CH 47

４７． Fun Trip

Few days after I rescued Liliana.

I was strolling outside in accordance with Platy’s plan to eliminate the goblin deserters.

We’re heading toward an abandoned castle located in the south of the demon king castle, the distance was around two days’ journey with a carriage.

According to the citizens living in that area(Mainly from young beastfolk), the goblin built their nest in that place, resulting in explosive growth of their population.

『The goal of this exercise is to make you experience the feeling of marching by land route, completing your objective, and returning safely along with your troop.』

Meaning that this trip was made as close as possible with the real situation on the field. And the 『As Close As Possible』 was an understatement, it was even more realistic than the real situation itself.

Though the distance was only a few hours from the demon king castle with the dragon, we’re currently riding on the carriage to reenact the real situation of a march, as the demon prince that’s it.

My troops consisted of night elf’s hunter and attendants such as Garounya and Sofia.

They were people who underwent my treatment after striking a deal with Shidar.

『―― Change them into your time limited private army, or source of information.』

""

Even Shidar couldn’t hide his shock upon hearing my condition. Maybe he thought that I would use this chance to overcharge the night elf.

『That isn’t a simple matter after all. Regarding the condition to put them under your service within certain time frame, they might end up in an even more dangerous situation.』

『Considering the fact that they’re almost certainly going to die if not for Your Highness’s treatment, I think it’s a proper compensation. But when it comes to secret information, someone of Your Highness’ status should be able to get such information with a flip of your hand――』

“Are you really sure about this?” Asked Shidar timidly. He tried to tell me that information had no value for me.

『I don’t mind. I want to know the real situation in the frontline.』

Surely, I could easily get the simplified version of the secret information by reading the report. But, I had no idea who gave such a report and from where it came from.

The one thing I wanted to know the most was not how the current situation of the alliance was, I wanted to know the scale of the information network of the night elves inside the alliance.

『Since that’s the case―― There’s a spy among the people thats going to receive Your Highness treatment today. You can ask that person as much as you want.』

That was exactly what I wanted. Wonderful, today must be my lucky day.

Thus, I gave a treatment to three night elves.

A young hunter(female) that was about to die due to the deep wound on her abdomen, a hunter(male) who passed out due to a stab wound on his chest, and then a spy(male) who lost one of his legs.

I realized at a glance that the spy was the strongest and the most skilled among the three as his magical power rivaled that of the demon race.

That moment, I really wanted to break my promise… I didn’t want to heal the spy. Because I knew that if this man was healed fully, he would sneak into the alliance again and wreak havoc inside.

Properly speaking, this man should be comparable to a hero who received priority for the treatment of the Reiju clan. But, it seems there were too many casualties in the current frontline.

Severely wounded people would die immediately, as for the one with less severe wounds, the man who lost one of his legs had already lost his value as a spy. Which one was my top priority right now? Trying to get close to the night elves upper echelon was really difficult since their leadership was composed of so many layers.

And when a person with such potential had a debt of gratitude to me――

『Your Highness Jilbagias, my loyalty and heartfelt gratitude is yours.』

The night elves who received treatment from me got on their knees immediately while offering their deepest gratitude.

Reason being I personally took over his wound with transpose curse, and is currently bleeding heavily from the cross-section of my leg. The fact that I, the prince of the demon race, himself was willing to take over their wound seems to have struck at their heartstring, thus resulting in them expressing their utmost gratitude without any falsehood.

――They never let their guard down and are extremely persistent but they also have a strong sense of duty.

That moment, I recalled Platy’s remark. And the fact that was displayed before me made me even more conflicted.

Nevertheless… I will never forget that the one who killed the mother of my previous life was none other than the night elves…

Anyhow, I departed along with those troops’ compositions.

Platy would stay in the demon king castle this time. It seems she had to be standing by in the demon king castle for emergency since the front line was busy again.

『I’ll tell you just in case, make sure you separate the guard duty and scouting duty. Never get too eager either, just follow the plan.』

This was my first time leaving Platy’s side, albeit with her surveillance around to watch me by my side. I guess the case with dark portal was an exception since I needed to go by myself…

Beneath the night sky, the carriage runs smoothly on straight highways.

「This carriage is really comfortable to ride eh.」

I said so while looking at the scenery outside the window as if this was the first time I rode such a carriage.

As much as I hate it, I had to say that this carriage was far more comfortable than all the carriages I rode in my previous life. I mean, there was no shaking at all.

「According to what I read in the human race’s book, the shaking in the carriage should be a nightmarish experience.」

「Well, this carriage is different from the one made in human realm after all.」

Inside the wide and comfortable carriage. Sofia who sat in front of me leaning on the back rest with a triumphant look on her face.

「Did you see the metal box placed between the wheel and the cabin of the carriage?」

「Is that box hiding some sort of mechanism?」

「Yes. It’s stuffed with skeleton that received a special treatment, they’re the one who absorbed the shock of the carriage.」

""

「…」

My body twitched a little bit the moment I heard those explanations. I had to say that the ride was comfortable but my heart felt uncomfortable after knowing the truth.

「And by the way, the inventor of that device is the lich called Emma.」

So it’s you~…

Which reminds me that the one who pulled the carriage wasn’t a living horse, it was a skeleton horse. To prevent their bones from being purified by sunlight during the day, their body was covered with dark leather clothes.

Though their movement was slowing down during the day, the skeleton horse could run non stop as long as we provided them with the magical power of darkness. Added to the fact that they could carry heavier loads than a living horse made the skeleton horse widely used as transportation method for the supply of the demon king army.

「Morever, Corvut clan personally made this highway. Since it’s lacking the elevation difference and joint which available in normal stone paved highway, this highway is much better than the one made by the human.」

The highway in this kingdom was made by the Corvut clan who excel in the earth attribute by squandering their abundance of magical power. The road that was stamped with magical power turned into an extremely comfortable and compact road. Though the road had drawbacks, namely needing magical power to maintain its state every few years, it contributed greatly to the transportation network inside the demon kingdom.

And yet, even with such extraordinarily well maintained roads and comfy carriage, it still took around two days for us to arrive, which means that the place we’re heading for was really far away.

「Ku~n.」

I felt something soft on my lap.

When I looked down, Liliana, who was clad in a one piece, flopped on my lap. The reason why I brought her was to act as our healer and support.

""

According to the talk among my attendant on this trip, she was easier to handle since unlike the human slave, there was no need to appoint someone to watch over her. She raised a purr when I scratched the back of her ears.

Her limbs were still the same as before though, it was severed, and sealed with metal fitting.

Since the night elves burned the cross-section of her limbs after they amputated her, I had to cut the burned part first if I want her to regrow her limbs. In short, I had to chop her.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the current Liliana would break into tears whenever she saw edged tools. In addition, the night elves remind me that if I restore her limbs, she might wreak havoc in the small chance she regains her ego.

That’s why even though I feel sorry for Liliana―― I was left with no choice but to keep her amputated limbs as they were.

Well she had no problem living as a dog since she was being taken care of by me or the people around me.

『Listen carefully, you people. You have to treat her politely. There’s a chance that I will lose her miracle if something goes wrong and my relationship with her deteriorated due to your deed after all.』

I gave a strict reminder to the employees about the fact that they shouldn’t be rude to Liliana. The night elves made a slightly disgusted face when I told them that.

――Thanks to her I didn’t have to use sacrifice during my combat training with Platy.

You could say that I 『Saved』 the human slave’s life―― Or not. Reason being they would be used for another treatment.

At most, they might survive for a few more days.

『Maybe it’ll be harder to get the power of taboo without sacrifice.』

Said Ante.

I did get the point of why she said that.

But for me, the less sacrifice used for the treatment means that the other slave had longer to live, In that way, their life might be spared when I destroyed the demon kingdom in the future.

It was true that I lost the chance to accumulate taboo power but―― I was really glad that I didn’t get the power.

I can still get that power later on, to the point that I might feel disgusted by it――

I caressed Liliana’s head while thinking about such things. I looked at the nightscape outside the glass window as we left the vicinity of the demon kingdom’s capital.

Suddenly, I felt a line of sight locking on me.

When I looked in the direction of that stare, I saw Garounya who was sitting beside Sofia was looking at Liliana.

Stare~.

Her face was serious. But her tail was moving in a lively manner. Her hands grasped tightly on the hem of her maid’s skirt.

「… Ah.」

When her stare met mine, she averted her gaze in hurry.

Come here, Garounya.」

Garounya moved timidly to my side when I beckoned to her.

She started to let out a purr, closing her eyes with blissful look on her face as I caressed her chin.

『You seems to enjoy it.』

Ante teased me.

『High elf dog on left hand, fluffy white and beautiful female cat on right hand. This is the so called flower in both hands eh.』

――the one who added that was Sofia who sat in front of me and was averting her face with cold piercing look on her face.

「… Just like a real prince right?」

I tried to tease her.

「I know that.」

Sofia huffed, and then she took a super massive and thick book from between her boobs and started reading.

I was thinking about asking her to teach me a new spell along the way but, I guess that was impossible in this situation.

""

Thus I enjoyed fluffing the two girls on my sides while leaning on the backrest, forgetting about my mischief from before.