Hakai no Miko

Facing the prominence of the city of Jeboa was the mansion of Cornelius.

It is a large White Asian mansion with an exotic round domed roof and painted and consolidated walls in white lacquer.

On the terrace (terrace) upstairs was Jacob and Cornelius with a small table.

"Have you heard any rumors? That young man named Son of Destruction will hunt mountains to exterminate the bandits."

"Only rumors," Cornelius replied in a chilled tone, as Niyaniya and laughing Jacob inquired.

Cornelius had also heard the story of the Son of Destruction speaking to several mercenary regiments through the Shapiro Chamber of Commerce. But he said the gathering of that person is difficult because there can be no immediate gathering of mercenaries just to hunt a big pile of mountains, and also to hunt mountains for quite some time.

"No, you didn't have to bother telling me to get rid of the bandits."

Cornelius, while agreeing with his mouth, didn't look very good.

It is usual for Jacob to silence his commercial enemies and others in fluent language or to drop them into a predicament. I sometimes use those dirty hands myself, so I'm not going to blame it on itself. But to Jacob, who speaks of it without a shame, is just plain clear.

Without even knowing how Cornelius felt like that, Jacob continued his words in a good mood.

"I heard you defeated that General Darius, but it seemed to be poorly done at best. When you go mountain hunting like this, if you touch it out loud, the bandits will be running away for a long time."

Cornelius, while appropriately hammering, felt something unintelligible about it.

As Jacob said, that Son of Destruction is the one who defeated the Supreme General of Holmea and the famous General Darius, whether or not he wandered off. There's no way that a guy like that would notice the possibility that the bandits are lurking their hands in the city. Does it have any purpose? No, maybe even that's a buy.

A servant rushed in to Cornelius, where he had been delayed by an idea without such a detachment.

"Yes, sir. It's tough."

"What, noisy. What the hell happened?

The servant bowed his head and apologized to Cornelius for his unlawful behavior in front of the Guest before pounding his ear.

Initially, it was Cornelius, who had frown roots, but soon opened his eyes wide.

…… Is that true?

"It's true. It is now a huge commotion at the city gates. I've been checking with this eye too, no doubt about it."

As the servant said, there were a number of appearances of city people rushing towards the gates in the streets that could be seen from the terrace upstairs.

"How have you been, Lord Cornelius?

To Jacob's question, Cornelius answers half-heartedly.

"Apparently, the Son of Destruction has captured the bandits."

"What is it?!"

Jacob kicked up the chair and stood up.

◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆

When Cornelius and Jacob reached the gates of the city, there was already a huge crowd of people who wanted to see the captured bandits at first sight.

Among the many crowds surrounding, there are several front carriages ridden by the Zoans and, behind them, bandit-like men who were towed with their hands multiplied with wilderness ropes.

"Hi, to Mr. Jacob, Mr. Cornelius."

The Ethereal Horse who found the two raised her hand with a wide (and overwhelming) grin. Then the crowd cracks naturally and makes its way before Jacob and Cornelis. If that happens, you can't ignore it. To be pressured by the surrounding crowd, Jacob and Cornelius went out before the Ethereal Horse.

"We've got the bandits, as promised"

A pale horse smiling nicely in front of them pointed to the bandits connected to the front carriage. And Jacob screams, whispering his nose.

"Oh, is that what's supposed to happen! Are they really bandits?!"

It's just a tone of voice to say that you must be false about capturing those displaced people there or something and being a bandit. But Joash glimpses his face from the side there.

"These people are definitely bandits. The Shapiro Chamber of Commerce guarantees that."

There is no way that the Shapiro Chamber of Commerce can be a part of a lie that can be dismissed immediately. When that happens, these captive people will be sure to think of themselves as bandits.

"But how?!"

Many times before, they tried to capture the bandits, all of which had ended in failure. Asked what kind of oddity he had used, the Ethereal Horse replied lightly.

"Instead of luggage, I just made a fake caravan with all the Zoan guys on it, and I just pulled them off."

It's hard to find just thirty bandits who don't know where they are, no matter how good a hunter they are, Zoan. Then you can have them come out of the bandits. To this end, the Ethereal Horse carried the Zoans on several empty front carriages borrowed from Menahem, flying the flag of the Merchant Guild of Jeboa to and from the streets.

"Is there such a stupid thing!

But Jacob denies it under one word. Whatever, the hand of putting a mercenary in an empty front carriage to bring out a bandit is something that was so unsuccessful.

"If I can catch you in about that, I'm catching you! Or I guess it's still a lie! It is so decided! Besides, I thought you said you were going mountain hunting!

In contrast to the fierce Jacob, the Ethereal Horse answers blatantly.

"Mountain hunting? Oh, that's a lie."

"Ugh, shh?!"

"'Cause Jeboa's army has failed three mountain hunts, and you're not gonna do the same thing"

"So what are you lying like that for?!"

"Naturally, it doesn't seem to let the bandits get away with it."

Until now, the merchant guild's use of the country's army to hunt mountains has not caught the bandits, no doubt seeing information leaking (wandering) somewhere. To move the army of the country in this Jeboa, it must take the form of a superiority to the king (just like that) after the vote of the ten members of the committee. With more of those hours and people involved, that's more likely to leak information.

Moreover, seeing where mountain hunting had failed three times, information had not just been leaked. Perhaps the bandits are also making insiders or putting their hands in the city and actively gathering information.

If Jacob spreads the information that he was asked to expel the bandits to such a place, it will instantly be the place where the bandits will know. Then, as before, the bandits will be left to disappear.

Then it will be difficult to achieve bandit extermination.

To only twenty bandits, as many as two thousand soldiers of Jeboa burned their hands because, for one thing, they could not grasp the whereabouts of the bandits. On the contrary, it is not a question of grasping the whereabouts of the bandits, or of pulling them out onto the surface, for example, only twenty bandits.

But it was hard to get Jacob to stop spreading rumors. All that or if I knew this one was in trouble, I would spread more rumors with great joy.

It is also a bad idea to deny the rumor. Anyone who knows more or less about the situation in the city will hear about Jacob's malice towards the Ethereal Horse. Knowing that Jacob sounded like a bandit, he had asked the Ethereal Horses to dispel the bandits. The more the Ethereal Horse leaps to deny the rumor, the more it affirms the rumor.

So the Ethereal Horse spread a lie that only slightly distorted the truth rather than denying the rumors of Jacob.

He said the Son of Destruction was gathering many mercenaries to hunt mountains to exterminate the bandits.

It is still a time to rely on people's mouths for information transmission. The rumors of Jacob and the lies of the Ethereal Horse, which were circulated in the form in which they rode, would have reached the ears of the bandits as they passed from person to person, turning into one credible piece of information at a time.

"What is it that keeps the bandits away?!"

I found that the rumors I circulated in bad faith were used the other way around, but I don't see why that prevents the bandits from escaping. Jacob screams.

"Because it's a big mountain hunt. I don't know how long it will take to get ready. And even the bandits will need to be ready to escape."

To the answer of the Ethereal Horse, Jacob leaked his voice, "Ah."

If there were to be a mountain hunt soon, the bandits and what they would take would have fled in the meantime. But rumors have just begun to rally the mercenaries. That would still take some time to prepare, and we should assume that the mountain hunt is actually going to take place for the time being.

Besides, he said it was a mountain hunt that would gather a number of mercenary regiments and take place over a considerable period of time.

Then the problem is the money while you're lurking.

Naturally, the bandits must also eat while they are hiding. And that will require a lot of money. Besides, if people are doing such a rough thing as bandits, there is no way they can live a life of complacency. Thick and short, some guys will have rough money. If such a companion has trouble with the money, causing unwanted disturbances and even being held captive, there is a risk that information on other companions will be leaked from it.

In order not to do so, we have to let our people have some money.

The speculation that mountain hunting is ahead for the time being and the problem of having to earn lurking money prevented the bandits from escaping.

"But before you escape, you must have had trouble with a bandit who tried to make one. We don't have a merchant to go through our territory until then."

In the words of the pale horse, Jacob eats and hangs.

"It's convenient for merchants to have their feet interrupted!

The streets where the bandits come and go are an important way to connect Jeboa with Bornis. There is no way that the caravan that passes through there will be uninterrupted for a day.

When the Ethereal Horse laughs nicely, he makes a seed.

"'Cause when the mountain hunt is about to take place and the bandits are gone, how many merchants are there to force them to pay high bills and hire mercenaries until they leave the city?

If the bandits are to leave, we must prepare for it. But if you try to hire mercenaries for protection, the cost will also be an amount not to be foolish. If not in such a hurry, you'd better get it when the mountain hunt is taking place and the bandits are lurking in the ringing. It was also in the city of Bornis that Marcronis, who had been instructed by the Ethereal Horse, had stopped the merchants heading to Jeboa.

The bandits would also have been in a hurry for this.

Because I was trying to make money before the clouds hid, but the pivotal prey didn't come. The bandits must have gotten a lot lost waiting a little longer, or should we give up and disappear before the mountain hunt takes place?

"What if there was a caravan flying the flag of a Jebor merchant guild that seemed to be loaded with gold eyes in that place?

Usually, the bandits would have carefully identified their prey as well.

But the story of a handful who made him lurk in the city says he is still in the midst of collecting mercenary regiments for mountain hunting. If we return the back, it means that the people trying to crusade themselves are not even out of town yet.

A hurry to get the funds that are lurking quickly. And the alarm that no enemies will come yet.

The bandits had no choice but to attack.

But it was the brave Zoan warriors and harpurans led by Garam and Zug who were put on that caravan.

If the bandits show up to attack the caravan without knowing otherwise, the rest will be easy.

No human being can escape the hunting technique of tracking and preying on vast plains for days and Zoan with more agile feet than a horse. Also, no one can shake off a harpuran tracking from above like a reconnaissance aircraft.

And the bandits were left alone to be slain or bound.

"It's like waiting for a rabbit to hit a stump, even if it's just a trap. It's more important than that to create a situation where they have to be trapped."

The sleeve of the Ethereal Horse, who spoke so well, is pulled small. When the Ethereal Horse turned to you, there was a figure of Shemr pinching her sleeves.

"What's wrong, Shemr?

"What do you mean, a rascal hits a stump?

Now, the Ethereal Horse realizes that this world can't possibly understand the "wait and see" story. "Er... a peasant who accidentally bumps into a stump and sees a dead stump thinks it would be better if he waits for the stump to die than to work seriously, so he quits his field job and keeps an eye on the stump all the time, but in the end, he tells me that the stump never came again and the field is no good"

"Was there really such a dumb raven?

"Huh? Probably not? Is that it? But it's an anecdote, so it's creative?

Until then, Jacob and Cornelius became flabbergasted by the discrepancy between when he had explained the rational approach and how he was wandering before Shemr's simple questions.

Slightly hasty Joash praises the Ethereal Horse in an exaggerated gesture to its out-of-the-mind air.

"Hey, that's Master Soma. If you even had the wisdom to defeat that General Darius, you wouldn't be a bandit or anything!

To create a tide that would make the people of Jeboa around them think it would be more beneficial for the city to hustle down the power of the Ethereal Horse and form friendship with him.

Cornelius, who regained his mind to it, leaked a small tongue in his heart.

It's as if the Son of Destruction had spotted all the actions of the bandits, but that's not the case. There's no way people can do that. Probably had a double triple structure.

As expected by its Cornelius, the Ethereal Horse had hit other hands.

It is, for example, a surveillance of the entry and exit of people from the cities of Bornis and Jeboa.

If the bandits who feared mountain hunting wanted to lurk soon, the only big city that wouldn't be suspicious for the rest of us - the city of Bornis or Jeboa. Whether a suspicious group with no record of leaving the city of Bornis came into Jeboa or vice versa, there was no suspicious group in Bornis that was not on Jeboa's record, he was checking the information on people entering and leaving the city on both sides.

But it was also possible because the Ethereal Horse was able to follow the fastest pedigree Harpuran, which is also difficult to compare even the fastest means of transmission in this era.

Rumors also make us think that we are gathering a lot of mercenaries for mountain hunting will be a cover for the bandits who are deserters to lurk in and take in.

The Ethereal Horse did not dare to speak, but he was plotting several measures in preparation for the failure of his caravan.

Cornelius, who perceived that the Ethereal Horse did not discern everything, but so did not insult the Ethereal Horse. Instead, he even remembered with admiration that the young man had strained such a measure.

Next to such Cornelius, Jacob was blubbering and shaking his body in humiliation. It's even more frustrating to say that what you've done to help someone is to help them instead.

"That's right. I need a favor from Mr. Jacob."

To Jacob like that, Shemr, glanced at with his eyes by the Ethereal Horse, gives him a piece of paper.

"It's the name of an insider I've heard from the bandits on the road. They were receiving hardware from bandits instead of informing them of Jebor's trends. Could you please capture or punish these people?

It was Jacob with the look on his face just saying why bother I had to do it, but he peeled (peeled) his eyes as soon as he opened the roster he received. Then I hurriedly threw the roster into my pocket, as if it were hard for someone to see it.

"Can you please?

When the Ethereal Horse overlays and asks, Jacob shakes his neck up and down violently with a puffy sway of meat under his chin.

"Yes, I did! - Then I'll hurry, so here we go!

Cornelius perceived the approximation behind Jacob, who walked away in absurdity with dotadota and footsteps.

Perhaps among the insiders confessed by the bandits was the name of Jacob's body or servant. Jacob is doomed if he is known to have had inside him an insider of bandits who had hitherto attacked merchants joining the Merchant Alliance. The Son of Destruction dared not ask Jacob about the captivity and disposition of the insiders.

Now Jacob, who could owe a great deal, would have to draw the sword that was directed at the Son of Destruction, at least for the time being.

Cornelius secretly sighed.

It was Joash who was sighing in the same way.

Joash thought this treatment of Jacob was sweet. Jacob's character will keep him quiet for a while, but if he hides (groans) all the evidence that there was an insider in him, he's set to start accusing the Ethereal Horse again without any cowardice. Rather than that, it would have been better to reveal the existence of an insider right now and let Jacob go down.

That would be more of a show to the other ten Commissioners, and they'd just make you smell like you had an inside man, and none of the other ten Commissioners would be able to turn it against you. That should have been more beneficial for the Ethereal Horse.

That's about as much as the Ethereal Horse should be guessing, but I won't do it. Or I can't.

In any case, Joash thought that he had definitely missed a good opportunity because of it.

I can see the joy of being able to solve a difficult problem from the appearance of a pale horse exchanging laughter with Shemr and the expectation that negotiations with the ten Commissioners would turn out to be better. But Joash didn't think it would be that easy.

Because there were circumstances in Jeboa that the Ethereal Horse did not know and that Joash could not speak of.

Well, when Joash conceived what would happen, there came Menahem, who heard of the late Ethereal Horse capturing the bandit.

In contrast to Cornelius, who will look like a bitter bug chewed up, Menahem, who met with a spare grin, says it clearly and loudly, as he tells those around him.

"Lord Cornelius. This is how Master Soma exorcised the bandits who were tormenting the Alliance. Shouldn't we formally call you to a meeting of ten Commissioners and show our gratitude?

To Menahem's suggestion, Cornelius could only nod.