Chapter 90

In the city of Baraila, Lamber cut down Manji, one of the Eight Sages known as the "Flute Devil," and destroyed the Book of Gailof, which contained past grudges. Lamber continued his journey, moving from village to village, pursuing information about the "Flute Devil."

Naturally, Lamber had no intention of letting the "Flute Devil," who was trying to form a group in the Regius Kingdom, slip by.

He intended to expose their base as soon as possible and completely eradicate them.

Lamber rode his headless black horse, Nightmare, across the fields. His next destination was the city of Clane, which belonged to the Viscount Lagal and where he had heard strange rumors while stopping at a village along the way.

The city of Clane was the largest of the cities owned by Viscount Lagal, and the viscount himself resided in a mansion there. However, the Lagal territory was poor, and the city of Clane was not a thriving place.

The city was home to many vagrants and orphans, and more than half of it was a slum. The entire city was on the verge of becoming a lawless area, and it was currently being suppressed by force by the viscount's private army.

In the deep forest near the city of Clane, multiple bodies had been discovered, as if they had been melted and solidified. The bodies were marked with magical symbols, leading Lamber to suspect that the "Flute Devil," who specialized in necromancy and other forbidden magic, was hiding there.

(If this is their base, it will be easier... Hmm?)

As Lamber was lost in thought, he saw a carriage and several cavalrymen chasing it. The cavalrymen were rough, half-naked men, armed with clubs and spears. There were five of them in total.

"Hahaha! You can't escape from us in a carriage!"

"Hey, if you don't want to die, make the horses run faster! Hahaha!"

The men were shouting insults at the carriage. They seemed to be intentionally not catching up, as if they were playing a game.

(They must be a bandit group... As I heard, the Lagal territory doesn't have good security...)

Lamber drew his greatsword and readied it.

"Nightmare, increase your speed. We're going to have a little fun."

Nightmare lifted its headless neck, and an eerie neighing sound echoed from nowhere.

"What...? Hey, someone is chasing us."

"Are they trying to interfere with our hunt? Interesting... Hey, what is that monster?"

The sight of a fully armored giant man riding a headless horse was more than enough to make anyone lose their fighting spirit.

"It's a monsteraaaaa!"

"Leave that carriage! That thing is dangerous!"

Lamber pursued the fleeing bandits. Nightmare was a famous horse in its previous life. Even with Lamber's super-heavy weight, it was impossible for an ordinary horse to outpace them.

In no time, he caught up and struck the body of the man at the rear with the flat of his greatsword.

"Ughh!?"

With one blow, the man's neck, abdomen, chest, and waist bones were broken, and he fell off the horse in a strange manner. He was already dead when he hit the ground.

"D, Darse... Ohh!?"

Lamber's greatsword struck the head of the man who had turned to look. The next swing of the greatsword pierced the heart of the third man, causing it to burst.

"Even a herd of horned rabbits would have the intelligence to scatter and run."

Lamber's words made the last two men nod silently and split up to run. Lamber quickly moved towards one of them and slashed the man and his horse with a diagonal cut. Meanwhile, the remaining man had run quite far away.

"Y, Yes! Yes, I managed to survive..."

The last surviving bandit, breathing heavily, said. But he immediately heard the sound of hooves digging into the ground and saw despair on his face.

"Aaah... Aaaaaa! H, Help..."

The man's upper body was cut off. With this, all five bandits were dead.

(I should ask the owner of the carriage about Viscount Lagal. ...However, if Nightmare is around, it will complicate things. If they think I have an undead, it will be troublesome. Besides, the sight of Nightmare seems to instill fear in people these days.)

This was more due to the intense image of Lamber riding Nightmare rather than Nightmare itself, but no one pointed this out.

Lamber dismounted from Nightmare and landed on the ground. Nightmare turned and ran away, disappearing into the darkness.

The carriage, which had been moving due to the excited horses, eventually calmed down and stopped. Lamber approached the stopped carriage.

"Hey, I have a few questions..."

In response to Lamber's words, a middle-aged man descended from the carriage and appeared.

"Ah, that was close... You chased them away, didn't you? I'm grateful... If they had caught me, I would have been killed. I came here to trade, but I didn't expect this... I feel like I came to the wrong place."

He wiped the sweat from his forehead with his arm.

"My name is Ganzas. Ask me anything; I've traveled to many places and consider myself well-informed."

After saying this, Ganzas frowned and looked around.

"Hey... Weren't you riding a horse just now? Where did it go?"

"More importantly, can you answer my questions? I want to know about the local lord, Viscount Lagal."

Lamber deftly changed the subject.

"A, Ah..."

Despite his suspicions about Lamber's behavior, Ganzas was intimidated by Lamber's boldness, his large build, and his presence, and simply nodded.