123 Chapter 123: Old friends

After the battle, I went to help my corpsmen out with healing the laborers with my Regeneration magic, but because it cost me a lot of energy, I ended up burning myself out and ordered by Dorden to go to bed. Unable to protest, I collapsed on the groundsheet I used as a temporary bed outdoors when outfield and fell asleep immediately.

The next thing I knew, my aide, Jurgen, was shaking me awake.

"Sir, Lieutenant Dressia is on the line."

I sat up groggily, still unsure what was going on. Stifling a yawn and rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I nodded and accepted the vox receiver from Jurgen.

"Tanaka here."

"Colonel, it's Dressia." Daniel's voice crackled over the vox. I bit my lip to stop another yawn and forced out a question.

"Hey, Daniel. How is it going? How are you guys holding up? Did the enemy send any reinforcements?"

"Nope," Daniel replied warily. "But…someone else did. There's someone here who says he knows you. He wants to speak to you."

"Who?"

"Um…he calls himself Alan. He's a knight from Legnica."

I was suddenly back to full wakefulness. "Patch him over. Thanks."

"Uh…sure." Daniel sounded uncertain, but he obeyed. A minute or so later, Alan's voice came through.

"Tanaka-san, is that you?"

"Nope, I'm Sato."

"…"

"Sorry. Yeah, it's me. What's up?"

Igoring my bad attempt at a joke, Alan took a deep breath on the other side of the vox, and then issued a request.

"Please…Tanaka-san. I need your help."

*

I returned to shore by way of a battleship named Titan's Bane. Or so I intended.

The majority of the armada had been left back at the Marrina Isles because we still needed manpower to pacify the population.

Before I boarded Titan's Bane, I heard a cry well up from my men. A shimmering gate appeared and Hoshizaki Kozue stepped out of it, followed by Aoyama Aoi.

"I heard you need my help," Aoyama told me.

"Yeah. There's still a lot of wounded personnel in here, not to mention the indoctrinated." I watched him, but his expression was unreadable as always. "You told me you came up with a cure for Kobayashi's brainwashing?"

"Yeah." Aoyama nodded, a hint of pride in his eyes. "Give me a few days and I'll lift the brainwashing effects from the entire population."

"Good job." Hoshizaki was looking at the fleet, impressed. She turned to me with a smile. "I heard what you did, Tanaka-kun. That was amazing."

"No, I did nothing." I waved her praise away. "It was all my men. My soldiers worked hard to capture the ships. They did everything."

"You're the one who defeated the Evelyn's Chosen and her Leviathan, sir!" Sergeant Michael Marko bellowed from somewhere.

I jumped out of my skin, utterly surprised when Mkoll suddenly spoke up behind me. That guy…I didn't even sense his presence at all. How scary. When did he sneak up on me? The guy was literally a ghost.

Maybe I should change my name to Ibram Gaunt…

"Anyway, I'm counting on you." I turned back to Aoyama, pretending not to hear my subordinates. "I hope you can…uh, persuade them to stop resisting, at least."

"I suspect they'll be so furious with what Kobayashi did with them, their king and country that they will volunteer to join your army and your cause."

"He's not wrong, you know." Lieutenant Bass ventured, a group of Marines trailing him. "We've got plenty of volunteers from the former laborers. Now that they've been liberated, they're just bursting with the desire for revenge. They want to get their hands on Kobayashi and wringe the life out of his neck. They can't forgive him for enslaving them as laborers."

"I don't blame them."

I sighed. Having heard the reports, I could only imagine the nightmarish hell the laborers were put through. Atlantea's father was in pretty bad shape, but thanks to Dorden's medical treatment, he would pull through. He was already shouting how he would love to get his hands on Kobayashi and explicitly detail what sort of revenge he would take.

Sorry, old man, but I have dibs on Kobayashi. No one's getting to him before I did, and the moment I'm done with him, there wouldn't be anything left of that bastard for anyone to take revenge on. The guy was too dangerous to be allowed to live.

"All right. I'll be leaving the people of the Marrina Isles to you guys." I turned toward my soldiers. "Please cooperate with Aoyama and help him out. He'll try to erase the indoctrination Kobayashi placed on them, but before then, they might resist. Try not to hurt anyone unless absolutely necessary, but I think you'll have to restrain them as much as possible."

My soldiers exchanged glances and I sighed.

"Right, prioritize your lives. If restraining them proves too dangerous, then just…do whatever is necessary to put them down. But don't be too trigger-happy. We'll be needing these men for the final war against Kobayashi. Is that understood?"

"Sir, yes, sir!"

With a satisfied nod, I proceeded up Traitor's Bane and ordered the crew to sail toward the mainland shore. As I climbed to the deck, I wasn't surprised to see Lilith Scarlet already waiting there for me, her long red hair fluttering in the wind. She turned toward me with a smile, resting against the railing and enjoying the salty air.

"I heard you're meeting an old friend?"

I couldn't help but smile. Word sure traveled fast. Lilith had her sources.

"Yeah. You remember Alan?"

"How could I forget?" Lilith giggled. "He's one of the less…uh, useless people in your party when you went to fight the dragons."

"I guess you could say that."

Both of us didn't voice out the fact that the most useless one was Alicia Clarence. Gosh, but that girl was annoying.

"…I wonder what he wants to meet me for?"

It had been a while since we last met, and Alan didn't know about my relationship with the demons then. However, he contacted a demonic armor company and requested the son of Baron Dressia, a demon noble, to patch him over to me. Then he must have known about my connections with the demons…

Lilith shrugged.

"Who knows?"

"I guess we'll find out."

We waited as the battleship sailed across the sea and toward the mainland shore. It had been a while since we had a quiet, peaceful journey like this, free of tension and conflict. Despite the titanic battle that occurred last night, the water was calm and tranquil. There were moments where I could catch glimpses of marine life darting across or swimming leisurely under the surface, algae lazily drifting up and flowing along with the breeze, and seagulls or other winged birds skimming across the water to catch a fish. Occasionally a whale or a sea monster would rear its head or body, large torrents of water rolling off its blubber and crashing back into the sea.

Even in this era, they should already have cruise ships, right? Luxurious cruise ships for the wealthy and nobles.

I wasn't sure regarding the history of cruise ships, but if they hadn't started an industry around that, I was pretty sure I could create one. Not that I would stick around for long. Once this whole thing with Kobayashi was over, I was going to ask Takeda Tetsuo to send me back to Earth.

At that time I didn't know his Plunder special ability had no effect on me.

…because of Adamantium Will…

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Anyway, Lilith and I spent the journey enjoying the scenery and silence before the huge shore of the mainland came into view. I saw Company T's tanks all parked around the beach, most of them turning their executioner plasma cannons and main turrets inland. They were probably still on a lookout for enemy reinforcements.

At the center was a ring, where Daniel and his command squad surrounded a single human knight. I immediately recognized the handsome face and wavy blond hair.

"Daniel! Guys! Alan!"

I waved from the deck. Several of my soldiers caught sight of me and waved back before erupting to a cheer.

"Three cheers for the Colonel!"

"Congratulation!"

"…huh?"

I stared at them blankly, only for Lilith to sigh.

"You won a major battle at Marrina Isles and captured their entire fleet. Not to mention you slew an Evelyn's Chosen and her Leviathan. Of course they would be celebrating your…no, your regiment's victory."

"Oh."

So that was what the fuss was all about.

Feeling a little embarrassed, I waved at my men meekly before focusing my attention on Alan. He looked immensely relieved that I had finally arrived.

"Tanaka-san!"

"Hey, Alan. What's up?"

He looked grim, but waited for the ship to stop and anchor itself in shallow waters for me and my crew to alight. I patiently strode over to him with Lilith by my side, the both of us escorted by armed guardsmen.

"Scarlet-san." Alan nodded respectfully to Lilith, who politely returned the greeting.

"It's been a while."

"Indeed." Alan took a deep breath and turned to me. "Tanaka-san, I'll get straight to the point. I hear you're raising an army to fight against Kobayashi and his forces. Is that correct?"

"It's not wrong," I admitted. "But what about it?"

Alan looked at me seriously.

"Please allow me to join you."

Well, that wasn't unexpected. I always knew Alan was a decent sort of fellow who would never follow a tyrant like Kobayashi. How he escaped Kobayashi's Kingly Disposition and indoctrination, I wasn't sure, but I used Absolute Appraisal to make sure and saw that his status was normal. He hadn't been brainwashed.

"I don't mind."

"Great!" Alan brightened. Then he cleared his throat awkwardly. "I mean…it's not just me. There's a group of us…resistance fighters. There are quite a few knight regiments who refused to accept how Kobayashi murdered the royal family and ursurped the throne for himself…and his tyranny. I represent one of them, and we would like to join you."

"Resistance fighters?" I repeated. Now this was surprising.

Alan nodded. "Yeah. We're mostly rural regiments, though – those regiments stationed at remote, rural outposts on the border. I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but we're mostly ragtag bands of knights or disgraced Knightly Orders who were punished and sent far away as punishments for failure and such. We would really benefit from being part of a larger and more organized resistance movement."

I finally understood why Alan and those knight regiments avoided the brainwashing effects of Kobayashi's special ability. They weren't in the capital when it happened. They were far away from the cities, isolated in the remote, rural borders of the human kingdoms. As powerful as Kobayashi was, his power was not omnipotent. He couldn't extend his Kingly Disposition to enslave every single human on the kingdom.

Come to think of it, it seemed that the Marrina Isles were the same thing. The people in the main city of the Marrina Isles had succumbed to his brainwashing effect, but the villages far away from the main isles and located remotely on the shores of the mainland, far from any major cities or large towns, were free from the indoctrination.

Kobayashi's influence couldn't extend everywhere. Somehow I was pleased by that knowledge.

"Um, I don't mind, but just so you know, we're not a mere resistance group or rebels." I glanced at my men and then returned my gaze to Alan. "I'm not sure if you already know, but we're all demons here. It's a full-on war. We're waging a total war against Kobayashi and his armies – it's the demon domains of Morten against the human kingdoms under Kobayashi's control. There are politics involved, and the war is taking place on a far greater scale than you can imagine. It won't be as simple as granting you freedom after killing Kobayashi."

"I understand. In other words, we've to negotiate with the demons, right?" Alan swallowed as he swept his gaze from Lilith to my men. "We're prepared for that. And I'll be asking you and her highness Queen Scarlet for assistance."

So he knew who Lilith was. And he was already aware of my real identity. I wondered when he found out. After we went our separate ways following the rescue of Princess Merly from the dragons, or did he know about it all along?

Honestly, it didn't matter.

"As long as you know."

While I good-naturedly told Alan that, Lilith followed up.

"It's great that you've resolved yourself and all, and I'll do my best to help you. But I'm still a little surprised that you would go this far…"

Alan chewed on his lip and balled his hands into fists.

"We've seen firsthand the results of Kobayashi's tyranny. Entire villages decimated and destroyed because they couldn't afford to pay taxes and tithes. Whole populations of towns dragged into slavery and labor to produce military equipment and weapons, or drafted into the military. The brainwashing. The atrocities. The…purges. He killed our king and queen. He imposed fear and insanity upon our friends and families! We…we'll never forgive him!"

"Speaking of friends…" I suddenly realized something. "Where's Alicia-san and Sophia-san? Are they with you on this, or…?"

Alan suddenly went cold at that. He turned pale and began to tremble.

"Alicia…Alicia was killed."

"…huh?"

I couldn't believe what I just heard. Blinking in disbelief, I stared at him.

"Alicia-san…was killed?"

Alan nodded. "She…and the Clarence family refused to submit. When his majesty King Hedol was killed, they were the first ones to take action and denounce him. Kobayashi then had them all executed and made an example of them…to silence the rest of the nobles into obedience."

His hands were shaking violent as he stared at his fingers, tears welling up in his eyes. Gritting his teeth, he held back a sob.

"I saw…I saw the images. Of Alicia's body hanging from the gallows. Not just her, her whole family. Their servants. The entire Clarence Household, from the patriarch to the lowliest servant, from the elderly to the youngest infant, all of them were strung up and quartered on public display for all to see. There was no mercy shown. Not a single one was spared. None of the noble houses dared to protest against Kobayashi after that."

Holy Terra! I thought Kobayashi was insane, but this just had to take the cake. The guy used to be a high school student like me, albeit a terrible bully. But now he was a cliché villain right out of the most unoriginal stories about tyrants and demon lords.

And I was supposed to be the demon here. What the hell?!

To confirm Alan's information (and also because I really, really wanted to see the sight of a dead Alicia hanging from the gallows by her neck), I switched on my smartphone and searched the news regarding the Clarence house's demise.

The images sickened me. As I watched Alicia's corpse slowly sway, hung up by her neck, I felt sick. As annoying as she was, even she didn't deserve such an end. Scanning through the images, I saw that Alan wasn't exaggerating.

The entire Clarence family was there, executed and hung like petty criminals, displayed on public for all to see. The news also came with an imperial edict from the self-proclaimed Emperor of Humanity, declaring that treason was a crime punishable by death. Not just the death of the individual, but if anyone so much as think treason, he and his entire family, friends and perhaps even village would be arrested and executed immediately.

What the fuck was this?! Kobayashi had really gone too far. That bastard had clearly gone over the edge.

…or not.

"R…right. Anyway, Tanaka-san, I have some news for you. The knight regiment I joined is the Knights of Blood. The commander says he knows you, and tells me to send his regards."

"Knights of Blood?

For a moment, my thoughts were torn away from the ominous news of Kobayashi's atrocities and jerked back into the present. The Knights of Blood indeed sounded familiar. In fact…

"Captain Dante Infernius?!"

Alan allowed himself a small smile. "So the Captain was right. He did know you."

"We've met," I affirmed with a slight nod. "How is he doing?"

At my question, Alan lost his smile and he turned glum. Gulping, he stared at his feet.

"Captain Infernius's regiment is under siege right now…in fact, that's the real reason why I rushed here to find you. We need your help to save him and the Knights of Blood. Kobayashi has vowed to punish them for their treason and sent an overwhelming force to crush their garrison." He looked at me, imploring. "Please help us…we're outnumbered, starved of resources and surrounded. At this rate…we won't be able to last another week before the enemy finally breaks our defenses and wipe both us and our families out."