Kuro no Senki (LN)

Lesson 9: Desolation

"Sir, how about a piece of silver?

Gina called out to the man from the dark.

He was a man dressed in thin dirt.

The clothes are dirty with dirt and dirt and the sleeves and hem are rubbed off.

I guess I haven't washed my body and clothes in days.

The smell that could have drifted.

I don't know what it looks like.

Stretched hair and a mustache are burying parts of your face.

Only the golden pot eyes gleam in that.

Workers involved in the construction of the temple...... it would be the end of it.

About two months ago?

I heard about the completion of the temple dedicated to Ramal V and the Six-Pillar God.

According to those who saw the temple, it was so beautiful that it could not be considered a thing of the world.

Gina laughed with her nose when she heard the story.

No matter how much the exterior was repaired, I thought the object built on top of the shithole was just as shitty.

Workers gathered to build spiritual temples occasionally caused trouble in the city.

Drinking cheap alcohol and making noise was normal, and it was not uncommon to develop into a beating.

Accidents under construction prevented people from working, made them beg, and left them to die.

Now that the temple is complete, workers are losing their jobs and spreading stench and trouble all over the city.

The construction of the temple only created trouble.

I don't know who appreciates such things.

The man stopped and looked at Gina with a worthy gaze.

No, it's actually worth it.

Gina's outfit was better than a man's.

There is some staining and tearing, but I do laundry and wash my hair and body.

"Even so, I used to work in a whorehouse in the twelfth block. That big sign shop. You've seen about that, haven't you?

Gina said with dignity.

The big sign store thing was a lie, but it's true that he worked at a whorehouse in Twelve Streets.

Gina grew up in a slum.

When I was a little girl, I used to pick up trash and beg with fellow similarly situated people.

It was for safety that I was with my people.

There is territory for garbage collection and begging.

We've become swarmed with nature to counter other groups. That's all we're talking about.

I don't remember when I started selling my body.

I just remember the day I became a whore.

A slum-born whore called out to me.

I tried to invite my people, but when I went to the army, they refused.

That's exactly what she is.

I don't know where he went.

"If you don't have much, you can give him a little discount."

Whether he decided it was not worth a single piece of silver coin or simply not having a companionship, the man turned away from Gina and started walking cursorily.

"Corner, I... Ouch!

Gina squatted on the spot.

Blunt pain crawls up from the lower abdomen and something viscous transmits the thigh.

It was bloody pus.

I lost everything because of it.

That doctor had to screw it up. This wouldn't have happened, he eats and ties his teeth and endures the pain.

"... Shit, shit, shit!

Tears melted and fell.

I was at the top of my life until just a few months ago, and now I'm lurking in the dark.

A few months ago, I was proposed by a nobleman.

He said he went to military school.

It's not unusual.

Several times a year, students from military schools took me in.

Maybe the store Gina was in was appropriate for the aristocratic boy to learn to play badly.

One of them liked it.

When he started packing through, Gina became his exclusive.

This was an instruction from the store.

I guess it was because he paid more than letting the other customers take it.

It wasn't such a bad life.

He bought me most of the stuff if I didn't, and even if I didn't, he bought me stuff.

One of the reasons I thought it wasn't bad to have less physical strain than when I was dealing with more than one guest.

One day, Gina got pregnant.

I thought I had failed, but he has unsurprisingly offered to marry me.

Naturally, I nodded in two replies.

Even if you can't marry him, I thought you'd have a cheap life ahead of you as an aristocratic mistress.

He was an idiot and a good man even though he didn't know if he was his own child.

However, his family and servants were different.

They acted quickly.

When she skipped the negotiations and abducted Gina, she scratched the child out of the womb.

It must be because of the procedure.

I tend to get sick.

The store's response was cold.

When the blood pus began to appear, I threw Gina out of the store.

I have some hands on it now.

It's the money I got from selling off what he gave me.

That would also poke the bottom right away.

"... Goddamn it, motherfucker"

Gina stood up holding down her lower abdomen.

The hell, I don't even know what you're cursing at.

Dusty, Farnos lowered his back to the chair.

Gishigi as Iss protests, but this guy reacts the same no matter who sits down.

All the stuffing equipment was in similar condition.

I have petitioned the Military Service many times, but the new chair has not arrived.

On the other hand, new weapons and protective equipment were delivered immediately.

Apparently, the new chair's priorities are exceptionally low compared to those of weapons and protective equipment.

I had no choice but to make it myself or repair it.

My wife, who has been with me for more than thirty years, has been delighted and relied upon by my men, but she was even unwilling as the 7th Street Guard Warlord of the Imperial City.

Farnos gently touched the sword, knowing that he was not asked to arm the sword.

The restructuring of the army made him a guard and the chances of waving his sword were diminished at all.

Ever since I became a guard captain, I've lost the chance to wave my sword itself.

Still, something like untrained against the sword remains.

Farnos smiled bitterly.

I just fell on my home stairs the other day.

I climbed the stairs thinking, stepping off the last step and hitting .

It was a wound to the point of seeping blood, but I felt old.

Such an untrained self against the sword.

That was strange.

Speaking of swords, Farnos remembered his men (Duran).

I was also surprised when they heard I had given up the Kingsguard knight, but I was even more surprised when they heard I would be doing administrative work on Marquis Elakis territory.

So much so that I doubt my sanity.

But Duran had a sunny face.

I found something more important than becoming a Kingsguard knight.

That's the look.

Much better than when I was aiming for a Kingsguard knight.

Duran would have been a Kingsguard knight right now. It's unbearable.

No, you might have been right to leave the Imperial Capital, Farnos narrowed his eyes.

The security of the Imperial City continues to deteriorate.

At first I only felt the amount of work increased.

Next thing I know, the air in the workplace got worse.

The job itself was at a level that could be addressed, but the problem was that we had to do numbers.

The last time I was walking in the city, I felt unspeakable anxiety.

It resembled a sense of obstruction, but a more disturbing feeling...... it resembled what it felt like when the war situation glued.

One day, a meeting took place between the chiefs of security.

Everyone kept their mouths shut, but there was some gain.

The cause of the deterioration in security was the workers gathered to build the temple.

No one spoke of it, but he seemed to think that the construction of the temple had been a failure.

"... security is deteriorating"

A while after Rio entered the room, Count Pisce said with a sinking face.

I don't even feel like what I'm doing now.

"Hundreds of stuffed animals have entered the capital, so it can get worse."

"I know that! Count Cairon, what happened to your job?

Count Pisce summoned hysterically.

"I can't. Even I want to do my job seriously. Alfort, the next emperor, His Majesty is telling you to let him through, isn't he?

Count Pisce scratched his head 27615;.

Alfort actively meets with the old nobility and participates in meetings.

Chancellor Alcor can't stop it.

I have no authority to stop it.

Chancellor Alcor wielded absolute power thanks to Ramal V.

Ramal V had entrusted national politics to Chancellor Alcor, but Alfort wanted to wield power himself.

It would be an indication of this, both if we are actively meeting with the old nobles and if we are participating in meetings.

"... how can I restore security? How do I do that?"

Count Pisce poked his elbow at his desk and held his head.

Am I forgetting that Count Pisce is the leader of the Twelfth Kingsguard Knights? Rio swallowed the light mouth.

Apparently, Count Pisce awoke to patriotism while he was going and going between Chancellor Alcor and Alfort.

The man who switched factions again and again and went up to the captain of the Knights of the Twelfth Kingsguard.

Of course, it's ironic.

Count Pisce will just be tired and losing his normal judgment.

Are you saying that a bat has a bat's hardship?

"Count Pisce, shouldn't we think about what we did wrong first, not how we can restore security?

"... Count Cairon"

Count Pisce looked up at Rio with a glaring eye.

"First of all, the building of the temple caused it. Take Chrono's territory as an example, but Chrono left everything to his own men."

"Isn't that going to change anywhere?

"Really? Let your people design, buy materials from trusted chambers of commerce, and make their own objects. On top of that, I was hiring workers directly. Of course, Chrono knew the worker and the money flow besides the progress of the work."

……

Count Pisce is silent.

Perhaps Count Pisce and Alfort hadn't done what Chrono was doing for granted.

But blaming them both is harsh.

The size is too different in the territory of the Empire and Chrono.

"I don't think you need to be so discouraged, though."

"What do you mean?

"In the first place, wasn't the temple built to bind the will of the new nobility and the old nobility? It's not for returning taxes to the people, like Crono's territory."

At least that's what Rio hears.

I cannot complain about the fact that officials in the construction of the temple put part of their budget in their own nostalgia, or the treatment of workers at low wages.

Because they created a stunning temple.

"Ex-workers are running to crime because they have trouble eating, so why don't we do it in a cookout?

Rio snorted.

As far as I can guess from the information from the deputies and subordinates, the time has passed when security can be restored in the cookout.

Some are alone, some are forming an inmate party, and some are turning themselves over to the organization and repeating their crimes.

Still, it would be some teething.

If only there were enough reserves in the Empire's treasury to do the cooking.

When Chrono was working for the first time in the office, the door was knocked modestly.

After a while, Alyssa came into the office.

I have parchment in a cylindrical shape.

I felt like holding my head.

I always see myself dying when formal documents are sent to me.

"Sir, excuse me. And..."

"I know, Alyssa."

Chrono blocked Alyssa's words,

"You got a letter from Teito to me, didn't you?

"You're right."

"Read."

"May I?

Alyssa frowned as if confused.

"I can predict that."

"... then"

Alyssa untied the string and spread the parchment.

"It says to your husband to take up the imperial security restoration mission."

"Huh? Hey, bring it"

Chrono received parchment from Alyssa and read the text written there.

Indeed, it is stated to take up the imperial security restoration mission.

"What do you mean?

"I think it means the way it is?

Chrono exhaled and stuck him straight at his desk.

"Sir, I'm sure you're curious."

"No, I'm solid. Still, it's a job to restore security. Looks like an easy job this time."

"Is it?

Alyssa stares anxiously at Chrono.

"Oh, right. Don't be alarmed."

Chrono started to think about who he should take with him, getting his residence right.