Chapter 192
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Translator: Prime Works
Chapter: 192
Chapter Title: Between Kidnapping and Fishing (2)
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‘Is that what fishing is?’
An endless feast of too-much talk.
The kidnappers stood before it, dumbfounded.
Watching the scene inside the warehouse, Haviel furrowed his brow slightly.
‘Did Lord Lloyd predict this whole situation?’
It seemed that way.
It suddenly came to mind.
Was it this afternoon?
Lloyd had unusually spoken to him with a serious face.
He said he would be kidnapped tonight.
So stay near the lodging.
Don’t step in until he was in real danger.
Tail the kidnappers and watch the situation.
He had given those instructions.
So he had asked back.
Who were the kidnappers?
How could he predict something like that?
Lloyd had just grinned and said.
Intuition.
“…….”
Haviel’s eyes deepened as he recalled Lloyd’s words.
Sometimes—no, often—he found the young master he served mysteriously intriguing.
It was too accurate to call it just intuition.
Was it sharp instincts?
Or a brilliant mind?
‘No, it’s too remarkable to dismiss as that.’
He didn’t believe Lloyd was a genius.
He had watched him closely, after all.
Sure, his wits turned a bit quicker than most.
But there was no flash of genius-level intellect.
That was why.
‘There might be something I don’t know about.’
Looking back, it had been that way.
Long ago, when he had struggled to perfect the Asrahan Heart Method, Lloyd had seen through it.
Or when he predicted the king’s assassination in the capital.
And in Namaran City, suspecting the black mage Kannavaro.
‘Sometimes…… he feels like someone who’s glimpsed or experienced the future of this world.’
Of course, he knew that was impossible.
Yet the feeling persisted.
As if he had borrowed fragments of memories from an omniscient being.
Lloyd often displayed predictive abilities beyond his senses and intellect.
Today was similar.
‘Then I’ll keep watching.’
He couldn’t be certain yet.
It was just a hunch.
Haviel peered deeper into the warehouse with intensified focus.
He observed Lloyd toying with the kidnappers with just his tongue.
Fortunately(?), Lloyd’s endless talk was now heading toward its conclusion.
“……And that’s why. The heavy burden of all those erased from the people here, feeling that responsibility, following that lesson of the heart—that’s why I’ve been fetching water every day. To share that water with the people here. Whew, but I have no regrets. Even if time turned back to a few days ago, even if I knew this situation would come today, I’d make the same choice.”
“……To earn the residents’ trust and cooperation to finish the project and get the sultan to the negotiation table?”
“Ah, you understand it all?”
“Of course. After listening to your overly detailed confession for nearly an hour.”
Lloyd looked up with a bright smile.
The kidnappers’ leader, a blond man overlooking him, let out a deep sigh.
It was a sigh that came out on its own.
‘What kind of person is this?’
Bewilderment colored the blond man’s gaze at Lloyd.
He had thought he was just a lackey sent by the sultan.
A front man for the sultan.
Here under the pretext of construction to monitor the region.
Just a dispatched agent like that.
That was why.
The more this man shared water with the people daily, the more it grated on his nerves.
It bred suspicion and wariness.
He must be plotting something.
He must have an agenda.
With that suspicion, he had kidnapped him.
Even if it meant threats and interrogation.
He vowed to uncover the man’s intentions.
To learn the sultan’s true aims.
But……
“Honestly, I’ve never heard a confession like this in my life. Should I praise the sincerity, or dismiss it as excessive? Either way, I think I know what kind of person you are.”
“What kind of person do I seem like?”
“Someone trying to use us.”
The blond man’s gaze toward Lloyd hardened.
“You already know who we are, don’t you?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Then you’ve guessed who I am?”
“Of course. Rebel leader Thermes.”
“Exactly.”
The blond man, Thermes, smirked.
“Sharing water with the locals was all to meet us, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. Though you took longer than expected, so I waited a bit.”
A smile formed on Lloyd’s lips too.
His words were true.
He had waited for the rebels to appear.
He had worked to meet them.
This was the best way.
Asking residents outright wouldn’t reveal rebel hideouts or contact methods.
Threatening them wouldn’t yield answers either.
So he showered them with excessive good deeds.
Blatantly, like a barrage of benevolence.
He calculated the rebels would notice.
They’d grow suspicious and wary seeing him do good deeds daily.
His prediction hit the mark.
‘They’d see me as the sultan’s front man.’
A blatant do-gooder from the sultan would seem even stranger.
Lloyd actively used that suspicion and wariness.
As fishing bait.
Thanks to that(?), he was kidnapped by the rebels.
Contact successful.
“I expected you’d come to meet me yesterday or today. Though your method was a bit rougher than anticipated.”
Lloyd smirked, rubbing his forehead.
One side of it was slightly swollen.
A bruise from the club during the kidnapping.
Rebel leader Thermes’s gaze grew sterner.
“You’ve got guts. You could’ve gotten hit more.”
“Against bandits or thieves without honor, sure. They often kidnap innocents with beatings and threats.”
“……Are you criticizing us?”
“No. It hurt a bit earlier, but I can understand that much.”
“Then what do you want from us?”
Thermes’s eyes deepened.
Truthfully, he still didn’t trust Lloyd.
Even after Lloyd spilled his entire life story(?).
Such tales could be fabricated easily.
If determined, lies like that weren’t hard.
That’s why he hadn’t stopped Lloyd’s chatter earlier.
The longer the talk, the more likely a slip-up.
Easier to find flaws.
But he couldn’t catch a tail or flaw in Lloyd’s ramble.
Unexpected.
‘I need to uncover this man’s purpose.’
What if he really was the sultan’s lackey?
If he plotted to wipe out the rebels?
Killing him here might be best.
‘But first, hear his story.’
Judge after listening.
Thermes waited for Lloyd’s answer.
Lloyd smiled faintly.
“What I want? Simple. Hand over all your hideouts.”
“……What?”
Thermes doubted his ears.
From a kidnapped, bound man.
He never expected such a mad demand outright.
But Lloyd’s voice brazenly pierced everyone’s eardrums.
“Exactly as I said. You’re using tunnels scattered across the region as hideouts, but I can’t find them no matter how hard I try. So yield all the tunnels.”
“Have you…… gone mad?”
“No. You have to give me those tunnels to permanently end the drought plaguing this region.”
“What?”
Thermes paused mid-anger.
Yield the tunnels.
To solve the drought.
What was this nonsense?
“……You’ll need to explain.”
“Of course.”
Lloyd grinned.
“As I said earlier, I contracted with the sultan to build a qanat—an underground waterway—in this region. From the mountains about 36 kilometers away to here.”
“Why do you need our tunnels for that?”
“To connect them into a waterway.”
“…….”
“It’s true. It shortens construction time. That means less time for locals suffering the drought. The sultan, eager to improve drought-related sentiment, won’t start a reckless war. Your neighbors and friends won’t be dragged to battlefields. My home territory, Frontera Territory, won’t get swept into war. Everyone wins. If you just hand over the tunnels willingly.”
“…….”
Everyone lost words.
They couldn’t respond rashly.
Lloyd had casually laid out a tale.
Whose scale far exceeded their common sense and expectations.
Demanding tunnels made him seem insane.
But hearing the reason, it sounded plausible.
“Whew, hold on. Let me summarize.”
Rebel leader Thermes suppressed his bewilderment and countered.
“So, you want to use our hideout tunnels for your drought-solving project?”
“Yes.”
“Connect them to bring mountain water via underground waterway?”
“Yes, exactly.”
“Ha. Then what about us? What happens to us?”
Thermes sneered.
“You already know who we are, so no point hiding. Yes, we’ve rebelled against the sultan. Despite our land gripped by drought and everyone suffering, he does nothing. We resent him. We vowed to make him aware by force, to bring Ahinsha’s wealth through bloody struggle to drive out this drought tormenting us.”
Thermes continued.
“So yes, we’re rebels. Insurgents. And you want our hideout tunnels? Say everyone escapes drought happily? Fine. Suppose it goes as you say. Qanat completed. We’d welcome it—the cause of our uprising gone. But after? We give you tunnels for construction—what then? Without hideouts, what happens to us?”
A faint resentment gleamed in Thermes’s eyes at Lloyd.
“Without hideouts, can we survive? You don’t naively think cooperating on construction gets us sultan’s forgiveness. Right?”
“Of course.”
Lloyd nodded.
“It’s obvious. He’s the ruler, after all.”
True.
Too obvious.
Even cooperating on qanat.
Even yielding hideout tunnels.
No chance the sultan forgives rebels.
No fairy-tale happy ending.
Lloyd could assert and be certain.
‘The sultan’s the ruler. Forgive rebels just for slight cooperation? He’d never set that precedent. Never.’
The world doesn’t spin beautifully.
Cooperation doesn’t guarantee reward.
This case proved it.
That was why.
‘You’re reacting exactly as I predicted, Thermes.’
What happens to us after yielding tunnels?
He anticipated that retort.
He had an answer ready.
“You all just leave this place.”
“……What?”
“No choice. You’ll be subjugated by the sultan anyway, so flee.”
“What the…… Are you mocking us?”
Grab.
Thermes reached out.
Seized his collar.
Eyes promising a punch.
But Lloyd replied calmly.
“Mocking? I’m dead serious.”
“Then why spout such nonsense? Flee? Escape? You think that’s possible?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Come to our territory.”
“…….”
“Exile. Safely. I’ll take you all.”
“What.”
Thermes glared, eyes screaming disbelief.
“Are you sane?”
“Of course.”
They had nowhere to go anyway.
Even without yielding tunnels.
They’d fail the rebellion here and die miserably.
‘As in the novel Iron-Blooded Knight. You, Thermes, and those beside you—all fail the rebellion. Subjugated by the sultan, vanish as dew on gallows. That sparks local lords’ uprising. Second rebellion, sultan dethroned.’
That’s what happened in Iron-Blooded Knight.
Thus, Thermes and these rebels were rebellion kindling, doomed to vanish.
‘I’m offering to save you. Plus, solve the drought. Seat the sultan at negotiations. Prevent Frontera Territory from war.’
Win-win for all.
A way everyone smiles.
Did he vaguely grasp the intent?
Realize yielding tunnels solves drought, opens happiness?
“How can we believe that?”
Thermes demanded with blazing eyes.
Gripped the collar tighter.
“Are you toying with us? Or lost your mind? Expect us to buy this insanity?”
“Need proof of trustworthiness?”
“Naturally.”
Thermes’s eyes flashed.
“Prove that mad proposal credible. Show solid proof. Fail, and I’ll behead you now, bury you in an unmarked sand pit.”
“Fine.”
Lloyd shrugged, collar still gripped.
Thermes growled before him.
His reaction made sense.
Still suspicious.
Even this proposal might be sultan’s ploy.
To make them accept? Needed a powerful, certain trust-builder.
Luckily, Lloyd prepared thoroughly.
“Then one question.”
Lloyd looked up.
Met Thermes’s blazing eyes straight.
“Got time for about 11 nights and 12 days from now?”
“……What?”
“Want you to fly somewhere with me, Thermes.”
“Me? With you?”
“Yes.”
“Fly somewhere for twelve days?”
“Yes. Then you’ll trust me completely.”
“Where?”
Thermes asked.
Impossible.
No way.
Suspicion poured from his eyes at Lloyd.
Lloyd grinned back.
Casual as suggesting a convenience store run.
Or banking AC break.
Utterly nonchalant.
“To the capital Magenta. To meet our queen.”
So it was simple.
What document proves more than an exile permit issued directly by King Sis?