Oukoku e Tsuzuku Michi Chapter 329

Translator: Nat

–Aegir POV–

「Talk.」

After putting Myla to bed in her room, I face Leopolt in the office.

「As I have said before, we can't attack in a way that directly harms Zilgray.」

He did tell me that.

「However that doesn't mean we will go easy on him for our revenge.」

A half-hearted attack will not satisfy me either.

「I suspect Zilgray is already acting based on his hatred towards Lord Hardlett rather than intellectual thought.」

The initial failed assassination aside, Leopolt said that the second attack was too obvious and wouldn't be something Zilgray would do if he were thinking calmly.

「What a crazed dog needs is not persuasion, but punishment. Even if we were to find a final point of common ground, the best policy is to do so after suitable retaliation.」

「I just simply can't get over it until I punch him.」

I sit in my chair and rock side to side.

「Our attack will be on everything other than his life. His personnel, his assets, his honor. We'll target almost all of them. It will cause more damage than punching and it will leave longer effects.」

That's not really the problem here. Well, I said I would leave it to him so I can't be selfish.

「I won't tolerate killing any women though. Men getting involved can't be helped, women aren't allowed to.」

Leopolt's eyes become slightly more narrow.
I'm not being selfish here, this is just how the world works so no compromising.

「So what's the plan specifically?」

I know he'll do a good job regardless of whether I ask, it's just that I might cheer up if I hear what he has in store.

「We'll be aiming for Zilgray's personal assets, in other words his private residence. However he is currently anticipating us to take revenge and will have a tight defense.」

That goes without saying. If he went to sleep without any precaution knowing the present situation, he would be the stupidest of fools.

「Therefore we will first lure Zilgray himself out of his residence. When that happens, a large portion of guards will follow him and it will be easier for us to attack the empty mansion.」

「No, wait.」

It shouldn't be that easy to get him out of the house.
Even if he has to go out, he can prepare various disguises, so I don't think he would leave the house so simply.

「I'm sure he will do something like that. That's why Lord Hardlett will write this.」

Leopolt puts down a piece of paper with a rough draft written on it.

On it is written―― "It would trouble me if we fought anymore", "I'll do anything you say so please forgive me", and other such self-deprecating sentences which is pretty much equivalent to a declaration of defeat.
At the end, there is also a request for reconciliation under absolute secrecy. The meeting place is the port city on the side of the Magrado General Governorate.

「Sure, he might come out happily if something like this is sent to him, but it would be my loss the moment I send it.」

Adding in the absolute secrecy part will also ensure Zilgray spreads the news that I asked for mercy, as if showing off the head of a demon he killed.
Besides, he'll know it's me if I try this foul play with the letter.

「After Lord Hardlett has written the letter, press this seal at the end.」

Without answering my question, Leopolt proceeds to take out a stamp of sorts.
An imprint with the family crest usually accompanies all official letters of a noble household and normally can only be used by the head of the household.

In my case, the seal has been passed between Leopolt, Adolph and Celia so I haven't seen it let alone used it. Not that it really matters.

「Once that seal is added, it'll become an official piece of writing. I'm understanding less and less.」
「Please have a good look at it.」

Hmm, was the family stamp always like this?

「This…… is not it. It looks very similar, but this part and the edge from here to here is slightly off!」

Before I knew it, Celia is in the room earnestly inspecting the seal.

「So you're telling me that this is a fake seal?」

「That's right, the fake seal will make the entire document fake. We'll use the letter to give him a sense of superiority and lure him out, then take the opportunity to attack the mansion while he's gone. Zilgray will also most likely report the letter to the Kingdom……」

「He'll realize the seal is a fake if he looks at it carefully…… Zilgray would not know who sent the fake letter and from where, not to mention he got lured out by it discreetly, plus he will be embarrassed after reporting it to the Kingdom.」

Celia looks to Leopolt in admiration.

So that's the attack on his honor. How crafty yet amusing.

「Zilgray will have an officer of arms though. Will he be tricked so easily?」

The duty of an officer of arms is to remember each of the feudal lord's crests and coats of arms.
It is preferably done by the head of the household, but there's a limit to how much he can do.
That's where the officer of arms comes in to help with memorizing, to avoid the blunder of forgetting somebody's family symbol.

Celia takes on that role for me, although Leopolt, Adolph and even Nonna knows about most of the seals of the Goldonian nobles.

Meanwhile Tristan doesn't know any of them and couldn't even remember Count Monashi's family crest.
I might not have the right to criticize him when I can't even recognize my own family crest though.

Leopolt lines up the real crest and the counterfeit crest side by side with an emotionless look.
Celia compares both and groans.

「The differences are there…… still they look so similar. Even I might not be able to tell if I didn't get the preface.」
「I'm sure you won't. After all, I modified the real crest kept as a spare.」

Celia becomes speechless and then stares at Leopolt.
He doesn't take his eyes off me.

「If Lord Hardlett takes up the pen himself, nobody will realize it's a fake. If for whatever reason they realize something is off, they'll only find out it's an elaborately forged letter. It will have nothing to do with us.」

I see, it'll be a big win if we succeed in fooling him. If we fail, it won't come back and hurt us and we just have to come up with another plan.
What a very Leopolt-esque method of doing things.

「That takes care of luring him out. What will we do after he's gone?」

Even if he's lured away, the mansion won't be empty.
It's not like we can dispatch a huge army to siege the building.

「If we are only looking to destroy the mansion, soldiers are not necessary. The plan is――――」

Leopolt explains the plan to attack the mansion.

As expected, it's well thought out.
There is one thing I'm uneasy about.

「This plan leaves Zilgray himself unharmed, right? We're just taking out his mansion while he's away.」

If I can't kill him, I still want to get at least one hit on him in the end.

「He has a pretty careful nature and will probably have over a hundred protege knights with him. The number of soldiers we can send are limited so we can't do much more than diversionary tactics. It's possible to use throwaway pawns which will inevitably be wiped out producing no results, but that would give him a slight sense of victory.」

「I guess meeting in absolute secrecy will naturally limit the number of people we can send.」

Having a small group of elite knights who can rout them is too convenient――

I stand up suddenly and then continue.

「What if it's possible to kill his knights with an extremely small group of people? Is there any merit in doing so?」

Leopolt seems to open his eyes a tiny bit wider. It was for a split second.

「There is. Many of Zilgray's protege knights are sons of nobles belonging to his faction. If they're wiped out, its effects would be more than an attack on his assets and honor. ……Murdering or inflicting a serious injury on Zilgray would surely invite the Kingdom's intervention, so we would need perfect command of our soldiers.」

「Alright, then let's crush his knights too. We'll follow your plans for the rest.」

I have to go ask quickly.

I'm sure I'll get lots sucked out so I should also eat food that replenishes my blood on the way.
Today is the day I promised to sleep with Nonna, though I have to postpone it for one night.

She's going to sulk, but I can't fuck her with bite marks all over my body.
That lovely princess concentrates her fangs on my dick too.

–Third Person POV–

The Next Day. Magrado General Governorate. Odoros – Governor General Zilgray's Residence.

「「「Have a good trip!」」」

Zilgray boards his carriage as the servants bow their heads.
Surrounding his carriage tightly are heavily armed knights.

「I'm going to inspect the port city…… also that Hardlett is crying about how he wants to meet me. I'll go see him while I'm at it. Geez, how annoying.」

「I am impressed with how big a heart you possess to listen to the words of a foolish man.」

「Your Excellency, it's about time we depart.」

One of the chief vassals riding in the same carriage reminds the Governor General of the time.

「Nn, I'm leaving things to you while I'm away, Yir.」

After nodding in a somewhat annoyed manner, Zilgray takes off.

It goes without saying that he smiled like he won as soon as the door of the carriage closed.

「Now then, we must not let our guard down while the Governor General is away. That Hardlett may have admitted his loss, but some remnants of the rebellion in Magrado are still stubbornly staying alive.」

The man who was entrusted with the mansion tightens up the atmosphere which tends to loosen in his master's absence.
Still, it cannot be helped that the servants relax now that the abnormally tense Zilgray is gone.

That was when a merchant pulling a rattling wagon comes along and bows deeply.

「My, oh my if it isn't Yir-sama, thank you for looking after me all the time. I've come for the usual offering of food supplies.」
「Mu, that was today? Very well, then go to the food storehouse……」

Yir's hand rises up to his chin mid-sentence.

「Let me look at your load just in case. There's no such thing as being too careful.」
「Of course, look as much as you want.」

The merchant doesn't show any resistance and opens up his cargo.

「Vegetables…… meat…… pickles…… flour…… this is quite a thick barrel.」

「Aye, if by any chance the barrel broke, it would not make it to the Governor General-sama's plate after all.」

The servants stuck long objects inside to check, but neither was there anybody suspicious hiding inside nor were there any concealed swords or bows.

「Fine, go ahead.」
「Thank ya.」

The merchant bows almost like he's groveling and once again pushes his wagon along.

「Well, nothing should happen. Even if one or two sneaks in, we have lots of guards here. Also His Excellency the Governor General has 150 of the finest knights with him.」

As Yir comments, he casually grabs the ass of one of the maids.
The maid initially tenses up a bit, but soon smiles back at him fondly.

「His Excellency isn't here today. You don't have to hold your voice back as I fuck you.」
「Uu…… w-what an honor Yir-sama……」

The maid sadly closes her eyes as she nestles close to the man.

Late at night.

「How does it feel!? Do you like my thing? It's better than the one your commoner lover in town has, isn't it!?」
「Yes…… it's better than his…… ah, that hurts! Please, be more gentle…… igyii!!」

The maid cries and does her best to respond to Yir as he pounds her from behind until a guard enters the room without knocking.

「Yir-sama, it's an emergency situation!」
「Y-you idiot! It's in the middle of the night!」

Yir quickly stops moving his hips, which allows the maid to escape from the bed and curl up in the corner of the room.

「It's an emergency! A pillar of fire from the food warehouse……」
「What!?」

Yir takes a peek in the corridor still completely naked with his crude member hanging out to find that smoke has spread throughout the mansion.

「I-impossible! Of all days to happen, it happens when the mansion is entrusted to me!!」

Allowing the mansion to go up in flames is an executionable offense.
Yir scrambles about in the corridor naked in an attempt to suppress the fire before it can grow any bigger.

「Is the fire only in the food storehouse!?」
「For now! With how strong it is, who knows when it will spread elsewhere!」

（I can still make it! The food storehouse is made of stone and has no windows. If I can extinguish it there, I can find some way to fool him.）

Yir hurries to the food storehouse where he finds servants and guards gathered in front.

「Yir-sama! It's a disaster!」

「I can tell by looking, fool! What started it!?」

「I don't know. By the time I realized, it was already like this…… judging on the intensity, the only thing I can think of is oil or something similar caught fire.」

「As if something so ridiculous can happen!」

Oil is not kept in the food storehouse.
In addition, torches or lamps which can start a fire are not nearby either.

「One of the maids said she heard something pop……」
「Eei, whatever. I'll listen later. We need to put out the fire first!」

The servants rush to fetch water with tubs, although pouring the small amount of water didn't have much effect on such a large fire.
Flames are starting to burn the thick wooden door as well, making it useless.

Barrel after barrel explodes, producing an even greater conflagration.

「That wasn't a barrel of vegetables? Why are the vegetables exploding!?」
「I don't know what's going on either……」

While Yir's subordinates argue with each other, more barrels explode and strengthens the fire.
Eventually, those trying to extinguish the fire could not even stand in the corridor in front of the food storehouse because of the heat and smoke.

「Yir-sama! It's impossible to put it out now! Please run away!」
「Don't be stupid! How can I just run…… running is……」

Yir, who was still splashing water fruitlessly, remains reluctant to leave, and it was only when the carpet and other decorations started to burn that he gave up and ran.

「Anyways, have all the guards focus on extinguishing the fire! Then have the items in the treasure room carried out of the mansion.」
「B-but only His Excellency has the key to the treasure room. We can't open it!」

Zilgray doesn't trust his subordinates enough and always keeps the key to the treasure room close to himself.
The key stays with him even at this moment, meaning there is no key in the building.

「……eeeei! We have to put this out no matter what!」

The struggle was in vain as it took less than an hour for the entire mansion to be engulfed in the crimson flames.
Despite the servants and guards running around, it was like they only added to the fire, gradually making it uncontainable.

No matter how much they wanted to protect their master's mansion and their own jobs, nobody could risk their own lives in doing so, and had no other choice except watch the house go down from outside.

「Ooh…… how…… how could this happen……」

Yir falls to his knees feeling devastated, staring blankly at the scene unfolding before his eyes.

The private residence of Magrado's Governor General―― Zilgray's mansion burned down, leaving no trace of the countless fancy furnishings and most importantly the enormous sum of assets saved in the treasure room.

The state of the building was seen by everyone in Odoros, those brilliant flames which burned in the darkness stealing the attention of all the citizens.
Among them are those whose shoulders were slumped over due to the chaos in the General Governorate, those worried about reworking the labor and taxes, and those who simply caused a ruckus from seeing the fire.

There were also quite a few people secretly smiling to themselves in the dark.

Meanwhile.

「So we'll be departing tomorrow morning. That will make us half a day late.」

「Fumu, I wanted to be about two days late however staying too long in such a rural area is pretty boring. It's about time to go.」

Zilgray stays in a small village to deliberately delay the time of the meeting.

「Call Adela over.」
「Yessir!」

After giving the order, Zilgray rolls onto the bed.
Adela is the name of his lover.

「Tch, damn countryside. Do they not have decent beds around here?」

Zilgray curses about how uncomfortable the feeling of his bed is.
He threw the residents out of the village so he and his knights could stay in a few houses there, although naturally the furniture here doesn't come anywhere close to the level of comfort of his own mansion.

「I need to get Hardlett to apologize and promise to repay me back as soon as possible so I can go home.」

「Sorry for the wait.」

Adela prostrates at the feet of Zilgray before removing her clothes and getting into bed.

「Take it in all the way to the back of your throat. To the point you'd choke.」
「Very well.」

Zilgray receives Adela's fellatio and listens to her strained moans while talking to himself.

「It took such trouble, but it's practically inevitable that I'm the third power if Hardlett is apologizing to me. No, not only that, those from the factions of the Commissioner of Military Affairs and the Commissioner of Government Affairs might also bend to me.」

Zilgray grabs Adela's head with his thick arm and roughly rocks it back and forth.

「Uugh! Uueh! Gueh!」

「Now then, what should I do about compensation? I want to take everything I can, but it would seem desperate if I ask for too many small things. Umu, I'll divide it into multiple years and continue taking from him for twenty years. Hahahahaha, this is that idiot we're talking about. He might not be able to do addition and be happy that things settled cheaply. ……Uuuh!」

Without any warning, Zilgray ejaculates and forces Adela to choke more.

「Alright, let's go with that. After that, I can win over a few ministers with the assets I've saved up and the King will acknowledge me too.」

「Ugughugh……」

The man happily continues his monologue as he pisses in the girl's mouth.
Despite coughing, the girl swallows everything without spilling.

Zilgray grabs the girl's ass and just when he was thinking about how to attack her next, he stops moving after hearing a clamoring sound from outside the window.

「Are they tormenting the residents…… no, that's not the same sound. A fight…… no, a raid?」

Before climbing to the position of Governor General, Zilgray had experience being on the battlefield so it wasn't like he was being raided for the first time.

He doesn't get flustered when one of his knights bang on his door.

「Is it a raid? How many are there?」
「Yessir! There are twenty of them! Using the cover of night, I believe they are aiming for Your Excellency's life.」

Zilgray scoffs.

「How stupid. I have with me 150 elite knights and 200 soldiers from the local governor.」

He acts as if his victory was guaranteed, not showing a trace of concern.

（More importantly, is this attack simply the remnants of crazed Magrado rebels or a foolish plan by that Hardlett…… hmph, either way I'll use this raid to take even more compensation from him.）

「There's no need for me to move from here. It would be convenient if you could capture one or two of them…… no, it doesn't matter. Kill them all and cut off their heads. I'll show it to Hardlett.」

「Yessir, as you command!」

The knight bows and then leaves the room.
He also didn't feel the need for Zilgray to evacuate.
Rather, he moved particularly fast because he thought this could be a chance to increase his accomplishments.

「What a strange feeling it is to fuck a girl while there are sounds of battle in the background. Get on top.」
「As you wish, Your Excellency.」

Adela climbs over Zilgray and bucks her hips.
She screams when her nipples are twisted, then throws her head back and cries when nails dig into her white skin. This was all to please the man with a sadistic nature.

The man's hips slowly stop moving.

「That's weird, how come I still hear the fighting?」

He expected to hear the screaming and shouting.
It was the sound of the enemy force who came for assassination being hunted by the impossibly large force of knights and soldiers.

It was 20 vs 350. The victor should have been decided in an instant and all that's left would be to hunt down all those running away.
However, the sound of battle seemed to be getting closer instead of going further away.

The sound gradually became more distinct as well.

「My hand! My hand is gone!」
「A head was ripped off with bare hands!? What are they!?」
「I stabbed him! I cut him too, so why won't he dieee!?」
「How can they move in the dark like this? Not a single torch is lit!?」

Zilgray pushes Adela off the bed and runs to the window to take a look outside.

His allies which supposedly had the overwhelming numerical superiority were already fighting in an area which can be seen from the window.
Torches were scattered around, clearly due to the state of panic the knights were in.

「Is it because there were more of them than expected? It shouldn't be that easy to prepare such a large group though…… eei, I can't see!」

Strangely, the enemy didn't light a single torch so their numbers or appearances couldn't be determined.

「Hm?」

At that moment, a torch shone on one of the attackers wearing black clothes for a split second.
That shadowy blur passed through his allies as fast as the wind, the severed heads of the knights plopping on the ground like over-ripened fruit.

「W-what is that……」

Looking through the gap in the window, Zilgray's eyes meet with those of the shadow's eyes.

It may have gotten close, but there was still a few dozen meters of space between them.
The opening was small enough to fit only a pinky finger and tonight was a night with no moon.

「I-impossible.」

Still, Zilgray was sure of what he saw.
Those eyes were glowing red. This was the first time he's ever saw something like that, yet he could tell they didn't belong to a human.

Zilgray quickly shuts the window tightly, takes up his sword and stands in the middle of the room.

「Um……? What about the service?」
「Shut up! Now's not the time!」

Adela gets kicked, bumps her head on a table and faints.

「Haa, haa……」

Zilgray looks back and forth from the window to the door, gripping his sword so tightly his fingertips turned white.

Eventually, the noise dies down and the quiet of night returns.

「I-is it over?」

（Who won though……?）

Zilgray pants heavily as he was about to look out the window to check, only to stop himself after remembering those red eyes.

（No, if we won then they would come immediately to report. Them not coming means……）

Zilgray hurries to blow out the lamp in his room before crouching down.

（They don't seem to be checking the houses. Will I get by if I wait it out? No, I might need to escape as soon as I can.）

「Uurgh……」

It was at that moment when Adela holds her head and tries to get up.

「Woman, go outside and see what's going on. Tell me right away if it's safe!」
「Eh? B-but……」

Adela hesitates obviously because she also heard the earlier commotion.

「Just go! If you don't, I'll kill you right now!」

「Understood……」

The girl slowly opens the door and timidly steps outside, her legs trembling with every step.
A few seconds later……

「Nooooooo!! Stoopppp ittt!! Kyaaaaa!!」

There was a piercing scream, and then an abrupt silence.

Zilgray used cat-like quickness to dive under the bed.

（As I thought, the enemy is still there! Then I was smart to send her. That guy I saw should think Adela was the one who was peeking out of this house.）

He just needed to stay hidden until reinforcements arrived.
Zilgray concealed his presence, suppressing his breathing under the bed.

Zilgray waited so long he lost track of time and when he finally thought it was safe, he was about to stick his head out to check.

It was then that he saw countless red eyes staring at the bed.
Not a sound was made and they were already in the room.

「He knows.」「He knows.」「We found him.」「We can't let him go.」「How unfortunate.」

Zilgray, the Governor General of Magrado, feels a warm sensation on his crotch before passing out.

By the time Zilgray woke up, the day broke.
Everything that happened yesterday felt like a bad dream and morning came as usual.

Zilgray crawls out from under the bed, fearfully opens the door and walks outside.
His hand relaxes and his sword falls to the ground.

「……am I still having a nightmare?」

Piles of corpses were strewn around the house he was hiding in.

「Is there anyone alive?」

When he propped up a fallen knight, he noticed the body didn't have a head.

「Is anyone here?」

When he pulled a knight away from the wall, he saw that the body was missing its right side.

「Anyone will do. Answer me!」

He grabs the hand of his close aide riding on top of a carriage and realizes that the body was lacking its bottom half.

「Anyone! If you answer, I'll make you governor! Osalo! Varek! Adela! Is nobody here!?」

Out of the scattered corpses, not many of them still resembled a complete human.
Upon closer inspection of those that appear to be whole, one would find their hearts or entrails ripped out and their bodies twisted around several times way past the limit allowed by the human body's natural ability.

「Someone answer meーー! Anyoneーーー!! Pleaseーーーー!!」

Zilgray would continue yelling in the middle of all the corpses until an express messenger arrived to tell him about his mansion going up in flames.

–Aegir POV–

At the same time. Rafen – Mansion.

「Someone answer me.」

No response.
Both Nonna and Carla fainted from cumming too much.
Leah looked like she was going to say something, but she couldn't muster the strength and collapsed on the bed weakly.

「I-I'm fine.」

Celia, who saved her strength, was the only one who answered as she settles down against my chest.
Her hips are already trembling uncontrollably and it would be impossible to go one more round with her. Maybe we can just talk.

「I wonder if Leopolt's plan went well.」
「Well nothing was fitted inside the barrels after all, since it was the barrels themselves which were the device.」

Leopolt used a double-layered barrel, packing the space between layers with oil and gunpowder.
If there was a spark, it would make the entire barrel explode regardless of what was inside and spread the fire.
Not only that, the barrel needed to be broken apart or else the trick won't be discovered no matter how much the contents are investigated.
That's how the barrels appeared to be food supplies and carried into the storehouse inside the mansion.

「Still, nothing would happen unless there was something to start a fire…… what was that thing called?」
「You mean quicklime?」

Celia answers as she rubs her face on my chest.

「Right, that. What a strange powder it is to burn with the addition of water.」
「I think so too.」

Apparently, that strange powder was added to a few of the trick barrels.
I'm told that if mixed with a certain amount of water, it will start to burn.
The details don't really make much sense to me.

「That was part of the contributions made by the collaborators.」

「Yes, including the merchant carrying the load as well as the servants of the mansion, many people think poorly of the General Governorate so we easily got our preparations done.」

Besides putting the tampered barrels in places where water drips, some servants even promised to pretend to put out the fire and splash oil instead of water to spread the fire. As expected, Magrado's hate towards Goldonia still remains.

「With that said, they are helping because they believe Leopolt is one of the remnants of the Magrado rebels. We might be the number one bad guys here.」

「Yes. There is no proof though.」

Celia snickers and a sinister grin appears on her face.
When I suck on her chest to punish the wicked Celia, she lets out a cute moan and returns to how she usually is.

「I wonder how the attack on Zilgray himself is going?」
「There's no need to worry about that.」

A small elite group instantly makes me think of Brynhildr and her vampires.

It would be a long journey for her personally so the always obedient Siegfried was sent in her place.
The one who arranged for them to get there without getting hit by the sun was Leopolt.

The last time I saw him was a long time ago, but I don't think any human can beat Siegfried.
If my woman wasn't involved in that fight, I might have lost to him too.

「The price for being selfish is big though.」

I feel the pain and humiliation just thinking about it now.
I was prepared for my body and cock to be bitten, except it wasn't that simple.

「W-what kind of price?」

Brynhildr took out an extra thick dildo from who knows where.
Then she shoved it in me. I don't want to say where.

「Tell me what you did!」
「No. The nosy Celia gets this for punishment.」

I take a finger and stick it up Celia's asshole.

Protagonist: Aegir Hardlett. 24 years old. Summer.
Status: Goldonia Kingdom Margrave. Great Feudal Lord of Eastern Area. Mountain Legend. Friend of the Dwarves. Friend of the King of Aless. Dragon Slayer Hero.
Elf Mediator. Sex King of White City.

Citizens: 185,500. Refugees: 24,000.
Major Cities – Rafen: 32,000. Lintbloom: 5000. Special Cultivation District: 13,000.

Army Staying Behind: 8800 men
Infantry: 6000, Cavalry: 1100, Archers: 900, Bow Cavalry: 500, Cannoneers: 350
Cannons: 35, Large Cannons: 20, Dwarven Cannons: 16, Chariots: 30

Troops Dispatched to South: 2200 men
Refugee Guards (Light Infantry): 2200

Other
Reserve Army: 2000 men. Security Unit: 200 men.

Assets: 42,050 (increased military preparations -550), (special construction cost -1000)

Chapter end