A certain General’s heart-pounding captive life (2).
Shamcats’ General’s Point of View
However, with a massive force of ten thousand, even seizing the border fortress's supplies would be like a drop in the ocean… or so I thought.
Yet, meals were provided properly, every day, every meal. There was only one resupply, and at that time, the conversation turned to why the dead—those so-called Zombie-kuns—had learned how to passionately kiss.
"Oneechan! Stop teaching weird things to the Zombie-kuns!"
"Huh?"
The beauty, with amethyst-like eyes, tilted her head in confusion.
"When I asked the Zombie-kuns to capture without hurting them as much as possible… they just went *smoooch*."
"…… Huh? No, no! I didn't do anything… Dirk! Dirk is the culprit!!"
They really don’t look alike as siblings. But honestly, does it even matter who taught them how to kiss so passionately?
"Oneechan, I don’t think Dirk-san would do something like that."
"Well, surprise! He totally did! As a penalty for endurance running, he trained them with Shaka-san and the others!"
"… No way. I actually believed Dirk-san was relatively normal…"
Even as they talked, they handed over several bags. Those were the same kind of bizarrely spacious bags he had been pulling food from. Not to mention, that amethyst-like beauty had arrived on an iron bird I’d never seen before. In that country, there were barely any humans. Just who was that woman?
After she left, I turned to the young man and asked,
"… Those bags and that iron bird—those things don’t exist in Shiverihas, do they?"
"Oh, in Christia, the bags are commonly circulated. Though, ones with *that* much storage aren’t sold on the market. The iron bird… maybe you mean the Valkyrie? It’s amazing—it transforms into a humanoid form and even blasted away the Great Tsunami while shouting Rosariiin!'."
The young man’s tail wagged as he excitedly talked about how incredible and cool this Valkyrie was.
And then, I found out that the beautiful woman was *the* Hero Rosarin. An absolute *legend*.
Hero Rosarin. Known as the Meat Saintess in Wolfanea, she saved the country from the Great Tsunami and famine, nearly obliterated Saintya for kidnapping the Beneficiaries, and defeated the Evil God. Now that I think about it, I do recall seeing a beautiful woman praying during the Evil God incident.
I thought it was all exaggerated rumors, but… she was real. And, as I later learned from the young man, most of those rumors were true. Also, he was her younger brother—most likely adopted.
In short, our country was doomed.
The young man spoke fondly of his sister. They seemed to have a very close relationship. If anything happened to him, the Hero would surely destroy our nation.
And this young man—he was an exceptionally noble person. On the way to the capital, he effortlessly conquered a major city. Even though they had fortified their defenses after hearing about the fall of the border fortress, they were no match for him.
Both my soldiers and I understood that he was someone who could be reasoned with, so we tearfully pleaded with him to stop making more corpse puppets.
"I understand. I’m not a demon. If you surrender, I’ll stop processing them. As long as you all follow me properly."
He nodded gently and agreed to our request.
He didn’t kill the local lords. He didn’t demand wealth or treasures. He only had two conditions:
1. Cut off communication with the royal capital.
2. Take care of the soldiers.
He left half his soldiers behind in the city, along with a creepy woman and animated dolls to act as overseers. The woman, in particular, was terrifying. The local lord was on the verge of tears. With that kind of stress, he might go bald. It was that bad.
As he advanced through towns and villages, he repeated this pattern—leaving behind soldiers, women, and dolls. Before I knew it, I was the only captive left.
"… Your Highness."
I addressed the young man.
"Pochi is fine."
"… Pochi-sama."
He gave a wry smile. It seemed even the 'Lord' part was unnecessary. He was quite humble.
"What is it?"
"That… what exactly do you intend to do? You haven’t enslaved us, yet you gave us weapons. You’ve only restricted surveillance and communication, but you haven’t even taken our wealth."
I voiced my doubts. This was war. *War*. And yet, he hadn’t plundered anything… he hadn’t even committed any massacres.
"I want to have a discussion."
"…………………… Huh?"
Discussion?
A discussion?!
My mind froze at the unexpected response.
"I initially requested a peaceful meeting, but the King of Shamcats said our country could only talk if we became their vassals. That was just unreasonable, so…"
"So?"
"I thought I’d create a situation where he had no choice but to negotiate."
"…………………"
In other words, this was all due to His Majesty’s miscalculation. But really, who could have predicted that this young man would have such immense power and connections?
That fierce swordsman, those powerful magic-wielding children, the magic-swordswoman, the beautiful monster—*all* of them were summoned by this young man… Pochi-sama. He alone had the strength to destroy this entire country.
No one could have foreseen that this simple-looking young man possessed such overwhelming power.
"Also, I haven’t caused any deaths so far."
"……………… What?"
"The materials for those moving corpses are slime, metal, and rubber. They’re not actual corpses."
"………… Wha—?"
"Oneechan, my friends, and I made them. Hehe, don’t they look real?"
Pochi-sama gently patted one of the supposed 'corpse dolls.' Wait… so they weren’t actual corpses? They were just artificial creations? But they *looked* exactly like the real thing?!
He told me to touch one and see for myself. Reluctantly, I reached out… and realized—the hair felt different. The skin too… it wasn’t that of a corpse. The hair was especially telling. It wasn’t something from my people. It was entirely synthetic.
"……………… A-Are you sure about telling me this? If I gathered my men, realizing there’s no real threat, we could stage an uprising…"
"You wouldn’t do that. Not just because of the Zombie-kun thing, but because you correctly assessed the difference in strength before deciding to stay here."
If he wanted to, he could wipe us out in an instant. But that wasn’t his goal.
"………………"
"I intend to reach the king without shedding blood. Humiliation can be apologized for, but dead people never come back. Not just my country, but yours has been suffering from poor harvests, right? I want to save this country too."
He had already thought ahead. My body trembled. Not from fear… but from joy. I wanted to see the future he envisioned.
"… Pochi-sama.”
I knelt before him. I swore upon my sword. I had never sworn fealty to my homeland’s king, but to him, I could pledge my loyalty wholeheartedly.
"I, Georgie Scottish Fold, swear upon this sword to protect you for the rest of my life."
"………… Yes?"
I knew this wasn’t a proper acceptance, but I was determined.
"Thank you, my liege."
"Wait, huh? No, that’s not—"
I smiled at my confused new master. Too late. I’ve already pledged myself.
"Hahaha. As expected of my Lord."
"Rosariiin!"
It seemed even his subordinates acknowledged my decision.
"No, wait—hold on—that’s not what I meanttttt!!"
My lord, now flustered like any normal young man his age, shone with the brilliance of a true king.
I would protect him—from my former lord, from all threats.
Everything, for My Lord.
What do you think about this chapter?
