CH 113

Subjugation and Rakain (4)

The golden eyes seemed to have turned red. He twisted his lips as he read through the report with such red eyes as if he was about to bleed. At the same time, the report in Kergel’s hand started to get crumpled.

“……They were eaten by these mere beasts—which are called by the term monsters?”

“……Yes.”

Heinez could no longer overcome the misery as he answered with his eyes tightly closed. On the other hand, Bert also bit his lip with a woeful look.

Kergel set down the report and remained silent for a moment.

At that particular time, he should have paid more attention.

Suddenly, such regrets had flooded in. Instead of simply burying the discomfort that could really be felt by the change from the regular report of the person-in-charge, such a terrible thing like this right now wouldn’t have happened if it had been dug up even deeper.

An unidentified herd of beasts.

If only he cared a little more about the monster that had been called that…

At that moment, Heinez opened his mouth in a heavy, subdued voice, perhaps due to the fact that he was blaming himself as well—similar to Kergel himself.

“My apologies, Your Majesty. I should have noticed and paid more attention, but I couldn’t……”

“It’s not your fault, Heinez.”

Kergel interrupted Heinez right in the middle of it. He realized once more that blaming himself was of no use at all during that moment. After sweeping down his regretful face with both hands, he opened his mouth again with a more determined tone.

“It was nobody’s fault. No one could have predicted a gang of monsters like this. And this has never happened before too.”

“Your Majesty.”

“But what happens from now on is entirely my responsibility and it will be our responsibility as well.”

“……”

Heinez didn’t respond to Kergel’s words, but just looked at him instead.

Normally, he would have made some jokes and acted lightly, but at this moment, it was Kergel himself, the Master, who showed a clear appearance as a ruler. Thanks to him, Heinez became able to regain his composure as well. And he also realized the meaning of what Kergel had just said about ‘responsibility’.

And that was absolutely true.

It hadn’t been anyone’s fault so far, but it was definitely going to be their responsibility from now on.

With the weight of the lives that could not be kept thoroughly.

“All right, then we’ll discuss the countermeasures. What’s the situation of the troops that have already gotten deployed to the border for now?”

After confirming that Heinez’s eyes had calmed down, Kergel continued once again.

No anger, no sadness—this was actually the moment to bury it all.

* * *

“………I can’t handle the changing unit all alone.”

After receiving a report on the condition of the affected villages, Kergel briefly pondered and finally concluded. Heinez also shook his head as if he could not deny the fact.

The report that first arrived at the Imperial Palace had not been perfect because it was actually a hasty report. Of course, he could have simply guessed the terrible situation over there by just that reason.

However, as if to laugh at that kind of conjecture, the report that soon followed had contained even more terrible contents.

And it had been to the point where he thought that if there truly was hell, it would have been right over there.

Kergel felt heavy in his heart at the situation of the damages that he couldn’t even bear to say, but he didn’t show it outwardly about that.

Nevertheless, his bloodshot eyes alone would have been enough to gauge upon the depth of his true feelings.

“I’ll go there myself.”

“Huh? Your Majesty, what do you mean?”

Heinez asked him in surprise. However, Kergel just opened his mouth once again as if nothing had happened.

“Literally, I’ll be going there myself to overthrow that herd of monsters.”

“How can His Majesty say that he will go there himself? Wouldn’t it be even better to send the Imperial Knights instead?”

“They were the ones who have shown such great power that ordinary people couldn’t really handle. Besides, the beast appeared sly and clever as well. It was not something that could have been done by simply ramming ahead with brute strength in order to turn various villages into an utter mess.”

After one village was initially attacked, the others would have already prepared the measures accordingly. It was sufficiently confirmed from the words of the survivors.

Nevertheless, the fact that all of them were still trampled down helplessly meant that the beast had a fairly high level of intelligence. It could then be judged that it was apparently on the same level as a human being.

Kergel’s golden eyes narrowed like a beast that had caught something.

“Do you think that this is just a mere beast?”

“……”

“What if it was a descendant that had been left by the ancient Suin tribe or even just a trace of it? Isn’t that more convincing instead?”

“……!”

Heinez opened his eyes wide as if he had heard something absolutely unexpected.

“Did you feel something from the ancient Suin tribe? So, even then……”

“No, at that time, I just didn’t feel so good. And I’m not really doing this because of a reason. It’s just, I have a question. It’s true that there had been some parts that were hard to understand which simply appeared like the work of a herd of beasts, right?”

Therefore, it was just the thoughts that had naturally reached out to the ancient Suin tribe. Perhaps the reason why Heinez didn’t think of it at all, unlike himself, was because he had truly been a descendant of the Wolves.