The Sleeping Devil

Vol. 4 - Chapter 23 - The enemy lies within

When summoned by Sergio to his office, Didier was already there, sipping tea while examining documents.

"Good morning, elder brother. Were you planning to return to the academy today?"

"Good morning, Sheriel. I'm scheduled to move in the afternoon, so I thought I'd consult with you before that."

As they sat on the long bench and took a sip of the prepared tea, Sergio and Sheriel gathered around the table. The atmosphere was unusually tense, causing them to naturally straighten their spines.

"These are the updates on the progress of the slaves sold in the black market auctions. First, the slaves bought by the wealthy commoners were the last three sold yesterday. A total of 132 were traded, with 30 deaths. Seven did not wish to be relocated. Including yesterday's three, the remaining 89 are recuperating in the northern region. Since those who were commoner slaves were subjected to harsh labor, if we can treat them well, they might be useful even in Klayla."

It took a year and a half, but they finally managed to intercept them all. The seven who didn't accept the invitation seem to be living comfortably as lovers or servants, so their wishes were respected.

If they were to disregard their wishes, the plunder, which was already in a gray area, would turn completely black.

"As for the slaves bought by the nobles that we plan to intercept, there are a few delicate situations."

"Are you planning to do it all at once? What are these delicate situations?"

"One involves stealing corpses, but there seems to be something behind it, so we need to investigate that first."

Stealing corpses? That doesn't sound like they're up to anything good.

Didier was wary of the possibility that there might be backers within the Beriard family who couldn't be dealt with.

"The other one is completely hidden, and we can't make contact with the slaves. We've surrounded the area, but there's no sign of them leaving. Moreover, this person has the second-highest number of purchases, owning twelve commoner slaves and three noble slaves. He's quite skilled, so we're at an impasse."

"I hope they're all safe."

The buyer is the second son of a count's family that specializes in trade with other countries. He's still in his early twenties and unmarried, but his reputation is quite good among his peers. That's why the investigation is unusually slow.

"We've completed the investigation on all the others. There's one who's using children as sex slaves, one who's managing and disposing of commoners for sport, and one who's making money by having them fight magical beasts. There's also one who's lending them to nobles as prostitutes."

"Let's kill them all."

"Haha, well, we anticipated this, so it was relatively easy to investigate this area."

Indeed, they had anticipated how the slaves purchased in the black market auctions would be used. However, to cover all these blatant atrocities... Is doing bad things just a commonality in every world?

...Probably, I think. It's bad, right? Right now, I can only judge based on my ethics from my past life and whether I'd dislike it if it were done to me. Before I was sold, I prayed that I wouldn't be bought by someone like that.

"Have you been able to make contact with all of them? Do they want to relocate?"

"Yeah, except for the first two. So, it's a discussion about how to deal with the buyers. Whether to just intercept the slaves and be done with it, take away their pleasures, or, as Sheriel suggests, kill them."

"Can't we have the Royal Knights arrest them? It's a punishable offense legally, after all."

"That would be fine, but it's not very advantageous for us. With money and backing, we can cover it up. I'd rather cut to the root of the problem quickly than deal with the trouble of retaliation."

At this point, I let out a heavy sigh.

Emotionally, it's fine for them to die, but if they do, it'll be troublesome to deal with afterwards and we won't gain anything. We'll only get the assurance that they won't do the same thing again.

However, if we keep them alive, nobles who have evidence against them will not be able to oppose Beriard. Even without a contract of servitude, they will become disposable pawns.

What Didier meant by "advantage" is probably to use the evidence of illegal slaves and wrongdoing to make them absolute obedient pawns.

"All the evidence is in place, right? So please ensure that they can never commit such acts again in the future."

"So, does that mean we're keeping them alive? Should we make them sign a servitude contract?"

"We don't need such tainted pawns. They're not worth being used as tools. But I do want those who have done terrible things to girls to feel regret and remorse... How about letting my older brother have some fun with them?"

"Haha! Is that okay? Won't you end up disliking me?"

"Well, it's their own fault. If they think of it as just getting what they deserve, there's no sympathy to be had."

Didier's face lit up with a smile, as if he was suddenly envisioning something he had dreamt of and began to list it all out in his mind, floating in the air. Then, after freezing for a moment, he looked at me with a twisted smile.

"Wait, does that mean even if something happens to me, Sheriel won't sympathize with me?"

"Well, isn't that obvious? Do you even need sympathy? That's why I keep telling you not to do bad things every day, right?"

"Well, I guess it's no use even if I do get sympathy. But is this really a bad thing? If I do bad things to bad people, does that make me bad too?"

Now, let's see... Even if I think I'm righteous, it might be evil to someone else. To them, Beriard is undoubtedly evil.

In the first place, we don't consider this act to be righteous. We're not doing this at the request of the slaves, nor do we have the right to judge nobles from other territories and interfere in their affairs. We're just trying to obtain a workforce by enticing them with the promise of a better place than here.

"Since this time it's my selfishness, I'll take care of half of my elder brother's work. Father, is that okay with you?"

"What are you talking about? Is it my turn now?"

Oh, this person wasn't listening again. He seems to have a policy of not worrying about the details.

"I'll fill you in since we're at it."

Sergio said as he spread out a large map. The Orlasteria Kingdom, located at the edge of the continent, is bordered by three countries. One of them, a country called Taria, seems to be the opponent this time.

"In fact, we're not really on bad terms with Taria. There's just enough trade going on that merchants come and go, and we had a territorial dispute in the past but now have a non-aggression pact. However, skirmishes have been frequent around the border for the past few years, and I found it suspicious."

Taria is the country where the fraudulent merchant who recommended blood packs to Dior was from. While investigating that matter, there seemed to be an unsettling atmosphere, but they never expected them to start a war.

It seems that this year they have been actively preparing for war, and just last month they declared war.

"So they actually notify about wars in advance?"

"Whether it's invasion or anything else, you have to give some reason and notify in advance, or other countries will interfere."

"And what's the reason for this war?"

Sergio sought help from Didier, saying, "What was it again?" He wanted him to remember the reason.

"It was something about Orlasteria monopolizing the magical core or something. It's nonsensical, probably referring to the Devil's Forest."

"Yes, yes! The Devil's Forest is like the source of magic, so you know that both the land and the people naturally have a lot of magic, right? Somehow, they claim to be monopolizing it by erecting a barrier to prevent magic leakage to other countries, making claims that I couldn't understand and forgot about."

Hmm... It's hard to understand, but they seem to be picking a fight over nothing.

If they're putting up barriers to prevent magic leakage to other countries, it's something to be grateful for, considering the dangers of magical beasts and pollution caused by high concentrations of magic. Besides, there are other places on the continent that seem to be magical cores.

Sergio was supposed to die in the war in that dream. Since Didier has come of age this year, it's either a completely different future or there's a few years' discrepancy. If it's like the dream, the war should have happened much earlier...

Huh? I have a bad feeling about this.

"Could you wait a moment?"

Ignoring the two who tilted their heads in confusion, I hurriedly infused magic into the earring on my left ear and connected with Julius.

"(Teacher, did you by any chance instigate something weird with Taria? It's from a few years ago.)"

"(What's this all of a sudden? Taria... Oh, right, I remember sowing the seeds there. I haven't tended to it since then, but what's wrong?)"

Oh no, this is bad. I hope it's just about my hair being black.

"(What are you doing! Come over here right away! Right now!)"

...Unbelievable. To think that it might be related to Father's death as well.

Even if he wasn't the type to die in battle, after Dior's death, he might have gone mad.

What seeds? I felt my knee shaking in irritation, and I almost clicked my tongue. That teacher is really troublesome!

After a few minutes, the door to the office opened, and Julius, with a bewildered expression, entered.

"Oh, Julius, what's up?"

"I was called by Sheriel, but did something happen?"

"It's not just 'something happened.' Isn't it the teacher who sparked the war with Taria? What are you planning to do!"

"Oh my, Sheriel seems a bit agitated."

This guy, always so carefree. How is he so good at rubbing people's emotions the wrong way, despite being so clueless about them!

"Huh? Oh, you mean Julius was scheming behind the scenes? Why didn't you invite me too?"

"Elder brother... It's our country's war... Please think about the extent of the damage."

"Huh, but if they're the ones starting it, we'll make huge profits if we win. Taria has wealth. Besides, turning them from non-aggression to a vassal state would be great."

"But... Many soldiers will die, won't they?"

"That can't be helped, right? Those who participate in wars do so to gain merit and advance their careers. It's natural for knights to risk their lives for the country's benefit."

Huh? Is that so? Being told so confidently, I'm starting to lose confidence.

Since nobles in Taria have low magical power, it seems that commoners can gain quasi-noble privileges. The quickest way to do so is by gaining military merit in war. However, Orlasteria's soldiers being dragged into this would be quite a nuisance.

...Profits if we win, huh. Hmm, I somehow feel that war is wrong, but is it just not in line with the common sense of this world?

"I was actually planning to do a bit of manipulation to ensure Taria puts up a good fight, but since the goal has been achieved, I've left it alone. Either way, Orlasteria's victory is certain, so it doesn't matter, right?"

"It does matter... Even if it's for career advancement, if Orlasteria wins in the end, Taria's soldiers won't be able to advance, will they?"

"They're soldiers of the enemy country, aren't they? Since they're waging war for their own desires, it's their responsibility."

I've been hearing about life the whole time, and it's depressing. And it's not just a few dozen lives, it's tens of thousands.

"Even so! This war was unnecessary in the first place, wasn't it? If a dumb country picks a fight, we should fight back, but if it was Julius-sensei who instigated it, then the responsibility lies with Julius-sensei. Please take care of it properly. If I keep going on like this, I'll get angry again."

"You're already angry."

"I'm still calm."

Julius muttered with a tired expression, "I guess there's no helping it," and then suddenly widened his eyes and looked at me again.

"Sheriel, didn't you say you'd give me a coming-of-age gift? Maybe I should use it now. For exemption from cleanup duty..."

"Sorry, but isn't the teacher already an adult? Aren't you ashamed to push your actions onto children?"

"I did treat you like a child before and made you angry, so I thought I learned from my mistake... So, how would you like to resolve this? Should I just go and wipe out the Tarian army by myself?"

Sigh... This is really hopeless. Why? Were you even listening? The teacher is supposed to be super smart, so why is he so clueless about this...

"Please stop the war."

"That's impossible. War between nations has already been scheduled. Even if I were the king of this country, I couldn't stop it."

"Then, please end the war with zero casualties on both sides immediately after it starts."

"Hmm... It doesn't matter how you do it?"

"Ugh, seriously! I'll think of something too!"

Leaving the ethical decisions to Julius, whose morality is questionable, seems like it would only make things worse. I remembered the person who sought help from Berriard and realized that Julius seemed more like a devil in comparison, and I held my head in frustration.

"Wait a minute! Does this mean my battlefield is going to disappear!? That's not good!"

"It's not a problem!"

As Sergio persisted like an unruly child, I glared at him, and he immediately lowered his shoulders.

"Where did I go wrong... Sheriel should have been itching to go to war by now..."

"Perhaps it's the educational policy that's wrong?"

"That's awful! Julius, next time..."

Feeling like I wanted to punch my war-crazed father, I made Julius promise three times to "never start wars recklessly in the future" and ensure he kept that promise at least while he's my teacher.

In the end, while Didier carried out his plan to intercept the slaves, Julius and I planned for a war with zero casualties, and after the war ended, Sergio would assist Didier.

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