Oukoku e Tsuzuku Michi

Chapter 569-5: Indifferent Reign – Maintenance of Public Order 7: Happy Ending?

「Is everyone alright? Speak up right away if you’re hurt.」

The slaves who barely escaped and are in a daze at the loud crumbling and shaking check their bodies when I call out to them.

Scratches and bruises are unavoidable, but thankfully nobody appears to have life-threatening injuries.

The one who suffered the most serious injury might actually be Christoph, who rolled down the stairs and hit his head.

However, all of them were treated horribly from the start, so we must get them to a doctor immediately.

「What is that?」

「I don’t know. It’s really bright though.」

An especially young kid looks up and points at the sun.

「They have never been outside? That’s……」

Celia is speechless as she carefully brushes the dust off my clothes.

The two slaves who don’t know what the sun is have sickeningly pale skin, and their limbs seem underdeveloped.

Mack furrows his brow in silence while Yakov kicks the corpse of the crushed guard.

I help brush off the sand on the clueless pair’s heads without saying anything.

Despite reflexively flinching when my hand reaches for them, they take one look at me and sneeze before clinging to my leg.

Figuring out that I won’t punch or kick them, the others also waddle over and hang on to my back and arms.

「Funyi.」

「Uuu……gusu.」

Now that their nervousness has eased, they probably feel scared. Many are crying too.

That was a rather flashy escape scene after all.

「Hahaha general, your new harem is a bit too young, don’t you think?」

「Idiot. Are you comparing me to Andrei?」

The girls hugging me are 5 year old infants and ten or so brats.

No one but perverts will feel lust for them.

「M-may I as well?」

This voice is the one that led everyone out of the underground.

「Everyone is safe because you helped out. Woah.」

A girl in her mid teens jumps into my chest.

「I’m sorry. But right now, I can’t stop shaking……」

I hear the sound of teeth chattering.

At the time, her voice was calm so I didn’t pay much attention, but it’s natural for a girl of her age to react this way after risking her life in such a hellish situation.

I wrap my arm around the girl’s waist and embrace her.

「It’s alright. You don’t have to anything. After you get your wounds treated, you can take a bath, eat and sleep.」

Umu, although she has gotten skinny from being in such a harsh environment, her body is definitely developing.

There is volume to her waist and her chest is a decent size.

While still a bit too young, she……

「Ah.」

The girl tilts her chin up and looks at me.

I’m pent up after a fight.

And the dream shown to me by the boss of rough sex with Leah didn’t help.

It was a mistake to embrace her.

I wouldn’t feel anything for a small child, but my body will respond to a girl who is this developed.

「Fufu, it’s swelling.」

She puts a hand to her mouth and smiles.

I guess it’s better than her being scared, but the gazes behind her are cold.

Let’s change topics.

「So, how did you know? I came secretly.」

I ask Celia and the others as I wipe the girl’s face with a towel, gesturing to her if she wants to ‘do it’.

「Aegir-sama wasn’t there when I went to pick up the documents. I thought you left for the brothels again, but your scent led outside of the capital……sniff. That’s when Schwartz returned.」

I turn to commend Schwartz, but his proud snorting ticks me off, so I pull out a strand of hair from his mane instead.

「What about you guys?」

Yakov looks at me.

「I was taking a bit of a break during the mission.」

「That’s a lie. He was slipping money into the cleavage of a young girl. He was egging her on, saying “How about it? One round should be fine, right?”」

There was a few seconds of silence before Yakov continued.

「……so I was on break and the little miss kicked my ass, telling me to come since I was free.」

Apparently Mack was also on holiday and he was forced to come when he was having outdoor sex with his black elf lover.

「I was doing it in the woods, trying not to stand out.」

「Your voices can be heard! They reached all the way to the road!」

「Why are each of you always doing it……?」

Christoph was apparently having a picnic with Zillia.

「I automatically dragged him along because he was someone I knew. And actually Christoph was the only one acting wholesomely, holding hands and smiling. It made me more annoyed.」

Celia gives the unconscious Christoph a kick.

「Hah!? I was rushing in to the underground to save the general……sun, grass……did I get transported to another world――!?」

「Oh shut up.」

Christoph writhes in pain as Celia kicks him harder.

Seriously, what did this guy come to do?

「Well, that was kinda dull, everything ended after we supported the ceiling.」

Yakov says as he rubs his knuckles against the head of a boy at his feet.

Frightened by his villainous face, the boy hides in between Christoph’s legs.

「It wasn’t meaningless.」

Mack comments, washing the scratches of a slightly tan-skinned girl with water.

She cowers in the presence of the large Mack and clings to the back of Christoph who finally stood up.

「Lots happened with the general’s general and Agor, remember?」

「Yeah.」

Christoph’s face becomes serious as he pats the head of the girl beside him.

She stares up vacantly, blushes and kisses his hand.

Christoph shakes his head rapidly a couple times.

「This isn’t the time! Anyways, I’m saying that the general is not a bad person!」

What’s with that way of ending it?

「It’s getting quite late, but we can still chat a bit tonight.」

When I say that, Christoph puts the red-faced girl on his shoulder and nods slightly.

I’m sorry but I have to break the slightly solemn atmosphere lingering in the air.

「Where did the densest guy go? I don’t see him.」

He was just howling and now he’s gone.

As much as I don’t want to, he did save me so I was thinking of thanking him.

「Actually I didn’t tell him to come. When we arrived here, he was next to us before we knew it.」

He’s really irrational in every way.

「Fuhahahaha! What’s the matter, man!!?」

Gildress appears out of nowhere.

He is carrying an armor-wearing woman under his arm.

「Umu, she ran while her friends were caught in the cave-in. I ran out and grabbed her!」

She seems to have resigned herself to her fate and is not resisting.

I shoot a glare at the knights around me.

Not only did they all rush in and let the enemy escape, they abandoned me and the kids and fled during the collapse, and didn’t even notice the people trying to sneak away.

As Rebecca falls to the floor exhausted from dragging the boss, I pull her ass close and stick my index finger into her anus over her tight-fitting clothes.

「Nnh! Aah.」

She lets out a sexier voice than I imagined. I bet she liked that.

「I sensed your manly energy in the north, you see. Plus that girl was running frantically. I just had to come.」

Celia being able to track my scent is already a bit extreme, but Gildress surpasses that.

This ‘manly energy’ is something that I don’t even emit intentionally.

「I was being cautious of being tailed, so I would have known if any horses followed me on the……eh? You don’t have a horse? Did you keep up with me when I was riding Schwartz!?」

「A man doesn’t lose to a horse. That includes this part too.」

Celia shrieks and Schwartz lets out a disgusted neigh that I’ve never heard before.

My head hurts whenever I converse with this guy.

「Let’s leave it here for now…… hey you morons, how long are you going to let them walk? Put them on the horses and you walk instead.」

I yell at the assholes marching fearlessly in single file.

After all those blunders, I don’t want to hear any complaints.

I’ll only be lenient to Rebecca, who is resting limply on the horse’s back.

――Several days later. In a dungeon of a certain fort.

「Gyaaaaa!!」

「I don’t know! I don’t know anything else!! Igyaaaaa!!」

I hear a horrifying scream as I descend the steps underground.

The captured guys are being interrogated……well, it’s more like torture.

It was never a pleasant job, but I’m glad I went to check the basement first.

I don’t feel a shred of pity for these guys.

「Did he talk?」

「Somewhat.」

Rebecca comes to meet me and reports matter-of-factly with cold eyes.

She’s not wearing her skin-tight clothes now.

In her hand is a scary-looking tool.

「This is for digging holes in hard vessels. This tool is for prying open vessels. This is a spoon for force-feeding.」

Let’s not think about it.

I want to know whether it yielded any results.

「We have sufficient information from capturing an executive class. But as for conclusive evidence……」

「The best way is to get the boss to talk.」

Rebecca nods, then furrows her brow.

「However, he won’t say his own name no matter how much he’s tortured. On top of that, the torturer saw his eye, suddenly cried out and became a shell. It was the magic eye……I believe, though I’ve only read the documents and it’s my first time seeing it in person so I can’t be sure.」

Magic users are rare, but there are quite a few of them on a national level.

Except most of them use fire, wind or water magic.

Magic that can meddle in a person’s mind is unheard of.

「I thought about gouging out his eye, but because it is a magic eye, I don’t know if I could do the same thing to him as a normal person. If we’re not careful and he dies, everything would be for naught.」

Rebecca and I enter the heavily locked room together.

The boss sits alone in the center of the room, tightly bound with a black cloth wrapped around his eyes.

It is to prevent the off chance of us looking into his eyes.

「So you’ve come, demon. Have you reconciled with your friends?」

I approach the boss, pretending to be as unresponsive as possible.

「Yeah. At the very least, we had an honest chat. Even if we disagreed, there are no more misunderstandings.」

That made the boss’s face warp with unhappiness.

「Be good and spill everything. If you do, you might die a painless death.」

He can’t be spared.

The best I can give him is a death with little suffering.

He responds with a gross chuckle.

「Do you know how you will die?」

「Of course not. Are you stupid?」

I pull up a chair and sit in front of the boss.

I wonder if he’ll just leak information in idle chatter.

「Fu, fufufu……I can see it. I see everything. Your death that is! A terrifying death!!」

「Don’t tell me, you can do more than mental manipulation――」

I ignore the dumbfounded Rebecca and sigh.

「Obviously as a living thing, I’m eventually going to die. It would be abnormal to live forever, so tell me.」

If he told me that I won’t die, I’d have to question two certain individuals.

「Someone close to you, someone you love will betray you, and you will die a lonely death…… fu, fuhahahaha!! It is a fitting end for you!!」

「Ooh, scary. I want to live the rest of my life in a worthwhile manner, so hurry up and keep talking.」

Upon closer inspection, the nails on both hands and feet of the boss have been torn off.

He’s tough for being able to cackle despite such torture.

Or has he already gone insane?

「That’s why you won’t die here. You will just let me go.」

His eye shines.

Even though I can’t see his eye through the black cloth, information is shining directly at my brain like a light.

「Don’t think you can disable my power, my curse, with a mere cloth!」

A blue flame swallows the blindfold and his face becomes uncovered.

I hear Rebecca scream in the distance.

「So the reason you were obedient up till now was-!?」

「Even if I controlled you or the torturer, guards would have rushed in and killed me. But if I take possession of you, no one can touch me! Now――turn into a beast. Crush the woman in front of you!」

A voice resounds in my head.

I’m a beast, yes a beast.

The person in front of me is Rebe――no, a woman.

「I understand. I must attack.」

「W-wait, please put up some resistance! It happened instantly again!!」

The woman shrieks as she steps backward.

「Attack!! Rip her to pieces!!」

Attack means to kill.

No wait, I’m a beast so I pounce on women, but killing is out of the question.

I can feel a bulge forming in my crotch.

「Why is this happening!? I told you to kill her!」

「I can’t.」

The tone of the voice in my head falters and I don’t know what to do.

Rebecca uses the split second to flee the room and lock the door.

「……she escaped.」

「Stupid! Fool! Enough, just undo my restraints!」

The order echoes in my head.

Undo the restraints?

This boss is a scoundrel who shamed and tormented young girls, why would I free such a guy?

「I can’t.」

I declare clearly.

「W-what!? Then destroy the wall and catch the woman who just escaped! You should be able to do it with your strength!」

I move toward the wall, but begin to rethink the instructions.

There is another person’s voice.

「I overslept! What happened, Rebecca-san!」

It’s Celia.

If I destroy the thick wall, Celia and Rebecca on the other side might get hurt.

「I can’t.」

I refuse.

「Why!? You have no resistance and succumbed to my magic instantly yet you defy such simple orders! Then what can you do!?」

「I’m a beast. I pounce on women and impregnate them. Women, I want women.」

Celia and Rebecca are talking on the other side of this wall.

「Wait, I seriously don’t understand. What happened?」

「Like I said, the magic eye was more powerful than expected and His Majesty fell victim to it……turning into a beast that attacks women.」

「That’s no different from how he normally is though.」

I really want to pour my seed into Rebecca and Celia.

But the door is locked and I’ll hurt them if I knock it down.

「But I’m a beast. I’m a beast that seeks women.」

I scan the room for any other girls and――

My eyes land on the boss.

「……what?」

「You are……a man? No, a woman?」

The boss’s face is androgynous.

My primal brain can’t distinguish the boss’s gender.

In order to confirm, I approach the bound man, no woman, step by step.

「He’s a man……no, he looks like a woman……there are no breasts, but there are no muscles either……hmm.」

「Hey, you’re kidding me! Don’t mess with me!!」

No matter how much I inspect the wriggling person, I can’t tell.

I’ll just trust my instincts.

「You’re a woman.」

「Stop, idiot! Release, cancel! You’re not a beast!」

The orders reverberate in my head.

「No, I’m a beast.」

「Why are you only stubborn about that!? Faint! Go to sleep! Die! Uwaaaaa!!」

I don’t remember much from that point on.

「The boss revealed everything. We got complete information about the major bases in the north and west and the small and medium hideouts, as well as their cooperators and parties they sent bribes to.」

Rebecca nods contently.

「The western base utilizes a cavern along the river. Infantry raided it with help from a bombardment by Ivanna-san’s fleet……it’s just Sekrit…… that woman used Your Majesty’s name without permission and made a mess. She did things like tossing the captured organization members into a slave’s cage and forcing them to fight each other, then dumping the one survivor into oil and lighting him on fire…… A report came from a commander saying that even he thought she went a little overboard.」

Celia is fuming.

As usual, Sekrit is quite excessive. She must have been bored.

「Apparently, she also took some young underlings of the organization for herself.」

She literally embodies the phrase “do as you please”.

「The nearest squad, the northern border guards, was informed of the northern base, which is Lord Leopolt’s squad but……what the messenger came back with was not an acceptance of the responsibility, but rather a report on the mission being completed.」

I can’t help smiling at Rebecca’s words, then simply mutter “is that so” with a disinterested scowl.

Leopolt was ostracized by me and demoted, banished from ever seeing the capital. That’s how things are.

I’ll send him some good food under Onagosky’s name.

Everything went well.

I heard the children’s treatment is done too, so I can go home feeling relieved.

「But why did the boss……no, Mutec, suddenly spill the beans? Because of his strange ability, I can’t remember much. I can’t remember when I learned his name either.」

Rebecca and Celia awkwardly avert their gazes.

I don’t think it’s a hard question to answer.

「W-we’ve obtained the necessary information so we are finished with them. Those who confessed will be given swift deaths and those who didn’t will be made into examples by being executed.」

「Deservedly so.」

Their sins are too heavy for them to be spared.

Besides, there is no point in saving the thugs.

「The boss is also deserving of execution, but the magic eye――considering its power to control the mind and somewhat foresee the future, as well as its rarity, I suggest keeping him alive temporarily for research purposes.」

「Mm, do as you like.」

Keeping him alive doesn’t mean his sentence will be reduced.

In fact, living will be a form of punishment.

He did something of that magnitude. Even a death after going through all that suffering can’t be said to be too cruel.

「Well, I’ll at least acknowledge the fact he gave us the information in the end. Why not give him a visit.」

「Actually, he suffered pretty severe lacerations.」

I see. Then it’s fine if I don’t visit.

I’m not his friend or anything.

「「Pst pst……peek peek……」」

I turn around wondering what those two are whispering about and think back.

「That reminds me, we let an executive go, right?」

Aldo, he was the man who invited us and can be considered the reason for the collapse of the organization.

He fled before the events and escaped capture.

The knights couldn’t find him either and he wasn’t located in any of the raided bases.

「He’s probably in the Federation or in barbarian territory by now……and beyond our reach. How unfortunate.」

Rebecca groans.

「He’s lucky to be the only one who gets away.」

I pause and think. Is he really lucky?

I dismiss my thoughts.

I won’t get the answer here, it’s a waste of time to ponder the question.

「The issue at hand is my crotch. I get hard looking at girls no matter how old they are, what’s going on?」

It’s a problem if I react to the elderly and infants.

「It seems a weird suggestion remains in your brain……」

Nevertheless, this case is settled……no, there’s one more thing.

Before returning to the capital, I have to go to the town of Megis.

In the South – Zwei Elfie.

Two shadows move in the darkness where neither person can see the other’s face.

「Oh, you’re back. That was rough, huh?」

「Ey. I called a spy as planned, but that one was unskilled. The guy who was called after, well it was a mess……thinking about it now, I can’t even be sure he was seriously trying to infiltrate.」

Drinks are poured and shared.

「The schedule is a bit off, but the sickening people who only know how to kidnap and sell kids have all been rounded up. The money they amassed belong to us now.」

「Wonderful. Being able to perfectly execute a plan is second-rate, first-rate is being able to reformulate a disrupted plan.」

More alcohol refills their cups.

「You’re overrating me. I mean, you even gave me instructions for when the plan goes awry.」

「Hahah. Let’s not have a contest of modesty.」

The man stares at the mountain of gold in front of him.

「With this much, I can do one more battle.」

「You can buy an entire army with this amount. You’re only fighting once?」

The shadow nods clearly.

「Yes, just one. That’s how big of a gamble it is. Call ‘them’ over. Woah, if they’re flirting though wait until after they climax.」

「I doubt they would be. They’re the kind of people who face in opposite directions despite being in the same room. Anyways, I’ll go get them.」

One of the shadows disappears and the other one gazes up at the night sky.

「The grand aspiration I once had is gone, now it’s just a means to an end. But I can’t help feeling――」

The man takes a breath and stabs a knife into the table.

「Refreshed. I don’t have any small desires or hesitations. Now, let me challenge you one more time.」