Chapter 0649 The Two Who Press Forward
Translator: Jay_Forestieri
Editor: Tseirp
“Considering he called it the Empire’s main force, wasn’t it pretty thin?”
“You thought so too, Abel?”
Putting the lee behind them, the two slipped past the border and once again quickened their pace toward the Choouchi Empire capital.
“Actually, none of the phantomkins I know were in there.”
“Who? The Phantom King?”
“No—I can’t tell from the sonar about the Phantom King. When I faced him at Kwebasa, he possessed Duke Helb.”
“Ah...”
“Special Envoy Berke, who ca to the Rondo Manor, and his subordinates... they weren’t among them.”
Ryo said this with a frown.
“They were diplomatic envoys— they probably wouldn’t co to a battlefield, right?”
“That might be true... but, you see, General Yun who was captured — he wasn’t there either. Isn’t he supposed to be one of the Seven-Star Generals? Isn’t it strange that he wasn’t there?”
“I see. That is indeed odd.”
Of course, the two of them didn’t know exactly how high a position the ‘Seven-Star Generals’ held within the Choouchi imperial army.
Still, they guessed it was above the rank of the scout leaders they had questioned.
After all, the title contained ‘General’.
“So that wasn’t the main force?”
“Or maybe the truly powerful unit you’d call the main body was sowhere else?”
Neither Abel nor Ryo knew for sure.
But both felt that the ‘main force’ encountered earlier had been surprisingly weak.
Until now, the phantomkins the pair had faced in Darwei and around had been overwhelmingly powerful.
Compared to those, this was just too...
“To be honest, even now I don’t really understand this country.”
“I completely agree. Thinking about it this way makes feel our kingdom is actually fairly sane.”
“Yeah... in the past, the kingdom’s knight order had so problems, but...”
“Now Captain Dontan is leading them and they’re doing their best!”
“Hm, true.”
Both the Premier Duke and the King made a point of praising those who were working hard.
“Our kingdom does have a long history. Maybe that makes its roots sturdier.”
“Certainly the Choouchi Empire seems like a young nation... but our knowledge about the phantomkins that make up that country is far too scant.”
“Right. Maybe we should have asked more of the two scouts the other day?”
“They were scared of Abel, so that would’ve been impossible.”
“I didn’t do anything, though.”
Captain Sonjang of the Second Scout Unit and Vice-Captain Lara... at least those two didn’t seem like bad people— rather, they didn’t seem like bad phantomkins.
“Just because they’re phantomkins doesn’t an they’re all bad.”
“Of course. Humans have good and bad people, too.”
Ryo’s remark was t with an obvious agreent from Abel.
“Abel... no, never mind.”
Ryo started to say sothing, then stopped halfway. It was ridiculously contrived.
“That’s way too blatant.”
“No, no— there’s nothing implied at all, you know?”
“You know, Ryo. Whether to reinstate your weekly cake privilege is sothing I can decide.”
“Th-that’s a low blow!”
Abel grinned slyly as he said it, and Ryo opened his eyes wide in protest.
“I’m a good guy, right?”
“Taking cake as a hostage...”
Of course, their joking and laughter— Abel acting uncharacteristically teasing—was just that: friendly banter.
Despite that peaceful air, neither of them stopped walking.
They kept up a brisk pace.
Incidentally, the number of following behind Ryo had dropped to one.
They had left the others behind for Captain Sonjang and Vice-Captain Lara.
“Should we also think about what to do after rescuing His Majesty the Emperor?”
“Ah... moving through a forest will be tough... won’t it?”
“Well, he’s basically soone who had been inside the Imperial Palace, so it’d be difficult, right?”
“Yeah, that’s true...”
As he spoke, Abel looked at the path they had walked and the one they were about to continue down.
An ice-covered walkway topped by a water-attribute magic canopy...
“It’s nearly a straight line.”
“We can use magic, so we’d be fools not to.”
“Y-yeah...”
Sohow, Abel thought that with a path like this, even moving the Emperor through the forest might be manageable...
They kept walking.
“We’re already inside the Choouchi Empire, right?”
“Yes. In fact, we should reach the capital in about two days.”
“But we haven’t seen a single...”
“Yeah. Not even a village, let alone a town.”
Both Abel and Ryo found it strange.
They had passed the border and traveled this far, yet they hadn’t seen a town, a village... or even a single imperial citizen.
“Maybe the only settlent is the capital?”
“That’s possible.”
“But didn’t Captain Sonjang say there were several small countries with a few hundred people north of Peiyu, and even so with a few thousand, all made to pay tribute?”
“He did. He said they’d fought and subjugated them.”
Ryo had asked that out of curiosity after the interrogation.
Why Choouchi Empire?
Captain Sonjang answered by explaining the ‘Empire’ part.
That several countries were under their control.
“And the scout unit was active in that campaign.”
“But when you don’t et anyone at all like this, it makes you wonder what a country really is.”
“There it is—Abel’s philosophical nation theory.”
“What’s that supposed to an? Don’t put it that way.”
Ryo said it casually, and Abel made a face in reply.
“I think a country is a group of people gathered to live together...”
“Probably that’s the root of it. But, hey, just like there are many kinds of people, there might be many kinds of countries.”
“Yeah, that’s probably it. It might be strange to force this land into the shape of a ‘country’ we know.”
Abel seed to accept that.
Nodding several tis.
Two days later, the pair reached the top of a hill.
“This is not a failure. It’s exactly as calculated!”
“S-sure...”
Ryo proclaid loudly, and Abel accepted it.
It wasn’t exactly the capital, but it couldn’t exactly be called a failure.
Because from the hill, they could confirm a vast estate where large buildings dotted the grounds a short distance away.
According to the alchemy tool Commander Tin had given them for tracking Emperor Tsuin, he was there.
In other words, this was the place...
“The ‘Sumr Villa’.”
“We’ve finally arrived.”
“We didn’t get lost at all on the way.”
“Yeah, no need to tell a lie that would be easily found out. Besides, who are you making excuses to, really?”
Abel let out a small sigh.
At that mont, Ryo’s face darkened.
“What’s wrong?”
“I checked with the sonar. His Majesty the Emperor is definitely there.”
“Good.”
“But there are other familiar reactions as well.”
“Who’s there?”
“Marie.”
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