Dark Fantasy’s Extra

The old woman who introduced herself as Grannonia explained that her son Bardello was originally normal, but suddenly fell ill with his whole body swelling up, and he would occasionally lose consciousness and rampage.

However, when they fed him Walnut Preserve, he would fall asleep and return to his senses.

“So that’s why the inn is called Walnut Preserve.”

Hilde said.

“Yes. My son has always loved it since he was young.”

Grannonia looked at her sleeping son.

Her eyes held nothing but maternal love for her child.

But along with that love was also strong concern.

She turned her head back toward us.

“You must have been startled by what he did. I’m truly sorry.”

She bowed her head deeply.

“I can pay you enough money, so please forgive him…”

“Senior…”

Hilde looked at me carefully.

I closed my eyes and thought for a moment.

Just a few seconds, no, why did I even need to think for that long?

The answer was already decided, yet I’m still too soft.

“Keep your money.”

I shook my head and looked straight into the eyes of the old woman trying to protect her son.

“We’ll be taking your son Bardello with us.”

“T-that…!”

“Senior, but…”

“Wake up. Don’t tell me you didn’t sense it? Or are you pretending not to notice because you pity this old woman?”

I pointed at Bardello.

“Ma’am, that’s no longer human. He’s transforming into a Beast.”

“W-what?!”

Grannonia jumped in shock.

“N-no! That can’t be! My son is just mentally…”

“Do you really think he’s just an ordinary person who’s lost his mind? He must have been much shorter than this before, right? And his eyes weren’t red either. You must know better than anyone.”

“…”

Despair appeared on Grannonia’s face.

“He attacked us tonight because of a Beast’s instinct to seek magical power. We need to take action before it’s too late.”

Stupid Bardello.

From what I remembered, he was a Beast in the process of evolving from mid-tier to high-tier.

Veteran lower-ranked hunters can handle up to mid-tier Beasts, but from high-tier Beasts onwards is when true calamity begins.

They’re virtually impossible to eliminate with just supply equipment and silver bullets, and without proper measures, the damage becomes unimaginable.

Recently too, because of such a Beast, two 8th-rank hunters and eleven 9th-rank hunters were completely wiped out…

And in Blue Paper Moon, this Afran village appeared as ruins.

The reason was naturally Bardello, and among the rewards for defeating him was ‘Walnut Preserve’.

“If we let this slide, the entire village will be in danger. This isn’t a metaphor or a threat.”

“No. No! My son is not a Beast!”

Grannonia suddenly prostrated herself before me.

“Please! I’ll sell this house and give you all the money, just please!”

She begged while clutching my boots.

“Ugh…!”

It’s heavy.

This thin, old woman’s hands are heavy.

But the many lives that would be sacrificed by Bardello weigh even heavier.

I let out a light sigh and shook off her hand.

“This isn’t about money. He’s already half Beast. In the near future, many people will die or be injured.”

“That can’t be! If we just… if we just feed him Walnut Preserve…”

“That’s just a temporary measure. Besides, do the other villagers know about this?”

“T-that…”

“Even you aren’t confident that your son is safe for the village, are you?”

“…”

“I’ll say this one last time. Hand over Bardello quietly. Then we’ll take him away without telling the villagers.”

“Uuu…”

The old mother wept.

“…Decide by tomorrow morning. The longer we wait, the more dangerous it becomes. If we take him early, he might still have a chance to live, so think wisely.”

I turned around and took Hilde back to our room.

“…”

“…”

A heavy silence pressed down on the air.

“Hunters are…”

Hilde spoke first.

“Supposed to hunt Beasts and protect people… Wasn’t that what it was about?”

“That’s right.”

“Then… then why…”

“There’s no contradiction in what we just did. We found a being that will become a Beast, and we’re isolating it from people.”

“But! That old woman just wants to protect her son!”

“Just as that old woman wanted to protect her son, I want to protect more people. We can’t protect everyone.”

“Every human life is precious!”

“…Then what should we do? Tell me. What should we have done just now?”

“T-that…!”

“Just appealing to compassion without any solution won’t change anything.”

“Still… how could you be so cold…”

“We are hunters. People look for us when dangerous Beasts attack. We can’t show weakness to them. That’s our duty. And…”

I looked straight into Hilde’s eyes.

“This is hard for me too.”

“…”

Seeing my face, Hilde lost her words.

“…Go back to sleep. Tomorrow morning, we need to return to the Order with a human who’s transforming into a Beast.”

I sat back in the chair and closed my eyes while holding my rifle.

*    *    *

When I opened my eyes, it was dawn.

The moon was setting in the deep blue sky, and far away, sunlight was barely peeking out.

Cold morning air was seeping in through the window.

I unconsciously took a deep, long breath of that air.

“…!”

Blood scent.

I immediately got up from the chair holding my gun.

Hilde was still sleeping on the bed.

“Wake up.”

I carefully woke Hilde.

“Eh…”

“I smell blood.”

“…!”

Hilde’s eyes flew open as she jumped up.

“Shh.”

I placed my index finger over my lips.

“We’ll handle this quietly.”

Hilde nodded.

We left the room and carefully went downstairs.

An unmistakable thick scent of blood permeated the first floor.

“…!”

Grannonia lay collapsed in the middle of the dining room, and Bardello was crouched in front of her doing something.

His back was turned to us so we couldn’t see clearly, but what he was doing was obvious.

A bottle full of Walnut Preserve was in Grannonia’s hand, but Bardello was too busy eating something else to notice.

This is our chance to deal with him.

I slowly aimed at the back of his head.

But…

“Urk…!”

Hilde, who belatedly saw the tragedy, retched.

“…!”

Bardello whipped his head around to look at us.

His eyes were completely red, and blood was dripping around his mouth.

And between his impossibly inhuman sharp teeth and hook-like claws were entrails.

“Graaaah!”

Following pure instinct, it leaped at us without a moment’s hesitation.

I fired my rifle simultaneously.

The silver bullet lodged precisely in Bardello’s left eye.

But it didn’t stop him.

I hurriedly raised my rifle to block, but when Bardello swung his hand like a creature, his claws caught the barrel and sent it flying far away.

Then Bardello and I tumbled down the stairs while tangled together.

The Beast’s teeth came for my throat.

I stretched out my hand to grab the Beast’s neck and push it away.

But with his long, curved claws digging into my shoulder, I couldn’t shake him off.

“Ugh…!”

I felt the alien sensation of claws digging into my shoulder.

It happened too quickly to feel pain.

Rather, I was focusing everything on keeping the Beast’s teeth from reaching my face right in front of me.

As expected of a being that could become a high-tier Beast, his strength was incomparable to ordinary low-tier Beasts.

Without squeezing out magical power to resist, I would just become food like Grannonia.

“Hilde…!”

I reflexively called her name.

And as if responding to my call, an ear-splitting gunshot rang out and Bardello collapsed limply.

Blood and brain matter flowed from the back of Bardello’s head as he fell to the floor with a thud.

“Hah, hah…”

I painfully grabbed a table and stood up.

“Damn…”

I’m dizzy from squeezing out too much magical power in such a short time.

When I finally came to my senses and looked around, I saw Hilde frozen in her shooting stance.

“Well done. Thanks to you…”

“Did I do the right thing…?”

Hilde turned her head to the dead Grannonia.

“I wanted to save both of them… but they both died.”

“…Instead you saved many more people. If a Beast like that had rampaged through the village, everyone would have died.”

“…”

Hilde didn’t answer.

This must be her first time seeing a person die so horribly.

Even when the zombie Beasts attacked before, she had only run away.

“Go back and rest more. I’ll clean up here.”

She had just been talking normally with this person before sleeping, and now that person had been horrifically killed by what used to be her son.

The shock of seeing a human corpse for the first time must be substantial.

I understand.

“Yes…”

Hilde turned around and went back.

“Ah, and.”

I spoke to her back.

“Thank you for saving me. I survived thanks to you.”

“…”

Hilde paused for a moment, but ultimately went into the room without answering.

I turned back to the corpses of Bardello and Grannonia.

Though I felt nauseous and dirty too, properly disposing of their bodies was important.

But how should I explain this to the villagers…

*    *    *

Hilde returned to the room, closed the door, and slid down against it.

Guilt at being unable to save those she wanted to save.

Helplessness at her own inability to do anything.

A small regret at having stepped into this world.

Shame that her resolve had amounted to only this much.

Revulsion at the Beast that had devoured its mother.

The trembling from vividly witnessing human death and corpses for the first time.

Various emotions swirled together.

But what came to mind first now was bewilderment.

She should surely be confused.

She should be unsure what to do and wrestling with human anguish.

Yet now her head kept circling around just one thing, burying everything else.

“Uuu…”

Hilde buried her face in her knees.

Though no one was watching, she felt strangely embarrassed yet proud.

Even she was surprised at how little despair she felt inside.

Rather, her senior’s sincere praise made her happier.

She was simply overjoyed at those words from the person who was helping her become who she had always wanted to be.

And she even felt liberated at finally having repaid her debt.

“This isn’t right…”

Her head knew it was strange.

She should be sad because people died, but her heart was happy at being acknowledged and thanked by that person.

Hilde turned her head toward the window, trying to calm herself.

The bright sun was rising, its warm light pushing away the cold air.