Episode 72: Preparing the rescue squad. Yamato decided to go to the sea of trees where the spiritual beasts lied in order to save the empire"s knight Barrès.
They parted from Loki at the castle of the imperial capital and returned to get prepared.
“Ohh, Yamato-niichan is back! ”
“Isis-neechan and Lienhardt-niichan are also back! ”
“Danna, welcome back.”
As they returned from the castle, they were welcomed by everyone from the village of Urd who were currently in the stall at the bazaar.
The playful Lacq, whom had disappeared right after entering the capital was also back with his usual laid-back expression.
“Yamato-sama, welcome back. You"re back earlier than planned.”
Leaving the stall, the village chief granddaughter Liscia, welcomed him from the negotiations with the empire.
Originally, they had planned to come back in the evening, after thoroughly carrying out negotiations in various places.
“Sorry, we"ll have to close the shop earlier than antic.i.p.ated, get ready to leave soon.”
“…Understood, Yamato-sama.”
For a moment Liscia didn"t know what to say.
However, she immediately guessed the circ.u.mstances and instructed the children to pack up the store.
Them ‘dancing to the same beat", might be result of them sharing distress and happiness these past two years.
“A buyer for all the goods in the wagon was found. There are a lot of prying eyes here. I"ll explain in detail once we"re back in the inn.”
Yamato too gave instructions to the children.
The items were loaded from the stall and into the wagon, and everyone was ready to leave.
The deal was to bring all the products to one of Prince Loki"s villas.
One of the conditions that Yamato negotiated to go help Barrès quickly was for the prince to buy all the remaining products from Urd.
Of course, at the same market price they were offering at the bazaar, Yamato didn"t intend to bleed money out of him.
After unloading the luggage at Prince Loki"s villa in the imperial capital, the Urd group went back to the inn.
After gathering everyone from the village, Yamato explained the circ.u.mstances and the future plans.
Providing information was essential for the success of the operation, and he also wanted to hear the opinion from each person.
“I see, Yamato-sama. You"re going to rescue the knight and the exploration team from the empire? ”
“Yeah, that"s basically it, Liscisan. Just like previously in the rock salt mine, everyone will wait outside the range of the curse.”
“Alright, understood.”
“Okay, leave it to us, niichan! ”
Liscia and the children from the village had a solid understanding of the strategy this time.
Especially those who confronted the spiritual beast at the rock salt mine were cautious, knowing the horrors of that experience.
The spiritual beasts had the curse ability, which forcibly manipulated opponents who attacked in groups.
Therefore, it was not possible to subjugate it with many people. Liscia and the rest of the children were to wait outside the range.
After rescuing Barrès and the exploration team, the wagon unit would be responsible for their transportation to the imperial capital.
“You too, Gaton-jiisan, this time don"t come.”
“Hmph, I know that already! ”
He also properly told the old blacksmith Gaton to not be unreasonable and refrain from accompanying him this time.
Last time, when they exterminated the spiritual beast in the rock salt mine, Gaton was filled with feeling of revenge for his past companions who were killed by the spiritual beast.
They were lucky that time, but luck wasn"t something to count on.
Together with Liscia, they were to wait in the wagon along with the rest, outside the range.
By the way, Jii-san. Have you adjusted that weapon you spoke of? ”
“Of course. Here, catch it.”
He received the new weapon from Gaton.
It was a single short spear.
“It has a nice feeling to it.”
“That"s but of course. Who do you think I am?”
This was a spear designed by Yamato a few months ago, and created by Gaton in the village of Urd.
However, a special metal was needed for some finer details, and he brought it with him to the imperial capital.
The Empire had good minerals since it possessed many mines, and in the imperial capital there were some blacksmith fellows from Gaton, members of the Mountain Clan People who had opened stores here.
After Gaton managed to acquire the mineral, he borrowed a workshop and completed the short spear.
“But, can you really use this thing? It"s truly like a monster. ”
“In theory, there should not be any problem. All that"s left is to try it in actual combat.”
“Hmph. You"re as reckless as ever, Yamato-dono.”
“I"ll properly be cautious.”
Yamato confirmed the function of the “short spear” handed from Gaton.
It was thicker and a bit crooked when compared with a normal spear, but at a glance, it was a short spear with nothing out of the ordinary.
This was the new “anti-spiritual beasts" weapon” invented and designed by Yamato from his experience on the deadly fight against the previous spiritual beast.
But he never expected he would truly be fighting against another spiritual beast until he came to the Empire.
But even with this new weapon at hand, he wasn"t sure everything would be okay.
“But still, the “spirit cave in the Eastern Sea of Trees, huh? Danna.”
Almost as if reading the time to speak, a frivolous voice came.
It belonged to Lacq, whom had wandered the imperial capital for a few days.
“Do you have any information about it, Lacq? ”
“Oh, danna! Actually, I heard about it by chance…”
Lacq explained about the rumors he heard from acquaintances in the imperial capital.
A mysterious ruin was discovered two years ago in the Eastern Sea of Trees, which was their current destination.
It suddenly appeared in the forest, in a place where before there wasn"t anything.
Two years ago, the first team from the empire was sent to investigate it immediately.
However, the gate of the ruins was harder than iron and it couldn"t be even scratched by any kind of attack.
The speculation was that it was probably some ruins belonging to the ancient super empire era.
Afterwards, they gave up investigating, but kept monitoring in secret, that was the explanation that Lacq gave.
“But recently, there seems to be a sudden change in the ruins. That"s the reason an exploration team was sent led by Barrès, danna.”
“I see. At least it"s consistent with Loki"s story.”
From the information of Lacq, Yamato formulated a hypothesis in his mind.
However, there were still many mysteries that couldn"t be explained in detail about the ancient super empire, which boosted a more advanced culture.
Ruins the scale of those in the information of Lacq had not been found yet on this continent.
But even so, Yamato wondered about the real ident.i.ty of Lacq, whom acquired this secret information that could be considered of a national level with this timing.
Yet, so long as he did not spoke about it himself, Yamato had no intend to question Lacq about it.
“I get a pretty bad feeling this time. Please be careful, danna.”
“Yeah. I plan on only help Barrès and the others and escape regardless of the Spiritual Beasts. Don"t worry about it, Lacq.”
This time, the rescue of the imperial exploration team was the primary goal, so the strategy wasn"t very complicated.
There were also the testimonies of those who managed to get away, stating that there were multiple spiritual beasts, so he was particularly cautious.
“Anyway, there"s Lienhardt this time.”
“…I don"t remember saying that I"d go with you, Yamato.”
Said Lienhardt, whom had kept his mouth closed this whole time and now had a sour look on his face.
This time, Yamato was determined to confront the spiritual beast along with the knight Lienhardt.
“This would also help Orn… Isis with her negotiations with the empire, and give her an advantage, Lienhardt.”
“I knew that even if you didn"t say it! And of course, leave it to me, Yamato! ”
There were several reasons why Yamato decided to take the trouble and go rescue Barrès this time.
One was to make Prince Loki owe him a favor, by helping his friend Barrès.
This would lead to a considerable advantage in the future negotiations between Orn and the Empire.
After being explained so, the knight Lienhardt was easily persuaded.
In particular, the phrase “for Isis" sake” seemed to make Lienhardt immediately move.
Yamato thought this much was due to his high allegiance to her as her guard.
“Alright, is everyone ready? Let"s head to the east gate of the capital.”
After finishing the preparations in a decent location, the Urd group headed for the east gate, where the guides that Loki had prepared were waiting.
The group finally reached the east gate of the imperial capital.
When shown the special token handed from Prince Loki, the soldiers at the gate guided them to a gatehouse.
According to Loki, he would select five people to serve as guides from among his subordinates.
The appearance of spiritual beasts and the disappearance of the knight captain Barrès were top secret matters, even inside the imperial army.
And since Prince Loki decided to stay put and not mobilize the army, Yamato decided to only borrow the knights who would be the guides.
Yamato got to the front of the room where he was guided.
“It"s here…kuu…”
It was then.
The guiding soldier who opened the door to the room raised a voice of agony.
At the same time, he was. .h.i.t by something in the head, fainting and collapsing in the spot.
“Yamato of Urd… I was growing tired of waiting for you.”
So said the girl who had made the soldier collapse.
Inferring from the tone and situation, she was waiting inside, knowing he would be coming.
This girl… she also attacked the knights who would be our guides…
Inside the room, five knights of the Crimson Order lied fainted, stretched on the floor.
This girl was skilled enough to resist and knock out these knights.
“They sure are undisciplined people. Well, since there"s no other choice, I"ll be your guide instead, Yamato.”
The girl… the beautiful Valkyrie Knight with hair the color of flames, Sildria, approached Yamato with an impish smile.
And thus, together with an unexpected girl, Yamato asked for direction to their destination.
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