Kujonin

Kujonin
Author: Hanakuroko
—

The next day, I awake with the blade of a sword glistening in the morning sun against my throat.
In front of me I a see a bearded warrior I have never seen before.
"Yo, good morning. So what is this about?"
"You are charged with the crime of rebellion against the state. Obediently come to the Lord"s manor."
Ayl"s mouth is sneering, but Teyl"s face is becoming blue.
"You! What is so funny?"
A man clothed in black thrust a blade at Ayl.
"Ah, no, my bad. It"s better not to rouse that man too much. Because the country will probably be overthrown."
Ayl said while stifling a grin, looking at me.
"It"s not really calm this morning, na."
I said and grasped the blade at my throat.
The blade seemed easy to bend, so I pushed back suitably.
The bearded warrior"s entire body was stiffened, so he fell on top of the bed.
I checked Ayl and Teyl"s wrists to ensure that the Revival Misangas were still tied.
For now it seems that they weren"t going to die.
I got up from the bed, grasped the knife blade that was thrust at Teyl and easily broke the blade.
The face of the warrior who fell went red; he stood up and held his blade against the bed that no one was in.
I turned to the man who had frozen in front of Teyl while grasping the blade.
"I"ll ask for you not to point this kind of thing against my slave, please?"
When I spoke, the men finally realized that I had moved and looked over.
I guess their eyes couldn"t keep up.
"Then…"
I drew a magic circle at the feet of the men, and when the men realized it, the three men were restrained from the neck down.
"Right. For now, Teyl, let"s eat breakfast."
Teyl seemed relieved, let out a sigh, and with a "Understood," she began making sandwiches on the table.
"Oi, what is this!?"
"I can"t move!"
"What happened!?"
I ignored the men, took out my coverall from the closet, and put it on.
Ayl stole the weapons of the men from their hands.
"And so, what do we do with these guys?"
Ayl asked.
"Taking everything they have and tossing them out the window would be fine, right?"
I said while stuffing a sandwich in my mouth.
I know that the men"s faces twitched.
"Ahahahaha! Let"s do it! Strip them completely bare and throw them out together!"
As Ayl laughed delightedly, the blood drained from the men"s faces.

"For now, it"s fine as long as we go to the Lord"s manor, right?"
""" …Yes!"""
Again, the men were surprisingly well-behaved when threatened.
As we ate sandwiches, we had the half-naked men give us an explanation.
Somehow, it seems that the money I gave for Velsa"s support is the origin.
It seems that Velsa is the previous Lord"s daughter.
We"re suspected of wanting to use Velsa in order to raise a rebellion, and that"s what the financial support was for.
"In the first place, how was the fact that I gave money to Velsa found out?"
"That"s, uh…"
The current Lord is wary of the citizens" revolt and is very fearful; they said he"s especially wary of Velsa.
And also, an outsider shouldn"t be allowed to win the compet.i.tion, so an order for Ayl"s execution was made, they said.
"Then it seems a little punishment is in order, ne. Teyl, go on ahead to the shipyard and wait for me. Because I"m going to drop by the Lord"s mansion."
"Understood."

We parted with Teyl in front of the inn, and the 5 of us went off to the Lord"s manor.
The Lord"s subordinates who intruded into our room were in a single loincloth with their hands tied together and connected by a rope.
Ayl has the end of rope and she"s yelling things like, "Faster, faster, come on!"
The townspeople are watching with curious eyes; they attacked people in their sleep, so it"s fitting punishment.
They could tell that it was the Lord"s men immediately and it was early in the morning so the curious onlookers increased steadily; behind Ayl and me a procession began to form.
It"s a bother when they throw stones and wine bottles from the sides of the road, so I drew a magic circle on the bodies of the Lord"s men to raise their defense.
The citizens who heard the commotion made a path to the Lord"s mansion.

The Lord"s mansion was a little ways out from the town in a quiet neighborhood, but right now there were the curious onlookers so it was noisy.
I opened the iron lattice gate of the stone gateway and entered the site.
Are all the Lords" mansions made the same? It"s like the mansion where I exterminated the vespahornets in Kubenia.
"Excuse me!"
When Ayl yelled, from within the mansion a gentleman in true butler garb and a white mustache appeared.
His posture was elegant, so he felt refined.
"What can I do for you? Everyone, could you possibly be revolting?"
He said that with a gentleman"s smile.
"No. I believe it might be a mistake, but these people attacked us in our sleep. When we asked they said they were Lord-sama"s subordinates, so is that so? I didn"t think that they"d possibly be these kinds of weaklings, but I brought them here just in case for confirmation."
I also countered with a smile.
I"ve already deployed the Search Skill.
Within are maids and butlers gathered around the windows, and the person I think to be the Lord is confronting someone within a room.
"Let me see."
The gentleman carefully looked at the Lord"s men and,
"I do not remember hiring people like these half-naked men. Do with them as you wish."
""" No way!"""
The subordinates all yelled together.
"Silence."
The gentlemen released his bloodl.u.s.t at once, and the half-naked men cowered.
It was a splendid bloodl.u.s.t.
Ayl is in a state where it seems she can"t bear it, looking downwards with silent laughter.
This is why battle junkies are troublesome.
"Do you intend to smear more mud on the Lord"s face? You dogs."
The subordinates are unable to say anything.
"Then I will turn these people to cinders. By the way, has a scholar by the name of Velsa intruded into this mansion? She"s a friend."
"I am unable to answer that question."
"Then I will be confirming it myself."
I walked by the gentleman"s side towards the mansion.
When the gentleman went to grab me by the nape of the neck, Ayl stopped him with her scabbard.
"Stop! You are illegally trespa.s.sing!"
The gentleman overturned Ayl"s scabbard with a knife he had and, brandishing it, went towards me.
Ayl slashed diagonally at him from behind and the gentleman dodged to the side with his light body.
Like that, Ayl swung her sword sideways. That, the gentleman dodged.
"This gramps, you"re stronger than the guys from yesterday"s compet.i.tion!"
Ayl delightedly attacked as she yelled.
"I"m leaving this to you."
"Aa, no problem!"
With the sound of Ayl"s sword and the gentleman"s knife ringing, from the onlookers, admiring voices of "Oo—!" and similar voices rose up.

When I had reached as far as the mansion"s front door, on the opposite side the maids had rushed the door.
"I"m forcing through-!"
I called to the people within and pushed the door.
A silver candle-stick like thing was used to bar the door, but I seriously pushed the door so the hinges gave way and the maids fell to the floor.
I lifted the door overhead with one arm, and with the other hand I drew a magic circle.
In an instant the door lit up in flames.
"""Kya-!"
The fallen maids screamed at the sudden light.
Immediately, the door had become cinders.
"Could you let me through-?"
Fl.u.s.tered, the maids opened up a path for me.
My aim is the Lord"s room.
Along the way, butler-like men were attacking, but because I was wearing the coverall, neither slashing nor bashing attacks work.
For now, let"s defeat the attacking butlers.
When I defeated them there was a cracking sound, so I guess bones are being broken.
"Do you intend to rebel with just 3 people!?"
A butler who was watching his companions be defeated said.
"No, I"m just retrieving my friend."

I finally reach the front of the Lord"s room.
When I knocked and opened the door, a ball of fire hit my chest.
Of course I"ve bestowed my coverall to be fireproof, so there wasn"t any damage at all.
The quite fat Lord was pointing a staff towards me.
To wipe the ashes off, I wiped the spot the fireball had struck me and, to Velsa standing in the middle of the room,
"Yo, Velsa. Morning. I came to get you,"
and with a face full of smiles I lifted my hand with a greeting.
"Why are you here!?"
Velsa saw me and was surprised.
"No, well, I was thinking that you would be here. Did anything happen to you?"
"Nuh uh, nothing happened. It"s just, they"re asking me if I have the intentions to rebel."
"I see. If they had touched just one of your fingers I had the intention of setting this mansion on fire, though…"
At my words, the Lord flapped his mouth open and close, then,
"Just try killing me! The Capital will send their troops!"
So they"ll send their army…. so I thought but, when I was thinking I"d exterminate the troops from the Capital, I thought it"d come around and be a bother to Sera who was studying magic at the Capital.
"It"s alright. They really didn"t do anything. They only asked for a response. There"s no reason to be here any longer."
Velsa said.
"Then let"s go."
Velsa nodded and we went towards the door.
"You, you do understand what will happen from now on? You won"t be able to live in this country!"
The Lord suddenly fired off those words at us.
Velsa stopped in her tracks and returned,
"Why are ships only sold to the n.o.bles? Why is it that only the same people can board the ships?"
The Lord was confused to silence by Velsa"s question.
"That was the answer I wanted to know… however, I"ve had enough. I will find it out myself. Let"s go."
Velsa took my hand left the room.
"Hahaha! You guys don"t know about that monster! As if anyone is able to go to new lands!!"
The Lord said that to our backs.
Without turning back, we left the mansion.

In the garden Ayl is bullying the gentleman.
"Ya don"t got enough stamina! Just training techniques; go running! Running-!"
The gentleman is being kicked in the a.s.s while running around the outer circ.u.mference of the grounds.
The townspeople are laughing and cheering on the gentleman.
"O, I"m back."
Noticing us coming outside, Ayl came running over.
"Velsa! Long time no see!"
"Ayl! You came to this town!?"
"Rather than coming, I"m the one who told Naoki about Velsa, you know."
"Really!?"
The two look at me.
Oh yeah, I didn"t say anything about it.
"Aside from that, Ayl. Seems like we"ve become wanted. Lets hurry and go to sea!"(naoki)
"Got it!"(ayl)
"Velsa, you also get your stuff together; won"t you come to sea with us?"
"Un, I will!"
For the time being we will go to Velsa"s house, and from there we will go to the shipyard to meet up with Teyl.
At long last the curious bystanders also began to disperse, and an exhausted atmosphere drifted about the Lord"s manor.