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Chapter 0682 Confinement

Translator: Jay_Forestieri

Editor: Tseirp

“Don’t tell me... the Suje Kingdom destroyed Bor?”

If Bor had been destroyed and the island claimed to be part of the Suje Kingdom, it would be natural for Abel to think that.

“No, that is not the case.”

However, Commander Mebeli shook his head.

“Abel, it was destroyed by a ghost ship. The two from Ruri must surely have...”

“Isn’t that a bit much?”

“I do not want to think so either, but... at that time, they failed to collect the skeletons, so they must have attacked the island directly.”

“Did they?”

“Let us negotiate directly with the two from Ruri and have them release the people of Bor.”

With a determined expression, Ryo said that.

After hearing the two’s conversation, Commander Mebeli shook his head again.

“Bor was sunk overnight when the volcano erupted.”

“So it was the Atlantis route after all.”

“A natural disaster, then. There is nothing humans can do about that.”

Ryo and Abel were both shocked.

“The capital was destroyed, and all the centers of the royal family, the government, and the economy were lost. And so on our island... it is called Lulu Island, but on Lulu Island, a vote was held among all residents, and it was decided that we would come under the umbrella of the Suje Kingdom.”

“So that is why you are the Northern Suje Kingdom Navy.”

At Commander Mebeli’s explanation, Abel nodded.

But then someone tugged at Abel’s sleeve from the side.

Naturally, it was Ryo.

“Hey, Abel.”

In an even quieter voice than before, he leaned close to Abel’s ear and spoke.

“This is strange.”

“Hmm?”

“Normally, even if the capital were destroyed, no one would decide to come under some other country’s umbrella.”

“Is that so?”

“Wouldn’t they try to restore the country themselves?”

“Ah... now that you mention it, that may be true.”

With Ryo’s words, Abel also realized it might be unnatural.

Certainly, rather than immediately coming under the umbrella of another country, they might think first of restoring their own nation...

And the Suje Kingdom should be quite far from here.

If anything, this island was probably closer to the southern part of the continent than to the archipelago region where the Suje Kingdom lay.

Would such an island want to come under the umbrella of the very distant Suje Kingdom?

“Please do not take offense at this question... but did the people of Lulu island not think of restoring the destroyed Bor?”

Abel decided to ask directly.

Ryo, who was listening from behind, widened his eyes greatly and seemed with his whole face to say, “What kind of question is that!” ...or so it seemed, but Abel ignored him.

“No, they did not.”

Commander Mebeli stated it clearly.

“Originally, Lulu Island had been occupied by Bor thirty years ago.”

“Ah...”

If they had been occupied, then they would hardly have had good feelings toward Bor.

“There were some who wanted to become independent again and stand on their own. But they feared being occupied again by a country like Bor. The people of Lulu Island are by no means weak, but... the war with Bor, and the occupation afterward, are not fond memories.”

“I see.”

“There were also people who wanted to come under some country on the continent, but... the Atinjo Grand Duchy, a great power in the southern part of the continent, is said to have lost its duke and fallen into internal conflict.”

“Yeah...”

Both Abel and Ryo involuntarily spoke at the same time.

The two had, in fact, been there just recently.

“The Ghegish-Lu Federation, which is under the rule of the Grand Duchy, has also become unstable again because of it. So the people of Lulu decided that they wanted to come under the Suje Kingdom, a powerful nation in the archipelago region that has a new queen on the throne and is also rapidly growing stronger.”

“I see.”

At Commander Mebeli’s explanation, Abel nodded.

Behind Abel, Ryo was nodding repeatedly.

He had his arms folded and was muttering grandly to himself things like, “The people of Lulu have a good eye”, and “With Queen Iliaja, there is no mistake”.

Abel ignored him and continued.

“I understand various things now. Thank you.”

However, Commander Mebeli began to think deeply.

“What is it?”

“I do not know.”

Ryo and Abel watched him quietly in a low voice.

After pondering for a while, Commander Mebeli opened his mouth with a grim expression.

“As I said earlier, I cannot tell whether you two are truly something called adventurers. Even if you are adventurers, I cannot rule out the possibility that you are obstructers.”

“Obstructers?”

Abel tilted his head.

“The truth is, tomorrow an envoy from the Suje Kingdom proper will arrive. He will bring Her Majesty’s royal charter... the official document recognizing Lulu Island as formal territory of the Suje Kingdom.”

“Ohhh.”

“The ceremony will be held then, but... the fact that the two of you arrived here the day before is far too convenient.”

“I see. You think we may be obstructers trying to interfere with it, huh. I understand what you mean.”

Abel shrugged. Ryo nodded as well.

If the two were in the commander’s position, they would doubt them too.

“For that reason, I am sorry, but I would like to detain you for a while.”

“That is fine.”

“Eh...”

At Commander Mebeli’s request, Abel nodded without changing his expression, and the other soldiers all looked startled.

“It is only until tomorrow, until the handover of that charter is finished, correct? That much is no problem.” 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

“I appreciate it.”

At Abel’s words, Commander Mebeli nodded.

And so Ryo and Abel ended up being detained.

Neil Andersen-Mod, traveling while still surfaced, was surrounded by three Northern Suje Kingdom Navy ships.

Commander Mebeli had said they would be detained, but he was not certain the two were obstructers.

Far from it, he probably thought, as they had said, that they had been chased by the Kraken.

For that reason, the escort around them while traveling was slack.

“Such a loose watch over the vicious swordsman Abel is far too dangerous.”

“I see. What would Ryo do?”

“First, freezing Abel is essential. Also, that magic sword and Feiwan must be kept separated. If anything were to happen, lowering Abel’s combat strength is the basic procedure.”

“...I see.”

Ryo explained while nodding, and Abel replied with a shrug.

“Anyway, something like that, I suppose.”

“What, that alone is enough?”

“Hm?”

“Isn’t that the kind of thing that would bring about a painful counterattack?”

“For example?”

Ryo asked with a suspicious expression.

“If you can thaw me out, I will feed you cake every day.”

“What did you just say!”

“Ryo would thaw me out, would you not?”

“M-Maybe there is a chance...”

“There I would hold a dagger to Andalusia.”

“That is cowardly!”

“That’s rich, coming from you, Ryo.”

Ryo protested, and Abel laughed.

While exchanging such trivial conversation, Neil Andersen-Mod entered the port of Lulu Island.

“Your two horses, Andalusia and Feiwan, will be taken care of responsibly by the Northern Navy in the stable. You may come see them morning and evening, accompanied by navy soldiers.”

Commander Mebeli told Ryo and Abel.

After leaving their beloved horses in the stable, the two were guided to the third floor of an adjacent fine stone building.

“This is a fairly large officers’ room. We would like you to stay in this room. Dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow morning will be brought to the room. There are navy soldiers outside the door, so if you need anything, please do not hesitate to say so. I hope you will not cause any trouble.”

“Understood, we’ll try not to.”

“Please take good care of Andalusia and Feiwan.”

Abel nodded at Commander Mebeli’s explanation, and Ryo asked him to look after their beloved horses.

And so the two were confined to the officers’ room.

“I expected to be locked up in some scary place, like a dungeon or something.”

“The window opens normally, too.”

Ryo was relieved that the room was much more decent than he had imagined, and Abel was surprised that, since they were on the third floor, of course, there were no iron bars on the window and it could open normally.

“It seems the Suje Kingdom envoy will arrive tomorrow morning, so we just have to endure until then.”

“We can see the harbor from the window, so maybe we can see that envoy too.”

That night, Ryo and Abel ate the meal delivered to them without any particular complaint, naturally finished it all, and slept peacefully.

And then the next day, at ten in the morning, the ship carrying the Suje Kingdom’s envoy came into view.

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