Points of Doubt (2)
"Hello……."
The moment Jennis's younger sister saw me, she bowed her head in greeting.
I took a seat across from her.
"I was terribly rude just a moment ago……."
"It's fine."
I calmly studied her as she kept apologizing, clearly at a loss for what to do with herself.
Her face really was the spitting image of Jennis's.
Come to think of it, even Jennis had always had a rather feminine quality for a guy — but a real woman was different. She carried a distinctly feminine presence that was impossible to miss.
If I had to put it into words, Jennis was the pretty-boy type, while this one was the genuine article.
Hold on. While I'm at it, maybe I should confirm something.
"How long have you been staying here in Jennis's place?"
"……Since yesterday."
……
I scrubbed the thought I'd just had clean out of my head.
More feminine atmosphere or not — until I'd realized she was a woman, I hadn't sensed a thing. Just yesterday I'd fallen asleep in this very room with "Jennis," hadn't I?
We used bunk beds, and she'd already been asleep by the time I got back, so we hadn't talked much…… but it had never once crossed my mind that she might not be Jennis.
Anyway.
Strictly speaking this wasn't our first meeting, but from my perspective it might as well have been — so there were certain things that needed doing.
"I'm Swen."
"Ah — I'm Ioline Al Kaski. ……Jennis's twin sister."
"I think I would have figured that out even if you hadn't told me."
"Haha……."
She laughed awkwardly. Smiling made her look even more like Jennis.
The power of DNA really is something else.
"So — what exactly is going on here?"
"My brother asked me to. He said he'd like me to stay here for just a few days……."
"And the reason?"
Ioline shook her head vigorously, looking thoroughly put on the spot.
"I can't tell you the details, but he said it was something extremely important."
"Extremely important?"
"Yes…… I wish I could tell you more, but I can't. I'm sorry……."
What kind of "important business" could possibly require something this convoluted?
From everything I'd observed of Jennis Al Kaski, he wasn't the type to take much of anything seriously. Ambition? Not really. If anything, what seemed to matter most to him was pride in his older brother Irian, and a strong sense of belonging as a member of the Serpina Army.
Given that, there was a real chance the reason was something trivial —
But then again, I haven't been watching Jennis for that long.
I couldn't rule out the possibility that everything I'd seen of him so far had been an act, carefully performed for the right audience.
While I was lost in thought, Ioline spoke up.
"Um…… Swen."
"Yes?"
"About…… today. Could you please keep it a secret from my brother……?"
Having said that, she lowered her head deeply and pleaded with me.
"Just…… until he comes back, even. Please……! I don't want to be a burden on my family anymore……."
……
The way she tossed out a word like "burden" so easily suggested there was more to her situation than met the eye.
I sorted through what I knew.
I don't know why Jennis went this far, but he must have had a reason that made him uneasy. I may need to look into it.
And that brought me back to a fact that had been nagging at me for a while now.
Namely: in all the ten thousand hours I'd spent playing this game, the name Jennis Al Kaski had never once appeared.
Not just Jennis — Ioline sitting in front of me, and their older brother Irian, were all faces I'd never seen before.
Sure, there were officers with thin impressions. The kind of C-to-D-rank generals who might as well have been clones — half-assed names, unremarkable stats. I felt a little bad saying it, but Jack and Silin, the ones who'd escorted Lady Irene alongside me back in my Brans Army days, had been that type.
And from a third-party perspective, Swen himself — me — wasn't exactly a face that stuck in the memory either. Though with white hair, I probably would have left some kind of impression.
Right. There was no way I would have forgotten people who looked like this.
Irian was a fairly handsome man, and the fact that Serpina — who made a habit of promoting the capable — kept using him suggested his stats weren't bad either. As for Jennis, I didn't know his stats, but being a twin would have been memorable enough as a character setting.
And yet…… I had absolutely nothing.
Either way, the fact that Jennis went to these lengths means something's connected here. I might uncover something important — so for now, I'll cooperate with Ioline.
If Jennis was plotting something underhanded, my lord Serpina could be in danger.
My new goal was to keep Lady Serpina alive. I might end up arriving at Lady Irene's side a little later than planned…… but I had no intention of being careless and creating something I'd regret.
Having made up my mind, it was time to act.
"All right. I'll help you, Ioline."
"Really……?"
The way she looked at me — like I was some kind of savior — was a little overwhelming, but I needed to get my own terms clear as well.
"There is one condition, though."
"A condition……?"
"Nothing major. Could you keep it a secret from the rest of your family that I figured out who you are? Things would get complicated if word got out."
"A secret? Well, of course I'd keep it secret. If I told them, they'd know my cover was blown……."
"Just making sure."
Ioline hesitated for only a moment, then nodded.
"Understood. I'll do as you say, Swen."
"Then we have an agreement."
I stood up from my seat — and her voice caught me from behind.
"Um…… Swen, where are you going?"
"Hm? I was going to look for somewhere else to stay. Now that I know you're a woman, sharing a room feels a bit inappropriate…… and you'd be uncomfortable with me here too, wouldn't you?"
"Ah — yes, that does make sense……."
Faced with a perfectly reasonable argument, she hung her head and fidgeted, at a loss for words.
It bothered me a little, but sleeping in the same room still felt wrong. With Lady Irene, there had been a direct order from our lord. This was nothing of the sort.
"Well then."
I was about to leave with a brief farewell when she stopped me.
"Swen……!"
"Yes?"
"Would it…… be all right if you just stayed with me?"
"?"
I looked at her, wondering what she was talking about — but her tone was unexpectedly serious.
"I still don't really know my way around the building, and being alone makes me anxious…… I don't even know how I'm supposed to act if I run into someone. I'm perfectly fine with it, so if you don't mind…… I'd like to ask if you'd stay with me."
I'd been trying to give her space out of consideration, but apparently I'd misread the situation.
Then again, from her perspective this place must have been overwhelming. She didn't seem to be an officer of the Serpina Army, and she was stuck pretending to be her brother of the opposite sex.
I should cooperate for now.
I wanted to investigate Jennis myself, so earning her goodwill wouldn't hurt.
"All right. But if you ever need me to step out, please just say so without worrying about it."
"Step out?"
"When you need to change clothes, for example. Things like that."
"Ah……."
Ioline's downturned face flushed a faint red.
"……Understood. Thank you for being so considerate."
I wrapped up the conversation with Ioline and settled at the desk, sinking into thought.
It would be good if I could get to the bottom of this before I move into Lady Irene's residence…….
For some reason, a faint unease lingered in my chest…… but I told myself it was probably nothing, and carefully went over everything that had happened today.
Anel Castle, capital of the Brans Army.
"……."
Lin Brans was not seated on her throne. Instead she stood at the window of the audience chamber, staring endlessly up at the sky.
She absently fretted at her thumbnail — already rough and ragged from too much chewing — and thought.
Will it really go the way Parfalle said?
An alliance with the hated Serpina Army — a decision she had made only after steeling herself with everything she had.
Ever since Elgaim Castle had fallen to the Hesna Army, she no longer had the luxury of hesitation.
Things had gone quiet for the moment — but if the Roland Army decided the Hesna Army's advance looked promising and pushed north as well, territories beyond Elgaim could be stripped away in the blink of an eye.
Even the plan to hold only Anel Castle and the western continent had assumed the front would be limited to the Serpina Army and the Aesius Army. Now that the southern nations had begun to move, the Brans Army had no choice but to shrink one of its fronts by any means necessary.
Parfalle had proposed an immediate alliance with the Serpina Army without so much as a moment's deliberation. Her reasoning: the southern balance of power was already broken, and the fronts there were likely to tangle into an unmanageable mess.
In other words — the Hesna Army was the greatest threat right now, but if the Ohana Army seized the opportunity to swallow them up, the Brans Army would have to go shopping for a new alliance all over again. And with four nations tangled together — five, if you counted the Aesius Army broadly — figuring out which decision would actually pay off was nearly impossible.
That was why Parfalle insisted that striking an alliance with the Serpina Army now, while things were still quiet, was the safest path available.
The deep-seated hostility toward the Serpina Army within the Brans ranks, and Lin's own pride as a sovereign, had held her back until the very end —
"My lord. Cast aside your pride. You can no longer afford to make the wrong choice."
— but as Parfalle had said, this was no longer a time for pride. She had to prevent the Brans Army — once the power that ruled the central continent — from becoming a minor state, no matter what it took.
Even face required national strength to maintain.
Still.
"If we form this alliance…… will our army really be able to keep the embers alive somehow?"
"I cannot say for certain…… but I believe it will create the possibility."
The most frustrating part was that not a single person could guarantee this path was a "surely profitable choice."
If Swen were still here, he would have told me for certain…….
With a pang of regret she summoned that man's face once more — but he had long since become a member of the Aesius Army, thanks to her own disastrous decisions. After her brother Chel's crushing defeat at Aesius hands, Lin had withdrawn from state affairs entirely and let the days slip away in idleness, hadn't she?
She had already wasted far too much time drowning in panic and useless thoughts. What she needed now was to stop dwelling on the past, gather what remained of her composure, and move forward.
Just then —
"My lord. Lady Parfalle has arrived."
"Show her in."
The doors of the audience chamber opened, and Parfalle walked slowly across the red carpet. The moment Lin saw her face, she rushed forward and demanded —
"Well? What about the alliance?"
"Fortunately, it seems they have agreed."
"Really?!"
"Yes. They said they would form the alliance."
Thank goodness……!
The Brans Army had scraped together every last treasure it could still lay hands on. To make absolutely certain, they should have overpaid even further…… but after Irene's departure, the nation had been left in ruins, and with state affairs neglected for so long the treasury was far from flush. They could have spent more if pressed — but then salaries and the basic costs of running the government would have fallen short. It was no exaggeration to say they had put up everything they owned.
"However…… there is one condition that concerns me somewhat."
"A concerning condition? What is it?"
"Well…… that is."
Parfalle wore a faintly puzzled expression as she carefully parted her lips.
"They will form the alliance — on the condition that you, my lord, personally visit Aingart Castle……."