The 137th day of summoning other worlds [Those who swing] Part 6:

Ten years ago, Elena Steiner was the general of the Roselia Kingdom.
From a commoner to a knight and then to a general.
Her unparalleled abilities and achievements had propelled her to the highest rank in the military.
Everyone in the Kingdom of Rosería adored her.
But there were those who were jealous of her.
Where there is light, there are shadows.

That person's name was Hodram Arleberg.
He had a blessed physique.
He had the martial arts skills necessary for a knight.
There was also a family called the prestigious family that had produced senior knights for generations.
He was almost perfect as a knight, the only thing he did not have.
It was self-control.
He didn't know that he would be satisfied because he was perpetually better than others.
It's a good thing that you're able to get the most out of your time as a knight.
The highest rank in the Roserian Kingdom Army is the General.
He is the one who controls four of the six knightly orders existing in the Kingdom of Roseria, except for the Kings Kings directly under the Kingsguard and the Knights of the Kingsguard.
Although he is appointed by the king, this position is decided by the previous general who appoints his successor when he retires.
He had lobbied his colleagues to nominate him when the previous general retired.
But it was Elena who was chosen to replace him.
Her good-natured nature and her reputation as the [White God of War of Roselia].
It was only natural that the predecessor appointed Elena.
But Hodram didn't give up.
His electorate couldn't forgive Elena, who was from a peasant background.
Hodram carried out various subterfuges to bring Elena down.
Everything imaginable, from assassinations to fabricating corruption.
But she made it through it all.
Her friends in the Order also helped her.
And the fangs of Hodram, who was disgusted with her, extended to Elena's family.

That day, she finally returned to her home after a two-month absence from the Little Lord's rebellion.
But when she opened the front door, no one came to greet her.
Although she was from a peasant background, she was still a general.
She has a decent-sized mansion and a good number of servants.
Above all, there is no sign of her beloved 10-year-old daughter, who always jumps out of the house when she comes home.
You're going to be able to get a good deal more information on this.
And when she opened the door, there it was.....

'What I found was my husband's head........'

As Elena opened the door, her eyes were met with the head of her husband from the commoners' home.
He was sitting on the table with a look of anguish on his face.
Elena's brain apparently couldn't accept the reality.
All she could remember was that she was lying in her colleague's bed in his house a few days later.

Being a general was never an easy job.
When he returned from an expedition, the only time he could relax at home was on the day he returned.
From the next day, there was a mountain of paperwork to be done, including the preparation of reports.
So it's a good thing that a colleague of mine from the Order was suspicious of Elena who didn't show up for any length of time the next day and visited Elena's house.
When he found her, Elena was apparently sitting in the living room, holding her husband's head in her arms.
He took Elena out of her mind and took her to his house and he returned to Elena's mansion.

There was a letter ... there was a letter. It said I kept my daughter with me on the condition that I retire as a knight...

She must be so frustrated that she could cut herself with frustration.
Her every word was filled with a terrifying spirit.

''I, you see........I went from being a peasant to a hard-working general.......knighting is not an easy job. It's basically a man's job........

Maybe it's not so much a matter of gender discrimination as it is a matter of appropriateness.
When it comes to muscle power, women are a step or two behind men.
Naturally, Elena is subjected to a painful baptism of male society.
But she showed more power than men by using her femininity to its fullest extent.
Power as a group, not as an individual.
Whenever a knight fights on the battlefield, he makes a virtue of fighting one on one.
They show an aversion to surrounding one person with more than one.
It sounds good if you call it knightly pride, but the fact is that it's inefficient.
That's why Elena suggested that the knights work together.
At first, the knights opposed to the existing concept of pride, but after seeing Elena's personality and her effectiveness on the battlefield, they gradually began to understand.
That is the result of her efforts.

"Do you know what it means to throw that away?

Ryoma shook his head.
I can imagine.
But only people who have been in the same position can truly understand it.

''Still, I wouldn't have spared it for my daughter... if she came back safely...''

She was given a daughter when she reached the age of 40.
Because of her duties as a knight, Elena, who married after the age of 30, had given up on having children of her own.
It's not like Japan today, where medical technology is at a premium, it's impossible to give birth to a child at an advanced age.
That's why Elena's joy when she found out she was pregnant was so special.
She was able to know the joy of a woman who had given up hope.

'So I ignored my friends' words and retired as a knight... I know it was a naive decision, but I had no other choice...'

'You didn't come back...

Elena nodded at Ryouma's words.

'I was forced to cover up the matter itself, I was forced to cover it up. I didn't want to provoke the culprit in a bad way but January passed and February passed and I waited a year and my daughter didn't come back while Hodram He was appointed to the position of General.

If the incident itself was covered up by the victims, it was no wonder the story hadn't spread to the public.
At this point, Ryoma posed a question to Elena.

''What do you mean?'' The general's rank is passed down by appointment to his predecessor, right?

''Sure... but sometimes the predecessor dies without appointing a replacement... in that case, the Knight Commander votes on it...''

Elena tends to be so worried about her daughter that she tends to be blocked up.
There was no way I was going to make the decision to replace him under those circumstances.

"It's been five years since I waited for my daughter's return and I've given up on the idea of taking out my husband's enemies, but I don't even know who they are. I wanted to look for the whereabouts of my daughter who was taken from me and I had no clue where she was taken and I didn't want to live.

That's not surprising.
A child is a parent's best friend.
In fact, they are their own flesh and blood.

Did you know that five years ago, a domestic slaver was beheaded for his treachery?

Elena turned the conversation over to Mertina.

'Eh! ...ha, hi! .....

Slavery itself is not illegal.
However, there are conditions that come with it, such as enemy prisoners of war or criminals and their families.
At the very least, kidnapping the inhabitants of a town and turning them into slaves is not allowed, no matter which country it is from.
It depends on the thinking of the lord, but there are no nobles who openly encourage slave hunting.
If they did that, the lords would flee the land immediately.
But there are always people who are stupid.
If one does business in moderation, one can be overlooked, but one does it openly.
The merchant who was beheaded five years ago is one of those fools.

He would buy and sell any person he could get his hands on for money. He bought and sold any person he could get his hands on for money, from the inhabitants of the royal city to all sorts of things.

The kidnapping of an influential nobleman's blood relative was a fatal blow to the merchant, who also had ties to the royal family.
I'm sure you'll be able to find the right one.
You will be able to find out what is going on in the world and what is going on in the world.

I'm not going to be the only one who can do that. He has a reasonably large private army and the guards couldn't do anything about it.

Is that how you found out where your daughter is?

''Well after all, he's a guy with a lot of rumors about a lot of things, and we tortured him at the Knights' side.''

Elena's tone was quiet in response to Ryouma's question, but the content was gruesome.

It's a good thing that you're able to get a good idea of what you're looking for.

I heard it was actually a sort of intermediary job to get assassins, but for Elena it's the same thing.

"The knight in charge of the torture was a former employee of mine, which allowed me to meet him in person.

That's a pretty dangerous bridge to cross, to put it simply.
It's already five years at that time since he retired, let alone if he's still a general.
How could you let a criminal meet with Elena, who is only a civilian, albeit a former.......

I see........so that's what you heard. That General Hodram was behind it...

'Yes.'

It was a short answer, but it said it all.

'Why did you wait until now?'

'It's easy ... that story was just a story that couldn't be revealed ... and if I did, it would only be squeezed out and assassins would be sent over here. In the five years since I retired, Hodram's power had grown too large. So much so that the testimony of the slavers was not enough to unseat him....

Silence dominated the room.
No one had any idea that the cause was so deep.
Neither Mikhail nor Mertina knew what to say after so much talk.

''I see........''

Ryouma's mouth is also heavy.
I had expected this to a certain extent, but this resentment is too deep.

(Good grief........is this worse than leaving the knight faction to Mertina?

It'll be fine. I'm not going to do what you're worried about I want Hodram and his family. That's all I want.

Elena understood his concern from the look on Ryoma's face.
That's why she spoke honestly about what she wanted.

........)

There is no change in the fact that Elena is the person that Ryoma and the others are looking for.
Her abilities have already been proven.
The only thing left to do is to protect Hodram and his family from her vengeance or not.
According to the law, revenge is evil.
But she fully understands that.
That's why she waited.
She waited for the opportunity to take her revenge.
Elena offered her own selling price.
The only thing left to decide is whether Ryoma would pay it or not.



Ryoma put a lid on his sense of justice.
There's no other choice in the current situation, so there's no way around it.
And besides, he's just an enemy and his family.
And in a way, he had it coming.
I'm sorry that his family is involved in this, though.

I'm a good person........the problem is Princess Lupis.....

The problem is the princess, as Ryoma himself pretends to watch.
It's already been more than a month since he met her.
That's enough time to get a rough idea of her personality.

(For better or worse, too much pursuit of ideals... can you get someone like that to accept revenge against Hodram as a reward? Well that's not going to happen but what are we going to do?

Her principle of action is revenge.
Of course, there will be loyalty to the Roserian royal family, but that's irrelevant at the moment.
It's a very good idea to have a good idea of what you're talking about.



Liang Shin was hungry here.
He decided to acknowledge Elena's vengeance without asking for the princess' judgment.

''Fine I'll give in to your request.

''Nah!''

Surprise and accusation escaped Mertina and Mikhail's mouths, but Ryoma silenced them.
There are waves in negotiations.
I'm not going to be able to get the best out of it.
You have no choice but to make a decision here and now.

Are you sure? Don't talk to Her Royal Highness?

Elena looked at Ryoma as she probed.

''Yes. Please don't worry.

Hearing Ryoma's words, Elena stared into Ryoma's eyes.
He would not forgive her if there was even a speck of a lie.
How long did they stare at each other?
Elena's expression relaxes.

I'm going to be able to trust you. Mikoshiba-dono.

Elena called out in respect to the much younger Ryoma as a sign of trust.

I'm sure you'll be able to find it. Elena-sama.

And then? What am I supposed to do? Do you think it's a good idea to cut down the knightly faction?

Ryoma pondered Elena's question.

'How many people are actually dissatisfied with General Hodram?

'Well roughly two thirds of the entire population is disgruntled...'

Two-thirds!

Surprise escaped from Ryoma's mouth at Elena's words.
There was no way that Hodram could be the head of the faction when more than half of them were dissatisfied.

''That can't be possible, can it?''

Elena smiled at Ryouma's question and said with a smile.

''Yes, sure, that would be impossible under normal circumstances... but he did it. Through mutual surveillance between the knights.

''Mutual surveillance?''

Would it be easier to say that I encouraged snitching?

There are several countries on earth that have introduced this system.
Most of the communist blocs before the collapse of the Soviet Union had this system in place, and in North Korea, for example, it is still an important system for maintaining power even in 2010.
The system in its simplest form is one that encourages betrayal.
Colleagues and family members are encouraged to report to their superiors any complaints that are leaked on a moment's notice.
They are then promoted and rewarded within the organization.
This system is prone to mistrust.
And rightly so.
We all have our grievances.
We all have our grievances, but if someone hears them and snitches on us, it could get us killed.
You will not be able to open up to your colleagues and friends.

Well... then it will certainly be easier to cut down.

The weakness of this system is that for all its strength, it is vulnerable to collapse if one person is brave enough to do so.
It's strange to call it strong and vulnerable, but it's true.
The problem is that it's hard to find someone with that kind of courage.
We all have grievances, but we can't talk about them to others.
You have to be prepared to risk your life to talk about it.
That's why the system is so strong.
But what if one person is the only one who can voice his or her dissatisfaction?
Of course you have to choose who you talk to, but there is a high probability that you will share your frustration.
And the more they talk to each other, the more it rises and eventually flows out of the gate.
If that happens, no one will be able to stop them.
The dissatisfaction will erupt into a raging fury.
And this time, the human being is right in front of you.
The hero of the Roserian kingdom will kindle it.
The flames of discontent will flare up in a grand manner.

I'm not a very smart person, Mertina and Mikhail don't seem to know what I'm talking about, but a clear image flashed through Ryoma's mind.

It's a good idea. I'll leave that part up to you. But please just make sure you report the situation properly.

Yes, you can trust me on that front. I'm a retired general in my old age.


Can I ask you one question?

'What? What is it again?

After the meeting, when Elena was about to leave the room, Ryoma asked her back.
You can't help but ask, even if you know it's inappropriate.

''Your daughter.........''

Elena didn't answer Ryouma's question for a while.
It was probably something she didn't want to talk about that much.
Ryoma regretted his shallowness.

''Ah! Wanderer: "My daughter, you know, after she was kidnapped, she seemed to have lost her mind from being raped so much and she was killed because she was not for sale. .........to that slaver........" ......sorry.

Even though it was somewhat expected, the words I heard from the victim's parents were heavy.
She told me before I could tell her I didn't have to answer.

(I'm an idiot I heard something I didn't need to hear.......)

'It's fine I don't mind but that's why I can't pull it off...' Absolutely!

Her back as she walked out of the room gave off something that only a man above all people could give off, but at the same time, the flame of pure anger that one mother has.