The Balance Breaks (5)
Luna's world came to a complete standstill for a brief moment after hearing Violet's story.
A young white-haired man of the Brans Army who had earned the moniker of Mage by working miracles...
It's Swen. It has to be Swen...!
Luna was certain of it with absolute conviction.
But if that were true, then why was Swen said to belong to the Asius Army?
He had clearly entered the Brans Army—placed himself under Lin Brans.
He was with the Brans Army... and then somehow ended up with the Asius Army?
She didn't know the details, but she was aware that the Brans Army had lost vast stretches of territory. If he had been taken prisoner in the process and absorbed into the Asius Army, the story more or less held together.
But.
If the rumor was true, it meant that after joining the Asius Army, Swen had been sold off to the Serpina Army by their sovereign, Yuuri Asius...
And that meant only one thing.
Swen belongs to the Serpina Army...?
Serpina von Aingart.
The woman who had killed her one and only sister.
And under that woman—under her—was Swen, who by every right should have been her strategist...??
Sold off by another sovereign, no less...????
She was still reeling from the shock of that sudden, devastating information when—
"Um... Lady Luna? Did I... say something wrong...?"
Ah.
Violet's presence finally swam back into focus in Luna's blanked-out vision.
"No... I—no. Um... Miss Violet."
"Yes...?"
"Could you tell me more about that rumor? In detail?"
"The rumor... you mean... about the white-haired Mage...?"
Violet answered in a slightly trembling voice, cowed by the force of Luna's presence. But Luna, oblivious to the change in her, seized upon the words white-haired Mage and—
—lost every shred of her usual composure. Like a predator lunging for its prey, she clasped both of Violet's hands in her own and demanded urgently,
"Yes! Anything is fine—just tell me everything you know!"
"Ah, I—um...!!"
"Hurry! What happened? Is it true... is it really true that he was sold to the Serpina Army?!"
Only when she saw Violet's helpless expression did Luna finally take in the face looking back at her.
Violet was staring at her in utter panic, cold sweat beading on her skin.
The dominant emotion written across that face was—fear.
"...Ah, um, that is... I—I only heard the rumor myself... so I don't... know for certain..."
Only after seeing Violet's trembling eyes did Luna come back to herself. She released the girl's hands and bowed her head deeply.
"I'm... I'm sorry. I got a little... overexcited for a moment."
"Ah... um... n-no, it's fine..."
Right.
Violet had simply heard a rumor and, curious about the word Mage, had brought the question to her. That was all.
Having regained her composure, Luna apologized several more times before finally answering the original question.
"Mages... I can't say for certain, but I... do think they might exist."
"Is that so...?"
Luna closed her eyes and cast her mind back to those days that now felt so distant.
The time they had discovered a treasure chest and used it to relieve the people of their territory.
The time they had resolved to join forces with two mercenary bands.
And the time they had forged a pact with the Brans Army and pulled their nation back from the brink of destruction...
Every last one of those miracles would have been impossible without Swen's counsel.
Calling it magic would almost have made more sense.
But.
"I don't think the magic itself is what matters, though."
"You mean it isn't important...?"
"That's right."
Yes.
To Luna, Swen was not valuable because he possessed insight so sharp that people might mistake him for a mage.
—He was valuable because he had saved her.
And he had not saved her alone. Time and again he had saved their nation. When the country stood on the verge of collapse, he had next protected her life. So that their footsteps could continue, he had gone alone—utterly alone—to face the Brans Army and sacrificed himself.
The only person who had ever chosen to come and serve a nation so minor it did not even rank among the minor powers—a nation that barely counted as a nation at all.
Looking back, even Tifa and Kane had only begun to burn with real passion after meeting Swen.
A tiny warlord band that had no hope of unifying the continent, that could barely protect itself, that seemed destined to leave no mark on history whatsoever—
—had, through his counsel, briefly become something resembling a proper state and achieved modest results at Jeiland Castle.
The only person who had ever shared the dream no one else would acknowledge.
Even now, if she reached out in her dreams, she felt she might still touch him—her... her own precious strategist.
Swen...
Do you remember the autumn wheat fields where the wolves used to run, the ones we walked through together?
Do you remember the moment after the battle, when you gathered me into those broad arms of yours?
Do you remember the words you whispered to me that day, as we fled the royal palace...?
"Lady Lunarien. If you place your trust in me, then in return I shall place the entire realm into your hands."
I trust you.
If it is your word, I will believe it—no matter how impossible it sounds.
Even if every other being in this world doubts you—
I will be your sole believer, and I will guard your back for as long as it takes.
For you, who sacrificed everything for my sake.
Simply thinking of Swen made something rise hot and thick inside her chest.
It was a sticky, damp, humid emotion.
Even kind, gentle Luna—who was warm to everyone—hid this deeply personal, deeply human feeling in the furthest recesses of her heart.
He is so precious to me. So very precious.
I want to be with him, and yet I cannot, and it hurts so much...!
...It has to be nothing more than a baseless rumor.
Thinking about it coldly, the idea that a sovereign of Yuuri's renown would sell off one of her own retainers as the price of repatriating a prisoner was simply incomprehensible.
Consider it. What sovereign in the entire world would make the deranged choice of selling a subordinate general just to recover a captive?
So it was surely a false rumor.
The white-haired Mage had become a buzzword across the continent purely because he was said to work miracles. It was a sensational phrase perfectly suited for stoking even more sensational gossip.
And crucially, as she had already thought—given that the other party was none other than the infamous Serpina Army, it was highly likely this was a scheme of Serpina's designed to destroy the Asius Army's reputation.
——But.
If the rumor were true.
If Yuuri Asius had truly sold off Swen—her Swen—to the Serpina Army...!
...I will never... never forgive her...!!!
Her ruby eyes burned more fiercely than they ever had before.
Violet, who had been speaking with her, found herself crushed by a force of will she had never once seen from Luna—
—and could only look up at her from the corner of the carriage, unable to utter a single word.
Violet thought to herself that today, her guardian felt a little... unfamiliar.
Crunch.
"Swen. What're you eating?"
Jennis was staring at me, so I answered without much thought.
"This? Chocolate."
Ever since the day Irene and Reika had given me chocolate, my snacks for the time being had been the ones they made by hand.
Yes—astonishingly, they had apparently crafted the chocolate with their own hands.
I could understand Reika taking an interest in baking cookies and cakes, but the fact that Lady Irene had made chocolate for me filled my heart with a strangely warm sense of fullness.
"Chocolate? Oh, right. St. Valentino's Day was a few days ago, wasn't it? You... don't tell me you actually got chocolate?!"
"I did."
"From a girl??"
"Yes."
Jennis covered his mouth with one hand, as if he found this endlessly fascinating, and said,
...I always noticed it, but for a man he had a rather feminine way of carrying himself.
"Wow... Swen, looks like that face of yours is earning its keep, huh?"
"Flattery won't get you anything. Senior Jennis, you didn't receive any chocolate?"
"Hm? Me? Well... yeah, not really."
That was unexpected.
He was fairly good-looking, and even if his noble house had become largely ceremonial, it still seemed to carry some weight within the Serpina Army. I would have thought he'd already gone through three or four marriage proposals at the very least.
"How is it? Good?"
"Would you like one?"
I casually picked up a person-shaped chocolate and held it out to him.
"Huh? For real? Thanks! Let's see... mm, not bad!"
Jennis seemed to like it; he stretched a pale hand toward me. I easily understood that he wanted another and passed him a half-broken piece.
"Oh, right. Did you hear the news?"
"What news?"
"Apparently an envoy from the Roland Army arrived."
"An envoy?"
Hm?
From the Roland Army?
The Roland Army was one of the four nations of the southern continent, maintaining a balance with the Ohana Army, the Karelia Army, and the Hesna Army.
"You know about it too, right? The Hesna Army launched an invasion into Brans territory."
Right.
That news had arrived only yesterday.
The Hesna Army's assault on Elgaim Castle.
It would take some time for word to reach us here, so whether the battle was still raging or already over was anyone's guess—
—but setting that aside, it was a monumental moment: the long-standing balance of the southern continent had finally shattered.
Come to think of it, the Karelia Army lay just south of the Roland Army.
If nothing unusual had happened, Lady Luna should be there now... I wondered if she was well.
Opportunity never arrives in peaceful times. It comes in moments of upheaval, when everything is overturned.
All I could do was hope that Lady Luna would seize that opportunity before it was too late.
"My guess is this has something to do with that. Not sure exactly what, but..."
I nodded in agreement.
Honestly, I already had a fair idea why they had come.
They want an alliance.
If they secured an alliance with Serpina—the great power of the north—they could claim a slightly more advantageous position on the unbalanced scales the Hesna Army had just tipped.
Which left the question of what they would offer us in return.
Before long, no doubt...
"Hm? Hold on."
At the sound of something tapping, Jennis checked the window.
A messenger bird had arrived.
He slowly examined the paper, then looked over at me.
"Swen. Looks like Her Lordship is calling for you."
Just as I thought.
...That Lady Serpina would summon me before long had also been well within my expectations.