Episode 57
A Letter Stained with Blood.
Recalling the last thing Yuan had wanted to do, Loki tucked the letter into his chest and spoke.
“Send them to Asgard. That is, only if they choose to go themselves.”
“Really?!”
She clapped her hands as if delighted.
“I thought you would do so, Lord Hun. As expected, you are kind!”
Looking at Kankun, Loki shook his head.
This was Asgard’s rule.
It was a measure to accept refugees and increase their population.
“But I have no intention of protecting them all the way to Asgard.”
Kankun found that regrettable but nodded.
They were not a charity organization.
It was impossible to rescue every refugee they came across one by one.
Simply advising them to go to their homeland was the best they could do.
“Then please excuse me for a moment…!”
Having received permission, Kankun approached the refugees.
And before long, he returned with a sullen face.
“…Most of them refused to go to Asgard.”
Loki looked at the refugees.
For them, there was no hope. They had lost their homes to return to, their property, and their families.
For such people, with no one to protect them and no one to rely on, all that remained was despair.
Why had such people refused?
“The reason?”
“…They are afraid of us.”
The refugees were receiving help from the Berserk warriors, yet they were truly afraid of them.
“Then it can’t be helped. I give up.”
“Yes….”
Kankun nodded.
Ash was observing those two.
He was deep in thought about how to persuade them to help him.
“Hey.”
At the suddenly heard voice, Ash turned his head.
Sallet was looking up at him, holding out a medicine bag.
There were no medicines in the bag, but it contained bandages and wooden splints.
“There are many injured humans. I’m going to treat them, so help me.”
“…Why should I?”
“Aren’t these people from your kingdom?”
Sallet pointed with her finger at those who had become refugees.
“Th-that may be, but… it has nothing to do with me. To begin with, it isn’t even my territory… For commoners, dying is an everyday occurrence. There is no need to look after them one by one—.”
This place was a neutral zone to begin with.
It was none of Ash’s business.
At Ash’s attitude, Sallet frowned and glared at him.
“Trash.”
“……!”
“I was only asking to help treat them. You won’t even do that? Even though they’re your own kind? As expected of humans.”
When Sallet turned around as if disappointed, Ash followed behind her.
“Ah, no. I’ll help.”
“But you just refused?”
“I wasn’t… refusing.”
At Ash’s words, Sallet stopped walking and nodded as if satisfied.
And she held out the medicine bag, and Ash took it.
“They all say they won’t leave here…. What do you plan to do?”
Sallet spoke in a worried tone as she tended to the patients.
Because she too had heard what Kankun said.
Having experienced her own hometown disappearing due to war, she felt sympathy for the refugees’ situation.
“Wh-what do you mean?”
Ash, who was beside her, worked up the courage to speak to Sallet.
Sallet pointed at the refugees with her finger.
“Those humans. They all say they have nowhere to go. If there is no place to take them in, what will become of them….”
“A place to take them in?”
Ash looked at the refugees.
They had lost their homeland.
They had lost even their families and had nothing left.
Those words applied to Ash as well.
*They are similar to me.*
Even so, Ash paused.
The same?
Strength entered Ash’s clenched fist. Blood flowed from his palm due to his nails.
“Are you okay? Your hand…!”
Surprised by Ash’s expression, Sallet stepped back.
*No, no.*
He released the strength in his hand and looked at Sallet, who was looking at his stinging hand.
“If I prepare a place for them to stay, will you be satisfied?”
“What?”
Sallet, who had been staring at Ash in a daze, could not say anything.
“I see. Then….”
Ash approached the refugees.
The refugees looked at Ash in puzzlement but were wary.
The high-quality clothing visible through the rags made them think he must be of noble status.
“There is something I wish to ask.”
At his dignified voice, the refugees involuntarily cowered.
“Please speak, my lord.”
“I ask you. Do you have hope?”
“…….”
Everyone’s faces contorted at once.
Are you calling that a question right now?!
“What do you have left?”
“My lord. What are you suddenly talking about…?”
“If you remain here, you will die. You will starve to death, or be hunted by slave hunters.”
This time, Sallet also frowned.
Because she judged that Ash’s appearance, highlighting nothing but despair rather than giving hope, was wrong.
“Are you calling that words right now!”
One of the refugees, who had nothing left to lose, unable to overcome his anger, sprang out. And he grabbed Ash by the collar.
“I am telling you of your current situation.”
Ash looked straight at the refugee holding his collar and continued speaking.
“There is no hope for you.”
“……!”
“But I, I can give you hope!”
“What do you mean by….”
Ash felt gazes on him.
Everyone in this territory was looking at him.
From the mythical warriors who slew the monsters, to the so-called King of Nod who had despised him.
And Sallet’s gaze as well.
Feeling those gazes, he spoke.
“I, Ash Lonia, swear upon the honor of the royal family! Your land, your family’s home! I will give you all of it! After the war ends, your glory shall be together with my victory! Even if I fail and die, I will petition for your lives!”
“…….”
The refugees’ eyes were tinged with shock.
Royalty!
“Y-Your Highness the Prince?”
“It can’t be….”
“Is it true?!”
There was no reason for a noble to lie in this place.
“We greet Your Highness the Crown Prince!”
The refugees each prostrated themselves.
The refugee who had been holding Ash’s collar hurriedly let go and fell to his knees.
“I will take you to Roden territory! I will prepare a place for you to live there! What say you? Will you follow me?!”
Not the frozen land filled with unfamiliar environments, people, and monsters, but another city in the same kingdom.
For the refugees, that place was their last hope.
“Th-thank you…!”
“I will follow Your Highness the Crown Prince.”
“We will follow as well!”
The refugees spoke to him one by one.
Gradually their numbers increased.
Even the refugees who had been headed for the frozen land came forward saying they would follow him, except for a few.
They had chosen the prince of their homeland over an unknown entity.
Seeing Ash’s appearance, Loki smacked his lips and muttered under his breath.
“Putting on a show.”
Aum nearly burst out laughing at those words.
“…That is too harsh. It may have been clumsy, but he must have worked up his courage to speak. Is he not a new comrade?”
“Comrade?”
“He surely took such action because he trusts Lord Loki.”
Revealing one’s identity in this situation was quite a dangerous act.
Nevertheless, if he had revealed his true identity, that meant he trusted Loki’s party that much.
“You think he revealed his identity here because he trusts me?”
“Yes? Ah, yes. Is that not so?”
“He does not trust me.”
Unlike at first, as time passed, Ash’s true nature was being revealed.
He was looking down on not only Loki but even Sallet unconsciously.
“Shall I tell you the impression I have of him? He is….”
Loki gave a nasty smile and looked at Ash.
“A bug.”
***
“Is it done now?”
Sallet could not suddenly tell what he was asking. But she recalled the words Ash had spat out a moment ago.
Sallet faltered. Feeling something was off, she distanced herself from him.
“A-uh, yes….”
At her single word, Ash smiled.
The one who had shown dignity moments ago was gone. Now there was only an arrogant prince intoxicated by his own magnificent appearance shown to a woman.
Ash gauged Loki and Aum’s reactions.
His revealing his name and identity was somewhat calculated.
If he revealed that he was royalty, this unidentified force would not treat him recklessly.
Loki’s actions would become cautious, and he would apologize for his discourtesy thus far.
But that was only Ash’s delusion.
“You seem to have caught a big fish. If he is royalty, he is good diplomatic bargaining material.”
At Aum’s words, Loki became interested.
“Negotiation? For what purpose?”
“Diplomatic exchange with the Kingdom of Lonia, and the trust of the Holy Order.”
Loki had been thinking the same as Aum Rinia.
If Ash was royalty, he had value in various ways for exploitation.
“We capture that prince and hand him over to Western Lonia.”
Since he did not seem to be a comrade, Aum spoke his thoughts honestly.
That is, hand Ash over to Western Lonia so they could end the civil war immediately.
If that happened, Eastern Lonia would lose its center and the rebels would easily collapse as well.
And at that center, the newborn nation of Asgard would become known.
“The problem would be the perception of our Asgard.”
Aum readily agreed with Loki’s words.
“Indeed. At best, they would regard us as an armed group that captured a traitor and declared independence. If they learned it was a nation of Nods, at best they would call us a band of pillagers. If that happened, rather than friendly relations, we would earn nothing but ridicule. The Holy Order would call us a nation of heretics.”
And at the end of that lay war. If it came to that, for Loki and Aum, it would simply become a “hassle.”
“Then what should we do?”
Aum wore a benevolent smile.
“We simply need to show overwhelming force.”
It was Aum who provided such a clear-cut answer.
Just then, Ash approached where Loki and Aum were.
His eyes were filled with expectation.
“I wish to speak with you for a moment.”
Aum glanced at Loki.
“You handle it.”
Those words contained many meanings.
The meaning of “I do not want to deal with him, so you handle it,” while simultaneously telling him to either capture and sell the prince here, or choose another method through conversation with him.
“However, I cannot give up on the Underworld.”
It was also a statement meaning to find out even if torture was necessary.
Loki turned his back and headed elsewhere, while Aum greeted Ash and lightly bowed his head.
“I did not know you were royalty of a nation.”
He did not kneel and bow, but simply offered a light nod.
At that attitude, Ash involuntarily frowned, but took a deep breath and composed himself.
“Do you wish to speak with him?”
“The King of Nod is very weary. Please speak to me.”
Looking at the smiling Aum, Ash became certain.
That these people were currently wary of him.
*They must be agonizing over how to settle the rudeness they committed against me!*
…while making such an absurd delusion.
“First, I am grateful for saving me and my people.”
“Not at all. We merely did what had to be done.”
“Is that so? Then… I wish to repay you for saving me.”
Ash naturally slipped into casual speech and observed Aum’s face.
He examined him closely, as if he would not miss even the slightest reaction.
“Repay?”
“Yes! I wish to invite you to Roden territory.”
Aum Rinia smiled and thought to himself.
*This foolish prince is digging his own grave.*
Ash’s words were an “invitation” in name only; in truth, it was a request for “protection.”
*But I can see his head works to some degree. Is this what it means to be royalty despite appearances?*
In the case of an “invitation,” it would not mean escorting Ash.
If so, even if information about the Berserk warriors leaked, it would not be seen as helping Eastern Lonia, so they could enter the territory easily without incurring Western Lonia’s displeasure.
Furthermore, if war broke out in Roden territory, the Berserk warriors would inevitably be drawn into the Lonia war.
Ash must be aiming for that.
*Of course, he seems unable to conceive that we might side with the West rather than the East.*
They could subdue Ash by force during the war and hand him to Western Lonia, but that would not look good.
*It would be better to watch the situation a bit longer. An invitation… Even if we are guests, it is not as if Roden territory would treat us properly.*
If invited, they would surely meet important nobles of Eastern Lonia. And in that process, the nobles would naturally ignore and look down on Loki and Aum’s party.
At the future that came to mind as if drawn, Aum could not help but laugh.
He acts up without even confirming the superiority of our strength?
If that happened, it would become the most appropriate “justification” for capturing Ash, the prince of Eastern Lonia.
“That would truly be a great honor.”