Chapter 52 : Border Area Disturbances

We traveled for ten days to the borderlands between the Andras Empire and the Carat Dutchy.

At first, when Ravi had just left the ruins of Aldebaran, she didn’t seem too shaken.

At night, she would even sneak out to secretly meet me, intertwining our bodies in a passionate affair.

However, as we got closer to the border and encountered more traces of battle, her anxiety grew.

She started showing severe signs of depression.

The power difference between the Andras Empire and the Carat Dutchy was so vast that saying “We can hold out” would have been a complete lie.

If the Black Shadow Mercenaries stirred up conflict in the borderlands, provoking the empire into invading the principality, Carat wouldn’t last even a few days.

The Bunnyfolk were far superior in physical ability, but the empire outnumbered them too greatly.

More importantly, the Bunnyfolk had been subjected to relentless discrimination, denying them access to proper education.

As a result, they lagged far behind the empire in both swordsmanship and magic.

Elfin, who was skilled in analyzing traces, examined the battle scars and concluded, “This wasn’t caused by monsters. It looks like a real fight between people took place here.”

From that moment on, Ravi was barely in her right mind.

We increased our pace toward the borderlands, where we discovered the Black Shadow Mercenaries disguised as imperial soldiers, deliberately provoking conflict with the Bunnyfolk.

“You damn half-eared bastard, so you really think you can take on our empire, huh?”

“That’s not what I’m saying! How many times has this happened now? Our people weren’t even stationed near that area at the time the empire claims! We’ve repeatedly asked you to refrain from making baseless accusations until the facts are confirmed, yet you keep using the same excuse to justify your armed provocations. Is this whole thing a setup by the empire from the start?!”

The Bunnyfolk warrior protested furiously, but reasoning with the mercenaries—whose sole purpose was to incite conflict between the empire and the Carat Dutchy —was pointless.

“What? Did this half-baked mock-human just accuse the Andras Empire of staging this?!”

“‘Half-baked mock-human’… You better watch your words, Imperial. Sure, we may be smaller in size and weaker in national power than your empire, but don’t think we’ll just sit back and take these insults forever.”

“Oh? And what if you don’t? You gonna launch a preemptive strike on the empire? No, wait. In fact, weren’t you the ones who sneaked in under the cover of night to attack our outpost? You’re the real saboteurs, pretending to know nothing while waging secret destruction against the empire!”

“I told you to stop!”

“Disgusting mock-humans. You’re so naturally deceitful that it’s no wonder you’ve been forced to live in the shadows all your lives. No matter how much you bark, we’ve already reported your midnight attack on our soldiers to the higher-ups. You’d better remember that this is the last time you’ll be able to act so bold. How pathetic. Here, take this. Eat it and scram, you damn mock-human.”

With those words, the mercenary disguised as an imperial soldier pulled out a small carrot from who knows where and tossed it at the feet of the Bunnyfolk soldier as if it were trash.

The Bunnyfolk warrior’s expression twisted into something terrifyingly grotesque.

His face turned redder than a tomato, his eyes looked as if they might pop out at any moment, and his expression became so ferocious that even a vengeful spirit would have fled in fear.

It was true that the Bunnyfolk liked carrots.

In fact, when they entertained guests among themselves, they often served high-quality carrot-based dishes like soup or cake.

But that was only within their own culture.

When another race—especially a human, whose kind had deeply ingrained discrimination against the Bunnyfolk—threw a carrot at them like garbage and told them to “eat and scram,” it was considered the greatest possible insult.

It was no different from a non-Black person walking up to a Black person and spouting the N-word.

The Bunnyfolk warrior, who had been holding back, lost all control at that moment.

His vision went red as he drew his sword and charged at the Black Shadow Mercenary.

“You damned imperial bastard! I tried to hold back, but…!”

He knew that attacking someone disguised as an imperial soldier would trigger a full-scale conflict between the two nations.

But in that moment, he had lost all reason.

Just as the Black Shadow Mercenary smirked, seemingly ready to accept the attack—

Ravi, dashing in at full speed, blocked the warrior’s sword with her knuckles.

Simultaneously, Lenis used magic to slow the mercenary’s movements, while a plant summoned by Elfin wrapped around the man’s legs, immobilizing him.

As I subdued the now-trapped mercenary, Ravi turned to the enraged Bunnyfolk warrior, desperately trying to restrain him.

“Baren! Stop your attack!”

“P-Princess?!”

The Bunnyfolk warrior—Baren—was mid-charge when he saw Ravi.

His eyes widened in shock, and in his attempt to stop himself, he lost his balance and fell to the ground.

However, he quickly regained his composure, dropped to one knee, and greeted Ravi with the appropriate formalities.

“Princess! What brings you here?!”

“I came because I sensed something was wrong at the border. These people are my companions—I’ve known them since my days at the academy.”

As Ravi introduced us, we stood by her side.

An old acquaintance from the academy, huh? Considering how Ravi had treated Alvis like he was invisible back then, this was quite the development.

“Princess, there’s no major issue at the border, so you needn’t worry too mu—”

“Weren’t you just about to engage in a physical altercation with that imperial soldier a moment ago? And you call that ‘no major issue’?”

“Th-That’s…”

If Ravi hadn’t intervened, one of them would have surely fought to the death.

Baren fell silent, unable to refute her words.

I stepped forward and questioned Baren about the recent events.

“My name is Alvis. I’d like to ask you something—have the empire’s provocations and attempts to incite conflict increased significantly over the past few days? Things like discriminatory remarks or accusations that Carat forces have attacked them, for example.”

“How… how do you know that…?”

“…Looks like things have already escalated.”

At this point, preventing the situation entirely was no longer an option.

The focus had to shift to minimizing the damage and de-escalating the looming conflict between the two nations.

As I was contemplating our next move, the subdued Black Shadow Mercenary beneath my feet suddenly started struggling and yelling.

“You bastards! Attacking the imperial border guards is the same as declaring war against our empire—”

Instead of responding, I drew my lightsaber and drove it into the mercenary’s leg, where the faint power of an underground worm resided within him.

With a sizzling sound, black smoke rose from his leg, and his screams pierced the air.

“Ugh… AAAAAAAGH! AAAAARRRGH!!!”

“I know damn well that you’re not actually an imperial border guard. Where are the rest of your mercenary squad? Where are O’Brien and Sophia, and what kind of scheme are they orchestrating?”

“!!!”

His eyes widened, trembling violently.

His expression screamed, How the hell does he know that?!

But instead of answering, he clamped his mouth shut.

I shoved my lightsaber deeper into his leg.

“AAAAAAAAAAH!!!”

“You’re as good as dead here anyway. The only choice you have left is whether you want to go slowly and painfully… or at least die a little more comfortably.”

“Guhhh… Hah… Haha… Go ahead, do whatever you want.”

“……”

“If I die, it’ll only serve as further proof that you filthy mock-humans were behind it, and it will be used to ignite the war. No matter how you found out about us, it’s already too late!”

I knew better than anyone that reasoning with these insane zealots was a waste of time.

Rather than trying to extract more information, I simply severed his now-smoking leg.

“Guhhh… Ack…”

“Baren, take this trash with you. Whether you kill him or let him live is up to you, but if you do execute him, make sure it happens inside a Carat base and bury the body in secret.”

At my words, Ravi turned to me in shock.

“Alvis?! But if we kill him, that could spark a military conflict with the empire—”

“This guy is just one of many disposable pawns meant to create an excuse. The real masterminds behind this operation are elsewhere.”

I turned to Baren and asked, “One question—where is the most serious unrest or localized conflict currently occurring along the border with the empire?”

Baren flinched at how casually I had just cut off the man’s leg but quickly gathered his thoughts before answering.

“I’ve heard that things have been getting chaotic near Kerman Fortress at the center of the border. It’s always been a hotspot for minor skirmishes since it’s heavily garrisoned by both our forces and the empire, but recently, the intensity has escalated far beyond the usual level.”

At that moment, several Bunnyfolk soldiers came running at full speed from the direction of the Carat Dutchy.

“Captain Baren! C-Captain! This is bad!”

“What happened?!”

“Five imperial soldiers have been found murdered near Kerman Fortress! The empire has already declared that the Carat Dutchy is responsible for the killings! Imperial troops have begun gathering in front of the fortress, and all communication crystals leading to that area have gone completely silent! We’ve confirmed that no one else can establish contact with Kerman either!”

Both Ravi and Baren turned pale.

I cursed under my breath.

It seemed that the main force of the Black Shadow Mercenaries had already made their move there.