"What...?"
At those words, a look of genuine agitation flickered across Gamba’s face for the first time.
Yugo continued, explaining the reasoning behind a claim that seemed, at first glance, nonsensical—that the village was now in grave danger specifically because the Arachlaws had been exterminated.
"Activity among the monsters and Magic Armor Beasts in this area has been intensifying lately, likely due to several recent incidents overlapping. That’s why the Arachlaws appeared here in the first place. But they aren't the only monsters inhabiting this region."
"S-so what? What’s your point?"
"My point is that this surrounding area was Arachlaw territory. While that meant living under their threat, it also meant other monsters kept their distance. Within the shifting, unstable power balance of the wild, the perimeter of this village was actually stable in its own way."
"But those Arachlaws were killed. Which means the land around this village is now... unclaimed territory!"
"To make matters worse, the remains were left out all night. Nocturnal monsters surely saw the corpses, and even if they didn't, the stench of blood and death is everywhere now. Word that the local pack is dead has likely already spread to every beast in the vicinity. They’ll start fighting over this territory soon, and when they do, this village will be caught in the crossfire."
"N-no...!"
Gamba was stunned. He wasn't alone; the rest of the villagers stood there, aghast.
They had thought a threat was eliminated, only to find that its removal had invited something even worse. Yugo looked at the speechless Gamba with a sorrowful expression.
"This is why the job had to be handled with extreme caution. We needed to identify every species living near the village and understand the power balance before making a move. Any Magic Knight Apprentice worth their salt knows that."
"..."
"But whoever killed these Arachlaws didn't do any of that. That’s why I concluded the culprit was someone with absolutely no knowledge of monster ecology or professional extermination."
"W-wait, Yugo-san! If the monsters in the area are getting more active, couldn't the Arachlaws have just lost a fight to another pack? Or maybe someone who hates the village did this on purpose...?"
Jasmine spoke up to defend her brother, who remained deathly silent. She suggested that the culprit might be a wild beast, a Magic Armor Beast, or perhaps a rival settlement with a grudge. Yugo simply shook his head and calmly dismissed her theories.
"The odds of that are low. The person who did this left exactly one corpse right at the village entrance. A wild monster or a Magic Armor Beast would never go out of its way to do something like that."
"Then what about someone from another village!?"
"Unlikely. If they wanted to harass you, they wouldn't use such a roundabout method. Anyone with the power to wipe out a whole pack of Arachlaws could just attack this village directly."
"Oh...!"
Between the habits of monsters, human psychology, and the circumstantial evidence at the scene, the possibility of an outside perpetrator was virtually non-existent.
Having dismantled Jasmine’s arguments, Yugo offered his own conclusion.
"...The culprit is someone from this village. And I believe they’re a truly good person. They simply, purely wanted to get rid of the Arachlaws before they could attack. They only brought that body here to show everyone that the threat was gone. That was it. That was their only goal."
"!!"
There had been no malice. They had acted out of a genuine, innocent desire to protect their home.
It was just that their actions had invited a disastrous result. Yugo explained that the culprit was someone who loved the village, then turned his gaze back toward Gamba.
Unable to endure that look any longer, Gamba’s face twisted as if he were about to burst into tears. He suddenly turned and bolted from the scene.
"Wait! Big brother! Come back!"
Jasmine chased after him, her voice trailing off as they both disappeared into the distance.
As Yugo watched the siblings go, the Village Chief approached him with a look of profound unease.
"Yugo-san... was the person who killed the Arachlaws really...?"
"I can't say for sure yet. For now, let’s focus on organizing our defenses and preparing for the coming threat."
He couldn't offer a definitive answer. However, he was certain the siblings were hiding something about the incident.
With a leaden sense of certainty weighing on his chest, Yugo set about doing what needed to be done.