by Hyougetsu
I knew it. As the ringleader of the rebellion, there was no doubt that Prince Ivan would have to be executed. But it was also likely his eldest son, Ryuunie, would be as well. Rolmund’s system of punishment was harsh enough that occasionally people who weren’t even related by blood to a serious criminal were executed, so there was no way Ashley would spare Prince Ivan’s son. However, Ryuunie was just a 12-year-old boy.
Woroy stared intently at me. He knew that as a prisoner of war, he had no real bargaining power. At best he could have tried to hold back asking his men to surrender and used that as leverage, but he hadn’t. Probably because he knew that wouldn’t amount to much of a bargaining chip.
His expression was twisted in anguish as he stared at me. I didn’t really want to make Woroy suffer, nor did I want to kill a literal child. I couldn’t imagine what it was like being surrounded by an enemy army at the tender age of 12. So I sighed and nodded.
“You owe me for this, Woroy.”
“You’ll really do it!? Thank you, Veight!”
Woroy’s expression brightened instantly. Sheesh, what a simple-minded guy.
“If the men in Creech Castle surrender, I’ll head straight for Kinjarl Castle. However I don’t know what the exact situation over there is, so I can’t promise I’ll be able to save Prince Ryuunie for sure.”
“Yeah, I know.” Woroy’s face fell a little, and he nodded. “Both my dad and my brother wanted to leave behind a better Rolmund for Ryuunie. Besides, he’s my cute little nephew. For my dad’s sake and for my brother’s, I want to do everything I can for him.”
I know what you mean. I’ll do what I can.
“I’m afraid all I can promise is that I’ll do my best. I can’t give you any guarantees, unfortunately.”
Woroy grinned mischievously.
“Saying you’ll do your best is all the guarantee I need. I can’t imagine anything’s impossible for you if you truly put your mind to it.”
Stop, you’re just putting more pressure on me. Scowling, I flung my cape back.
“Like I said, I can’t guarantee anything. Anyway, I’ll have you uphold your end of the bargain first. It’s time to ask your men to surrender, Woroy.”
“Let’s go then.”
* * * *
—Veight’s Letter to Airia: 7—
Dear Airia,
I’ve started to grow sick of the sight of snow. Has any fallen in Ryunheit? Anyway, I imagine you’re dying for news, so I’ll keep the pleasantries brief. Somehow or another, I’ve managed to capture Prince Woroy. With this, his army should surrender to me. If everything goes well, I’ll be able to capture Creech Castle for Eleora without having to siege it.
As for how things ended up this way, Eleora managed to force Woroy on the back foot by convincing one of his primary supporters, Lord Bolshevik, to betray him. The Bolshevik family is the most influential family in North Rolmund after the Doneiks, and they’re related to the Doneiks family by marriage. Eleora only managed to get Lord Bolshevik to surrender because he was convinced North Rolmund’s defeat was imminent. From there, she just needed to offer good terms, and he betrayed his longtime allies, the Doneiks. That threw a wrench in Woroy’s plans and...well, I managed to capture him after a few minor incidents. I’m pretty sure I didn’t do anything too reckless this time. I mean it.
Normally Woroy would be executed for his crimes, but I really don’t want to see a guy like him die, so I’m hoping to find a way to spare his life. He’s too great a man to die here. Besides, he’s popular with the people. In fact, I’d say he’s more suited to being emperor than Eleora is. It’s possible he might end up being a dangerous political rival, but I hear he and Eleora used to be close long ago. As I’m sure you’re aware, Eleora’s a kind woman at heart. If she also asks for Woroy to be executed, I’ll have to give up on saving his life, but I’m almost certain she won’t.
Incidentally, what does the council think of my decision? I know I’ve been granted full authority in all matters regarding Rolmund, but I’d still like to know if the other councilors agree with me or not. Woroy is someone with the right to inherit the throne. Even if we strip him of his title, the nobility of his birth won’t change. Once Eleora becomes empress, it’s possible Rolmund may become Meraldia’s rival again. In which case, it might be a good idea to bring Woroy over to our side as a way to keep her in check. To be honest, this is an idea I only just came up with while writing this letter.
I realize I’m acting on my personal interests here, but I’ll do my best to make sure my personal interests align with Meraldia’s. So I hope you’ll approve of me working toward saving Woroy’s life. I know this is soft of me, but I’d prefer not to kill anyone outside of the battlefield.
* * * *
After sending off that letter, I succeeded in getting the soldiers of Creech Castle to give up their weapons and surrender. Mostly because Woroy had asked them to, though. Still, I’m sure Woroy’s army knows they can’t win anymore. I doubt they’ll try anything violent. I had the troops Eleora had left behind secure the castle once it was emptied. I decided to keep Woroy’s army within the castle as prisoners as well. Without their weapons, they weren’t a threat. Still, there were a lot of them. Keeping them all in the castle was going to be difficult, but I couldn’t afford to let them return home just yet.
Some of them were overseers or free men as well, meaning I needed to treat them well. For a short while, I was inundated with administrative duties as I struggled to sort out the post-battle situation. To make matters worse, it seemed Prince Ashley’s nobles wanted to interfere with my work.
“The nobles want to meet with me?” I asked Mao, who’d come to the castle to deliver supplies. It had been a while since I’d last seen him. Mao checked the receipts he’d received for his wine delivery with the records in his checkbook and nodded to me.
“Yes. On the surface, they just want to officially congratulate you on your victory, but it’s likely they actually want to build connections with you.”
“Why would they bother making connections with me?”
As far as everyone in Rolmund knew, I was just one of Eleora’s advisors. I didn’t have any real authority of my own. Grimacing, Mao just shrugged his shoulders.
“The Doneiks rebellion has almost been put down, so they’re probably panicking because they haven’t contributed at all. Chances are, they want you to give them some menial duty like guarding the castle or watching over the prisoners.”
“They want a pretext to say they fought at the front lines too, huh?”
They sure were shameless. While we’d been putting our lives on the line, they’d just been sitting cozily in their castles. Honestly, I didn’t care if they took my credit, but it wouldn’t be fair to my men to have their merit snatched out from under their noses, especially since quite a few of my mage corps had died in the battle yesterday.
“No way I’m giving them anything. The only people allowed to step foot inside Creech Castle are Eleora’s troops and the mages Prince Ashley lent me.”
Unlike the troops who’d been fighting continually up until now, the soldiers under the nobles’ command would all be lax and inexperienced. There was no telling what they’d do for the sake of earning more merit, so I didn’t want them anywhere near the castle.
“Besides, the whole reason I’m having my troops stay here is to protect Woroy’s army from Ashley’s. Right now those guys are more of a problem than our actual opponents.”
If Ashley’s reserve army made it here, chances were they’d execute the prisoners and torch the castle, just so they could say they “participated in the war.” I despised wanton destruction like that, which was why I’d occupied the castle myself as fast as I could. I wouldn’t be able to face Woroy if I let any of his men get executed.
Mao smiled at me and said, “In that case, I imagine you won’t allow them to march north with you either when you go to join Princess Eleora?”
“Of course not. No way they’re coming a
long.”
They’d bring nothing but trouble. Since they wouldn’t technically be under my command, I wouldn’t be able to stop them from looting nearby villages. And there was no doubt they’d do just that.
“Mao, find some way to stall the army behind me. We can’t openly antagonize them, but I really don’t want to meet with any of those nobles.”
“I knew you’d say that. Fortunately, I’ve started making preparations for this situation.”
Mao seemed oddly pleased by my request. I showed him the most recent letter Eleora had sent me.
“Eleora’s almost finished conquering Kinjarl Castle. She’s managed to develop a new magical tool to locate the underground aquifers the castle draws its water from, and block off their wells.”
She’d sent a sample along with her letter. It looked like a small blue jewel attached to a chain. She’d christened the jewel she’d shaped out of magic the “Dowsing Gem.” I offered the jewel to Mao, and he nodded appreciatively.
“Ahhh, so this is what she did with the jewels I ordered for her. It was quite difficult to procure the amount she wanted without anyone noticing.”
“You really can get anyone anything, huh.”
“I simply happen to have some familiarity with the ore trade since it’s so intricately linked with the salt trade. I also managed to make some connections with the mining guild here when I first arrived.”
Mao dangled the jewel from its chain and watched it sway. Back on earth, I’d seen people use similar methods to read fortunes. Apparently Eleora had made her mages use these to sniff out all the water reserves Kinjarl Castle used. Once she’d found them, she’d had her engineers block off the streams that supplied the aquifers, causing them to quickly run out. As a result, Kinjarl Castle currently had no means of procuring water outside of gathering snow.
“Kite can do something similar, but it’d probably take him years to find where all a castle’s wells led by himself.”
“Indeed, it would be difficult to replicate such a feat with Meraldia’s technology.”
Only Rolmund had the technology and the population needed to mass-produce tools like these on a practical scale. It was why the mage corps had been so successful here. Meanwhile, Meraldia just relied on a few highly talented mages to run its most vital systems. I needed to change how Meraldia treated magic, else we’d find ourselves falling behind technologically. Just as I was thinking that, Kite walked into the room with a tired look on his face. There was a stack of papers in his hands.
“I’ve finished inspecting everything. There’s nothing unusual to report.”
“Good work.”
While Kite’s epoch magic was extremely useful, the problem was there was no one who could take over his job if he was tired or needed a break.
“Kite, take the rest of the day off. I’ll have Parker and my werewolves take care of things from here. Go have some tea and relax.”
“You sure?”
I didn’t want to run the demon army like a Japanese company, after all. Mao, Kite, and I all shared a cup of roasted tea and discussed the new tool Eleora had developed. Kite took the jewel into his hands and stared intently at it.
“You know, this doesn’t actually react to water located underground. It searches for hollow cavities underground.”
“Oh, is that so?”
Mao suddenly looked very interested.
“True Dowsing Gems that find water aren’t very accurate and often give false positives. However, an enchanted stone that only reacts to empty cavities is much easier to make and far more accurate.”
I nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, though there’s not always a guarantee that a hollow underground cave has water in it. Still, this means Eleora’s version is a lot more versatile.”
Kite nodded back at me.
“Yeah. Back when I worked for the Senate I had to explore a lot of underground caverns. Plenty of shady businesses use them to hide their assets to avoid having to pay taxes on their earnings.”
Mao frowned. It seemed he was using exactly that method himself. Seeing Mao’s discomfort, Kite grinned and added, “You don’t have to use this just for looking for hollow cavities in mines or underground, either. You could use it to find hidden passages or secret staircases too.”
Mao’s frown grew deeper. You have those, too? That’s actually kinda cool. Since I wasn’t a tax collector, I didn’t have to worry about who was squirreling away funds where. There were more interesting uses for this tool on my mind.
“Doesn’t that mean you can use it to find secret passages leading in and out of castles?”
“Yeah, you probably could.”
Alright, we’re definitely making some of our own back in Meraldia.
“In that case, I should ask Eleora for a report on what she found with these. We might learn something important about Kinjarl Castle.”
While Eleora had been looking for aquifers, she must have stumbled across one or two empty caverns not containing water. She’d probably assumed they were water stores that had dried up, but it was possible they’d actually been secret passages.
“Oh yeah, Kite. You and Lacy don’t have to come to North Rolmund if you don’t want to. If you stay here I’ll have a trusted point of contact in Creech Castle too. Besides, you two have earned a break.”
“But I...”
I placed a hand on Kite’s shoulder and smiled at him.
“Fighting in foreign territory has left you more exhausted than you realize. Don’t push yourself too hard.”
Kite and Lacy weren’t soldiers. Seeing so much violence had probably put a larger emotional burden on them than they realized. Lacy might have experienced a few battles when she’d been pretending to be a saint, but not anywhere humans fought humans. Reluctantly, Kite nodded.
“Fine... I’ll admit I have been feeling a little under the weather recently. Sorry for worrying you, Veight.”
“Nah, this is my fault. I’ve been relying on you guys too much. I shouldn’t have brought you to the battlefield, no matter how useful you are.”
“But Veight, if we don’t come, won’t you be short-staffed? You won’t have any humans from Meraldia with you.”
I gave Kite a reassuring smile.
“What are you talking about. I’ve got one right here. Isn’t that right, Mao?”
“You want me to come!?”
Mao grimaced, but I pretended not to notice his reluctance.
“You’re used to seeing the horrors of war, aren’t you?”
“Actually, I dislike the sight of bloodshed...” Mao started to protest, but when he saw the expression on Kite’s face he trailed off with a sigh. “That being said, I suppose I’m more used to war than Kite. I agree that you shouldn’t bring him with you.”
No matter how well-behaved Eleora’s army was, the fact that they were at war meant we’d end up witnessing at least a few atrocities at Kinjarl. Furthermore, she didn’t have total authority over Prince Ashley’s troops that had gone with her. There was no telling what they’d gotten up to these past few weeks. It was entirely possible they’d started raping and pillaging. I definitely didn’t want Kite or Lacy to have to see such horrors. I patted Mao’s shoulder and grinned at him.
“Then it’s settled. I’ll be counting on you, my fellow scoundrel.”
Mao gave me an annoyed look, then turned away.
“Well...if you insist. I’ll assist you to the best of my meager ability.”
Good. It’ll be a relief to have you around. I quickly sorted out the situation in Creech Castle, then left for the north with Mao, my werewolves, and the two hundred cavalry Eleora had loaned me.
* * * *
—Airia’s Reply: 5—
Dear Veight,
I discussed your plans for Prince Woroy with the council. While we do not know what kind of person he is, we’re all in agreement that if you wish to save him, he’s someone worthy of our trust. Though a few of the councilors have misgivings about spari
ng someone who’s politically opposed to Lady Eleora, we have all decided to leave things to your judgment. Do as your heart dictates. We believe that no matter what you choose, you will still bring peace to Meraldia.
Personally speaking, I believe you are making the right choice, Veight. After all, it is only thanks to that “softness” of yours that I’m still alive today. I will never forget the panicked look on your face as you, a werewolf, hurriedly tried to stop me from foolishly taking my own life. I sincerely believe it is your kindness that will bring peace to this turbulent continent.
That aside, I’m deeply relieved to hear that you’ve won your battles and are no longer in any danger. All that remains now is for Lady Eleora to win her own battle at Kinjarl Castle. That castle is the Doneiks family’s stronghold, correct? I pray the castle falls swiftly, and that this civil war comes to an end. Both for Rolmund’s sake, and for yours.
* * * *
The northern edges of Rolmund looked exactly how I’d expected them to. While the villages and towns we passed were intact, many of the castles and forts on our route showed signs of recent fighting. Furthermore, a few stray buildings and fields had been razed. There were also large mounds where the dead had no doubt been recently buried. Parts of nearby forests had also been chopped down for emergency timber, and many bridges had been destroyed. It was hard to tell which army had done what.
“The damage doesn’t look as bad as I expected,” Mao muttered as he surveyed his surroundings. He seemed somewhat relieved. I nodded in agreement, and added, “Of course not all of the horrors of war are easily visible. I just hope Eleora’s army didn’t steal from or harm the villagers.”
Mao gazed intently at me, an odd smile on his face.
“You’re a strange man, you know that?”
“What makes you say that?”
“We’re in the middle of enemy territory. In my experience, soldiers tend to be happy when they see their enemy’s lands laid to waste.”
