Chapter 78: 77

To the north of Crossroad, there lay undeveloped mountainous areas.

In the lands north of the frontline, all places suitable for farming were already fully developed.

Though not as fertile as the land south of the front line, every inch of soil had to be put to use for survival.

That it remained undeveloped, meant...

"Sort of... rugged, this mountain..."

The terrain was treacherous.

Naturally, the footpath was not well-established. It was just a raw mountain trail.

Having lived a life far removed from refreshing hobbies like hiking, climbing even a bit of the mountain soon had me panting hard. It was killing me!

"Are you okay, My Lord? Shall I carry you to our destination?"

"Oh, really? Can you?"

I was about to hop onto Lucas's back, when...

"..."

Whew.

I could feel the sharp stare from Evangeline behind me...

"...What is it, junior? That look."

"No, nothing really."

After claiming it was nothing, she immediately began speaking.

"Just, I was thinking... how lucky you are. Having your own personal vehicle."

"..."

"While your subordinates are sweating buckets climbing up, you get to comfortably ride up on your knight's back. Truly befitting of royalty."

"..."

I glanced behind me.

I could see dozens of soldiers following us up the mountain.

At first, I said I would go alone, but Lucas had insisted on coming, vehemently opposing my decision.

So, I decided to bring Lucas along, but then Evangeline somehow heard about our trip and insisted on joining.

And so, intending to just bring the two... it was a repetitive result.

I deliberately didn't bring Damien. He had been overexerting himself, and there might be a situation where we would have to fire upon people.

Anyway, everyone was struggling with the sudden hiking trip, and Evangeline was taking issue with me trying to make it easy on myself.

"Alright, let's do this."

I raised my index finger at Evangeline, who was about to nag some more.

"I'll carry you."

"What?"

Evangeline's eyes widened.

"You, you're going to...carry me?!"

"That's right. And Lucas will carry me."

At my absurdly serious suggestion, both Evangeline and Lucas looked horrified. I crossed my arms and chuckled.

"I can take care of my subordinate and make things easier for me. Two birds with one stone!"

"Wait a minute. But that means Lucas will have a really hard time!"

"No, carrying two people is not feasible in the first place..."

While engaging in this absurd banter as we climbed the mountain trail, one officer following us bowed his head deeply to me.

"I am ashamed, Your Majesty... Due to our negligence..."

I glanced at the man.

This officer was the leader of the prisoner escort squad.

He had met with an accident while transferring five convicts to Crossroad.

"No, no. Thanks to you, I'm getting some unexpected exercise, right? Ah~ my back~"

"Your Highness, I'm truly sorry! Please bestow mercy upon me!"

At my growl, the officer was almost on the verge of collapsing on the floor.

"Hey, hey. It's a joke. A joke. Can't you take a joke? Are you afraid I'm going to eat you?"

Evangeline gave a shrug at my confusion.

"You have quite a reputation from the capital, Ash."

Ah, right. The Ash before I inhabited him was no joke in the capital.

These officers and the escort party must have come down from the capital as well, they must have thought I was that barbaric and mad Prince Ash.

No wonder they are terrified.

"So, the escaped convicts ran straight to these mountains, correct?"

"Yes, Your Highness. As you can see, their tracks lead into these mountains."

On the treacherous mountain trail, there were sporadic footprints of those who had come before us.

There were also signs that something heavy had been dragged along.

"Why would they choose to go through such rough terrain..."

Evangeline, a local of the area, answered my query.

"The northern mountainous region of Crossroad is home to bandits. They have been a nuisance for quite some time."

"Bandits?"

"Yes. They attack merchants and war refugees... they're villains."

Evangeline picked up something discarded by the side of the road.

It was a broken spear.

"It seems that bandits also reside in this mountain."

"Hmm."

I took a careful look around.

Indeed, broken weapons and wheel parts were scattered here and there, signs that people had been through this place.

Lucas, who had picked up a knife buried in the dirt, furrowed his brow.

"Do you think the escaped convicts came here because they have a connection with the bandits?"

"Well, if their goal after the jailbreak was to become bandit kings, it seems like a not too bad a fresh start."

There are too many things that don't make sense.

'Five former military convicts, escorted from the capital, escape simultaneously from the transport carriage. Then they precisely choose to run away to the mountains where bandits reside...'

Something feels off.

I took another look at the captain of the escort party.

"There are no lies in your report, right?"

"No, Your Highness! How could I dare to lie to you?"

The captain of the escort party immediately denied it.

Hmm, well. We'll soon find out about that.

About ten minutes of mountain climbing later, Lucas, who was leading, caught sight of something.

"I see something, my lord."

"Let's take a look~"

Following Lucas up to the ridge, I saw it too.

It was a mountain fortress.

A fortified base of the bandit scum, surrounded by stakes. The fortress built on a flat terrain halfway up the mountain was surprisingly large.

It looked like it could accommodate at least thirty people.

"We might encounter enemies."

Schwing-

Lucas drew his long sword from his waist and signaled to me.

"I'll go check it out first."

"Just confirm. Don't overdo it."

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"I'll go too!"

Evangeline followed Lucas. She didn't draw her spear, instead, she equipped a shield on her left arm.

The two knights took the lead, and I slowly followed with the remaining soldiers.

As we approached the bandit hideout, I worried we might face a shower of arrows, but somehow, there was no sign of life at the hideout.

However, the closer we got, the stronger a certain smell wafted in the air. It was...

The scent of blood.

"There's the smell of blood."

I nodded my head as I heard Lucas whispering from the front.

Was there a massacre inside?

Lucas, standing right next to the palisade surrounding the hideout, gripped his sword. Evangeline tightened her grip on her shield.

"We are storming in. Three, two..."

One!

Bam-!

Lucas breached the hideout's main gate with his shoulder and stepped inside.

Evangeline and the soldiers stormed in behind him.

I leisurely walked in after them.

"Hmm."

The inside of the hideout... was a mess.

Bodies that appeared to be bandits were scattered everywhere, and the whole place was chaotic with blood and broken weapons.

'There were bandits. Now, there weren't.'

As I examined the blood-stained hideout with a slightly disgusted look, I heard Lucas's voice from afar.

"My Lord! We have a survivor here!"

As I hurried over, I saw a boy in his late teens trembling with a pale, terrified face.

"Uh, ah, ahh...!"

"Calm down, little bandit. We are royal troops."

I crouched down in front of the shivering boy that Lucas had captured, and spoke in a warm voice.

"Of course, depending on your crime, we can either execute you or feed you, but you won't die here."

The trembling young bandit blurted out in desperation.

"W, we, we didn't do anything wrong...! We just hijacked a carriage coming from the capital... "

"You hijacked a carriage?"

"Y, yes! It looked expensive, so naturally, we thought the contents would be too... we thought we could sell both the contents and the carriage for money..."

I clucked my tongue.

"And when you opened the hijacked carriage, there were no treasures, only prisoners. And those prisoners ended up beating you all. That's the situation, right?"

The young bandit frantically nodded his head.

I quickly turned to look at the escort troop's captain.

"Escort Captain, didn't you claim the prisoners escaped on their own? But according to this boy, it sounds like the escort carriage was simply hijacked by bandits."

"That, that is..."

"I see. You're supposed to be a prisoner escort from the Capital, but you'd lose face if you admit you were robbed by mere peripheral bandits."

"I... I'm sorry. I never meant to lie..."

I growled ominously.

"But, captain of the escort, I can forgive the error of letting the prisoner be stolen by the bandits, but I cannot forgive being lied to..."

"Yo, yo, your majesty! I've committed a sin worthy of death!"

"I forgive mistakes but not intentions. Be aware there will be a fitting penalty."

The escort captain trembled and fell to the ground.

Why would he lie when it could easily be found out? Did he think I wouldn't personally inspect the situation and just believe the reports?

'...That could have been his thinking.'

Anyway, now the whole picture is becoming clear.

The escort squad was attacked by bandits while transporting five condemned prisoners in a carriage to Crossroad.

The bandits hijacked the carriage, brought it to their hideout, opened it, and were then caught off guard and overpowered by the prisoners inside.

The escort squad falsified their report, saying the prisoners had escaped on their own, and now that their lie has been found out, they're going to get an earful from me.

'The situation is explained but...'

So, where are these five condemned prisoners now?

"Senior!"

Then I heard Evangeline's voice from deep within the hideout.

"Over here! Hurry!"

I got up and headed in her direction.

Evangeline stood in the hideout, a puzzled look on her face, pointing to the middle of the yard.

"Look."

"...!"

I was surprised and my eyes widened when I looked at the scene.

In the middle of the ravaged hideout,

Five people, dressed in the black uniforms of the Everblack Empire, were seated.

No, they were seated, but...

Clink, clank.

They had tied themselves up with chains, blindfolded, and gagged. They knelt there.

Everyone who came into the courtyard was dumbfounded at the sight.

"Welcome, your highness, and citizens of Crossroad."

One of the prisoners, a man seated in the middle, slowly opened his mouth.

"The five of us, the condemned prisoners, have been waiting for you."

He was the only prisoner not blindfolded or gagged, but he was tied up in chains just the same.

'Did he tie himself up?'

Why?

When an opportunity to escape had finally come, why did they not run away but instead tie themselves up and wait for us?

"We have no intention of escaping or fleeing, not even a tiny bit. We wish for our execution to be carried out promptly and for a report to be sent to the higher-ups as quickly as possible."

The man slowly lifted his head.

Under the hood of his worn-out, charred imperial uniform, bright green hair flowed down.

I was surprised and slightly opened my mouth.

In this game, there is only one race with that hair color.

'An elf...?!'

"Please, everyone."

The elf man bent his head down again and repeated his request.

"Please execute us as soon as possible. If not, you may cut our throats right here."

The other prisoners also bowed their heads deeply.

They kept uttering words I couldn't comprehend.

"Please, kill us swiftly."

"..."

No, what do you mean, kill?

I shouted internally.

'I've reserved you for my sub-party! You can't die!'