Episode 27 – The Monsters of the Frontier (7)
“Is this the place?”
Transforming my doppleganger’s body into that of a hobgoblin, I arrived at the location where I had ambushed and devoured the hobgoblin scouts. This was a place I’d already seen through the eyes of those scouts.
It was closer to the enemy’s territory than the city of Loen that I had seized. In fact, though unpaved, a proper road ran through where I now stood.
I already knew that following this road would lead to a demon village.
[It appears additional forces have been dispatched and are approaching.]
“Perfect timing.”
Through the scouts’ eyes, I spotted a group of demons heading this way. The group consisted of a mix of hobgoblins and goblins.
Even without asking, I could guess why they were coming here. Since the first set of scouts hadn’t returned, they were sending out another reconnaissance party.
Confirming their approach, I smiled to myself. My plan was to pretend to be a city survivor, join them, and naturally infiltrate their base.
Blindly sending large-scale forces and starting conflicts needed to be avoided. It was important to proceed cautiously, gaining benefits with minimal resources.
“Almost here.”
It seemed they hadn’t considered that scouts I had sent could be flying overhead, observing them.
As they drew closer to me, I desperately waved my hands in a rescue signal, pretending to recognize them.
“What’s going on? Who are you?”
One of the hobgoblins, riding on the back of a large wolf-like mana beast, about the size of a substantial bicycle, widened his eyes upon seeing me.
“I’m a survivor from the city. My name is Lux, and I worked under the mayor!”
“Survivor, you say? Then you haven’t come across any allied scouts on your way here?”
“No, I haven’t. But I did find some traces that might have been left by them.”
I began my act as planned. The interrogation of the now-deceased and dismembered scout Bron would’ve made him flip if he could see me now.
They flinched upon seeing the insignia I pulled out from my robes. It was a symbol I had torn from Bron’s body after killing him.
“We must inform Lord immediately. Terrifying monsters invaded the city!”
“We’ve already heard rumors of that. It seems they’re true.”
Fortunately, they appeared to believe me. The leader, judging by his stance, pondered seriously for a moment before ordering his subordinates to change direction.
“Take this one along. We’ve confirmed the annihilation of the scouts who went ahead, and we’ve found a survivor with valuable information. Let’s head back!”
He offered up a spot on his subordinate’s wolf and swiftly turned his creature to gallop back the way they came.
“Amazingly, this worked.”
Honestly, until now, I wasn’t entirely sure it would. Despite extracting a lot of information on their ecology and habits from the hobgoblin prisoner Bron, I didn’t expect mimicking another race for the first time would go so smoothly, likely because of the perfectly replicated body.
Even if there were some awkwardness, it would be difficult for anyone to imagine someone pretending to be and tricking them while looking exactly like them.
“Alright, now I just need to scout the Ogress Domain in the west.”
Instead of the doppleganger heading toward the hobgoblin territory, I opened my eyes in my true body with a smirk, manipulating the collective consciousness.
While the doppleganger moves among them, we will steadily grow our strength and set out for new battlefields.
*
“So, monsters of unknown origin descended from the north, attacked Loen, and completely destroyed it?”
“That’s correct. Moreover, according to the survivor’s testimony, the creatures they encountered looked like this.”
Lumon, the hobgoblin shaman and retainer of Lord Ludras, who ruled the region, frowned as he looked at the drawing brought by his subordinate.
It was a detailed illustration, showing just how fearsome these monsters were.
“Even so, is it reasonable? Cities falling to such bizarre insects? A beast attack could happen, but with defensive towers and protective spells in place, a city shouldn’t fall.”
Objective analysis is difficult when something defies common sense. Despite hearing the survivors’ accounts, Lumon couldn’t easily believe them.
“Perhaps something else occurred. Most of the survivors who fled were cowards who ran as soon as trouble started.”
“That might be true, but this one was apparently an eyewitness to Bekins’ death. So, there’s a higher probability that his story is true.”
“Hmm…”
The subordinate’s point was valid.
After the city’s survivors escaped, not a single one emerged afterward. This was why Lumon suspected some other interference.
Perhaps the beasts were merely bait and some other entity had destroyed their city.
“We need to confirm more clearly. Bring that ‘survivor’ here.”
“As you wish.”
In the end, to gather more detailed information, Lumon had the newly acquired survivor brought before him.
Unlike the others, this resident hobgoblin escaped as the city fell, making him a valuable witness.
“So, the administrative officer himself wishes to see me?”
“It seems Lord Lumon suspects something. There’s little chance the city fell solely to beasts.”
Hearing that Lumon suspected other possibilities, the summoned survivor smirked meaningfully.
“The area is under the dominion of our Lord, but there’s no doubt some treacherous individuals plotting against him, along with outside threats eyeing our territory. So, tell us everything you saw. Were there only beasts?”
Lumon pressed the survivor Lux. His words indicated he already harbored some preconceived notions.
‘Even on the brink of death, he can’t admit the city fell to mere beasts.’
Lux’s eyes, after transferring his consciousness from his main body back to the doppleganger, sparkled. He could use this preconceived notion to buy more time.
“Due to the chaos, I didn’t get a proper look myself. All I managed to see and hear was that the defensive towers, which were initially functioning, began halting one by one, and about a thousand monstrous creatures overran the city when no one seemed to notice.”
Since Lux had noticed they hadn’t sent out any more scouts after securing him and knew he was the sole witness they had, he provided them with a mix of facts and fiction.
Even if true, he slightly altered the numbers to sow confusion and subtly hinted at the possibility while pretending not to have seen it clearly.
“Also, the towers malfunctioning and the protective spell collapsing during Bekins’ last stand—there’s obviously been a spy or traitor inside!”
Thanks to Lux’s manipulation, Lumon harbored a misunderstanding.
There’s another party behind the attack on the city.
Lumon believed that the beasts were merely a distraction and the real culprits were the unknown entities controlling them who had collapsed the city.
This wasn’t entirely unreasonable. After all, they had numerous enemies within the Demon Realm, making it a plausible deduction.
‘If this continues, they might start infighting.’
Having learned this internal situation, Lux smirked.
Of course, the true Lux’s face didn’t change, but the corner of the mouth of the physical body lying somewhere else curled up.
“I will immediately inform Lord Ludras. In the meantime, strengthen the defenses, tighten inspections, and capture any suspicious people!”
Later, believing he’d uncovered something significant, Lumon hurriedly departed to spread this news.
Only his nervous subordinates and the recently testifying Lux remained in the room.
“Hey, Lux, right? Surviving and testifying like this is quite an accomplishment. How about finding a female to keep you company tonight?”
One of Lumon’s subordinates casually suggested something to Lux.
There was no suspicion in their attitude.
“They were shocked when I said I wanted to rest without females, pitying me.”
“Even hobgoblins can be like goblins obsessed with reproduction.”
“Still, thanks to their misunderstanding, we can move a bit more freely now.”
The queen gave Syla instructions in her main body.
Regardless of the distance, communicating was not a problem. After all, the queen could directly transmit her words into the woman’s mind if she so wished.
“Since they misunderstand that there are fictitious enemies controlling unknown beasts, we just have to play along.”
The queen had already decided what she would do with her army.
She planned to confuse local factions as much as possible, hide her true identity, and gradually erode their lands and strength to grow bigger.
“When the time comes, I’ll reveal myself confidently when they can no longer stop me.”
She predicted this wouldn’t take long anyway.
