BXBX NOVEL Chapter 144 Astray (2)
"You may return to your house, and hide in your bunker. The Kingdom's official will come soon, and when they do, act as if you are really frightened. Tell them about what happened as if you were always in the bunker the whole time!" Velucan shouts to the citizens.
The reinforcement from the Kingdom is already on the way. Velucan said they were actually the army we were anticipating, and fighting them should have been the challenge that I had to overcome.
The battle with the Dukedom Army finished earlier than expected. We have enough time to idle before the reinforcement army arrives.
The Dukedom, however, has already been taken down, so there is no need for us to fight them anymore, which is why we are going to return.
"Say, is this really the right decision?" I turn to Eliseus. "We might get the benefits that I mentioned before we executed the plan, but this territory doesn't belong to us in result... At least, in the surface."
Quirking her eyebrow at me, she says, "Why are you doubting yourself now? No, why are you doubting our judgement?" She shakes her head faintly. "We have considered what you are worrying about before agreeing with your plan."
"Don't you think not being able to use the territory we have conquered whenever we like is a loss?"
"We can use the territory whenever we like, Layland," corrects Eliseus. "The Teleportation Gates in this Dukedom are all connected to each one of our territories, so our people can visit this place anytime they want."
I haven't said anything, but she immediately puts her hand up as if she knows I am about to. "It only works for us. Meanings, other than Cursed Creations, no one can access the Teleportation Gate to our territories."
Putting my hands up as a sign of surrender, I stop arguing.
I by no means feel defeated however; in fact, I am smiling in relief because I have just confirmed that my guess is right. I am relieved that it is the case, so I can confidently say my plan is a success.
From what Eliseus said, I can confirm that we don't really have any use for the territory since we already have enough territories to host our people. It can be seen by the way she said our people could pay a visit anytime they wanted.
If paying a visit is the only thing our people want to do, that means they already have a place to stay, which is a good thing. I hardly believe our people will be interested in anything here, so them paying a visit will be a rare occurrence for sure.
Nonetheless, I have told the six people to take a good care of our people who would visit the Dukedom in the future. I don't believe all of our people are good in disguising themselves, so having someone who can make them less suspicious is preferable.
With that said, I can conclude that rather than expanding our territory because we need it, we just do it because we want to take as much as we can from the humans.
Frankly speaking, we have a vast land that is more than enough to host all of us. We are already used to having a vast territory, so expanding territories, to us, is not as appealing as how humans see it.
That is one of the reasons why, despite there are 9 Demon Kings with different beliefs and ideologies, none of them have ever had a conflict pertaining to a territory with each other.
"Well, it's rather disappointing that we can't kill anymore, but when it's done, it's done," Velucan says to us. By this point, no human, except for Winerva and Xenon, can be spotted nearby.
"I originally wanted these two to secretly control the Dukedom on our behalf, you know? Killing those who disobey us—an executioner in other words." He motions to the two women.
"We have taken a full control over the people and the Dukedom," I state. "What are you going to do with them? I don't think we need a porter."
I might just want to mess with the two because seeing their face darken is amusing, but I am genuinely asking what worth the two now have. In my opinion, after the execution of my plan, they don't have it anymore in them.
Velucan stays silent as he takes a furtive glance toward Xenon. I think he still hasn't got over with his crush on her, because he really is thinking about it seriously.
"Meh, I will figure it out later." Velucan shrugs. "I need someone to talk to, and Xenon will be able to fulfill that role. What about you, Layland? Winerva is yours."
For some reason, my troop mates suddenly turn to me with disbelieving eyes. If they are intending to annoy me, I must say they are successful in it.
I don't care much about their gaze, at least, until I see Vibiane and Eliseus' betrayed look. I suddenly feel the need to explain myself, and I don't know why it just happened.
"I didn't..."
I was about to say that it was all Velucan's decision, but then I realized that I was the one who had chosen to spare Winerva. Saying that I didn't have a hand in it will be hypocritical, so I think of another excuse.
"I didn't initially intend to enslave her, but I realized that I needed someone to cook for me whenever I was on a mission. Basically, I just want her to do some mundane things for me—that's all."
There is no obligation for us, Warriors, to be independent individuals. We are only obligated to know one thing, which is how to fight, so other than that, we are allowed to have others fulfill our need.
I am not that kind of person, of course; I like to be independent, but anything that makes my excuse plausible, I will say it. I can't think of another reason since I don't actually know why I did what I did.
"D-Didn't I take care of you well for the past week, Layland?" Vibiane asks. "I didn't expect you to be that dissatisfied with how I took care of you."
"Excuse me, what? You, taking care of me?" I ask condescendingly. "Stop spouting nonsense, imbecile!"
"Uwaahh! You are just as cruel as usual!"
I shrug, then turn to Eliseus, who seems to have something to say. "I thought you were more of an independent individual," she remarks. "I didn't expect you to ever be in need of someone's company."
"Yeah, he looks like he needs a wife."
"Owh, too bad, isn't it? Humans age faster than us, so he will be left alone by the time he knows it."
"Oh, shut your hole! He just wanted to have fun. You know? The urges."
One by one, my troop mates state their take on my choice to enslave Winerva. Their take is just as messed up as their mind, and it is as amusing as it is annoying.
Sighing lightly, I summon Rexorem, and swing it swiftly at Winerva's neck. My hand stops just a hair's breadth away from her neck, but I have already made her neck bleed and stunned everyone.
"I need a subject to experiment on," I mutter. "How tenacious a human can be and how effective my medicine is... I want to know about them. A subject is, of course, needed in this matter."
The field is silent as if there is not a single soul there. Winerva is looking at me in absolute horror, meanwhile my troop mates are smiling wryly when I turn to them.
They like to kill humans brutally, but they are uncomfortable to do a torturous research on humans, which is beneficial to us, because it will prolong the subject's sufferings.
I find it really weird and hypocritical of them, but I guess Cursed Creations are just softhearted in nature ... Or maybe, I am just too sick-minded even for this world's standard.
"Well, I am just kidding." I return Rexorem to the Bond Seal. "Heroes are better subjects than her, so I think being my cook is the only thing she can do for me."
All of my troop mates nod their head simply. Velucan tells us to stand in line afterwards, of course, not before he tells me to take care of my slave.
Xenon stands precisely behind Velucan, surrounded by high ranking Warriors, whereas Winerva stands between me and Vibiane. Winerva is pressing on her still bleeding neck, and too afraid to look at me.
Uncaring to that, I pay keen attention to Velucan's instruction. We march a second after, then immediately increase our speed the moment the Teleportation Gate nearby flashes.
The reinforcement army has come, and staying inside the Dukedom any longer is the same as asking to be killed. All of us, fortunately, have quick feet, so we escaped the Dukedom before the army could stop us.
I am glad that we could, because the reinforcement army is no joke; it consists of 64,000 soldiers, who are, in average, barely weaker than me. Facing them will be a nightmare for sure, but I find my troop mates feeling unfortunate that they can't.
We keep running without looking back nonetheless. Roughly half an hour passed, and we finally arrived in front of Amizanima Forest.
The two humans among us are exhausted because they have been running at their top speed nonstop, but uncaring to that, we enter the forest.