Chapter 5: The Witch of the Ink Swamp
Having returned to the Imperial Ceremonial Battalion headquarters, I reported the completion of Lord Griem-kyo’s execution.
“That is all for my report.”
“Very well.”
The one who nodded was a young woman who still looked to be in her early thirties.
Her rank was Major. The Battalion Commander of the Imperial Ceremonial Battalion. She was the female boss of us executioners. She was also a beauty who looked good in glasses. Furthermore, she was the mother of one daughter.
She went by the name Filia Gehenbach, but this was an alias. Due to the nature of our duties, which easily incurs resentment, many of us are registered in the military under false names.
Her common name was “Ink Dealer.” As the only field officer in the Ceremonial Battalion, her main job was to grant field officer authorization to various documents.
The Battalion Commander looked at me and gave an exasperated smile.
“But did you really poison him using that method?”
“Yes. I never once said that the sweets contained poison, so there was no falsehood in the terms of the duel. That duel was, to the end, ‘the one who makes the opponent eat poison wins.'”
“You say that, but…”
The Battalion Commander rested her cheek on her hand.
“What were you planning to do if Lord Griem-kyo had asked, ‘Is there poison in these sweets?'”
“In that case, I would have honestly answered no, and intended to compete with the next poisoned sweets.”
It was a relief that things similar to Hoteishimeji Mushrooms and Calabar beans existed in this world too.
The Calabar beans I planned to use for the third box came from a distant region, and I went through considerable trouble to obtain high-quality ones. I should keep these carefully.
The beautiful Battalion Commander scratched her head with a rough gesture.
“There are no gaps in what you do. It might have been better if I had ordered you from the start.”
“My apologies, I was away for a while.”
“It’s fine; I was the one who ordered you on that other mission. An unconventional soldier like you is useful in many ways.”
The Battalion Commander chuckled, “Fufu.”
“A normal officer wouldn’t resort to such petty tricks in a duel with one of the Empire’s foremost great nobles. They have their pride as professional soldiers, and they wouldn’t know what kind of retaliation they’d face from the family and supporters if the trick was exposed.”
Well, that’s probably true. Not that I care.
I sighed.
“Retaliation would be troublesome. There’s no doubt I deceived him, but I didn’t convey any falsehoods, nor did I violate any articles of the Imperial Dueling Law. It was his fault for not properly inspecting the tools used in the duel.”
In the first place, it’s absurd for a condemned criminal to duel an executioner. If you’re going to execute someone by duel, the Aztec style would be fine. With that, the executioner absolutely cannot lose, so you can kill them with peace of mind. That idiot Emperor.
“Even if they perform an autopsy, they’ll only detect poison from the mushy contents of the stomach. They won’t be able to tell if it was in the baked sweets or the tea.”
Eating twelve dry baked sweets like that would make anyone thirsty, wouldn’t it?
If Lord Griem-kyo had noticed back then, “Why doesn’t my young female opponent have a drink?”, he might not have died. His arrogance, thinking it natural for him to receive special treatment, dulled his powers of observation.
But if it hadn’t been settled in the first round, a second round would have just begun, so it wouldn’t have mattered either way.
I said, feeling resentful.
“It’s mortifying to think I lost a drinking buddy because of such a worthless man.”
“Meinen was absent due to heavy drinking five times, you know. Wait, why haven’t you been absent?”
To my superior officer, who looked up at me with a puzzled expression, I replied with a composed face.
“Because I don’t drink heavily.”
“Fufu, I see. Very good.”
The Battalion Commander, her abundant blonde hair cascading down, smiled and gazed out the window.
“Lieutenant Meinen was officially listed as belonging to the Corps of Engineers. Cause of death: poisoning from miasma within a mine tunnel. At the family’s request, no funeral was held, and his body was buried in the army’s common cemetery.”
Lieutenant Meinen had no wife or children. If he had, I wouldn’t have let him duel.
He said he was estranged from his family, so there was probably no one to claim his body.
The Battalion Commander said sadly.
“Meinen used to laugh, saying that any cause of death would be plausible if he were an engineer, but it’s sad that there was no family to care about such things.”
When I died in my previous life, I wonder if anyone mourned for me. I’m not confident.
So, I voiced what I always tell myself.
“No. It’s better if fewer people grieve when one dies. He and I often talked about such things.”
—It’s true, not making anyone sad is a good thing. You’re smart.
My friend’s smile flashed across my mind for an instant, then vanished into darkness.
I know that death is not the end.
I wonder if you were reincarnated somewhere. I hope you were.
The Battalion Commander looked up at me and smiled.
“You have a compassionate nature, yet when it comes to death, there’s a part of you that seems detached, almost as if you’ve seen Hell once before.”
“Because I’m an unbeliever.”
The Battalion Commander is strangely perceptive, which is troublesome.
I haven’t revealed to anyone that I’m a reincarnated person from another world.
Otherworlds not mentioned in the scriptures of the state religion are not supposed to exist, and it’s impossible for souls to come from such places. That is the “common sense” of this world.
I want to be a peaceful, ordinary person, so I live a quiet life without saying unnecessary things.
The Battalion Commander, still smiling, placed new documents on the desk.
“Then, here’s your next job. Find Yuo Neville, the ringleader of the peasant revolt that occurred in the northern Kavalaf Region, and execute her after a summary trial.”
“Find her, you say?”
We are an execution squad; searching is outside our specialty.
The Battalion Commander understands that too, so there must be some circumstances behind it.
As an aside, these are the only kinds of jobs that come my way.
Then, the Battalion Commander, looking as if she couldn’t be more delighted, continued.
“It’s an Imperial Edict to cooperate with the Army’s Second Division, which is currently searching for the ringleader. She must be captured and executed by any means necessary. ‘By any means necessary,’ you hear?”
“Ah, ‘by any means necessary,’ is it…”
I’ve known the Battalion Commander for several years now, so I understood what she wanted to say.
In short, contrary to the order, she’s telling me, “Let that person escape.” I don’t know the reason. Nor do I probably need to know.
I don’t know who it is, but if they can avoid being killed, that’s for the best. It’s easier for me too.
The Battalion Commander continued to give me orders.
“However, it wouldn’t look good if you were the only reinforcement. I’ll assign Lieutenant Krimine to you again.”
“With all due respect, will that young lady be alright?”
At that, the Battalion Commander smiled brightly.
“She probably won’t be alright, but I trust you’ll make her alright. Let’s see… I’ll be counting on you until about ‘next summer.'”
Does she intend to make me a babysitter too? I’ve had enough of this Battalion Commander.