In the end it was a good idea to go as far as landing right in the middle of the Holy City’s castle after having released one breath attack, Renya thinks.
The problem is what follows.
Although I tried threatening them to get the king over here, there’s absolutely no sign of the king making an appearance.
Moreover, Renya doesn’t know the Holy Kingdom’s king's face.
Because of this he can’t look for him by himself either.
Gradually Renya starts to get fed up due to the penance of continuously facing the Holy Kingdom’s soldiers’ scared looks and their trembling spear and sword tips while the clock only keeps ticking.
The emerald dragon below his feet only watches the situation while appearing to be somewhat amused after having quickly curled up on the ground and keeping its eyes partially open.
At that point in time its coercion was almost non-existent, but despite this, apparently unable to erase the power of its breath, which the soldiers witnessed at the beginning, from their heads, there were no courageous soldiers trying to attack the dragon.
“W-Who the hell are you bastard!?”
A soldier that has a little bit of backbone calls out from a slightly distant place, trying to ascertain Renya’s identity.
Renya answered while apparently finding it bothersome,
“I will speak once the king arrives.” (Renya)
“There’s no reason for a suspicious bastard like you to directly meet with the king!”
“That’s a problem, you know?” Renya says while not looking overly troubled at all.
Apparently sensing that, the dragon yawns grandly.
Isn’t that quite the cute yawn there? Renya wondered, but in the eyes of those in the surroundings, the dragon opening its mouth widely is nothing more than a dreadful act.
Renya can see a group that gets entangled as they try to escape in a state of panic while striving to be the first to get away.
“Well, just so that you know, for me it doesn’t really matter even if he doesn’t show up.” (Renya)
While saying that, Renya taps the body of the dragon and after getting its attention, Renya points at several places of the wall located at the outer section of the city.
With that much, the dragon apparently comprehended what it ought to do.
Lifting its head, green light leaks out from the dragon’s mouth once again.
“Y-You don’t! S-Stop!”
As if in response to that shout, a green flesh tears the night sky apart.
The pillar of light, created by the impact of the dragons' breath, caused the outer wall to fall apart just like brittle candy.
Among the roaring sounds of the stone that formed the outer wall crumbling, Renya said in a tone that was similar to informing others about something trivial,
“I intend to steadily whittle down this city until the king shows up. In the worst case, it will become easy to attack once all of it is gone, even if he doesn’t make his appearance.” (Renya)
Given that the city’s big, the outer wall is long as well.
Renya's eyes, who thinks This is a city worth leveling, meet with the dragon's eyes, which were sparkling for some reason.
Seemingly not having expected that reaction, Renya backs off slightly, but the dragon’s head follows him covering the distance he pulled back.
Guessing from this reaction, it looks like this dragon wants to destroy even more things by projecting its breath.
I wonder, do dragons also possess a destructive streak? Renya is puzzled.
As far as my conversations through thought were concerned, dragons felt a bit more composed to me, but no matter how you look at it, it is bluntly exhibiting its desire to go ballistic.
“It would be better if he came out quickly. Somehow it seems that this guy here is all eager to destroy the outer wall, got it? There’s no way for me to know how long it will endure waiting.” (Renya)
“What business do you have with me?”
Dividing the wall of people surrounding Renya and the dragon, the Holy Kingdom’s king showed up while wearing a formal dress he apparently put on in quite a hurry.
Is it because he hurried too much? His clothes are crumpled all over.
Renya took a long, hard look at the king’s appearance, whom he's seeing for the first time, but to him the king doesn’t seem like a person with much dignity.
Compared to Renya, he is around two heads shorter. Even his body build doesn’t give one the impression of being forged thanks to having faced many battles. To Renya he looked spindly.
And, the problem above all else is…
“I won’t know if you stay silent. I have asked you what kind of business you have with me.” (King)
“You are the Holy Kingdom’s king, correct?” (Renya)
Renya returns a question without even bothering to get off the dragon’s back.
That was of course not the proper attitude to take when dealing with the king of a country, but Renya’s mind considers the self-important old man in front of his eyes as unworthy of any respect beyond the necessary level of finishing things without having to cut him down as an enemy.
Originally, it should be fine to kill him without any warning, as he’s the enemy’s boss during a war.
Since Renya is trying to have a talk with the king while making do with not killing him on the spot, there’s no reason for him to get blamed and instead he should be praised.
“Indeed, I’m the king of the Holy Kingdom, the 24th…”
“Ah, I have no need for your name. It’s pretty pointless to remember your name.” (Renya)
Renya interrupted the words of the king who tried to name himself.
Being stopped during his introduction all of a sudden, the king looked displeased, but in Renya’s eyes he doesn’t need his name as it will be fine as long as he knows that the other party is the king.
“Well then, I have a question to you, king of the Holy Kingdom. With you having dispatched troops towards the Trident Principality on this occasion, do you believe that that very country has sided with the demons?” (Renya)
“I-Indeed. This is the truth that was announced under the name of the hero and the goddess.”
“Hoo?” (Renya)
Renya places his left hand on the katana hanging at his waist.
Slightly pressing the katana’s guard with his thumb, the blade, which peeked out a bit once it left the sheath’s mouth, shone as it reflected the faint illumination.
As if being stabbed by that light, the king retreats several steps.
“I suppose you bastards believe in that truth or whatsoever as well?” (Renya)
“O-… Of course.”
I guess there’s no other option but to kill him, Renya judged.
Being asked whether he is an enemy, the king affirmed that.
Without any room for discussion, the only choice remaining here is to silence the king by slaying him.
Did those thoughts appear on his face? The king, who made eye contact with Renya, screams shortly and slumps down on the spot.
The soldiers, who are about to let the king escape after helping him on his feet, can’t move as they desire either because their legs are shaking due to the aftermath of the bloodthirst Renya hurled at the king.
And moreover, even the dragon’s body below Renya started to tremble.
“Hey, why are you so scared?” (Renya)
“But!”
Due to the words that partly sounded like a scream, Renya, who looked at the dragon below his feet, threw a glaring glance at the king.
With his waist having given in, unable to move his legs as he wishes and with his arms not doing what he tells them to do, even as he tries to get away from Renya by crawling, the king searches for the words he should say while frantically wrecking his brain.
That’s because he guessed that he would very likely sink in a pool of blood without being able to see tomorrow’s sunrise right here and now once he stops looking for them.
“Since ancient times the Trident Principality has been a country that bore the duty of being a breakwater against demons and monsters on the human continent. Something like them readily siding with the demons is very doubtful!”
“So?” (Renya)
“Beyond that… I can’t say! If I do, I will be banished by the church as a heretic that didn’t believe in the goddess's words and who went against the hero. As the one standing above all people of the Holy Kingdom and as king of the Holy Kingdom, that’s something I can’t do!”
If one were to hear that out of context, it sounds like he’s saying something cool, but since he’s actually only scared of opposing the hero and the church, it’s nothing more than a miserable confession that he has no other option but to do as he’s told.
Even so, well, it’s something I can understand as those called statesman are probably all more or less just like that.
“Then let’s talk about an assumptive if ?” (Renya)
“What?”
Renya started to speak calmly while returning the slightly drawn blade into its scabbard.
At the same time as the blade was completely sheathed in the scabbard, the scattered bloodthirst vanished like mist as well.
“If the hero, who is currently invading Trident Principality, vanished from this world. Would that make it possible for you to overturn your previous remark?” (Renya)
“That is…”
The king was at a loss for words, obviously troubled on how to answer.
It looks like he’s deliberating what would be the best way to answer while slightly moving about, unable to calm down, letting his gaze wander across the surroundings and then raising his eyes towards Renya who is looking down on him from atop the dragon.
From the king’s standpoint, it’s probably something he wants to agree with right away in reality.
However, as that’s the same as abandoning the hero, those are not words he can voice out, as the hero is still going strong.
Besides, it’s likely that he doubts whether Renya can definitely kill the hero.
One can say that it’s extremely unsightly for the king to still consider the safety of his own hide as the most important this late in the game, but for humans you might call that an appropriate train of thought.
“I have a suggestion. Give up on the hero and the 100,000 soldiers that are accompanying him in the invasion.” (Renya)
“What did you… say…!?”
Not only the king, but also the soldiers started to get noisy due to Renya’s statement.
Without caring about that noise, Renya continues,
“Going by the situation, it’s probably unreasonable for me to tell you to pull them back, right?” (Renya)
“Y…eah.”
“If there are soldiers you can pull back, do it quickly, as I will overlook those. After all it’s not like I know how many people are going to die after they arrived at the capital city of the Trident Principality, right?” (Renya)
Renya would like him to pull back the majority of soldiers if possible, but he’s concerned that the king will start looking down on him if he says that.
In the worst case Renya intends to ignore even the soldiers that run away from the battle after arriving at the capital, but that’s also something he can’t mention.
That’s because the king will think it's fine even if he decides sometime during the army's mobilization towards the capital.
The longer the soldiers persist on continuing the invasion, the more damage the Trident Principality will incur.
He would like them to exit the country as fast as possible, but harm should have already been done.
The Trident Principality’s side ought to feel like a victim that was attacked for no reason, too.
Because of these circumstances, I suppose there’s no other option but to have them suffer some sacrifices, Renya believes.
Of course, the first on the list, who escalated the situation into such horseplay, is that hero-sama, though.
“I will make sure that only the hero doesn’t return. As soon as that’s finished, you will revoke the directive regarding the Trident Principality in your name and blame all of it on that deluded, obsessed hero. However, as the Holy Kingdom also bears responsibility for being unable to stop the misdeeds of the hero, you will announce that the kingdom will pay reparations to all nations that are participating in this time’s war.” (Renya)
“Reparations…”
Renya clearly grasped the face of the king going pale even within the poor light of the night.
The countries except for the Holy Kingdom have contributed half of the 100,000 soldiers of the allied forces.
Even Renya couldn’t anticipate how many of those soldiers would be pulled back, how many would arrive at the capital city and how many would die there, but he’s pretty sure that it won’t be a low number.
Just how much money will it take to compensate for such a number of soldiers?
Even if the Holy Kingdom’s framework won’t fall apart, it’s probably no mistake to think that it will suffer a considerably serious blow, Renya estimates.
If that hard blow weakens the Holy Kingdom at its foundation, you can consider that to be a good thing in itself, and even if that doesn’t happen, the Holy Kingdom will likely become docile after returning to its former standard as its national power will decline thanks to those reparations.
It was a proposal that included those thoughts.
“Feel free to tell me if you are against it. What, it’s not like our side wants to go easy on you. It would be best if we change the Holy Kingdom itself into an empty lot after thoroughly killing you and the 100,000 soldiers. All that will be left then is to slowly discuss the compensation with the other countries.” (Renya)
“It will work out somehow if we turn all the assets possessed by the Holy Kingdom into compensation”, Renya laughs. Thereupon the king and even the soldiers in the surroundings became pale to an amusing degree.
“Well then, what will you do? If you refuse, we will start with this place first.” (Renya)
Once Renya asks that, the dragon below him glared at the people present to intimidate them.
Those present, including the king, nodded their heads, obviously having no other choice and acknowledged the matters in accordance with Renya’s will.