Heiry Got Arrested For The Second Time

Just one thing... How were we gonna book it out of here? Maybe a little prudence wasn't such a bad idea after all. You create a lot of problems for yourself otherwise. All the bravado in the world wasn't going to solve them, was it?

So.

As anyone could imagine, punching a government minister in the face presented a number of issues.

"My brother, my brother," muttered Kaido, a few security officers behind him. "What did you do this time?"

He was on duty today-not even he could get away with skipping shifts all the time. Kaijin had given him an invite, but he'd refused...only to come to the nightclub anyway thanks to his brother's boorishness. Simply running would have been an easy enough plan for us, but chances were it'd be doomed from the start.

"Hmph! That fool!" As four knights dragged Kaijin away, he shouted and pointed a wild finger at the minister. "He practically spat in the face of Heiry, my client and the best patron I've ever had! What's so bad about putting him in his place a little, huh?!"

Vester, for his part, hadn't overcome the shock yet. He was simply staring at us, blood still dribbling from his nose. It looked both pathetic and a little comical. Never saw it coming, I guess. The surprise probably kept it from even hurting.

"Brother," Kaido whispered with a sigh, "you don't put a government minister 'in his place' like that... Either way, you're all coming with me!" He nodded to his men, then took me aside for a moment. "Just stay calm, all right? I promise we'll treat you well."

I wasn't planning to do anything else, of course. Before I left, though, I sidled up to the manager of the place and tossed five gold pieces into her hand. "There's some for your trouble in there, too!" I said to the surprised matron. "We'll be back!"

It seemed like a decent place, after all. Wouldn't be nice if I never got to see the inside of it again.

So went my second arrest here in the Dwarven Kingdom...but I'm forgetting someone.

Gobta! He wasn't with us at the club. Instead, he was atoning for his sundry idiotic behavior by undergoing what I liked to call "bagworm hell." l'd thought about hanging him by his feet at first, but that just seemed like cruelty for cruelty's sake, so instead l'd tied him up with Sticky Thread and let him hang from the ceiling.

"Wait!" he'd whined. "This is so mean, sir! I want to come with you!"

I'd showed him no mercy this time. "Enough, you fool! I can't take any more of your blockheaded behavior! If you dont like it, summon your tempest wolf buddy and have him help you out!"

Not that he could do it, I figured as I shut the door behind me.

A goblin was one thing, but a hobgoblin could probably go without food or drink for about a week straight.

Still, if we were going to be held for a while, I'd have to break out and get him down sooner or later. For now, though, I filed it in the back of my mind.

Was I being mean to him, maybe? I thought I was, for a moment. But it was all right. He could deal.

The five us of were taken to the royal palace. Not that we were under very heavy guard. If anything, it seemed entirely voluntary.

We wound up having to spend around two days in the castle jail room. It wasn't so bad-the food looked decent, and we had all the comforts we needed in the place. It was less like a jail cell and more like an urban apartment shared by the five of us. We weren't treated too terribly, either.

"l just had to lose my temper, and now I've got all of you in here with me... I'm so sorry, guys!" Kaijin apologized.

But none of his dwarven friends minded too much, either.

"It's fine, Kaijin! No problem at all!"

"Yeah, don't worry about it, boss!"

"Besides, once we're released, we want to come with you, Kaijin!"

"Yeah, can we come with you, Heiry?"

"...."

I wasn't observant enough to tell what the third one wanted from me, but I got the gist well enough.

"Hah! Sure, we'll take care of all of you! You better be ready, though... Once we reach the village, you guys're gonna work!"

"Got it!"

We were already talking about life outside the big house. As prison terms went, it was pretty chill.

It was the night of our second day.

"By the way," it occurred to me to ask, "why did that minister have it in so badly for you Kaijin? Was there some reason for it?"

Kaijin's expression immediately soured. With a sigh, he began to explain. It turned out he used to be a captain in the palace's royal knight corps—a leader of one of the seven armies making up the whole system. Three corps were devoted to behind-the-scenes work like engineering, supply, and emergency aid. Three more-heavy strikers, magic strikers, and magic support-played more of a starring role. The last one, and the most important, was the king's personal guard. Kaijin had been head of the engineering corps, and Vester had been his second-in-command.

"He was the son of a marquis," the dwarf moaned. "A noble title he bought with money. I think he must've been jealous of a commoner like me taking the head role. It was complicated, you know? It must've been humiliating to him, taking orders from someone below him. And I'll admit that I didn't care much about what other people thought about me. I was too busy trying to stay on the king's good side. That's when it happened."

The "magic-armor affair."

At the time, the engineering corps was seen as the lowest of the army's seven departments-barely producing any new technology for itself. Vester believed a kingdom rich in technology should have an appropriately famous corps of engineers, while Kaijin was more of a status-quo man when it came to research and development. Despite how intense their arguments got, they never managed to reach an agreement during their countless garrison meetings.

Along the way, the corps launched a so-called magic-armor soldier project with a team of elf engineers. Vester was hell-bent on making this project a success and boosting the corps's position in the military pecking order. Kaijin warned him that he was proceeding too quickly with it, but even then, Vester had little time for the advice of a common-born man.

In the end, thanks to Vester's arbitrary whims, an experiment went awry and led to a spirit-magic core running out of control-a very public failure and a bad setback for the project at an early stage.

Thus, despite some of the greatest minds of the world working on it, the magic-armor project ground to a halt. As head of the engineering corps, Kaijin wound up taking the heat for it, resigning from his position in the army. Not only did Vester make Kaijin the scapegoat; he even convinced his friends among the higher-ranked leaders to give false testimony against him. That, according to Kaijin at least, was the truth.

Once he finished, Kaijin let out a tired sigh.

I could understand his perspective. There must've been a lot of resentment built up over the years from that.

Still...man, Vester's just a total storybook villain, isn't he? They don't come easier to spot than that. As far as the minister was concerned, Kaijin could make a comeback in the military and threaten his position at any time. That kind of thing.

Didn't he deserve the death penalty, really? Maybe not, but....

"So," Kaijin concluded, "maybe he'll settle down a bit if I leave the country for a while."

He sounded a bit forlorn about it, but at least he had backup. The three brothers with us were just as aware of the truth, and there was no love lost for Vester among them, either. Hell, even I hated him now.

Still, Kaijin did sock a noble, so I kind of wondered whether they were just gonna release us and wave good-bye.

"I wouldn't worry about it," Kaijin reassured me. "I'm out of the army now, but I did make it up to the corps leader. As far as my social position goes, I'm just below baron. If it were strictly commoner versus nobleman in the courts, well, hanging might've entered the picture."

He accentuated that morbid fact with a hearty laugh.

Meanwhile, I just sat there. If things got rough, I'd hightail it outta here-but otherwise, I was happy being a good little moster slime until cooler heads prevailed.

Our day in court arrived soon after, and the entire lot of us were brought in front of the monarch.

The Heroic King of the dwarves.

Now that I was seeing him in person, his stately aura was almost awe inspiring.

His Majesty Gazel Dwargo closed his eyes and sat deeply upon his throne. He was stocky, dwarf like in appearance, and his exposed armor-like muscles positively radiated energy. His skin was a deep, dark brown, and his black hair was pulled back on his head.

He exuded pure strength. My fight-or-flight

instincts kicked in all the way for the first time in ages.

Two knights were stationed near him, one on each side. They were equally muscle-bound, no doubt, but they still looked wispy compared to their ruler. Seriously, this guy was a monster. I'd been planning to beat a hasty retreat if I needed to, but now... Not so much. The moment I was placed in front of him, my every nerve was wound taut.

It might have been the first time in this world that l actually sensed a clear danger to myself.

A man knelt in front of the king, checking over something with him. After receiving permission, he stood up and read the affidavit.

"We will now begin the trial! Silence, everyone!"

For the next hour, both sides presented their cases. As criminal suspects, we weren't allowed to speak-in the royal court, that right was reserved for those with a rank of earl or greater. Otherwise, you needed the king's express permission. If you did speak out of turn, that apparently proved your guilt on the spot and earned you a bonus contempt-of-court charge.

Whether you were innocent or not, that was the way this place worked. We were stuck having our representative speak for us. He had paid us a few visits during our two days in custody, discussing the nature of our case. Our kind-of lawyer, basically.

Could we trust him, though? Anxieties like that had a tendency to crop up for a reason...

"So there Sir Vester was," he continued, "sitting

back at this club and enjoying an alcoholic

beverage, when this gang pushed their way into the place and exposed him to dreadful violence! This is not the kind of behavior that should ever be forgiven!"

"Is that the truth?"

"It is, my liege! I heard it from Kaijin himself, and I also have written testimony from the owners of the club. There can be no mistaking the course of events that night!"

.....Um, what? What did he just say? I thought he was on our side, and it took all of five minutes for him to go turncoat. That can't be good, can it?

I shot a look at Kaijin—his face turned bright red, then slowly began draining of color.

I'Il bet. Our lawyer wasn't even bothering to make excuses for us.

It went without saying that representatives for the accused weren't allowed to lie in court. If they were found out, that would be another hanging. It was impossible to think any would-be lawyer would attempt it, barring extreme circumstances, and yet ours was doing it right in front of us.

"My liege!" Vester exclaimed, egging him on. "You have heard it for yourself! I beg of you to deal with these miscreants harshly!"

He flashed us a smile of supreme confidence.

Bastard. Maybe I should've hit him after all.

The king remained motionless, eyes closed. In his place, one of the guards beside him spoke.

"Order! I will now give the verdict! Kaijin, the

mastermind behind this crime, is sentenced to twenty years of labor in the mines. His accomplices are sentenced to ten years of labor in the mines. With that, this court is hereby"

"Wait," a deep, quiet voice interrupted.

The king opened his eyes and looked at Kaijin.

"It has been a while, Kaijin. Do you remain in good health?"

"...Yes, my liege!" Kaijin came with the instant reply. Presumably he had the right to speak now. "It gladdens me that you remain so as well!"

"Yes. Now, do you and your friends" looking at us "have any desire to return to my rank?"

The audience in the royal court murmured among themselves. It must have been an unusual development. Vester immediately blanched. Our traitorous representative, meanwhile, had developed a deathly pallor.

"l beg your forgiveness, my liege, but I have

already found a master to serve! I have made my vow, and it has become my treasure. A treasure so fine that, indeed, not even the direct order of my liege could make me part with it!'"

This clearly angered the audience. I could see the guards staring daggers into Kaijin's forehead. But he stood strongchest puffed out, the picture of dignity.

The king, seeing this, closed his eyes again. "I...See "

Silence ruled for another moment.

"I have made my decision. Listen well to my

sentence! Kaijin and his friends are hereby exiled from the kingdom. After midnight tonight, when the new day comes, they are officially no longer welcome in my lands. That is all. Begone at once!" Opening his eyes, the king made his proclamation in a loud voice.

Ah, the dignity of a born leader! His overwhelming presence sent shivers through my body. Although, being king around here seemed like a terribly lonely job to have.

So there we were, after the trial, back at Kaijin's shop. That little celebratory drink we wanted to get sure broke bad, didn't it? Now we had to pack up and leave for good.

Oh, wait, is Gobta all right? We're still only at day three with him, right? I was a tad nervous about that as I opened the door to his punishment room.

"Ooh! Welcome back, sir! Did you have fun? Gee, sure hope you take me with you next time!"

There he was, leaping up off the sofa to greet me! How did that happen...? He couldn't have gotten out of my spider silk that easy!

Taking another look, I realized that the cushion Gobta had been using on the sofa was actually a Arga tempest wolf. Wait, seriously? He actually summoned the guy?

"Uh, Gobta, how'd you get that wolf in here?"

"Oh! Right! That! I just thought to myself, 'Hey, can you come on over, please? And he did, sir!"

He made it sound so easy, the bastard. None of the other hobgoblins had managed the feat from such a long range before. Maybe his brain cells were all devoted to his natural talents instead of, you know, actual intelligence. It seemed crazy to me. I concluded that it must've been a coincidence.

I then realized that the sight of the Arga tempest wolf had frozen the dwarves in their tracks. "What's wrong?" l asked. "We need to start packing, don't we?"

"W-wait a second!" the panicked Kaijin replied.

"What on earth is a black direwolf doing in here?!"

"Yeah! You need to run! That's a B-ranked monster!"

And now they were panicking.

They looked so ridiculous, I was actually amused.

"Oh, he's fine! Really! No problem! He's like a big dog, really! We keep him indoors and everything!"

My attempts at calming everyone's nerves met stony silence.

Black direwolves, by the way, were a somewhat advanced version of regular direwolves. If they evolved in a more magic-oriented fashion, their fur would turn black. The coats of the Arga tempest

direwolves were black as well but with a uniquely colored sheen.

Direwolves werent really supposed to evolve toward the "storm" element in the first place— that was just a side effect of the name I gave out.

In volcanic regions, direwolves would evolve with a fire element and become red direwolves. Near bodies of water, you would find blue direwolves. In the forests would be green direwolves. In other words, adopting elements was a fairly common evolutionary pattern for these guys. The magic- infused black ones, meanwhile, were apparently a notorious threat to any nearby humans and humanoids. The tempest element gave our wolf pack an ever-so-slight purplish shine to their black color, something you wouldn't notice if you weren't paying attention.

Sorry I spooked the dwarves, I guess. We didn't have the time for me to explain the whole story. I'll just call him Gobta's pet for now and move on.

After hurriedly pressing the dwarves to put on their best traveler's outfits, I pushed them out of the shop, went back in by myself, and proceeded to swallow up the entire contents of the building. Capacity-wise, I was still A-okay, but swallowing the building whole would probably have drawn a little too much attention, so I kept it at that.

My Skill predator can also store up goods that's why I just swallow up the goods instead of puting it in my inventory. I found it more convenient.