Chapter 080
It was night, after the sun had completely set, when we finished reporting the current situation to the king at Woodcastle.
Shia, Lyss, and I faced the king, not in the throne room, but in the drawing room, because it was a conversation that could not be leaked to anyone.
The king was making his final decision after he finished listening to our story.
“I apologize, but won’t you leave this country?”
(That was as expected, after all.)
As we had foreseen, the king ordered my deportation.
Of course, Lyss cried out in opposition.
“Please wait a moment, father! You already said that if we were able to subjugate the giant scorpion and show our power, we may do as we like. Does father, who is the king of a country, intend to go back on his word?!”
“On one hand, it pains me that the conditions for that promise have changed, but that is the case.”
“!!――”
The king declared without hesitation.
He faced us once again, and with a sorrowful look in his eyes, began to plead earnestly.
“With the disappearance of my daughter Lara and my wife bedridden, if I were to lose Luna as well, who is still just a child,--just thinking about it seems to drive me crazy. It is not my decision as this country"s king, but my wish as a father. Somehow, can"t you leave this country? I still don"t want to lose Luna, my daughter, or anything else just yet.”
If I had a child with Snow or Chrisse, and that daughter had been kidnapped――just thinking about it myself almost drove me crazy. I would absolutely annihilate the kidnapping b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, but above that, I would desperately wish for the safety of my child.
“――Understood. We alone will leave this country as early as tonight.”
“I"m really sorry......”
He lowered his head. Not as a king, but as a father.
“Though it turned out as I expected, I greatly apologize for that.”
The king left together with his guards, and only Lyss, Shia, and I were left in the drawing room.
Lyss once again bowed her head deeply.
“I also understand the king"s feelings. Don"t worry about it, so Lyss please raise your head. ....... More importantly, there"s the matter after this, but will you really be okay with just the two of you?”
“Yes, it’ll be fine. Because we have the general-purpose machine gun PKM that Lute-san produced, so we will have enough time before everyone comes back.”
“I will also do my best at protecting the princess”
The two of them firmly made a fist and a.s.serted themselves.
Even before we came to Woodcastle to report Luna"s kidnapping, we had already finished talking about our future plans in the living room of the mansion.
Involuntarily, I recall the discussion we had at that time――
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“Somehow, please save my motherland and my younger sister!”
Lyss made a considerably absurd request with a calm look in her eyes.
I unconsciously raised a wry smile on my face.
“To save both the motherland and Luna, huh..... Lyss sure says some unreasonable things with that cute face of hers.”
“C-Cute?!”
For some reason, in response to my words ‘cute face’, Lyss"s cheeks were dyed bright red.
She immediately cleared her throat, and after gathering her emotions, she smiled.
“My trusted Lute-san..... because we are comrades, I believe that you will be able to save both my country and my sister at the same time.”
Even if you say so, I am weak.
When I looked around us, Snow and the others had wry smiles on their faces.
Their answers were probably similar to mine.
“I understand. For Lyss"s sake, I will do my best to save both the country and the younger sister of my important comrade.”
“I"ll also do my best!”
[Me too. I can"t forgive the people who would kidnap my important friend Luna-chan. I won"t show any mercy!]
“It is necessary to make them pay the price for daring to bare their fangs against Lute-sama!”
“Everyone, really, thank you very much...... -sob-”
Lyss lowered her head deeply.
We immediately moved on to talking about practical matters.
“First of all, let"s organize the situation.”
Everyone nodded at my proposal.
“Concerning the day written in the record book on which the barrier stone will be destroyed, though we don"t know the details on the exact date, it should be soon, in the next few days. There is no mistake about this so far?”
“Yes, that"s exactly right.”
Lyss nodded.
“Next is the matter regarding Luna, but do we really think that Luna was kidnapped?”
“I"m almost completely certain, because this strand of hair has Luna-chan"s smell.”
Snow brought the hair close to her nose, sniffed, and a.s.serted as such.
If this first-cla.s.s "fuga fuga"-ist says so, then without a doubt, this snippet of hair [TL: lit-cutted hair] should belong to Luna.
“Then a.s.suming that Luna was indeed kidnapped...... is there the possibility of that girl returning by her own abilities?”
“I think that is too optimistic. Though Luna-sama has talent as a magician, and has outwitted us and slipped out of castle every time, I think the kidnapping b.a.s.t.a.r.ds should also desperately want to avoid having her escape and have likely imprisoned her. As I thought, to expect her to escape on her own is harsh.”
Right? It is as Shia said. As expected, it is too much to expect her to be able to escape on her own.
“Then, if we followed the instructions and left the country, do you think the hostage will be released?”
On this question, everyone fell silent.
‘She will be released’ could not be said easily.
Even in my previous life, a certain superpower had advocated "do not yield to terrorism". It was too naive to think that Luna would be released just because the criminal"s requests were fulfilled.
By just thinking optimistically, not investigating anything, and standing idly while watching, we would face the possibility of the worse outcome.
“In that case, what do you think will happen if I talk to the king about Luna"s kidnapping?”
“Without a doubt, I think Lute-san will be ordered to leave the country immediately.”
Lyss a.s.serted once again.
In other words――
1) X Day of the record book takes place soon.
2) There"s no chance of Luna escaping on her own. I should search for her in secret.
3) The deportation order from the king is almost certain.
What should we do in this situation......
I cross my arms and think deeply.
”――First, report to the king. And then, if we are ordered to leave the country, we can only obey quietly. If we needlessly make enemies, it will become troublesome not only to search for Luna, but also make it hard to cooperate after the barrier stone is destroyed. Therefore, just in case, I will hand over the recently completed PKM and equipment set to Lyss.”
[Do you plan on having just Lyss-oneechan and Shia-san defeat the horde of monsters?]
“It"s only just in case.”
Chrisse"s concern was gently denied.
“And it"s regarding the search for Luna, but.....”
Everyone"s attention focused on me.
They were eyes that said, if it was me, I would somehow deal with it.
If the soldiers of the country were mobilized unskillfully, the kidnappers might get scared and kill Luna in order to silence her.
In addition, if I did nothing, she might get taken out of the country and never come back.
I can’t see her escaping on her own either.
The only ones who could grasp the circ.u.mstances and were capable of rescuing her, were us.
However, how did we pinpoint the location where Luna was captured and confined with only a few people?
“――There"s just one method of determining her location.”
“Is that true?!”
The first one to bite was the older sister, Lyss.
“Though I think the possibility of it working is high, it"s not guaranteed. But, I think this is probably the only way......”
I spoke to everyone about the method that was on my mind.
“I see...... certainly that method has the high possibility of discovering Luna-sama. As expected of the young master, to have thought up of this kind of method, it is like you.”
“I don"t know at the moment whether or not it will go well.”
Shia understood and praised me.
I lightly warded it off.
“For now, the general plan has been decided. Then in that case, I"ll have Lyss go store one set of equipment in the workshop room using Spirit"s blessing. Shia should come too, as I"ll teach you two how to use the general-purpose machine gun PKM.”
Lyss and Shia gave an affirmation.
“Snow, Chrisse, and Meiya, just in case, please load the luggage so that we may leave the country at any time. Load that thing we made with Meiya’s idea too, as insurance.”
“Understood! Please leave it to me, Lute-sama"s number one pupil, Meiya Dragoon!”
Maybe because Meiya was glad to be relied on by me, she was in extremely high spirits.
“Then, we don"t have much time, so let"s move quickly.”
At my signal, everyone began to move and play their respective roles.
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My consciousness returned to reality.
The meeting had already ended. The only thing left after this was to move according to the plan.
I called out towards Lyss, who was facing me in the drawing room, and Shia, who was standing behind her back as a maid.
“Now then, I"ll be returning to where Snow and the others are.”
“My younger sister..... somehow, please save my sister Luna.”
“Ahh, leave it to me. Luna is also an important companion to us. We will absolutely save her.”
“Thank you very much, Lute-sama. This, please take this.”
From Lyss who was wiping her eyes, I received Luna"s handkerchief.
Then I stood up and left the drawing room.