Chapter 86
Chapter 86
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 86
Chapter Title: The Mayor's Dilemma
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“What should I do? What should I do? What should I do?”
Calvert Sion, the mayor of Rozin, paced his office anxiously, gnawing at his fingernails.
It was hard to believe this man was the leader of a city with 12,000 residents—not counting the surrounding district, which brought the total population to 27,000—and territory as vast as a mid-sized barony.
Knock knock.
“Mayor, it’s Bellin and Miuran’s group.”
“Y-yes, show them in quickly.”
At Calvert’s urgent words, the office door opened, and seven men and women filed in.
“Come on in!”
“How have you been, Mayor?”
The seven greeted him courteously in response to Calvert’s warm welcome.
With their brown skin and curly hair, along with exotic features and attire slightly different from that of the Dukedom or the Obla Kingdom, they were clearly not from the Dukedom.
“Yes, yes. Enough with the greetings. Bellin, how did it go? Any good news?”
At Calvert’s impatient demeanor, the woman called Bellin stepped forward.
A beauty with blue eyes and black hair, she swallowed her triumphant smile and continued in a most polite tone to the suddenly beaming Calvert.
“The council of Yajan has decided to accept your request, Mayor.”
“Oho!”
“But I hear a provisional council has been formed in Shionia with Handler as the Duke’s proxy and the ministers. Our council in Yajan is deeply concerned about potential clashes with them.”
“Moreover, you requested reinforcements from Shionia, didn’t you? They’ll arrive soon, and it would be awkward for Yajan to support Rozin under those circumstances.”
“Ah…….”
Calvert’s face darkened rapidly. Seeing this, Bellin clicked her tongue inwardly.
‘How did an idiot like this end up as mayor of a city like this? In times like these, you don’t play both sides—you go all in on one. What a fool.’
Of course, Bellin knew exactly why Calvert was mayor of Rozin.
It was thanks to the “Sion” in his name.
The mayoral position in Rozin had always gone to the Rozin family solely because of that “Sion.”
It had been an unwritten rule since the founder, Duke Jang Sion, entrusted the city to his third son.
Other executives and officials under the mayor changed constantly, but the mayor alone always came from the “Sion Rozin” family. And it would continue that way.
‘Not that it matters. Half the high officials here are already on our payroll anyway.’
Bellin smirked inwardly.
Over the past few years, they had spent chests full of gold coins to buy off Rozin’s officials.
Of course, it hadn’t been possible from the start.
But just over a year ago, infighting had erupted between the direct lines of Paloma and Shionia in the Sion Dukedom—a golden opportunity for the Yajan merchants who had long eyed the two southern cities.
“What will you do, Mayor? Shall we bring in the mercenaries from Yajan as originally planned? We have no issue with it, but we’re concerned it might put you in a difficult position later.”
At Bellin’s words, her right-hand man and lover, Miuran, stepped forward.
“We can have Yajan’s mercenaries arrive at Rozin Port in five days if you give the word. Eight hundred proven Yajan mercenaries should be more than enough to drive off the monsters threatening the Rozin district.”
The one-eyed Miuran was a Yajan merchant who had once been a mercenary. More accurately, a pirate.
After all, most merchants who sailed from Yajan were merchants兼pirates.
And so were the mercenaries he had just mentioned.
‘Pirates, that’s what they are, heh heh. If they chase off the monsters half-heartedly and then dig in here under some pretext?’
They wouldn’t even need all eight hundred.
If just two or three hundred managed to settle in, Rozin would effectively become a Yajan appendage from that moment on.
With over half the high officials already in their pocket and hundreds of troops to boot.
And this foolish mayor still dependent on them.
‘Starting here, we’ll push into Fland next. It’ll take a bit longer there, but if we swallow Fland too?’
They’d dominate the southern tip of the Sion Dukedom’s protruding peninsula.
That meant Yajan would control half the vast inner sea and its trade routes.
“Eight hundred…….”
“Is that too few? We can send a second wave if you wish.”
“No, no. The numbers are sufficient. It’s just……I can’t help comparing them to the reinforcements supposedly coming from Shionia.”
“Ah, so you’ve heard from Handler about sending reinforcements?”
“Yes. But the number……it’s less than a hundred.”
“What? Pfft!”
Miuran burst out laughing despite himself. Bellin and the other Yajanners twitched their lips too.
Even if it wasn’t as many as their first wave of mercenaries, they should’ve sent at least three or four hundred to put out this fire.
Less than a hundred?
Were the top brass of the Sion Dukedom all incompetents?
Well, that explained why they’d squabbled over titles for a year, barely patched things up, and couldn’t even decide on a duke—instead creating some nonsense position like “Handler.”
“Mayor, if I may be so bold, can less than a hundred troops get you through this crisis? It seems the Three-Headed Eagle Castle and Handler aren’t paying much attention to Rozin……or something like that.”
“Perhaps Handler hasn’t taken full command of the Dukedom’s army? Otherwise, they wouldn’t dispatch so few…….”
“Er, um. That could be.”
The moment Calvert heard that Yonas had taken Handler’s place and the Dukedom’s forces had crushed the Pamell Count family, he’d abandoned his fence-sitting and bowed low.
But that had been a mistake.
Panicking and acting swiftly was one thing, but he’d overdone it.
Because, as Bellin and Miuran had just pointed out, Handler was continuing to act in ways that suggested he hadn’t fully subordinated the Dukedom’s army or properly reclaimed military authority.
There were circumstances and misjudgments involved, but the puppet mayor Calvert in his fear—and Bellin and Miuran as foreigners—had no way of knowing the full picture.
Especially the Yajanners, who sailed only along the coast and hadn’t yet heard the details of what had transpired inland with the Pamell Count family and the August Territory.
Even the nobles of the Obla Kingdom had only gleaned bits and pieces through information guilds, so it was impossible for Yajanners to know first.
Thus, they made a colossal miscalculation.
“Mayor, it seems either Shionia’s situation is still dire, or they’re treating Rozin with utter contempt—one or the other. What are your thoughts?”
To Bellin and Miuran, it was clear the Dukedom’s center in Shionia and the Three-Headed Eagle Castle ministers were still in chaos.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t respond so dismissively to a support request from Rozin, the Dukedom’s third-largest city.
“That’s how it looks to me too. Hmm. In that case…….”
“Shouldn’t we handle the most urgent matter first?”
“Indeed. Then…….”
Calvert took a brief breath before addressing the Yajan merchants.
“Bring in the mercenaries. Dealing with the monsters comes first, no matter what.”
‘Got him!’
Bellin and Miuran exchanged glances and clenched their fists.
In five or six days, the mercenaries (pirates, if you read between the lines) would arrive, and Rozin would fall into their hands.
“Mayor, the city’s residents will cheer your wise decision.”
“It will also deepen the friendship between Rozin and Yajan.”
The two lovers, vulture-like—no, shark-like given their seafaring ways—hid their dark intentions and praised Calvert.
Up to this point, they were convinced everything was settled.
That is, until the day after they sent a fast ship back to Yajan from Calvert’s office—and the day before an armed force arrived in Rozin.
* * *
“Who……did you say came?”
“Reinforcements from the Three-Headed Eagle Castle! Elite troops including warriors from the North Mountain, South Mountain, and High Mountain Elves, Mayor!”
The Rozin City Guard Captain rushed in with a beaming face to report.
Yet even with the long-awaited reinforcements’ arrival, Mayor Calvert’s expression soured.
‘Why now, of all times! And it’s not that many troops anyway—why’s this guy so thrilled?’
“Less than a hundred, right? Will that even help?”
“Ah! I haven’t reported this yet. On their way here, the reinforcements subdued three villages and slew over a thousand kobolds and goblins.”
“W-what!?”
Calvert jumped in shock.
Not a few hundred, but over a thousand monsters?
A thousand might sound simple, but mobilizing the entire city guard might barely suffice.
And they did it with fewer than a hundred?
‘D-did they really send only the absolute elites? This changes everything.’
Calvert suddenly recalled his decision from yesterday.
He’d thought Shionia’s reinforcements were too pitiful, so he’d told them to bring in Yajan mercenaries.
But if……just suppose these reinforcements alone resolved the monster crisis?
‘W-what happens then?’
Calvert’s mind grew chaotic.
Meanwhile, the city’s high officials buzzed upon hearing the astonishing news.
Some knew the mayor had agreed yesterday to bring in mercenaries from Yajan.
“Bring in the reinforcements first. Yes, I need to meet their leader.”
“Yes, sir. They’re heading to City Hall now. There’s someone called an instructor who seems to be the captain—I’ll send him straight to your office.”
Moments later, the officials scattered, and Calvert returned to his office.
A few of them hurried to the inn where Bellin and Miuran were staying to relay the news.
“Hmm. Even a rotting fish is from Kunji—they must have some skill, those Sion Dukedom soldiers?”
Miuran chuckled, stroking Bellin’s waist at her words.
“They probably got lucky and ran into a stray hundred or two monsters, then exaggerated. Once our boys arrive, they won’t even breathe in front of them. Rozin’s as good as done.”
“You’re right. Still, we should check out the captain ourselves. Coming with?”
“Let’s. If we can win them over, great. If not, we’ll crush their spirits. Heh heh.”
The ex-pirate Miuran was confident in his abilities.
He had a track record of killing several knights and such who strutted around.
Arrogant weaklings like noble knights could be humbled in any number of ways.
So the lovers paid little heed to the news of this oddly named “Sparrowhawk Unit” of reinforcements.
Had they known what was unfolding in the mayor’s office as they leisurely prepared to head to City Hall, their thoughts would have changed entirely.
(To be continued next time)