Stranger's Handbook

However, the city didn’t look like a capital at all.

The large streets still looked clean, but once you entered the alleyways, you’d be bound to face desolation.

The people were extremely exhausted and the rebel army was in a state that it couldn’t be called an army anymore.

They were a group of tired people barely having any weapons.

That was the impression they gave.

First, we confiscated the building that was originally used as the Knights Division’s headquarters.

Since the palace burned down, it was useless now, so we prepared the former headquarters of the Knights Division to serve as our temporary headquarters.

It seemed that I would end up living here for a while.........

I wanted to return to Bea as quickly as possible, but I had to finish the things I had to do first.

“Lord Raiza, you were the supreme commander of this war, but the situation has changed. I’ll explain you in details, and if you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask me.”

“I understand.”

“First, about the rebel army. I’ll put Albert in charge of corresponding with them. Next, about the remnant soldiers of the kingdom’s army, you’ll be in charge of their suppression. I will stay here and take care of the maintenance, as well as try to grasp this country’s internal state of affairs. Then.......”

I glanced at Raiza.

He was consenting up to this point.

“Then, I’d like to take care of the diplomatic relations as fast as possible.”

“Diplomatic relations? You mean, announcing the suppression of the former Tarminal Kingdom........”

Yeah, you’d normally think that.

“It’s no good. The neighbors are a bunch of troublesome people.......They might start a holy war in order to save the oppressed.........or something.”

The Sacred Country of Lilac, a religious country, is sharing its borders with the former Tarminal Kingdom.

It would be really troublesome if they made their move now.

“I see. We must come to an agreement before it gets to that.........”

Raiza nodded in admiration.

..........He’s supposed to be the supreme commander, so I want him to be involved.

Raiza agreed to my proposal and started working without delay.

I quickly finished organizing some stuff, so I was planning to make a sortie.

The army was working admirably, so I didn’t have any words of complaint. I had nothing to worry about.

And so, I began working too.......

My job was........writing letters.

.........It couldn’t be helped; I had to write a lot of them.

I wrote his Majesty to ask for permission to act like a temporary commanding officer of the former royal capital.

I wrote the Sacred Country of Lilac in order to let them know that we’ll be patrolling the borders for maintaining public order.

I wrote to various other lords who haven’t capitulated yet, advising them to surrender.

I wrote an instructions booklet for the good maintenance of the capital.

And so on...

My head was starting to hurt..............

Especially when I started to write letters addressed to nobles, even I, the writer, didn’t really understand the meaning of the things I was writing anymore.

The wording got extremely annoying.

I secluded myself inside the unclean office, until I finished the paperwork.

This was all I did........I never thought that fighting spirit and guts were needed in order to cope with this job; it was my worst enemy.

This fight I started in the morning only concluded late at night.

I did it...........I finally finished.

I felt the room, quietly sobbing.

The guarding soldiers prepared some lights, so it wasn’t too dark inside the headquarters.

I went to the courtyard and took a deep breath, as I rotated my shoulders.

I used some healing magic, but somehow a sense of discomfort still remained.

I did some light exercises then I returned to the office.

It really wasn’t the moment to prepare some other room just for my sake.

I asked for the maids unit, and gave them the letters.

With this, it was over for now........Tomorrow, the scouts will bring some new information that I’ll have to organize..........

As I was thinking about the plans I had for the next day, I heard some noise outside.

I walked towards the main entrance, and I saw 10 people who seemed to be citizens. They were surrounded by soldiers.

“What’s with this noise?”

“Yes sir! These people trespassed and tried to steal our food.”

I see.

“I’m sure we delivered you food during the day. Did you not receive it?”

“Haaa? Did you really think that it would be enough? I know you have a lot of food here. The noble-sama even brought maids to the battlefield, after all.”

Are all these people like this.......?

He wore a large grin as he made fun of me.

“We are formal imperial soldiers. Come on, you can just overlook us.......The nobles are causing lots of hardships for you too, right?”

.............Ah! These guys showed up in the middle of the nights, spouting self-important nonsense.....And they don’t even think I’m a noble!

The main army’s soldiers who worked as night watchmen certainly said these guys were commoners. But they were actually former imperial soldiers....

“Were you guys part of the Frontier Count’s Army before?”

“No, we were soldiers of the main imperial army, but.......”

“Ah! That’s enough......”

As I interrupted his story all of a sudden, the man’s face looked displeased.

But once I knew they were from the main army, I had my decision.

“These guys are most likely deserters. Hand them over to Lord Raiza tomorrow, he’ll be very happy.”

It happens every year.

Cases of soldiers who steal army equipment and leave the country.

These guys are probably among them.

Furthermore, these fools started to be very noisy once they got tied down.

However, in the end they wanted to negotiate, saying they knew some good piece of information.

“If you have some interesting information, I’ll buy it from you. Now talk.”

I said harshly.

The man who seemed to act as the leader grinned broadly, as he opened his mouth.

“You see.......Did you know that the Frontier Count has a granddaughter called Beatrice? How much would you pay.......for a magical tool containing a picture of her naked body?”

“The situation has changed. Put them in the dungeon. I’ll have them tell me everything as I torture them.”

I want to obtain that.

I must obtain that and keep it into custody.......urm, dispose of it!

I was burning with a sense of duty, as I ran around the city at dawn.

The magical tool I found had indeed a picture of Bea.

Naked?..............She was holding a naked doll, as she seemed to be in the process of changing its clothes................

For this.........I ran all night in order to find this..........this.......