Circumstances of a Fallen Lord

Chapter 60

It was no ordinary centipede. For starters, it was gigantic. Its body was as long and thick as the tree trunks by its side. Its firm, segmented body slickly shone like well-heated iron. 1 The dozens of legs attached to its body were red and sharp, like blades.

Luisen had, in the past, wandered around the kingdom and seen many things he hadnt before as noble trash, but this was the first time hed seen such a large centipede. It would hurt when one got bitten by an ordinary centipede, but, the moment this centipede were to bite you, it would most likely cleave your body in two. That thought was so terrifying and gruesome, the young lord couldnt help but shiver.

Is that a bug? Or a monster?

Unlike its smaller counterpart, the opponent before them had dozens of bead-like eyes on its face; it moved around here and there as it examined Carlton and Luisen. The young lord had never heard of a centipede with dozens of eyes. As expected, its a monster, right?

The centipede made scratching noises as it crawled up a tree. Its long body curled around the trunk; its numerous legs clacked as it moved up the bark. Contrary to what its size may suggest, it was incredibly fast. In a blink of an eye, the centipede made its way up to the canopy and flew through the air towards Luisen.

Aaaaagh! Luisen screamed. The thing must have been after the young lord after all! Perhaps it was aiming at the weakest individual in the group first. If Luisen was alone, he probably would have been caught in that attack. However, he currently had Zephysonce again, the horse swiftly dodged the centipedes attack.

Crash!

The centipede couldnt direct the force of its flight and soon crashed to the ground. A normal animal would have suffered a broken skull, but

U-Urgh Gross Im scared Its so disgusting

The centipede was quick to climbscraping against bark once moreup the tree again. However, this time Carlton was faster. He jumped at the bug and swung his sword. In an instant, its two front legs were chopped off.

Kyaaaaaaak!

 The centipede screeched. Dozens of its legs spread out in unison; it began twisting its torso strangely. Some thick bodily fluid began dripping from the severed locations.

 The centipede began wildly whipping its tail about in agony and felled the surrounding trees. Carlton shielded Luisen while waiting for a gap in its random attacks. In the meantime, Zephys carried the young lord to a safe distance so that he wouldnt be caught up in the fight.

      Now a few legs short, the centipede changed its target to Carlton.

The mercenary and the insect exchanged a few blows. The bug moved its dozens of legs precisely and rapidly, swinging its front feet and tail almost instinctively. On top of that, it tried to reach out its head and plunge from a high height to pierce through the mercenary with its pincers.

Attacksstrong, powerful attacksflew at each other from all sides. With each miss, the ground was hollowed, and trees were smashed. When the centipedes front legs hit Carltons sword, the sound of metal hitting metal rang out. A slight brush of the blade, like that, couldnt make a dent in the bugs carapace.

Luisen watched over Carlton nervously. He knew his companion was strong, but the opponent was a hitherto unseen monster.

But Carlton was even more of a monster. He effortlessly hit back his opponents attacks. No matter how fast the centipede movedno matter how many attacks it shot from various anglesCarlton did not allow himself to get hit by a single attack. He wasnt pushed back at all.

The mercenary wasnt flustered by the centipedes hard carapace. He observed his opponent calmly and slowly cut off each of its legs. Each time its legs were severed, the centipede writhed and revealed its white belly.

W-Whoa. Hes not losing at all.

Because the ever-loyal Zephys wasnt moving from its distant position, Luisen was able to relax and watch over the fight.

The centipede changed its strategy as the situation became increasingly unfavorable. It hissed, turned around, and tried to dig into the ground to escape. However, Carlton had no intention of letting it leave now; he pierced his blade through its tail.

Kyaaagh!

The centipedes cry reverberated through the air, ripping through the sky. Even from far away, it sounded so terrible; Luisen was momentarily frightened. The monsters long body wildly wriggled up and down, thudding thunderously onto the ground.

Disregarding all its thrashing, Carlton kicked the monster and pressed down on its head. Then, without hesitating, he thrust his sword between its eyes.

Crack!

It sounded like the monsters head was crushed. The remainingstill plentifullegs trembled and twitched. Soon after, the centipede stopped wriggling, and its antennae drooped onto the ground.

Is it finished? Luisen asked.

Wait a moment. Carlton didnt forget to confirm that he had fully killed his opponent. He didnt allow Luisen to return until he had fully cleaved the centipedes head in half and kicked both parts away.

Ngh Its even more gruesome up close. Why is such a thing here? Is this centipede a monster?

It definitely cant be some common centipede. Not with this size and strength.

Right. Luisen looked at its torso. The centipedes body, which had flipped over to reveal its white belly, was a different type of disgusting than when it had moved around so vigorously. The sight of dozens of its limp legs made his skin itch. Ugh, Luisen groaned. Up close, its even more revolting.

Carlton patted Luisens shoulder.

Luisen and Carlton decided to take a break while they disposed of the centipedes body.

While Carlton started the fire, Luisen sat haphazardly nearby. How far have we travelled? the young lord asked as he ripped off pieces of the bread he had brought from Confosse.

Carlton looked up at the skythe sun was high in the sky. Since its been about half a day, we should be nearly there. If it werent for the centipede, we may have already reached the village.

As he drank water from a bucket, Luisen thought out loud, Is it because of that centipede? For contact from the guard captains village being cut, I mean.

 The guard captain had sent word several times, but nothing had returned.

They would have travelled the same path we did, so the messengers would have been similarly attacked by the centipede. If they were lucky, they may have been able to escape, I suppose, Carlton said.

The centipede was a formidable opponent, even for the mercenary. An ordinary person wouldnt be able to put up a proper fight and would simply become its prey. The messengers were probably eaten.

Who knows. Its quite far from town, but Carlton trailed off. The situation wasnt very positive.

Where could this centipede have come from?

Hm? Wasnt it born here?

It must have migrated from somewhere. The south doesnt originally have such gigantic monsters like this one.

Really?

Mercenaries were often called in to fight monsters. Carlton was no stranger to monsters; the kingdoms southern region had little mercenary activity. Compared to other regions, fights erupted less because the lands here were richer and had more administrative oversight. Crucially, though, there were no gigantic monsters that couldnt be solved through individual power.

Ive never seen such a centipede before, but Ive seen ants and spiders of that size. Their habitat is usually to the northwest of here, the mercenary said.

Then did they come down from there? However, theres a river in the waycan monsters cross those?

If a monster of this size were to cross the river, it would have stood out.

Who knows. Its a chaotic world lately.

No matter where one went, the war has been a huge problem. Armies moving up, refugees fleeing souththe population moved chaotically. Among all that, there were a few people trying to cause fusses. The normal system had collapsed and strange things had gone wild within those cracks.

Luisen finished eating his bread. Carlton was about to set the centipedes body ablaze, but then suddenly a few middle-aged men appeared from within the forest.

Unlike with the centipede, Carlton and Zephys looked at them calmly. They were dressed in ordinary peasant clothes; furthermore, they looked like frightened, cornered rats. Even to the young lord, they didnt seem like people he needed to be vigilant against.

They soon noticed the centipede and became exceedingly startled. Aargh! Monster! Its a monster!

Save us!

Frightened, they attempted to run away before they realized that the centipede was still, turned over onto its back. They held hands and observed the centipede incredibly cautiously. W-What? You killed it?

Its dead? The monster?

Carlton stepped forward. The three men finally noticed the mercenary and backpedalled, frightened once more. Whose family do you belong to? 2 Carlton said.

W-Who are you guys?

I asked first, Carlton gave them a prickly reply.

The people alternated their gazes between the centipede and the mercenary before responding, Whathappened to that monster?

I killed it. So, what family do you belong to? Carlton was annoyed.

Though the sight of an annoyed mercenary was incredibly frightening, perhaps these people had lost their minds from fear. They cheered from afar, He said he killed it! That person killed it!

Aigoo! 3 He killed it? Really, thank youThank you so much! They bowed and shook Carltons hand. Luisen couldnt tell if they were in shock from fear or not. Carlton was dumbfounded.

The young lord stepped forward, holding back laughter at Carltons dazed expression. What is the matter? Who are you people?

At Luisens calm question, someone from the group finally returned to his senses. Were people from the villageright next to that huge boulder out front. We heard the centipedes screeches, so we came here to see what had happenedWe didnt expect to find that it had been killed!

The people lived in the guard captains hometownLuisen and Carltons destination. The village next to the big boulder? Were on our way there as well. Weve come on errand for Confosses guard captain, Luisen said.

Oh! The guard captain? Hes from our villageyouve come to the right place. The villagers were eager to guide Luisen and Carlton to their home. The village was quite a ways away; on the way, Luisen was able to hear further details about their situation.

TL: Itll be explained later, but you may be confused as to why Luisen is asking if a gigantic tree-high centipede is a bug or a monster. In this world, monster is a special class of beingrather than a noun, its more like an adjective, an its hard to know just how many monsters or monster species exist.

1. is like the shininess that might come from coating something with oil or another similar substance. Its often used for leather. I felt like slickly shone would be concise and capture the nuance?
2. To be more exact, the original says whos your inlaws? Carltons asking if theyre related to the guard captain
3. Korean exclamation expression similar to the English expressions Oh! Oh Dear! , Oh My! , Oh My God!