Editor: Thorrium.

Chapter 2 Episode 9

(Audience 1)

Day 96th after being summoned to the new world. 

"This is Rozeria Kingdom’s royal capital, Piraeus."

Listening Mikhail's words, Ryouma opened his eyes wide and turned his line of sight toward the front. 

"Hee... That is the royal capital huh?... It's pretty huge... " 

"That is natural. After all, this is the royal capital of Rozeria Kingdom which can be regarded as one of the great nations within the western continent's eastern part! In the first place, Rozeria Kingdom is..." 


Ryouma observed the royal capital that began to appear in the distance while smiling wryly due to Mikhail explaining the kingdom's history filled with pride due to his strong sense of nationalism. 

"First of all, it was good that we could safely arrive here. After all, we expected the n.o.ble faction to have planned ambushes along the way…"

Mikhail who was feeling relieved, said those words, and Ryouma who heard them showed a smiling face.

"Indeed, the possibility was there after all. Maybe because we found out about their disguises, they began to feel cautious when it’s come to the matter of pursuing us..." 

"Are they going to give up just like that...?" 

Ryouma answered him with an expression as if asking him 'dissatisfied?', which in turn make Mikhail's expression became stiff. 
Although they had just been acquaintances for six days, Ryouma had already grasped Mikhail militaristic character. 
He got an unpleasant feeling finding out the enemy had given up on pursuing them just like that. 
He didn’t like hard jobs nor did he enjoy failures, he hated when he had to redo everything from the beginning. 
If one had to say, it was also in his nature, to not stop doing something, until it was finished, and he was the winner... 

"Well, everything depends on who takes the command. They might have chosen someone who gives up and prioritised safety after their plan had failed. " 

"A military man is someone, who when they fail at something, will stand up, stronger and more determined than before, and conquer what they previously had difficulty with, or do you disagree?" 

Mikhail's words were filled with a sense of belief in strength and bravery. 
However, Ryouma's didn’t value such beliefs very highly. 

"Not all knight put the same value in honour and pride like Mikhail-san, don't you agree? " 

Listening to Ryouma's astonished tone of voice, Mikhail's face turned red. 

"Are you making fun of Knight's pride!?" 

"Those words are something a person who had attempted a.s.sa.s.sination shouldn’t say, no? " 

Hearing that words, Mikhail's face became stiff again. 
Because that was the words, he doesn't want to hear the most right now. 

"Gununununu... T-That was... Something that it couldn’t be helped..." 

Barely able to say that much, Mikhail moved towards the back where the injured people was sitting and receive potions from Laura. 
No matter how much he sugarcoated his words, he knew it wouldn’t change the fact, that he was planning an a.s.sa.s.sination. 
Even though he understood that, Mikhail still felt worried. 
Mikhail was wondering what he should prioritise, his knightly pride or the national crisis. 

"Funn... Although I think there's no point for him to lament about such thing, after all, I never thought what he was doing was wrong. " 

Sara heard Ryouma speak, while he was watching Mikhail's back, who was regretting what he had done…  Sara then asked a question. ‘

"It was not wrong? " 


"Hmm? Well yes... there's nothing wrong with planning an a.s.sa.s.sination. Had I been in the same position as him, I might have chosen to take the same action after all. " 

An a.s.sa.s.sination is something that can not be said as something admirable. 
However, Ryouma thought that if it could save many lives by just killing one person, and the possibility of suppressing a civil war that would surely ravage the land, such choice should not be excluded from the other options due to something as silly as an honour. 

"In the end, an a.s.sa.s.sination is always just one among the many choices that existed. Where you hope that your choice will help you achieve your goals. " 

For example, the knight faction’s goal is not to let the illegitimate princess from the n.o.ble faction become the Queen. 
And when thinking the efficiency of doing things, choosing to a.s.sa.s.sinate the illegitimate princess would certainly cause, the least amount of damage compared to engage the n.o.ble faction in a b.l.o.o.d.y civil war. 
However, going down that route, required them having obtained the proper information.
And that was why Ryouma thought the knight's actions was idiotic. 
It was foolish of the Knight’s faction not to have confirmed the information before setting their a.s.sa.s.sination plot into action. 
The reason why the a.s.sa.s.sination didn’t go as planned, might have been due to them hesitating. 

"Well, looking at Mikhail, it seems like the knight faction is filled with muscle heads." 

"Muscle-heads? What is that?" 

At the end of Ryouma's explanation, Sara heard words that she does not know the meaning of it. 

"Ah... In other words, it’s those people whose only focus are getting stronger and prioritise the use of force, which means that when they are doing anything that requires brain activity, they mess up." 

"Ah... I see. So that's muscle head..." 

In these past six days he had been acted together with Sara but, to suddenly understand each other behaviour and speech is still rather hard.
Indeed looking at Mikhail subordinate that survived, whether because they are straightforward people or whatnot they seemed to be people that lacked in the brain department. 
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That day, Ryouma's proposal causes a great stir within Mikhail's heart, which all things considered was natural. 
After all, no one would think that right after being enemies; he would suddenly propose them becoming allies. 
Furthermore, many of Mikhail’s subordinates had been killed by Ryouma's scheme. 
At the time when Mikhail was starting the a.s.sa.s.sination plan, he had 50 people under him. And now, among them, only five had survived. 
Including Mikhail, six people survived. 
Naturally, their hatred is strong. 
And yet, Mikhail decided to accept Ryouma's proposal. 
No, opposite to that, it's more like he had no other choice other than to accept. 
Even if he had refused Ryouma's proposal, Mikhail didn’t have any other alternatives. 
Not only had his a.s.sa.s.sination attempt failed, but he also lost many of his men. 

Even if they excuse it, by saying it for the sake of supplementing their forces, and it was definitely a plus for the knight faction to become allies with Ryouma and the mercenaries.
However, even if Mikhail himself was convinced with that, his subordinates weren’t as understanding. 
Even when they were being set free from the ropes, they prepared themselves to go up against Ryouma once again, even though that meant ignoring their bleeding wounds. 
In the end, they accepted Mikhail's words; however, the flame of hatred still flickering within their eyes. 
It could even be seen when they looked at Sara who tried to change their bandages for them.

"Well, Bolts-san’s bamboo rock magic is quite powerful after all."  

Ryouma muttered those words while watching Mikhail's back who is currently helping to nurse the injured people. 

"Indeed. As expected of a veteran mercenary. To think that he was able to cast magic arts with such wide range." 

"When I heard it at first, I was wondering what was going to happen." 

"It's good that everything went smoothly, yes?" 

"Indeed. After all, it would be bad to annihilate everyone, but demanding to decrease the opponent drastically while leaving one or two survive is in itself was quite unreasonable... So in actuality, Bolts-san did quite a good job." 

In order to grasp the situation, Ryouma absolutely needed survivors. 
In other words, he didn’t want to kill all of them, just because they had attacked. 
Of course, the means of achieving that is limited. 

"Ou! Did you call me? Young master. " 

Bolts who heard his name being mentioned moved his horse closer to the carriage. 

"Oh no. We're just saying that thanks to Bolts-san’s performance, we were able to survive somehow. " 

As he heard Ryouma's words, a smile appeared on Bolts' face. 

"If young master said that then I'm happy, however, the reason for all of us to survive this time is entirely due to young master, you know? My magic art is something trivial. " 

After saying those words, Bolts moved his horse away from the carriage once again. 
One might wonder if he said that because he felt embarra.s.sed. 
After he confirmed, that his name had not been called, he immediately returned to his original position. 

"But then, what are we going to do from now on?" 

Laura suddenly called out from his side. 

"What's wrong? You surprise me. Is the medical treatment for the injured people finished already?" 

"Yes. Mikhail-san is helping after all. More than I do..." 

Hearing Ryouma's question, Laura's face gets cloudy. 
Although it was for the sake of wound treatment, Laura still felt a considerable criticism from their gaze. 
To summarise what Laura had said, it's more like 'It is better for Mikhail to do it rather than me who they see as their enemy'. 

"It's fine... Also, how is the condition of the bunch from the 「Red Lion」" 

"For the most part, they only have slight injuries, so they should all recover quickly and completely…More importantly, Ryouma-sama's injuries are heavier, you know?!" 

Well even if she said that his wounds were heavy, all it was just scratches from the arrows raining down upon them, but due to the blood from all the minor scratches he got, resulted in him being all b.l.o.o.d.y, which make him looking heavily injured. 
In actuality, after he cleaned his wounds, it's was just a matter of him waiting for the sc.r.a.ps to disappear. 
After listening to Laura's words, a smile appears on Ryouma's face. 

"That's good then. ... Since the worst case scenario, we might have to fight again soon, after all. " 

The sisters' face tightened due to Ryouma's words. 

"Will the audience fail?" 

Ryouma nodded toward Sara's words. 

"Well, there's that possibility. " 

Actually, Ryouma is betting on this proposal. 
In Ryouma's eyes, it didn’t really matter much whether the Knight faction or the n.o.ble faction ended up controlling the country. 
However, getting rolled up into political strife against his will, he has no choice but to support one side. 
After all, if he didn’t support one side, then there was the possibility that Wallace might push all the blame and responsibility onto Ryouma, and then sent an a.s.sa.s.sin from the guild to kill him.
Right now the possibility for that to happen is quite high.
And currently, Ryouma didn’t have any means to counter such things.  
After all, the person that forced him into this mess to begin with was the very same person who would be the judge if they wanted to claim that they were wronged, which is Wallace the guild master himself.

They had thought about taking the issue to one of the other guild masters… but they deemed it to be quite dangerous to do that. 
One may be wondered who the guild masters would believe, Ryouma and Lione on one side, being adventurers and mercenaries or one of their colleagues, Wallace.
Also, it was quite likely that the guild masters simply won't concern themselves with this case, as it didn’t directly affect them. 
And even if Ryouma ended up talking with one of the other guild masters, there was a very good chance that they would simply think that Ryouma was trying to make excuses for failing and abandoning his quest.
In other words, Ryouma's only choice in regards to dealing with the problem was to first get someone influential to back him, all in order for them to judge him fairly. 
And currently, the Knight faction was the only option Ryouma had when selecting who to be his backers 
Whether they were a mere bystander or an influential person in some country, there would be no merit for them to help Ryouma.
Thus the only one that could actually offer him support was the Knight faction. 
In exchange for that, Ryouma would help them with their fights against the n.o.ble factions. 

However, that was just something Ryouma and the other conveniently thought.
After all, there was no reason for the Knight faction to help Ryouma and the others. 
In fact, many of their comrades had been killed by Ryouma, and if they were a bunch of muscle heads, they might just try to cut his heads off without listening to their words. 
That's why it was a bet.
A gamble that depended on whether or not the leader of the Knight faction was a reasonable person with a cool head.
As well as, that person being able to see the value of having Ryouma and the others on their side.

The carriages finally arrived in front of the castle gate. 

"Now then... What happen after this, depends on my speech. " 

Ryouma muttered those words while looking at the castle from the castle gate. 
This will be the third time he will play a game of life and death since the time he came to this world. 
From his eyes, a strong willpower can be seen.

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