The Tale of Gerald Vader, the Heretic Knight’s Rampage Through Another World
“Bates, maybe we should just give up…”
As we made our way through the forest, a timid voice came from behind.
How many times has this happened now?
Cut it out already.
“Shut up. I’m not about to be protected by some kid the same age as my own son. Thomas, you were all fired up about it too, weren’t you?”
“But we’re talking about a ‘Great Fang Boar,’ right? I saw the previous master take one down when I was a kid, but there’s no way we—”
“Listen, Thomas.”
I stopped hacking through the thicket with my machete and turned to face Thomas.
“This time, we set a trap. A huge snare trap. And it’s made with magic-enhanced rope specially ordered from the capital’s magic goods shop. Only a dragon could break that. All we have to do is finish off the trapped prey. It’s way easier than pulling tree roots while clearing fields.”
“But, you know, that trap was set behind Albus’s back—”
You coward!
I gritted my teeth to hold back the urge to yell at him and lectured Thomas instead.
“You know what he’s like. That Gerald boy who got beaten to a pulp by my kid and went home crying? Just ’cause some brat like that became a knight… you think he’s cut out for slaying beasts? He’d probably just get trampled flat by a Greatfang. …I don’t want to see some kid squashed to death.”
“But, just us…”
“What’s wrong with you lot? Scared of a dying beast caught in a trap?! Fine, I’ll finish it off myself! You lot can go back and do your farm work!!”
What a bunch of spineless cowards!
The forest was thick with underbrush, making it hard to walk, yet that bastard Thomas kept whining on and on.
I glanced back and saw that bastard had gone to fetch a spear from the barn, but he was as pale as a ghost.
The rest of them were much the same.
But well, I get why everyone’s scared.
Unlike me, who served as a guard in the capital before inheriting the farm, Thomas was born a peasant.
His dead dad was a mercenary or something back in the day, but the bastard himself only knows how to swing a hoe or a plow.
At most, the blood they’ve seen is from a trapped hare, or maybe a deer at the biggest.
The rest of the lot are much the same.
But the beast we’re facing is just a boar, big and bulky, that’s all.
And it was a dying beast caught in a trap.
There was no way we couldn’t handle it ourselves.
“Alright, let’s go.”
I plodded steadily along the narrow, winding animal trail.
My machete swung more wildly as I pushed through.
After a while, the air suddenly thickened with the stench of beast.
Mixed in was a faint scent of blood.
“Stop.”
I gestured for Thomas and the others to halt, crouching down in the thicket.
From here, we’d use our hands instead of machetes, quietly parting the brush.
Soon, we emerged into a clearing in the forest.
The surrounding area was a wetland.
A so-called ‘mud wallow’.
There, lying sprawled, was a boar larger than a carriage.
The enormous tusks protruding from its lower jaw were unmistakably those of a Great Fang.
Ha ha… So it got caught after all!
Serves you right!
“It’s… huge…”
“So that thing was ravaging the fields… Good thing we didn’t have to patrol at night…”
I heard someone gasp behind me.
Truth be told, the sheer presence radiating from the Great Fang’s massive frame was overwhelming.
I’d seen one before when I was a guard, taken down by another unit… but this one was twice that size. A bloody monster.
It wasn’t them, but even I froze for a second, stunned by its sheer power.
But I couldn’t show everyone how pathetic I was here.
I was the only one here used to rough work—me, the former guard.
…The traps were meant for deer or iron rats… but I’d been forced to set them countless times during pest control missions around the capital’s outer perimeter. My body remembered.
So it’d be fine.
There was absolutely no way that thing could slip free and let the Greatfang escape.
“Hey, you guys, stop freaking out. It’s got itself properly hooked in the trap. That thing can’t move anymore.”
I could see the magic-enhanced rope digging firmly into Great Fang’s hind legs.
It must have thrashed around like crazy in the mud pit; the area was a mess, littered with mud-covered fallen trees.
But the trap itself hadn’t budged an inch.
Guess spending a fortune really paid off.
“…Haha!”
A smile slipped out despite myself.
Serves you right. See? We can hunt down beasts just fine on our own.
We owe Grandpa Albus a debt, but this is our era now.
Not that we need knights, but we’ll protect our village ourselves.
Sorry, young master Vader, but this victory is ours.
“S-still, it looks like it really went wild…”
Thomas cowered before the Greatfang’s massive body, looking like he might bolt back any second.
“It’s fine. The more it rages, the more it wears itself out. Look, it’s barely hanging on. Hey, hand me your spear.”
“R-right.”
I handed my machete, took the spear, and approached the Greatfang.
It glared at me, but only managed a heavy, gurgling breath.
Seems it can’t move anymore.
If it can’t move, it’s just a target, whether it’s a demon beast or whatever.
“Ha! I don’t give a damn if you’re a demon beast or whatever! You got unlucky coming near our Lucera. Pay for destroying our fields!”
Saying that, I aimed the spear at the Great Fang’s throat—
“Bates! Watch—!”
Thomas’s scream rang out from behind him.
Immediately after.
Thud. An impact came from the side.
“Huh!?”
…Huh?
This is weird.
Why can I see the sky?
Spinning, spinning… just now, I was aiming my spear at the Greatfang—
“Guh!”
My vision spun wildly, followed immediately by a thud—a fierce impact to my back.
What the hell just happened…?!
The pain is so intense I can’t breathe…!
“Gah, gah!”
Gritting my teeth against the pain, I somehow managed to sit up.
My entire body was covered in mud.
Apparently, I’d been flung into a mud pit.
What the hell just happened…?
I could see Thomas and Hans shouting something.
But the shock must have caused it—my ears were ringing so badly I couldn’t make out a word.
What? R-r-right…?
What the hell…
“Ah…”
Greatfang was lying a short distance away.
For a moment, I thought it had broken free from the trap, but no.
It was still trapped.
And most importantly, this one had no fangs.
…It’s a female.
What that meant… I understood immediately.
“Damn it, a pair…”
What the hell?
There were only one set of footprints in the field…
…Oh.
This one’s pregnant.
That’s why its belly’s so swollen.
I don’t know anything about beast ecology… but the male was bringing food to the female and feeding her around here.
Shit, I screwed up…
‘――――!!’
The female Greatfang roared.
Damn it, even though I’m deaf, my body’s still shaking like hell…!
No need to guess what’s making this one so furious.
Even with her young inside her, she’s trying to kill us to save the male…
“Damn it, the spear…”
I scanned the area.
The spear lay nearby.
Split clean in two, it lay rolled over.
Like this, I couldn’t even stab it.
My body wouldn’t move at all.
Looking closer, my leg was bent at a weird angle.
My finger joints must have snapped from the landing impact; they were pointing every which way.
I can’t stand up like this, and I can’t even grip the spear.
Dammit, that Greatfang is chasing Thomas.
You idiot, Thomas, run! Hans, you coward, you’re not just standing there, are you? You’ve got my machete, fight! Dammit, dammit!!
This is impossible.
I finally get it.
The difference in biological class is just too vast.
Hey, who was the idiot bragging about beating this thing?!
We’re gonna die like this—
“—Projection.”
Amidst the world roaring and whirring in my ears.
Somehow, that voice rang out crystal clear.
――Gobah.
The Great Fang’s head, which had nearly run Thomas over, exploded, blooming into a ridiculously huge, crimson-black flower.
At least, that’s what it looked like to me.
――Thud.
Once more.
A shockwave reverberated through my gut.
This time, a gaping hole tore through the female’s belly.
Thud. Once more.
Its entire left front leg was blown clean off.
Even the Great Fang couldn’t charge anymore after that.
Overwhelmed by momentum, it toppled forward with a thunderous crash… and didn’t move again.
I couldn’t move either.
Or rather, I was at my limit.
My legs and fingers were broken, and it seemed my ribs were broken too—every breath sent searing pain through my side.
Amidst that.
Splash, splash. I heard someone’s footsteps approaching.
My hearing must have finally returned.
They were the feet of a skinny child.
Looking up, there he was.
Gerald.
“Hey, old man, you okay? I’ll get you back to the village soon, just hang in there.”
With a face devoid of emotion, he said that, then finished off the Greatfang caught in the trap.
With a sword as big as an iron block.
The thing appeared suddenly in Gerald’s raised hand, and he swung it down with one hand.
He swung it down as easily as shaking off a twig.
The Great Fang’s ridiculously thick neck and torso were separated in an instant.
Watching that, I suddenly felt sleepy.
Probably because I knew it was all over.
I couldn’t fight the relief of being saved anymore.
No good, I can’t keep my eyes open.
…Through my sleep-fogged vision, I saw her.
A girl, like a goddess, standing close beside him.
In that instant, I understood.
I understood it deep down in my heart.
He wasn’t the little brat Gerald I knew anymore.
He was the genuine article, a ‘knight’ favored by the goddess…