Chapter 69: Flag of revolt
First of all, I need to let Maia calm down and I somehow overwhelm the rain of arrows with Chibi Laila"s vision (projecting a illusion of me in a different place from me and I got myself hidden). However, since Maia"s dragon body went into my view, the shooting stopped so it was almost an insurance.
……And I am caught in front of everyone with Maia returning to her human body and Laila dressed in clothes.
“I, I´m home”
“Yo, welcome home, Smithson. I thought Selenium-chan was the only female slave when you went out, but now you are surrounded by beautiful women”
Williams smiles. Yup. If it"s a smile, I want the upper half of your face to smile. Other members follow it.
“I would like to hear an explanation why 10-man captain Anzeros is wearing a collar”
“In fact, I just looked at it roughly and the people wearing a collar……there are seven!”
“What kind of thing is this, 10-man captain Smithson! Why did 100-man commander Dianne have silently watched such a.s.saults?”
“That, that was a dragon just now, right”
When I was wondering how I shall answer those questions, I was coughing and Dianne stood in front of me.
“Ah, that……for now, let"s just say that we will talk about Smithson´s matter tomorrow morning. We just returned from a long journey.”
“That!”
“100-man commander, this is our heart"s court-martial meeting!”
Dianne squeezes a sigh deeply as she admires the corps members who complain with a pretty serious face.
“I don"t want to say such things, but you guys have no luck with women”
“!?”
“Wh, What does that mean!”
“Aside from me, Selenium and Anzeros, there are many women who you guys meet for the first time, but if you are showing only such a ugly place without greetings, there won"t be any woman who would like you”
“Kuu……”
“Uu”
The corps members slightly lose their momentum. Anzeros followed up.
“The main point is, you guys only have contact with 100-man commander Dianne and I. And your whole time you are here in this corps building”
“Th, that"s that……”
The corps members falter.
“Or else, Williams, Isaac, did you approve?”
“You have to submit a report. The worst, there is also a demotion”
As Dianne joins and threatens, everyone loses their face color indeed. I"m a little sorry, but I can"t come up with an excuse to explain it now.
“Apart from that Dianne-chan, do you have a room for us to stay?”
“In the worst case in the carriage”
“Garuru”
Hildsan and Jeanne who divert the flow exquisitely and Maia who is exposed to other members as usual. Aurora and Laila are aloof, Selenium and Apple are modestly watching the flow of the field.
“……The rest tomorrow morning. Okay? And elder sister and the others can stay in the guest room. You need to be prepared to sleep together”
To Dianne´s reminder, everyone in the corps reluctantly withdraw. And we were left behind.
“……It"s a very radical corps, isn"t it?”
“Isn"t it too radical……?”
“Sorry. If there is us, they are a little more disciplined”
“Thinking about it, when Selenium came, they were so jealous”
“It feels like it"s been a long time ago, right?”
Ah, but I feel like I´m back. This stupid and energetic air, this is our crossbow corps. When I think so, I am not too angry. I was scared, though.
———————————-
Next day. As it were, the occasion was a calm morning meeting and a self-introduction (a casual excuse) other than the original person was performed.
“I am transferred from the 2nd Infantry of the southern army corps and I have been allowed to accompany Dianne-san by the special intelligence brigade, I´m 10-man captain Aurora. Thank you very much for having me here”
Everyone sighs for the elegant work of Aurora. Somehow Dianne and Anzeros are jealousy as they feel a bit far from the feminine feeling.
“I am Dianne-chan"s elder sister and a magic doctor called Hildsensei. I will consult on anything from tooth decay to digestive problems with everyone☆”
Here is the usual condition. Having a clean impression and better proportions than Dianne, everyone had a rough breathing seeing Hildsan and casual say “I happily will have my digestive problems healed by such an beautiful doctor”.
“But she is a married woman”
According to Dianne"s note, 30% of the people become depressed and make a snort. Not good everyone.
“I´m Jeanne Crux. I became 10-man captain Smithson´s disciple in the desert labyrinth colony”
Jeanne is also a beautiful girl. Because of the fact that she is a dwarf some of the guys with a troublesome hobby have a smile returned on their faces. Yup. Well so far, there is nothing wrong with it. The problem is after this.
“Emm, I´m Apple……. Selenium"s best friend……that, I´m a female slave like Selenium……I have made a vow, emm……that”
There is a part where memory flew and Apple was troubled with her self-introduction slightly. Selenium comes to help her.
“Aaaa, emm well, well that, thanks to Hildsan, she was healed. The first step of her life as a slave, shall be sunny right?”
“……Ye, Yes”
So. For now, Apple decided not to mislead. There is no way to mislead and it is impossible to say that everyone has nothing to do with me. It was Dianne"s suggestion that it would be acceptable to accept some mixing of the truth, as everyone would get used to it. ……Ah, but I"m glared at. If there is an aggression in their eyes, I may have a dangerous life. And there are still two more problems.
“I´m Laila”
“……I´m Maia”
“This is my younger sister. And Dianne is going to take care of us”
They are not similar at all, but they are two in line with the whiteness and beauty of their skin. Speaking of sisters, they can not be seen as sisters. ……I got them to hide their ident.i.ty. No, I can say that they are dragons, but I will be in trouble if I"m asked why they are here. I am really in trouble. Because I don"t understand well.
“Wait a minute, did Maisan not become something like a dragon?”
“I also saw it”
Naturally voices were raised. Yup. They all saw it yesterday.
“Hoho. It was an illusion. We have a strong magic talent. Maia often uses the illusion of a dragon for mischief”
“I"m sorry”
“For that, please forgive her”
……I decided to push through with such excuses. In the case of Helicon, for example, they doubted it until Laila transformed.
“Wh, what?”
“That"s what it was. I was seriously nervous before”
Everyone is fooled wonderfully. That"s good. A dragon is basically a super-existence of a distant world. No, it"s just not real if you make sense of it. Mostly it should be manageable…… Thank you to all of Helicon"s military soldiers. Thanks to your tips.
And, after Laila"s self-introduction was over, a beautiful female soldier with a cool impression advanced after that.
“I´m Linne Mikagami and a 10-man……no, I am a regular soldier. I was in the third infantry of the western army corps, but I will be indebted here. Thank you very much for having me”
……Who.
“……She is?”
Anzeros also asks strangely. Dianne put her arms together, exhaled and supplemented a few words.
“She is a wolf beastman and ace knight. She was an ace because she was an 10-man captain, but it seems that she voluntarily made a wish to demote because she is young and there is a naive part in a spa.r.s.ely populated colony and is too immature. She was part of the eminent and famous "western army corps third infantry", while her fighting power is being pushed by the HQ as well.
“Hee……”
Anzeros looks interested. The same goes for Aurora. They probably thought they had a good compet.i.tor.
“Even so, somewhat……emm, Isaac? Is it true that she is your fiance?”
“……Eh well, that”
Isaac is shy. It seems that Mikagami is also embarra.s.sed as she is blus.h.i.+ng with her cheeks……umm. Isaac gathers eyes of everyone"s murderous intent. Men to the last minute gnash.
“It"s different from what Isaac said the other day……he said he was longing or something simple”
“d.a.m.n……you Isaac……you ox……”
I think those guys don"t have to keep jealousy like that. I understand a little bit of their feeling though. ……Haa.
“This is……jealousy……?”
“He, Hey Smithson? You"re an ally, aren"t you? You also are in a relations.h.i.+p with 100-man commander Dianne”
“What Isaac, is that true?”
“I"m grateful to the information provided, Isaac. Our jealousy seems to be misdirected”
Uwa, the spearhead has converged to me at once!
“100-man commander, is the story right now true?”
“100-man commander! No way you too!”
“Ve, Very noisy. Who am I together with is no one"s concern”
Is the reaction different from that of talking?
“d.a.m.n you 10-man captain Smithson!”
“I"m so envious just to embody her in my brain!”
“Y, you guys need to respect the boss"s decision!”
“What kind of trick did you use, you pervert!”
“Just to evil! It"s a crus.h.i.+ng blow to keep her in possession”
These team members are useless.
“If you think about it, he put collars on everyone! How evil can you be from distancing yourself from the team members!”
“He wrote his name on them to show off!”
“Wait, wait, there is a reason for this!”
I"m lying. It is an excuse excerpted with a lie.
In a village in the far end of the desert, there is a custom that a woman without a collar can not get angry if attacked without asking. The collar isn"t just a collar. It"s a proof of asylum and possession by men. Even if it is a traveler, it is no exception that if a woman carelessly visits the village alone, the dangers of being raped and abducted by the greats who compete for the number of wives are full. Therefore, the old people from the village strongly urged us not to take them off even once, as they gave collars to us travelers.
My name was included because of the village"s “show off the master"s name” custom and I was chosen as a temporary owner of all women because I was the only man in the group. By the way, Hildsan was married, so she couldn"t afford to put on a collar of another man and didn"t enter the village. Only Dianne couldn"t be a.s.saulted by the men, as she was strong enough to wipe them out easily. Everyone was wearing a collar because we were staying at such a village before we returned.
I was thinking about such a fiction settings like that.
“Yes a lie”
“It is a well-known fact that 10-man captain Smithson likes collars”
“It"s the same as making a position for making and putting names on Selenium! It is obvious that it is handmade!”
They see through it at once.
“Even if Selenium-chan agrees to this hobby, what is with 10-man captain Anzeros! What does that mean!”
“10-man captain Aurora! Please rather marry me!”
“Je, Jeanne-chan please become my wife”
It is a place to go around for some reason and become a big confession compet.i.tion. And the great crus.h.i.+ng compet.i.tion.
“Ah, Andy is quite reliable at that……”
“You look like a woman who is so happy that you meet someone for the first time and you would sleep with that person”
“It"s different from your taste when you look like a middle-aged man”
And the big reverse compet.i.tion.
“10-man captain Smithson!!!”
“You guilty b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”
“I"ll hit you with a punch! Just hit the front teeth!”
“St, stop!”
I run away with all my strength. More than a dozen members are following. Dianne was presenting her new agenda to the remaining members, sighing and watching me off. She is going to let them do as they feel. Certainly I will only be hara.s.sed soberly if I hold them down.
“That"s why we´re going to add a few more buildings as there are more girls besides us now……”
Now let"s get away. I hope I can run away. I hope everyone isn"t as good as I am. ……Or is it useless?
In the end, I was caught and hung on a tree before the corps members left for dinner. d.a.m.n, these brutal b.a.s.t.a.r.ds.
——————————-
And one month has pa.s.sed since the squad restarted.
Dianne and Anzeros were as usual. As it happens, Dianne is a 100-man commander with a slight naughty temperament and Anzeros who is still the discipline committee chairman is a little sweeter. Selenium is also in charge of medical and general affairs as before. Apple is……surprisingly able to do divination, so she goes to town and earn money.
Hilda is the doctor in charge together with Selenium……while using new herbs from around here for new drug development. Whenever I ask why she doesn"t go home, I will be overthrown and misled. Aurora is active while being incorporated into Anzeros´s platoon. However, she is only training because there is no dispatch. It is seen that regular soldier Mikagami is extremely strong more than what Anzeros and Aurora expected and sometimes they are making a great sword training together.
Jeanne takes care of Laila. Laila and Maia……so far, spend the day relaxing in the newly built girls" camp. Maia looks almost like a kitten and she gets a little anxious that Laila is strangely quiet, as she comes along every time I visit. After arriving here, the s.e.xual approach that was so intense during the trip is also modest. No matter what, I just sit on the windows and watch the northern sky every day. It is hard to do anything because they hide their ident.i.ties of being dragons. I mean, Laila is an dragon who is mainly used by me and she helps me by keeping quiet, which is the best……I"m out of tune with it. If I tell Laila that.
“Ho. Anyway. …..If you just don"t feel like it, it"s as it is”
And she said those words silently which I didn"t understand well.
I am also a little restless. The corps is as usual. It"s not particularly busy or spare, Everyone trains and takes care of their weapons and sometimes we drink and make some noise. But something is stuck in my mind. ……The words left by old man Bonaparte.
I"m going to revolt……”
If that is true, Trot will have a big shake. In the old days the monarchy was rock solid, but the current Trot is weak. The king has lost his fangs, became a clown, has little authority and is playing chess with a merchant in the castle. There is no Sword Saint brigade now, but Trot who has become airy but loses pride and enthusiasm will receive the flag of revolt from the former strongest man. No. In the first place, who is the one who he rebels against? The monarchy? The King? Or Celesta? ……I don"t know. In the hot spring, it was Sir Bonaparte who forgave Dianne by saying, “I don"t think so. The battle of the soldiers is what we need to do now. And the war is over”, so is he going to do something that will create a fight again? That kind of majestic and fair northern nature, like a ma.s.s of power and innocence. What does he think, and to whom? The profile of Arthur Bonaparte, which was shown in the conversation with Ruth in the hot spring, in the battle against the holy beast, was convincing to the Trot hero I knew. A person that dedicated his life to the sword and the kingdom. A kingdom sword that is as stiff and honest as possible. Arthur Bonaparte made me understand that he is such a lifelike man. So I cant understand. ……Does he really want to cause a revolt? What is he going to do in the future?
“……Tsk”
Ah, my goodness, that man? I guess I cant understand politics. I am uneducated enough to be able to read and multiply the multiplication of the characters, but I"m uncertain helpless to protect myself at the minimum, so what should I do if I know there is a revolt hypothetically. Let"s say that we didn"t ask again. Let"s forget it. ……I will forget it if I can forget it. d.a.m.n it. ……I curse to the moon as usual and closed the window and went to sleep.
————————
A few days later. A flying wyvern appeared from the northern sky and landed on the ground and the messenger talked with Dianne for a few minutes before flying away again. Dianne, who had come out of the reception room, had a chilly face for a while, but she called Anzeros, Aurora and me and opened her mouth heavily.
“… Do you know the holy place Laika?”
“Very well, we”
“Yup”
I and Anzeros nod. It is a general term for the sacred mountain and the surrounding woods and towns protected by a few sacred beasts, which is the home of the church of Trot Kingdom in the northern part of Trot. If you are a citizen of Trot Kingdom, you are told that you shall go to the holy place once in a lifetime, even if you don"t go to the large city Folklore and the old town Schrantz. Everyone knows.
“Only the name”
Aurora also nods. For a while, Dianne had a look that she is chewing on something. I had a bad feeling. I wish that my intuition is not true, while still feeling something close to conviction. I stare at Dianne"s eyes, fearfully.
“……Yesterday. In that holy place Laika, it seems that Sir Bonaparte……declared the formation of the Sword Saint brigade”
“Ha?”
“The old geezers who are all Great Sword Saints and Sir Bonaparte came together. Only 40 people are in the Sword Saint Brigade……but the problem is their purpose”
“……Is it a revolt?”
“!”
Dianne opened her eyes.
“How do you know that?”
“No……vaguely”
Dianne looked at me for a while with a strong face and continued to talk.
“Yes. The purpose is… the revolt by killing king Ulysses III. What is that man thinking……”
“Killing, king Ulysses……?”
Anzeros hears it with a unbelievable taste. King Ulysses. A man who you feel his intellect and toughness and willingness to protect the country. He and Sir Bonaparte killing each other. ……Impossible.
“What does that mean?”
“I don"t know. The facts are being confirmed, but at least it is true that Sir Bonaparte has begun to march……it seems that the villages and towns on the way are welcoming him. I"m sure King Ulysses is perceived as a lost cause”
“Then……”
“They cant enter the royal capital at least a week later. The Trot corps is almost unable to intercept, so there is a immediately request of support from the northern corps headquarters and the general headquarters in Quika”
“……40 Great Sword Saints, called the Sword Saint Brigade”
Anzeros also makes a bitter face. The Great Sword Saints and Master Knight can compete with a 100-man corps alone. If there are as many as 40 people, they won"t be a match to a half-life strength. Concentrated operation of strong people who make it seem useless to approach the opponent before the fight. The scale is small, but it is the Sword Saint brigade. The invincible advance of the strongest unit that raged even in the war seven years ago.
“But now it"s just at the last moment, that they sent the northern corps to the capital immediately. And the Northern Corps is……”
“Ah, that"s what we say, but we"re weak now”
Seven years ago, in the Trot War, the Sword Saint Brigade"s attack at that time was beaten up and most of the main forces were destroyed. With the support of other corps elite and master knights in the front, the game was finally overturned by a deadly blow by the crossbows corps from the side. Although there are infantry units and cavalry units formed after that, there are also parts where personnel are turned to formation and maintenance of the newly-created Trot Corps and the northern corps is a distorted corps with many limp-like troops which cant be denied. It feels like it will help if it is in time for the royal capital defense this time. That"s why the Trot Corps, who used to be ate, has a high risk of falling all over if the enemy gets closer. After all, the Sword Saint brigade is a spiritual pillar of Trot. The content of the former Sword Saint Brigade is inevitably higher as a strong force especially
“……Should the crossbow corps alone go north at once?”
Anzeros says, but Dianne has a cool face.
“Do you think that the crossbow corps can stand alone to that man now and get through?”
“……”
Sir Bonaparte, who obtained the eye of a holy beast, can no longer be fooled by illusions. It"s like a bait to stand up without a vanguard.
“There is nothing but to let Ulysses III escape with a flying wyvern or something”
“The military headquarters will move in that direction. The problem is, once they know that the king has fled the royal capital, there is still a chance that Trot will become independent and a new king is crowned”
“You cant replace the belly with the back”
“Umu”
……Old man. What are you thinking?
—————————-
Night. I made a journey with my mind and headed for the girl"s camp along the forest. And, on the way, I meet the woman I wanted to find.
“……Laila”
“Ho. Shall we go?”
“…..Did you understood? Everything”
“Do you think I am?”
In the forest where the moonlight leaks between the leaves. From Laila"s face, I cant tell whether she wants to say that she is versatile or she wants to say that she isn"t to be underestimated.
“……My ears can hear the flapping of a b.u.t.terfly and with magic I can even strengthens it. ……That night in Polka, I heard what you talked to him, I´m sorry”
“…………”
“So, what do you do alone? If you see him alone, you probably cant do anything”
“I know”
But.
“But you want to know what the real thing is……what the old man thought and tell you”
“…………”
“Laila, please. Take me. To the old man”
Laila smiled unfaithfully.
“Yeah. I believe that there is justice in your existence”
……There is a sense that my brain is shaken. The next moment, a black dragon appeared among the trees in the forest.
“……But are you going to go without letting the other girls know?”
Chibi Laila landed on my shoulder and whispers.
“I can"t take everyone with you. ……I"m not going to fight”
“Maia and Selenium seem to feel bitter then”
“……Maybe”
When I say that, I feel a sign of something grabbing my cloak from behind. When I turned around, Selenium, Maia, Apple and Jeanne were standing there.
“Do not leave if you know”
It was Apple who grabbed the cloak.
“……Everyone”
“Other people may have a position though”
“I will follow you everywhere”
“……Andy-sama, don"t leave me”
……Uh. We will come back here……there"s no need to say that.
“It may be dangerous, so be prepared”
“Yes”
“Hmm”
“I"m accustomed to the tightrope”
“If it"s dangerous, we all together”
And we flew away into the night sky.