Episode 14 (Bianca’s POV): “A Name I Haven’t Heard in a Long Time”
In recent years, incidents of monsters devouring crops had grown frequent throughout the Rehmbruck county.
The villagers had piled on countermeasure after countermeasure — reinforced night patrols, additional fencing, traps set out — but the damage had only kept increasing.
And a few days ago, a young man on watch duty had been attacked by a monster.
Fortunately, nearby residents had responded to his screams in time, and he’d escaped with only minor injuries.
But monsters attacking people directly marked a real shift. The villagers’ wariness of monsters had grown sharply, and through their lord, they’d sent a request for aid to the Magic Corps’ northern base.
The one dispatched in response was Bianca von Behrendorf.
She’d graduated second in her class from the magic academy, joined the Magic Corps straight after, and had since been stationed at the northern base.
For her, this Rehmbruck commission marked the first time she’d ever led subordinates of her own, acting as captain — though “subordinates,” in this case, meant only five people.
Three days since arriving in Rehmbruck territory. By taking over watch duty in the villagers’ place, the damage to crops had stopped entirely. Still, she couldn’t afford to stay in this region indefinitely.
(Take out the monsters’ leader? No, that’s not possible. There isn’t one, not around here.)
This wasn’t a case of organized monsters attacking under a single command — each one was acting on its own. Without a leader to strike at, dealing with the problem properly was proving difficult.
(Just wipe out every monster in the area, then? That would work, sure, but it’s not exactly realistic.)
The number of monsters holed up in the mountains was fairly substantial. Defeating every last one would be no small task.
(Some kind of magic tool or barrier spell that could protect the territory automatically, permanently… no, if something like that existed, nobody would be struggling with this in the first place.)
Still, it was probably worth thinking a little further about installing some kind of magic tool. As Bianca was trying to recall a magic merchant she had connections with, a knock came at her door, several times in a row.
“Come in.”
“Yes, ma’am!!”
The one who stepped inside was the youngest of her subordinates — a new recruit who’d only just graduated from the magic academy this year.
“Captain Bianca, I have something to report.”
“What is it?”
During the day, Bianca had her doing interviews with the local villagers, gathering as much information as possible — reports of crop damage, sightings of monsters, anything that might help.
“It’s about the reason Count Rehmbruck has been away in the royal capital these past several days.”
A week earlier, a letter had arrived from Count Rehmbruck requesting the Magic Corps be dispatched. But by the time they’d arrived, he himself had been absent from his territory.
(I didn’t think much of it at the time, but I suppose there was a reason after all.)
To begin with, plenty of nobles rarely returned to their own territories at all, preferring to live in the royal capital instead. She hadn’t thought anything strange about the count’s absence.
Besides, the place Bianca and her unit had actually been sent to handle was Schnee Village, out on the very edge of Rehmbruck territory.
Her only real dealings with the count himself were administrative — there was no particular need for him to come out to the site in person.
“It seems Count Rehmbruck didn’t just request aid from us in the Magic Corps — he was also trying to secure help from a private party.”
“A private party?”
Compared to the past, the quality of the Magic Corps had declined — a frustrating fact, but a well-known one. Still, it wasn’t as though the strength of private adventurers or mercenaries had risen to compensate.
“Yes. It seems Count Rehmbruck went to a shop called the magic doll shop ‘Lux,’ to request the revival of the ‘Frontier Hero.’”
“…‘Magic doll shop’? And what do you mean, ‘revival of the Frontier Hero’?”
“I don’t know the details myself, either. But apparently the proprietress of this ‘magic doll shop’ can bring someone back for a single day. It’s been the talk of the nobility recently, apparently, which is why Count Rehmbruck decided to make the request. Here, this is a flyer from the shop—”
Bianca all but snatched the flyer her subordinate held out.
Her sharp, ambitious violet eyes went wide.
“Fiine Fellner…?”
The name written there was one Bianca could never forget, no matter how badly she wanted to.
To Bianca, who had always aimed to be number one, that name had been the wall she needed to surpass — and the one wall she’d never managed to climb, right to the very end.
Seeing that name again after so long, what welled up in Bianca wasn’t resentment. It was relief.