She could also see the defeated dragon, along with things that looked like wreckage. In the interior was a heap of furniture, probably to defend against arrows, making up a shoddy-looking camp. A person was in there.Rihyalda thought that it was pretty quiet. Here, at the foremost line of the battlefield, was the first time she felt such silence. However, there were many corpses of her allies strewn on the ground in the courtyard.
This person was the one blocking the Empire’s forces, standing in front of them. The one with the power to destroy in an instant what could be called without exaggeration the strongest force in this world – the dragon knight unit – was standing there.
At this point of time, their fate probably wouldn’t change. But the forces wanted to be satisfied at the end. Whether it be a military man or a knight, the honor of knowing that your true self belonged to the one who kills you – that was the desire and duty of one who kills.
“Wait here.”
“Shogun?”
“It’s dangerous!”
Ignoring calls for restraint from her subordinates, Rihyalda continued walking forward. While she walked, she thought. Just what exactly is the enemy? There’s no mistake that they are not part of Mariisua’s military. That’s confirmed.
Up until now, the Mariisua they had been fighting against had been tenacious, but they could not rival the empire. There was a battleship in the bay near Sei road that fought like a fierce god. Did they ride here on that? Just where are they from? Far away, like the end of the four continents? Though this is stopped under the Inheritance Empire’s military rule, are they a volunteer military? I don’t understand.Not a single thought came up which was not a speculation.
“Please stop.”
The one from whom the voice came out was across from her, coming to close the distance to where soon she could see his face. Rihyalda, without being the least bit agitated, raised her voice in a noble manner.
“My name is Rihyalda! I have been honored to hold the position of the fourth level shogun as the supreme commander of the Monarch’s southern mixed troops of the Filborg Inheritance Empire! I request to meet your general!”
The person, probably a Mariisua warrior, could hear the shakiness in her voice. It wasn’t these guys. There’s no way the strongest unit would lose to these guys. And, from the unsightly camp made of piled up furniture stepped out one man.
“I am Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force Second Lieutenant Kuze. I am the commander of this base.”
He said, and he walked toward where Rihyalda was. It was a young, strange man. He was wrapped fully in strange clothes with a green, brown, and black spotted pattern. But, upon closer inspection, it seemed to be some sort of armor. He also seemed to be carrying a knife at his waist.
She understood that his armament was made to be very efficient. She observed the unsightly camp, and understood that there were about 30 others in the same outfit as him. Who are they? Rihyalda was flabbergasted.
The man in front of her eyes was probably younger than her. He had refined movements, and he put out his hand ahead of his forehead. She didn’t understand what he was trying to do in that moment, but she understood that it was a sign of respect. She compassionately nodded. He had no desire to recede from the silver-haired female shogun.
“… It doesn’t seem like you’re the general of the whole party… Are you?”
“I am the commander of this spot. The ultimate commander is in that vessel, and so I am sorry that I cannot presently bring you two together.”
“I see.”
Rihyalda said calmly. Even if he was the supreme commander, she had no intention of getting agitated with him.
“So you are on an expedition from the country named Japan, correct?”
“Yes… Though there was no intention of coming here.”
“Hm. That is odd of you to say. But, I have not heard of this country. On what continent is this country to be found?”
“It is a country which does not exist in this world.”
“What?”
At that time, Rihyalda showed her first signs of shock.
“We have come here from a parallel world… The Self-Defense Force is the name of an armed military group.”
“A parallel world… You say?”
She thought that the group Mariisua had obtained as its ally was some sort of mercenary volunteer army. However, despite the numerous battlefields she had fought on, she could not understand their nationality. They were wrapped in never-before-seen clothes and held strange weapons.
She couldn’t understand. If these were foreigners from another world, there’s no way she could correctly guess about them. To the shocked woman, the man said.
“Frankly, I’m going to ask you to do something.”
“…What is it, Kuze-dono?”
“Please retreat.”
“…The bird I rode on to get here has already returned to the opposite shore. We came here to win, after all.”
“Then, please surrender and submit to the Mariisua military.”
Rihyalda laughed at this rather inappropriate time. The town is in flames, the countrymen were massively killed, and these Mariisua people are going to ask them to become prisoners of war? They brought their weapons to ultimately kill them by decapitation or by hanging. Or to have them become slaves after much torture if not just killed.
“If you are not joking, you are quite the hypocrite.”
“According to the Geneva Convention… We will secure your lives, and to that end, we will mediate between the two nations.”
“I refuse. We are a military people, and to that end, we live on the battlefield and die on the battlefield. We have brought our weapons; to die anywhere except the battlefield would be a disgrace.”
“Then, why did you come to meet me?”
“What?”
The man asked in silence to the young shogun of the empire’s forces.
“… Did you not think of wanting to save your subordinates?”
“First, let me say:”
Rihyalda seethed with anger like a carnivorous beast, and with a glint in her eye faced him.
“With such worthless, virgin words, I definitely cannot accept that our officers and soldiers would lose to the likes of you!”
She pulled out the magic sword from her waist.
Kuze got the rifle that was on his shoulders into his hands. But, he could not shoot it. At point-blank range against a real, flesh-and-blood human, he hesitated to shoot.
Kuze fully realized the meaning of her words when she called him a “hypocrite.” Even though she is before him with criminal intent, he can’t shoot the young lady. Even if he could shoot those empire soldiers trying to kill the children, he could not bring himself to shoot the beautiful female shogun.
But, hesitating to kill or injure someone on the battlefield at point-blank range is not rare in reality. Without all of the conditions present in such an imminent situation, one cannot shoot another person. The current Kuze let his guilt overcome his defensive instinct.
“Scream out, my blade! I entrust this to your all-consuming flames!”
Flames clad Rihyalda’s sword. It was the magic sword Balmanx. The spirit of the sublimely brutal flames were sealed in a blue jewel implanted in the blade of the sword. Rihyalda’s ancestor, Count Gunther, is held in high esteem as a hero, even in the empire, for protecting the eastern border at the Mars fort with just a hundred soldiers.
The Balmanx was the weapon he used. It was said that the creator found it when he was an adventurer inside the maze of Saalal. Even if you kill with magic, even if you fight the undead and vengeful spirits as your allies, this sword will not lose.
“The only place for a military soldier to die is on the battlefield! Take this, knight from another world!”
She challenged him to one-on-one combat. She expected to fight with honor by crossing swords with a knight. But, in the next moment, she felt something pierce her body.
“Eh…?”
Suddenly, with a jerk, she lost the power in her body. After a slight delay, she heard a dry sound in her ears. When she looked at her own chest, there was a hole in her armor. She thought back.
“Invisible arrows”: was the report of what caused commanders one after the other to fall.
“Guagh!?”
The moment she realized he got her, she spit out blood and fell right at that spot.
Kuze looked over her and was dumbfounded with his still-prepared gun.
“Se-second Lieutenant Kuze, I-I…”
Ichinose, who had been watching over the situation from the minaret, had his quivering voice come over on the wireless communication device. Kuze was taken aback. Ichinose had fulfilled his duty as a sniper in the SDF, which is to “protect the allied commander.”
He also hesitated, like Kuze, to shoot Rihyalda, whom he saw from his scope. Kuze thought back to Katou. The upper commander entrusted him to either have the courage to shoot or to choose the path of fleeing. Kuze faced the wireless communication device and spoke in the only expression he could.
“Ichinose! Thanks for saving me!”
“Eh..?”
“Sorry, it was because of my usual habit of having the safety on. If you didn’t shoot, I would be dead.”
(EN: … I hate him, but quick thinking there…)
He said this, and, even if just a little, it relieved some of the young private Ichinose’s guilt. Ichinose, on the other side of the communication, didn’t give any sign as to whether he was celebratory or in agony over it like usual, as he stayed silent at first.
“Are you alright?! Kuze-dono!”
Kuze understood that Karuda was coming from behind him. Kuze turned around, and she was relieved to see he wasn’t hurt.
——And.
“Fu… Fu…”
Lying face-up on the ground, looking at the sky while near-death, Rihyalda flatly laughed. Karuda squinted her eyes and walked over to where she was.
“What’s so funny, invader?”
“This unsightly death… Is…”
Karuda laughed through her nose, and prepared her spear.
“Go in peace. To an invader, this is too much charity.”
As though Karuda’s words may not have entered her ears, Rihyalda fixed her gaze to Kuze.
“Yes, shogun?”
“Let me ask you one last thing…”
Kuze nodded.
“For what purpose did you hold your weapon?”
Kuze was startled. In this world and in his original world, not a single person had asked him that in such a straightforward manner. He wanted to smooth over the issue. But, he thought doing such a thing to a person about to die would be shameful. Kuze honestly answered.
“This might be a selfish reason, but it is to protect someone I wanted to protect.”
To protect the country, might be the answer a commander in the SDF might have to say. But, he couldn’t do that. Ultimately, he didn’t hold the courage to do such a thing if there wasn’t someone nearby that he wanted to protect.
Even if he was about to get killed himself, he probably couldn’t pull the trigger. After Rihyalda let out a dry laugh, she vomited a large amount of blood.
“… I too… Was once like that.”
After saying these parting words, Rihyalda died. Karuda watched the enemy general with a complicated expression. Kuze bent down near her body. And, he closed her open eyes.
“… Karuda-san.”
“Yes?”
“People sure are quick to die, eh, on the battlefield…”
“Kuze-dono…”
Presently, Kuze made a decisive expression and raised his head. He returned to the barricade and grabbed a megaphone.
“Tell the empire’s officers and soldiers! That they must retreat from this nation, or order that they surrender after disarmament! In the case that they will not obey, we will not decline a decisive battle! Do they want to become like those dragon people?!”
Kuze’s exclamation reverberated into the castle. The pride of the empire’s elite soldiers was already shattered. No matter how sturdy, to no longer have a commander in whom you put so much trust into will break you. Morale break. That fear and despair which renders an army unable to function properly ruled over them.
“H… H… Her excellency the shogun has..”
“I-i-it’s the end…it’s already the end…”
Covered in black armor, one after another the knights who were supposed to be without peer in this world let out words of lament.
“Karuda-san.”
Kuze looked at Karuda with serious eyes.
“What?”
“If even one non-resistant person among them gets killed, then we will be their allies, you know.”
The Mariisua soldiers were startled. But, Karuda just nodded without reproach. It was not because she feared Kuze.
“Agreed. I will protect that agreement on my honor.”
The resistance from her countrymen was inevitable, but that is why she swore. It was not out of a sense of being indebted to the ones who saved her country or a sense of fear at the power that broke the empire’s army that she swore such. It was just that she trusted this young man. She faced the enemy and raised her voice.
“Throw away your weapons! If you do so, we shall spare your lives!”
The empire’s soldiers, perhaps because of a sense of security from these words, scrambled to start to throw away their weapons. Usually, at the end of a battle there were only the victors and the dead. Being prepared for that, then being given hope to live make one want to hold onto that hope: it was human nature.
Especially on a battlefield when one cannot hope for victory. Many Mariisua soldiers viewed the scene together in wonder. But, one group was seen making uneasy movements. There was a thirst for blood. It was from the resentment for having their mates and family killed. But, Karuda noticed and yelled.
“On my name, those who lynch anyone or run away from here will be treated as though they have rebelled against upper command.”
To such force, they faced the empire’s non-resistant forces and had no choice but to give it up.
“It’s over…is it?’
Together with the refugees, Katou showed his face unexpectedly from the corridor from the throne room.
“I give permission to throw away your weapons with both hands raised and come here! Those who don’t do this, stay where you are!”
At Karuda’s words, beginning slowly, then immediately in large groups, those soldiers for the empire who had thrown away their weapons did so with a troubled expression. Somehow it looks to be over, said Katou, and he stroked down his chest.
Even if those who wanted to rebel existed, they couldn’t overwhelm the Mariisua forces. In enemy territory, for a defeated organization to get back up and fight is surely impossible.
“Oh boy, the aftermath seems very troublesome… Huh?”
Katou had a bad feeling about one person going towards his direction.
“… Is he laughing?”
That man was walking to where Rihyalda’s body is being laid.
She could also see the defeated dragon, along with things that looked like wreckage. In the interior was a heap of furniture, probably to defend against arrows, making up a shoddy-looking camp. A person was in there.Rihyalda thought that it was pretty quiet. Here, at the foremost line of the battlefield, was the first time she felt such silence. However, there were many corpses of her allies strewn on the ground in the courtyard.
This person was the one blocking the Empire’s forces, standing in front of them. The one with the power to destroy in an instant what could be called without exaggeration the strongest force in this world – the dragon knight unit – was standing there.
At this point of time, their fate probably wouldn’t change. But the forces wanted to be satisfied at the end. Whether it be a military man or a knight, the honor of knowing that your true self belonged to the one who kills you – that was the desire and duty of one who kills.
“Wait here.”
“Shogun?”
“It’s dangerous!”
Ignoring calls for restraint from her subordinates, Rihyalda continued walking forward. While she walked, she thought. Just what exactly is the enemy? There’s no mistake that they are not part of Mariisua’s military. That’s confirmed.
Up until now, the Mariisua they had been fighting against had been tenacious, but they could not rival the empire. There was a battleship in the bay near Sei road that fought like a fierce god. Did they ride here on that? Just where are they from? Far away, like the end of the four continents? Though this is stopped under the Inheritance Empire’s military rule, are they a volunteer military? I don’t understand.Not a single thought came up which was not a speculation.
“Please stop.”
The one from whom the voice came out was across from her, coming to close the distance to where soon she could see his face. Rihyalda, without being the least bit agitated, raised her voice in a noble manner.
“My name is Rihyalda! I have been honored to hold the position of the fourth level shogun as the supreme commander of the Monarch’s southern mixed troops of the Filborg Inheritance Empire! I request to meet your general!”
The person, probably a Mariisua warrior, could hear the shakiness in her voice. It wasn’t these guys. There’s no way the strongest unit would lose to these guys. And, from the unsightly camp made of piled up furniture stepped out one man.
“I am Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force Second Lieutenant Kuze. I am the commander of this base.”
He said, and he walked toward where Rihyalda was. It was a young, strange man. He was wrapped fully in strange clothes with a green, brown, and black spotted pattern. But, upon closer inspection, it seemed to be some sort of armor. He also seemed to be carrying a knife at his waist.
She understood that his armament was made to be very efficient. She observed the unsightly camp, and understood that there were about 30 others in the same outfit as him. Who are they? Rihyalda was flabbergasted.
The man in front of her eyes was probably younger than her. He had refined movements, and he put out his hand ahead of his forehead. She didn’t understand what he was trying to do in that moment, but she understood that it was a sign of respect. She compassionately nodded. He had no desire to recede from the silver-haired female shogun.
“… It doesn’t seem like you’re the general of the whole party… Are you?”
“I am the commander of this spot. The ultimate commander is in that vessel, and so I am sorry that I cannot presently bring you two together.”
“I see.”
Rihyalda said calmly. Even if he was the supreme commander, she had no intention of getting agitated with him.
“So you are on an expedition from the country named Japan, correct?”
“Yes… Though there was no intention of coming here.”
“Hm. That is odd of you to say. But, I have not heard of this country. On what continent is this country to be found?”
“It is a country which does not exist in this world.”
“What?”
At that time, Rihyalda showed her first signs of shock.
“We have come here from a parallel world… The Self-Defense Force is the name of an armed military group.”
“A parallel world… You say?”
She thought that the group Mariisua had obtained as its ally was some sort of mercenary volunteer army. However, despite the numerous battlefields she had fought on, she could not understand their nationality. They were wrapped in never-before-seen clothes and held strange weapons.
She couldn’t understand. If these were foreigners from another world, there’s no way she could correctly guess about them. To the shocked woman, the man said.
“Frankly, I’m going to ask you to do something.”
“…What is it, Kuze-dono?”
“Please retreat.”
“…The bird I rode on to get here has already returned to the opposite shore. We came here to win, after all.”
“Then, please surrender and submit to the Mariisua military.”
Rihyalda laughed at this rather inappropriate time. The town is in flames, the countrymen were massively killed, and these Mariisua people are going to ask them to become prisoners of war? They brought their weapons to ultimately kill them by decapitation or by hanging. Or to have them become slaves after much torture if not just killed.
“If you are not joking, you are quite the hypocrite.”
“According to the Geneva Convention… We will secure your lives, and to that end, we will mediate between the two nations.”
“I refuse. We are a military people, and to that end, we live on the battlefield and die on the battlefield. We have brought our weapons; to die anywhere except the battlefield would be a disgrace.”
“Then, why did you come to meet me?”
“What?”
The man asked in silence to the young shogun of the empire’s forces.
“… Did you not think of wanting to save your subordinates?”
“First, let me say:”
Rihyalda seethed with anger like a carnivorous beast, and with a glint in her eye faced him.
“With such worthless, virgin words, I definitely cannot accept that our officers and soldiers would lose to the likes of you!”
She pulled out the magic sword from her waist.
Kuze got the rifle that was on his shoulders into his hands. But, he could not shoot it. At point-blank range against a real, flesh-and-blood human, he hesitated to shoot.
Kuze fully realized the meaning of her words when she called him a “hypocrite.” Even though she is before him with criminal intent, he can’t shoot the young lady. Even if he could shoot those empire soldiers trying to kill the children, he could not bring himself to shoot the beautiful female shogun.
But, hesitating to kill or injure someone on the battlefield at point-blank range is not rare in reality. Without all of the conditions present in such an imminent situation, one cannot shoot another person. The current Kuze let his guilt overcome his defensive instinct.
“Scream out, my blade! I entrust this to your all-consuming flames!”
Flames clad Rihyalda’s sword. It was the magic sword Balmanx. The spirit of the sublimely brutal flames were sealed in a blue jewel implanted in the blade of the sword. Rihyalda’s ancestor, Count Gunther, is held in high esteem as a hero, even in the empire, for protecting the eastern border at the Mars fort with just a hundred soldiers.
The Balmanx was the weapon he used. It was said that the creator found it when he was an adventurer inside the maze of Saalal. Even if you kill with magic, even if you fight the undead and vengeful spirits as your allies, this sword will not lose.
“The only place for a military soldier to die is on the battlefield! Take this, knight from another world!”
She challenged him to one-on-one combat. She expected to fight with honor by crossing swords with a knight. But, in the next moment, she felt something pierce her body.
“Eh…?”
Suddenly, with a jerk, she lost the power in her body. After a slight delay, she heard a dry sound in her ears. When she looked at her own chest, there was a hole in her armor. She thought back.
“Invisible arrows”: was the report of what caused commanders one after the other to fall.
“Guagh!?”
The moment she realized he got her, she spit out blood and fell right at that spot.
Kuze looked over her and was dumbfounded with his still-prepared gun.
“Se-second Lieutenant Kuze, I-I…”
Ichinose, who had been watching over the situation from the minaret, had his quivering voice come over on the wireless communication device. Kuze was taken aback. Ichinose had fulfilled his duty as a sniper in the SDF, which is to “protect the allied commander.”
He also hesitated, like Kuze, to shoot Rihyalda, whom he saw from his scope. Kuze thought back to Katou. The upper commander entrusted him to either have the courage to shoot or to choose the path of fleeing. Kuze faced the wireless communication device and spoke in the only expression he could.
“Ichinose! Thanks for saving me!”
“Eh..?”
“Sorry, it was because of my usual habit of having the safety on. If you didn’t shoot, I would be dead.”
(EN: … I hate him, but quick thinking there…)
He said this, and, even if just a little, it relieved some of the young private Ichinose’s guilt. Ichinose, on the other side of the communication, didn’t give any sign as to whether he was celebratory or in agony over it like usual, as he stayed silent at first.
“Are you alright?! Kuze-dono!”
Kuze understood that Karuda was coming from behind him. Kuze turned around, and she was relieved to see he wasn’t hurt.
——And.
“Fu… Fu…”
Lying face-up on the ground, looking at the sky while near-death, Rihyalda flatly laughed. Karuda squinted her eyes and walked over to where she was.
“What’s so funny, invader?”
“This unsightly death… Is…”
Karuda laughed through her nose, and prepared her spear.
“Go in peace. To an invader, this is too much charity.”
As though Karuda’s words may not have entered her ears, Rihyalda fixed her gaze to Kuze.
“Yes, shogun?”
“Let me ask you one last thing…”
Kuze nodded.
“For what purpose did you hold your weapon?”
Kuze was startled. In this world and in his original world, not a single person had asked him that in such a straightforward manner. He wanted to smooth over the issue. But, he thought doing such a thing to a person about to die would be shameful. Kuze honestly answered.
“This might be a selfish reason, but it is to protect someone I wanted to protect.”
To protect the country, might be the answer a commander in the SDF might have to say. But, he couldn’t do that. Ultimately, he didn’t hold the courage to do such a thing if there wasn’t someone nearby that he wanted to protect.
Even if he was about to get killed himself, he probably couldn’t pull the trigger. After Rihyalda let out a dry laugh, she vomited a large amount of blood.
“… I too… Was once like that.”
After saying these parting words, Rihyalda died. Karuda watched the enemy general with a complicated expression. Kuze bent down near her body. And, he closed her open eyes.
“… Karuda-san.”
“Yes?”
“People sure are quick to die, eh, on the battlefield…”
“Kuze-dono…”
Presently, Kuze made a decisive expression and raised his head. He returned to the barricade and grabbed a megaphone.
“Tell the empire’s officers and soldiers! That they must retreat from this nation, or order that they surrender after disarmament! In the case that they will not obey, we will not decline a decisive battle! Do they want to become like those dragon people?!”
Kuze’s exclamation reverberated into the castle. The pride of the empire’s elite soldiers was already shattered. No matter how sturdy, to no longer have a commander in whom you put so much trust into will break you. Morale break. That fear and despair which renders an army unable to function properly ruled over them.
“H… H… Her excellency the shogun has..”
“I-i-it’s the end…it’s already the end…”
Covered in black armor, one after another the knights who were supposed to be without peer in this world let out words of lament.
“Karuda-san.”
Kuze looked at Karuda with serious eyes.
“What?”
“If even one non-resistant person among them gets killed, then we will be their allies, you know.”
The Mariisua soldiers were startled. But, Karuda just nodded without reproach. It was not because she feared Kuze.
“Agreed. I will protect that agreement on my honor.”
The resistance from her countrymen was inevitable, but that is why she swore. It was not out of a sense of being indebted to the ones who saved her country or a sense of fear at the power that broke the empire’s army that she swore such. It was just that she trusted this young man. She faced the enemy and raised her voice.
“Throw away your weapons! If you do so, we shall spare your lives!”
The empire’s soldiers, perhaps because of a sense of security from these words, scrambled to start to throw away their weapons. Usually, at the end of a battle there were only the victors and the dead. Being prepared for that, then being given hope to live make one want to hold onto that hope: it was human nature.
Especially on a battlefield when one cannot hope for victory. Many Mariisua soldiers viewed the scene together in wonder. But, one group was seen making uneasy movements. There was a thirst for blood. It was from the resentment for having their mates and family killed. But, Karuda noticed and yelled.
“On my name, those who lynch anyone or run away from here will be treated as though they have rebelled against upper command.”
To such force, they faced the empire’s non-resistant forces and had no choice but to give it up.
“It’s over…is it?’
Together with the refugees, Katou showed his face unexpectedly from the corridor from the throne room.
“I give permission to throw away your weapons with both hands raised and come here! Those who don’t do this, stay where you are!”
At Karuda’s words, beginning slowly, then immediately in large groups, those soldiers for the empire who had thrown away their weapons did so with a troubled expression. Somehow it looks to be over, said Katou, and he stroked down his chest.
Even if those who wanted to rebel existed, they couldn’t overwhelm the Mariisua forces. In enemy territory, for a defeated organization to get back up and fight is surely impossible.
“Oh boy, the aftermath seems very troublesome… Huh?”
Katou had a bad feeling about one person going towards his direction.
“… Is he laughing?”
That man was walking to where Rihyalda’s body is being laid.
