A Wanderer's Destiny Points Toward Serpina's Army (3)
"…Um."
As I studied the letter, Reika ventured a question.
"Yes?"
"Why would Father ask something like that…? I mean… Swen, you're already here, so of course you're serving Lady Serpina, aren't you? I just… don't really understand why he'd bother asking."
"Ah."
Fair enough. Taken at face value, that was a perfectly reasonable way to read it.
I was currently at Hisphil Castle, and Zinor would already have a full grasp of everything that had happened within the Asius Army. He was a national strategist, after all. The fact that his daughter had been able to deliver a letter meant his situation had loosened enough for him to breathe — and from there, it wouldn't have been hard to deduce that I had entered Serpina's service.
But a man capable of figuring that out would never waste a question simply to confirm what he already knew.
In other words, what he was really asking was whether Serpina was the person I would ultimately serve.
"It's a simple enough matter. He's asking whether I intend to keep serving Lady Serpina from here on out."
"Is that so…?"
Reika tilted her head, but she didn't press the question any further. I'd been a little worried the explanation would get complicated — so this was a genuine relief.
Among everyone I had met, Zinor was the man who had come closest to guessing my true ability. His premise — that I used magic to confirm the future — was wrong, but he had correctly identified the core of it: that I knew the results without knowing how they came about.
And since I had volunteered to come here myself, he had apparently concluded that I believed entering Serpina's army was the most efficient path forward.
So the question meant: Is Serpina the answer?
Well… now that my affiliation had shifted under Serpina, I couldn't exactly ask and answer myself the way I used to. But based on everything I had experienced so far, the real answer lay elsewhere.
The answer I held was — Luna.
Which left the next question.
Should I share that answer with Zinor?
Sharing my true intentions was as good as declaring that we would be boarding the same ship from now on. And in that light — was Zinor someone I could trust?
If the question were whether he was a useful man, the answer was obvious. The mere fact that he had chosen me over his own lord, Yuuri, in a situation like this was proof enough that his mind was sharp.
But whether he was trustworthy…
I turned and looked at Reika, the girl who had shown me the letter. She was the person Zinor had attached to me. Judging by the letter, he didn't seem particularly concerned if she never returned to his side. And yet, for all that, she clearly wasn't here as a watchdog either — not by any reading of the situation.
So I reached a conclusion.
Zinor wanted a connection with me.
When someone wants something from you, a relationship is built by granting it. By that measure, it should be safe enough to trust him.
"Reika. Do you have a quill?"
"Hm? Ah… just a moment. Our rooms look like they have the same layout, so there should be one in here as well…"
She rummaged through a drawer and brought over a pen and ink. I wrote a single line on the letter, folded it, and handed it back to her.
"That's my reply. Would you mind delivering it?"
"Of course…! I'll make sure it reaches him. But… it seems a little short…"
"I could write a few more words if you'd like, but I think he'll understand perfectly well from that alone."
"…?"
Reika tilted her head, clearly not following. Zinor, though, would know exactly what it meant.
I changed the subject and asked her,
"Reika, do you have any plans?"
"Hm? No… later this evening, um, I arranged to have tea with Lady Irene. Other than that, nothing special…"
"Tea? You have tea leaves?"
"Lady Irene always seems to carry some with her."
Right. Irene loved tea and always kept leaves on hand. The expression she wore while drinking it had a way of putting people at ease.
Come to think of it, Reika was good at baking sweets. Anyone who could turn out a cake had to be reasonably skilled, didn't they?
For a moment, I pictured a future where Irene's tea was paired with confections Reika had made. I had no real power to see the future… but if I did, I would have wanted the vision that appeared before me to look exactly like that — a scene so peaceful it almost ached.
"Reika."
"Yes…?"
"Then until then — shall we meditate for a while? It's been a long time."
Judging by the way my rapier had once erupted in flame, meditation was clearly effective. Best to recharge the battery whenever the chance presented itself.
"Ah, w-well… shall we…? There doesn't seem to be that much mana in this place, but… still."
She said it with a bashful little smile. A bit foolish, maybe — but pure and lovely, with not a shred of hidden calculation in it.
"Being able to spend time with you again after so long… makes me happy, Swen."
"I feel the same."
"…Huh? Th-th-th-that…!!! I-I mean, it's not that I mind, it's just…!"
Watching her face flush red as she looked at me, I laughed lightly — and spent a long-overdue peaceful afternoon at her side.
Valharat Castle.
The rush of resignations among the subordinate generals had more or less settled. Those who were going to leave the Asius Army had already left — and in Zinor's estimation, the fact that the situation had been contained even this far was something of a miracle.
It was the fruit of the founding heroes, Epinel among them, throwing their full weight behind Yuuri's defense.
And more than that —
Succeeding him, Anima had become the new national strategist. "New" was something of a misnomer; it was more accurate to say that Zinor had merely stepped into the role for a stretch of time while she was away from it.
The longer someone had served in the Asius Army, the deeper their affection and trust for Anima ran. There were even a few who seemed content simply that she had returned. The founding heroes could only wield such influence if there were a great many people in the nation who looked up to them — so none of this was particularly surprising.
Or perhaps they simply had strong stomachs. One or the other.
Around that time, the duty Zinor had been assigned was commerce. Originally, Yuuri had meant to show consideration by letting him write his books in peace without assigning him anything at all — but he had insisted on taking the post himself. He was going to leave eventually, after all; if one considered even the slightest contingency, there was no need to sever the relationship in an ugly way and leave lingering resentment behind.
No matter how many times he thought it through, Yuuri was not a person who could become a unifying sovereign. But how many people in this world could ever claim absolute certainty about anything?
Unlike Swen — who was presumed able to see the future — Zinor could not. Considering every possible outcome and acting accordingly was simply his fundamental principle.
And so he tended the markets, returned home, and spent his days leafing through a newly published treatise on military strategy. Until one day —
"Master."
The head maid brought him a letter. A reply from Reika, it seemed.
"My thanks."
"Not at all, Master."
The head maid who handed him the letter was beaming so brightly that it niggled at him enough to ask.
"You seem to be in fine spirits."
"Hm? Oh, well—"
"I am not scolding you. Think nothing of it."
"…It's just that, for all the talk this way and that, I can tell how much you care for Lady Reika. I was thinking how glad that makes me."
"…I do?"
She nodded firmly.
"Well, the moment you saw it was a letter from Lady Reika, your face lit up as if you'd been waiting for it."
"…"
"You always seemed so cold toward her that I was terribly worried… but I realize now it was never something for the likes of me to judge so freely."
There was no need to tell her he had actually been waiting for something else entirely.
He handled the head maid with appropriate courtesy, sent her on her way, and immediately checked the letter's contents.
And on that letter —
Several days after he read the letter.
In the audience chamber of the royal castle, Zinor knelt before his lord Yuuri and made a report.
"…I see. So you wish to resign."
"That is correct."
"The merchants in the markets will be quite disappointed. You hadn't even been at it long, and they were already delighted that you'd overhauled the entire system. They kept asking if you were really a strategist — or if you weren't some great merchant who'd made his name in trade."
"Regrettably, as you can see, I never managed to amass a fortune of that magnitude. Still, if they speak of me so highly, I suppose I might consider a change of career after retirement. Living off war is a livelihood confined to ages of chaos, after all."
Yuuri smiled at that. They exchanged a few more idle jokes, and then, with a faintly lonely expression, she asked,
"Is it because of… Swen?"
"…"
Zinor considered.
The cleanest course would be to offer a few pleasant words she would want to hear and then part ways. And yet… this was still the woman upon whom he had once staked his fate. It was also true that she had shown him considerable consideration after he joined the Asius Army. From her perspective, casting out Anima — who held the trust of all — and elevating him as strategist had been an enormous decision in itself.
At the very end, at least, it would be all right to leave her with a piece of counsel.
"Lady Yuuri. Spilled water cannot be gathered back into the cup. I understand the decision you made. I served at your side for a considerable time, after all. Whether that decision was right or wrong… is something no one can know with certainty."
"…"
"Accept what has already come to pass — the consequences of your own choice. Only by accepting the results can you move forward. This is the final counsel I can offer as one who once served as your strategist."
Yuuri said nothing, only nodded.
"I wish you fortune in battle, my lord. I shall never forget the warmth with which you treated me. Take care of yourself."
And so, leaving Yuuri behind — still searching for words she could not find — he laid down every office he held in the Asius Army within the castle walls, became a free man, and walked out of Valharat Castle.
He had entrusted the settling of his estate to people he could rely on; they would handle it well enough. He had seen to it that none of them left empty-handed, so their livelihoods would not grow harsh.
Which left only the question of where he should go now —
Retreating into the mountains for a while wouldn't be so bad.
Before joining the Asius Army, he had originally intended to train disciples in the mountains. Old as his body was, he felt no fear of mountain life. What mattered was surviving until the new age arrived. To preserve one's life, it was safer to withdraw to the rear than to stand at the front.
That day.
The single sentence he had received from Reika — no.
From Swen.
Seek out Lunarien Iniang.
Lunarien Iniang.
A name he had never heard. In the days when small warlords had proliferated, any number of nameless lords had existed — but all of them had long since been destroyed by the Brans Army.
And yet this was the answer offered by none other than Swen, the man who saw the future. He would not have written a meaningless name on that letter.
The fact that Swen had chosen not to send Reika back, but to keep her at his side, made trusting his word all the more likely to be the correct choice.
He would put people on the search, of course — but he felt no particular urgency. Even if he failed to find her, that name would one day reveal itself upon the continent without fail.
Until the new age comes, spending my time writing a book or two wouldn't be so bad either.
In this chaotic age, challenging an opponent one cannot defeat is the act of a fool. He knew better than anyone that he lacked the power to surpass a man who saw the future through magic.
If you cannot surpass someone — then you join them, do you not?
And so the man who had, for a brief time, cast his name once more into history vanished from sight yet again.