Ch.121Chapter 121. The Capital City of Einhart (3)

“Ah… Lady Irene!”

“You’re using this room…?”

“Oh, yes! This is my room, and I heard a new person was coming today… So that new person was you, Lady Irene?”

And so the reunion with Silin continued.

“Um… Do you know each other…?”

“Ah yes. When I was in the Brans army, we briefly worked together.”

“Hello. I’m Silin.”

“H-hi… I’m, um, R-Reika…”

“So you’re Lady Reika. Did you join as a civil official, Lady Reika?”

“N-no… I, I, um, that…”

As she stumbled over her words in front of a new person again, Irene stepped in and explained the general situation.

“So, Lady Reika isn’t exactly a soldier of our army… but she’s been specially permitted by Lady Serpina to stay here as part of Lady Irene’s company?”

“That’s one way to put it.”

“I see…! That’s impressive. Of course, our lord is certainly someone who would extend such kindness.”

The lord Silin was referring to now was, naturally, Serpina rather than Lynn.

Irene couldn’t help but ask about that part.

“So… it’s a bit awkward for me to ask you directly.”

Irene cleared her throat a few times before speaking again.

“How did you end up here, in Serpina’s army?”

“Ah…”

Silin sighed briefly, then asked if it was alright to have some tea before naturally joining them at the table.

Only after taking a sip did she begin her story.

“Really, really a lot happened.”

The sound of the teacup landing on the table with a soft tap.

The white noise of Reika hurriedly wiping up the slightly spilled tea blended into the conversation.

“Lady Irene. I’ll tell you frankly now… I understand why you betrayed Lynn.”

Silin spoke with intensity in her eyes.

“Anyone could see that Lynn Brans was the one who first drove you into a corner, right?”

“Hmm.”

She didn’t deny it. It was the truth, after all.

Since it was in the past, she didn’t dwell on it unnecessarily. She no longer wanted to be dragged along like before.

“After the decision was made to abandon Lady Irene at the fortress, there was a lot of talk among the retreating soldiers. If they would treat an excellent general like Irene Juliette so poorly, then ordinary people like us who hadn’t distinguished ourselves would be even more disposable. Still, we had nowhere else to go… so we just stayed. Some ambitious ones resigned, but people like me and Jack who just cared about making a living remained and did what we were told. Our loyalty was at rock bottom, though.”

They were people too.

No matter how much they disliked a general, they couldn’t help but notice when their lord pushed one of their commanders into a death trap.

Rumors could be suppressed and hidden, but it remained in the minds of the commanders who had received the order to ‘return’ from that place.

“But still! I heard the news! They say you stopped something like a stone falling from the sky?!”

“Well… Swen suffered more than I did.”

“That’s right! It was Lord Swen! That handsome man who was with you!”

Silin said with sparkling eyes.

“He was really incredibly handsome, and I wanted to get to know him better then. But our connection didn’t continue in the end.”

“…”

“Come to think of it, what happened to Lord Swen? Didn’t he follow you?”

“…Yes. That’s right. He’s still here.”

“What? You mean…?”

“Yes. Currently, Swen is also part of Serpina’s army here.”

“My goodness.”

Silin put a hand to her face in disbelief.

“So we meet again like this? How amazing!”

“…”

The more Irene listened to Silin’s expressions, tone, and voice, the more she felt some strange, unfamiliar feeling—

But not knowing how to explain this feeling, she simply sipped her tea quietly.

“I should visit him when I have time.”

Irene said, quickly cutting off the conversation.

“Anyway, Silin. How did you end up here?”

“Me? Well… After that day, I was assigned to Lismain Castle.”

“Lismain Castle, the one near Kelstein…?”

“Yes. It’s a very small castle. Things got noisy at Anel Castle after you left, so the reassignment itself wasn’t bad… But as you know, after Kelstein Castle fell, we were overwhelmed by Serpina’s army. I heard they lost their troops due to some issue with the Aeshus army… but detailed circumstances don’t reach the ears of a low-ranking person like me.”

After saying that, she took another sip of tea.

“Um… h-here…”

“Ah, thank you.”

She munched on the snack Reika handed her.

“As soon as we were conquered, we surrendered immediately. After seeing Lynn abandon you, I had no attachment left to the Brans army.”

“I see.”

Though she had merely been pushed out and saved by Swen—

Nevertheless, there were people whose hearts had been moved by that sight.

Ironically, that fact itself was providing a kind of comfort to the current Irene.

“What about Jack? How is he doing?”

“I lost contact with Jack after we were assigned to different places. Actually, we weren’t that close, just workplace colleagues. He wasn’t a decent man like Lord Swen.”

“…”

She almost blurted out that she didn’t understand why Swen kept coming up in the conversation, but managed to swallow her words.

Irene was gradually realizing that she had become particularly sensitive about the subject of Swen lately.

“Right. May I ask one question too?”

“Hmm.”

“Lady Irene, you had gone over to the Aeshus army, right? How did you end up here?”

“…”

She pondered briefly how to explain.

But there was no need to tell Silin everything straightforwardly.

“Well, there were various circumstances. As you know, these are chaotic times.”

“True, I never imagined I’d end up serving Serpina the tyrant either.”

Silin said that, then smiled slightly.

“But it seems fine.”

“Fine?”

“Lady Serpina, I mean. I think she’s a lord worth serving. There’s an excitement here that I never felt while under Lynn.”

The conversation that followed was mainly about what role Serpina played here and how she was treated by the territory’s people.

The information wasn’t particularly new. Serpina wasn’t committing the tyranny she was rumored to.

She only showed a cold side when rebels rose up; otherwise, she was stably leading internal affairs based strictly on rewarding good and punishing evil.

When internal affairs are stable, the economy flourishes, and when the economy flourishes, it leads to the loyalty of the people. Nothing was more important than solving the problem of livelihood.

“So, I’m thinking of putting down roots here.”

“Putting down roots, you say.”

“Yes. Looking at the situation on the continent, it seems our lord is the only one who will become the unifying monarch. Brans has fallen, and the other countries aren’t much of a threat.”

‘…’

Could Serpina… become the unifying monarch?

But hadn’t Swen, of all people, affirmed it?

“I serve the only person who can conquer this continent and become the unifying monarch.”

“Oh? The only person? Who might that be?”

“Perhaps Lady Irene knows her too. Didn’t you meet her directly a few months ago?”

Lunarian Ineanne.

Swen had asserted that she, with her ruby eyes more vibrant than anyone else’s, would be the one to become the unifying monarch.

Having spent quite some time with him, Irene knew. Even if his claims seemed incomprehensible at first, in the end, Swen’s words always proved correct.

Though she hadn’t reappeared on the stage of history yet…

Could she really defeat Serpina, who genuinely had the support of her people?

‘…It doesn’t matter.’

Whatever happened didn’t matter.

The person Irene ultimately served wasn’t Lunarian, was it?

‘My life belongs to that man.’

If Swen told her to serve, she would simply draw her sword and protect whoever was his lord.

Irene no longer wavered.

As long as a man like Swen existed by her side, she could be a stronger knight than anyone.

* * *

‘So this is Einhart Royal Castle.’

Should it be called the capital castle of the former empire?

The magnificent and classical decorations and statues possessed something that overwhelmed viewers.

The style seemed somewhat more modern at Anel Castle… but the sense of classical elegance, of looking impressive, was definitely superior here at Einhart Castle.

It gave people entering a much stronger feeling that they had come to ‘a very important place.’

After being assigned to the dormitory, I received Serpina’s first summons.

She called me with the single reason of ‘wanting to hear my opinion’… It was something that had never happened with the lords I had served until now, so I felt slightly nervous.

‘Well, she’s probably just gathering officials to have some questions and answers.’

With that casual thought, I entered the audience chamber Serpina had designated.

“…!”

“You’ve come, Swen,”

Serpina, sitting in a chair with her legs crossed and gazing forward with a bored look, greeted me.

Today, she wasn’t wearing the imperial officer’s uniform I had first seen her in.

She was dressed in a very enchanting dress befitting a queen.

A somewhat provocative dress with exposed shoulders, but not at all vulgar or cheap-looking.

The platinum-colored hair ornament shining brilliantly served as a unique accent point for her otherwise golden appearance.

…Beautiful.

Beyond the lord-vassal relationship, I had to admit that as a man, I was swayed by her appearance.

And on either side of her… about five warriors stood facing each other with a red carpet between them.

All were unfamiliar faces, but the brown-haired woman standing next to the throne looked familiar.

The national strategist of Serpina’s army who appears first when starting the game as Serpina’s faction, explaining the basic controls.

‘Jenna.’

As I recalled that name, that moment flashed before my eyes again.

* * *

[Serpina’s Army Strategist / Jenna]

[My lord, you must not fall for sweet talk]

* * *

Because of Jenna’s advice, Serpina had imprisoned me.

How could I forget that time?

She wasn’t an exceptionally outstanding commander, but she was one of the few reliable civil officials when starting as Serpina.

Seeing her in person was different from viewing her pixelated image.

She only seemed relatively plain because she stood next to Serpina, who embodied beauty, but she had quite a decent appearance.

As I was about to kneel after scanning their faces:

“Keep the greetings brief and informal.”

“…Swen, greeting my lord.”

After bowing slightly as she wished, I took my place opposite the only person without someone facing them.

“Good. Now everyone is here.”

I had certainly left on time, but I was the last to arrive.

As I was thinking that perhaps I should leave earlier next time—

“Then, let us hold the twenty-eighth opinion proposal meeting of this year.”

…What?

Opinion proposal meeting is one thing, but the twenty-eighth?

Roughly counting the current date, we’re still only in the first half of the year?

In other words, this wasn’t a regular meeting like those held in countries I’d served before, but just a small gathering…

Was Serpina’s army preparing this thoroughly for battle?

Unlike me, who was slightly shocked, everyone gathered here was listening to Serpina’s voice with calm expressions.

Some couldn’t hide their excitement, as if this was an honor.

Is being called here to give opinions… something joyful to them?

“Now.”

Serpina extended her white hand toward us.

The golden ornaments falling from her smooth skin, extending to the sleeves near her armpits, gave a very seductive impression.

“How should our army proceed from here? If you have any opinions you’d like to share, please speak freely as always.”