Chapter 301

One whole season had passed after the battle between Rodelia and the allied countries.

In the dedicated general’s office within the royal castle, the woman general with the name of Catastrophic Butterfly asks with a displeased expression.

「It’s rejected? Did you put up the reward as I said? 」

「Y-Yes. The amount was prepared to be five-fold the norm as General Jelia ordered. 」

A middle-aged bureaucrat answered fearfully while sweating from his forehead. Despite his opponent being a female in her prime age, her absurd abilities and lack of mercy towards anyone who dares to oppose her is well-known even in the royal castle.

Buying her displeasure and getting punished is undesirable. The bureaucrat was more nervous than he could handle.

「Mercenaries should just be mercenaries and wag their tail at money. 」

With clear irritation shown on Jelia’s face, the bureaucrat’s shoulder jumped.

Jelia had been grumpy recently.

Although the wound on her cheek from the previous battle had healed without any trace behind, the crack in her pride can’t be said to have healed yet.

She wanted to use them as sacrificial pawns in the next battle, as expected, they were on guard. Even with the absurd amount of money offered, they didn’t budge at all.

Jelia was frowning with her eyes shut for a while, when she eventually raised her eyelids, she gave new instructions to the bureaucrat.

「……I suppose there’s no other way around it. Hide the name of Rodelia. 」

「Then shall the request contents be changed? 」

「Yes. The contents……, let’s see. How about a raid on a laboratory in Rodelia, they will surely bite it. The location is convenient as well. 」

「Convenient……, are you perhaps referring to the Special Military Research Institute? 」

When the bureaucrat asked with a suspicious expression, Jelia answered with a full smile.

「I like smart people. As you said, that place is undeniably our kingdom’s possession, wouldn’t they bite the bait even without any increased rewards? Surely they wouldn’t expect the client would order to destroy their own facilities. 」

「Well, that’s certainly the case, but. 」

「Then it’s decided. Quickly put out the request. I will send the details to the people in the laboratory later, and they can decide about it there, make sure not to let them realize it’s a request from Rodelia. 」

「Yessir, I understand. 」

After acknowledging her orders albeit seemingly a little reluctant about the plan, the bureaucrat who was trying to leave the office was stopped by Jelia.

「Ah, the laboratory chief should be in the castle as well, find and tell him to come to me. 」

「Uhm…… that person? 」

The bureaucrat didn’t hide his unwilling expression at all.

「That’s right, get going already if you understood. 」

A while later after the bureaucrat left the office having been chased out, someone visited Jelia.

「Hya hya hya. I heard about it general. You’re inviting mercenaries and having a blood feast at the facility―? 」

A short elderly man was laughing disturbingly. With a head full of curly hair, thanks to its color, his hair looked like a product of having basked in flames.

It is the laboratory chief that was mentioned in the conversation with the bureaucrat earlier.

「Ara? Could it be the chief is disapproving? 」

「No no no, why not. It’s very interesting, there’s no better chance to test out the performance of the special soldiers I raised personally. I’d like to watch the battle as well―. 」

The chief replied with slightly elongated words. Brilliant as a researcher, passing mark as the chief of the organization, but failure as a person. That’s his overall evaluation.

Plainly speaking, he’s one of the strange breeds that no one can understand.

「I see. Then that’s fine. That saves me some trouble to find a new chief replacement. Well, I will just have the facility rebuilt later, so go wild as you please. 」

Hya hya hya, the chief laughed.

Even though he was just told that he would’ve lost his job if he gave the wrong answer, he continued the conversation seemingly without worrying about it at all.

「I’m sure it will be a good show since they are the famous Wisteria mercenary band ―」

「Famous? 」

「Oya. Is the general not interested? I’m not that familiar either but, it seems like they are quite famous for their strength even among mercenaries― 」

「Fu―n. Well, I don’t really care. It’s a mercenary band soon to disappear after all. 」

Thinking that mercenaries will just sprout again as long as there is money, Jelia didn’t think much about what the chief said.

「Rather than that, general. 」

The chief suddenly changed the topic.

「The experimental animal sent to the surface world is quite interesting―」

Despite being summoned by Jelia who is his superior, the chief started bringing up his own agendas without any hesitation.

Although feeling a little offended by the lack of respect from the chief, Jelia had understood that he’s a person like that from the start.

Unlike soldiers or mercenaries, she knows that the man in front of her is a little capable, so she decided to let it slide, moreover, what he mentioned caught Jelia’s attention.

「Experimental animals? 」

「Yes yes yes yes, that’s right. I tried sending a Nedulo with all its legs cut off but, even without its legs, it’s did great there――」

「Great? A Nedulo with no legs? 」

「Yes yes yes that’s right. The surface world seems to have multiple countries but, one of them was comically destroyed by a Nedulo that can only crawl on the ground― 」

「That’s……, is that particular Nedulo a special mutation? 」

Although Jelia seemed a little surprised as she asked, the chief was completely indifferent.

「Actually, that’s what we thought at first too, and so we sent in another one―. But this time, it’s a young one with all its limbs intact. Then, then…… hya hya hya hya! 」

「Don’t end the story with your laugh and quickly continue. 」

「Oh my, excuse me」

Seemingly finally caught onto his superior getting annoyed, the chief apologized. However, it’s only that instant where he seems to be sane. Immediately after, his smile returned as he continued.

「Believe it or nooot! Just one Nedulo ruined three countries. There was a huge chaos there saying the demon lord appeared or something. It was so funny to watch―― 」

「One Nedulo brought down three countries? What kind of joke is that? 」

Jelia asked suspiciously as it was too farfetched of a story.

「No no no no no, it’s for real. It seems like organisms in that world are quite feeble―. Be it beast or man, just one Nedulo is too far out of their league. 」

「In the end, did the Nedulo get subjugated? 」

「It died of old age. 」

「Yes? 」

The answer that came back within moments was unexpected even for Jelia.

「The Nedulo was never subjugated, and laid waste everywhere it went until it died of old age―」

「……You said it was a young one? 」

「Yes, there’s no mistake in that. However, the Nedulo grew older faster than expected―. It seems like time flows incredibly faster there, I was only observing for ten days, but it was growing older by the second. In the end, it died of old age― 」

The chief was breathing excitingly at the unexpected discovery while Jelia had a dubious expression.

「The flow of time……」

「That’s right. It looks like the time there flows few hundred times faster than here. At first, I could only hear screeches from the people there speaking but, it seems like it was just spoken too fast for me to interpret― 」

「That means, if anyone here went to the other side, they would become old in a short period? 」

「Yes, you are right. And from the perspective of people that actually crossed to the other side, the people remaining here would not age at all― 」

It was a fact hard to say worth joying over or a disappointment. Opening a door to another world is surely something worth celebrating.

It’s an entire new and wide world that Rodelia had never imagined before. Thinking about the land and resources that comes with a new world, it’s a welcoming discovery.

On the other hand, the difference in time flow is a major obstacle in developing that world. If what the chief said was true, those who went to the surface world would meet their death from old age in just about few tens of days.

From the perspective of a person of this world, being in the other world would mean shaving off lifespan. It was too cruel of a story.

「……Why not just throw those mercenaries into the surface world. 」

After muttering so, Jelia immediately reconsidered.

「Even one Nedulo can destroy countries. They will just conquer the entire world if that happens huh. 」

It looks like travelling to the surface world should remain a secret between themselves, Jelia who thought so ordered the chief to continue his research and take thorough measures to prevent information leaking.