Chapter Five: Rosenmarie Rises Again
I
The Commander’s Room, Kier Fortress, the Imperial Army
Having finished her long convalescence, Rosenmarie set off for Kier Fortress with her Crimson Knights. She arrived a week after the lavish funeral that had been held for Gladden.
“It’s very good to see you, my lady.”
“I appreciate the reception.” As she and Oscar entered the commander’s room, Rosenmarie caught a faint whiff of the hair product she’d smelled every time she met Gladden. The scent, which she had found unbearably irritating back then, now aroused in her something like nostalgia.
“Never thought I’d see the day Gladden died of natural causes, though...” Rosenmarie sat back heavily in the chair and surveyed the room that had formerly belonged to her superior officer. Gladden, she knew, had paid an uncommon degree of care to his health. When the news of his death had reached her, she had actually thought it was a joke and laughed aloud.
“At the very least, there was nothing wrong with him when he set out from Kier Fortress...”
Sensing a hint of implication in Oscar’s words, Rosenmarie scowled at him. “Am I imagining things, or are you nursing doubts about Marshal Gladden’s death?”
“You are not imagining it, my lady,” Oscar admitted. “It’s true. I remain unconvinced.”
“I heard one of the most respected healers in the capital declared it to be a natural death. I don’t think you’ve got a choice but to be convinced, whatever your thoughts on the matter might be.”
“That may be so, my lady, it just...doesn’t sit right with me.”
Rosenmarie, growing fed up with Oscar’s cryptic remarks, found herself raising her voice. “And I don’t know what you’re on about. What isn’t sitting right?”
“It’s very difficult to put into words...” Oscar replied. “It was what I felt when I saw Marshal Gladden’s body.”
“And what feeling was that?”
Oscar hesitated for a moment. “It was the stench of death,” he said. “From the battlefield...”
“Basically, you’re trying to say someone murdered him.”
Oscar’s silence clearly articulated his sentiments. Rosenmarie understood why he struggled to readily accept Gladden’s death. She had been down that path herself. Pinning all of her hatred on its source, Death God Olivia, had been enough for her, but Oscar’s case was different. Gladden had not died on a battlefield.
It was so sudden that his emotions are probably still a mess, Rosenmarie decided. Still, there’s what he said about the stench of death on the battlefield...
The man before her was no average soldier. Whatever else he might be, he had risen to chief of staff in the Helios Knights. Rosenmarie was incredibly curious by what he said about a “stench of death.” Those who took to the battlefield sometimes sensed something like an omen of death in their opponent.
She folded her arms and gave Oscar a penetrating stare. “Let me ask you this, Oscar. If, hypothetically, Gladden was murdered, who did it? When? How did they do the deed? Poison would be quick and easy, but a healer would never miss that. Or did he have some suspicious wounds?”
“No, my lady,” Oscar said at length. “I am told there wasn’t a scratch on him.”
Even if someone had escaped the notice of the guards to successfully sneak into Gladden’s bedroom, they couldn’t have murdered him without leaving a single mark. And this was Gladden, who of all people had boasted that he lived every moment as though he were on the battlefield. It was hard to imagine him being overpowered by a common thief.
Rosenmarie pointed all of this out to Oscar, who gaped at her.
“I do not think Marshal Gladden fell victim to a common thief either,” he said.
“Then you just have to accept it was natural causes, don’t you? Even if we don’t know exactly what causes.”
Oscar still looked dissatisfied, but he gave a reluctant nod. It wasn’t like arguing any further was going to bring Gladden back from the dead. Putting the subject of the late marshal behind them, Rosenmarie moved on to the matter at hand.
“Have you heard the rumors going around the capital lately?” she asked.
“I have. I suppose that means you have as well, Lady Rosenmarie.”
A credible rumor was spreading in whispers between traveling merchants that the Royal Army was going to launch a large-scale military assault on Kier Fortress. Rosenmarie had heard it many times over during her stay in the capital.
“The shimmers are confirming if there’s any truth to it. Though if you ask me, they needn’t bother.”
“You mean it’s true?”
“Chancellor Darmés thinks so too. That’s why he sent me here, is it not?” Rosenmarie kicked her feet up on the desk. Oscar frowned, showing his disapproval, but Rosenmarie ignored him and went on. “When the Royal Army attacks, we’ll make full use of Kier Fortress’s defenses. They built their so-called impenetrable fortress, now they can experience it firsthand.”
“May I take that to mean you intend to weather the siege?”
“Did it sound like I said something else?” Seeing Oscar’s look of surprise, Rosenmarie smirked. “What, you thought I’d ride into battle?”
“You see through me, my lady.”
“This time, at least, I have no choice but to tread carefully.”
She had been excessively arrogant in the battle on the northern front, sure she wouldn’t lose. As a result, she had suffered a bitter defeat at the hands of Olivia and the Seventh Legion. One defeat was more than enough for her.
“But you do intend to meet them in battle in the end, do you not?”
“I can see how you ended up chief of staff. You see just how it is. I plan to wait until the Royal Army reaches its culminating point, then go on the offensive.”
“In that case, I’d like to secure supplies to enable us to hold out over a long siege,” Oscar said, then held a piece of paper out to her. “If I could have you sign here.”
Rosenmarie looked over the document, her mouth curling involuntarily. Directives had already been issued to all the concerned parties. All that remained was for her to put down her signature.
“You and I were thinking along the same lines, Oscar,” she said.
“The Helios Knights have no intentions of lying down and accepting a second defeat. We share the Crimson Knights’—we share your feelings, Lady Rosenmarie.”
“It seems so.”
Now that Gladden would never clear his sullied reputation, they would be eager to do so in his stead. Rosenmarie could feel Oscar’s fierce determination. Picking up a pen, she signed her name in a flowing hand, then passed the paper back to him.
“The problem will be Death God Olivia...”
“Leave her to me. The Land of the Dead is too mild a fate for that one. I’m going to send her straight down to hell.”
“At the risk of rebuke, I must ask,” Oscar said hesitantly. “Is there any chance of victory against the Death God?”
Everyone knew that Rosenmarie had lost to Death God Olivia in single combat. She couldn’t fault Oscar for his concern, which was eminently reasonable.
“Don’t worry. I’m not a big enough moron to go up against her a second time without a plan.”
“May I take that to mean that you believe there is a chance to win?”
“I haven’t been sitting on my hands, you know. I’ve learned a lot, thanks to Felix.”
In the midst of single combat, Olivia had used the word “Odh.” Rosenmarie had remembered that Felix had previously used that same word. After going to him, she now knew both of the existence of Odh, as well as how to use it.
“Did Lord Felix teach you some kind of trick to use in battle?”
“That’s right. Well, to put it simply, up until now, I might as well have been a newborn.”
According to Felix, despite the great volume of Odh in her body, because she didn’t know how to use it, she had been discharging it to no purpose. Thinking back now, Olivia must have been closely attuned with her Odh. In battle, the ability to effectively manipulate Odh made a world of difference. When she fought Olivia, she had been like an infant going up against a full-grown adult. As such, now that she had learned how to use her Odh, she couldn’t possibly lose.
Rosenmarie smirked as she imagined meeting Olivia once more.
“You seem very confident, my lady.”
“Why wouldn’t I be? Now, I’ll handle Death God Olivia. Your job, Oscar, is to prepare the fortress to withstand a siege, without delay.”
“Yes, ser!”
When Oscar had left, Rosenmarie leaned back in her chair and raised a hand up to the ceiling. When she focused on it, she saw a flicker like the air over a flame.
This time, Death God Olivia, your pathetic life is mine.
Rosenmarie’s uplifted eyes were the color of blood.
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