Ch.322Chapter 322. Red-Eyed Dragon of the South (10)

* * *

At the very moment when the battle between the Rolland army and the Lunarian army was officially beginning, at the barracks of Tepelo Castle.

“Everyone! Don’t slack off in your training! Never forget that those Ohana bastards could launch a surprise attack at any time!”

Leading the soldiers in training from early morning was Tifa, the defense commander of Tepelo Castle and its temporary lord.

It was quite ceremonial for a castle lord to personally come to the barracks and conduct training, and naturally, she had one or two retainers by her side pointing out this situation.

“My lord. I believe it would be better to leave this to General Metz and attend to your administrative duties…”

Just like that, right now.

“You’re here again, Violet? I already told you. I hate sitting on the throne wrestling with paperwork because it’s no fun!”

“But that is the duty of a castle lord…”

“That’s why I handed the lord position over to you!”

“Without the sovereign’s approval, the position of castle lord is not something that can be casually passed around.”

“No… Luna will definitely listen to me! Do you know how long I’ve known her? Huh!”

Seeing Tifa’s stubborn attitude, Violet naturally let out a sigh.

It might have been a serious issue for a subordinate to dare sigh in front of a superior, but at least Tifa wasn’t the type to nitpick about such things.

“Huh? Now you’re even sighing? Are you looking down on me? Right?”

“…My lord. I thought I was being generous by considering you ‘a magnanimous person who overlooks such things,’ but do you want me to change that assessment as well?”

“You made me like this! Refusing to be the lord when I asked you to! Someone with a brain like yours would be much better at it than a blockhead like me!”

Without arguing further, Violet looked for the man who was supposed to be here.

“Where has General Metz gone?”

“I gave him the patrol squad. We don’t know where the Ohana people might come from.”

“Is there any news?”

“No, nothing. Those Ohana bastards haven’t moved an inch. I thought they would definitely move given the significant difference in military strength… How scared must they be to not even take one step outside the castle? Wouldn’t the right decision be to at least poke around a bit and assess the situation?”

“I’ve heard that Nabidos Ohana has an extremely cautious personality. Even when tensions rose with the Hesna army, he only reinforced troops and improved defenses. He doesn’t seem like the type to make the first move unless there’s a clear advantage to be gained.”

“Is that being extremely cautious? Isn’t he just a coward?”

“Pfft.”

Violet, who laughed involuntarily, quickly bowed her head.

“I apologize. I was disrespectful, my lord.”

“What’s with that now… Anyway, I was kind of looking forward to them attacking. It would have been a good opportunity to measure how many people my magic could cover, right?”

“Is your physical condition better now?”

“I haven’t used magic since fighting Karelia. I’ve been meditating regularly as old man Ginor suggested. I’ve come up with some ideas and want to test a few new spells, but I’m itching all over because I don’t want to waste them in case I need them in battle.”

With her incredibly toned abs for a woman, she certainly had an unmatched talent for looking “healthy.”

In battle, she was sometimes more beast than human.

“That’s quite the confidence. Well, you are the strongest general in our army, my lord… Even so, you shouldn’t be too careless. Surely you know that the stronger one is, the more important it is not to let your guard down?”

“What?”

Tifa looked at Violet with a dumbfounded expression, then burst into laughter loud enough to shake the barracks.

“What’s so funny? I thought we were having a serious conversation…”

“No, it’s just that I’m surprised someone like you, Violet, knows how to flatter. Even if you do that, I don’t have anything to give you.”

“It’s not flattery, I’m seriously stating my assessment of the situation. If it weren’t for you, we couldn’t have defeated Karelia.”

“I guess magic did help. But, do you really think I’m the strongest?”

“…Pardon?”

Violet only then realized that Tifa was looking at her with puzzled eyes.

“Do you think I’m the strongest in this country?”

“Aren’t… aren’t you?”

“No, no. There’s someone who could make mincemeat out of someone like me, so I don’t understand why you’d think that.”

“…What? Who would that be?”

A general more powerful than Tifa?

The answer that came was even more unbelievable than the question.

“There’s Luna.”

“Luna… you mean the sovereign???”

“Yes.”

Lady Luna is much stronger than Lady Tifa?

Of course, she always led from the front in battle and had even won the martial arts tournament held in the Karelia army… but the Karelia army lacked skilled martial generals to begin with, and crucially, Tifa, who resembled a beast in human form, hadn’t participated in that tournament because she found it bothersome.

“Well, now that I can use magic, we’re somewhat evenly matched, but in a straight fight, I could never beat Luna, not in a million years.”

Violet, unable to respond, carefully studied Tifa’s face.

…At least, she didn’t seem to be lying to tease her.

Tifa was the type of person who was transparent and not good at lying anyway – considering that she would have been able to detect any hint of mischief if this were just a joke…

‘Is she… telling the truth?’

“Hey. Even a smart one like you is making such a stupid expression. I’m learning all sorts of new sides to you today, aren’t I?”

“No, it’s just…”

Violet finally regained her composure and asked.

“Then why… hasn’t this become known until now?”

“Huh?”

“If Luna… if the sovereign is such a powerful general, why hasn’t that reputation spread until now?”

“That’s simple. Luna has a very tender heart.”

“Tender?”

“Yes. She hesitates when facing enemies. She worries that if she shows even a bit of her true self, her opponents would die instantly, and she wonders if that’s the right thing to do. I only know this because I asked her once, so it might not be completely accurate… but I’ve known Luna for a long time, so I can infer that her thinking flows in that direction.”

“She worried about such things…”

“So Luna, at least until recently, has never gone all out. Whether participating in martial arts tournaments or engaging in battle. She was always controlling her strength.”

Tifa placed her hand on the shoulder of the dazed Violet.

“Sounds unbelievable, right? But it’s true. And before coming here, Luna told me something.”

“What did she say?”

“She said she’s made up her mind. That she won’t hesitate anymore. She seemed to have been thinking a lot after killing Karelia.”

“So now people will know. Who has been crouching low, biding their time all this while.”

“…!!!”

Tifa spoke casually while looking at the soldiers training in the barracks.

“Chel Brans, Epinel Rosenkroz… all of them were able to make their names only because Luna didn’t reveal her true self.”

After muttering this, Tifa recalled another powerful figure – a face she could never forget.

The female general with the same red hair as herself, Irene Juliette.

Although she had survived thanks to Luna back then… now she was confident she wouldn’t be defeated so easily.

‘…That woman, I’ll deal with her myself, not Luna. Definitely.’

* * *

Everyone watching the one-on-one duel held their breath when they heard the sound of a weapon falling.

Not a single person realized what had happened.

“Uh… uh.”

It was a strange sound, too shameful to even be called a death rattle.

The kind of sound that might be made by someone who was half a corpse already, whose chain of thought had been severed before they could even formulate what to say.

Ting!

The first thing to fall was the weapon.

It was Seta Rolland’s pride, almost like an extension of himself that had been with him since the moment he became the commander of the 3rd Knight Order all the way to his position as the lord of the Rolland army.

Such an existence was discarded on the ground, broken in half, having lost its sharpness.

And then, next.

With a thud, what fell was—a head.

A human head.

They had exchanged only a single blow.

They hadn’t even traded swords back and forth several times. There was truly just one contact.

That’s why people couldn’t say anything.

Even though they saw with their own eyes that the head rolling on the ground was Rolland’s, their thought processes froze, unable to immediately comprehend what had happened.

“……”

Thump!

Only after the weapon fell, after the head fell, did the body that had been sitting in the saddle crash to the ground.

Luna slightly turned her head, directing those red glowing eyes toward the fallen Rolland—no, what used to be Rolland.

The Adina Sword in her hand was soaked with crimson blood, making it appear as if the blade itself was red to those who beheld it.

She, with her blood-colored eyes, briefly gazed at the blood-soaked blade without saying a word…

Then, as she raised that sword high with her hand—

—UOOOOOOOOOOOOHHH!!!!!!!!

She silently acknowledged the roaring cheers directed at the new hegemon of the era.

Anyone who witnessed this scene couldn’t help but think:

—The name that would define this era would be Lunarian Ineanne, not Serpina von Einhart.