The conqueror from a dyi.., p.1
The Conqueror from a Dying Kingdom: Volume 6, page 1
Chapter 1 — Home Soil, the Unit Disbands
I
It was the night after we’d left Kilhina behind and set foot onto Shiyalta’s soil. The victory celebration had come to a natural conclusion as more and more people fell asleep, and now the bonfire was starting to dwindle as the night grew late.
I stood up from the log I’d been sitting on and walked into the forest.
“Hey, come here.”
I was surprised to hear a voice call to me suddenly from the darkness. The owner hadn’t made any other sounds. To make matters worse, my eyes were used to bright light after watching the fire, so all I could see in the direction of the voice was darkness. Whoever it was, they’d hidden themselves in a particularly dim spot among the trees.
“Don’t scare me like that.”
I’d recognized the voice as Tillet, the royal sword.
“You did well, didn’t you?” she said.
“If you want to talk, can it wait a moment?” I replied. “I got up to take a leak.”
I could sense her knitting her brow in the shadows. Considering that she must’ve always lived among other women, she might not have even been familiar with the idea of peeing while standing.
“Get it over with,” she said.
“Will do.”
I took about ten steps into the forest and quickly relieved myself against the roots of a conveniently placed tree. I hadn’t been drinking alcohol, but I’d had to drink a lot of water to make it look like I was. Once my bladder was empty, I shook off the last drops and adjusted my pants.
I walked back to Tillet and told her, “I’m done. What do you want to talk about?”
Tillet sighed. “You’re unbelievable if you can do that with someone like me behind you.”
“I don’t need to watch myself around you, do I?”
“Most people would be on their guard.”
She must’ve heard the sound. It was slightly embarrassing.
“You’re not my enemy,” I said.
The queen would be thanking me. I certainly hadn’t done anything to turn her or the royal swords against me. Tillet wouldn’t just do what I told her, so it didn’t always feel like we were on the same side, but she definitely wasn’t an enemy. It felt most accurate to describe us as acquaintances, as odd as that sounded.
“Not right now, no,” she replied menacingly.
I guess what she means is, “But maybe tomorrow... Heh heh...” That’s not very funny.
“Let’s get to the point—does Her Majesty have a message for me?”
“You’re to head back before everyone else so you can report your accomplishments.”
My accomplishments? We’d barely achieved anything. It was true that we’d killed many enemy soldiers, but they’d been from a force of less than a thousand operating in a limited region. Our victory hadn’t had any strategic importance. There was nothing to say except that we’d fought in the war and hadn’t lost any battles. Oh, and sorry for destroying the bridge.
“It gives you an excuse to get away from here, doesn’t it?” Tillet pointed out.
I was glad about that, at least. After being away from the royal capital for so long, I was worried about how my business was doing. After I’d gotten this far, I didn’t want to waste another week or two on a slow march home.
There was also the issue of my foot. Given how bad my injuries were, I wanted it treated properly as soon as possible. Whether or not the queen had guessed I’d be injured, I was genuinely glad to have a royal summons as an excuse to hurry back to the royal capital.
“And I guess I should bring Carol?”
“Obviously.”
“All right. Fine.”
The unit had a good command structure in place. It would operate just fine without her. Besides, we were in Rube Province. Liao was in his home territory, and his family was on hand to give him whatever help he needed.
“Come to think of it...” I remembered that there was something I really needed to ask her. “It was your people who took Princess Tellur from us, wasn’t it?”
“That’s right... I thought that was made clear enough to your soldier.”
I’d guessed that the royal swords hadn’t wanted to speak too openly. They’d probably announced themselves in some sort of roundabout way.
“Anything subtle would’ve been lost on that particular soldier. He’s not the intelligent, well-read sort.”
Not everyone knew how to read between the lines—especially not him.
“I’ll take more care next time... Maybe I’ll leave a letter or something.”
“As long as I know she’s safe, it doesn’t matter now.”
There was silence between us for a while as I waited for her to speak again. When she didn’t continue, it felt like a sign that she had nothing more to tell me for now. At the very least, she didn’t have another important announcement for me. But then, perhaps hoping for some casual chat, she broke the silence. “The troops you fought off... The Rube family’s birds are chasing them down.”
“So I heard. Did you people figure out who the enemy’s commanding officer was?”
“Hm? No...”
I’d been eager to find out their identity, but apparently no one had looked into it yet. Perhaps no one ever would. Since I wasn’t capable of sending a spy of my own to join the enemy’s army, I couldn’t investigate either. Fortunately, that sort of information tended to be easy to get hold of after the fact. As time went on, it would spread by word of mouth. Once the crusade was over, I’d learn everything I wanted to know via the Albio Isles.
Tillet acted oblivious to my attempts to wind down the conversation and went on talking. “There’s a lot of excitement in the royal capital over your victory right now, but also many desperately trying to downplay it.”
“Downplay? In what way?”
“They’re asking what we’ll do about the swelling refugee population—won’t they all begin to starve? That sort of thing.”
Oh... They’ve got a point.
Before the war had even started, the Shiyalta Kingdom had already struggled with a constant labor surplus due to the inflow of people. The population would’ve dropped a little after some of the reinforcements dispatched by Shiyalta had died in battle, but that decrease wouldn’t make a real dent in the numbers. After all, less than ten percent of the population were serving as soldiers.
The population was fifty percent male, so if they were all conscripted—aside from the children and the elderly—that would make about forty percent of the population soldiers. However, that wouldn’t leave any infrastructure to support the army, making war impossible. If society were reduced to just women, the elderly, and children, people would struggle to put food on the table. There was no way such a society could produce the surplus necessary to support an army that used up massive amounts of resources in the course of its operation.
For example, if a settlement somewhere was attacked by bandits, they’d have enough food in their storehouses for the men to all stop working while they took up arms and fought. That would make about forty or fifty percent of the settlement’s population key fighters. But even then, they couldn’t all be marched off to fight in a real war.
If about ten percent of the population were part of Shiyalta’s army when reinforcements were dispatched, then even a ten percent casualty rate within that group would only represent a loss of one percent of the overall population. Furthermore, the kingdom wouldn’t dispatch its entire army, even as reinforcements, so the death rate for the overall population wouldn’t even be one percent. so the death rate wouldn’t even be one percent. At any rate, I estimated that the drop in population caused by the war had been less than 0.2 percent.
The number of refugees, on the other hand, was enough to raise the population by a significant amount. Anyone downplaying my achievements could say, fairly convincingly, “Sure he worked hard, but did he save anyone in the long run?”
“I didn’t have my hopes up anyway,” I told Tillet. “I never expected everyone to be rooting for me to win.”
I guessed that she was trying to warn me that there were many people within the nest of witches who opposed me, just so I wouldn’t be disappointed when I got there. I appreciated her sparing a thought for a young man who might be a little drunk on glory after his first victory in battle.
“Oh...? You’ll be fine then.”
“Is that everything?” I asked.
“Yes. You don’t need us to provide an eagle, do you?”
“We’ve got enough.”
“By the way, maybe you’re not worried about enemies in the royal capital, but you should still watch out for eavesdroppers around you,” Tillet warned.
“He’s just waiting for us to finish talking.”
I didn’t know who it was, but I’d noticed someone had been following me when I’d gotten up to take a leak. I’d been about to ask them what they wanted when another voice had taken me by surprise from deeper within the trees.
I hadn’t planned to reveal any secrets here, so my bigger concern had been that the royal sword might mention some sensitive information herself. But then I figured that if I’d noticed someone listening, she would have too.
“Hmph. Then I’ll leave you.”
With that, I briefly heard the faint rustling of dead leaves beneath the royal sword’s feet before she vanished completely. She’d been surprisingly friendly today. Perhaps she’d let her hair down a little since our troubles were over for the time being.
“Well then, who’s there?” I called out.
Liao stepped out from behind a tree and into the light of the bonfire. “Sorry,” he said, sounding guilty.
“I’d lecture you, but if you heard us, it saves me time from having to explain.”
“Explain what?”
“The march from tomorrow onward—I’ll leave it to you and Myalo. Can you handle it?”
“Oh, that. Sure,” Liao replied, as if the task was no big deal.
“So, what did you want?” I asked him. There had to be something. I highly doubted that he’d noticed the royal sword before me and followed for the sake of listening to her.
“We need to talk,” Liao replied. “Is now a good time?”
“Yeah, now’s fine.”
Talk about what? I’ve got a bad feeling.
“I’ll be blunt—you’ve gotten quite friendly with Her Highness, haven’t you?”
I didn’t have an immediate response. So that’s what this is. But how’d he notice?
“What gives you that idea?” I asked, without denying anything.
“You know me. I enjoy the company of a woman or two. I got the impression that you and her were awfully close when you arrived in Reforme.”
Seriously? I guess I shouldn’t underestimate a womanizer’s intuition.
It wasn’t as if I’d been flirting with Carol the whole time. Liao couldn’t be going on much more than a hunch.
“It’s just that the two of us went through some tense moments.”
“It looked like something more physical to me.”
“You’re wrong. Anyway, what if I said you’re right? What of it?”
Obviously, he wasn’t carrying a recording device, so a confession from me wouldn’t be worth anything. I had to wonder how he’d benefit from hearing me admit to it. And I didn’t feel I was morally obligated to explain myself to him. If I had to explain myself to anyone, that person certainly wasn’t Liao.
Liao must’ve understood that too. He knew he wouldn’t get a clear answer from me until I understood his intentions.
“If I’m right, then I’d like your other woman for myself,” Liao said.
I was so confused for a moment that all I could do was repeat it back to him. “My other woman?”
“I mean Myalo.”
Huh? “What about her?”
“I want to make her my wife.”
Ah... But why?
“Don’t tell me you’ve fallen in love with her.”
Thinking back, in all the time Myalo and I had been apart, she’d been by Liao’s side acting as his secretary.
She was also a leash that I’d put on him to keep him under control. If Liao grew reckless, it was Myalo’s job to hold him back. As it turned out, that hadn’t been necessary throughout the expedition. Instead, she’d simply been useful to Liao the entire time.
I realized now that they were bound to have developed a strong bond by this point. But from what I’d seen, there was still some distance between them. Their relationship never appeared to go beyond anything work-related and professional. That said, maybe they acted differently when I wasn’t around.
“Yeah, I have,” Liao admitted. “I know I’ll never find anyone who’d make a more reliable wife than her.”
He fell for her? Really? Liao wasn’t talking like someone who’d just fallen head over heels. I doubted what he felt was love. To me, it sounded as though he wasn’t actually into her; he just thought he’d found a wife who’d serve him well.
“Either way, Myalo’s not my property. You shouldn’t talk like you’d be taking her from me.”
“Yeah, I know that. I just thought maybe you had dibs on her already.”
“If you want to make a pass at her, don’t let me stop you. I’m not inter—” I hesitated. I’ve got a bad feeling about this. “I don’t have the authority to stop you.”
And even if I did... I don’t deserve her. It didn’t make any sense for me to think about whether I deserved her or not, but nonetheless, that was the conclusion I’d reached.
“Then make a pass I shall.” Liao gave me an over-the-top bow, reminiscent of a gentleman thanking a lady.
“But whatever it is you do to woo women in taverns, don’t go thinking it’ll work on her.”
“I don’t need a lesson. I’ve probably got more experience with women than you.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
I was surprised at myself for growing so irritated. I wasn’t seething with rage, though—it was more like the annoyance I felt when a fly buzzed around my head.
“Make a pass if you want, but don’t get too pushy. If I hear you’ve forced her in any way...”
I thought for a moment. What if there was a man who assaulted Myalo and used force to make her his own? What would I do?
Liao waited for me to continue, showing not a hint of fear.
I’d kill him. It was the only answer I could come up with. “It’ll be the last thing you do,” I warned him.
“Whew... Yeah, I know. I won’t get too pushy.” With that, Liao turned his back to me, signaling the end of our conversation.
“Hey,” I called after him.
“Hm? What now?” Liao simply looked back over his shoulder, like he didn’t think I’d have much more to say.
“I let you borrow my dagger, and now that you’ve learned how sharp it is, you want it for yourself. Is that how it is?”
“No... Well, not too far off, actually. But I’m not just thinking of it like a business arrangement. I wouldn’t go after a woman I found annoying... Not unless I was just sleeping with her.”
It wasn’t much of an answer, but it showed that Liao did at least have preferences, personality-wise.
“But Myalo’s not like that,” Liao continued. “Her only flaw is she’s a little slender.”
“If Myalo’s a dagger, she’s a dagger that chooses its wielder.”
“What?” Liao said simply, like he didn’t understand me.
“She won’t stand by a master who bores her or lets her blade grow dull. She has to accept you.”
Myalo had always done as I’d told her. When I told her to perform some new task, she dropped whatever she was doing and switched to the new job. But she’d never chosen to obey Liao—I’d merely assigned her to him.
That might’ve misled Liao into thinking that Myalo was an ordinary person. He probably thought she was no different from the women in cities, daughters from knight families, and his employees. He’d think he could impress her with a promise of luxuries and a high salary, with a few smooth pickup lines, or with offers of a comfortable life.
But Myalo wasn’t like that. If she’d agreed to serve her own family, she would’ve gained a life far more stable and luxurious than anything Liao could’ve offered. But she’d thrown it all away and chosen a life out here, covered in blood, sweat, and dirt. Liao had failed to understand that she wasn’t moved by the things that moved most people.
“All right. I’ll bear it in mind.”
I couldn’t tell whether Liao had really understood me.
I responded, “Okay. Then fine.”
Liao walked away.
II
The next morning, I delayed everyone’s breakfast a little while we planned for my departure. Then, after some basic preparations—such as securing myself an eagle—I had a quick bite to eat and got ready to set out. I also made sure to give the eagle I’d borrowed some food, and petted its head while it ate.
It all went smoothly. Carol was at my side, and everyone had gathered to see us off. There was nothing left for us to do here.
I took a step closer to Myalo and called to her too softly for anyone else to hear. “Myalo.”
“Yes?”
For a moment, I felt guilty. It won’t be fair if she hears it from me first, I decided. I won’t say anything to put her off.
“What is it?”
“If anything happens, come home right away.”
“Hm? Something like what?”
Myalo didn’t understand what I meant. Of course she didn’t.
“If you feel like you’re not safe, I mean. Abandon the mission and come home.”
“Not safe...?”
Myalo’s brain appeared to begin working as she searched for the meaning of my words, but she continued to look confused. Her thoughts were probably, Why wouldn’t I be safe? We’ve been in constant danger up to this point, so why wait until this late to warn me to be cautious?
