Altina spoke with her eyes facing forward.
“Hey, you didn’t volunteer to come here, did you?”
“No, I was more than happy working in the military library. To be honest, I only joined because I was having trouble finding the money to live, let alone buy books. ...Come to think of it, does Fort Sierck have a library?”
“I get the feeling that’s what they’ll be calling your room, eventually.”
“Quite the novel observation...” he muttered blankly.
“Hm, was that an attempt at a pun?”
“Ah, n-no, I wasn’t—”
“Heh. What did you even do in your previous unit?”
“Eh? Have you started to doubt that I’m even a soldier?”
“Not quite. I’m talking about what you had to do to get shipped off to the front lines.”
“Ah. I believe it’s my punishment for losing a battle.”
“And you just accepted that? You’re a fledgling non-commissioned officer. Isn’t it strange for someone of your status to take such responsibility when you aren’t even in command of any troops? Did something happen?”
Regis cast his eyes into the distance, beyond the seedlings lining the wheat fields to the highs and lows of the mountains beyond the horizon.
“...He was a good man.”
“Who was?”
“My previous employer. I was never any good at swordsmanship or horse-riding; I was always behind everyone else at the military academy. Only Marquis Thénezay would employ a failure like me.”
“A failure? I’ve heard rumors that you were undefeated when it came to strategizing.”
“You’re surprisingly knowledgeable. I wonder who you could have heard that from... Rumors are always embellished, you see. Military stratagems may have been my one saving grace, but those were never real battles. It was more akin to playing chess.”
“But, if I’m not mistaken, Thénezay hired you as a tactician, not to play chess.”
“I was at the bottom of a rather lengthy totem pole. I was only fifteen when I left school and all; I was an apprentice, so to speak.”
“Bottom or not—apprentice or not—it’s still pretty amazing for a commoner to become a staff officer at such a young age... Were you dissatisfied with your position?”
“Perish the thought! The marquis may have hired me on a whim but, even so, I felt a deep debt of gratitude toward him. I still do.”
That was precisely why the corners of his eyes grew warm and wet when he thought back to their parting. Regis hugged the luggage in his arms tight, squashing the leather bag.
“...The marquis said he needed me. And yet... I... practically left him to die.”
His voice was so low it was hard to recognize as his own. Altina’s expression was steadfast.
“If I recall, it was during the summer campaign—”
“Yeah...”
She’s pretty in the know for a hired coachman, Regis thought. Did life on the front lines make her interested in the state of the war? Is she just a weirdo? Or is there a deeper reason behind her interest that I just can’t see?
“What do you mean you left him to die?”
“Well, this is little more than my opinion...”
“Then I want to hear your opinion on the matter. Not through rumors. I need to hear it directly from you. That’s why I’m... Hey. Just tell me.”
He thought for a while. There was still a long road ahead, and it was hardly something he could hide; he’d already divulged everything at the court-martial, and it was even in the imperial weekly paper.
About that summer day—the words cast and the expressions he witnessed would never leave his head and yet, when it came time to speak, he had no idea where to begin. He needed some time to put his thoughts in order.
“...During the battle... Marquis Thénezay implemented the chief tactician’s proposal. Well, I’ll spare you the details. They were going up against, at most, five hundred barbarians with an imperial army three thousand strong. Victory was a foregone conclusion, and, rather than the battle, the council discussion was turning more toward what wine would best accompany the duck for dinner.”
“They were throwing a victory party before the battle had even begun?”
“It’s not too rare. The imperial army is strong, after all. The problem was, we had absolutely no countermeasures for if the enemy flanked us and took our rear.”
“But the enemies were barbarians. Would they really attempt something so intricate?”
“Admittedly, with their lack of coordination, it would be difficult for them to pull off such complicated maneuvers successfully. That’s why they tend to prefer head-on collisions. However, there are records of barbarians attempting sneak attacks in cases where the difference in troops is just too great. We needed to be more wary—I advised them of this twice. But the chief tactician merely laughed me off as a coward, proudly telling the marquis that his only concern from the rear would be his obscured view of our victory...”
“And so you were driven from the war council.”
“Yeah...”
Regis recalled a similar exchange at the court-martial where he had felt as though he were being interrogated. Even now, he wondered what would have happened had he braved the inevitable harsh reprimand to advise them a third time. The surprise attack could have been prevented simply by placing someone on watch.
“Do you blame yourself?” Altina asked quietly.
“...I was so fearful of what punishment would come after my banishment... I couldn’t bring myself to intervene a third time.”
“That chief tactician was a noble, wasn’t he?”
“I think so...?”
“In that case, he couldn’t have upheld a commoner’s advice no matter how many times you tried. I’m sure Marquis Thénezay would not have done anything that risked soiling the name of the noble he had appointed to the position.”
“Ah...”
A commoner born and bred, Regis, who was quite unfamiliar with noble society, hadn’t realized the marquis was attempting to save face for the chief tactician. If only he’d given it just a little more thought. He had not been lacking in information, after all—their status and house relations had been no secret.
“Which means you don’t have to beat yourself up over it,” Altina consoled.
“No, now that you mention it, there were plenty of flags that should have tipped me off. It was my blunder to have not taken the reputation of nobles into consideration. If I had advised the marquis in private, rather than at the strategy meeting, then just maybe...!”
Regis grit his teeth. The pit of his stomach grew heavy and the corners of his eyes grew hot, his vision blearing.
“Regis Aurick!” Altina raised a dignified voice.
“Yes!?” Rather than the sudden mention of his name, it was the intensity of the voice that caught him off guard this time. He could hardly believe it had come from a cab driver.