SML Ch 23

Chapter 23

There was about a week left until the wyverns completely vacated the area. Saying “a week” made it sound like a decent amount of time, but considering that the residents, who had essentially settled into living in the castle, now had to move all at once, there wasn’t really any time to spare. They had to start packing up their homes in order to head out just as the wyverns moved, and that way, they could finish preparing for the farming season on time.

The villagers were already busy packing their belongings. Their expressions were quite complex. Since they were returning to their own homes after leaving the castle, there was certainly some joy on their faces, but at the same time, a faint layer of concern was also evident.

“I hope the monsters haven’t smashed up our furniture this year.”

“Mom, can’t we just not go? Can’t we keep living here in the castle?”

“We can’t do that, Yullen. We have to return outside if we want to farm.”

“But it’ll smell like poop at our house.”

“If we clean up properly, it’ll get better.”

Reynald, who had been absentmindedly listening to the villagers’ conversation, was at a loss for words. I mean, if monsters had broken into their homes, surely the problem wouldn’t just stop at poop…

Honestly, he hoped Heide was just joking, but it didn’t seem that way. Heide wasn’t the type to make jokes like that, and considering all the absurd things that had already happened in this territory, it wasn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility.

“Still, isn’t this a bit much? It’s only been a few months, and monsters are already occupying civilian homes?”

Clicking his tongue, Reynald called Heide over. He couldn’t just sit back and do nothing. When he asked how many houses there were outside, and what kinds and how many monsters were occupying them, Heide answered with a bitter smile.

“There are about forty homes. Our territory is quite vast compared to the number of people living here, so the houses are scattered pretty far apart. Most of the houses are probably filled with monsters. We usually clean up about three or four homes a day, so it takes around two weeks to clear them all.”

“I see. How far apart are the houses?”

“Roughly a ten-minute walk from each other… But, uh, don’t worry too much. The monsters don’t work together to attack us or anything. They’re inherently uncooperative.”

Reynald was secretly relieved; he had imagined monsters using the homes as defensive structures to carry out a strategic resistance. Then again, if the monsters were actually that good at cooperating, they’d probably have formed a proper village by now. Kind of like the ratmen and swines who had already established their own town and acted like they owned the territory. At least this situation didn’t seem too difficult to handle.

“Alright, so how many types of monsters are currently gathered in those houses?”

“Types? There’s only one type occupying the homes. But I don’t really know their name. They can speak human language, but… how should I say this… we can’t really communicate with them.”

Only one kind, and they don’t even cooperate with each other? Reynald tilted his head slightly in confusion. On top of that, if even Heide—who was familiar with most monster types—didn’t know the name, it probably wasn’t a common species. There weren’t many monsters that could speak human language. Reynald started going over all the monster names stored in his memory.

“There’s only one type, but they’re kind of hostile toward each other. Sometimes they’ll fight over who gets the better house and end up wiping each other out. Some of the dumb ones even sneak into the houses we’ve already cleared, trying to live there again. Since they don’t understand us no matter how many times we try to chase them out, we end up having to kill them.”

“Oh?”

Monsters that could speak human language but were dumb—those weren’t unheard of. Just because a creature could mimic speech didn’t mean it was intelligent. For instance, parrots can mimic human speech, and ratmen can’t, due to the limitations of their vocal cords. But in terms of intelligence, ratmen are overwhelmingly superior. Even a child with the intelligence of a five-year-old can mimic words.

Anyway, thanks to Heide’s explanation, Reynald was able to narrow down the monster type. They were hostile even amongst themselves, could speak human language but lacked the intelligence for meaningful conversation, and—most importantly—they were obsessed with where they lived. If that’s the case…

“Say, do those carnivorous plants growing in the fields sprout from the feces of those monsters?”

“Probably. When there are fewer of them around, those plants grow a lot less… But how did you know that?”

“I had a hunch about what kind of monsters they might be. I think they’re probably Scavengers.”

“Was that their name? We never really learned it. We just beat them up when we found them.”

“Do they have heads like moles, long tails like rats, and threatening claws?”

“Yes, that’s exactly right. So their name is Scavenger. I didn’t know that.”

Reynald nodded. Scavengers were monsters that were only found in a few regions, so they weren’t widely known.

Despite their name, they were omnivorous and would eat various plant fruits in autumn. No one really knew how, but they occasionally ate the fruit of carnivorous plants too. That’s why those plants tended to grow in large numbers around where the scavengers lived.

Their vocal organs were similar to those of humans, so they could mimic human speech, but their low intelligence kept them from thriving like other monster species. They weren’t smart enough to build proper houses, but for some reason, they were weirdly obsessed with owning one, often invading cottages in the forest and claiming them as their own. That must’ve been why they occupied the homes in the territory without permission.

Still, they had a vicious streak when it came to being driven out of their “homes,” so it wasn’t going to be easy to kick them out. Reynald decided he had to train the young men hard for the next week. He didn’t want them getting hurt by some dumb monster like that.

—

“This is our house! Get out! Don’t come in!”

“Yeah right! This was our house to begin with, and you jerks just barged in and started living here! Did you build this house? Did you make the furniture inside?”

“This is our house! It’s ours because we live here! Get out!”

“Then I guess if we sneak in while you’re out taking a crap, it’ll be our house? Isn’t that right, huh?!”

“Our house! Our house!”

The scavengers screamed like parrots, staging what could loosely be called a sit-in protest. Although, calling it a sit-in was generous—really, they were just holed up inside the house, shouting at the humans. The only things they seemed capable of saying were “Our house!” and “Get out!”, so there was no point in trying to have a conversation.

The front door wouldn’t open, probably because they’d piled furniture in front of it. It seemed like they’d scrambled to set up defenses as soon as they saw the humans approaching. Some of the young men suggested they just break the door down, but Lyndon, hearing that, panicked and immediately opposed the idea. After all, this was Lyndon’s house.

“Get out! Get out!”

“You know we don’t have a choice, Lyndon. Let’s just break it down.”

“Then at least smash a window, you merciless bastards! If you keep this up, I’ll burn down your house later!”

The young men laughed as they started pulling off the boards covering the windows. Lyndon joined them with a slight smirk, having figured out from the beginning that they were just joking around. The scavengers had put those boards up to “protect” the house, but they were so poorly built that a few swings of an axe were enough to tear them down in no time.

But the fact that the boards came off easily wasn’t necessarily good news. Judging from their appearance, the boards seemed to have been made from Lyndon’s dining table. Lyndon made a face like he’d just bitten into a turd, but he didn’t try to stop the others. There was no helping it now.

“Bad people! Get out!”

As the boards were completely removed, a set of vicious claws suddenly lunged out with terrifying force. Thankfully, the group had stepped back quickly and no one was injured, but if one of those claws had pierced someone’s head, it could’ve been a fatal blow in an instant.

The laughter vanished from the young men’s faces. They’d cracked jokes to ease the tension, but deep down, they knew that driving out these monsters meant risking their lives. No matter how dumb the monsters were, they were still monsters—nothing to take lightly.

“Get out! Get out of our house! Don’t destroy our house!”

A scavenger burst through the window where the boards had been torn down. Despite its simple speech and goofy-looking head, its claws were shockingly dangerous.

Its two front limbs, each ending in sharp, solid claws, looked like they could crush a human skull with ease. And its movements were shockingly fast. If the group didn’t work together, they might end up being played with by the scavenger and killed before they even had a chance to fight back.

“This isn’t your house, it’s ours, you damn mole rat bastard!”

Lyndon barely managed to swing his sword and deflect the claws. The scavenger flew off in the wrong direction and crashed into the ground, but they couldn’t afford to let their guard down. They had to prepare for more attacks from the others. If there had only been one scavenger, that would’ve been lucky—but of course, nothing was ever that easy.

The scavengers that had been hiding inside like cowards suddenly burst out of the house. Typically, there were about four to six scavengers per home. In this one, there were five.

“Be careful! Watch out and make sure you don’t get hurt!”

Shouting that, Reynald was the first to swing his sword.

The fierce scavengers charged in from all sides, slashing their claws through the air.