Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyusoukyoku (WN) - Volume 14 - Chapter 42

Chapter 42: 42

14-42 . Wyvern Kingdom (9) Cleaning-up

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"I forbid you from using skills, including Unique Skills . "

I used [Geass] skill at the fake apostle who was glaring at me spitefully to nip the trouble in the bud .

The ornamental mantle of noble clothes is too small to hide her body so she's been fidgeting restlessly since awhile ago .

Looks like she even didn't pay attention to the fact that she got [Geass]ed .

『 . . . . Lewd』

I take a big shirt from my bag and drop it on the complaining fake apostle's head .

"Behave yourself for a bit . "

『Don't look at me you pervert . 』

She somehow feels like my little sister when she was in her rebellious phase .

I avert my gaze from the fake apostle who's having a hard time wearing the shirt to hide her body, and entrust the rest to Sera whose smile looks scary .

Her Japanese wording seems childish somewhat .

Did she have any reason to use masculine language?

The prince and Macho Warrior came here when I was thinking such .

Looks like they had sensed that the situation was under control .

"Sir Pendragon, I know that humans are in heat all year round, but understand the time and place . "

"Really . If you want to strip and assault your captive, at least do it in that bush over there . "

Apparently, the people of the checking station think that I stripped the fake apostle's clothes .

The soldiers look awkward, the women and children among the refugees are looking frightened .

Only the prostitute-like women among the refugees emphasize their breasts, trying to appeal to me . Very shrewd .

"It's a misunderstanding . The tool she had got out of control and turned her own clothes to salt . There's no danger anymore since the tool has been destroyed . "

I took out a broken tool from my breast pocket .

Of course it's just a [looks legit] item that has nothing to do with the fake apostle .

If I'm not mistaken it's the failed creation of Echigoya Firm's Prof . Jahad who tried to make [A magic tool to mutually create magic power and electric power] is it?

Since he was obsessed with subjects that involved rotation, he had been immersing himself in that theme after completing the new aerodynamic engine model .

When I visited Echigoya Firm not too long ago, the Japanese Aoi boy who was working as the Prof's assistant grumbled that he didn't have time to do his own research .

Leaving that aside-- .

The prince glanced at the item and lost interest, then he turned his sight to the agents .

"Even though I know that the captives in battlefield are prioritized to the captor, would you be willing to hand over those men to our country . "

"I don't mind if you let me take custody of the girl over there . "

Dealing with the agents afterward sounds troublesome, it's easier to let the people in charge to handle them .

The prince readily consented, so the fake apostle has been placed under my custody .

Now that I've sealed her dangerous Unique Skill, I'll leave her at some Zaikuon temple or monastery in some safe easy-to-live city .

An Urion priest soldier who has personal appraisal skill, [Judgment Eye] runs up to the prince and whispers something to his hear .

He reported that the agents were not ordinary mob .

"Incitement and Brainwashing?"

"That's some heretic skills . . . . Maybe there's some of their friends who can use mind magic?"

"Don't be stupid . If there's someone who can use such heretic magic, I'll feed them to the wyvern . "

Looks like mind magic is more hated than I thought .

I'll keep the fact that there's someone who can use mind magic here a secret .

"Are you going to execute the ones who have Incitement and Brainwashing skills?"

"It should be fine as long as both of their eyes and mouths are blocked . Although this is the first time I meet people who have these skills, I've learned about it during my training when I was entrusted to be the person in charge of the checking station . "

--Hohou?

I'd like to receive that training .

I'll ask Silga King if I could get one once we get back to the royal castle .

"Needless to say, block their mouth and suicide attempt . "

"Yes, the one with Brainwashing skill might have influenced the soldiers in the station . I'll let soldiers who have just been assigned to be the guards . "

The officers in this country seem to be quite excellent .

After getting all their equipment besides their underwear stripped, the agents who are tied with [Magic Sealing Chain] are carried by the soldiers to the station .

There were some men who shouted, [Save sensei!] among the refugees, but the soldiers quickly arrest and took them to the station together with the agents .

Next, we need to deal with the refugees .

As I switched my thought to that, roaring sounds and vibrations detained it .

"What happened!"

"The checking station's gate is collapsing!"

A soldier answered the prince .

"We're asking the reason! I'm going for a bit . You wait here with Sir Pendragon . "

Macho Warrior ran to the station after saying so .

I wouldn't go with him even if he asked me to .

Because-- .

"Suicide bombing?"

"Yeah, the station's gate has collapsed, pieces of meats are sticking to the surrounding wall and tower . "

It'll appear in my dream if you explain it in detail so please stop that .

Without even listening to the prince and Macho Warrior's conversation, I know that all of the agents have died looking at the disappeared points on the map .

Looks like the sympathizer men and the soldiers who were with the agents instantly died too .

After that thorough physical check, just where did they hid the bombs . . . . .

Good grief, please stop with suicide bombing terror in another world .

I searched [Bomb] on the map just in case and found a hit on a pregnant woman .

Looking with 3D display, I found that it was inside the pregnant woman's stomach .

I enter a bush once again and pull the [Bomb] from the pregnant woman with advanced space magic [Aport Object] .

It seems the bomb is triggered when it's taken outside, it's swelling in my hand .

--I won't let it .

I put the bomb that was going to explode in my hand into my storage .

I deem [Cannibal Snake] which the agents belong to as the same dangerous organizations as the [Wings of Liberty] and the [Light of Liberty] .

There's no need to be considerate with a group who made use of a pregnant woman to do bomb terrorism .

◇

" . . . . ■■■■■■■■■ Mass Heal All"

Once Sera completed her long long chant, more than 1000 refugees are wrapped in a giant light pillar that extends to the sky .

The glittering blue firefly light heals the refugees and washes away their fatigue .

"--Ooh, god . "

"Onii-chan! Mother has woken up!"

"Something feels warm . "

"My legs, I can move my legs . "

"Feels nice . . . . I feel happy somehow . Wonder if the heaven is calling me . "

Bright smiles return to the refugees who have been healed with Sera's holy magic .

There was a slightly dangerous remark mixed in, but it must just have been my mind tricking me so I ignore it .

I signal to the soldiers to carry barrels put with food and water to the refugees .

I've negotiated with the prince to share the food and water reserve of the checking station .

Of course it was not free and I paid the price .

"That was Tenion-sama's holy mark--That person must be a saintess with the name . "

"Let's pray to saintess-sama and Tenion-sama . "

The religious officials who noticed the holy mark inside the light pillar astutely advertised and propagated it to the surrounding people .

Some people whose wounds are cured and stomachs are satisfied offer thankful prayers while looking content .

That circle spread like a chain reaction and reached the whole refugees .

Perhaps due to the effect of the people who are praying earnestly, Sera has gotten a new [Saintess] title .

『Saintess? No one praised me even though I worked that hard . . . . 』

The fake apostle who was kneeling behind me muttered her complaint with a gloomy face .

The soldiers who don't understand Japanese are looking at her weirdly .

Did the fake apostle haphazardly punish people without getting thanked by anyone?

I wanted to ask her circumstances, but since an old man with relatively good attires was coming here, I turned my attention to him .

"--How should we thank you . "

The old man who introduced himself as a former representative of Makiwa Kingdom's Keldan town's governor prostrated himself before Sera and me .

It seems he was leading the refugees before the agents and their sympathizers took over .

He thanked us for giving food and water to the refugees who had been weakened .

"Give your thanks not to me but His Highness who gave his permission to share the station's water and food . "

Maybe because their countries were at odd, the old man was hesitating for a bit but then he finally fell prostrate and thanked the prince and Macho Warrior .

『There were people who were happy with my salt but there were lots who accused me "A smuggler!", tried to put me into jail and profited by reselling it . 』

The fake apostle muttered grudge like she had fallen ill .

In a lot of cases, salt sale's right is held by countries or land lords, so you'll get caught if you carelessly sell them .

"So, has Makiwa Kingdom lost to Weasel Empire?"

"We don't know . Two days after the news that Marquis Dasles territory at the eastern end got attacked, our town at the northwest also got attacked by the empire's monster tamer army . "

I check the map while listening to the old man .

Besides Makiwa Kingdom's Royal Capital and two towns, only the territory capital of the southern Muzaris Earldom is left in Makiwa Kingdom .

The town near Silga Kingdom has also been occupied by Weasel Empire's army, around 3000 refugees are currently moving toward Silga Kingdom .

It seems they're doing slave hunting, mercenary units under Weasel Empire are moving vigorously .

. . . . I don't intend to participate in a war .

I don't want to see places where people die and I still don't like to see corpses even now .

I'm not good against violent scenes, and I don't take pleasures in overwhelmingly infringing other people with force .

However, I don't like this even more .

After considering a bit, I've decided .

『Tifaliza, when is the fitting-out of the airships from before completed?』

『The second airships in three days, the third airships in ten days . 』

I talk to Tifaliza in Shiga Kingdom's Echigoya Firm through [Telephone] .

She answered without getting surprised nor paused even though I called her suddenly .

『Kuro-sama should entrust it to General Manager Elterina if you want to hasten it . She should be able to make the second to depart the Royal Capital tomorrow and the third in two days . 』

She gave that suggestion taking my intention into consideration .

『Okay, tell that to Manager . 』

『--Please excuse me, but I think it'll be better if Kuro-sama directly instructs her . If you whisper close to her ears "I can only count on you", the wanted delivery date will certainly be fulfilled . 』

It's rare for Tifaliza to make a joke .

I change the call and ask Manager to accelerate the departure .

『Please Elterina . I'm counting on you--』

And lastly, when I tried to joke as Tifaliza said, Manager who sounded excited interrupted .

『Leave it to me! Forget tomorrow, I'll make the warships depart by today's end . The rest of the fitting-out can just be done in the middle of the flight . 』

--Ooh, the effectiveness is outstanding .

Alright, now the alibi for transporting the refugees is perfect .

◇

『The village I lived in was really really poor--』

After returning to Silga royal castle, I tried talking to the fake apostle, Kei, while waiting for the audience with the king .

I was hesitating for a bit, but I didn't call Arisa and Hikaru .

There was no danger physically speaking, but since I was slightly bothered with Kei's gloomy laugh, I decided to hear her out before the two .

『--I lived in terrible poverty, my past life looked like heaven in comparison . To be honest, it was enough to make me resent the god who reincarnated me . 』

Kei talked about her birthplace while staring at the ground .

Sounds like it'll be a darker story than I thought .

『Even so you know, my parents this time were good people . They didn't hit me without reason or left me outside like my previous parents did, they didn't cull me like other families did, and they raised me who was useless . 』

Looks like she loves her parents in this world .

Kei's face smiled a little only when she talked about them .

『I, who was an urban junior high student, couldn't do anything . Even if I knew useful tools, I couldn't make them, and I didn't have money to ask someone to make them . And yet, I did as best as I could with my parents--』

--Her village was attacked by thieves .

『Everyone was dead when I came back from gathering nuts . I couldn't remember well after that . I didn't know whether the salt pillars that remained in the whited village were the thieves or villagers . 』

Her Unique Skill probably went out-of-control .

I'm surprised she didn't turn into demon lord .

『At that time, I might have died if I didn't meet gramp who was on pilgrimage . . . . I guess that's good too? Then I'd be able to go to heaven with my parents . 』

It's probably something that happens often in remote regions, but you just don't know how to console the one concerned .

I merely listened to her story quietly .

『Gramp was a priest-sama of Zaikuon Temple . 』

--It's connected .

『He couldn't use holy magic since the god was weakened, but gramp said that he learned medicines to compensate for magic . 』

I see since god Zaikuon died and holy magic became unusable, he learned the alternative .

『He said if Zaikuon temple's priests go around while doing good deeds, people who feel gratitude will give their prayers and the weakened god will become healthy, so we worked hard . 』

Kei was visiting various countries with the old priest to impart their idea and techniques to the people of Zaikuon Temples .

『But it was a fruitless effort . . . . I forgot which city, but some priests who didn't like gramp giving medicines hired bad people to kill gramp . 』

And then, after turning those evil priests and bad people into salt, she began to do the sham pilgrimage in place of the old priest alone .

Her skills are of the usual reincarnated person sets, and then [Hunger Resistance], [Rot Resistance], [Poison Resistance], [Disease Resistance], [Paralyze Resistance], [Good Walker], [Compounding] and lastly [Holy Magic: Zaikuon Belief] .

She couldn't heal the refugees after all, she probably can't invoke the magic even if she has the skill .

『This world is a shitty game . That's why, I'll revive the god and make this world right . . . . A world where good people won't have unpleasant things happening to them, a world where bad people will surely be punished . . . . That's why, I--』

--Calling herself Zaikuon apostle, and punishing the evil are probably her way to do her justice .

I let Kei who began to laugh as if cramping to sleep with mind magic, and then I called Sera in the next room to use her holy magic on Kei who was having a nightmare so she can sleep peacefully .

Holy magic is good for this kind of thing .

Her last line is a dangerous way of thinking, but she lacks knowledge and experience to realize the thing she wants .

I don't care whether god Zaikuon is revived or not, but I'll let Kei to study with a teacher to correct her way .

Moreover, there should be other people who weren't bad yet got turned into salt by her [Infinite Salt Maker], so I have to make her make up for it and visit their graves once her study is done to some extent .

While we're at it, I'll let her mingle with various countries and people's hierarchy to broaden her view .

◇

"--Have you decided to accept the refugees?"

"Regarding that matter . . . . Since the scale was bigger than I expected, I cannot decide it on my own . "

I met the king and talked about the way to cope with the refugees .

After that time, I talked to the old man representative from before, it seemed Makiwa Kingdom's racial discrimination stemmed from the assassinations of Marquis Dasles's family and Makiwa King by white tigerkin .

After those incidents, rejection campaign toward the white tigerkin unnaturally exploded and developed toward the whole demi-humans .

There's a high chance that people who were like those agents were behind the rejection campaign .

If that's the whole story, then the root of the racial discrimination seems shallow .

"So, until the decision from my country comes, I'm thinking of putting a monster barrier in the valley near the border to Makiwa Kingdom to be a temporary foreign settlement . "

Eventually, I want to send them home together with the ones taken by the slave hunters .

Moreover, Silga Kingdom's nobles would probably complain if there were a large mass near the national border after all .

"Did my son not tell you? That's the hunting ground of Fort Phanters y'know? Monster barrier has no meaning before a Fort Phanter . "

"Please don't worry, my subordinates will take care of that . "

I've already dispatched the beastkin girls, currently they must be hunting the Fort Phanters around the area .

I've also asked Mia to make a spring with her advanced level water magic .

"Sir Pendragon, are you aware of an organization called 『Cannibal Snake』?"

"If I'm not mistaken, it's the organization the spies who destroyed the checking station belong to . I'm sorry but I don't know any further . "

Silga King shakes his head .

"Then, how about 『Glutton Racoon』 and 『Filth Eater Fox』?"

"No, unfortunately I don't know them . Is there any relation with the aforementioned 『Cannibal Snake』?"

"That I don't know . The two I mentioned earlier were organizations whose members had Incitement and Brainwashing skills used by Furu Empire a long time ago . I remember a story about people who inherited those organizations' names laying waste to Shiga Kingdom during the era of the mad king Galtafut . I thought a noble of Shiga Kingdom like Viscount-sama would know about them . "

Fumu, organizations of an ancient empire huh . . . .

At the very least, organizations called [Glutton Racoon] and [Filth Eater Fox] don't seem to exist within my range .

I can't use extensive search since there are many people who have Incitement skill .

There's only several people with Brainwashing skill in a country it seems .

It's more numerous than I thought .

I tried to examine the map closer but there was no one who belonged to organizations with similar name .

Silga King put several terms for the matter of the foreign settlement, but I agreed to them since they were something that could be solved with money .

Time is precious right now .

◇

Our airship departed to Shiga Kingdom .

I don't have time to keep the fake apostle Kei company so I let her sleep with continuous-type mind magic and left her in the airship . She's going to wake up in three days, but my business should be over by that time .

"Are you ready everyone?"

"But of course! We checked our equipment for 10 times already . "

With Arisa in the lead, everyone nodded .

Matching that movement, the rabbit ears and the colorful feathers swayed .

"Alright, let's go!"

We, Team Pendragon, depart to Makiwa Kingdom that's in war .

Now, let's protect the refugees from the slave hunting groups .