Chapter 26
Chapter 26
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: The White Flag
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Clunk-.
Clatter-!
Inside the shaking train.
Makina, jolted awake, froze at the sight of the black-haired lady leisurely savoring her tea right in front of her. Eve Claudia. A VIP customer and patron of the Ars family.
At the same time, the target she had tried to assassinate, and the enemy who had stolen her life's work.
Makina glared up at Eve with eyes blazing with resentment. It was a good thing her hands and feet were tightly bound. Otherwise, she would have lunged forward to tear that loathsome face apart.
"You're awake?"
Eve looked down at Makina, who was shooting her a scorching glare, and took a light sip of her tea. Amid the sweet, bittersweet aroma of black tea filling the compartment, Eve silently tilted her cup until it was empty before finally speaking.
"─There's one thing I want to ask."
"……."
"How did you know I stole that technology?"
Biting her lip at the question, Makina answered cautiously.
"……Because it even had my signature on it."
"Ah─ Really? I'm clueless about that sort of thing, so I had no idea. I'll have to be more careful next time."
"Next…?"
Tilting her head at the incomprehensible words, Eve noted the point for reflection, taking it to heart as she closed her eyes. Even now, memories from the previous loop flashed vividly in her mind like photographs. Vivid enough to copy a blueprint she had only glanced at, down to the exact letter.
However, she lacked the engineering knowledge to understand what each part did. Rather than clumsily tinkering with it, she figured it was better to just copy the entire blueprint and submit it as is.
Who knew that would be a flaw. She hadn't even imagined it.
Well, being a regressor didn't make her perfect.
It just meant she had one more chance than others.
Finishing her reflection, Eve quietly opened her eyes and looked down at Makina.
"Makina Ars. I've already reported what you did to Count Ars."
"……Fast."
"And I got this reply."
What Makina Ars had done was as follows.
Attempted murder of the Duke's Lady. Assassination of numerous nobles.
Either one alone was a major scandal that could lead to ostracism in noble society. With the power of Duke Claudia, one of the kingdom's five pillars? It was a crime severe enough for execution.
Upon hearing what his daughter had done, the Count had declared:
It has nothing to do with the Ars family.
In other words, the Count had disowned his daughter.
"Whether I break you or not, it's my freedom from now on."
"Do whatever you want."
"Exactly that."
Eve flashed a sly smile.
"From now on, you'll work for me and our territory."
"If you think I'll work diligently."
"Of course, you don't have to."
"……?"
Natural defiance. Makina wondered if Eve planned to torture her. But no amount of pain could break an artisan's stubborn pride. Especially not for someone like Makina, who had taken to assassinating nobles the moment she realized her research had been stolen.
However, what Eve had in mind was something Makina couldn't even dream of.
"You'll end up begging me to let you work."
"Never."
Such a thing would never happen.
Makina steeled herself like that, but…
Exactly one month later.
"……Please."
"Hm?"
"Please, let me do something……."
Before the crushing boredom of being able to do nothing but eat and sleep…
Even an artisan's stubborn pride had to break.
The border of Claudia Duchy.
The soldiers stationed here, bordering the plains where the barbarians dwelled, yawned widely as they blankly stared at the empty expanse of nothing.
Not because they were particularly lazy, but because months of utterly peaceful days with no incidents had dragged on.
"Nice weather─."
"Yeah."
"When's the shift change?"
"Still two months left."
"Sigh. What are we even doing, stuck in a dump like this on a day like this……."
Peace rusts the blade.
The soldiers of Claudia Duchy felt that proverb keenly.
To the point where they almost wished for something to happen by now.
"Hm-?"
"What?"
"No, something over there……."
And the soldier's wish came true.
The soldier squinted at the dust cloud rising in the distance.
In the utterly empty plains, anything out of place stood out immediately.
Especially something kicking up that much dust.
Without hesitation, the soldier raised his telescope and peered toward the cloud.
And soon.
"─Emergency! Emergeeeency-!"
Spotting dozens of approaching barbarians, he immediately sounded the alarm.
Hearing the blaring horns and pounding drums, soldiers rushed over and took aim at the barbarians with their rifles from atop the walls. Against a normal army, that might have been reassuring, but not against barbarians.
They were infamous for shrugging off bullets with their bare bodies. Guns and walls alone weren't enough to relax against them.
By the time the unit was fully combat-ready, the barbarians approached at a leisurely pace. Seeing the fully armed troops, they cautiously pulled something out.
What the barbarians drew forth.
The moment they saw the pure white leather, the soldiers assumed it was some shamanistic artifact.
But as they watched the lone barbarian warrior approach, waving the white leather… the misconception soon faded, revealing the truth.
"─I am Udura. Warrior of the Jina Tribe, bearer of the flag of peace."
The barbarian warrior waved the white flag.
"We desire peace."
It was a gesture signifying surrender.
What are barbarians?
They don't understand words.
They hold fighting as a virtue.
They revere dying in battle and act as if surrender is an alien concept.
Such tales were the most widespread descriptions of barbarians.
That was why, when the word "surrender" came from barbarians' mouths, the ducal residence hadn't taken it at face value and had dispatched their finest forces.
And.
At the front lines, Enri sat at the negotiation table, staring at the barbarians seated across from him.
'They really here to surrender?'
He gave a wry smile as he took in the spells and tattoos etched across their bodies. The reason barbarians could withstand bullets: shamanism.
The barbarians' own magic, countering mages' spells. Enhanced by shamanism, they deflected bullets bare-handed and shattered rocks with their fists. Even now, sitting at the table without weapons, they were no different from fully armed knights.
The other barbarian warriors outside were probably the same. Ready to turn into guerrillas at a moment's notice if talks broke down.
"─Udura, right?"
"Yes."
"I'm Enri. If you're surrendering, you've brought fitting tribute?"
"Of course. The Jina Tribe trades honestly, without deceit."
"Didn't know you folks were such gentlemen."
Udura bloomed a sly smile in reply. Seeing it, Enri felt an emotion hard to put into words, his face twisting. It was the same vibe he got from crooked nobles pocketing bribes in their back pockets.
"Our conditions are exceedingly simple. The kingdom doesn't attack us first. The kingdom gifts us food. The kingdom returns our princess."
"And then?"
"Then the Jina Tribe will take the kingdom as brothers. We won't attack. We'll gift rare treasures from the plains. That's all."
Having heard all the conditions, Enri's face scrunched up. If a seasoned negotiator had been in his seat, they'd be crunching numbers right then: food costs versus soldier salaries to fend them off, rare plains-exclusive items, monster hides or gem mines no longer found in the kingdom, development expenses─all calculated in a flash.
But Eve had sent him here on purpose.
It meant she expected something from him.
Not mere calculations, but to see the essence…
'……These guys.'
As expected of the Lady, Enri's instincts zeroed in on the secret they were hiding.
'Something's fishy.'
Enri sat still, chin propped on his hand, staring intently─a rude act, but the opponent crossed his legs nonchalantly, waiting for a reply.
That composure. Far too calm for any barbarians he'd encountered before. Enri intuited exactly what his hunch had latched onto.
"Fine. We'll do it."
"─Really?"
"Yeah. Though it'll take some time."
"We can wait. Just promise not to attack us first."
"Ah─ that's not my call. Hang tight."
Smiling as if accepting the white flag, Enri rose from his seat and left the table with a hollow chuckle.
'Brothers, my ass.'
These weren't barbarians.
To be precise, they weren't the Jina Tribe that Claudia Duchy had dealt with before.
Enri realized it from their demands.
Barbarians weren't singular.