Chapter 106: Captain Frontera (2)
Bong! A low, clear reverberation spread across the land, sending a wave of vibration in the air. When it touched the locusts’ bodies, it stimulated their auditory organs connected to their chest and rear legs and ultimately tapped their nerve center. When that happened, their nerve center reacted, prompting them to go after the reverberation.
Bzzzzzzt! The 132,645th locust that was about to pounce on the baron paused and loosened the strength in the rear legs. It fixed its posture for attacking and whipped around toward the source of the noise, which was coming from outside.
Jump! The 132,645th locust leaped through the broken window to make its way outside. The others followed suit. Like some invisible, giant power was manipulating them, every locust wheeled around as soon as the first one jumped out the window. They all stampeded to get outside before the others, smashing every bit of the remaining windows and denting the windowsills. Each stomped on the other to rush out ahead. And just then, the reverberation stimulated their ears once again. Bong!
What’s happening…?
Baron Frontera widened his eyes as the swarm of locusts thundered out of the manor in a flash. He couldn’t believe what was happening.
“Arcos, did you hear that?”
The baron turned to his wife at the question.
“I did. There was a voice along with the bonging sound of a bell…”
“Lloyd,” Marbella Frontera stated.
The baron and the baroness nodded as they looked at each other. They were sure about it. It was definitely Lloyd, whose voice the two could recognize even in the deepest parts of Hades. The two hurried right after, rushing down the stairs and going past the destroyed entrance. And they sprinted across the empty garden to finally arrive at the main gate that granted them a wider view of the fiefdom. They saw thousands and tens of thousands flying in one direction, pursuing two coursers and their riders ahead of them.
“Lloyd…? Sir Asrahan…?”
The baron and the baroness murmured in fright. Just then, a locust flew past right in front of them to join the rest of its crew. It flew beyond the manor approach and fell on the roof of the only bar in the village. The bar owner shrieked in surprise, but the locust didn’t care and simply leaped high again, finally joining the tens of thousands of its species. This event happened in several parts of the fiefdom.
Bong! The echoing sound came again. A locust eating up some hay in a stable paused and spat it out and rushed toward the sound.
Bong! That low, clear sound came a second time. The locust about to attack the calf suddenly stopped. It then flew outside, giving up the juicy-looking cow meat.
Bong! The reverberation came one more time. The young shepherd crying in fear, the hunter girl protecting her friend, the civil engineer holding his family’s hands and praying, and the young mother protecting her newborn baby all saw the locusts freezing right before pouncing at them. They saw the pests giving up and opening their wings wide to follow the sound. And later, at last, they saw an unimaginable spectacle unfolding in their fiefdom.
Bong! Javier brandished his sword with the cover on, and it hit the cauldron lid, creating a loud banging noise. The dark lid, which was almost 4 feet in diameter, echoed heavily, and Lloyd yelled aloud behind the lid.
“Good! Let’s try it one time!”
Lloyd was on the fast-galloping courser, holding the lid like a shield. Javier was right beside him and gave a full swing of his sword once more when he heard his young master.
Swish! Booong!
Javier hit while Lloyd defended. The sword knocked, and the lid protected. Each time Javier knocked the lid with his sword, he produced a low and clear reverberation around him and attracted a larger swarm of locusts. But they weren’t being encircled by the throng of bugs, thanks to the magic spell that made the horses very fast.
“All right! Hahaha! Herding is what makes hunting trash mobs so fun!”
“What’s a trash mob?!” Javier shouted.
“Don’t worry about it! One more time!”
“Yes, Young Master!”
Sprint! Booong!
They produced a reverberating noise in front of the swarm, and the size of the locust swarm continued to blow up as it chased after them. A soft smile spread across Lloyd’s face.
Great. Everything is going according to plan.
The plague of locusts swarmed around him, and his operation was working very well. Lloyd called to mind the story in The Knight of Blood and Iron.
The description was about the orc tribe in the eastern wasteland.
In the novel, orcs lived off hunting monsters, but the hunting didn’t always end up with a bang. There were multiple instances when they went hungry. And orcs had a plethora of methods they used for survival when the stored food emptied out. One of them was producing a low, clear echo using a gong in the middle of the wasteland.
I think it was this kind of echo that attracted the swarm of locusts inhabiting the wasteland. The novel described that the wavelength produced by the bonging sound is similar to the sound they make to call their partners during mating season.
Lloyd decided to trust his memory and give it a try. That way, he thought, it could bring the locusts into one place.
I should gather them all in one place and kill them in a single strike. If not, I’d have to whack all of those bugs dead one by one. Not a single blade of grass would remain in the barony before I get the chance to do that anyway.
Any other method would lead everything in the fiefdom to be eaten up. The grass, the house, and the people. Everything. It would be a wretched end for Lloyd as well. So, he wanted to avoid this sad fate as much as possible. Before such a fate became his, he had to efficiently kill all the locust swarms, and he could do so only by gathering them up in one place.
That’s what herding the trash mob is all about. Like this!
Slash! Javier swung down his sword sheath, and Lloyd protected the blow with the lid.
Bong!
Ouch…
Javier must have struck down with too much power. Lloyd’s hand and arm went numb as the powerful vibration and shock traveled through his whole body. It felt as though he was on a New Year’s bell that people rang to announce the first day of the year. Or it felt as though he was tightly hugging a concert mega woofer speaker like a pillow. His stomach churned a little bit.
“Hey?” Lloyd called.
Lloyd peeked through the edge of the lid, and he stared at Javier with a straight face.
“I’m starting to notice that your emotions are leaking into your strikes.”
“Excuse me? I’m not sure what you mean.”
Javier, who was lying flat in line with the horse’s head, glanced at Lloyd’s side and quirked his head in confusion.
“I am simply and dutifully doing what you tasked me to do.”
“Ah, is that so?”
“Yes, like this.”
Fwish! Booong!
Ouch!!
His stomach churned once more, and Lloyd narrowed his eyes to slits.
“I think your swing has gotten stronger.”
“Well, that’s because the harder I hit, the louder the echo will be and the more locusts will swarm.”
“Is that so? How about we switch? You hold the lid,” suggested Lloyd.
“Why?”
“I think I can strike harder with the triple mana blast.”
“I refuse.”
“Why?”
“I like the way it is now.”
Fwish! Booong!
Another blow. It was stronger this time. Lloyd’s face crumpled as much as the blow, but it was equally effective. The locusts began to pursue them with more tenacity.
Okay, the operation is working successfully.
In all honesty, Lloyd had been uncertain about the plan, but it was turning out smoothly. He felt like he had become Peter Piper.
“Okay. Now! One more time!”
Lloyd happily held the lid and defended Javier’s blow. Who hits who didn’t matter right now. Lloyd was ready to get hit hundreds and thousands of times.
As long as the fiefdom is safe, this is nothing!
And if this assured him a happy life of retirement, he was ready to take all of it. Resolving such, Lloyd quickly surveyed his surroundings.
Great. The rounding-up is taking place very nicely. Now, I need to minimize as much damage as I can.
Rounding up the locusts was essential to the plan’s success, and it was going very well. Now, it was time to expand the range. He had to round up as many locusts as possible. That was how he would be able to take care of the locusts in one stroke.
“All right! Let’s run one lap like this! Around the outside perimeter of the fiefdom!”
“Yes, Young Master.”
The two guided the horses to the outskirts of the fiefdom, galloping along the main road. They removed themselves from the central village and passed the villages, paddies, fields, and fruit gardens. And the bonging noise from the lid continued to echo aloud. Everywhere the two went, they attracted a new set of locusts. From 50,000 locusts, the number reached 200,000 now. But it kept growing and growing. Lloyd, however, wasn’t satisfied with it.
“To the south!”
Right after Lloyd succeeded in rounding up the trash mobs after a lap around the fiefdom outskirts, he proceeded to point to the south where the Maritz land stood. No, he was actually pointing the land beyond the Maritz land.
“We’re moving up to the viscounty. Make sure to follow me!”
“Yes, Young Master.”
A soft glimmer appeared in Javier’s eyes. Lacona Viscounty? It was a bit of a surprise.
Is he trying to help out there as well?
The viscounty was on bad terms with the barony. No, it wasn’t just bad. The two were practically enemies. But come to think of it, Javier thought the residents there were innocent people.
Master Lloyd must have first thought about the safety of the residents and put behind his inconsequential resentment against Viscount Lacona.
Javier nodded. It was obviously the case. If the barony was under attack by the locusts, the same fate would await the Lacona viscounty as it sits right beside the barony. People there would be suffering from the plague that appeared out of the blue. Javier never thought that far. He looked back at Lloyd, his gaze mixed with admiration.
Just then, a new message appeared in front of Lloyd.
Ding Dong.
[Javier Asrahan is touched by your righteous action.]
[Your likeability with Javier Asrahan has increased by three points.]
[Current RP with Javier Asrahan: +8]
[You have earned 54 RP by improving your relationship with the main character.]
[Current RP: 4083]
Huh. Righteous action?
Lloyd couldn’t help but smile in a wry way. Javier must have misread his gesture.
I’m not going there for righteous reasons.
Sure, he was going there to help. But not because he felt pitiful or sorry for the people there. It wasn’t due to an overwhelming sense of righteous indignation either. There was only one reason behind his move to the viscounty: to protect his cash cow.
The water bill! I can only receive it if the viscounty is safe!
If the viscounty went under, his efforts to install the waterway would go down the drain. He had decades’ worth of water bills to collect from the viscount, and that would be gone if the cash cow died. Such an unfortunate event had to be prevented at all costs. And from the perspective of clearing the locust swarm, his decision was obvious.
If I leave the locusts in the viscounty, my barony will receive collateral damage anyway.
They could target the barony after annihilating the viscounty. So, to exterminate them to the hilt, he had to clear both those in the barony and viscounty.
“So let’s go now! Faster now! Hah!”
Lloyd prompted the horse and tightened the muscle in his hand that grabbed the lid. The magic in the horse became more powerful.
Clip clop! Clip clop!
They approached the outskirts of the viscounty. They were right. The same hell had broken loose in the viscounty. The entire land was swathed with giant locusts. People’s panicked screams and the locusts’ wings produced a symphony of chaos throughout the area.
“Let’s go! Hah!”
Lloyd kicked the side of the horse. He and Javier charged without hesitation. They jumped over the main road, passed the village, and cut across the entire viscounty. Javier and Lloyd continued to produce the bonging noise. The guards fighting till they bled, the farmers and wives on the run, the crying boys and girls, and the babies smiling at the locust trying to eat her… Everyone heard the reverberating sound at the critical moment. They were saved by the echo Lloyd and Javier created.
Bzzzz…! Hundreds of thousands of locusts covering the viscounty flew high in the air, and they left behind their prey and began chasing Lloyd and Javier. Rounding up these pests in this area was a success as well.
“All right! Now we return to the barony!”
They rushed forward with a track of 500,000 locusts behind them. This procession was all devised and premeditated.
The Maritz Wetland. The river embankment. We just need to get there.
Lloyd thought about the stand-by point where he placed Ppodong, Bangul, and Hamang. The place Lloyd had designated. The Extermination Zone. That was where he would exterminate every locust, booking them a ticket to discuss their afterlife with Hades.