Chapter 140: Hunting Time

The whole way to Eisten, Viktor couldn’t hide his troubled state of mind.

He didn’t care that the Berten gang had been killed, but it broke his heart that the village youths he’d known had been brutally massacred. Sebastian’s death, in particular, since Sebastian was Simon’s friend, came as a shock to him.

His younger brother had survived, but it was hard to say whether that was truly a blessing.

"Welcome to Eisten."

I’d sent a member ahead to announce the Gale Knights’ visit. The estate manager wouldn’t exactly be thrilled about the order’s arrival, but he was doing his best to accommodate us so no trouble would break out.

"I’m Streit, commander of the Gale Knights. We’ve come to suppress the bandits operating in this area."

"Pardon? Bandit suppression? What do you mean by that?"

He looked completely clueless about what had happened in the surrounding area.

A battle had taken place not far from the village, and corpses were rotting out there, yet he didn’t even know about it. Since looters had passed through without word getting back, they probably weren’t local residents. Had the shepherd boy I’d given a silver coin to never spoken up either?

I’d noticed it with the Rosenheim estate manager too, but these estate managers don’t seem to take much interest in anything outside their territory unless bandits actually march into the village.

"Are you truly ignorant of what’s going on outside, sir? The men who attacked Sir Falkenheim’s son and his wife, who are right here, were called the Bertens. You don’t know anything about this?"

"I knew the Berten gang were troublemakers, but you’re saying they committed robbery?"

"Their numbers grew to over twenty. If that isn’t a band of bandits, what is?"

"Th-this is the first I’m hearing of any of this. I’m sorry, but could I trouble you for an explanation?"

No wonder the Judicial Minister gets so worked up.

Forget law and justice—the man doesn’t even know what the problem is.

Since this isn’t a border village, security must be extremely lax.

I gave the estate manager a brief rundown of everything that had happened.

The fact that a knightly order had been dispatched on a bandit suppression mission and he had no idea what was going on amounted to proof of his own incompetence. It might not be a crime, but a reprimand was unavoidable.

His eyes started darting around, and it looked like he was scrambling for an excuse.

"As the manager of Eisten, I thank you for suppressing those shameless Bertens. As it happens, several of our village youths hadn’t returned, and I was just about to look into it."

"They were all found dead at the Bertens’ hideout. If you were going to investigate, you should have done so sooner."

A wave of shock rippled through the once-peaceful village of Eisten. Naturally, the parents and villagers who had been wondering why their sons hadn’t come home spotted Viktor and began asking what had happened.

Viktor, looking troubled, called out the names of the murdered village youths. He’d also brought Sebastian’s younger brother along. When the specific list of the dead was read aloud, a great commotion broke out.

The survivor, Sebastian’s younger brother, recounted the vivid horror of that day as though he were screaming it. The villagers who had gathered at the disturbance were horrified when they heard the story. Despite its icy name, Eisten was burning hot with outrage.

"The men behind all this are believed to be a group called the Schwarz Wolf. Have any of you seen them? A suspicious bunch dressed in black."

"W-well... They bought supplies two days ago and left heading east."

"You sold provisions to the men who slaughtered your village’s youths. I’m sure you collected a toll from them too."

At my open sarcasm, the estate manager didn’t know what to do with himself. If I had my way, I’d punish this incompetent estate manager using my judicial privilege, but I lacked the grounds. Just give me one good reason.

I shoved the task of recovering all the bodies outside the village onto the estate manager and hurried east. The trail continued onward. The Searcher Scouter really comes in handy at times like this.

But Viktor seemed to have a lot of questions about the current situation.

I could tell from the way he kept stealing glances at me.

"Something on your mind?"

"Commander, do you actually know where they are? Is that how you’re tracking them?"

"Of course I know. I’m following their trail."

"Their trail? I don’t see anything."

A trail invisible to the naked eye.

Tracking by following footprints would be unimaginable. But I’ve gotten used to brushing off such questions casually. And Fiel, who’s been through this kind of thing too many times, just rolls with it.

"There’s no point asking him. Even if he explained, you wouldn’t understand. Just think of him as a man of many talents."

"Vice Commander Steinhof, this seems beyond the realm of mere talent."

"That’s exactly why our commander captured Count Épinay alive and became the Lord of Feuzen."

Viktor had heard about my accomplishments, so he reluctantly accepted the explanation. I was pulling off impossible feats, but I’d already racked up countless results to back them up.

The other members had already experienced this during tracking training, so they’d given up trying to understand.

What can I say? I’m the commander.

After tracking for a long while, the trail veered off the eastern road.

It led onto a forest path, so I ordered the company to take a brief rest.

I could feel Viktor’s eyes on me, so I pretended to examine the trail.

"They turned off into the forest here. See those marks?"

"I think so. The footprints are barely visible."

Oh, really? Without the Searcher Scouter guiding me, I wouldn’t have noticed any footprints at all. Anyway, after a short rest, we entered the forest path heading northeast.

After traveling north for quite a while, we discovered a small hamlet in the middle of the forest. Unfortunately, it looked like the hamlet had been the site of a tragedy not long ago. Those bastards had done this even while fleeing.

After scouting the hamlet, Fiel reported back to me.

"Commander, it seems this is a hunter’s cabin."

"Looks that way. Search for survivors first."

There might be a survivor like Sebastian’s younger brother, so we searched thoroughly, but the hunter’s cabin held nothing but corpses. Men killed while resisting, and women killed naked.

The scene told us exactly what had happened.

These were truly depraved men. Their tracks were scattered all around the place.

And the direction they’d fled was further north from here.

It looked like they were trying to cross into Offenburg, but they had no chance.

Schwarz Wolf? I’ll show you what it really means to be hunted by wolves.

As we pressed deeper into the forest, the day slowly began to wane.

A strange unease hung in the air like mist, and an unsettling silence lent the forest an eerie quality, as though a witch might leap out at any moment. I halted our advance and surveyed the surroundings.

On a hunch that they were nearby, I shut off the Searcher Scouter and activated the Commander Scouter. I detected a hostile force within range.

It had to be the Schwarz Wolf. The reason they’d only made it this far after two days of fleeing was that they’d wasted time at the hunter’s cabin.

And as a result, the Gale Knights had caught up to them.

Hunting time. But capturing them alive was more important than killing them.

That’s why I’d prepared this in advance.

A wooden club wrapped in leather to give it a blunt, rounded shape.

It was meant for whacking heads to knock people out. There’s a way to use a cavalry sword as a blunt weapon, but if you strike too hard, the target is done for. So I prepared a separate club with a weaker impact.

Knights with strong pride don’t favor blunt weapons used by foot soldiers, but our order is pragmatic, so we don’t worry about that. And aside from the commanders, the members are all commoners.

"Fiel, move to the left. Viktor, swing around to the right. The rest of you are in the center with me."

I wished Anton, who was skilled with flag signals, were here, but he’d come down with a cold and was resting at home. The reason he’d caught a cold was that when the executioner Stock was treating Simon, everyone fled outside and got caught in the rain. Most of the members came down with colds that day.

We approached quietly so they wouldn’t notice us.

Unaware that their position was completely exposed thanks to the Commander Scouter, the Schwarz Wolf appeared to be setting up camp in the forest. The moment we closed to the right distance, I gave the signal.

True to their mercenary background, they had a sentry posted, but he was struck by a club from a charging cavalryman and crumpled to the ground. The men who had committed all sorts of crimes under the dashing name of Schwarz Wolf were utterly helpless against the sudden cavalry assault.

Prepare in patient silence, then execute like a bolt of lightning.

"What the hell? Where did they come from!"

"Damn it, pursuers! Scatter!"

There wasn’t really any need for me to step in. Fifty riders had descended on a mere eight men, and breaking through to escape was impossible. The Schwarz Wolf, indiscriminately battered with clubs, slumped over limply.

"All captured alive."

"Good. Bind them."

If I had my way, I’d tear their limbs off, but there was a lot to extract from them. So I had them dragged back to the hunter’s cabin. Then I instructed the rest of the members to bury the victims behind the cabin.

Their sacrifice was what had allowed us to catch these vicious criminals.

We buried them so they could rest in peace before Resurrection Day, safe from the animals that would tear them apart.