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Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu (Light Novel) - Volume 3, Chapter 4: The World that Began its Awakening Part 1
Volume 3, Chapter 4: The World that Began its Awakening Part 1
This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml
A sandstorm whirled around afar.
They were followed by beams of light. Pillar after pillar after pillar of light flickered, followed by thunderous crashes.
Claugh watched them with his red eyes from atop a horse from his vantage point on a hill. “Ahh~. Shuss, how many soldiers are down there?”
“About eight or nine thousand…”
“Hm,” Claugh said, nodding slightly at his subordinate.
A harsh battle had begun at the base of the hill.
They were currently in the Hewled region of Roland. Estabul’s forces were headed in the direction of Count Culliard of the anti-monarchy party’s castle. According to the information Froaude gave him before, there would be about 8,000 troops here.
“That bastard,” Claugh muttered. “His information’s so spot on that it’s irritating… So how long does it look like Culliard’s castle will hold out?”
The same young knight from before answered. He was still a young man of only seventeen or eighteen. “Not long at all. Count Culliard’s private army is under one thousand men, after all.”
Claugh smiled at that. “Then that Culliard bastard’s definitely scared shitless right about now. Should’ve evacuated. There’s gotta be something he really doesn’t want us to see in that castle. Think we should just wait ‘til he dies, Shuss?”
“I know you’re not someone who could do that,” Shuss replied instantly.
“Aah? If you read me that easy, you’re gonna me look simple,” Claugh said, disappointed. “Kinda pisses me off.”
“It’s part of your appeal, Major General.”
“Don’t be silly,” Claugh said and pat the young knight’s head. Then his expression stiffened. “Guess we should get going. We’ll descend the hill then divide and flank them. From there you can command ‘em however you want. We’ve got 15,000, after all… they’re no match for us.”
“It’ll be a boring battle, won’t it?”
Claugh smirked. “Hoh. Listen to you. You know best that battles aren’t fun.”
“That’s why I said it’ll be boring,” Shuss said, ultimately serious. “There’s no need to fight battles that we know we’ll win before we even start. I hate it when people die for no good reason.”
Claugh nodded. “But that’s just how it is.” Then he raised his voice so that the troops in reserve behind him could hear too. “We’re obviously gonna win this battle, so none of you better die!” He moved his eyes to their objective and took out his horse’s whip. “All forces advance!”
The army moved in time with his voice. First was the horsemen, who drew their swords and galloped out. Next were the footsoldiers, their mages.
The Estabulian soldiers noticed and began to carve letters into the open air, a motion characteristic of magic of the Kingdom of Estabul. But they were too late. Claugh and the rest of the vanguard at his sides were already charging. They cut the Estabulian soldiers into pieces.
The Estabulian soldiers fell into chaos.
“W-where did you Rolander dogs come from!?”
“Shit! We can’t use large-scale magic if we’re this disorganized!”
They were afraid of getting their own wrapped up in large-scale spells. Large-scale magic was something that was used from afar in the first place. So now that they’d fallen into disorder amidst a free-for-all fight, they’d lost the ability to cast large-scale magic on Roland’s troops to decrease their numbers.
But Roland was in the same position…
In truth, they could have fired large-scale magic if they’d just left ten mages behind, then use shock troops to break through their ranks. That would’ve been the most efficient way to win with the fewest Rolander sacrifices…
But Claugh didn’t do that. He shouted from the middle of the battlefield. “Shuss, I’m goin’ on ahead! Try and keep the casualties to an absolute minimum!”
Shuss’ sword cut through the head of a chanting Estabulian mage. Then he quickly drew a magic circle. “I wish for thunder - Lightning Flash!”
A bolt of lightning fired from his magic circle. It hit a knight who’d been slashing at Roland’s mages, and he crumbled soundlessly…
Shuss turned back once he confirmed the knight was down and out. “Please be quick about it! If you aren’t, Major General, then both enemies and allies alike will accumulate casualties!”
Claugh’s horse raced ahead as an answer. He surveyed his surroundings and mumbled to himself. “Where is he?”
Claugh didn’t bring a weapon and didn’t fire magic as he raced through the battlefield, and yet fresh blood spurted around behind him. Those who tried to attack him screamed only in fear.
“Tch… I’m going out of my way to spare you, so shut it already…”
Of course saying that didn’t change anything. It was because he spared their lives that they were still able to scream, after all.
Claugh continued to spare them as he cut through the battlefield alone. Then he spotted him: the very conspicuous knight who was commanding the castle siege. He was wearing a military uniform bearing six red lines and an intersecting blue one. The red lines were his military rank and the blue was proof of his nobility.
“Are you this army’s commander?” Claugh asked.
The Estabulian noble turned at his question and studied Claugh.
Claugh got a bad feeling about him. He had sharp, unwavering eyes that took pride in what he was doing. He was different from the nobles like Culliard who stayed cooped up in their castles crying like babies without doing any fighting of their own. He was someone who sincerely put his country first…
“You’re Roland’s Major—”
Before he could finish, Claugh ran past him. His hand came away dyed red.
Estabul’s noble’s expression was confused like he didn’t know what was happening. His head fell like that, separated entirely from its body that soon followed.
Claugh lightly shook his blood-stained hand. “Geez… If you wanna do what’s best for your country, then don’t do this… they’re gonna be sad to see you dead,” Claugh mumbled softly. Then he rose his head. “Look! I killed your guys’ commander! You must’ve realized you guys are at a disadvantage already! If you continue to resist, then… we’ll slaughter every last one of you!”
The resulting screams were loud enough to shake the ground.
The Estabulian army had lost its will to fight. Claugh alone had cut through and shaken their vanguard horribly.
“The commander of Roland’s army, Major General Claugh Klom, has taken the head of your leader!” Shuss yelled from the center of the battlefield. “Our army of 15,000 will now proceed to gather the remnants! All who resist will be killed!”
More of the same sort of voices raised in the back.
And so the battle easily came to an end…
Estabul’s troops had soon entirely lost the will to fight. But that was obvious. First of all, their leader had been killed. Another reason was that the enemy had a far larger army than them. Yet another was that their battle formation had been irrevocably broken…
But the largest reason of all was that they heard Claugh Klom’s name.
Crimson-Fingered Claugh Klom…
His name was famous in Estabul, which had been fighting with Roland for many years, due to his hand being stained bright red with blood in a great many battlefields.
His very existence was as scary as that of the Magical Knights…
So they reached an easy conclusion. The 8,000 troops who attacked Culliard’s territory surrendered without a fight.
---
The battles after that developed approximately the same.
All it took was attacking the places Froaude indicated to devastate Estabul’s troops one after another… It was almost like the Estabulian army was being manipulated by something powerful. But that power quickly declined.
And so in the end, they pushed them back into Estabul…
---
Estabul’s military camp was in turmoil in the room of a fort. Both the nobility and the upper-crusts of the military were raising hell.
“What is the meaning of this!? The enemy has managed a surprise attack on us each and every time!”
“Our efforts are futile! How do they know where we’ll attack!?”
“What are you saying after all this time!? I do not approve of this! It is as if you want those hateful Rolanders to take Estabul back!”
“Still!”
Still…
Noa listened to them carry on with closed eyes. Still… soldiers were dying. They were dying without making a difference at all. That was fact, and it meant that there was no meaning in fighting.
Everyone… was dying for nothing…
Noa grimaced.
She opened her eyes to watch the nobles frantically making a fuss over their next operation… an operation they hoped would be able to break this deadlock. But they’d already lost over half of their 50,000 soldiers. How were they planning to oppose Roland like this?
Roland’s army was frighteningly powerful. It wasn’t just that they had an impressive brute force, either. They also gathered information skillfully, to an extent that Estabul just couldn’t match. No matter where they decided to attack when, by the time they got there, the army commanded by Major General Claugh Klom was already there waiting like they’d predicted everything perfectly and skillfully attacked.
Their one saving grace was that Major General Klom was a wise man. He avoided killing Estabul’s soldiers to the best of his ability, instead choosing to render them powerless…
It was proof that there were people in Roland who thought the same way Noa did. She didn’t want to see anyone else die. That was what she wanted, and yet… the nobles before her were not giving up. They still intended to fight.
Noa spoke softly so that only the man beside her could hear. “How ironic.”
Sarawel looked to her. “What is, Princess?”
“Shouldn’t that be obvious? The enemy commander is saving Estabulian lives and our nobility is stealing Estabulian lives. What could possibly be more ironic than that?”
Sarawel looked troubled. “Princess, we are fighting a just battle. There is no way we can lose…”
“And yet we will lose. Am I wrong?” Noa asked. She’d gotten a bit loud, causing the nobles to stop talking among themselves. Their gazes fixed on her all at once…
Noa let them watch her. She looked straight ahead to each of them in turn. “Should we not end our fight here? If it is clear that our battle has no future, then shouldn’t we end it now, even if only to avoid sacrificing a few more people?”
“Wh-what are you saying, Princess! Do you mean that we should wave a white flag at Roland without doing anything more? There is no way we could do that. We must fight until we can no longer fight back…”
“So you intend to keep throwing lives away just so that we reach that point?”
“B-but… at this rate…”
Noa didn’t even listen to the rest. She already knew what he was going to say.
At this rate, they’d kill the ringleaders of the rebellion. So they had to continue until they had ground to negotiate on. But to do that, they’d have to expose the lives of their soldiers to horrible dangers…
Noa shook her head. “Enough. Don’t worry. I alone am this rebellion’s leader. I threatened the rest of you into obeying me… that should be enough, yes?”
“What!? Princess, we cannot let you alone bear that…”
“Th, then we too will do the same…”
“Please wait. It won’t come to that as long as we don’t lose,” Sarawel said, talking over the nobles and Noa. “Why should you all present your lives to Roland?”
“That is true,” one of the nobles said. “But our army is only 20,000 men now. Roland’s forces easily surpass the 100,000 mark, yes? How should we…”
Sarawel’s expression didn’t waver in the slightest. Instead, he smiled rather confidently. “Battles aren’t just numbers, everyone. They’re also about resourcefulness and vigor… And if we crush the army commanded by Crimson-Fingered Claugh Klom, we’ll be tremendously vigorous. I’ve just the bright idea for the occasion, too.”
“Oooh!? Is that true!? Just what could it be…?”
Sarawel nodded, all smiles. “It’s simple. We attack Roland’s weak point.”
“Weak point?”
“Yes. Did you not get a feel for anything while watching the army Claugh Klom commanded fight?”
The nobles looked at each other. “Even if you ask…”
“I felt that they were endowed with overwhelming strength and speed, but other than that…”
“They did not needlessly kill our soldiers,” Noa said. “Is that what you’re referring to?”
Sarawel nodded happily. “That’s exactly right, Princess. That is their weakness. They are fighting so as to avoid provoking our anger and drawing out a grudge for when they’ve captured us again. What does that mean, I wonder? Sarawel asked and looked around the room. But no one answered. They only stood with tilted heads…
And then Noa realized. Sarawel intended to do something… truly frightening…
B-but that was foolish. Sarawel shouldn’t be the kind of person to do that…
“It c-can’t be that you…”
Sarawel nodded as Noa whispered. “That’s right, Princess. What do you think would happened if we used Estabul’s people and Roland’s other opponents as hostages?”
“Sarawel! What are you—”
Sarawel ignored her and talked over her. “Of course I am not thinking of actually sacrificing our people. But I do mean to take hostages. And I do not think I am bad for meaning to use them to turn the battle’s tide in our favor. We will strike when Klom can’t. The army I command will abduct and take Roland’s people as hostage… We should be able to make some favorable negotiations with just that. I am doubtful that they’d be able to take our headquarters from us like that.”
“Ooh!”
“Excellent as always, Lord Sarawel. I’ve caught sight of a brighter future!”
Noa didn’t say a thing.
Taking hostages and the like were inexcusable to a simple ringleader of a rebellion. Suppose they did manage to crush Commander Klom’s army and defeat Roland…
There was still no future for them down that path. There was no such thing as a prosperous country that disrespected its people, after all. She wanted to say that, but…
“Princess,” Sarawel said from her said. “I understand what you want to say, but this must be done. I want to protect you, our princess, after all…”
Noa glared at him with willful eyes. “And you mean to protect me by taking others hostage!?”
Sarawel shook his head. “I’ve always watched you ever since you were a child. I want to protect you… that feeling is one reason. But another reason is that I’m thinking of Estabul’s people. What would happen to them if we lost now? Do you understand how much humiliation we’d put them through as the losing country? They’d be abducted, raped, and then if they still weren’t tired of torturing us, they’d be killed… That is the fate of a losing country. I want to save them from it no matter what…”
“Even if it means you must take hostages… and even if it means you must tyrannize the people?”
Sarawel didn’t answer.
“…We can’t… stop this anymore, can we?”
“…We can’t,” Sarawel said and distanced himself from Noa and began to discuss their plan with the nobles.
A sad but beautiful smile rose to Noa’s face as she watched them. “Right. I was only taken in as a puppet king. In the end, I can’t save anybody…”
She closed her eyes.
---
A lone fort stood on the prairie. It had been constructed by Estabul once.
It wasn’t all that large, but it was surrounded by a moat on all sides as well as a magically fortified castle wall. It wouldn’t give an inch to anything less than a full-scale attack.
It was the Estabulian rebellion’s ringleaders’ base. They were right before Claugh’s eyes, and yet… he was at his wit’s end.
Estabul had taken an unbelievable amount of both Roland’s and their own people as hostage.
Claugh’s eyes were drawn back to the correspondence Estabul had sent. “What’re they thinking?” Claugh spat. “No matter how cornered you are, you’ve gotta still understand what’s right and what’s wrong. Or did you decide there’s no difference between the two?”
The correspondence they’d received was as follows.
Our first condition: Claugh Klom separates from the army under his command and leaves the army.
Our second condition: Release every soldier from the Kingdom of Estabul you’ve captured until now.
If you fail to abide by these conditions, the various people of Roland and Estabul here will be indiscriminately decapitated.
It was a very concise letter.
But…
“But it is a very effective method, and their conditions are things we could do,” Shuss said calmly. “If they’d asked for something like Roland’s complete surrender, we’d have been able to ignore the hostages and attack… but as things are now, we can’t…”
Claugh crushed the letter and tossed it aside. “Whaddya mean it’s effective? We’re not gonna lose either way. All they’re doing is giving us the moral justification to kill them. Taking hostages makes them war criminals… and then they’ll just get the death penalty.”
“Then tell me, Major General. Will you ignore the hostages and attack?”
“Ahh? Shit, there’s no way!” Claugh said, grimacing. “Geez, I give. What should we do? Split up and ask Sion? What’d happen if we let all of Estabul’s soldiers go?”
“…It’d be an all-out war, wouldn’t it?”
That was the worst case scenario…
“But there’s no way we can just let the hostages die,” Claugh said. “Then we’d be no different from Roland’s last king. Ugh, geez, going and talking it over with Sion’d be so shameful though.” He turned his horse around as he spoke.
Shuss smiled sincerely. “I love you that shameful side of you too, Major General.”
“Well, I kinda hate you,” Claugh said and took a breath. Shuss just smiled even more.
An urgent tone suddenly called for them. “Major General! R-Roland’s soldiers are attacking Estabul’s stronghold!”
“Hah!?” Claugh said and turned. “The hell? They’ve got hostages! Why would they attack without waiting for my orders!?”
The knight who’d come to relay the information shrunk at Claugh’s yelling. “W, well… they seem to be part of some organization we didn’t know about…”
“Shit! Shuss!”
Shuss’ horse raced off at the sound of Claugh’s yell. He was going to check and see who ordered an army of over 30,000 men to move. But there was no time to wait for his return. Claugh took out his horse’s whip. But then he heard Shuss’ yell.
“Our troops are still in order!”
“Aah!? Then whose troops are they!?”
Shuss didn’t answer. He didn’t know.
Fuck! What was this? He had to think. Think about before the hostages died. Was it okay for him to move then or was it not okay?
They would’ve waited if Sion had been the one ordering them. But if that was wrong… no. Sion had left everything to Claugh. So…
Claugh scowled.
There was only one person it could be. He hadn’t showed himself here, but… the information he’d been sending was eerily correct. Claugh hadn’t thought he’d come to the front lines…
“That son of a bitch Froaude!”
Claugh’s horse raced off.
“Major General!” Shuss yelled from behind. “It’s dangerous to go alone—”
“Shuss!” Claugh interrupted. “No matter what happens, don’t let the soldiers move! Keep ‘em all there!”
And so Claugh alone entered the harsh battlefield unfolding before his eyes.
---
Estabul had fallen into chaos.
“Th-this is ridiculous!” The nobles screamed.
The unthinkable had occurred. Roland ignored the hostages and moved their army in.
The nobles fixed their anger on Sarawel at Noa’s side. “Wh-what is this!? Now were… we’re already…”
“Sarawel, you knave, how do you intend on taking responsibility for this!?”
Sarawel looked quite troubled. “W-well, even if you ask… Who would have thought that Roland would stage an unjust attack like this with hostages present?”
“You didn’t think they would, but it’s a fact that they did! How will you take responsibility! We’ll be c-completely destroyed at this rate! And we took both Rolanders and Estabulians as hostages… we’re war criminals… we’ll get the death penalty! So I’m asking you how you intend to take responsibility for that!”
“I, w-well… But we haven’t lost yet…”
Noa sighed, tired.
They would lose. They lost the moment they decided to take hostages. She’d known then that this would happen. But after watching how Claugh Klom fought, she hadn’t thought that he’d ignore the hostages and attack so quickly…
It was as if their rebellion was nothing more than a silly dance in the palm of their enemy’s hand.
“R-right,” one of the nobles said, addressing Sarawel. “Our loss isn’t set in stone… If we stay here and kill the hostages in line with our contract, Roland may cease their attack…”
“You’re right! They must be attacking because they didn’t think we were serious! We’ll show them how serious we are! Kill the—”
“Silence!” Noa yelled.
The nobles gathered in the large hall jumped in surprise and quieted.
Noa looked at them with narrowed eyes.
Everyone was tired. Their faces were fatigued from the thought of their approaching death and their failed rebellion. They were miserable. The end was fast approaching. No… it was already ending.
“You mustn’t lose sight of your path, everyone,” Noa said kindly.
“B-but…”
Noa shook her head. “You all did well, but it ends here. Let’s release the hostages. That is something we can still do; utmost best thing for us to do.”
“But Princess, we—”
Noa shook her head again to cut them off. “I don’t know what will happen to us… but I will do everything in my power to make it so that I alone—”
“You mustn’t, Princess! I cannot allow you alone to die… please, allow me to die with you!”
Not everyone shared that sentiment, but a few other nobles soon shouted the same thing.
But that was more than enough for Noa. “I’m… happy,” she said. “I think being surrounded by people who care so deeply about Estabul is a happy thing. But please, Sarawel… everyone… please live. Anything can be accomplished so long as one is alive, but death is the end of that. No matter what disgrace Roland forces upon us, we can somehow manage. There will still be a way to become happy. Estabul will…”
Her voice wavered.
She was scared to say what she wanted to say next. It was hard.
She still had lingering attachments. She was born and raised in Estabul…
As Estabul’s princess, she’d always wanted to make it a country where anyone could smile. She wanted to make it into a country where anyone could become happy as long as they wanted to. She’d studied lots and lots for that sake. Sarawel taught her lots and lots for that sake.
And yet… this was the result…
It made her want to cry.
All they accomplished was taking Roland and even Estabul’s people hostage while they hid in the shadows of their soldiers cooped up in this fort…
It was the worst. It wasn’t what she’d wanted. So…
Noa steadied her shaking voice and desperately held her tears back. But everyone else had already realized what she was trying to say. Some turned their faces away. Some cried openly.
Noa smiled and continued. “Even if Estabul ceases to exist… Even if it is never revived… I believe everyone can still grasp happiness. So please, everyone, live. And if it lets the people of Estabul find even a little happiness, I…”
She didn’t need to say any more. All that was left was for her to accept her fate.
Noa closed her eyes to keep her tears from falling. But in the instant she closed them, she heard a voice. A frigid voice from the unfathomable depths of darkness…
“This is troubling… I am very moved by how much you all care for your country. However… I myself do not believe the life of Princess Noa Ehn alone is quite enough to pay for the sins of this rebellion…”
His voice reverberated through the room. Noa opened her eyes and looked towards the source of it.
There was a man standing at the room’s entrance. He had beautiful and long pitch black hair as well as dark and cold deep blue eyes. His smile was dyed scarlet, and slowly opened. “Yes… Don’t you think it’s only fitting that the curtain should lower on the tragic loss of Estabul itself with a tragedy still on set?”
The first to react was Sarawel. He took a step forward as if to protect Noa. “Wh, who are you!?” He yelled.
The man inclined his head politely. “How rude of me. I am Miran Froaude, a colonel in the Roland Empire’s army…”
That was all it took for the nobles to fall into disarray. “R-Roland!? How d-did you… It c-can’t be that the army outside was already obliterated…?”
Froaude shook his head. “Not at all. Your Estabulian troops are still putting up a good fight. In any case, my army is only 10,000 men while the army that protects this fort is 22,400… This castle will not fall easily. No, even if it did fall, Roland’s troops would be unable to enter… in any case…”
Froaude changed in that instant. No, he himself didn’t change… what changed was his murderous intent. He smiled faintly, but his unbelievably cold eyes seemed to wish for the death of all life. They were the eyes of a demon.
Froaude slowly, softly spread his arms. “Here and now, I will lower the final curtain on this tragedy…”
He held a hand out towards them. Towards where a single noble stood.
“O darkness… appear.”
Something truly unbelievable happened.
The shadows crawling about on the floor swelled up into the open air…
“Guah…”
That was all he said. It was probably all he could say. Because his head was soon torn from his body…
Nobody said anything for some time. Blood was spurting from that noble’s neck. It hit the ceiling, the floor, everything. It dyed all it touched bright red.
“Uu… uuaaahhh…”
That voice didn’t continue either. An unbelievably huge beast grabbed his torso and bit at it, gobbling his body up whole…
All that was left of him were blood splatters.
Red, red, red.
The room was dyed red in an instant.
“Wh… what…?”
That was all Noa could say. Her body was stuck in place, unable to move.
The nobles were screaming like they’d gone mad, running around at a loss for what to do. Another was killed. Another…
“S-someone help! Isn’t anyone there!? Guards! There’s an enemy! An enemy inside the castl—”
His scream was cut off halfway, and he himself was left as the lower half of his body…
And then his limbs… were taken one by one into the darkness…
Froaude wasn’t hit by a single drop of his victim’s blood. He looked to the dead man who’d lost his entire top half and spoke disinterestedly. “I do apologize. With all due respect, this castle’s guards have already passed away. You see, they were getting in the way of making the end of Estabul a splendid play.”
Good lord…
Noa shivered. This castle should have had fifty guards. That was no small number, but this man… had killed them all, and said so with little care.
He was a monster…
He wasn’t h-human… but a monster…
If not that, then he was a demon…
It devoured everything. The darkness this man called Froaude was born from devoured everything…
Sarawel took Noa’s hand. “Princess! Th-this is the end. But I at least want to save y—”
“B-but…”
Someone else called to them from the other side of the room. “Sarawel! We’ll keep him at bay here! Please, please save the princess somehow—”
That was as far as he got. Because he was killed. He was killed!!
“Princess, let’s escape!” Sarawel yelled.
“No! Everyone… everyone’s—”
“Shit! I apologize in advance!” Sarawel said and gathered Noa up in his arms and ran.
“Let go of me, Sarawel!”
“No! Please cooperate!”
Sarawel leapt out of the room, Noa in his arms. She was in a daze.
Why? Why did this happen? She couldn’t understand it.
She should have died, but the ones dying were the people who she wanted to protect. They were all dying so she could escape…
It was a crushing defeat.
Noa looked back into the hall they’d just left. The last of her people died, and Froaude turned her way to watch her… with the eyes of the devil himself…
But right then… then…
“Princess, I’m going to put you down. I’ve gotten tired.”
“Huh….? Ah, alright…”
Noa nodded and got down. Then she looked around. They’d made it to a conference room a bit smaller than the hall from before. Though when they’d arrived at this fort the chairs and tables had already been cleared, so it could hardly serve its original purpose as a conference room anymore…
They’d ended up using a first floor conference room for meetings instead because it’d been easier to carry tables and chairs in. Everyone - Sarawel, the guards, the nobles - had carried the tables and chairs in, regardless of their status, while smiling and saying they’d make a conference room out of it yet…
They’d been smiling about Estabul’s revival such a short time ago…
Noa looked around the completely empty conference room. “It was all… was for nothing…”
“No,” Sarawel said. “There’s still something left.”
“What’s left? All of us who wanted the best for our country, all of our allies, lost even our pride when we took hostages. We don’t have anything left.”
There was no meaning in even continuing to live…
That monster Froaude would come for them before long anyway… and Noa didn’t intend to run away anymore. Even if she did, she’d just get the death penalty later. No matter where she went, it was with death.
Sarawel gazed at her. For some reason, he looked like he was enjoying himself. “We still have something. You’re still alive, aren’t you Princess? Our plan was as follows: to take the people hostage and barricade Estabul in. Then Roland wouldn’t be able to raise a hand against us. But then Estabul, cornered, rampages and begins to kill the people… and you were to play the part of the rampager, Princess.”
“S-Sarawel… What are you saying…?” Noa asked. But she already understood everything. Because Sarawel had taught her the knowledge she needed to understand it.
It would have been better if she’d died without realizing… Then at least she could die with the nobles in that room and enjoy the same dream of happiness in death…
But instead she was faced with cruel reality…
His face had changed from that of the man she’d put her trust in since she was a child. He was grinning. It filled her with disgust.
“There were plans in place so that I, Sarawel Sayle, would stop Estabul’s rampage and be heralded as a patriotic hero and welcomed into Roland’s nobility.”
This was a nightmare…
She understood Froaude’s words now. How he said that this play was a tragedy. They were making them dance from the beginning. Estabul’s entire rebellion was made to dance in the palm of Roland’s hand…
“Ah, my goodness… I have been a fool. Looking back, the clues were all there. Roland was always able to lead a surprise attack on Estabul’s army… it would have been better if I’d realized it then. If not then, I should have realized it when you said we should take the people hostage… let alone when that monster came around downstairs. But instead I realized it while we were running away… while I was helplessly being led away. If I had only seen the truth sooner…”
“No, no, you aren’t a fool, Princess. You trusted me, that’s all. You ignored anything you found strange… because there should have been no way that I, who you’ve trusted since you were a child, would do this.”
“……”
That was true. Sarawel shouldn’t have betrayed her. Even if others might, Sarawel shouldn’t…
She had truly believed that, and yet…
“I knew that’s how you would think. Because I only taught you about beautiful things. I taught you that I’m beautiful, that countries are beautiful, and that the world is beautiful… and that’s why you’re beautiful. Because I raised you to be both unbelievably beautiful and strong.” Sarawel’s expression turned disappointed. “What a waste… Since I went through the trouble of raising you to be so beautiful, I’d originally planned to take you as my wife and seize Estabul for myself, you see.”
Noa didn’t say anything. So Sarawel… so this guy had been deceiving everyone from the beginning. Everyone, everyone died for the sake of a guy like this…
“But, well, Roland promised me some pretty good status… I have no choice but to be satisfied with just that. It’s not exactly what you said before, Princess, but everything starts with life.”
Noa shivered, but it wasn’t from fear. It was from rage.
This was reality… it was her punishment for only knowing the beautiful things in life…
Noa put her hand behind her back and took out the knife hidden in the lining of her sash.
She… couldn’t forgive him.
“I… I wanted to create a world where anyone could smile…”
“Again with the beautiful words. Pretty things don’t make a country move.”
“Even so! Even so, that’s the kind of country I wanted to build! Even if it’s nothing but pretty words… Even if there’s always someone crying in the shadows of someone else’s smile… is it wrong to wish for the best!?”
Sarawel smiled deeply. “Wishes are just wishes, and the idiots who wished that will die while I am heralded as a hero. That’s how things work. Now then, I’d best—”
Noa bared her knife. “I won’t just die—”
Sarawel easily took the knife from her hand… and smiled, satisfied. “You sure are cute, Princess. You performed exactly how I taught you to the very end: purely, correctly. I expect everything you do to the point that it’s almost like I’m pulling the strings on every move you make. I’m the one who taught you to hide a knife there, you know.”
All it took was a twist of her wrist for him to steal her knife…
He raised it overhead. Noa despaired.
Even though everyone had died because of him… even though they’d all been made to dance and die for him… In the end, she couldn’t even retaliate.
She didn’t want to die. It was the first time she’d ever thought that. She’d at least wanted to do something about him, but… but she didn’t have the power for that.
“This is the end for you,” Sarawel said. “Please, die a meaningless death just like everyone else did.”
He raised the knife up high, aimed for her chest, and lowered it forcefully…
But just then… his arm that held the knife flew off.
“What!?” Sarawel yelled. His head, mouth still open, flew off next. His body collapsed on the ground…
“Alas, Sir Sarawel. The truth is that you’re a fool. You performed exactly how I planned to the very end: vulgarly, without a shred of kindness. I expect everything you do to the point that it is almost like I’m pulling the strings on every move you make… That is about like how he speaks, isn’t it? Princess Noa Ehn.”
With his outlandish words… that man entered the room. That monster… Roland’s monster, Froaude…
He looked down at Sarawel, whose head slowly rolled to his feet. “Do not fret, princess,” he said in the same disinterested tone from before. “Roland is not so in need of heroes that it’d trouble itself with a man of his caliber,” Froaude said. Then his cold eyes faced his next target coldly, without any real emotion…
“Hero? Roland’s hero!?” Noa spat. “Would a hero do this!? Has your country’s hero king, Sion Astal, not toyed with our feelings and mocked us all this time?”
Froaude looked a bit troubled at that. “…You are wrong. A hero… would not do something like this. My king would not do something like this. I acted on my own judgement. I did bring it up with my king once, but… he flat refused.”
“…Then you are the mastermind behind this incident?”
“Yes… I am the one who started the rebellion… but the king did not send me to subjugate it; instead he sent Major General Claugh Klom… You are a sensible princess, so you must understand the rest.”
She did.
That meant that the way Claugh Klom fought was what Roland’s king had wished for.
“But what Sir Sarawel said about how pretty words do not make a country move was the truth,” Froaude said. “That is my people such as myself are necessary. Princess. I do not hate wanting to make a country where anyone could smile. I do not hate people such as yourself. If I were a retainer of Estabul, I may have chosen you as my master. However…”
Froaude took the knife Sarawel’s dead hand was still gripping and raised it above his head.
“Princess Noa Ehn committed suicide after taking Roland and Estabul’s people alike as hostage and killing them. That is the plot of this play.”
Noa glared at him. “Killed… the hostages?”
“Yes.”
“Do you believe King Astal, who wished for a humane fight, would forgive you for that?”
Froaude again looked troubled… but also somehow happy. “It would be best if he never found out, but… he may find out. But… I wonder. I do think that he would forgive me, being a king of his caliber…”
Froaude looked like he wanted to keep talking, but stopped and turned around.
An unfamiliar man jumped out from where Froaude looked and grabbed Noa, pulling her close. “Hey, Princess. You’re not hurt, are you?”
He was a man with fiery red hair. He glared at Froaude with sharp eyes. “Stop fucking around, you shitty bastard. So what? You’re the mastermind behind this rebellion?”
Froaude fixed his dead eyes on them. “You come, Major General Klom. I did not think you’d make it here so quickly… How is the battle outside?”
Klom…?
This was Crimson-Fingered Claugh Klom…?
Noa looked up at the man holding her gently. His handsome, masculine face was seething with rage, which certainly made him look quite strong.
But he was somehow different from what she’d been imagining. When she pictured Crimson-Fingered Claugh Klom, whose presence on a battlefield made each and every one of Estabul’s soldiers shiver in fear, she’d always pictured a horrible monster. And yet…
He was angry. Angry at Froaude, who’d ignored the hostages and attacked their fort. He was angry at Froaude who’d played with Estabul’s rebel’s feelings for Estabul’s sake…
This was… Claugh Klom…
So there were people who were as contrary to each other as him and Froaude in Roland…
Claugh glared at Froaude like he was ready to jump him. “Answer my question, Froaude! Depending on your answer—”
A faint smile rose to Froaude’s lips. “Depending on my answer, you may kill me. Correct?”
“…Right. Sion doesn’t need you. I’ve thought that since the first time I saw you. You’ll make Sion go mad.”
“Is that all you think, Major General Klom? I don’t see why he bothers with you. If you move forward with eliminating me, then you lack the qualification to serve His Majesty.”
“…You don’t understand anything. I don’t need ‘qualifications’ to stand by Sion’s side.”
Froaude shook his head sadly. “It is certainly true that you do not need to be qualified just to stand by his side. But he has already been made king. He was no longer human by then. He became someone who must weigh lives’ numerical weight against each other. He must be able to kill the hostages without hesitation for the sake of tens of… no, hundreds of thousands of Rolander and Estabulian lives. That is the sort of path Lord Astal follows… And so I will kill the hostages and Noa Ehn to protect that path. And if you should get in my way, I will kill you without hesitation as well.”
Claugh looked down at Noa, then prepared himself for a fight. “Think you’re capable of that?”
Froaude slowly raised his hand. It was that same pose from before. “It is simple…”
Claugh’s movements were explosive as he charged forward with unreal agility.
Noa shook her head. “No…”
Froaude… was something dangerous.
“No…”
Noa had already seen it. She knew. The power that Froaude was using wasn’t as simple as magic. It wasn’t a human power…
Even Crimson-Fingered Claugh Klom would be…
Froaude raised his hand up before him. “O darkness…”
The many magic circles tattooed on Claugh’s arm began to shine.
No, no, no…
She couldn’t let Claugh die here. He was someone that Roland absolutely needed. He supported Roland’s king. He supported their country.
He was a man that was absolutely needed for Estabul’s people, who had become part of Roland, to become happy…
No.
There was no way he could die here…
“Froaaaaaauuuuuuuddee!” Noa shrieked.
Claugh and Froaude stopped moving to look at her.
Now that she had their attention, she spoke. “Colonel Froaude. If you want to kill the hostages for Roland to completely capture Estabul, then… I will persuade them. I will persuade Estabul’s people and army to give their full cooperation to Roland. Do you not think that would be a more effective method of capturing Estabul?”
“What’re you—”
“What are you trying to do?” Froaude interrupted Claugh. “Why would you…”
“So that you don’t kill the hostages. If you do, Estabul’s reputation will suffer. Don’t you think the result will be infinitely more favorable if they’re left alive?”
“So that I don’t kill the hostages… I see. But… I see. Yes, you could certainly effectively persuade them. You are quite popular in Estabul, after all. But you are aware that there are those who speak ill of you as well?”
Noa stared at Froaude, undaunted. “I do not mind. If you’d like, you may kill me afterwards. I do not mind. So please… please stop fighting.”
Froaude smiled faintly, looking at her like he saw through everything. “Yes, I see… you are indeed a sensible person… Sure, why not. I will stop. Any more sacrifices now are in vain. The attacking army will soon withdraw as well,” Froaude said. He turned his back to them and started to walk out.
Claugh was perplexed. “Wh… hey, what…”
Claugh made to give chase, but Noa grabbed his arm and stopped him, holding him back with all her strength. She watched Froaude’s back until he disappeared from the room.. and out into the deep black of darkness…
With him gone, she suddenly felt exhausted. Noa plopped herself down on the floor.
“Whoa, hey, are you okay?” Claugh asked, surprised.
He called out to her kindly. She looked up at Claugh from where she sat on the ground. He looked honestly concerned, his face a mixture of strength and human virtue…
With that alone, Noa knew she wasn’t wrong.
“No, um, what’s happening?” Claugh asked, confused.
But Noa didn’t explain. She surveyed her surroundings. She didn’t have anything left anymore. She’d lost it all. Her country, her family, her allies…
But she couldn’t die yet. There were still things she had to do.
Even if Estabul ceased to be… its people would still live.
There were still so many things she had to do. She pressed a hand to her head as they spun around in her mind, and spoke lightly. “Ah, geez… thinking about it makes me tired.”
“Hah? You talkin’ to me? What in the world’s happening…”
Noa didn’t answer his question. For now, there was something else. “Alright. Major General Klom, I’ve gone weak in the knees. Could you help me up?”
“Aah?” Claugh said, astonished. Noa held her hand out to him.
---
And so the curtain drew on Estabul’s last rebellion.
Froaude soon made arrangements for Noa, accompanied by Claugh, to enter Roland’s territory as part of his plot. Details regarding the rebellion were posted on their arrival…
Roland made the topic rather one-note.
Sarawel and other nobles of Estabul imprisoned their princess, Noa Ehn, and committed atrocities under her name. But Noa was pained by their use of hostages, and stood up against them all by herself. She defeated the nobles and surrendered to Roland, and was in the end successful in keeping damage to a minimum. As her efforts saved people of Estabul and Roland alike, she was hailed as a hero and given a fairly high social position in Roland…
That was the plot of the affair.
Though many of Estabul’s people and soldiers were not loyal to Roland, they should be loyal to and serve Noa who had now become an exceedingly noble person within Roland…
There were already signs that was happening.
As Noa rode her horse on the path to Roland, Estabul and even Roland’s people cheered for her, hailing her as a hero…
Of course a portion of people yelled that she was a traitor and held grudges against her, too, and Roland’s nobility were uncomfortable with her becoming such a high esteemed noble in Roland. Their voices would probably get louder as time went on.
But that didn’t bother Noa. That’s what she thought as she gazed into the joyous crowds cheering her on.
She wasn’t someone who felt shame at being hated or by others holding grudges against her anymore.
There wasn’t anyone left anymore. Nobody who served her, nobody who smiled with her, nobody who would scold her. But she wouldn’t let that stop her anymore.
Sarawel wouldn’t make a fool out of her any longer. It wasn’t just pretty words; she’d act for the sake of creating a world where everyone could be raised smiling.
This time, she’d fight on the front stage in the realest sense of the word.
She fixed her gaze on the building towering before her. It was massive. The largest in all of Roland.
Roland Castle.
At the time, she… no, at the time nobody had yet realized it at all.
The biggest turmoil yet was not in the past; it was waiting in the future.
The signs had already begun to manifest all over, and yet… nobody realized.
