Editor: Tan & Moosebruce
Day 176 after being summoned to another world: (Decisive Battle 4)
Lupis looked at the face of the man that appeared before her.
Black eyes and black hair.
An average body build with yellow-toned skin.
Apart from the difference in height, the characteristics of the man are very similar to those of Mikoshiba Ryouma.
Humans with some similar features is fairly common, but this is the first time she has seen someone who has all the same characteristics as another.
Needless to say, the other one with such characteristics is Mikoshiba Ryouma.
"Please don’t stare at me that intently, it’s making me feel embarrassed..."
Usually the one who say these sort of lines would be someone like a princess. When it is said by a man, however, it gives the impression of someone shy.
And the man standing of her was giving off that vibe.
He has a decent-looking face with some hints of wrinkles, and his belly slightly protrudes.
If one were to guess, his age is probably around 40.
But despite having such a body, his arms are thick and robust, implying that he's a warrior.
Although the man spoke in a gentle tone, Lupis did not let her guard down.
"Well, I suppose it can't be helped that you are wary of me since I did disturb you in the middle of the night like this. That being said, can't we at least sit down?"
Sudou proceeded to sit down on a chair without waiting for Lupis’ reply.
"I will ask once again, who are you?"
Lupis thrusted her sword at Sudou's neck, who was sitting on the chair.
"I'm called Sudou Akitake."
"Your aim?"
"To negotiate with you, Princess Lupis."
"How did you managed to sneak in here?"
"I swam from the upstream of Thaves river and went to the campsite. Oh right, the commander here is Mikoshiba-san, right? Since he seems to have placed extra security near the moat, the river banks had minimal protection... Because of that, I was able to come here."
Sudou let out a laugh as he finished his sentence.
(This guy... He swam through the Thaves river...)
Certainly, people with know-how would be able to swim.
And there is no denying that the security near the river banks is way more relaxed than other places.
The question now is why he came here.
"What is it that you want to negotiate?"
"Could you please withdraw this dangerous thing first? It is rather difficult to speak when your highness’ sword is pointing at my neck."
Lupis looked him in the eyes to see if he was telling the truth.
Nevertheless, it is indeed rude to point a sword at anyone while holding a negotiation.
Even if that is a suspicious man who sneaked into a princess' tent in the middle of the night.
After some consideration, Lupis pulled back her sword.
Although she pulled it back, shestill kept the sword near her just in case, as insurance.
"Good... Let us negotiate in a peaceful manner."
"No need for chit-chat. State your goal."
Princess Lupis gazed at Sudou.
Despite being stared at, Sudou’s expression remained relaxed.
"As you might have presumed, I'm serving Duke Gerhardt. Well, not quite exactly that but something along that line."
Lupis decided to ignore his introduction.
She thought that if she responded to everything he said, it would take forever to reach his real objective.
With her intention for no idle talk made clear, Sudou straightened up his expression.
"Let's see... I’ll be blunt. Duke Gerhardt wants to capitulate to Princess Lupis."
"Capitulate? You don’t mean surrender?"
Lupis tried to rephrase Sudou's words.
Although she was lacking in experience, her educational background is far superior to that of an average person...
In this situation, either the man was sent to kill her or to deliver the surrender message from Duke Gerhardt.
"No, Duke Gerhardt really wants to capitulate to Princess Lupis."
Lupis frowned at Sudou's reply.
" Are you even aware of your current situation? Why would I accept Gerhardt’s capitulation now?"
Between surrendering and capitulating, the difference is huge.
In the case of surrendering, Duke Gerhardt would be executed.
All his territory and wealth would be confiscated.
On the other hand, in the case of capitulation, she couldn’t just execute Gerhardt.
And although his territory would be significantly reduced, it couldn’t be completely crushed. Additionally, some properties would need to be guaranteed as well.
In a war of good versus evil, the goal would usually be to force the enemy to surrender. Even when one side is capitulating, they still couldn’t demand too much from such a position of weakness.
Because this fight is a fight for supremacy, Princess Lupis is not in a situation to care about Gerhardt’s demands.
With this knowledge, Lupis immediately rejected Sudou’s proposal.
What’s more, Duke Gerhardt has been supporting an illegitimate child to become the queen, causing a huge rebellion in the kingdom.
From Lupis’ point of view, Gerhardt is the culprit and mastermind behind everything.
It is impossible for her to even consider sparing his life.
That was, until the moment she heard the next words from Sudou.
"Mikhail Bahashu, does that name ring a bell?"
Lupis’ expression changed drastically.
The name of the person she was just mourning came out of nowhere.
She could not hide her surprise.
"Eh?... What do you mean?... It can't be!"
The name of the man who was supposedly dead was mentioned by an enemy messenger.
This could only mean one thing.
"Don't tell me... Mikhail is..."
As she was speaking, something was suddenly thrown inside the tent.
*Shuka*
*SyuSyu*
Blades of wind flew past and struck the chair where Sudou was previously sitting.
"Eh?"
Lupis was left speechless.
The figure of Sudou who had the impression of being slow and sloppy had disappeared from the chair.
Sudou was able to react and stand up in the blink of an eye.
"That's dangerous, you know? No matter how suspicious I look, to attack out of nowhere is a little bit rude, don't you think?"
Sudou pulled out the chakram that was stuck in the chair.
"This is unusual... Someone capable of using this weapon... It was you, wasn’t it, Mikoshiba Ryouma?"
As soon as he finished his sentence, another chakram came flying in Sudou's direction.
"Oh my, are you ignoring me?"
Sudou deflected the chakram using the chair.
Despite all of this, Sudou's tone of voice remained easy-going.
Ryouma continuously threw battle chakrams at him, one after another.
"Can't you at least say something? It feels like I’m talking to myself here."
While saying that, Sudou threw a chakram in his hand back toward the entrance of the tent.
Sudou didn’t expect to hit Ryouma with just that.
He only wanted to provoke Ryouma.
His eyes were vigilantly focused on the entrance of the tentnot knowing that Ryouma had a plan.
"Your Highness! Here!"
Meltina appeared behind Princess Lupis by tearingthe fabric tent.
"Meltina!"
"Your Highness! Hurry!"
After making their way out of the tent, the next thing the princess saw was a group of knights surrounding the tent.
"Please forgive me for the earlier blunder, your highness! I shall receive my punishment for this mistake later!"
Meltina said while bowing her head toward Princess Lupis.
"Mikoshiba-dono! Her highness is safe!"
As Meltina signalled, the surrounding knights stepped forward with torches in their hands.
"Do it!"
Following Ryouma's order, the Knights immediately threw the torches toward the tent.
"Wait! Don't kill him! Meltina! Please, bring the water!"
Lupis raised her voice in desperation.
(Not yet! From what Sudou said... Mikhail is...)
All her hope of seeing Mikhail again clung on Sudou’s fate.
However, it was too late.
The torches ferociously set the tent ablaze.
Moreover, in the event that Sudou managed to somehow escape from the tent, the surrounding knights were ready with their swords.
"What are you talking about your highness? Isn't he an assassin?"
Meltina questioned the princess’ unexpected demand.
After hearing that the princess was in a dangerous situation, she acted promptly according to Ryouma's order. Hence she was unable to comprehend the current situation.
She was not aware of the fact that Sudou had mentioned Mikhail’s name.
"It's fine! Go help him, now!"
"But still... He's..."
The tent was wrapped in fire.
Normally, anyone trapped inside of a tent on fire would suffocate and eventually collapse due to the lack of air. This would leave them helpless from being burnt to death.
Sudou’s chance of survival is almost impossible.
However, Meltina immediately heard a certain voice.
"Uooh! This guy..."
"Spear corps, foward!"
"Don't let him escape!"
Meltina heard the voices of the Knights from the opposite side.
"Meltina!"
"Yes, ma’am!"
While she hadn’t grasped the situation entirely, she could tell that Princess Lupis clearly did not wish to kill the man.
Meltina decided to follow her order and told the knights to stand down.
"Geez... You sure are cruel, you know? Couldn’t you spare me some mercy?"
Sudou appeared before Ryouma.
His clothes were burned in several places, yet he was as calm as ever.
"You bastard... Are you really human?"
The sight of Sudou walking effortlessly out of the tent cloaked in fire was really an astonishing sight, one that even Ryouma couldn’t help but be surprised at.
"Oh! You’ve finally said something! Thank goodness!"
Ryouma ignored Sudou's comment and drew his sword silently.
"Oh? Back to the silent treatment? Geez, you're really an unsociable one..."
*Byuu*
Ignoring Sudou's words, Ryouma closed the distance between them in a single instant and scythed down his katana.
*Clang*
There was the sound of metal clashing as red sparks scattered between the two.
Without anyone noticing, Sudou had pulled out a dagger from somewhere.
"Can we settle this battle at a later date?"
Sudou said while defending against Ryouma with only a dagger.
(Is he being serious or not? Is this really so easy for him?)
The Knights enclosed the surroundings, unable to gauge Sudou's true intentions.
*Doga!*
Ryouma’s right foot powerfully stamped the ground.
He had tried to stamp Sudou’s foot, but Sudou had managed to avoid it.
Sudou used this chance to create some distance between them.
"Geez... You really intend on ignoring me huh? This is not the time for us to fight you know."
Ryouma silently raised his sword and prepared for a powerful strike.
Murderous intent emanated from his eyes.
"Jodan-no-kamae? This is bad."
Sudou sounded resigned to receiving the attack.
An attack launched from that stance would be two times heavier and stronger than normal.
And there's no technique that Sudou knew able to defend against it using only a dagger.
Even if he were able to defend against it, his body would be thrown down by the force.
(This bad... For me to die here is...)
But he hasn’t run out of luck yet.
"Wait! Mikoshiba-dono!"
Meltina appeared, stopping Ryouma.
She was breathing so hard, it seemed she had run while shouting the whole way here.
"What's wrong? Why did you ask me to stop?"
Ryouma asked Meltina without changing his stance.
His line of sight was still directed toward Sudou.
"I don't know! But her highness asked me to stop you!"
"Her Highness Lupis? Is that true?"
"Indeed. There's no doubt. I received the order personally."
Ryouma exhaled heavily and lowered his sword.
"Alright... But I still don't know the situation. Please bring the princess here. "
"I'm here..."
From behind the knight, Lupis stepped forward.
"... Can you explain what's going on here?"
Ryouma asked Lupis without sheathing his sword.
Ryouma saw no reason to keep such suspicious man alive.
Furthermore, Sudou might still bare his fangs.
"Fine then... Sudou, there's something I would like to ask as well! How about we change the setting first?"
"Sure, I don't mind. I also want to continue the previous conversation."
Sudou replied, nodding his head in agreement.
"Then Ryouma, can you prepare a new tent? Meltina, go call Elena!"
"I understand... But please be careful..."
After saying that, Ryouma left the scene to follow Lupis' instruction.
Sudou made a doubtful expression after hearing Lupis’ words.
"Your highness, why did you invite the others? I only want to talk with your highness directly."
He thought that there should be a chance for negotiation if the princess was willing to listen.
And by not having him being killed, he knew that she was interested in Mikhail's well being.
But she had invited the others.
Why?
After all, this could be considered the Princess’ personal affair.
Sudou assumed that the princess wouldn’t want many people to hear about it.
"Since I will have to make a decision that will affect the kingdom as a ruler, I can't decide it arbitrarily. Or maybe you won't be able to talk if there's a lot of people?"
Sudou realized that Princess Lupis is still cautious of him.
(Fuuh... She's not as stupid as I thought. Well, with this I should be able to do something... She's someone without much experience anyway... The problem is that man. I was wondering what kind of person had killed Gaies-sama, but indeed, he seems troublesome...)
Sudou desperately held down the murderous intent that began to spring out from his heart.
It is not the time for him to confront Mikoshiba Ryouma yet.
Because there's a mission Sudou needs to complete.
(Even if I want to kill him, I won't be able to do it in any ordinary way... It would become dangerous if I force it here... Well, whatever. For now, I should prioritize my mission.)
Sudou quickly calculated his plan while giving his consent to Princess Lupis to talk in the presence of the others.
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