Combatants Will Be Dispatched - Volume 7 - Chapter 5.2

2

Just as people are rubbing the sleep out of their eyes and waking up all around the city of Grunade, a giant explosion echoes through the air.

They jump out of their houses and begin raising a fuss as they look around in a panic.

“W-what is it?! Are dragons attacking?!”

“This city is protected by the Midgard Mountains. There’s no way dragons would attack!”

"But there was evidently an explosion in front of the inn the other day.”

“I heard that it was a red-haired woman using magic...”

The residents speculate among themselves, only to freeze when they hear the follow-up announcement.

“Good morning, people of Grunade! We are the Kisaragi Corporation! We have a message for the Grunade Royal Family! Come to the clock tower in the next five seconds! If you don’t comply, we will burn down a building for every second you don’t show!”

"What are you doing?! They can’t possibly make it within five seconds!”

I grab the loudspeaker from Belial to keep her from making any more ridiculous demands.

We’re standing at the very top of the clock tower in the middle of the city.

Having infiltrated town, we’re now making unreasonable demands to the Grunade Royal Family.

“Oh. calm down. This is a negotiating tactic Lilith taught me. You put up unreasonable demands first, then you put out the demands you actually want, which will seem more reasonable in contrast.”

"I see. You’ve put some thought behind it. I'm sorry to doubt you.”

I’ve heard that when doing business, it’s a pretty common tactic to start with a sky-high price and make the buyer think you’re giving them a deal by giving them the price you actually want later on.

Belial then takes the loudspeaker back and makes her next announcement.

“All right, five seconds was a bit unreasonable! We’ll give you a small concession! You have ten seconds to—”

I snatch the loudspeaker from Belial again, when there’s a commotion at the bottom of the clock tower.

Alice and I peer downward.

"Lady Belial, one of the royals showed up. They did it within the ten seconds you asked for.”

“See? Unlike Lilith, my demands are reasonable.”

I’m pretty sure there are times when she’s more demanding than Lilith, but I decide it’s best to keep my silence.

Lydia’s standing there with a large group of soldiers at the base of the tower. I guess she was planning to lead them in an effort to find us this morning.

“Hey, Six. There's a woman with resting bitch face glaring at me...”

“That’s Princess Lydia, the elder daughter of the king and the oldest of the royals. I think her glaring at you is understandable. You did just wake up her country at this unreasonable hour and start threatening them."

Of course, she threatened to spread bad reviews about us, so I think we're kind of even on that front.

Belial nods, processing my words before taking the loudspeaker from me. then shouts down to the base of the tower.

“So you’re that stupid bitch Lydia! I’m going to smack you, so come up here! If not, I’ll reduce your city to a burnt-out wasteland!”

“Y-you disrespectful commoner! You show up out of nowhere and start this nonsense?! Who do you think you’re talking to, you self-important peasant...”

I give Rose the signal even as Lydia begins to bicker with Belial.

“Ahm... Just to double-check, are you sure you want to do this. Boss? I feel like we’ll be crossing a point of no return if we do this..

“We’ve already blown way past that line. Besides. remember what Lady Belial said? They’re wild Evil Points waiting to be harvested!”

Rose drags the four prisoners we captured in the woods to the top of the tower.

“My family has a long, distinguished history! Certainly more than some princess from a backwater nation like this! Keep talking, and I’ll actually give you something to whine about!”

“How dare you insult our country?! You’ll pay for that! You lot! Break down the clock tower door!”

We ignore the rapidly escalating argument between the two women and force the tied-up prisoners to walk to the windows.

Lydia, who has been wailing insults at Belial, freezes when she sees the faces of the prisoners.

“Do they look familiar to you? If they do, we’ll trade them for the prisoners you’ve got. If they don’t, they’re useless to us, so we’ll just throw them away!”

<Evil Points Acquired>

“She’s a true Supreme Leader, all right. She’s a damned sight more impressive than Lady Lilith.”

“Hey, Alice. I’m getting Evil Points just following orders. Are you sure we should’ve left the planning to Lady Belial?”

Lydia’s gone deathly pale, speechless at the sight of the prisoners. She hurriedly raises her hands to plead her case to us.

“Y-you wouldn’t really do that in the middle of the city, would you? Let’s negotiate. Yes, two of them are my followers, but—”

Before Lydia can finish, Belial grabs one of the prisoners by the scruff of the neck and dangles him over the side.

“The only thing I wanted to know is if they looked familiar to you! I’m giving you thirty minutes. Hurry up and bring out our underlings!”

<Evil Points Acquired>

“I-I accept! We’ll do a prisoner exchange, so stop dangling him over the side!”

Lydia hurriedly issues orders to her soldiers. She might have a bit of a scheming side, but she’s a sheltered princess in the end.

“That princess has a lot to learn. I’m sure part of it is the fact that the people are watching, but she’s started negotiating with terrorists. If it were Tillis, she’d probably manage to produce a tear or two before insisting sadly that royals won’t negotiate with terrorists and leave them to their fate.”

”H-Her Highness probably isn’t that ruthless! Maybe!”

“If you really believe that, at least avoid saying probably..”

Lydia then glares up at us after sending one of her soldiers off to the castle.

“There, are you satisfied? If that’s good enough, then release your prisoners... Also, allow me to point out that of those four, only two of them are my followers. The one you’re dangling isn’t one of them. But as a princess of this kingdom...”

“Then I guess we don’t need him.”

<Evil Points Acquired>

“Nooooo!”

Belial lets go of the prisoner before Lydia can finish her statement.

The bound and gagged captive falls with tears streaming from their eyes.

As Lydia screams. Belial tosses the loudspeaker aside and grabs my knife from my hip.

She leans out the window and winds up—

“Nooooo...ooh... Oh?!...”

She throws the knife with laser-like accuracy, not even leaving a scratch on the prisoner as it pins them by the collar to the stone face of the clock tower. The prisoner is pinned to the wall of the tower right before hitting the ground, and they pass out while foaming at the mouth from terror. Lydia’s legs give out from under her as she slumps to the ground.

The soldiers continue to exude hostility toward us, but they look taken aback and faintly cowed by Belial’s display of godlike skill. She casually picks up the loudspeaker.

“Which ones are your followers? I’ll release the other captive who isn’t your underling!”

“Just release them normally! Don’t drop them! They might not be my follower, but they're still one of my precious subjects! Also, please let me finish!”