#58 The Phantom Dauphin (2) – The Calling Card

─Did you hear? It happened at the Pavelo barony too!

─Happened? What did?

─The outlaw, the outlaw! Their sons were notorious for their dirty dealings with the young women in the territory, and they were all kidnapped and displayed in the center of the town square! All their wealth was stripped bare too!

─Incredible! Their guards must have been tight, so how could someone pull that off?

─Hey, did you hear? The Afrim Merchant Guild was cleaned out!

─That vicious b*stard got hit? They call it a guild, but it’s practically a bandit gang!

─Haha! Even a half-bandit can’t beat a real outlaw, I guess?

─Huh, but this guy’s got balls. Isn’t he scared of payback?

─Speaking of the Thosroph Baron, he used to be famous for treating serfs harshly, but he’s suddenly being nice to them these days.

─Huh? What’s gotten into him?

─He’s saying things like, “I realized serfs are valuable people,” but who’s going to believe that? Everyone’s saying he’s just playing it safe because of the outlaw.

─I thought he was just a thief. It’s absurd to see things change like this because of one thief. Maybe the title “outlaw” isn’t completely nonsensical after all.

─Ha! I can’t live in peace these days because of that damn thief!

─Is it even right to call him a ‘thief’? It doesn’t make sense that the whole country is being taken down so helplessly by just one person!

─That’s true, maybe it’s a huge group acting under a single figurehead.

─It’s also strange that they’re only operating in the Sarnos Count’s territory. Could it be a group intentionally dispatched from somewhere else?

─Where will they go next? I hope they come here soon!

─Don’t worry! The order’s set, it’s Rebruk’s turn next!

─I hope they wipe out all the rotten nobles!

─Ah, Dauphin! Dauphin! Please save us!

*

The Sarnos Count’s guards are divided into three categories: squads, platoons, and battalions.

A guard squad of 10 to 20 people resides in territories that aren’t too large within the Count’s direct control, and the squad leader is in charge.

Sarnos manages these territories by grouping them into several regional clusters, and the squad leaders in those regions report to the platoon leader.

There is only one battalion commander at the Sarnos main family, and they oversee all the guards belonging to the Count’s family.

Unlike other guard platoons that have to manage nearby guard squads in villages separate from the platoon headquarters, the Rebruk platoon is a unique case that only protects one city and does not interfere with other villages at all.

Because the city was so huge and had such a large population, they poured in a lot of personnel, telling them to focus only on Rebruk and not interfere with other villages.

And at this moment.

A strange heat was rising in the platoon headquarters located in the center of Rebruk.

“Everyone, I reckon you’re all aware of this notorious bandit making waves lately.”

At the Commander’s words, the eyes of the platoon leaders gathered in the meeting room shifted with a variety of emotions.

If those emotions had been a sense of duty and justice, a burning desire to capture an infamous criminal… then Dahlia’s inner self in the same space might have felt somewhat at ease, but unfortunately, the feelings surfacing in the platoon leaders’ eyes were anything but.

They were closer to the look of someone who’d just found a suspiciously thick wallet on the ground.

The franticness of wanting to quickly snatch it up, the wariness that someone else might get their hands on it first, and an undisguised greed.

It hardly seemed like an emotion that the city’s guard should be displaying, but the Commander, as if pleased, continued speaking.

“The bandit, ‘Dopang’. This insolent thug doesn’t seem to care about hiding his movements, starting with the Barony of Belmore where he first appeared, and systematically raiding neighboring territories. Unless he suddenly changes his pattern, the higher-ups predict he’ll start operating in our Levruk within the next few days. Do you understand what this means?”

At the Commander’s question, one of the platoon leaders grinned widely as he answered.

“Doesn’t it mean a plump, well-fed pig is fearlessly running into our hunting grounds?”

“Exactly!”

*Thump!*

The Commander slammed his fist on the table, seemingly excited, and continued.

“Dopang swept through territories managed by other companies, too. But those pathetic b*stards couldn’t even catch one bandit and made a complete mess of it. If we catch him in this situation, we’ll be able to proclaim the Levruk Company as the best guard in the city! The Count will definitely give us a big reward!”

“Woo-hoo-hoo!”

As if on cue, cheers erupted from the mouths of the platoon leaders.

At the same time, they kept glancing sideways at the platoon leaders next to them, seeming to keep each other in check, lest a different platoon than their own catch that golden pig.

Dahlia forced down a sigh and raised her hand.

The Commander, who had a smile on his face, slightly hardened his expression when he realized it was Dahlia requesting to speak, but he nodded.

“What is it, 8th Platoon Leader?”

“Catching the bandit is a matter of course, but I want to say that it’s not good to be too complacent.”

The excited atmosphere deflated as if cold water had been thrown on it.

The Commander’s displeasure was also obvious, but Dahlia thought she still had to say what needed to be said.

“We don’t know the exact identity of this guy, his skills, or what forces are behind him. Above all, he has a proven track record. Even guards belonging to the same Count as us, let alone guards belonging to other territories, have missed him. In this situation, if we move with a mindset that ‘catching him is a matter of course,’ there’s a possibility of making a mistake –”

“Alright, that’s enough. Cut it there.”

The Commander waved his hand with a gesture full of annoyance.

“The point is not to be complacent, right? Did you really have to draw out such a short message so lengthily?”

*Well, if I just say it without a proper reason, you wouldn’t listen properly.*

Dahlia muttered that internally, but she didn’t say it out loud. Because it didn’t seem like the other person was willing to listen anyway.

“Of course, complacency is bad. I know what you want to say. But right now, aren’t we all raising our spirits together to catch a heinous criminal? Do you really have to say things like that at a time like this, and dampen the morale of your colleagues? Even if you don’t point it out so smugly, the friends here all know that much, and they’ll all do well on their own.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“Tch, anyway, everyone needs to be absolutely vigilant at the borders. Drastically increase the night patrol manpower, and remember to assign dedicated personnel to manage the buildings where key figures are staying, I trust you’ll do well.”

The operational meeting continued after that, but Dahlia wasn’t given a chance to speak.

Silently enduring the scornful gazes of the other platoon leaders, Dahlia quietly kept her place.

*

The soldiers of the 8th platoon each blinked in disbelief.

The security zone assignment that came down from above was that absurd.

There were a total of 10 platoons belonging to the Levruk company.

Of these, nine platoons were deployed in the upper-class district, which accounted for about 1/4 of the total area of Levruk.

And only one platoon, Dahlia’s 8th platoon, was deployed in the remaining 3/4.

It was an assignment that was hard to believe, with the area of responsibility three times larger, but the number of personnel only 1/9th.

“I’m sorry, I tried to change it somehow. I failed.”

Dahlia felt ashamed in front of her subordinates.

Originally, she and her squad patrolled even the areas that others didn’t often go to, maintaining public order, but that was a way of moving around after patrolling the assigned area and having spare capacity.

It meant that it was possible to reduce patrols depending on the situation if time or manpower was lacking.

But this time, about 70-80% of Levruk was assigned as their area of responsibility.

The area that ‘must be patrolled’ has greatly increased, rather than ‘going if we can’ like before.

If the 8th platoon were to handle this vast area alone, the squad members would have to move from morning until late at night every day without even a day off.

Moreover, it was waiting for an end that might never come, ‘until Dophin is caught’, without a clear period defined.

Dahlia protested to the company commander, but the answer she received was truly absurd.

“This is a matter of honor for Levruk, and even the Sarnos County. As a soldier of Sarnos, isn’t it only natural to demonstrate ‘a little sacrifice’?”

The company commander claimed that it was a change of deployment to ensure Dophin was captured, but it was crystal clear that this was a kind of retaliatory personnel action.

Dahlia could bear hearing unpleasant things or being ridiculed, but it was hard to suppress the feeling of guilt when she thought that her subordinates were suffering because of her.

Seeing Dahlia’s bowed head, the members of the 8th platoon exchanged glances with each other.

The adjutant spoke first.

“Raise your head, Captain. Why are you apologizing, it’s not your fault.”

The other members also added.

“Nothing has changed much. It was an area that no one cared about except us anyway, what’s the big deal.”

“Isn’t it better this way? I was a little annoyed because I felt like I was doing their work instead of trying to take care of other people’s areas, but now we’re just doing our own work, right?”

“Anyway, I’d rather run around in a wide-open place than bustle in the narrow, crowded aristocratic streets because of fancy carriages.”

“That’s right, Captain! The company commander is the bad guy, why are you apologizing!”

“Hey, can we even badmouth the company commander here at HQ?”

“Shit, you can diss a count where no one’s lookin’, so who gives a damn about some petty commander?”

“Truth is, the commander only struts around in front of us. He’s groveling even before the retainers of the main family’s knights, let alone the actual knights themselves.”

“What about the battalion commander? He leads the guards, so is he on par with the knights commander leading the knight order?”

“Nah, the guards take anyone, while only nobles can get into the knight order. Are you serious? The battalion commander’s probably treated like a regular knight at best.”

At first, they were clearly trying to comfort Dahlia, but somehow they’d started arguing about the difference in skill and treatment between the guards and the knight order. The adjutant sighed deeply.

“These b*stards can’t focus on anything for more than a minute…”

“Haha.”

Her subordinates might have lacked discipline to the point of being swept away by the wind, but their lightheartedness actually brought a smile back to Dahlia’s face, who’d been feeling down.

The adjutant, scratching the back of his head, said to Dahlia:

“But will this Dauphin guy even show up? Honestly, if I were him, I wouldn’t even set foot in a place crawling with guards like this. Or wouldn’t he just check things out and bail?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

He was a bandit, far removed from anything resembling fair play.

It wouldn’t be surprising at all if he tucked his tail and ran when things got tough.

Dahlia’s thoughts were shattered exactly one day later.

The bandit Dauphin didn’t run, didn’t hide.

No, he was even doing things he hadn’t done in his previous territory, brazenly drawing the world’s attention.

A building owned by a merchant guild in the upper-class district.

On that vast wall, he’d left these words, written large:

“To the loathed merchant, to be delivered.

Henri Montbourg, residing at the Montbourg Merchant Guild.

I know that you are cheating farmers who can’t read properly, buying their sweat-soaked harvests for next to nothing.

Your warehouse is overflowing with sacks of grain, yet the farmers who toiled to produce it are starving day by day. Is this not absurd?

It’s not too late. Apologize to all the farmers you have wronged and pay them what they deserve.

If you do not heed this warning by the time the sun and moon have traded places twice, then I will personally return what is owed, with interest.

I urge you to make the wise choice.

-Dauphin the Phantom Thief-“

It was an unmistakable declaration of war.