Genjitsushugisha no Oukokukaizouki - Volume 19 - Chapter 2.2

It was only a moment, but it was enough for each to confirm that it was the other who had just shouted, and they put some distance between them.

Liscia and Mutsumi had only met in person at the Balm Summit, and all their conversations since then had been by broadcast. By all accounts, they were acquaintances at most. However, Liscia understood Mutsumi deeply, and Mutsumi understood Liscia in return. Their positions were similar; both women had chosen to accompany the man they loved wherever his path might lead.

Mutsumi’s expression grew tense as she looked at Liscia. “Sir Souma’s queen has come to the front lines?”

“I could ask you the same. Your husband has started wars all over the world, and we’re constantly short of personnel.”

“So short the queen has to help out? I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”

Even as they bantered, the two were cautiously gauging each other’s range.

Then Mutsumi charged with her horse, her longsword outstretched in one hand, aiming for Liscia’s throat. Liscia parried with her rapier and attempted a quick follow-up, but the reach of Mutsumi’s longsword kept her from closing in.

The two continued trading blows on horseback. The soldiers on both sides anxiously watched their queens fight, worried that if they interfered, their own queen might be injured. Despite being the center of attention, the two exchanged words as they traded blows.

“I know you know, Madam Mutsumi! You know this battle is meaningless!”

While executing a quick combo with her rapier, Liscia tried to persuade Mutsumi.

“Souma has changed the era! We’ve moved into a time when charismatic figures like Maria and great men like Fuuga are no longer needed! Fuuga’s era is over!”

“That doesn’t change anything!” Mutsumi deflected Liscia’s attacks with her longsword. “So long as Lord Fuuga continues forward, I will never stop! Just as you decided to walk alongside Sir Souma, I have chosen to stay with Lord Fuuga until the end!”

“I understand your feelings so well it hurts! But that’s all the more reason for me to want you to back down!” Liscia slammed her rapier against Mutsumi’s longsword. “You have to understand—we already won when we showed that video. That video will shake the world, and the confusion it will cause will stop you. That’s what has put a time limit on Fuuga’s ambitions.”

“...”

“So if we can just buy time...even if it means abandoning Parnam to flee south in the end, we will have still won the war without winning the battle here. But if we had simply fled first, the people who support Fuuga won’t be able to feel the change in the era!”

“What are you saying...?”

“They might try to continue the dream they’ve lost! To prevent that, and as the final move in changing the era, our strategists decided we should fight here for this one day!”

“You prepared a glorious path for Lord Fuuga, is that it?”

Mutsumi understood. Now that the world had seen that video, the Great Tiger Empire believed the only way to overturn things was to crush the enemy in a single day with an all-out offensive. However, even that chance was something the Kingdom was giving them.

As she realized this, a faint smile crossed Mutsumi’s lips. “Now I’m even less willing to accept defeat. I need to lend some color to Lord Fuuga’s...to my husband’s last grand performance.”

“Grr... You’re so stubborn!” Liscia ground her teeth at how Mutsumi’s eyes sparkled even more than before.

“You and I both! But if you must call me something, I’d rather you say I was singularly devoted!”

“Yeah, sure... I like the sound of that better for myself too.”

And so, this singularly devoted pair crossed blades once more. Their battle, fought with incredible finesse, was not violent but had a quiet grace to it, like a sword dance. The soldiers watching forgot to intervene and even stopped fighting themselves as they intently observed the duel.

“Lady Liscia!”

“Lady Mutsumi!”

That didn’t change with Velza and Gaifuku’s late arrival. The two ignored their surroundings, focusing all their talent and stubbornness on one another.

But then it happened—

“Urkh...!”

“Huh?!”

A look of agony suddenly flashed across Mutsumi’s face, and her sword swing went awry. The longsword slashed in the wrong direction, throwing Mutsumi off-balance. She was left wide-open, but Liscia lowered the rapier she had been about to swing and backed off.

Mutsumi covered her mouth, turning her body so she wasn’t facing Liscia. It looked like she was trying to vomit where Liscia couldn’t see. Realizing this, Liscia understood what was happening to Mutsumi.

“Madam Mutsumi, you...”

“It feels so pathetic...” Mutsumi wiped her mouth and looked at Liscia with chagrin. “As his wife, I want to lend him my strength...and yet it’s precisely because I am his wife that I cannot fight you to the death right now.”

Tears formed in Mutsumi’s eyes as she smiled self-mockingly.

She was pregnant with Fuuga’s child.

Learning that Mutsumi had been fighting in that state, Liscia couldn’t help but shout, “There’s nothing pathetic about that! It’s a wonderful thing!”

“Is it really? To be unable to lend my strength to the one who is more important to me than anything?”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Seeing the sadness in Mutsumi’s eyes, despite their fight to the death moments before, Liscia shouted, “When our children were born, Souma said he felt like it had changed his priorities. But even if your priorities change, the things that were important to you before don’t just go away! You just have more to care about! That’s all!”

Liscia looked around as if searching for something. Her eyes fell on Gaifuku, wearing a big, imposing suit of armor, with a physique that set him apart from others.

“You, the commander over there! You must be a warrior in a position of authority! If you heard our conversation just now, then take Madam Mutsumi away at once!”

“Urgh... Understood! Everyone, we must hold off the enemy for the sake of Lady Mutsumi and her child!”

Though he was upset at being ordered around by the enemy, he reasoned that Mutsumi’s safety was his priority, and set her horse running towards the main camp. Then he faced down the Kingdom’s forces to cover her retreat. In deference to Gaifuku and his men’s willingness to lay down their lives, Liscia waited for Mutsumi to withdraw before attacking.

“Was it okay to let her go...?” Velza asked Liscia, an arrow nocked to her bow as she watched the enemy.

Liscia remained facing forward as she replied, “If anything were to happen to Madam Mutsumi or her child, there would be no end to the fighting. If we captured her, she might kill herself, and that would have the same outcome. We need her to live, if only to stop Fuuga from turning into a fiend with nothing to lose.”

Even though Mutsumi withdrew from the battle on the eastern flank, Gaifuku assumed command and fought his hardest, bringing things to a stalemate like on the western flank. Thus, the outcome of this war, which was hard on both sides, would be decided by the battle in the center.

◇ ◇ ◇

Back at the Kingdom of Friedonia’s central camp...

With the battles in the east and west bogged down, a fierce conflict raged in the center. Both nations had concentrated their forces there, and the intensity of the fighting surpassed that on the flanks. The Kingdom’s forces were commanded by Strategist Julius, while the Empire’s forces were under Advisor Hashim. Known for their clever tactics and bravery, they fought alongside their men as they led.

“Take advantage of the terrain! Make use of the walls! If any areas start to crumble, report it! Kaede will be bringing earth mages, so hold out until they arrive!” Julius shouted while fending off the troops assaulting the walls.

“Use our numerical advantage to deny them a chance to rest! The enemy is desperately trying to avoid being swept away by our wave! We must keep moving and draw their attention to us!” Hashim ordered as he pressed the attack, steadily strengthening his offensive.

Members of the House of Magna—Halbert, Kaede, and Ruby—observed the front lines from a position slightly to the rear. All they could do was watch.

Halbert irritably punched his left palm with his right fist. “Damn it! Are we really just going to stand here while everyone is out there fighting?”

“Come on,” Ruby sighed. “You know that’s part of the plan.”

But perhaps Ruby was also feeling anxious, as indicated by her tail striking the ground.

“Calm down, both of you,” Kaede, standing beside Halbert, chastised them. “If Fuuga Haan comes riding in on Durga, you’re about the only ones who can slow him down, you know. That’s why our strategy has you on standby until he appears.”

Despite her tone, Kaede’s fox ears were flat against her head.

“If I’m being honest,” she continued, “I don’t want you fighting Fuuga Haan. Strategy means nothing when he’s involved. He can alter the situation on the battlefield all by himself. I’d be beside myself with worry watching you two stand against him.”

With greater martial prowess than Aisha, the strongest warrior in the Kingdom, and wielding bolts of lightning that rivaled those of Naden the black ryuu, Fuuga Haan also possessed charisma comparable to that of Maria, once known as the Saint of the Empire. When Fuuga unleashed his fury on the battlefield, he transformed into a berserker who cared nothing for the losses suffered by his men.

The Kingdom was on high alert against Fuuga. He was fearsome on his own, but he also had a powerful mount, Durga the flying tiger. Together, they had defeated many of Nothung’s dragon knights and had even left Queen Sill and Pai severely wounded.

Most warriors would stand no chance against him. Faced with this overwhelming threat, which they could not even slow down with sacrificial pawns lacking the ability to fly, the Kingdom had decided that only the dragon knight duo of Halbert and Ruby, along with an elite team of wyvern cavalry equipped with the Little Susumu Mark V Light, could hope to stop him. This was precisely why the Magnas couldn’t join the fight unfolding before them.

At that moment, a large man on horseback approached. With dark skin and dressed in tribal clothing, it was Julius’s close friend and confidant, Jirukoma.

“I have a report for Madam Kaede!” Jirukoma exclaimed.

“Sir Jirukoma! What’s happened?” Kaede asked.

“Orders from Julius!” he said, steadying his horse. “Part of the wall is collapsing under concentrated fire from cannon-mounted rhinosauruses! He requests that Madam Kaede have earth mages repair it with all possible haste!”

“Understood. It’ll be fastest if I go myself.”

“Hrm, you yourself, Madam Kaede?”

“Yes. So take me with you, Sir Jirukoma.” With that, Kaede climbed onto the back of Jirukoma’s horse. She then turned to Halbert and Ruby, saying, “You heard him, Hal, Ruby. I’m going now, but don’t do anything stupid. If we win the war but only Bill and I are left... I’d hate that.”

Halbert and Ruby nodded.

“We know. Don’t you do anything reckless either, Kaede.”

“Leave this to us. I swear I’ll protect Hal.”

Hearing their responses, Kaede smiled faintly. “You also need to protect Ruby. We’re all going to go home together. The war isn’t over until you make it back home, you know. Now, let’s go, Sir Jirukoma.”

“Yes, ma’am! Understood!”

With that, Kaede headed towards the front line, accompanied by Jirukoma.

◇ ◇ ◇

As Jirukoma returned to the front line with Kaede, Julius was engaged in a fierce battle to defend a wall that was on the verge of collapsing. The Empire’s cannon rhinosauruses continued to bombard it, but he was coordinating his archers and other ranged attackers to intercept the cannon fire. However, he couldn’t afford to let himself be distracted by the incoming shots, as he also needed to counter the advancing land offensive.

“Julius! I’ve brought Madam Kaede!” Jirukoma called out.

“Oh, thank goodness,” Julius replied, visibly relieved. “We needed to strengthen our defenses against Fuuga, which left their cannons free to fire at us... This delay has been costly.”

Once Jirukoma helped her off the horse, Kaede rushed over to Julius.

“Sir Julius, how much repair work needs to be done?” she asked urgently.

Julius gestured towards the damaged sections of the wall. “I want you to put up plenty of earth walls in front of any areas that are crumbling. There’s no need to make them durable; with all the incoming fire, they’ll just fall apart anyway. Just keep rebuilding them as needed.”

“Understood.”

Having said this, Kaede turned her hands towards the ground. And then...

“There...!”

Rummmble! As Kaede raised her hands, the ground swelled as if she were pulling a large turnip from the earth, effectively halting the oncoming imperial soldiers. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it would buy them some time.

Just as Julius breathed a sigh of relief, a clear voice shouted from the other side of the wall.

“Julius Amidonia!”

Suddenly, a figure climbed over the wall with his soldiers and attacked Julius, who instinctively blocked the assault with his sword. The metallic clang echoed through the air as he recognized his opponent’s face.

“Julius!”

“Sir Julius!”

Jirukoma and Kaede shouted in panic.

“Huh?! Hashim Chima?!”

It was Hashim, the imperial advisor who had led his troops right to the front line. His clothes were stained red with the blood of his enemies.