Chapter 175. Badger Hunt
“Kahaha! It’s been a long time, Great Warrior!”
“Yeah. It has.”
“I was planning to eat you if you came back weaker! Kahaha!”
“...Hahaha! I knew it! You damn bastards!”
After turning various friends in the Abandoned District into good little boys and girls(?), we had returned to the surface.
More precisely...
We had come to the Badger Village.
Pie was with us, and so was Flying Fish, so it hadn’t taken very long to find the place.
“But why are there so few of you?”
Even twenty years ago, there had been several hundred of them in the Demonic Realm.
Yet now, I could only see a few dozen.
Even after combining all the Goblins and Badgers, they barely formed a small group.
A little disappointing, wasn’t it?
“Actually, there was some friction with the young Badgers.”
“So?”
“So we had a huge fight, got pissed off, and left.”
Huh....
The guys here were pretty tough in their own right.
And they got driven out?
“We were not driven out!”
One of the Badgers shouted.
“We left with our own feet!”
“Uh-huh. Sure. That’s what you’re going with.”
“We did not lose!”
The Goblins had apparently developed more intellectually.
They had become things like mages, shamans, and alchemists.
The Badgers, meanwhile, had become even more warrior-like.
Even their small bodies were packed with solid muscle.
Every single one of them gave off enough pressure to be noticeable.
So what the hell were the young Badgers who fought these guys and kicked them out?
“It happened recently.”
One of the elders explained.
“One of the youngsters suddenly became capable of using Lux Mea.”
He frowned.
“He used to be some pathetic little loser.”
“And you fought him and lost?”
“Rather than losing...”
The Badger scratched his head.
“We left because it looked like we’d keep fighting until all the kids died.”
His expression became serious.
“Those bastards are insane!”
So they still cared about them in their own way?
Or were they just too embarrassed to admit they lost and were pretending otherwise?
These guys had changed a lot too.
Lux Mea had apparently become something only special individuals could wield....
Right!
That can happen!
Let’s not think too deeply about this and make it annoying!
“So where are those guys?”
“Mm! No, Great Warrior!”
“Why?”
Don’t tell me we were about to have another—
We do not know how strong the Great Warrior has become! We must test you!
—kind of situation.
“They are our children!”
The Badger shouted.
“No matter how much we hate them, we cannot let you kill them all!”
He pointed at me.
“The Great Warrior obviously kills people when they annoy him!”
“...Damn, you’re sharp.”
“If you destroy all the youngsters who will carry the future of our race, we will have a serious problem!”
He suddenly grabbed onto me.
“I want to be free from my wife someday!”
“Please! Great Warrior, I beg you!!!”
Poor bastard....
Let’s pray with all our hearts that this isn’t my future.
“So what you’re saying is...”
I sighed.
“You want me to come up with a way to deal with them while causing as little damage as possible to your race, then convince you guys?”
“Exactly!”
The Badger’s eyes lit up.
“As expected of the Great Warrior! So smart!”
He looked genuinely moved.
“After dealing only with our young ones, I’m so grateful to finally speak with someone who understands words!”
“...What the hell happened while I was gone...?”
I waved a hand.
“Never mind.”
Something must have happened to make them like this.
Let’s not investigate every little detail.
I was only taking them because they happened to be the guys most compatible with me.
It wasn’t because of old affection or anything.
I didn’t really have that kind of attachment.
[Hayangi: Lunatics who treat their lives lightly, never get scared, and charge at anyone regardless of who they are. They’re on a completely different level from those cowards you were evaluating in the Abandoned District.]
“Hmm....”
I rubbed my chin.
“Then don’t I just have to beat the shit out of the one who can use Lux Mea?”
“If so, we ask that you crush him with overwhelming power!”
The Badger raised a finger.
“It is fine if one or two die!”
Then another.
“However!”
“You must make every other young Badger terrified enough to submit!”
“Ah.”
I understood.
“So these are the type who won’t even flinch if their leader dies?”
“Our Badgers have produced more and more fearless, stupidly courageous fools with each generation.”
The elder groaned.
“They have absolutely no idea of their own limits!”
Then he pointed accusingly at me.
“This happened because the Great Warrior stopped leading us!”
“Yeah, right.”
I scratched my head.
“I thought you guys used to be pretty smart too....”
I glanced toward the Demonic Realm.
“Is it because of that place? Seriously, that radioactive-looking mist....”
But if more and more of those kinds had appeared over the generations....
Wasn’t that just because you liked those traits?
You guys probably kept favoring whoever fought the best instead of whoever was wise.
Wasn’t that exactly how you ended up like this?
“The Goblins don’t have any problems, right?”
A Goblin awkwardly raised his hand.
“...Actually... our young ones have some problems as well.”
I stared.
“Why?!”
“Why you guys too?!”
I pointed at them.
“You’re normal compared to the Badgers!”
The Badger immediately nodded.
“That is true! They are certainly calmer and fairly rational!”
He frowned.
“But the young Goblins are rather... gloomy.”
The Goblin sighed.
“Perhaps because they read too many books, many of them have lost touch with reality and live trapped inside their own worlds.”
“Uh...”
I hesitated.
“Isn’t that just puberty?”
“No!”
The Goblin shouted.
“Whenever they see knights, they go, ‘OOOH!!! CUTE KNIGHT-CHAN DISCOVERED!’”
His face twisted in horror.
“In what world is that puberty?!”
The Badger raised his hand.
“I saw one say, ‘Kukuku... the Black Flame Dragon sealed within my right hand is raging....’”
He looked deeply disturbed.
“He looked completely normal otherwise!”
“....”
Let’s make those ones extinct quickly.
To think something that contemptible could emerge from Goblins.
“Don’t worry.”
I nodded solemnly.
“I’ll erase all of them.”
“Yes....”
The Goblin bowed deeply.
“We won’t suffer any real problems if those pieces of trash disappear, so please....”
He gritted his teeth.
“Those damn bastards just had to be unnecessarily talented at magic!”
If that was how they felt....
Then let’s do it.
The creation myth passed down among us Badgers!
Long ago!
When the Flying Banana descended upon the world!
Every banana grew wings and flew through the sky, scattering their seeds everywhere!
The wise and intelligent Badgers, possessing foresight that surpassed even prophets!
Grew by eating those seeds!
We became strong!
Big!
Amazing!
“G-G-Great Warrior! An intruder has entered the pack!”
“The Great-Great Warrior is meditating!”
One Badger shouted.
“If you disturb him, I’ll rip your head off and feed it to the Flying Banana!”
“Great-Great Warrior weak! I am stronger! You are the one whose head will be ripped off!”
“A mere Great Warrior should know his place!”
But we were stupid.
So stupid and stupid that we couldn’t even fly!
Of course!
We still can’t fly even now...!
But that’s fine!
We have the Flying Banana!
Anyway!
One day!
The Great Warrior came to us!
Yes!
A weakling with only a single “Great” in his title!
“Ugh... Great-Great-Great Warrior... please stop hitting me...!”
“Resist and you die! Obey and I’ll treat you nicely! Hurry and bring the intruder here!”
“...! I said I was meditating! I told you not to disturb the Great-Great-Great Warrior while he meditates!”
“...Don’t care!”
“Ooh!! As expected of the powerful Great-Great-Great Warrior! I’ll bring him right away!”
But that Great Warrior had been powerful, great, and mysterious!
Some of the elders who still remembered him tattooed their bodies completely black after following his example.
They also pointlessly train their claws every single day!
Even though they’re old and weak!
Anyway!
The Great Warrior made us, who had once been nothing but beasts, into something great!
He shared his power with us!
And that is why the powerful Badgers of today exist!
“Hmph! I’m strong because I’m strong!”
I don’t believe it!
I don’t believe anything those smart Goblins say either!
Smart ones...
Cheat you....
Most importantly!
We do not associate with the Goblins who left their families behind and formed a separate group!
Scammers!
The elders who followed them are the same!
Idiots!
Weak and stupid too!
Idiots!!
BOOM! BOOM!
Mm!
Exciting explosions!
The sound that begins a battle...!
I don’t know much else, but that intruder....
He understands fun!
Then!
It must finally be time for these sharp gauntlets passed down through our pack for generations to taste blood again...!
An item left behind by a human woman who once served as one of the leaders of our pack....
Its strange power has continued increasing with time.
That means only I!
The great Great-Great-Great Warrior!
Can wield it!
Kahahaha!
BOOM!
With these, even a house made of solid stone falls in one strike!
Even steel tears like paper!
Strong!
I’m strong!
Uaaaaah!
Black lines stretch out from the pitch-black gauntlets and wrap around my powerful arms!!!
BOOM!
BOOM!
My powerful muscles become even stronger!
Bigger!
Harder!
Uaaaaah!
Now I am the Great-Great-Great-Great Warrior!
“Hey.”
“What?!”
A voice came from above!
It was full of anger!
Huh?!
There are horns...
Floating above his head!
Not attached to him.
White horns made entirely of flame!
A demon!
He’s a demon!
And not just any demon!
He must be one of those highest-ranking demons I only heard about from the elders!!!
Unlike ordinary demons who lose strength if their horns are cut off...
His overwhelming power itself has remained in the shape of horns!
...
Then the ram-horned woman standing behind the man must be a low-ranking demon!
“...You look disgusting!”
Anyway!
Those narrow eyes...!
Even I, the Great-Great-Great Warrior, would probably be unable to move under that gaze...!
Yes!
The Great-Great-Great Warrior version of me!
“But now I’m the Great-Great-Great-Great Warrior!!!”
The man sighed.
“...They told me you guys got a lot stupider over the generations.... Haa....”
“Come down, human!”
I pointed at him.
“You are standing on my house!”
“Have you ever climbed onto the roof of your own house?”
