Chapter 144
Lapiria-sama and the others returned sooner than I expected, but the cleanup still dragged on until late into the night.
There were simply too many of them. On top of that, we had to figure out where to keep the prisoners. Even if we escorted them to the royal capital, leaving them in the shrine town in the meantime would be a problem.
The prince was in town, and civilians from the surrounding area had gathered there, too. It would be a hassle if any of the prisoners tried to escape by taking civilians hostage.
On the other hand, leaving them lying around outside wasn’t a good option, either. Wherever we put them, we’d have to spare soldiers to keep watch over the thugs. And though winter was beginning to retreat, the nights were still cold. I had no desire to stand around in a place like that, shivering and staring at a bunch of rough-looking faces.
The one who suggested a solution was Nelfia, who had accompanied Lapiria-sama.
“Some of my colleagues are stationed at a nearby fort, so I’ll arrange for them to take the prisoners in.”
The self-proclaimed royal scribe had connections even at small forts in the provinces. Impressive.
Anyway, after hearing what we could from the prisoners and escorting them to the fort, we returned to the shrine town to find that the banquet welcoming Prince Zeland had long since ended. All we could get our hands on was bread and soup.
No, we were lucky they’d prepared bread and soup for over a thousand people in the middle of the night. I had no intention of complaining about that.
Still, I couldn’t help wanting to vent at least one gripe about missing out on Halodel beef at Dentacrus Veloza.
But by the time we returned to town, Dentacrus Veloza had already disappeared.
Apparently, he’d made excuses about needing to report to the main force and feeling a little unwell, then dumped the rest of the command on Unit Commander Gliese and ran off.
Gliese-san was at a loss for words, too.
“Still, was it all right to let him get away? He might start trying to cover things up...”
As I sipped my warm soup and muttered to myself, Nelfia answered, “It’s not a problem.”
“Lord Roa, even if you cut off the parts of a weed you can see, it will grow back. There’s no point unless you tear it out by the roots.”
So we were after the root of the problem—the head of the family, Sembria Veloza.
“Besides, Dentacrus is already finished.”
To explain, if the Ninth Knight Order’s report was a lie concocted by Dentacrus, that would be a serious act of treachery against Rudek.
Even if the entire knight order tried to cover up the truth, we’d already obtained highly credible information from the thugs we’d captured. The Ninth Knight Order itself could face severe punishment if things went badly.
Even in that situation, there was no reason for the Ninth Knight Order to protect Dentacrus.
In other words, there was no way out for Dentacrus, no matter how things turned out.
If Dentacrus had the Ninth Knight Order under his thumb enough to cover things up with the entire order, the most effective move would have been to attack the Tenth Knight Order from behind here in town.
I knew all too well that if they burned the prince and the entire town to the ground, they could do whatever they wanted afterward.
The fact that they hadn’t done that—even setting aside Dentacrus’s incompetence—was probably because he couldn’t control the unit, with Gliese-san and the others beneath him.
It seemed most likely that Dentacrus had fled to the Veloza family’s territory without even returning to the Ninth Knight Order.
“Even so, I was a little surprised that so many of the thugs had come from Geadland,” Ryuzel said, changing the subject.
That’s right. More than half of the thugs who’d gathered were from the back alleys of Geadland. They were the ones who’d escaped amid the chaos when we cleared out those back alleys—the ones we knew all too well.
Apparently, word had spread through the underworld’s own network that there was a big payday to be had in the shrine town.
I’d thought three thousand was a rather large number for a bunch of thugs, but I hadn’t expected Zackhart-sama to be behind it.
The ones who’d come from Geadland hadn’t been given much information. They’d apparently just been told to kill the prince and then do whatever they wanted, so they hadn’t been much use as sources of information.
Once we’d finished taking care of everything, maybe I could send the ones from Geadland back to Zackhart-sama. We’d already gotten the information we wanted from the thugs who hadn’t come from Geadland, so that might be a good idea.
And so, the prince’s attack—which had been sloppy in just about every respect—came to an end.
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The day of the royal ritual.
Walking just behind Prince Zeland, I found myself somewhat impressed.
Even with every spectator’s eyes on him, he remained completely composed. You could almost call it dignified.
Nearby spectators were saying things like:
“I hear he led his soldiers himself and drove off the bandits soon after arriving in town.”
“He’s still young enough to be called a boy, but I can’t wait to see what the future holds for him.”
“Rudek’s future is in good hands.”
Their voices brimmed with praise.
I’d never have imagined it from how timid he’d seemed just a little while ago. I didn’t know what had happened, but Prince Zeland was impressive.
Then, as I was thinking this, something suddenly struck me. I realized it—and couldn’t help realizing it.
I’d taken Prince Zeland to the battlefield on a whim, thinking it might make the ritual a little more exciting. But when I thought about it carefully, wasn’t this the prince’s first battle?
A prince’s first battle is normally handled in a much more proper manner, isn’t it? I was starting to think I shouldn’t have dragged him into such a paltry fight.
Damn it. King Zeurasia and Raiz-sama might be angry with me.
While I racked my brain for excuses, the ritual continued solemnly.
In the end, I hardly got to watch the prince’s ritual. Standing beside him amid the people’s thunderous cheers, I spent the time brooding alone, my face pale.