Chapter 709

The Imperial Army and the naturalized citizens of Dane, along with the existing defense forces, continued their uneasy coexistence. It was a relationship that couldn’t possibly be good, no matter how hard they tried.

Although they were told to avoid causing trouble, it wasn’t easy to eliminate emotional friction, and sometimes it escalated beyond simple friction into direct clashes.

“…It’s reported that drunken residents severely injured a soldier from the defense forces in a group assault.”

Yeah, that’s how it goes.

“I gave orders not to cause disturbances. Did they just ignore my words?”

I yawned out of exhaustion and replied in an annoyed tone. I’m swamped with work, and what nonsense are they up to now?

“Arrest all the instigators and convey an apology to the defense forces.”

“Are you planning to punish them?”

“Of course, they should be punished.”

I could understand cursing at a drinking party, but a group assault changes the story.

The group assaults by the Dane folks usually involved weapons.

“What happens if we handle it according to Imperial law?”

“In cases where civilians assault soldiers… although such incidents are rare, to my knowledge, it’s either execution or amputation.”

“Amputation?”

In a world where severed limbs can regenerate with healing, does that even make sense?

“It’s a punishment where the right arm is cut off, the severed surface is branded, and a mark of the criminal is tattooed on it. If someone with the mark is healed, they lose their priesthood, and the healed person is caught and their arm is cut off again below the mark.”

What kind of cut-off line is that?

“That seems a bit excessive…”

Whether it’s beheading or making someone permanently disabled, both are harsher punishments than I thought.

“Did the Dane army have anything to say?”

“They said they’d follow our decision for now… but if we hand over the instigators, they’ll handle it their way.”

“Their way? How do the Dane handle it?”

“Stoning.”

These guys are even more violent. Beating someone to death with stones? Ugh, these barbaric bastards.

“…We don’t need to shed blood. The number of deaths in the past month alone has easily surpassed ten thousand, and I don’t want to increase the body count any further.”

“Is that so…?”

Shane looked at me with a truly strange expression. It was like looking at a mustached uncle with a red cross instead of an iron cross.

…Why are you looking at me like that? Do I look like a madman who can’t sleep without shedding blood for a day?

Despite appearances, I’m a civilized person from a modern society with laws and common sense, you know?

Though I’ve become quite influenced by the common sense of this world, and I’ve gotten much more extreme than before.

“No need to cut off hands… just sentence them to hard labor. Make them work without pay until the city is restored.”

“With all due respect, isn’t that too lenient a punishment…?”

“Eighteen hours a day.”

“Understood.”

Shane, who was about to show reluctance, quickly nodded.

—

Upon hearing that the punishment for the assailants was hard labor, Burgund, who had been dissatisfied, also expressed his understanding when he heard that the daily labor time was eighteen hours.

He must have thought that was punishment enough.

And so, the Dane army group assault incident was concluded by creating twenty unpaid laborers.

…I thought it was the work of about five people, but it turned out to be twenty.

Twenty people ganging up to beat one soldier. It was a miracle that the soldier only ended up severely injured.

Anyway, after sentencing those twenty to hard labor, friction between the Dane army and the defectors became extremely rare.

Even those who harbored resentment towards the Dane army for abandoning them didn’t want to endure eighteen hours of hard labor a day.

Unless they had lost family or friends to Ka`har’s attacks, thanks to Ludwig evacuating the residents before the battle, the only casualties were soldiers.

“So… when will the reply from the homeland arrive?”

I sat on the rocking chair on the terrace, legs resting on the metal railing, smoking a cigarette and grumbling.

Ten days had passed since the end of the war, but Leopold’s reply still hadn’t arrived. That’s why I was still stuck here.

It would take a long time for the city to fully recover.

I couldn’t stay here until the recovery was complete, so I was waiting for Leopold to send a responsible official to take over the city after receiving my report… but ten days passed with no news.

In the meantime, the people here had become completely accustomed to me and started calling me Governor Median.

“Ten days is nowhere near enough. Even at the shortest estimate, it would take five more days.”

“Five more days?”

“What can we do? The distance from here to Exra-shapel is considerable. Governor Median, you could manage it in a week, but not many can endure such a forced march.”

Leonor said with a chuckle.

“Even you call me that…”

Governor, huh? There’s a limit to how much a title can suit someone. At this rate, I might really get stuck in this city.

Nigel also seemed quite displeased with the ten-day delay, his expression darkening.

“I’m worried about Landenburg. By now, the news of Lord Ludwig’s death must have reached there. I wonder what the situation is like…”

Although he had managed to shake off the psychological shock of Ludwig’s death, he couldn’t set aside his concerns for his homeland.

—

Five days passed.

In the meantime, the Dane army, having recovered enough to move, returned to their respective cities according to the redeployment orders sent by Knut, leaving only the soldiers from this city.

After checking the residents’ opinions on their stationing, the majority agreed to their presence.

Although they had abandoned the city and retreated under orders, each one of them was essentially their own son, so they decided to forgive them.

After all, the frontline soldiers were unaware of the higher-ups’ plans and had simply followed orders without realizing they were abandoning the city.

Anyway, as Leonor predicted, after five days, the Empire’s reply finally arrived. Though the content was a bit different from what I expected.

“…What did you just say?”

I absentmindedly exhaled the cigarette smoke and asked the pale-faced messenger again.

The news he brought from the capital was so shocking that I couldn’t believe my ears.

“The capital, Exra-shapel, has been half-destroyed. Twenty days ago, a giant insect monster emerged, collapsing the ground and sweeping through the capital. The damage is said to be beyond description…”

Damn it.

A giant insect monster. It wasn’t hard to guess what it was.

The insect-dragon Nidhogg. In the end, it must have awakened while I was away. I don’t know how it revived after Isabella’s death, but…

…Wait, something’s off.

I furrowed my brow at the incongruity I felt in his report. I pondered the source of this thorny discomfort.

Nidhogg’s revival.

Yes, although the means are questionable, it did revive in the original story, so the revival itself isn’t strange.

Then why?

Why do I feel this incongruity?

“…By the grace of Elpinel, His Majesty the Radiant Emperor is fortunately unharmed…”

“No, wait. Leopold—I mean, His Majesty is unharmed?”

…How?

Ah, I realized the source of the incongruity.

As I voiced my doubts, I finally understood what was bothering me.

He clearly said that Exra-shapel was half-destroyed.

Not annihilated, but half-destroyed.

…That’s impossible. If Nidhogg had truly revived, the damage couldn’t have been so minimal.

The capital should have become a land of death with no one left, and Leopold should have been roasted Leopold.

With all the hero-level strong individuals, including me, deployed in the eastern war, there was no one left to stop the revived insect-dragon.

“Yes. Most of the Royal Guard perished, and half of the capital’s defense knights were annihilated, but fortunately, the monster—”

The messenger continued his report. Although he hadn’t witnessed it himself, he had heard the story from survivors of the capital.

—

After dispatching Hasalleur and two legions to Landenburg, Leopold busily continued his hectic daily life, eagerly awaiting only the victory report.

Although dealing with Ka`har was left to Ludwig and Hasalleur, the Empire’s problems weren’t limited to Ka`har.

The monsters appearing daily. The increasingly empty treasury.

The dwarf-fairy war turning unfavorable for the Empire, and the nobles’ backlash against the rising taxes.

Even Duke Bien’s subtle urging to produce an heir as soon as possible. The fatigue and psychological pressure were causing his hair to fall out.

In the midst of this, the only good news was that the prototype of the airship entrusted to the Mage Tower was completed…

And that Ophelia Sigmilus had joined the underground waterway search, significantly speeding up the progress.

—

“This way.”

Following Floheta’s strong recommendation, Ophelia, who joined the search team, took charge of the chaotic underground waterway search and progressed smoothly.

Thanks to her ability to see mana, the Five-Colored Eyes.

‘Although they hid the mana from leaking, they couldn’t hide the magical formulas. It’s obvious.’

From the first day of the underground waterway search, she detected the concealment magic secretly hidden throughout the waterways.

Other mages wouldn’t sense the concealment magic since no mana was leaking, but to her eyes, the sinister and ominous concealment formulas were clearly visible.

‘This looks like soul extraction… Come to think of it, Peirus appeared in the capital, right? Could this be his doing?’

Peirus, the worst soul extraction practitioner who contributed greatly to the designation of soul extraction as forbidden magic.

The traces visible to her suggested that he had come to the underground waterways and set up some scheme.

‘…I need to be careful.’

Ophelia dispelled all the visible concealment formulas and carefully searched the underground waterways, wary of any trap magic that might be mixed in.

Until she reached the lair of the insect-dragon sleeping below.

That became the catalyst.