Volume 3 Chapter 15 Pannonia
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
On the second day in the Kingdom of Pannonia, a truly outrageous fact came to light.
The map was garbage. More specifically, the distance markers could not be trusted.
The three wagons we were using had bearings fitted to their axles, reducing the strain on the horses. We should have covered nearly half again as much ground as a normal caravan. Even so, by the day after leaving Buda-Pe, the capital of Pannonia, we had only just reached the first town on our route, and the sun was already sinking toward the horizon.
”What do we do?” Lieutenant Colonel Onhart, the leader of the caravan and the closest thing I had to a father, gathered everyone at the stables to discuss the situation.
”If the rest of this map is just as bad, it’ll be the middle of winter before we reach the Imperial Capital of Rus,” Major Thomas muttered, folding his thick arms across his chest. His glare settled squarely on Intelligence Officer Robert.
It was unlikely that every detail on the map was wrong, but if the journey ended up taking twice as long as expected, there was a real chance we would not arrive until December.
”In that case, we should start buying fodder and reserve horses immediately,” I said.
”Hmph. If we’re replacing horses anyway, we’d better get breeds that can handle the cold,” Major Thomas added.
The more we discussed it, the more certain it seemed that if the kidnapping succeeded, our return route would take us north through much harsher weather instead of retracing our path. That meant replacing our current horses and switching from ordinary feed to richer grain mixes that could help them endure the cold.
”Right. Let’s get moving. We’ll split into a fodder team and a horse team,” Lieutenant Colonel Onhart ordered.
We divided into two groups. The only people who could speak the local Pannonian language were Intelligence Officer Robert and the Amazoness, Kenze. Unfortunately, both of them only knew the regions along the Danube and had little knowledge of the vast steppe that made up most of Pannonia.
Robert took charge of purchasing grain and fodder. He was accompanied by Second Lieutenant Sarah and two maids. Sarah, formerly a commander in the Golems Battalion, wore piercings across her face, and her unusual appearance alone made her an effective deterrent. The maids were engineers who normally maintained her Golems.
The horse team consisted of Kenze, myself—suddenly cast as her husband—and the towering Major Thomas.
Although the town’s population was only around two thousand, its location on the grasslands made it an important stop. Near the stables where we had parked our wagons stood a shop with horses lined up outside.
”Let’s start there. If they don’t have what we need, they can probably point us in the right direction,” Major Thomas said.
Whether she heard him or not, Kenze walked straight into the shop.
”Hey! Are you listening?” Thomas called after her.
She ignored him completely.
Clad in the1 niqab—a garment prescribed by the Scripture Church that concealed everything but her eyes—and carrying her infant, she stepped inside without hesitation. Even the shopkeeper seemed intimidated by her presence.
After a brief conversation, she returned.
”This place is a relay station.”
In other words, it was where couriers exchanged horses before continuing to the next town. The horses were not actually for sale.
”They said several farmers keep horses beyond the south gate. We should ask them.”
Following those directions, we headed south and found a row of farmhouses with horses grazing in their yards. Major Thomas inspected each group of animals until he reached the final house, then pointed back toward the second farm on the right.
Kenze did not even bother to object. Still carrying the child, she strode straight into the farm. Thomas and I followed.
The farmer looked suspicious of me being married to a woman dressed like a follower of the Scripture Church, especially one who appeared to have Venotian blood. Even so, Thomas’s imposing build seemed to convince him to cooperate.
”There are more horses in the pasture,” he grunted.
Perhaps he trusted that we could pay. Whatever the reason, he led us all the way out to see them. I knew nothing about horses, but both Kenze and Thomas praised the quality of the animals.
Since the mares had not been gelded, we passed on them and eventually purchased three horses from the farm. Before we left, the farmer kindly advised us to sell our old horses through the relay station.
After departing that town, we bought grain and fodder whenever the opportunity arose. We also sold portions of our salt cargo to maintain our cover story. By the fifth day after entering Pannonia, every horse in our caravan had been replaced with cold-resistant breeds.
The following day, the Al-Pacino mountain range finally emerged from the horizon. At first I had mistaken it for a bank of clouds, but as we drew closer, snow-capped peaks slowly took shape.
The higher we climbed, the colder the air became. By the time we reached a town at the foot of the mountains, thick clouds covered the sky and a cold drizzle had begun to fall.
”Damn, rotten luck,” Major Thomas grumbled.
It was his turn to stand watch that night alongside Robert and Pamela.
”Sorry about that,” I said before heading toward the inn.
Other caravans had guards posted as well, and despite the language barrier, people managed to pass the time around the fires through little more than gestures and shared expressions. When the rain grew heavier, everyone retreated to their wagons and lodgings.
The Amazoness infant was surprisingly easy to care for. Every six hours she drank milk from a jar and promptly fell back asleep. The only trouble came when Kenze was absent. If the baby woke and could not find her, the crying started immediately.
”You already asleep?” I asked.
Kenze had finished feeding the child and slipped into bed.
”Sleeping well.”
Her skin was cold from the night air as she pressed herself against me.
”Pamela isn’t here tonight. Hehe.”
After extinguishing the lamp, she settled beside me. The quiet intimacy soon gave way to simple exhaustion from another long day on the road.
”Kenze?”
”What is it, spineless?”
”We’re entering Rus tomorrow, right?”
”So?”
”That means we’re getting close to your homeland.”
Kenze was silent for a moment.
”My homeland doesn’t exist anymore. Besides, we’re not close.”
With that, she said nothing more. Before long, she drifted off to sleep while holding my hand.
I had worried that she might someday take the child and disappear without a word. Part of me believed I would never be able to stop her if she chose to leave.
Yet her answer only left me confused.
What did she mean when she said her homeland no longer existed? And if it was gone, why did she say we were still far away?
The two ideas seemed to contradict each other.
Even so, I found myself believing she would not leave without telling me.
Just as sleep finally began to take me, a commotion erupted outside. Even from inside the inn, I could hear people running through the halls.
”I’ll kill you!”
Major Thomas’s roar shattered the night.
That was not something I could ignore.
Kenze was already on her feet, throwing her heavy religious garments over her body.
When we rushed outside, Thomas stood in the rain with blood streaming down his face as he confronted a lone man.
”What happened?!” Onhart shouted as he emerged moments later.
Nearby, Robert lay face-down beside the cargo wagon while Pamela cast a Heal spell on him.
Before any of us could make sense of the situation, Kenze had already drawn her bow.
She was not aiming at the man fighting Thomas.
Instead, she targeted three men climbing the town wall with ropes.
Her arrows flew one after another.
Each shot struck an arm or leg, pinning the men long enough to send them tumbling from the wall. One of them tried to climb again after taking an arrow to the leg, but Kenze shot the rope itself, severing it cleanly.
The man dropped straight onto his companions.
Meanwhile, Second Lieutenant Sarah charged the man facing Thomas.
His swordsmanship was frighteningly fast.
The curved blade in his hand, nearly a meter long, flowed through the air with effortless precision. Just as it seemed certain to cut across Sarah’s torso, steel rang against steel. She caught the strike with her dagger, though the force behind it drove her backward.
The man spun the pommel through a smooth figure-eight, preserving the blade’s momentum as he stepped forward and brought it down toward her head.
Sarah blocked again, dropped lower, and slipped toward his flank to deliver a palm strike.
He avoided it by the narrowest margin.
His movements were efficient and fluid.
One look was enough to tell me I was out of my depth.
Even after Thomas joined the fight with his spear, the swordsman handled both of them with ease while steadily retreating toward the wall.
At last the town guards arrived.
The man stepped onto his groaning accomplices and reached for a hanging rope.
Kenze fired. One arrow pierced the back of his hand.
A second punched through his sword arm. The man collapsed onto the others.
Kenze. Thanks to her, we captured all four thieves alive.
Afterward, Onhart negotiated with the town administrator and secured permission for us to participate in the interrogation. All four prisoners were low on Mana, so we forced our own into them and used Mind-reading to bring their consciousness to the surface.
The problem, however, was the language barrier. Unfortunately, we could only read their raw emotions, flashes of sound, and fragmented imagery. We tasked Kenze—who possessed knowledge of the Eastern tongues—with the questioning.
”＜Where did you come from?＞”
”…”
The man stayed silent, but I heard the foreign tongue echoing in his consciousness. I caught only a single word.
”Khufna?”2
I muttered the name, and Kenze nodded. She recognized it as a city or nation, and her tone shifted instantly.
”＜Are you a warrior of the Holm-Shah Kingdom?＞”
The man clearly faltered at the question—it was a bullseye. Kenze explained to me that Khufna was the capital of the Holm-Shah Kingdom, located far to the east of the Turkic Empire.
”＜How do you know that? Who are you?＞”
”＜These people are Mana-users. Surely you have them in your country, too. There is no hiding from us.＞”
Seeing us touching his skin, the man glared at us with pure venom. Kenze, unflappable, translated their exchange into Schweilitz for the rest of us.
”＜Why did you attack our carriage?＞”
”＜You’re from Schweilitz, aren’t you? We’d heard rumors of your fast carriages and were intrigued. We couldn’t find any concrete info, but when you appeared right in front of us, it was too convenient an opportunity to pass up.＞”
”＜Where are your companions?＞”
I could sense the location floating in his mind: three caravan wagons parked in the grasslands about two kilometers from town. Sarah, our Second Lieutenant, saw this and immediately left the interrogation room with Thomas and his subordinate engineers (maids) in tow.
I only hoped they wouldn’t do anything reckless.
But it was Kenze who ended up being the reckless one.
”＜Let us go, or there will be hell to pay.＞”
”＜What does that mean? Are you saying the Holm-Shah Kingdom is going to invade?＞”
Kenze had been laughing at his empty threat, but her expression hardened at his next words.
”＜We are investigating the western lands under the orders of the ‘Boltechino’3—the Blue Wolves. I am a warrior, but the others are merchants. The Boltechino are invincible. They have no equal. Any nation in their path has only two choices: submission or total annihilation. Sadly, our Holm-Shah Kingdom will soon be swallowed whole. The Turkic Empire, the Empire of Rus, and then the Kingdom of Schuberitz will follow. Do you want to be exterminated?＞”
When the man spoke, we could only pick up the country names, “Boltechino,” and “Subutai” from his mind, but the sheer, terrifying resolve behind his words made my chest tighten.
Yet it was the man himself who let out a scream of terror. Without a second’s hesitation, Kenze had sliced off his right ear.
Onhart, watching from a distance, instinctively called out, “Kenze,” but she ignored him completely. Kenze threw her niqab to the floor, crouched before the man, and forced him to look at her face.
”＜Do you know who I am?＞”
Bleeding from the side of his head, the man stared at Kenze in agony.
”＜Could it be… an Amazoness?＞”
”＜That’s right. The Amazoness of Tashkurgan, who treated you Holm-Shah merchants with such hospitality.＞”
The terror rising in the man’s mind drowned out the pain of his severed ear. He began to visualize the gruesome punishments the Amazoness inflicted upon traitors: being tied and hung by the hands to have their bellies sliced open; being hung upside down with their legs spread while being sawed apart at the crotch.
Even for me, using Mind-reading, it was enough to make me nauseous.
”＜You know, Tashkurgan doesn’t exist anymore. All thanks to the Holm-Shah merchants who sold our secrets to Subutai.＞”
”＜That’s not… that’s not how it was. We had no choice but to cooperate…＞”
Kenze’s dagger tip pressed into the man’s nostril, then flicked upward, slicing the edge of his nose and sending blood flowing.
”Kenze, you can’t kill him,” Onhart pleaded, his voice like the thin whine of a dragonfly.
”It’s fine, I won’t kill him easily.”4
Kenze, I think you’ve misinterpreted the request.
Regardless, through this exchange, we learned that Kenze’s home, Tashkurgan, had been destroyed by the Boltechino. I also understood that the Boltechino were a nomadic tribe from the East with territorial ambitions in the West.
”With this much blood loss, this man won’t have the energy to lie anymore. I don’t even need Mind-reading.”5
Is that why you cut his ear off? You’re terrifying.
Still, there wasn’t much other information—only that a state called the Ghurid Dynasty of the Scripture Church, south of Tashkurgan, had also been wiped out.
The Boltechino used merchants to propagandize in the lands they intended to occupy: if you don’t resist, you are allowed autonomy and only need to pay taxes; if you resist, you are slaughtered. They actually followed through on these threats, and rumors of the massacres had spread rapidly across the central continent. This explained the lightning speed of their territorial expansion. Some speculated that if they hit the Empire of Rus or the Turkic Empire, their advance might be checked by the states’ stronger information control.
However, given that the Turkic Empire—and our own Pannonia Kingdom—originally descended from Eastern nomadic tribes, I thought it was overly optimistic to believe that mere information control would stop them.
At daybreak, Thomas and Second Lieutenant Sarah returned. It was good that they’d used the Golems to cause such a ruckus, but unfortunately they’d lost track of one of the wagons. They reported that a black, two-horse carriage with a red Rhein crest on its roof had escaped.
To make matters worse, while we needed to get to Rus quickly, the local lord of Uju begged us to leave one of our squad members behind as a witness. He wanted to report the information we’d gathered from the Holm-Shah warrior to his King. Onhart, our leader, had already told the lord that we were on a secret mission for the Kingdom of Schuberitz, headed for Rus.
”Then I’ll stay.”
I said, raising my hand.
I was ignored. Robert, the Intelligence Officer, was selected to go to the Royal Capital of Pannonia, Buda, to report and then continue on to Schweilitz to brief His Majesty personally. Well, the Pannonia Kingdom couldn’t just ignore the fact that refugees might be pouring in, or that the Boltechino might attack soon—they had to be informed.
”You actually raised your hand back there.”
Thomas teased as I was packing to depart.
”Nah, I just wanted to go home.”
”That’s fair, but we’re still in the middle of our death sentence commutation.”
Indeed, this brute of a man, Thomas, and I were both under sentence of death, participating in this mission as a condition for its commutation.
”By the way, your Kenze is terrifying.”
”She used to be a Turku intelligence officer.”
It’s true—watching her casually slice off a captive’s ear would make anyone recoil. When we first met, she’d genuinely tried to kill me.
”But you’re sleeping with her, right?”
”Yeah, I suppose.”
”Hey, does she… you know…”
”Well, yeah.”
He was blunt as a hammer.
”You ever worry she might bite it off?”
”At first, maybe.”
”You’re something else, man.”
I don’t know what exactly he found so brave, but from that day on, I found myself talking more and more with Thomas, the commander of this cavalry unit.
In the pre-dawn hours following the attack, Robert the Intelligence Officer saw us off, and we departed the city. We immediately entered a mountainous region, following a winding uphill path unlike anything we had traveled before. After crossing several mountain passes, we reached a checkpoint near sunset and queued at the end of the line.
The other merchants were staying in towns along the way, and they seemed incredibly surprised to hear we had come all the way from Uju.
”Maybe we should slow the wagons down a bit.”
Onhart suggested. But it was already November 20th. We should have been back in Pannonia from the Imperial Capital by now, yet we were only just reaching the border of the Empire of Rus. If we weren’t careful, we’d be spending the entire winter here, still stuck with our hostages.
”Shouldn’t we speed up so rumors can’t keep pace? I hear the winter cold here is no joke—if we’re thinking about getting out, slowing down isn’t an option.”
Sarah, the Second Lieutenant, interjected. Onhart backed down at her comment. I really wish our leader would be a bit more decisive.
The checkpoint we had feared went better than expected.
”＜You, what’s your name?＞”
Uhh, what was it? Right, Luigi de Carmen. No, Calimen.
I was given a suspicious look, but I suspect that handing an official a small bribe did the trick. We encountered more checkpoints after that, but it seemed their only goal was collecting transit taxes; once we handed over some Schweilitz silver coins, they were happy enough to let us pass without even looking at our cargo.
The unit moved as long and as fast as the horses allowed, avoiding staying in towns whenever possible and only stopping to purchase food and fodder. Even so, we didn’t arrive at the Imperial Capital until December 11th—nearly a month after leaving the Royal Capital.
”Aren’t we going into the city?”
Thomas complained.
Ever since entering the Empire of Rus, we’d been traveling through endless flat fields, villages, and forests—a monotonous landscape that seemed to stretch on forever.
The Imperial Capital we finally reached was massive. Even just looking at it from the outside, it was clearly larger and more populated than the Royal Capital. If our goal wasn’t abducting human targets, I’d have loved to do some sightseeing.
”You’d just buy women anyway.”
Sarah, the Second Lieutenant, muttered.
”What’s wrong with that? I may look like this, but I’m young—let me hold a woman at least once a week.”
Sarah and Thomas started bickering like an old married couple.
”Let’s cross the Dnieper River first.”
I said, ignoring them and advising Onhart.
The map showed the bridge slightly downstream from the Imperial Capital, and as expected it took us several hours to actually reach it. We crossed over and began searching for a place on the opposite bank from the royal palace.
”＜You there, what are you doing?＞”
In the evening, as we moved along a path on a natural levee, we were stopped by a cavalryman in what looked like the Imperial Capital’s uniform. Pamela, who understood the language, jumped off the wagon, approached the rider, and spoke to him while passing something under the table.
”A bit further ahead, there’s a slope down to a riverbank with an oxbow lake. It’s not frozen yet, so she told me we can water the horses there.”
We followed his instructions, and sure enough there was a slope we could take with the wagons down to the riverbank. We found the oxbow lake just as he’d said and were able to give the horses water.
”I’ll try launching it once.”
The sun had set, but there was almost no wind.
Opening the carriage roof, I reached in to retrieve the fixed-wing drone. After verifying the system, I gave it a gentle toss. It caught the air, leaving behind only the faint high-pitched hum of its motor as it climbed into the skies above the Imperial Capital.
—
Summary:
The caravan’s journey through Pannonia is hindered by faulty maps and cold weather, forcing the team to acquire hardy horses. After reaching a town near the Al-Pacino mountains, a nighttime attack occurs while the team is resting. Kenze and Sarah engage the attackers, with Kenze displaying exceptional marksmanship to neutralize the threat.
The protagonist’s squad interrogates captured Holm-Shah warriors, uncovering the terrifying expansionist ambitions of the Boltechino and the destruction of Kenze-san’s home, Tashkurgan. Following the interrogation, the squad travels toward the Empire of Rus under the threat of impending winter, eventually reaching the outskirts of the Imperial Capital. The narrative concludes with the group navigating a tense checkpoint and preparing to test the speed of their carriage after watering the horses.
—
Trivia:
The wagons use bearings, increasing their range by 1.5 times.
Kenze is an Amazoness who follows strict religious norms while traveling.
Sarah was formerly a commander in the Golems Battalion and is a skilled fighter.
The infant Kenze carries drinks milk on a strictly timed six-hour schedule.
The squad’s mission involves carrying hostages while traveling under a suspended death sentence.
Kenze-san’s brutality is grounded in her status as a former intelligence operative from Turku.
The Boltechino utilize a psychological warfare tactic of offering autonomy for submission or total annihilation for resistance.
Thomas, the cavalry commander, shares a bond with the protagonist due to their shared legal status.
Pannonia Kingdom’s population and military originally descended from Eastern nomadic tribes.
The author explicitly credits reading “The Reason Why the Amazoness Became a Slave Prostitute” as a source of influence for this chapter’s length.
The protagonist’s travel route involved a purchase of a horse in Budape and an attack in Uju City.
The drone is described as having a small motor sound, contrasting with the fantasy carriage setting.
—
Translation Notes:
Notes:
• Onhart – Tall, stern, and pragmatic, Onhart von Lothringen is a Duke’s eldest son, third in line to the Schuberitz throne, and a Lieutenant Colonel leading the traveling party. To hide his identity, he acts as Roberto de Calimen, a caravan leader and acting father figure to the protagonist. Knowledgeable and authoritative, he manages rear-carriage hostages and logistics while coordinating with Schuberitz.
• Robert – An intelligence officer fluent in Pannonian and Rus, son of Helbert Ougen-Sigmund. He serves as an amiable intermediary and valet for the caravan leader, though tasked with briefing His Majesty at the Royal Capital. Clad in a short winter dress and wool tights, the captain faces heavy scrutiny over his department’s failures while managing relationships with locals and superiors alike.
• Thomas – Thomas Bauer is a hulking, middle-aged Bizan Major, mercenary, and scout hired by Earnest. Bearing a wrestler build, red face, scalp burns, and a suspended death sentence, he serves as a blunt, pragmatic coachman and spear-wielding cavalry commander. While stoic and protective, his poor discipline makes him directionally challenged and careless. He envies the protagonist’s closer relationships.
• Major – A commanding military officer with a sadistic inclination toward interrogation. She orchestrates the sessions and utilizes Telepathy to coordinate with her subordinates.
• Kenze – A muscular, agile former Tashkurgan intelligence agent wearing a niqab and slave crest, Denis is a skilled archer, negotiator, and gear crafter. Traumatized by her homeland’s ruin and Boltechino, she is emotionally unstable and fiercely attached to her master Earnest, the protagonist, and Larry. She nurses her infant, sleeps with Pamela, hates Southern Amazons, and is currently left at the collapsed bridge.
• Sarah – A heavily pierced Elf Mage and Second Lieutenant who commands the Magic Corps and manages specialized engineering labor, including golems. Identifiable by her facial piercings, pointed ears, and long dark hair, she is a skilled boulderer, pilot, and disciplined tactical coordinator. Though cold, pragmatic, and contemptuous of army leadership under Major Sonya, she keeps Kenze restrained.
• Sara – A woman with numerous gold piercings in her ears, eyebrows, and nose, often wearing thick, aggressive makeup. She serves as the Second Lieutenant and Commander of the First Company.
• Al – Alberto (Al), a massive red‑haired man recently wed to Mary, lives near the Dish Basin. He’s a companion of Hans, helping intimidate and rally elders as a villager and leader.
• Pamela – An arrogant yet composed petite Elven Mage, academy student, and Earnest’s former slave who serves as the protagonist’s primary wife and loyal companion alongside Kenze, Larry, and Robert. Under white Gothic Lolita fashion and a glove, she hides her ears, a slave crest, and a festering wound. As a calm Arsenal Bureau resident, mediator, and interpreter with high magical aptitude, strong mana control, and memory manipulation abilities, she handles town social analysis, logistics, and powerful offensive or healing spells.
• Mana – A non-commissioned officer and liaison who previously had their mana drained by Larry.
• Ho – Ho, a comrade of the protagonist. A member of the military unit that defended Garao Village and was slaughtered alongside Marx-san.
• Rhein – A former student of Hoffman who was purchased at a slave market.
• His Majesty – The King of the realm possesses an expressionless, Noh mask-like face, rarely showing emotion except for brief amusement during trials. He holds absolute authority over the kingdom, presiding over high-level deliberations, giving the final word on legal transitions like duels, and maintaining supreme command over all military missions and strategic troop deployments.
• Luigi – An alias used by the intelligent and pragmatic protagonist to pass checkpoints by posing as a Venetian merchant alongside his father, Roberto. This carefully crafted identity allows him to skillfully navigate military operations while managing his relationships with others under a false guise.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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