CH 117

Chapter 117

When Peaceful Times Cease To Exist : Flames Of War In The Central Plains, Part 5 — Abnormal Claw Marks

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

「I’m not here to talk about anything else, but I need you to take care of this girl.」

「Hohhoho, what a lovely young lady you have here.」

「Rhine, you… have you finally gone to that way?」

「What way is that!?」

Rhine is offended by the head prostitute’s ridicule, but once again Dance Slave gets into a bad mood.

「Yes, no matter how much I tried to seduce her, he wouldn’t even look at me, and night after night he would take this helpless girl…」

「Shut up, Dancer…」

Dancer looked bored and silent as Rhine stared at her. Rayfan’s eyes were black and white as she was suddenly brought into a room with a lewd interior. Well, it wasn’t too bad. The rooms are decorated with wallpaper in pink, red, and other colors that are very male-oriented, and there are nude paintings all over the walls. The head prostitute in front of her was also clothed, but the fabric was extremely thin and her breasts were completely transparent.

While Rayfan felt dizzy from being suddenly thrown into such a situation, Rhine explained the situation.

「Hmmm. So you want us to hide the princess at our place for the time being because there is an informant nearby?」

「To sum it up, yes. It would be best if we could smoke out the inside man, but we didn’t have time for that. If they were not careful, they would have been ambushed tonight. Not with such an obvious hideout.」

「Are you not being followed?」

「As I said, if there were guys watching a single house away from the house, I’d notice them. Besides, once we got into town, we took a rather convoluted route. It should be fine.」

「I understand what you’re saying, but isn’t a brothel a bit much for a princess?」

「Well, that’s right. This is a good life lesson.」

「That sounds like a hell of a life lesson.」

The head prostitute is appalled.

「I don’t care what happens to the Princess when Rhine comes back, okay?」

「Be gentle with her. Don’t educate her in the wrong way.」

「I guess I’ll do that～」

「Hey…」

「I’m just kidding. I’ll be responsible for taking good care of her, don’t worry.」

「Please. Now then…」

After getting confirmation from the head prostitute, who tried to play dumb, Rhine took Rayfan’s gag and turned to face her.

「Y–You! You think you can do this to me and get away with it… Muguuh!」

Rhine holds Rayfan mouth with his hand. Rayfan tries to show her protest with her eyes, but Rhine’s expression is serious.

「Let’s not be a pain in the ass, Rayfan. It’s the safest thing for you to do. Rusty is probably trustworthy and I’ll get in touch with him properly eventually, but not right now. He is not a good liar. If you tell him about this place, there’s a chance he’ll rip you off. Nod if you understand.」

Rayfan, perhaps sensing the situation from Rhine’s appearance, cockily nodded her head. Rayfan grins at him. He gently removes his hand from her mouth.

「I like sensible girls, Rayfan. You be good until I get back.」

「Where will you be going?」

「Ohh, I’m going to check out the battlefield. And while I’m at it, I’ll check on the capital. Either way, we can’t live on the run forever, can we? We’ve got to get to the king sooner or later.」

「I understand that, but why go to all this trouble for me?」

Rayfan stared at Rhine. Perhaps feeling awkward or thinking that he couldn’t play proper tricks on the situation, Rhine answered, scratching his head.

「I don’t know about myself, but… I’m a bit of a lossy character in this way. Apparently, I can’t overlook people who are in trouble. Well, I’ll take my reward.」

「Is that so…」

Rayfan looks both convinced and unconvinced. Even Rhine, he’s not 100% sure he understand his feelings. He just don’t feel that this is the right thing to do.

「I’ll go then. Take care of Rayfan, old man.」

「Hohhoho, leave it to me.」

「We’ll make it just the way you like it.」

「So you tell them to stop it. So long, Rayfan.」

Rhine fluttered his hand as he turned his back to Rayfan, but then spun around as if remembering something.

「Oh yeah, one thing I wanted to ask.」

「What is it?」

「Does the name Zelvados ring a bell?」

It was the name that Lisa had mentioned when he had his conversation with Alfiris. I missed the opportunity to ask her more, but he remembered it well.

Rayfan seemed to have an idea, and she quickly answered.

「I believe he was a man who had recently risen rapidly in the ranks, and had become a close associate of my brother Musuta while working as an assistant to the prime minister. But one day he committed suicide.」

「Suicide?」

「Yes, it was a terrible scene. I heard the room was red with blood up to the ceiling.」

「What kind of suicide, that is. What else?」

「No, I didn’t know him… Rusty said he had talked to him or something.」

「Is that so… then, that’s good.」

Rhine growled, but there was nothing we could do about it now. As it was, this time he left the place with Dance Slave. She was anxious about what to do if Rhine didn’t return, but there was nothing she could do about it now, so she simply waited quietly for him to return.

＊＊＊

「Is it alright, Rhine?」

「About what?」

「Of course, it was the Princess. She must be a bit nervous to be alone there. There is a possibility that those knights will find her.」

「I don’t think those crack-heads would have any idea to search a brothel in search of an imperial princess. If they do come, they will be well-skilled, shaken down, and turned away. Besides, the prostitutes there are all good persons, for what it’s worth. She won’t be lonely.

There are other reasons, though.」

「Well, that would be nice, but…」

In fact, most of the women who work in brothels are either sold to pay debts or are war orphans who have been left on their own. For this reason, these women had a very strong sense of solidarity and were very warm, especially toward the socially vulnerable. They were the kind of people who would help anyone in need, even if it was an imperial princess.

And since Krummus didn’t specifically oppress prostitutes, they should have no ill feelings toward the royal family. Of course, not all prostitutes are like that, but Rayfan herself doesn’t hate them and Rhine was that at least the people in that brothel were trustworthy.

「But still. You know your stuff, Rhine.」

「That’s right. It’s my go-to place.」

「…I’ll make sure to let Alfiris know that.」

「So why are you quoting Alfiris there?」

Rhine complained, but Dance Slave was oblivious to his complaints.

＊＊＊

While Rhine had Dance Slave arrange for the flying dragon, he himself had come to the guild. He came to the guild to get information about Zelvados. But he felt it was dangerous to inquire unnecessarily, so he immediately went to the reception desk. At the reception desk sat a pleasant, if not beautiful, young woman with a charming appearance.

「Welcome. How may I help you?」

「I have someone I want to check out. I need you to gather whatever information you can, is anyone available for an informant?」

「Yes, I think it can be arranged. How many people would you hire?」

「I’d like three… no, five. Each of them make separate requests with no exchange of information. I want to do the info comparison myself.」

「Affirmative, sir. Please select a person from the following list. Also, please provide details about the person you are looking for, what you are looking for, how long you are looking for, and what they are being paid for.」

Rhine fills out the form given to him by the woman at the reception desk with a familiar hand. Then, when he finishes filling out the form, he leaves the place with the advance payment.

「Then, I’ll leave it to you, beautiful miss.」

Rhine winks at her with all the affection he can muster, but with his shaggy hair and stubble, he doesn’t look good. But he was charming in his own way, and the woman smiled back at him, even if it was for sales.

But after Rhine left, the woman’s smile disappeared when she saw the contents of the form. She then calls out to the other woman behind the counter in a mechanical voice.

「Request. Please make sure that the person marked on the following list is contacted for information gathering」

「Copy that.」

「One more. The subject of the survey is Zelvados. Code c771. Please make sure that person is reachable.」

「I recite, code C771, I will contact that person. By the way, the name and description of the person you requested to investigate, please.」

「The name’s Rhine. He is 5’6″(180cm), medium height, medium build, standard hair and eye color, with slicked back hair and a full beard. At first glance, he may look like a beggar, but his demeanor suggests a skilled mercenary.」

「Understood. We will contact that person after we investigate the person named Rhine.」

When she finished saying this much, the mechanical conversation that the two receptionists had been dodging was restored to its original state as if it had been a lie, and he reverted back to being an affable receptionist once again.

＊＊＊

And shortly thereafter, Rhine and Dance Slave, driving their flying dragons, flew close to the battlefield. There they saw a sight they had never imagined.

「This is…」

「…How grueling.」

The two people could not take a second look at each other. They were now standing on the Zamwed side of the Krummus border, which also served as a fort, where they had apparently fought a battle. But already a scene so terrible that it could hardly be called a town was spreading before their eyes.

The town was already in ruins. Buildings were burned, crumbled, and knocked down, and corpses lay everywhere. The town must have been engulfed in fire on all sides, and there was not a body that had not been burned. But it must not have been that long since the battle, if it hadn’t been burnt, the maggots would have been in a terrible state by now.

But the bodies were left completely struck down, and there was not even a trace of any attempt to bury them. Even Rhine, who thought he was familiar with the battlefield, couldn’t help but feel nauseous.

「This is harsh…」

「Yeah, I’ve been around the battlefield for a long time, but I’ve rarely seen anything as bad as this. Especially…」

「Especially?」

「I can’t believe they even left their own corpses.」

「What does that mean?」

The two walk through the burnt-out city, but as Dancer pointed out, some of the soldiers are wearing armor, so it appears that the bodies on Krums’ side are still intact. Normally, it is the law of the battlefield that the bodies of the war dead are recovered and sent back to the bereaved families. If that isn’t possible, it is obligatory to bring back at least the identification. However, from the dead body in front of them, there is no indication that any such care was taken. On the contrary, it’s also curious that there are no units governing this town, which is supposed to be occupied territory.

「Apparently there’s not a single soul in sight.」

「It seems so. But that is also strange. Normally, if a town is about to become a battleground, non-combatants would be evacuated, so why shouldn’t the refugees be back by now?」

「You mean they didn’t even have time for that? No… apparently not, huh?」

「What? That would be… there’s no way, don’t tell me…?」

Dance Slave involuntarily covered her mouth with both hands. Rhine also looked as if he was biting a bitter bug. The two are looking outside the town in the direction to Zamwed inner city, but there were dead bodies lying all over the area. They are undoubtedly residents of this town, although it has been badly ravaged by wild beasts and monsters. Women, children, old people. It was a massacre without care.

「They tried to escape… from every bit of it.」

「You mean they killed all of them. That’s stupid, moreover it’s crazy!」

「In fact, they must be crazy. This is not the way humans do it. Even fiends wouldn’t be this thorough.」

「Then, what do you imply?」

「I don’t know. But the answer will be up ahead… let’s go.」

Prompted by Rhine, the two again headed ahead. At this stage, Rhine’s intentions were already off. They had kicked out the border guards just short of strength, and they thought that the Krummus forces would have been stranded in the towns around here anyway. But two days had passed since then, and their dragons were still flying. Although the ruined town could be seen below, there was still no sign of Krummus’ army.

「That’s strange… if we go any deeper, we’ll end up in the capital of Zamwed. All that’s left is Rambaur, Zamwed’s largest fortress, and the capital, Geddhard.」

「I haven’t even seen an army of Zamwed so far, let alone Krummus.」

「Yeah, there was some wreckage, though.」

「It was all from Zamwed, isn’t it?」

The two fell silent. The Zamwed army they have seen so far was terrible after the defeat. It makes one wonder if they have already lost nearly 100,000 troops. Rhine knew that the Krummus Army was no longer an ordinary army, and while his instincts warned him that going any deeper was dangerous, he also knew that he had to know this at all costs.

But a little further on, they saw a fort in flames with black smoke coming out of it. It was Fort Rambaur, the largest fort in Zamwed.

「Oh, no… they fell. What the hell is going on?」

「Like I know it myself.」

「That’s right. But seeing as how the fire is still smoldering, it probably hasn’t been that long since the fall. Let’s see if there are any survivors.」

「I understand.」

The two nodded to each other and dropped the dragon near the fort and entered through the beaten-down main gate.