CH 44

Chapter 44 – Reqoncuista

“I’m so sorry!”

When I woke up in the church, I saw Myrril performing a magnificent dogeza as I had seen her do before. For some reason, it looks like I’m once again under the care of the elves’ healing magic.

I was flying, spinning vertically.

“Myrril-dono, even though we won the battle, the war is not over. I don’t want you to destroy Yoshua yet, okay?”

Hey, you there, elf. Don’t say “yet.” Be careful with me; I’m as fragile as a teenager’s heart.

“Yo-Yoshua, are you mad at me?”

“No. It’s alright, Myrril. I’m not angry at all. I’m not in any pain.”

“That’s because of my healing magic.”

Yeah, I forgot his name, but he’s a handsome elf.

“…I-I didn’t expect you to say something like that out of the blue. I was so surprised that I just blew you off…”

Yeah, the first half and the second half don’t seem to be connected, but I can understand that it resulted from being flustered.

The handsome elf has a face that says, “What kind of thing is that?” But of course, I did my best to ignore it.

“I’ll think about that later. I want to talk to you in the morning.”

Seemingly sensing my words right away, Myrril immediately turned serious and nodded.

The handsome elf ― I remember, his name is Conell. Maybe it didn’t ring a bell with the handsome elf, but eventually, he figured it out and gave a slight nod as well.

“Are you planning to invade the royal capital?”

“I think so. Maybe we have to finish the job.”

If we’re going to run away, there won’t be much of a problem leaving the capital and the king behind. In any case, the kingdom will not be able to follow us out of the country. If it’s just a matter of sending assassins, there are ways to deal with it. But if the premise is to rebuild Casemaian in this land.

The grudge must be crushed until the end.

“Do you have any idea how many troops are left in the kingdom’s army?”

“The total strength of the kingdom’s army is claimed to be over 200,000. However, the number of troops under the king’s direct control is only 30,000 at most. In addition, most of them are the Kingsguard and the Royal Capital Guards, which are not suited for field combat. The rest are noblemen’s territorial troops, in other words, private soldiers. Even the king can’t move them at will. If the nobles take out money and supplies, they won’t follow through with the invasion, and if they disdain the defense of their local territories, they will end up being invaded by neighboring countries.”

Conell, the handsome elf, shook his head at Myrril’s words.

“No, it’s a problem before that. As far as the liberation army who infiltrated the royal capital is concerned, not all the nobles agreed to the attack on Casemaian this time. Many of them gave various reasons for not following the plan. It was the nobles who were relatively obedient to the royal family who sent out the troops… or those who thought it would be advantageous to go to war. The king melted 30,000 mixed troops with such a territorial army. The hero also died. As soon as that fact gets out, the royal family is finished. Even if they ordered the defense of the royal capital, no one would obey.”

The royal family cannot afford to let their weakness be known. If they were to show weakness, they would immediately be attacked from within and outside the country, and their territory would be eroded. In fact, the chances of that happening seem to be quite high.

“What’s the matter, Yoshua? You look surprised.”

“…Surprisingly, I might add. The strongest and largest nation in the world is only that strong.”

“The prosperity of the country is the result of its armed robbery, threats, and trampling. When its power is weakened, it is only natural for the oppressed to turn on it.”

“By the way, is the current force sufficient to defend Casemaian? We’ll be replenishing our firearms and ammunition to some extent, but…”

“We’ve defeated 30,000 kingdom troops; there’s no country that can invade Casemaian now. The only problem is when the neighboring countries collude.”

I nodded my head at Conell’s words.

“Putting aside the kingdom, do they have the same interests in attacking Casemaian? It doesn’t seem like it has much in the way of resources or assets, and there doesn’t seem to be any advantage to occupying it.”

“Yeah, I guess so. The assumption that there are no countries that would invade Casemaian is largely due to the fact that there is nothing to be gained by invading. The power that Yoshua has brought is not yet known outside the kingdom. However, if a subhuman country is rebuilt next to their own country, countries that have treated subhumans poorly will feel threatened. It’s the same as what I said earlier about the kingdoms, the fear that those who have been oppressed will bare their fangs.”

Hearing Conell’s words, Myrril shook her head with a dumbfounded expression. Her mouth formed a curve, but her eyes were not smiling at all.

“It is obvious that they would bare their fangs. How could we forget that our compatriots who had fled to neighboring countries were taken hostage by the kingdom’s army? Those who sold them to the kingdom will surely be made to pay.”

◇ ◇

“Yoshua, can’t we just use the microbus?”

“No. I’ve told you many times that this time it’s going to be dangerous, so we need a reliable vehicle.”

For this trip to the royal capital, I decided not to take the “Niko Niko Kindergarten” bus, which for some reason is unusually popular with the beastman and Myrril, but to take the HMMWV (an acronym for High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle).

It hadn’t been long since we had defeated an army of 30,000. The enemy would be waiting for us, and we would have to ride rough roads in case of emergency. If we did that, the suspension of the battered microbus would die in no time. Or it would get stuck, and we would die.

“I can understand that, but… this thing is kind of big and not very cute. I feel more comfortable with that bear.”

Cuteness is… not a factor. I’m not going to need that when I’m about to go through a rough patch.

In the rear roof of the Humvee, where armor plates have been added, a revolving gun turret with armor plates has been installed. The armor plate that surrounds all four sides looks like an open cardboard box, which is not very visually appealing, but it is a safety feature.

As for the armament, I bought an additional M60, which I had once refused because I wanted to unify the ammunition used in multiple machine guns. The ammunition used is 7.62×51, NATO-standard ammunition, which is like a descendant of the thirty-ought-six, but a little less powerful, but that’s about the margin of error. It would be one more ammunition that needed to be procured in Casemaian, but since every 100 rounds of 7.62 NATO ammunition is packaged in a metal case with a metal belt link, I figured it was for use in the car-mounted machine gun.

I asked Simon to prepare 2,000 rounds, and if 2,000 weren’t enough, then tens of thousands of rounds wouldn’t be enough either. Well, that’s not entirely true, but I assumed so.

Now, the remaining question is.

“…Come on, get off.”

“”No!””

“How many times do I have to tell you? This time it’s really dangerous, and I’m not taking you…”

“”No!””

It’s the elf’s little girl, Minya, who’s the one who’s yelling at me. She was captured by the kingdom’s army, forced into slavery, and had her mother killed. She obtained a sawed-off shotgun from me and became a monster who went around blowing off the right arms of kingdom soldiers. There were over 200 of them in total. The number of kills is only a few, but in the sense of spreading fear to the enemy, she is one of the best in Casemaian.

Aside from that, I’ve been trying to persuade her again and again since yesterday, but she won’t listen. When I tried to pull her away, she clung to the inside of the car and resisted desperately, and in the end, Myrril and I both succumbed.

That’s, well, let’s just accept it.

“No!”

“Hey, Yadar, why are you getting in on this too?”

“No… what is that? What’s with the “I don’t care” look, Minya?”

“I’ve obtained permission. I don’t need you anymore.”

“That’s not fair! I’m coming with you! To the royal capital! Right?”

“No, you’re not. You’re supposed to stay at home, of course.”

The tiger girl Yadar was running around with Myrril and me when Minya was hunting for the right arm, and now she and Minya have entered the Humvee and are standing in a jittery line as if they had developed a sense of camaraderie or thought they could see something interesting.

What are you doing? You’re an adult.

“…That’s enough. It’s a pain in the ass to throw them all out. Let’s go, Yoshua.”

“”Yes, thank you, Myrril!””

Before the start of the war, I was used as a flying cab with the dwarf girl Myrril, the tiger girl Yadar, and the elf girl Minya, but now I was really playing the role of a cab. Well, I decided to take them with me since they would definitely be a reliable force to be reckoned with. If things get dicey, I’ll just carry them all again and get away.

“Hey Yoshua, do you want a snack? I would like to have a lot of different colored chokoreto!” (T/n: Chocolate.]

“No, I’m not going to play with you.”

Yadar, you’re a cat-type beastman. If you eat them, you’ll die!