The Balance Breaks (3)
On the road back to the royal castle, Karelia turned her head and looked at Vanessa.
"Vanessa."
"Yes, my lord."
"I believe you've kept watch long enough, have you not?"
Vanessa gave no answer. She merely bowed her head.
"Discontent with your policies is rising on all sides. I myself have begun to wonder whether your hard line has not gone a little too far. Many are voicing their opposition. I would ask that you consider softening your stance, if only a little."
"My lord. Do you remember General Saad?"
"…!"
Saad Astron.
A general who had performed brilliantly in the days when the Karelia Army was still a wandering band of free companies. The last Vanessa had heard, he was leading a mercenary company of his own, bound to no nation.
"He was a man of greater ability than any general our army has ever known. He offered himself as your shield of his own free will, even at the cost of one eye. No one can deny that his contributions were decisive in the capture of Madlan Castle. And yet—what did you do with that man, my lord?"
"…I told him we could no longer walk the same path. Because he had plundered the people of the territory."
In the aftermath of that incident, several thousand soldiers had followed Saad out of the nation.
"Had he not plundered then, we would likely have lost for want of provisions, and Madlan Castle would never have been ours. This nation itself might never have existed. It was a choice that could not be helped."
"But if we wage war by stripping innocent commoners of their property, how are we any different from Serpina's army?"
"At the time, they were not our people. They paid taxes to an enemy state and produced the grain that fed an enemy's soldiers."
"Even if they belong to another nation, the people of a territory are still the people of a territory. Barely a few decades ago, we were all subjects of a single kingdom. How can we treat them lightly simply because they happen to live under an enemy banner?"
"That, my lord, is precisely the point."
Vanessa's tone sharpened, almost pleading.
"It is exactly that kind of thinking that is your weakness."
"What did you say…?"
"My lord. These are troubled times. You must not believe that benevolence and virtue alone can seize the world. Of course I, Vanessa, deeply share your ideals. I will not deny that many have gathered here drawn by your cause. But even if those ideals alone are enough to found a nation, they are not enough to bring Serpina down."
Overwhelming military power. Peerless decisiveness. And the one claim to legitimacy of the old empire that no one could dispute.
Without something clear and decisive that could surpass her, Vanessa judged it all but impossible to defeat Serpina on this continent and become its unifying sovereign.
"Our soldiers have not known real war for a long time. Compared even to the other southern states that have endured their share of unrest, we have enjoyed a relatively peaceful stretch. Peace, paradoxically, is what slowly rots an army—and the soldiers in it. Without establishing iron discipline under those conditions, we will struggle not only against Serpina's forces, but even to unify the south."
"But… is collective punishment not going too far? And the standard by which you brand someone a warlord… should we not at least overlook simple mistakes?"
"Even though simple mistakes accumulate into great ones, and once a great mistake is made, the situation becomes irreversible?"
"!!!"
Vanessa bowed her head once more.
"I will speak frankly, my lord. Before I took command of the military, the discipline of our army was in a state of utter laxity. Is it acceptable for a soldier to skip a training exercise that every man under a general's command is expected to attend, on the pretext of some trivial personal matter? That soldier said to me: Our lord Karelia treasures every one of us. Why are you, the strategist, doing this?"
"…"
"That is not a proper army. In peacetime it might not matter—but right now, it is a sight we must never allow. A nation and an army must have hierarchy. Without it, nothing functions as it should."
Karelia could not bring herself to deny Vanessa's words.
"To plant peace upon this continent—to keep it from falling into the hands of the tyrant Serpina—we must build a victorious army and a victorious nation. Blood may be shed along the way. But once you become the unifying sovereign and can at last give form to your ideals, will that not be the day true peace arrives for everyone?"
"…"
"My lord. Whatever blood that process requires, I will be the one to stain my hands with it. When the moment comes to crawl through the filthy mud, I will do so willingly. If others call me an insolent wretch who dares play at being sovereign, I will gladly bear that infamy. I beg you—please understand what is in my heart."
"Vanessa…"
Karelia met her eyes.
And she could not bring herself to say a word.
She knew all too well how much Vanessa had taken upon herself in her place.
A stretch of silence passed.
Then Vanessa bent low at the waist and spoke.
"Forgive my insolence, my lord."
"No. Insolence? Between you and me, what place is there for such a word?"
"…It is rather absurd to say this while asking for forgiveness, but if you had simply called me insolent and struck off my head, I might have departed for the next world with some measure of peace."
"You have quite the impudent sense of humor."
Watching Karelia smile after those words, Vanessa renewed her vow once more.
No matter what it takes, I will raise you as the sun in this sky.
"I truly cannot thank you enough for earlier, Lady Luna. You saved my life."
"Not at all. Someone would have done it even if I hadn't."
"That's not true! Honestly… if it hadn't been you, Lady Luna, who would have dared stand up to Lady Vanessa?"
After the regular council meeting had ended, Cecil had asked to spend time together for the first time in a long while, and so Luna found herself at her house.
It was nothing more than light conversation over tea—but for both Cecil and Luna, the hour felt quietly precious.
When Luna had first joined the Karelia Army, it was Cecil who had helped her settle in more than anyone else. She had long wanted to repay that kindness, and in some small way, this had lightened the weight on her heart.
"By the way… the girl beside you is…?"
Cecil looked at Violet, who stood quietly at Luna's side.
"A child I am looking after as her guardian."
"A pleasure to meet you."
Cecil answered with a kind smile.
"You've found a sponsor with much to teach. I hope you make good use of the fortune that has rolled your way."
"Thank you. I will not forget the words you have given me today."
After offering that brief blessing, Cecil cast a meaningful glance at Luna.
Luna caught the nuance at once. She smiled at Violet and asked,
"Violet. I'm sorry, but could you step out for a moment?"
Of the three children under her care, Violet was the quickest to read a room. She sensed the subtle atmosphere filling the chamber, then bowed with elegant composure.
"Of course. Please take your time."
Once Violet had withdrawn,
"She's a remarkably composed young friend. There's strength in her eyes—the look of a child who will accomplish something."
"Thank you. From my perspective, I only hope she stays healthy, whether she accomplishes anything or not…"
And then Cecil slowly broached the subject she had truly come to raise.
"What do you make of it, Lady Luna?"
"…"
What did she make of it—clearly, she meant what had just happened. Or rather, beyond that: Vanessa's reign of terror itself.
Hesitating over how to answer, Luna first tested the waters.
"How is the mood in the capital?"
"The people's hearts are turning bitter. Not only among the commoners conscripted as soldiers, but among our own officers as well… voices saying they cannot accept the strategist's decisions are growing louder."
"I see…"
Luna stared blankly into the still surface of her teacup.
"On the surface, it may look as though she is forging a powerful army with iron discipline—"
Cecil said this, then flicked a finger against the teacup in front of Luna.
Tok.
The hushed little world inside the cup trembled.
"But I cannot shake the feeling that the slightest spark would set all that discontent ablaze."
"…Has no one spoken to our lord about this separately?"
"How could there not be? I myself have pleaded with her any number of times. General Mirion and General Gid raised the matter as well."
Mirion and Gid were senior generals of such standing in the Karelia Army that it would be an insult to call them second-rate. Founding-era loyalists, in all but name.
"We understand the strategist's intent, but this has gone too far. At this rate, internal fractures will form, and far from a strong army, we risk becoming a rabble. You cannot govern the people through fear alone."
"And our lord…?"
"…Haa."
Cecil let out a long, heavy sigh. For someone who had always taken such fierce pride in belonging to the Karelia Army, the worry in her trembling eyes was genuine.
"Much the same as what you heard just now. She has delegated military authority. It seems she has decided, for the time being, to place her trust in her…"
"But is our lord truly content to sit and watch this reign of terror with open eyes? The lord I know would never—"
At Luna's words, Cecil closed her eyes and slowly nodded.
"Yes. I think so too. But… our lord carries a kind of debt."
"A debt?"
"Lady Vanessa has been our lord's shadow. A sovereign navigating an age of chaos cannot forever recite fine ideals alone. To hold ideals in one's heart while also possessing the will to act, the resolve to decide—and the readiness to stain one's hands with blood—that is the nature of the seat."
And the one who had willingly stained her hands with blood—
No: the one who had plunged them deep into the pool of it—was none other than the national strategist, Vanessa Trinity.
Cecil said this, then let a bitter smile cross her face.