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Chapter 100: Mastermind and Perpetrators
Translator: Tseirp
As soon as we began moving toward the representative meeting point, somebody spoke to me.
“Do you mind if I go on ahead?”
Garba-san left those words and disappeared.
“As expected of the ninja nya.” (TL: I translated Garba’s nickname as hermit previously but I found out that his nickname can also refer to a term used to describe the ninja escape technique, so I changed it to ninja)
Cathy commented from behind but I decided to prioritise talking with Grulga-san first.
The usual bear-like person … with a presence that was reminiscent of the Asian black bears in my previous life, Grulga-san was there. (TL: For those who forgot, Grulga-san is a wolf beastman the size of a bear xD, Grulga & Garba are brothers, Grulga is the cooking bear who loves to cook with Object X and force Object X down unsuspecting newbie adventurers, Garba is the intelligence agent-like character who taught Luciel about dismantling monsters.)
That Grulga-san was looking at me with a pleasant smile. It seems like he wanted to talk about the honey.
“I was truly surprised that you formed friendly relations with the Hacchi tribe. Honey is something that rarely appears in the market. Which was why I thought “Wouldn’t this be the answer to my search?” when I got my hands on honey, but it was a race that one would rarely meet under normal circumstances.” (Grulga)
“No~ I only met them by coincidence. Moreover, I thought of making Ienith an environment that is easy to live in … but I’ve only met with failures.” (Luciel)
“Figures. It doesn’t matter if you become a dragon slayer, this country is currently rotten. Do you know why Garba-niisan left Ienith?” (Grulga)
“Nope, I only heard from Olga that he was called a prodigy in the past.” (Luciel)
“Even though he wasn’t a representative, he was tasked with doing anything and everything, and if he failed, the responsibility will be pushed onto him. That was a daily routine. That’s why, when I registered as an adventurer, we both left Ienith.” (Grulga)
” … To think even Garba-san will give up.” (Luciel)
So this country was like this since the past.
“Garba-niisan regretted that such a problem was shifted onto Luciel despite the passing of time.” (Grulga)
” … I’ve come to personally understand the dreadfulness of being used by people. I’ve been dreaming of going on a journey lately …” (Luciel)
In my previous life when I was working for my firm, apart from jobs in a specialised field, I only had to compile the instructions for the purchase order date and construction details after taking a contract before handing it over to the engineering department.
However, now I had to take responsibility for everything, similar to a president of a small and medium-sized enterprise.
All the responsibility was merely weighing down my shoulders.
“This time, the incident where you broke through the activated labyrinth and killed the dragon to rid the country of corruption was not caused by the representatives but by the elders. Luciel, this time, you were placed on a pedestal.” (Grulga)
“Elders?” (Luciel)
There are elders … I’ve never heard of anything regarding that at all.
Also, the person who spread the news about me killing the dragon should have been Jasuan-dono.
Seeing my confused expression, Grulga-san gave a simple explanation.
“The representatives of the 8 race meeting are quite young, right? The oldest is only about 40 years old. Why is that? Elders circle … that’s because the patriarch of each of the races is the ones giving the instructions.” (Grulga)
” … But I’ve never heard anything about that before?” (Luciel)
“In each of the races, there are elders that choose the representatives. The representatives are usually unable to oppose the elders.” (Grulga)
” … ?” (Luciel)
“The 8 race meeting only involve 8 races right? Moreover, the patriarch of the dragonewts still possesses a blessing so they can’t defy the dragonewts as well.” (Grulga)
… Looks like I still have a lot of things I don’t know about Ienith.
“Even though it’s been proceeding smoothly these couple of months …” (Luciel)
When I spilled that out, Grulga-san grasped my shoulder and touched on the recent incident.
“The elders were not happy with you renewing the slum district and giving preferential treatment to the half-breed beastmen and individuals without relatives. Which was why they began to work out a plan.” (Grulga)
” … Is that why an explosion occurred?” (Luciel)
“Yeah. I believe you will get the details later, but apparently, they decided to push the responsibility onto the Healer’s Guild because the building collapsed and you could not come out.” (Grulga)
” … Where did Garba-san pick up such confidential information? In the first place, were the 2 of you here since quite some time ago?” (Luciel)
“We reached this city of Ienith 3 days ago.” (Grulga)
“You guys did well to not be noticed.” (Luciel)
“Since Garba-niisan was there.” (Grulga)
“So when we reach the meeting point, do I have a role to play?” (Luciel)
“Nope. You gave the firmly bound Ienith a new blast of fresh air. Even though you faced obstruction, you still pressed on to better the environment in Ienith so there’s no harm in letting you enjoy slightly.” (Grulga)
As he said that, we arrived at the meeting place of the representatives and saw that the half-breed beastmen were jointly surrounded by the beastmen with the tiger beastmen leading the largest group.
I was about to run over upon seeing that so Grulga-san grabbed my shoulder.
“Relax. Nobody’s injured right? Because I’ve already put out a request for the Adventurer’s Guild people.”
Looking closely, I was able to confirm that there was a troop of equipped individuals forming a barricade between the half-breed beastmen and the beastmen to prevent the beastmen from attacking.
I could even spot the figures of Jasuan-dono and Jias-dono among the barricade.
“What does this mean?” (Luciel)
“You’ll know when we go closer.” (Grulga)
True to his word, upon approaching, I saw elders from each of the races as well as dozens of beastmen bound by rope with cloth covering their mouths.
“Sorry for the wait. Luciel is fine as well. Luciel, these are the culprits I mentioned previously.” (Grulga)
The moment Grulga-san said that while making sure that the surrounding could hear, it instantly became an uproar.
The elderly beastmen growled but the beastmen captured along with them were silent.
“Luciel-sama, thank you for saving Dollarstar-san. We’ve also been fully put to work by these 2 people who Luciel-sama admire.” (Kefin)
“Eh? Is anybody from the Kefin squad hurt?” (Luciel)
“No, there aren’t any.” (Kefin)
I was about to ask Grulga-san about this when this time, Jasuan-dono and Jias-dono called out to me.
“As expected. I believed that the Luciel who received the mighty blessing of the dragon would not die so easily.”
“I was fearful when I was told to instigate the dissemination that Luciel-sama had died but the elders who rarely appear in front of people and usually have the strongest level of wariness were all having a meeting together, there would never be such an opportunity again so it went well.” (TL: They’ve been looking for a chance to nab all the elders at 1 go but they rarely met up together so this event gave them the best opportunity to act.)
The 2 of them looked at me with relieved expressions and their gazes became sharp when they looked at the elderly below.
Already, I could no longer follow the situation.
Seeing that, Grulga-san began to explain to me little by little for me to understand.
“The truth is this time when we planned our strategy, we made use of the adventurers. We told them that this was the final chance to rebuild Ienith.”
” … What about the attacks on the school’s planned site, the former slum district, and the Healer’s Guild?”
“It resulted in some injuries but that was the best option.”
” … But, there was a half-breed beastman left to die in the slum district … to me, when strategizing the important matters, the small matters … don’t tell me the fire was also?”
I could roughly understand what the strategy was about.
However, I might be too naive, but I could not agree with a strategy that hurt people.
“There’s no way that would be part of the plan as well. We were quite shocked as well by that explosion. If that was the plan, I would have met with Luciel with Garba-niisan yesterday to talk about it before it happened.”
I was relieved after hearing that.
I would have held the 2 of them in contempt if they intentionally caused that explosion.
Then, an airy voice came over.
“Hey~ sorry for the wait. He used some strange trick and nearly escaped.” (Garba)
Garba-san came over carrying a racoon dog beastman bound by a rope over his shoulder.
That instant, the noisy atmosphere since before changed completely, silence commanded the place.
” … Erm, that person laying limply on your shoulder, is he perhaps Warabis-dono? Moreover, he’s dressed similarly to the person I helped earlier … human?” (Luciel)
“Don’t you think it’s awful? He fainted the moment he saw my face even though it’s been such a long time since we met … also, this guy is the perpetrator of the sabotage.” (Garba)
“Ha?” (Luciel)
How did he know that he was the perpetrator?
“Everyone from the half-breed beastmen race, you’re familiar with this face right?” (Garba)
Garba-san lowered Warabis-dono to the ground and pulled the rope binding him to orientate the man’s face toward us.
” … What … Isn’t that Hattori?” (Kefin) (TL: Hattori is the suspected reincarnated individual who taught Kefin and the others ninjutsu and supposedly died in the labyrinth. He has to ability to transform. Woah, the author planned/foreshadowed this arc out wayyy far out. He was mentioned in B5C73.)
Kefin cried out.
Hattori as in the Hattori that should have died in the labyrinth?
“Didn’t you say he died?” (Luciel)
The person who answered my question wasn’t Kefin but Garba-san.
“Apparently, he did a lot of things behind the scenes. Not here but at the Elimasia Empire though.” (Garba)
“That person is indebted to Ienith right?” (Luciel)
“Originally it seems to be so. Possessing an ability to transform into anything, he took advantage of that to gather various information. He gathered information about the status of the slums and passed it on to the elders.” (Garba)
“Kukuku. Betrayal is the conventional way of the ninja. What’s wrong with switching to those who highly value my ability.” (Hattori) (TL: He used sessha to refer to himself and ended his sentence with degozaru. Lol think of Kenshin from Samurai X)
Although it feels like he’s a foreigner that memorized wrong information about ninjas … this is a reincarnated individual huh.
“Sorry for bursting your bubble but you can no longer use your ability. Since it is possible to seal all abilities of criminal slaves.” (Garba)
“That’s impossible … eh? The rope unbinding technique doesn’t work.” (Hattori)
“Hattori, why did you betray us?” (Dollarstar)
The boss Dollarstar stood out from the half-breed beastmen and asked Hattori.
“I am thankful for you picking me up. However, I have a responsibility as a person chosen by God.” (Hattori)
“God? Are you saying you’re the messenger of the Chief God Kuraiya? What nonsense. You do not hold such a title.” (Dollarstar)
“I was saved by God when I lost my life. It inexcusable toward God for a chosen person like me to continue to stay at the very bottom.” (Hattori)
… He’s totally a reincarnated person.
The matter about Gods is unrelated to the current incident so I’ll put it aside first … but the problem is, how do I judge the fact that he attempted murder.
“You should be aware that Dollarstar and the others were working there. If I did not rescue them, dozens of people would have died. What do you have to say about that?” (Luciel)
Hattori glared at me and replied.
“Everything is your fault. Since you captured the spies from the empire one after the other, I fell into financial difficulty and had to resort to taking up this job.” (Hattori)
Then, Garba who was holding on to Hattori looked at him with cold eyes and spoke.
“Yup, he’s completely a person who pushes the blame. I’ll torture you to have you spit out all the information so maybe I’ll have you faint for now. Luciel-kun, feed him Object X.” (Garba) (TL: Insert Colbert freak out gif)
I took out the barrel and a cup from my magic bag and poured Object X out.
He’s a reincarnated individual and ninjas are enduring people so he might be able to drink it? I was concerned. When Garba-san ordered him, Hattori began drinking the Object X but just before he drank it, his eyes turned white and he foamed at his mouth. (TL: Garba can order him most likely because Garba’s the owner and Hattori is his criminal slave)
“As expected of Luciel … to give the undiluted form.” (Grulga)
Grulga-san jabbed but I didn’t understand what he meant. (TL: To Luciel, there’s no difference between the undiluted and diluted form of Object X hahah)
Then, Garba-san’s speech began.
“It’s been a long time everybody, to all the people I don’t know, nice to meet you, I’m the son of the wolf beastman elder Gurauga laying there.
I’ve hated this Ienith from a long time ago.
I accompanied my father to Ienith’s representative meeting when I was 15.
What I saw at the representative meeting was but a gathering of nominal individuals from each of the races continuing to pull each other back. It wasn’t a place to decently discuss policies.
If any of the proposals fails, all the responsibility would be pushed to that particular race, if it succeeds then they solely emphasize on getting privileges, it was such a filthy gathering of individuals.
Instead of coming up with decent policies, they pushed all the blame onto the Philosopher and chased him out and the bad practice of bashing the Healer’s Guild persisted from the time of our grandfathers.
The fields of spices we currently harvest were among all the seeds from the world brought by the Philosopher who coached us on how to harvest and grow them as well as pioneered the trade route to sell it to various countries.
It is absolutely not something decided by Ienith’s representative meeting.”
Garba-san truly understood the representative meeting.
“Garba-niisan proposed policies three times when he was young. 2 of them succeeded while 1 was struck down. Can you believe it? The one struck down was decided by the elders … during the patriarch meeting, to be crushed.” (Grulga)
“So the representative meeting and the patriarch meeting is different right?” (Luciel)
“Yeah. I mentioned it earlier but the respective patriarchs decide on their race’s 2-year term representative.” (Grulga)
“I didn’t know that as well.” (Luciel)
“That’s expected.” (Grulga)
Even during our conversation in soft voices, Garba-san’s speech continued.
“And the healer Luciel-sama there, why was he nominated as Ienith’s representative? That was to hide the fraud conducted by the representatives.
My investigation tells me that the tiger beastman Shaza conspired with the former Herbalist Guild vice-guildmaster Gurohara to sell the country’s information to another country, pocketing a large sum of money and used that gold to bribe the elders to become the representative.
To conceal other instances of fraud, such as the case where the rabbit beastman Ririaldo-dono gave falsified reports to pocket the unaccounted salaries was also concealed by installing the S-rank healer and dragon slayer Luciel-sama as the representative.
And then, the patriarchs thought that Luciel-sama would not achieve anything before his term ended.
However, he is not an ordinary man.
Firstly, he cleaned up that dirty and smelly slums district.
As a result of him not discriminating against the half-breed beastmen, saying that they did not choose the place to be born in, they have not committed a crime even once.
Next, to secure Ienith’s future by allowing the future generation to play an active role, he invested his personal wealth to construct a school for us.
I’ve found that the announcement made that the destruction of the healing district by the half-breed beastmen and that the healing district was constructed by Luciel-sama was all orchestrated in order to plunge his reputation.
Residents of Ienith, does this sit well with you? Is the beastmen a despicable race that returns good with evil? If not, then let us rebuild Ienith together.”
I understood that Garba-san wanted to use this situation to flatten all the evil customs.
Even so, there were still people who did not know about the complaints I received when I proposed to make a school huh. (TL: The representatives didn’t want to pay for the construction and didn’t want to lose the manpower to schooling if I remember correctly.)
I was quite shocked to know that.
I spoke to Grulga-san softly.
“My back feels itchy hearing Garba-san attach -sama to my name though?”
“Well, that’s how it has to be during a speech.”
“I’m curious but wouldn’t it be better if Garba-san just becomes the representative?”
“Maybe temporarily …”
“Nevertheless, is Merotoni’s Adventurer’s Guild alright without the 2 of you?”
“Yeah. Broad told us to give you a helping hand for a little bit.”
“I’m fully of gratitude toward Instructor Broad.”
“Tell that to him yourself when you finish your term.”
“I guess I should.”
I’ve really got to thank Instructor Broad for sending the 2 of them.
“You’re really well taken care of huh.”
Lionel said.
“Yeah. When I was in Meratoni and even now, I’ve received a lot of help from him. I’ll also immediately begin to use honorific speech with you after I release you from your slave contract though?” (TL: Meaning he’s also as thankful to Lionel as well.)
“Kakaka. I believe it’s fine the way it is now.” (Lionel)
“Ha~ Well, if you change your mind, please let me know.” (Luciel)
Lionel merely smiled.
Garba-san continued his speech and strongly declared.
“Normally, I would not be able to judge them.
But, I will succeed the current wolf beastmen’s patriarch as the new patriarch, so I hereby announce my desire to invoke our enforcement right.”
The surroundings began to buzz with noise.
Patriarch successor? Enforcement right? I heard contents that I had completely no clue of so I asked Grulga-san frankly.
“Can the patriarch succession Garba-san mention be accomplished so easily? And what’s the enforcement right?”
Grulga-san waited slightly for an interval and began speaking.
“Firstly, patriarch succession only happens when the patriarch passes away or commits a crime that results in him becoming a slave, the affected race will discuss among themselves and elect a person before succession occurs.”
” … There’s nobody who can object to Garba-san’s claim so he can directly succeed the current patriarch huh …” (Luciel)
I said and Grulga-san replied with a grin.
“Yeah. There’s nobody brave enough to challenge Garba-niisan face-to-face in Ienith. Moving on, the enforcement right …”
According to Grulga-san’s words, the enforcement right carries with it risks.
It is a right that can only be invoked by patriarchs, if used, the elected representatives will not have the right to speak for the next 10 years. (TL: They’ll have no say in meetings)
Furthermore, Ienith is a democratic country so even if the enforcement right is invoked, without laying the groundwork with the other beastmen races, the probability that it will be voted for would be extremely low.
I became worried and continued to ask Grulga-san.
“Then, would it be voted for this time?”
Grulga-san once again grinned and … gave a smile of satisfaction before he answered.
“This time, the patriarchs of all the races have been made into criminal slaves. Hence, the only patriarch now is Garba-niisan. Furthermore, if another patriarch is chosen then his enforcement right would be restored so there isn’t a single risk this time.”
After ending my questions to Grulga-san, I faced Garba-san and he had begun to announce the details of his enforcement right.
“Well then, it’s about time I make a move. I’ll be using that to prepare my cooking so please lend me that.”
Grulga-san said and walked up to where Garba-san was after receiving the barrel of Object X from me.
With the 2 of them standing side-by-side, I felt like the pressure from them doubled.
“The culprits for this incident, the elders of the 8 races, will be executed and their assets confiscated.
There’s a possibility that the economy would collapse if we dismiss all the current representatives. Hence, we will provide a preparation period for them to complete the procedures to find a successor to take over their work.
If they are found to be innocent during the interrogations after this, they will not be converted into slaves but all their assets will be confiscated.
Naturally, those guilty will be turned into slaves and punished with a life sentence of reclaiming new land.”
“Next, regarding the man who caused the explosion, I’ll have the former representative of the slums district decide if he will be executed or turned into a slave after listening to all that he has to say.
Regarding Warabis-dono, this time, we’ve found that he was manipulated by this man but he will also be turned into a slave.”
“Finally, many individuals joined the riot this time and in normal circumstances, they will all be converted into criminal slaves but Luciel-sama helped you all beg for mercy.
Thus, you all will be granted clemency if you finish the cooking made by Grulga as well as the Philosopher’s drink. You all have equal rights to choose.
Incidentally, there’s no place to run so be relieved. You all are under the same conditions.”
“I’m Grulga who will be handling the cooking. Let us celebrate the birth of a new Ienith with cooking that can even be presented to the heavens and the Philosopher’s drink that will leave a lingering taste that can’t be experienced from anything else.”
Grulga-san shouted and looked like he was enjoying himself.
While observing that, I thought, isn’t Garba-san’s punishment this time slightly severe?
Or is this reasonable? I continued to ask myself that.
Am I trying to run away to protect my reputation … to not want to be the nasty person who gives out severe punishments?
If only there are places like prisons and courts … I noticed that I’m afraid of judging people.
While I was falling into confusion from the various emotions surfacing within me, I heard the sound of screams and cries from all around.
It wasn’t screams from drinking Object X but the angry voices of people aimed toward Garba-san for bringing the incident to a conclusion by executing the elders of all the races.
There were even angry and bitter words like parricide. However, Garba-san never reverses a decision that he had decided upon. (TL: Parricide = The killing of a parent or other near relative)
Garba-san and Grulga-san laid down judgement on their own father.
I had them add in a single thing.
“Would it be alright if the punishment date is decided at a later date?”
Garba-san gave a surprised expression and nodded.
“This time, what you all done is a crime that cannot be forgiven. Your souls will go to heaven and your bodies will return to earth. Please repent on your actions until the final day of your execution.” (Luciel)
I only added that.
“Well then, until the execution date, the elders and their cronies will be made into criminal slaves.”
Thus, while looking at the elders? patriarchs? that are pulled up to their feet by the adventurers, I prayed that Ienith will become slightly more normal after this.
And then, I, not knowing who judged who in this distorted country, in whose hands those rights were held, and how much the information was being manipulated by the upper echelons, felt terrified after I understood just how dangerous a position I was in.
Author’s Note:
Thank you for reading.
I wrote countless times and modified it countless times until smoke came out of my head.
I determined that it would be impossible for a 20-year-old to shoulder the responsibility of executing people.
Thanks for doing this chapter!