CHAPTER 70 – RUNNIN’ WITH THE DEVIL

 

“Damn it! Why does such strong monster appear near the highway!?”

The adventurer was barely able to fend off the tiger-like monster with its 2-meter-length, that brandished its sharp claws, with his sword. The long sword is already worn-out and chipped at several places and his leather armour has been torn off at the shoulders and arms.

“It should have been safe along the highway!”

They, who were delayed in their reaction towards the approaching enemy due to their negligence, aren’t able to deal sufficiently with just a single monster opponent and have been forced into an one-sided, defensive battle.

“Let’s escape for now! We can’t handle this opponent!”

A female adventurer, who was in a slightly distant location holding her magic wand, shouted.
With her robe covered in mud due to her falling down in the confusion, her expression is worn with fatigue after casting earth magic many times over.

“Stand up and run away! What are you doing!?”

No matter how they think about it, the monster is fast and has also stamina left.

“Because I will snare its feet with magic one more time, during that time…”

“If you are going to do it, be quick about it!”

Even during this exchange, the man standing in front as vanguard is slowly getting injured.

“… Burst open, earth!”

Probably because the cast was done in a hurry, the monster is only stricken by a small scale of soil, but luckily it hit the eyes of the monster as planned.

“Gyaaa!”

Having lost its sight, the monster is shaking its head and thrashing around in agony.
The couple of adventurers, who judged this to be a gap, ran towards the highway side-by-side after having looked at the monster’s state.
Once they reached the highway after fleeing desperately and saw other adventurers and the wagons of merchants as well, they ended up sitting down together feeling relieved over the presence of the monster not chasing them.

“*pants*… can’t run anymore…”

The female adventurer, breathing heavily, clung to her wand.
She worriedly looked at the face of the adventurer, whose breathing calmed down to some degree, at her side.

“… What’s wrong?”

“At the time the monster thrashed around earlier, I saw something weird.”

“Something weird?”

Picking up a branch of a tree, he drew a circle with a triangle in the centre on the ground.

“It looked like this… probably some magic tool?”

“A monster shouldn’t have such a thing like a magic tool, now should it?”

Throwing away the branch, the adventurer looked in the direction of the woman.

“That’s right. In other words, that means someone embedded it in the monster. It’s the first time I hear about such big monster coming out in this area…”

Both of them look at each other, muster some energy and get up.

“Let’s report this to the guild. I think this is quite a big problem.”

“Right, I agree.”

A single small woman stepped in front of the two, who tried to start walking away.
To the vicinity she appears to be a magician as she is wearing a robe, but she doesn’t possess a wand.

“It’s unnecessary to contact the guild.”

Her facial expressions are lacking however she has a lovely face after taking off the hood. She doesn’t do anything but observing the adventurers with her green pupils without a change in her expression.

“… Who are you?”

Clasping the sword, which is riddled all over with chips in its blade, the adventurer set up his stance in order to protect his companion.

“I’m called Origa.” (Origa)

Doing a courteous bow, Origa looks directly into the eyes of the adventurer.

“To be honest, I didn’t think you would end up discovering the magic tool this easily either. It’s absolutely necessary to come up with something better for the next. Also, it was out of my calculations that you would be able to use the sword better than I expected.” (Origa)

“But then again, you are not at the level to even reach the sole of my master’s feet”, she continues.

“Y-You have spurred on that monster!?”

“I was simply close-by when it happened. No more than that. Though I intended for you to kill it as it is, I ended up wasting time needlessly thanks to you.” (Origa)

Opening the iron-ribbed fan with a sound of sploosh, she conceals her mouth with it and squints.

“Uoo!”

The adventurer, who judged her to be an enemy due to her words, slashed at her straight away deciding that she is a magician without a wand.
However, she nimbly parries 2, 3 slashes with the iron-ribbed fan.

“It’s useless, you know? Although you are swinging your sword, you hips possess no stability. You are throwing your body together with the sword off balance each time. It’s something I often cautioned a close friend of mine about too.” (Origa)

While saying this, she strongly hits the adventurer’s nose.
The adventurer, who retreated back temporarily due to the pain and shock, clenched his teeth while blood was running from his nose.

“One way or the other I consider it, but it is a weapon after all? I judged you to be a magician, but I misread it…”

“There’s no mistake. I’m a magician.” (Origa)

Swapping the iron-ribbed fan into her left hand, she holds out her right hand in front of her.

“! Watch out!”

The man, who instinctively sensed the danger, covers the woman by turning his back on Origa.
In the next second the man’s back is cut deeply. He collapsed in the puddle of blood he had produced himself.

“Eh?”

In front of the woman, who couldn’t even react now, the opened iron-ribbed fan was swung at the time she finally perceived Origa.

“Too slow.”

The woman’s head fell before they eyes of the man, who was barely conscious. Her facial expression was that of not having been able to understand anything.

“Fuck… why…”

Once she made sure that these became the man’s final words, Origa surveyed the surroundings.
The territorial soldiers from Fokalore are assembling by running quickly.

“Are there any witnesses?”

“There are none left. We disposed of them all.”

“Then go to the place of the monster that had been put to sleep before and dispose of it as well. It’s a problem if it can be seen from outside. Next time incise the chest and bury it deep within.” (Origa)

Once they had dumped the corpse of the man in a thicket close to the highway, Origa commands the soldiers and leaves the highway.

“Hifumi-sama… I will show you that I  can definitely accomplish this task…” (Origa)

Her muttering vanished due to being covered by the sound of pushing aside the weeds without anyone hearing it.

☻

Only limited people within the castle, such as the knight orders and a part of the civil officials, were told about the princess’ coronation.
That’s for the sake of changing all the arrangements depending on the negotiations with Hifumi.

“So, because the report of my victory will happen at the same time as the coronation ceremony, I will have to guard Imeraria while at it?” (Hifumi)

Hifumi, who finally arrived at the capital, came to the royal castle after being called out by a soldier.
The two people, who are sounding out Hifumi, are Prime Minister Adol and Sabnak, who became the captain of the Royal Knight Order.
Hifumi looked at both’s tensed expression as he was sitting in the sofa in front of them and tasting the black tea.

“I want to return home quickly since I also got further plans though…” (Hifumi)

“It’s not like I won the war if I only killed as fit without caring about victory or anything else”, Hifumi says.

“If I heard correctly, you have also reorganised the knight orders. There is probably no opposing faction left. Is guarding actually necessary?” (Hifumi)

“There is still some opposition left. We were able to drive it out to some degree, but…” (Sabnak)

He answered in a rush, but doesn’t continue after Hifumi glares at him.

“Don’t rely on external people for that degree of troubles. I think it’s it’s only natural to first use your own skills and structures.” (Hifumi)

“Uu…” (Sabnak)

In all honesty, given that we aren’t able to catch up with the replacements of the diminished number of knights due to the big battles with Hifumi and the war with Horant, I want the sole cause of it, Hifumi, to follow-up, but the decrement of our knights is substantially the payment for our own mistakes, Sabnak is understanding that as well.
Although the other side will understand it if we request it with reason, the problem was the reason being riddled with holes to stab at. (T/N: Author phrased it more elegantly as in putting in tsukkomi‘s in a comedy routine, but that is difficult to understand without the Japanese culture as backing knowledge, so  localized it) 
When he steals a glance at the prime minister sitting next to him, it becomes apparent that he intends to leave the entire situation to Sabnak. Although he somehow understands about the aim behind that, Sabnak doesn’t want to know of it.

“It will be different if they stand in my way, but don’t make things convenient by making me deal with your enemies.” (Hifumi)

“We don’t intend to do that, but…” (Sabnak)

While he was choosing his next words, the Knight Order Captain Lotomago knocked and entered the room.
Lightly nodding towards the prime minister and Sabnak, Lotomago turned to Hifumi and bowed very deeply.

“I’m the former Third Knight Order’s captain and the present knight order’s captain, Lotomago. I was informed about Hifumi-dono visiting the castle and came in order to extend my deep apology.” (Lotomago)

Staying silent, Hifumi affirmed the wish of Lotomago, who requested to be present here, by nodding.

“Thank you very much.” (Lotomago)

Lotomago, who had Sabnak yield him the seat directly in front of Hifumi, makes eye contact with Hifum as soon as he sits down.

“First off, Pajou, who had been my subordinate, and, although from a different order, our country’s knight orders caused you troubles. As someone in charge of managing this country’s knight orders, I wish to express my apology.” (Lotomago)

“Apologies are not necessary. All of them compensated for their mistakes with their lives. It’s fine with that.” (Hifumi)

Lotomago bowed his head twice due to Hifumi’s words.

“And, while being aware of my rudeness, I have a single request.” (Lotomago)

“If it’s about the guarding, I just now refused it though?” (Hifumi)

Being glanced at, Sabnak cast his eyes down.

“I don’t expect Hifumi-dono to act as guard personally. After all that’s the job of our knights and soldiers.” (Lotomago)

Upon Lotomago’s words Sabnak became even smaller. The prime minister awkwardly turned his face away.

“We are indebted to Hifumi-dono for Münster. There is a person called Vaiya, formerly affiliated to the Second Knight Order. Now he has attained a very high rank as vice-captain of the Royal Knight Order below Sabnak here, however… After he returned to the capital accompanying Hifumi-dono’s territorial soldiers of Fokalore, he told me a great story.” (Lotomago)

He wets his mouth by drinking the new black tea brought by a maid.

“I’m told that they are adopting unique training regimens and battle techniques following Hifumi-dono’s guidance and that the result of that guidance also led to the successful defensive battle of Arosel.” (Lotomago)

“Hee…” (Hifumi)

Hifumi, who showed a stern facial expression that could be even interpreted as pouting, laughed happily after hearing this story.

“Vaiya, huh? I’m remembering him. I considered him to have a good judgement, but it looks like has good eyes as well.” (Hifumi)

“Therefore, while we will guard the castle, I want to request Hifumi-dono to guide the knight orders and the soldiers, but what do you think about that? Actually there is also the fact of Vaiya going to Hifumi-dono’s territory to ask for coaching.” (Lotomago)

“This request is from Sabnak as well”, says Lotomago. Together with the prime minister, the three bowed formally.

“… I guess it’s fine. If it’s one week, I will make some time. I don’t mind if you participate in the training in the territory either. From the beginning I told you that it is your free decision without hiding anything.” (Hifumi)

Sabnak lifted his head quickly all smiles.

“T-Thank you very much!” (Sabnak)

“However, you will have to accept the conditions I’m going to tell you now.” (Hifumi)

And then he gave his conditions.
– Everyone will obey Hifumi’s instructions. The removal of defying people will be left to Hifumi.
– Construction work within the castle will be led by him as well.
– 30 territorial soldiers will be called to the capital and lodging will be prepared for them.

“Removal of defying people means…” (Adol)

As the prime minister timidly voiced his concern, Hifumi laughed scornfully.

“Be relieved, I won’t go as far as killing them if they don’t try to oppose me directly.” (Hifumi)

“Then there’s no problem.” (Lotomago)

Lotomago said plainly.

“C-Captain…” (Sabnak)

“I’m not your captain anymore. Get a grip of yourself.” (Lotomago)

“I-I’m sorry…” (Sabnak)

Lotomago corrected his seating position.

“I have heard about it from Vaiya. I heard you place importance on the cooperation in the movement of the troops. If there is someone obscuring that, they will go through a bitter experience. If they are hindrance even after that, they should be quickly removed, I think.” (Lotomago)

“Because drawing Her Majesty the Queen’s guard and the castle’s defence away isn’t entertainment for the nobles'”, Lotomago said.

“Well, then let’s begin from tomorrow. Gather those scheduled to guard within the castle and its surroundings. Summon the carpenters in the afternoon.” (Hifumi)

“Please take care of us.” (Sabnak)

While bowing once again, Sabnak became depressed that he himself would be required to participate as well.

☻

In the hands of Vaiya, who arrived at Caim’s location, he grasped the shuriken and kusarigama he had borrowed from Pruflas.

“Caim-dono, it would be a great help, if you could spare some time for me, however…” (Vaiya)

Vaiya, who knows about the busy style of the civil official slaves after his stay here for a few days, shyly called out to Caim.
Caim, looking at his figure in silence, forced all the documents he held onto Duelgar*, who was coincidentally drawing up official papers in the room. (T/N: *name change from Doelgar, author miss or I missed something here)

“O-Oi!?” (Duelgar)

“Handle this please.” (Caim)

Since even Duelgar knew that a slave can’t decline a request of a knight, who is a noble, he reluctantly decided to take hold of the documents.
Ascertaining that expressionlessly, Caim stands in front of Vaiya once more.

“So, what’s the intention behind your business?” (Caim)

“A-Ah. What’s this… ?” (Vaiya)

Caim nodded once due to Vaiya showing the kusarigama and shuriken anew.

“It’s a replica of the weapons used by Lord-sama and Origa-sama. Those things are called kusarigama and shuriken. I’m not very well-informed about weapons, but I’ve heard that these are rare things you won’t even find in foreign countries.” (Caim)

“I’ve been told by Pruflas-dono that Caim-dono is skilled with these weapons. Given that I want to incorporate these weapons in the knight order if possible, I considered to receive Caim-dono’s guidance.” (Vaiya)

“Certainly.” (Caim)

Not only Vaiya was surprised by Caim’s immediate reply, but even Duelgar, who heard it unintentionally, was.

“P-Please wait a moment! The work won’t proceed if Caim goes missing!” (Duelgar)

“Lord-sama…” (Caim)

Raising his right hand to rein in Duelgar, Caim calmly says,

“… wants to actively promote the skills of administrating a territory and the combat techniques of this Tohno territory. Our decentralized deployment has been included within this plan. It will be worrisome if the tasks are delayed with only me not being here. Besides, it’s not like I will use the whole day for it.” (Caim)

“O-Of course. If you can help me for 2 or 3 days, it will be most helpful, I think.” (Vaiya)

“Then, let’s carry out the training session in the mornings. I will find a location. Let’s have Pruflas arrange for several weapons, too.” (Caim)

Vaiya, smiling all over his faces, shook hands with Caim due to the unexpectedly favourable terms, however Duelgar wondered with teary eyes whether his workplace, that had finally calmed down, became a thing of the past.

“Duelgar, please explain the matter to the other civil officials tomorrow morning.” (Caim)

“… Understood.” (Duelgar)

I absolutely can’t imagine how I’m to escape the future of “Why didn’t you stop him?” from female camp. Even under normal circumstances, with the bad-tempered Miyukare at the top, there’s no doubt that tomorrow’s morning will become a great disaster. Rather than this, I prefer to do any work, Duelgar thought with a gloomy expression as he faced the documents.