Covenant
I looked over the captured prisoners. Among them were a few very familiar faces.
Conrad, and Edwin.
Realizing they were important figures, the gnolls had captured them instead of killing them.
Woojin examined their condition. Ropes bound their arms and legs, and gags were stuffed in their mouths. Conrad and Edwin glared at him with wide eyes.
"Mm! Mm-mm—!"
Squirming like maggots, the two men desperately tried to make a sound. Woojin personally removed the gags from their mouths.
"Help us!"
They spoke in unison. It was more or less what he had expected, but he still asked,
"And how, exactly, do you expect me to help you?"
"Get us out of here! With you and Roland together, it should be possible, shouldn't it?!"
Conrad spoke urgently. With Woojin, Roland, and the paladins of Tuning present, he seemed to believe escape was possible.
Woojin asked again,
"And then what?"
"Well… we regroup and return to the city."
"Do you think those fellows will just sit back and watch?"
Woojin gestured toward the gnolls standing behind them. A gnoll's sense of smell surpassed even that of a wolf. Secretly regrouping and returning to the city was impossible.
"And even if the gnolls let us go, making it back to the city would be difficult."
The gnolls had not forgotten to seize spoils. Most of the tarasks responsible for cargo transport had been captured, meaning they had lost everything—Silver Arrows, combat supplies, and food.
As he calmly explained this, the two men finally seemed to grasp reality. Their faces turned pale.
"Then… what are we supposed to do?"
"We negotiate with them. Even now."
They would have to conclude a ceasefire agreement.
"If we had negotiated at the gate, we could have spoken on equal footing. But because of the foolish stunt you two pulled, it's come to this. Calling it a declaration of surrender would be more accurate."
The Second Expeditionary Force was no different from fish laid out on a chopping board. Even so, a ceasefire was still possible only because the gnolls did not wish to make enemies of the Religious Alliance.
"I went through tremendous effort persuading them. So please, at the very least from now on, do not do anything that offends the gnolls."
"...Understood."
Woojin growled the words. Startled, Conrad and Edwin nodded. At last, the two men had adopted a more appropriate attitude.
Woojin signed to the gnoll standing beside him. The gnoll then howled loudly toward somewhere in the distance.
"Kwak, kiyaaak—!"
Startled by the sound, Conrad asked,
"Why is it doing that?"
"He's calling their commander. If we're going to negotiate a ceasefire, someone of higher rank has to come."
Heavy footsteps approached.
From afar, a massive rhinoceros-type demonic beast lumbered toward them. Sitting on its neck was a black hyena. It was a Great Warrior whose size matched that of the rhinoceros.
Kuuung!!
Braknark descended to the ground. Immediately afterward, his gaze swept over the prisoners. Conrad and Edwin unconsciously lowered their eyes.
Woojin introduced their counterpart.
"He is a gnoll Great Warrior called Braknark. One of the five strongest in the tribe."
"There are… five monsters like that?"
"There are worse."
The chieftain, and four Great Warriors.
The one with the greatest strength becomes the chieftain representing the tribe, and only the four strongest who follow are granted the title of Great Warrior.
"Braknark is said to rank fourth among them."
"...."
Conrad and Edwin stared blankly. They seemed to realize belatedly just how reckless they had been.
"State your demands."
"...W-what did you say?"
"Pull yourself together. If we're going to conclude a ceasefire, both sides need to agree on terms."
They would have to exchange conditions. At Woojin's words, Conrad hesitated briefly before speaking.
"We will never attack this place again… so ask them to simply let us go."
Woojin conveyed Conrad's words through sign language. Braknark responded with a snort, gesturing with one hand. Woojin translated.
"He says you cannot leave here unscathed."
"W-what does that mean?"
"It seems one of you will have to lose a left arm… or perhaps a leg."
They had trespassed upon this land. As payment, an indelible lesson would be carved into their bodies.
"Wait! Propose a trade! Didn't we bring plenty of goods with us?!"
Duke Edwin shouted urgently. He had tossed away his soldiers' lives like chess pieces without a thought… yet he clearly did not wish to become crippled himself.
When Woojin relayed the proposal through sign language, Braknark snorted dismissively.
Woojin translated again.
"He says taking ransom for prisoners is only natural. Cutting off a limb is a separate matter. He does not trust mere words."
"T-that…!"
The two men turned ashen. After a brief moment of thought, Woojin offered advice.
"…Better to lose an arm than a leg. Without a leg, moving will be difficult. We have a long way to go. That would be troublesome."
"Please, Jin! Persuade that monster!"
Conrad shouted almost hysterically. Woojin turned back to Braknark and began signing again.
Their conversation went as follows:
–Proceed as planned. Pretend to deliberate.
–Understood.
In truth, the entire situation had been staged. The two men could not possibly imagine that Woojin and Braknark were acquainted.
After pretending to debate for some time…
"…I have found another method."
"What is it?!"
"The gnoll tribe considers trade sacred. They believe their ancient ancestors gained wisdom by making a bargain with a great being."
To the gnoll tribe, trade was a kind of religion. But that did not apply to humans. For that reason, the gnoll Great Warrior inwardly distrusted any deal with the two men.
There was only one way to resolve this.
"You must each swear in the name of the god you serve. Swear that you will do your utmost to establish a peace treaty with the gnoll tribe."
Archbishop Conrad, before the Religious Alliance. Duke Edwin, before the Kingdom Alliance. That they would do everything in their power to help humanity conclude a peace treaty with the gnoll tribe.
If they swore in the name of their god, their arms would be spared.
When he said that…
Conrad made a displeased expression.
"You're saying I have to swear an oath…? They don't even understand our language. I'll just mutter something roughly, and you can make it sound proper for them."
Since they did not understand the language, even a false oath would go unnoticed by Braknark. Even now, Conrad schemed like a rat.
It was exactly as Woojin had expected.
"Kwaaak!!"
Suddenly, Braknark roared angrily. Conrad flinched and shrank back.
"Why is he doing that all of a sudden?!"
"Conrad. This friend is perceptive as well. He says that since you seem to be playing tricks, he'll simply beat you to death."
Braknark strode toward the rhinoceros. The gnoll Great Warrior pulled out the bone hammer hanging from the saddle—a two-handed hammer crafted from a rhinoceros skull.
Gripping that brutal weapon, Braknark turned back toward them. At the sight, Conrad screamed in terror.
"I swear!! I swear!! Please—!"
Woojin quickly gestured to stop Braknark. His hands moved busily in sign, as if persuading him. After a moment of consideration, the gnoll Great Warrior lowered the hammer.
Sighing, Woojin spoke.
"Why do you keep making things harder with pointless tricks? I'm not doing this because I enjoy it. I'm starting to grow weary of it."
"…I'm sorry."
"I won't be able to stop him a second time. So don't try anything foolish. Swear properly."
Pressed like that, Archbishop Conrad began reciting the oath in a drained voice.
"I swear in the name of Talos, God of Wisdom… that I will do my utmost to ensure a peace treaty between the gnoll tribe and the Religious Alliance."
Shhhhhh—
The moment his words ended, a blue light flickered briefly around his body.
A divine covenant.
An oath spoken by a clergyman carried greater weight than that of ordinary men. Because he had sworn in the name of the god he served, breaking it would result in the loss of his divine power and unending misfortune.
No wonder Conrad was so reluctant to swear under such constraints.
Woojin turned to Duke Edwin. Perhaps because he had just witnessed Conrad's disgrace, Edwin began reciting his oath without hesitation.
"I swear in the name of the Seven Gods… that I will do my utmost to ensure a peace treaty between the gnoll tribe and the Kingdom Alliance."
This time, nothing special occurred. Edwin was an ordinary man who did not possess divine power.
Still, he would likely try to keep this covenant. Breaking an oath sworn in the name of the gods was deeply unsettling.
They had secured the two men's oaths. Immediately afterward, Braknark struck the ground with the shaft of his hammer.
Thud.
In response, the surrounding gnolls began moving busily. They untied the ropes binding Conrad and Edwin. Soon after, a large pile of dry firewood was stacked on the ground.
A gnoll shaman blew his breath onto the wood.
Fwoosh—!
Flames burst forth from his mouth and ignited the logs. Muttering something, the shaman sprinkled black powder from a wooden bowl into the fire.
Bang!
A sharp popping sound rang out. The campfire flared stronger, and the color of the flames shifted into a sulfurous green.
At the eerie hue, Conrad and Edwin shrank back. They stared blankly at the flames. Whatever had been burned, it released a sharp, mint-like scent that stung their noses.
Woojin handed each of them a dagger. Conrad accepted his and asked,
"Why are you giving us this?"
"Cut your hair."
As he spoke, Woojin sliced off a handful of his own hair with the dagger. Braknark likewise tore out fur from his flank with his claws. Intimidated by the atmosphere, the two men complied without protest.
The gnoll Great Warrior tossed the fur into the fire.
Fwoom!
The flames swallowed it and burned even fiercer. Woojin jerked his chin toward the two men.
He said nothing, but Conrad and Edwin understood what to do. They threw their cut hair into the fire.
Whoosh!
The green flames surged higher.
Woojin gazed at the fire and murmured softly,
"…The Guardian has witnessed this bargain."
The green flames roared more violently. The heat was so intense that the logs burned away at a visible pace.
Before long, the fire died down. The green flames vanished. The hair and the firewood thrown into it had evaporated without a trace. Only the sharp scent lingering in the air remained.
The gnolls remembered the scent of the bargain. Through this ritual, the covenant of the four participants would be known to the tribe.
…Somehow, it ended well.
Honestly, he would have preferred to leave Conrad and Edwin here.
But forging peace between the Religious Alliance and the gnoll tribe would not be easy. Woojin had no political power, which made it even harder.
The Religious Alliance might ignore my words—just as the leadership of the Second Expeditionary Force did.
If that happened, the events of this day would only repeat themselves again and again.
The peace treaty had to be concluded. The problem was that many casualties had occurred in this battle. Because of that, the Religious Alliance might be reluctant to accept peace with the gnoll tribe.
However, if the two leaders of this expedition—Conrad and Edwin—took the lead in advocating for the treaty after having negotiated directly with the gnolls, the situation would change.
If the very power holders who suffered the greatest losses accept a ceasefire with the gnoll tribe, the Religious Alliance will find it difficult to speak against it.
This failure would likely end Conrad and Edwin's political careers. Even so, they would retain some measure of influence.
If the leadership of the expedition publicly supported peace with the gnoll tribe, achieving the objective would become far easier.
Let's return to the city.
Thus, the Second Expedition came to an end.
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