The Founding Monarch Became the Mastermind

Chapter 85

It took less than five minutes to deal with the group of over a hundred kobolds and gnolls.

In the wide-open field, there was nowhere for them to run from Gau.

Though slower than a horse, even a leisurely jog made Gau faster than humans, and the kobolds and gnolls had no way to escape.

Moreover, while even a wild Gau would have been a terrifying foe, these were mounted with armed riders—veteran mercenaries, soldiers, and elves.

The kobolds and gnolls couldn’t put up proper resistance and were slaughtered.

“Keep a few of them alive.”

Si-on gave the order to find out the location of their base.

“What about the people? Are they alright?”

All the people who had been dragged off by the monsters were rescued.

Though they were not in great condition, having not yet been subjected to any extreme abuse, they quickly regained their strength after drinking the water offered by the soldiers.

“Yes, they are villagers from a nearby settlement called Veilo. It’s a small village with about 30 households.”

“I thought as much.”

Si-on furrowed his brow.

Monsters usually targeted small villages first. Larger settlements, such as walled towns with hundreds of adult men, were avoided by the monsters.

Of course, if their numbers grew large enough, like the group they had just captured, numbering in the hundreds, they wouldn’t hesitate to attack even bigger villages.

“There are probably many more like them, right?”

“Plenty more, I’d guess. These nocturnal creatures have even attacked a village in broad daylight. It’s not just that they’re losing out in competition; it seems like their numbers are continuously growing from the mountain side.”

When Si-on had first come to the duchy in the past, there had been more beasts and monsters than humans.

It had truly been a wild era.

While the situation was not as severe now as it had been back then, the fact that kobolds and gnolls, who usually moved at night, were attacking villages during the day meant their numbers had increased by at least three to four thousand.

‘That also means there are more medium and large monsters now.’

Small bipedal monsters like kobolds choose their habitats to avoid medium and large monsters.

The creatures they had captured today had likely descended from the mountains to avoid competition with their own kind and larger monsters.

This meant that there were possibly five to six times, maybe even ten times, more monsters swarming within the mountains than the ones they had seen today.

“Things are getting more complicated than I expected. Hmm, what should I do?”

Si-on pondered.

Catching monsters wasn’t that difficult.

He had once roamed the entire duchy, hunting monsters to the point that the knight order had been reduced to a group of beggars. His old skills hadn’t disappeared, and now, everything was in a better state than it had been back then.

But the issue was that it would take too much time.

He had to wrap up things in the south within a month at the latest and proceed with his original plan.

“Oh, right. There’s that guy.”

“Huh? What guy?” Piotr asked.

Si-on rubbed his chin and murmured, “But is he still alive? He’s definitely an unusual one… hmm.”

“…?”

Ignoring Piotr’s confusion, Si-on turned to Friel.

“Friel, could you summon the troops from Gosan?”

“Yes.”

Soon, the mountain elves gathered in force. Among them, of course, was Stella.

“You called for us, Instructor.”

Stella and the Gosan elf warriors stood at attention.

They had all witnessed Si-on fight today.

Although the troops had fought well enough that there were no casualties, Si-on’s ability to take down the monsters was on an entirely different level.

As they stood before him, unable to hide their reverence, they recalled their first encounter with him and the awe-inspiring display of strength he had shown against them.

“Ah, sorry for calling you during your rest.”

“It’s no problem. What’s the reason for the call?”

Si-on couldn’t help but think, ‘She’s becoming stranger by the day,’ as he looked at Stella, who stood straighter than the others and stared at him with an intense, almost predatory gaze.

“There’s an ogre in Gosan with an abnormally large right tusk. Do you know it? Is it still alive?”

“The one with the large tusk… How do you… Ah.”

Stella, remembering Si-on’s true identity, continued speaking.

“The Large Tusk still lives in the Gosan Basin. It never comes near our lands and only moves around the mountain peaks and basin, so we rarely encounter it.”

“I see.”

The ogre, known as Large Tusk, had a right tusk as big as a human’s arm.

Though it always walked hunched like most ogres, if it stood up straight, it would be four meters tall, with thighs thicker than the combined torsos of two grown men.

Si-on had once witnessed the creature tear apart a fully grown male grizzly bear when it was still an immature adolescent.

And after killing the bear, the ogre had brazenly charged at Si-on, who had been watching from a distance. That was the day the creature’s tusk was reduced to one and it earned the moniker Large Tusk.

On that day, Si-on had beaten the ogre as if it were a dog on the verge of slaughter.

It was well known that ogres possessed exceptional regenerative abilities, but Large Tusk was extraordinary even by ogre standards.

For nearly half a day, the creature endured a brutal beating from Si-on, who was often referred to as the immortal monster slayer.

Whenever the ogre tried to run, Si-on chased it down and beat it again. He’d half-kill it, wait for it to heal, and then beat it once more.

During this prolonged process, Si-on learned something new: the ogre, a supposed king among monsters, had emotions beyond its instinct for carnage and rage.

As the sun set over the Gosan Basin, painting the western sky with a breathtaking sunset, the ogre, which ruled the mountain as if it were a king, began to sob.

It was only then that Si-on stopped beating the creature.

From the beginning, Si-on’s goal in climbing the mountain and attacking Large Tusk wasn’t to kill it but to subdue it.

“I’ll acknowledge this as your land. But in return, you’ll manage the monsters from here to there. Make sure they don’t come down the mountain. Got it?”

Si-on couldn’t remember exactly what he had said back then, but it had been something like that.

Yes, Si-on had intended to use Large Tusk to control the monsters in the area surrounding Gosan, the highest peak of the Brandin Mountains.

Whether it was because the ogre was particularly intelligent or simply terrified of Si-on (it was actually both), Large Tusk had obeyed his orders well.

Though ogres typically had a lifespan of around 30 years, this one was so large and unique that it seemed likely to live longer.

Still, Si-on hadn’t expected it to be alive nearly 50 years later.

“Good to know it’s still around. Alright, thanks.”

“Sir, do you plan to hunt Large Tusk yourself?”

Stella asked.

“No, not exactly. I’m thinking of it more like… a bit of traffic control? Or maybe a succession arrangement?”

“…?”

Stella and the other Gosan elves tilted their heads, confused by his words.

While Stella knew Si-on’s true identity, the other Gosan elves, who only saw him as a distant royal, were somewhat surprised that he knew of Large Tusk’s existence.

Still, they rationalized it.

“Well, he is close to the ducal family, so he must’ve heard about it from them.”

They let it slide.

***

Other than a few who stayed behind to escort the rescued villagers back to their village, the rest of the hunting unit pressed forward, using the surviving monsters to lead them to their lair.

In truth, “lead” wasn’t quite right—they simply let the monsters go.

Since their intelligence was roughly equivalent to that of a five- or six-year-old human, the kobolds and gnolls bolted the moment they were released.

Being canine creatures, they instinctively returned to their “home.”

Si-on and the hunting unit merely had to follow them.

By sundown, the hunting unit had located around ten caves, which served as the monsters’ lairs.

They first dealt with the guards at the entrances before deciding to set the caves on fire.

“Could there be any captives inside?” Piotr asked.

“There probably are,” Si-on replied.

“Kobolds, gnolls, and even goblins all consider humans as food. They keep them in separate areas. We just have to find those spots.”

It was easy to locate the caves where humans were kept.

Since humans were larger than most monsters, the caves with the biggest entrances usually housed the captives.

Excluding the caves where people might be held, the hunting unit quickly eliminated the guards at the other cave entrances, gathered the dry grass scattered around, and set fires at the entrances.

While these creatures were not intelligent, they still understood basic ventilation and had dug their caves with that in mind. However, once smoke began filling the tunnels, there was no escape.

Hundreds of gnolls and kobolds came coughing and stumbling out of the caves, only to be slaughtered by the hunting unit waiting at the entrances.

By the time the sun set, the hunting unit had exterminated every single one of the hundreds of kobolds and gnolls.

“Did we rescue all the villagers?”

“Yes, we found twenty-seven survivors. As for the others…”

It turned out that roughly the same number of villagers had already been killed.

The survivors were in such poor condition that if the Peregrine Division hadn’t rescued them today, at least five or six more would have died within a few days.

“The village militias, fine, whatever, but what the hell were the town and cities of Fland and Rozin doing? Those useless idiots!”

The members of the hunting unit, many of whom were former Black Eagle Regiment soldiers, couldn’t contain their anger.

They knew that neither Fland nor Rozin had military authority.

However, both cities had guards, and if even a small portion of them had been dispatched, the villagers wouldn’t have suffered so much.

Si-on agreed with their sentiment.

Fland and Rozin had failed in their duty to protect their regions.

“Maybe they panicked with all the simultaneous monster attacks. Or maybe they decided to focus on protecting only the larger towns for now. Either way, it doesn’t change the fact that they were incompetent.”

He wasn’t so much angry as bitterly disappointed.

When Si-on had left the duchy completely, neither of the two cities had been in this state.

Perhaps the long peace had made them complacent, but their current level of incompetence was a failure of leadership.

“At any rate, with a monster horde of this size taken care of, the area should be safe for now.”

“Do you think more will come?” Piotr asked.

Before Si-on could respond, Friel stepped in.

“Monsters aren’t stupid. They’ll smell the blood and head this way, but once they get here, they’ll realize something powerful wiped out their kind and retreat.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Especially the monsters in the duchy. Regardless of species, they’ve learned to fear the military forces here. I’m not sure if they pass it down through generations or if they’re born with it, but they know the terror of one man and his subordinates very well. Of course, the recently born ones might not know yet.”

As Friel spoke, her gaze naturally drifted toward Si-on, and Piotr also looked at the Founding Patriarch with renewed respect.

“I used to be pretty active back in the day. Anyway, we’re leaving right away, even though you’re probably tired. Most monsters are nocturnal, and they’ll swarm this place within a few hours.”

Even if they did come, Si-on would have no problem taking care of them, but his troops needed rest.

It was better to push through and travel a few more hours before resting.

Thus, Si-on and the Peregrine Division mounted Gau with the survivors and left the monster lairs behind.

The next morning, after safely escorting the survivors back to their village, Si-on was left speechless by the sight of the remaining villagers.

More than ten days had passed since the monster attack had devastated the village, yet no one from the town’s administration or Rozin City had come to help.

“Those damn bastards.”

In the end, Si-on’s anger boiled over.