Chapter 2 Episode 8
(Compulsory Quest 3)
Day 90 after being summoned to another world: (Compulsory request 3)
Mikhail Banashu was being put in the place while being restricted by a rope.
There's a red-haired woman, an elderly man who lost his left hand, and a big man in mid 20 with two girls behind him as if being his shadow.
Mikhail's heart beat rise high.
After all, the girl who supposedly becomes the target of the a.s.sa.s.sination is right in front of him.
Three hours have pa.s.sed since the time he was struck by the trap set by Ryouma and the others.
Among all of the a.s.sailant who got struck by stone pillars magic art, only a few of them come out alive including Mikhail.
They were only being given a minimum care to stop their bleeding, and afterward, they get thrown into the carriage while being restricted by ropes.
And then the carriage move toward somewhere, and one at a time the a.s.sailant were taken out.
And finally, it was the turn for Mikhail who was the leader of the previous surprise attack.
"You're the one who commands the surprise attack this time, are you not Banashu-san?"
Mikhail could only nod to answer the question from the man with a large build.
The tone of voice of the man is not coercive; instead, it was polite and calm.
However, such calm and polite way of talking is rather felt ominous in the eyes of Mikhail as the man from the side who attacked them.
It is still better to get interrogated by someone who turns their faces red and raising their anger.
"I've roughly heard the circ.u.mstance from your subordinates. Well, I guess you guys are people who are a bit disagree toward each other. "
Mikhail just kept silent while feeling somewhat uncomfortable with the man's words.
Among the chivalric code, there's a mention about how to deal with captured enemies.
After all, not giving information to the enemy is the iron rule of war.
"Ah... You don't have to be that cautious. Because the chance you're going to accompany us is low. "
For Mikhail, the words of the man sound like a whisper of the devil.
"You're not going to kill us?"
"That is because, for the moment, I don't see it as necessary. "
The man declared as such and shrugged his shoulders.
That means, if it were deemed to be necessary they would do it.
"But for this matter it was mutual is it not?"
Mikhail was unable to find room for argument.
Mikhail himself never likes murder. No, if he had to say then killing someone or something like that, he doesn't want such thing.
However, as commanding officer of Rozeria Kingdom royal guard, for the country sake, for the princes' sake. If it was deemed necessary, then he was willing to dye his hand with blood.
Such an a.s.sa.s.sination attempt was something that his knight pride cannot accept. However, he was being convinced that there's no other way to stops the n.o.ble ambition other than to do this.
And the man seems like he was able to read Mikhail's heart.
"Well. I don't know what do you think but, from the start, you've never regard us as your enemy. "
Bewildered expression appears on Mikhail's face after the man said such words.
"What's going on? aren't you the people from the n.o.ble faction?"
'That's it. That is the problem. Well, for now, we will try to confirm something, Mikhail-san. You will also get your answer for your own question after that. "
After saying that, the man walked around toward Mikhail's back, and placed his finger on his neck.
"... What are you going to do?"
"Oh, this is something like a good luck charm. Please don't hesitate to answer the question comfortably. "
Without waiting for a reply from Mikhail, the man winked at the blond girl.
When the girl saw the sign, she nodded and stepped forward in front of Mikhail.
"Then I will ask you a couple of question. Is it true that you're Rozeria Kingdom royal guard?""
"......................"
"Is the reason you've attacked the merchants' group have anything to do with the conflict that happens at the Rozeria Kingdom for the throne inheritance?"
"..........................."
"Did you plan this surprise attack to protect the princess?"
"....................."
"You belong to the Knight faction, and up against the n.o.ble group?"
"........................"
"Rozeria Kingdom King died suddenly, and the first princess should've succeeded him as the successor, however, the n.o.ble group had stopped her from doing that, am I right?"
"............................"
"As for the n.o.ble, they support another princess, an illegitimate child, as the will of the previous king, is that not it?"
".............................."
Mikhail desperately tried to ignore the question that comes out from the girl's mouth.
Not even once, from Mikhail's mouth, words of affirmation or denial comes out.
"This is... what are we going to do?"
The girl asks the man.
"It seems like he's the type of a person that will be hard to get an answer from. Well, it was no wonder huh... "
However, looking at the man face, he does not seems to think of it as some serious problem.
"Laura... Come forward... "
A silver-haired girl, after being asked by the man, stands in front of Mikhail.
And then the blond girl asked the last question toward Mikhail.
Hearing the question, Mikhail heartbeat raises high.
"Last question... Is she the one that you tried to kill?"
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When listening to Sara's question, Ryouma's fingertip can feel Mikhail heartbeat has risen up.
"It was right huh. "
Ryouma shows a distorted expression.
And most people in that place shows the same expression.
The truth is something that does not necessarily have to be conveyed through one's mouth.
Someone who obstinately keeping things quiet like Mikhail sometimes shows truth more than the one with the eloquent mouth.
Because he was trying to hide his facial expression desperately, people around can read Mikhail's heart easily.
Even without Ryouma's affirmation, Lione and the other can already grasp what's inside Mikhail's heart.
"I see.now... d.a.m.n Wallace, that b.a.s.t.a.r.d... we've been deceived huh... "
Words of resentment come out from Lione's mouth.
Thanks to Ryouma, there's no victim from her mercenaries group; however, there's indeed those who get injured quite bad.
They get the injuries from the rain of arrows surprise attack which Mikhail leads.
That is the damage they receive even after knowing Ryouma's prediction, had Ryouma did not tell them about it, had Lione did not take Ryouma's prediction seriously, the victim might be considerably higher than this, in fact, their group might as well cease to exist.
There's also the thing about this quest comes from the guild.
Hearing how Ryouma's group receives the quest, it was obvious that the guild master was involved with this.
Naturally, because of this, the trust they had in the guild so far has been lost, and hatred began to arouse.
"Well, with this, it was clear that Wallace had deceived us. "
Toward Ryouma's words, all the people in that place except for Mikhail nodded their head.
"Now then... the problem is the future. What are we going to do..."
"How about reporting this to the other guild?"
Bolts suggested that after hearing what Ryouma had said.
"No, I think that would be bad. We're sure that we've been deceived by Wallace, but, we have no proof. If you carelessly appeal to the other guild master without any evidence, we might lose everything instead. "
Toward Lione who refute Bolts suggestion, Ryouma nodded his head.
Bolts himself personally did not think that optimistic, he did not show any fixation toward his own suggestion.
"Well, I've thought of a way. However... it would be quite a hard thing to do, see?"
"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d, what are you guys blabbering about!?"
Listening Ryouma and the others talking, Mikhail was left in confusion.
All should have been settled if he can kill the girl with silver hair that stands in front of him.
At least, all the knight who partic.i.p.ates in this raid knows about this.
It was about three months ago, after the demise of the previous king, that a report was brought to the first princess who's in the middle of hastening the succession to the throne.
It can be said that this was an event which causes surprise for all Knight faction.
Another daughter who inherited the blood of the previous king suddenly appear in the neighboring nation, the Mist Kingdom.
An illegitimate child is by no means rare.
More so for the ruling cla.s.s, their blood is necessary.
Furthermore, these blood can be the legitimacy of a ruler.
For that reason, they make a lot of children so that the clan's blood did not go extinct.
Aside from the wife, there's also the mistress.
There's also times when they do it(s.e.xual intercourse) with a commoner's daughter as a form of play.
And as a result of that, an illegitimate child was born.
In itself, there's no problem.
The problem is having them announce their candidacy for the throne at the moment when a vacuum of power happen due to the king pa.s.sed away.
When the report was brought to the kingdom's royal capital, everyone does not believes such stupid story.
However, the rumor that they had thought will disappear in an instant, crawled around the kingdom in an instant.
And gradually the rumor becomes true.
And for the Knight faction, an event that makes it real happen.
The n.o.ble faction leader, Duke Gerhardt, declared to the public adopting this illegitimate child.
And raise the matter about the former king will.
Everyone within the Knight faction doubted this as some kind of fabrication.
However, the kingdom ended up divided in two.
And the authenticity of the will that the n.o.ble have raised up becomes not necessary anymore.
Originally Princess Lupis is also the leader of the royal guard; thus she has a close relations.h.i.+p with them.
However, on the other hand, she does not have much contact with the n.o.ble who dominate the kingdom's domestic affairs, due to not having much involvement in the kingdom's internal affairs.
Due to Duke Gerhardt the leader of the n.o.ble faction declaring support for the illegitimate child, the balance of power that can be said as the knight faction: 2, the n.o.ble faction: 3 and the neutral: 5, had been tipped off and leading to a confrontation.
The knight faction which was originally a group of soldiers was very powerful in term of fighting power; however, they are entirely unsuitable for politics; thus they were struggling to win the neutral faction.
On the contrary, the n.o.bles are far weaker in term of fighting power; however, they held more political power compared the Knight faction, leading to the present condition where the neutral faction start to move toward the n.o.bles faction.
And in that situation, good news comes toward the Knight faction.
The information was that the illegitimate child is planning to enter Rozeria Kingdom via the Mist Kingdom.
It seems like they had planned to raise an army as soon as she entered Gerhardt Dukedom.
Knowing this information, the knight faction sneered at the n.o.bles indiscretion.
They thought that everything will be settled if they killed the child who was important for the n.o.ble faction movement during the journey toward Rozeria Kingdom.
The neutral party will once again change their stance if the illegitimate child got killed.
This a.s.sa.s.sination was carried out based on such hopeful observations.
"Hmm? Even if you ask us that... "
Everyone except Mikhail nodded their head.
"Well, to say it plainly, you've been deceived, you know? By the n.o.ble faction that is. "
Hearing Ryouma's words, Mikhail's brain froze.
Originally he was a not a bright man even though he has the military power.
"I-It can't be... You can't deceive me!"
"Even if you say that... "
Hearing Mikhail denial, Ryouma shrugged his shoulders.
"Well, first please calm down. I will try to explain it. "
When he said so, Ryouma makes Laura stand in front of Mikhail.
"Well then, I will say this clearly. She's not the illegitimate child that you're looking for. "
"Lie!"
Mikhail shouting voice was high enough to reverberate and shook the tent.
"After all, the reason why you thought that Laura is the illegitimate child is because of this silvery hair, right?"
"That's right! A teenage girl with silver hair!"
Mikhail raises his voice.
As if shaking off the doubt that began to appear within his mind.
"Well, certainly Laura is a teenage girl with silver hair. ... but, let me ask you conversely. Did you determine the illegitimate child with that clue alone?"
Mikhail thought about Ryouma's question.
(A silver hair should be relatively rare. And if we include the age criteria then...)
"That's right! With that alone is enough!"
Listening to Mikhail answer, Ryouma shows an amazed facial expression.
".. You guys are very stupid, aren't you? ... If it's a silver-haired girl, then there would be countless of them within this continent. "
"The one who's stupid is you! The one who we're searching for is not just a mere silver-haired teenage girl, but someone who tried to enters Rozeria Kingdom around this time via Fulzad! There won't be many people who meet such condition!"
A smile appears on Mikhail's face.
(That's right... There's no way a silver haired girl pa.s.sed this place by accident. I don't know what they are scheming for but, I'm not going to get tricked!)
"Indeed, the probability of someone like that pa.s.sing this place would be dramatically low. However, it does not mean it was impossible you know?"
Toward Mikhail who feels convinced with his own belief, Ryouma looked at him amazed while also feels pity.
"What do you mean by that?"
"In other words, for example, they make someone unrelated using a suitable request quest to enter Rozeria Kingdom via Fulzad and leak the information to the Knight faction. Naturally, the knight faction attention will be drawn toward it, and meanwhile, during that time, they move the real illegitimate child via another route. How is it? It's not that hard to do that, don't you think?"
Mikhail confident face immediately freezes over.
"I-Impossible..."
"From the beginning, it was strange for the knight faction to get information on the n.o.ble faction you know? "
All the people in that place turned their gaze toward Ryouma.
"The illegitimate child supposedly the only trump card for the n.o.ble faction. If I had to say it honestly, to move someone like that into the country, they will, without a doubt, planned everything minutely with the collective effort of the entire n.o.ble faction. And above all, they should also pay attention to the information getting leaked. Yet, it was leaked to the Knight faction. "
Ryouma then gaze toward the surrounding.
He tries to confirm if everyone understands what he was saying.
"So, they leak it on purpose huh? boy"
Ryouma nodded toward Lione's words.
"Well, something like that highly possible if you think about it. After that, the n.o.ble faction then asks Wallace who's on their side to look for mercenaries or adventurers. With the criteria of a teenage girl with silver hair. "
"That was the reason we're being chosen. "
Toward Sara's words, Laura presented a question.
"However, Wallace is a guild master. Will someone take that kind of risk easily like that?"
Indeed, neutrality is the guild principle.
And you won't be able to manage a guild or the like unless you have trust just like how customer trust merchants contract.
Looking from this point of view, one can say that Wallace action is remarkably inappropriate.
Because they were being used as "bait" while doing quest guarding the merchants.
Is there the possibility that Wallace might not know about this as well?
That is what Laura want to say.
"The chance for that is low. The reason for that is because we took the quest by compulsory. "
Ryouma then continue explaining.
"I've also asked Lione-san, she said that usually compulsory quest are being issued only to the high-ranking mercenaries or adventurers, and apparently, due to the nature of it being urgent, only those who ranked no less than single B can take it. "
Lione nodded her head after receiving the sisters' gaze.
"In other words, there's no basis for us to accept this quest. However, when it comes to a silver-haired teenage girl who works as mercenaries or adventurer, there's only triple G rank Laura. Accordingly, they forced us to take quest by using compulsory quest while taking consideration of our inexperienced self. Which it would be great if we died during the surprise attack. And if by any chance we survived the ordeal, the soldiers from the n.o.ble faction who disguise themselves as merchants will take us out. After that, the truth will disappear into the darkness... "
Toward Ryouma's explanation practically all the people in that place agree with him.
The reason is that the merchant's carriage being empty.
The rough hand and the good physique they have would explain that they are also a soldier.
Ryouma group being the only one that was given carriage with canopy is for the reason to make the knight think that the illegitimate child is inside the carriage.
At the time they receive the surprise attack, the reason why the road getting blocked is to make sure that Ryouma and the girl got killed by the Knight faction.
So far, all the unnatural circ.u.mstance up until now has been cleared,
"... If that is the truth then... Is that guy had deceived us?... No ... But looking at this..."
Listening to Ryouma's reasoning, Mikhail leaked words of regret and lamentation from his mouth.
The person he refers as 'that guy' must be the one who had delivered the information to the Knight faction.
Ryouma then proposed something toward Mikhail who's crushed with grief.
"Even if you lamenting here, nothing will change, you know? "
Mikhail direct his gaze up and saw Ryouma's face.
His gaze filled with question.
"Well, the same as you guys who are in a dilemma due to being deceived by the n.o.ble faction, we're also in a troubled situation."
This was a matter of course.
By the end of the day, their request quest is to guard merchants group.
Even if all of that is just a lie, from the point of view of guild record, it was the truth.
With that, comes one big problem.
Although it was for the sake to survive, Ryouma was in fact attacked the merchant's carriage.
In addition, he also escaped abandoning the merchants.
If you look only on the surface, Ryouma is someone who abandons his escorting mission, letting the merchants who he supposedly guards died without helping them, and run away by himself.
And to make matters worse, if Wallace were to fabricate the knight faction who attack them as a mere thief, Ryouma and the other will be branded as traitor who abandon their mission, and might have to paid huge penalty money, not only that they might be unable to take more quest because people won't trust them.
And right now, Ryouma and the others does not have any means to counter that.
After all, everything is nothing more than circ.u.mstantial evidence.
Even if they ask Mikhail to be the witness, there's also the possibility of him not talking honestly.
After all, if what they did are being known, it will just become a stain for the Knight faction.
Moreover, the one who will become the judge is that guild master, Wallace.
To make a plea that we're are being deceived at the person who actually deceives us, that just does not make any sense.
Until here, everyone should know their present situation.
Lione and her group did not change their facial expression.
Therefore they entrust Ryouma with the decision.
Trusting Ryouma's wit as their hope.
"With that being the case, how about it? Mikhail-san. How about we join hands as an ally?"
After this, the words that come out from Ryouma's mouth will change the fate of the Knight faction and the n.o.ble faction greatly. AMAZON AFFILIATE PROGRAM 