Chapter 181-182

Chapter 181 – Captured Alive!

As the golems had made stairs up the walls while we were gone, we were able to climb up to the top without any problem.

"So, they really did send out their soldiers."

I could see fully armored soldiers come out of the gates of the holy place. There seemed to be about three hundred in all.

The soldiers lined up so that they were facing the wall. Not only were some equipped with bows, crossbows, and other ranged weapons, but there were even ballistas and trebuchets.

And then, from the line of soldiers, walked out the golden-haired man who had insulted us before. Rulat walked towards the wall where we stood.

Just as before, he was wearing an extravagant coat. He was the son of Grand Duke Bilene, who was, for all intents and purposes, the leader of the holy place. So there was no doubt that Rulat was commanding these men.

Rulat seemed to have spotted Alyssa and I standing there, and he raised his voice with fury.

"Hey, what do you mean by building this wall!?"

Alyssa stood between the parapets and answered.

"It's as you can see. The people of Arancia will no longer do anything for the holy place. We will continue on by ourselves."

"Your Highness! Stop this foolishness! The people are the king's possession!"

"Possession… So they are nothing but objects to you. Rulat. The people of Arancia are currently right behind this wall. The words you spoke here will spread through the city in the blink of an eye."

"Tsk! And why should I care! You will tear down this ridiculous wall at once! Besides, I'm sure that it's nothing but a magic trick that was conjured by that wretched man over there!"

Wretched. Oh, he was talking about me.

But Alyssa replied,

"You are the one who is wretched, Rulat. It's almost comical to see you there with your precious metals and jewels, when you do not even know the state that the country is in. Besides, Lord Heal and his people are far richer than you or any noble in the holy place."

"Say what you want! Hey, teach them a lesson!"

Rulat shouted, and his attendant raised a hand.

At the same time, the siege weapons of the holy place started to fire at once.

Did they really mean to attack the people of their own country?

"Alyssa. Leave this to me."

"I'm grateful."

Alyssa said with a bow of her head. She was more exasperated than angry at this point.

The Arancia soldiers and citizens that were on the wall were shocked and confused by the sudden attack. But Rienna, Fule and I cast Magic Shield in order to stop the rain of arrows and stone.

"Wh-what!? So there is more than illusory magic!?"

I could hear Rulat's flustered voice.

Earlier, I had shown the soldiers of the holy place some magic in the tower with the Shrine of Silence. It was just Fire, but it was a giant pillar that reached the sky.

Of course, this was only to scare them off, and none of them had died.

However, Rulat must have heard the reports and assumed that I had tricked them with magic that was all show and nothing else.

Ordinary arrows and stones were one thing, but stopping siege weapons with Magic Shields would be difficult, even for Sanfaris sorcerers. That must be why they had bothered to bring them out here.

And so Rulat gave the order for all of the soldiers to attack at once.

As they began their attack, I saw that this time it was not just bows and crossbows, but there were magic attacks as well.

It was magic I had seen often in Sanfaris. Not particularly strong, but not weak either.

In any case, their attacks were not able to break through Magic Shield.

The Arancia soldiers and people became excited when they saw that none of the attacks were hitting them.

On the other hand, the soldiers of the holy place were looking at us with fear. Rulat's face turned bright red, and he was shouting, 'Are you not ashamed to be soldiers of the great holy place!'

Now, should I continue this until they become tired? Or should I use the new Golem to threaten them?

However, Rulat seemed to suddenly remember something, and he sent one of his men to run back to the holy place.

Upon seeing this, Erevan folded his arms and said,

"That weak bastard. He must be plotting something."

"He must have realized that he can't break through by any standard means. And so he'll think of a more cowardly way."

Ashton also seemed to have detected some deception on the enemy's side.

Should we wait and see how they would move?

Erevan turned to me.

"Chief. If something does happen, Ashton, Haines, Taron and I will go down the wall and stop them."

"Aye, I'll be counting on you."

And then I took out a pale blue stone from my inventory and handed it to Erevan.

And with wind magic, I blew similar pale blue stones towards Rulat. But I threw normal stones at the same time, to disguise it as an attack.

Rulat let out a small shriek at first, but then burst into laughter after seeing that it was just pebbles.

"Ah! Hahaha! So you really are only capable of attacks like this! Oh!"

Rulat noticed that the soldier had returned from the holy place. He was accompanied by a number of guards and a woman.

Judging by her clothes, she was not from the holy place, but an Arancia citizen. Perhaps she went there in order to work.

Rulat pulled the woman towards him and licked her neck, before turning his eyes towards Alyssa.

"I abducted her because she was pretty. And I think I just found a use for her…"

There was something about her that reminded me of Alyssa. She seemed very strong-willed.

Surely he wouldn't…

"I am a genius! If you do not surrender right now, who knows what will happen to this one!"

Rulat pointed his sword at her neck and laughed.

Alyssa was furious upon seeing this.

"Y-you bastard. How low can you go!"

"It's your fault for leaving! Had you agreed to be mine, things would have been different!"

Rulat said with a smirk. But behind him, the shadow of a large man was coming closer.

"If my daughter ever brought home some scum like you, I would knock you down on sight."

"Huh?"

Rulat quickly turned around.

Erevan, who had been next to me just a few seconds earlier, was now in front of him.

And not just Erevan, but Taran, Ashton, and Haines had now appeared around Rulat.

Taran quickly used her web to pull Rulat's sword away. With a stupefied expression, Rulat turned back to me.

"Huh?"

As the sword was pulled away, the arm that was around the girl was also pulled.

Ashton saw the opening and moved like the wind, and saved the girl from Rulat's grasp.

It all happened so fast the Rulat could not comprehend what had happened.

The blue stone was a Teleportation Stone. I had thrown them down with regular pebbles so that they could teleport around Rulat. They really were useful stones.

His men tried to draw their swords, but Haines quickly knocked the blades from their hands with his scimitar.

"Hey, hey. Are your armor and swords the only thing that is impressive? You're no different from a scarecrow."

Haines was so quick that the soldiers were frozen with fear.

In the meantime, Erevan grabbed Rulat by the collar.

"I'd very much like to punch you, but I can wait."

"Ah-ahhh!"

And like that, Erevan used the Teleportation Stone to return to the wall.

"He-help! …Huh? Why-why am I here!? Ahh!"

Between the parapets, Erevan raised Rulat high into the air so that the soldiers of the holy place could see him. Rulat assumed that he was going to be dropped, and he shrieked loudly.

"We've taken your chief! Will you still fight!?"

The soldiers were shocked at how Rulat had suddenly disappeared and then appeared up on the wall. And they had stopped attacking completely.

However, Rulat clearly did not like high places, and he shouted as if mad.

"So-someone!! Hu-hurry up and rescue me!! Someone!"

But no one obeyed Rulat's order.

They were looking at something that was even higher than we who were up on the wall.

When I turned around, I saw that the giant Dwarf Golem was standing there.

"Wh-what is that!"

"It-it's impossible!"

The soldiers of the holy place abandoned their siege weapons and retreated at full speed.

0

0

0

Chapter 182 – We took a hostage!

Cheers rose from the walls as we watched the fleeing soldiers of the holy place.

It was the voice of the civilians and soldiers.

I even heard a few people saying that we should follow them into the holy place. In fact, some had even taken out ropes and were trying to climb down the wall.

While many had kept silent, the Arancian people were furious about the holy place.

"It's no use! Their walls are protected by magic power. If you go near, they will kill you without question. We cannot break through."

Alyssa said. And those who tried to go down stopped what they were doing.

Even they knew that the walls protecting the holy place were strong.

"I doubt they will come out for a while. Let's leave them for now. More importantly, we should prepare the supplies that are to be sent to the people of Sheorl. We cannot allow them to help us without doing something in return."

Alyssa said. The people and soldiers agreed, and so they descended from the wall.

They always followed her orders.

I turned to Alyssa.

"The people truly seem to love you."

Alyssa shook her head with a look of embarrassment.

"Su-surely not. They just want to do something to show their gratitude. Of course, we really can't give you anything that could be sufficient…"

"Don't worry about that. More importantly…"

I looked to the holy place.

From between the fences, I could see guards looking at us with fearful expressions.

Judging by how quickly they ran after seeing the Golem, I doubted many of them would risk their lives in order to fight.

The only threat to us was their equipment and magic.

But if I was being honest, their magic and equipment weren't particularly impressive either.

Of course, as the Arancia people did not have much strength, the people of the holy place would be underestimating them. And while we had appeared as allies, we were small in number. So they wouldn't have thought that their fighting force was insufficient.

On the other hand, quite a few who were experienced fighters had sided with Alyssa. Once the Golems were put in position, then there was no doubt that the difference in strength between them and the holy place would become very clear.

Alyssa look at the holy place as she muttered,

"I said that it was impenetrable in order to make them calm down. But I'm sure that you and your men would have no trouble tearing through it."

They were no longer a threat–no, it might be too early to think like that. If they had a wall with that much magic energy, what else might they have? It was very likely that they had powerful magic weapons hidden away.

Besides, it went against my style to make people listen by force. And so I shook my head.

"We didn't come here to launch an invasion. Well, unless they take more hostages or do something else that is diabolical. But right now, we have to deal with the undead."

The bigger problem was the attacks of the undead, not the holy place. The holy place was a secondary problem.

That being said, I doubted the people of the holy place were just going to sit back quietly.

They had been humiliated, and so it was only natural for them to want revenge.

Alyssa nodded and continued.

"Indeed. They are but a small problem in the grand scheme of things. Besides, I'm sure they will remain there quietly for some time."

"You don't think they will do something?"

"Aye. They fear death more than anything. No matter what their prime minister says, the nobles will not agree to it if it puts their lives in danger. Also…"

Alyssa turned towards Rulat. He had been crying for help as the others cheered. His trousers were completely wet and he was curled up in a ball as he shivered.

I too watched him.

"He is the son of their chief… If they want to take hostages, we will be able to use him."

"Yes. While the other nobles may not care, his father, Grand Duke Bilene will not be able to ignore this. He will not be able to do anything rash. If anything, he might agree to negotiate with us in order to free his son."

According to Alyssa, the holy place may change its tune. It was a very good thing that we had been able to capture Rulat.

Right now, Erevan was standing right in front of him.

As Erevan glared, Rulat bowed with tears in his eyes.

"Pl-please! Don't kill me! I have money! My father will pay anything you want!"

"Tsk. I was going to strike you, but you're not even worth the effort… Well, it's a good thing that it's not my job to deal with you."

Erevan turned to me and Alyssa.

"Alyssa. It's your decision."

"Are you certain? But he is your captive."

"It happened on your lands, so you people should decide. We just lent you a hand."

"I see… Well, for now, we'll have someone guard him. And he can help gather mushrooms underground."

Upon hearing this, Rulat wailed loudly.

"Y-you want me to pick mushrooms!? Wh-why should I have to do something like that! You should just ask for ransom money and food!"

"Lord Heal is already supporting us with food supplies. And we do not want your money."

"Y-you may say that, Your Highness. But I'm sure the men over there think differently. He-hey, you. If you had gold and precious gems, you could get anything you want…I know."

Rulat frantically removed the necklace and rings that he was wearing.

After that, he continued to remove accessories that were made of precious stones and metals and gathered them together. Once his hands were full, he offered them to me.

"F-first, take this! There is much more in the holy lands! You can have them as well! And I will make the others promise to leave you all alone! N-now, please release me! …Huh?"

Fule showed him the necklace around her neck. Taran, Ashton and the others also showed their swords and rings.

"Unfortunately, we aren't exactly low on precious stones and metals. And we don't really use money."

Rulat's eyes widened as he saw all of this.

Besides, what they had was far bigger and more beautiful than Rulat's.

"Y-you're dressed like that, but you have such great…"

"In any case, you don't have anything to negotiate with."

Fule said, and Rulat's shoulders slumped.

Precious metals and stones did not mean much to us.

However, the promise of leaving the people alone was quite tantalizing. Of course, there was no guarantee that this man would keep his promise. After all, he was the kind of person to bring out a hostage and make threats.

Alyssa saw that I did not reply, and so she turned to Rulat.

"…In any case, we will have to talk with your father. Until then, you will help pick mushrooms."

Then she turned to me.

"Is that alright, Lord Heal?"

"Aye. I have no objection. And there is no need to rush with these negotiations."

Upon hearing this, Alyssa gave the order to Ogus.

"Ogus. Take Rulat away."

"Yes. We guardians will take turns watching him."

Ogus nodded, and then the guardians and soldiers escorted Rulat away.

And like that, a momentary peace came to Arancia.