Five years to the day after I defeated Orsent Cathedral, I was at war with the remnants of the Santira clan, who had fled to the western part of the kingdom. The Santiras had formerly been the greatest power in Fortsouth Prefecture, but they had collapsed when I took the royal capital. Their clan head, Leggus Santira, had gone into hiding in Sinju Prefecture to the west of Fortwest. Naturally, I had arranged to have the fighting end on this auspicious day. We had long since known where they were clinging to existence. I personally didn’t need to go into battle, but I might as well be in front. “Red Bears, White Eagles, follow me! Orcus and Leon, I trust you’re ready?” “O’ course!” Orcus Bright shouted, coming to stand on the left of my horse. His arms were bigger than ever, so when he swung his sword it was so fast you couldn’t tell if it was a sword or an axe. “The White Eagles are all warmed up!” From the right came Leon Milcolaia. This elven soldier had an intellectual demeanor, the polar opposite of Orcus. But thanks to that, I often got to hear some bizarre conversations. “Say, Leon.” “Yes, sir? What is it?” “I hear you’ve been fooling around quite a bit with some of the court ladies recently. Is that true?” “Oh, that’s… Well…” Leon was clearly uncomfortable talking about it. “Guilty as charged, huh? I didn’t think you were much into that sort of thing. I’m not going to punish you for something like that. Just don’t seduce His Majesty’s daughter. She’s either twelve or thirteen, right at the age where they’re pining for affection.” “My apologies… It’s just…when they come on to me, I don’t know how to refuse…” I had a good guess at what this was about. In peacetime, the White Eagles acted as court guards, among other things. The court ladies must have been flirting with him then. Leon was already almost sixty years old, but as an elf, he still had his youthful good looks. Also, as a former mercenary, he’d cheated death on many occasions, so he had a different twinkle in his eye from the neighborhood playboys. The more experienced a person was, the more attractive. Of course, I was basically the same as far as being youthful. One of my profession’s special abilities was Conqueror’s Aura. Anyone with this profession aged more slowly while they were in their castle acting as a conqueror, along with the rest of their kin. I was a regent, not a king, but apparently I still benefited from it. I was twenty-eight now, but I hadn’t changed at all since taking the royal capital at twenty-three. “Leon, one reason they come on to you is because you’re not married,” I told him. “It’s about time you started thinking about who’s going to succeed the Milcolaia clan.” “Long ago, I was married to a girl in my village, but she passed away. After that…I wandered from place to place as a mercenary, so I haven’t remarried…” I understood the desire not to be tied down, but I’d given all my captains the title of viscount. It wasn’t exactly an honorary title, so I would really appreciate it if he took that part seriously. “Orcus, how many children do you have?” I asked the captain of the Red Bears on the other side of me. “I got twelve. And my oldest and second-oldest boys are working hard in the Red Bears!” “See? Orcus has got you beat there.” Leon, who was always pestering Orcus about little things, looked ashamed. “M-my apologies, sir…” “You all are lords, too. Get yourself a wife!” “I do have a number of candidates for adoption, so my clan will continue on…” “Are you daft? You have all these court ladies in love with you, so pick one of them. As long as they don’t have too important a family, I’ll make it happen.” “As you wish, sir…” Orcus laughed at Leon and his weak answer. “All right, Leon. Get me Leggus Santira’s head. Attack their left flank. We’ll advance from the other side.” “Yes, sir! To think the clan that once dominated Fortsouth would end its existence commanding only fifteen hundred men… Nothing lasts.” Before I tried to answer, the profession residing in my mind spoke to me. Every generation has a certain number of people who don’t understand the trends of the times. Despite having no future aside from following whoever is powerful, they still remain senselessly defiant until death. Naturally, this clan will fall into ruin. I have no idea why they’re being so obstinate. Still, Oda Nobunaga, it might sometimes be better than people who faithlessly switch lieges at the drop of a hat, right? It depends. If they do it right before they’re defeated, you can’t trust them, but if they’ve always misjudged the trends—nay, if they don’t even try to see the trends, they’re simply incompetent. You can’t call that fidelity. I agreed with that. This Leggus Santira person had no foresight, either. If he’d only bowed to me, then I’d have given him at least a tiny plot of land, but he’d always persisted in defying me. “Leon, get a good look at that Santira bastard’s attitude before he dies. We’ll know what kind of man he is based on whether he takes it like a warrior or surrenders like a coward.” “Understood. Does that mean you want us to take him alive?” “If he seems to be begging for his life, bring him here for now.” “As you wish!” Leon’s White Eagles charged the hillock where the enemy lay. The enemy’s position during the melee wasn’t bad, but they were horribly outnumbered, so a small terrain advantage didn’t matter to begin with. “Let’s go, Orcus.” “Time to earn some new medals!” By now, the Black Dogs must’ve been attacking from the rear. That was when we were to charge in. Just before we were about to smash into them, the enemy’s right flank broke into chaos. They were beset by a group of hounds, howling and biting them to death. “Looks like the werewolf attack worked perfectly,” I said. It was Dorbeau’s Black Dogs. Their attacks were unwaveringly ferocious, so they were quite handy at times like this. “This battle is completely over. They might have thought they could still retreat, but now they’re entirely cut off.” The enemy was ready to flee. The werewolves in beast form had broken them from behind, and my force was attacking in front. Against their regiment of ten or fifteen hundred, we had only to wait for them to be ground to dust. “I don’t understand what they’re trying to do, Your Excellency,” Orcus said loudly. You had to raise your voice during battle, but he was being loud even for that. “What can they hope to do in a field battle with such pathetic numbers? They’ll just all be killed. If they had set up a hard defense in a fort, help mighta come to ’em, and even if they couldn’t expect that, they coulda fled away scared or even given themselves over, already tied up.” “So you mean they’re being irrational. A certain portion of people are thoughtless creatures like this—even if their lives are at stake.” If all lords fought for their lives with all their might, this era would’ve been much different. Among those I’d eliminated, half had resisted me without a plan, leading to their deaths. “Feel free to decimate our foes this time around. Let’s go.” “Yessir! Things’ve been rather peaceful lately, so this is perfect!” Indeed, these past five years had been an improvement. Nothing resembling a great war had happened—or rather, I hadn’t caused one. I’d fully established our power in the capital vicinity. On the other hand, the former king, who’d fled west, continued to call himself king and was being supported by the most powerful western lords. “This peacetime will probably fall apart again, though. I think things will be even worse.” “I hope so. If we’re not at war, I’ll be outta business. That’d be far worse. My life is for killin’!” I drew my sword, the Stroke of Justice. When I was on horseback, my three-jarg spear would get in the way. Orcus, with his massive sword, charged in as well. “Get on your knees, you Santira bastards! I, Alsrod Nayvil, have come to slay you by my own hand!” I thought they’d come for my head upon hearing my voice, but the opposite was true. “It’s the murderous regent!” “The most powerful man in the realm!” “Retreat! Retreat!” Terror came over the enemy soldiers’ faces as they attempted to flee. Apparently the rumors about me were getting more and more exaggerated. It was as if the enemy thought I was some sort of invincible demon. Special ability Conqueror’s Presence acquired. Takes effect when recognized as a conqueror by many at once. All abilities are tripled from the usual. Additionally, all who lay eyes on you experience either awe or fear. Special ability Conqueror’s Guidance activated. Allies’ trust and focus will double. Additionally, their offensive and defensive abilities improve by thirty percent. These two abilities were granted by my profession, Oda Nobunaga. I could fight at a level no normal person could ever hope to achieve. Frankly, I didn’t feel like I could lose—or rather, there was no way I could lose. Try as they might, the enemy had nowhere to flee, so they ended up colliding with one another and collapsing. I didn’t intend to go to the trouble of killing such second-rate soldiers, but the way they acted made me wonder if their general was even here. Orcus had already charged into them and was lopping off heads left and right. “Wimps! Babies! Stay off the battlefield if you’re not ready for a fight!” Indeed. Now that they had arrived on the field of war, they should be here to kill, or at least to die. If they didn’t want to do either, they shouldn’t have come in the first place. I was having trouble finding anyone to fight. The folks around me killed the enemy before I could, and they were already running away, so it was hard to do anything. Halfway through, I stopped my horse. “This is pointless now. We’ve already won.” Almost simultaneously, voices echoed out from the enemy’s left flank. “We’ve captured the Santira clan head!” “Our regent is victorious! Our kingdom is victorious!” “Is it already over? It doesn’t feel like I even fought.” Orcus came over, not even hiding his disappointment. It wasn’t the expression of a victor, at least. “What’s done is done. That’s just how that goes. You won’t get anything trying to sell prisoners, either.” Had I been a rural lord, I might’ve taken prisoners home as laborers, but since people were streaming into the royal capital as well as Maust Castle, there was no shortage of labor. Just then a man with wolf ears walked up. It was the Black Dogs’ captain, Dorbeau, wearing the same mean look on his face he always did. Not in a vulgar way—he had the eyes of someone who had spent lots of time in serious contemplation over how to live. The villainous look he’d once had was long gone. This was a sort of testimony to the life he’d lived; he would likely remain this way until the end of his days. “We latched on to the people who looked like generals, and we’ve brought three or so here. What would you like to do with them?” “I’ll take them back with us. Although I suppose I don’t need to take them all the way to the capital.” Some members of the Santira clan were brought out before me. With their hands tied behind their backs, they looked absolutely miserable. I saw an old man among them: Leggus Santira. A few of them begged for mercy. Apparently they were asking for leniency because they were related to so-and-so in the royal court. “Leon, did they beg for their lives?” “Yes. They bent the knee of their own accord. They weren’t even wounded.” “Very well. Behead them all.” Nobody tried to stop it. They must’ve decided it was appropriate. “People of the Santira clan, I’m terribly sorry, but although my army has accepted plenty of capable individuals into its ranks, there will never be openings for the incompetent. They would truly do more harm to my men than any foe, you see.” I had them taken away to the executioner. Thus, the Santira clan was officially no more. Not everyone can think five or six steps ahead, but not even one? That was a lost cause. After finishing simple post-battle cleanup, we returned to one of Sinju’s towns that was allied to the king and stayed the night. We were quite far from the royal capital, so I was going to take time getting back. Sinju Prefecture was large, so subjugating all of it was difficult. It had a tendency to be a hotbed of fugitives like Leggus Santira. It was inefficient to send troops there, so I’d been putting it off until after I’d crushed Orsent Cathedral. I collapsed on the sofa upon entering my room. War caused fatigue to build up from all manner of things. It was a game of life and death, after all. You might think I should just not go to the front line, then, but my presence there raised the whole army’s morale, so I had to. Oda Nobunaga was never the type to go out on the front line, so I did think that was a bit odd, but fighting was so fun I didn’t care. Just living at court all the time would be too stuffy. Apparently someone else felt the same way. “Well done, Lord Alsrod!” Laviala entered the room cheerfully. She had been on the battlefield but not at the front. “What a relief to be back in battle after so long! Staying in the palace all ladylike just doesn’t seem right for me…” “I thought you’d say that. You’ve been hard at work on domestic affairs lately, after all.” “Can’t we just stay on the offensive all the time, Lord Alsrod?” Laviala made a pouty face. My relationship with Laviala hadn’t changed one bit since before I was even a petty lord. “There’s a time for attacking, and there’s a time for defending. That’s what it means to be regent. If I were constantly at war, His Majesty would wonder what I was doing.” Since I’d defeated Orsent Cathedral, the capital area had been at peace. Or rather, with its defeat the forces against me had disappeared from the capital. That fight had gone as I’d hoped, but it had also shown me that I could get tripped up relying on my forces alone. And so I’d changed my plans to taking control of the royal capital. I’d have to do that sooner or later either way. I beckoned Laviala onto the sofa and stroked her hair. “Is it not time to attend to official business yet, Lord Alsrod?” Laviala said, looking more relieved than anything. “Not while I’m on an expedition. When I’m away, I leave that to Yanhaan. She’s capable.” My biggest accomplishment in the past five years had been replacing the bureaucrats with new ones. I’d gathered a great deal of new personnel by using exams. “The new people really are passionate about their jobs. I often hear that the quality of the bureaucrats has improved.” New didn’t quite seem the right way to put it. The first round of people had already been at their jobs for five years. “The people I brought in are brilliant. Yanhaan is savvy as an apothecary, too. They’re not even comparable to those foolish bastards who’d inherited the position purely by privilege.” Laviala buried her face against me. Even after I’d been with her for so long, it was something I never got tired of. “You sure have driven out a lot of people with their old-fashioned views.” I’d slowly gotten rid of those who held us back to make way for new talent. “They were guilty of dereliction of duty.” It was somewhat risky to dismiss a bunch of people while I was fighting the cathedral, but once the situation had stabilized, it was nothing to worry about. And there was no risk of them rallying against me when I did it bit by bit. “Just please make sure you don’t arouse His Majesty’s suspicions.” “I know. This isn’t a power struggle between him and me—I’ve mostly left his influence alone. I mean, I haven’t reformed the government structure at all. He doesn’t think anything of it.” No bureaucrats loyal to the current king, Hasse I, would be left anyway, so it hadn’t affected his power. There were many sorts of “failed government officials” in the capital vicinity who remained only to do paperwork, regardless of who became king. One by one, I had meticulously replaced those people with my own board pieces. Thanks to that, my power wouldn’t be wavering too much, and work wouldn’t stack up if I was away from the capital for a bit. I sent anyone who couldn’t work as a bureaucrat on the capital front line to somewhere more stable, like Maust. Fanneria was one such person. It had taken five years, but my ideas were almost always accepted in the capital now. In the meantime, King Hasse now had a virtual web of henchmen, but they didn’t have any land, soldiers, or money. “If only you could just unify the realm, with your power more secure now.” I caught the scent of perfume coming from Laviala’s hair; it was an expensive product sourced from a far-off land. So many luxury goods came into the capital. Orsent Cathedral wasn’t able to keep them in Fortwest Prefecture as before. This truly was the height of our prosperity. “The battle is far from over, though. No doubt about it.” “I’m fine with that. For my part, I will protect you, Lord Alsrod, even with my life.” Laviala wrapped her arms around me. “That’s the only thing I can do that no one else can. I’ll probably have more and more rivals anyway…” I was a bit startled. “You know I’ve been refraining from having more affairs lately. Besides, now that I’m married to His Majesty’s sister, I can’t go on acquiring more concubines.” That was the truth. After Lumie had become my legal wife, I hadn’t publicly taken more wives. That was how I’d maintained the peace for five years, so there shouldn’t be any issues.
Chapter 35
16 min read