Black Cat Chapter 127: Surprise Attack

Support the translator on

　On the border between Viscount Lagart and Marquis Escalante, there is a river flowing through the road stop that goes around Mount Bule.

　This river, which has its source in the middle of Mount Bule, also serves as the border between the two territories.

　When Chariot’s carriage arrived at the stopover, many adventurers had already begun to prepare for encampment.

　To avoid unnecessary disputes, the encampments were divided on both banks of the river.

　The rule agreed upon between the Viscount Lagart and Marquis Escalante was simple: The territory where the wyvern finally died out would win.

　Even if it was mortally wounded in the territory of the Marquis Escalante, the Viscount Lagart would win if it died on the north side of the river.

　Then, if it died in the river… the probability of that actually happening would be quite low, and they have not agreed on how to decide the winner in that case.

　Since it seems troublesome, let’s try to finish it off by not letting it escape into the Marquis Escalante’s territory.

　As a rule, the killing will take place from dawn to dusk, and to ensure fairness, five heads of cattle will be tied up as baits in the meadow that stretches from the relay point to Mount Bule.

　The plan seems to be that adventurers and knights will wait for the baits from a distance and attack the wyvern as they appear.

　I wondered if the wyvern would fall for such a blatant trap, but it seems that wyvern have been subjugated in a similar manner in the past.

　Or perhaps the two families had competed in the same way before…?

　The river that runs between the relay sites is about 30 meters wide, including the riverbank, so the other side of the river is clearly visible.

　The Marquisate of Escalante is a land where martial arts thrive, so it is interesting to watch the hand-to-hand combat taking place on the riverbank.

　Of course, even though I was just watching, there was a stupid jerk who threw stones at me, so I blocked it with a [Shield] and laughed with my nose, then silenced him with a lightning magic circle.

　Don’t look down on me because I’m a catkin.

　At dusk, a knight of the Viscount Lagart family called the adventurers to assemble.

　It was a sort of rally before the full-fledged subjugation of the target, which was scheduled to begin tomorrow.

　After the drinks were poured into unglazed cups, the tigerkin knight climbed up on a wooden box about one meter high and began to speak.

“I am Basilio, captain of the third squadron of the Knights of Lagart. First of all, I thank you for joining my Lord’s foolery.” (Basilio)

　The adventurer burst out laughing at Basilio’s frank words.

　Basilio himself grinned before continuing.

“As you can see, it’s a competition between Viscount Lagart and the Marquis Escalante, but honestly, I don’t care whether we win or lose. Anyway, we cannot leave the wyvern unchecked. The days will continue to get colder, but they will loosen up around the spring equinox, and soon calves, lambs, and foals will be born one after another on the farms.” (Basilio)

　At the foot of Mt. Bure is a vast expanse of grassland, which is also used for dairy farming.

　In spring, there is a rush of births, and the newborns become the backbone of the dairy and livestock industries.

　If such new life is exposed to the wyvern crisis, it will cause great losses in the future.

　The Knights want to subjugate the wyvern at all costs before the baby rush begins.

“Although the swarms are much smaller in this area, Killer Bees can still appear, and it is naturally dangerous to camp out for long periods of time in such circumstances. If there is a chance to kill a wyvern, I don’t care if it is lying on the other side of the river. I want you to attack as hard as you can and make sure he is choked to death.” (Basilio)

　Basilio’s stern words caused the once relaxed expressions on the adventurers’ faces to tighten.

“Well, it would be better if we could kill them on our side, but basically we can’t touch them while they are on the other side of the river. Pray that the wyvern will like our baits. We’ve got some pretty nice-looking cows in case you’re wondering.” (Basilio)

　I don’t know if the decoys are really cows, but the laughter spread again.

“I don’t want to make this too long, so just one last thing… make sure you guys don’t get eaten. We will survive and share in the victory… Let’s toast to victory!” (Basilio)

　The adventurers raised their unglazed cups and downed their drinks in one gulp.

　I imitated them and chugged it down, but my small frame and empty stomach made me feel drunk all at once.

　In a fluffy state, Shure fed me and I quickly curled up in the carriage and fell asleep.

“Gyaa!!!” (Scream)

　I awoke to a sudden scream in my ears, and the area was still dimly lit before dawn.

　The chariot members, all of whom had apparently fallen asleep in the carriage, were bracing themselves, listening to what was going on outside.

　The morning light was beginning to shine on the top of the wagon when a large shadow crossed the road at great speed.

“Two me were killed!” (Voice)

“No, not even one!” (Voice)

“Damn, I didn’t hear that they would attack before dawn!” (Voice)

　As if in mockery of the struggle between Viscount Lagart and Marquis Escalante, the wyvern attacked before dawn.

　The attackers appeared to be adventurers from the Viscount Lagart domain, probably those who had also attended last night’s rally.

　After Shure jumped out of the back of the truck after confirming that the wyvern had flown away, I stepped out of the canopy and turned my gaze toward Mount Bule.

　The wyvern flew leisurely toward the mountain, one adventurer dangling from each leg.

　I have a feeling that the wyvern is more capable than I thought, since it can grab two humans and fly with ease.

　I climbed up on top of the canopy and looked at the encampment and saw that many of the tents had been shredded.

　In addition to the two who had been taken, the adventurer who had been splattered by the wyvern had broken his neck and was dead.

　Waiting to attack the baits, they attacked all at once. …The festive air had completely disappeared, and the area had been replaced by the atmosphere of a deadly battlefield.

　Back in the back of the wagon, our leader, Laius, began to speak.

“Frankly, we were lucky that our wagon wasn’t attacked. Starting tonight, we’ll take turns keeping watch, and we’ll coordinate with the rest of the party to tighten our surveillance.” (Laius)

“That bastard, does it have night vision?” (Serge)

　Laius shrugged his shoulders at Serge’s question.

“We don’t know the wyvern’s biology, but since it attacked at this time of night, we should assume it has night vision.” (Laius)

“If they can attack us in total darkness, that’s not a good sign.” (Serge)

“Nyango, can you detect it?” (Laius)

“It’s that big, so I can detect it, but the range is limited if I want to detect it all the way around. Even if we could detect it, we wouldn’t have enough time to raise the alarm and escape.” (Serge)

　Instead of Laius, whose expression was clouded, Shure asked a question.

“What about surrounding the carriage like we did with Killer Bees?” (Shure)

“Probably not strong enough, but I can’t go on all night. If we did it, I wouldn’t be able to do anything during the day.” (Nyango)

　With an area that encompasses the entire carriage, no matter how hard you try, you’re limited to about three hours.

　If we are worn out during the night, I don’t think we can work satisfactorily in the daytime battle.

　In contrast to the Viscount Lagart’s side, which greeted the dawn in a heavy atmosphere, the Marquis Escalante’s side was in high spirits from the morning.

“It’s because you’re out of focus even though you’re on the battlefield.” (Rival Adventurer)

“At this rate, they won’t have anyone left in three days.” (Rival Adventurer)

“Poor things, we’ll have to take them out in place of the useless Lagart forces?” (Rival Adventurer)

　I don’t know how much vigilance the Marquis Escalante side had put in place, and it’s a fact that we were attacked and suffered damage, so it’s hard to argue.

　In the air of contrast, the knights of both families pulled out their bait cattle in good time.

　I thought that if they had two adventurers in their belly at dawn, they might not show up today, but the wyvern showed up before noon.

　The shadow took off from near the summit, caught the air currents, and glided in with hardly a flap of its wings.

　The wyvern, which had been waiting on the Marquis Escalante’s side of the mountain, was out of the reach of the adventurers, who were waiting for it.

　The wyvern was probably not hungry yet, as it did not even look at the decoys.

　The adventurers were waiting for the wyvern, wondering where it was headed, when the wyvern suddenly folded its wings and flew away.

　Suddenly, the wyvern folded its wings and began a steep descent.

　The wyvern, which had been heading toward the surface at a near-fall speed, crossed the river midway through its descent and plunged toward the adventurers on the Viscount Lagart’s side of the river.

“Here we go! All-out battle deployment!” (Basilio)

　Basilio, a knight of the Viscounts of Lagato, shouted out, and we adventurers, including Chariot, braced ourselves with our backs to the bait cow.

“Not yet don’t shoot yet, draw it in first!” (Basilio)

　The wyvern, accelerated by the descent, approached at a tremendous speed to within 50 meters, and at that moment Basilio raised his voice.

“Now, shoot!” (Basilio)

　Immediately after Basilio signaled, the wyvern made a sharp turn and plowed into the adventurers on the Marquis Escalante’s side.

“Shoot… Woaaah…” (Escalante Knight)

　The Marquis Escalante’s side, who seemed to have let their guard down, only fired off attack magic weakly.

“[Shield]!” (Nyango)

　In front of the wyvern’s claws that attacked while swooping down, a shield of void magic was deployed, but…

“Gyaa!!!” (Wyvern)

　My [Shield] was easily shattered, and the two adventurers were grabbed by the sharp claws and taken to the sky.

　The claws pierced through the leather armor and deeply into their stomachs, spraying blood.

　The wyvern also made a sharp change of direction as it flew away, its long tail covered with hard scales cleaving the adventurers.

　Like bowling pins, the bodies of strong knights and adventurers fluttered in the air.

　Stones and other debris, hoisted by the wyvern’s tail, flew toward us as well.

　While a [Shield] was widely deployed to protect the surrounding adventurers, the wyvern soared with a rapid acceleration that could not have been caused by the flapping of its wings, and flew away with ease toward Mount Bule.

T/N: If you like the series rate, review it, and add it to your reading list on Novel Updates. You can also donate through Paypal or Ko-fi or subscribe to Lazy Translations. Thank you!

Support the translator on lazytranslations.com