Fun Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord (Novel) - Chapter 100 - The Captured One

Chapter 100 – The Captured One

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Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Even though we had won, I was leaving the battlefield at a brisk pace, troubled by the prisoner I’d somehow ended up capturing.

“It’s over… it’s completely over… they’re going to torture me and kill me… this is the worst… I’m done for… I don’t want torture…”

At that muttering voice, I let out a sigh.

“To think you’re one of the princes. That makes two now. It’s not like I’m collecting princes or anything.”

“Collecting princes…”

“Why are you trying not to laugh?”

Tilting my head at Till, who for some reason was holding back laughter, I turned around.

I looked at the young man with bright green hair, half in tears as a drawn blade was pressed to his neck.

He had the appearance of a slender, idol-like young man, but his complexion was deathly pale, his cold sweat was intense, and with tears in his eyes he looked like a middle-schooler being bullied.

And from the outside, the bully looked like me.

“…Um, Prince Freitliner Yerinetta, right? For now, I don’t have any plans to kill or torture you yet, okay?”

“For now!? So after all… once we join up with the main force, you’ll chop off my head on the spot…”

“No, no, no… that’s awfully negative. We’re not joining up with the main force either. I’m heading back to my territory, you know.”

“To your territory…? S-so you can torture me at your leisure…”

“I said I won’t.”

Answering that half in exasperation, I looked at Freitliner, who was trembling all over. He didn’t seem to believe a word of it.

In reality, I’d already asked what I wanted to ask, and he’d answered all of it surprisingly easily.

It was complicated, but very convenient. No truth serum needed.

“Honestly, you’ve already provided more than enough information. Once I verify whether you’re telling the truth, I think I can let you go.”

At that, Freitliner raised his face while keeping his mouth bent downward.

“R-really? You won’t kill me? You won’t torture me?”

“I won’t, I won’t.”

I answered lightly with a wry smile.

Maybe it was fear, but Freitliner was trying way too hard in front of a child like me. Well, sure, this was frightening, but I’d like him to show at least a little royal dignity.

Then again, if I were in the same position, maybe I’d cry too.

“Even so, Yerinetta really took a gamble. Even with an alliance, sending most of its troops over here… geographically speaking, I think their position is harsher than ours.”

I muttered that idly. At once, the light vanished from Freitliner’s eyes.

“…They’re insane, that’s the only explanation. There is no such thing as a complete alliance. Everyone naturally puts their own country’s interests first. Even the black spheres, if they had a monopoly on them that would be one thing, but they’re just imports… if it were me…”

Freitliner began muttering to himself. He looked dangerous from afar and up close alike, but what he had said was not something I could ignore.

“Wait a second. The alliance partner was Hessel, which rules the eastern side of the continent, right? Like before, do the black spheres also come from the Central Continent?”

When I checked that, Freitliner let out a sigh with a dark expression.

“…Siege engines, new magic, new forms of fortification, all of it comes from the Central Continent. It wouldn’t be strange at all if the black spheres came from the Central Continent too. At the very least, neither Hessel nor my Yerinetta has the knowledge or technology to create something like that.”

Muttering that with a self-destructive air, Freitliner turned his gaze away. Seeing that from the corner of my eye, I tilted my head in thought.

Certainly, new technology and knowledge generally tended to come from the Central Continent. To put it bluntly, the Central Continent was probably more advanced in educational conditions and everything else.

But this was different from the small innovations in weapons and techniques that had come before. The use of gunpowder as a weapon was, frankly speaking, dangerous.

If practical black spheres had already made their way all the way here, then there might even be nations where guns had already been put into practical use.

I’d been reassuring myself that development would be slower because magic existed, but if armies equipped with guns capable of accurate fire even at medium range or beyond had already appeared, they’d be a threat.

“For now, if you know about the black spheres, their source, and what country or merchant intermediated them, I’d like to hear that too. Oh, and also the materials for the black spheres, and the manufacturing method. I’ve already heard the outline of Yerinetta’s invasion steps, so now let’s hear a little more about the strength of each force and the new weapons. And besides that…”

As I counted off questions on my fingers, Freitliner began trembling so hard I could hear it.

“N-no, no, no, no… even if I had ten sets of fingernails it wouldn’t be enough…! Uwaaah! I’m going to be tortured! They’re going to kill me!?”

At the prince bursting into tears and screaming, I turned half-lidded eyes on him.

“…I told you, I won’t torture you. But if you keep screaming, maybe I’ll smear wasabi into your mouth and nose or something. That’s about the level of a cute child’s prank, right?”

Muttering that with a smile despite my growing irritation, I watched Freitliner, who shouldn’t even know what wasabi is, go pale and clamp his mouth shut.