The Tanaka Family Reincarnates

King, Stop This Madness [Part 3]

“Ahh, umm, this… Not just Emma, even anyone will cry at this, you know? I guess it’s good that Emma isn’t here right now…… Eh, oh.”

The king’s figure bathed in monsters’ blood entered George’s line of sight and made him realize something. ‘There’s no way the gluttonous Emma won’t find out about this when she sees His Majesty the Hunting Layman return unscathed but covered in blood.

This will turn out to be troublesome. Emma is very likely to lecture His Majesty.’

“Emma-chan… will be sad? …will cry? …What do you mean by that? …*gasp!*”

Unfortunately, the king would never hit on the idea that he would get scolded by Emma for wasting monster meat and materials. Emma’s image reflected in the king’s eyes is still that of a delicate little beauty.

“Emma-chan has the trauma of being attacked by monsters. So she will be shocked when seeing her favorite(?) king return from monster hunting while covered in blood… is that what you mean? William-kun.”

Humans are creatures who will perceive and interpret things based on what’s favorable to them.

“Eh?! Talking about shock, she will indeed be shocked, but…”

“Her body is already frail as it is. If I appear before her like this, she won’t be able to swallow her food and won’t even have the strength to walk? That’s what you want to say, right, George-kun?”

“No, well… if it’s food, I think she will eat it no matter what…”

“…! That’s true. Emma-chan will definitely eat even if she has to force herself. She never wants to worry others… Wuuu… Because Emma-chan… is such a courageous girl— *choke*”

Old Man Hoi Hoi was going strong that day too.

“*sniff*…”

“*sob sob*…”

“*ughn*…”

Then, seeming like the king’s cry was contagious, intermittent sobbing could be heard from the Lord of Skyte, hunters, and even some among the knights.

“Eh? What’s this about?”

“I will be the one! who protects Emma!”

“Eh? Even His Highness too, what’s wrong so suddenly?!”

“PFFT HYAHHAHAHA!”

“Wait! Arthur-sama too?! Eh? Everyone, what’s wrong, seriously?!”

The prince, who had been calm until seconds ago, and even the relaxed Arthur looked strange.

“Ah… ?! Woah… Nii-sama… this…”

William grabbed the tail of a small monster around the size of a palm from inside a monster carcass and lifted it up.

“William, does that have anything to do with this?”

The small monster William showed didn’t ring any bells with George with his somewhat disappointing level of monster knowledge.

“It’s a… rampage mouse. It has a troublesome trait of making other large monsters rampage after biting them…”

“Making other monsters rampage? You mean that these monsters His Majesty defeated were controlled by it?”

George remembered his father said that many monsters in Skyte were of the psychic-attacking type. Well, the only info he could recall from his memory was that small monsters aren’t filling as food.

“I’ve been thinking that it was strange. Because even though monsters like to flock, it was too diverse… Species without symbiotic relationships won’t usually group together to attack…”

Cold sweat trickled down William’s cheeks.

“What, is it super dangerous or somethin’?”

George only got a bad premonition from seeing his younger brother’s complexion.

“This rampage mouse itself isn’t that strong… but it is written in a book that the blood of a monster that’s bitten by it and rampages will temporarily make people lose their minds.”

“Lose their minds?”

“Yes. It’s like status effects in games.”

“Eh? You mean like berserk, charmed, hypnosis, confused… that status thingy?”

“Yes, that.”

George’s gaming knowledge from his past life had somehow turned useful.

“If everyone goes wild because of that, how do we deal with them… Sure enough, I can’t really slash humans, or worse, the king, okay?”

George didn’t want to hurt anyone. Not just the king but the prince, Arthur, teachers, hunters, and knights too.

“Hmm… I still haven’t worked out enough yet…”

Behind George, the king, who had been sobbing until a while ago, slowly lifted his head and gripped his sword again.

“George-kun, can you accompany me for sword practice for a bit?”

The king’s eyes were out of focus.

Even though there was no way they could practice swords in this sort of place, the knights and hunters around them didn’t try to stop them at all.

“Is this for real…”

That’s right. Nothing is more dangerous than having a layman on the hunting ground.

♠♠♠

Author’s corner:

Serious: God… This year, please, this year… Please give me a chance to play an active part this year!

Crisis: God… Please recover Serious’ health even if it’s just a little (under the premise he is already sick)