Dungeon Defense (WN)

Chapter 306: Only Two on This Continent (2)

The slaughter incident itself was solved rather easily. To be more exact, I solved it easily.

In summary, Elizabeth’s aim was to make it impossible for us to acknowledge or deny the slaughter. However, Elizabeth had overlooked the fact that I would do things by fair means or foul.

I picked out a squadron leader from the human army that participated in this expedition with us. He was being summoned by high command, so the squadron leader arrived filled with anxiety. I didn’t mince my words as I spoke to him.

“Our army is currently in a rather troubling situation. Do you know why?”

“M-My apologies, but I am unaware.”

The man in front of me had a relatively low rank. He most likely did not hear about the slaughter yet.

“An unknown army disguised themselves as us and pillaged the southern region of Frankia. They did so rather maliciously, so the ministers residing in that area are apparently very upset with us. They are saying that we should take responsibility for that slaughter.”

“I see…….”

The squadron leader nodded his head awkwardly. He didn’t seem to understand why I was telling him this.

“The problem is that even if we did want to take responsibility, there is no one among us who can. This slaughter was not committed by us, after all. Nonetheless, if we continue to feign ignorance, then their condemnation will grow stronger. Do you understand?”

“Y-Yes. Somewhat.”

“We were finally able to form a friendly relationship with Frankia. It would be a joke if we were to let this relationship become sour right from the start. We must make a political move…….”

The squadron leader furrowed his brows.

I clasped my hands together as I spoke.

“In conclusion, we must have a responsible attitude. It does not matter if we take responsibility or not. The government officials of Parisiorum only want us to behave appropriately.”

“…….”

“You. I heard that you have a big family.”

The squadron leader blinked.

“Pardon me?”

“Do not worry about your parents or children. We will take good care of them.”

Once I gave a glance to Sitri, she pulled out her sword. The squadron leader looked confused at first, but his face was gradually filled with shock. He then immediately got down on his knees.

“Y-Your Excellency, I have truly done nothing wrong!”

“I know. You are completely innocent.”

Sitri walked over to the squadron leader with brisk steps.

“I will be the one sinning, not you.”

A blade beheaded the squadron leader as he let out a shout. Blood splattered on the ground. This was the moment the first scapegoat was created.

On that same day, the squadron that was led by that leader was massacred. The cavalry squad of eighty-seven soldiers was rounded up. I gave them the same explanation that I gave their leader. The eighty-seven human soldiers were all confused like their commanding officer before they eventually pieced the situation together.

“P-Please spare me!”

“I do not have to be paid……. I already made enough, so at least spare my life……!”

“Why must we die!?”

I wasn’t persuading them. I was giving them an order.

Murders were carried out under my command. Immolations weren’t necessary this time. My goal was to kill them as quickly and as efficiently as possible. I obtained eighty-seven heads in less than thirty minutes.

We sprinkled salt on the heads before sending them to Parisiorum.

We are truly saddened about the disgraceful act carried out throughout Frankia’s southern region. After some investigation, we discovered the culprits behind this shameful pillaging. They cleverly distorted the order that was given by our high command and acted as a detached force. They pillaged and slaughtered despite having not been ordered to do so…….

We did not give the order, but we will not avoid taking responsibility for this matter. Criminals are still being uncovered and captured, but we will send them to Parisiorum as soon as we capture them.

This was the explanation we chose to give.

We already distributed the goods we took from the Brittan army to the southern ministers. The ministers slowly closed their mouths after receiving such huge bribes.

We maintained our cozy relationship with the new Frankia government.

Blood is thicker than water. The way I understood this saying was as follows: blood cannot be cleaned with water, so blood must be cleaned with more blood…….

Elizabeth is highly skilled. She framed us for the slaughters she did and caused a political divide. This was a plan that most people weren’t capable of thinking up. Adding to this, Elizabeth was probably the only person who could bring these kinds of ideas to fruition.

However, Elizabeth must’ve learned through this incident that I don’t hesitate when it comes to creating sacrifices.

If she’s going to scheme, then I’ll scheme in return. Did you carry out your slaughter because I carried out one?

Fine. In that case, I’ll simply slaughter more. Let’s wash blood with blood. Let us create a purgatory where that blood is also washed with more blood.

This is a purgatory that will never end until one side gives up first. If you wish to dance with me, you must have the courage to perform a waltz in this purgatory, Elizabeth. You should use this opportunity to learn that I’m not picky about my options.

* * *

The Consul’s office was gloomy today as well.

The Republic’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Heidelberg, let out a sigh as he entered the office. On the other side of the room, Elizabeth was blankly staring out the window.

“Your Excellency, here are the documents.”

“…….”

No response. Her Excellency the Consul had become depressed ever since she returned from her secret expedition last month. She spoke less.

Elizabeth continued to stare out the window as if she didn’t hear anything. Tap, tap, tap, the sound of rain colliding against the window resonated throughout the room. She stared vacantly at the droplets of water flowing down the window.

Her eyes were empty and sad.

It almost felt like she would fade away like a mirage.

‘What an unpleasant image.’

Heidelberg shook his head. He then raised his voice.

“Your Excellency the Consul.”

“……Huh? Oh, it is you, Secretary of Foreign Affairs.”

Elizabeth finally turned her head.

“I apologize. I have been hard of hearing as of late.”

“Hoo. This humble one worries that Your Excellency might be going senile already.”

“What a rude thing to say to a young maiden like myself.”

Elizabeth smiled slightly. From Heidelberg’s perspective, even that smile looked fimble.

“Your Excellency, all of your vassals are concerned about you.”

“…….”

“Of course, it is only human that Your Excellency would feel guilty about what happened in Frankia.”

Heidelberg was one of the extremely few people who knew about Elizabeth’s secret mission. The Consul had pillaged Frankia on a large scale. Heidelberg deduced that that was the reason behind her depressed mood.

“Regardless, Your Excellency is the Republic’s Consul. The face of a nation. A humble retainer such as myself would not dare to tell Your Excellency to compose yourself, but…….”

“The face of a nation, am I?”

Elizabeth became absentminded again as she muttered. She was clearly distracted.

“Wolfram, the Habsburg Regent sent us a secret letter a week ago.”

“Excuse me?”

“There was only one word written on the letter……World.”

World.

Heidelberg furrowed his brows. It was already weird that the regent state had sent them a secret letter, but the content of the letter was weirder.

“Is it some secret code, Your Excellency?”

“It is not a code. They figured out that the culprit behind the slaughter throughout the southern region of Frankia was me.”

“…….”

Heidelberg’s expression turned into a frown. The upper echelon of the Republic had devoted their all to the slaughter operation. The army only had a thousand five hundred soldiers, but moving those troops in utter secrecy was by no means an easy task.

However, he was confident that they wouldn’t get caught by anyone. Be it the people of the Republic or even the Cabinet members, most of them were unaware of what had happened. How did the regent state figure out the truth?

“It was most likely Dantalian. We should have hired demon soldiers despite the risks. If we did, then Dantalian would not have been able to discern whether the culprit was me or a Demon Lord.”

“…….”

“It was my mistake. It would have been better if we had hired dwarf mercenaries and shut their mouths afterward. But……I contemplated whether demons could be trusted or not. That was my mistake…….”

Elizabeth muttered impassively.

“Dantalian is taunting me. ‘Look, this is the world that you want. How does it feel to look down at the world and play with it?’. This is what he is asking me.”

“…….”

“How depressing.”

Elizabeth turned her gaze back to the window. It was still raining.

“In the past, I believed that conquering the world was the duty of supremacy. I did not doubt this. Even if many may fall into despair during that process, I considered the world itself to be a beautiful dream. I now know that there is no beauty in the world.”

“……Your Excellency.”

“You deceive and mock the people of the continent. You create bloodbaths for the sake of your political goals. The only things that exist are deception and intrigue.”

A faint smile was on Elizabeth’s lips. It was a self-ridiculing smile.

“I should have realized this when I killed Robert. Was I the fool……? My brother, Rudolf, killed my sisters for the sake of authority. I was the same. What is the difference between me and my brother? What have I been living for until now……?”

Heidelberg didn’t dare to open his mouth.

He didn’t think what the Consul did was wrong. It was only natural to require sacrifices for the sake of accomplishing one’s goals. A ruler’s duty is to remember those sacrifices. That was what he believed, but was that wrong?

“Your Excellency, we must strive to create a better nation the more that is the case. That is the greatest respect we can show to the graves of those who were sacrificed.”

“……A nation is unnecessary for the dead. Even if we achieve peace and prosperity, how does that matter to those who were lost? You are just making excuses and consoling yourself.”

Elizabeth let out a weak sigh.

“So this is the world that Dantalian is gazing at. It is a gloomy and gray world. There is no romance or ideologies, so ridicule and revenge are the only things that float around like ghosts. The continent is nothing more than a large grave or memorial to Dantalian.”

“…….”

Heidelberg struggled to understand; however, he had a feeling that no matter what he said, his words wouldn’t reach the Consul.

“Regardless, there is something that I cannot yield. You can call this deceit. If it means I can lead the nation in the right direction, I do not care about becoming another deceiver…….”

Elizabeth turned to face Heidelberg. Her previous spirit was absent from her golden eyes. However, what was instead present was a dark and firm gaze.

“Secretary of Foreign Affairs.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

“Make an attempt to contact the southern cities of Frankia. If the free cities in the north were able to unite, then there is no reason for that to not be possible in the south as well. If the regent state is going to take over the north, then our Republic will exert our influence over the south.”

Heidelberg bowed to his revered lord.

“Understood. We will immediately make contact with them.”

“……The regent state ruled by an emperor will help the republicans of the north while our republican nation will help the royalists of the south. The enemy is too much of a calamity to call this a joke.”

A thin smile rested on Elizabeth’s lips.

“But it is fine. This is the world. Even if there may only be one purgatory under the sky, there should be enough space for two people to dance. I will play along as much as you desire…….”

Elizabeth’s voice flowed quietly through the office room that was filled with the sound of rain.

***

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Oh, how pitiful it must be to be Elizabeth. Every time she shows up, we see her constantly being tormented by Dantalian in one way or another. Life is rough. Man, the days between chapter releases only increased by a day, and yet it feels so long to me. Like, I feel bad about it for some reason since I got so used to the previous schedule. Ugh. Also haven’t been able to translate DD too much cause I was handed a new project the company picked up. Some sort of mobile Transformer game. I’m only four days into translating it and I’m already sick of Transformers. Probably because I was given the Names, UI, and Tutorial sheets. It’s so hard to figure out how to translate UIs since you don’t know where shit will go. God it sucks.

On another note, to anyone being cautious about joining the Minecraft server, I’m probably going to be keeping it up for as long as possible. It doesn’t matter if you can only get on for little bits of time every now and then. That piles up over time. I only care about seeing the server being sort of active. Just chill and play.

I’ll see you guys in the next chapter.