II
In the year Tempus Fugit 1001, the three-hundred-thousand-strong army of the alliance arrived at the south of a rugged expanse of reddish earth that seemed to stretch on forever, punctuated only by towering rocky crags. These were the Trival Wastes.
To the north, the imperial forces spread out with Darmés’s personal army, all in black armor, in the lead, followed by three hundred thousand of the Dawn Knights. Among them were a great number of undead dangerous beasts, inspiring no small amount of terror throughout the army of the alliance. The Kingdom of Swaran and the Principality of Stonia had also sent their armies under the empire’s banners, taking the field in a pincer formation. All told, this put the imperial forces at over three hundred sixty thousand, far outnumbering the armies of the alliance. The History of Duvedirica would tell of how, even before the greatest battle the continent had ever known began, the battlefield reeked of death.
On the eve of the battle, someone looked up at the heavens and compared the stars to the tears of the gods. A girl on the cusp of adulthood hugged herself at every intermittent gust of wind.
Olivia gazed up at the starry sky from atop one of the rocky crags. Then she heard familiar footfalls approaching. She called out, softly enough to not break the tranquility.
“You’ve got Featherweight down perfectly.”
“You think too highly of me, ser. Though thanks to you, I get to explore places others cannot tread. As a result, I’m able to locate you before anyone else, and most importantly, that lingering stench of death doesn’t reach up here.”
Olivia smiled a little at Claudia’s words. Claudia crouched down beside her, rested her arm on one knee, and looked up at the sky.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
Olivia didn’t say anything; she just reached up toward the sky as though to catch a star in her hand, just like the boy in the story had done.
“Is that for luck?” Claudia asked.
“Oh, no. I just remembered a book I read where a boy overcomes all sorts of challenges to catch a star, and then a god grants him a wish.” Of course, there was no star between her fingers. “But this is reality,” she said, waving her empty hand and laughing. Claudia gazed unblinkingly up at the sky.
“The battle is tomorrow. Do you think we can win?”
“I’ve talked everything over with the others. All that’s left now is to do it.”
Blood would be supreme commander, with Lara supporting him as his second-in-command. After seeing that the enemy had a large number of undead beasts, Olivia knew that Sutherland’s tactics would be useless—because she had observed them in every detail. They would therefore fight the old-fashioned way. There was no need for rigorous strategy—victory would come down to whoever had more raw power.
Olivia’s first task was to deliver the first strike to offset their disadvantage of numbers.
“Yet I still can’t stop worrying,” Claudia said. “It’s utterly pathetic.”
It was just like Claudia to be a bundle of nerves. Feeling a rush of fondness for her, Olivia decided to raise a subject that would allay her fears.
“Felix has been busy behind the scenes in the lead-up to the battle.”
“Lord Felix...?”
“Uh-huh. So I know it’s going to go our way.”
“That is very encouraging,” Claudia replied. “But it’s not just undead soldiers, beasts, and Darmés’s army we’ll be fighting. We can’t forget that the Stonian and Swaran armies are in position behind them.”
“I mean, we can’t forget them, but it wouldn’t matter if we did.”
“Meaning...?”
“Um, basically, I mean we can just let Violet take care of them.”
Violet was responsible for handling the Swaran and Stonian armies. Together they numbered forty thousand, but for Violet, a force of twenty thousand would be plenty to take them down. That didn’t mean she could afford to be careless or cocky, but Olivia, based on her experience doing battle with Violet, thought that Claudia’s fears were unfounded. In order to win, they had to take down Darmés, who controlled the undead, and Xenia, who was behind the whole thing—that was all. When Darmés was defeated, the undead would return to a natural state of death, so there was no need to go to extreme lengths to wipe them all out. Olivia thought that, so long as they stayed on the defensive without alerting the enemy to their plan, they should be more than capable of holding out.
To Claudia, whose anxiety was palpable, she said as brightly as she could, “C’mon, it’ll be fine. Too much tension in your shoulders will make you lose a fight even when you should have won.”
Claudia shut her eyes and smiled faintly. “I think I know what Ashton would say if he were here. You could be a bit less lighthearted about the battle to decide the fate of humanity.”
Olivia nodded with a knowing look. “Yeah, I bet he would have. Probably with a giant sigh for good measure.”
They exchanged untroubled smiles. Then Claudia fixed Olivia with a serious stare.
“General, you will face a foe too powerful for me to even begin to comprehend. I know that if I tried to fight at your side I would only get in your way. The only thing I can do is pray that you’ll be all right. Being this useless makes me so angry at myself I could scream...”
Olivia laid a hand over Claudia’s tightly clenched fist. “It might not be much reassurance, but I’m going to do my best not to let you down.”
“Since I became your aide, you haven’t let me down once. From the beginning, I couldn’t have asked for a better superior officer...” Claudia trailed off, and silence fell between them. Olivia, looking at Claudia from the side as she waited for her to continue, saw a faint blush come over Claudia’s beautiful face. Another frigid gust brushed her neck.
“Superior officer, or...”
“Or?”
“Or f...”
“Or what?”
“F-Fr...F-Friend.” Claudia covered her face, looking mortified.
Olivia felt so bashful that she laughed to try and clear the air. But she immediately realized that was the wrong thing to do. She reached out and squeezed Claudia’s hand tight.
Claudia twitched. “That was an inappropriate thing to say to a superior officer. Please forget I said anything.”
Olivia shook her head. “How could I forget something that made me so happy? I mean, I’ve thought of you as a friend since ages ago—no, as one of my best friends.”
“Best friends...?” Claudia gaped at her. That was when Olivia told her what she was resolved to do—not for herself, but because she wanted her friends to be safe.
“I’m going to come back. That means you have to stay alive as well, to be there when I do.” She held out a little finger. Claudia intertwined her own slender finger with Olivia’s. There was no need to say anything more.
For a while longer, the two of them gazed up at the stars, enraptured, until there came a gust of wind that made Claudia involuntarily draw her head in. She sat up. “It’s getting very cold. Isn’t it about time we were getting back?”
“I’m going to stay a bit longer.”
“In that case, wear this.” Claudia took off her scarf and wrapped it deftly around Olivia’s neck. Kicking off lightly with one foot, she sprang up and, in an instant, was swallowed by the darkness.
“She can do Featherweight perfectly,” Olivia said to herself. Looking up, she reached out once more, spreading her fingers then closing them around a star. There, clutched in her hand, was—nothing. Olivia pressed her fist into her chest and smiled.
Wishes aren’t something you wait for someone else to grant. You have to fight for them yourself. That’s what makes them so precious. Right, Ashton? She pulled the scarf up over her mouth. It’s so warm...
Right then, even the biting chill of the midwinter wind could not reach her.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login