Voyage Of The Villainess

Three days later...

"Your majesty! I have bad news" A manly guy with a manly voice suddenly appeared. "A large number of beastmen appeared outside the city!" 

Everyone in the court of Baslon was immediately alarmed at the sudden news of General Loubel. 

"How can this happen?!" King Siber was completely shaken. He stood up in front of his throne.

"How did you not able to detect them?! As far as I know, we have advanced equipment if there is danger coming our way!" 

"I apologize, your majesty!" General Loubel kneeled down. " Even though we have advanced equipment there are still some limitations. They must have used some sort of underhanded measure to arrive here without anyone noticing! As of speak now, the knights were holding the enemy army! His Highness Prince Kija and the Crown Prince Hou are defending the front lines of the kingdom now."

"Hah," The king took a seat on his throne as he held his head. Then he gestured to his scribe. "Send a message to the allied kingdoms as well. That the beastmen have instigated a war."

"Yes, your majesty!" The scribes immediately left.

"Those pesky beastmen tribes. They should have just stayed hidden in their caves! They are belittling us to attack like this. Tell the army to annihilate every single one of them! And end this war quickly!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" The general saluted and left immediately.

---⚓⚓⚓---

Meanwhile...

"A war huh?" Malaya tapped her fingers on the table. Seth just informed them that a huge army of beastmen has arrived outside the capital city. Sitting beside her was Hyun Jae who was enjoying eating cakes. While Rhyme and Seth were sitting opposite her.

And Arnes was standing behind Malaya. They told him to sit, but he said that he was alright just standing. Malaya just let him be since it would be tiresome to argue with him.

"It seems they came from the North as well," Malaya said as she glanced at the map she had. "Those attacks in the villages in the South seem just a decoy for a greater scale."

"Well,  first of all, I think it's not our problem. Too bad that we will not be able to use the prince on searching for our crewmates. Given their situation, they will be quite busy."

"Then does it mean we have to search for them on our own now?" Rhyme asked.

"Yes, we don't have any choice but to do that" Malaya closed the map. "And we need to leave this place before we get inflicted as soon as possible."

"Are you certain that it is not your problem?" All of them glanced at the door when Oliver entered.

"What do you mean by that?" Malaya asked as she looked sternly at Oliver. 

"When I checked to monitor that army from the skies, they were chanting the same thing over and over again," Oliver said with a gleeful smile.

"Stop beating around the bush," Malaya said, starting to grow impatient from Oliver's taunts.

"All hail, Great Lord Baru," Oliver said. "That was what they were chanting."

"All hail..." Malaya's eyes widened. And Oliver's grin widened as well.

"Baru?!" Malaya stood up. "Why is that monkey's name mentioned with that army?!" 

"If I try to get closer to them, they would find out about me," Oliver said.

"This is ridiculous." Malaya took a seat as she combed her fingers in her hair.

" Wait, as far as I remember Baru is the name of Iris' monkey, right?" Hyun Jae asked. Her eyes were also filled with worry. 

"Yes, the one and only. Maybe this is just a coincidence?" Rhyme said.

"I also wanted to think like that," Malaya said. "And I hope it's like that." She sighed. "But if it is really Iris' monkey, then it means somewhere around that army, they are there. And this is our lead now in getting them back to us."

"Do you notice anything within that army, Oliver?" Malaya asked as she looked back at Oliver.

Oliver held his chin as if he was recalling everything he had seen from his scouting. "There was a huge, expensive stage in the middle of the army. And above it, it seemed, there was some cage that was covered by the luxurious fabric.

"I see." Malaya contemplated for a bit. "If they are yelling and praising chants about Baru. Then for everyone to praise him, the only possible place where they are located is probably on that stage. To be caught in this war," she sighed once again.

"Perhaps, Lady Iris, has also made a contribution to this?" Oliver asked. "Remember how she instigated the rebellion back then."

" No," Malaya suddenly replied quickly without thinking ."Iris would not do that," Malaya said.

"You seemed confident about that, Malaya," Oliver said.

"She already promised that she would write my-I mean the tale of the adventures of the Bituins crew. She would not have leisure time to deal with war." Malaya said with firmness. "Besides, she would not be that foolish to start a war in some random place. Or she would be stuck here."

Malaya stood up. "You said there was a cage or something. The only thing we will be able to know whether Iris is there or not is to check that place."

"What are you planning to do?" Seth, who was quiet the whole time, spoke once again. There was dread in his expression.

"Hmm," Malaya observed his expression clearly. "We will sneak into the army, and check whether our crewmates are there or not. Second, if things don't go that way. We will just help the kingdom to eliminate the whole army of beastmen."

" Come on, I know that you can't do that!" Seth yelled with rage.

'I see,' Malaya grinned. Seth was a black mage who was so against the slavery of the kingdom. And the kingdom as well massacred his whole family. To someone like him, the fall of the kingdom would be his great joy.

"Of course, I wouldn't do that," Malaya said. "I'm just teasing you."

"Ah what?" Seth was startled by her response. "Like I said, going to war is a troublesome thing, plus," Malaya remembered all the people doing their lives.

"There will be many innocent people and beastmen who might die," Hyun Jae interrupted. "It will be too painful regardless of who won and lost in the empire." Hyun Jae said with teary eyes.

"I know that the many beastmen are being suppressed and enslaved by the people here. It was much even worse here from the place I came from. But war is not the answer to everything." Hyun Jae with her hands tightened on her lap.

'Our kind and sweet, Hyun Jae has spoken.' Malaya said with a smile. 'However, no matter how noble she thinks, we are just outsiders.' Before Malaya could speak, Oliver beat her to it.

"What do you want to do, Hyun Jae?" Oliver asked.

"If possible, if there is a way to stop this war, I will be happy to do so." Hyun Jae said. "And at the same time, both of the parties will learn their lesson and have a peaceful agreement."

"Peaceful agreement?" Seth was seething in anger now. "Can that kind of thing bring back all the lives that were lost because of those human scums?"

"No." Hyun Jae firmly said. "But that could prevent the loss of lives in the future! No one needed to die in a war like this. Everyone each of us deserves to live a life in which we can move freely without the feeling of fear and anger to each other."

Seth was completely silent at Hyun Jae's words. 

Clap! clap! clap!

All of them looked at Malaya who was clapping her hands. Arnes who was behind her was also clapping at the same beat of Malaya.

'I am just thinking of how to check whether Iris was there or not. And now it suddenly leads to stopping the war? Ah, what a ridiculous development.'

"It seems, Oliver has a plan for that." Malaya glanced at Oliver with a grin. 'This fool would do anything for Hyun Jae, just why he asked that question to her in the first place.'

"I'm surprised, I thought you are the one who will do the planning, Malaya?" Oliver said with an equivalent grin on his face.

"As I said, doing or stopping a war is a troublesome thing for me. I only want to check Iris and our other crewmates or rescue them if needed. Then I would flee away from this kingdom since we already gathered enough materials as well to fix the Bituins. However, if you have a plan better than mine, they might as well we can grant, Hyun Jae's request."

Hyun Jae's eyes sparkled at Malaya's words. "Do you mean you agree with my request, Malaya?"

"Yes," Malaya said with a smile on her face. "Then let's hear Oliver's plan." 

"Please tell us, Oliver!" Hyun Jae looked at him with enthusiasm and expectant puppy eyes.

"Then, my plan is like this." Oliver started speaking, but he seemed a little flustered.

Seeing this, Malaya noticed as well that Oliver's ears turned red. 'Oh, hahaha. That must be a critical hit.' Malaya tried to stop herself from giggling.. 'But oh well, I guess stopping a war would also bring us great fame here, to make the search for our other crewmates easier as well.' 

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