Episode 41

While the people thought to be rebels were being locked away, Zeke once again sat in the interrogation room.

“Do you lot have nothing better to do? What exactly are you trying to achieve?”

“…I have asked you many times. For what purpose did you come to Ignote? What are you plotting?”

In Hofran and his group’s case, their objectives were clear, but the boy in front of them, calling himself a noble, felt unsettling in a different way.

“Do you really think ‘sightseeing’ is a reason anyone will accept?”

“Hah. Then drag in every tourist wandering around out there and ask them the same question.”

Everything Zeke said was the truth, but the soldiers who had seen his magic with their own eyes and felt it on their skin had realized how abnormal he was. It was only natural for them to suspect there was something hidden behind it.

“It will take time, but if we put our minds to it, we can dig up who you really are. That might put you in a worse position, you know?”

“Are you an idiot? I have told you everything about who I am from the very start.”

“…Hey, Kratz, what is going on? Just what is this boy…?”

Even a veteran interrogator struggled with this foreign boy. In a bare, oppressive room like an interrogation chamber, people usually shrank back.

“Don’t ask me. Also, why am I being made to sit in on this questioning again?”

“Because… you are the one in charge of him.”

They were all trying to shove this troublesome person off onto someone else.

“In any case… whatever your goal is, we cannot release you as things stand. If you object, the only option will be deportation.”

“We don’t really want to go that far either. You did help us restrain those rebels… even if everyone got captured in the end.”

He was a foreigner of unknown background, but the truth was, they did not want to actively make an enemy of him.

“If you absolutely refuse to explain your situation… we could always make a deal.”

“A deal? I don’t know what you have misunderstood, but a deal is something that exists between equals. You and I are different in every way.”

The interrogator’s face twitched, and Kratz pressed a hand to his forehead.

“Let him finish. As long as we don’t know your background, we can’t just let you wander around the country as you please. So…”

He explained that a soldier acting as a watcher would constantly accompany Zeke. That was the minimum condition.

“We rate your skill with magic quite highly, especially the way you captured that whole group at once. So…”

The Republic of Ignote was being disturbed by rebels, and the request from the military was that he help capture them and resolve the problem.

“That person they call the Yaksha is here for much the same reason. …Unlike you, though, he didn’t enter the country illegally.”

“Of course we won’t force you, and we’re not asking you to work for free. We’ll grant what you want as far as we reasonably can.”

If he accepted the request for cooperation, his stay in the country would be permitted, even if with some restrictions. The interrogator explained to Zeke that, within limits, he would receive rewards to match his efforts and earn their trust.

“You mean to have a foreigner solve your own country’s problems? How ridiculous.”

“If sightseeing really was your goal, it wouldn’t be such a bad offer, I think. …Not that anyone believes that.”

Why should an outsider have to do such a thing for them? Normally, he would have dismissed it without a second thought, but this time he had a reason to think it over.

Depending on how things went, Hiroto was considering the Republic of Ignote as a possible escape destination in the future. If he created a bad impression here, it could hurt him later. More than anything, if these unsettling people ended up affecting his escape plan, it would cause serious trouble down the line.

He could crush these agitators now, but at the moment he was just a foreigner with no standing and was already under the military’s scrutiny. By cooperating, he could gain the army’s backing and also secure an excuse to hit these troublesome people. Even if he went overboard, he could emphasize that he had only been following orders.
He smiled inwardly at the thought.

The military, of course, had its own aims.

The former nobles were making it look as though their rebellion was the work of the neighboring country’s soldiers. Even within the country, their presence could not simply be ignored, making the relationship complicated. No one knew what impact any further suppression would have.

At times like this, foreigners were extremely convenient. They could serve as witnesses if anything happened, and if some uncontrollable mess broke out, in the worst case they could blame it on the foreigners’ independent actions.

Depending on circumstances, both sides were prepared to use the other and then discard them. In that sense, they were perfectly matched.

“Very well. I will play along with your schemes.”

“…I’m glad to hear that. So, what do you want in return?”

“Hmph. Once I have cleaned up your messes, I’ll make a grand demand for compensation—so be ready.”

Moonlight cast a dreamlike glow over the city of water.

Now that the sun had set, Zeke was back at the military facility.

“What is this storage shed? The stench of mold is unbearable.”

“It’s not a storage shed. This is the military dormitory… where you’ll be staying.”

It was a dormitory where young soldiers lived, and Zeke had been shown to an empty room there.

“What? Why do I have to be treated like this? Are you mocking me?”

“You really don’t listen when people talk, do you? I have to sleep here too so I can keep an eye on you, you know.”

They had formed a cooperative relationship, but they could not simply leave him unsupervised, so Kratz had been ordered to basically stay with him at all times.

“Come on, first we have to tidy up and clean.”

“What? You expect me, a noble, to clean? Don’t make me laugh.”

“…No, you’re the one who just took the initiative and started cleaning. You are absolutely the one making a fool of me here.”

Zeke’s words and actions completely contradicted each other. Him holding a broom and dustpan and diligently cleaning was something that would never have happened in the original story. It was, frankly, character-breaking.

“What is with that sorry state? Are the soldiers of this country incapable of even cleaning properly? Hand that over—I’ll show you how it’s done.”

“I’ve been working all day, so of course I’m tired… Being an adult is hard, you know.”

The two of them cleaned and sorted the luggage together. The space that had looked like a storage room gradually turned into a proper bedroom.

“But really, what do you think their goal is?”

While he wiped down the floor, Kratz kept the conversation going.

“To restore things to their ‘proper’ form, with nobles ruling again, I think it was? Even though no one wants that anymore.”

Long years of oppression. Unjust treatment and discrimination that did not even see people as human. A twisted value system of absolute noble supremacy. People of the time could not endure it and fled the country one after another.

“The nobles who piled up evil deeds were purged, and the very status of noble was abolished.”

The idea that nobles were evil had grown so strong that even people calling themselves former nobles had become extremely rare.

“These people who talk about nobility now are just a tiny fragment. Even if they change the regime, how do they expect to govern? It’ll just get toppled again right away.”

With such an overwhelming minority, there was no way they could govern a whole country—so said Kratz.

Zeke silently went on cleaning, looking uninterested, but inside he did not see it as someone else’s problem.

The scale of a country and a domain differed, but their foundations were similar. The Ignote of that time felt almost like looking at the current Lagias Domain. There were far too many similarities.

Hiroto thought that the end point of the Lagias Domain might very well be what the Republic of Ignote was now. If the story followed the original path, the House of Lagias would be abolished, and even if not, the house would end someday. —Either way, the fact that he intended to run remained unchanged.

“What do you think they’re planning?”

“How should I know the thought patterns of trash.”

One way or another, the two of them kept cleaning until the room looked presentable.

“Finally done… I’m completely beat.”

“Pathetic. I am going out to train now… Do not get in my way.”

“No, I told you that’s not happening. You’re resting tonight.”

They had quickly finished handing out toiletries and checking the communal baths and toilets, and all that was left was to rest—

When suddenly, an alarm blared throughout the military facility.

“That’s the alarm for an abnormal situation. And a high-level one at that.”

“I see. Hurry up and go, I’m going to sleep.”

“What are you talking about!? You’re coming too! If it’s going off at this time, it has to be that case…”

Following the information they had received, Kratz and the others rushed to a certain military facility. There, a large number of soldiers had gathered.

“Senpai! What is going on here?”

“Kratz—and the foreigner in question, I see…”

The place where the crowd had formed was the military’s detention facility. Flames were pouring out of the detention block, burning fiercely.

“In that detention block right now…”

“Yeah, those rebels we caught earlier are being held there.”

Fortunately, the evacuation of military personnel had been completed, but they had not been able to get every detainee out. The fire had spread far too quickly.

“We’re desperately trying to put it out, but we can’t keep up… They got us good.”

“You don’t mean this is… to silence them?”

Kratz’s face went pale. Up until now, whenever they had presented evidence, the former nobles had denied any involvement, but this time there had been solid proof. The idea that they would move to erase it directly had not even occurred to them.

“A-anyway, we need to keep up the firefighting! At least there’s plenty of water here in Wartel.”

“…That may no longer be necessary.”

A muffled voice spoke. The one approaching, metal scraping with every step, was Blood in full armor.

“Yaksha-dono. What do you mean by that?”

“…Boy. You have already noticed, haven’t you?”

Blood glanced at Zeke.

“Hmph. Do not lump me in with these incompetents.”

“H-hey, you can’t talk like that…”

Kratz looked at Blood as though frightened, and the other soldiers were the same.

“I care nothing for your circumstances. …More importantly, why don’t you hurry up and check inside?”

“Check inside? We can’t do that until we deal with this fire…”

Blood walked alone toward the blazing detention block. There was no hint of fear in his stride.

“Is he planning to block the heat with his armor? That’s a bit much, even for him…”

They continued to fight the fire as hard as they could, but the flames did not die down. If anything, it felt like they were growing even stronger.

“You truly are useless. Letting yourselves be fooled by such a shoddy trick is pathetic.”

“What are you talking about? I have no idea what you mean.”

Blood summoned a massive spear from somewhere. With a single swing of that ominous weapon, the roaring flames vanished in an instant.

“!? Amazing, he put out the fire in a single stroke…”

“It certainly looks that way… No, wait. Something’s off. After all that burning, the building looks completely normal…”

Their efforts with water had had no effect at all, and there were no burn marks on the building. Bewilderment spread among the soldiers.

“Illusion magic… I can’t believe there was an idiot who resorted to such an old-fashioned trick. And even bigger idiots who let themselves be fooled.”

“N-no way… Everyone, search the inside immediately!”

They combed through every corner of the detention block, but Hofran and all the other suspects who had been held on charges of rebellion had vanished without a trace.