64 – Deception (1)
Early morning.
Avakusa groaned.
“Damn it…”
“Why so early in the morning?”
“It’s messed up. Drakan.”
“Why?”
He pointed at a piece of jerky mistakenly put into his stew.
“That goddamn jerky ended up in my bowl pretending to be meat stew.”
“…Oh, damn. That lousy butcher?”
Blanca’s expression became heavy.
“…Ah, damn it. Dracan. Let’s not go out today and stay inside the house. Okay?”
I nodded. Now, it was almost certain that Abakusa’s meat shop would be out.
When unexpected meat was mixed into the stew that came out in the morning, misfortune always followed.
I wish it would turn out well…
“Commander! Who’s the commander?”
“Tall people come out! Hurry!”
“I heard it! Are you just going to leave us?! “
“Why the hell…!”
I glanced at Abakusa.
“Just prepare the shop.”
“hehehehe. Should I?”
Blanca shook her head back and forth.
“I was hoping it wouldn’t happen…but it’s really a mess…If you’re going to make a mistake, don’t get caught until the end…Ah, damn it.”
The scene that came out after opening the tent was chaotic.
The starving and ragged people in the village were trying to rush into the train over the temporary tables they had laid out.
“Step back!”
“If you don’t step back, we will shoot!”
“Don’t stick to me! Damn it!”
The trembling resistance fighters were holding guns. Some of them were already competing with the villagers trying to cross over the tables.
A mess. The important thing was that the villagers were not completely empty-handed.
Under their excited faces, they were carrying weapons as if they were obtained from corpses. Of course, there weren’t many. Around 1/10 of the whole.
The important thing was that both sides had weapons.
Blanca peeked behind the wooden boards.
“I’m wearing armor, but it doesn’t feel good to get shot.”
“Isn’t it my job to shoot before they do?”
“It’s ambiguous whether they are friendly or hostile. It’s all about muscle memory.”
“If even one person fires a gun, it’s war.”
“…That’s not wrong.”
I pulled the two who revealed this desire for survival.
Untethered beasts. They were the guys who lived in the tough world. I was ready to shoot back if they shot at me.
… But, not just yet.
“Stay calm,” I said.
The faces I had seen coming and going. The faces that had nodded and smiled at me when I shared my rations with them.
They weren’t faceless folks. They were people I had seen time and again since I’d been here.
“Because we’re still talking.”
It was the law of the jungle. Either kill or be killed.
… But, if they were humans like me, I wanted to avoid that path until there was no choice left.
“… Don’t look at me like that. You got it? Put it away,” he said.
“Who are you calling a calf? You’re just a wild man. Of course, it’s just a joke. Urgh! How can I make sticky rice cakes now?”
“What do you mean ‘sticky rice cakes’? You’re just big and clumsy.”
“Well, then. If you’re upset, fix your twisted personality and come back. You know what? Maybe I’ll like you.”
“…Ah, damn it. I’m gonna puke.”
“Not here, you won’t.”
Setting down their machine guns and rifles, the two soldiers and I looked ahead with a sigh.
Three revealed themselves among the others.
First was Major Edan Vulff, who looked like a proud wolf. His ash-colored hair was chilly, and his pupils looked like they could be ruthless to both friend and foe.
“What’s going on?”
“I don’t know either, sir. I think there might be some misunderstanding.”
“Edan Vulff, sir.”
Someone walked out between the townspeople who had caused chaos. It was Ned Moore, the village chief.
Kyara, who looked tense beside him, stood still. They exchanged a brief look and stood in front of Edan Vulff.
It wasn’t close, according to distance, but it was a natural distance at which they could retreat at any time.
“Our resistance is the only
The resolute tone was tough.
“Really?”
…
It leaked out.
Edan Balph furrowed his brow. He glanced to the side, but Tetis Libra maintained a stiff posture with no change in expression.
In contrast, Rotten Miller was different.
“What, what?!”
… I thought the soldiers were busy.
Did they give orders to leave first?
Failing to read the situation proved their unfitness as commanders. Trash.
But before punishing him…
An explanation comes first.
Hasty lies will not work. Since they have already heard something, they must have come.
Vague lies will surely amplify suspicion.
“That’s right.”
“What the f***?!”
“How could you guys do that?! You traitors!!!”
“You only… you only did it to save yourselves…? You did everything you were told to do… so why…!”
From Noble mtl dot com
“Shut up! Where are these bastards from?!”
Rotten Miller shouted in a chaotic space. Amidst the noise, the village chief looked up.
Although he was old, his gaze was cold. It was different from the gaze of an ordinary person.
The gaze of a soldier. A gaze that has experienced life and death.
“Edan Balph Captain. We cooperated as much as possible with the resistance.”
“That’s right.”
“Can we ask why you’re rejecting us now that you’ve come?”
Calm. He wasn’t swept away by anger like other villagers.
Perhaps he was trying to find a common ground. It was incredibly rational.
That may be why he brought the entire village with him, to exaggerate what was visible and put more force into his words.
… But.
In the end, it’s just a conversation with no income.
“There are no seats on the train.”
“Can’t we just throw away some of the supplies?”
“All those supplies are valuable military resources. Village Chief. We can’t just throw them away. Leaving while discarding supplies is exactly what Harvest wants.”
“What the resistance should protect isn’t supplies, but the citizens of the Federation, right?”
“Citizens, yes.”
Ethan Valf nodded to Tetis Libra.
The woman, who came out of the barracks with a stern face, brought a ledger with her.
“The citizens that the resistance should protect,” she said, “means people who ‘have lived an upright life while abiding by the law.’ We cannot treat criminals the same way as ordinary citizens.”
“What does that…”
“Do you know what this is?” Rothen Miller bit his nails nervously. Ethan Valf pursed his lips.
“This is a ledger handed to us by Rothen Miller. It’s a ledger with an abnormally low production amount written on it.”
“…Yes?”
“The nearby mine played a crucial role in creating the village of Pinecone. Most of the people gathered here were miners or their families. Friends or daughters.”
Ethan Valf quickly opened the ledger.
“But the production amount was absurdly low compared to the size of the mine.”
“…”
“All the resources that come out of the mine are inspected by the resistance first. And then an appropriate tax is levied. But…the production amount itself was absurdly low. To the point where it could be considered intentional tampering.”
“What on earth are you saying…”
“This means you intentionally deceived, and thus cheated, on your taxes.”
The villagers murmured in agitation.
“That, that’s not true.”
“It was simply, it was simply impossible to bypass that gate altogether.”
“It was an environment in which pilfering was completely impossible!”
A difficult situation. Ethan Valf sighed. In a way, it was true. But there was a decisive reason why he had believed in this issue.
“The witness at hand here, Rothen Miller, saw you attempting to kill and conceal a federal tax collector who came here. And then by leaving the body to fester, you revealed the village’s location to Harvest.”
“What on earth…”
“We’ve already finished the investigation. Starting with the work logs, the testimony of the resistance members who escorted the tax collector, and the confirmed list of two village people who were strangely absent, we were able to secure the last voice recording of the tax collector.”
Edan Valaf pulled an object from his hand. A rod-shaped audio recording device.
Without hesitation, he played it immediately.
[There seems to be nothing unusual in the ledger records. So, this must be…]
[…As Investigator saw during the day, there is a toll gate installed at the entrance of the mine, collecting taxes.]
[So, indeed…]
[It seems that there is a separate path inside the mine for diverting resources.]
[We have to deal with these guys right away…!]
[Investigator! When the daylight comes, we’ll…]
[Assign just one resistance member! I will wake them up immediately and verify the truth!]
The voice was cut off.
Edan Valaf put the audio recording device back into his pocket.
“With this story, the investigator who went out at night never returned.”
“What… is this…”
“Not only tax evasion but also attempting to kill the investigator who tried to uncover the truth and leaving the body behind. As a result, Havest identified the village location and surrounded it, which is a grave offense.”
A noose from which they couldn’t escape.
He asked him a question that he originally intended not to speak out loud.
“The whole village is practically involved. And yet you claim to be a citizen of the Federation?”
The village head’s expression crumbled. His trembling hand released the cane.
“That… cough, cough!”
He suddenly started coughing. The fox-like demi-human standing beside him quickly raised its head.
Red pupils.
Unusually cloudy and split irises were shaking.
“Ah, sir… Sir would never do such a thing!”
“Bring evidence.”
Edan Valaf said briefly.
“Bring the evidence, and I will listen. But until then, all of you are criminals. You are not citizens of the Federation…”
His words were concise.
He discarded what naturally should have been abandoned for the mission right here.
Of course, there were flaws in Rotten Miller’s words. He also had doubts that it might have been manipulated.
However, Edan Valaf had to make a decision right here.
The possibility of being an enemy of the federation and the burden of risks to bear.
Considering the possibility of even getting betrayed after saving them, a decision had to be made.
He is the commander…
“There is no obligation to protect.”
Because the soldiers under his command should be his top priority.
…
People are buzzing. Kiara trembled.
She had never worked in a mine before. She had grown up hunting since she was young.
So, she doesn’t know.
About tax evasion or anything like that.
“Ah, sir…”
But there’s one thing she knows.
That the person in front of her is not someone who would kill for money.
“Well, isn’t there something…? They’re lying… If this goes on, the train will leave… And we’ll be left behind…”
By the time they reach there, it becomes impossible to dispel misunderstandings.
The village chief starts coughing. He seems like he wants to say something but the sudden illness interrupts his speech.
“What a waste of time.”
Edan turned around. Kiara held onto the village chief.
No, she can’t let it end like this.
They hear the sound of the train starting. The resistance fighters who were being cautious quickly start moving the supplies.
Not like this…
Not like this!
“…Huh?”
A feeling of unease.
Kiara suddenly sensed the feeling of unease.
She entrusted Ned Moore, who was coughing uncontrollably, to the person next to her. She rushed into the house and pulled out a bundle of documents carefully preserved in the dust.
It’s certain.
Books.
Ledgers.
Similar to what that tall man had earlier.
It was so much that she couldn’t carry it with both hands, so she carried it in the box. She stumbled several times because it was heavy, but she got up again and reached him.
Time had passed too quickly. The resistance fighters were packing their luggage and loading it onto a transport truck.
It seemed like they were about to leave.
Kiara hung onto the soldier’s pants she had seen before.
“We’re here too…we’re here too…”
The soldier who was giving departure orders turned around.
“What is it?”
“Well, it’s a ledger. The things uncle recorded every night…so…this is…”
There was a reason for bringing something without checking what was inside.
Faith that uncle hadn’t recorded falsehoods.
“If you’re suspicious…you can check it against…the taxes you paid so far…the minerals you’ve mined…It’s a ledger that summarizes all the taxes leaving the village.”
“What a waste of time…”
“Please, just look at it once…please…”
Kiara clung onto him.
“Just once…that’s all we need…”
The soldier frowned and backed away.
“It’s already about to leave. We don’t have time to waste. We’ll send a follow-up unit so you can explain the rest then.”
No.
It’s too late for that. We can’t wait for a unit that might not even come.
Kiara turned her head. Just once. Anyone. Please look at it just once.
If she lets them all go like this…everyone will die.
“Who…”
She turned to her side. The resistance fighter whose gaze met hers averts his eyes.
“Who…”
She looked elsewhere. The resistance fighter whose gaze met hers averts his eyes
Familiar voice.
Chiara raised her blurry gaze. Someone was holding the redheaded female soldier who seemed at a loss at what to do.
“It’s not hard to see once, right?”
“But the captain…”
“Look at me.”
He reached out his hand.
Drakan.
The dragons they secretly met every night.
“It will only take a moment.”
He reached out his hand.