In the end, Rion succumbed to the King’s pressure and begun working on a plan to cause Merica the greatest possible damage. Not only was he told that the task would be given to others if he continued to refuse, but, and that was possibly the biggest threat, he himself would be sent to the front lines too.
While Rion didn’t lack the confidence to fight, he didn’t want to be caught up in a half-baked strategy of someone stupid enough to confidently declare he can do what the King wants.
From there on, things progressed fast. After all, Rion had, in the past, been considering exactly the strategy that the monarch desired and only rejected it in favor of a simpler, purely defensive, plan once he concluded it was overly difficult to pull off.
Rion dusted off and presented those old designs, outlined the risks they carried and the resources they required. The King accepted without objections and, like so, the first stage of preparing the strategy was concluded.
Which meant Rion had nothing to do at the moment. The Crown was busy assembling what he had said was required and the invasion was not expected to happen just yet giving more than enough time to prepare.
His current greatest problem was the fact that he was going to be involved in the practical application of the plan, and was given the commanding position on top of that.
Of course, opposition to that state of things was great. However, no one wanted to lead the defense by himself in his stead. The situation turned out exactly as Sol had described it before – nobody but Rion could possibly execute the strategies Rion came up with.
Therefore, everyone protesting his appointment advocated a change of strategy too. But, to Rion’s great disappointment, no credible alternative plan surfaced yet.
「Well then, let’s start.」
「Whenever you’re ready, lord.」
「…Here I go!」
While all that politics was rumbling in the background, Rion was using the free time to train himself by having mock duels against Kiel. Something that was only possible in the capital those days.
He opened the duel by immediately lunging at the opponent. The older man attempted to avoid through footwork, but Rion had no intention of letting the clan head slip away and matched his moves.
Rion’s blade arced high, but the blow was blocked.
「…Impressive.」
Even so, Kiel was terribly surprised. Even considering they hadn’t sparred for a long time, Rion showed remarkable improvement. In the past, when serious, Kiel would be able to avoid every attack without having to use his blade.
「I improved a little, didn’t I?」
「How did you achieve so much?」
「I studied the footwork thoroughly. That is where all the secrets of the clan styles lie. I tried to find the common points and discard everything else with the assumption that will let me gain all the merits in one, new, style..」
「You really are…」
「Too early to be surprised. The real thing starts here.」
「Oh? I shall accompany you with my full skill in that case.」
「Here I go!」
And again, Rion closed the distance between them. The movement was neither very fast, nor very unique, but it surprised Kiel. It was both sudden and very natural, though, and, for the master of the Blau style sword, it was plainly an amazing feat.
What Rion did by eliminating all the inefficiency from his approach was, in essence, a secret technique of his clan’s school. A thing only a very select few managed to achieve in their lifetime.
And he was on the verge of reaching those heights by self-study, a truly outrageous talent.
But even so, Kiel still had no intentions of losing. The clan head had trained for much longer to reach this point, he still had the advantage in experience.
The fight went on for quite a while, but, eventually, Rion could keep up no more and his stance crumbled. Kiel was not a fighter to let such an opening go and smashed the flat of his blade into the defenseless youth’s side.
「Guaah!」
The pain was too much for Rion to bear and he fell onto his knees.
「Not today. I cannot afford to lose yet.」
「…Hurts. Ah, it’s been so long since I’ve felt this.」
Despite losing, Rion smiled. It wasn’t that the defeat didn’t frustrate him, the happiness that Kiel still remained a wall to overcome was simply stronger.
「Hearing you say this, have you been winning against Mercury?」
「I haven’t reached that stage yet, but neither can he make me show this kind of an opening.」
「Is that so? I guess I must have him work harder. After all, he is the next head of Clan Blue.」
「He is working hard as is. His pursuits simply take him in a different direction.」
「Different direction?」
「By now, he is probably better than you in small-scale cavalry tactics. If he manages to increase the numbers he can effectively command, I believe he’ll become an excellent leader. He had already shown himself to be superior to a royal guard of your generation.」
Since his win against Sol, Mercury had been more inclined to commanding cavalry and had set his mind on mastering that. He had been that happy to be praised by Rion back then.
「…Interesting. So he took the path of a commander rather than that of a soldier.」
「That would be assuming too much for now. I think it’s safer to say he’s trying to learn many different things and leading cavalry is just what absorbs him the most for now.」
「Even if that’s true, he should just pursue what fascinates him.」
「I don’t disagree. Just bear in mind that is only possible because he has enough time to pursue his interests.」
「That…」
Kiel understood the meaning behind Rion’s words instantly. It made the old man unbearably happy and pained at the same time that he was so well understood by his lord despite such a long separation.
「Bandeaux still needs your generation. And it will need it even more from now on.」
「…We are not capable of governing.」
「That doesn’t stop you from offering support. For now, there’s a certain momentum in a favorable direction, but that won’t last. Contrary to what you may expect, if the restoration of the territory succeeds and things get better, various new kinds of discontent will emerge. The young ones will not be able to handle that.」
The problems of the citizens of Bandeaux in the past had been prosaic – no money, no jobs, nothing to eat. But now that there was work, the people had an income and didn’t go around hungry, it would be wrong to think that the dissatisfaction would disappear. Humans were inherently greedy, once they achieved something, they would seek more. Their desires would just become more diverse. With that in mind, Rion was certain it was impossible to resolve the discontent with providing simple necessities.
「I believe it will be fine as long as you’re with them, lord.」
Kiel was aware of that Rion’s strength was making others follow.
「…If that’s what you think, then not doing anything is fine too. There’s no need for you to be of any use so do not die. Return to Bandeaux alive. That’s my wish.」
「Milord…」
Rion, having realized it would be impossible to convince them with logic, straightforwardly expressed his feelings instead. This was the first time for Kiel.
「Do not think I separate people according to whether I can use them or not. I dislike everyone equally by nature. Not by choice, mind you, I was just raised that way.」
While Rion was speaking with clear embarrassment in his voice, Kiel’s feelings gushed forth confronted with the youth’s sweet side not many got to witness.
「…Yes. I am aware that… That Lord Rion… Loves people themselves.」
Someone who tried to trust people even though he hated them. Someone who wanted to trust people, feared being betrayed, but not wanting to hate them even
In the end, Rion succumbed to the King’s pressure and begun working on a plan to cause Merica the greatest possible damage. Not only was he told that the task would be given to others if he continued to refuse, but, and that was possibly the biggest threat, he himself would be sent to the front lines too.
While Rion didn’t lack the confidence to fight, he didn’t want to be caught up in a half-baked strategy of someone stupid enough to confidently declare he can do what the King wants.
From there on, things progressed fast. After all, Rion had, in the past, been considering exactly the strategy that the monarch desired and only rejected it in favor of a simpler, purely defensive, plan once he concluded it was overly difficult to pull off.
Rion dusted off and presented those old designs, outlined the risks they carried and the resources they required. The King accepted without objections and, like so, the first stage of preparing the strategy was concluded.
Which meant Rion had nothing to do at the moment. The Crown was busy assembling what he had said was required and the invasion was not expected to happen just yet giving more than enough time to prepare.
His current greatest problem was the fact that he was going to be involved in the practical application of the plan, and was given the commanding position on top of that.
Of course, opposition to that state of things was great. However, no one wanted to lead the defense by himself in his stead. The situation turned out exactly as Sol had described it before – nobody but Rion could possibly execute the strategies Rion came up with.
Therefore, everyone protesting his appointment advocated a change of strategy too. But, to Rion’s great disappointment, no credible alternative plan surfaced yet.
「Well then, let’s start.」
「Whenever you’re ready, lord.」
「…Here I go!」
While all that politics was rumbling in the background, Rion was using the free time to train himself by having mock duels against Kiel. Something that was only possible in the capital those days.
He opened the duel by immediately lunging at the opponent. The older man attempted to avoid through footwork, but Rion had no intention of letting the clan head slip away and matched his moves.
Rion’s blade arced high, but the blow was blocked.
「…Impressive.」
Even so, Kiel was terribly surprised. Even considering they hadn’t sparred for a long time, Rion showed remarkable improvement. In the past, when serious, Kiel would be able to avoid every attack without having to use his blade.
「I improved a little, didn’t I?」
「How did you achieve so much?」
「I studied the footwork thoroughly. That is where all the secrets of the clan styles lie. I tried to find the common points and discard everything else with the assumption that will let me gain all the merits in one, new, style..」
「You really are…」
「Too early to be surprised. The real thing starts here.」
「Oh? I shall accompany you with my full skill in that case.」
「Here I go!」
And again, Rion closed the distance between them. The movement was neither very fast, nor very unique, but it surprised Kiel. It was both sudden and very natural, though, and, for the master of the Blau style sword, it was plainly an amazing feat.
What Rion did by eliminating all the inefficiency from his approach was, in essence, a secret technique of his clan’s school. A thing only a very select few managed to achieve in their lifetime.
And he was on the verge of reaching those heights by self-study, a truly outrageous talent.
But even so, Kiel still had no intentions of losing. The clan head had trained for much longer to reach this point, he still had the advantage in experience.
The fight went on for quite a while, but, eventually, Rion could keep up no more and his stance crumbled. Kiel was not a fighter to let such an opening go and smashed the flat of his blade into the defenseless youth’s side.
「Guaah!」
The pain was too much for Rion to bear and he fell onto his knees.
「Not today. I cannot afford to lose yet.」
「…Hurts. Ah, it’s been so long since I’ve felt this.」
Despite losing, Rion smiled. It wasn’t that the defeat didn’t frustrate him, the happiness that Kiel still remained a wall to overcome was simply stronger.
「Hearing you say this, have you been winning against Mercury?」
「I haven’t reached that stage yet, but neither can he make me show this kind of an opening.」
「Is that so? I guess I must have him work harder. After all, he is the next head of Clan Blue.」
「He is working hard as is. His pursuits simply take him in a different direction.」
「Different direction?」
「By now, he is probably better than you in small-scale cavalry tactics. If he manages to increase the numbers he can effectively command, I believe he’ll become an excellent leader. He had already shown himself to be superior to a royal guard of your generation.」
Since his win against Sol, Mercury had been more inclined to commanding cavalry and had set his mind on mastering that. He had been that happy to be praised by Rion back then.
「…Interesting. So he took the path of a commander rather than that of a soldier.」
「That would be assuming too much for now. I think it’s safer to say he’s trying to learn many different things and leading cavalry is just what absorbs him the most for now.」
「Even if that’s true, he should just pursue what fascinates him.」
「I don’t disagree. Just bear in mind that is only possible because he has enough time to pursue his interests.」
「That…」
Kiel understood the meaning behind Rion’s words instantly. It made the old man unbearably happy and pained at the same time that he was so well understood by his lord despite such a long separation.
「Bandeaux still needs your generation. And it will need it even more from now on.」
「…We are not capable of governing.」
「That doesn’t stop you from offering support. For now, there’s a certain momentum in a favorable direction, but that won’t last. Contrary to what you may expect, if the restoration of the territory succeeds and things get better, various new kinds of discontent will emerge. The young ones will not be able to handle that.」
The problems of the citizens of Bandeaux in the past had been prosaic – no money, no jobs, nothing to eat. But now that there was work, the people had an income and didn’t go around hungry, it would be wrong to think that the dissatisfaction would disappear. Humans were inherently greedy, once they achieved something, they would seek more. Their desires would just become more diverse. With that in mind, Rion was certain it was impossible to resolve the discontent with providing simple necessities.
「I believe it will be fine as long as you’re with them, lord.」
Kiel was aware of that Rion’s strength was making others follow.
「…If that’s what you think, then not doing anything is fine too. There’s no need for you to be of any use so do not die. Return to Bandeaux alive. That’s my wish.」
「Milord…」
Rion, having realized it would be impossible to convince them with logic, straightforwardly expressed his feelings instead. This was the first time for Kiel.
「Do not think I separate people according to whether I can use them or not. I dislike everyone equally by nature. Not by choice, mind you, I was just raised that way.」
While Rion was speaking with clear embarrassment in his voice, Kiel’s feelings gushed forth confronted with the youth’s sweet side not many got to witness.
「…Yes. I am aware that… That Lord Rion… Loves people themselves.」
Someone who tried to trust people even though he hated them. Someone who wanted to trust people, feared being betrayed, but not wanting to hate them even
