The Imperial Supreme Commander Has Returned - Chapter 68

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Imperial Commander Returns — Episode 68

“…Why the hell aren’t these bastards showing up?”

It wasn’t really a question meant to be answered.
But the guide, despite his lack of insight, did his earnest best to play along.

“Well, I’m not entirely sure.”
“This is ridiculous. What time did you say they usually attacked?”
“During the logging work, sir. Around midday, as a rule…….”
“Well, that’s now, isn’t it?”

According to the briefing, the Harpies appeared from the west.
Usually several of them would come flying around noon.
When the watchtower spotted them and rang the bell, the loggers would flee.
They’d scatter to the shelters built throughout the forest—makeshift huts scattered here and there.

But what if someone was working far from those huts?
Or had wandered off alone to attend to their own needs?
The outcome was never good.
They’d vanish, leaving only screams behind.

The Harpies appeared two or three times a week.
Whether they attacked or not, they always came and circled overhead…….
Yet strangely, they hadn’t shown themselves since Delram arrived.

‘To be precise, there was that one time.’

The first day Delram joined the operation.
Five or six Harpies came flying from far off.
But they’d only shrieked awhile before turning back the way they came.

So had they sensed danger and decided to stay away?
It made a kind of sense, but something about it still felt odd.
How could they possibly gauge Delram’s strength?
Could bird-brains really make such a judgment in the first place?

‘Damn it, I should’ve sent an owl after them back then.’

If I had, I could’ve found their nest by now.
Instead, stupidly expecting them to return, I just let them go.

It was too late to track them now.
I’d already asked the owls, but they said there were none in the vicinity.
Since their detection range was only about five kilometers, the Harpies were coming from beyond that.

Of course, if Delram moved, the detection range would expand.
But if the Harpies attacked while he was away, innocent people would die—so there was nothing to do but wait like this, caught between two bad choices.

‘Can’t be helped. A thirsty man has to dig his own well…….’
Whoosh—

His thoughts settled, Delram wrapped the Wind around his body.
His movements became nimble, his senses sharpening to a keen edge.
Especially his touch and his sense of smell.

Multiple scents pressed into his nostrils.
Among them, what Delram sought was a pungent musk—a powerful, rank odor.
The scent of a rutting stag preparing to mate.

Crack!

Delram pushed off the ground instantly.
Behind him, he heard the loggers cry out in surprise.

But they faded into the distance just as quickly.
From earth to tree, from tree to earth again.
They couldn’t follow him as he moved through three dimensions.

Soon after, a deer appeared between the trees.
The rest was simple.
Delram nocked an Arrow, and the stag’s life ended there.

When Delram returned with the deer slung across his shoulders, he slit its throat with his Short Sword.
Then he scattered the Bucket of blood across the surrounding ground.
The guide helped him and asked a question.

“Are you using it as bait, sir?”
“That’s the idea. Harpies don’t live on humans alone, do they?”
“Ah, sometimes we’ve heard beasts shrieking in the distance. That might have been the Harpies.”
“Lucky for us.”

Delram enlisted the owl’s help to disperse the scent.
Carried on the Wind, the reek of blood reached all the way to the distant Mountain Ridge.

A distance no human could perceive.
But for a Harpy, it was maddening.
And so the result was―

…….
“Nothing’s coming.”

They waited all day, but it was in vain.
Not a single Harpy showed its face.
A few wolves came drawn by the blood’s scent, but sensing Delram’s killing intent radiating from him, they bolted without a backward glance.
In the end, the deer found its way into the loggers’ bellies.

And so the next day came.
Delram decided to employ his final gambit.
He gathered all the village people and spoke these words.

“I need a volunteer for bait.”

* * *

Bait volunteers.
The village chief was taken aback by the request.

“Good heavens! Surely you don’t mean to use a person as bait?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“But, but—”
“If it can’t be done, I’ll abandon the Commission. A mercenary can’t camp here forever, after all.”
“Then we shall consult among ourselves…….”
“Oh, and the bait must be male. The Harpies are all female, it seems, and they show little interest in women.”

The last method noted by the intake officer on the request form.
It was to change the bait.
Not a beast, but a human.

“Of course, being bait doesn’t mean you’ll die. The moment the Harpy arrives, I’ll knock them all down with magic.”
“Still… there’s no risk involved?”
“Well, there is some.”

Delram did not deny it.
Perhaps because of this, no one stepped forward for quite some time.
The villagers only swallowed hard and stared at one another.

Have you ever seen a Harpy’s talons?
Curved like a falcon’s, they didn’t come loose easily once they dug in.
They were sharp enough that even a glancing scratch could split flesh open.
This was the testimony of a villager who had encountered a Harpy and barely escaped alive.

So this was separate from how remarkable Delram might be.
It was only natural that people hesitated.

Yet in every place, heroes arose.
Humanity had survived through their courage, advancing ever forward.
This time, too, such a person stepped forward.

“I—I’ll do it!”
“Himbel?”
“Of course! Himbel’s the bravest in our village!”

The villagers praised the young man who had come forward.
Though his appearance was somewhat clumsy, his eyes burned with remarkable clarity.

Eyes armed with unwavering resolve!
Yet Delram, unexpectedly, shook his head.

“Your courage is commendable, but you won’t do.”
“Why not? I could do it all day!”
“The Harpy is a magical beast with strange looks, but its tastes are fixed. It prefers handsome men, or so I’ve heard…….”

Delram tactfully left the rest unsaid.
Yet no one in that place failed to understand what he meant.
That unspoken “You’re not quite…….”
And that was when it happened.

“Ahem, well then, I suppose I must…….”
“No, I should do it!”
“I’m prepared to sacrifice myself for the village.”
“I was born to live for this very moment!”

Men from all over the village raised their hands.
Remarkably, their owners ranged from the elderly to the young alike.
Volunteers surged past twenty in an instant.

Delram stared at the villagers in bewilderment.
Being a logging village, men naturally outnumbered women.
Still, twenty amounted to a third of all the men.
That meant thirty percent of them were mad.

But there was no point in dragging this out any longer.
Delram arbitrarily pointed to a man standing roughly in the middle.

“Then we’ll go with him.”
“Pardon? Wizard, do you truly mean it?”
“That one isn’t handsome—he’s just gaunt!”
“Real beauty, now, comes from muscles like mine―”
“No… what a bunch of lunatics.”

In the end, they agreed to vote fairly.
However, since the Harpy was female, only the women cast their votes.
The village girls approached the matter like scholars wrestling with an impossible problem, whispering and conferring among themselves.
After careful deliberation, they exercised their precious right to vote.

“Thank you all! I will dedicate myself entirely to protecting the village!”
“Hooray!”

The young man chosen in the final vote thrust both arms skyward with a roar.
Charmed by his confidence, the villagers cheered in response.
Delram, watching the scene unfold, simply had nothing to say.

“Is this right?”
-Hoot.

The owl, apparently in agreement, let out its cry for the first time in a while.
In any case, it was finished—
all preparations to capture the Harpy.

* * *

The location was the usual place.
The Logging Site, where the water deer had met its pathetic end.

In the wide-open Logging Site stood three posts.
Bound tightly to each one was a man serving as bait.

Despite the circumstances, the men grinned contentedly.
They were men because another vote had been held.
Those not chosen had protested so fiercely that two more were added to the selection.

“These guys are completely insane.”
-Grrrr.

Even Delram, who had traversed countless battlefields, had never encountered such fools.
Now came the time of waiting.
Fortunately for Delram, a response came soon enough.

-Skreeeeech!

A foul cry echoed from far away.
That familiar sound was unmistakably a Harpy—no need for further confirmation.
Even as Delram maintained his concealment, his fist clenched tight with anticipation.

The Harpy did not approach immediately.
Cautious and wary, it merely circled at a distance.
But Delram was already buried deep in the earth, perfectly hidden.
With his scent masked, there was no way they could find him.

And here there were three appetizing baits.
Self-proclaimed handsome lumberjacks, no less!
True to form, the Harpies began their slow approach in this direction.

‘Good! But… there are quite a few of them.’

The villagers had said there were about six Harpies.
But when Delram counted, he found not six—exactly twelve.

“Noooooooo!”
“What—what is this!? Why are there so many!?”

The men who’d been used as bait were the ones most gripped by panic.
A mercenary mage could handle six of them, he’d thought.
Judging by the magic he’d shown at first, that much seemed certain.

But what if there were twelve?
Even if he could eliminate them all, it wouldn’t happen in a single moment.
And that window would be more than enough time for the Harpies to take a taste.
The men called out desperately for Delram.

“Mage, this is fine, right?”
“Mage? You haven’t abandoned us, have you?”
“Mage!?”

Lashed tight to the pillars, the men could only see forward.
There was no way to check whether Delram stood behind them or not.
And his answer didn’t come?
Then there could only be one answer.

“You bastard!”
“You said not to worry! You said you’d catch the Harpies!”
“And the moment there are more, you run off on your own!?”

Delram said nothing to the torrent of curses.
In fact, this was even better.
The louder they screamed, the more agitated the Harpies would become.

Of course, he’d committed the faces of those doing the cursing to memory.
All three of them.

—Screee?
—Screeeee.

It was then that the Harpies arrived.
Circling overhead, spiraling down above the men’s heads.
They looked hesitant, plainly deliberating.
Suspicious, certainly… but the prey looked far too appetizing.

So they seemed to be examining the surroundings carefully.
They’d have a better vantage from above, after all.

But in the end, they never found Delram.
He was the same Delram who’d escaped even an Intermediate-rank Knight during the Special Forces Unit examination.
No amount of animal instinct could overcome that.

Once the Harpies had gathered all their information,
their choice was, predictably, a feast.
The Harpies wheeling across the sky began their descent, one after another.

Shreeeee!

“Here they come, here they come, here they come!”
“Maaaaaage!”
“Dammit! I wish I’d been born uglier!”

He had to admire how they could still say such things even as death approached.
Delram prepared himself, impressed despite everything.
And just before the first Harpy reached them—

Crunch-crunch-crunch.

A section of earth gave way, and Delram burst through.
The Longbow in his grip was already drawn to full tension.
Delram released the bowstring without hesitation.

Twang!

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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