episode_0309

“What?”

“The Aishus Army is here. The war has already been decided. We… … can never defeat them.”

“What are you talking about?! No, why did you go on a surprise attack in the first place?”

“Sorry. I don’t have time to explain this from start to finish. I’ll just tell you the obvious. … … No, you were right. ”

“Uh… … ?”

“I’m saying that the fact that Yuuri’s prayers seemed to reach the heavens was likely all a fabrication of Serpina.”

“… … !!!”

Anima was embarrassed. She couldn’t help but be embarrassed.

Because my close friend, who had returned out of nowhere, was bringing up a story that I had wanted to hear a long time ago, something that I had buried for a while.

If the situation allowed, I would have liked to have talked in detail, but Epinel’s expression was too serious and grave for that to happen.

Anima swallowed all the questions that were about to pour out, and prioritized the questions that absolutely had to be asked.

“What is the basis for this?”

Epinel handed over a map without saying a word.

The map detailed the things Anima had laid out before her surprise attack – the strange formations of Serpina’s soldiers, the regularly spaced intervals between them.

“This is… … .”

“The Serpina Army has been acting incomprehensibly. Considering what has happened so far, I judged it to be to prevent our army, led by Swen, from continuing to push the front line by communicating with the sky. Otherwise, they would have been wasting supplies and repeatedly sorties and retreating, and now they are confidently leading a large force and invading. ”

“But I don’t think so. I think their goal was to make me, us, think that way. Nothing has happened up to this moment, right? If we continue like this, we’ll just perish. At least in this situation, we can’t avoid it.”

Anima, who had heard the story, asked with a very serious expression.

“Then, the soldiers who went on a surprise attack now… … ?”

“It’ll be sorted out soon. How can we win when we have more than twice as many troops? If we had prepared properly, we could have fought back and inflicted some damage. But we were surprised when we attempted a surprise attack, so we can’t do anything in the confusion. We’ll probably lose miserably.”

“You… … knew all that and came here alone?”

“Because I have work to do.”

“… … !!!”

“It’s okay. This life is not precious. I didn’t escape alone to protect my life. Do you know what I’m trying to say?”

Anima was quick-witted. Naturally, she didn’t have much trouble understanding the context of the story so far.

“No. When everyone else was turning away from the truth, only you continued to push through the truth. Even though I still don’t agree with the idea of forming an alliance with Serpina, at least you should stay by Yuuri’s side rather than me so that there can be a little hope.”

“That’s-”

“I’m not saying that we should have made peace like you said. If I knew everything and went back to that moment, my decision wouldn’t have changed. I would have just fought for my life. If I had fought for my life from the beginning, I wouldn’t have gone this far. That’s not the case now. If I were foolishly played around like this and killed… … It’s not polite to my comrades who left first.”

“… … .”

“Don’t worry about running away. I’ll take responsibility. After all, I was the one who didn’t listen to you. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Anima didn’t say anything. No, it would be closer to the truth to say that she couldn’t.

Did you understand what I said? I understood everything. Epinel was saying, ‘Take Yuuri and run away.’ Along with the words that the Ashes Army would be finished.

The words were so simple.

“You… … .”

-You’re going to die right now.

You mean to say that you will risk your life to stop Serpina from here instead of us?

Before the words could even escape his lips, Epinel placed both hands on Anima’s shoulders. The damp blood flowing from his hands flowed down Anima’s shoulders.

“This is not a sacrifice. This is. I am not doing this to unilaterally save you, but because this is the most reasonable decision from our military’s standpoint. For the sake of our comrades who died first, Yuuri must not fall yet.… … Please. No. There is no time for this. We must quickly go and get Yuuri. ”

Yeah, Yuuri.

Anima thought of Yuuri, who was still absorbed in praying.

I lost Hernando. When I was sick and in a state of confusion, my companion Emma left me. And now I’m losing Epinel too?

Perhaps Anima herself could overcome it. She was a more calm person than expected.

In the first place, she was the only one of the five who could expand her thoughts to ‘temporarily forming an alliance with Serpina’. In terms of losing an arm, she was the biggest victim among the members, but even so, she was a person who could prioritize moving forward rather than being tied down by the past.

But what about Yuuri? A man who has never been able to get over the fact that he has lost two of his comrades… …and who realizes that his own poor judgment has also caused Epinel to leave?

It will definitely collapse.

Her childhood friend, our leader, she of the noblest blood – was not a very strong person.

Epinel closed his eyes and said.

“Sorry. No. This is both a request and an order. I have full authority. ”

“Epinel… … .”

“Of course, I know very well that there is no force to order in this situation. Even so, I will go get Yuuri right now. Even if you don’t listen to me until the end, there’s nothing I can do about it… … But still, I would like you to listen to my request in the end.”

After saying that, Epinel took his hand off my shoulder and started walking away with a stomping pace.

Now it was time to decide. No, in fact, I may have already made up my mind.

More than that… …there was just one last thing I had to ask.

“Epinel, wait a minute! I’ll do as you say, but I have one question.”

“… … Hurry up.”

“Why did Serpina end up wasting supplies and committing such a self-imposed act?”

“The Serpina Army’s purpose is… … to weaken our military’s national power. It’s a weak reason, but honestly, at this point, such reasons and such aren’t that important, right?”

no.

It was clear that the amount of supplies lost by the Serpina Army while carrying out their self-directed play was much greater than the extent to which our military’s national power had declined.

It wasn’t for nothing that she couldn’t respond to Epinel’s argument. From Serpina’s perspective, the most efficient way would have been to just advance the troops directly toward our army. But it would have collapsed anyway. Everyone would have died.

If they did that, there must have been a reason for doing it.

And if there was a reason, it seemed inevitable that Commander Epinel would have played a big role.

“You! What was your purpose?!”

“… … What?”

“What is your purpose? Your determination to fight to the end! Did you just throw away your life? Or was there some purpose? Like trying to cut off Serpina’s head… … something like that!”

“… … ??”

“This is my last question.”

Epinel made an expression as if to ask why he was suddenly asking such a thing, but-

Epinel, too, knew that Anima was not the type of person to waste time on such an important moment with meaningless questions.

“Tried to kill the wizard.”

“What… … ?”

“The wizard of Serpina Army. I was going to kill him. Even if it meant risking my life. I thought it was okay if I died in the process as long as I could kill the wizard. If that was the goal, then I guess it could be done.”

Then, he turned his head again and walked towards where Yuuri was.

‘You tried to kill the wizard… …?’

As soon as I heard that, something started to come to mind, but-

Now was not the time to be leisurely.

Anima followed Epinel, her head blank for a moment.

* * *

“… … !!”

Yuuri, who was praying to Emma and Hernando, was surprised to see that it was Epinel who opened the door and came in, and asked a question.

“Epinel… … ? What’s going on? Is the siege over?”

“… … .”

“We won, right? You stupid Serpina bitch. Emma and Hernando, our Aishus will never lose. No matter how many troops you bring, those two will protect us. I’ll make you pay the price for not knowing that simple fact. ”

Even after that, Yuuri continued to babble on and on, but he approached her without saying anything in response.

“Want to pray together? Yes. I’ll be happy if you tell our colleagues that we were able to block it well today.”

“Okay, this way――!!!!”

“Sorry.”

-puck!

Epinel lightly knocked Yuuri unconscious.

A subject who uses force to stun his monarch. Normally, this would be punishable by death, but they had no time right now.

Epinel said this while carrying the unconscious Yuuri in his arms and putting him in the carriage that Anima had prepared.

“Zeta Castle is no good. Lakline Castle is even more dangerous. Hide in the outskirts of the territory as much as possible. If possible, the Branse territory or the southern part of the continent will be safe. Stay out of the world for at least half a year. Got it?”

“… … Okay.”

“No.”

Epinel spoke to Anima, smiling only then.

“Thank you for leading a bad teacher this far.”

“… … !!!”

“Okay.”

Before Anima could say anything, Epinel quickly left the place.

If I sit here and cry, I know that I’m really wasting Epinel’s life.

Anima, shedding just one tear… …spoke to the soldier.

“Please depart.”

“Ouch!”

Just before Serpina’s army rushes in.

In a split second, Yuuri and Anima were able to successfully escape the capital city of Valhalla.

* * *

After eliminating the surprise attacking force, capturing the castle of Balharat was arguably the easiest battle I’ve ever fought.

A force more than twice as large, an enemy force that had lost its will to fight in proportion to the high morale of our own forces, our soldiers who were properly fed and paid, and the enemy soldiers who were not properly fed and did not receive their pay on time.

It was such a great victory that it was hard to believe that the Aesir Army had collapsed so absurdly.

――Waaa …

At the same time as I advanced toward the castle of Balharat, I mobilized about 20,000 soldiers to the front lines and advanced toward the castles of Zeta and Rakline.

According to intelligence, almost all of the troops were gathered at the castle of Balharat, so there was no need to worry about that. It would probably be easy to take it over.

‘So this is how it ends.’

As I looked out from the hill towards the burning castle of Valharat in the distance, I remembered the time when I had naturalized into the Aesir army together with Irene.

“We won, Swen.”

Next to me, the woman who was to become my master spoke to me.

“My lord.”

“So this is the ‘most efficient’ way?”

“Yes, it will be. No, it is.”

“I see.”

Serpina didn’t ask me any further questions.

On the surface, it may seem like a losing business, with our military losing more through useless actions.

My predictions are never wrong. If we had started a war without any prior preparation, we would have definitely suffered a serious blow.

I don’t know what it was, but… … maybe I lost someone very important?

at that time.

“My lord!”

From a distance, Irian and Airen were approaching on horseback.

As soon as they arrived, they got off their horses, gave a brief bow, and then spoke with a very serious expression.

“… … I have something to report.”