While letting my horse rest in the midst of camping, I unsheathe my sword and stare at its blade.

“Aa~h, my mighty sword trembles. It’s screaming at me to cut those foolish barbarians right now.”

“You seem to be in high spirits today, Lord Tallmann.”

The man approaching me with a smile on his pale face is my number one subordinate, the magic swordsman, Azalea.
In terms of swordsmanship and magic, nothing surpasses the Ardezia empire. This expedition is a breeze.

Azalea was originally an underling of a low-class noble, but I bought him with a huge sum of gold.
The low-class noble who rose in power because of Azalea became paranoid and shouted complaints at me for buying Azalea that he ended up abandoned his own domain and fled at night.
Or, did he commit suicide? Oh well, who cares about the details.

“Well, I haven’t cut humans in a long time, you see, fu, fufufu…… and besides, they’re just an uncivilized group of barbarians, right? Might as well treat them like animals.”

The purpose of this journey is to hunt the Mythical Beast, Carbuncle.
Carbuncles are legendary monsters said to have bright-green fur and a large jewel on their forehead.
The last sighting was by an adventurer who spotted it near the Lithuvar Tribe’s village a few decades ago.

My renowned homeland, Ardezia, is now suffering a major decline of royal bloodline with the recent death of the king due to sickness and the prince due to an accident.
Therefore, following the old customs, the husband of the first princess is to be made the next king.

The first princess stated that her future husband will be someone who offers the best gift to her.
That is why I decided to hunt down the Mythical Beast, Carbuncle.
If I offer her that rare monster, I will no doubt have the best gift to qualify as her husband and become future king.

The greatest clue and hindrance during our search for the Carbuncle is that barbaric Lithuvar Tribe.
And so, I brought in my private army, “the Hungry Hunters”, carefully selected from the 1st division to the 80th division.

Of course, there are exceptions, since one division consists at least 8 soldiers, there are about 650 people overall.
You might say I went a little overboard here, but I had to take into account that they have a two-headed dragon as their guardian deity.
We also couldn’t clarify the full size of their village, and/or if they have other branches scattered around the forest, so having a large army at my beck and call is reassuring against all these uncertainties.

The cost for having an army this large was ridiculous, and it didn’t help that some parts of the forest’s edge were under the domain of other nobles, so it was a hassle getting permission to enter their lands with a large army right behind me.

I made it clear to the nobles and in public face that my objective was to hunt down the Carbuncle and exterminate the Lithuvar Tribe for good. Out of good will, of course.
However, the Lithuvar Tribe were hardly a threat nor were they seen as something to be feared, so only a handful showed interest at my aim.

Perhaps the Lithuvar Tribe poses no danger as they say.
I assume the nobles wanted to highlight that the Lithuvar Tribe is causing damage to their territories so they can reduce their taxes to the royals somehow.
Whatever the case, after donating a huge chunk of gold, I managed to get my soldiers past through their forest.

Despite wasting a massive amount of money, if I march in my army inside the forest like this, I will aggravate the Lithuvar Tribe regardless.
So, I guess it wasn’t a complete waste.
In fact, something of this caliber should be but a speck in the path to becoming king.

Speaking of which, the lead captain of the “Hungry Hunters” private army is the man with the pale face, Azalea.
Although the leader of the army, I made him primarily act as my escort, first and foremost.
But, when battle begins, I will charge first before anyone else, so I am expecting him to work just as much as I am in the frontlines.

I heard the Lithuvar Tribe is strong, but against the elites of my “Hungry Hunters”, even they are no match.
Besides, I highly doubt the Lithuvar Tribe has many fighters to begin with.
And, in case something bad happens, surely a hostage or two is more than enough to break their spirit for a short while before my elite “Hungry Hunters” sees the chance to kill them all in that instance.

They may be barbarians, but even they should know better than to attack against an army this large.
First, we shall have the scout teams survey through the forests and around their village, confirm their size and manpower, attack them at the perfect chance, and destroy their village mercilessly.
Some children and women may end up escaping, but we shall kill them nonetheless and say the Carbuncle ate them.

This will increase the Carbuncle’s infamy of not only being mythical, but also being a savage brute.
My being king of Ardezia is practically set in stone already.

“Azalea, tell me your honest thoughts regarding the plan of exterminating the Lithuvar Tribe.”

“Yes. I, Azalea, was very impressed by Lord Tallmann’s brilliant idea. Of course, damage will be minimized. But, everything will depend on what information the scouts will bring back.”

“Fuhahahaha! Indeed, it is as you said! But, don’t you think it would be more interesting if there were some level of uncertainty? This time, we have you, the strongest magic swordsman in Ardezia, and the great me, the feared swordsprince! I am certainly not that cruel of a person to be massacring lives like a feral monkey!”

As I said that aloud, the “Hungry Hunters” laugh heartily behind us.

Suddenly, Azalea looked behind me, putting his hand under his chin and making a thinking face.
Looking back, there was one who didn’t laugh along with the others.

It’s the squad leader of the “Hungry Hunters” 1st division, Nell.
Two beastman ears protrude out of his aquamarine hair.
He’s a ferris-human child.

One of the races that the upper-part of Ardezia recently freed from slavery…… no, more like the whole country.
In my humble opinion, I see them nothing more than a downgraded inferior species of us humans.

Although my army accepts anyone regardless of their race, ethnicity, or personality so long as they know how to fight and kill.
It still bothers me that his blank expression killed off my mood of livening up the army.
Because I don’t want my mansion to stink of beastmen, the 1st division is the only squad I never let inside my house.

Nell notices Azalea slowly approaching him.

“Hm? What seems to be the matter, Nell? Why the cold face even after Lord Tallmann boosted the army’s morale? Are you not feeling well?”

I also take a stand and go near Azalea and Nell.

“Oh, so it’s just that you weren’t feeling well?! Then, I guess it’s only understandable that you would ignore the words of your one and only great benefactor! And, here I was wondering if those ears of your were just decoration so I almost thought about cutting them!”

I pick up Nell’s ears and lift him up.

“Aa, it hurts! Please, forgive me! But, if I may……”

“Hm? Hmm? If you may…… what? If you have something to say, by all means, say it! No need to hesitate!”

“N-Nothing… it’s nothing……”

“Nothing? Nothing, you say? You heard that, right, Azalea? He said nothing! If I cut your ears and your mouth, I bet your face would look more expressive that way! In fact, I could scrape it off of you right now!”

Nell was about to speak, but I pulled a dagger out and pointed it at his lips.
His face stiffened and he stared at the blade, but he gulped and spoke anyway.

“U-, uhm…… n-no matter how barbaric the Lithuvar Tribe is…… to go so far as to kill all the children and women is just…… too much…… d-don’t you think that an army of this size would be more than enough to threaten them instead of killing all of them……?”

“I see you don’t need your mouth, after all.”

I position the dagger and thrust it inside Nell’s throat.
Nell tried to bend back but I grabbed his neck with the back of my hand and stopped him from moving.
Nell barely manages to stop the dagger with his beastly teeth, but blood drips on the tip of the blade.

Nell’s face turns pale, and with eyes watering, he slightly shook his head.

“Fuhahahaha! I was just messing with you! So many kids these days who don’t get humor! Don’t you all think so?”

When I said that, all the soldiers proceed to laugh behind us.

Nell loosened the grip on his teeth in relief.
I took that chance and kneed his jaw.
Blood spilled out from Nell’s mouth and he dropped on the ground, clutching his chin.

“A-, ah! Aaaaa~argh!”

Nell shrieks in pain and flails on the ground.

“Foolish boy! We already have a contract with the feudal lord to eliminate all the barbarians who reside in this land! It doesn’t help that a brainless demi-human like you is only adding more problems!”

I don’t even care about the Lithuvar Tribe, but I certainly don’t like it when someone talks ill will about me or my plans. But, let’s stop here.
I don’t want to gain any infamous rumors about my more notorious side. I’ll lose followers and money.

I wipe my fingers with my chest.
I check the blood that was stained on me and spat at Nell.

“Damned filthy beast blood. Someone hand me a wipe.”

Azalea immediately came over, giving me a cloth.
It’s as if he already saw this coming and came prepared.

“Should we stop and treat Nell’s wounds?”

“Aah, he is but one of our many manpower. I’ll not be troubled if I lose such useless pawn. Which is why we will have him die in the battlefield.”