Chapter 267 – 267. The Otherworld Summoner’s First Special Move (9)
– One –
A place not too far from the battlefield.
On the road created by the Imperial Army.
Creeping, squeaking.
Dag dag, dag dag.
Wagons loaded with supplies,
Multiple, multiple, multiple, multiple.
Cuckoo coo coo coo coo coo.
The siege engine advances.
Supplies and siege weapons were heavy, as if testing the limits of a horse’s ability to transport them, so the progress was not that fast.
On a carriage near the head of them,
“Nimiral…”
An officer was lying on top of a supply crate grunting.
He was loosely dressed in his combat uniform, his helmet had been casually thrown away, and his face was covered with a hood.
It was not something that could be seen in the middle of a battlefield.
No, even if it wasn’t a battlefield, considering the strict discipline of the Imperial Army, it was an impossibility of disorganization itself.
Jerk, jerk, jerk, jerk.
A captain passing nearby
Wriggling
Wrinkling his brow, he approached the wagon where the negligent officer was lying.
The captain examines his combat uniform top carefully.
The badge of rank hanging from his epaulet was clearly engraved with the rank of lieutenant.
It was clear that he was a subordinate.
“Arise, Lieutenant!”
“Take it.”
Wiggle!
The lieutenant’s brow furrowed even more.
“Immediately stand up and recite the official rank statement. Execute.”
“Damn it.”
Sureureung.
The captain took out the sword he was wearing.
His face was burning red.
“Stop the carriage.”
The captain groaned and gave an order to the soldier driving the wagon.
“Hey, keep going!”
However, the lieutenant gives an order that ignores it head-on.
The soldier was at a loss as to whether he should listen to the captain, who had a higher rank, or the lieutenant, who was his immediate superior.
No matter which one he chose, it was obvious that his military life was twisted.
It was then.
“Uh?”
A captain who heard the commotion and came running witnesses the scene.
Tat tat tat!
He hurried to the scene,
Tup.
Grab the arm of the captain with the sword drawn.
“What’s going on?”
“No, you-“
“Leave this.”
Widely!
The captain, who drew his sword, could not calm his excitement at all.
If the captain who came to settle the situation tried to stop him further, he was ready to cut him down too.
“Listen for a moment…”
But the approaching captain didn’t care.
I grab hold of the captain holding the sword by the ear and move a little away from his carriage.
And he starts whispering
“He…”
“What…?”
“That Frapin…”
Flinch.
Hearing his own name, the lieutenant startled.
But soon he turned around and lay down.
“Oh, is that…?”
“Yes, Crown Prince…”
“Ah…”
After the two of them talked,
Sureureung.
Clap.
The captain puts his sword in and looks at Lieutenant Fraffin with a pitiful gaze.
Then, he shook his head and disappeared back to where he was heading.
Swoop.
He pulls down the hood he has placed over his face.
I stare at the back of the nosy captain walking away from the carriage.
“Jigimi… Now the stars…”
He was the same officer who did a great job in rescuing the crown prince after receiving a tip from Margarita.
But,
“What would you do if you were promoted to 1st class~ Let alone a reward~ You wouldn’t even be recognized for your meritorious service~ Let alone a successful battle in the Islands Defense Force~ You would be relegated to a supply unit~ Even if you were forcibly conscripted into the war~ Fucking sick imperial troops~ If you get discharged I’ll have to join the reserve army~ Should I apply for retirement~?
He was forced into an idle job and became the burden of humming his own songs that were painful to listen to.
Thump thump!
“Hee-i-ik…!”
When he kicks the driver’s seat of the wagon with his boots, the soldier sitting in the driver’s seat freaks out.
“Hey.”
“Private,”
“Who knows.”
“…”
“Why, why don’t you give a official name?”
“Private,”
“You bastard, you must be treated properly, right?
“Geruk, kek, kekek!”
A soldier bites his tongue and suffers.
He didn’t have the confidence to deal with the behavior of this retired officer.
However, since there was no one other than him to endure it, he was reluctantly accepting his behavior with all his body.
“Are you kidding me too?”
“No!”
“Isn’t it funny that I’m from a commoner, but I don’t have any support or money, so I’m loyal to the imperial family and dedicated to the empire, and even though I’ve made great achievements, I’m treated like a thousand people?”
“No! I’m proud of Lieutenant Fraffin!”
“Heh… He’s talking fucking, asshole…”
Still, Lieutenant Fraffin seemed to be relieved by the flattery of the private,
Seruk.
Took.
I put on my hood and lay down on the carriage again.
Maybe he just didn’t have the energy to do anything more.
When everything got bothersome, the moment he was about to take a nap,
– Excuse me…
“Sigh…!”
A familiar voice rang in Lieutenant Fraffin’s ears.
“This, this, what”
– Shh. I can hear it even if it whispers quietly. Can you answer in a low voice so that people nearby won’t hear?
“…”
Lieutenant Frapin nods his head urgently.
– Do you remember my voice?
“You, Viscount Uweboll, who helped in the rescue of His Highness the Crown Prince back then… Aren’t you a close friend of His Excellency?”
It was Margarita’s voice that rang in his ears.
– You remember. Long time no see… I mean, it hasn’t been that long, has it?
“…Yes. But what is it? Are you trying to bring disaster on me again?”
He replied in a rather husky voice.
Of course, the volume of the voice made little difference from a whisper.
– Disaster… ?
She asks with her puzzled expression.
And she is silent for a while.
Fast.
The moment Lieutenant Fraffin gnashed his teeth and tried to say something,
– Ah. That’s how it happened. You, the Duke of Regal B. Whiscay, are hated.
“What, what…?”
As a lieutenant in the Imperial Army, there was no way he didn’t know Regal’s name.
However, when the unexpected name came out of her mouth, he was taken aback for a moment.
– Let alone a proper reward, you were demoted with only a formal 1st class special promotion. I don’t know how to apologize, because it happened because I encouraged you to get involved in something stupid.
“What, what do you mean? It’s not because the imperial army is rotten…? It’s not because I don’t have a back stomach, because I’m a sub-species, because I’m a commoner, because I’m poor…?”
Lieutenant Frapin looked blankly into space, his eyes wide open, as if he couldn’t believe her words.
– Yes. In fact, Regal didn’t want His Highness the Crown Prince to return to the imperial castle so early. I was trying to use it to carry out some kind of political operation. However, when His Highness the Crown Prince was rescued much earlier than expected, everything they had planned in the meantime went awry and they must have been very angry. That’s why he must have tracked down the reason why the crown prince was rescued earlier. That was you, and Regal took her own revenge on you.
“That…”
She didn’t reveal everything to Lieutenant Fraffin at once.
Because of the excessive shock, he was concerned that he would act unexpectedly.
Enough for him to handle the shock, he slowly tells him the truth.
Through it, it was to make him an internal sympathizer to use in his plans.
– Regal limbs are also infiltrating the Imperial Army. They canceled all rewards that were supposed to be given to you, and took a demotion against you. Since you can’t directly kill Imperial officers with your own hands, the main purpose of the Regal is to have them die on the battlefield through demotion and forced conscription. That son of a bitch, he’s so clumsy that he doesn’t deserve the title of duke, right?
Lieutenant Pra Finn couldn’t come to his senses because of the heavy shock of the sudden revelation of the truth.
But he came to a clear realization.
“If what you say is true,”
– I swear by my name and my life in front of the Goddess, there is no lie in what I said.
“Goddess, my God…”
He groans
And get angry
“You dare… Even if you are the sole duke of the Empire, you plant your limbs inside the Imperial Army and control the Imperial Army…?”
-He’s a guy who’s willing to do worse than that. His goal is a higher position.
“…!”
Lieutenant Fraffin is shocked.
The only positions higher than duke in the Empire are the currently vacant positions of grand duke and emperor.
However, the imperial family does not bestow the title of grand duke on anyone.
It was because the act of granting the title of grand duke to someone and handing over the principality to him in the form of a vassal state was in itself a direct violation of the principle of one empire.
Therefore, a higher position is
“Fire, fire, yellow,”
– Shh.
“Bar, bar, half,”
– Quietly. Never speak out of your mouth.
“Uh, uh…”
– Anyway, if anyone but you is loyal to the Imperial Family, Regal will try to demote and exclude him. Whether it’s the Imperial Army or the Imperial Task Force, I won’t care.
“…”
Lieutenant Fraffin felt as if he would choke under the pressure of the disgusting truth.
Fast.
He goes to it
The private in the driver’s seat looks back.
However, it is not uncommon for Lieutenant Frapin to gnash his teeth or scream out of nowhere, so he drives the carriage while keeping an eye on the front.
“Why the hell would you say that to me, ma’am?”
His tone of voice changed.
His expression and his demeanor changed.
He knew who he had to harbor animosity against, so he no longer vented his needless rage indiscriminately.
– Hmm… To tell you the truth, I am a companion of the saintess.
Lieutenant Frapin gapes his mouth open.
He was astonished too much today, to the point of straining his heart.
“Bar, bar, half,”
– No. No. Don’t you have a vague feeling too? Are we really like rebels?
“…”
Lieutenant Frapin shut his mouth.
It was also a car that I had doubts about.
It wasn’t like that.
Even within the imperial army, there were overflowing believers with sincere faith toward the goddess.
They were aware of the fact that the cause, basis, and even the circumstances of this war were questionable.
It’s just an order from the superior, so I’m just following it honestly.
– This war right now is nothing more than a struggle for supremacy between the powerful. The imperial family is overly wary of us and wants to get rid of us. Regal wants to capture us, brainwash us, and use us. The church wants to get rid of the saintess because they want a new saintess. The interests of all of them coincided, and the imperial army, the privates of the nobles, and the troops of the church started a war. Just for the nine of us.
“That, that, that, that’s true,”
– Shall I swear to the goddess again?
“…”
– I can’t keep wasting time, so I’ll swear to the goddess once again after the conversation is over. Then can you trust me?
“Ah, I see…”
Lieutenant Fraffin was completely intimidated.
– We are not rebels. And there are only nine of them. Do you think it’s possible to overthrow the imperial family, and even the empire, with nine people?
“But the rebels are definitely…”
– Yes. There are rebels. But the rebels have nothing to do with us. In fact, the rebels are nothing more than fakes that Regal kidnapped and brainwashed civilians before training them for military service.
“Oh, uh…”
Lieutenant Fraffin lost even the energy to be surprised.
– They kidnapped the crown prince, laid siege to the islands, and are still moving south from the north to the islands, devastating the entire empire. Do you know that it is only there? All over the empire, fake rebels trained by Regal are heading to the island one after another. Of course, a festival of blood and slaughter is taking place on their way.
“By the Duke of Whiskey’s orders?”
– Yes.
Margarita answers decisively.
Was it because the confidence contained in it was passed on to Lieutenant Fraffin?
Lieutenant Pra Finn was breaking out in a cold sweat, his complexion hardened and his body shaking.
The goose bumps on his whole body clearly represented the shock he felt.
– You guys are now throwing away the object you need to protect, and doing useless fighting in the wrong place.
“Oh my god…”
He looks up at the sky with tears in his eyes.
He gritted his teeth to keep the whimpering from leaking out of the hood that covered his face.
Because of that, when he opened his mouth and let out a voice, there was no choice but to come out with a very suppressed sound.
“Then, ma’am, why on earth do you do this to me again? No. Not much more, aren’t my superiors overflowing who haven’t lost their minds this time? But why, why, why…”
At the end of his remarks, there was almost nothing different from crying.
It was clear that he was deeply frustrated by the reality that he couldn’t handle.
– We are few in number, but we have a very mighty power. If we set our minds to it, we have power far beyond what humans have been allowed to do, capable of annihilating every former Imperial Army soldier who has ever set foot in these northern unexplored lands.
“Ah…”
Lieutenant Fraffin agreed at once.
From a place a kilometer away, the owner of this voice grasps his own dynamics in real time and converses with himself.
As if we were talking right next to each other.
Even if magic tools or magical powers were borrowed, unless hundreds of wizards were performing a group chant, it would be a miracle only granted to a goddess.
And if her comrades also had abilities similar to hers, they would be a group created by people with abilities comparable to gods.
– But we don’t want to antagonize the Empire. In fact, we are people who have no interest in empires or continental supremacy.
“Is that so…”
– Yes. They may be valuable to those who want to use us, but to us they are not worth as much as stones on the side of the road. That’s why we’ve been passive about your aggression to capture or kill us.
Lieutenant Fraffin’s face went pale.
No matter how slow he was, he was well aware of the fact that thousands of soldiers in the Imperial Army died in the northern unexplored lands.
She confesses that the things that caused such mass deaths were a passive response to them.
However, looking back at the incidents that occurred, most of the incidents that caused direct casualties were self-inflicted by soldiers belonging to the Imperial Army.
Mana regurgitation, water snake invasion of habitat, tree monster invasion of territory, exhaustion due to excessive marching, plague, and sunstroke.
All of that was more like an unavoidable natural disaster or a man-made disaster they brought on, rather than an incident they caused.
– The reason we reacted so passively is because the Imperial Army is not our actual enemy.
“What does that mean, ma’am?”
For some reason, Lieutenant Fraffin looked a little hot.
Margarita hurriedly continued.
– Uh, um. It may have sounded like the Imperials are no match for us. That’s not what I mean, it means we have no reason to be hostile to the Imperials. Although the imperial family is wary of us and unilaterally breaks the alliance and sends the imperial army to capture or kill us, we still give our allegiance to the imperial family. It was for that very reason that he assisted in the rescue operation of His Highness the Crown Prince.
“Ahhh…”
– And strictly speaking, the imperial family is not against us. Viscount Uwebol tried to use us at will, but when things didn’t work out, he declared the end of the alliance and became hostile. The fact that the imperial family is hostile to us is only the result of his influence. To be more specific, we are not hostile to the Imperial Family because we have chosen the Imperial Family as our common front against Regal.
“Is that so…”
Lieutenant Fraffin understood Margarita’s situation.
But she still couldn’t fathom what she meant when she handed her conversation to him.
– By the way.
Her tone changed.
Unlike her pretentious friendliness when he spoke to her before her, her words had a very rigid tone and a rather stern tone.
– In the hope that you will voluntarily step down, and the thought that you and the imperial family are not true enemies, we have responded passively…
Gulp.
Lieutenant Fraffin swallows dryly.
It seemed that if her words were over, something terrifying beyond her imagination would happen.
– You didn’t think to back down. Yes?
“That, there’s still, there, a retreat order from the higher up…”
– I bet. And as we advanced deeper and deeper into the unexplored land, gears… They are persecuting us at all costs and trying to kill us to the end…
“That’s because it’s an order…”
– If we hadn’t touched us, if we hadn’t put ourselves in danger, some of the Imperials might have returned alive. But… But now, you guys are about to make a big mistake…
Rattling.
Lieutenant Fraffin shudders in terror.
He gasped for her breath, feeling an irresistible horror at her words, as if his soul had been subdued by Margarita.
“That, what is it, ma’am? Boo, please, give me a chance to right my, no, the Imperial Army’s mistake!”
He was heartbroken
During the abduction of the crown prince earlier, none of his former superiors, who fainted upon hearing her message, were conscripted for this war.
Therefore, among the Imperial Army soldiers fighting in this war, she was the only one who knew that she and her companions had these ridiculous abilities.
While the generals in her command were tallying up the damage, they might be able to vaguely guess the abilities of the saintess and her party.
However, it is rare to find out how great it is in detail.
If she didn’t come forward and confess her advice, maybe, maybe really, it might become a reality that the Imperial army would be annihilated without a single survivor as she said.
– There is a colleague beyond the wooden barrier that the Imperial army is currently attacking. One of the three is the wife of the creator of the creature you call the tree monster. She is and she is the strongest, most ruthless man among us.
“Ah… Ho, by any chance”
Margarita cut him off.
– He’s so mad right now, he’s flying like crazy towards it. Sooner or later, he’ll get there.
“Heh, heh…! Ha, but, that happened during the war,”
– Is it so. War is about dying and killing. You have 10,000 victims, so I understand your desire to capture our comrades, humiliate them until the rage subsides, and finally kill them. But… But I mean…
Her voice gets lower.
She starts to sound like she’s whispering.
– A man said. If you were weighing the 100,000 lives of a perfect other and the life of the one and only wife I love most in the world, which side would you feel weighs more?
“That, that’s…”
– That man would answer without hesitation that his wife’s life is a million times heavier. Similarly, if I were asked the same question of my husband, I would give the same answer.
“That, then, how,”
Jump!
Kudang!
Lieutenant Fraffin tries to get up quickly from the wagon and falls.
All the soldiers around him turn to him.
But he didn’t have time to worry about it.
– Do whatever it takes to convince the Imperial Command not to harm my comrades. If you harm my comrades even to the smallest degree, dialogue and compromise will never be words for the Imperial Army. Do you understand me?
“That, so, that…”
He seemed to want to ask Margarita for something.
At once she understood what he was asking for.
– I swear my name and all of my being in front of the Goddess, and I swear that there is no lie in anything I say. My will, my testimony, everything is only true. So, if you want to leave even one survivor, act now.
“Ah, ah, I see!”
Chuck!
Lieutenant Fraffin salutes the sky.
Tat tat tat!
He immediately ran to a nearby wagon,
Jump!
Chin.
Get on the back of a horse
“Uh, uh uh? Now, what is this?”
When the soldier in the coachman’s seat protested in embarrassment,
Whiik!
Quick!
“100 million!”
While sitting on the back of a horse, it turns the soldier’s chin into a kick.
Dump.
Hee hee!
As the soldier collapses, his horse goes mad.
Lieutenant Prapin gritted his teeth and gripped the horse’s mane with his left hand.
Sereung.
Squak, squeak!
Snap, Kwajik!
He drew his sword and cut off the harness connected to the carriage,
“Eehyaaaaa!”
Puck!
Wedge juice, slap!
He kicks the horse in the belly, and strikes his rump with the side of his sword.
Hee hee!
Climb up, run up, run up, run up!
He rushes
Heading north toward the battlefield.
Ride a horse and gallop with all your might.
Looking down at him through the breeze, Margarita prayed to the goddess.
Please, let the Imperial Army command do not know the existence of Eros Paradise.
Please, don’t you know that when a contestant dies, the spouse’s heart stops immediately as well.
Please, let Monohorn escape safely with the three of us.
Please, do not carry out the plan to take all the lives of those countless Imperial soldiers.
