgent for me to think deeply about it at the time.

But raising its head to prevent anyone from shooting its gem was not behavior commonly seen in a large-class monster either.

Had that specimen been the one leading the coordinated ambush?

“Then the reason only six flares were fired…”

“Yes. Four people were swept away in the first attack. They appeared to die instantly. We hurriedly fired the signal flares we had, and fortunately, Team Two had been searching nearby. That was what saved us. Afterward, the other teams that saw the signals joined us one after another, which is why we’re still alive. Many others weren’t so fortunate, but the casualties were lower than I expected…”

The Commander trailed off, then spoke to me in a firm tone.

“This is all thanks to you.”

That came out of nowhere.

“I believe I was the last one to arrive.”

“No. I’m not only talking about the assistance you personally provided.”

Resting his chin on one hand, the Commander gazed steadily at me.

“Many soldiers survived because of your actions, but more importantly, this many survived because our force was small from the beginning. Had we assembled a subjugation force as usual, the casualties would have been far greater.”

He continued,

“If that many people had attempted to flee from the monsters’ ambush, we could never have formed an encirclement as quickly as we did. And because we were fewer in number than the monsters, the creatures blocked each other’s paths while trying to attack us, preventing them from building up speed. That allowed us to retreat as far as Team Two’s position…”

The Commander paused.

Then he looked at me with an expression containing both suspicion and expectation.

“Did you know this would happen?”

Hmm.

Right.

I had told the Commander that I was a regressor.

It was understandable that he might think I had reorganized the subjugation force into small teams because I already knew that the large-class monsters would launch an ambush.

He appeared suspicious that I had known the future but deliberately kept silent.

At the same time, his eyes held the expectation that if I had foreseen this incident, I might also know how to resolve whatever came next.

But I had reorganized the force into teams purely for efficiency.

And I wasn’t truly a regressor.

There had never been a storyline in the game I played where large-class monsters attacked in a group either.

Apparently, the Commander realized from my expression alone that I had known nothing about this situation. The suspicion and expectation faded from his eyes.

“It seems you didn’t know after all.”

“This never happened in the future I knew.”

“Then… could that man have interfered?”

“That man?”

“The one from the Unicorn Zone. The man you said might be either a player or a regressor.”

When the Unicorn Zone player had attacked me before, I had told the Commander that he might be a regressor like me or a player like my mother.

Apparently, he had not forgotten.

The Commander’s theory that the man was involved in this incident wasn’t entirely unreasonable.

If something that had never happened in the game was now happening here, then the first thing to suspect was the intervention of another player.

At present, the players from the other zones could do little more than send observers into my territory.

But considering the Unicorn Zone’s level of technology, controlling large-class monsters should be entirely possible.

However…

‘Would he really go through all that trouble?’

That man had shot at me from point-blank range.

There was no reason for him to go through the complicated process of controlling large monsters and making them attack us.

Furthermore, if this were his doing, it still wouldn’t explain why the monsters had retreated so abruptly.

“He already fired a gun at me. I don’t think he would bother using monsters when he could simply attack directly.”

“I heard the person he originally intended to kill was that child called Darling Outsider. What if he was targeting your friend again?”

“Targeting Darling would have been far too inefficient. He should have sent the monsters toward the team Darling was in, not Father’s Team One. And it’s too ambiguous to say he was targeting you either. When the monsters fled, they didn’t even spare you a glance, did they?”

At my rebuttal, the Commander pressed one hand to his forehead as though his head were beginning to ache, then leaned heavily back in his folding chair.

“…Should we return to the zone?”

We had killed five monsters, so the objective of the subjugation operation had been achieved to some extent.

Those nine were probably all the large-class monsters in the surrounding area.

It might be better to return than remain here and expose ourselves to further danger while something inexplicable was happening.

Leaving four monsters alive bothered me, but if they fled from me again next time, subjugating them would be difficult anyway.

“Your Excellency.”

At that moment, Meursault pulled aside the tent flap and stepped inside.

“I have a report. We subjugated five monsters in total. Six personnel were killed during the battle, and the bodies of two of them have yet to be recovered.”

“The wounded?”

“Three are seriously injured and twenty-one have minor injuries, for a total of twenty-four. Everyone who remained in the other search areas has been confirmed safe, and Second Lieutenant Plato is leading them here now. Preparations to transport the monster carcasses have been completed, but… what would you like us to do?”

It seemed Meursault had also come to ask whether we should return.

The Commander looked at me as though asking what I thought would be best.

…Was he seriously telling me to decide?

“How many of the twenty-one lightly wounded soldiers can drive a bike?”

Meursault answered immediately, almost as though he had expected me to ask.

“All twenty-one can handle a bike.”

“Then let’s send the carcasses and the wounded back to the zone first.”

The Commander studied me before asking,

“You intend to continue the search?”

“I think we should, at least until the wounded have returned safely. There’s no guarantee the monsters that ambushed us once won’t do it again.”

The Commander and Meursault exchanged a glance, then nodded simultaneously.

“We can’t send only the wounded. We’ll have to select several soldiers to escort them back.”

“We’ll need to reorganize the units.”

The two of them quickly selected the personnel who would return, reduced the original ten teams to five, and assigned eleven people to each team.

The leaders of the new teams were chosen from among the survivors of the Commander’s Team One.

Team One had originally been filled with veterans possessing exceptional combat experience so they could assist the Commander. Now, the deaths of four of its members finally felt painfully significant.

There were six survivors from Team One, including the Commander, so one of them was not given command of a team and was instead assigned to escort the wounded.

My Team Ten, which had suffered neither deaths nor injuries, consisted entirely of newly commissioned officers. Its members were divided evenly among the five reorganized teams.

Naturally, Meursault and I were placed in Team One under the Commander.

What surprised me was that the Commander himself placed Stay-at-Home-Wifey in Team One as well.

“You’re planning to bring him with us?”

“Wasn’t that child running toward you before the monsters fled? He’s your friend, isn’t he?”

Apparently, even amid all that chaos, the Commander had noticed Stay-at-Home-Wife running toward me.

Well, I wasn’t sure how much help the guy would actually have been, but I had been impressed by his growth when I saw him coming to assist me in that situation.

Meursault then looked at me as though he had only just remembered something.

“Come to think of it, Private Outsider was standing in front of the tent with a deathly pale face…”

“He’s outside the tent?”

“His Excellency and I can handle everything from here. Wouldn’t it be better for you to go see your friend?”

When Meursault said that, the Commander also gave me permission to leave.

It seemed I didn’t need to concern myself with the rest of the team assignments, so I gave a slight bow and stepped outside.

The instant I emerged, a hand seized my arm.

“Dopa—Haydam!”

Meursault hadn’t exaggerated when he said Stay-at-Home-Wife looked pale.

He was white as a sheet, as though he had witnessed something utterly terrifying.

Even when he had nearly been killed by the Unicorn Zone player, he hadn’t looked this frightened.

Even I instinctively asked,

“Are you… all right?”

“Those things earlier… Those things!”

He seemed not to hear my question and repeatedly shook his head.

“Something’s wrong… Something is terribly wrong…!”

Only then did I notice that the hand gripping my arm was trembling violently.

This was an excessive reaction if it was merely because he had faced several large-class monsters.

“Calm down. I also think it’s strange that large-class monsters formed a group and launched an ambush, so I was about to investigate—”

“The fact that they were traveling together isn’t the problem!”

Stay-at-Home-Wife suddenly shouted, so I immediately clamped a hand over his mouth.

The Commander and Meursault were only a single sheet of canvas away inside the tent.

Stay-at-Home-Wife glared at me resentfully, but considering that he had nearly called me Dopamine Addict again just moments ago, my response was completely justified.

I dragged him away from the tent, checked that no one was nearby, and only then removed my hand from his mouth.

“Calm down first.”

“…”

“Now tell me what the problem is.”

“Those monsters…”

Stay-at-Home-Wife swallowed hard before continuing.

“I saw them eating people…”

I nodded in understanding.

“That must have been horrifying.”

I had tried to show some sympathy, but Stay-at-Home-Wife shook his head violently.

“No! It wasn’t horrifying. That’s the problem—it wasn’t horrifying at all!”

“What the hell does that mean?”

I was growing tired of listening and finally frowned.

Stay-at-Home-Wife answered in a mumbling voice.

“I saw it clearly. The bodies of the people those monsters ate…”

He stared at me with trembling eyes and slowly forced out the words.

“The moment their bodies touched the monsters’ teeth, they vanished into blue particles.”