Free Web NovelChapter 369: Paid Leave
"Hah, hah."
Snake, a scout from the subjugation force’s reconnaissance unit, hauled the crate with all his might. The crate, enchanted with a perception-dampening spell, had successfully slipped into Zabiyaba under cover of darkness. The problem was that Snake’s magic power was spent, and it would take some time before he could make his escape.
He needed a mana potion. But the mana potions had all run out. His mana would recover with time, but unfortunately, time was the one thing Snake didn’t have.
’I have to get back, now.’
He needed to relay the intelligence he’d gathered to the subjugation force immediately. If he didn’t, everyone could be in mortal danger.
"...Hey, Snake. I think this is the end of the road for me."
The reconnaissance captain who had infiltrated Zabiyaba with Snake let out a hollow laugh and offered a prayer to the Goddess. It was like watching a man facing death steel his resolve.
"Captain!"
"Tell Ihone I said hello, would you? I... really screwed things up with her."
The reconnaissance captain tried to lift the crate. But Snake grabbed his wrist.
"Captain, are you insane?!"
"Yeah. You’d have to be insane to pull something like this. I just told you everything, didn’t I? While I buy you time, you get out of this city and report exactly what we saw to the main force."
The reconnaissance captain drew his dagger with a snarl. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
"They’ve opened a portal at Spica Castle. These monsters aren’t simple creatures. They’re smart enough to move troops around and run deception operations."
"But Captain, you can’t just...!"
"I’m already done for, you fool."
The reconnaissance captain pulled something from inside his coat and handed it to Snake.
"Go. Stay alive and tell the main force that the monsters vanished through a portal to somewhere. And... tell Ihone I love her. Tell her I’m sorry. That’s an order from your captain, and a request from a man."
"Captain...."
The tiny glass vial the captain had passed him was a mana potion. Just enough for one person to drink, and handing it to Snake could only mean one thing.
"We don’t have time to stand around twiddling our thumbs. You know that, right?"
"...Yes, sir!"
The moment Snake uncorked the vial, the reconnaissance captain kicked open the crate and sprang to his feet. With a loud crack, the crate that had concealed their presence through magic shattered apart, revealing the captain.
"Squaaawk!"
"Enemy-ras!!"
Masked figures wearing crow disguises shrieked and drew their swords. It was strange that monsters were wielding weapons, but Snake hurriedly gulped down the mana potion and gathered his magic power.
"[Invisibility]!"
Snake vanished into the darkness. After confirming that Snake was heading toward the exit, the reconnaissance captain took his dagger and fled into the alleyways.
"Who says I’m gonna die!"
He’d used himself as bait to let Snake escape, but he had no intention of dying. The reconnaissance captain recalled the layout of Zabiyaba’s inner walls that he’d memorized during infiltration and headed west.
"Catch him-ras!!"
A midnight chase began. The crow figure who first spotted the captain pursued him at high speed, but began falling slightly behind the captain, whose specialty was fancy footwork.
’Good! They’re not that fast!’
He was a man who’d risen to the rank of reconnaissance captain precisely because he boasted some of the fastest legs among all humans. The captain kept running west, dodging patrol soldiers that lunged at him one after another.
’If I jump into the river, there’s still a chance.’
Snake would have slipped out through a gap in the fence by now. The captain planned to throw himself into the river and ride the rapids to escape.
"Don’t let him get away-ras!!"
When he reached the square, crow monsters came charging at him from the opposite side. The captain dodged a sword swung at him, then scanned his surroundings and clenched his teeth.
There was nowhere to run. So he’d fight his way through, right here. Snake was long gone by now. Fortunately, among the enemies, there didn’t seem to be anyone capable of chasing the captain down.
Clang!
Sparks flew. The captain flinched at a sword strike aimed at his head that came flying in. The dagger he’d raised to resist was sent sailing through the air.
"What the?!"
It was a human swordsmanship technique. And not just any technique; it was a clean, single stroke so refined it wouldn’t have been out of place among prestigious noble houses.
"Kneel."
The crow figure who had subdued him in a single strike wore knight’s armor beneath the disguise. The crow’s eyes gazed forward with an air of indifference, but the piercing gaze visible through the slightly parted beak sent a chill down the captain’s spine.
"No, it can’t be...!"
The reconnaissance captain realized the true identity of the crow figures. Snake didn’t know this. Which meant he had to be the one to tell him.
"You people are..."
"You’ve learned too much... ras."
The crow knight pulled back the beak with one hand and swung her sword at the captain.
***
"Drag this one to the dungeon’s prison cell. I will inform the master later and conduct the interrogation personally-ras."
"Ma’am, the correct way to say that is just ’I will do it-ras.’"
"...Shut up."
Eila, captain of the Ras Vegas defense force, adjusted her Andras mask and scoffed. The man she’d subdued had been knocked unconscious by a blow to the back of the neck with the flat of her blade, and the human adventurers disguised as Andras hadn’t noticed his presence at all.
"How on earth did he get in here?"
"He used invisibility magic-ras. Uh, um, the explanation’s going to be long, so...."
"Summarize it. And drop the ’ras.’"
"It appears he used a magical tool."
"Hmm.... I never heard of anything like this even back when I was with my house.... Fine. Light torches on the walls and tighten security. Seal this place up so tight that not even a rat can slip through."
The soldiers readjusted their Andras mask-helmets and scattered in every direction. Eila watched the reconnaissance captain being dragged away by the adventurers, clicking her tongue.
"It’s possible the operation has been compromised."
The operation might have been exposed without them noticing. The subjugation force’s main body, encamped on the plains, still showed no signs of movement, but if operations always went according to plan, the Demon King’s Army would have conquered humanity long ago.
"...Let’s hope our cover isn’t blown either."
Eila made the sign of the cross. Out of habit, she offered a prayer to the Goddess, but the one whose safety she prayed for was her master, a demon.
"May the master complete the operation safely."
And may he achieve the feat of conquering human territory and claiming it as the Demon King’s Army’s ’first domain.’ Eila prayed to both the Goddess and the Demon King.
***
"Commander, pardon the interruption. We’ve detected an anomaly in the enemy position."
"What kind of anomaly?"
"Lights have appeared on top of the rock walls. Something feels off."
"...I’ll see for myself."
Levis Ann rubbed her eyes and stepped out of the tent. Just as the priest had said, torches blazed brightly atop the rock walls, clearly visible now that the wooden fence had been torn down.
"What time do they think it is...."
"The hour when the Goddess’s bell, Gabriel, reclaims the world’s rest..."
"I asked what time it is. Don’t we have a magical tool for that?"
"It’s 4:30."
4:30. Levis Ann was irritated that she’d been woken up thirty minutes before the scheduled wake-up time. She wanted nothing more than to go back inside and lie down for even thirty more minutes, but with the enemy position acting strange, she had no choice but to assess the situation.
"What could be going on?"
"I have no idea either."
"I was asking for your opinion."
"...That I have no idea is my opinion."
Tch. Levis Ann bit her lower lip. Most of the Holy Knight Order’s priests she’d brought along to guard the Saintess were people the cardinal had planted, and Levis Ann’s personal guard, the Holy Knight Order, was tied down on the battlefield.
’What on earth could it be?’
It was too late at night to simply be a signal fire. The sun would be rising soon; there was no reason to light up the darkness for a mere hour or two.
"Hm?"
In the distance, Levis Ann spotted the faint rustling of shrubbery being trampled under moonlight. The movement was unnatural somehow, as if someone invisible were running toward them.
"By the Goddess’s grace...!!"
Levis Ann surged forward in a single bound. Instead of a spear, she snatched the torch from the priest’s hand and, charging ahead, hurled it forward.
Fwoosh!!
Silver-tinged flames burst in every direction. And then, someone who had been completely hidden just moments ago was revealed.
"Eek, eek?!"
"Prove yourself! Demon and you die, human and you live! These are flames of divine power!"
"I, I’m human!"
A young man emerged through the silver flames.
"S-Snake, scout of the Spica subjugation force! I have returned from reconnaissance of the enemy position under orders from Reconnaissance Captain Klurb Gasser Miane! I have an urgent report!"
Dire news had reached the subjugation force’s main camp.
***
Kyaaaaah...!!
The city was engulfed in screams. Succubi and harpies swarmed the sky together, keeping watch over the people, while orcs ransacked every corner, disarming anyone who resisted.
Glub, glub.
The slime unit led by Clian and Nifran dug holes everywhere and buried people up to their necks in the ground. Since there was no way to restrain everyone individually, we confined the baroness’s residents by burying them from the neck down and pouring a light layer of concrete, essentially locking them in place.
"So most of the captives are young children, young women, and the elderly. Only the relatively vulnerable remain."
"Isn’t that because all the young men got dragged off to the subjugation force?"
"Partly that, and partly because some already escaped."
I marked X’s across various points on the map of Spica Castle. The ghouls had sealed off all four gates at the cardinal directions, but they hadn’t been able to block the gaps under the walls.
"Tsk, tsk. The basics of any emergency are to save the weak and elderly first."
"I don’t think people have the luxury of worrying about that when their own lives are on the line."
"Lune. That is precisely what they call humanity. ...It’s laughable that I, of all people, am lecturing about compassion, but still, I’m disappointed."
Anyone who resisted with force was either overpowered by the orcs or put to sleep by the succubi. The helpless were simply bound at the wrists with leather straps and herded into places with large capacity, like storehouses and churches.
They were terrified they might all be massacred, but having witnessed resisters being killed (by pleasure overload) right before their eyes, the resistance had largely died down as well.
"Have we finished getting a rough count of the hostages?"
"They’re tallying in groups of a hundred. Right now... we’ve captured about 1,500 people. Around 300 are buried in the ground."
"...More escaped than I expected. Next time, we’ll need to encircle from the outside instead of the inside."
It had been a dawn raid, but people had reacted surprisingly fast. Their escape route was through the gaps in the walls, and before we could even send troops, the residents had already slipped out through them.
’Same goes for the refugees living outside the outer walls.’
The original residents of Ras Vegas had packed up and fled the moment they sensed the commotion. If we’d captured all of them too, we could have easily taken close to three thousand. I was genuinely disappointed.
Creeeak.
I pushed the iron doors open to either side. Throughout the inner castle’s corridors, soldiers buried in the ground were nodding off. The soldiers who had been guarding the lord’s castle had already been subdued by the succubi.
"Heh heh, heh."
I spread my arms wide toward Baroness Virginia Virgo, seated in a chair at the very center of the baronial castle, as if she were a queen on her throne. Surrounding the baroness were Meri and the succubi and fairies of Avalon, standing at attention.
"Good work. Lime."
"Baronial castle... secured."
Lime, in the baroness’s body, rose from the chair and pulled me into a hug. I gave Lime a gentle pat, then sat down in the chair that looked as if it had been prepared as a throne just for me.
"Here you go, Master. Hehe."
Lune, having prepared it at some point, placed a laurel wreath on my head. It felt almost like being bestowed a title, which left me a bit dazed, but the thrill of having conquered the barony filled me with satisfaction.
"Heh heh heh. Well... not bad. Let me enjoy feeling like a noble, even if just for a moment. Hear me, is there no one about?"
"Pfft, what’s with that way of talking?"
"...The bigwig I know talks like this. Is it weird?"
"Yes. It’s weird, but I think I like it even more. It feels like something special, something uniquely yours and our legion’s, you know? Hehe."
If Lune liked it, maybe our legion’s official ceremonies should all have that period-drama gravitas going forward. I’d have to discuss it with Shaitan later.
"Hear me, all of you. You have labored greatly, attending to men in this place until now. I shall not forget your toil, O fairies. O succubi."
How could I not appreciate the hard work of these women who sold stockings by day and smiles by night? Service jobs are grueling by nature.
"Continue your efforts until the operation is fully complete. Once it is over... I shall grant you three days’ leave."
"Huh?"
"Leave?"
The fairies’ and succubi’s expressions twisted into something bizarre.
"What? Is leave that strange?"
"No, it’s just... what exactly is ’leave’? Is the Legion Commander perhaps saying...."
"I’m telling you to rest as much as you want for three days. Oh, is it because just resting feels wrong? Or is the duration too short? Then take a week off. I’ll arrange things so you can go outside through the Flauros dungeon, so taking a short trip somewhere wouldn’t be bad either. I’ll even send you off with some gold coins."
"I, I simply cannot understand what you’re saying...?"
The fairies seemed to half-understand while gulping nervously. Their tense expressions reminded me of my own past self, so I made an announcement right there, in front of everyone.
"Ah, yes. This is what is known as paid leave."
Of course, this was assuming the operation ended successfully and our legion won.
