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Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (LN) - Volume 3 - Chapter 15




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Chapter Fifteen: The Shield Demon 

“Mr. Naofumi, don’t you think you should have spoken with her?” 

“That’s easy to say, but think about it. She’s the Trash’s daughter, and the Bitch’s sister! I can’t imagine her as a reasonable person.” 

“That’s true. But she did help us once. And before that, she was our travel companion for a time.” 

Hmm… Raphtalia was right. She had helped us once, back when Motoyasu was running wild in town. 

But still, that was probably a strategy to steal Filo from us. If we’d let her keep talking, she probably would have had Filo seized. Filo was already pretty attached to her. 

“Fine. If they chase after us, I’ll hear her out.” 

“That’s a good idea. She is Filo’s friend, after all.” 

“Mel is nice!” 

“She pretends to be. Anyway, focus on the task at hand.” 

“We’ll sell things along the way, right?” 

“Yeah. I mean, we have to pay for the travel and for all our equipment, not to mention Filo’s appetite.” 

Filo would help us get there, but we’d have to keep her belly full if we wanted to keep the speed up, and that would cost plenty. I’d been letting her eat the monsters we happened upon, but that wouldn’t be enough to cover her whole diet. I don’t know where all the money went, but I knew that we had to raise money while we had the chance. We could just set up shop in the villages and towns we stayed in on the road. 

“Huh?” 

In the back corner of the carriage there was a large bag I’d never seen before. 

Wondering what it was, I opened the bag to find a single letter mixed in with a whole pile of items. 

Dear Kid, 

I was too embarrassed to give you these directly. I went ahead and made you all some tools I thought might be useful. Use them if you like. 

The old guy from the weapon shop! It was so kind, so considerate. 

I reached for the item on top. 

It was a long sword. It was the same sword that Raphtalia had been using, the one that had broken. 

The old guy must have been inspecting us closely. He was very observant. I was honestly touched. I thought I might cry. 

“Raphtalia.” 

“What?” 

“The old guy made you a present.” 

“But this is worth a small fortune. I don’t know what to say.” 

Raphtalia accepted the sword, her eyes welling up with tears. That guy really did seem to care about us. 

 

“What else is in there?” 

The bag was stuffed with things, and all of them were labeled with our names. 

The letter also included short descriptions of the items. He must have rushed to write it all out, as the handwriting was quick and hasty. 

So the first one was for me. It was an item for the jewel in my shield. It sat over the jewel like a lid of some kind. 

According to his note, it would help me look up information about the shield. 

Well, the shield was the whole reason I couldn’t really fight for myself. Anything he did to make it easier to understand was a good idea in my book. 

It clicked into place over the jewel. 

The next one was for Raphtalia. It was another short sword. But why? I passed it to her. 

“He says this one is for you too.” 

“Another sword?” 

She quickly slid it from its scabbard. There was a soft pop, and it turned out that there was no blade on the handle. 

What was it for? 

“Is it a stage prop or something?” 

“I… I don’t know.” 

The memo indicated that it was an experiment of his: a magic sword. He said it would work against shadow monsters with no physical body. 

He wrote the memo is if he expected us to know what he meant. 

 

Normally he would have explained it to us, but he must have been embarrassed because he forgot to write how it was used. Where was the blade? Did it mean that only shadow monsters would be able to see it? 

“There must be a reason it is missing the blade. I’ll try to look it up later.” 

“Yeah, I don’t think he’d give us anything we couldn’t use.” 

All right. Raphtalia would do all the research about the magic sword. 

“Next up…” 

I thought it would be for Filo, but it was for me. 

“Is it a glove?” 

It looked like a glove with a jewel affixed to it. It was pretty cool looking. 

Let’s see here. Yup, there was a memo explaining it. 

Reading it made me tense up. 

It was supposed to help out if we were ever in a situation in which Filo couldn’t pull the carriage. Apparently if I put on the glove, I’d be able to pull the carriage too. 

The effect was somehow linked to my current magic power rating. So I guess it was some kind of power glove. Not that I wanted to pull a big, heavy carriage around. If he wanted to be nice, he was going about it in the wrong way. 

“Filo. This one’s for you.” 

I figured it was best to leave the pulling and tugging to Filo. After all, she was the one who liked it. 

 

“My hands won’t fit in those!” 

I guess it wouldn’t work when she was in her Filolial Queen form. Well, that only made sense. 

“You can wear them when you are in human form. Use them to play or something.” 

Even in the worst-case scenario, I could use them to craft something. 

“Okaaay!” 

Seriously, I was surrounded by jerks left and right, but just knowing that there were people like the weapon shop owner out there, well, it made me want to keep moving forward. 

There was a good chance we’d run into Glass during the next wave. We would have to get strong enough to face her before that happened. 

Which meant that we would probably need the old guy to make us some weapons before the next wave. I felt like my efforts wouldn’t be futile—like I had to get stronger, for him too. 

“Let’s go!” 

“Yes.” 

“Yay! Here we gooooooo!” 

We were back on the road. 

The next morning, after a light breakfast, we left the inn early. It was that kind of town. 

“Waiiiiiiiiit! Please talk to my father!” 

I sighed and slapped my palms to my forehead. I figured they’d chase us, but I didn’t think they’d catch up so quickly. 

 

If they were capable of keeping up with Filo, they must have been moving quickly. And to think, I’d purposefully steered Filo in the wrong direction to throw them off. 

“We finally caught up with you!” 

“Ah, Mel.” 

Filo had stopped, so I climbed down from the carriage and faced the little brat. 

“Apologize, and speak with me!” 

She’d been so polite at first. Now I guess she thought she could order us around. And so the monster sheds its skin. I knew she was after Filo. 

“Sorry. Here I am.” 

“Don’t apologize to me, apologize to my father!” 

Ugh, shut up already. I couldn’t handle talking to the little brat. 

“If you don’t, my mother will make him pay.” 

“What are you talking about?” 

I considered jumping back into the carriage and running. But Raphtalia had already told me off about that kind of behavior. I guess I needed to hear her out, just this once. 

To be fair, this girl hadn’t actually done anything bad to us. As for stealing Filo, that was just my guess. She’d never been anything but nice to us. And yet, here she was, begging me to speak with the Trash. I couldn’t imagine anything I’d rather do less. 

What did she mean that her mother would make him pay? Was the Trash 

 

in for a spanking? 

“What do you want me to do?” 

“That’s what I’ve been trying to say! I’m trying to create a space for the Shield Hero and the King to make amends.” 

The group of knights behind her ignored our conversation and drew their swords. 

What’s that? One of the knights in the back was pointing a crystal ball at us. 

Huh? What was that supposed to be? Then I noticed. 

None of them were looking at me. 

I suddenly had a really bad feeling. A shiver went up my spine. 

It was a feeling similar to how I felt when I realized the Bitch had betrayed me. Tension, with a lot of dread. It was a feeling I’d spent the last few months trying to forget. That sense of betrayal—the air was thick with it. 

Without stopping to think, I quickly ran toward the knights. The reason for my growing dread became immediately apparent. 

The knights turned their swords on the younger princess. 

“Ahhhhhh!” 

“Air Strike Shield!” 

The little brat let out a shrill scream. The Air Strike Shield appeared before her just in time. 

“What are you doing?” 

In a flash I was in front of the brat, glaring at the knights. 

“You—Shield! You would use the princess as a hostage?!” 

 

“Huh?” 

They were the ones moving to attack her! What were they talking about? 

It looked like the younger princess understood that just fine—her face was pale. 

“The Shield is our enemy! We’ve known it from the beginning!” 

The knights shouted, and came running to attack me. 

I readied my shield to protect the younger princess. The air was soon filled with the clang of sword on shield. 

“Ugh…” 

The knights in the back were busy casting a spell. It started to rain fire. 

There was no time. I threw my cape over the princess and we waited for the fire to burn out. 

“You… You Shield Demon!” 

“Filo! Raphtalia!” 

“Understood.” 

“Okaaay!” 

They knew what I meant, and they were both attacking the enemy in a flash. 

The knights knew a counterattack was coming. They jumped on their horses and fled. 

“Fools.” 

Filo was way faster than any horse. In less than a second, she’d knocked one of the knights from his horse. 

“AHHHHHHHH!” 

 

“No! A demon!” 

We’d already taken care of one of them, but as we chased down another, then another, the other knights were able to get away. 

“What the hell was that about?” 

Weren’t they here to protect the younger princess? How would we get to the bottom of this? We tied one of the knights up with a rope and questioned him. 

“Okay, jerk. Why did you all just try to kill the princess in front of me? Better speak up.” 

“I don’t have lips for talking to demons.” 

Ha! So I’m a demon now? It’s been a while since people had been so rude to my face. There were plenty of people who said that the Shield Hero was a demon without knowing that I was that person. I’d wondered what they’d meant, but I had never gotten a chance to ask. 

And then here was this guy, saying he didn’t have lips to speak with a demon. 

“You do understand the position you’re in, don’t you?” 

I called out to Filo. 

“Lunchtime?” 

The knight went pale. But he recovered his sense and spoke. 

“Even if I die, I would be a martyr for a holy cause. God will lead me.” 

So he was religious. Threats probably wouldn’t work against this sort of fanatic. 

“Hey Princess, you have any ideas?” 

 

The princess was trembling with fear. She shook her head. 

“Huh, you don’t say? What religion are you talking about? Some stupid cult, I’m sure.” 

“The Church of the Three Heroes! You demon! You would blaspheme our God?!” 

Of course. Fanatics can’t stand it when you start to make fun of their beliefs. 

I could use that to wring information out of him. 

“That’s the major religion here.” 

Raphtalia whispered to me. 

“You know it?” 

“Well, most people are part of the church here. My village was a different religion, so I’m not part of it. Mr. Naofumi, you mean you’ve never heard of it?” 

“Never.” 

“I thought that you knew.” 

“Why didn’t the weapon shop owner tell me anything about it?” 

“He was probably just trying to protect your feelings.” 

Maybe he’d thought I would do something reckless if I’d found out the real reason that everyone had been treating me so poorly. There really had been a time that I would have done pretty much anything. The last time I saw him I’d rushed the conversation too, so I don’t know if he had actually been trying to tell me. I’d have to make an effort to listen to people more. 

 

“Fine. Go through their belongings and see if you can find anything relating to the religion.” 

“Oh, ok.” 

Raphtalia rooted through their things and came back with a rosary. 

From what I could tell, it was just a normal item, made from normal materials, and without any special properties. 

“Put it on the ground.” 

“…” 

What a strange symbol. There were three weapons all folded into one design. Sword, Spear, and Bow. It was a weird selection of violent weapons. 

That reminds me, the church we’d visited to buy the holy water had the same symbol hanging up. I guess I’d entered the church without saying anything, so Raphtalia had assumed I already knew about the church. 

“All right guy, if you don’t start talking, I’m going to stomp on this thing.” 

“No! Nooooo!” 

The veins on the guy’s head stood out as he screamed. 

He sure was quick to anger. Was this little string of beads really that important? 

Back in my own world there were religious groups that were fanatical enough to go to war. These guys must have been like that. 

“Well, well.” 

I slowly lowered my foot until it was almost touching the rosary, and then raised it again. Then I pretended to step on it again, raising my foot at the last moment. I did it over and over. 

 

“You demon! Our God will never forgive your behavior!” 

“What do I care what your God does? Now tell me why you tried to kill the princess. No? Are your beliefs so flimsy? 

“Ugh…” 

“Are you just going to let me, a DEMON, stomp on your precious little rosary? Your God must be very understanding.” 

It was the reverse of the Japanese fumie. If they really believed I was a demon, they had no choice but to stop me. 

“If you tell me the truth, I won’t step on it.” 

“I won’t be manipulated by you!” 

“Too bad.” 

I ground the rosary under my heal, crushing it into the ground. 

“Nooooooooooo!” 

Hmm, what’s he going to do? I should probably clear up the first misunderstanding. 

“Hey Princess? Who are these guys? Are they knights?” 

“I… Um…” 

She was still visibly shaken by the attempt on her life. Her face was pale, and she was trembling. 

“Mel! Master and me are here so it’s okay!” 

“Filo.” 

Mel recovered her senses and turned to me, whispering. 

“Um… These men are father’s knights.” 

 

“The Trash… You mean he wanted to kill me so badly he would sacrifice his own daughter?” 

Unbelievable. Did he really hate me that much? 

“I… Um… I don’t think so.” 

“Why not?” 

“I don’t think my father knows about this. When he plays strategy games, he’s super smart—my mother can’t even beat him. If this were his plan, it would be perfect. This plan, honestly, my mother wouldn’t approve of it.” 

“I think you’ve got that backwards.” 

From where I was standing, it all looked pretty bad. I guess we couldn’t expect much from the mother either. 

“This seems like something my sister would think of. It’s just like mother said. We’ll have to keep an eye on her.” 

Hmm… I might have been reading too much into it, but it sounded like there was some bad blood between these sisters. 

“So you think it was your sister?” 

She was an heiress to the throne, so there was a motive for her to try and get rid of her sister—the younger one was apparently first in line. The Bitch would know that, and a plan like this certainly wasn’t below her. 

“She might want the throne. She’d have to get rid of me to get it.” 

“That does sound like something she would do.” 

“I wouldn’t put it past her. 

“My sister, from a young age, has loved bringing ruin to people. My mother has said that she would do anything to get what she wants.” 

 

It sounded like, at the very least, she had a handle on the basics. 

“But father doesn’t understand that. He keeps saying that she’s serious, and good.” 

So the Trash trusted her. The younger princess wasn’t taking his words at face value. 

“Maybe the king just doesn’t want you to inherit everything?” 

“That’s not it.” 

“Why not?” 

“Because mother is in charge of choosing a successor. And mother does not trust my sister.” 

“Mother… Your mother… is that the woman with the purple hair, the one who walked with you and said, ‘Zir’?” 

“That was a double—they pretend to be her in public.” 

“A double? So I guess she looked like that.” 

I couldn’t forget how purple her hair had been. 

“Yeah. Well, the double looks just like her but talks kind of strangely.” 

“Huh.” 

“Because she’s the queen, way more powerful than the king.” 

There she was again, whispering big news like it was nothing. 

“What was that?” 

“Her mother is more powerful than her father.” 

“Huh?” 

“Mr. Naofumi, Melromarc is a matrilineal country. I just found out recently myself.” 

 

Raphtalia jumped in, adding more information as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. 

What did this mean? It meant the Trash had married into the royal family! 

“What are you laughing for, Mr. Naofumi?” 

“How could I not laugh? That Trash had to marry into the royal family! Ahaha!” 

“Master, you look like you are having a good time.” 

“Don’t speak ill of my father!” 

“Why not? He hung you out to dry.” 

“He did not! Wahhhhhh!” 

Uh oh, the younger princess burst into tears and started battering me with her little fists. 

Ha! She’d been acting like an adult this whole time. But now she let her guard down. She was just a little kid. 

I mean, when we first met her I knew she was a kid. But now I knew that she really did act her age. 

And yet, she was speaking differently than she had when we first met. If she were a princess, she’d have to conduct herself with honor when she was in public. I guess what I’m saying is that this whining, crying little girl was the REAL younger princess. 

“It’s not right to laugh at a crying child.” 

“She’s basically the same age you are!” 

 

Had Raphtalia forgotten that she had behaved the same way only two months ago? 

That explained her relationship with Filo then—it was her chance to be the big sister. 

It also explained why she was giving the Trash more than his fair share of the benefit of the doubt. It would be easy to get a bunch of religious fanatics to kill me—they already had the motive, and he could easily deny involvement. Even if he wasn’t involved, the explanation of the Bitch trying to secure the throne for herself made perfect sense. 

“Mr. Naofumi…” 

“I know!” 

Raphtalia was starting to get angry, so I decided to behave more seriously. 

“Is there some way for us to clear our names, and also to protect the life of the younger princess?” 

Honestly, I don’t see why I needed to protect the progeny of the Trash and or his Bitch daughter’s sister. I didn’t like the fact that they shared blood. But I couldn’t just leave her there, and I couldn’t kill her. 

Even still, I could sympathize with her plight. Betrayed by her own family and left to die in a pit of despair. I knew how that felt. Hm… There must be some way… 

“The queen… Do you know where your mother is?” 

That was my first idea. If the queen didn’t know what the Trash was up to, we could find her and explain the situation. 

 

She had more power than he did, so if we could get her on our side then that would solve the issue. 

If we went that route, the younger princess would be an important bargaining chip. 

If we could just keep her alive, she would be of use to us. She seemed intelligent enough for decent conversation. The only problem would be if the queen were just as stupid as the king. If so, she wouldn’t believe anything I said. 

“I don’t know where she is. But, but Mother said that she wanted me to be friends with the Shield Hero.” 

“And you know that she wasn’t involved in this?” 

That was a possibility we couldn’t rule out. Giving her youngest daughter the right of succession might have been part of her plan to find and kill me. 

“Uh…” 

“Don’t cry, Mel! Imma help you! I promise!” 

The princess had started crying again, so Filo comforted her. 

“Hey, don’t you promise her anything!” 

“But Master… I… I want to help her!” 

“No.” 

“But I want to help! I want to help!” 

“Ugh! Shut up already!” 

Dammit. I was getting a bad feeling about all this. What was happening? 

We went back and forth a few times before I noticed that the knights were laughing. 

 

“Looks like the demon has finally learned his place.” 

“Shut up. I don’t have time to deal with you losers right now.” 

“That’s not true. This means we have fulfilled our purpose.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“The death of the princess would guarantee the public’s opinion of you, demon, but even without her death there is no major problem. There must be a huge price on your head by now.” 

Yeah, well. I suppose I should have expected that much. 

“You can assassinate a member of the royal family and flee to another country, but don’t think that you won’t be followed!” 

“Wait. I don’t understand why you had to murder the princess before my eyes.” 

If they were trying to frame me for her death, why bother with all this? The Bitch framed me just by pointing at me, and everyone believed her. But they wanted to bring the younger princess out into the middle of nowhere, kill her, and then frame me for it? Why did they bother actually catching up with us when they could have killed her any time? 

Then I remembered the knight in the back with the crystal ball. Most of the knights in the back row had managed to escape. What if… What if that ball had functioned as some sort of camera? 

“Shield Demon, your murder of the young princess is now well known all throughout the land. You have nowhere to hide, nowhere to run.” 

 

I was starting to get it. The last time, they tried to frame me in their own country, but they went too far and weren’t able to make it stick. If I had run to another country, they wouldn’t be able to call for my forced removal. What it would lead to is my exile in another country—and that would give me an opportunity to recruit sympathizers. 

But this time was different. 

They had a crystal ball that contained a scene of me leaping at the princess. That would be all the proof they were likely to need. They could easily show it to any neighboring countries, and it would put an end to any domestic revolts they might face. 

Wow, honestly, I was pretty impressed. So that brings me to my main options. 

Option 1 

Leave the princess and be on my way. 

The knights that the Trash sends after her will kill her, and that will give the crown all the cause it needs to go after me. The queen would put a huge bounty on my head. The word would spread to neighboring countries, and someone would always be after me. 

I’d be in real danger when the next wave came. They’d arrest me when I teleported to the scene. 

Option 2 Take the princess back to the Trash King and explain the situation to him. 

It would save the life of the princess, but then we’d have to deal with the Trash. I wonder if he would try to charge me with kidnapping. Basically, it would save the princess, but I couldn’t guarantee my innocence would be accepted. 

The Queen might step in to save me—but we didn’t know where she was, so we couldn’t go meet her. We would have to wait for her to come to us. We certainly had no obligation to put ourselves in that kind of situation. And if the Queen was the one pulling the strings this whole time, then that would be the end of us all. 

Option 3 

We run back to the castle and kill the Trash ourselves. 

My crime and sins would be absolute and known to all, so the church and knights would hunt me down and kill me. 

Considering the possibility of failure, the risk was probably too high. 

“Whatever we do, I can’t prove my innocence!” 

Why did the Trash and his family have to go so far out of their way to make me miserable? 

“Ahaha! This will be the end of the Shield Demon. Now you will suffer for threatening our church.” 

“Shut up!” 

I ordered Filo to eat them, and they finally learned to shut up. I could have killed them, but it wouldn’t matter—some of them had already escaped. With their crystal ball in hand, I was soon to be charged with murder. Even still, the Church of the Three Heroes… 

 

The Church of the Three Heroes is a church with three heroes. So, that must be what the name meant. 

The symbol of the three weapons showed how much they valued their afterlives. 

But something didn’t make sense. 

There were supposed to be four legendary weapons, the sword, spear, bow, AND shield. 

Not only were the knights trying to frame me every chance they got, but apparently the church was against the shield as well. 

That must explain why, when I first found myself in this world, none of the assembled adventurers volunteered to travel with me. 

If the crown had gathered the adventurers, then it was safe to assume they picked people they felt they could trust. 

Thinking back on the large church in town, and the behavior of the knights here, it was evident that the church held a lot of power in Melromarc. If the church said that the shield was a demon, the people were sure to go along with it. 

Why would anyone, of their own free will, volunteer to team up with a demon? It didn’t matter if they knew me or had all the information of not. Any little push would do it. 

If all this were true, it would explain the nasty looks I got everywhere I went. 

The fanatical zealotry of these knights made sense in that context, as they were under control of both the Crown and the church. 

Thinking back on it all, they had been acting strangely towards me even before the Bitch had me framed for rape. They intentionally ignored me and then convicted me without a shred of evidence, both of which would be easier with the power of a church behind you. The people didn’t need evidence when it came to me. If I were accused of something bad, they’d accept the accusation because I was already a demon in their eyes. 

When I’d gone to see the Dragon Hourglass, the sisters had been cold, treating me like an enemy from the get-go. That was all the proof I needed. 

I was starting to understand what the Trash was up to. 

If he wanted to keep his position, he would have to treat the Shield Hero differently than he treated the other heroes. Over the last month or so, the public was starting to think that maybe the Shield Hero wasn’t actually all that bad. I’d acted as the bird-god saint and travelled all over the place. I’d saved people. Lately, even in Castle Town, people had been more polite to me than they had been. 

It had to do with the teaching of the church—it just had to. 

All they had to say was that the three heroes had been threatened, and that wouldn’t exactly be a lie. That was why they used their trump card, the princess next in line for the throne. 

All this was just a guess. And it wasn’t going to clear my name. 

Still, running to another country… 

 

Then I remembered what the guy from the weapon shop had said. 

I think he’d said that the citizens of Siltvelt were demi-human supremacists. That would mean that they probably didn’t have close relations with Melromarc. If we took the princess, the heiress of Melromarc there to force negotiations, the queen would have to show her face. 

Sure, I was a human, so I wasn’t likely to receive a very warm welcome. But Raphtalia was with us. It might be the perfect hideout. 

By the way, Siltvelt was to the northeast, and Shieldfreeden was to the southeast. But I would have to cross through two other countries to get there. Like I’d learned earlier, they were pretty far away. I’d just have to press forward and hope that something turned up. 

“All right, we’re going to go to Siltvelt for now. There might be a way for us to set all this straight—if we can get there.” 

“That’s the demi-human country, right?” 

Raphtalia nodded. 

“Um…” 

The younger princess muttered, unsure of what to say. 

“What is it?” 

“Oh… nothing.” 

“Fine. Raphtalia, once we arrive, I’m leaving all the negotiations up to you.” 

“Understood!” 

“All right, Princess—you should come with us, for your own good. I promise to protect you, so relax. If you don’t want to die, come with us.” 

 

“Okay.” 

The princess slowly climbed up into our carriage, but she didn’t look very happy. I had no problem with good kids that couldn’t understand what was going on. Just like this. But it might be a good opportunity to teach her about her Trash and Bitch, to teach her about how dirty and fallen the world really was. She would have to live or die with us, so if our fates were linked, she’d better learn about the world. 

She was still a kid. If I could teach her the truth, slowly, then she’d come to see things my way. 

“Yay! Mel and me are together again!” 

“Yes. Thank you, Filo.” 

Filo was thrilled that she was getting the chance to travel with her friend. 

“So what is the Queen up to? Why did she leave the kingdom?” 

“She’s always traveling to maintain our diplomatic relations. I used to go with her.” 

“Really… Diplomacy, huh? And what about us?” 

“Mother said she wanted me to go meet with Father, and to look for the Shield Hero and to befriend him. She works so hard every day to keep us from going to war. She said the waves have made the world crazy, and that I needed to be home to protect Melromarc.” 

From the way Mel described her, she seemed way more reasonable than the Trash. That is, if she wasn’t secretly behind all of it. Even still, all this was based on the word of a child, one who came to us for a fight to protect the Trash. 

 

We hid the fainted knights in a nearby grove and cautiously turned our sights on Siltvelt. 





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