The lieutenant general quickly pointed at Lica, then looked directly at me.

"You see? Your friends are fine. Now please get on the carriage."

"But why?"

"You were one of the last people to see Sagib alive, so I'd like to make some inquiries."

"Can't that wait until the morning?"

"A high ranking officer is involved, so I want this resolved as soon as possible."

"Didn't you conclude that it was just an accident, though?"

"The crash was an accident, but we haven't concluded anything about the drowning. The inquiries will help us determine if he was suicidal, or if he really was too drunk to swim back to safety."

"I'm not allowed to defer this until the morning, am I?"

"You are not. Now get on the carriage."

"Could I go put on proper clothes first?"

"I don't want to risk having you run away, so no."

"Then can you at least let me go pee?"

"There are no public toilets in plain view, so no. Just hold it in for a while."

"…"

Unfortunately, the inn's toilet was located on the side facing away from the street.

"Let's go."

The lieutenant general grabbed my wrist, making it impossible to get away.

"Tell Amber I'll be back later, Lica."

I reluctantly followed the lieutenant general along onto his carriage.

The carriage itself was not fancy in any way. Its shape resembled a small house with a roof, and the exterior was not decorated with any ornaments. The interior was completely empty: there was not a single thing inside, not even an object that could be used to sit on. Lieutenant General Tuha instead dragged me towards the front of the carriage and had me sit next to him at the driver's bench. Judging by how the two horses pulling the carriage were wearing light armor, how the driver's seat was nothing more than a metal bar used as a makeshift bench, and how the exterior was full of blood stains and damage, I became convinced that what we were traveling using a slightly modified supply cart that was probably deemed unusable on a battlefield.

I was worried that my bladder would burst from a bumpy ride, but it was a lot smoother and faster than expected. We stopped at some large building after riding for about five minutes.

The exterior was similar to the state guesthouse, with a water fountain and large field in front, but it was much smaller. The building was located inside a 20-meter wide plot of land that was guarded by four soldiers stationed at the front gate.

"So… Am I allowed to use the restroom now?"

"In a while. Please follow me."

It was hard to make out what kind of building I was currently in, since it was only dimly illuminated. I followed the lieutenant general into a large office, inside which was general Denato, who was sitting behind a desk.

"Blaze? What are you doing here? And why are you dressed like that?"

"I'll explain that later. As for what I'm doing here, isn't this meeting about the officer that just died?"

"It is, but you're not part of the army."

The lieutenant general then put his hand behind my back and gently shoved me inside the office.

"Why did you bring him here, Tuha? You know too well he can't help us with finding new personnel to replace Sagib."

"Finding new personnel? I thought I was here because you had inquiries about Sagib's death."

"Tuha, would you mind explaining?"

The lieutenant general made a hand motion as though he was signaling someone outside, then turned to look at us.

"There's a slight change of plans, you see."

"What?"

Lieutenant general Tuha then grabbed me by the shoulder and jolted me back. A group of four soldiers rushed into the office shortly after, two of whom pointed their spears towards my neck.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"I have a couple of… requests to make."

The lieutenant general then made another motion with his hand, and one of the soldiers forcefully grabbed my arms while another one tied my arms behind my back.

"Um… Can I-"

"Shut up and listen, boy."

"But I-"

"I said zip it."

Seems like it'll be quite a while before I'll be allowed to use a toilet…

"Now, back to the main topic. I have a few demands."

"What makes you think taking Blaze as a hostage would sway me?

"Just listen for a while and you'll certainly have to consider giving in to my demands."

"I could just beat you up instead, though."

"You know too well that our fighting strength is about equal. Fighting me won't go well in your favor, especially when I have backup right here."

Lieutenant general Tuha then pointed towards the two soldiers who weren't busy pointing their weapons at me.

"…Fine. Let's hear what you have to say."

"First, you will promise not to not strike back or get in the way of me or any other soldier involved in what's happening tonight."

"You're making a scene and taking someone hostage, and you expect me to forgive you and your lackeys?"

"Second, you will step down from your position as governor of this province, and withdraw from the upcoming provincial governor selection."

"As if I'd unconditionally do that!"

"Finally, for the sake of national security, you will continue your duties of leading the provincial army, but you will not have it turn against us."

"So that's all this is about? You simply want to usurp the position of governor?"

"I suppose that's one way to state my intentions."

"And you think taking Blaze hostage will help your case? I may be friends with him, but I haven't even known him long enough for his death to emotionally impact me."

"Did you have to be that blunt, general Denato?"

"Didn't tell you to stay quiet, boy?"

"…"

"Now, will you yield, Denato?"

"You're going need something better than holding Blaze hostage to sway me."

"Very well. I will tell you something that will have you take my request seriously, then."

At that moment, the soldiers pushed their weapons even closer, such that the spears were now in direct contact with the skin on my neck. Given the danger of this situation, I could now feel cold sweat running down my face.

"How do you suppose others would think about you if this story were to spread around: 'After almost two decades of mismanagement, corruption runs rampant in the southwest province, resulting in economic turmoil and deteriorating public security.'"

"You're the one handling administrative duties in this province. Spreading that story would just tarnish your own reputation."

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong. I am simply acting on your behalf from the shadows. The general public still believes that you are the one handling provincial affairs."

"And what does taking Blaze hostage have anything to do with this?"

"Simply lowering your reputation within our province won't suffice, so I'm going to make sure the other governors think less of you as well."

"What?"

"Commander Mavuto seems to be quite fond of this boy, and all the other governors already know that he helped the army quite a bit by diligently providing supplies and fending off a dragon. What do you think those people would think if we told them you carelessly allowed him to get caught in a fatal accident that could have easily been prevented if you managed the province better?"

"You're going to put the security of Badoth territory at risk just for your selfish demand?"

"We've already captured a lot of Kitrod territory already, no? The army now has a surplus of supplies from pillaging conquered areas, so Blaze's supplies aren't necessary anymore."

Come to think of it, I did receive instructions recently to gradually decrease the amount of potions and magic scrolls crafted each week. Maybe the commander was being considerate and wanted to slowly phase out my contribution rather than telling me to just instantly stop and leaving me with a headache over what to do with overstocked items and cancelled deals for raw materials.

"Hmph! Even so, I'll just have my soldiers spread the truth behind this matter!"

"Pfft… Hahaha!"

"What's so funny?"

"You haven't noticed yet?"

"Noticed what?"

"The low ranking soldiers will simply follow orders given by their superiors, so you'd need to give messages onto your direct subordinates and have those officers pass the messages on. But what if all of your direct subordinates chose to twist your words in an unfavorable way instead?"

"Don't tell me, you…!"

"Yes, I've arranged for accidents to happen to all subordinates loyal to you over the past five years, just so I could get them replaced by those loyal to me instead! Hahaha!"

Even though lieutenant general Tuha was an enemy right now, I couldn't help but feel somewhat impressed by how carefully he planned everything. It didn't seem like there was anything that could be used against him so far.

"Gah! I thought I could trust you after working together for almost two decades now, but why? Why did you choose to betray me now?"

"You know too well the king is going to die of old age soon. When that happens, the prime minister will take over the throne since the king has no descendants."

"Then, your goal is to-!"

"That's right, the new king will have to select from one of the governors to become the new prime minister, and I, with my excellence in handling domestic affairs, will be the top candidate!"

Something seemed off by what lieutenant general Tuha just said, so I decided to interrupt for a moment.

"Um… Excuse me."

"What? I thought I told you to stay quiet already!"

"Are you also going to tell people that you were helping general Denato manage this province?"

"How else would the current prime minister know how excellent my political skills are?"

"Weren't you planning on spreading rumors about this province being mismanaged? Wouldn't your reputation be tarnished if you revealed that you were the one pulling the strings?"

"…"

"…"

After asking him that, we ended up staring at each other in silence for a while.

"…I'll think of something when the time comes! The king still has a couple more years left in him!"

Suddenly, my impression of how he was such a careful conspirator had completely vanished as lieutenant general Tuha turned back around to face general Denato.

"Anyways, now that you've heard my requests in full detail, will you yield, Denato?"

"…"

"Fine, I'll give you a few minutes for you to think this through."

He then turned to face me one more time.

"As for you, it's quite unfortunate that I'd have to see you get killed here. I hired an assassin to take care of you at the inn, but it seems like that idiot was too incompetent… In any case, any last words?"

"Um… Could you please just let me use the toilet already?"

I've been told that keeping calm was the best thing to do during an emergency, so I decided to calmly state what was on my mind. With any luck, I might even be able to confuse lieutenant general Tuha enough that he'd have to change his mind.

"…What?"

"My underpants won't hold water in, so I'm going to leak out quite a lot of water if you kill me now. It would really be a shame if the expensive carpet in this building got stained, you know."

"…Is this a joke? Are you trying to trick me?"

"Not at all. I've been asking to use the restroom since before you brought me here."

"Sigh… Fine, I suppose you're not lying about that. Still, I can't believe someone that's about to get killed would be acting the way you're acting…"

The lieutenant general repeatedly shook his head while sighing. He then had his soldiers lower their spears and escort me to the restroom, while the other two stayed in the office. As we moved through the building's hallways, it didn't seem like there was anyone else inside, so I figured I might just be able to escape if I somehow managed to take these two soldiers down.

I wonder I should do now…