Volume 2 - CH 3.2

What I saw on my way there was a red-haired woman dressed in the military robes of the Demon Empire, protecting several wounded people and restraining the kingdom soldiers.

If you look closely, you can see that there are barriers around her, so the kingdom soldiers can't touch her. It would take the power of a dragon to physically break through that. It seems that the magician who endured the <DemoralizePeaceful Mind> is holed up in the castle, protecting his friends.

「There's a guy who can use it well, too.」

「Viscount! What brings you here?」

Don't call me a title or my rank in front of the enemy. It would give away my position to the enemy.

I wanted to punch the guy who made the unintentional remark, but I didn't want the enemy to see such a stupid scene, so I decided to ignore it.

「It's a remnant hunt. You're no match for her. Take control of the other places.」

「Ha!」

With this, I was now facing the female magician one-on-one. She must have sensed my ability, because she looked bitter and increased her vigilance towards me.

She was a beautiful woman with blue eyes and bright red hair that showed her strength of will. Her breasts were large, as if in proportion to her height, which was high for a woman. And from her vaguely dignified appearance, I could tell that she had been educated as a noblewoman.

「Well, now that we're alone...」

「Viscount ......, are you the commander of this army?」

「Well, yes, I am. Are you a common soldier or are you a higher rank?」

「I don't have to answer that question.」

「What a boring answer. I've already given you my answer.」

She've been pretending to be looking for an opening, but I can sense that she's looking for something else. I'll use <Mind Steal> just in case.

(...... Perhaps the messenger would have made it out safely. This is an opportune time for the kingdom's magicians to gather in large numbers. If we defeat them here, the kingdom's magic power must be greatly reduced. ...... Now if only someone would come to our rescue. ......)

I see, they are trying to buy some time until help arrives. It's a little annoying that the messenger has escaped, but we just have to make this fort our base before the reinforcements arrive.

Besides, she's mistaken. She seems to think that because the fort's anti-magic ward was breached, there are a lot of magicians on the kingdom side, but in reality it's just me and Elle. And in terms of threat level, I'd say we're the higher threat.

「Don't expect any help, okay? We've almost got the place under control except here.」

「......」

「Oh, I'll tell you one thing. I'm the one who released the magic that broke the wards of this fort. There were only two magicians in the Kingdom this time.」

「That's a lie. Those wards can't be broken by one or two people. ......!」

At first she sounded dumbfounded, as if she thought my story was a joke, but then she seemed to realize something.

「Wh-what's your name?」

「Hmm, I don't think it's a wise to tell my enemy my name, but this time it's special. My name is Yard Rath Werner. Maybe you've heard of me too.」

「I heard that you are one of the hero ...... a magician of high rank, but I never imagined that you would be ......」

(Master, control is complete. There are four people, including the one you are dealing with, who were resisting the technique. Also, it seems that the number of non-combatants taken prisoner is a little high.)

(Apparently, there was a messenger, is that messenger among them?)

（I've already completed the memory scan, but there was no one who looked like that.)

（Well, you'll just have to wait for further instructions.)

（All right.)

Unfortunately, it seems that the messenger had escaped. However, if they left the fort before the raid, they must not have gotten much information about us. I'll be grateful for that.

The female magician seemed to be wondering why I had suddenly gone silent. This reaction alone shows that the Demon Empire doesn't have any formulas for communication.

「Well then, it looks like we've conquered all the other places. You are the only remaining force in this fort, what do you want to do?」

「...... I have no choice but to at least ask you to treat them in exchange for surrendering.」

「That's all right.」

When I nodded, she erased the barrier, and thrust her hand forward. It looks like the pose a criminal would take when handcuffed, but what the hell is she doing?

「What's the matter? I need you to put the seal on quickly.」

「I'm afraid I don't have anything like that on me.」

「Huh. ......? I think you'll need it when you restrain the magician.」

「I'll have it ready next time.」

A sealing tool, I didn't know there was such a thing. I've just learned of another new magical tool. I'll have to check it out later to see how effective it is.

「If you don't have a seal, were you planning to kill me from the beginning?」

「I don't need a magic tool to seal a magic formula. I didn't even think of having such a thing.」

「...... What a substandard story」

I put a <Magic SealSigil> on her in disgust and bind her wrists. I gave the same treatment to those who were injured, and then healed their wounds with <Major Heal>.

After that, I called the soldiers to take the captives to the prison. This was it for now, we had conquered the fort. There was probably no damage. The mission was a complete success.

※

The enemy soldiers we had captured could all be put in jail, but the problem was the civilians who were not soldiers. There were too many of them to keep as prisoners of war, but if they were to be released, their memories would have to be tampered with. It would be troublesome.

I used Elle's memories to sort out those who could be released and those who could not. The captured kingdom citizens will be transported to the nearest town, and some will stay here to help with the work. If I had brought a few more people, I wouldn't have had to.

「Master, I've finished sorting out those who wish to stay here.」

「I see. Is that all of them here?」

「Yes, sir.」

「I see. ...... Hmm?」

As I looked around at the applicants, I saw a man with a familiar face. It's the guy who was captured at Adriana's place. When he noticed me too, he smiled and approached me. He was stopped by a soldier when he came close to me, though.

「Yaa, it's been a while.」

「You must be the guy from that cave. Why are you in this place?」

「Right, after you saved me in that cave, I was traveling around the country to broaden my knowledge. I had already visited most of the kingdoms, so I thought the next step would be the Demon Empire, so I tried to sneak into the Demon Empire by bypassing the fort, but I was unlucky and got caught.」

「Isn't it forbidden to travel to the Demon Empire?」

「Aahh! Can you please pretend that you didn't hear what I just said?」

I can't shake the suspicion from listening to him. No normal person would smuggle themselves into a country to broaden their knowledge.

（Elle, did you read his memories?)

(Yes. He doesn't have any confidential information about the kingdom, and he doesn't seem to be a spy for the Demon Empire. It's just that he lacked more memories than a normal human. He might have suffered from amnesia at some point.)

(Is it possible that he was artificially erased?)

（I don't know. There was no trace of the procedure.)

When memories are erased by surgery, there will be unnatural parts of the memory that are missing. This would show up as memory confusion, but this man didn't seem to have any of that.

I hadn't taught Elle much about memory manipulation, so maybe she had come across a case she didn't know about. I decided to check it out on my end.

I checked his memory with the <Memory Reading> and found that there were some parts of his memory that were missing, just as Elle had said. There is no deficit in his brain, so it is not a physical factor.

However, <Memory Reading> does not completely read the memories of the target.

Since this technique targets a single personality, for example, if the target is a person who has amnesia and has taken on a different personality, it will only be able to read the memories after the loss.

And if the lost personality is still there in the unconscious, it will be unreadable and will appear to be missing. Just like this man.

It is possible that this man has become a different person. I don't know much more than that at this point.

Let's put him on the watch list. I'll keep Elle on watch and we'll be fine.

「Well, whatever, Still, you're out of luck to be found by a detour.」

「I guess I'm lucky because you ended up helping me both times!」

「Now then, if you're going to stay here, I'm going to have to put you to work as well, is that okay with you?」

「Yes, sir. Oh, my name's Van.」

「Okay. Well, Van. You'll be on standby until further notice.」

He still looks like he wants to talk, but I'll cut him some slack. We have more important things to do than worry about him right now. That's right, we need to dispose of the dead bodies lying in the fort. Even though it's still cold, the place will start to smell of decay in a few days. We need to clean up the fort before that happens.

If it's just dead bodies, I can still use <Disintegration> to remove them, but since there is no technique that can efficiently remove spattered blood and pieces of flesh, we have to do the cleaning work manually.

I regret now that I should have asked for more people to come.

Well, what's done is done. Not only the soldiers, but also the remaining people here will be used for the cleanup.

There were no other suspicious people besides Van, so I quickly checked and started the cleaning work.

I hurriedly had the corpses taken outside and thrown them into the holes I had made with my technique. At the same time, I had them wipe away the spattered blood and pieces of flesh.

There were more than a dozen times as many enemy soldiers as there were kingdom soldiers, so by the time we got them all out, the sun was setting. However, there was still a lot of blood left, and the fort was still filled with the sickening smell of iron.

I opened all the windows as a last ditch effort, but the smell was still wafting through the air, and I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight.

※

Two days later, I sent a messenger to the royal capital after cleaning the fort, checking the supplies in the fort, and checking the prisoners. A good number of reinforcements are scheduled to be sent to make this fort usable as a base.

The royal citizens who wanted to return home have already been sent to the nearest town. Those who have offered to work here have been hired as cleaners and cooks.

Van seemed to prefer to be employed here. He said that he didn't have enough money to continue his journey.

「You're really helped me. I had a little more before I got caught.」

「Don't worry about it. I won't give you special treatment just because I know you.」

After that, I was temporarily free until the soldiers dispatched from the kingdom arrived, so I decided to go see the female magician. It's been a long time since I have been able to feel the same level of magic as Adriana.

She was kept in a separate room from the prisoners, so I went to that room and found the person I was looking for.

She noticed the sound of me approaching and glared at me. I took a look at her memory and found out that she was the daughter of a Duke of the Demon Empire. It's a coincidence, but I think I hit the jackpot.

I'll use her as a pawn to bring down the Demon Empire from within. It's a very fun plan.

「...... What do you want?」

「Don't be so hard on me. Olympia, right? I have a lot of questions for you.」

「Where did you get my name, ......?」

「You'll find out soon enough, Olympia Leah Gran Daro.」

When I called out her full name, the pressure of her gaze on me intensified.

Even though the wards had killed a lot of her power, it was rare for someone to have enough magic resistance to resist my magic. I heard that there were about three others besides her who were able to resist, but Elle had killed them all. It was a good thing that they had captured her alone.

Magic on a large scale tends to be less powerful, so it's not surprising that some people would resist, but I was surprised that there were four of them. The soldiers of the Demon Empire seem to be of a much higher quality than the soldiers of the Kingdom.

「Even If you torture me, I won't tell you anything.」

「I'm not trying to force you to listen to anything. I've brought you a good story today.」

「What?」

「I'm willing to release you from captivity alone. In that case, all the others will remain as prisoners.」

「Don't be ridiculous. I can't accept such a condition.」

She replied to my proposal in a calm but slightly angry voice. I checked her memory and found that she cared about her people, which was unusual for a noblewoman. She had come to this fort for the tearful reason that she wanted to reduce the damage to her own people.

From her point of view, my proposal was certainly not something that she would allow.

「I knew you would answer that way. As for my next proposal, if you stay as a prisoner of war, I'll let all the others go. However, in that case, you will have to follow our orders to the best of your ability and give us all the information you know.」

「...... Only the information I know is enough?」

「Yes.」

「Then I'll take you up on that offer. However, you must sign a magical contract with me to ensure that your promise is not broken.」

「Hmm, I don't mind.」

As expected, she accepted my proposal. Her spirit of self-sacrifice is quite impressive at this point.

I showed Olympia the contract paper I had prepared beforehand. After confirming what was written, she and I dripped blood on the paper, and the contract is now complete.

「Now let's have the prisoners released as promised.」

「We can't release them before our reinforcements arrive. Wait a few more days.」

「...... Well, that's fine. Don't touch the prisoners, all right?」

「Of course not. Now, you're going to have to make good on your promise. Put these on for now.」

I handed Olympia the ring I had gotten in the fort. I'm not a gemologist, so I don't know how much this ring is worth, but judging from its composition, it's a variant of corundum, or ruby. It was probably not cheap in terms of processing technology.

Olympia, who was suddenly handed such a thing, accepted it with confusion. As a noblewoman with an eye for aesthetics, she would understand the value of this ring.

「What do you mean by giving me something like this?」

「It's a small gift. A little gift to commemorate your rebirth.」

I made sure she wore the ring and used <Dominate>. Since she couldn't resist due to contract, the effect of the technique was activated without any problem, and all emotions disappeared from her face.

Raise her loyalty and favorability to me as much as possible, and lower her loyalty to the Demon Empire instead. This time, I didn't mess with her memory too much, but on the contrary, I tried to include as much knowledge as I could. The better the operative, the better.

When the rewriting by the <Dominate> was finished, Olympia looked at me with an ecstatic expression on her face.

「Now, Olympia. Tell me your name.」

「My name is Olympia Leah Gran Daro.」

「Do you know who I am?」

「Yes, sir. Master is the one to whom I owe all my loyalty.」

「Then what is it you must do?」

「As an aristocrat of the Demon Empire, I'm to conduct operations within the Demon Empire.」

「Okay, that doesn't sound like a problem.」

The manipulation of her memories and emotions seems to have been completed without any problems.

She's staring at me with moist eyes and flushed cheeks like a maiden in love, and she's no longer the same person she was when she was just glaring at me.

「Thank you, Master. For showing such mercy to such a foolish woman.」

「Don't worry about it. I'm counting on your loyalty.」

「Please leave it to me. I will do everything in my power to fulfill Master's expectations.」

So now I have more pawns in my hands. This time, in particular, I was able to entangle the daughter of a Duke, a person who stands close to the center of the Demon Empire, and this has expanded the scope of my strategy considerably.

When I released her from her restraints, she knelt down on the spot. Is this the kind of reaction you get when you're a noble, and soldier with high loyalty value?

「Master, I would like to offer my loyalty with my body, is that alright?」

「Hm? Well, if it's just a quick thing, sure.」

「Now if you'll excuse me.」

With that, she came up to my feet and started licking my shoes.

To be honest, I was quite taken aback by her sudden action, but since a storm of apologies would be waiting for me if I refused, I let her do as she pleased for a while.

After experiencing Olympia's loyalty, she and I headed for the prison where the soldiers of the Demon Empire were.

The Kingdom soldiers we passed in the corridor were all surprised to see her, but she walked away quickly, probably because she was walking so regally and I was right beside her, making it difficult to talk to her.

I looked at her face and saw that she looked serious in the presence of other people's eyes.

※

「Ohh, Viscount! What can I do for you, sir?」

「I have business with the prisoners inside. You may leave now.」

「U-understood!」

I made the soldiers standing guard in front of the prison fall back. He looked curiously at Olympia, but I guess he thought it was rude to talk to her, so he just left without saying anything.

As I entered, the gazes of the prisoners of war gathered at once. They were tied hand and foot and rolled over so they couldn't move, but when they noticed Olympia next to me, they tried to be as polite as they could.

「Olympia-sama! Is relief that you're safe!

The man with the highest rank among them spoke to her, but she looked back at him for a moment and then looked at me, apparently asking if she could speak.

「Hmm, do what you want.」

「Thank you very much.」

She approached the man and pulled him up into a hug. The man was flustered by her sudden action.

「O-Olympia-sama!?」

「I'm glad you guys are safe. I made a deal with the kingdom in exchange for my body. You will be freed soon.」

「B-but then what will happen to Olympia-sama?」

「Don't worry. Thanks to the man there, I won't be harmed in any way.」

The prisoners are weeping tears of frustration at their inability to protect Olympia.

At first glance, it seems like a touching scene of people risking their lives to protect their men. However, she took something out of her pocket that they did not notice.

「I'm sorry, it was my fault that you were captured. And thank you, you've been very good people, to be of use to me in the end.」

「What? Ah ......」

When Olympia flashed her hand with the dagger, the man's neck cracked open and blood spurted out. Then the man, not knowing what had happened, looked at the face of the person who had cut his neck.

「Wh-why ......?」

「Thank you, for staying alive until I kill you. Now the master can see my loyalty.」

The blood that spurted out splashed her as well, but she didn't care and looked at the fallen man with a tremendous smile on her face.

「O-Olympia-sama!? What the hell are you doing!?」

「What have you done!?」

The rest of the people were confused and frightened by her murderous act. Some of them were even incontinent. No wonder, they had been betrayed by the one they had looked up to.

Olympia watched as the fallen man stopped moving, then walked up to the next closest man and slashed his neck in the same manner. She looked like a madman as she happily killed her former ally.

「What have you bastard done to Olympia-sama!?」

I looked down at my feet and saw a man crawling towards me.

「Olympia-sama is not the kind of person who would commit such a barbaric act! Tell me, what have you done to her!」

「Hmm, if you ask me what I did, the closest thing you guys can figure out is brainwashing.」

「How dare you! You make such a kind people like her kill her own people, I'll never forgive you, Gahh!?」

Olympia's foot slammed into the side of the man who was about to jump on me. She then approached the man in agony and cut him in the neck as well. Blood spurted out of his neck and onto my hand, which was nearby.

「Did you really think that I would allow you to speak out like that to my Master?」

She had cut everyone in the room to death, and her whole body was dyed red with blood. I felt a chill run down my spine when I saw her in such a state with an ecstatic expression on her face.

When she noticed the dirt on my hands, she hurriedly took my hands.

「Ah, I-I'm so sorry! I can't believe I've gotten Master's body dirty!」

「Don't worry about this.」

「No, I'll wipe it off right now!」

She put her face in my hand and ran her tongue over the bloody area. Her action was so natural that I couldn't react. I didn't think she had this kind of taste.

I put my finger in her mouth to test it out, and she happily sucked on it . Her movements seemed to resemble those of a dog. She had been so bossy earlier, but now she was so cute.

It was starting to get interesting, so I started to play with the inside of her mouth with my fingers. Each time my fingers traced the inside of her cheeks and scraped her teeth, she shuddered with delight.

When I pulled my finger out, it was sticky with her saliva, so I wiped it off with her clothes.

「Master, did I get this right?」

「Very well. Keep up the good work, and take care of the reconnaissance of the Demon Empire.」

「As you wish.」

Regardless of her sexuality, the fact that she disposed of the prisoners without my asking is proof that she knows what I'm thinking.

To be honest, Olympia was the only one worth taking prisoner. The others were all commoners and lowly nobles, so there was little value in capturing them, and it would have been less trouble if they had died.

But because of the contract I made with her, I couldn't kill them myself or ask someone else to do it. She understood this and took care of them for me.

With this kind of judgment and the acting skills she had shown earlier, I could leave the internal investigation to her with no worries. I had chosen her based on her magical power alone, but she was even more talented than I had expected.

※

「Now then, I'm going to ask you to return to the Demon Empire. Tell them that the fort has fallen, and if possible, stop or delay the sortie. After that, I want you to find out as much as you can about the military information of the Demon Empire.」

「Please leave this to me. I'll make sure to produce results that will meet your expectations.」

What I want to know the most right now is the actual situation of the Demon Empire. Sagami is also training agents, but it takes at least a few years to turn one person into a full-fledged agent. We don't have enough time to wait for that.

First, I tore the robe she was wearing to shreds. This will make it look like she was desperate to escape. It would probably be more believable than leaving it clean.

And in case there are people in the Demon Empire who can use magic such as <Memory Reading)>, I give her a bracelet that can deploy a magic barrier of the same strength as mine. She also has high resistance to magic, so if she wears this, they won't be able to look inside her head.

I gave her a horse and sent her off to the Demon Empire. I hope this will help me understand the movements of the Demon Empire's army a little better.

「Master, wasn't that the captive woman?」

As I was seeing Olympia off, Elle, who seemed to have remembered her face, approached me.

「Yes, she was a senior noble, so I made her a pawn for me. Now I'll be able to understand the movements of the Demon Empire better than before.」

「I see, as expected master.」

「She's the woman who was called Olympia-sama, I believe. She's the one who defeated Adriana, who managed to ensnare the senior nobles of the Demon Empire.」

Following Elle's praise, I heard a familiar voice, and turned around to see Van there.

「Eavesdropping is bad taste.」

「No, I had no choice but to do it since Elmaire-san was going your way, you know?」

You're an auspicious guy, going out of your way to follow a watchdog.

「Well, that's all right, but don't wander around too much or you'll end up in trouble.」

「Master, this man is already in trouble. Maybe his biological instinct to avoid danger is broken.」

「That's harsh.」

Van laughed at my advice as well. He's probably going to get caught up in his own recklessness again. I'm sure he lacks the ability to learn.

Well, I'll leave this guy to Elle, and I'll go ask him to clean the jail.

※

More than two weeks later, reinforcements from the royal capital finally arrived. It was a good thing that there was no counterattack from the Demon Empire, but they arrived too late. I'll ask Sophie to complain to the king.

I went out to meet them, wondering who the commander was, and to my surprise, it was Robert.

「Excellent result, Viscount Werner. I didn't think you would actually capture the fort.」

「I don't do things that are impossible. Now that I've accepted the challenge, I'll make it work.」

While supplies were being brought in one after another, Robert and I were talking in a room inside the fort.

「My father was happy that he can't wait to see you. He said that when you returns to royal capital, he'll officially recognize your marriage to my sister.」

「That's great news. It's worth all the trouble I've gone through.」

It looks like I can finally go home now. It's been longer than I expected, and I'm missing Tia and the baths at the mansion. After I finish my report to the king, I'll take a bath first.

「And while we're on the subject, Elmaire, or whatever she is, I want you to leave her here.」

「Hmm? May I ask why?」

「It's pathetic that I'm here to reinforce you, but we're short on magicians due to the sudden formation. I've heard that she's not as good as you, but she's pretty skilled at it too. I need her help for a while.」

「She doesn't speak the language of the kingdom, though.」

「That's all right. I was able to hire someone who can translate. I'll introduce him to you.」

The interpreter came in under Robert's direction, but no matter how I looked at him, I saw a familiar face. When he saw my faces, he looked surprised, but he soon smiled and came over to me.

「This elf is the interpreter, Levin.」

I didn't expect to see Natalia's ex-husband here. I didn't know his footsteps after he left the brothel, but when did he become an interpreter? I don't know what's appropriate for a human being.

Well, he doesn't seem to be capable of attacking Elle, so I'm more relieved than if someone strange were to come.

「I wondered who that was, but it was the generous guy from that time. But you don't need a interpreter, do you?」

「It's not for me. It's for my apprentice, the dark elf, who needs a interpreter.」

「Dark elves, huh. I don't like them much, but I can't help it. Oh, by the way, are you that elf-loving viscount I've heard so much about?」

「I'm not an elf lover, but I'm pretty sure I'm the one they're talking about.」

Levin, who had been talking to me about various things without regard to the interpreter, immediately stopped talking and became quiet when Robert, who was impatient with the unrelated conversation, coughed. He is a light-hearted man, but he doesn't seem to be a man who can't read the air.

「Well, he seems to be a bit of a talker, but I'm sure he'll have no problem interpreting.」

「Sounds about right. So, how long do you think it will be at the most?」

「Until spring at the most.」

「...... Well, I don't mind, but I'm not sure what she'd say.」

I called Elle up and asked her what she wanted to do with the discussion I just told her.

「If Master wants me to stay here, then I will obey.」

She turned to speak to Robert, but he looked at Levin as he could not understand her elven language. Noticing his gaze, Levin immediately began to translate.

「She said it was fine if the Viscount wanted her to stay.」

「I see. So, Elmair-dono, please take care of me for a little while.」

「Hee, so your name is Elmair. This big guy over here is the First Prince Robert, and I'm his interpreter, Levin.」

「Thank you. It's nice to meet you too.」

「By the way, you're cute. Do you have a boyfriend?」

「Interpreter, if you say anything unnecessary, I'll make sure you never speak again, okay?」

Levin tried to seduce Elle, but she gave him an iron claw.

From the looks of it, there won't be a problem if I leave her here. I'm going to have Elle stay here for a while, but I'm going to go back to the capital first.