episode_0091

The atmosphere in the room froze.

The words spoken by the woman standing before them, who had been expecting a splendid speech to boost the morale of the members in addition to future plans, were truly shocking.

“… Therefore, I will step down and give my seat to Miss Ailee of Kindle House.”

Mila seemed embarrassed by the sudden silence from the audience and finished her speech with difficulty.

“What the hell are you talking about? You’re quitting now?”

“Now is the real beginning!”

“What happens to us from now on?”

Leaving behind the commotion among the agents, Mila walked down past Remili, who was leaning on the platform and glaring at her.

***

The first to make a move was the Presbyterian Church of Maibaon.

“Miss Kindle, you were in a place like this!”

Remili, who was drinking with the other members, had a slightly red face.

“What are you doing in a group on this cold day? You old ladies with bad backs.”

She spoke with unclear pronunciation.

“I have something important to tell you. Would you like to move?”

As if conscious of the commotion around them, one of the elders whispered in Remili’s ear, and Remili frowned at the old man’s characteristic bad breath.

“Yeah, well said. I have a lot to talk about. Hey, grandmas, give me a chair.”

At Remili’s gesture, the agents sitting at the same table stand up.

“Why are you so curious that you came looking for me, who is not even the captain?”

Remili said, resting her chin on her hand.

“I’m talking about resignation… Did Kindle know about it?”

The oldest among the elders spoke first.

“What am I saying? Well, I knew it.”

Remili said, crossing her legs over the table.

“Then what are the vigilantes going to do from now on? There are still mountains of tasks left to do.”

This time, the elder wearing a large ring on his finger asked the question again.

“Nothing will change just because that one guy is gone! The vigilantes will remain vigilantes.”

Remili answered, raising her voice slightly.

“Until the law is restored, the chains of oppression are broken, and the Kindle family’s rightful lands are restored. As we resolved when we first stood up. Forget about such rolling stones.”

Then Remili lifted her glass, drank the contents, and slammed it down on the table.

“Yes, well. There is no doubt. We have never doubted your abilities. We have no doubt that the prestigious Kindle family will rise again. But the small people are worried. The meaning of the name Arsul cannot be ignored.”

The elders of Maibaon, originally a commercial city, were commoners who had amassed wealth through commercial activities. The ability to talk without offending the listener was their basic skill.

“Tch, that damn name.”

Remili spat out bluntly.

“Anxiety makes people weak. Weak people want to believe anything they want. There are various rumors going around about the reason for the sudden resignation.”

At the elder’s words, Remili suddenly snorted, then jumped up from her seat, pulled the makeshift tent aside with one hand, and stuck her head outside and shouted.

“Hey, hey! Okay, you two. Come in here.”

The two agents who had been dragged in by chance were feeling very unlucky for being caught by the drunken Remili. The elders, who were equally bewildered, just made faces as if they had no idea what was going on.

“What did you guys do before you became a vigilante?”

Remili put her arms around the shoulders of the two agents and placed them on either side of her and asked.

“Uh… I learned carpentry. My mother was a carpenter.”

“The freckled-faced agent with the hair in pigtails said.

“So that’s why your arms are so strong? What did you do?”

Remili tapped her shoulder with the palm of her hand and spoke to the agent who was holding her other side.

“My family worked as gamekeepers. I only learned how to pluck feathers from game.”

The round-faced agent answered.

“The hunting grounds! What wonderful people. Surely, they must have dreamed of a future where they would follow in their mother’s footsteps and become capable hunting grounds keepers?”

Remili said, hugging her closer.

“Yeah, well… .”

Her round cheeks were distorted against Remili’s chest.

“If you live diligently, the lord might match you with a good young master, right?”

“Ehehehe… … .”

She smiled awkwardly as she felt it was becoming increasingly difficult to breathe.

“Carpenter, what, there’s a line of men waiting to meet you. How many children did you plan on having? Huh?”

“I thought about seven… …but.”

As the pigtailed agent trailed off, Remili smiled bitterly.

“Ms. Kindle, what do you want to talk about… .”

When one of the elders, who could no longer stand by, stepped forward and asked, Remili finally took her arm off the shoulders of the two agents.

“There is no such thing as a human being born for troubled times. If we hadn’t been born in these shitty times, perhaps we would have had the future we dreamed of?”

One of the elders glanced at the men still with Remili, who rose from their seats and hurried out of the tent.

“She said she was too scared to do things like the vigilantes, so she wanted to start a family in peace. Can you believe it? All this time, we worked for a woman with such a small bowl.”

Remili burst into laughter. And during the brief silence that followed, the elders merely looked at each other.

“That’s why… I think it’s better to quickly shake off that guy even now. I feel ashamed of myself for thinking of that kind of person as a comrade, even for a moment.”

Remili said with a face that couldn’t contain its anger, and a somewhat sad expression.

***

“Ray… … . Are you really okay? You won’t leave me even if I become a nobody, right? ”

Mila, whose face looked swollen around her eyes, whined as she drank alcohol one after another.

“Where are you saying I’m going… . If that’s the case, then why don’t you just tell me you’re quitting? ”

Ray sat down next to her and poured a drink into Mila’s glass.

“Ugh, phew… . I made a promise… … . ”

She muttered, resting her chin on her hand and resting her heavy chest on the table.

“What promise?”

Ray asks, looking at the chest on the table. Since it doesn’t seem like it would be considered rude in this world, he decides not to hesitate any longer.

“I’ll live without ever being seen by my sisters again… But if I do anything more and my sisters hear about it, it’s over.”

Mila said, shivering with fear.

“Are there really such mean-spirited sisters?”

Ray asked, frowning.

“And I… . I have to become a sloppy human being just like those humans want me to be. A human being who is not welcomed by anyone and cannot be loved. Otherwise, they will make everyone around me unhappy.”

Mila continued to mutter in a trembling voice, her hair ruffled.

***

On the same day, the meeting of the Maybaon elders continued late into the night.

“A message came from Memer. ‘Don’t act rashly, now is the time to hold your breath.’”

The paper on which Memer had scribbled his will passed from hand to hand among the elders, and in the end it was thrown into the flames of the fireplace and disappeared.

“I guess I already knew this would happen.”

But none of those gathered seemed that surprised. To them, Memer was that kind of person.

“Is this some kind of strategy?”

“I guess that’s how it is. Well, it seems like the second son of the Kindle family believed that ridiculous reason for resignation.”

“Honestly, even I, who have been watching her actions for the past few months, found it hard to accept. As a leader, Ms. Mila was not only multi-talented, but also too good to be wasted in a small vigilante group. It would be reasonable to assume that there is some hidden meaning behind it. So what on earth is that meaning?”

“Do you know how the Eastern Garrison, which was supposed to defend against the invasion of barbarians, was able to deploy troops toward the capital?”

“Obviously… I know that after a tribe began to grow beyond the eastern forest, they made a secret pact with Uriel to watch over them in exchange for restraining their advance westward so that they could win the competition among the other tribes.”

“Yes, many of the soldiers who were stationed on the eastern border are now stationed in Fraua. There is no way to know how sincere their loyalty is, but the lords of the countries are also expressing their submission to them one by one. Can you guess what this means?”

“The size of the army is growing bigger and bigger, but there is no one to fight against it!”

“In such a situation, if a rumor spreads that an armed group led by Arshul is gaining strength in the southern region, the result is obvious. In an instant, the tip of the sword will be pointed this way.”

“But isn’t it unreasonable to expect the capital to be unaware of the situation in the southern region forever? It’s been quite some time since the bandits led by Jackie have been active.”

“That part probably has something to do with what Memer has been doing. For example, he probably roasted that idiot Fruella and made her report falsely to Fraua.”

“I see… … . At least until the scars here heal, I’ll choose to remain hidden. The more I look at it, the more it seems like our lion cub is no ordinary one.”

“That’s what I mean. He’s not ordinary. He doesn’t hesitate to throw mud at himself for his own ambitions.”

“So what should we do from now on?”

“First of all, we need to coordinate. It’s also important to keep your mouth shut so that useless rumors don’t spread. The vigilantes will probably restore the farm so that they can start sowing as soon as the snow melts. Calculate the scale of the work and prepare to provide the necessary supplies. ”

This is how the midnight rendezvous ended.