Chapter 216 The Princess Sets Her Course
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
”Are you out of your mind?!” I roared. “Listen to yourself, Lista! What the hell is that supposed to mean?!”
”Sister, please. I need you to stay calm,” Lista replied. “This is a formal mandate from the military desuwa.”
”God dammit!” I barked.
I couldn’t choke back the rage. I slammed my boot into the wall, a heavy thud echoing through the room. The source of my fury was the order spread across the desk-specifically, the filth written in it.
”They’re sending the Black Dragon Knights ¹ to this town? Those bastards are an embarrassment to the uniform!” I shouted. “High Command isn’t reinforcing us; they’re just taking out their trash and dumping it on my doorstep! They’re pushing their problems onto me!”
”Princess, please. Compose yourself,” Clary urged.
”You too, Clary?!” I snapped. “You know exactly what happens to the streets the moment those animals arrive! You know what they’ll do to the peace here!”
We were currently stationed in the capital city of the Kaibel province. My Purple Dragon Knights ² were serving as Lista’s personal escort. I hated being stuck out in the sticks, but Lista is an asset the Empire can’t afford to lose. I could at least understand a Beastman Knight Order being assigned to guard her.
But the news from the Imperial Capital was grim. A new unit, the Black Dragon Knights, had already mobilized and was heading our way. Even Tianic’s face had gone pale.
”The Black Dragon Knights… the penal unit,” Tianic whispered. “They’re composed entirely of violent criminals.”
”I don’t care what the brass says-I refuse to recognize those scum as a real Knight Order!” I growled.
Tianic was right. Every single member of the Black Dragons was a convict. Not just petty thieves, either-we were talking about the kind of psychos whose crimes made your skin crawl.
The Beastman Knights are supposed to be an elite, honorable force, but soldiers are soldiers. In the heat of war, men lose their minds. Pillage in occupied territory is common enough. I’m not a saint; looting is a victor’s perk, a way to bleed the enemy and keep the troops hungry. I don’t deny its utility. Sometimes, it’s even an order.
But there’s a line. There is a world of difference between strategic requisitioning and the senseless, blood-soaked butchery of civilians.
An army without discipline is just a mob with better weapons. Without order, we’re nothing but a plague of violence. Yet, even among the elite, there are always those who wait for the officers to turn their backs so they can indulge their sickest urges.
Usually, those bastards are hanged. But since they’re gifted killers, the Empire decided to be ‘efficient.’ They took all the filth that was too talented to execute and forged them into the Black Dragon Knights.
Because of their history, they’re kept on a short leash-one more crime and it’s the gallows, no exceptions. And sure, they get results on the front lines. But to me? They’re a stain on our pride.
”The Black Dragons were on the northern front against the Curesage Ice-Burn Kingdom until a few months ago,” Lista noted. “By all accounts, they left a trail of wreckage in their wake.”
The order from High Command was clear: the Purple Dragon Knights and the Black Dragon Knights were to cooperate on the current objective.
The objective: the Magic Labyrinth King. Lista, having just returned from the capital, began to break down the details.
”Clary and I have made several trips to the Promised Land,” Lista explained. “After speaking directly with the Magic Labyrinth King, a few things have become clear.”
Lista held up a single, prim finger.
”The King certainly rules the Promised Land in name. However, the real power-the ones actually dictating policy-are almost certainly Emerald and Sardonyx.”
”The flight-sorcerers from the reports?” I asked.
Lista had spent her visits subtly probing their agricultural exports, their magic, and their ties to the Republic. But the King? He wore a mask that hid his face, yet his soul seemed just as opaque. He didn’t even seem to grasp the subtext of her questions.
Emerald and Sardonyx, however, were a different story. They caught every hint, parrying Lista’s words and answering on the King’s behalf.
”Those two are seasoned negotiators,” Lista said. “Without them, taking the King under our wing would be child’s play.”
”So, he’s a puppet?” I asked.
”I wouldn’t go that far,” Lista replied. “It’s more that the King is… dangerously soft-hearted. I believe those two are acting as his shield to keep him from being exploited.”
’Soft-hearted.’ In our world, that’s just a nice way of saying ‘easy to manipulate.’ Clary nodded in agreement.
”There wasn’t a single armed guard in the Promised Land,” Clary added.
”What? In the middle of the Demon Forest? That’s impossible,” I said.
”Hard to believe, I know,” Clary replied. “Their flight-sorcerers must be truly exceptional to maintain that kind of security. But at the end of the day, they’re just humans. Without a Secret Treasure Orb ³, they don’t stand a chance against us.”
While Lista had been mapping the politics, Clary had been measuring their throats. And according to her, the Promised Land was a house of cards.
”The territory is immaculate,” Clary continued. “If the Empire seized it tomorrow, we could move in and use the infrastructure immediately.”
”I see where this is going,” I growled. “You reported this to the brass, and they decided that two Knight Orders are enough to take it by force?”
If the Empire wants something, they take it. I don’t have a problem with that-that’s the way of the world. But having the Black Dragons involved made my stomach turn.
Lista shook her head.
”Force is the final resort, Sister. First, we must ensure the King and his advisors understand exactly what the Empire is capable of,” Lista said desuwa.
In other words: show them the shadow of the noose. Make them realize that the Empire will own that land, one way or another.
”Hmph. So you’re going to invite the King here and show off our military drills? Scare him with some shiny armor?” I asked.
”Not quite,” Lista replied. “Sister… if the Black Dragon Knights are allowed to linger in this town… what do you think will happen?”
”Are you stupid? The public order will vanish. This place will become a hellhole,” I said.
The Egdia Empire ranks its territories. Being a frontier town, Kaibel is at the bottom of the barrel. In a place like this, a Beastman-even a low-ranking one-is the law. We can manufacture ‘criminals’ on a whim. We can turn a local lord into a slave if we’re having a bad day.
Most of us don’t. Most of us have enough self-respect to leave the locals alone unless they provoke us.
But the Black Dragons? They’ll treat this town like a carcass. With me and Lista here, they might avoid a full-scale massacre, but they’ll find ‘legal’ excuses to drag women into their barracks as s*x slaves. They’ll wreck the taverns, pick fights with the men, and beat them to death just for the sport of it.
It’s the law of the jungle-the weak are eaten. But that doesn’t mean I like watching it happen.
Tianic’s eyes suddenly widened. “Wait… you’re going to use the town as a stage, aren’t you?”
”What? Tianic, talk sense,” I muttered.
”N-no… she’s right,” Tianic stammered. “You want to show the Magic Labyrinth King the miserable reality of a town occupied by the Black Dragons.”
If the King comes here, he’ll see the Black Dragons rampaging in broad daylight. He’ll see the locals trembling, unable to fight back. He’ll hear the screams from the alleys.
And he’ll realize that his opponents aren’t just soldiers-they’re monsters.
The King will look at his Promised Land-full of nothing but women and defenseless maids-and he’ll realize that if the Black Dragons ever set foot there, his paradise will be devoured in a single night.
”Exactly as Tianic says,” Lista said. “That is when I make my move. I’ll play the friend. I’ll tell him, ‘I don’t want you and your people to suffer like this town. I have the Emperor’s ear. If you submit to the Empire now, I can protect you. You’ll be named the official lord of your lands, and the Black Dragons will never have to cross your borders.’”
”I see,” I whispered.
The brass wanted the Promised Land intact. They wanted the flight magic given freely. Fear is a great motivator, but a ‘willing’ subject is much more efficient than a slave who’s constantly looking for a knife to put in your back.
”And if he doesn’t play ball,” I said, “the ‘scary’ knights pay him a visit anyway.”
”I’m not threatening anyone,” Lista said, smiling. “I’m simply letting nature take its course desuwa.”
”Hmph. You’ve got a hell of a way with words,” I replied.
With the Skygoon ⁴, we could bypass the forest entirely and drop a penal battalion right on their heads. If the King didn’t bend the knee, we’d just break it.
(Dammit… so that’s why they’re using the Black Dragons…)
The scum were being used as a prop. But that wouldn’t stop them from indulging their appetites here, and for the sake of the mission, no one was allowed to interfere with their ‘fun.’
Lista told us our only job was to make sure the Black Dragons didn’t get too carried away.
”This isn’t enemy soil,” Lista warned. “Don’t let them start beheading people in the streets or burning down the buildings. We need the town to look occupied, not annihilated desuwa.”
”It takes a Beastman to stop a Beastman,” I sighed. “But we have to let them be unruly enough to make the King piss himself, right?”
”Precisely,” Lista replied. “We need him to believe that joining the Empire is the only way to save his people from a fate worse than death desuwa.”
Apparently, this whole psychological play was Lista’s idea. She’d decided the King was exactly the kind of bleeding heart who would sacrifice his own sovereignty to save his subjects from the Black Dragons.
(I heard he lived in the heart of the Demon Forest, so I was expecting a titan among men…)
I’d imagined some grizzled warrior-king. Instead, he’s just a soft-touch being led around by his girls.
Fine. If that’s how it is, let the Black Dragons play their part. They don’t even have to act; they were born for this.
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Trivia:
- The protagonist is a female military commander despite her rough ‘ore/atashi’ speech style.
- The Black Dragon Knights are a penal unit of death-row inmates kept on a ‘one-strike’ execution policy.
- Emerald and Sardonyx are identified as the actual brains behind the Magic Labyrinth King’s governance.
- The Empire’s primary goal is capturing the ‘flight sorcery’ and infrastructure intact.
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Character Insight:
Lista demonstrates a cold, Machiavellian intellect, moving beyond simple ‘princess’ tropes into a cunning strategist who uses atrocity as a diplomatic tool. The protagonist shows a warrior’s pride, disgusted by the lack of discipline in the Black Dragon Knights even though she is not morally opposed to conquest.
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Behind the Scenes:
The author uses the ‘Black Dragon’ trope to signify a ‘necessary evil’ within an expansionist empire, highlighting the contrast between the protagonist’s ‘professional’ conquest and the penal unit’s ‘unbridled’ violence.
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TL Notes:
Notes:
• Lista – Judiette’s younger half-sister. A fox beastman sorceress and the only Imperial citizen capable of riding the Skygoon. Have long dark hair. Wearing ornate Imperial princess robes with gold trim. A cup.
• Clary – A rare beastman sorceress and follower of Judiette. Older than Judiette, she speaks bluntly despite the princess’s status. She has light purple hair split in the middle and reaching down to her waist. She is described as having a large bust and wears dresses with loose necklines.
• Tianic – A promising new recruit and follower of Judiette. Despite a timid and stuttering demeanor, she has a sharp, dignified face. She has silky grey short-cut hair and wears modest, military-style clothing.
• Emerald – Magical Girl version of Cleonora. Smaller, side-tailed, green-and-white mini-skirted girl.
• Sard – Magical Girl version of Liliarette. A-cup, wolf cut hair, class guardian knight. Yellowish-red vibe.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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