Ch.373Chapter 373. A Very Important Story

“…..”

As Tifa silently led the boy out of the room, Luna began to sob loudly while tightly embracing the flag.

“Hic, uhhh… huuuuh…!!”

Luna’s tears fell onto the palace floor where Swen had once been bound.

Indeed.

Indeed, he didn’t abandon us after all.

Swen didn’t abandon our Lunarian army.

This flag is the proof.

The fact that he treasured it so dearly, isn’t that evidence enough!

How devastating must it have been to remain alone in the castle, sold off to the Brans army.

How desperate must he have felt, shouldering everything alone.

The one who protected my life, this country. The person I’m grateful to—

“Swen… I miss you…”

She wanted to meet him even in her dreams, but couldn’t.

The only way to recall Swen was through faded memories of the time they spent together.

Yet Luna could still vividly remember everything.

The days they spent together. Even the moment when she danced while holding his hand… all of it.

Luna continued sobbing for a long time, clutching the flag to her chest.

Until this moment? She had lost so much—

—Yet because she could at least hold this trace of him in her arms.

Luna could find hope to live on.

She could find courage to move forward.

The reason she hadn’t hesitated to stain her hands with blood until now was all to meet Swen again…

For that, she could do anything. She didn’t care if everyone pointed fingers at her.

And so, for a long time, by engraving his name deep in her heart, again and again and again…

Once more.

She resolved not to hesitate to stain her hands with blood.

With that, the fate of the unified lord that shone brightly in her grasp became even clearer.

* * *

“Mmm.”

I stretched lightly.

How many days had passed since I started spending time lying in a hospital bed every day?

Finally, the burning pain that seemed to consume my insides had subsided, and I decided to discharge myself, judging that I could return to normal life like before.

Of course, I still did what needed to be done while in the hospital. Giving advice when needed, things like that.

Most of it was advice on internal affairs, so it wasn’t particularly important—but still, being able to learn some quite important facts was a significant gain.

All in all, it was a fairly good time. Probably to the extent that I won’t have days to rest this thoroughly anymore.

“Thank you for your hard work, Counselor.”

“Not at all. I’m grateful for your care. Well then.”

After saying goodbye to the doctors who had taken care of me for an incredibly long period, I stepped out of the hospital doors—

“S-Swen!”

Reika was waiting for me, holding a huge bouquet of flowers.

“Reika. How are you feeling? Are you better now?”

“Yes, yes…! I was discharged last week…! I still can’t use magic freely yet… but if I gather mana for a few more days, I think I’ll be able to handle normal duties again. Oh, but here…!”

“Thank you.”

After receiving the bouquet filled with pure white flowers, I gently stroked her head.

Reika didn’t reject my touch and moved a little closer to me.

…A sweet scent that could only be found in cake strongly stimulated my nose.

Reika had actually been hospitalized with me until quite recently.

Due to using too much mana during the battle at Einhart Castle and in the process of healing me, she was apparently in an even more critical condition than I was.

Although she could naturally recover since she was someone who could handle mana… I heard that there were moments when she spent nearly three days unconscious.

“What did you do for the past week?”

“Thanks to Serpina’s consideration… I spent time reading books in the library.”

“And the mansion?”

“Everyone is worried about you. Oh, right. A letter came from Irene…!”

Only after exchanging idle chat with the smiling Reika did I feel a sense of stability, as if I had finally returned to where I belonged.

Yes. What I wanted to protect was this scenery. This moment.

Her smiling at me, talking about what happened today and the things she likes…

I didn’t regret my actions because I had successfully protected Reika’s life. If faced with the same situation, I would have repeated the same actions.

This peace that I had barely managed to regain—

* * *

—Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to just fool around.

In the royal audience chamber.

“Welcome, Swen. Has your body recovered somewhat?”

I bowed my head in response to Serpina’s words.

“Yes. I’ve improved greatly thanks to your concern.”

“I see.”

“First, although I’ve heard some of it already… I’d like to discuss the war situation.”

“Before that.”

“…?”

Serpina slowly rose from her throne and approached me.

“Swen, I would like to discuss something important with you.”

“Something important, you say?”

“Yes. Very important. It’s about the matter of succession.”

“…”

If I had been drinking water, this would have been the moment to spit it out, but fortunately, I didn’t have any water in my mouth.

“Wouldn’t it be strategically beneficial to produce an heir as soon as possible?”

“…Your joke goes too far.”

“You seem to think I am joking.”

Serpina looked at me with a flushed face, then let out a “kuhuhu” laugh.

“Tell me whenever you’re ready, Swen. I am prepared. Honestly, I don’t know much about men’s pleasures due to lack of experience… but still, I’m confident I can make at least you thoroughly enjoy the pleasures of a woman’s body.”

“…I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”

“How cold, Swen. Do you say the same to Irene as well?”

“Ah, Irene is—”

Before I could say anything.

Serpina brought her index finger close to my lips.

…A strong scent of yuzu wafted from her finger.

“Just.”

“…”

“I wanted to say that I’m glad you returned safely. But… somehow, saying such things… isn’t it embarrassing?”

I was about to mention that the advances she just made were probably a hundred times more embarrassing, but her expression was so serious that I refrained.

“Look kindly upon me, Swen. Back then… you boldly declared that you loved me. With that shameless face… moving those lips of yours.”

The gap between her maintaining a dignified expression until just a moment ago and suddenly showing such a girlish side was incredibly… remarkable in many ways.

“I wasn’t particularly planning to nitpick. And because I love you, I always want to be serious. For me, my relationship with my lord is never something trivial.”

“…You really never back down, do you? Well, that’s… what makes you lovable.”

It was a bit embarrassing.

But if I thought of it as her own way of expressing welcome, it was honestly quite cute in its own way.

After Jenna died, she had been in such an unstable state that anything could have happened… it was fortunate that she had regained her spirits like this.

“Very well. Then, shall we discuss what you were about to bring up?”

Serpina slowly removed her hand from my lips and walked toward the table with a map.

I followed behind her and took an appropriate seat.

“The Lunarian army has succeeded in capturing about 1/3 of the Brans army’s territory.”

“I heard they lost the battle near the border… so it seems the Brans army has completely withdrawn their troops?”

“Precisely. I heard the Brans army has essentially abandoned their remaining territory to concentrate their forces at Anel Castle.”

“Well, from the Brans army’s perspective, that’s the most efficient approach. If they can’t stop the Lunarian army individually, trying to protect the territory would likely just waste soldiers. And since the Lunarian army’s mages can’t use long-range magic, there’s relatively less burden for them to hold out in a siege.”

“Are the Lunarian army’s mages different from Reika?”

“Yes.”

To be precise, only Tifa was like that.

It wasn’t completely impossible for her to use long-range magic, but she couldn’t produce the tremendous explosive power like Reika could.

If she could use magic like Reika, she would have earned the title of the continent’s greatest mage, and as an all-rounder capable of close combat at that.

“Well, I thought as much from the news I’ve been hearing… but if you of all people say so, it must be true.”

“…”

She now knew that my lord was Lady Luna.

She probably meant it in that sense.

“And, as you probably already know… the Hesna army has collapsed. They’re still breathing, but to a meaningless extent.”

“Yes. I heard that after the Ohana army surrendered, they didn’t declare it.”

“A frightening deception. If there had been many lords, it might have been a disadvantageous decision… but in the current situation, it could be called the optimal choice.”

Lady Luna was serious about this too.

It would be ridiculous to blame her for it. In fact, it was thanks to her making such a decision that we were able to advance into the central continent so quickly.

“How is the situation at Einhart Castle?”

“The same. We’re facing difficulties due to an absolute shortage of internal affairs officers.”

The Al Kaski rebellion had dealt a decisive blow, reducing the number of generals serving in Serpina’s army by two-thirds.

There were far too few armed officers to manage this large territory.

At this point, I brought up the plan I had thought of in the hospital room.

“So I was wondering… what if we put out recruitment notices from our side?”