The Strongest in Our Neighborhood - Chapter 36

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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 Strongest in Our Neighborhood (36)
“Captain, wait a moment. There’s a man riding on the Giant Saber-Tailed Tiger’s back.”
“What! Ah, so there is. Could that be the Cain that the Marquis mentioned?”
When the Saber-Tailed Tiger leaped over a supply cart that someone couldn’t dodge in time, the horses and donkeys panicked wildly—some broke free from their masters’ hands and bolted, while the people themselves scattered in every direction.
The queue that had stretched about a hundred meters before the City Gate vanished in an instant, and the Saber-Tailed Tiger walked leisurely down the now-empty road.
When the Saber-Tailed Tiger reached the City Gate, Captain Alberto swallowed hard without realizing it.
From a distance, he hadn’t felt the overwhelming pressure of the Giant Saber-Tailed Tiger much, but up close, that crushing aura made his knees weaken.
‘Impossible Taming ability! It should be nearly impossible to Tame even a regular Saber-Tailed Tiger, yet this man has Tamed a Giant Saber-Tailed Tiger—an even higher specimen—and is commanding it like a mere horse!’
The Giant Saber-Tailed Tiger was a top-tier monster, surpassing even ogres.
The opponent’s Swordplay skill was already a problem, but the Taming ability was even worse.
“Stop, stop right there!”
He shouted with Aura infused into his voice, yet even his own cry trembled.
When the Saber-Tailed Tiger came to a halt, one of the men sitting atop it opened his mouth.
“Is this the Territory of Diara, ruled by Marquis Daparon?”
“It is. But who are you?”
“I am Cain—most people mispronounce my original name, so they call me Cain.”
“C-Cain! Now that you mention it, you’re the one—I mean, you’re the one who said you’d come riding a Saber-Tailed Tiger, aren’t you? I heard from the Marquis that you were coming.”
Alberto hastily corrected himself and swallowed dryly again.
“If you heard that, then why haven’t you opened the gate?”
“You and the Druid riding with you on the Saber-Tailed Tiger can enter, but that Giant Saber-Tailed Tiger cannot pass through.”
“Why can’t it go through? I clearly said I would ride the Saber-Tailed Tiger inside. Wasn’t that message delivered properly?”
“Didn’t you just see the countless people waiting in the inspection queue scatter and flee from the Giant Saber-Tailed Tiger? How could we possibly let such a monster into the city?”
“This Saber-Tailed Tiger is under my control, so it’s fine. The people ran in fear, but you saw yourself that the Saber-Tailed Tiger didn’t attack the horses or the people, didn’t you?”
“T-true though that may be, it’s still too dangerous. I cannot open the gate unless you send the Saber-Tailed Tiger back.”
“Listen, I think you’re misunderstanding something. I’m not asking you for permission—I’m informing you. If you don’t open the gate, I’m going to break through by force.”
“What! Are you saying you want to fight?”
Alberto seemed to have already made up his mind; as he spoke, he swiftly raised his hand and gave a silent signal to the knights and soldiers inside the gate.
Once he lowered his raised hand, the gate would open, mounted knights would charge out, and they would turn the Saber-Tailed Tiger into a shish kebab and kill this man called Cain.
Even against a Giant Saber-Tailed Tiger, they seemed to have a reasonable chance of victory.
Whoosh.
Then the Saber-Tailed Tiger charged forward in a flash and leaped up onto the city wall in a single bound.
“Gasp! Shoot, shoot!”
Alberto gestured frantically toward the archers, and the bowmen who had been nocking arrows reflexively released them. But suddenly a powerful whirlwind erupted in the air and twisted the path of every arrow.
“Insane! Advanced Spirit Magic! So they didn’t come alone just by chance!”
Seeing the incredibly strong wind, Alberto assumed that the Druid riding on the front of the Saber-Tailed Tiger’s back had cast Spirit Magic.
Boom.
As the Saber-Tailed Tiger landed on the city wall, the entire brick wall shuddered beneath it.
ROOOAAARRR….
And when the Saber-Tailed Tiger let out a roar, Alberto felt his body freeze like a mouse facing a cat.
‘Gasp! F-Fear Aura!’
Whinnnnnnng….
Below the city wall, the war horses that heard the Saber-Tailed Tiger’s roar began to panic wildly.
The war horses ridden by the knights were frequently deployed in monster hunts and usually didn’t flee from a monster’s Fear Aura but rather displayed their fighting spirit. Yet now, for some reason, they paid no heed to their riders’ reins and went into a frenzy before spinning around and bolting away.
As the war horses fled, the knights riding them had no choice but to flee along with them.
Click.
Captain Alberto trembled as he watched Cain, who had produced a long spear from atop the Saber-Tailed Tiger’s back and pressed the spear tip against his throat.
In the brief moment when the Saber-Tailed Tiger’s Fear Aura had struck him and frozen his body, he’d been subdued.
‘I’m finished…’
Though his armor protected his neck, if the opponent thrust the spear, it would pierce through like paper.
“I’ll ask once more. Do you still intend to prevent me from riding through on the Saber-Tailed Tiger?”
As he listened to the other man’s words, Alberto’s eyes darted quickly, assessing his surroundings.
His second-in-command was crouched down, trembling uncontrollably; the archers weren’t even thinking of nocking another arrow; and the knights below were already vanishing in the distance.
If he spouted that stupid nonsense about the Saber-Tailed Tiger not being able to pass, the man would kill him and the city would be in ruins. Better to escort this man to the inner citadel where the Earl’s retainers were.
“N-no, sir. I, I shall escort you to the Marquis at once, Cain.”
“Then lead the way.”
“Yes, sir.”
When the other man withdrew his spear, Alberto hastily descended from the city wall, and the Saber-Tailed Tiger jumped down in a single bound without using the stairs, landing where the knights had been moments before.
* * *
Since even the war horses couldn’t maintain their composure before the Giant Saber-Tailed Tiger, Alberto had no choice but to walk to the inner citadel with his men.
Grrrrrowl….
Each time the Saber-Tailed Tiger behind them released a low growl, the fur across his entire body stood on end, and a chill ran down his spine.
He glanced back at his subordinates only to find them trembling visibly, their faces drained of all color—it was almost pitiful to witness.
‘Damn it! Superior Swordplay that defeated Dimitrion, Taming ability to subjugate a Giant Saber-Tailed Tiger, and even an advanced Spirit Mage. Can the retainers sent from the Earl’s household really compete with them?’
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t conjure a vision of victory in his mind.
‘If all the knights and soldiers in the inner fortress threw themselves at them in numbers, perhaps we could manage something—but I can’t even imagine how catastrophic the losses would be.’
As he walked while turning these thoughts over, he found himself arriving at the entrance of the inner fortress.
At the entrance to the inner fortress stood knights who had been riding War Horses at the outer gate, now dismounted and arranged in formation—and among them was Dimitrion.
“Cain!”
“Ah! Dimitrion. Your injuries have healed quite well in the time since we last met.”
“It’s all thanks to you.”
Whoosh—
A brief gust of wind swept through, and Cain and Eldom, who had been seated on the Saber-Tailed Tiger’s back, flew forward past Dimitrion and landed.
“By the way, what’s happened? The Saber-Tailed Tiger seems to have grown considerably since we last saw it. I’d believe you if you told me it was a Giant Saber-Tailed Tiger.”
As Dimitrion gazed up at the tiger in surprise, Cain let out a soft laugh.
“There were some Corrupted Variants tainted with Demonic Energy in the forest where this beast hunts for food. After it devoured all of them, it grew to this size in just a few days.”
“Corrupted Variants tainted with Demonic Energy? Those would be incredibly strong—it consumed creatures like that?”
“Some it hunted itself, and others I’d killed beforehand, which it ate at leisure afterward.”
“Ah, so you were involved as well.”
“I mentioned before that the Demon Race fled toward this kingdom.”
“Yes. I came here intending to report that to the royal palace.”
“That demon was the one converting monsters into Corrupted Variants.”
“Ah! So that’s why these Corrupted Variants suddenly appeared. But what brings you here? Have you come because of the Centron Mine?”
“The Centron Mine is secondary. The real purpose is that I raided a storage facility belonging to the Demon Race that fled to this kingdom, and I’ve been told these goods could be sold to a mage for profit. I heard there’s a mage named Laila in this fortress? I came to sell these items to her.”
After hearing Cain’s explanation, Dimitrion’s expression grew somewhat concerned.
“Do you know what Laila is here for?”
“The Marquis here was furious that his share of the Centron Mine was taken from him, so he filed a petition with Earl Johansen. And so the Earl sent a knight and a mage.”
“You’re well informed. That mage is Laila.”
Cain shrugged as he observed Dimitrion’s expression.
“I’m just someone who came to sell goods to this Laila—nothing more.”
“I see.”
“To get a good price, I’ll need to thoroughly break her spirit first. That way she won’t be able to haggle down the price, right?”
“What? Wouldn’t that have the opposite effect?”
If it backfires, so be it. I’ve heard there are many mages in the larger territories. If necessary, I can always go through the trouble of traveling to a larger territory and selling the goods there instead.”
“That’s… certainly true.”
After finishing his conversation with Dimitrion, Cain turned his gaze toward the captain of the guard, Alberto.
“Captain, why is the inner gate closed? What are all these knights doing here? Do I have to cause a scene like last time before you’ll open it?”
“Ah, no. I’ll have the gate opened at once.”
* * *
The mage Laila had sent word through the captain of the guard to have Cain brought to the Training Grounds, and now she examined the Magic Circle she had drawn on the floor with a satisfied expression.
“Leodosun, what do you think? Can you see the Magic Circle I’ve drawn?”
“No. I can’t see it at all, and I don’t feel even the slightest trace of it with my Aura perception. I watched you draw it just now, yet it’s vanished so completely—how did you manage that?”
“I mixed Mana Stone Powder with a Magical Reagent that my mentor recently developed.”
“Ah! I’d heard your mentor has taken an interest in alchemy lately, and apparently they’ve created quite a remarkable reagent.”
“There are even more impressive ones, but my abilities weren’t sufficient to obtain more than this single one.”
After the Magic Circle was completed, Leodosun felt Laila’s Aura steadily rising and widened his eyes in slight surprise.
“Now that the Magic Circle is in place, your magical power seems even stronger.”
“Ha ha, you noticed? That’s right. What I’ve drawn here is an Amplification Magic Circle with a range of about a hundred meters.”
“An Amplification Magic Circle—by how much does it amplify magical power?”
“Approximately five percent.”
Leodosun’s eyes widened instantly. Those who have reached the limit as warriors or mages must undergo grueling training just to eke out an increase of a single percent. He himself was no exception.
Yet this Magic Circle could amplify magical power by five percent in an instant—within its range, Laila could no longer be called merely a Four-Star Rank mage.
“Five percent? Does that mean you could cast Five-Star Rank Magic?”
“I can’t cast actual Five-Star Rank Magic, but with this amplification, I can unleash the power of Five-Star Magic once using Four-Star spells.”
“That’s remarkable.”
As the two spoke, the captain of the guard Alberto entered the Training Grounds with a dozen knights, along with Dimitrion, and Cain and Eldom mounted on the Saber-Tailed Tiger.
Hmph—
The moment Cain stepped into the Training Grounds, he sensed an alien presence controlling the space, and his brow furrowed slightly.
‘A Barrier! Has she woven sorcery into it? There’s a hint of formation arrays too—what is this? It feels different from the Barrier surrounding Routha Village, but what exactly is it?’
Though he couldn’t identify it precisely, he could tell that those two people waiting for him in the Training Grounds had set up something.
“Eldom, please step back with the Saber-Tailed Tiger for now.”
“Pardon? Why not? Even if I’m uncertain about everything else, Saber seems like she’d be a tremendous help against those two.”
“If Saber charges in, she might bite one of them to death. Then we’d have to travel far and wide to sell everything we looted from the Demon Race’s storehouse.”
“Ah! If that’s the reason, then I understand.”
As Eldom retreated on the Giant Saber-Tailed Tiger, Cain stepped into the space enveloped by an alien aura.

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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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