Former General Is Undead Knight

Volume 2, Chapter 43: Heroic Tale of Barreira City

A tragedy caused by the attack of large numbers of necromancers in Barreira City had finally closed its curtain.

Nevertheless, this incident had caused massive damage to the city.

Almost all the adventurer guilds disbanded due to a lack of members, or consolidated with the other guilds to make up for the lack of members, resulting in a sharp decrease in the number of guilds.

Even excluding the adventurers, half of the number of citizens of Barreira had died in this incident.

Even the survivors, many of them traumatized by this incident, left the region.

The day when the capital of adventurers, Barreira City, regained its former glory was still far in the future.

From the testimony of the adventurers from 『Dancing Sword』 who had guarded the earl’s mansion during the raid, it was revealed that the ringleader of this incident was none other than Manzi, one of the Eight Wise Men of 『Devil’s Piper』.

In addition, the corpse of the old man Manzi was found by the soldiers of Earl Mondo inside; he had already died when they found it.

Since the most unique peculiarity about his appearance, his strangely shaped head, was coincident with the testimony of the members of 『Dancing Sword』, it was almost confirmed that the corpse was that of Manzi.

This incident revealed the existence of 『Devil’s Piper』 which even the kingdom could barely trace the movements of.

Even the inquisition squad, the Kingdom’s worst and strongest sorcerer association, started to further their investigation about 『Devil’s Piper』, which had met a dead end before thanks to this incident.

The adventurer guild 『Dancing Sword』, one of the candidates to become the most influential guild in Barreira City, had played the biggest role in the defense of the earl’s mansion.

But Eunos, the guild master, had died during this incident after he fell into Robin Hood’s scheme to infiltrate the earl’s mansion during the riot to settle his past grudge.

The heavily wounded Robin Hood managed to leave the earl’s mansion, but his corpse was found in the outskirts of Barreira City. It seemed he was killed by the undead who were running rampant in the city when he was about to leave it.

After this incident, 『Dancing Sword』 joined with another guild and almost got absorbed by it.

It was as if the members of 『Dancing Sword』, the adventurers who had played the biggest role in this incident, had no desire for fame and wanted it to disappear in the annals of history instead.

As if that wasn’t strange enough, the former members of 『Dancing Sword』 never wanted to speak about Eunos, their former guild master, any more.

Although there was a rumor going around that Eunos had gone insane and was then reduced to a mere undead, there was no further confirmation about this matter.

One week after 『Devil’s Piper』’s raid, a woman was seen playing her harp while singing her song in a corner of a bar in Barreira City, which had kept itself open during the reconstruction.

The woman had slightly discolored eyes and wore a bulky mantle.

Brown, almost red-colored, hair could be seen from under the scarf that was wrapped around her head.

She was the blind minstrel, Alvana.

The song she sang was the tale of an undead knight who protected the city from evil sorcerers, 『The Heroic Tale of Barreira City』.

It told the story of how he came from the edge of the forest accompanied by his headless horse, drove away bands of thieves who attacked the adventurers, and left the city as soon as he put an end to the great evil who tried to turn the city into a land of the undead.

The song was rearranged from the tales of the people who witnessed the appearance of the undead knight.

Although it sounded like an absurd story, there were surprisingly many citizens of Barreira City who saw the swordsman, clad in full-plate armor and riding his headless horse down the main street of Barreira City.

Even though he left after killing Manzi without even telling anyone his name, he was regarded by many as the mysterious hero who saved Barreira City.

「IS THE WOMAN NAMED ALVANA IN THIS STORE?」

A giant shouted angrily at the entrance of the bar.

The visitors fell silent the moment they heard that angry shout.

「ALVANA, YOU SEEM TO KNOW THAT UNDEAD KNIGHT VERY WELL! SINCE THAT’S THE CASE, YOU BETTER TELL EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT HIM TO THIS GLASCO-SAMA!」

The one shouting while flexing his bicep was Earl Mondo’s soldier, Glasco.

「How rude. Please don’t disturb me while I’m singing my song.」

Alvana pushed her way through the other guests in the bar until she brought her face close to him, and then turned around while whistling as if teasing Glasco.

「IT’S EARL MONDO’S ORDER! WE WERE ORDERED TO GO LOOK FOR THAT SWORDSMAN WHO SAVED OUR CITY! WE DON’T EVEN CARE IF IT’S JUST A STORY FROM A SHADY MINSTREL SINCE IT’S MUCH BETTER THAN LETTING HIM BE LOST TO HISTORY! WE HAVE TO KNOW WHO HE IS AND WHERE HE WENT!」 ????????????????e????????. ????o????

「Sorry, but I also don’t know his whereabouts. I would have already left this city if I knew where he was going next.」

「Then what do you know about him?! Tell us everything you know!」

「…What makes you so desperate, Soldier-sama? As if you want to go after that Knight-sama in person.」

「S-Shut up! Like hell we want to meet him! How many times have I told you, it’s Earl Mondo-sama’s order! Anyhow, tell me about him quickly!」

Glasco replied so, furiously stomping the ground where he stood.

Even when facing such a high-handed attitude, Alvana acted like she didn’t care, running her finger down her harp’s strings at her own pace.

「That’s so… what I can tell you is mainly the rumor that has already spread. There’s no hint of his whereabouts or his next destination…」

「Are you sure?! Are you really really sure about that?!」

「Yes! I mean, I’m the one who named that headless horse Nightmare. So there’s no doubt about this. 」

「E-EH?!」

Glasco’s face was fearsomely warped, but it then turned flabbergasted.

What followed was the sniffles from his surroundings.

His face flushed red as soon as he thought that Alvana was only teasing him.

「D-DAMMIT! DON’T TEASE ME IF YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT HIM AT ALL!」

「I’m telling you the truth…」

Alvana left the bar, raising her harp again after she heard the sound of the bar door close behind her.

She opened her blind eyes as if she was looking at the sky.

She wondered where the undead general would head next.

She stopped wondering as a faint smile formed on her face, and she turned around to see the guests inside the bar.

「How far can I sing, I wonder? Should I try to sing the part where he’s straddling the headless horse to go after the escaped necromancer?」

After making this remark, she continued singing 『The Heroic Tale of Barreira City』 as she walked into the night.

===Act 2 Fin===