Chapter 48: Dealing with Atlas’s Corpse – Part 1

I used the garden teleportation to bring the three of them over to the Second Home Garden.

“““——!?”””

All three of them simultaneously widened their eyes and dropped their jaws in unison.

Their shock was perfectly understandable. After all, what lay before their gaze was the colossal corpse of a monster, a behemoth nearly twenty meters tall.

“Hey, Geo… what on earth is that enormous thing…?”

“That’s Atlas. The one responsible for the Stampede.”

“…Huh?”

Anii-san shot me a look that plainly said, What on earth are you talking about?

“Why… why is it here?”

“Well, um, Shifa-san, it’s because my golem worked really hard to take it down.”

“…”

“Uh? Shifa-san? Are… are you alright?”

For some reason, Shifa-san had frozen in place, staring silently at the scene.

“So… you’re saying… you fought the Stampede?”

“The Stampede is just a phenomenon, so there’s no need for honorifics… but yeah, that’s basically it.”

“…What are you doing, Geo?”

“Geo, that’s way too dangerous.”

“You really…!”

All three of them directed scolding glares at me simultaneously.

“Well, it’s just… the city guards were struggling, and if things continued like that, the Western Gate would have been breached. So… I, uh… jumped in to help from the garden.”

I tried to soften the mood by saying it in a cute, playful tone.

…It completely backfired.

“D-Don’t worry! Like I said, if it gets too dangerous, we can always teleport to the other garden!”

“…Wait, hold on. How exactly are you ‘helping from the garden’? That doesn’t even make sense.”

“Oh! I haven’t shown you yet, have I? Uh… you’ll understand as soon as you see it.”

I activated garden teleportation again, moving the Second Home Garden itself.

Zuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuz…

“See? I used this to transport the garden all the way to the Western Gate.”

“““……”””

Then, I summoned a castle wall, conjuring a barrier over ten meters high.

Zugogogogogogogogogoo!

“And then, when I let it crash into the horde of monsters… well, a lot of them ended up defeated pretty nicely.”

“““……”””

Huh?

Why was everyone completely silent?

“You! It’s youuuuuuu!”

Suddenly, Anii shouted.

“Huh? What? Me? What do you mean?”

“There’s no ‘what’ about it!”

“So… everything those adventurers were saying…?”

“…was true?”

Even Sena and Shifa-san were now squinting at me, disbelief written across their faces.

“…You’re not telling me… that giant, mountain-like golem was your doing too, right?”

Mountain?

Could they be talking about the Giga Golem?

〈Do you want to create the Giga Guardian?〉

I nodded.

Instantly, a massive fifteen-meter-tall golem appeared before us.

““!?””

“Wha—It’s huge!”

Shifa-san and Anii immediately tensed, stepping back defensively, while Sena’s eyes sparkled with excitement.

“W-What… is this!?”

“What do you mean, ‘what’? It’s the mountain-like golem Anii was talking about.”

“You can make something like this!?”

“I just recently learned how to, actually.”

I had acquired this skill by sheer luck during the battle against Atlas. Without it, our city might have been completely devastated by the monster by now.

“Right. And about Atlas’s corpse… what should we do with it? I only need the magic stones, so if you need any materials, feel free to take them.”

“No, no. If we tried to sell Atlas’s materials in this state, people would think we were the ones who defeated it. How could we explain that?”

“Oh… right.”

Anii’s remark made me realize I hadn’t considered that at all.

“I think the materials themselves would fetch a high price.”

Shifa-san added.

“Even lower-tier cyclopes are bought at high prices by the Adventurers’ Guild. Bones, hides, even teeth—they’re all large, durable, and in demand.”

Hmm… maybe it would be a waste to absorb them along with the magic stones. But then again, we already have plenty of money.

I should probably consult with Lilcarlia-san just to be sure.

◇ ◇ ◇

“So, have you found Atlas’s corpse?”

“No… no matter where we search, we can’t find it.”

“…Hmph.”

Receiving the report from her vassals, Arcel’s young lady lord, Elizabeth, let out a frustrated hum.

Common sense dictated that such a colossal corpse could not simply vanish. Yet, no matter how thoroughly the investigation proceeded, there was no trace of it anywhere.

“Not just that giant… even most of the thousand monsters that were supposed to be here have completely vanished. I don’t understand a thing.”

“…”

“The only suspicious things are that moving wall… and the giant golem. But even they have disappeared. Ugh! I still don’t get it!”

Elizabeth flailed her arms and legs like a child throwing a tantrum. Her youthful appearance made her seem even smaller, almost entirely childlike in that moment.

After venting a bit of frustration, she finally exhaled in a long sigh.

“…Come to think of it…”

She seemed to have realized something.

“The land we recently granted to the adventurers… it used to be a swamp, right? I want to investigate it more thoroughly.”

“As you command. We will proceed immediately—”

“No, wait. I will go myself. I want to see it with my own eyes.”

“Y-Your Grace, personally!?”