94 – middle ground-9

Eleanor kept her mouth shut and said nothing.

“Tell me.”

“First of all… At that time, the situation was urgent. I am sorry that I have burdened you more than necessary, but I thought it was necessary at the time.”

“You said that back then. You killed him by cheating.”

“It wasn’t because he just talked to me or gave me a sly look. I’m not that strict.”

Come to think of it, there has never been an accident as violent as that.

Even when there were people who were flirting with Celia or Nerwen, he stopped at the line of shouting at them.

It wasn’t once or twice that he went to a bar, and it was hard to think that it would be the first time that a drunken person acted recklessly.

“Then what is it?”

“I mixed the medicine with the alcohol I drank. Normally, I would have noticed it with the incense and poured it on the ground… but at that time I was exhausted.”

I didn’t know that.

I wasn’t always looking at her, and even then I was probably busy looking for an empty room and calculating the bill for the inn.

Given her personality, it wasn’t strange that she let go of the big task with the words ‘I did a trick’ as if it was no big deal.

“that…”

At that time, I didn’t have the courage or strength to ask why I did that. Even on days when there was no battle, everyone in the party was on high alert.

“I’ll apologize first. Yes, I’m sorry. I misunderstood.”

“No. You had no choice but to know…”

“Still, is it right to cut your throat right away?”

His behavior was absurd.

When I entered the warrior’s party in earnest, it was already when the emperor’s army escorted me and got out of the situation where ‘they can only put me in when needed’.

I can’t remember exactly, but the people there must have been calming their impatient hearts against the invasion of the demon king tomorrow. He must have repulsed the invasion of the Demon King army many times.

It was incomprehensible to take medicine to seduce a woman in such an urgent situation.

No, maybe it was because of such an urgent situation that I acted more rashly and recklessly.

“Isn’t it okay if I explain what happened and hand it over to the guards?”

“With such a soft mindset, it will only cause more damage!”

Eleanor shouted as if it was unfair, but then lowered her tail again.

“I’m sorry. I-I didn’t mean to blame you. It’s just that this happened in the past.”

I know to some extent what she did for a living by hearing her words and writings.

Before he even became an adult, he said that he had wiped out criminal organizations in the capital and fought against countless other bandits.

“I had a similar thing once. It wasn’t me, but there were scoundrels trying to force themselves to rape a drunk woman in a tavern.”

“…”

“I thought that too at the time. Beating it up and handing it over to the guards would be fine. I wanted to kill it, but emotionally, I couldn’t get blood on this sword.”

She must have had much more experience with the criminals of this world than I did. Perhaps, it would be presumptuous for me to interfere with her actions.

“But when I reentered the tavern later, the woman was dead. The man who was friendly with the guards returned in a rage, and she was horribly ravaged and buried in the ground.”

As if recalling that time, her face was getting more and more distorted.

“I dug up the corpse. By hand, with a shovel. With no clothes on, bruises and blood all over the body. Traces of burnt desire remained.”

Eleanor remembered it vividly, as if it had happened yesterday.

“I caught him again as evidence. I was relieved after watching him until the moment he was executed.”

“I see.”

“Of course, this is just an extreme example. At least around the capital, measures were taken to prevent that from happening again, and even if that wasn’t the case, I don’t think it’s right to cut people without trial.”

I felt like I could understand a little why she and the emperor were so popular and trusted.

“But there are times when I have to choose. Now if I don’t kill one dangerous person, I may end up killing two innocent people.”

After saying that, Eleanor blurred her expression again.

“No. I’m sorry. Forget it… I didn’t mean to tell you.”

Her downcast appearance made me wonder if her apology to me was sincere.

“It doesn’t matter. But, you have to admit. I can’t kill them all right now.”

“You must already have experience in looting. Even if you don’t have it, there is no way that a mercenary group of that size can be maintained as a normal request when it is operated in that way.”

“I know. But… was there a child in there?”

Low quality. Arms were barely obtained, and there were few people who were not in the ranks of officers and were properly equipped with armor.

Not only was there no money, but the quality of people was also not high. Children and the elderly were among them, clad in clumsy rags.

“I also oppose genocide. But at least if they are not arrested and put away…”

“I can’t collect evidence from now on and hold each member guilty. Even if it was possible, which prison would you put them in and through which guard?”

“Well…”

“If you use the guards of the Aldguild family, the Weather family will think that a war has begun, and the Weather family’s guards will not even try to intervene in the first place.”

I couldn’t. No matter which choice was made, it was difficult to produce satisfactory results.

“And, where are the people who will be arrested just because they said they would arrest you from now on?”

That might happen, but it would only happen if you had amassed enough soldiers and besieged them.

“Even if we try to subdue them by force, most will not respond. They would rather run.”

If people are scattered in all directions, you will not be able to chase and catch them one by one. If you make thorough preparations such as spraying oil between the forts in advance and making walls of fire, you can prevent it, but if you do, it is worse than not doing it.

“…i get it.”

“Let’s cool down a bit, and let’s start slowly with the Swan Mercenaries.”

More at noblemtl com

Judging from the disposition of the mercenary leader, it was unlikely that he would fight to keep his faith even after all other mercenaries left. If this side becomes mainstream, he will eventually consider our opinion.

In order to save even one more person, he had to sweat.

/////

When the atmosphere calmed down a bit, Jenny spoke quietly from inside the carriage.

“You said that earlier… are you kidding? You can kill everyone…”

“Of course I mean it from the heart.”

There was no need to forcibly hide this side’s power. Verbal display may seem bluff, but the wagon I ride or the money in my pocket will add at least some credibility.

“Really? Wow…”

The Red Wolf Mercenary Corps was certainly cooperative, but there was no guarantee that it would last forever. In the end, I was the one who recommended betrayal first, and the only factor that moved them was money.

They were well-armed and well-armed mercenaries, so there was no way they disliked looting. I had to come up with at least a small reason to follow me, just in case the Weather family offered me more money than I thought.

“Well?”

The carriage gradually slowed down, and at some point stopped. It didn’t seem like we had reached our destination yet.

“Are you inside?”

It was an old man’s voice, but somehow familiar. There weren’t many old people that I could remember.

When I got off the carriage, there was a man I had only met once in front of me.

“That, he ran an orphanage…”

“You remembered!”

He was a priest serving the Goddess of Vengeance, whom I had just met upon returning to the capital.

“Did you achieve what you wanted?”

He had a nice smile, but I couldn’t help but smile when I had to answer that question.

“Well… I don’t know. I don’t know.”

“Then, you should keep thinking until you find the answer. From the moment you stop worrying, every moment will be a series of failures, but while you are thinking about it, every moment will become a process for better results.

“ah…”

I felt it then, but after gaining the power of a hero now, I felt that his power was enormous.

Even his muscles, which had grown senile from age, and his beard dyed white couldn’t contain his energy.

“Are the children all right?”

“We still have plenty of money, and we’ve left the eldest child to look after it, so it’ll be fine. Erinis’ children are looking after them, so it’ll be fine for a while.”

He was the one who said good things. But the moment I stood in front of him again, I was just ashamed to leave behind the successes and failures of revenge.

“And I am, after all, a priest of Erinis. Children are really precious and lovely, but in the end, they have to go where the will of God is.”

His smiling face as he held his staff was that of a benevolent and kind priest.

But I know he’s a man whose words alone don’t define him. The eyes he showed were so heavy.

“Perhaps…”

He knew that it was rude to doubt someone else’s god, but he was feeling the traces of Erinis.

“Is it because of me?”