Commotion

Because Allen always ran back, he had no idea walking would take this long. He continued inching toward town as the setting sun stained the whiteness of the world madder red.

When the city gate finally came into sight, he noticed there was a commotion going on.

"A white deer is coming!" One of the guards seemed to be shouting at Allen.

It was true that when viewed from the side, the white deer carcass completely obscured Allen's figure. Consequently, it looked like the monster was slowly approaching with its head bowed.

The other guards milled about in a fluster. Allen could not see clearly, but he thought he spotted at least five of them. To curtail the possibility of being turned into an arrow pincushion, he shouted loudly while continuing to draw close.

"Good evening, Mr. Guard!"

"That voice... Is that you, lad?!"

"Yes, sir! May I go through please? I caught this white deer on the orders of House Granvelle."

Allen continued plowing ahead. He felt someone approach, so he thrust out his crest from underneath the monster. That seemed to have done the trick, as he was allowed through with no further questioning in spite of what he was carrying.

On and on Allen went, walking over the stone-paved streets of the city. Naturally he attracted quite the attention from both the pedestrians and shopkeepers alike. Both sides of the streets filled with murmurs and gasps.

Soon he arrived at the back entrance, but because the deer's horns were too wide to pass through it, he circled around to the front of the mansion instead.

"Good evening!"

"I-Is that you, Allen?" The guard on gate duty was familiar enough with Allen to recognize him by his voice.

"Yes, sir. I'm sorry; the back entrance is too small to pass through. May I come in through the front?"

"R-Right, of course," the guard replied in a slightly frightened voice.

'All right, I gotta first report to Sebas,' Allen thought as he entered through the gate and continued making his way into the garden.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

A lady-in-waiting who was looking out into the garden from a second-floor window screamed loudly. Her knees gave way and she pointed a trembling finger toward the window, prompting the other servants to look out as well.

"A monster's gotten onto the premise!"

"Gentlemen-in-waiting, grab your weapons! Someone, call the knights!"

The commotion grew larger and larger by the minute.

'Oh, that's not good. They're panicking.' Allen thought he would be able to explain the situation away, but the servants filing out of the mansion were starting to arm themselves. So, he dropped the white deer in a fluster so that they could see his figure clearly.

Boooooom.

The monster was so heavy that the moment it hit the ground, a tremor rumbled through the ground and blew snow away. Both those looking on from the second floor and those who had exited the mansion froze with shock, with some even falling on their rear ends.

Most of them had never seen a monster up close in their life, and now a huge, white beast had seemingly walked into the grounds. The next thing they knew, however, it had transformed into Allen's form. Their minds scrambled to comprehend what they were seeing.

'Ugh, that was really heavy. I guess my level is still a bit too low to carry something like that by myself.'

Sebas pushed through the crowd to confirm the situation for himself. "I-Is that you, Allen?"

"Yes, sir, it's me. I've just returned. Young Master Thomas told me to hunt a white deer, so here it is." To avoid being held responsible for the commotion, Allen immediately brought out Thomas's name front and center to leave the impression that he was simply following orders.

The butler started when he recalled the exchange at dinner several nights ago. No one present had taken the conversation seriously, himself included. However, it was true that Allen had firmly declared that he would indeed bring a white deer back.

At almost sixty years of age, very little surprised Sebas anymore. However, ever since Allen came to the mansion, he felt as if the perception of normalcy that he had built up over his entire life was slowly but surely being eroded away. He struggled to remain upright despite feeling his common sense crumble internally.

"What is the commotion about?!" Baron Granvelle roared as he came outside. When he got a good view outside, however, his words died in his throat. "Th-That's a..."

"The hell y'all just standin' around for, eh?!" Dudley, the head chef, bellowed roughly while emerging from the first-floor kitchen. It was time for dinner, and yet no one had come to pick up the dishes. He had gotten tired of waiting and decided to come out himself.

When he saw the beast on the ground, however, the look of irritation on his face immediately melted into one of delight. It was his first time seeing an entire white deer in person. He approached it all atremble. "A-A white deer!"

"Yes, Mr. Dudley," Allen replied. "I've only been able to bleed it. I haven't done anything else yet."

"I see! So you've done the bare minimum! Good! Now we need to remove its organs."

In the chef's eyes, this terrifying beast was merely another ingredient for his cutting board. This situation did not faze him in the slightest.

"VANS! What're ya just standin' around for?! Get yer ass over here! The rest of y'all, keep preparin' for dinner!"

Dudley called his assistant Vans over and ordered someone to fetch a large butchering saw and a magical tool to provide illumination. He intended on doing the butchering right here, handling the task personally while leaving the rest of the preparations for dinner to the other chefs and servants.

"I'll help, Mr. Dudley. Since the white deer is heavy."

"Oh? Ya sure?"

"Of course, sir."

Allen's offer was not purely out of the kindness of his heart—he still had to retrieve the monster's magic stone. He had similarly taken out the magic stones from all the horned rabbits that he had handed over so far. He was willing to part with the meat, as this was a promise with Thomas, but the magic stone was his. In the middle of following Dudley's instructions to raise this leg, support this part, keep that part open, and everything else, he would surreptitiously take out the magic stone and throw it into Storage.

As the gardener watched his carefully tended garden ruined with blood and viscera in dismay, Baron Granvelle turned to Sebas. "What is the meaning of this?! Why didn't you look into Allen's background?!"

"What?! Master, you were the one who told me there was no need to dig any further after we learned he has no Talent and very low stats! As you commanded, I did not investigate any further!"

"Have you gone senile?! Look at that! An eight-year-old boy just brought back a Rank C monster by himself! How could he be Talentless?! I want to know every last detail about him!"

"O-Of course, Master. When the very next envoy from Krena Village arriv—" The Baron's hawklike eyes narrowed.

"...My apologies, Master. I will dispatch a man to Krena Village right at tomorrow morning."

Sending someone to Krena Village took ten days round trip and to do so now would cost much more than usual due to all the snow. As the one managing the mansion's finances, Sebas very much preferred conducting the investigation on the side of normal communications between the mansion and the village. It would not be long before the next shipment of great boar meat was due; when it arrived, he could simply ask the villager who was accompanying the delivery. However, that was apparently not enough for Baron Granvelle.

Cecil watched her father and the butler exchanging heated words with an exasperated face from a window on the second floor. Dinner was the last thing on everyone's minds now.

Thomas, the one who had been the cause of all this, dashed out of the mansion. "IT'S A DEEEEEER!" he whooped. He tried to touch the monster, but his assigned maidservant desperately held him back. Noticing his approach, Allen walked over and bowed respectfully.

"Young Master Thomas, I have brought back a white deer as you asked."

"Thank you!"

This incident was what prompted the Baron to launch a full-scale investigation into Allen's past.