The Champion's Return

by Hyougetsu

  “I have another piece of evidence supporting my theory. It is my belief that the Sun God granted us the tenets of Sonnenlicht in order to make our lives better. And that those who follow his tenets are fated to live longer, healthier lives.”

  “I agree.”

  I didn’t believe in god, but I did think the Sonnenlicht commandments were based on logical reasoning. From there, the two of us had a lengthy conversation about Sonnenlicht rituals. I’d originally come in the hopes of having a short chat with Zanawah, but before I knew it, we were engrossed in our discussion.

  “According to the sacred texts, when someone’s illness persists for a long time, they should go on a pilgrimage. Why do you think that is, Lord Veight?”

  “I’ve heard from a doctor that a change in location can be good for one’s health. It’s possible the local air or food or climate is responsible for someone’s illness, so going somewhere else to recuperate can help.”

  “I see. That seems logical.”

  I saw Zanawah jotting down a few notes, and I added, “But I believe there are some other benefits to going on a pilgrimage as well.”

  “Such as?”

  “The majority of Sonnenlicht believers are farmers. They rarely get to leave their villages. But by forcing them to travel via pilgrimages, the nation gains three valuable benefits.” Completely forgetting my original purpose in coming here, I started lecturing Zanawah on the benefits of travel. “First, there is an economic benefit. Travelers spend money on food and lodging, which in turn drives the economy by circulating money around.”

  “Oho...spoken like a true noble. What are the other two then?”

  “Second, there is a cultural benefit. Pilgrims will return to their home village with some of the exotic tales and goods they encounter along their way. Some of those might include superior farming practices, while others will simply be new songs and dances.” I took the cup Zanawah offered me and downed the lukewarm water inside it. “Finally, there is a military benefit.”

  “How so?”

  “You see, nobles will be forced to maintain their roads so that pilgrims can use them year-round. But well-paved roads are also essential to quickly move armies around. It’s because Rolmund’s system of roads is so extensive that the emperor’s influence can reach as far as the frontier regions.”

  I had no idea who’d come up with the Sonnenlicht religion, but they were a genius, whoever they were. As Sonnenlicht was the only recognized religion in the empire, it was every noble’s sacred duty to secure safe passage for pilgrims. For the central government back in the capital, it was really convenient that there was religious pressure on the nobles to do something the emperor wanted them to do in the first place.

  “The reason Meraldia’s tenets are different than Rolmund’s is because Meraldia has a different history and geography.”

  Wait, hang on a second. I didn’t come here to discuss Sonnenlicht. I mean sure, it’s fun to have an intelligent debate for once, but I have more important things I need to worry about right now. Unaware of my inner thoughts, Zanawah beamed at me.

  “Wonderful. Your theories are simply wonderful. I’m glad you understand that even believers should critically examine their own faith.”

  “As a bishop, should you really condone people questioning your religion?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Zanawah pumped his fist into the air, his eyes glimmering with excitement. Like Eleora, this man was clearly a scholar. No wonder Eleora likes him.

  “Think about it. Why did God grant us these tenets? I doubt it was to make our lives more miserable. These tenets are God’s gift to us. The more we question and examine them, the closer we grow to his love.”

  Speaking quickly, Zanawah started binding the notes he’d taken with a thin piece of string.

  “Of course, the pope and his cardinals are much more orthodox,” he continued. “Sadly, I can only indulge this hobby of mine in secret.”

  Yeah, you don’t want to be branded a heretic. I should probably be careful too. Humming happily to himself, Zanawah pulled out another piece of parchment, this one of much higher quality.

  “Of the eight cardinals, the man I am closest to is Traja. I can write a letter of introduction to him for you. From our conversation, I can tell that you are a man worthy of seeing the inner workings of our Order. I’m sure your meeting with him will be beneficial.”

  “What do you mean by ‘the inner workings of your Order?’”

  “You’ll see.” Zanawah finished penning his letter, then put it in an envelope and sealed it with wax. “Within the Sonnenlicht Order, those of higher rank are granted more knowledge. As I am only a bishop, there are many things I am not allowed to know.”

  “But I am?”

  “That is for Traja to decide. He is the keeper of the scripture. You can find him in the Wiron Library in West Rolmund.”

  I took the letter of introduction, got to my feet, and bowed to Zanawah.

  “Thank you very much, Father Zanawah.”

  “No, thank you. Our discussion was most enlightening. Truly, I am blessed to have met you.”

  It’s kinda embarrassing to be praised that much. Thank god he’s a reasonable guy, though. I was glad the scholars of this world all seemed to be rational, level-headed people.

  That aside, I was surprised Eleora had connections like this. She might be more fit to be empress than I’d initially thought. It was only thanks to her that I’d secured an audience with a Sonnenlicht cardinal. Considering how capable she was, I wished Eleora would have more faith in herself.

  I thanked Zanawah for the letter of introduction, then headed back to Eleora’s manor. It took half a day to reach the Wiron Library, and I needed an appointment to enter. It was too late to go today; they were already closed. Upon returning to the manor, I was treated to a strange sight.

  “Alright, I’ve finished fixing up the idiot duo’s Blast Rifles. Jerrick, got any requests for yours?”

  “If you can, I’d like you to make it sturdier and easier to maintain. Even if that lowers its firepower, I just want to be sure it’ll always work.”

  “You got it. Smart thinking, really.”

  Ryucco was standing atop a low table, trying to look as imposing as he could as he scribbled formulas down on a piece of diagram paper. He seemed to be using Jerrick as an assistant.

  “What’re you guys doing?” I asked as I entered the room. The lagomorph turned to me, his nose twitching proudly.

  “Yo. I’m remodeling everyone’s Blast Rifles. Looks like everyone had a few issues with them, so I thought I’d fix ’em up.”

  Jerrick added, “A lot of the guys had trouble aiming when they transformed, and they’re all saying it’d be nice if they could shoot one-handed.”

  “Why do they want to shoot one-handed?”

  “They said they want to be able to hang from a tree branch with one hand and fire their rifles with the other,” Jerrick shrugged in reply. “That way, they’ll only have to worry about enemy projectiles, and they’ll have a high vantage point to shoot from.”

  “Makes sense.”

  I’d initially just given my werewolves the Blast Rifles so they could fight while remaining disguised as humans, but it seemed like they’d gotten pretty attached to them.

  “They’ve got a bunch of other annoying demands too. Just look at this!” Ryucco pointed to a section of his diagram labeled “idiot duo” as he said that. “Those stupid brothers can’t aim to save their life, and they always charge in like morons. So I widened the rifle’s barrel and redesigned it to fire from point-blank range.”

  So you made it into a shotgun. I guess that does work better for the Garney brothers, though. Wait... Are “Flame Blaster” and “Blaze Blaster” supposed to be the guns’ names? Worried, I took a closer look at the blueprints Ryucco was pointing to. From the looks of it, everyone had asked for all sorts of weird modifications on their rather uniquely named weapons.

  Monza, for example, h
ad asked for a sniper rifle she’d dubbed “Evening Dew,” but increasing the rifle’s precision and range had required delicate retuning that made it more fragile. Fahn, on the other hand, had asked for a firepower-heavy rifle she’d called “Raging Chrysanthemum.” It could only fire a single shot before needing to be repaired, but it had as much force as an anti-tank rifle. And Hamaam had had his barrel shortened so he could hide his gun beneath his cloak. He’d named his “Tiger Claw.”

  What is with people and naming their guns? I sighed and said, “If you customize everyone’s rifles, they’ll be harder to maintain or replace if they get broken.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll look after everyone’s weapons. Besides, I can teach Jerrick how to do basic maintenance and stuff. Speaking of which, here’s your ‘Big Boss,’ Jerrick.”

  Hang on, is that seriously what its name is? Ryucco puffed his chest out proudly and said, “This baby’ll last for a hundred years.”

  “Thanks! I hope that means it survives long enough to be recorded in history!”

  Please don’t start putting gun names into history books. I knew it was hard to stop Ryucco once he got going, but as a military commander, I wasn’t really happy about the fact that everyone’s weapons were now ten times harder to take care of.

  The next morning, Ryucco grabbed as many werewolves and mage corps soldiers as he could, then took them all to one of Eleora’s forts and opened up a gun customization workshop.

  “Order up!”

  What is this, a ramen stall? I sighed to myself as I saw all the unique gun models lined up on Ryucco’s workbench. Then again, my werewolves were like the special forces of the demon army. There weren’t many of them, and they weren’t suited to open warfare, but they were great for accomplishing difficult missions that required smaller teams. So maybe it was better to let each individual have their own customized equipment. Sadly, I was neither a gun fanatic nor a military historian, so I couldn’t be sure.

  Oh, but I had heard about the Jaegers. They were light infantry who’d run around in small groups and fight from cover, rather than line up and shoot at enemies in formation. Basically, their tactics matched what those of modern infantry had become in recent years. Eleora’s mage corps weren’t skilled enough to manage those kinds of advanced maneuvers yet, but my werewolves were mobile enough that they might be able to pull them off. From the reports my squad leaders were giving me, it sounded like they were unconsciously using skirmisher tactics already. They were splitting up into two-man or four-man squads, and avoiding clumping up with their allies.

  “A werewolf Jaeger unit, huh...”

  I hadn’t planned on making my werewolves into Jaegers, but now that I thought about it, it wasn’t a bad choice. The teenager in me was thrilled with the idea. Guess I’ll let each squad get their own custom equipment and let them specialize their fighting styles. If the results turned out good, I’d formally adopt the policy and reorganize them into a true ranger unit. Yeah, a werewolf Jaeger team sounds cool.

  Beefing up my werewolves’ firepower was great and all, but it didn’t seem like there would be another civil war anytime soon. Lord Bolshevik was a shady figure for sure, but as far as I could tell, he wasn’t trying to raise an army and revolt. Well, obviously not.

  Lord Bolshevik was considered a traitor by the other North Rolmund nobles, so he had no allies to call on right now. The Bolshevik house only employed 6,000 troops, and they were all pikemen. Eleora’s army alone could crush them. I was in fact discussing this very topic with Eleora right now.

  “I don’t know where Lord Bolshevik’s ambitions lie, but I don’t think he’s going to try and fight us. At least not with an army. I bet he’ll try to do as much political maneuvering as possible though,” I said.

  Eleora nodded.

  “Agreed. Based on what you’ve said, my guess is he’s trying to forge a secret alliance with Ashley. We need to keep an eye on him, but that’s all.” She gave me a knowing smile and added, “That aside, I see you got along quite well with Bishop Zanawah. He rarely ever writes letters of introduction for people he’s meeting for the first time.”

  I thought back to our discussion yesterday, which was a bit embarrassing in retrospect.

  “I get along with scholarly types pretty well. People like you, for example. After all, we’ve all dedicated our lives to the pursuit of truth, right?”

  “I suppose so.”

  Eleora’s comment reminded me that Zanawah’s letter of introduction had proved quite useful. I’d been able to secure a meeting with Cardinal Traja a few days from now. Sonnenlicht cardinals were revered by the people, and they were usually busy traveling across Rolmund giving sermons and performing blessings. It was hard for them to make time to speak with people, so without a letter of introduction, it would have taken me half a year instead of a few days to get an audience. Eleora cocked her head as she read the address listed on the letter.

  “I figured you’d get along with Zanawah, but I don’t know what this Cardinal Traja person’s like. ‘Keeper of the scripture’ is the most cushy job among the cardinal posts, though.”

  “Really?”

  “All they do is take care of the old Sonnenlicht texts. People often say the keeper of the scripture is just a glorified second-hand bookshop owner.”

  Seriously? Seeing my worried expression, Eleora smiled gently.

  “Don’t worry. Zanawah is familiar with all eight cardinals. I’m sure there’s a reason he chose Traja.”

  “I sure hope so.”

  Though I’d wanted to make connections with a somewhat more influential cardinal...

  A few days later, I left the capital to meet with Cardinal Traja. My meeting was scheduled for the day after tomorrow. It would only take a day to reach the Wiron Library, but I left a day early to give myself some buffer, just in case.

  “Meraldian Jaeger squad, form up!” I shouted, standing in the middle of Eleora’s courtyard. My werewolves lined up in their respective squads, forming five columns.

  “Sorry man, I was only able to get this many done on time.”

  Ryucco, who was wearing a bandana today, looked apologetically up at me. Even someone as skilled as him couldn’t modify 50-odd guns in a few days. The fact that he’d managed 20 in under a week was a superhuman feat as it was. Sure, he’d had help from some pretty dexterous assistants, but that didn’t change the fact that he was a genius.

  I smiled proudly at him and replied, “Nah, this is more than enough. Thank you, Ryucco.”

  “I-I didn’t do it for you, you damned buffoon! I just wanted to show off how good I am!”

  How clichéd of a tsundere can you be? Fortunately, Ryucco had already gotten to Monza and Hamaam’s guns, so my guards for this trip were all set. He’d also finished guns for the squads led by Fahn, Jerrick, and Skuje.

  “Veight, look at my rifle! It’s so cool! My brothers’ rifles are really cool too!”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know.”

  Skuje’s squad was made up of him and his three brothers. All of them were in their teens. I didn’t really want to put kids in danger, and they were also the future of our village, so I’d done my best to keep them off the front lines thus far.

  “Hey Ryucco, why’d you do these guys’ Blast Rifles before the other squads’?” I whispered to Ryucco with a frown.

  He scratched his head and replied, “Isn’t it obvious? You really think those brats would just sit quietly while I worked on everyone else’s stuff?”

  “They must have really begged you, huh?”

  “Yeah,” Ryucco nodded with a sigh. “They all transformed and started shouting at me to do their guns next. I thought they were gonna fuckin’ eat me!”

  “Uhh...sorry about that.”

  I’d have to discipline them later. Ryucco sighed again and shrugged his shoulders.

  “You can’t really blame ’em though. Boys like their shiny toys.”

  Yeah, I guess. I slung my own Blast Rifle—a newly modified one Ryucco had
made just for me—over my shoulder and prepared to depart. He’d actually made mine first, and it had an odd lever on the stock whose function was quite unique. It shifted between a spot that had three stars and a spot that had one star. When I’d first tested the lever out, I’d more or less been able to tell what it did. Afterward, Ryucco’s explanation confirmed my suspicions.

  “Well, I just hope I don’t end up having to use my Ryuuga,” I muttered.

  “See, even after all your bitching, you named your rifle too, didn’t you?” Ryucco smirked.

  “Shut it.”

  “Your naming sense is so weird, too.”

  “I said, shut it.”

  I’d picked the name of an MMO character I’d made back in my old life for my gun. The other werewolves had taken to calling it Sugar, since they didn’t know Japanese and that the name I’d chosen meant Dragon Fang. Ryucco jumped excitedly up and down as he continued needling me.

  “If you were gonna name it anyway, you shoulda just called it something cool like Boom Boom Cannon or King Shooter-Tooter.”

  “Hell no.”

  I still don’t get these guys’ naming sense. As I was mulling over name choices, Parker walked over to me. He was dressed in a noble’s hunter outfit, and looked ready to travel.

  “Sorry I’m late. I had Ryucco make me a new Blast Rifle, so you can count on me in fights too.”

  “Yeah, that Rock ’em Sock ’em should be able to handle even your ridiculous amounts of mana, Parker.”

  Ryucco casually tried to name Parker’s gun for him, but Parker brushed him off with a smile.

  “Thank you. Indeed, my Penance should be able to defeat most enemies in one shot thanks to my magical prowess. I am a mage, after all.”

  “Oi, call it the Rock ’em Sock ’em!”

  “Look, I can even hide it inside my ribs!”

  Their exchange could hardly be called a conversation at this point. They were just talking at each other. Let’s get out of here before they get any worse.