With a gentle, loving smile, as if she’d already accepted Nozomu’s decision, she said, “Don’t worry about us. We’ll be fine. Do what you need to do.” Nozomu could tell she wasn’t forcing herself in the least. She was speaking from the bottom of her heart. It made him once again realize how amazing of a wife she was.
As always, once the course of action had been decided, Yuuto was quick to act. He withdrew the entirety of the fortune he’d amassed up until now, using it to hire around a thousand Orient mercenaries; then he immediately set off for the Iberian Peninsula, where he captured a nearby fortress with hardly any enemy resistance on the very same day he touched down on land. Of course, Nozomu had already seen his father’s monstrous strength with his own eyes, but the battle was over so quickly that it had ended before he even knew what was going on.
“I guess it’s one of those things where a master’s techniques just seem like magic to the average person,” he muttered in exasperation. He remembered thinking something similar when he’d first witnessed Sigrún and Hildegard in action. It was just more proof that he was still worlds apart from his father.
“At this rate, we’ll take Tarshish in no time.” Nozomu was convinced the end was near, when...
“All right, that about does it for me. The rest is up to you, Nozomu.” His father lobbed a curveball right at him.
“Eh?” Nozomu let out a weak, dumbfounded noise. This was news to him. “What do you mean, dad?!”
“Exactly what I said. You said you wanted to be the reginarch, right? You said it, not me.” Yuuto pointed right at Nozomu. “Then the task of taking back the country should fall to you. You get me?”
It made sense, sure. There was no problem with the logic. But anxiety still bubbled up within him. He’d dealt with his fair share of bandits and pirates these past five years, but he didn’t know the first thing about how to deal with an army! How was a complete amateur going to usurp an entire nation—let alone contend with a battle-hardened tyrant like Babel?!
“I mean, I’d like to if I could. But there’s no telling how many casualties we’ll suffer with me at the helm. One wrong move and the entire army could even be wiped out. I understand that ideally I should be the one to lead this charge, but the situation’s dire enough that we can’t afford to chase ideals.” He’d learned from traveling all over the world as a merchant these past several years the value of a sound argument, but of course, there were limits to what man could accomplish. A life lost could never be regained, for instance, and there was nothing sound in wagering the lives of a thousand men—or so Nozomu thought.
“No, I’d say now is exactly the right time to step up.” His father’s assertion squashed Nozomu’s line of thinking.
“H-Huh?! No, that can’t be right!” But Nozomu wasn’t convinced and argued back.
“You can’t be a king in name only. You’re going to need strength of your own, especially in times like these. If you keep borrowing my strength every time you run into a problem, your rule won’t last very long.”
“Ugh...” Nozomu grimaced. Somewhere in his heart, he was probably still thinking he would always have his dad’s strength to fall back on—that if he ran into trouble, Yuuto would always be there to do something about it.
“Did you think you could just get me to clean up all your messes? I’m already retired, you know?”
“W-Well...” Nozomu could say nothing further. Even though he’d never desired power in the first place, Yuuto had spent nearly twenty years of his life shouldering the burden of being a patriarch, and he now spent his days in leisure as the boss of the Iárnviðr Trading Company. How could Nozomu be so selfish to call his father back to the bloodthirsty, cutthroat world he’d once left? Realizing his dependence on Yuuto had been so transparent, he felt a wave of embarrassment.
“And besides,” Yuuto went on, “if you can’t manage this much without my help anyway, the nation will definitely descend into chaos, and the people will suffer.”
Faced with Yuuto’s cold gaze and tone, Nozomu could only stand there, lost for words. His father was absolutely right. The Steel Clan still followed the Chalice system of Yggdrasil, meaning that an individual’s merit took precedence over blood ties. If Nozomu didn’t display his strength, no one would follow him anyway. Hiding in Yuuto’s shadow temporarily wouldn’t work either because Yuuto had been dethroned, and as such, he had lost the cohesive power to unify the country. If Nozomu didn’t step up to the plate and show he had the necessary strength to rule, the Steel Clan would be torn asunder, leaving the remaining powers to fight among each other and ushering in a new era of chaos and bloodshed much worse than even the current situation. That was what Nozomu wanted to avoid most of all.
“As a parting gift, I’m going to give this fort to you. That’s probably already being too generous, but, well, you’re my son, and I figure I can give you a bit of a head start. However, from here on out, I’m hands-off. And no asking my wives for help either. They’re mine, not yours.” Yuuto’s tone was cold and final.
All of Yuuto’s wives were Einherjar, each incredibly capable in their own right. Sigrún and Fagrahvél especially would’ve been a great boon on the battlefield. Not having them in his service would hurt Nozomu greatly. In addition, he only had close to a thousand soldiers, not even a tenth of what the enemy boasted. He felt cornered already. Part of him wanted to yell at his dad for being so cruel, but on the other hand, he wasn’t dumb enough to fail to realize what his father was trying to do.
“So, what will you do now? Still have the resolve to become reginarch? It’s not too late to back out,” Yuuto asked, peering into Nozomu’s eyes intently.
“I knew it,” thought Nozomu. “This is the ‘real trial’ he was talking about.” The elven copper that was the basis for an Einherjar’s strength was only able to be harvested in Yggdrasil, meaning that power would eventually be sealed off for good. Yuuto’s knowledge of the modern world also had to be kept under wraps for the sake of the future. Nozomu had to rule the Steel Clan without relying on either, and the outcome of this battle would determine if he was capable of doing so. Nozomu glared right back at his father, and with determination, he said:
“I’ll do it. And without relying on a cheat like you.”
“Well then, I pray for your success in battle. Good luck, guys.” With a dismissive wave of his hand, Yuuto boarded the flagship Noah. He felt the stares of his children on his back, but he had resolved to not turn around. He was leaving his own children behind—of course he was worried. But worry was contagious, and there were some here that were about to face their first battle ever. “Best to save face till the very end.”
“Good work out there, Father. I must say, you’re taking quite the gamble, leaving Lord Nozomu and your other children alone like that.” When Yuuto returned to the private area inside the ship designated for the Suoh family, Fagrahvél was there to greet him. Yuuto just snorted derisively in response.
“Yeah, a real gamble. I had Kris do some investigating to make sure it was a battle Nozomu and the others could actually win on their own before I sent them out.” He was well aware he was being overprotective, but Yuuto just didn’t have it in him to send his own sons and daughters out to a battle they had no hope of winning. That was too cruel, even for him.
“Heh... This is reminiscent of how lions raise their cubs,” Fagrahvél chuckled.
“Hm? How?” Yuuto frowned, not understanding. He’d heard that lions drop their cubs down ravines to get them used to the world, the exact opposite of Yuuto’s careful approach.
Fagrahvél opened her eyes wide in surprise. “Huh? You didn’t know? Lions, and other carnivores too, intentionally weaken their prey without killing it before teaching their young to hunt.”
“Really? Ah, actually, I have heard that, now that you mention it.”
“And in your case, you thought a nation already teetering on the edge of collapse was the perfect prey for your children, didn’t you?”
“Well, I won’t say it didn’t cross my mind. Heh, thanks, Fagrahvél.” With a slight grin, Yuuto gave words of gratitude. Many things were required to become king. Quite a lot was demanded of you. For that reason, Yuuto knew he had to push Nozomu out of the nest, but he was unable to follow through completely in the end. That had been weighing on his mind, so Yuuto was grateful to Fagrahvél for easing the burden in his heart a little.
“But, well, war is war. And war is dangerous. So, I’m sorry, you guys. I know it must be hard.” Yuuto bowed down, looking apologetic, in front of his other wives in the room. If he’d just done it himself, everything would’ve been wrapped up in no time, and he wouldn’t have had to put his children in danger. Perhaps if he’d lent Nozomu Sigrún or Fagrahvél, Yuuto could’ve lowered the difficulty of the task ahead of Nozomu. Perhaps fewer soldiers would perish on the battlefield. But doing so wouldn’t benefit the country or his children in the end. Overprotectiveness would only weaken Nozomu, and for someone about to become reginarch, that was absolutely inexcusable.
“Do not worry, Father. Everyone understands.” Fagrahvél glanced back at Yuuto’s wives, who all nodded confidently. Of course, every one of them was anxious. More than a few of them wore tense expressions. However, it was equally clear from the women’s faces that they had accepted the reality of the situation. Perhaps that toughness of theirs had been forged back in the fires of the dog-eat-dog world of Yggdrasil. This wasn’t the twenty-first century, where death seemed so far removed from normal life. In this era, death was always close by.
“Ha ha, looks like you’re all more prepared for this than I am,” Yuuto said with a chuckle.
“I believe that just shows the depth of your compassion, Father,” Fagrahvél offered.
“More like I’m just too soft.”
“You humble yourself. If that was all there was to it, would you have been able to conquer half of Yggdrasil?”
“I only managed that because I was blessed with all sorts of things.” He didn’t consider any of that his own accomplishment. His knowledge of the modern world had been a huge advantage, of course, but above all, he’d been gifted great allies. He truly believed that from the bottom of his heart.