CH 209

End of ambition

Translated by SoundDestiny

Edited by SoundDestiny

“Haasu, haasu, haasu, haasu…”

After fleeing from Angelica’s deadly blade, Rewir rode his horse frantically northwards. Angry shouts and screams rang out as he passed through, each one sending shivers down Rewir’s spine.

Fortunately, there were few enemy soldiers to the north. Apparently, the raiding party led by Angelica had launched a surprise attack from the south. 

“Yes,……run away. Survive. ……! I cannot die in a place like this. I am not the right person to die…..!”

Strangely, an out-of-place exuberance fills Rewir’s brain as his spirit is shaken by intense fear. Is he escaping reality by being mesmerised by madness, or does he believe that he is a special human being, even in these circumstances?

“Don’t heroes always have setbacks?…… Great men of history are the ones who have experienced the greatest defeats. …..Yes, I won’t end up like this. I’ll bounce back soon and show you how it’s done……!”

Mumbling deliriously, Rewir continues on riding while increasing his speed. It gets darker as he gets further away from the burning positions of his army. Now, he solely relies on the moonlight to keep him going along the road.

To him, all of it was worth it. Gradually the screams coming from the surrounding area began to move away. The muscles in his face, which had been tightened in fear and elation.

“How’s that, I survived! I am special after all!　I’m a survivor, a God’s chosen…..”

“Hih—een!”

(sound of a horse?)

“A human…Guuah!?”

Still riding along the road at night Rewir’s horse suddenly fell over. Of course, he too, is also thrown to the ground.

Rolling on his back onto the dirt, Rewir screams in agony from the pain.

“Ggh…ugh….what the hell happened…..!”

“You’re definitely Count Irudo Rewir, right?”

“Hie!?”

A quiet voice calls his name and Rewir tries to raise his body from the ground. However, he was unable to stand up properly and ended up face first into the dirt on the ground.

“Ouch…..!”

Finally, Rewir  realises.

He must have broken a bone when he fell off his horse earlier. His left arm too was bent in a strange direction. He did not feel the pain earlier because he was in a state of extreme excitement that he had escaped from death.

“Owh,owh,owh…!!?”

“Yareyeare…..It’s just a broken bone, isn’t it? Besides, you’re about to die.”

“You’re……!”

Rewir looked up and saw a boy of about twelve or three years old standing.

Soft blonde hair. A neutrally shaped face looks down at him with a dumbfounded expression.

“Don’t tell me you’re …… Sven Arbeil!”

“Aa, you recognize me?, under such circumstances.”

The boy – Sven – affirms the scream-like voice of Rewir without seeming to hide it. A dozen soldiers lined up around Sven, armed with bows and swords.

“I had put it up thinking that if you were going to run away, it would be in this direction, and……I was right. I recognised you right away because you rode all the way on your horse and raised your voice.”

“Guu..!?”

A soldier under Sven grabs both of Rewir’s arms and restrains him. Rewir lets out a cry of anguish as his broken arm is grabbed mercilessly.

“I heard you were a sharp man, ……but apparently you were in such a hurry that you couldn’t make a calm decision. If you had not ridden a horse and had run away amongst the militia, you might not have been found so easily. Well, that plan won’t even matter since I was going to catch every well-dressed person I could find.”

“…horse!!”

Rewir looked closely at the horse he was riding, which had collapsed a short distance away. The chestnut horse had a bow and arrow stuck in its body, which must have caused it to fall over.

“I-I knew it!　It’s his fault, he suggested horses to me, that’s why I got caught!”

“Haa…..?”

“I’m not in the wrong!　I should have always made the right choice!　We are supposed to be acting theoretically based on knowledge, but we fail because the commoners are dragging me down!”

“…………”

“Yes, …… we couldn’t have lost. If I had better men, better adjutants and braver soldiers, I wouldn’t have been cornered by these brats…….! It’s not my fault, my strategy should have been right……!”

“What an…… idiot. Honestly.”

“Wha……!?”

Rewir opens and closes his mouth, cracking up at Sven, who seems to be taken aback. Sven tells the man, who seems to have lost even his words in anger, in  a plain tone.

“It’s normal that your men and soldiers don’t do what you want them to do. Because they are human beings. They’re not pawns in a board game.”

“………”

It’s not uncommon for an ally to run off on a merit, or to run away in fear of the enemy……That’s about as common as it gets, isn’t it? And moreover, you recruited commoners as volunteer soldiers and counted them among your forces, didn’t you?　You should have taken into account the possibility that militias with no experience of being on the battlefield might not be able to take full operational action. To put it bluntly, you are inexperienced. ‘You are’.”

“-wh-wha-wha-what!”

Being lectured by a child twenty years younger than himself, Rewir’s face turns red, forgetting the situation. He tries to yell out in a fit of wild emotion, but is restrained to the ground by the soldier.

“Gah!?”

“Now….. you will now take responsibility as the ringleader of the rebellion. Normally we would have publicly executed you, but we don’t have time for that now. I’ll make a quick end here, won’t I?”

“D-did you say you’ll kill me !? This me …!?”

“Are you trying to beg for your life?　You’re a traitor, you know.”

Finally, Sven becomes fed up as he can no longer understand the thought process of the man in front of him.

Meanwhile, the same was true for Rewir, who was delirious.

There is no way he can fail to be excellent. He has never failed and he must continue to do so. That’s the way it should be. It should be an absolute rule for Rewir’s world.

And yet, ……it was going to end easily and without any drama. Rewir cannot accept this fact.

“W-wait! I am ……!”

“Yes, then….excuse me!”

“…..!”

Sven did not hesitate to thrust his sword into Rewir, which was being held by the soldiers.

The boy pushes the tip of the sword into the Rewir’s neck with his full weight, piercing Rewir’s throat in one stroke.

“I am a military strategist and prime minister. Usually, I’m under logistics, but when I stand in the frontline, I’m determined to get my hands as dirty as possible. That is the duty of one who orders soldiers to avenge their enemies.”

“…………”

“I can’t let my overprotective sister …… Angelica gets her hands dirty alone. Apparently, I’m quite a Sis-con myself.”

Sven mischievously told Rewir, who jerked and twitched repeatedly.