"Abel, aku punya firasat kita sedang menuju ke selatan."
"Ryo, kebetulan sekali, aku juga berpikir begitu."
"Abel, kurasa kerajaannya ada di sebelah barat."
"Ryo, kebetulan sekali, aku juga berpikir begitu."
"Abel, kita pasti sedang dibawa sebagai budak."
"Ryo, kurasa tidak begitu."
Keduanya sedang menaiki kereta kuda. Itu adalah kereta yang disiapkan oleh Marquis Nyusha, dan para ksatria dari kediaman marquis tersebut menjaga di segala sisi.
"Jadi kita dipindahkan karena Marquis Nyusha bilang kita harus datang ke kediamannya, kan?"
"Benar. Dia bilang jaraknya dua hari dari Benteng Zarash... tidak, dari Kota Bebas Zarash."
Baik Ryo maupun Abel berbicara sambil menatap ke luar jendela. Karena ini adalah hari kedua perjalanan dengan kereta, mereka seharusnya tiba hari ini.
"Marquis kembali lebih dulu untuk menyiapkan penyambutan dan semacamnya, tapi..."
"Aku tidak suka dijadikan tontonan besar seperti itu."
"Itu karena Abel menerobos langsung ke tempat pertemuan."
"Tidak, itu tidak bisa dihindari, kan?"
Abel membalas perkataan Ryo. Tentu saja, Ryo juga memahaminya. Di tempat itu, dalam situasi tersebut, tindakan Abel adalah yang paling tepat.
"Bagaimana jika ada pasukan Persatuan yang berbaris di depan mansion dan Abel dijadikan tawanan?"
"Tidak mungkin hal itu terjadi."
"Bagaimana jika mereka menangkap Abel dan meminta tebusan dari kerajaan?"
"Kalau begitu, aku akan ditinggalkan."
"...Eh?"
Abel menjawab dengan mengangkat bahu, dan Ryo terkejut.
"Pemerintah kerajaan akan meninggalkan Abel?"
"Tentu saja. Dan selain itu, adipati utama yang ditangkap bersamaku mungkin juga akan dibuang."
"Itu masalah! Aku tidak peduli dengan Abel, tapi mereka harus membayar tebusanku!"
"Adipati utama yang egois sekali."
Pada malam hari, rombongan Abel tiba di ibu kota marquisate, Nansha. Ada lebih dari sepuluh ribu tentara bersenjata lengkap di sana...
"Lihat!"
"Tidak, itu tidak mungkin..."
Ryo menunjuk ke arah sana, dan Abel terperangah. Bendera yang berbaris di sana adalah bendera Persatuan Handal. Tentu saja, Marquis Nyusha bukanlah bangsawan Persatuan, wilayahnya pun bukan bagian dari Persatuan. Secara geopolitik, wilayah itu memang sangat dipengaruhi oleh Persatuan, tapi...
"Kita pasti telah diserahkan kepada Persatuan!"
"Kurasa tidak begitu..."
"Mereka menggunakan kita sebagai alat tawar-menawar, dan Marquis Nyusha mencoba membuat perjanjian yang menguntungkan dengan Persatuan."
"Kurasa tidak begitu..."
Ryo menyatakannya sebagai kepastian, sementara kata-kata Abel kehilangan kekuatannya dibandingkan sebelumnya, meskipun dia sendiri berpikir itu mungkin salah. Dari pintu masuk ibu kota, kereta yang membawa Ryo dan Abel perlahan bergerak lebih dalam ke kota, di antara barisan ksatria Persatuan yang berdiri di sepanjang jalan. Setelah berjalan beberapa lama, mereka tiba di depan mansion marquis.
"Yang Mulia Abel, kita telah tiba."
Pintu kereta terbuka, dan seorang tentara dari pasukan marquisate Nyusha yang mengawal keduanya memanggil mereka. Keduanya turun dari kereta dan dituntun masuk ke dalam mansion.
<<Kita belum dilucuti senjatanya.>>
<<Dilucuti?>>
<<Senjata kita belum diambil.>>
<<Ah, maksudmu begitu. Yah, bagaimanapun juga aku seorang raja. Jika seseorang mencoba mengambil pedang raja, itu mungkin akan merusak hubungan, bukan?>>
Abel menjawab bahwa itu wajar saja menanggapi pengamatan Ryo.
<<Tapi tetap saja, Abel juga dikenal sebagai pendekar pedang yang berbahaya, kan? Dia mantan pendekar pedang peringkat A.>>
<<Kau lebih berbahaya dariku, Ryo.>>
<<Aku, baik menurut pengakuan diri sendiri maupun orang lain, adalah penyihir atribut air yang cinta damai.>>
<<Kurasa bagian 'diri sendiri' tidak masalah, tapi kurasa bagian 'orang lain' tidak mengakuinya.>>
Sepertinya persepsi setiap orang berbeda-beda. Ruangan tempat keduanya dituntun adalah ruang tamu yang cukup luas. Dua pria duduk di sofa di tengah ruangan, tetapi mereka berdiri bersamaan saat Ryo dan Abel masuk. Salah satunya adalah pemilik mansion dan pria yang mengundang mereka, Marquis Nyusha. Wajahnya tampak sedikit tegang. Alasan untuk itu mungkin pria yang satunya lagi...
Adapun pria lainnya, dia adalah seseorang yang juga dikenal Abel. Mereka pernah bertemu empat tahun lalu... sebelum pertempuran menentukan dengan Djinn Garwin.
"Tidak mungkin..."
Tetapi mustahil membayangkan dia akan berada di sini.
"Sudah lama sekali, Yang Mulia Abel."
"Aku tidak menyangka Lord Aubrey, gubernur Persatuan, akan berada di sini."
Menunggu Ryo dan Abel adalah Lord Aubrey, Gubernur Persatuan Handal.
Chapter 0706 Abel the Captive I
Translator: Jay_Forestieri
Editor: Tseirp
“Abel, I have a feeling we’re heading south.”
“Ryo, what a coincidence, I think so too.”
“Abel, I think the kingdom is to the west.”
“Ryo, what a coincidence, I think so too.”
“Abel, we must be being taken away as slaves.”
“Ryo, I think that is not the case.”
The two of them were riding in a carriage.
It was a carriage arranged by Marquis Nyusha, and knights from the marquis’s house were guarding it on all sides.
“So we’re being moved because Marquis Nyusha said we should come to his residence, right?”
“That’s right. He said it was two days from Zaarash Fortress... no, from Zaarash Free City.”
Both Ryo and Abel were talking while looking out the window.
Since it was the second day of traveling by carriage, they would apparently arrive today.
“The marquis went back ahead of us to prepare the welcome and all that, but...”
“I don’t like being made such a big spectacle of.”
“That is because Abel charged straight into the meeting place.”
“No, that couldn’t be helped, could it?”
Abel countered Ryo’s words.
Of course, Ryo understood that too.
In that place, in that situation, Abel’s action had been the most correct one.
“What are we going to do if there are Union troops lined up in front of the mansion and Abel gets taken prisoner?”
“There’s no way that will happen.”
“What if they capture Abel and demand a ransom from the kingdom?”
“In that case, I would be abandoned.”
“...Eh?”
Abel answered with a shrug, and Ryo was shocked.
“The kingdom government would abandon Abel?”
“Of course. And on top of that, the premier duke who was captured with me would probably be cut loose too.”
“That is a problem! I could care less about Abel, but they must pay my ransom!”
“What a selfish premier duke.”
In the evening, Abel’s party arrived at the marquisate capital, Nansha.
There were more than ten thousand fully armed soldiers there....
“See! ”
“No, that can’t be...”
Ryo pointed it out, and Abel was astonished.
The flags lined up there were those of the Handal Union.
Of course, Marquis Nyusha was not a noble of the Union.
Nor was his territory part of the Union.
Geopolitically, it was certainly a region strongly influenced by the Union, but...
“We must have been handed over to the Union!”
“I don’t think that’s the case...”
“They are using us as bargaining chips, and Marquis Nyusha is trying to conclude a favorable treaty with the Union.”
“I don’t think that’s the case...”
Ryo stated it as a certainty, while Abel’s words lost force compared to at first, even though he himself thought it was probably wrong.
From the entrance to the capital, the carriage carrying Ryo and Abel slowly moved deeper into the city, between rows of Union knights standing along the roadside.
After proceeding for a while, they arrived in front of the marquis’s mansion.
“Your Majesty Abel, we have arrived.”
The carriage door opened, and a soldier from the Nyusha marquisate army who had been escorting the two called out to them.
The two got out of the carriage and were shown inside the mansion.
<<We have not been disarmed.>>
<<Disarmed?>>
<<Our weapons have not been taken away.>>
<<Ah, that’s what you mean. Well, I’m a king after all. If someone tried to take a king’s sword away, that would probably break the relationship, wouldn’t it?>>
Abel replied that it was only natural in response to Ryo’s observation.
<<But still, Abel is also known as a dangerous swordsman, right? He is a former A-rank swordsman.>>
<<You, more than me, Ryo.>>
<<I am, by both self and other recognition, a peace-oriented water-attribute magician.>>
<<I think the ‘self’ part is fine, but I don’t think the ‘other’ part is recognized.>>
It seems that perceptions differ from person to person.
The room the two were shown into was a rather spacious reception room.
Two men were seated on the sofa in the center of the room, but they stood up at the same time Ryo and Abel entered.
One of them was the master of the mansion and the man who had invited them, Marquis Nyusha.
His face seemed slightly tense.
The reason for that was probably the other man...
As for that other man, he was someone Abel also knew.
They had met four years ago... before the decisive battle with Djinn Garwin.
“No way...”
But it would be impossible to imagine that he would be here.
“It has been a long time, Your Majesty Abel.”
“I did not expect Lord Aubrey, the Union’s governor, to be here.”
Waiting for Ryo and Abel was Lord Aubrey, the Governor of the Handal Union.
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