Vol 3 Chapter 4 (2/2)

“You’re right.” Zaat nodded fervently. “Archduke Hergo, who a.s.sumes a position similar to adjutant, is already an old man. His adopted son, General Bouwen, is young and spirited, and rumours say he will inevitably marry Ax’s daughter, Esmena. But he is not so much that his name would sing tales through the wind. Hmmm. Only...”

“Only?”

“Ax’s strategist, Ravan Dol. He works as a dragon handler and is approaching his years, but I hear he’s considerably sharp minded. On the one occasion Taúlia was attacked by Mephius ten years ago and was on the verge of ruin, I’ve heard the one who issued an appeal to the other states at that time and provided them the strategy that drove away the Mephian army was Ravan Dol. Stories of his genius in taming dragons have also reached my ears.”

Ravan Dol.

It was common for the Western Tauran Provinces to, like Mephius, train dragons and employ them in battle. They weren’t brought along when Natokk performed the attack on Apta because it would hinder covert manoeuvring, but if their force had come from the front, then Ravan Dol’s personally trained dragon squadron would’ve likely appeared.

And, while going over this information from Zaj Haman with s.h.i.+que and Gowen, he elicited an unexpected response from an unexpected place.

Orba and the other two happened upon the dragoon training as they were talking, when the nearby Hou Ran who was checking the dragons’ condition spoke out.

“If it’s Ravan Dol then I know him,” she suddenly spoke.

“He was famous, even in the tribe I used to be in. A man said to be so great that he could make even a violent, wild dragon obey him in less than three days.”

Hou Ran was born of the western Mephian nomads. There was likely some Zerdian blood also mixed in. Orba was stricken at how he he hadn’t even considered asking Ran until now.

“He’s like a male Ran. Which of you is better?”

“Better or worse, I don’t know,” Ran said singingly. “Only, I’d like to see what those children are like by a man his calibre.”

Never dropping her smile, she was in unusually high spirits. At that moment, a dragoon fell sideways off his Tengo. His foot caught onto the stirrup, and Ran broke into a run towards them as the man continued to be dragged along by the dragon. With a stride that made it seem like she was walking on air, she went to the Tengo, whose mouth protruded outwards much like a bird, and touched the Tengo’s head, then moving to gently stroke its long neck. In the blink of an eye, the Tengo grew docile and stopped moving. The soldiers approached nervously and pulled out the dragoon’s foot.

“That little Ran.”

“What’s the matter, Gowen?”

“Looks like she’s burning with hostility.”

“That? It seems to me that she’s laughing though,” s.h.i.+que replied, surprised.

“I’ve finally understood it after being tied together as parent and daughter and living together,” Gowen said with a strangely bashful face that didn’t suit him. “That’s really an abundance of expressions. Or I should be saying that she never knew how to hide her emotions from the start. She only knows how to express them in a way that isn’t easy to understand.”

“Right...”

“Her eyes are honest. They never lie.”

“Rather the doting parent.”

s.h.i.+que said in a voice inaudible to Gowen, causing Orba to struggle to stifle his laugh.

However, s.h.i.+que completely changed the flow of the conversation, suddenly switching the brunt of it onto Orba.

“By the way, Orba, have you met with Princess Vileena recently?”

“What are you saying? More than recently, I spent breakfast at the table together with her just this morning. You were there too.”

“I’m not asking if you did as the crown prince Gil. I’m asking if you did as the gladiator, Orba.”

“......”

‘Is that even necessary?’ Orba seemed to ask silently. Strangely, s.h.i.+que rebuked him in an angry tone.

“You two share a relation where you once took hands and danced, right? Did you ever thank her for the medal you received at the gladiator tournament? But no, you haven’t even gone to greet her since Zaat’s rebellion. You should go see her now. It’s important to occasionally show your face as...o...b.. and give her the impression Orba and Gil aren’t one and the same.”

“Wait!”

Even as...o...b.. tried protesting, s.h.i.+que called over the page Dinn and told him to bring a change of clothes.

“Come on, go on, go on.” s.h.i.+que nudged him in the back. “The princess went to the airs.h.i.+p platform to watch the airs.h.i.+p squadron’s training not long ago. She should still be there. Go on, hurry now.”

In this way, Orba was pressured by s.h.i.+que and dressed into the guise of a gladiator, still unsatisfied.

It couldn’t be denied that he hadn’t really considered what s.h.i.+que pointed out. He also hadn’t given his thanks for the medal. If he had to say it, it felt awkward. That medal was the sign of friends.h.i.+p Vileena had given him.

Tch.

A former sword slave and a princess. The relative difference in status between the two went without saying. If a former sword slave continued ignoring a princess’ display of affection, it would foster unneeded suspicion.

s.h.i.+que you b.a.s.t.a.r.d, you planned this from the start, didn’t you.

With his face covered by an iron mask and his torso adorned in leather armour, he headed towards the place serving as the airs.h.i.+p platform. It was a location that led several meters higher than the highest parts of the Apta wall.

As...o...b.. walked there, his resentments towards s.h.i.+que quickly disappeared. The problems surrounding Orba, his difficulties, hadn’t decreased one bit. He gave so little weight to his own personal emotions that they were far off his list of priorities.

The matter with Noue Salzantes also held Orba in unease. It was currently a stopgap measure to buy him time, but it was a fact that he couldn’t keep hold it in place for long.

He didn’t need Gowen to tell him that he knew almost nothing about Noue.

But strangely enough, he held an odd sense of ‘trust’ towards him.

He’s a man who prioritises the welfare of his country first, even if he has to kill his own princess to do so. If he’s a man that resolute, then he should have no problem temporarily setting aside his own emotions.

When Orba found out Noue was trying to take advantage of even the princess’ life in the founding festival, he was furious. It was a fury that connected to Orba’s own past towards those selfish people in power.

At the same time, that very incident served as the founding basis of his ‘trust’ towards Noue. Orba hadn’t given it a single thought to the fact that these two conflicting emotions had the same cause.

On that note,

He had no definitive proof Noue would really accept his request. But by this point in time he had already set Ax aside and was thinking ‘ahead’. To achieve that end, it was imperative he have an open discussion with Noue Salzantes.

Part 3

Vileena Owell sat above a flight of stairs not far off the dock where the s.h.i.+ps moored. She watched the silhouettes of the airs.h.i.+ps revolving around the high sky. The airs.h.i.+p unit’s practice, that could even be called a hastily prepared one, was held day after day without break.

Oh?

Noticing the imperial guard approaching her, she smiled.

“I haven’t seen you lately. Were you in the middle of some secret mission on the prince’s orders again?”

“That, isn’t it.”

Orba, nervous over how he needed to create as many distinct personal differences as possible between himself and the prince, could do nothing but offer a curt response.

“It’s not something you can tell me. Pay it no mind.”

Vileena said, s.h.i.+fting her eyes back towards the sky. Her feet dangled, swinging back and forth, and her face was vacant.

She feels strangely different.

Her defenceless pose rattled Orba even more. It was his first seeing the princess make such a face. When facing the ‘prince’, Vileena would more or less shroud herself with an intensity that could cut. And now there wasn’t a single trace of that. If he had to say it, he saw in her not a ‘princess’, but a mere fourteen, fifteen year old girl.

Now seemed like a bad time to bring up the medal, so Orba wordlessly stood beside her and also stared up at the sky.

The wind blew.

“Ah.”

A fluttering leaf had tangled in Vileena’s hair. Vileena also realizing this, began to reach her hand to the back of her head.

“Pardon.”

With that single word, he gently removed the leaf from her hair. The ends held a softness that seemed to melt into his hands, and in spite of that, he could feel the smoothness from the strands. Surprised by the sensation, Orba scolded himself.

I’m acting like a little boy who’s never known a woman.

“Thank you.”

Again, Vileena smiled innocently. It was one so defenceless, that had she made that face to ‘Prince Gil’ from the beginning, she would’ve impressed on Orba, who wasn’t well informed about royals and n.o.bles, that she was a ‘childish princess ignorant of the way of the world’, and completely fooled him.

“...Is there something weighing on your mind?”

“Does it seem that way to you?”

“Um, you seem strangely absentminded. It might be a bit impolite of me, but…”

“Don’t worry. It’s as you say. There have been too many things to think about here, and right now, I find this time where I don’t have to think about any of them strangely comforting. Although it might only be me running away.”

“No, it isn’t.” Orba denied.

He felt he could also understand it. He was also like that, driven into a busyness day after day enough to make his eyes spin. He would forget himself and obsess over his work, but occasionally in that single hour within the day, he turned his eyes away from the things he needed to think about to clear away all the troublesome things crammed in his head. He sometimes found that moment pleasant as if he was floating on clouds.

“You think and think about it, but many of the answers won’t come out. Then it gets to the point where it feels like you hit the dead end of a pathless labyrinth, but you can’t summon yourself to discard it, in fear it might in fact be very important. And when you wake up from a nap refreshed and re-explore the labyrinth, you’re surprised to discover a secret path at an unexpected spot and laugh, thinking ‘Oh, was it really this easy?’”

“I can relate,” Vileena strongly nodded. “However, Orba. This labyrinth is more endless, grave, and deeper than any I’ve encountered. Perhaps you might be able to answer it.”

“Go ahead, please ask away.”

“Then ask I shall. Orba, who am I?”

“Hah?”

The masked gladiator unintentionally gave an unrefined response. Vileena looked at him with slightly narrowed eyes.

“I’ve been thinking about it this whole time. Even when Ax Bazgan’s attack happened, the prince foresaw that, all while keeping it from me. The only thing he did was station the imperial guard s.h.i.+que near me so I could safely get away. I was infuriated that time. In the end, I was another one of the ‘enemy’ the prince needed to deceive, and I was mortified to discover ‘what’ the prince saw me as.”

“......”

“However,” Vileena took a breath, “I myself am also unable to come to an answer. It’s as if within me, there are a crowd of other mes. Which one is real? Or are they all fake? I don’t understand even that. How am I, who cannot find a hold of my own ‘self’, supposed to make others trust me?”

Nii-san.

Thoughts of his brother pa.s.sed his mind that moment, of how more than six years ago in their home village, they soaked in the pale moonlight and talked under the starry sky. Vileena lowered her head.

“I’ve been driven by shameful thoughts. I believed I was someone who could be a brave, decisive, able soldier, or even general. Just as my respected grandfather was. And here, I can’t even grasp my own self. Before, you had supposed it a labyrinth, but in my case, just where is the exit in that labyrinth packed with them, or rather, there are too many that I don’t know which to choose from. I also don’t have a destination—”

“Everyone, is like that.”

“Everyone?”

Orba’s voice had shook a little.

“What is our real self? Isn’t everyone unsure of that answer? Or maybe they don’t know if there even is an answer, as they live their everyday lives. No matter what kind of person they are—royals and n.o.bles, slaves made to take up their sword and kill another person they’ve never met so they can live another day, philosophers, religionists, farmers, merchants—everyone grieves through their own situations; and not knowing what to do with themselves, they dream that there exists a true calling for them. Who are they? Who will they be? Those are as many and endless as the stars that fill the sky, and an inexhaustive worry that persists indefinitely.”

“—”

“I’m afraid to say that doesn’t change for Princess Vileena either, and even a person stained in blood like me.”

“I’m embarra.s.sed.”

“Eh?”

As if he’d been woken from a dream, Orba directed a startled look over at Vileena. Her chin rested on her hands crossed above her lap.

“I’ve been going on thinking as if I was the only one in the middle of distress. But now that you mention it, yes, that might actually be the case. Everyone has their own doubts and feels lost. It’s because those are there that people seek direction and desire a relations.h.i.+p where they can support one another. I feel as if you’re always the one who ends up teaching me things.”

“No, you shouldn’t take my words that seriously. You’re over exaggerating.”

“Are you claiming you just happened to say that?” Vileena raised her eyes and stared his way indignantly. “That can’t possibly be. It’s because, Orba, you’re also lost and hold doubts that you’re saying this. But now my feelings have cleared a little. Everyone’s like this. Yes, grandfather, Theresia, you, and Gil Mephius as well.”

Orba said nothing further back to her. The things he said to the princess were nothing more than a retelling of his brother Roan’s words. However, actually speaking those words now had brought forth unspoken emotions, grief, and a bit of guilt.

At this moment, the airs.h.i.+p unit’s flying ended and it prepared for landing. The first and second made a smooth landing, but the third s.h.i.+p hadn’t properly balanced the ether emission levels to match its changing speed and it’s wing grazed the ground surface.

“Pull the left lever and press the pedal!”

Orba raised such a startlingly loud voice that Vileena stood up.

The part of the s.h.i.+p the const.i.tuting the wyvern’s feet grinded against the floor and barely finished the landing without cras.h.i.+ng.

The princess embarra.s.sedly smiled.

“Keep this a secret from the prince.”

Saying this, she broke into a dash towards the airs.h.i.+p without waiting for his reply.

“Noue-sama.”

Roger, commander of the Bronze Knight’s second cavalry, ran up to Noue Salzantes along the garden’s stone pavings.

“How long do you plan to stay here? We are at a situation where we don’t know when our homeland will open hostilities with Ende. If we don’t strengthen our defences at the border—”

“I’m aware of that.”

Noue stopped his feet and faced to watch the servants pruning the garden trees. Roger mimicked after him.

“Even without Mephius’ aid, we shall have Ende and Arion withdraw by our, the knight’s, power alone.”

“That may be.”

Noue also did not underrate his army’s power. If they mounted a defensive, they should hold out for some time even against Arion to a certain extent. There were other powers who wouldn’t so readily accept Arion’s expansion all the way to the centre of the continent, and they had the option of issuing an appeal to the northern coastal nations and forming an allied coalition.

However...

Garbera hadn’t yet recovered from the wounds it suffered from the ten year war and Ryucown’s rebellion. If possible, he wanted to settle this predicament before Arion came, or more precisely, before Ende advanced its army. For that, Mephius’ cooperation was required at all costs. In which case, rather than Guhl Mephius who sought to get closer to Ende, Prince Gil was by far the better negotiating partner. However,

In a way, more so than Guhl Mephius, he is a man I cannot see.

Just as...o...b.. feared, Noue was presently troubled over how far he should trust ‘Gil Mephius’.

While a master of wiles, his actions feel strangely immature when he engages from the front, or rather, it’s impossible not to sense his inexperience. That portion also bears semblance to Ryucown, but strangely enough, other than his burning ideals, I can feel little of anything bordering patriotism.

This is a serious matter, one which hinges Garbera’s survival. There is no way I can entrust that to a man I cannot see. Now then, where shall I p.r.i.c.k him from?

Strictly speaking, Orba had caused Noue to become exceedingly cautious. It was in this situation that Orba’s inexperience in interacting with ruling aristocrats served as his weak point.

“Oh?”

Raising his glance up over the gardener’s backs, Noue looked up at the sky. In the direction of the airs.h.i.+p platforms to the fortress’ eastern edge, several airs.h.i.+ps were flying in formation. It was likely a part of training, but what caught Noue’s eye was the rider in front. From here it was no more than a small dot, but there was no mistaking that figure.

“That is…”

After Roger said this, he broke into a smile. ‘Same as always,’ the smile evidently expressed..

The pair headed in the direction of the platforms. As surmised, hopping off one of the returning s.h.i.+ps was Vileena Owell. No matter how many times they had seen it, her pilot suit accentuated the curves on her body; it was not something fitting for an exalted lady. Young ones like Roger tended to turn away in embarra.s.sment. But Noue wasn’t one to fuss over attire. Noticing them, Vileena waved her hand and approached them.

“Salzantes-dono. How long do you intend on staying in Apta?”

“There is something of an issue I must straighten out first...yes, I would say either tomorrow or the day after.”

“I see. It must be tough.”

The princess responded cheerfully, wiping the sweat off her cheeks.

“It seems no matter where you go you will always be fond of the sky, princess.”

“Aah. I asked the impossible and borrowed a s.h.i.+p. I only intended to go for a short spree, but the soldiers were so insistent I lend my hand in their teaching that I happily did it.”

The Mephian airs.h.i.+p pilots all collapsed onto the ground in total exhaustion. Vileena was skilled enough to go head to head against Garbera’s world-boasted, finely trained pilots. Keeping up with the princess had likely taken their all.

“The sky is wonderful. Even as the lands are divided into countless countries, the world is tied together by a single sky even as the lands are divided into countless countries.”

Oh my.

Noue looked up at the same sky as the princess, but let out a chuckle in his mind.

How sentimental.

“Speaking of which, Noue,” Vileena called his name and hushed her voice, “how are things faring with Ende?”

“Honestly, things are looking unfavourable. Our messengers have also been turned away at the gates.”

“What did Prince Gil have to say?”

“That as well was somewhat...”

Noue tried to jest.

“My apologies,” Vileena lowered her eyes. “That person is always like that. He shows no interest in the things that concern others, but is surely thinking of something. I’d like you to have faith in that.”

“I would like to. However…”

“Do not fret. Whenever I feel as if I’m about to exceed my patience and decide it’s time to give his bottom a good hard kick, he has always begun to move, as if those feelings have been transmitted to him. And once he does, he moves quickly.”

“Haha.”

Noue was taken with heartwarming thoughts. The reason went without saying. And simultaneously…

She’s already completely taken the stance of Mephius.

Words like ‘my apologies’ and ‘I’d like you to have faith in that’.

However, Noue did understand the princess herself was impatient and frustrated with the prince.

And while being so, she could do naught but speak to Noue, who belonged to ‘another country’, in that way. He had previously seen it as sentimental, but if she had maintained a composed att.i.tude while suppressing those emotions, then it was proof the princess had become an adult.

“If anything, I wouldn’t mind really giving him a kick on his bottom. I’ll drag him by the heels before you and have him talk with you.”

“N-no. There’s no need to have you do such a thing.”

As Noue Salzantes exchanged words with Princess Vileena who at some point decided to take things into her own hands, he felt his heart brighten, strangely enough.

Why not. If he can speak openly, I’ll also lay my feelings bare. It’s a fact that nothing will progress by thinking of where to p.r.i.c.k him from the get-go.

Orba was at this time watching Vileena and Noue’s exchange at a distance.

Even if he could not read all of Noue’s changing emotions on his face, he knew.

Tonight, he’ll be coming.

And so, he effortlessly turned his eyes back towards the young girl calling to the pilots dismounting from their s.h.i.+ps..

I never got to mention the medal—

That night, as predicted, Orba and Noue talked once more sitting face-to-face in the room at the top of the tower.

Noue no longer hid anything. His request was for Mephius to once forthrightly raise its flags in Garberan lands. After resigning himself to some degree of humiliation, that is.

“For that, allow me to finish all the necessary preparations on Garbera’s end.”

“I look forward to it,” Orba said pulling his chin.

The talks progressed exceptionally fast. Promising to send reinforcements to Garbera was a simple task, but this was on his own accord. He risked incurring the emperor’s anger, more so than Fedom’s.

In preparation, Orba had sent airs.h.i.+ps on standby as messengers to Solon to spread news of how a group of reinforcements led by Noue Salzantes helped defend Apta. He was expecting this as the perfect justification for his sending reinforcements to Garbera.

If the emperor shows any reluctance towards it, it’ll increasingly fan anti-emperor sentiments. Fedom isn’t one to sit still and watch as this happens. He’ll definitely find a good opportunity and cover for me.

Were that to cripple Mephius or push Mephius into insurrection was of no concern to Orba.

But, before that can take place...

“First, we’ll have to settle Ax Bazgan. All of the soldiers I can mobilise are here. Which stands that as long as he isn’t pinned down, I won’t be able to move for Garbera.”

“Yes.”

“Wouldn’t it be hard for him to come in if both Garbera and Mephius send him notice?”

“I wonder about that. I’ve tried investigating the west in my own way. The battles in the west have settled to a calm during this year, but it seems to be beginning to erupt into strife again. And to note, their methods of fighting are completely different from before.”

“That would mean...”

“I don’t know the specific details, but I also have news that a new power has risen in the west. This power has begun to exert its influence and subdued countless cities and nomads. They’ve set up camp in the temple ruins of the former Zer Tauran, and are even calling for an allegiance between the small states.”

Orba was amazed. What he had just heard was also in Zaj Haman’s information, but Noue had in his own clever way devised a network through which to investigate this.

A man I can’t let my guard down against. If I ease up after becoming friends, I feel like he’ll even find out the colour of my morning p.o.o.p.

Unintentionally, ludicrous thoughts filled his head.

“It’s likely for that reason that Ax is rushed for time. Zer Tauran is a country established by the Bazgan House. Naturally, if the west is to be united again, he believes that one of Bazgan descent is most appropriate to fill that role. And then for a man to appear and name himself king in the temple ruins that symbolises Zer Tauran...If I were Ax, I would need to find a way to display my might to the other city-states.”

“However, if he were to point his sword at the Zerdians as he’s done until now, the new power might join the other towns and eliminate him.”

“Yes.”

“That’s why he aimed for Apta Fortress right when the foolish prince became keeper, huh.”

Orba folded his arms.

“If we were to say it the other way around, we can’t expect much cooperation from the west with it now in disarray. This could even be a chance for me...but I can’t imagine Ax is someone who would give up so half-heartedly.”

“So this would in fact require that we make Ax swear us his allegiance through force. Moreover, when the time comes we let them know both Mephius and Garbera have arranged to deploy reinforcements to aid them against the new threat in the west...”

“Through force...”

Orba raised one of his brows. That would mean a full out war with Taúlia. It would take time to crush them, not to forget that tomorrow or the day after, Noue’s troops would be pulling out.

“Surely you must have already thought of that.”

Noue said testingly. No, he was in fact testing Prince Gil. Even for Noue, there were few strategies he could think of that would make Taúlia fall in a matter of days, and they each held their accompanying risks. Would Prince Gil satisfy his expectations? Namely, was this man such that he had something Noue himself didn’t?

Gil Mephius stayed still, his arms folded and him standing. His glance coincidentally fell on the map laid out on the table, seldomly blinking.

Noue would not break be the one to break this silence Orba created.

Now, Oh arrogant, inexperienced, Gil Mephius. Won’t you surprise me? Won’t you teach me the vastness of the world?

Noue was trembling in excitement, waiting, just waiting for Gil to open his mouth.

The night was still long. Before, the soldier’s clamouring voices downstairs could be heard from far away, but now Apta had fallen dead silent. They were likely on strict guard.

“No,”

Gil—Orba shook his head.

“I won’t decide now. For the time being, why don’t Noue-dono and I send a notice to Ax with both our signatures. I would appreciate if you could stay in Apta until the response comes.”

“I cannot stay long. I can at best put it off another three days.”

“I don’t mind.”

Gil bluntly replied.

Is he being cautious against me? Or could it be...

As Noue obliged, he felt doubt and disappointment dye his chest in turn.

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