CH 121

Chapter 121

When Peaceful Times Cease To Exist : Flames Of War In The Central Plains, Part 9 — A Madman's Tale

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

＊＊＊

Like Rohha, Rhine was in a rut. Both Dance Slave and Rhine were on their way back to Krummus when they saw Tragathlon’s army. How they got through the border is a mystery, but the facts in front of them are immovable. At any rate, this brought to mind the thought that the clash between Tragathlon and Gruzald might not be spared, and it was becoming increasingly clear that the Central Plains was going to look terrible.

And there are still some unanswered questions on Rhine.

「Dancer.」

「What is it?」

「The weapons and armor of the Krummus Army… where do you think they came from?」

「You mean their armor that won’t let the claws of the beastmen pass through? I don’t know… I was sealed up, I’m not sure what to say.」

「Was there any such kind of armor in your time?」

「There are some of those, but they are all rare and valuable metals. I don’t think it could have been produced or processed in large quantities. I don’t know about today.」

「No, it shouldn’t even be the present. That’s why they overthrew the human state and created such a thing as the Beastman State. Hmmm…」

Rhine doesn’t know what’s going on. But there are some things they do know. That is, if the military is going to equip it, it has to be imported, or at least have a production channel. And on a large scale. He also think that if they discover that pathway, they might be able to find out something.

「（In the meantime, there should be some information on Zelvados when I get back, and ask them… After that, I’m going to Rayfan’s and got in touch with Rusty… and then I’ll see what happens.）」

It may be a very rough plan, but with Rhine’s current holdings, it can only go so far. They don’t even know what the third prince will do when he returns to Krummus. For now, he would return to Trimedo as quickly as possible. Rayfan was worried, too, and Rhine’s head was full of it now.

＊＊＊

That night. In the midst of the retreating army of Krummus, in the tent of the third prince, Musuta. Musuta was in great shape. His body is light and his mind couldn’t be more clear. He didn’t feel like he could lose a fight with anyone now, and in fact, he didn’t. If he had a thousand Hecatoncheires, he would feel as if he could take over the world. He had won a great victory over Zamwed, and the victory drink felt very good to him.

But when they saw how Musuta was drinking after slaughtering their own soldiers, all the soldiers hated Musuta so much that they wanted to kill him right now, but they were too afraid to say so. In fact, they had seen Muster work like a fierce monster on the battlefield.

While Musuta was happily drinking by himself, oblivious to the complaints of the soldiers, something snapped him out of his reverie and he called the page.

「Anybody here?」

「Y–Yes… I’m here.」

The page who came in is frightened. He’s also forced to look at his colleague who had his neck snapped the other day by Musuta who was in a high mood after a battlefield eruption, simply because he was late in responding. One of his colleagues was beheaded for not speaking properly. The page was frightened, not knowing what could possibly offend Musuta.

「The war is over, for now. So you guys can rest now. You must be tired, right?」

「Yes?」

It was so unexpected that the page couldn’t help but ask back. He immediately paled as he realized that this might have offended Musuta.

「Didn’t you hear me? I said all of you can take the rest of the day off. There is no danger here. Tell that to the guards. Or are you not happy?」

「No, it’s our pleasure. Then so be it!」

The words came from the page’s genuine heart, so he left the tent as if to leap out. And when he passed the word on to the guards and other peasants, they all jumped up and returned to their tents with joy.

Then, when he was sure that he was no longer attended, Musuta spoke to his shadow.

「There’s no one here anymore, Anomaly-sama.」

「Kukuku, you’re looking well, Musuta.」

Crawling out of the shadows is an ugly old man, Anomaly. Then Musuta offers Anomaly a drink as well.

「Do you drink?」

「No, I don’t want to, because I still have work to do. But you’re doing great, aren’t you?」

「That’s certain! The power that Anomaly-sama has given me is the best. I feel like I could embark on world domination at this point!」

「Are you trying to be king of the world?」

「…That’s a good idea. I will be king of the world… fufufu, kukuku 」

Musuta started chuckling, as if he had heard a good idea. Anomaly imagines that by now Musuta would be developing thoughts that don’t involve concrete means for world domination, and laughs in a different way from Musuta.

「（He’s a fool at heart. Even this ruse was originally my idea. Even Hecatoncheires was lent by me, and so were those guys—— Before you know it, you think of it as if it were yours and mistake it for your own power. Congratulations indeed, kukuku. If you are going to be the king of the world, you shouldn’t call me by “-sama”. Well, I’m the ones who taught him to call me that.）」

But never does Anomaly tell him that. Because he still need Musuta to dance over his palms. And after a moment of inward mockery, Anomaly gets down to business.

「How is it going then? Those from Hecatoncheires.」

「Ahh, I could use them, they could handle a hundred people by themselves.」

「I see. Do they follow orders properly?」

「No problem. They’re very loyal to me.」

「I see（…If they’re willing to follow an idiot like you, anyone can follow you.）」

Anomaly’s plan. It was to mass-produce soldiers to replace goblins and orcs that could not be secured in numbers. Part of the experiment was a group of mercenaries called Hecatoncheires.

Hecatoncheires aren’t human. The material is human, but synthesized with various magical beasts and fiends, it can no longer be called as such. It’s a chimera, a creature similar to the Archfiend, that Tetrastin feared.

The only difference from the Archfiends, however, is that the Hecatoncheires is quite unintelligent and cannot do anything on its own unless it is ordered to do so. They need to eat as much as humans do, but they are unable to perform even that minimal action of their own volition. Instead, all emotions and functions that are unnecessary for combat, such as pain, pity, hesitation, and fear, are abolished, which Anomaly believes makes them quite useful in combat. When he actually tried it, it bit the enemy regardless of whether the arm fell off or the lower half of the body was taken off.

Another advantage is the low production cost. The production of an Archfiend requires at least five adult humans, but Hecatoncheires can manage with just one. This was a great blessing for Anomaly, which was suffering from a shortage of materials. Although he had recently expanded his workshop and increased his production efficiency, he was now having trouble procuring materials. Lifeless is primarily responsible for procuring materials, but he was already running out of hands on his own.

「（Lifeless is a guy who doesn’t need to sleep, that’s why he works 24/7… but he’s not in the nature of having a lot of men. I wish I had some of them… Oh, yes.）」

Anomaly snaps his fingers.

「（Somehow, why didn’t I realize how simple this was? All I need is more than one me! I can’t say the same for Musuta at all, I can’t believe I didn’t think of this. I’ll give it a try as soon as I get back to the workshop.）」

Duplicating oneself—— Normally, no one would think of it. No, even if they did come up with the idea, they wouldn’t do it. Anomaly, without hesitation, tries to do it as if he was making candy. He is so excited by this self-satisfyingly brilliant idea that he begins to hum uncontrollably. Musuta looked at him a little surprised, but he imitated him in some way and the two of them started humming together. It is beyond bizarre to see these two unflattering people performing in a humming circle.

But then Anomaly remembered something else to do, so she stopped humming and asked Musuta a question.

「Speaking of which, do you know what we’re going to do after this?」

「Of course. We will continue to progress to Tragathlon when we see a gap, right?」

「Correct. If all goes well, Tragathlon should depart with a total of 200,000 troops to the third camp, so it would be nice if they could attack at about the same time that the third camp begins to fight Gruzald. It depends on how well Gruzald does, but from our point of view, Tragathlon is no match for them.」

「At best, if they could shave off some of Gruzald’s force?」

「Yes, yes, glad you’re getting it.」

「Of course, I am the one who is supposed to be king! Hahahahaha!」

「Haha…」

While Musuta laughed boldly, Anomaly laughed back.

In fact, Anomaly had tinkered with Musuta’s brain appropriately when he retrieved him and remodeled him. He had no intention of leaving Musuta’s ego inside him from the beginning, but as a result, he have become a much more capable person than he originally was. Anomaly couldn’t help but feel the mystery of the human body, but he decided to accept the result as a good thing. The distorted parts are still there, so the result is most desirable.

「（Hmmm, I don’t understand humans. Was the original him is that bad? Well, whatever.）」

But on the other hand, the slaughter of the Krummus army by Musuta is a complete violation of orders. It should’ve been imprinted in his deep consciousness so that Musuta couldn’t do anything on his own.

「So, it looks like you slaughtered the Krummus army, why? I’m sure I didn’t give you that order.」

「Oh, you care about such trivialities?」

「No, it’s not trivial. I’m sure you don’t have enough hands for any number of things. Tragathlon is quite a military state; going in at 10,000 is a stretch, no matter how much help Hecatoncheires can give you. This time we’re dealing with a human nation, so it won’t be as simple as the beastmen.」

「However, you don’t want an army that doesn’t listen to orders, do you? Soldiers who don’t listen to me can’t be counted on in an emergency. They were so pathetic that they have been fighting for only about 20 days with almost no rest. To think that I’ve been made of fun by those guys all this time, I’m angry, so, so angry… hihihihihi.」

「（This guy, is he alright…）」

Even Anomaly, as expected, can’t help but be creeped out by Musuta, who repeats his disgusting sneer. But suddenly he stops laughing, and Musuta speaks with a serious expression on his face.

「They all tried to disobey my orders. I didn’t need them, but I decided to let them kill each other in pairs and forgive the one who survived.」

「I mean, even professional soldiers don’t usually listen to orders for massacres… but how did they get there?」

「It’s easy, I bled about 10 commanders at random.」

「Wouldn’t that make the army dysfunctional?」

「So to make it work, I reduced the number of soldiers as much as I reduced the number of commanders. They are disposable people anyway. There are plenty of replacements. How’s that for smart?」

「…」

Musuta is puffing his chest out. As expected, Anomaly was crestfallen, but he had another reason for his disappointment.

「（If you’re going to kill them anyway, I’d like to recover them as material… I don’t know if I can desire this fool that much… but it’s a move that doesn’t fit within the scope of my plan.）」

Sighing, Anomaly asks for one more confirmation.

「So what happens after this? There is still time for Tragathlon and Gruzald to fight in earnest. What are you going to do in the meantime?」

「Soldiers will be deployed to the border and once back to the capital Seimrid in the meantime. Replenishment of soldiers is necessary, so it must be done, and it is time for some of the nobles to show some strange moves. I have to give them justice again, as appropriate.」

「You know, you should go easy on them, right?」

「I know. And I’m worried about my little sister.」

「It sounds like you tried to kidnap that little sister of yours?」

「Yes, that’s that. I can’t leave my little sister to those fools! I’m going to kill them all anyway, and what am I going to do if she’s collateral damage?」

「No, I don’t know.」

「That fragile, sweet little sister of mine… the only kind-hearted girl who treated me like a decent human being… I won’t give her to anyone. She’s mine, and I’ll keep her with me all day long… day and night…」

Musuta started mumbling something. There was something uncanny about the way he said it. As for Anomaly, he was relieved for the moment to hear that the subsequent measures seemed to be working as he had intended, and as he was about to leave, suddenly Musuta turned around.

There is nothing in his face, not even the devilish expression he had on his face a moment ago. It was as if his personality or memory had suddenly switched.

「What’s the matter, Anomaly, you don’t drink? It’s a very merry day indeed, for this is the first big win of my life.」

「No, I have work to do, so I have to go now. See you later… At this rate, you’re not going to last much longer anyway.」

Anomaly’s last murmur was so shrill that Musuta could not hear it. The voice of Musuta, smiling proudly after slaughtering his own soldiers in this way, echoed in the tent forever.