Chapter 55: Forest Wave: First ② – The Death of Jinryuu
Many carriages were crossing the Heizen Plains.
This was a common sight in these parts after the Full Moon Bazaar.
Among the carriages were giant carriages, and not all of them were subjugators.
Forest Wave.
One of the BIG EVENTs of Dungeon Heizen.
In my memories of previous lives, the closest equivalent would be a stampede.
Monsters surge forth in great hordes from the dungeon.
Forest Wave is an EVENT within the dungeon.
From the third floor of Heizen, hordes of monsters head toward the first floor.
It’s divided into three stages.
First Wave. Second Wave. Last Wave.
The waves grow progressively larger. It seems the hordes of monsters increase.
The main stage of Forest Wave is the Heizen Plains.
The plains between the Heisen Great Forest and Trade City Heizen.
Even going straight, it takes roughly 4 days to cross.
There are almost no monsters in the Heisen Plains.
Also, there are many ruins—remnants of fortresses and villages are conspicuous.
Traces of past Forest Waves.
The Zensera family’s prized state-of-the-art giant carriage, ‘Blue Storm.’
In one of its rooms, Galado Jinryu-san was explaining Forest Wave.
Those present were me, Bid-san, and Hoss-san.
Mineha-san was scheduled to come later. She was still struggling with spear adjustments.
It had quite a peculiar character, and the Witch had been pulling all-nighters. ‘Cerberus Stern’ would join us later.
Galado Jinryuu.
Yes, Galado-san was the second son of that Jinryuu family.
I thought he was dead, but he was alive.
And he had entered the Forbidden Land together with Puamanclub.
“Roughly 1 or 2 days from the Heizen Great Forest, there’s a subjugation village.”
“A village-ssu?”
“Though it’s called a village, there are only subjugator-exclusive facilities. There are no people you could call villagers. Just an inn, a general store, a tavern, and a guild branch. There are 5 subjugation villages in total.”
“That’s few-ssu.”
“The subjugation villages are at Finger Rocks.”
“Finger Rocks? What-ssu that?”
“They’re like giant rocks shaped like fingers. Even during Forest Wave, the villages at Finger Rocks aren’t attacked.”
“So there are 5 of them, really like fingers-ssu.”
“I thought it was geographical, but it’s probably dungeon specifications. Also, when there’s no Forest Wave, subjugation villages appear near the Heisen Great Forest.”
Indeed, 1 or 2 days for subjugation is tough.
“So where are we heading-ssu?”
“…Of the 5 Finger Rock subjugation villages, 3 are owned by the Three Great Houses. The rest are guild property. We’re heading to the Jinryu family’s subjugation village. No, I suppose it’s the Zensera family’s now.”
Galado-san gave a bitter smile.
He wasn’t wearing his mirror face now.
At the auction, the Zensera family won the bid for the subjugation village owned by the Jinryu family.
The people at the subjugation village didn’t even know the Jinryuu family was gone.
“…”
After the match, Galado-san told me his story.
His father’s sudden death. Jingi’s death. He had suspicions about Barou and Laada.
Without being informed of Laada’s information, he entered the Forbidden Land with Puamanclub and several elite members.
There, they caused the dungeon anomaly that had been sleeping to awaken.
During their escape through the great forest, they encountered Laada. While fighting, he fell from a cliff.
He thought he died… but was saved.
Galado-san sensed it was the will of Heizen.
After that, he reunited with Puamanclub and hid his identity to become Mirrorface.
This mirror helmet is Legendary, and he became known as the man with the mirror face.
And learning of his younger brother Barou’s deeds, he participated in a certain plan of the Zensera and Gourou families.
They executed that plan at the Full Moon Bazaar.
To avenge himself on Laada, he was searching for her when he learned of the auction.
The auction… the Witch’s doing.
Surprisingly, Galado-san didn’t seem to have any particular thoughts about those matters.
“Now then, do you have any questions up to this point?”
“I have one thing I wanna ask.”
Hoss-san, who had been silent, spoke up.
“What is it?”
“What about the Jinryu family?”
“I won’t do anything. It’s over. Besides, I originally planned to leave the family once Jingi inherited. I had decided to make my way as an explorer.”
“You don’t seem attached-ssu?”
“It’s not that, but I never intended to inherit. Father made brother the successor early on. But it’s not that I was neglected. Barou was the same. Barou seemed different, but I was never the type to be head. I have various thoughts about this matter. Saying they deserved to perish is going too far… but the arrogance of the Three Great Houses certainly existed.”
The Witch pointed that out grandly and somewhat excessively.
Hoss-san looked at Galado-san.
“…Is that so-ssu. Then that’s fine-ssu. I won’t say anything. As long as Ruma’s curse is lifted, anything’s fine-ssu. But is it true-ssu? Not the ‘Wounded One,’ but if we defeat the dungeon anomaly that came out of the Forbidden Land… can the curse really be lifted-ssu?”
“Yeah, I guarantee that. The source of the curse is the dungeon anomaly.”
“Come to think of it, we hadn’t heard about that dungeon anomaly. What form and shape does it have?”
“A spider.”
“…A spider-ssu?”
“Yeah, it was a spider.”
A spider.
I’m not good with insect types.
Though spiders aren’t insects, are they?
“Somehow spiders have an image of appearing a lot-ssu.”
“…That’s true-ssu.”
“…When we fought, it wasn’t like that, but now that you mention it.”
The atmosphere grew heavy.
I don’t like it either, but it’s a spider, after all.
“Um, one thing I was wondering—what is the ‘Wounded One’?”
The ‘Wounded One’ that always comes up when talking about the Heisen Great Forest.
A 15 billion oro bounty. Possesses a relic that erases relics.
It gives off an incredibly strong powerful being vibe.
The only monster that fought ‘Sword of Swords’ and repelled it.
Well, our goal is the dungeon anomaly, so we won’t fight it, though.
“They say it’s the master of the Heisen Great Forest… but I’ve never fought it.”
“…Hoss has fought it before-ssu, right?”
“I have. Long ago. I fought the ‘Wounded One’ and lost my relic.”
“Huh?”
“Eh?”
“…I see.”
I’m surprised. Hoss-san. He had a relic?
Come to think of it, I heard Hoss-san’s halberd is an out-of-place artifact.
“…I formed a subjugation team aiming for a quick fortune. Gathered the best members at the time, and we didn’t doubt we could defeat the ‘Wounded One.’ We were full of ourselves, as you’d say now. The result was a crushing defeat-ssu. Only a few survived. Everyone lost their relics.”
“Is that why you left without saying anything to Ruma-san-ssu?”
“My partner at the time was Ruma’s lover. He was going to propose with the fortune from the ‘Wounded One’… I couldn’t say anything to Ruma. So I ran away. I was sure she had married someone else and was happy-ssu.”
But that wasn’t the case. He thought she was happy.
Or rather, he wished for her to be happy.
Hoss-san carried guilt.
If only Ruma-san had become happy——his guilt would have lessened.
But that wasn’t the case. She hadn’t become happy at all.
“Sorry.”
Galado-san apologized to Hoss-san.
“What is it-ssu?”
“You wanted to kill Barou, didn’t you?”
“——That’s right-ssu. I was watching, so I know you killed him-ssu.”
Hoss-san said clearly.
I realized he was at the moving palace at that time for that reason.
“As I thought. So you were the one hiding then.”
“I noticed-ssu. That’s right. I was supposed to assassinate him-ssu.”
“It was I who disrupted that assassination plan. Originally, Hoss should have been the one to kill him. He had the right to… and I took that from him.”
“What do you mean-ssu?”
“Zenzzera and Gourou opposed it… but I absolutely wanted to settle the matter. The Jinryu should be the ones to close the curtain on Jinryu. No—I wanted to kill Jinryu myself. When I drove my blade into Baarou, Jinryu was finished.”
Galado-san spoke calmly.
And the giant carriage ‘Blue Storm’ arrived at the subjugation village.
“Nnn… beautiful pale… giant carriage… discovery…”
“That family crest. It’s the Zensera family-ssu.”
“Hmm. Strange, isn’t it? This is Jinryuu’s subjugation village.”
“Nnn… smell of conspiracy…”
“Indeed-ssu. This is Forest Wave-ssu.”
“Don’t say foolish things, let’s go. Both of you.”
“Nnn… roger…”
“Hmm.”
They only glanced at the beautiful pale giant carriage for a moment before the three departed.