第１７７８堀：奥様たちと側付きと (Part1)
Chapter 1778: The Wives and Their Attendants
Side: Hovis
Kagura-sama and I are currently wrapping up our discussions with Baron Siana. The visual transmission has already ended, and we are at the stage of consolidating what we’ve learned. Even so, the information we’ve managed to glean isn’t particularly extensive...
"So, the Budeak Kingdom is a mid-sized power in the north. I suppose we should be grateful that the Baron’s mobilization was the extent of it."
"Indeed. When a coalition like this demands troops, there’s always the risk of them being treated as disposable. That said, a force larger than the coalition’s leader would invite all sorts of complications. Given the number and size of the nations involved, a scale of twenty thousand suggests it isn’t exactly a massive gathering."
"True. It seems the Budeak Kingdom couldn't read the coalition's intentions, so they designated Baron Siana specifically because they couldn't afford to commit their main strength."
That’s right. It feels as though Baron Siana was sent out primarily for national defense. In other words, the Baron was forced into this position out of necessity to protect the country. It really goes to show just how powerful the Church’s influence is. The more I hear, the more troublesome it becomes.
"To begin with, the question is why that Church is such a pain in the neck. Even Baron Siana seemed skeptical about the exclusion of demi-humans, didn't he?"
"We have to dig deeper into that. To do so, I’ll need to reveal my true identity and have a proper conversation. For today, we’ve managed to extract information by playing nice, but to go any further, we’ll need to get the Baron out of the country to guarantee their safety. It’s impossible to get the full story as just an individual."
Indeed, Kagura-sama has been interacting with them merely as someone working at the clinic. If we want to probe deeper, maintaining that facade will only invite suspicion. I truly believe that with people like them, honesty is the best policy.
"I agree with Kagura’s opinion. If we want to extract more information regarding the Church and the internal state of the country, it should be done under proper conditions. They will likely want to discuss their future treatment as well, and besides, a significant portion of their main force has arrived."
"Come to think of it, didn't they run out of food?"
That is exactly the case. A few days have passed since Baron Siana’s surrender, and it seems the enemy forces ran out of rations. This caused quite a bit of internal strife, and there were movements toward surrendering to us, but...
"To stop that—or rather, to prevent it—they started executing people, leading to infighting."
As Stasia-sama says, the fools who refused to surrender stood in our way. Perhaps we should call them the main force that still had food supplies left? Well, they clashed with those who, like Baron Siana’s men, had been stripped of their rations and pushed to their limits.
"We were able to intervene, at least?"
"Yes. But it seems our intervention was too late; there were quite a few casualties. Since they hadn't eaten, the disparity in strength was apparently significant..."
"There’s nothing we can do about that until the incident actually occurs, I suppose..."
That’s the truth of it. Even if we wanted to intervene, if a clash hadn't already broken out, we couldn't shake the suspicion that it might just be an act. That’s why we’re always forced to react after the fact. If they were willing to listen to our calls to stop, they would have surrendered from the beginning.
"So, the ones who rebelled followed our call to surrender, right?"
"Yes. Our intervention brought the enemy’s movements to a halt. After all, they couldn't win. Though, we did have to open fire once."
"They wouldn't have stopped otherwise."
"We couldn't retrieve the wounded from their side in time. Thanks to that, several people died who might have been saved."
Kagura-sama says this with a pained expression. Having helped out at the clinic and been drilled in the fundamentals of healing by Enora-sama and Rurua-sama, it must be agonizing for her to leave dying people behind.
"That much couldn't be helped. It’s useless to tell you not to regret it, but it would have put you and the others in danger. Please, bear with it."
"I know."
Yuki-sama is perceptive, offering comfort to soothe Kagura-sama’s heart. They are as close a couple as ever.
"Well, that aside, the new surrenderees we’ve taken in are completely exhausted. Very few of them are in a state to talk."
"That’s only natural. They fought in even harsher conditions than Baron Siana’s group."
"And because the numbers are so high, we’re busy managing and treating everyone; it’s quite difficult to find someone in charge. We weren't able to get Baron Siana out in time to act as a negotiator."
As Stasia-sama points out, we initially intended to use Baron Siana to call for surrender and extract information peacefully, but the collapse happened faster than expected. Yuki-sama didn't want to let them starve to death and hoped that providing food would prove our trustworthiness, but the Church seems to be a bigger bottleneck than we anticipated, which is why they hadn't surrendered until now.
I see that as the root cause of this incident. While one could argue that it fosters strong unity by preventing betrayal, it’s impossible to deny that the structure is fundamentally twisted.
"That can't be helped. I never expected them to clash with their own main army before surrendering. Surrendering is a personal choice, isn't it? In fact, the conscripted soldiers surrendered immediately. There was no way to predict this."
"True. It would have been better for them to seek our help rather than fight. Especially with Baron Siana’s precedent. Why on earth did they clash with their own allies?"
As Kagura-sama says, it would have been better if they had just come to us before things turned violent. Even though we defeated Baron Siana’s unit, we had called for surrender beforehand, so they should have known. It’s strange that they chose the path of battle. Well, as we thought earlier, it just goes to show how powerful the Church’s authority is, though we still lack the details.
"We’ll have to get that out of Baron Siana and the others. Now, back to what we learned: the Budeak Kingdom, where the Baron was stationed, has little influence within the coalition, right?"
"That’s right. They only talk about their own country and stay silent on coalition matters. I can only assume they are avoiding speaking carelessly. Well, one could also say they are trying not to plant any prejudices in us, the people working at the clinic."
"That’s true. If they say the wrong thing and their treatment worsens, it’s literally a matter of life and death. In that case, should I be the one to step out?"