A World where Mercenary Men are Called Goddesses

ch 17

The sun had long set, and the area was enveloped in darkness when they returned to the royal capital. As they approached, they spotted an illumination of thousands of torches erected outside the city’s walls. The faint flickering light of the torches revealed the presence of tens of thousands of armed soldiers lurking in the area. How could someone have marched such a large number of soldiers to the royal capital while being monitored by scouts? A sense of discomfort crept into him as if he were chewing a bitter bug. How could they have overlooked these men? Was there a path that no one was aware of? Alas, he could only think about these things after the crisis at hand had been resolved. The massive city gate, which had been tightly closed, was probably hit by catapults since there were several holes on the city’s walls. Fortunately, it appeared that the enemy’s assault on the royal capital had not yet concluded.

From a distance, Yuichiro observed the torches that surrounded the city at a specific vantage point. Goat stood behind him, followed by his panting platoon commanders and Temeraire, whose face was almost entirely pale. On the contrary, the increased number of Giselle’s private troops could not keep up with Yuichiro and his men, so they were probably in the midst of running at a distance from them.

“The capital is under siege, but it doesn’t appear to have sustained much damage yet,” Goat replied nonchalantly to Yuichiro’s monologue.

“Well, I guess the first prince and his group would hate it if the royal capital turned into a pile of rubble when he becomes king,” Yuichiro said.

“They’re probably being cautious overtaking the caste with as little damage as possible,” Goat continued.

“And by ‘minimal damage’, do you mean killing the kid?” Yuichiro asked in return.

Goat nodded in agreement and spoke,” I’m sure you’re right. Perhaps the main purpose of this conspicuous siege is to exert psychological pressure on Noah-sama. I believe they are slowly cornering him and urging him to surrender himself. Having said that, the traitors in the castle are most likely desperately looking for Noah-sama right now.”

“The fact that the siege hasn’t been lifted means that kid is still alive. He’s surprisingly tenacious,” Yuichiro muttered with a laugh, while Temeraire, standing nearby, retorted angrily with a raised voice, “Once Noah-sama is gone, you will never be able to return to your original world! You will be branded a traitor and pursued to the very edges of this land.”

Yuichiro frowned disapprovingly at Temeraire’s questioning attitude that seemed to be asking him if he was fine with the situation. He had been wondering for some time what Temeraire’s overprotectiveness toward Noah was all about. It appeared too exaggerated for a servant to a king.

“Are you his mother or something?”

Temeraire’s eyes widened briefly at Yuichiro’s sarcasm, followed by his raised eyebrows in genuine displeasure.

“I am not his mother.”

Yuichiro could clearly see the man’s lower lip which was tightly pursed. Later, Temeraire fell into silence, not a single more word came out of his mouth.

“Captain Ogami, what should we do?”

Yuichiro shook his head slowly to the left and right as he answered Goat, who was asking him regardless of his conversation with Temeraire. Yuichiro then inquired, “When do you expect the frontier army you called for to arrive?”