Occupation of the Domain Capital (2)
Twenty clones leading twenty-five Royal Knights. Along with Takuto, Mai, Kazuhito, Alicia, and a hundred Golem Soldiers, they dashed through the main street of the Domain Capital.
The armed group moved in perfect formation… except for the clones. The sight of them in motion made many townsfolk scream and flee in panic.
“I see it. That’s the lord’s manor.”
“Not good, they mean to hole up inside.”
The lord’s manor was built like a small fortress. In other words, this land had once been destroyed and annexed by the Empire—a telltale sign. Should a revolt occur, the lord’s manor would be barricaded and they would wait for reinforcements—such was the Empire’s strategy. For that reason, lords’ manors in occupied territories also functioned as fortresses.
Most likely, news of the commotion in the plaza had reached them, and they’d decided to barricade themselves inside. Imperial nobles, being ever wary of rebellion, were quick to respond to such threats.
“RPG!”
At the order of one clone, another clone pulled an RPG-7 from her storage bag. This wasn’t a magic tool, but exactly the same as the one from Earth.
The clone knelt and fired.
The warhead, upon striking the nearly closed, iron-reinforced sturdy gate, exploded.
A blast of flames was blown away by wind magic, revealing that the gate was already destroyed, and many of the domain’s soldiers lay dead or collapsed.
“Breach!”
The clones raised their AK lookalikes, pushed through the destroyed gate, and stormed into the lord’s manor.
“Enemy attack!”
“Call the city guards at once!”
The clones shot incoming soldiers in the shoulders or legs.
“No one’s coming.”
The soldiers in this city were clearly second-rate. They couldn’t even move in a disciplined manner, resisting in scattered disarray. Naturally, none could match a strong Arland Knight. They were felled in a single blow.
One clone, overly confident at how easily the gate’s guards were taken down, failed to notice a soldier slashing at her from behind.
“Mind not touching her?”
With a horizontal slash of his blade, Takuto severed both arms and the head in one motion, then followed with a spinning kick to keep the blood from splattering on the clone. The soldier, having lost his head and both arms, rolled about ten meters before stopping.
The surviving soldiers, meeting Takuto’s cold gaze, instinctively understood—they could never defeat this man.
Even the inexperienced could sense the crushing difference in power. The soldiers dropped their weapons and crouched on the ground.
Takuto snorted, flicked most of the blood from his blade, wiped it with a cloth, and sheathed it.
From Takuto’s perspective, even if it was just a clone, anyone who pointed a sword at Alicetia was someone he would kill—even a god.
Incidentally, since the clone was a copy of Alicetia, she was dull to killing intent—especially if it wasn’t directed at her—so she simply tilted her head in puzzlement.
“For now, we’ll secure the interior. You two—capture these guys with thirty golems. If reinforcements arrive from outside—”
Before the clone could finish, one of the knights grinned.
“Then let them add to our glory.”
The knights already understood the low level of the domain’s soldiers. As long as they remained cautious, these foes were no threat. And with golems to use as shields, defeat was impossible.
The clone nodded and stormed into the manor.
This time, Takuto took point. Any guards who pointed their swords at the clones were cleaved in two, their morale shattered.
The manor’s soldiers carried no shields, and since they were indoors, only swords. Takuto simply cut both man and sword in half.
With Takuto holding the front, the clones shot open the doors to side rooms and tossed in flashbangs. A fierce burst of light flared inside; when it faded, they charged in, shattering the feet or shoulders of any soldiers with their AKs to disable them.
In just about ten minutes, the clones had secured most of the manor and now faced the lord in his office. Though “faced” might not be the right word—the lord was groveling on the floor while a clone lounged arrogantly in the lord’s chair.
As the domain lay along the border, the lord had only sent troops as part of the feudal levy and had not gone to war himself. This Arland invasion was one of the largest mobilizations in Imperial history, and apparently all of the lord’s sons were serving at the front.
“Now then, we’ve taken control of this city.”
“Ggh, if you think you’ll get away with this, you’re sorely mistaken! Reinforcements will be here from the surrounding area any moment!”
“Princess, we’ve caught the guards who fled. No reinforcements will be coming for a while.”
“Mm, well done. I’ll give you some cookies later.”
“Thank you very much!”
The knight bowed happily and left the room. The lord tried to flee in that moment, but Takuto stomped on his palm, crushing it and drawing a scream.
“I told you not to move, didn’t I?”
Takuto released a wave of killing intent, making the lord tremble uncontrollably.
“So, Alice… is it okay if I call you that? Can I ask what you plan to do next?”
Unsure whether to address a clone as if she were the original, Takuto tilted his head as he spoke.
“I’m shocked, Takuto. You’ve turned into a delinquent without me knowing. Big sis is sad.”
“I’m older now, aren’t I? And we were only one month apart!”
“A month is an absolute thing.”
Takuto and Iris were the same age, but Iris had been born about a month earlier, and she was firmly convinced that this made her the older sister. That belief had been inherited by Alicetia as well.
“For now, Alicia, contact Arland and call for an airship.”
“Yes… huh?”
Alicia tilted her head, not understanding why an airship was needed here.
“We’re going to loot the place bare. Ah, the townsfolk are fine—better not to take from them, actually. But we’ll free all the multi-race slaves. We’ll take every last bit of the lord’s and the Empire’s assets.
“Give this to the knights. With this, they can locate where the slaves are.”
What the clone handed over was a prepared magic tool—one that could detect and locate the presence of slave-binding magic.
“Looks like something you’d use to find Dragon Balls.”
Kazuhito laughed.
“I made it to look like one. Alright, let’s split into two teams—one for plundering assets, the other for freeing slaves. Alicia, you and I will prepare food for the freed slaves to eat.”
At that moment, Alicia’s expression froze.
“P-Princess, you must be tired, so I’ll do it.”
The knights all nodded vigorously in agreement, then as if remembering something, one clapped his hands.
“That’s right. Seventy of us plus the golems will be more than enough. The rest can handle cooking. Princess, please take care of preparing magic tools and such.”
The clone nodded, puzzled by their excessive urgency.
“You can’t cook… oh, right, you’re a princess.”
Mai voiced her doubt but then solved it herself.
“How rude. I’ve never cooked before, but I’ve at least made cookies.”
“How did they taste?”
“Eating them made you feel better.”
“I’m asking about the taste.”
“They made you feel better!”
After the infamous “cookie incident,” Alicia and Gilbert, who had eaten Alicetia’s cookies, only remembered that they were “surprisingly good.” They couldn’t recall what exactly had been good about them. They had only muttered “surprisingly good” with vacant eyes. Perhaps it was something that implanted the very concept of “delicious” into the eater’s mind.
“Sigh… I’ll help you.”
“I can cook, you know… probably… I can!”
The clone began to worry she might lack feminine charm, but when Alicia, sensing this, handed her some sweets found in the lord’s manor, she brightened up and sent that worry off into the far reaches of memory.
About three days later, the subjugation of the Domain Capital was complete. There were some who resisted, but those were only the ones who realized the Golem Soldiers’ AKs were actually magic guns and mistakenly assumed they were single-shot.
In this world, magic guns are single-shot and inaccurate, so those who thought they could resist were soundly beaten and thrown in prison.
Among the slaves in the occupied Domain Capital, the non-human ones were gathered in the manor’s plaza. Initially, the plan had been to free all races, but Imperial human slaves proved too full of human supremacists to bother with. Even the Arland side was exasperated to see that slaves themselves were divided between humans and other races.
This was heavily influenced by the Holy Church. Over long years of slavery, petty rivalries had developed—complaints that “my chains are cleaner” or “I get slightly more meat in my food” would cause disputes. Human slaves were relatively favored, though only slightly, and while still slaves, they harbored deep hostility toward other races.
The Alicetia clone was posing as the real one to keep the truth—that the original was gravely injured—from being discovered. When she stood on the platform, many non-human slaves cheered.
To the Empire, Arland was a heretical demonic nation, feared and despised. Yet for the non-humans living in the central continent, it was their only hope.
The last country where non-humans could live as people—that was Arland. Many non-humans across the continent, along with humans who supported them, sought to reach it.
“People, my name is Alicetia von Arland, First Princess of the Arland Kingdom and head of the Viceroy House.
“As of this day, you are freed from slavery! I apologize here and now for having been unable to protect you from the tyranny of humans until now. Forgive me!”
When the clone bowed, confusion spread among the non-humans. This was the Empire—there had never been any way for Arland to save them. None of them blamed Arland.
They simply wanted to live as people. They knew well that there had been nothing Arland could do.
“You will be given three choices from here on.
“First! To emigrate to our country and live as citizens. Our nation is ready to accept as citizens those who love our country, and who will love both it and their families as their second home!”
Cheers erupted.
“Next, the second choice. Some of you may wish to return to your homelands. We will give you some supplies—use them as you see fit.”
Some wished to return home, cheering through tears. There was no guarantee their homelands still existed. Many races had lived in hidden villages, which could very well have been destroyed by Imperial slave hunts.
“And the third choice. Our country also has a slave system. Some of you may have found good masters. If you are satisfied with your current situation, we will not take you to our country—return to your owners.”
Even among slaves, circumstances varied. Some shared genuine mutual trust with their masters. In the Empire, most non-humans were slaves, and for humans, the least jarring way to have a non-human serve them was as a slave.
A few began to think it over—most were slaves serving adventurers. Adventurers generally discriminated less, since harming their slaves would hurt their own earnings. Not all were like that, of course—there were still those who used slaves up and discarded them.
“I will not give you any orders. Each of you should think, find your own answer, and choose your path. However, if you turn against the Kingdom, we will show no mercy. We will not discriminate against you, but neither will you be given special treatment. You will receive only the natural rights of any citizen.”
This meant they would not be granted privileges out of temporary sympathy. Such privileges would only breed resentment over time and might lead to persecution of immigrants. Similar problems had occurred on Earth.
Then, a young man raised his hand.
“Uh… what about work? I’ve been a slave since birth and can barely read.”
“Our country is in great need of workers. You will find work with many guilds and artisans.”
In fact, Arland’s economy was booming so much that it was critically short on manpower. They would hire even former slaves, despite the cost of training them. The foremost employer would be the Viceroy Merchant Union. Alicetia had received repeated pleas from them for workers, even uneducated ones, so there was no mistake.
As a result, ten percent of the slaves chose to remain as they were and left Alicetia.
A further twenty percent set off to return to their homelands. Those who chose these two options would have no further contact.
And a full seventy percent of the slaves chose to emigrate to Arland.
Three days after the city’s capture, a transport fleet of ten large airships, escorted by one armed airship, arrived in the city to carry the emigrants to Arland. The Empire no longer had any control of the skies.
What do you think about this chapter?
