The General's Wife Wants to Leave-Chapter 44: What lurks behind

Although the case that was shared by the young Major with Canillas might have been known by most of the Terran soldiers, it was his way of speaking in a confidential tone as an action to show a moral principle and sympathy to respect the honor of the misfortuned ladies.

If this case reached the public’s ears and eyes, it would likely be impossible to stop the news from spreading more widely. As a result, there would be less probability of protecting the honor of the kidnapped ladies, as the public would highly tend to judge that they had lost their chastity, even if they might not be touched by the kidnappers.

It was an unavoidable social judgment that would be faced by those misfortuned ladies and it would likely last for the rest of their lives. Therefore, it was important to keep this sensitive case confidential. Hence, this case was not widely known by others, including Canillas, who came from another kingdom.

"And the other kidnapped ladies?" questioned Canillas curtly while setting his plate aside as he had finished his meal. He looked at the young Major with his usual intimidating green eyes, waiting for his answer.

The platinum-haired Major, to whom the curt question was directed, shook his head. "There is no news about their well-being yet. The city guards are still searching for their whereabouts, either to find them alive or... not alive," answered Major Torrance, letting out a heavy sigh in the end, as if it was not easy to think about the worst possibility that would happen to the kidnapped ladies.

Canillas turned his head to face in front of him when he heard the other soldier speaking to him. "They are still young and belong to upper-class society. It is just my presumption, but I think the captors have targeted the young noble women. And for what? We indeed need to dig deeper to find the real motives," stated General Clementine, continuing the explanation of the young Major.

The senior General then added in a low voice, leaning his body forward as if attempting to make the younger General hear his voice clearly despite the lower tone of his voice.

"The corpse of the young lady was found at the foot of East Lane Mountain and it aroused suspicion that they were hiding in the mountain and brought the kidnapped ladies there as it looked like the most ideal hiding place for them. But it is still not an easy task to find them despite the clue that has been obtained. The guards said that they found no single one of their traces in the woods of the mountain. It seems that we really can’t underestimate their ambush and hiding skills, as the guards haven’t found them in two months now."

Finding the senior General stop speaking, Colonel Bernard Blain, who sat beside him, took over the conversation. It was obvious that the topic they currently had was more interesting than the military meeting that they had a few hours ago, as each person could not wait to take their turn to speak, not closing their mouths tightly and averting their eyes everywhere in order to avoid the intimidating eyes of the young General as before.

"I heard from one of the officers who was assigned to handle this case that they are probably heading to another region of Terra, following the route of the mountains. Therefore, the officers could not find their traces around the area where the corpse was found. If it is true that they are already moving to another region, it is enough to admit that they are very agile and not easy to tackle. Making a movement under tight surveillance in a kingdom like Terra without being able to be caught until now is sufficient proof that they don’t have ordinary skills but extraordinary ones," remarked Colonel Blain, with a glint in his eyes despite the irritated tone in his voice.

"And they are probably heading to the western region," General Clementine picked up the heavy talk, to which Canillas turned to look at him with narrowed eyes.

Before Canillas could utter any single word, the older General briskly added as if noticing the obvious change in the facial expression of the aloof General.

"But it is still a prediction. There is no confirmation of accurate information yet. It is just predicted based on the direction of the kidnapping case. From Lasse, which is the largest territory in the Eastern region, to Seidel, which is the largest territory in the Southern region. If they are heading clockwise, then the next destination will be the Western region. For which territory, we also can’t tell yet. But if they mean to play with the officers, to make them confused, then they will head back to the Eastern region and probably move to the Northern region."

As the words were spoken out, General Rudolpho Clementine, for the first time, noticed a worried emotion that was clearly depicted on the face of the prominent General of Archess, although it was only revealed for a couple of seconds before he adjusted his expression back to his usual one.

It was normal for the young General to show that emotion, as Barasca was the largest territory in the Western region of Terra, the home of the daughter of the Duke of Barasca, a young and beautiful noble lady, who had become his wife.

No one knew which territory would be chosen by the kidnappers, even though there was a high probability for them to choose Barasca, which was the largest land in the Western region of Terra, just like they had chosen Lasse and Seidel.

Aside from that, if the kidnappers headed to the north, it would be possible that they would try to trespass Archess for their next target of ambush. Hence, the young General of Archess was not as restless and calm as usual although he had tried to control his emotion and regain his composure.

"Are they the Tres?" Canillas asked the senior General after managing to calm his nerves.

"It is highly likely to be that tribal group," answered General Clementine, giving a nod of positive answer.

Most of the kingdoms on the Maldava continent were built through territorial expansionist campaigns. It was also how Archess and Terra were built, from a small town to a large area of territory with tens of millions of population, as each victory brought subjugation of wider areas of territory.

That also meant that they had to get rid of the original tribes who refused to obey the new sovereign of their lands. It then resulted in the rebellious tribes trying to get their lands back.

This was not uncommon for warlike tribes that attempted to invade a kingdom to happen, but most of those trials had come to failure as they lacked power.

The former kings of Archess had called a meeting with the leaders of the tribes and renewed their treaty by becoming allies rather than enemies.

However, as the generation changed, following the passing of time, the old rules seemed to have been ignored and buried deeply. They had rejected complying and continued paying for the treaty as they thought that those were their original lands, so they had no obligation to pay for what was originally theirs.

They were called the Tres, the group of rebellious tribes that had no permanent shelter on the Maldava continent. They had moved from one inhabited land to another one and so on, but they refused to choose one land as their permanent sheltered place because they still determined that their original lands were the lands that were robbed by the kingdoms that stood on the Maldava continent.

It seemed that they began their acts of rebellion after hibernating for decades, to show the parties who took over their lands that this kidnapping was one of the prices of the forced expansion that had been done to their ancestors.

It should not have been easy to trespass on a kingdom like Terra. But if they managed to ambush and even kidnap six noble ladies in these two months, that only meant that their capability was not to be underestimated.

It was also not known if the same cases had occurred in other kingdoms, but Canillas was sure that it had not happened in Archess yet. Otherwise, he would not have been surprised to hear such outrageous news. Therefore, more power should be enforced to secure the borders and improve the surveillance and it was the first thing that would be done immediately by Canillas for Archess.

It was also a suggestion he could share with General Clementine, aside from increasing the power of the search for those tribes and the kidnapped ladies before more people became victims.

Heading back to his assigned room, Canillas wrote a letter to the King of Archess, informing him to strengthen the military forces on the borders as the Tres had made a move to ambush the kingdoms, including Archess. After writing the letter, Canillas asked two of his men to flee to Archess, to deliver the urgent letter to the King.

He felt fortunate to decide to come to Seidel despite his reluctance. Otherwise, he would not have heard this emergency information and he would not have known what danger lurked behind his wife or other women in the kingdoms on the Maldava continent.

He was also well aware that it would not be easy to find out about this case if he did not sit with the Terran soldiers, as this case was dealt with confidentially in order to protect the honor of the ladies.

Canillas actually wanted to go back right away to Barasca on this very night, but he was scheduled to inspect the naval base the next day, so he had to stay for one night in Seidel.

Calming his nerves, he told himself that he did not need to worry about Joanna as she was in the Duchy of Barasca where the security was supposed to be tight.