Chapter 8
#8
Without even a chance to say goodbye, Rutherford strode quickly across the hallway. Walter watched his receding figure, sighed softly, and turned in the opposite direction.
A week had already passed since the King's passing.
Walter knew better than to take his time. The King, who seemed like he would be healthy for another decade, had suddenly passed away, and almost all of his royal descendants were gone.
The nobles were anxious due to an unknown epidemic, and the two countries bordering the kingdom were preparing to tear each other apart, waiting for the right moment to start a war.
It was no wonder the lords were restless. In just one week, only a week since the owner of the throne had disappeared, the political turmoil was increasing day by day.
If Walter had been a lord, he would have recommended a suitable candidate from the elders of the council to be king, but unfortunately, he was the Grand General. Knowing that he was in the same position as the Scepter of Parnassus, Walter had to be careful in selecting a monarch.
But…
“Arsinoe.”
He uttered her name in front of the lords as if it were nothing, but immediately regretted it. Not because he doubted her suitability, but because he had failed to consider her own will.
Four years had passed since he first met her at the military academy.
…And it had been a year since he coincidentally met her again in Pomnos.
She, who had suddenly disappeared with her mother, was living on the eastern coast of Pomnos with an unimaginable occupation.
Arsinoe Thea Neoparnassus was a criminal.
“……”
Walter, reflecting on reality, realized that he had made an absurd statement to the lords when he thought of Arsinoe's current position.
But ridiculously, at the same time, he was convinced that there was no one more suitable as a monarch than her.
“Oh, Grand General!”
The gruff shout made his feet, which had been moving unconsciously, stop abruptly.
Walter raised his head and blinked as if possessed, realizing that he had already arrived inside the commander's office. His adjutant, Zen, was in his black eyes, grooming himself in an unsightly manner. Zen, who had been sitting on the floor licking near his thigh, got up from his seat, kicking his hind legs as if embarrassed.
“When did you get here, cough, cough…!”
He coughed for a long time, as if a hair was caught in his throat while clearing his throat, and then stood upright as if he had finally regained his composure.
“Oh, um. I'm glad you came back earlier than I thought. There was something that arrived as an urgent letter, so please check it.”
“Urgent letter? Where is it from?”
“Looking at the seal on the letter, it seemed to be from Pomnos.”
“Pomnos?”
Walter frowned at the word Pomnos and looked at the letter.
It was a place he usually had no contact with, so why was he being contacted at this timing?
Suppressing his uneasy feeling, he picked up the letter. Walter quietly read the letter, let out a long sigh, and put the paper away. Then, picking up the robe hanging on the wall, he said.
“Contact Huis. I have to go to Pomnos right away.”
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
Lucy, who was staring at the ceiling, quickly got up at the sound of iron bars clanging.
Someone holding a tray of food was visible beyond the white frosted bars. Lucy was the only prisoner in custody, so there was only one tray.
Soon, a large bird-human completely revealed its form and let out a shrill cry.
“Hey! Wake up!”
The guard slammed the wooden frame as if to break it, and then pushed the tray through a small hole at the bottom of the prison.
Lafi, the old guard, whose feathers were missing in places, clicked his yellow beak and shouted.
“Arsinoe! I brought you food!”
“You don't have to shout so loud, I can hear you fine. What is it today?”
“What?”
“I'm asking what's for food today.”
“The weather is the same every day! Isn't it winter all year round for you?”
Haa, Lucy sighed and gave up on the conversation.
The guard never understood what she said at once. It wasn't so bad that communication was impossible, but whether it was people or Lafi, the five senses became dull with age. The old guard was so deaf that he couldn't hear thunder even if it struck right next to him.
Lucy just decided to check the menu with her own eyes and took the tray from the old man.
“Last time, you were caught for smuggling or something, but why were you caught this time?”
While she was melting the hard bread with her hands, the guard spoke to her with a smiling voice. Lucy hugged the bread and raised her voice.
“Smuggling, my foot. I just helped some refugees. I got caught because I helped them for money.”
“Help a thief? What money does a thief have to help you?”
“Not a thief, refugees! I helped Lykan refugees! For money!”
“Ah… Ah! I wondered what it was, but you got caught doing some kind of broker business.”
The guard, who had been sitting on the floor, chuckled and looked back at her, as if he had finally understood. The scratches densely packed on his beak suggested the old man's age.
“What good will you get from helping Lykans? That's their fate. Living quietly oppressed in the Empire and dying is their blessing.”
“You're being very harsh.”
“What? Are words wearing shoes?”
Lucy sighed and bit into the bread instead of answering. Chewing the moderately softened bread, she continued in a low voice as if talking to herself.
“It's not their fault. It's just that people in the Empire hate them because they're Lykans, so they can't stand it and run away. How can they live in the Empire when they're being harassed like that? I'd want to defect to another country if I were them.”
“It's a sin for them to be born!”
The guard, who couldn't understand a compliment from half a step away, recognized the slander of the Lykans with amazing accuracy and sparkled his eyes.
“Every fifteen days, they burn strange herbs and cry loudly and make a fuss. They eat all kinds of beasts. They're so rough that I can't deal with them at all.”
The guard clicked his tongue and tapped his crossed knees with his fist.
Lucy frowned at the excessive remarks and knocked on the iron bars, and the guard slyly raised his head. The guard, belatedly realizing that his remarks were excessive, said, "Aigo," and continued.
“Aigo, yes, yes. Would they have been born like that if they liked it? Still, aren't you being too nosy? What's so pretty about them that you change their identities and send them to other countries?”
“I'm not just helping them. I'm laundering their identities and sending them to other countries because they pay me.”
“So? Did you make a lot of money?”
Lucy hesitated and closed her mouth. She clicked her tongue, imagining the guard's smug expression.
“Do you know that there are other guys who are treated as badly as Lykans? They're all poor. What money…”
“…It's hard to get money because there are so many poor people. Well, I didn't start this to make money in the first place.”
She really didn't start it to make money. She first started doing refugee broker work because of her mother's nosiness.
It all started when Ansila, who was taking a walk on the beach, happened to find a small boat. There were Lykan mothers and daughters on the boat who had defected because they couldn't stand the Empire's oppression, and Ansila couldn't turn a blind eye to them.
「Lucy. Is there any way to help these people?」
She pondered, but there was no way. They were Lykans, and this was Pomnos.
If the boat had drifted to another place by luck, they could have settled down anywhere, but the boat they were on happened to be moving north.
Could Lykan mothers and daughters live in a city of Lafi who regard Lykans as their enemies? Even if it were someone other than Lucy, everyone would shake their heads.
Ansila, who was ignorant of the world, had no way to help them, and the Lykan mothers and daughters only shed tears at the bleak future.
「We suffered so much in the Empire, but the place we fled to is the city of Lafi… We're destined to die….」
Their crying faces were so pitiful.
Lucy tried to coldly ignore them, but sadly, she projected herself and her mother onto the Lykan mothers and daughters. Their appearance of leaving the country like fugitives and seeking a new life was truly Ansila and Lucy themselves.
「There will be a solution. Please wait.」
Nosiness must be hereditary.
In the end, Lucy, unable to bear it, stepped up and defected them to a third country.
That was a happy ending.
…It would have been nice if it had ended there.
Sadly, the Lykan mothers and daughters seemed to have good mouths.
「Did you hear the rumor? There's a benefactor living in Pomnos.」
「I heard it too! They secretly send you to another country and introduce you to a job? It's amazing that there are such kind people… The world is still worth living in.」
Unbeknownst to them, rumors began to spread that there was someone in Pomnos who was helping Lykan's defection, and the Lykans who lived near the border between Pomnos and the Empire began to have hope after hearing the rumors.
The Lykans, who had crossed the border into the north, searched the city for a refugee broker.
Sadly, Lucy was the only refugee broker in Pomnos who helped Lykans, and Lucy refused and refused and refused, but eventually started helping them.
And, the more she helped them, the more Lucy's notoriety grew.
“Haa… If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have started it in the first place.”
Her throat felt scratchy as she recalled her stupid history.
Lucy swallowed the bread with difficulty and glared at the tray with an angry face. A few pieces of dry fish and cold soup represented her sad situation.
I really started doing something stupid….
How did I end up like this?
The circumstances of her imprisonment were also absurd. If you have a long tail, you'll get caught. Whether it's people or Lykans, the tail is always the problem.
Yesterday morning, Lucy told the client, a Lykan, to prepare the items needed for the defection.
The Lykan, who left the house, happened to encounter an item from a con artist called 'Forgotten Dragon's Tailbone' in the market alley.
To a Lykan who considers bones to be the ultimate delicacy, it was a dragon's bone…….
The Lykans wore robes to hide their appearance, but the tail popped out whenever they were happy or sad, letting the whole world know that their owner was a Lykan.
As a result, the Lykan, excited by the bone, wagged his tail and announced his identity with his whole body.
