Chapter 412 (1/2)

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Translator: Nat

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–Aegir POV–

「d.a.m.n shorty…… he can really drink…… uuph.」

I carry the languid Sekrit on my shoulder and take her back to bed.

「It's because you drank 20 cups.」

In celebration of the completion of her artificial arms, Sekrit and Balbano had a drinking bout, and she went over her liquor limit.

「If a beauty like you gets totally hammered, you'll get pounced on.」

In the eyes of a bad man, if a normally fierce-looking woman is sleeping in a drunken stupor, it would be akin to a full course meal being left on the roadside.

When she wakes up, it wouldn't be surprising for her crotch to be painted with s.e.m.e.n.

「I'd also be happy though.」

Looking at it from another perspective, it's because I'm by her side that Sekrit probably feels safe enough to be drunk.

Being elated from receiving her artificial arm must have contributed to her wanting to drink until she drops as well.

I eventually reach her chambers after carrying her for a while.

「Ah, Sekrit-sama!?」

Appearing in front of me is a familiar girl, whose name is――

「I am Lott, the girl Sekrit-sama keeps with her. Aah, she drank so much……」

If I'm being nice, this girl is being cared for by Sekrit…… if I'm being negative, she's being treated as a toy.

According to Sekrit, she found her in a nearby village, took a liking to her and kidnapped her.

She claims she was obviously going to return her, but for some reason or other, Lott's heart was dominated by Sekrit and cried ”I want to stay a slave. I absolutely don't want to leave”.

「……shut up, b.i.t.c.h. Do you want me to get out the whip ag…… uueh.」

Sekrit yells in reaction to the girl's voice even with her eyes closed, although she quickly covers her mouth and curls up.

She looks like she's about to puke.

I lay her brown-skinned limbs on the bed and breathe out a sigh.

「Here, water. I will wipe down your body too. If you feel like throwing up, please choose between the tub or my face.」

Lott tends to Sekrit without worrying about my presence.

As expected of a girl who professed her status as a slave.

「Fumu.」

I take another look at Lott, who services Sekrit diligently as she is being cursed at.

I didn't have time to do so when I first met her.

She is around 15 or 16 years old.

While she isn't exactly a child, she has yet to become a full-fledged adult.

Her height is barely 150 cm and she has a rather small and delicate body type.

Her hair is a deep blonde color, which seems brown from afar.

She has pretty blue eyes that are slightly droopy and healthy-looking tanned skin which isn't as dark as Sekrit's skin.

「What is it?」

Lott notices my eyes scanning her body and turns to me inquisitively.

She isn't a particularly eye-catching beauty. She's a girl you can find in any village.

It's just that her tone of voice and air of her actions are unique, stirring up an impulse to want to rule over her.

「……guh…… dammit…… I'll kill you.」

Lott turns to Sekrit as she spouts obscenities in her sleep.

Lott is wearing a one-piece dress that is short enough that her thighs can be seen and has a large opening in the back.

That appearance is something Sekrit can peek at from the bed, so plenty of things are likely in view.

The red line on her back…… is probably a mark from being whipped.

Her fully visible a.s.s is red and swollen.

Most notably…… she isn't wearing any underwear.

「I-It was Sekrit-sama who ordered me not to wear any underwear…… and the whip was something I wanted!」

Lott hastily hides her b.u.m.

「……d.a.m.n sow…… stick your a.s.s out…… I'll whip you until your skin tears……」

「Aaaah……」

Reacting to our voices, Sekrit sleeptalks again.

Lott's body s.h.i.+vers and a suspicious liquid drips down her thigh.

「Fumu.」

Originally, she must have thought she could have fun with Sekrit after her drinking bout, but Sekrit doesn't look like she'll wake up from her inebriation for a while.

And I have a girl without underwear leaking juices in front of me.

「Come this way.」

「Eeh!?」

I hug Lott's tiny body.

「I'm Sekrt-sama's slave! B-but I was also ordered not to disobey you and listen to anything you say…… aah, what should I do!?」

Then there should be no problem.

I embrace Lott from behind and roll up her dress while taking my pants off.

「Doing it in front of Sekrit-sama! A-at the very least, take it outside or the bathroom!」

I ignore her plea, getting her to put a hand against the wall, and pus.h.i.+ng myself inside right away.

Her high-pitched scream resonates in the room.

It's a bit unreasonable to force my thing into Lott's immature body, however, she's wet enough for juice to run down her thigh and her hole, more importantly, feels loose like she's already given birth.

Sekrit has trained her quite a bit, it seems.

「Sorry, doing it in place of Sekrit.」

This is the worst thing to do now that I think about it.

「Eh, in place of? Using only my hole because Sekrit-sama is asleep……」

Lott suddenly squirts from what she says.

I guess I have my consent.

I grab her little a.s.s and shake my hips, then look out the window.

「Didn't I tell you to prioritize the deployment of the light infantry with crossbows!? The organization of the spear unit can come later! We don't have time!」

Irregardless of it being night time, Celia is still running about and shouting.

She seems motivated, so there is some value in continuing to give effort.

「Make them ready to fight in one week! I'll kick the a.s.s of whoever lazes around!」

Celia threatens the soldier adorably.

When he replies with ”If it's from the little miss, that'll be a reward”, he was kicked in the crotch.

I think it's fine if I leave it in her hands.

Leopolt's conversation comes to mind――

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I follow Leopolt to the headquarters as he is producing a quiet yet angry atmosphere.

Celia is also with me.

He even told Celia to come along for some reason.

She is glancing downward nervously and trotting with an anxious gait.

Once we entered the building where the headquarters is located, Leopolt shuts the door behind us.

「Please report the details of the mission.」

He asks a question without delay.

「Hau.」

Celia ducks her head between her shoulders and shrinks.

Normally she would be going on about her respect for me, but today she is quite timid.

Leopolt's att.i.tude is like a superior hounding his subordinate for answers, which doesn't really annoy me, and it's not like I did anything I should be guilty about, so I'll come out and reply boldly.

「Sure. I heard a small group was planning to go on a reconnaissance operation, you see. Since we couldn't act until we confirmed the enemy force, I was free, so I thought I'd tag along.」

I bring Celia close to my body and pat her soothingly to calm her down.

「There were times throughout the mission that we were about to be discovered, but Celia did her best to delay it. We were able to ascertain the strength of the enemy's fleet. ……after that, plenty of things happened, but Ivanna's a.s.sistance secured our safe retreat.」

「……」

Leopolt's expression doesn't change despite the report of a successful mission.

No, he was always a guy whose expression never changes no matter what, but the aura of dissatisfaction around him hasn't disappeared.

「……what are you unhappy about? We suffered a few casualties, sure, but the objective was completed. There shouldn't be a problem.」

「It was reported that a crisis occurred due to a change in the initial plan.」

「Hau.」

Leopolt presses the issue.

Stop, you're making Celia smaller.

「Even though it was a close call, we made it out alive with the information we wanted. Shouldn't that be good enough?」

I confidently stand up to him.

「That is an argument based on hindsight.」

「War is the result.」

You’re the one who fought a result-oriented battle.

「Thus, I do not intend to point out the problems of the main operation. However, if a decision is made from the details and the same is done again, it may bring about the worst case scenario. Therefore I want to warn you about your future actions.」

「You’re being roundabout. What are you trying to say?」

The trembling Celia tries to wedge between Leopolt and I.

We aren’t going to fight or anything so there’s no need to push yourself.

Besides, you aren’t tall enough to stop us anyways.

Leopolt goes on without paying attention to the really cute Celia.

「Acting on your own will derail the entire plan. Asking you to refrain from partic.i.p.ating isn’t possible, so I at least ask that you notify me in advance. If I know whether Lord Hardlett is joining or not, I can adjust the plan accordingly.」

In other words, I should tell him before charging in, huh――?

That’s right, I don’t recall speaking to anybody.

「If I told you I was partic.i.p.ating, would anything have changed?」

「I would have cancelled the whole operation. The mission is not worth endangering the life of the Supreme Commander. That should be clear without knowing the motive of the operation.」

After saying that, Leopolt directs a sharp stare at Celia.

He is implicitly blaming Celia who said to wait in Tebia for the enemy fleet.

I told him it was a decision I made on instinct, so how did he know?

「……auuu.」

Celia is becoming smaller and smaller.

「Don't blame Celia any further. If you're going to blame anyone, blame me!」

「Aegir-samaaa.」

When I bring Celia behind me to protect her, she clings to my back in tears.

「We can't fight without grasping the exact strength of the enemy force. It's because of Celia that we found the entire enemy fleet. Wasn't that the purpose of the reconnaissance?」

Leopolt doesn't react and cooly continues on.

「Those were orders for the officers and men on the scene. Everything was not transmitted to the personnel on site.」

Leopolt has three more reports lined up beside the results of our scouting.

「What is this?」

From what I can see, it has an overview of the enemy fleet written on them.

There wasn't much of a difference to the number we determined.

「This is the a.n.a.lysis done on the enemy numbers based on witness reports from the scouts disguised as fishermen. This number integrated the reports from several spies. And this―― is the result from the aerial scout.」

He means Pochi for the last one.

Well, that's fine.

「……so you had information after all.」

「W-what did we do all that for……」

Leopolt, indifferent to our dismay, plainly explains.

「The size of the enemy fleet will be part of the basis for a future operation. We can not rely on the results of a single scout to confirm anything. For example――」

Leopolt points to the doc.u.ments listing the findings of the scouts and spies.

「According to the scouts, they spotted 30 large combat s.h.i.+ps, but according to the spies, they saw 5. In the rocking small boats disguised as fishermen, there is a tendency to judge enemy s.h.i.+ps to be larger than they are.」

Celia and I nod in agreement.

「On the other hand, the spies use an indirect approach to gather information, going by things like supply and sailors, but it's hard to say that is completely accurate.」

Leopolt presents the scouting information from Pochi last.

「I personally think this method is extremely innovative, however……」

It almost looked like Leopolt furrowed his brow.

「Unfortunately, the scouting members are insufficiently skilled and lack reliability.」

The report was written with beautiful style and well-balanced s.p.a.cing which is just as good as the previous two.

What catches my eye, is that there are scribblings and drawings all over the place.

「Did they…… try to draw…… a s.h.i.+p?」

「Aah, 'they' did this?」

The pictures are most likely the work of the harpies.

I've seen them try to imitate us and draw with their winged arms before.

The harpies probably went with Pochi to scout.

That's impossible though.

They don't know how to count and whatever they saw would be forgotten after a short break.

There was such a story.

Those girls snacked on one out of the three skewers Maria had when she took her eyes away for a second, but they didn't even realize one went missing and started fighting with each other.

If they can't tell the difference between two and three, there's no way they could count dozens of s.h.i.+ps.

There's more.

Nonna had asked for the roof that the harpies often rested on to be repainted white to match her tastes.

All of them were gathered and advised not to step on it when the paint was still wet, but five minutes later, they came back all white.

After I washed them while clutching my head in distress, I brought them to the actual location and warned them not to rest there, in which they replied ”Got it, got it”, but they still ended up all white.

To go scouting the enemy force and come back…… is a task with a high-degree of difficulty that I can't imagine them completing.

On the way there, they would forget what they set out to do in the first place.

「Pipi's words are next to the drawings.」

「Pipi……」

So Pochi was being ridden by Pipi.

It looks like she gave up trying to write the number of small and large s.h.i.+ps beside the pictures.

Pipi has a dodgy sense for counting too.

「Wait, then who wrote these pretty words?」

「By process of elimination, that would be―― Pochi?」

You mean to tell me those large claws with long nails managed to hold a pen?

No, let's not think of this anymore.

「Since the report was not written by a human, the reliability is questionable. ……a.s.suming some portions of the report is true, complementary reports are necessary.」

I look at Pochi's scouting report again.

「Large s.h.i.+ps: 10, Small to Medium s.h.i.+ps: 130-160, Extra Large s.h.i.+ps: 2―― it's accurate, for the most part.」

Celia's shoulders slump.

「I'm still can't get over it.」

It must be quite depressing to think she worked so hard to compete with a lizard.

「With all this information, we didn't have to go on such a dangerous mission then. Celia and I were nearly――」

My words were cut short by Leopolt, who placed his hand onto the desk with an audible thud.

「Like I said before, if I had known Lord Hardlett was going on the mission, I would have cancelled the plan altogether.」

Although he isn't yelling, his anger can be felt acutely.

It turns out the outlook is worsening for my independent actions and Celia is becoming even smaller.

No matter how I look at it, I'm in the wrong.

「My bad. I'll say something next time.」

「Please do.」

There is something I want to ask on top of that.

「Even if there wasn't a change in plans, the enemy almost discovered us from the start. If Celia and I weren't there, the entire squad would have been annihilated. Was there enough value to warrant this mission?」

It was way too dangerous to send a group of people simply to confirm Pochi's report.

「The final crisis could have been avoided if the plan was not disobeyed.」

「Hauu……」

「To get right to the point, the destruction of the squad was within expectations of the reconnaissance operation.」

「Hey now.」

It was exactly like the 105th thought after all, they were being treated as sacrificial p.a.w.ns.

I can't let that slide.

「But, it was worth the risk.」

Leopolt lines up the reports from Pochi and us, then taps the point ”battles.h.i.+ps: 3” lightly with his finger.

「You are sure there are three battles.h.i.+ps?」

「Without a doubt.」

「Yeah, we definitely saw them.」

Not only did Celia confirm it, the other lookouts verified it countless times from atop the hill.

There's no way to mistake battles.h.i.+ps.

All the other reports, including Pochi's, included this observation too.

「According to this report, there are two battles.h.i.+ps…… it's off by one s.h.i.+p. I have no regrets killing a thousand people for this information.」

It's that valuable?

「We are already losing the intelligence battle. I'm sure the enemy's spies have learned the strength of our fleet somehow. Unless we obtain accurate information, a mistake like what happened in Rafen will occur again.」

That ambush in Rafen seems to affect him greatly.

I'll follow up and rea.s.sure him.

「It's in the past now. Don't worry about it.」

Leopolt continues without addressing my concern.

「This critical piece of information could possibly tilt the tides of battle.」

「I see. Don't worry about being outwitted in Rafen.」

Leopolt continues.