Tensei Saki ga Shoujo Manga no Shiro Buta Reijou datta Chapter 89

At night in the port city, soldiers hastily went back and forth.

As I expected, bandits had spilled oil in the town and lit up the fire.

Thanks to the rain, it did not spread quickly, but inhabitants were evacuated to the office.

I was helping them evacuating.

For the bandits, the platoon borrowed from the crown prince went after them.

While giving directions at the government office, I helped the evacuees.

The evacuation of residents was almost complete; Ricardo was heading to the site where the bandits were located along with the platoon.

While I was treating the injured people, a woman screamed near the exit. It seemed like something was occurring.

While she was being stopped by the officials, she was raising her voice.

[My child got separated! I beg you, please let me go!]

There were 4 children around that woman. Perhaps one of them got separated while such a large group travelled here.

However, the officials remaining in the office were those that were unable to fight.

Even if it's for searching for a child, they wouldn't want to go outside.

(I can't dispatch the escorts protecting the government office either.)

I inquired the woman.

[Do you know where you got separated from your child?]

[You are…! A, ano, we came together to this neighborhood so far. But when I rushed towards the office with my children, one of them was missing.]

[I saw that when you came inside, you were with your other children. What are the characteristics of the child that got separated?]

[He is a 3 years old boy named Jeff… we ran from our house that is located on the east side of the office.]

I entrusted the officials to take care of the office, I then brought the escorts with me and started searching the port town for the missing child under the rain.

A 3 years old child wouldn't be able to go far.

As I searched the east side for a while, I could hear a whimper. It was just like what the mother had said.

On the corner of the street, a boy was shivering quietly while holding a kitten. It seemed that he got distracted by the kitten and got separated from his family.

[Jeff-san, are you alright? Your mother is looking for you, let's go together.]

[…Un.]

Perhaps my appearance similar to a harmless livestock was useful, but the boy approached me while holding on the kitten… however, on the way back to the office, a dubious man appeared from the other side of the street.

Jeff and I ran towards the government office.

(This is bad, for a dubious person to appear here… is he a bandit?)

Since the remaining officials did not know how to fight… it would be dangerous if we were attacked now.

The movement of the bandits that appeared in Hakusu territory emphasized more on damaging the towns rather than plundering. It could be considered that they would aim at the refugees.

There was a man who seemed to be a bandit that attacked us by himself on our way back, so I defeated him with a shoulder throw and captured him.

While dragging him along with us, we returned at the office and the mother thanked me.

Just as the officials restrained him, the man woke up. I was standing in front of him with my arms folded and proceeded to question him.

[Now, shall I make you speak everything you know?]

The man seemed to be a bandit after all. Though he's called a bandit, he's more of an employed body.

It seemed that he's conducting a reconnaissance concentrating on the places where people of western town were gathering this time.

It seemed that he attacked me I saw him at the scene of the crime.

Perhaps he had decided that it was harmless to talk to the other party or perhaps it was lonely to be caught only by himself… but that man was talkative.

But what that man had said was shocking.

[Our role is to ransack the territory. It's to buy time until the main troops have arrived.]

[Are you hired by the northern country?]

[No, my employer is… Millard-sama of Astor earldom!]

[…!? What are you saying?]

[If you think that it's a lie, you can check it with your own eyes. Soon the army of Astor earldom will come. Most of your armies are concentrated at the north, so if you don't listen to me, you will have no chance at winning. Armies from the north will arrive by the sea.]

The officials who listened with me were also stunned.

In this situation, other towns in addition to the western town would also be damaged.

(I have to stop them here. But how do I do that?)

The others were also thinking the same thing. Some officials became depressed due to his words.

[Aa, at this time, if only Ryuze-sama is here.]

[That's true. If it's the Earl of the North, surely he can do it…]

It was a subtle feeling, but somehow I felt embarrassed after hearing their words.

(…I feel like I heard those words somewhere before. No, I feel like I saw those instead.)

Since I "saw" those words, surely it's something from the manga.

I had memorized the contents of the main plot of the manga, so I surely remembered it since I hadn't forgotten about it.

However, I didn't bother on writing it down when it's something irrelevant to the detailed contents and outline.

In the first place, there were some parts of the content that I couldn't remember.

[…! I remember it.]

Since I didn't care about the original manga, I had started to forget about it.

The words uttered by the officials.

(These are the words from the manga, the words of an aristocrat who was suffering from Angela's faction's oppression.)

In the first place, Ryuze's "Earl of the North" was something that only came out in the story.

Ryuze's presence was felt to that extent, but when Angela was raising the heat, he didn't appear anywhere in the story… but that memory had returned when I felt that something was odd about the words.

But if I thought about it carefully, the name "Earl of the North" was secretly scattered in the corners of the story.

(When the crown prince died in the manga, I felt that one of the nobles said that "if only the Earl of the North…" or "if only that person is alive".)

Those words were not written in a speech bubble…

It was a truly inconspicuous scene…

Even me who severely liked shojou manga, I had forgotten those lines.

Now that I had noticed the meaning, I couldn't cover my unrest.

(In addition, this state of circumstances…)

It was about half a year until the heroine Merrill appeared.

Although it was only a guess, I felt that something had happened to Ryuze at this time.

In the story there was no mention of disturbances occurring at the border, nor was the country invaded by the northern country.

But Ryuze… did not appear.

(The line that the noble in the manga said "if only he's alive", perhaps…)

When the story started in the manga, had Ryuze already passed away?

TN: The death flag intensifies! Don't die Ryuze, you're one of my favourite characters. >.<

Chapter end