115 - - 第百十五話 王都の惨状
The inhabitants who fearfully opened the doors of their houses sensed that something was different in the capital. They did not feel the "deadly" atmosphere that usually stagnates in the city.
The residents were astonished when they went outside to avoid detection by the soldiers. The black cavalrymen who had been tormenting them until now were thrown into a big hole. Not only that, at the south gate, a great number of corpses of the Black Riders were laid out in an orderly fashion like fish.
There were also several men I had never seen before, who looked like adventurers, and a large sign was erected there. On it was written the following message.
"As of today, this royal city has been liberated by the Heedata Empire. I am sure you can imagine how hard we have been working. From now on, we will protect this royal city. Rest assured. We will not kill or plunder unnecessarily. We have enough food. First of all, we will have a soup kitchen at noon today. Please come if you would like. Place: In front of the north gate (but bring your own dishes)
Bartham Darke Rinos."
At dawn, I will move into the house. And I ask Rico and the others to prepare a soup kitchen. Everyone seemed to have anticipated this, and Mei and Rico were in charge of gathering as much food as they could from Krumphal and the Duchy of Niza. At the house, Peris, Ferris, and Ruara cooked rice and prepared rice balls from one side to the other.
Watching them, I head for Miyagi. The Prime Minister had not yet arrived for work, but I was soon able to meet His Majesty in person.
"...You\'re as quick as ever..."
Yes. The whole operation went better than expected."
"Well done. What should we do now?
In the meantime, it would be better to have Imperial troops to hold off King\'s Landing.
No, that will only offend the people of King\'s Landing. It\'s better not to do that.
"What do you mean?"
Think about it. These are the people of King\'s Landing who\'ve been overrun by Ramallon. The fear of soldiers in armor is more than you can imagine. For the time being, I would like you to hold King\'s Landing with your forces, Lord Rinos."
"...but the security..."
"If things get worse, we will bring in troops from the Empire. Until then, I\'m counting on you to do what you can. In the meantime, if there is anything you need, you can tell me.
I leave the room feeling as if I have been successfully coaxed by His Majesty. Well, as far as I can see, the city is not very hygienic, so we will need to rent doctors, carpenters, etc. in bulk when we get settled. I convinced myself that I would get an imperial order at that time, and returned to the residence.
Rico and Mei had returned to the house and were helping out at the soup kitchen. Both Krumphal and Niza seem to have succeeded in procuring a large amount of food. Satisfied with their report, I move back to the capital.
At the north gate, Gon and Knogen\'s men in human form were preparing to serve food. I offer them emergency lunches in appreciation for their hard work. I then set out southward through the city.
There are many people hanging from the city walls. The soldiers were taking them down one by one. Below, in what used to be a large area of cultivated land, a great number of corpses were left lying around. There were bodies of men and women, young and old, people of all ages.
The sight was so overwhelming that I involuntarily turned my eyes toward the residential area. Here and there, barracks-like shacks could be seen amongst the originally built houses. I see a child, but he runs away as soon as he sees me.
I go straight into the merchant district. I looked at the west gate and found that the Ramallon soldiers I had defeated had already been thrown into a large hole I had dug. I dug it quite wide and deep, but it was almost full with several hundred people in it. The west gate was closed and several men were stationed at the gate and on the ramparts above it, keeping an eye out for any outside intruders. It seems that Gon has already removed the curse from the soldiers. We thank them for their efforts and head for the house of the protected women.
The women were miserable. Their physical wounds have healed, but their mental wounds have not. When they saw me, they all looked frightened and trembled.
"This is how they react to us too. I try to be polite to them, but..."
"Well, it can\'t be helped. I\'m sorry, you guys, but please. I don\'t know if the girls have much of an appetite, but I\'m leaving my lunch box. It\'s breakfast, eat it."
With these words, he leaves the house. I continued on my way and arrived at the building of the headquarters of the Royal Army at the south gate. On the top floor, in a room where the commander of the Ramallon army probably used to be, Rishima and the rest of Knogen\'s men were resting.
"It\'s a spectacular view from here, isn\'t it?"
"Yes, it\'s like putting fish on the line."
"But if we don\'t get rid of it soon, the smell will be bad again."
"Yes, it is. We\'ll clean it up tomorrow.
"I\'m going to have to make you guys work again."
"Marquis, that\'s not much work at all.
Knogen\'s men laugh when he says this.
"First of all, thank you for your hard work. I\'ll leave you some food. Take a nap and rest while you eat this. And leave some for those on guard duty, will you?
With these words, I wired the transition and moved to the forest of Lunois.
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The faerie dragons are getting much better at working together. They really need to be rewarded for their hard work.
With these thoughts in my mind, I move back to the Imperial Palace.
In the house, an enormous amount of rice balls, vegetable soup, and croquettes are being prepared.
"Linos, there is no more room in the dining room!
"Okay, I\'ll take it to King\'s Landing!"
Without a moment\'s rest, I repeatedly shifted to take the finished food for the soup kitchen to the capital.
At the beginning of the cookout, there were so few people visiting that I was worried that I might have killed them all, but word of mouth spread from those who had eaten the food, and several hundred people came to the north gate, pushing and shoving. Everyone\'s clothes were dirty or torn in some way. However, seeing the relief supplies coming in one after another, the people of Wangdu in line shouted with joy. They seem to be in good spirits.
Thanks to Rico and the others who have been working non-stop without a break, the soup kitchen is running quite smoothly. While I\'m standing in line, an old man walks up to me.
"Is that Mr. Linos?"
Yes, I am.
"Do you remember me? The butcher\'s husband."
"...Oh! Mr. Funnel!"
He was the owner of a butcher shop where he sold the meat of demons he hunted in the forests of Lunois. He is much older than he used to be. I ask him about his past.
After I destroyed the castle, some of the surviving Kargis nobles managed to take over the city with their own private armies. Soon after, the kingdom was in a state of civil war, but they basically closed all the gates to the capital and kept the country in a state of "seclusion". Fortunately or unfortunately, the outflow of the people of the city was minimized. In addition, the rumors of the descent of the Great Demon King also kept the people from touching the city.
As for food, thanks to the large granary in the capital, they managed to secure enough food to keep them from starving to death, and the adventurers who remained in the capital managed to stay alive by hunting in the forests of Lunois.
At first, some people tried to escape, some went insane, some looted, and some committed violence, but when things had finally calmed down in the capital, Lamaron\'s army invaded. The Lamarong army invaded from the south, and in the blink of an eye, they had conquered the disputed areas in the south and killed all the inhabitants. Then they invaded the capital.
The allied army of soldiers and adventurers fought well, but it was only a mob of about 500 men. The city was quickly invaded through a part of the collapsed wall, and was overrun in no time. All those who participated in the battle were killed or hung on the walls until they died.
At first the Lamarons promised not to harm those who did not resist, but soon food was looted, women were attacked, and those who refused or resisted were killed without question.
"...But you seem to be trustworthy, don\'t you? This is the first time we have been fed.
"We don\'t want to waste our lives. It\'s a waste of time and energy.
What are you going to do now?
In the meantime, we will restore King\'s Landing. First, there will be the problem of food. I have secured a large amount of food on my side and will distribute it for the time being.
I will help you if you need me. Please don\'t hesitate to ask.
Thank you very much. Please tell as many people as possible about this soup kitchen.
"Yes. The people standing in line here are probably all the residents, but I\'ll let them know if I see them.
I was absolutely mortified. Hundreds of thousands of people, including soldiers, used to live in this city. Now there are only a thousand. You can understand how Ramalon has treated them so harshly.
It was well past noon when we finished distributing the food. We finished our lunch sharing the leftovers of the nearly empty soup kitchen. Rico and the others immediately started preparing for the evening cookout.
"I\'m going to make curry.
Ingredients...
"Master, we have more rice and vegetables in the storehouse. I discussed this with Rico\'s sister while distributing the food. Curry is easy to make in large quantities and easy to distribute.
"Okay. Rico, May and the others will take care of it."
I tell the people who were eating nearby that we are going to have another cookout at night and ask them to tell others.
"Master, there is a messenger.
He turns his head toward the sound of May\'s voice. There was an adventurer-looking young man on a horse.
"Excuse me from the horse. Master Knogen has returned with the prisoners. He is going to the headquarters of the Royal Army.
"No, tell them to enter through the south gate, pass through the noble residence district on the east side, and bring them to the barracks next to the north gate, will you?"
"Yes, sir! Well then!"
With that, the young man galloped off.
I called out to one of the gatekeepers who was nearby.
"Thank you very much, but could you go to the headquarters of the Royal Army and tell Rishima to bring that...what did you call him...the full-figured man together with him to the barracks next to the north gate?"
"Awe!"