In a World of Reversed Chastity, I Strive to Become an Honorable Male Knight, but Lustful Women Keep Targeting My Body - 283

Chapter 283: The Kukkoro Male Knight and the Scheming Loli Hag

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Originally, the plan had not been to split the “New” faction this early. Yet before I realized it, things had ended up like this. To be honest, I was inwardly clutching my head in frustration.

Still, whatever the case, first came filling our stomachs. In my experience, no good ideas ever came from groaning in hunger. Food was prepared for us, and we set up a folding table and chairs in a corner of the river port and had lunch there. At the table sat Lady Dalaiya, Lady Orphan, and several other elders and clan heads, making for quite a lively gathering.

“Anyway, the first thing we should decide is our immediate policy. Now that things have come to this, we can’t exactly say ‘Alright, goodbye’ and just disperse on the spot.”

While soaking bread as hard as a brick into the army stew, I said that. Lately, it really felt like I had been eating army stew every single day. Even the dishes provided by the elves were mostly the Elfenia version of army stew, basically potato soup.

…Well, whatever. I should be grateful just to have food, honestly. The elves apparently normally only eat once a day. Compared to that, I was in a far more fortunate environment. Complaining about it would probably bring divine punishment.

“Well, division is practically an elf specialty. We’re quite used to it already. No need to panic so much.”

While stuffing a large chunk of sweet elf potato into her mouth, Lady Dalaiya said that. The sight of her was extremely adorable, but the content of what she said was not adorable in the slightest. No wonder the elves had ended up on the brink of extinction. And in this particular case, there was a high chance that Lady Dalaiya herself had engineered this split.

…Well, it wasn’t confirmed, since there was no evidence.

“That said, there are matters we must deal with immediately. We marched out leaving the men and others who cannot fight back in the village. As… well, as the empress, I would like to prioritize securing their safety.”

While putting heavy emphasis on the word “as,” Lady Dalaiya kept glancing over at me.

What’s with that look? I don’t know anything, alright. Don’t look at me like that. Give me a break.

“That’s right. We can’t just leave the men in the hands of those fools. We need to rescue them quickly.”

Another elder agreed with Lady Dalaiya.

Well, yeah. If I were in their position, I would have made the same decision. Unlike the “Legitimate” faction, where only the warrior class remained alive, the “New” faction still barely retained something that could be called a society. They couldn’t simply abandon the weak.

That said, that was fundamentally a problem for the “New” faction. My top priority had to be ensuring the safety and interests of the people of Liseben territory. If possible, I would prefer not to stick my hand into the elves’ internal quarrel.

…Though in reality, I couldn’t avoid it. After all, more than half of the men living in Runga City seemed to be people from Liseben or their descendants. As their lord, I couldn’t just abandon them.

“Would you allow us to take part in that operation as well? We’ll repay the favor of your assistance with assistance of our own.”

To be honest, I had already given up on rescuing the kidnapped men. But if things went well, we might be able to bring them back to Liseben. For that, it would be best to accept some bloodshed as a necessary expense. A knight who refused to fight when it was time to fight was nothing more than a useless freeloader.

“Of course. With the young lord’s help, we’ll have the strength of a hundred men. Even those foolish youngsters of that so-called army will fall with a single sweep of our sleeves.”

The elders said this while raising their spoons like swords, and the other elders around them chimed in with “That’s right, that’s right.”

…Seriously, what was with this “young lord” thing they kept calling me? Sure, compared to these old ladies I was quite young, but that didn’t mean I remembered ever being getting that close for them to call me that.

“For now, we will launch a counterattack as quickly as possible and protect the non-combatants in Runga City. That policy is acceptable, correct? …Orphan-dono, what will your side do?”

Moistening my mouth with hot water, I addressed Lady Orphan.

…Man, I wish I had some herbal tea. But tea leaves were considered a luxury item, so I had removed them from the cargo list. Since this shipment prioritized food supplies above all else, it couldn’t be helped. Anyway, setting that aside, there was the “Legitimate” faction. They had brought every soldier they could mobilize. Compared to my meager number of knights and marines, they were a far more reliable force. If possible, I wanted them to participate in the rescue operation too.

That said, the “Legitimate” and the “New” factions seemed to have quite a deep rift between them. I suspected it might be difficult to ask them to fight for the sake of protecting the “New” faction’s civilians. That was what I had been thinking, but…

“Of course we will fight. I would be lying if I said we had no feelings about those calling themselves the army. But the common folk have committed no crime. We have no hesitation in extending a hand to the men. And besides…”

Lady Orphan’s reply came surprisingly easily. She grinned and continued.

“As vassals, we cannot very well refuse a request to join battle from our sovereign, can we? Right, you lot?”

“Yeah! That’s right!”

“This is the perfect chance to show that lord and those self-proclaimed army fools our valor! Leave it to us!”

The “Legitimate” officers shouted spiritedly in response to Lady Orphan’s declaration. I almost unconsciously pulled out the whiskey flask from my pocket, then hurriedly shoved my hand back. What the hell was “lord”? Did they mean me? This was completely insane. Were they barging in as my vassals or something? I couldn’t deal with this without a drink…

“……”

Lady Dalaiya grinned and patted my shoulder.

Don’t tell me this was part of your plan too!? What the hell are you doing, you Loli Hag!? Are you trying to dump the governance of the entire elf race on me!?

No, no… Granted, this situation was unexpected, but things were moving in a positive direction. The “New” and the “Legitimate” factions had formed an alliance, and a path toward a moderate peace was beginning to open. That much was certain. The splintered radical elf faction would be extremely troublesome, but in overall military strength we should probably surpass them. It wasn’t a fight we couldn’t win.

Which meant… Lady Dalaiya had laid the groundwork for exactly this kind of situation?

Ah, damn it! This Loli Hag is a hundred times more troublesome than I thought!

Damn… at this point I couldn’t cut ties with the elves even if I wanted to. (For one thing, fighting elves without the cooperation of elves would be impossible. They were just too strong.) And the strategy of cleanly cutting down the opposition and dealing only with the conciliatory faction actually aligned with our own policy. If that was the case, I had no choice but to run along the rails Lady Dalaiya had laid…

“I see. Understood. I thank you for your cooperation.”

I let out a sigh and gave a slight bow to the “Legitimate” group. Well, if it didn’t harm us, then riding along with Lady Dalaiya’s plan wasn’t a problem. Still, being completely deprived of the initiative wasn’t very amusing. If I let them do whatever they pleased, they might even end up seizing real authority over Liseben. That would definitely be unacceptable.

…But my opponent was a fossil-level Loli Hag over a thousand years old. It would be impossible to oppose her with anything half-baked. This might be my second life, but even combining my previous and current lives, I had only lived a little over fifty years. Compared to Lady Dalaiya, I wasn’t even a child. I was more like a babbling infant. I couldn’t imagine winning against her.

In that case, it was time for the “three heads are better than one” strategy. I glanced over at Sonia and Bishop Fiorenza, who were seated with us. My childhood friends seemed to grasp my intentions with just a single exchange of looks and nodded firmly. Both Sonia and Bishop Fiorenza were exceptional intellectuals. With the cooperation of these two, perhaps we could somehow stand against the Loli Hag…

“……”

“……”

Just as I was thinking that, my adjutant and the bishop started glaring at each other. As usual, those two got along terribly.

…This looked pretty hopeless, didn’t it? In a situation like this, could we really manage to make that Loli Hag understand who she was dealing with…?

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