My Beloved Princess ~The Boy Called Incompetent Rises with Only a Sword and the Princess's Devotion~ - Chapter 016: The Beast King Forest

A day and a half’s ride southwest from Rakure, the city governed by Dragon Lord Rag—that’s where the Beast King Forest lay. Though called Beast King, no master magical beast existed there. It was named Beast King Forest in the sense of being a forest ruled by beasts.

Rakure’s specialty products were silk textiles and celadon porcelain. Merchants from western nations formed caravans seeking these specialties and passed near this area, but several cases occurred each year of people mistakenly wandering into the Beast King Forest. Losing cargo was still manageable. But merchants who stubbornly clung to their goods because they’d hired skilled adventurers or mercenaries, only to have their escape route cut off—total annihilation wasn’t uncommon. It was a forest as dangerous as could be.

Instructor Mi’on conveyed the above content to the students in speech form. Furthermore—

“That said, for us dragonkin, magical beasts are like dogs. This is an optimal location for conducting initial combat training.”

Between the Beast King Forest and the highway—

At what could barely be called a safe zone designated as the camping ground, in front of the tent encampment, in the large plaza partitioned by great curtains, Instructor Mi’on was delivering a speech to the 150 first-year Lower School students.

“Additionally, I hear merchant caravan losses have been severe in recent years. So we’ll conduct extermination while also training. Complete annihilation will be difficult, but we can reduce the magical beast numbers.”

Somehow not feeling enthusiastic, Kishō sighed wearily.

“Isn’t this kind of thing normally done by a pack’s security maintenance forces?”

“Hmm, but they did say it’s just right for inexperienced first-years.”

With her honest personality, Ōka didn’t question teachers’ statements at every turn. She could be called a model honor student. However, surprisingly, the one who agreed with Kishō’s complaint was the academy’s top student—the Princess.

“Even if it’s a suitable location, conducting training in another dragonkin’s territory feels off. Besides, normally they’d dislike other dragonkin entering their territory—especially males. Perhaps Lord Rag couldn’t refuse due to the Dragon Emperor’s request?”

A sudden unpleasant feeling passed through him, and when Kishō rolled up his left sleeve, he found goosebumps.

“True, hearing it’s someone else’s territory makes me feel bad somehow.”

“That’s dragonkin instinct.”

“Yeah. I might feel a bit weird too.”

The dissatisfied weren’t just Kishō and company. Surrounding students were also whispering similar things.

As if answering their discontent, Instructor Mi’on raised her voice even louder.

“Of course, we’re not asking you to work for free. The academy will provide reward money for magical beast extermination, and those who defeat many magical beasts will receive special preferential treatment regarding overall grades. That’s all. I wish you all success.”

The words “special preferential treatment” made the students buzz.

Simple-minded bunch, Kishō thought, though he himself was an equally simple man.

(If there’s reward money, I can send some to Mother.)

Kishō came from a single-mother household. His father had passed from this world before Kishō’s birth, and his mother had raised him single-handedly.

His family home stood on a small hill in the outskirts of Algant, a western city governed by humans. Life was poor, and his mother made a living doing menial work in the city. A wandering mother belonging to no pack probably found a human city more suitable for living—that’s what Kishō thought.

Kishō held mixed feelings toward his mother, but he felt gratitude for being raised. If possible, he wanted to make her life a bit easier. The talk of reward money appealed to him.

When Instructor Mi’on ordered dismissal, students began gathering by their respective groups. Lively commotion filled the plaza.

“Well then, we’ll part ways here. It was a tiring journey but quite fun.”

Flashing white teeth, Seikan raised his thumb. Thinking him overbearing, Kishō responded anyway.

“Yeah. Don’t think you need to worry, but be careful.”

After briefly acknowledging the Princess and Ōka as well, Seikan left. Behind him, Seikan’s girls followed along.

(Well then, I should get going too.)

He patted Ōka’s head as she conversed with the Princess and announced as if it were obvious.

“I’m heading deeper in for a bit. You’ll be fine with Kuroyō here.”

“Huh—wait a sec.”

Ōka walked briskly alongside him, protesting as she matched his pace.

“Hey Shō-kun, leaving me behind is mean.”

He stopped. Turning to face Ōka, trying not to show disappointment.

“I’m planning not to return here today and camp out. You won’t be able to bathe. Is that okay?”

“Ugh, I don’t want that…”

In this season, not being able to bathe was quite harsh.

He knew Ōka’s personality well. This should make her choose to stay behind.

As he smirked inwardly, a figure quietly appeared behind the pondering Ōka. The Princess.

“So you’ll charge into the dangerous depths yourself to exterminate more magical beasts.”

“Why does your phrasing carry excessive expectations?”

“Yō-chan’s a dreaming maiden.”

“Hey Ōka, crush Kuroyō’s dreams a bit.”

“Are you really sure? You’ll snap that flag right off.”

“Ugh… never mind then.”

“I don’t quite understand what you two are talking about. Regardless, if you’re going deep into the forest, I’ll accompany you.”

“Ah, if Yō-chan’s going, I’m going too!”

“Hey, seriously…”

He should’ve easily sent Ōka away alone, but things had rolled in an unexpected direction. Unlike random female students, he couldn’t refuse Ōka’s company. She was his only friend who’d always been with him.

(Though I don’t want to put Ōka in danger…)

Just then, foreign-looking men pulling carts passed by the chatting group. Ōka turned and murmured questioningly while watching them leave.

“Who are those people?”

Large bodies with awkwardly developed muscles and deeply set features, plus hair colors different from dragonkin. Having grown up in the western city of Algant, Kishō immediately recognized them.

“Those are westerners. They probably contracted with western merchants for supply transport.”

At the edge of the campground, the twenty covered wagons that had carried them stood in a horizontal row. Separately, several differently shaped wagons were parked, probably belonging to western merchants, and the group they’d just passed entered one of them.

“See, I was right.”

“Wow. I kinda admire merchants.”

“Why?”

“Because they can travel the whole world, right?”

Ōka’s eyes sparkled as she spoke breathlessly. Her innocent honesty was one of Ōka’s good points. Kishō puffed his chest and spoke somewhat proudly.

“Merchants from the west rest from their long journey in Algant first, then enter Rakure and obtain specialty products before heading to southern nations next. They go around the world repeatedly buying and selling specialties before returning home. Did you know that?”

The Beast King Forest spread east to west, with highways running north and south of the forest. Imagining a topographical map, Kishō continued.

“Merchants commonly use the route from Algant through the northern highway to enter Rakure, then through the southern highway to head to southern nations.”

The Princess nodded with admiration.

“To know that much—you’re well-informed. Lord Rag loves western culture, so he’s open to accepting merchants. Other cities aren’t like this. That’s why western merchants aim for Rakure.”

Kishō still held prejudices against packs and couldn’t understand them. But he could intuitively understand territory. Ever since being told this was Rag’s territory, the unpleasant feeling had lingered.

Inviting others into one’s territory probably brought unpleasant feelings. If so, did that make Rag a person of deep tolerance?

Thinking too deeply about it seemed pointless.

Kishō clapped his hands to reset his mindset.

“Alright, let’s get to preparations. Everyone gather your camping gear. The meeting point will be… right, see that dead fallen tree? We’ll enter the forest from there and go south two hundred paces, west one hundred paces.”

Ōka objected.

“Why something so complicated? Here’s fine.”

“Listen. If we depart with the Princess, we’ll stand out.”

In a bad way, too.

Already people were looking at them like “Why are you with the Princess?” Even now, passing students kept glancing over. Though they wisely didn’t voice complaints to the Princess directly.

Ignoring the still-dissatisfied Ōka, he entered the male barracks.

From his brought luggage, he gathered clothes and necessities, leaving behind what seemed unnecessary. Next he snuck into the barracks housing the cooking facilities and borrowed several cooking utensils.

“As you wish, we’re going to defeat lots of magical beasts. This much should be fine.”

Other students would advance magical beast extermination using this campground—the main base—as their foundation. That’s why tents capable of housing so many people and mountains of cooking utensils and tableware had been prepared.

But that would only allow exploring shallow areas near the main base, and with nearby magical beasts being annihilated first, the distance to hunting grounds would increase daily. Most travel time would be wasted, so his plan was to boldly plunge into the depths. Efficiently exploring deep areas no one had entered yet would rack up magical beast kills. Therefore, he wouldn’t use the utensils here, so borrowing what he would’ve used himself seemed reasonable.

Since bringing blades into the academy was prohibited, he couldn’t prepare any. He searched through cooking utensils for a small knife and tossed it into his rucksack. He had no intention of using it as a weapon. Only practice swords were permitted in combat.

Next he borrowed preserved food.

Though he’d brought preserved food purchased at the academy shop, during the long five-day wagon journey, he’d nibbled at it whenever hungry, so not much remained.

“Above all else, it’s gotta be meat.”

To maintain vitality, meat was necessary above all else.

He tossed plenty of dried meat into his rucksack. Additionally, he selected cheese, bread, bacon… and pickles for accent. He also gathered salt and other seasonings plus spices arbitrarily.

The summer special training was extended practical training lasting a full month.

Naturally, this amount of food couldn’t possibly suffice. The shortfall would require local procurement.

“Well, if we can’t procure anything, we’ll just come back.”

In the future, some graduates would participate in wars. When packs got caught in warfare, they had no choice but to participate. Setting up camp with tent encampments, hauling in massive supplies, and group action apparently also served as training for those times.

Though for Kishō, who’d decided to leave the academy-created main base for solo action, it was irrelevant.

“Alright, this should do.”

Shouldering the stuffed rucksack and trying to exit the barracks, he was stopped.

“You can’t do that. Taking equipment without permission…”

The voice definitely came from ahead.

But no one was there.