6-year-old Wise Man Wants to Walk in the Shade : Chapter 15

Chapter 15 - "Deciphering the secret letter"

"A corpse...?! Why would you do that... Eddie-sama is here... No, it might be more dangerous if I leave you here."

Princess Clarice muttered to herself, and quickly picked me up.

"I don't want you to have to go through any scary experiences. Please close your eyes."

I'm used to corpses and I'm not afraid at all.

But it's natural for a normal child to be perceived as frightened.

Instead of replying, I clung tightly to Princess Clarice's neck.

It seemed that the princess assumed that I was completely frightened.

While I was being carried in her arms, I quietly erased my presence.

Of course, that was just a pretense. In reality, I was secretly observing the situation around me.

After tying our horses to the entrance to the forest, we proceeded deeper and deeper into the forest, led by our guards.

It was a rugged forest, untouched by human hands.

After going a while, I caught a pungent smell of iron.

Because she was holding me in her arms, I could directly feel the Princess's gasp.

"Is this... a werewolf...?"

I looked at the corpse quietly, trying not to let the Princess notice.

Lying on the dead leaves was a humanoid monster with a handsome face.

It had wolf ears and a tail, and sharp canines peeking out from its bloody mouth.

Just as the Princess had said, it was a werewolf.

"Princess, I'm scared, but I'm okay... so let me down."

"I, is that so... then..."

The Princess looked much paler.

"Don't ever leave my side."

"Okay, I understand."

I was gently lowered to the ground.

While the Princess cautiously approached the werewolf's corpse, I observed the surroundings from behind her.

Nearby, a horse that had lost its master was standing there, looking lost.

It was safe to assume that it was the werewolf's horse.

"It's probably because of this arrow stuck in your back."

The guard who had been inspecting the body earlier explained to the princess.

The princess grimaced as if she was in pain.

"That's... pitiful. Let's at least remove it..."

No.

"Princess...!"

I quickly whispered to her.

"You shouldn't touch it. It's a poisonous arrow."

"What...?! A poisonous arrow...?! Lord Eddie, how could you do that...?!"

The princess cried out in surprise, so I hurriedly told her quietly.

The guards tilted their heads in confusion.

After making sure the princess, who had covered her mouth, nodded back, I continued speaking in a low voice.

"Look. The arrow isn't that deep, and it's far from the heart. And there's hardly any bleeding. That means he didn't die from a wound or bleeding."

"...I see. So it must have been poison."

"I don't know the type, but I think it was a slow-acting poison. There were only horse tracks in this forest, so it doesn't seem like he was killed here by pursuers."

"Eddie... you know a lot. It's like you're talking to someone much older than me."

"What?! Ah, well, a book... that's right! I read it about my favorite adventure!"

"You're reading a book that contains a lot of difficult knowledge."

"That's not true! It's about dragons, knights, and poisoning!"

That's dangerous.

As I was frantically trying to cover it up...

"Princess, look!"

One of the guards who was investigating the werewolf handed me a document he had found in the corpse's pocket.

"A secret letter? Perhaps they were ambushed while transporting it."

"Let's read it, Princess."

The Princess nodded and unfolded the letter.

Her eyebrows immediately furrowed in confusion.

"Are these letters... the language of the werewolves? Can anyone read it?"

Princess Clarice looked at each of her guards in turn.

They all shook their heads.

It seemed that no one could read it.

Except for me.

Well, that's only natural.

Unless there was diplomatic relations, there would be no opportunity to learn the language of other races.

Demons and humans are enemies, and werewolves in particular hate being in groups with other races.

After I had conquered all knowledge of magic in my previous life, I had learned all the languages ​​of the world to kill time, so I can read werewolf language, but that is a rather unusual pattern.

Now--

I peered at the secret letter the princess was holding.

"The dragon-human army is camped upstream as planned.

Commence the attack as soon as the sun rises to its peak."

"..."

An order to launch an attack on the dragon-humans...!?

And the fact that the other side is also camped means they're planning to fight.

The problem I'd been worrying about for a while was finally becoming a reality.

"Princess, come here for a second...!"

"Lord Eddie...!?"

I took the princess's hand and led her into the shade of a tree.

"The letter I just received says that the werewolves will attack the dragon people."

"...What?! That's really true?"

"Yes. This word means army. This is river. This is the sun rising to the peak, which roughly translates to noon. ...But this was also written in the book I read before."

"Eddie-sama...I can't believe you can read such a difficult book...!"

"Ah, haha...but more importantly, this. It says attack. So..."

"Noon, army, attack...Just like Eddie-sama said..."

The princess bites her lip tightly.

"Anyway, let the guards know too. We'll discuss what to do right away."

"Yes. Thank you Eddie-sama."

The guards rush over to the princess who has returned with a pale face.

"Princess Clarice. What on earth did it say?"

"The letter instructed me to begin my attack on the dragon people at noon."

"Princess, can you read the werewolf language?"

"My friend from a foreign country is a brilliant... no, a genius, and he taught me how to read it some time ago. I can't read it all, but he taught me the important words, and I was able to understand it thanks to him. I'm truly grateful."

"To think that there's a human being who can read the demon language fluently..."

"What an intelligent person he is...!"

The princess glanced at me with a proud look on her face.

Clearing her throat nonchalantly.

Because now is not the time to be bragging about me!

I was glad that the princess also realized what was going on.

"Anyway, that's beside the point! The problem is the contents of the letter. This werewolf was probably on his way to deliver it to reinforcements or something."

While the princess was pretending to read the letter out loud to the guards, I started thinking.

Where on earth was this werewolf planning to deliver the secret letter?

This is the human territory.

I know that he crossed the suspension bridge from the demon territory.

A secret letter taken from the demon territory...

Could he be teaming up with the humans?

No, that's strange.

There's no reason for humans to join the fight between dragonmen and werewolves.

Besides, the human territory is the territory of the princess's country.

There's no way I wouldn't notice such a movement.

And that meant--

An order to begin the attack.

The human territory where the werewolf with the secret letter was heading.

But I couldn't imagine that the humans would lend a hand in this situation.

...Could it be that an army of werewolves is invading the human territory?

"Hey princess. If this battle breaks out, what will happen?"

"Well..."

The princess frowned and then explained.

"Around here, werewolves, dragon men, and vampires have strong influence."

The guards swallowed.

But it's not surprising.

Both werewolves and dragon men are strong and cruel monsters.

It is said that the most powerful of them are equal to an entire human army.

When war broke out in the past, the humans were annihilated without being able to put up much resistance.

They were feared until a wise man on the human side stopped them and formed a non-aggression alliance.

Dragon men and werewolves are troublesome enough, but to think that vampires are involved as well...

"The biggest problem for humans is the vampire clan..."

That's true, I suppose.

If it weren't for the alliance, they'd be the kind of people who would always want to prey on humans.

"The dragon men and werewolves are brave and very strong races, but if they go to war and weaken each other...the vampires will surely take advantage of that opportunity. If the dragon men and werewolves are defeated and there's no one to hold the vampires back...they'll surely break the 'Alliance for Coexistence of the Races' and encroach on human territory."

The guards were pale and trembling. "It's over... There's nothing we can do now..."

"It was only meant to be a reconnaissance mission, so how did it end up like this... There's no way we could escape while protecting the Princess with just the five of us..."

"Didn't you hear what the Princess said?! If we run away now, the human territory will be invaded...! But what should we do..."

"Wait, everyone!"

While the adults were in confusion, I shouted in disgust.

"... Something's coming."

That's it.

Rough footsteps were approaching, exuding a strong murderous aura.

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