Ankoku Kishi Monogatari ~Yuusha wo Taosu Tameni Maou ni Shoukansaremashita~
Chapter 49: The Town of Freedom Fighter

Disclaimer: To avoid our translations from being shut down, DO NOT repost our works on ANY social media, otherwise we will be forced to shut down .

◆ Black Haired Sage, Chiyuki

「Did you just say the Pashipea Kingdom is under attack? 」

Reiji asked Clasus .

Reiji and I came to meet General Clasus again after receiving an emergency summons . He then proceeded to tell us about the member of the Ariad Union that was ransacked by a demon raid the previous night .

The Pashipea Kingdom was located in the northern area of the Minon Plain . Half its citizens had been taken away by the demons during the raid .

Clasus had received the news that morning and had immediately sent a messenger to inform us .

「Yes… This is an emergency . 」

「By the way, why did you only call our group? There should be other heroes here, too . 」

I asked Clasus after I noticed that there were only me, Reiji, Clasus, the Pashipea Princess Euria and five kids in the room .

Those kids and the princess were the only survivors of last night’s incident and only because they were out of the country .

The other heroes should be here as well .

Why were we the only ones called?

「It’s because Princess Euria herself recommended the Hero of Light . 」

Clasus looked at Euria .

She was a buxom babe, with breasts probably as big as Sahoko’s . She had a calm and gentle face . I suspected she might be plumper than Sahoko, just a few kilos from what one would call “chubby” .

It seemed that she was related to Clasus . A member of a renowned house from the Ariadya Republic received similar treatment as the royalty of another country .

It was by pure chance that Euria came to visit Ariadya and thus was able to escape unscathed from last night’s incident .

She was also the one Reiji had saved yesterday .

She probably looked gloomy because her kingdom got raided last night .

「Truthfully… I felt that your party was more reliable than the other heroes . I heard that Saint-sama knocked down the Hero of Earth . I also heard that your group was the one that defeated the Mermen and the Centaurs that even the Heroes of Water and Wind couldn’t defeat . 」

Come to think of it, I did hear that Sahoko pushed away from the Hero of Earth and somehow knocked him out .

「Yes, that’s why I recommended Reiji-sama . 」

Clasus flashed a humble smile toward Reiji .

Interestingly enough, we were never informed about the activities of other Heroes . Although I knew a Freedom Fighter and a Hero-of-something were escorting the caravan, I never checked if they were helpful or not .

「Chiyuki . Let’s hear the story first . It seems like Euria’s country is in peril right now . 」

As he spoke, Reiji looked at Euria .

Since her cleavage was quite exposed, I could tell that Reiji’s eyes were focused on that area .

Good grief, he really is a… [TL: Leecher]

「Ha~h…… . . Well, let me hear the detailed account of this incident . 」

I sighed and resigned myself to listen to the explanation .

Clasus promptly directed the conversation toward the small person sitting on top of the desk .

「Well then, Porom-dono . Please explain to us what happened last night . 」

Porom was a member of the diminutive race known as the Pigmayoi .

Pigmayois were short and stocky by nature . Even the adults would only grow up to at most 35cm tall, hence why Porom was sitting on the desk .

They had the unique custom of raising a crane-like bird and later turning that bird into a mount .

Mostly, they lived nomadic lives, migrating from place to place according to the seasons .

But there were exceptions .

Some Pigmayois had a good relationship with humans . Those settled in human cities and lived on the top tower of the ramparts, and they opened a postal service as their business .

Some Pigmayoi also lived on the top towers of the rampart, back in the Holy Republic of Lenaria . They took custody of the letters from the humans and sent them all over the neighboring kingdoms .

Porom used to live in the rampart tower of the Pashipea Kingdom .

「It all happened while I was preparing to sleep . I suddenly heard screams coming from the garrison . When I took a looked, I saw the rampart completely surrounded by a large number of Goblins and Orcs . I took my wife and we escaped that place by riding our fowl . 」

Despite reliving a terrible memory, Porom explained what happened in a very calm tone .

So the Demon Army was big enough to surround the kingdom . Their numbers must be great to achieve such a feat .

「Armies of Goblins and Orcs, huh… From where in the world did such a huge army come from? 」

The Minon Plain should be a region with little demon activity .

Where did the huge army come from?

「Sage-dono . I cannot say anything about the Orcs but I have an inkling as to where the Goblins came from . According to our investigation, all the Goblin slaves from the agricultural areas of the Pashipea Kingdom have escaped . They are now probably part of that army . 」

Clasus gave his input on the situation and I didn’t feel like adding anything to his words .

The Pashipea Kingdom, located in northern Ariadya, boasted large scale farming by utilizing a slavery system . The Goblin slaves did their jobs at night since they were pretty much useless during the day .

Truthfully, Goblins weren’t suited for farm work . However, they could do simple farming tasks . As long as they used the Goblin slaves, the price of agricultural products could be suppressed to a minimum .

And there were a lot of Goblins in the region .

But the agricultural management through slavery didn’t sit well with me .

Not to mention how troublesome it would be if we stopped such a system by force, the ones who would suffer the most were the people who earned low wages .

Which should I protect, the living conditions of the humans or the Goblins’ rights?

… Good grief . Why did I have to worry about such things? I disgusted myself .

Reiji would never worry about such things . The lives of cute girls were much more important to him, after all .

As if he’d bother considering the rights of Goblins .

His protection is restricted to the female part of humanity, after all .

「I see… Now I understand . Did you notice any other race among the raiding demons last night? I mean… It’s common knowledge that Orcs don’t live in flocks, so someone must have been leading them . Did you notice someone suspicious? 」

I asked Porom about any superior races that might have mingled with the raiding demons .

The strangest part was that there was no one commanding those demons last night and yet those Goblins and Orcs were incredibly organized . In fact, we had faced that kind of army back in Nargol, but they were led by superior demons then .

So, even if there were no superior Orcs species in the Pashipea attack, someone must have been leading them .

「Yes… I saw Minotaurs among the demons . They seemed to be leading them . 」

「Minotaurs?!」

Porom nodded .

「Yeah…」

I’ve heard that Pigmayois had excellent night vision, so I didn’t doubt Porom’s words .

We had yet to meet any Minotaurs since we arrived in this world . We had little to no information about that race .

「Sometimes Minotaurs come out of the labyrinth and attack any surrounding countries, but… This is the first time they attacked at such a scale . 」

「Yeah . 」

What Clasus was trying to say was: Minotaurs attacking the surrounding countries weren’t a huge problem when considering the scale of the Ariad Union, because the number of Minotaurs was small .

But it’s a different story if they almost destroyed a country .

That might involve the survival of the Ariad Union .

Clasus turned to Porom .

「Well, then . Porom-dono, please explain that matter to Chiyuki-dono . 」

「Ah, come to think of it… 」

「Is there something you’re worried about? 」

「Yes, well… After the monsters destroyed the rampart, they left and took the citizens with them . 」

「So you’re wondering where they’re taking those citizens to? 」

「Yes . I observed the situation while my wife went to call for help from another country . They appeared to be taken into the labyrinth . 」

「The labyrinth?」

「Yes, the labyrinth . 」

There should be only a small number of demons in the region but, somewhere, they were gathering in large numbers . And that place was a certain labyrinth in the middle of the Minon Plain .

Numerous Minotaurs lived inside the labyrinth, with only one or two occasionally coming out to lead an attack on human settlements .

The attacks were usually so small in scale that it never caused any considerable damage . It must be why they couldn’t believe the news of a large scale attack happening .

A thought suddenly crossed my mind .

「Could it be that the Minotaurs weren’t the masterminds behind this attack? 」

Clasus nodded in agreement .

「The possibility of that is high . However, I cannot fathom why they decided now, of all times, to employ such a large attack . Well, it can’t be helped since it was done by those mindless demons . But… Shouldn’t we save the citizens?」

There were Ariadya citizens among the Pashipeans, after all . Naturally, Clasus would try his best to save those citizens .

Thus, he asks for Reiji’s help .

Even Euria, who had been silent so far, kneeled in front of Reiji to plead to him .

「Please, Reiji-sama!! Please save the citizens of my kingdom! 」

「Don’t worry, Euria . I will save them . 」

「Re… Reiji-sama . 」

Reiji stood and held Euria’s hands with his own .

Euria started to cry .

「It’s decided, Chiyuki . Let’s go to the Minotaur labyrinth . 」

Reiji proclaimed as he looked at me .

What a pain . Is it okay for you to promise to save those people even when we don’t know anything about that labyrinth?

The same thing happened with Rena .

As long as the request came from a cute girl, he’d rush to do it regardless of the consequences . [TL: So Reiji is the one at fault huh, sorry Chiyuki, I used to be so harsh on you]

Well, since he decided to go, then the other girls will surely go with him . Thus, I had no choice but to follow them .

「Understood, Clasus-dono . But we don’t know much about that labyrinth, so please introduce us to someone who’s knowledgeable about it . 」

「Yes, of course . Let me call the city of Teseshia and get you a letter of introduction . With it, you’ll be able to contact someone who knows about that place . 」

「The city of Teseshia? 」

「Yes, the city of Teseshia . It’s the city of Freedom Fighters created by our Republic Ariadya for dealing with labyrinth monsters . 」

「Of course, I’ll call for the other Heroes and the Freedom Fighters to assist Reiji-dono . What do you think, Reiji-dono? Please, save Pashipea… No . Please save the Ariad Union!!」

Clasus bowed again to Reiji and I silently looked at him with a somewhat indescribable feeling in my heart .

Disclaimer: To avoid our translations from being shut down, DO NOT repost our works on ANY social media, otherwise we will be forced to shut down .

◆ Freedom Fighter Girl, Shizufae

After we had escorted Atlan-san to the Ariadya Republic, I went back to Teseshia with Big Sis Keina . Once there, we reunited with our comrades at the designated restaurant .

「So that’s what happened, huh . 」

「Yeah, that’s what happened, Leylia-san . The Hero of Light is soooo COOOOOOL!! 」

I gave my report to Leylia-san, our comrade .

She was a priestess of Rena around her mid-twenties . Leylia had the appearance of a gentle woman, but she could fight a demon by herself .

Leylia-san in her battle mode was extremely terrifying .

As expected of a priestess of the Goddess of War .

When she was 20 years old, she heard the voice of an angel . Thus, she became an apostle and awakened her talent in healing magic .

The story of the Hero of Light loved by Goddess Rena was something she had to hear at all costs . While she heard the tales of the Hero Leylia-san couldn’t stop grinning .

Meanwhile, Madia sulked .

「Good job, Shizu-chan . If only I could go along with you…」

「It can’t be helped, Madia . You need to make regular appearances at the Magician association afterall . 」

One of my childhood friends, Madia, loved those kinds of stories because we were all girls .

Madia was a magician . She was part of the Magician Association, and they ordered her to investigate the case of the runaway demons of the arena .

That was why she was unable to take the escort commission .

Since there was almost no reward in it, she wanted to refuse the Association’s request . Unfortunately, she didn’t have enough power to go against the Association’s wishes .

She kept grumbling nonsense since, even after an entire investigation, they found nothing .

「Yeah, he was really amazing! Both his face and his power! He is the type of man whose seed you want to have if you want to give birth to a child . 」

「Wait right there, Big Sis Keyna!! That’s something you do only after you get married!! Remember, you’re Faeria-sama’s follower! 」

I reprimanded Big Sis Keyna . We were the followers of the Goddess of marriage Faeria-sama, the wife of the God Oudith .

According to her teachings, the act of making children was sacred . It wasn’t something that should be said so easily like a passing remark .

Big Sis Keyna was an abandoned child who was picked up by my father . Then, he entrusted her to Faeria Temple where my mother was working at .

Back then my mother and father had yet to marry, so I hadn’t been born yet .

I never knew who Big Sis Kenya’s parents were, but her father seemed to be a Centaur . Maybe that was why she was so broadminded .

I still remember the wrath of the priests whenever she said vulgar things .

Maybe the Centaur blood was the reason she was bigger than a normal human . Big Sis Kenya became a Freedom Fighter because it seemed the most natural path for her .

We all grew up in the same country . But that country was no more .

The survivors of that country were scattered around when the demon raid destroyed half of the rampart . Both my parents and I came to this country as refugees .

Both of Madia’s parents were magicians at that time . Even Big Sis Keyna, who I adored and who had been working at the same temple as my mother, also came to this country .

Thus, we were together again .

「Faeria followers must have it hard . In the case of the Elves, they’ll make a child with any man they’re pleased with . 」

Nora, an Elf, said so as if to tease us .

「Nora-san . That might be the case for the Elves, but things aren’t that simple for humans . 」

The tomboyish Nora-san was an Elf who had been banished from the forest . She committed a sin, so the other Elves sealed her power to commune with the spirits and sent her away .

She never told us what kind of crime she committed, but I couldn’t see her as a bad person . Her personality was too frank for it .

Not to mention, it was rude to be prying into someone’s past .

Despite being unable to commune with spirits, Nora-san was a bow master with senses that far surpassed that of a human . There was almost no ranger who could compete with her in Teseshia .

She and Leylia-san met in Teseshia and became close . While I and Big Sis Kenya were the warriors, Madia was the magician . Leylia-san was the priest, and Nora-san was the ranger .

There were others in our warrior group, but they were away for various reasons .

「By the way, Shizu-chan . Did you get the usual thing? 」

「Naturally . 」

I took five wooden tags from my bosom pocket .

「I’ve properly booked the token of the theater . 」

Everyone clapped their hands as they cheered in unison .

Atlan-san’s husband was the most famous merchant in the country, so his name was quite useful . And since he was acquainted with the opera troupe, I was given a discount when I bought the token .

Then, maybe because she was a woman like us, Atlan-san sent us around to do various jobs . I want to keep a long relationship with her .

This token was for the 「Alfaeria」 drama, which would be exhibited 5 days later . It was a story about a princess who set out on a journey . Her goal was to save the prince who was kidnapped by a witch .

The protagonist, Alfaeria, was a knight and a swordmaster on top of being a princess .

Actress Shenna, who played the princess knight, was the topic of our discussion . Her gallant act charmed even those of the same sex .

The drama was rated very highly among the young female audience . That must be why the token sold out immediately . So many people wanted to watch this drama .

We got the opportunity thanks to Atlan-sama .

「Now that we’ve got this token, what shall we do?」

「How about we go to the public bathhouse? I think it would be great for everyone to wash away their sweat together . 」

Nora-san was an ardent lover of public bathhouses .

The Elves didn’t have the habit of bathing since they could clean their bodies with water spirits .

According to Nora-san, the only thing in which humans were vastly superior to Elves was bathing .

But I believed Nora-san loved public bathhouses so much for a completely different reason .

Nora-san was a lesbian . Thus, her love for public bathhouses was most likely because she could ogle other women’s bodies to her heart’s content .

And yet we agreed to go to the public bathhouse with her .

Although it was not as big as the one in Ariadya, Teseshia had its own public bathhouse . Perhaps it was built because a dirty body was a major problem for a female Freedom Fighter .

Once you left the rampart even dousing your body with cold water was a high hurdle . Some women didn’t concern themselves with such things, but the majority of them did .

Yesterday, when we arrived in Teseshia, we washed our bodies in our own rooms . I’d rather wash my body with hot water if the option was available .

Just as we were about to leave someone called out to us .

「Wait!! 」

A tall man walked towards us .

I knew him . His name was Godan, and he was the Hero of Earth . He was also the strongest man in Teseshia and the one in charge of maintaining the public order of the Freedom Fighter organization .

But, despite being called a Hero, many people didn’t want to get close to that violent man .

「Uhm… What’s the matter? 」

「You’re Shizufaeria, correct? 」

Godan asked as he looked at me .

「Yes, I am…」

「The Chairman called you . Come with me . 」

I had a questioning look on my face .

The one Godan was talking about was Sneferu, the Chairman of the Freedom Fighter Association .

「Uhm… What kind of business could the Chairman have with me? 」

「An important commission . And he requested you . 」

Gordon’s tone sounded threatening .

I couldn’t go against the Chairman’s orders . Doing so could end with us being chased from Teseshia and left to wander around on our own . It couldn’t be helped .

「… I guess I have to leave for a while, everyone . 」

My comrades were looking at me with worried looks on their faces .

I followed behind Godan .

Why did the Chairman call for me?

Female warriors were few in number . Some of the commissions Freedom Fighters received were incompatible with male warriors . Like escorting a lady, for example .

It could be that kind of request . But then, why didn’t the Chairman dispatch the Hero of Earth, the strongest man in Teseshia? I was at the bottom rank of the organization .

I became even more anxious as to what commission I had been requested to complete .

◆ Black Haired Sage, Chiyuki

Freedom Fighter City, Teseshia .

It was a satellite city of the Republic Ariadya created to deal with the Evil God that resided in the labyrinth at the center of the Minon Plain . Fiendish demons came out if the labyrinth frequently, thus Freedom Fighters were gathered to subjugate the labyrinth .

The government of the Ariadya Republic deemed it a more feasible method than dispatching their knights and soldiers .

Because of it, almost all men in the city were Freedom Fighters, which was quite unusual . Not to mention, almost all of the residents of Teseshia didn’t have citizenship of the Republic Ariadya, something that didn’t happen to the other satellite cities .

To become a Freedom Fighter in Teseshia, one didn’t need to have citizenship of the Republic Ariadya . They could freely enter, leave or stay in the city .

Normally, one would call such a city as independent, or a city of freedom .

[TL: America?]

Unfortunately, perhaps because of that freedom in transiting, the public order in Teseshia was incredibly bad .

Despite being called ‘Freedom Fighters’, most of the people who lived in the city behaved more like Yakuza .

I believe the main reason Republic Ariadya created Teseshia wasn’t to deal with the labyrinth but to accommodate the refugees of another country from the Ariad Union .

It was the most consistent conclusion I could arrive at after pondering about the available evidence .

The one who governed Teseshia? The Freedom Fighter Association .

The one who maintained the public order in Teseshia? Also the Freedom Fighter Association .

After all, there was no reason to dispatch knights from Ariadya .

Despite being a satellite city, the government of the Republic Ariadya didn’t even maintain the public order . They didn’t even bother hiding how they had no concerns about Teseshia .

To begin with, the Freedom Fighter Association wasn’t created based on mutual aid like the Magician Association . It was probably created by the Ariadya government to keep control over the Freedom Fighters .

They just needed to take out some money from their budget and let the Freedom Fighter Association govern the place . They didn’t pay any attention to the city afterward .