Volume 9 - Chapter 4 – Side Story 8: Lithia’s Struggle (1/2)
09-04 Side Story 8: Lithia’s Struggle
Content warning: war, death
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Lithia Fahlheit was a new noble of Cline Kingdom.
Her father, Nicholas Fahlheit, was granted the title of Ritter due to his meritous deeds in battle. As Lithia herself also achieved much as a knight apprentice she was allowed to call herself Ritter in public.
Although it couldn’t be denied that the most important reason was that Cline Kingdom, which Lithia was affiliated with, suffered from a chronic lack of talented personnel.
In the continent’s history on the 17th of January in the year 3457, the adjacent Frantz Kingdom suddenly violated Cline Kingdom’s border.
Frantz Kingdom was something like a vassal state of Celuroa Kingdom, and even now they kept crossing the border and stepping on Cline Kingdom’s toes.
Frantz Kingdom and Cline Kingdom were countries of roughly the same scale, but Frantz Kingdom relied on the national power of Celuroa Kingdom which was behind them, and like this kept committing small skirmishes every few years.
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In Cline Kingdom’s capital, Alban.
“Lithia Fahlheit, reporting.”
Lithia had been summoned by the head of the chivalric order of the country.
“Mh-hm. Lithia Fahlheit, a battle with Frantz Kingdom has broken out at the western border. You are to head with relief knight troops to Storsk.”
“Yes, sir!”
In addition to Lithia, 10 new Ritters were admitted into the relief knight team arranged to head towards the battle.
The reason Lithia was chosen was that she could use healing magic. Most of the other teams also had a user of healing magic.
After merely three days of training Lithia became one of the 25 members of the relief knight team and headed towards Storsk.
To save time, they trained while marching and it as severe enough to make three people desert, but Lithia who had a natural sense of responsibility stuck it out to the end.
As they had been marching while training, the journey to Strosk took two days. The training was for a total of five days.
Right now, the war front was at a deadlock. Cline Kingdom’s military strength defended well and had stopped Frantz Kingdom’s military. On the contrary, they were slowly being forced back.
Once Lithia’s group arrived at Strosk the relief knight team immediately started working.
“Water please!”
“Healing magic needed over here, please!”
“Splint it, quickly!”
Strosk was right behind the battlefield. Stationed there was the country’s third knight battalion of 300 knights. The wounded soldiers were carried here in large numbers.
The battalion also had a specialist relief team, but by no means were they enough for a battlefield, so as soon as the relief knight team arrived they became very busy.
“[Cure].”
“[Recover].”
The result of her great efforts during training was that Lithia became able to use healing magic up to the intermediate level spells.
“Fahlheit, over here too, please!”
“Got it! I’ll be there in a moment!”
And as a result, she went around without time to rest in the relief tent.
“Ahh…”
During her brief rest time, Lithia had gone outside the tent and was looking up at the night sky.
Her body and soul were both tired, but she was fulfilled.
“The things I can do…It’s got to be healing after all, right?”
Once, while transporting wheat at the outskirts of Kaina Village, Jin had said to her,
‘Isn’t it fine to live for the things you can do?’
Since then, Lithia had kept asking herself what were the things she could do.
‘As a Ritter I’ll protect everyone!’
That was the line she had said back then. That wasn’t a lie, she thought. Despite saying it in the spur of the moment, or rather precisely because of that she thought those words were the truth as far as she was concerned.
“Protecting, and healing. Those are the…things I can do, right?”
The moon shone in the night sky she was looking at, just like in the sky back then she had gazed at it together with Jin.
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The next morning, the war front moved.
Frantz Kingdom got reinforcements and pushed Cline Kingdom’s military back.
“Fahlheit, you retreat while accompanying the people who’ve got minor wounds!”