Was he even human? How could he so cruelly trample on the lives of innocent people for his own sake? And by using the worst tactic of causing a bombing while holding the lives of their families hostage.
“…Were Marquis Bepis’ children there too?”
“A young girl and some young children were also trapped, although they were killed on the last day.”
As expected, their bodies were in that pile of corpses… Sigh, I let out a deep sigh and covered my eyes. When what I had imagined became reality, I felt the worst. The reason he took the children of the Marquis of Bepis into his hands was probably to take away the recipe for making a bomb using the essence of fire and the ownership of the mine. In the end, were the two children just victims?
“How many bombs have been completed in total?”
“Five.”
“Five?”
The number is surprisingly small, right? I thought there would be quite a few, but there are only five.
“It was not as easy to manufacture as I thought, and it was difficult to maintain the firepower. Even if it exploded, it would probably only release about half of the original firepower. Of course, casualties are still inevitable. A small territory can be blown away with just one bomb.
“It has explosive power… so you can’t ignore it.”
“Then there were five hostages who were taken out alive.”
“Yes. I was one of them and was lucky enough to escape, so they’ll probably be trying to save people. Ah! Is there a map?”
I handed the map that was rolled up in the corner to Ian and spread it out on the table. Rodilla held a pen and looked at the map, pointed to a place in the Berdian Principality, made a check in a circle, and put down the pen.
“This was the place I was in charge of.”
“…You bastards.”
Without realizing it, another curse came out. The place she pointed to was the only public school in the Berdian Principality. An integrated educational institution where children under the age of ten can complete higher education as adults. Targeting this place… Ian gritted his teeth as he stared at the map.
“The number of students attending that school alone is over 3,000, and if you include the educators and staff who run the school, there are over 5,000. Moreover, there are a lot of commercial and residential areas around there. If an explosion occurs there, tens of thousands of people will disappear. .”
In the end, she saw no justice in their ways. This meant that tens of thousands of lives, including children, would be burned mercilessly in order to harm political enemies. Ian stared at the map.
“What about this place? This place could also cause enormous damage if it exploded. All the financial institutions of the Berdian Principality are concentrated here.” he asked Rodilla, rubbing her chin and staring at her map before tapping a spot.
“I don’t know other than where I was instructed. But as the Grand Duke said, we will mainly attack those facilities.”
Ian took her pen and twirled it around, looking at her map and marking a few places before nodding at her.
“This is roughly where I expect it to be. What does it look like?”
The places he marked were usually places where government offices were gathered, residences, and key facilities were located. Of course, the castle where Ian himself lived was also included.
“A total of eight places… wouldn’t it be worth it if it were narrowed down to this number?”
“I think we need to dispatch the military right away and look for it. Then what about Ajstain Territory?”
“Our territory is small, so even if a single bomb explodes, it will cause a lot of damage. Most of the facilities will be blown away. Still, if it were a key location that could cause the most damage… it would be the only place.”
Ramnes Square. It was the core area of Aztain territory, where commercial and production facilities operated simultaneously. Ian nodded.
“We need to dispatch troops there and here to quickly hunt down those whose behavior is suspicious.”
“I’ll have our knights move right away.”
Ian nodded and immediately got up and left the room. As I watched him go to give instructions to his adjutant, I also expressed my gratitude to Rodilla and tried to leave.
“First, I will prepare a room for you to stay in the castle. You will be safe here. I will instruct the maid to show you to the room. Thank you for talking to me today. Thanks to you, I was able to narrow down the outline a little. I I’ll wake up first because I have to settle things. Then…”
After bowing to Dermin and Rodilla and saying hello, he stood up. We quickly meet with the knight commander, inform him of the situation, and release the security forces to hunt down those whose behavior is suspicious…
“Hey, next lord.”
“Yes?”
As I was about to leave the room, I turned my head when I heard a voice calling me. He looked at Rodilla, who was standing awkwardly, and tilted his head.
“Is there anything else you want to say…?”
“…”
I looked at her quietly and then lifted her body and approached her. Rodilla straightened her posture, looked at me, pressed her lips together a few times, and then slowly opened her mouth.
“It’s my case, but there’s one thing I want to say about this incident.”
“What is it? I would be grateful if you could tell me anything, as it would be helpful.”
“…Actually, I also couldn’t see the faces of the survivors. So I don’t know who is dead and who is alive. When I opened my eyes, I found that I had been moved to a different place. But I think we can guess.”
“Guess?”
“Yes.”
She answered briefly, then wrote something with a pen on the middle ear pen on her table and handed it to me.
“…name?”
“I’m not sure it was those people, but among the people I met and talked to there, there were several researchers who had families, children, lovers, or similar people. I thought that maybe they had survived. I heard you.”
About ten people? I think it would be better to check who lives where and where they live. I narrowed my eyes.
“Actually, I was wondering whether I should tell you or not. I was worried that I might confuse you, but I still thought it would be better to tell you.”
He took the paper and put it in his arms and then smiled.
“I think it will work. Thank you for your help, Rodilla.”
“…They were all good people. The world looks at us with eyes that do not have passion or confidence in what we have done, but it is all pure. So I hope at least some of them are alive. please…”
Faced with her face that looked very distressed, I stretched out both of her hands and gently squeezed her hands, then gave her a light hug. I felt pathetic for shamelessly asking for help to someone who came back from the crossroads of life and death. At the same time, I was truly sorry and grateful to her for helping me without saying anything.
“There’s no need to blame yourself. It wasn’t Rodilla’s fault that he made the bomb.”
“That…”
The sound of expiration rang out. And a sound rang in my ears. Yeah, I guess that’s it. The reason I don’t look good may be because of the hardships and hardships I experienced there, but I also can’t shake off the feeling of guilt. Disgust and self-reproach for having created a bomb that could take tens of thousands of lives in order to survive. There was no need to forcefully embrace the pain of being selfish. Even though it was painful and difficult, he tried to help with everything he knew. That was enough. Because it wasn’t Rodilla’s fault.
“People won’t die. So don’t cry.”
I patted her on the back. Tears of regret wet my shoulders. Her tears, which were too pitiful to be called penance, were filled with immeasurable pain and guilt.
* * *
“Did you call me?”
At the Knights’ Headquarters High School, a young man in his late 30s entered and greeted me with a polite attitude. He was the person who escorted me earlier. I heard that he was recently receiving private lessons from someone Ian assigned him, but I didn’t know how much his skills had improved since I had never seen him in person.
“Sit.”
When offered a seat, the knight commander gave a short answer and sat straight on the chair in front of me. He was upright, like the model of a knight. The Ajstain family was a family focused on commerce with little interest in military power, so the level of military force of its knights was not that high. However, it is also true that they have many excellent knights compared to the size of their territory because they provide exceptional treatment, such as providing excellent welfare, huge wages, and territory that guarantees old age. The only problem is that there were no articles to teach and educate them. The current knight commander has excellent skills and a strong personality, so he maintains his position without falling prey to self-interest, so there have been no problems. However, the evaluation continued that the skill of the knights was stagnant as there were no knights more outstanding than him. In the meantime, Ian steps in and trains them.
“Knight Commander.”
“Yes, my next lord.”
There was no need for the title of next lord. Even though I asked him to call me by his first name, he still kept the line and made me laugh despite the urgent situation.
“How many knights and security forces can we currently mobilize?”
The knight commander did not open his mouth easily. He closed his eyes and remained still as if he was carefully considering, then spoke slowly.
“We will be able to mobilize approximately thirty knights and approximately four hundred soldiers, including the security forces.”
Because the city was well-regarded by the public, the number of people applying for immigration was high. Because of that, the estate was always crowded. The land was not very large, but there were many people, so there was constant work to build houses higher and prepare undeveloped land to make it a residential area. When there are too many people, security becomes a mess. A large number of soldiers were hired and operated as private soldiers. Considering that most counties did not have more than a thousand private soldiers, it was surprising that Ajstain, which was one of the smaller counties among the counties, had as many as 400 private soldiers. Looking at the current trend, it seems like we need to increase it even more…
“Change all available personnel into civilian clothes and conduct an entire investigation of the Aztain territory. Deacon Fievel will bring you the order.”
“All right.”
I was satisfied with the sight of the Division Commander nodding his head without asking anything else. If he had been anyone else, he would have asked what was going on, but this man seemed to make it his business to do exactly what he was asked to do and never bothered to ask kata questions.
“Commander, if you look at the order, you will see that the important thing is that there is no certainty that this incident will actually occur. And if it happens, I don’t know whether one or two will explode. Since we cannot be sure of anything, you must keep everything as is until I give you instructions. You know, right?”
“All right.”
“Great. I’ll explain briefly while I bring you the orders.”
I got up from my seat. He walked up to him, tore a map, spread it out in front of him, and pointed to Ramnes Square with his hand.
“There could be a very dangerous bomb planted here right now. I can’t be sure that it is here, but there is a high probability that it is here. The shape of the bomb is like this.”
“…Is it square?”
“Yes, that’s right. It only works when a person shocks it from the outside.”
“This bomb may be planted there now, but it may not have been planted yet. It may be in the possession of someone with suspicious behavior. So, we need to find it in advance and retrieve it before this bomb explodes. Do you understand?”
The knight commander looked down at the map with his eyes slightly lowered, then raised his gaze.
“The fact that we can’t be sure of anything yet means that the bomb might not be there after all, right?”
“That’s right. The information is not accurate. But even if it’s not here, it could be somewhere else, so we need to strengthen our guard until all the bombs are recovered. Did you know?”
“Yes. Is there anything else I need to keep in mind?”
This is something to keep in mind… I looked quietly at the young knight commander, then straightened my back and turned around. He returned to his seat, sat down, met his gaze as he followed me, and opened his mouth.
“Stop it at all costs. It may sound cruel, but if a bomb explodes, you have to prevent the explosion from spreading outside, even if it means throwing your body. Absolutely.”
I know what those words mean. Save the lives of civilians by sacrificing your own lives. In a way, it was so selfish that it seemed like he was using the knights as tools. But it had to be done. I am a member of the family that protects this land and have a duty to protect the people of the territory. If I had to choose between sacrificing a hundred soldiers or ten thousand villagers, I would choose the former without hesitation. You can’t put a weight on the weight of life, but you can measure the weight of responsibility. That’s why I gave up my conscience and gave an order. The knight commander looked at me quietly. You may feel resistance because my orders are cruel. But it was something that had to be conveyed. He looked at me with his lips tightly closed and nodded his head.
“I will sacrifice my life to protect this territory.”
With those words, the knight commander bowed in greeting and left the room. I looked quietly at the empty space where he had disappeared and then covered my eyes.
—————————————————————
Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
If you like my work please support me with Ko-fi or Patreon. Next post will be released on April, 29.
Want to read more?
