Mistaken for a Masked Munchkin

Vulgar Slaughter, Cowardly Survival (9)

Border Knight unit. Third Knight, Kantas.

A veteran who had been through everything life could throw at him.

He stood there, blinking at nothing.

"......"

Even for a man of his experience, this was a first.

Ghouls.

Humans warped by vampire blood.

Creatures stripped of their minds, nothing left but the hunger to feed.

'And yet...'

The masked man, Garurik.

By his own account, he belonged to a secret organization called [Slayers].

His rank was deputy commander.

Vampire hunters, apparently, operating in the shadows of the continent.

On any other day, Kantas would have scoffed and called it nonsense. After seeing this, though? He couldn't.

'...He reversed the ghoulification?'

A miracle.

Right before his eyes, the same scene had been playing out for hours.

"Joasu! One more, please!"

Fwoosh!

Ghouls, hurled in a relentless stream.

Across from them stood Garurik, balloon sword in hand.

The colorful blade flashed through the air, sending each incoming ghoul ricocheting away.

"Sir Kantas! Catch!"

"Oh, uh, right! Got it!"

Kantas snapped back to attention just in time. He caught the ghoul as it arced high, his body knew what to do even when his mind was elsewhere.

"Ugh... where am I..."

A drowsy murmur.

He looked down to find a girl nestled in his arms, groggy and blinking, like she'd just woken from a long sleep.

The bloodstained skin, the hollow eyes. Gone. She was human again.

Kantas gave her a quick rundown of the situation and sent her over to the survivor group.

"Senia? Is that, is that really Senia?"

"Dad!"

Another tearful reunion.

He watched all of it in a daze.

'What on earth is going on.'

A glance down into the pit.

Just a few hours ago, it had been packed with ghoulified victims.

Now, barely any ghouls were left to count. Even the remaining handful were being carried along by Blood Manipulation.

'...Am I dreaming?'

Every swing of that balloon sword turned a ghoul back into a human.

Unreal.

He had no choice but to believe it. The men beside him wouldn't shut up long enough to let him doubt.

"Captain, captain! Did you see that? Three ghouls at once!"

"They turned back into humans! Never seen anything like it in my life!"

"How did he even do that? Captain! Is the man over there some kind of high-ranking priest?"

"Haah..."

Hopeless.

Same Border Knights unit. His own men.

How were they this lively when they'd barely turned back into humans themselves?

Kantas smacked each of them once rather than telling them to settle down.

"Ow! What, why are you hitting us!"

"You were curious too, Captain, admit it!"

The ghoul batting kept going through all of it.

Only the last one remained now.

One of his men spoke up, thinking out loud.

"I don't sense anything special coming off him. No mana, no sorcery, no dark mana. Not a trace. At a glance, you couldn't even tell him apart from a civilian..."

"What? Then what are we actually watching?"

"That's what I'd like to know..."

"Huh, fair enough."

"You think it's that balloon sword? Maybe there's something hidden in it, some kind of special energy. Or maybe that sword really is a sacred relic..."

"Looks like a normal balloon sword to me."

"Idiot. It looks plain. If it were actually ordinary, it would've popped ten times over by now."

"A sacred relic, huh..."

Idiots, the lot of them.

Kantas let out a long, slow sigh.

And thought:

'Is that really it...?'

Looking at it now, the balloon sword did seem unusually springy. Not what you'd call a normal weapon by any stretch.

On top of that, Garurik was the deputy commander of a world-class organization. A man capable of seizing a ranch single-handedly.

For someone like that to be walking around with a plain balloon sword? That made no sense from the start.

'Could it really be a sacred relic...'

By now, the idea had taken root firmly in Kantas's mind. That balloon sword was an immensely powerful artifact.

The Absolute Balloon Sword.

Truly, a holy sword worthy of the historical record.

Quietly, the man stood and bore witness to a miracle.

"Phew... that should be the last of them."

"Well done, Deputy Commander Garurik."

"You worked hard too, Maneur."

After batting the final ghoul clean, the two strolled back at an unhurried pace.

Garurik and Maneur.

A troublesome pair. But the strongest around.

Around them, a crowd of survivors had gathered, far more faces than when they'd first set out. The result of restoring every ghoul in the pit.

-Huhk, my daughter... to be able to hold you like this again...

-Oh, Mother! I thought I'd never see you again...

-Thank goodness, really, huhk, thank goodness...

Weeping on all sides.

Different from a few hours ago, though. Soaked in joy more than grief, in fulfillment more than loss.

"...A miracle."

Someone said.

Yes. A miracle.

No other word for it.

Light had reached down and offered its hand to people who had been buried in despair.

"Oh! A saint!"

"We stand before a divine messenger..."

"Thank you! Thank you, God...!"

Cries soaked in tears.

Hundreds of people dropped to their knees before the mask.

They bowed their heads, full of reverence and joy.

"Oh? Everyone...?"

The one they called a saint froze for a moment, caught off guard.

"Hmm... oh."

Then something clicked. He gave a slow nod.

"Yes."

A gentle voice, reaching wide.

Both arms spread open.

In his hands: the sacred weapon, the Absolute Balloon Sword.

A bearing worthy of scripture.

"I am the messenger who carries the will of God."

In truth, he'd only wanted to cause a bit of a stir.

But hey, good is good.

A landscape of colorful balloons in full bloom.

Even the Border Knights had dropped to their knees by then.

Among them, Kantas had been swept up so completely that tears were rolling down his face.

"Sir Garurik! Sir Maneur!"

The veteran knight looked up.

The Slayers.

Vampire hunters.

A secret organization no one had ever heard of.

Sacrifices, then, that no one would ever know about.

Warriors who carried silver and stakes for the sake of others, all the same.

"Border Knights unit! Third in rank within the order! Third Knight, Kantas! I am moved by your dedication!"

This was exactly the kind of hero Kantas had always dreamed of.

And here they were, carrying out the will of God, spreading that light across the world.

"I swear it on the stars above! The Border Knights will cooperate with the Slayers whenever and wherever needed! You need only send word, and I will mobilize the full order in your support! Please, allow us to stand beside this noble cause!"

The Border Knights were a coalition of many smaller, lesser orders.

Individual strength wasn't their strong suit, but their numbers alone outstripped most major formations.

They would be a real asset.

"...Heh heh."

The jester laughed instead of answering.

All sorts of beautiful windfalls, rolling his way.

Ding!

[Sub Quest Cleared!]

-Title: Vile Slaughter, Craven Survival.

-Objective: Prevent the New Kingdom's vampires from establishing a 'human ranch.' Rescue the people kidnapped by the vampires.

[You have achieved an impossible feat!]

-Detail: Rescued 113 civilians who had been ghoulified.

-Result: Additional rewards will be distributed!

[Rewards Obtained]

1. Boundless goodwill from the city of 'Liventa.'

2. Boundless goodwill from the 'Border Knights.'

3. Title [Saint] obtained.

Messages kept stacking up without pause.

The jester's eyes darted around behind the mask.

Ding!

[A single Windfall has been triggered 30 or more times!]

[A new Windfall will be registered to the Windfall Collector!]

.

[Windfall Collector]

1. Step Skip

2. Slowdown

3. Parrying

4. Status Effect-Parrying

-> When a single Windfall is used 30 or more times, it is registered to the Collector.

-> Windfalls registered to the Collector will significantly reduce the burden on the user.

A dazzling firework display from the status window.

With it, the grueling overnight quest came to an end.

***

After everything wrapped up, I returned to the academy with Carmilla.

We packed the ranch with explosives before leaving and blew it apart without a trace.

-Leave the rest to us!

-The Border Knights will handle everything.

The survivors we'd rescued, all the messy follow-up procedures, Kantas agreed to handle everything.

Fine by me. I was happy to skip the headache.

'Still... I think I went a bit overboard with the goodwill farming.'

I'd lost count of how many times I'd been thanked tonight alone.

Got a little carried away. Would it cause problems later?

All sorts of small worries surfaced, but I shoved them aside.

My body felt like it was about to dissolve on the spot.

"Phew... I really pushed myself tonight."

[Are you alright? I told you, you never look after yourself...]

"I'm not dying. A good night's sleep in the dormitory should fix it."

[Good, no lectures tomorrow. I'm sleeping the entire day myself...]

"You worked hard too, Princess."

Carmilla had shifted back into her bat form somewhere along the way.

I walked with her nestled against me, squirming softly.

The path back to the dormitory building.

"Viktor-student."

"...?"

Someone was standing in front of the building.

A woman with her back against the wall, waiting.

Loose red hair framing green eyes.

"...Professor Javert?"

Javert.

The moment our eyes met, I stopped.

"It's quite late. You've blown well past dormitory curfew. Almost morning, actually."

"......"

"And yet... where exactly has Viktor been sneaking off to?"

"......"

My spine went cold.

Those green eyes, flat and still as a frozen lake.

I swallowed dryly.

"Where were you? All night."

"......"

No.

Why would noona be here...?

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