Ch.208Tail

“So, have you decided to cooperate with me now? Coming to speak to me after a week, even telling me the identity and number of enemies. You’re kinder than I expected.”

[Do not misunderstand. This is not for your sake. I simply… do not wish to leave such a disgrace in history forever.]

I see. Even a woman who eats people alive doesn’t want the humiliation of going down in history as a legendary bitch.

“Right. I understand. I wouldn’t want that fate either… so I suppose I should say I look forward to working with you.”

[…However, I have conditions.]

“Conditions?”

[Your defection to the Empire… very well, I’ll overlook that. Staying in the steppes with power you can’t even control would have only destroyed what little reputation you had built. But after forcibly taking my body and wielding my power for your own purposes, if you want my help… shouldn’t you at least cooperate with me as well? That would only be fair, wouldn’t it?]

“What do you want?”

As long as she wasn’t spouting nonsense about conquering the Empire together, I could probably accommodate her.

[I desire only three things: revenge, protection, and freedom. Assist me in my revenge, protect the subordinates you abandoned, and above all, you must find a way to return my body to me. Swear to this, and I shall lend you my power.]

I don’t mind the revenge or protection, but that last condition is troubling.

Even if I discover a method someday, letting this woman roam free would be too dangerous, and returning her to a body with missing legs isn’t what she wants either.

‘What if I refuse?’

[If you refuse, then whenever I regain control of my body—though I know not when—I will kill every Imperial around you and flee. That would be quite… no, extremely troublesome for you. Well, what will you do?]

…If that’s how she wants to play it, I have no choice.

“I swear in the name of our god in heaven. Will that suffice?”

I recited a false oath. From Hersella’s perspective, she would think I was swearing to Elpinel.

The reality was completely different.

But what does it matter?

The crucified man from Nazareth is in my original world, not here, so he probably won’t come all the way here to get angry if I break my oath. Probably.

—-

Returning to the carriage, I informed Nigel and Leonore that we couldn’t ignore the lord who had committed these atrocities.

“The lord’s private soldiers… it’s not an impossible scenario. Even if the Imperial army tried to intervene now, they could be accused of breaking neutrality and only helping Leopold. And if Isabella wins the civil war, the destruction of a village or two would likely be swept under the rug.”

“How despicable…!”

“Punishment. Indeed, now that we know, we cannot simply let this pass. If the perpetrators belong to Isabella’s faction, we’re likely to encounter and clash with them if we continue on our way.”

That’s true.

Someone willing to go this far to wage war wouldn’t leave a carriage traveling freely through the middle of a battlefield.

After gaining everyone’s agreement, we tracked the troops by following the faint traces they left behind.

It wasn’t particularly difficult.

Every few kilometers, we encountered bodies impaled on stakes.

…Does this bastard think he’s Count Vlad or something?

“Seriously, I’ve seen all kinds of lunatics.”

“He’s no different from a madman. An evil that cannot be tolerated.”

Nigel couldn’t hide his anger either.

This guy seems to really like impaling people. Let’s see if he still likes it when he’s the one being impaled.

After tracking them for a day and a half, we finally caught their trail.

“Halt that carriage! Stop immediately! If you don’t comply, we will attack!”

Or rather, they came to us.

Twenty armed soldiers and one knight in full armor blocked our carriage, demanding to inspect it.

Judging by their uniforms, they weren’t Imperial troops but the lord’s private soldiers… Given that they were the first soldiers we’d encountered after passing through roads full of corpses, they were likely the culprits.

“Could it be them?”

“Who else would it be?”

Leonore nodded in agreement.

I picked up Durandal, which I had set aside, and eavesdropped on Nigel’s conversation with them.

I was about 90% certain, but there was still a small chance they weren’t the perpetrators.

—-

“What business do you have?”

Nigel, with her hood pulled low, asked them.

“…A woman? A woman acting as a coachman? Couldn’t you find a man to drive your carriage?”

There was a hint of surprise in his voice, as if he hadn’t expected the coachman to be a woman.

“I asked what business you have.”

“What other reason would soldiers have to stop a carriage? Inspection. We’ll check your identity and examine the inside of the carriage, so cooperate.”

“…Road inspection? By what authority do non-Imperial soldiers do this? On what grounds?”

Nigel’s question was reasonable.

While a lord might control roads within his city, the highways laid throughout the territory were state property.

For mere local troops to block passage and attempt inspection was an overreach that disregarded national order.

But these men didn’t seem to care.

“Authority? By order of Viscount Dubien. He commanded us to thoroughly inspect anyone who comes this way despite the warnings placed along the road, as they’re likely enemy spies. It won’t take long. Show your face and state your identity and purpose.”

“…Warnings? You mean the corpses strung up along the road?”

“Yes, yes. Those were all spies disguised as travelers. If you don’t want to end up like them, cooperate. You’re sounding quite suspicious with all these questions… we’ll need to search your body too.”

So it was them after all.

What spies? As if anyone would use ten-year-old children as spies?

“Viscount Dubien, he says. Do you know who that is?”

I’d never heard the name.

I asked Leonore in case she might know, but she shook her head.

“Dubien? Why would I know some insignificant viscount? Though I can guess what future awaits him.”

I think I can guess that too.

As I stood up with Durandal drawn, I heard Nigel sigh and pull back her hood.

“Oh, what an unexpected beauty! Traveling by carriage in times like these with a face like that—aren’t you afraid of bandits?”

“Who knows, maybe she gets captured and provides special services each time before being released.”

The soldiers exchanged vulgar jokes and sneered.

Was it because her armor was hidden under her coat, or because she was acting as a coachman? They didn’t seem to imagine she was a knight.

Those were their last words.

– CRUNCH!

Nigel’s spear, which she had placed behind the driver’s seat, skewered two soldiers’ heads together.

Blood and brain matter were tangled on the spear tip protruding from the back of their skulls.

“Guh, gaaack…”

The men who had been trembling with their mouths agape went limp.

The stench of urine assaulted my nostrils.

“Wh-what the!”

“What do you mean ‘what’? This is divine punishment coming for you.”

I said as I opened the carriage door and stepped down toward them.

Just nineteen men left. All of them rabble. They were so shocked by the death of two comrades that they couldn’t even counterattack.

“A Ka’har woman in scale armor with a longsword…! Could it be, the man-eater Aishan-Gioro…?!”

The knight trembled as if struck by lightning, apparently recognizing me.

“Seems you know me. Then you must also know what’s about to happen to you?”

“I-it’s the man-eater! The real man-eater!”

A soldier screamed, threw down his weapon, and ran in the opposite direction.

Knowing they couldn’t win, he was apparently trying to escape.

Quick thinking.

– CRUNCH!

And quick dying.

The dagger I threw cleanly penetrated the soldier’s skull.

“Why is Aishan-Gioro here…!”

“Why? Because you’re doing things like this. Nigel, I need to question these men, so just break their legs if possible.”

“As you wish.”

Nigel nodded, pulled out her spear, and dove into the midst of the soldiers.

Even twenty knights together would find it difficult to defeat a single Master.

Unless each one was near Master level like Frider or Demian.

And among these men, only one was a knight.

It didn’t take even twenty seconds for them to be annihilated.

—-

A delightful interrogation session. Participants: one knight and nineteen soldiers. Directors: myself and Nigel.

Since they might lie, I planned to divide the prisoners into two groups for questioning, then compare their stories.

– CRACK!

“AAAAARRRGGHHH!”

The knight’s face turned bright red as he screamed like a pig.

Bloody urine flowed from between his crushed groin.

“Stop exaggerating. I haven’t even started the real punishment yet.”

So far, I’d only crushed his limbs and burst his lower parts.

Leaving the knight convulsing on the ground, I approached the soldiers with a smirk.

“You seem to enjoy the sight of blood flowing between legs… would anyone like to experience it firsthand?”

“P-please spare us…!”

“Please, at least our lives…”

The soldiers trembled, faces pale as sheets.

Some already had dark stains between their legs.

“Well… that depends on how honest you are. I’m going to ask you a few questions… and for each second you delay answering, I’ll crush one limb. If you don’t answer within five seconds, you’ll end up like him. As for what happens if you’re brave enough to lie and get caught… hmm, it’s better you don’t know.”

They frantically nodded their heads.

—-

Thanks to the soldiers’ cooperation, the interrogation didn’t take long.

Perhaps thanks to the knight who I’d finely sliced up while he cursed at me.

As a reward for saving time, I let them all experience what the knight felt.

Becoming a knight is every soldier’s dream, so they must have been satisfied.

“AAAAHHHH!”

“AGHHH, GUUUHHH…!”

“GEEEEEK…”

I didn’t forget the finishing touch.

Since I didn’t have pre-made stakes, I had to substitute with the soldiers’ own spears.

“Y-you said you’d spare us if we told the truth…!”

“I never said I’d spare you. Besides, you weren’t honest people to begin with. You were just forced to be honest this time.”

“Y-you bitch…! AAAAARRRGGHHH!”

Desperate screams and weakened moans harmonized as they echoed.

Sounds nice.

Hoping they would live as long as possible, I set down the half-embedded spear and walked toward the carriage.

[Didn’t you denounce me as cruel and barbaric? I can’t tell who the barbarian is now.]

Hersella, who had been watching, spouted nonsense.

Who’s the barbarian? Who else but you?

What I did was just punishment.

What they call karma.