Thanks to the tireless efforts of Elisabel and Ild, and of course the patriarch, Luthras, and his daughter, Diane, the Schultz clan was finally at peace. The children were even running around joyfully.
I went with Diane to check out their camp.
“Hey, Reyha, do you think you could maybe give me some pointers on fighting sometime?”
“If my lord permits.”
“I bet it’s fine, right, Margilus?”
Ever since the defensive battle, Diane was attached at the hip to Reyha and me. Reyha was also doing a good job of hanging out with her and being friendly while escorting me.
“They’re about to start discussions with my Pa—er, with the patriarch and everyone else. I think they’ll probably say they wanna go back to the Holy Precincts.”
That made sense.
The Schultz clan had already been driven out by Filsand once. Then they’d finally found those ruins and spent twenty years building a life there. It was unlikely they’d want to move again.
The Holy Precincts were covered in craters from my meteors, but the surrounding farmlands and pastures were unharmed.
“But some of the younger guys are saying they want to go with you. Will you take them?”
“Oh, of course.”
“Well, that’s a relief, since I’m gonna go with you, too.”
“I see…”
After observing for a bit, I’d already had an idea that that’s what Diane wanted. I was conflicted, but I was also grateful that Castle Getaeus was growing.
“Hey, speak up!” Diane turned around angrily. “Don’t try and brush me off. I may not get all this trade-hub-continental-whatever business, but you’re gonna destroy daemons and do big stuff, right? Let me help!”
“Certainly. I don’t see any problem with that.”
She might not be as powerful a warrior as Lade, but she was certainly strong enough. We also didn’t have the experience or skills that she had from her years leading Schultz warriors.
“From now on, I’ll be your sword. I’m bringing thirty—no, fifty warriors with me!”
“Mmm…”
Above all else, she had a strong motivation to fight the daemons. At least, that’s what I thought…but there was no sense of anger or desire for revenge in her now.
Actually, she seemed extraordinarily committed to me personally. I don’t enjoy putting it like this, but I don’t think she was full of zealous loyalty, or fired up at the promise of battle. It was more like she had grown dependent on her savior.
I recalled the empty look in her eyes when we’d escaped the Holy Precincts. Was she just trying to fill the hole in her heart by taking on a new role as the wizard’s sword?
“You’re bound to be a great help—and I thank you, truly. But first, you need to get the Schultz people settled.”
“I know that!”
The girl was just fifteen or sixteen years old, but she had already experienced so much, including the loss of her hometown to daemons. A loss caused by her own mother, no less. Telling her to come to her senses would be too tall of an order. No doubt she was carrying some heavy PTSD, but I didn’t know the first thing about how to help her deal with that.
It was vexing, but I would just have to wait for her to settle down on her own.
✦ ✦ ✦
In the end, out of the twelve hundred remaining members of the Schultz clan, about a thousand decided to return to the Holy Precincts under the patriarch. Not only had the Filsand army vowed never to attack them, the duke’s soldiers would also maintain security around the Schultz land and provide them with food for their journey home. The other two hundred or so would eventually join Diane at Castle Getaeus.
Of those two hundred, fifty were warriors, while the rest were the families of those warriors and other necessary craftsmen. Personally, I wanted to cut down some space for them in the Endless Forest so they could build a new village, and I also planned to hire a certain percentage of their warriors as soldiers at the castle. In the end, I may have only succeeded in dividing an already-diminished clan into two. Something told me I’d sown the seeds of future troubles.
“I’ll just have to do what I can to make sure things turn out all right.” As usual, my life was full of uncertainties. But time had shown that the best thing to do was stay on the offensive, as always.
✦ ✦ ✦
The day after Elisabel and Diane joined as new members of our party, Duke Darmund and I took time to share drinks together. Just like before, we were in the duke’s private quarters. Both the drinks and the food were of the highest quality, but that didn’t help the undercurrent of tension that lingered between us.
“I heard Elisabel decided to go with you. I expect you to take care of her.”
“It’s great news for me. But are you sure you’re okay with letting her go?”
“Don’t worry about it. If she’s useful to you, then she’s helping me as well. Even if I kept her here, we’d never be close.” If anything, the duke looked relieved.
“I see…”
He wasn’t the kind of evil that enjoyed seeing others suffer, but he wasn’t quite good enough to truly love his daughter. It was because Elisabel clearly understood this that she’d decided to come to Castle Getaeus and seek her own path.
Things were still a bit cloudy, but I figured there was no need to go further with this topic.
“How about Prince Balzard and Prince Agveil?” I asked as I filled the duke’s empty cup with more wine. We both had the timing down pat for this.
“I already issued a decree to officially name Balzard as my successor. There’s nothing particularly interesting about him, but he won’t screw it up, either. He’s got good relationships with his homeland and our newly rehabilitated Schultz ‘friends.’”
“That’s good news,” I told him honestly. “I think he’s the right choice, too.”
I wished I’d had more time to speak deeply with his sons. Balzard was such a fine young man. It was hard to believe he was the son of Duke Darmund.
“It seems that Agveil trusts Balzard as well. Now that the order of succession is clear, I don’t think he’ll try any more underhanded schemes.”
“I agree. I think he has a lot of potential, too.”
Agveil, on the other hand, was definitely the son of the duke. He was scheming and crafty. However, a certain amount of underhandedness might be necessary in a politician. If Balzard and Agveil could complement each other’s weaknesses, they might be able to successfully rule Filsand.
We were both pouring our own high-quality spirits at this point and munching on dried meat pies.
Darmund suddenly spoke. “You know, Lord Margilus.”
“Hmm?”
“Feels a bit odd, but sometimes, you seem like a genuine hero. A real ‘good guy,’ like in stories.”
“Flattering, but I have to disagree.” A bit startled, I peered over at the duke.
He was staring down into his cup. There was a hint of jealousy in his smile. “Sometimes I wonder. What if I became one of those ‘paragons of virtue’ that our priest is always talking about? And then I think: How would it feel to use my power to ‘do the right thing’?”
I didn’t respond.
I stared hard at the duke’s profile. Did he see through me? And did he feel the same sort of strange dislike but also admiration for me that I felt for him?
He shook his head. “Maybe I’m just getting old.”
“That’s probably it…”
He was the villainous duke of Filsand, a man who misused his power. For me, there was significant meaning in our meeting.
As his complete opposite, I finally felt confident of one thing. At the very least, I had not gone down the wrong path.
But still, there was no guarantee that what I’d already done, or what I would do in the future, would always be “right.”
Even in modern-day Japan, it wasn’t always easy to determine right from wrong. Did such clear-cut morality even exist in this world?