Indeed, the thought had crossed her mind. However, the Sorcerer King must have had some reason for his actions.
“Ah, yes, I did. It is as you say.”
“Hm, perhaps that might be so.”
The Sorcerer King nodded, and Neia listened in silence.
“Indeed, I could have done so. By using the various spells I have learned, saving a single boy would be a trivial task. However, I could not do that. That was because I could not allow the Bafolk to see me rescue a boy.”
Doubt crossed Neia’s face for the first time, and the Sorcerer King gently explained to her.
“If I allowed them to know that hostages were effective against us, the prisoners inside would be used as meat-shields to block our attacks in battle.The paladins would be at a loss, and they might end up being wounded or killed. Due to our dire lack of manpower, even one fewer paladin would constitute a great disadvantage… at least, according to Lanchester’s laws[1].
The Sorcerer King walked to the gate, and Neia hurried after him.
“On the other hand, once they know the hostages are useless, they will simply become hindrances to the Bafolk. Now, when they are being attacked and the enemy is about to come through the walls, do you think they have the time to leisurely kill off their prisoners? Murdering people who can’t resist ought to be a very low priority then.”
“It is as you say.”
“Indeed. Rather than waste time killing people, they would prepare to stop the enemy incursion instead. Therefore, it was necessary to use a method that would clearly illustrate the pointlessness of taking hostages.”
He was right,
If Remedios had her way, they might end up being unable to save anyone in the end.
The Sorcerer King slowly lifted up the body of the boy by his feet.
“Your Majesty, let me—”
“—This is a job for me.”
Neia accompanied the Sorcerer King as he carried the boy to the place where Remedios had planted her banner.
The Sorcerer King laid the boy on the ground. Neia wetted a cloth with water from a waterskin, and wiped away the grime on the boy’s face.
His cheeks, his wrists and his thighs were all shockingly thin.
It clearly illustrated the harsh conditions under which they lived.
“Those Bafolk bastards…”
“Perhaps this should not be said, but do allow me to say it anyway. I am the king of the Sorcerous Kingdom, and not the king of the people who reside in this country. Thus, I can calmly make this decision. I would choose to save a thousand people’s lives over a single life. But if this boy alone were a citizen of my nation, I would prioritize saving him instead. If you cannot accept that—”
“—No, thank you very much. I can understand how you feel… Your Majesty is just.”
“...Hm? What do you mean?”
“My apologies. Ah, maybe it should be, Your Majesty is righteous?”
What on earth am I saying? she could not help but wonder.
While she felt that this left him with nothing to reply with, the merciful and compassionate Sorcerer King still answered her.
“...Eh? Ah, no, I do not feel that I am just. And frankly speaking, justice ought to be determined by others. The motives for everything I do are very simple. Well, I have thought of spreading my reputation too…”
Neia recalled the matter of the statues.
Does wanting to spread his reputation mean the Sorcerer King is a show-off after all?
“That said, I now feel there’s no need to try so hard with that… I ended up talking about pointless things. All I desire is to live in happiness with my children. That is all there is to it, but at the same time, it is also everything to me.”
She did not think the undead Sorcerer King could have children. Therefore, he probably did not mean children in the sense of carrying on his bloodline, but children in a broader sense. It felt like he regarded the citizens of his nation as his children.
He is a kind man in every sense of the word… indeed, what a wonderful world it would be if even the frailest child could live in happiness. What was he thinking when he took this boy’s life...
As she looked at the profile of his face, she saw something like grief for killing a child.
“Well, that was pointless. In that case, let’s drop the topic here. Miss Baraja, while I am not qualified to speak pretty words, I hope you find the justice that belongs to you.”
“...May I ask one more question? If your own subordinates had been taken hostage like that, would you have done the same thing?”
“...Well, this might be grumbling on my part, but it would be troublesome in another sense.”
“What exactly do you mean?”
“In the past, I asked them out of curiosity, ‘What would you do if you were taken hostage to force me to negotiate?’ At that time, every single one of them promptly said they would rather kill themselves than inconvenience me in any way. ‘No,’ I told them. ‘Can’t you say you’d wait for me to rescue you?’ and things like that… While it pleases me to see their loyalty, this is still, how shall I put it? My subordinates are all a little too fanatical.”
As he rotated his wrist, the Sorcerer King continued in a tired voice.
Just as Neia began to think, Weren’t these unnecessary worries for someone in his position? Remedios appeared at the gate, carrying a bloodstained longsword, her armor similarly splattered in blood. Though she had removed her helmet, her bangs were stuck to her forehead by sweat. She looked utterly exhausted.
After saying something to Gustavo, Neia sensed that for a moment, Remedios’s eyes had met hers. No, it was less that she had locked gazes with Neia, but rather, she had been looking at the Sorcerer King and Neia was in the way.
Remedios said nothing, simply going back inside with a blank look on her face.
In her place, Gustavo approached the two of them.
“Your Majesty, I wish to express my thanks. While there were some slight losses, we were able to minimize them thanks to Your Majesty’s power. Normally, the Captain would be thanking you in person, but she is somewhat distraught at the moment due to the tragic condition in which we found the people, so I pray you will forgive me for taking her place.”
Gustavo sneaked a peek at the boy, and then he looked back at the ground.
“It is fine. Go tend to the Captain.”
“Thank you very much.”
“Come to think of it, what were those tragic conditions?”
“Yes. We questioned several of the people we rescued, and they said that ‘They were skinning the prisoners.’ It would seem ‘they’ were not demihumans but demons sent by Jaldabaoth…”
While she felt that the Captain was using her emotions as an excuse for her rudeness, that did not seem to be the case.
Just as Neia was starting to feel surprised, the Sorcerer King beside her tilted his head in bafflement.
“Why the skin? Why that? Are they going to eat it? Like chicken skin?”
“No, we have no idea either… although, the demihumans did not seem to have taken part in those activities… Does Your Majesty know anything about this? Could this be for some kind of demonic ritual?”
“No, I apologize. I have no clue either. Why would Jaldabaoth do such a thing?”
The Sorcerer King’s puzzlement seemed to stem from the bottom of his heart, and after that everyone looked at each other, but they still could not unravel the mystery. Even so, since it was the work of demons, they might have done so just to make the humans suffer.
“...I’ll ask the priests later. Then, Your Majesty, we are now trying to figure out the demihumans’ hiding places in order to clear them out, so I would like to monopolize a bit of your precious time afterwards.”
1
Lanchester’s laws are mathematical formulae designed to calculate the relative strength over time of a predator and prey pair. They’re usually used for military modelling. In this case, even one loss can lead to more losses over time.