Chapter 339 – Cleaning Up Afterwards

“Front side, sweep complete. Status?”

“Shumel-san and the others have already escaped. No pursuit.”

“Copy that. Tell Shumel and the others to stay where they are.”

“Understood.”

After finishing the communication with the golem communicator, I put it away in my inventory. The once-human things are scattered around the area. The steel clubs and shields of the Golem Warrior-kun’s equipment make human bodies fragile. It is almost impossible for them to keep their original shape.

Even if the human form is miraculously maintained, it will die almost instantly. The attack from the huge mass destroys the organs that are essential for human survival with a single blow. To be honest, such a corpse is more gruesome than a dismembered or crumpled corpse.

“Well done.”

Even if I praised it, there was no way the golem would respond. Even though I knew that, I still felt like praising it. Just as I was restoring the golem warrior, who stood there without replying, in my inventory, Grande returned.

“I’m done. Those guys were no fun, were they?”

“I guess so. Let’s check inside. There may be some remnants lurking around, so I need you to escort me.”

“Umu, leave it to me.”

I changed my equipment to a .45 caliber submachine gun, and we rushed into the encampment. Grande is in the vanguard, and I’m in the rear. It’s not a pretty sight to have Grande, who looks like a little girl, in front of me, but even though she is so small, Grande is a full-fledged dragon. She wears light clothing, but she has the vitality and defensive strength of a dragon. To put it bluntly, she is more robust than she appears. Specifically, Grande is strong enough to take on the Golem Warrior-kun’s attacks head-on.

The Golem Warrior is so strong that a human could not stand up to it, but Grande is even stronger than that.

“Are there any?”

“There are some of them. Well, they can’t escape me.”

“Then let’s give priority to those with more than one―”

“Too slow. I’m going out.”

With these words, Grande rushed alone into the encampment. In an instant, she broke through the walls of the log house and broke into the house, which would have looked like it was in a horror story or a comedy.

No, they thought something was wrong and hid, but then the walls were destroyed, and a blonde-haired young girl (a dragon) made a dynamic hello! And die! It’s definitely a horror story.

I waited for a few minutes, listening to the sound of destruction and demise. After cleaning up Grande with a handkerchief, who has a few drops of return blood on her cheek, we search out a house in the encampment.

“Well, there’s not much here.”

“I suppose not. I don’t think there’s anything valuable or important in a place like this.”

“Rather than that, I’m more concerned about what to do with the people we’ve rescued.”

Perhaps they are survivors of the pioneer group or were kidnapped by the bandits before that. As far as I could see, the bandits were all men, and all humans, too. Well, I didn’t see the faces of the people who were being held captive, but I guessed that they were all women. What a bunch of assholes.

Well, I can’t say anything until I see them face to face.

“It’s not like you have to take responsibility.”

“That’s true, but that doesn’t mean I can just throw them out and say I have no idea about the rest and do as you please.”

If that is the case, you should not have helped them in the first place. Besides, I am the prince’s consort, the queen’s partner in this country. How can I abandon my people, who are in the depths of despair, being treated by bandits? If I cannot save a few people and let them live happily, I cannot possibly take care of many more.

“That is true, too. Well, just do your best in moderation.”

“In moderation, huh? Even though I have a lot of work to do.”

If it were true, I would have built a pioneer village by now. The world is not going well. The village that was supposed to be built today is not going to happen because almost all the migrants were killed. Then the question becomes what to do with the people we saved this time.

“Worst case scenario, we’ll take them home. Or, we could have them go to the Harpy Tower to be babysitters.”

“Then you’ll end up with more with you, won’t you?”

“I have no intention of doing that, and I don’t intend to add anymore.”

Even now, I have too many partners, and I can’t keep my body if I have to have more. In fact, the people who were taken prisoner were probably treated very badly, and I’m sure they would not want that. In fact, I probably shouldn’t even be in contact with them. I’m not sure that’s going to be the case today, though.

“So, what are you going to do with the encampment?”

“We’ll clear it.”

I took out my mithril logging axe as I said that. It doesn’t matter how much wood there is.

☆★☆

The encampment, which was mainly made of lumber, was cleanly dismantled, and a large amount of lumber was secured. We also recovered supplies they must have taken from the settlers, their stockpiles, and equipment. Their corpses? I had Grande burn them all. Whatever their identity may be, I don’t think we can make any demands of the Holy Kingdoms with them. I don’t know who they are, and if they say they don’t, that’s the end of it.

“So… this is the first thing you made?”

“First, you want to clean up and get settled, right?”

We cleared the encampment and set up a base on stilts a short distance away. The first thing I built was a large bath. It was large enough to accommodate about 20 people at the same time. The large tanks placed outdoors are equipped with magic tools to boil water using magic crystal stones so that it is possible to have plenty of hot water.

“Um… thank you very much.”

The beastman woman who was standing by Shumel’s side―or hiding in Shumel’s back―bowed her head as she said so. Is she a cat-type… or a dog, or wolf-type beastman? I can’t tell because she is still wearing a hood on her head, but I can tell that she is probably a beastman because the head part of the hood is slightly raised in the shape of an ear. She looks like a human-like type of beastman with only animal ears and a tail.

“Please don’t think about anything else for now, but first cleanse your body and calm your mind. I’ve prepared some food for you, so after you get out of the bath, you can eat as much food as you like and rest your body. You will be safe here. Shumel and the others, please take care of the girls.”

“Aiyo.”

“Roger that.”

“Okay.”

“All right.”

After I saw off the oni girls and the harpies taking the captive women to the bath, I moved to the room I had prepared for myself. Grande followed behind me.

“Why don’t you come in the bath with them, Grande?”

“I’ll go in with you later. You worked hard today; you deserve it, don’t you?”

“Okay, okay, after everyone else is done, we’ll both take a nice relaxing bath together.”

“Umu.”

Grande nodded in satisfaction and then patted the floor with her big tail, which had a cover on it. If it weren’t for the tail cover made of slime material, the innocent Floor-san would have been damaged again.

After returning to the room, I prepared a pile of cushions for Grande, and I set up a stationary golem communicator on the desk and went to work. I set up a signal amplification device and an antenna at this base and connected the golem communicator to them.

“This is Kosuke. Merinard Kingdom Western Command, please respond.”

I called out to them, and they responded a few moments later.

“This is the Western Command of the Kingdom of Merinard. Good evening, Sir. Commander Zamir is on her way here right now.”

“Oh, let me know when she arrives. I’ll be waiting.”

Within a minute after I said that, Ms. Zamir sent me a message.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Your Excellency. Is there something wrong?”

“Oh, actually…”

I told her what had happened today. The pioneer group that I was supposed to join today had been wiped out by bandits, and we had tracked them down and killed them all by our own hands. We had rescued a total of eight captive victims, all the bandits had been eliminated, and the encampment had been dismantled and cleared.

“Therefore, the bandits in this area have been destroyed. If there had been any reports of damage in this area, it would probably have been resolved. There were a lot of cavalrymen, so the area of activity might have been quite large.”

“Understood. I’ll check back later to see if there were any reports of damage in that direction.”

“Please do so. Considering the physical condition of the victims who were held captive, we will take a full day’s rest today and tomorrow at our current location. If possible, please contact Viscount Beryl.”

Viscount Beryl is a nobleman who rules the area where we are now. He is a middle-aged nobleman with a dull appearance and an oddly low profile. Either he is weak in the face of authority, or he is shaken up after hearing about my military exploits, or both. It seemed as if he would obey me if I asked him strongly, but I did not know how he would deal with them after I left. I don’t know his personality, and I’m not sure if I can entrust them to him.

“I believe there was an inspector staying in Viscount Beryl’s territory as well. I’ll contact him and let him know about the bandits.”

“Please do. I will take custody of the eight victims for now. I will meet with them to see what we should do with them.”

“Understood. If there is anything I can do, please let me know.”

“Yes, I’ll ask you then. Over and out.”

“Take care. Over and out.

I finished the communication and straightened my back.

I’m mentally exhausted after all the bloody things I did today. The truth is, I’d love to hear Sylphy’s voice, but even with an antenna and amplifier, the magic waves for communication can’t reach from here to Merinesburg. It would be possible to relay the information if we relayed the communication to several places, but it would be impossible to hear Sylphy’s voice directly.

“Are you done? Then come over here and let me pamper you.”

“Yes, yes.”

Grande, buried in a pile of cushions, reaches out to me and invites me to come closer to her. Well, I guess I’ll just relax with Grande until the girls get out of the bath.