Chapter 277 - Episode 270: Guerrilla Warfare ①
In the areas controlled by the Betumia Republic Army in the southern part of the Lordberg Kingdom, looting by Betumia soldiers is a daily occurrence. From cities to farming villages, soldiers are seizing the property of the people, and sometimes the people themselves, everywhere.
"Listen up, you barbarians! This isn't nearly enough! Hurry up and pile up the tributes for us!"
A certain farming village in the southwestern part of the Kingdom. In this village where looting was currently taking place, an officer of the Betumia Republic Army leading a small unit of about ten men shouted.
Two horse-drawn wagons were placed before him, and gaunt villagers stood in line before the wagons with dark expressions. In the villagers' hands were bags filled with wheat or livestock such as chickens. Among them was even a villager leading a young girl who was sobbing.
The Betumia soldiers looked upon such villagers with contemptuous eyes, and some went as far as to kick villagers to make them fall. The kicked villagers did not utter a single complaint.
Amidst this, there was one male villager who approached the officer.
"Hm? Hey, who the hell are you! If you come any closer, I'll cut you down!"
The officer drew his sword, and several other soldiers gathered around the officer warily. In response, the man opened his mouth.
"I am sorry. However, I have one request..."
Hearing this, the officer approached the man with a vulgar smile.
"Heh, a request? You've got some nerve. Try saying it."
"Yes, I want the weapons you possess. Also, these horses and wagons."
As he spoke, the man gazed at the officer and the several soldiers around him. His eyes were faintly glowing, and for some reason, the officer and the others who met his gaze could not look away.
"...Ah, fine. I'll give you everything."
The officer said this and, together with the surrounding soldiers, handed over their swords, spears, and bows to the man.
"Thank you... Hey everyone, take the weapons."
When the man called out, several villagers with sturdy physiques stepped forward and picked up the weapons.
"What!? Captain, what are you doing!"
"Shut up! You lot, hurry up and hand over your weapons to these people too! The horses and wagons as well!"
"If we do that, we'll be killed!"
"Are you planning to betray Betumia!"
"Silence! This is how it should be! Obey me!"
The officer shouted with eyes that seemed sane at first glance, but upon closer inspection, were hollow. The other Betumia soldiers hurriedly drew their swords and rushed toward the officer, but...
"I ask of you all as well. Would you please surrender your weapons?"
Once they made eye contact with the man speaking, they stopped and let go of their weapons.
"It can't be helped. Use them well."
"Thank you. Now then everyone, next I would like you to have this injected into your bodies."
The man, having disarmed everyone, opened a small vial containing the undiluted essence of 'Angel's Nectar' and inserted the tip of a thick needle into it.
"W-what is that liquid!?"
"It's medicine. It will make your physical condition better, so it's best for everyone to put it in their bodies. It will sting a little."
"I-I see. Then, please."
The officers themselves held out their arms and had the undiluted 'Angel's Nectar' put into their bodies, then felt a numbness and collapsed one after another.
"...That's settled. Next, we'll carry these guys to the highway outside the village."
"""Yes, sir!"""
Ceasing the harmless expression he had until a moment ago, the man who had been blending in among the villagers—a man who was a mage serving a certain high-ranking noble house in the northwestern part of the Kingdom—spoke. Following those words, the soldiers who had also been blending in among the villagers as the man's subordinates moved.
The men were one of the small units sent in to cause chaos within the Betumia Republic Army's controlled areas. The man, who was the captain, possessed a rare magical talent called 'Psychological Magic'.
A representative technique of Psychological Magic is 'Hypnosis', which makes the target accept the user's words without any sense of incongruity.
If used well, it is an extremely powerful technique, but it has many difficult points: it is hard to affect opponents with high magical power, the target's words and actions become strange so it's obvious to those around them that they've fallen under the spell, and because the eyes glow upon activation, they are sometimes noticed midway.
"...Y-you bastard. You tricked us."
Furthermore, there is a weakness where if the target's body is harmed using 'Hypnosis' as a catalyst, the target's survival instinct kicks in and the suggestion is broken. Indeed, the Betumia officer has now been released from the hypnosis and is glaring at the man while his body remains numb.
"It's the fault of those who are deceived... Now then, shall we go?"
Having loaded the Betumia soldiers into the wagons with the help of his subordinates and the people of the farming village he had used as a hiding place, the man left the village and traveled for a while.
Eventually, he had the wagons stopped on a suitable highway, and after unloading the paralyzed Betumia soldiers beside a small forest facing the highway, he spoke to each of them while looking into their eyes.
"Listen. You were attacked on this highway by an ambush of the Lordberg Kingdom hiding in the nearby forest. And you were injected with poison, and your bodies became paralyzed. How unfortunate. Truly a pitiful story."
The Betumia soldiers, who had been bravely glaring at the man with bodies that could only move their eyes, gradually had their gazes soften upon hearing the man's words. As long as they did not suffer physical harm, the new hypnosis would not be broken because they believed that they 'were attacked by an ambush on this highway'.
"If you stay here, other Betumia soldiers will eventually pass by and rescue you. Until then, bear with it for a while. I must go now. My apologies."
Leaving those words behind, the man stood up, boarded the wagons with his subordinates, and drove away, leaving the Betumia soldiers abandoned on the highway.
.....
A unit of about thirty men from the Betumia Republic Army was proceeding along a certain mountain path in the southeastern part of the Lordberg Kingdom.
The captain, who was riding at the lead, reached a pass where the mountain path changed from an uphill to a downhill slope, looked down the road, and was aghast.
"What!? T-this is terrible!"
The captain urged his horse and descended the road. What reflected in his eyes was the sight of more than thirty friendly soldiers collapsed in the middle of the road.
The captain's subordinates also noticed the abnormal situation on the mountain path and ran after him.
"Hey! What happened to you guys! Are you all right!?"
The friendly soldiers did not seem to be dead. However, as if they had suffered some kind of aftereffect in their bodies, they were moving with great difficulty.
"Ah, help us. We were attacked by those Lordberg Kingdom bastards. We were hit by some strange poison. My legs, my legs are numb and won't move."
At the captain's words, a man who seemed to be the commander of this unit answered while dragging his lower body.
"Poison? ...Is it that rumor?"
The captain muttered with a bitter face. For the past few weeks, rumors had begun to circulate among some units that Lordberg Kingdom soldiers were attacking the Betumia Republic Army using a strange poison.
"It's all right now. We've finished looting and are on our way to merge with the main force. We'll take you back... Hey, clear more space on the wagon beds! You can throw away low-value loot! We're saving these guys!"
When the captain gave the order, the subordinates moved immediately. Several people organized the wagon beds, while the others rushed over to help the collapsed friendly soldiers.
"Th-thank you... You're a good guy."
"Don't worry about it. Aren't we comrades of the same army, the same country?"
"You really are a good guy... Which is why, it's a shame."
"Eh?"
The man muttered, then stood up with legs that were supposed to be paralyzed, drew a knife, and circled behind the captain. He then restrained the captain by pressing the knife against the nape of his neck from behind.
"W-what are you doing!"
The behavior of the other friendly soldiers was also strange. As if the previous suffering had been a lie, they moved nimbly, slashing the arms and legs of the captain's subordinates or stabbing them with something like needles.
"Ow!"
"Huh? What are you doing!"
The subordinates let out dissatisfied voices at the light wounds suddenly inflicted by the people they tried to help—and then, a few seconds later, their bodies stiffened and they collapsed one after another.
"Kuhaha! Just because someone is wearing Betumia armor and collapsed on the road doesn't necessarily mean they're a Betumia soldier, right? Your kindness became your undoing, didn't it?"
While keeping the captain restrained, the man—Viscount Queul of the Lordberg Kingdom nobility—laughed.
Viscount Queul, who had been hiding in the southeast and continuing to disrupt the enemy, had encountered a small unit of reinforcements that arrived from the northeast along with the end of winter, was told the outline of a new operation, and received a small vial of 'Angel's Nectar'.
Since then, he had been carrying out guerrilla warfare that was like harassment toward the enemy, and today he had trapped the enemy once again.
"Damn it! You're soldiers of the Lordberg Kingdom! Waiting in ambush while pretending to be wounded... Cowardly!"
"Since your side invaded our country with a surprise attack in the first place, cowardice is mutual... Now then, shall we walk a bit?"
Viscount Queul, while keeping the knife pressed to the captain's neck, pulled his body and ascended the mountain path. Once they crossed the pass, the two of them became invisible to the other soldiers.
After confirming that, Viscount Queul—covered the captain's mouth and slit his throat with the knife.
"~~~!!"
"Oops, don't struggle, don't struggle... You seemed like a good person. I feel bad killing you, but this is work."
Viscount Queul whispered into the ear of the captain, who was struggling and flailing while fresh blood sprayed from his neck, pinning him down from behind. When the captain ran out of strength, he tossed the corpse into the bushes by the side of the mountain path.
"...Now then, next."
Confirming that the captain's blood had not splattered on himself, Viscount Queul returned to the soldiers. His face had changed from the vulgar smile of a moment ago to a sorrowful one.
"Soldiers of the Betumia Republic Army! It is truly regrettable, but your captain took advantage of a momentary lapse, shook off my hand, and fled, abandoning his subordinates!"
While looking around at the Betumia soldiers, whose bodies and expressions could not move, but whose eyes alone were wide open in shock, Viscount Queul continued speaking.
"I asked if abandoning subordinates to flee was not a grave crime, but he simply ran away, saying, 'I have an acquaintance who is a politician in the Betumia Council, so they will cover it up.' To flee while being the only one with a healthy body, relying on connections to a politician, what a truly despicable man. Are all Betumia officers such people?"
As he spoke, Viscount Queul gave a light signal with his hand, and the Viscount's subordinates lifted the bodies of the Betumia soldiers and dragged them toward the downhill slope of the mountain path.
"We, the soldiers of the Lordberg Kingdom, shall help you pitiful souls who were abandoned by a despicable officer. We will carry you down the mountain path to the highway where visibility is good. There, it will be easy for other Betumia soldiers to discover you and rescue you."
On the way to carrying the Betumia soldiers to the highway at the bottom of the mountain, Viscount Queul continued to skillfully blow conspiracy theories into their ears, as many as he could think of, to incite dissatisfaction with their military upper management and distrust toward politicians.