CH 99

Chapter 99 – New Problem

“Myrril, wait.”

Two hundred meters in front of us, that’s already the UZI’s range ― at least of Myrril’s UZI.

The carriage slowly slowed to a stop, and the coachman stood up on his platform and raised his hands.

The distance was about 150 meters. Surprisingly, the eight cavalrymen also stopped and dismounted. The spears and swords were placed on the ground, and all eight men dropped to one knee with their hands exposed in a visible position.

“…What the hell was that?”

“I don’t know, but I think they have something to say. To the Demon King.”

It was definitely going to be messy, but I was expecting something a little different, as I was prepared for a pile of corpses while doing reconnaissance.

After the master bowed his head to us, he ran to the side of the carriage and opened the door. The person who got out was a blonde woman dressed in a white military uniform. She was in her mid-twenties. Looking at the carriage, she must be a noblewoman of the kingdom, but I don’t know what kind of position she holds.

“P-please run away!”

The horse that galloped past the Ural belonged to the horseman who had fallen into a bandit earlier. With bloodied and crooked hands, he desperately maneuvers the reins and approaches the carriage.

“Lord Yerkel, these barbarians are treacherous! They use strange magic tools to stop the knights… buh.”

The horseman wavers and falls from his horse. The head rolls off the body, which is knocked to the ground.

“Disappear, lowlife.”

Well done, you’ve got some skill. Lord Yerkel, or whatever she is called, is holding a fine-edged sword like those used in fencing. The woman looked down at him uncomfortably, and after waving the blood around, she sheathed it and handed it to the coachman.

Raising both hands to show that she was unarmed, she said in a clear voice.

“…Excuse me. Tekehue Yoshua-dono. May I have a word with you? Can I come over to you?”

She knew who I was, didn’t she? I don’t know where the information came from because I remember that I have been called by that name several times, although the pronunciation of my name is strange.

I looked at Myrril. The Nojaloli-san shrugged her shoulders as if to say, “Do as you please,” and hung up her UZI safety and placed it at the base of the sidecar. I have a copy of the M1911 in my shoulder holster with the safety on, so I can deal with it in an emergency. I could have taken action, but I was posing to my opponent (mainly as a courtesy) to let them know that I was not going to let my guard down.

Now, the problem is this noble in military uniform… and honestly, I’m not sure how to respond.

For now, I spread my hands in a pose as if to say that I, too, have been disarmed. It’s a sign that it’s okay to come. It would take me less than two seconds to pull my gun out of storage and shoot her, so it was literally just an act of courtesy.

Whether she knows it or not, Lord Yerkel walks toward us with a straight back, leaving the carriage and the soldiers escorting her behind.

“It is my first time meeting you. I am Kylie Yerkel. Although I am still young, I am the heir to a marquisate in the southern part of the kingdom. …As a matter of fact, I’ve been in the position since before the civil war.”

“What business do you have with me, Marquis-dono?”

“Nothing so much as a business. I am here to inform you that we, the southern nobility, have no interest in antagonizing the Casemaian. Therefore, I can only ask for your non-interference in the kingdom, but that is my personal opinion.”

“Fine, but what were you going to do if we refused?”

“Nothing. We, the southern nobility, did not send our army to the last war, but we know most of the unfortunate consequences of that conflict and your armed forces. We have no way to stop what you are doing, and we have no intention of stopping you. As you know, there is no profit in meddling in each other’s affairs.”

There are indeed risks, costs, and disadvantages, but not much benefit, in meddling in the territory of the southern nobles who have nothing to gain and have no grudge against each other. And from the other side’s point of view, it would be almost a suicide mission.

“You traversed the kingdom under civil war to reach Casemaian just for that reason?”

“I don’t deny that I had a personal interest, but it’s too late now. The situation has gone so far that it cannot be settled. I don’t know what you want from the kingdom, but I would be happy if you could at least wait until things are settled in this crisis.”

Things got strange. The two sides have mutual interests in noninterference, but on the other hand, there is no benefit to the relationship between the two sides, including the future. This makes it difficult to deal with the opposite.

“As long as you don’t touch Casemaian and the subhumans, we have no intention of harming you either. If there is anything we ask for, it is the protection and handover of the subhumans who have escaped within the kingdom.”

“As far as we know, the subhumans have taken refuge in our territory. They are in a relatively safe place and can be transferred at any time, but they will have to cross the battlefield to do so.”

The large military truck Ural is in my storage right now. Then the question is whether the number of people can be accommodated.

“How many?”

“Ninety-seven. I heard there are two pregnant women, but they are in good health. No one is injured or sick.”

I don’t think it’s feasible to transport them in a single truck. Depending on the distance, we thought about asking them to endure being crammed into the truck, but even if they stood up, 97 people would still be impossible to carry. In the first place, I don’t think the southern territory is such an easy distance.

“How far is it from here to the marquis’s territory?”

“It is about three hundred miles. It would take at least ten days by carriage.”

Yes, it is completely impossible; it is almost 500 kilometers. We could either use trucks to transport them in five or six separate trips, or we could go back to Casemaian and form a convoy with the Humvee and the Torajima-go.

This time we were just going to do reconnaissance.

“So, what are the conditions of their delivery?”

“Conditions? You think we’re in a position to make conditions?”

“From what I’ve heard and what I’ve seen, it’s hard to believe that the kingdom’s nobles have been protecting the subhuman race up until now. What I want to know is why.”

Young Marquis Kylie Yerkel shakes her head with a smile on her downcast face.

“The reason…? I would venture to say that it was redemption. It was a while ago that I thought they needed protection. We had a little trouble. We admit our mistake and ask for forgiveness.”

I nod my head at the marquis’s words.

From the look on her face, it seems that what she is saying is not simple and clean. I didn’t feel that she was trying to curry favor with the people of Casemaian because they had become more powerful. Something happened, and they made their own decisions and acted accordingly.

The question is, what is it…?

“Protection for redemption? Mistakes, by whom and for what kind of mistakes?”

“The truth is that we have only been able to protect 97 people, but there were several more than that in the former southern territories. But a royal decree went around, and subhumans from the southern noble territories were sent to the royal capital. At first, many of the lords thought they were getting rid of the subhumans, but gradually they began to feel uncomfortable. None of the subhumans who had gone to the capital returned, and no more news was received. The subhumans in the southern nobles’ territories became aggressive toward humans due to anxiety and distrust. Relations deteriorated, and frequent clashes broke out. The only way was to suppress them by force, but even that had its limits. We cannot kill them all just because we don’t like them. I know what you think of me, but at least on the surface, the kingdom’s laws guarantee that subhumans have the same right to be treated as humans.”

“I don’t need to go into the trouble of the preliminaries. What happened to the subhumans gathered in the royal capital?”

At Myrril’s questioning, Yerkel looked at us with dark eyes.

“It was about two months ago. I received a report from the spy. The subhumans were sacrificed for the summoning of heroes.”