Oda Nobunaga to Iu Nazo no Shokugyo ga Mahou Kenshi yori Cheat Dattanode, Oukoku wo Tsukuru Koto ni Shimashita Chapter 22

Chapter 22
Rappa’s mission

「Let’s name it Rappa. You can now enter, members of Rappa」

Suddenly, without anyone noticing, three werewolves appeared at Fannelia’s side, they were prostrated in front of me.

They are the secret weapons.

「When you’ve been working as a merchant for a while, it’s not just once or twice that your life is targeted. A merchant who can live a long time without being killed is a good merchant, but on the other hand, a merchant who lives a short life is a bad one」

「And that’s why you’ve organized a special force to protect yourself」

「No, it’s strictly the opposite. If we talk about my origins, I belong to a family of shadows. It’s just that as you spend your life in the shadows, you begin to gather information about what is missing from this and that territory. If you bring something that they lack, then it’s natural that it yields profits. Besides that as the years go by, the more you pa.s.s on the front, the more complicated it is to fulfill your job as a shadow」

「I see. It’s just like you say, Fannelia」

It seems that it is not uncommon for merchants like Fannelia to have a military background. Mercenaries are usually used, but there are also people who have army corps.

But surely there are few people who have under their command a group of a.s.sa.s.sins as dedicated as Fannelia.

――Indeed. So in this world there is also something similar to the s.h.i.+n.o.bis. Even if it’s a different world, the way of thinking of humans will not change.

It seems that my inner voice also had something like this in his land. It’s more difficult to imagine a world without a.s.sa.s.sins than one without them.

「Good. The upper echelon of the order of the knights should be holed up inside the Great Temple. Kill two or more of their leaders. In doing so, at most their leaders will decrease by six. If so many disappear at the same time, their organization will stop working」

The Knights Templar are supposed to decide their movements after first having consulted with their leaders. The leader of a battalion may have authority, but not the enough authority to move the order of knights freely. The number of knights is about twenty. Afterwards, their forces consist of their relatives and their retainers.

That is why if six of them disappear, others will stop wanting to fight. So surely, they will have no choice but to stop using fear to protect the Great Temple.

「Then, when will we move?」

The other members of Rappa can’t even say a word. The only one who can speak is Fannelia.

「I would like to say as soon as possible, but first let’s try to negotiate a little more. It would be good if we can cut the connection between the knights and the Great Temple by just talking」

We are not interested in stealing the interests of the Great Temple as long as we can destroy the Knights Templar. The Great Temple doesn’t have use as a military force, but in any case it doesn’t matter what they decide since they don’t have the capacity to oppose us.

The next day I sent a letter to the other party. The content is as follows.

・It would not be good for the Great Temple to end up destroyed because you are hiding inside, so it’s proposed to fight outside of the Great Temple.

・So that the Great Temple of Fodoneria can continue to function properly, the Count will give a great donation in addition to granting it protection.

・Wanting to carry out a war inside the Great Temple will make the G.o.ds think they are despised and that will surely bring divine punishment.

・It will be given a generous treatment to the knights that surrender.

The enemy didn’t respond in any way. Although I already knew that they would do something like this.

I told them repeatedly that I wante

d to have a favorable relations.h.i.+p with the Great Temple and that I didn’t have the slightest intention of damaging it. It’s definite that the Temple county will become part of our territory. That’s why I wanted a clean relations.h.i.+p with the Great Temple.

And so, the stalemate continued for about a week.

In all this time, information about the interior of the Great Temple came to my ears. As expected, seven of the most influential people among the knights were inside the Great Temple, the rest are the soldiers who are surrounding the Great Temple.

The time has come.

I gave Fannelia an order.

「Do it」

「I understand」

Before I knew it, three wolves appeared side by side beside Fannelia at the same time he nodded.

「Ah. So that’s what it means to be a werewolf a.s.sa.s.sin」

「Transforming into a wolf makes it easy to infiltrate. We have already confirmed the enemy’s positions」

「Good, I’ll wait for a good report」

At dawn the three returned. Walking side by side with Fannelia.

「Seven knights have been killed. It seems that although the Great Temple has been soiled with blood, they don’t do things like sleeping with statues/idols, only to a certain extent」

Now it’s unlikely that the remaining knights will join to fight against their common enemy. Surely they are thinking, “The next could be me”.

「Well done. Then, let’s send a letter to them again in the morning. It will probably be a different reaction to the one before」

However, they moved much faster than us.

The priest and those related came to me seeking protection.

The priest said they were imprisoned against their will and when they saw many knights die they escaped.

With this, the just cause of the Knights Templar disappeared. And with it, the only reason they had to defend the Great Temple ended up disappearing.

Eventually, the remaining knights escaped and those who remained until the end surrendered. Using as a pretext that they didn’t follow our advice from the beginning, as disrespect to me, I deprived the priests of all their territory leaving them with only a small part of the territory of the Great Temple.

The Temple county that the knights had under their power along with another county was finally under my control. Nine of the twelve counties of Fodoneria prefecture are now my territories. Now it feels real to be one step away from conquering the whole prefecture.

In addition it has been decided to give a mysterious death to the knights who died, so it was officially published that they died because a divine punishment fell onto them. After all the Knights Templar were extinguished, and because no one is going to protest, it was officially announced.

It’s just that of course there will be people who do not agree with us.

When I was dealing with the remaining businesses in the new territory that I control in the Temple county, on a certain night when Raviara and I were alone, she said this to me.

「Alsrod-sama, when did you hire… a group of a.s.sa.s.sins?」

Certainly she wouldn’t believe something like that divine punishment fell on them.

「Before I knew it, I hired them. The meaning of this kind of group is not to appear publicly」

「You will not even tell Raviara?」

When she told me so sadly, it makes me want to tell her everything…

「Surely you want to know everything about me. But is it from Raviara herself or a decision as a retainer?」

「That’s, right…」

Then, let’s stop bringing in personal feelings.

「This is instead of the answer」

I kissed Raviara and then I embraced her.