Ch.247Chapter 247 – Uses for Prisoners

Just because I missed the podium didn’t mean I had nothing to do.

We immediately gathered the dwarves and began providing basic first aid.

“Thank you!!”

“Thanks to you, thanks to you, we’re alive!”

The wounded dwarves were expressing their gratitude to us.

I quietly asked them:

“The injured?”

“Fortunately, with proper treatment and rest, they should be fine… though for those with facial burns, we’ll have to see.”

The dwarf who seemed to be the village chief spoke quietly.

“…Please don’t worry too much. We dwarves have stronger recovery abilities compared to humans.”

Despite the chief’s words, I noticed a dwarf in the distance clutching his face in pain.

After a moment’s consideration, I rummaged through my belongings and pulled out a wooden cylinder.

“This is effective for facial burns. I don’t know the recipe, but if you request it from an alchemist, at least…”

“It seems valuable. Are you sure?”

I nodded at the chief who asked with widened eyes.

“I know an extremely skilled alchemist, so I’ll be fine.”

The chief thanked me and took the medicine.

I thought that if the medicine had worked well for me even after my burns had been there for a while, it could minimize scarring for others, especially since not much time had passed for them.

‘Has it calmed down now?’

As the pain from my burn marks that had been throbbing gradually subsided, I quietly looked at the chief and asked:

“So, why were you all being attacked by the Emiris Order?”

“I’m not sure.”

The chief bowed apologetically.

He looked back at the dwarves behind him, but it seemed none of them knew anything either.

“Then we’ll have to interrogate the prisoners.”

I nodded quietly at Mask’s words.

The prisoners were those who had fainted during the fight and were ultimately abandoned by their comrades.

Among them was the paladin in somewhat fancy armor whom I had knocked unconscious.

“Such heartless bastards.”

Mask spoke, blaming the paladins who had fled.

Harkan and the surviving paladins had retreated so hastily that they couldn’t properly take care of their unconscious allies.

“It works out well for us in the end.”

“Indeed.”

Thanks to them abandoning their unconscious comrades, we were able to capture several prisoners.

We had disarmed them all and bound them with thick ropes found in the village.

“Should we wake them up?”

“Not yet.”

I rejected Lirina’s suggestion and quietly added:

“Let’s take them to Beatrice first. She’ll skillfully extract information from them.”

Though she’d be busy, she was someone who despised the Emiris Order.

She would likely extract information with all her might without showing any reluctance.

We could decide what to do with the prisoners afterward.

While we were deciding on the prisoners’ fate, a voice called from behind.

“Kay. Could you look over here for a moment?”

Turning around at Eve’s words, I saw her dragging a paladin from the Zeolei Order.

Eve had drawn her sword, perhaps in preparation for any sudden developments.

‘His name was Mikhail, wasn’t it?’

Remembering who he was, I immediately became wary.

Though he had a bandage on one arm, he was one of those who had attacked us, so it was better to remain cautious.

Noticing my wariness, Mikhail raised his uninjured arm above his head and said:

“I surrender. Please ease your guard.”

“…How can I trust you won’t try anything?”

While I felt I could handle whatever Mikhail might attempt, we were currently wanted as heretics by the Orders.

There was no harm in being cautious.

Mikhail quietly bowed his head slightly and said:

“…This arm, despite how it looks, is actually severed. If I couldn’t handle you when all my limbs were intact, what could I possibly try now?”

“You might try to catch me off guard and strike from behind.”

Mikhail’s expression darkened at my words.

Then, in a subdued voice, he said:

“…It’s natural for you to say that… but I just wanted to thank you for saving me.”

“It was coincidental.”

We had intended to save the dwarves.

It just happened that we ended up saving them too.

“So what are you going to do now?”

“…We’ll give up on arresting you.”

Mikhail said quietly.

“There are opinions about returning to our home country… but with the situation in Ferarius, we plan to return to the capital for now, at least to fight minimally.”

“I see.”

“Even with few uninjured people, we must have some decency.”

After saying those words with a bitter expression, Mikhail soon changed his tone and said to me:

“By the way, it seems you need information about the Emiris Order. Is that right?”

“Did you hear something?”

“I didn’t hear much in detail, but something Harkan said to me is bothering me.”

I stared at him silently, and Mikhail took a moment to catch his breath.

Then he quietly said:

“…He grabbed me by the collar and said this: They would make it look like we died fighting monsters. And that they would make us as strong as the Red Paladin Order.”

“……”

“I didn’t hear anything else, but when I calmed down a bit, I thought it was a strange thing to say.”

Mikhail looked at me and said:

“Do you know what it means?”

“…Of course I do.”

I found myself speaking with a bit more force in my voice.

Mikhail shrank back slightly and said:

“…I won’t pry into what it means.”

“Wise of you.”

There was no point in hearing what they might be planning to do.

Mikhail briefly looked at me, then bowed his head again.

“I apologize for the many offenses.”

“……”

“I will make sure to repay the debt of my life.”

As if that was a signal, paladins from the Zeolei Order began to gather around Mikhail.

And they began to speak one by one:

“Thank you for saving us.”

“We will definitely repay this debt.”

After watching them for a moment, I nodded lightly.

Soon, with their expressions more relaxed, we left the village with our prisoners, seeing off the rescued dwarves and the paladins.

+

Mikhail quietly watched Kay leave.

And beside him, Max quietly approached.

“Max.”

“What?”

“Don’t you understand a bit now why Lord Ludger designated that person as his successor?”

Max quietly nodded.

“What do you want to say?”

“…It’s nothing much.”

Mikhail quietly said:

“…I just thought we should spread the word about that person.”

“Spread it?”

“Yes.”

Max quietly nodded.

“First, we need to see through to the end what happened here.”

“Right.”

“After that, let’s consult with Kaal back in our home country.”

“While apologizing for what we’ve done so far.”

The two paladins chatted lightly for a while.

And shortly after, they began their return to the capital of Ferarius.

+

When we returned to the village, Beatrice was waiting for us with Lorona, arm in arm.

“You came back quickly.”

“We’re traveling by warp. But how are you here?”

Beatrice quietly pointed at Lorona.

And Lorona pointed at Lirina and said:

“Your sister explained the situation to me.”

“Even when we’re apart, we can communicate with each other.”

I nodded at Lirina’s words.

Then I handed the rope with the prisoners tied up like dried fish to Beatrice and said:

“Fresh prisoners for you.”

“Yes. Very lively ones.”

Beatrice said as she pulled the rope.

The paladins of the Emiris Order were dragged along the ground, but none of them showed signs of waking up.

This was because Lirina had cast a spell to keep them in a deep sleep as a precaution.

Beatrice looked at the prisoners and said:

“Is there anything I should know beforehand?”

“Just information I got from the Zeolei Order.”

I told Beatrice what I had heard from Mikhail earlier.

After listening quietly to my words, Beatrice soon said to me with a serious expression:

“Just one.”

When I nodded lightly, Beatrice muttered thanks and then took out a cigarette and began to smoke.

After staring blankly at it for a while, Beatrice seemed to have organized her thoughts and spoke to me again:

“…Do they want a second Red Paladin Order or something?”

“That’s highly likely.”

If they’re invoking the name of the Red Paladin Order, that must be it.

Beatrice, while smoking, said with a slightly puzzled expression:

“…It doesn’t seem like an important plan for Somnus, at least.”

“Really?”

“If it’s Somnus, he tends to command important matters personally.”

Beatrice quietly added that while he’s not above manipulating others or sending substitutes, he tends to handle truly important matters himself.

Soon she frowned and said:

“We’ll find out once we dig into it. With these fresh materials, something will come up.”

“Sorry to ask this of you.”

At my words, Beatrice softened her expression and smiled.

“Don’t worry. This kind of thing should be done by someone who’s good at dirty work.”

Beatrice said as she put out her cigarette.

Soon she pressed down her witch’s hat once more and said:

“I’ve already talked with Chief Dodo. I’ll conduct the interrogation in an abandoned house on the outskirts of the village.”

“Sorry for the trouble.”

“I told you not to worry.”

Beatrice said with a fierce smile.

Then she began to whisper in my ear:

“By the way, I heard the external objective was food. How’s that going?”

“Not so good.”

I answered Beatrice quietly.

“We were able to get some food as a reward. But that village wasn’t abundant to begin with.”

“…Other places might be even worse.”

Beatrice thought for a moment and said:

“This could be more dangerous if the situation becomes prolonged.”

I quietly asked Beatrice, who was muttering bitterly:

“How’s the research going?”

“It’s in full swing. But this is important too, so I decided to step away.”

Beatrice quietly added that having her join wouldn’t exponentially speed things up anyway.

“Please hurry for any contingencies.”

“Alright. Give me two days.”

Beatrice looked at me and said:

“The research side will likely reach a conclusion within two days anyway.”

She told me to rest and regroup in the meantime, with a fierce smile.

+

Lara was taking a short break.

‘Things aren’t going well.’

Under the guidance of Dvel, the legendary hero of the dwarves, the human blacksmith Peri was in the process of crafting weapons.

Most of the commissions were completed and just needed to be delivered.

But there was one problem.

‘I wonder how the holy relic will turn out.’

Dvel had planned to repair the holy relic using harmony ore and eggshells imbued with holy power.

Originally, holy power needed to be infused into the harmony ore, but without a cleric to do that, the plan was to mix in the shells to create a similar state.

And the plan had worked about halfway—the holy relic had regained its original sword form.

But that’s where it stopped.

‘The functions are all dead, they say.’

She had heard it was originally a weapon that could transform freely.

Dvel had intended to make it even stronger, but something went wrong, and now it couldn’t transform.

If used as is, it would just be a well-sharpened sword, causing stress for both Dvel and Peri.

“…I hope everything works out.”

Outside, her kin were in danger.

Her comrades had left to save those kin.

The matters outside and the matters here.

Lara was praying for everything to work out well.

“You think so too, Sister, don’t you?”

Lara quietly asked the egg, which she had come to check on during her break.

Of course, the egg had remained motionless for days and gave no answer.

Still, perhaps because there was a person inside, Lara felt like she wasn’t alone when with the egg, and it seemed like they could converse.

“…Sister, if you can hear me, please wake up soon.”

Lara was repeating what she had been saying for days, even before people had left.

“The person you care about might be in danger right now.”

Of course, no news from outside reached Lara.

Still, she thought that saying this might elicit some response.

Perhaps it was her imagination, but Lara felt like the egg moved slightly.

“Not just that person, but everyone might be in danger. Perhaps a powerful enemy might appear… They might get hurt.”

“The one who can heal them when they’re hurt is you, Sister.”

“Come on, please wake up soon. For the people you care about.”

Lara repeated these words many times.

She was likely repeating words that many people had said to the egg.

And after seeing no change in the egg, Lara smiled slightly.

“…Maybe you’ve heard it so many times that you’ve become numb to it.”

With a bitter smile at having talked to herself again, Lara stood up.

Soon she had to return to assist the blacksmiths as their apprentice.

“Well then, Sister. Sleep well.”

Thinking that tonight would be another night of hammering, Lara quietly walked out of the room.

And shortly after:

-Crack

A small fracturing sound began to come from the egg.