Arc 7, Chapter 105 - 'Bastions in Chaos (Part Two)”

Arc 7, Chapter 105 - “Bastions in Chaos (Part Two)”

Pressing his fists to the ground, he stood up by overexerting his shaking knees.

The force of the heavy blows had reverberated to his very core, his internal organs, which seemed like they had been scrambled, bellowed.

Lacerations and bruises could be reliably healed by simply sucking up the power of the earth via the soles of his feet. However, the techniques used by his opponent, their nature unknown, would overcome any crude protection of the sort.

His attitude abhorrent, his character loathsome, his enemy was one of the strongest in the Empire.

His techniques, perfected through training that transcended human understanding, toyed with the foolhardy Garfiel around without relent.

However, lack of experience or age was no reason for him to cower.

Garfiel, who was incapable of anything dexterous, required victory, simple as that. Any other answer could not be chosen, and above all――,

Garfiel: [As if my amazin’ self could just keep on cowerin’ right next to ya.]

Gritting his teeth, Garfiel looked up and let out a guttural groan from his throat.

His gaze remained fixed directly towards his front, though his attention was set not on the one that was, without doubt, his enemy, but on the man standing beside him, his personal enemy.

???: [Oh dear. Your unrelenting spirit is a virtue, but isn’t it more reasonable in this situation to direct it at the old man over there, rather than at me?]

Garfiel: [That’s just “Kagricon puttin’ things aside”. You’re the one blabbin’ nonsense. Ya did it long before he did.]

???: [That was about a year and a half ago now... Excluding the things you’re already aware of, I do think that it’s not that unforgivable.]

Shrugging his thin shoulders, the man―― Roswaal responded curtly.

Without his makeup and clown costume in order to conceal his true identity, he retained the aura of a proper nobleman.

It was a masterful disguise that did not let show just how twisted he was at his core.

Without the advice of the detestable Roswaal, Garfiel’s life would have been in peril, that much was true.

And because Garfiel was aware of this, a feverish anger rose from the pit of his stomach.

On the other hand――,

???: [――I’m a tad confused ’bout ya sayin’ you’ve been in a fight with shinobi before.]

The one to muttered so was an old man of diminutive stature, who could easily have been mistaken for a dwarf.

Waving the sleeve of his right arm that was missing below the wrist, he donned an expression that made him look like a good-natured old man, yet it was completely unfathomable how terrifying this old man actually was.

Garfiel was painfully aware that it was also part of the shinobi’s techniques.

Everything about him, his gestures, words, actions, even his feeble appearance, were all tools to bring nothing but death to his opponents―― Shinobi utilized their entire being as a deadly weapon to finish off their targets.

The shinobi head honcho, the monstruous old man was staring at Garfiel and the other man―― or rather, he was staring just at Roswaal. He was not accusing him for rudely intruding into a one-on-one fight, but he was concerned about something else.

――Concerned that he had fought a shinobi before, and the boastfulness of that statement of his.

???: [The basic rule of fightin’ a shinobi’s ta lose yer life. In the case the shinobi’s killed during their attempt, the village’s notified, and the next one’s dispatched, and this happens ’til the other person dies. So, how are ya still alive?]

Roswaal: [It’s a little complicated in that regard. Apparently, the shinobi I encountered also had their own circumstances. I don’t know if that’s the right word, but they were runaways.]

???: [Runaway shinobi...]

Stroking his long white eyebrows with his fingers, Olbart whispered.

Even Garfiel had not comprehended the words Roswaal had uttered. The existence of shinobi was merely a slightly credible rumor to begin with, but even then their actual existence was dubious.

Naturally, no one knew the true situation. He had never even heard of the term “runaway shinobi” before.

Olbart: [Shinobi who’ve escaped from the village, that couldn’t have happened in quite a while now?]

However, instead of denying those words unfamiliar to Garfiel’s ears, Olbart was nothing but frank about their content.

It sounded as if he was aware of the situation concerning the village, those shinobi, as well as everything else; the statement probably was true. He grasped what was in his hands, not out of obligation, but as a way of life.

That was the secret for success in life, of the shinobi named Olbart Dunkelkenn――.

Roswaal: [I don’t know how long a while is for you, so it may be it may be more or less than a while. At any rate, I met those shinobi almost forty years ago.]

Olbart: [Huh?]

Roswaal answered with a shrug of his shoulders, to which the Vicious Old Man, Olbart, raised a voice of doubt.

A similar doubt emerged within Garfiel. Rather, it was more likely that everything Roswaal had stated thus far had just a casual utterance, hence he admired the nerve of the man.

Although he had never bothered to ask Roswaal’s age, he was at most around thirty-years-old―― he was unlike Emilia or Beatrice. He had not even been born forty years ago.

And with this ridiculous, spurrious trickery targetted at Olbart――,

Olbart: [――Shasuke and Raizo, right? Those are the runaway shinobi you’re talkin’ about.]

Roswaal: [Ho.]

Olbart: [They left the village forty or fifty years ago, and the only ones who’re still alive are their brothers. The others’ve been killed off, so there ain’t any other candidates.]

Garfiel dismissed that affair as a joke, yet Olbart played along even more tenaciously. Next to Garfiel staring in bewilderment, Roswaal batted one eye shut.

Looking back at Olbart with his eerie yellow eye, he spoke,

Roswaal: [Well, do I really have the obligation to answer whether you’re right or not?]

Olbart: [Nah. It’s also valid ta hold yer opponent in suspense when a fight ta kill’s on a knife’s edge... Ya might have talent as a shinobi.]

Roswaal: [I appreciate the compliment, but I decline. The talent I desire and the path I want to walk have been decided long before forty years ago.]

Olbart: [Kakakakka! I see, I see. ――Well then, it can’t be helped.]

Roswaal, shaking his head, ignored Olbart’s praise.

Olbart laughed without paying heed to that, and immediately afterwards his figure became hazy. In the blink of an eye, the distance between the two vanished. With a leap, the eerie old man’s foot was slammed on his target’s neck.

And that――,

Garfiel: [Hk!]

Feeling a gentle breeze on his neck, Garfiel held his breath.

A deadly shockwave scattered where the nape of his neck had been, barely scraping his skin. Olbart’s kick had been unleashed, only to be stopped just in time.

Roswaal: [Following the conversation just now, you aim not for me, but him.]

Olbart: [Diminish yer enemies. Easiest ones first. Pretty textbook, ain’t it?]

With strength and proficiency one would not expect from such a small stature, even Garfiel’s well-trained neck would not be able to take a direct hit from Olbart’s kick and remain unscathed.

What had stopped that reckless clash from becoming a reality was a distinctively shaped dagger cutting between Garfiel’s neck and Olbart’s kicking foot―― Rather than having blades, however, the weapon possessed parts to strike with.

Called a sai, it was an obscure weapon often employed in the western country of Kararagi, and even Garfiel was now seeing it for the first time. [1]

That, had just saved Garfiel’s life.

The owner of the sai was Roswaal, adding the humiliating fact that he had saved Garfiel for the second consecutive time.

Garfiel: [Ooooooh!]

The moment he was set ablaze by this humiliation, Garfiel’s right arm launched up, killing the wind.

Naturally, the target was the old man, who remained suspended in midair with his kicking leg as his pivot. Since he had no way to escape in midair, he would smash through his torso, thus render him unable to fight.

Olbart: [Whoa there.]

However, just before that powerful arm struck him, Olbart ducked with an unusually adroit movement of his body, leaping down and to the side, with only his toe hooked in Roswaal’s sai.

Evading the unleashed fist by diving under it, Olbart pulled out of range in a crawling position. Immediately, Garfiel stepped in for a follow-up――

Roswaal: [How about we calm down for a bit?]

Garfiel: [Gah!]

As he planned to rush in, his body was pulled backward at the waist, knocking off the wind of his sails.

Looking at it, Garfiel came to notice that Roswaal had hooked the tip of his sai onto the clothes at his waist. The former wondered what in the world Roswaal was trying to pull, but he figured out the man’s intent the moment he attempted to snap at him.

Because a rotating black blade grazed Garfiel’s nose as it came flying by.

Garfiel: [――Hk.]

Roswaal: [The moment you came apart, he threw a flying blade at your blind spot with his hands behind his back. Putting the spin on it is just a petty trick, but shinobi have a whole treasure trove of that. Not to mention, our opponent is at the top of their class.]

Olbart: [If ya think somethin’ so pompous as being on top of a small hill, people’ll point and laugh at’cha. Being at the top of the shinobi ain’t somethin’ ta brag ’bout.]

Unconcerned with his attack having missed, Olbart closed one eye and looked at them vigilantly.

Garfiel once again bit his teeth in humiliation at this exchange between the two, of which he had been left out of. Roswaal had saved his life not once, nor twice, but thrice already.

In the fight against Kafma, he had felt on his body that he had overcome one singular wall.

And in spite of that, he was incapable of doing a single thing against these people who were making a mockery of his fight with Kafma. This was a disgrace to Garfiel himself, and to Kafma who had lost to him, but――.

Roswaal: [――Garfiel, do not misjudge his type of strength.]

Garfiel: [Ahn...?]

Roswaal: [You’re strong. So, your opponent tries to avoid meeting you in your domain. Once you see through his wiles, most of the weakness you harbor should disappear.]

Roswaal pulled out another sai as he said this to Garfiel, who was clenching his fists.

With short-strike weapons in both hands, Roswaal was no longer the Head Magician of the Court that Garfiel knew, but rather he was attempting to maintain the appearance of a mere warrior.

There was a moment of confusion, but after a pause Garfiel understood his intention.

Roswaal had to abide by the restriction of not being able to use magic in this situation.

If Roswaal were to use magic, his true identity could be exposed. If that were to happen, this civil war within the Empire could unfold into a war between the Kingdom and the Empire.

Thus――,

Roswaal: [All I can do, is provide cover... You’re the key to this battle against this General First-Class of the Empire, Garfiel.]

Garfiel: [――――]

Roswaal: [It’s true that we have bad chemistry. You’re straightforward and honest, after all. That being the case, I’ll find a workaround for the deficiency that creates. So, I have...]

Everyone: [OHHHH――!!]

Then, with Subaru’s order, the Pleiades Battalion crashed right where Tanza had struck the first blow, with its full momentum.

It no longer was an attack by an individual member of the Battalion, but a blow from the individual living entity that was the Pleiades Battalion. An attack that even the walls of the Imperial Capital of Lupugana, boasted for their robustness, were unable to resist even briefly.

Subaru: [――――]

There was a thunderous roar, a terrific plume of dust enveloped them, and then, the ramparts were opened via brute force.

Seeing this overwhelming spectacle, Subaru performed a fist pump, while Beatrice in his arms opened her round eyes wide.

Beatrice: [For that wall to be so easily... That’s too absurd, I suppose...]

Tanza: [――That is the Pleiades Battalion.]

Descending from amidst the dust as to respond to Beatrice’s horrified mutter, came Tanza.

Dusting off her kimono, she was the sort of girl whose facial expression would barely ever stir; however, on this occasion, she seemed to be just a little proud of herself.

Even though she did not show much camaraderie, she had recognized herself as a member of the Pleiades Battalion. Otherwise, she would not have been affected by the “Power of Unity”.

However, Beatrice did not seem to like Tanza’s attitude.

Beatrice: [You have a impudent expression on your face, in fact...!]

Tanza: [Even if you call it impudent, this is the face I was born with.]

Beatrice: [Facial expressions are different, I suppose! They can be changed, in fact.]

Louis: [Uhh! Ahh, uhh!]

Looking down at the clearly aloof Tanza, Beatrice, who was on horseback, had her face flush. Then, as if taking Beatrice’s side, Louis, who had been clinging to Subaru’s back, also began to make a fuss.

To the frenzied girls, Subaru raised his voice with a “Waitwait, calm down!”, before continuing,

Subaru: [Don’t fight! We’re a team! Comrades! A Unit!]

Beatrice: [Younit...?]

Tanza: [Understood, Schwartz-sama.]

Beatrice: [Grrrrr, I suppose.]

Beatrice cocked her head in confusion at the unfamiliar echo, whereas Tanza bowed, as it was a familiar one.

Knowledge of the Gladiator Island was the difference between those reactions, but Subaru’s lips curved as the atmosphere seemed to become more and more like a spark for Beatrice’s anger.

However, rather than Subaru moving to mediate there――,

???: [Damn you, prepare yourselves――!]

Subaru: [Eh?]

A lone Imperial Soldier, creeping up amidst the dust created by the collapsed walls, raised his sword, training it on Subaru riding atop horseback.

Even if it was hard to believe, to this enemy soldier before them it was clear that Subaru was the leader of this group. It was the way of the Empire to not underestimate children, even if they did not know any better.

Therefore, the soldier’s sword veered not from its aim, and was driven into Subaru――,

Louis: [Uau!]

In an instant, the force hugging Subaru from behind became stronger, and his vision changed in a flash.

What had occurred was plain and simple, in the blink of an eye, the Galewind Horse had moved―― No, it had teleported away from the spot it had been standing just before.

Idra: [W-what...? Uurf...]

The sudden teleportation caused Idra, the holder of the reins, to swoon, involuntarily coming to vomit, his internal organs upset. Subaru also felt like his body remembered this sensation, that of the unusual power Louis at his back possessed.

Then――,

Beatrice: [Shamak.]

Imperial Soldier: [Wha-!? Ku... Guah!?]

With a brief chant from Beatrice the Imperial Soldier was covered by a cloud, and a fluid kick from Tanza swept the legs of the stunned Imperial Soldier in splendid fashion, knocking them down onto the ground, lost of consciousness.

After this momentary display of teamwork, the two who achieved it exchanged glances from on and off the horse,

Tanza: [Excellent work.]

Beatrice: [You too, your moves weren’t bad, in fact.]

Thus, the tense atmosphere that had prevailed earlier completely changed, as they acknowledged each other.

Subaru: [Well, it’s good to see you little girls warming up to each other... By the way, Louis! Don’t do that so suddenly, you’ve turned Idra’s stomach inside out! Even though it helped a lot!]

Louis: [Ahhh, uh!]

Subaru: [Hmmm, good answer! Idra, take a deep breath! This is the first time that happens but maybe not the last.]

Idra: [I-I’ll try my best...]

With the power of Louis’s teleport, at least one unforeseen accident had been averted.

If push came to shove, Subaru would not hesitate to make use of it, no matter how much Idra would be about to throw up.

Subaru: [Not like I could handle two or three in a row to begin with... Gustav-san! Hiain! Weitz!]

At the call of the reinvigorated Subaru, the faces in front of the collapsed wall looked back at him. One-by-one, they looked into the eyes of that familiar face with a firm gaze.

Subaru: [I’m counting on all of you!]

Gustav: [I will, in my capacity, fulfill my duties. You ought to do likewise.]

Weitz: [Let’s get it! Time for the triumphant return of the Pleiades Battalion in its full and imposing force!]

Hiain: [Schwartz, we’ll defend this place to the last... Go take that throne...!]

Gustav’s group headed off to another battlefield, Weitz’s group stopped to defend the collapsed walls; and as Subaru left his dependable men to their respective posts, he poked Idra in the chest with the back of his head.

As he got headbutted, Idra looked like he was holding Subaru in his arms as he rode the Galewind Horse,

Idra: [Well, we got in. Looks like we’re the first ones.]

Laughing bravely, Idra rode the Galewind Horse over the wreckage of the city walls and into the inner city. While swaying to and fro’ on the same horse, Subaru also entered the Imperial Capital of Lupugana.

The cityscape of the Imperial Capital hidden within the high walls could not be seen in its entirety from the outside, but it was a methodical, orderly, and disciplined arrangement of buildings.

Subaru: [The city’s representative must be a nervous wreck to build it like this.]

If the person in question had been listening, they might have argued how impossible it was for them to be responsible for adding on to a city that was built hundreds of years ago.

So, having stated this one-sided impression, the Pleiades Battalion surged into the Imperial Capital.

Their goal was――,

Beatrice: [Subaru! What should we do, I suppose!?]

Tanza: [Schwartz-sama, what shall we do?]

Louis: [Uau! Au, aa, uhh!?]

Subaru: [Of course, it’s obvious! Head straight to the Crystal Palace of the Imperial Capital! Let’s rub this warm welcome straight into the pompous face of His Excellency the Emperor!]

Subaru, having been asked this question by all the girls at once, responded to them collectively.

Beatrice, Tanza, and even Louis all nodded in reply to Subaru’s answer, but only Idra, who was forced to be close to all of them, muttered quietly,

Idra: [On battlefield with four children in tow... I guess I didn’t have the talent of a warrior after all.]

Indeed, that was a fitting thought for a miller.

△▼△▼△▼△

――And, concurrent with the Pleiades Battalion led by Natsuki Subaru breaching the city walls, being the first to finally enter the Imperial Capital of Lupugana.

???: [Surely, I had not expected you to be so dogged.]

Groups of rebels were ensieging the Imperial Capital in their plans to overthrow the very foundations of the Empire―― And the fixed destination for all of them, expending their lives for the sake of reaching it, was the Crystal Palace.

The throne room was located in the most elevated, most prestigious room in the castle. With the national banner of a wolf pierced by swords hoisted on the wall behind it, and a blood-red carpet laid out before it, present there was the throne upon which all the authority of this Empire was concentrated; and upon it, the Emperor sat.

Young, intelligent, and as ruthlessly beautiful as a finely sharpened blade, the Emperor did not change his complexion even as the masses came flocking in, their swords pointed at his throat.

Despite what he himself had stated, the situation nevertheless surpassed his expectations.

Even though――,

???: [Out of the countless threads you have laid out, up to which layer were you referring by that?]

???: [――――]

As this was the throne room, those words were too irreverent to be uttered to the Emperor who was seated on his throne.

However, there was neither a loyal retainer to condemn that insolent man, nor were there any soldiers to behead him, and the room echoed with the sound of the intruder’s presumptuous footsteps on the carpet.

There was also another inscrutable thing, within the vacant throne room.

Supposing others were present in the room, they would have frowned upon this fact. ――Or perhaps, they could not even have frowned.

Because in order to recognize that fact, one would need to have sufficient reason to break through the cognitive block.

A gift had once been presented to an ancient Emperor, by a tribe he had shared a friendship with.

A mask that took after the Oni Clan, a clan created for the sake of killing the most terrifying existences in the world, making those gazing upon it to avert their eyes in fear of what laid on the other side of the mask.

Therefore, it was not easy to recognize that the tone of voice of the person wearing the oni mask was exactly the same as that of the Emperor.

And so, a presence had made its appeared before the Emperor Vincent Vollachia, bearing the same tone of voice as the Emperor, striding proudly and fearlessly through the throne room as if it were his own.

That presence was――,

Vincent: [Unsurprisingly, you are emotionless to the very core. ――Even when you look up from below at the throne you were ousted from like this.]

Alas, it was the triumphant return of the rightful Emperor, who’d had no recourse but to abandon his throne before.

Notes:

[1] The sai is a traditional weapon from Japan used for both stabbing and striking foes, with the shape of a sharp metal talon with two shorter prongs to the sides.