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Chapter 336 – Out of Reach
After my work at Viscount Travis’ territory, I had to move around a few territories.
I am the prince consort, in other words, the husband of the queen. From a common sense standpoint, I am number two in this country, the new Merinard Kingdom. I am not fully aware of this, but at least that is the way it is and should be treated by the nobles, who value such status and prestige.
On top of that, I commanded the northern campaign and prevented the invasion by the two northern countries. There is also an anecdote that before that, the Liberation Army, led by Sylphy, exerted tremendous power in restoring the Kingdom of Merinard.
Moreover, it is said that I can extract large quantities of food out of nowhere, that the farmland I had created bears large quantities of bounty regardless of the season, that I can heal old wounds in the blink of an eye, that I can create forts in an instant, that I have a dragon following me, that I summon a giant iron army that stands before me, that I was recognized as a saint by the conservative Adol religion, and that I am a hero in the stories of the world. The list of episodes is endless, and they are all a bit too far-fetched compared to the heroes in the stories.
All of this is true, by the way.
But my personal information is very vague. As the queen’s husband, I am known as a man, and it is also known that I have married many women besides the queen. However, little is known about my appearance or my personality. What I like, what I dislike, and even whether I am mild-mannered or brutal are unknown.
If the rumors about me are to be believed, I am a man of two sides: I am generous to the needy and the weak, but I am merciless and harsh toward my opponents.
I went to Merinesburg several times, and some of the nobles came to the castle, but they could not meet me.
I tried to avoid relations with the nobles as much as possible, and Sylphy and Melty also made arrangements for me to do so. I thought it was too much trouble to get involved with the nobles, and Sylphy and Melty didn’t want the nobles to know about my existence.
Considering my personality, they might have thought that if I got to know them too well, I might be inclined to befriend the nobles casually. In fact, I think that’s probably true. I heard that the noble who requested a meeting with me had an oddly aged child accompanying him in order to be friendly with me.
Well, what I’m trying to say is this. For the nobles who welcome me, my visit is a very heady and stressful event.
Of course it is. If they make a mistake, the iron giants who have overrun the two northern countries may come to their lands and lay waste to them. Rumor has it that I am a man who has no mercy for his adversaries.
I have a very brutal record of killing several thousand soldiers of the Holy Kingdom without taking prisoners, of reducing the combined armies of the two northern kingdoms to meat in a hail of bullets, of clearing a fortress with a single blow, and so on.
Combined with rumors that I am kind to the weak, many of the nobles in the country recognized me as “a man who is usually quiet and gentle, but when he loses his temper, he is like a mad dog who can’t be controlled.”
In fact, the nobles who met me seemed to be very afraid of me. I suppose it was because of my position as a prince consort, but even so, they treated me as if I were a tumor.
“It’s better than being underestimated.”
“It is good to be respected, isn’t it? I’m very happy about it.”
“It’s good to be free of trouble, isn’t it?”
“Although I’m a little concerned about the hospitality of the nobility.”
“I don’t think it’s much better than the food Kosuke serves.”
While talking like this, the air board driven by Bella was running through the wilderness.
In the end, I am still working hard, refusing the hospitality of the local nobility.
“How many pioneer villages has this been?”
“Twenty-seven, I think. The work in the west is over now.”
It’s been three weeks since I left Viscount Travis, which was my first assignment, and it’s already been about a month since I left Merinesburg. I wish I could meet up with Sylphy and the other girls soon.
As I was thinking in a daze, Grande suddenly turned her head forward with a stern expression on her face.
“What’s wrong?”
“I smell blood. I’m coming out.”
Saying this, Grande opened the roof door of the air board and flew out. At the same time, the harpies who were scouting in the sky above us contacted us via the golem communicator.
“We found a target up ahead, but it doesn’t look right!”
“As you can see, Grande rushed to the site. I want you to scout a large area around the site.”
“Understood!”
While we are conversing, Bella increases the speed of the air board. Needless to say, she’s very helpful in figuring out my intentions.
“The smell of blood is not mild.”
“What are the possibilities?”
“It’s probably an attack by monsters or bandits. I thought I heard that they were sending an escort.”
“Something attacked that couldn’t be stopped by the guards, I guess. But this area is far away from the monster’s territory, right?”
“Then it must have been some kind of bandit.”
Many tents had been erected, probably because they were attacked in the middle of the night, but all of them were stained with blood, cruelly torn apart, or burnt down. The wreckage was also left strewn here and there, and it seemed to have been devoured by the beasts.
“This is terrible.”
“No one is alive. From the looks of it, the assailants are probably humans.”
Grande pointed to some of the corpses, which showed what appeared to be sword cuts. The beast has devoured them, but this corpse is probably a female beastman. She does not appear to be armed or wearing any kind of armor. Plain clothes. It looks as if she was cut from the back when she was trying to escape, and her shoulder blades and spine appear to have been sliced off. At least it wasn’t done by the fangs of an animal.
“I don’t like it.”
“That’s right.”
At any rate, we collected the bodies lying around the campsite where the attack took place into my inventory. The list of the personnel of the pioneer group sent to this place should be in possession of the nobles who rule this territory, so I will check it later and pay my condolences to them.
Fortunately, even if the bodies have been so devoured that it is impossible to identify them, I will be able to recognize them by name if I put them in my inventory.
“It seems that the food and other things of interest have been looted. This is definitely the work of bandits.”
“Well, maybe some of them have been kidnapped. It seems that they are being attacked quite unilaterally.”
“It looks like they are planning a night raid very well. They are highly skilled. From the condition of the body, it seems that the night before last, or even before that, they were attacked.”
The oni girls also inspected the scene and provided some information. The three of them, who are experienced adventurers, are very reassuring at times like this.
“Can you track down the bandits?”
“Probably. They probably use horses or wagons to carry their prey, so I think we can track them.”
Tozume nodded in agreement after looking around. Shumel nodded as well, and if they both nodded, then it must be so. Bella? Bella is still investigating something a little ways away, so she doesn’t seem to hear our current conversation. Yes.
“Then we’ll hunt the bandits after we clean up this place.”
Hunting down and killing the bandits now won’t bring back the people who died here, but it will save us from further casualties. Above all, I don’t like the fact that they are interfering with my work. I hate that they killed the people I was supposed to be helping. That’s reason enough to kill the bandits.