by Ryota Hori
And in the end, the one who’d decide what counted as truth would be the guildmaster, Wallace. It went without saying that telling the person who duped them that he set them up wouldn’t get them out of this mess.
Plus, depending on the other guildmasters when they had no proof to back their claims up was a poor hand to play, too. Pherzaad was the largest trade port in Myest, and since he’d been appointed as guildmaster of that city, Wallace’s power within the guild was likely considerable. Who would be resolved to pursue the truth against this man when placed in such an inferior position? And who was to say if such a person could even be convinced to lend Ryoma his aid?
“So, what do you say, Mikhail? Will you cooperate with us?”
Ryoma’s words didn’t prompt a change of expression from any of his companions. Because they all realized they had no choice but to cling to the final ray of hope that was Ryoma’s wisdom...
That day would go on to be one which would greatly change the fate of the kingdom of Rhoadseria.
Chapter 2: Entangled Plots
“Behold! Before you stands the capital of the Kingdom of Rhoadseria, Pireas!”
Jerked awake by Mikhail’s words, Ryoma rubbed his eyes groggily and cast his gaze ahead. He’d been wary of a possible attack over the last few days, and hadn’t gotten much sleep.
“Whoa. So that’s the capital... It’s pretty big.”
There was still some distance to cross before they got there, but the spires of the royal castle were coming into view beyond the plains. The castle stood at the center, and the city was formed by the ramparts which divided it into wards. The outskirts had long expanses of wheat fields, and people were walking in an orderly fashion along the stone-paved road to the capital. Seeing how the baskets on their backs were full of vegetables, they were likely farmers who lived nearby heading to sell their crops in the capital’s market.
I see... So you can’t farm inside the walls after all... Still, I felt like this was similar to medieval Europe, but it really is a whole different world. Clinging to any preconceived notions could cost me my life...
The crops which cities consumed were produced in the surrounding farmlands. Cities were established to distribute those goods and store them in case of emergency. In that regard, it was no different from Ryoma’s world. But on the other hand, the sheer scale and scope of this city was larger than any town in medieval Europe could ever hope to reach.
A massive city, standing at the center of the plains. It was hard to tell from a distance, but it was large enough that Ryoma wouldn’t be surprised to hear it supported a population as large as one million people.
“Naturally! This is the capital of Rhoadseria, one of the mightiest countries in the continent! To begin with, in the olden days of our grand country...”
Smiling wryly at how tinged with superiority Mikhail’s explanation was, Ryoma turned his gaze to the fortified town which was beginning to take clear shape before them.
Passing through the slums spread outside the gate, they went through the outermost wall into the city. Mikhail sighed and whispered, “Well, it’s a good thing we got here in one piece. I was expecting an attack from the nobles’ faction...”
The area beyond here was governed strictly under Rhoadserian law. There was a large difference in how strongly the law was enforced inside and outside the walls. Mobilizing troops required the palace’s approval, and any group of armed people moving around ran the risk of being interrogated by the guards. Being violently attacked was very unlikely.
“Well, I thought the chances of that were slim to begin with, honestly...”
“What do you mean?” Mikhail cast a probing gaze at Ryoma.
“They went to the trouble of faking that request to arrange the raid. From their perspective, everything is probably laid out and prepared already.”
Preparing a countermeasure after confirming the situation was no small task, even in Japan’s developed society of information. And this world lacked the communication and information technology Japan had, so it would not be uncommon for days to pass before the person who set up this trap realized what had happened. If the people in charge of this plot were cautious, they would likely think they were back at square one.
But that was just Ryoma’s gut instinct on the matter, of course. That was why he sacrificed his sleeping time in order to remain vigilant. However, it seemed Mikhail didn’t take kindly to Ryoma’s words.
“However lowly the traitors of the nobles’ faction may be, you think they’d so easily ignore their master’s orders...?” So displeased, in fact, that his tone was quite sharp and vicious.
It hadn’t even been a week since they’d been attacked, but Ryoma had a pretty good handle on Mikhail’s militaristic personality. He seemed to hold a great deal of contempt for the concepts of fleeing and surrendering, and had a radical dislike of reacting to a failure or a crisis by pulling back and reassessing the situation.
He was the type to never give up a fight until he won. Saying he had great force of will was putting a positive spin on it, but his personality was simply too direct and simple-minded.
I don’t personally dislike that about him... But he’s not suited for his job. He’s the kind of guy I’d never want to see get into stock trading and gambling.
“Well, it depends on what the people in command are thinking.” Ryoma said, directing a sober expression at him. “They’ve probably clued into how their plot failed, so they must have decided to stay on the side of caution and pull back to reassess things.”
“At times like these, is an outstanding warrior not meant to use their strength to conquer adversity, and lay down his life in the name of his lord’s objectives?” Mikhail said, his words resonating with the clear mindset of a warrior.
But Ryoma couldn’t bring himself to praise Mikhail’s pride and conviction. As a single knight, perhaps Mikhail’s way of thinking would be lauded as valiant and brave, but not knowing when to retreat was a major flaw for a commander. And, perhaps unfortunately, Mikhail was no low-ranking knight.
“Not everyone clings to a knight’s honor like you do, Mikhail.”
“You intend to insult chivalrous honor?!” Mikhail met Ryoma’s exasperated tone with a face reddened by indignance.
“That question rings pretty hollow, coming from the man who turned his back on chivalrous honor to stage an assassination.”
Ryoma’s reply made Mikhail’s face contort in frustration. That was the very last thing he wanted to hear right now.
“Rrgggh... Th-That was... I had no other alternative...” He stuttered his excuses powerlessly.
That stood as proof that even he couldn’t justify assassination as a means to an end. He must have been wishing the ground would swallow him up in that instant. As if fleeing the conversation, Mikhail moved to the wagon where the injured were lying. His heart was torn between his pride and the wellbeing of his kingdom.
“Heh. What’s the point in crying over spilt milk, anyway? Besides, I don’t think assassination is the wrong way to get things done.” Ryoma said quietly with a sigh, looking at Mikhail’s back as he began tending to the injured with Laura.
“Not the wrong way, you say?” Sara, holding the reins on the driver’s seat, tilted her head quizzically at Ryoma’s defense of Mikhail.
Her surprise came from several days of listening to her master’s conversations with Mikhail, and coming to realize their worldviews didn’t mesh.
“Huh? Well, yeah... There’s nothing wrong with picking assassination in and of itself.” Ryoma replied to Sara’s innocent question with a bitter smile. “Depending on the situation, I might decide to go for it too.”
Indeed, if one used their own common sense, assassination was a terrible thing. But if a single person’s death could lead to preventing the death of many and stopping discord and strife, Ryoma didn’t think it was an option one should easily discredit. In terms of good and evil, assassination certainly fell under evil; Ryoma didn’t questio
n that. But what mattered now was a question of necessity.
“At the end of the day, assassination is just a means to an end, and what matters is whether you can fulfilll that objective...”
In this example, the objective of the knights’ faction was to prevent the nobles’ faction from elevating the illegitimate child to the status of Queen of Rhoadseria. So if one were to ignore good and evil, in terms of efficiency, assassinating the aforesaid princess would mean greatly minimized losses for Rhoadseria, rather than an open war between the two factions. No matter which faction won, if the country fell into discord, the only ones to suffer would be the citizens and farmers. The public order would deteriorate and the country’s productivity would decline.
So in that regard, assassinating the princess may not have been a praiseworthy idea on the surface, but it wasn’t a bad idea in and of itself. If nothing else, it was better than the statesman in charge of the country thrusting needless strain on the citizens due to their adherence to justice or ideals.
That hinged on them gaining accurate, detailed information, though. And it was that point that caused Ryoma to think the knights’ faction were fools.
The fact that they’d planned and executed an assassination plot while not suspecting or scrutinizing the information they’d received, for no reason other than one of their own had delivered it to them, was all too reckless. If they were to fail, it could very well cause their target to see the very fact an attempt on their life was made as a reason to employ violence in return, giving them a justified pretext to strike back. Ryoma doubted they’d thought that far ahead.
“Well, if Mikhail and his subordinates are any indication, the knights’ faction are all meatheads, but not much I can do about that, I guess...”
“What’s a ‘meathead?’” Sara quizzically tilted her head at the epithet Ryoma had muttered.
She’d likely never heard that term before.
“Oh, it’s a person who’s all brawn and no brains. Someone who’s really strong but doesn’t think before they act,” Ryoma shrugged.
“I see. So that makes them meatheads, then.” Sara gave a deep nod, seemingly convinced.
They hadn’t spent that much time together, but the way he spoke seemed to pique her interest. And indeed, Mikhail and his surviving subordinates were all impulsive, or perhaps thoughtless, and ultimately not at all the type to think things through.
“But I’m surprised those meatheads went along with your proposal.”
“Well, yeah. Mikhail might be a meathead, but he’s not an idiot. He understood once I explained my reasoning.”
That day, Ryoma’s proposal shook Mikhail’s heart to the core. And that was only natural; anyone would be suspicious if a person they’d just tried to kill suddenly asked for their cooperation. Especially after Ryoma’s plan got many of his men killed.
Mikhail had led a total of fifty troops from the capital to carry out the assassination. There were only five people still clinging to life in the wagon right now. This made a total of six survivors, including Mikhail. So naturally, their hatred for Ryoma Mikoshiba was very strong. It may have been an outcome they had brought upon themselves as the assailants in that attack, but so many of their comrades had been killed by Ryoma’s counterattack...
Still, Mikhail went with Ryoma’s proposal. Or rather, was forced to, regardless of his will. Refusing it would have left him with no other options. He’d failed to assassinate the illegitimate princess, and had lost most of his men. Just in terms of bolstering their military force, the knights’ faction had nothing to lose by gaining the cooperation of Ryoma and the mercenaries.
In addition, inspecting the corpses of the merchants showed that Ryoma’s suspicions were correct. Mingled in with the corpses were a few familiar faces belonging to the nobles’ faction, which went to show this attack was all set up by someone in the nobles’ faction.
Still, even if Mikhail was convinced, that didn’t mean his subordinates accepted this partnership easily. Wrapped as they were with ropes, they ignored the blood moistening their bandages and unsheathed their swords, glaring at Ryoma with alert eyes. In the end, they only accepted things after Mikhail convinced them, but they still burned with hatred for Ryoma. This was also apparent from the scornful gazes they directed at Laura, even while she replaced their bandages.
“Well, Laura’s spell was just that powerful. No way around that...” Ryoma shook his head as he watched Mikhail tending to the wounded. “Plus, Boltz and his group chipped in a lot too.”
“Yes, they truly are experienced mercenaries. They were able to coordinate with Laura without any practice.”
When several people chanted the same verbal thaumaturgy spell, its power could skyrocket and have even greater effects. Though the timing had to be absolutely precise, and it all came down to Boltz and the others being able to work with Laura.
“When I first heard about it, I wasn’t sure if it would work.”
“Lucky for us that it did.”
“Yeah. After all, we couldn’t afford to completely wipe out the enemy, but looking back at it, asking them to greatly diminish their numbers and nothing else was a bit crazy... But Boltz’s group did good.”
Since Ryoma needed some of the enemies to survive so he could get a handle on the situation, killing all of them wouldn’t work, and their means were limited. Honestly, just ordering to kill them all without mercy would have been simpler...
“Oh! You called, lad?” Hearing his name called, Boltz drew his horse close to the carriage.
“No, I was just saying you really did a good job back there, and that we wouldn’t have gotten out of it if it weren’t for you.”
“Well, I’m real glad to hear you say that, lad!” Boltz responded to Ryoma’s praise with a proud smile. “But the credit’s all yours for getting us through this alive, you know? We just chanted a little thaumaturgy, can’t compare to that.”
With that said, Boltz jovially moved his horse away from the carriage. He was probably a bit flustered by Ryoma’s words, and upon realizing he wasn’t being called on, went back to his position.
“But what will we be doing now, though?” Laura suddenly asked from behind Ryoma.
“Whoa, where did you come from? What about the wounded soldiers?”
Ryoma’s question made Laura’s expression cloud over. “Yes, Mikhail said he would take care of them. It’s probably better left in his hands than mine...”
She’d taken on tending to the wounded out of genuine goodwill, but the surviving knights seemed to be opposed to her presence. They had once thought her to be the source of all their troubles, and it would take time for them to change their attitudes. Her words just now were implying all too directly that it would be better for Mikhail to do it than an enemy like her.
The moment Ryoma heard her explanation, he pursed his lips and clicked his tongue sharply. Directing any sort of grudge at Ryoma and his group was terribly misguided to begin with. They were the ones who had been manipulated by erroneous information and tried to kill Ryoma and his group, who were complete outsiders to their feud. Even if they showed anger over the friends Ryoma killed in his counterattack, it would feel like nothing but unjustified resentment.
Despite the fact it wouldn’t have been odd for Ryoma’s side to kill them all, they didn’t mouth a single word of thanks even as their wounds were being treated. They certainly didn’t seem to understand their position in all this. But putting that into words would make it impossible for the two groups to ever cooperate.
“Well, whatever. What’s their condition right now?”
Even though he still felt bitter about the surviving attackers’ attitude, Ryoma changed the subject. A significant number of the Crimson Lion group’s people were injured during the first raid too, and their condition could greatly influence what they did going forward, so hearing about them was top priority for Ryoma.
“Well, the majority of them got away with only scrapes and cuts, but between the few wh
o were severely injured and the mercenaries, we had enough nostrum stored to go around, and they should all make a decent recovery given a few more days. Your injuries were actually the most severe out of them.”
Well, she called them severe, but it probably seemed like he was bleeding profusely because of all the cuts and scratches he’d suffered from the hail of arrows. In actuality, thanks to them having prepared a good amount of nostrum, all his wounds had already scabbed over, and all that remained was for time to work its magic and for the scars to heal.
When it came to treating visible wounds, it was a lot easier and simpler in this Earth compared to Ryoma’s.
“That’s good, then...” Hearing Sara’s explanation, Ryoma’s lips curled into a smile. “At worst, we may have to fight at least once.”
Ryoma’s words made the twins’ faces stiffen with tension.
“Are you saying the audience with the princess may not go over well?” Laura asked.
“Well, it’s a possibility.” Ryoma nodded quietly.
Honestly speaking, this offer was something of an all-or-nothing gamble for Ryoma. Whether the knights’ faction or the nobles’ faction won the coming conflict was none of his concern, and normally, he wouldn’t stick his neck into such an irritating power struggle. But since he’d been unintentionally swept up in this political strife, he couldn’t afford to not take sides with one of them.
What if he chose not to? In that case, Wallace would indict Ryoma, pushing all the responsibility onto him, and there was even the option of the guild dispatching assassins in retribution. The probability of that option felt very high, and Ryoma’s group would have absolutely no means of opposing it.
They would likely be able to repel one or two attempts on their lives, but even if they kept evading every individual assassination, they would have no real solution. So long as the guild’s power as an organization over the continent remained, or they didn’t flee to a place where its hand could not reach them, they would never know peace.
