CH 110

Chapter 110 – The Spirit of a Wicked Nobleman

“Giving a special death,” is it?

No, I won’t. I don’t know this old man. I don’t even know why I would kill him.

Besides, he would have died even if we left him here. He’s already dying from having his elbows and knees shot off and being squeezed by his own armor.

“…Demon, King…!”

I don’t like to be told so hatefully. It was you people in the kingdom who summoned me without permission, and it was you people who put me in this position, although I was only a mere merchant.

I wouldn’t have killed anyone either if they hadn’t tried to kill me unilaterally.　

Well, never mind. If people want me to take on such a role, I should accept it.

“…Hmm, Demon King, huh? The kingdom named it on its own, but it’s spread very widely. I was called that in the kingdom and in the tribal unions as well. The Demon King of Casemaian.”

“…..”

Oh, so you don’t want to talk about it when it doesn’t suit you?

How and who spread it and for what purpose, but that’s just the way it is, isn’t it? The reason it spread so fast is because they wanted me to be destroyed as an “enemy of humanity.”

“You’re called Torreis, right? I heard that my queen was taken care of by you.”

“A-ah…”

I wonder if this old man is alright, he’s been hurt so much that all he can say is “Ah.”

“I have one question for you. What is the ritual of summoning heroes? Who gathered the subhuman sacrifices?”

“T-that’s the king…”

“No, it was not. I don’t think that fool has the brains to think of it himself. There must have been someone who instigated it. A mage, or… a nobleman of high rank.”

“!!”

I had vague doubts early on. It just hadn’t formed itself in my mind.

Normally, would you go into the production of multiple mechanical bows, an unknown prototype weapon, both large and small, when there is no war going on? Why would an army of 30,000 troops, an army that would cost a fortune, be ready to be formed at a moment’s notice? How could a prince, in such a short period, take so much money that the economy of the royal capital would be in a state of collapse and flee to the empire?

The war between Casemaian and the Kingdom ― or something else that constituted a war ― may not have started with me but was planned, prepared, and started long before that.

“…The chief mage who led… the war was killed… by you. …There is no reason… for sacrificing subhumans now…”

“What I want to know is not about the reason. What I want to know is the purpose.”

“Yoshua, what is your point?”

“It seems that the civil war and the invasion of the empire were already underway before the invasion of Casemaian.”

And, moreover, even before the summons in which I was involved. Was the sacrifice really intended to summon the heroes?

Myrril-san shook her head in dismay, seemingly unable to grasp the situation.

“There was a group that wanted to profit by eliminating the royalty and destroying the kingdom, wasn’t there? And that too, at the heart of the country.”

“I suppose so. Even though our overwhelming victory was unexpected, they accomplished their goal.”

The duke began to tremble. He was no longer frightened. He was dying. It was going to be difficult to get an answer out of him.

What’s more, it seems that even if we get the answer, it won’t make any difference.

“The reason why the southern nobles did not join in the defeat of the Casemaian was not because of sympathy for the subhumans, of course. It was because of their interests and their conflicting feelings toward the royal capital and the royal family. In the end, it did help us, though.”

“…Yoshua, it seems that you were right in your decision to tell Marquis Yerkel. We should not be involved in the affairs of the kingdom. Protecting ourselves and helping our people is enough.”

“It’s… late already.”

The duke muttered. He looked up to the sky with a white-blooded face, opened his blank eyes, and laughed with a smile that looked terribly amused.

“The curse was… fulfilled, with the sacrifice. …To bring disaster… to this Saliant.”

What’s that?

The duke is the head of a noble family of royal blood. And especially when he is a court noble, most likely he is their leader, and he is asking for disaster in his own country.

“It’s going to be a complicated story, isn’t it?”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s someone else’s business, after all. Let’s go, Myrril. The first thing we must do is to bring back our friends.”

Duke Torreis died with a triumphant smile on his face. His last words were a curse on his country. I don’t know what happened to him, but the way he died was the epitome of a wicked retainer.

◇ ◇

When we got back to the bus, the rest of the Transportation Corps had caught up with us. I called out to the commander of the Transportation Corps, who was about to take a break.

“There was a royalist nobleman in front of us, but we eliminated him. We are in a hurry, so we will continue on to the marquis’s territory. If there are any enemies along the way, I will definitely eliminate them, but if there is a problem with the road surface, I will mark it with a stake or something so that you can see it, so please proceed with caution.”

“Understood. Take care.”

“Owe-san, I’ll be driving now. Could you please cover the rear right side? Levia-san, you stay in the gun turret and be on the lookout.”

“”Understood.””

I have a bad feeling about this. I decided to pick up the pace a little and took the driver’s seat.

“Yoshua, do you think there’s going to be a problem?”

“The problem is probably already there. I don’t know what it is. It seems that the royalist supporters and the foreign influence group were working together behind the scenes to destroy the kingdom. Whether they were working in collusion or separately, I don’t know.”

“What about Marquis Yerkel and the other rebels?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what their intentions are yet. It would be laughable if the only people who started the civil war were nationalists.”

The bear-faced bus speeds up for the remaining 20 kilometers or so. There were no broken road surfaces or hidden enemies along the way, and after an hour, a hillside town came into view.

“The one you see up ahead is the territorial town of Yerkel.”

With Lionora-san’s guidance, I turned off the highway and took the road toward the territory.

Marquis Yerkel’s territory is mountainous, and once we passed through the simple fortress at the entrance, we found ourselves in a lush green landscape. The estate is located on the banks of a quiet lake about one kilometer in diameter, a scenic spot reminiscent of an illustration from a fairy tale, to put it in a clichéd way.

“By the way, Lionora-san, how many people live in the marquis’ territory?”

“About 8,000 people.”

That’s a surprisingly large number. There is not much flat land, so it would be difficult to produce food. To my question, Lionora-san’s answer was simple. They import wheat and other grains from other territories.

“The neighboring Duke Lemore’s territory is a major producer of grain, so it is inefficient in terms of competitiveness. Marquis Yerkel’s territory makes its living from forestry, agriculture, cattle breeding, and small-scale mining.”

Although she did not tell me what kind of ore they produce, I guessed it must be something very expensive. I was not particularly interested, though.

If the situation were not like this, I would like to stay and rest for a while, but for now, I want to return to Casemaian as soon as possible.

“I have already spoken to the subhuman refugees. Please continue on to the lord’s mansion.”

The lord’s mansion is a small castle on a small hill near the lake. The walls are white, and the decorations look like cake decorations, giving the impression of a fairy tale, but as we approached… the impression changed a little.

The castle walls are not only on the castle itself, but they also surround the hill on which the castle stands, and there are layers of defenses around the city.

When the bear-faced bus entered the area, it was met with a mixture of wary and curious stares from all over the place.

It seemed that the conversation had been well understood, and there were no attacks or restraining orders, but perhaps it was impossible not to look at us when a winged girl emerged from the roof of the unfamiliar vehicle.

We pass through several small gates that resemble security checkpoints. Each of them had its own gate, and a group of heavily armed infantrymen with longbows and long spears stood ready to fight.

“More like a fortress than a castle.”

“…Eh? Yes, of course. When invaded by enemy forces, the entire population is ready to fight in the castle.”

“Yeah. Right. I know.”

It is common knowledge that a castle is a mass of defensive functions, or rather, a defensive function itself. I still haven’t lost my Japanese peace of mind when I think of them as recreational facilities or tourist attractions.

When we finally came close to the castle, the surroundings opened up, and the road surface changed.

“Yoshua-sama, please proceed slowly there.”

The wide road, paved with what looked like cobblestones, was slightly higher than the surrounding area, and flower gardens spread out on either side. It’s like a flower path to the stage of the lord’s mansion.

“Oh, it’s beautiful…”

I was just admiring the scenery when I heard Myrril’s small voice.

“These stones are used in wartime to spread oil on the ground to make the wheels of wagons and horses’ legs slide. The gentle slope of the stone is enough to make it impossible for them to escape.”

“Eh.”

“Beyond the slope is a dense foot-stem. They are poisonous flowers with thin, strong roots that grow in the muddy ground. It will break your legs or paralyze you and drown you, but either way, you will not survive.”

A flower garden as a guard dog? That’s a hell of a thing to do, hey!

“Could you please stop this vehicle in front of the drawbridge just beyond?”

Once we were near the outer moat of the castle, we got off the bus, and I stored the bus.

After being unloaded from the drawbridge and entering the castle through the back gate, we were met with a simultaneous stare from about a hundred people.

In the backyard of the castle, on a flat area the size of several soccer courts, presumably a training ground, the subhuman refugees were waiting for us.

“Eh? Lionora-san, don’t tell me everyone has been waiting here all this time?”

“That can’t be right. It rained last night.”

“Yes, but everyone left their houses and stayed in the hall of the lord’s mansion. I guess they couldn’t wait to get here when they got the call.”

I see. Whatever the case, it seems we made them wait for a long time. From the anxious and uncertain expressions on the faces of the subhuman group, I got the impression that they didn’t have much faith in the future that awaited them.

“Yoshua, it is natural for them to be anxious. You must show them that the Demon King is capable.”

“No, I don’t need to be so unreasonable.”

“Marquis Yerkel has done her job well, hasn’t she? Look, there is nothing scrawny, nothing cloudy in their eyes. Their hair and skin are clean, and their clothes are also clean. Above all, the child is cheerful.”

The parents may be preoccupied with the future, but the children are running around like they don’t care about anything else. In the back of the house, what looked like a pack of puppies, probably werewolves, was covered in dust and dirt.

A beast woman who seemed to be the mother noticed my smiling gaze and turned around, bristling her fur and kneeling down.

“…That dirt looks fresh.”

“Bufohh!”

I blurted out, and everyone looked at me in surprise.

Sorry, I guess I hit the nail on the head.

I remember when I was a kid, I was scolded for going to Koriyama to get crayfish in my formal wear and returning home with a mud puddle.

When my grandma in Koriyama saw me return home looking like a mud-boy, she shouted “Mukiii!” at me.

“Oh, Miss? Please don’t be too mad at him. Just take off his clothes if you want. Because it will be very cramped in the rides.”

“Eh… You are?”

“I’ve come here from Casemaian to pick you up…”

“He’s the Demon King.”

Can you please stop covering me there, Myrril-san? You made the mother freeze up.　

“Lionora-san, can those kids be washed up somewhere?”

“Yes. Because it is a training ground, there is a large washing area at the back of the building.”

By in the back… do you mean in front of the castle? It’s about 300m away.