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Chapter 60: The Captives: Inside the Kiritai Situation

「Alright! Let’s pull back!」

「「「「「Yessir!」」」」」

At my command, the Barbar Mercenary Force wrapped up the capture operation and began the journey back to the ship.

My wife, Jessica, an Elf, and Rosso, a member of the Giant Lizard tribe, were grumbling with rather complicated expressions.

「Seriously. What kind of tribe is this Kiritai bunch!?」

「No kidding! We capture them and it’s all kids and women! They should’ve let them flee first!」

「Exactly!」

I agreed with their complaints.

In the end, we conducted multiple capture missions and managed to seize what appeared to be high-ranking Kiritai cavalrymen.

But here’s the thing,

No matter how many we captured, they all had their families with them.

All of them came with wives and kids.

Some idiots even joined the battle with nursing infants in their arms.

What kind of nerve does it take to do that?

If I were the Kiritai chief, I’d absolutely order: 「Mothers with nursing babies stay home!」

The Elves, the Giant Lizards, and the other Barbar foot soldiers probably felt the same as Jessica and Rosso.

Some were frowning deeply, others kept tilting their heads in confusion.

The number of fleeing Kiritai cavalry had dwindled, so we judged that the main battle, handled by the Argeas Kingdom army, was likely over, and decided to end the capture operation.

We ended up with fifty captives from ten families.

Ten were adult men.

The rest were women and children.

We Barbars are considered 「savages「 by the Empire, but we’re not monsters. In fact, we’re big on family.

So, seeing Kiritai men drag their families onto the battlefield and end up captured like this, it made us angry at the men and feel sorry for the women and children.

Jessica was nursing the injured women and children with great care.

No one complained.

Far from complaining, the women and children were put on horseback, and our Barbar foot soldiers led the horses.

Meanwhile, the captured men were roped together and forced to walk.

Jessica and Rosso’s grumbling didn’t stop.

They were pretty emotional about it.

「Hey, Gaia. Can you ask that fancy-looking Kiritai guy over there? Why are they all with their families? Some of them even have babies!」

「Yeah! It’s messed up! Ask him!」

Originally, I planned to leave the interrogation to the Argeas Kingdom army, but Jessica and Rosso raised a good point, and I was curious too.

I switched to the Kiritai language and addressed the well-dressed man we’d captured first.

「Hey, are you the highest-ranking one here?」

「That’s right.」

He answered plainly.

When we first captured him, he was defiant and scowling, but after seeing Jessica tending to the women and children, his attitude had softened considerably.

「I have a question. Why are you all with your families? We Barbars also go to battle with family sometimes. My uncle came too, and this here is my niece.」

I pointed to Eranieff and Jessica in turn.

「But we never bring kids this young. They stay home. And no way in hell would we let a mother carrying a baby come to the battlefield.」

「Well, naturally. It’s the same for us Kiritai.」

His calm response made me stop in my tracks.

「Hold on! You say that, but we’ve literally captured women carrying babies!」

「Well… there’s a lot going on…」

The man looked down awkwardly.

「Can you explain it? We’re all wondering. Those two over there are angry, and the others are all confused. I think if you give us a proper reason, we’ll treat you Kiritai captives better.」

「Hmm… I see… Hmph…」

The Kiritai man hesitated for a while, but as I started walking again, he finally began to speak, bit by bit.

「My name is Balta. I’m from the Pararatai clan.」

「Alright, Balta. So what’s the Pararatai clan?」

「One of the four major clans of the Kiritai. We’ve produced several great chieftains.」

「I see.」

According to Balta, there are four major clans within the Kiritai, and the great chieftains usually come from one of them.

But the current Kiritai great chieftain is from the Koraksai clan, which has a bad relationship with Balta’s Pararatai clan.

「The great chieftain ordered us, every single Pararatai, to go to war and prove our loyalty.」

「And that’s how the kids ended up on the battlefield?」

「Yes.」

Balta’s expression was bitter.

As we continued walking, I thought things over.

Could this be a trap?

Was the great chieftain trying to reduce the number of the Pararatai clan by sending them into battle under unreasonable conditions?

I put the thought to Balta.

He admitted it without hesitation.

「Most likely, you’re right. When the tide turned against us in the war with the Argeas Kingdom, the great chieftain was the first to run. We Pararatai were left behind.」

「Ah… so that’s why there are so many women and children…」

「Exactly.」

It was a pretty pitiful story, but there was nothing I could do about it.

I translated what Balta told me into Barbar and relayed it to the mercenaries.

Everyone was either dumbfounded or furious.

They were shocked that the great chieftain fled first, and angry that he had ordered even mothers with babies into battle just to get his rival clan killed.

Rosso, in particular, was livid. He kicked the ground and shouted, 「What a petty, miserable bastard!」

As the Barbars grumbled around me, Balta turned and asked me a question.

「Hey! What’s your name? Are you the chieftain?」

「I’m Gaia. Chieftain of the Blumunt tribe.」

「Blumunt tribe? Never heard of it… Do you live in the Argeas Kingdom?」

「No. We live west of Argeas, across the sea.」

「So are you under the Argeas Kingdom?」

「No. We Barbars are a tribe under the rule of the Vaffancrow Empire.」

「Ah, the great nation to the west of Argeas.」

Balta seemed genuinely interested and started asking questions about me and the Barbars.

We still had a ways to go to reach the ship, so I indulged him and told him all sorts of things.

When the ship finally came into view, Balta flashed me a bright grin and declared:

「Alright! I acknowledge you as a proper chieftain!」