CH 129

Execution

***---***

I thought that if Count Gleisner, the Royal Guards, and Camilla formed an alliance, things would go smoothly, but it seemed that the Second Prince's deterioration had progressed more than I imagined.

Bamata to Lastock was a distance that could be reached in the afternoon if you left before sunrise and traveled by horse.

Zephalos and the others had planned to leave early in the morning and finish up with lightning speed that day, but the important idiot Princes didn't wake up.

In the first place, there was no way the Second Prince and the others, who were accustomed the the promiscuity that continued until midnight every day, would be able to wake up before sunrise.

Even so, Bernst seemed to be repeatedly urging them to get ready to leave as soon as possible.

Therefore, Zephalos and the others came up with a plan, calling it training for a night march, and planned to leave at dusk and arrive the next morning.

If they can't get up early, they could have left before noon and arrived before sunset, but that would have meant that the Second Prince and the others would have to stay in Lastock before the operation.

Considering Bernst's unpredictable behavior, it was undeniable that Camilla would be attacked.

In that case, Zephalos would lose his new backing.

In order to protect Camilla's chastity, a blitzkrieg was inevitable.

When I heard the news that they were leaving, I went to the residence of Count Gleisner in Bamata to see how things were going, but more than half of Bernst's group looked like crap.

The first time I saw Bernst was when I went to the royal capital with Reinhardt, and at that time he was still vulgar, but he was full of cunning and determination to take the throne with his own strength.

However, I couldn't feel the slightest bit of spirit from the man before me.

As expected, it was before the faction members lined up, so although they were dressed in royal clothes, they looked untidy and sloppy.

With a plump woman in each arm, he had a loose smile, and his eyes were cloudy like rotten fish.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who felt that the shadow cast by the bonfire made him look even more dismal.

"Once you're ready, leave quickly. I'll suppress Lastock, which has rebelled against the kingdom under Camilla. I'll kill all the inhabitants and give the land to you, Zephalos!"

"Bernst-sama, slaughtering all the residents ..."

"Noisy! We're leaving! Damniiit, what's with this insect!"

Bernst was annoyed, waving his hands towards nothing.

"Reinhardt, there's no insect, right?"

[ He must be hallucinating under the influence of drugs. In that case, there's no way to save him. ]

"What will happen to the people who are addicted to drugs?"

[ Their heads will go crazy, and they can't make normal decisions, they'll either kill themselves, or maybe be killed by the people around them. ]

"Isn't it possible to heal with healing magic?"

[ If it's early on, maybe .. But, if it goes that far, it's too late. ]

Nevertheless, Bernst was able to answer for some time, but his brother, Christoph, didn't even speak and glared at the people around him.

Christoph was holding the shoulders of a young boy with blonde hair, who was about the same age as me.

From his left eye to the area around his cheeks, there was a blue-black discoloration and it was swollen, probably the marks of being beaten, but I couldn't feel any liveliness in his expression at all.

"I didn't think they would bring the women with them, but what will happen to them?"

[ Depending on how long they've been affected by the drug, it will be difficult to return to a decent life. ]

I don't know if they told them to bring them along, or if they were perhaps brought there by force, but they probably never thought they would end up in a situation like this.

It seemed that Ryzas and the rest of his seven entourage would ride on Bernst and Christoph's carriages.

The line-up for Lastock consisted of the two Prince's carriages, a thousand Knights of the Royal Guard, and 1,500 soldiers of the Count Gleisner Family.

At first, the 300 men who had arrived as Margrave Calvine's advance part had also insisted on participating, but when they heard that they were going to Lastock and would come back directly, they seemed to have changed their policy to waiting on standby.

He must have been thinking about making a profit by being quick-witted, but he may have given up because it wouldn't go over well in a place that could be called Count Gleisner's home.

After leaving Bamata, the party headed for Lastock, relying on the lights of the torches held by the infantry.

There were no streetlights like in Japan, and even highways are dark when the sun goes down, making visibility almost impossible.

Even though there was torchlight, it would take more than twice as long as the daytime march.

I didn't intend to watch the entire route to Lastock, so I asked Basten to monitor them and returned to Volzard.

The next morning, after a peaceful breakfast with Amanda-san, Meisa-chan, and Meline-san, I received news that the Second Prince's group had arrived and headed for Lastock.

In Camilla's office, there were several knights such as Gert and Levic.

"That's the procedure for this operation. Listen, don't get involved with my half-brothers in any way. The Commander of the Knights of the Royal Guard will carry out the execution. Our role is to prevent the cronies Margrave Calvine has sent

Not only the knights standing side-by-side, but also the slight tremor in Camilla's voice showed they were nervous.

"Except for my half-brothers and a few of their entourage, everyone else is on our side, but don't let your guard down."

"Camilla-sama, the group has entered the city."

"Okay, everyone get in place, I'll prepare to receive them."

"Yes!"

After the knights left the room, I called out to Camilla, who was staring at the entrance of the garrison through the window and taking a deep breath.

"If you're nervous now, you'll be exhausted by the time the operation starts."

"Good morning, Maou-sama."

She was suddenly called out to from behind, and although Camilla had a surprised look on her face, she let out a sigh of relief when she realized it was me.

"Good morning. According to Basten's report, it seems that Bernst and Christophe continued to have an orgy in the carriages, and they seem to have fallen asleep."

"What an abomination ... They're so pathetic even though they're my half-brothers."

"As expected, it's not possible to kill them in such a state, so I guess they'll let them sleep until the alcohol and drugs are a little out of the way."

"Yes, Maou-sama, after all, my half-brothers, by my hands ..."

"That, was decided after meeting with the Royal Guard, I don't think it's for you to judge ..."

"Yes, I understand."

When I was looking out the window alongside Camilla, Tart suddenly popped up.

"Wafuu, Goshujin-sama, there are a lot of orcs coming."

"Eeeehhhh, how many are there?"

"Hundred? Thousand? Maybe more ..."

It's not that I didn't expect it at al, but I didn't expect it to be today.

Hearing more than 1,000 in total, Camilla also held her breath.

"To come at such a timing ... Where are they now?"

"Half of them will soon reach the edge of the Devil's Forest."

"Hmm? Half ...?"

"Yeah, half of them are heading to Volzard."

"Camilla, evacuate the residents and lock yourself up here with the Knights of the Royal Guard. I'll take care of Volzard first."

"As you wish. Bacchus, raise the alarm! It's not a drill, hurry up!"

While ordering her secretary, Camilla also rushed off.

Luckily, the hardening of the walls of the garrison had ended, and water was flowing in the moat.

With that, even a horde of orcs won't be able to break through easily.

Let's hurry back to Volzard.

"Reinhardt, call everyone back and solidify your defenses."

[ Understood, Kent-sama. ]

"Tart, Tirt, Turt, Tert, Tort, aim for the Orc's legs at the head of the horde and immobilize them."

"Wafuu, understood! Goshujin-sama!"

When I went out to the Devil's Forest near Volzard, I could see a small number of Orcs coming from the depths of the forest with smoke.

It's true that there are more than 1,000 of them just with a quick glance.

"Mart, go back to the boarding house and protect Amanda-san, Mirt go look for Meisa-chan and protect her."

"Wafu, I understand."

"Goshujin-sama, please pat me when we're done."

First, in order to convey information to the garrison, I moved to the city gate and shouted from outside.

"A horde of orcs is coming! Sound the alarm!"

"Understood, 'Monster User'!"

As soon as the garrison members guarding the gates withdrew their faces, the warning bells were rung.

I dove into the shadows again and headed to the guild this time.

At this time, Donovan-san would be in the middle of his class.

When I headed to the guild's training grounds, Yagi was being beaten up by a female swordsman.

I was worried, but it looks like he managed to get acquainted with a girl.

Both Donovan-san and the participants in the course stopped moving when they heard the warning bell.

"Donovan-san, there's a massive outbreak of Orcs. Over a thousand are heading this way."

"What, Orcs, is that true?"

"Yes, I've summoned all of my genus, so they will meet them in the forest."

"I'm counting on you, I'll have a meeting with Klaus-san and go right away."

"Understood. I'll go first."

I dove into the shadows and aimed for the ramparts again.

[ Kent-sama, these us are hitting the head of the horde in the forest. ]

"We're going to make a feeding ground like last time. All right, Reinhardt, Basten, Fred, and Zae-tachi each take two Kobold assistants, finish collecting the magic stones.

"Understood."

"The rest of the Kobolds should keep the Orcs from spreading and detouring around Volzard."

"Wafu, Understood, Goshujin-sama."

"Nya, Nero wants to be of some use too, nya."

"Then, Nero, if there's an Orc breaking through the Kobold Squad, you should defeat them quickly."

"Understood, nya, Orc, nya, will be easily beaten, nya."

The horde of Orcs had approached to a distance that could be seen from the top of the ramparts, but thanks to the efforts of Reinhardt-tachi and Zae-tachi, they stopped moving and started cannibalizing.

It's good that the herd had stopped, but the strong smell of blood was carried on the wind and flowed into the city of Volzard.

That caused a fundamental sense of disgust and fear among the garrison members and adventurers who began to gather at the ramparts.

"Ugh, this time it smells terrible."

"Are the monsters of the 'Maou' already fighting?"

"Look, they're over there and over there."

"Is it about 500 or 1,000?"

The adventurers who had gathered were trying to see into the Devil's Forest from the top of the ramparts and get even a little information.

As I listened to their talk from the shadows of the ramparts, Reinhardt returned with a slightly refreshed look while covered in blood.

Yeah, I felt a little sympathy for the Orcs who became a way to relieve stress.

[ Kent-sama, the Orcs have stopped for a while, but there are quite a few. ]

"But, it's not as bad as the previous Goblins, is it?"

[ I dont know, it looks like it's going to be over 10,000 easily this time, so I ordered Zae-tachi to go wild even in the horde. ]

"Then, do you think they'll be obsessed with cannibalism for a while?"

[ That's right. After eating, they'll probably go to sleep ... ]

"Then, I'll leave this to you for the time being, I'll go see how Lastock is doing."

[ Leave it to me. If there are any major developments, I will let you know. ]

"Yes, please. Fred, Nero, come with me."

[ Roger ... ]

"Understood, nya."

Back in Lastock, the city was in chaos.

It seemed that the sense of danger had increased somewhat due to being attacked by the Storm Cat, but it seemed that the evacuation of the residents hadn't progressed.

No matter how many evacuation plans were made, no training was ever conducted, so it seemed that there were many residents who didn't know how to actually move. There seemed to be no end to people trying to get into the carriages.

The horde of Orcs had already reached the river, and the knights who climbed the walls of the fort yelled out to instruct them to evacuate quickly.

The entrance of the garrison was made quite large, but even so, if the city's residents rushed in, a traffic jam would naturally occur.

In addition, it seemed that the guidance of the residents who entered the garrison wasn't going well, and they stayed near the entrance, further hindering the flow of evacuation.

[ Kent-sama ... If it continues like this, they won't make it in time ... ]

"That's right. Nero, go rampage a little at the head of the Orc horde. Slow them down a little. "

"Understood, nya, leave it to me, nya."

Nero jumped out with a gleeful expression.

Yeah, maybe it's a bit like Reinhardt.

When I looked for Camilla to tell her to evacuate now, something unexpected happened again.

In front of the building that was supposed to be Bernst's resting place, several people were lying covered in blood.

In the surroundings, there were Royal Guards and knights of Lastock wielding blood-stained swords.

"Hurry up and call a healer!"

"It's faster to carry them from here!"

"It's no good, the bleeding is too severe, we can't move them poorly like this."

"Camilla-sama, hang on!"

In the center of the hurriedly moving knights was Camilla lying there with a short sword stuck in her stomach.

Her breathing was already shallow and weak, and her complexion was pale.

"Camilla! Get out of the way, I'll treat her!"

"Damn, bastard, what are you doing to Camilla-sama ..."

"Fred, scatter those hindrances!"

[ Acknowledged ... ]

When I jumped out of a shield of darkness and rushed over to Camilla, the Royal Guards blocked my way, so I asked Fred to remove them.

I put my hand on the wound and poured healing magic into it, but the short sword was still stuck in it, and the internal organs had been gouged out, so it didn't work.

"I'm, sorry, I'm truly sorry ... Maou-sa, ma ..."

"You don't have to speak, I'll listen to the story later. I'll pull out the short sword, so be patient."

"Yes ... Ugh ..."

The feeling of pulling out a short sword stuck in someone else's body reminded me of the pain I felt when I was stabbed, and a cold chill ran down my back.

When I removed the stuck short sword and cast healing magic, I could feel the wound gradually closing.

The Knight Guards gathered around me while I was treating her, but they were intimidated by Fred wielding jet-black twin-swords and were unable to step in.

I saw familiar faces among them.

"Nathan, Oswald, command the Royal Guards and solidify your defenses! A horde of over 10,000 Orcs is approaching across the river! Levic, you command the Lastock knights and quickly accommodate the refugees. It's an emergency, make every effort to survive!"

"What is a bastard brat like you ... ugh ..."

Reinhardt, smeared in Orc blood, stood in front of the knight who was about to step in while yelling.

Basten also held his spear in a triangular position with me in the center.

"I'm fine ... Follow the orders of Maou-sama ..."

"You should keep lying down ..."

"Excuse me, Maou-sama, just a little ..."

The wound on her stomach seemed to have closed somehow, but she had lost a lot of blood and shouldn't be able to move at all, but Camilla tried to get up.

She didn't seem to listen to what I said, so I held her back and Camilla sat up and looked around at her knights and opened her mouth.

"Maou Kent Kokubu's servant, Camilla Resenburg, orders you. Knights of Resenburg, do everything in your power to protect the people!"

Hearing the words 'Maou's servant', the knights stiffened with startled expressions.

"What are you doing, there's no time, go!"

"Yes!"

Pushed by her spirit, the knights started to move, Camilla relaxed and her body slumped down.

"So, how did this situation come to be?"

"I'm very sorry. Christoph-gikei suddenly started swinging his sword ..."

While guiding Bernst and the others from the carriage to the resting place, Christoph suddenly let out a strange voice and swung his sword around, killing the boy he was bringing along with him, and then slashing at the knights as well.

It seemed that she reluctantly changed her plans and carried out the execution at once on the spot, but it seemed that she was stabbed by one of his followers in the confusion.

"So, you executed them all?"

"I'm very sorry. I was stabbed, and don't know."

"Seriously ..."

I looked around to ask someone, and saw a pale-faced Walter Gleisner.

"Walter, did you kill everyone of the Princes and their entourage?"

"Eh ... A, ahh, I wonder, wait a minute ..."

Walter hurriedly went to check the lined up corpses.

He frowned at the bloodied corpses, folded his fingers and began to count.

If I remember correctly, there were seven entourage, two women, one boy, and a total of twelve if the Princes were added.

The reason why the number of corpses visible from here is more than that is probably because the knights were also sacrificed.

"Maou-sama, you can also use light-attribute magic."

"Aah ... Did you find out, I was trying to make you think you were my genus ..."

"That kind of thing is no longer relevant. This body of mine belongs to Maou-sama."

"Yeah, yeah ... Anyway, you can stand up by yourself now, right?"

I continued to use healing magic while supporting her back, so her physical condition should have almost returned to normal.

"J, just a little more ... is it no good ..."

Guu, to make such a request with upturned eyes ... It's outrageous.

"I, it's just a little longer."

"Yes ... Maou-sama ..."

No, no, you're not Meisa-chan, so stop nuzzling me with your head.

"It's okay Maou, everyone's dead ... Camilla-sama?"

Seeing Camilla resting her head on my chest, Walter looked at me suspiciously.

"A, ahh ... It looks like she's still not feeling well ..."

"I see ... But, you can even use healing magic ... I didn't know, are you willing to serve me?"

"That's a great offer, but there are a lot of things that need to be done, so I'm sorry, but I can't comply with your wishes."

"Is that so, that's unfortunate. But, if you change your mind ... Wha!"

Zae appeared in front of Walter, who was still trying to recruit me.

"My King, something is wrong with the orcs."

"Okay, I'll be back soon. Camilla, I'll leave this side to you. There are Royal Guards and Count Gleisner's soldiers. Shut yourselves up in here and protect the people."

"Yes! As you wish."

"Murt, Count Gleisner, do you know him?"

"Wafu, fat dog ojisan?"

"That's right, let the Count know that Lastock is being attacked by a horde of Orcs, and prepare for an attack as well."

"Okay, I'm going."

Walter, who was listening to the story next to me, asked with a surprised expression.

"Maou, is Bamata in danger?"

"If they can't fill their bellies in Lastock, they have no choice but to move on."

"DIdn't you say earlier that it was a horde exceeding 10,000?"

"Well, that's right, but there are soldiers in Bamata, right?"

"That's right, but ... borrowing your monsters ..."

"Impossible, we will return to defending Volzard."

"No way ..."

"Or rather, I think Camilla has told you many times about the danger of a maximum outbreak ..."

When I turned my gaze, Camilla also nodded.

"Even when we were attacked by a horde of Minotaurs, I contacted the Count."

"If that's the case, isn't it your fault for not preparing for it?"

"Was it all true ..."

Looking at Walter's stunned state, it must be that measures weren't progressing in the Gleisner territory.

But, it's impossible for me to protect them that much.

"Hey, Camilla, it's about time I head back to Volzard."

"Ah, I'm sorry, Maou-sama."

"Well, see you later ..."

"Yes, as you wish!"

She seemed to have recovered considerably, so, leaving Camilla, who bowed her head firmly, and Walter, who was in a stupor, I headed to Volzard.