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Vol 05 Chapter 162: The Arson Incident II

Alice’s group passed through the gate and quickly moved away from the city walls. After running for about ten minutes, they came across a group of cavalry.

「Roswald-san, it’s me, Alice. The rescue was successful. I have thirty people with me.」

「Thirty, huh… Unfortunately, we only brought twenty extra horses.」

Roswald scratched his head. His mission was to safely escort the rescued councilors and their families to King Rosais’ Country.

He had brought thirty elite soldiers and twenty horses to transport the councilors.

Between King Rosais’ Country and Lezado, there existed a group of independent city-states. These city-states were allies of Lezado, but a few were friendly to King Rosais’ Country—or rather, they feared and were intimidated by it.

Almus had informed these city-states in advance that a group of thirty cavalry and twenty horses would be passing through, allowing them to cross the checkpoints unimpeded. Ideally, Roswald would have liked to come with a larger force, but too many soldiers would alarm the city-states and make their movements easier to track.

The maximum number he could use was thirty people and twenty extra horses.

「Greetings, I am Roswald Fabius, captain of the Praetorian Cohor. We will be moving to a forest a little further away. Since we only have twenty horses, could those of lighter weight pair up and ride together?」

The councilors nodded silently. Having horses at all was a significant relief.

◇

「Roswald-kun, I’ve taken care of the evidence.」

「Thank you, Soyon.」

Roswald bowed his head to Soyon.

Soyon and the five other magicians had erased any scents, tracks, or magical traces to prevent Lezado’s magicians from tracking them.

By the way, the five of them had infiltrated Lezado ahead of Roswald’s group, so they had their own horses.

「Now, let me explain our escape route.」

Roswald looked around at the tense faces of the councilors. They were in a forest near Lezado.

The only light came from a small campfire.

「It will take two days to reach King Rosais’ Country from Lezado if we take the shortest route and push the horses to their limits. However, that’s not possible.」

The shortest route would take them through city-states hostile to King Rosais’ Country. They couldn’t afford to take such risks. Moreover, with two people sharing some of the horses, They couldn’t travel at full speed.

The councilors weren’t combatants. They couldn’t do what the soldiers could.

Taking a detour and moving cautiously would require more time.

「I’ve already contacted the city-states we plan to pass through. It will likely take us about five days.」

「We are grateful for the rescue. We have no complaints. We will follow your instructions, Roswald-dono.」

Ainz bowed deeply. Roswald looked relieved that the councilors accepted the plan without resistance.

But he quickly composed himself.

「Now, we will put out the campfire. We will keep watch to ensure no wolves come near, so rest assured. We have simple bedding prepared. You might not be able to sleep well, but please rest your bodies as much as you can.」

◇

The morning after the arson incident, the parliament of Lezado was in turmoil.

The fire had been successfully extinguished. However, the political prisoners had escaped.

The mastermind had not yet been found. However, it was almost certain that King Rosais’ Country was behind it.

In the parliament, the debate over how to address this matter…

「Chairman! This happened because you sent the guards to put out the fire! This is your responsibility!!」

「What nonsense!! If we hadn’t gathered the mercenaries to fight the fire, Lezado would be in flames by now!! I do have some responsibility, but it’s not solely mine!!」

…was not taking place.

Instead, they were in the middle of a blame game.

The members of Lezado’s parliament weren’t simply divided into the pro-Rosais and anti-Rosais factions. The councilors only gathered for their own interest, so conflict didn’t disappear when the pro-Rosais faction was apprehended.

The councilors would drag each other down whenever given the chance.

「Isn’t it the merchant who hired those mercenaries who’s responsible in the first place?」

「No, the blame should lie with those in charge of border and wall security for allowing the intrusion into our country!」

In the end, the entire day passed with nothing but accusations being thrown around.

◇

Meanwhile, Alexios ignored the chaos in the parliament and started his own investigation. His beloved wife, Melia, was with him.

「What bothers me is how they managed to break through the west gate.」

「There were more than fifteen soldiers stationed there at the time. Even with three times the force, it would be difficult to neutralize all of them instantly.」

The fifteen soldiers didn’t need to defeat the attackers; they just needed to survive long enough to call for reinforcements.

It was a new moon that night, so the usually bright moonlight was absent.

Hitting anything with stones, spears, or arrows in that darkness was nearly impossible. Killing fleeing enemies without letting any escape was a daunting task.

Yet the attackers managed to prevent even that.

「I led the cavalry to the north gate. Given the impossibility of escaping undetected, it would be more logical to gather numbers and flee en masse. That’s the conventional way. But the enemy succeeded with a different approach, meaning they were extremely skilled.」

「All the bodies were stabbed from behind or strangled. A very skilled assassin… either a magician specialized in covert operations or someone with a blessing related to stealth. King Almus certainly has some impressive pieces hidden away.」

Melia murmured while investigating the site of the attack.

So far, they had found almost no clues.

They had used dogs to search, but all traces were erased by magic.

「If there were hair or skin fragments, we could cast a curse with magic. But there’s not a single fingerprint. The enemy’s magicians are quite skilled too.」

「If magical detection is impossible, we’ll have to rely on experience and the results of our own search. What a hassle…」

Alexios sighed and mounted his horse.

He and Melia led fifty Lezado cavalry and six hired magicians.

Ideally, a large-scale search should be conducted, but the Lezado parliament was currently paralyzed.

The employers of the mercenaries were too busy blaming each other to take command of the search.

Also, they didn’t dare to give full authority to mount a search to Alexios, a foreigner, so he couldn’t mobilize any soldiers.

However, Alexios couldn’t just ignore the situation. He persuaded the mercenaries to work without pay.

The mercenaries who responded to Alexios’ call admired his military ability and personally liked him.

That’s why they were helping for free.

Not all mercenaries worked solely for money. Sometimes, they followed orders from a respected superior, even if it meant working overtime without pay.

「If I were one of the attackers, I would have stationed soldiers somewhere to retrieve the escapees. And there’s only one place near Lezado where soldiers can hide.」

「The forest.」

Alexios and Melia looked at each other and smiled knowingly.

◇

「Hmm… There are signs of a camp here.」

Alexios surveyed a slightly open area in the forest. It looked empty at first glance.

But Alexios’ sharp eyes caught the evidence.

「The grass here is trampled. And there’s a scuff mark on this tree bark, someone leaned against it to sleep.」

「Look here, Alex. If you examine closely, you can see traces of a campfire. It’s cleverly hidden, but it’s definitely here. From what I can gather using magic, it was about half a day ago.」

This meant that the attackers had camped here overnight and moved on in the morning.

「Where they are now… If they’re moving on foot, we still have enough time to catch up. But if they’re on horseback, catching up will be exceedingly difficult.」

There was evidence of horses, but the exact number was unclear. Without knowing their speed, tracking them down would be a challenge.

「However, I think the routes they can take are limited. Looking at the signs left here, they should be a considerably sized group, given that, crossing the border unnoticed is impossible. They’ll have to pass through a checkpoint. And that means they’ll need to go through a checkpoint in a pro-Rosais city-state.」

「That means there are two routes: the western route and the eastern route. The western route is shorter but requires crossing the borders of several anti-Rosais city-states. The eastern route is safer but longer.」

Alexios sighed. Determining the enemy’s location with the current information was difficult.

「Let’s start by sending out the hawks. If we search the areas around these two routes, we should find them… though we’ll need permission from the parliament to cross the border.」

Even if they found the escapees, it wouldn’t matter if they couldn’t capture them. For that, they needed parliament’s permission, and the current blame game needed to end.

「Sigh… Pofenia’s parliament was bad, but Lezado’s is just as terrible. I’m starting to think democracy is a flawed political system. I envy King Rosais’ Country.」

In a monarchy, popular opinion, power struggles, and balance of power are irrelevant. One command from the king could resolve everything.

A country with a competent king would always triumph over a disjointed democratic state because it could consistently take the initiative.

In a monarchy, the army could be mobilized at the king’s decree, while a democratic state required lengthy debates and meetings to reach a decision.

「It’s better than having a tyrant, Alex. In a democracy, the worst-case scenario won’t happen.」

「Well, that’s true, but I’m getting fed up with always being flung around by incompetent governments.」

The couple shrug their shoulders in frustration.