Chapter 126: Chapter 126
Adelaide was flustered.
When a country’s king suddenly pointed a sword and asked for a match, she couldn’t help but be surprised.
No, where in the world was there a high-ranking person who would challenge a prisoner to a duel…
…Oh, there might be more than I thought?
In Adelaide’s mind, images of the Lord of Tik-Tok happily gulping down the witch’s soup, the adventure-crazed guild branch manager, and the duchess obsessed with framing Lennart mask portraits flashed by.
Since there were many madmen among high-ranking people, perhaps a duel challenge was unexpectedly ordinary?
What helped the confused Adelaide were the other small people around.
“Y-Your Majesty! Please reconsider! You must maintain your dignity as the heir to the throne!”
“That’s right, Your Majesty! If something were to happen to your royal body, how would we handle the aftermath!?”
“Although restrained now, giants are originally very violent beings! If carelessly released, it would take great effort to capture again!”
Just as Adelaide was feeling relieved, thinking, “Ah, I’m not the strange one,” His Majesty the King of the small people replied indifferently, “It’s fine. I won’t die.”
The expressions of the retainers soured in an instant.
They seemed to be protesting with their whole bodies that this wasn’t the issue.
The king also seemed to sense this atmosphere, as he shrugged his shoulders as if lamenting and put away his sword.
“It’s a joke, a joke. Well, it’s not really a joke, but if I don’t say it’s a joke now, those fellows look like they’ll collapse holding their necks, so I’ll have to say it’s a joke for now. But then, what should we do with this giant lady?”
At the king’s question, nobles wearing well-groomed clothes stylishly stepped forward and spoke, “Follow the law. Either sentence her to one year of physical labor punishment or turn her into a giant soldier and send her to the border.”
“The minister’s words are correct. After that’s over, punishment for damaging the garden should also be thoroughly imposed.”
“Moreover, this giant didn’t comply with the inspection obediently and engaged in combat, so this too should be punished according to the law.”
The king showed an expression as if pondering, and Adelaide realized that somehow the atmosphere was turning quite unfavorable.
It seemed the nobles were mistakenly thinking Adelaide was in a completely neutralized state.
At that moment, the small general who had led Adelaide raised his hand.
“Your Majesty! I, Redresal! Request permission to speak!”
“This giant girl did not invade our country with malicious intent, and she herself doesn’t know well how she came here! Also, the initial battle arose from overlapping misunderstandings while not knowing the situation well, and even in that process, she didn’t show an attitude of actively trying to attack us! I ask for your leniency in this matter!”
At the general’s statement, murmuring among the small people grew louder.
However, most reactions were negative.
“Your Majesty, General Redresal’s statement is unclear in its truth and overly emotional.”
“That’s right. How can it make sense that she set foot on this island but doesn’t know the process herself?”
The king, who had been silently listening to the retainers’ statements, turned his gaze to Adelaide.
He opened his mouth, “Giant. Even if it wasn’t your intention, you have violated the laws of this kingdom, and I, as king, must impose a lawful punishment on you. However, if I believe the general’s words, it doesn’t seem right to impose an unconditionally harsh punishment on you either. Therefore, I ask you this.” the king paused for a moment as if catching his breath, then continued, “Our country is currently in a long-standing conflict with the neighboring country of Blefuscu, and their ever-increasing fleet and army, and the giant soldiers they command are becoming a great concern for our country. According to reports, you possess very nimble movements, so would you use that ability to help our country? If you plunder Blefuscu’s fleet and bring it to our country, or identify where their main forces are located, I will give you a great reward.”
To the king’s question, Adelaide answered clearly, “I’m sorry, Your Majesty. I cannot accept that.”
“…Hmm, not even a moment’s hesitation. What’s the reason?”
“As an outsider, I cannot interfere in a war I don’t know well and harm the other side.”
Once again, murmuring grew louder.
The overall reaction was that it was disrespectful, but the king seemed rather interested.
“What I’m asking you to do is not difficult if you have the ability. There’s almost no danger, and the results are certain. Originally, whether the enemy country suffers damage or not shouldn’t have much to do with you. Yet still?”
“I am still immature, and so I don’t know well what is right or wrong. But if I commit the act you just mentioned, I feel certain that it will leave a bad aftertaste later. So, I cannot accept it.”
With a slightly more formal and rigid tone than usual, but with unwavering eyes, Adelaide answered, “Instead, although it might not be much, I’m confident in physical work. Whether it’s cutting trees or moving rocks, as long as it doesn’t harm others, please just give me orders.”
“It’s difficult to compare military achievements with simple physical labor. An ordinary level won’t be enough to satisfy me.”
Adelaide clenched her fist and declared, and the king laughed pleasantly.
Cutting trees in the western forest of the royal capital.
Adelaide tilted the blade of her two-handed sword diagonally and brought it close to the ground.
Since the height of the trees ranged from Adelaide’s shin to at most around her knee, this was a technique to prevent the tree stumps from becoming too large.
Maintaining that posture, she pushed forward the sword blade coated with sword energy, and the trees fell like beard hair before a razor with a shing.
Seeing a forest larger than the entire capital of the kingdom being cleared in just five minutes, the small supervisors all opened their mouths wide, as if dumbfounded.
Connecting the two rivers flowing in the northwest and northeast of the royal capital.
Adelaide first drew a line on the ground connecting the two rivers. The start and end points of the line were about a hand span away from the rivers.
She plunged her two-handed sword deep into the end part of the line. However, the direction of the blade was not horizontal to the line, but vertical.
Judging that the blade had dug in sufficiently, she pulled the sword along the pre-drawn line.
Normally, the sword wouldn’t move in such a state, but sufficiently powerful strength allowed her to handle the hard ground like mud.
A valley like a furrow formed along the trace of the sword, and after repeating similar work a few more times, the depth and size of the valley also widened.
Adelaide was about to break down the hand span-wide wall blocking the valley and the river as well, but the supervisors watching her work process desperately stopped Adelaide.
The reason was that finishing work needed to be done on the ground or edges before letting water flow.
Adelaide, who had thought she just needed to dig the ground to connect the waterways, blushed in embarrassment, and seeing this, several of the small people suffered from sudden arrhythmia.1
Upon hearing that a task that would take several years for ordinary small people, or several weeks even using giant soldiers, was completed in just an hour, and confirming with his own eyes that it was true, the king half-jokingly ordered Adelaide to “remove that mountain as it’s spoiling the view.”
And the king learned.
That one shouldn’t speak carelessly.
Every time Adelaide swung the two-handed sword in her hand, the rock mountain with a height similar to Adelaide’s screamed.
Adelaide’s two-handed sword, which had been used more as a tool than a weapon today, also creaked and groaned, but befitting its expensive high-quality nature, it didn’t break easily.
The rock mountain, which had been gradually chipped away over an hour, finally shattered into countless fragments, and Adelaide, despite sweating profusely, reported the completion of her mission.
Seeing this, the king of the small people quietly told his retainers.
“Hmm, thank you for stopping me earlier. Thanks to you, I survived.”
“…We are sorry, Your Majesty.”
“General Redresal. Your loyal advice played a big role.”
“I only did my duty, Your Majesty.”
“Yes, yes. So, I’m planning to give the ship and route that the giant lady requested. Is there anyone who objects?”
The king nodded and continued, “Right, if you all want to live, that’s how it should be. Yes.”
The retainers didn’t open their mouths.
It was truly as he said.
Watching the small people busily moving to build the ship for Adelaide to board as promised, Adelaide thought.
Indeed, you don’t always have to handle things aggressively, sometimes things can be resolved by calmly talking it out!
She hadn’t considered how her way of handling things might look from the small people’s perspective.
Ignorance was sometimes the best intimidation.
“Hey! Hold on tight there!”
“Bring more wooden nails!”
The ship’s construction was going smoothly.
Adelaide had been inwardly worried whether the small people could build a giant ship large enough for her to ride, but after seeing small pieces of wood skillfully assembled to form the shape of a huge ship, she realized such worries were unfounded.
General Redresal, who had somehow come to occupy a position similar to Adelaide’s personal guide, answered her questions, “Our Lilliput Kingdom’s mathematics, surveying, and engineering technologies are very advanced. It’s not the first time we’ve made things for giants, anyway. You saw the cart you rode in, didn’t you?”
“Does the development of technology to make such things mean there are many people, I mean giants, wandering here like me?”
“Naturally occurring ones come about once every ten years or so. However, as I mentioned earlier, our kingdom has built a friendship with Lady Elphaba. We collect materials she wants, like giant gems or gold dust, or morning dew that forms on special plants, and in return, she gives us various gifts. We learned how to use magic that way too, and among the gifts are giants like you. They’re very useful as a labor force,” the general added, “Though I’ve never seen a giant who works as well as you.”
Adelaide felt doubtful and asked again, “But I haven’t seen any other people here at all.”
“That’s because of food. Giants eat so much. If we kept them all in one place, the granaries would quickly be emptied. The number of giants allowed to reside in the country is three or less, and even those are scattered about, so it’s not strange that you haven’t seen them.”
The general’s face was strangely stiff as he said this.
Somehow, he seemed not to want to drag out this topic.
Realizing this, Adelaide deliberately didn’t pry into the details.
Forcibly finding out what others wanted to hide didn’t suit her personality, and she had many other things to do now.
Rather than satisfying detailed curiosities, it was more important to quickly regroup with her companions and finish the battle.
““Heave-ho! Heave-ho!””
Whether because there were so many workers attached or because their skills were excellent, the speed of ship construction was incredibly fast.
Thinking that she just needed to wait a little longer at this rate, Adelaide was gathering her strength and mana consumed by the previous labor when suddenly, something strange appeared in her field of vision.
At a glance, it looked like a bizarre objet d’art.
It had two arms and two legs, a body and a head, but what covered its body was not clothing but countless metal plates and restraining devices.
It looked as if a metal cage or pen had been forcibly transformed into armor shape.
And these bizarre objects were, for some reason, running towards Adelaide’s direction with a terrifying momentum.
The general shouted in great surprise, “Giant soldiers! Those Blefuscu bastards, to invade at a time !”
At the sound of thud, thud shaking the ground, the workers who had been busy building the ship became flustered and showed frightened expressions.
Adelaide blinked for a moment, but then silently grasped her sword and stood up.
Although she was surprised, she wasn’t confused.
Her teacher, the Tin Knight, had once said, “…The moment you think it’s all over is when you’re most likely to get hit from behind.”
To meet the blade aiming for the back of her head, she charged forward.
1. ED Note: arrhythmia is a problem with the rate or rhythm of the heartbeat, potentially causing it to beat too fast, too slow, or irregularly
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