Zeiland Defense (3)
"A ceasefire agreement?" Lin snorted. "………Excuse me a moment."
She covered her mouth with her sleeve and shook with laughter, as if the mere act of speaking the words was the funniest thing she had ever heard.
I watched her face without so much as a flicker of reaction.
Lin laughed a good while longer before finally letting out a sigh and speaking again.
"Haa. That was fun. Right, a ceasefire agreement. And the condition you're offering is thirteen hundred gold?"
"That is correct."
In an instant, the playful, teasing-girl expression on Lin Brans's face went ice-cold, as if it had been flash-frozen.
She looked down at me with half-dead eyes. The lofty bearing of someone who had risen to the absolute pinnacle of a nation made it impossible to forget, even for a moment, that she was the sovereign of the Brans Army.
"And why should I?"
Good. That was the response I wanted. Now it would be worth dealing with her.
I smiled as I answered.
"Because my proposal is an opportunity the Brans Army will never have again."
"Is that so?"
She began twisting a long strand of her blue hair around one finger. By this point she was no longer even looking at my face.
"Hey. You—what's your name?"
"I am Swen, an envoy of the Lunarien Army."
"Right. Envoy of the Lunarien Army, whatever-your-name-is. You do know what an agreement is, don't you?"
"I do."
Then, with a gaze so frigid it looked ready to devour me whole, she fixed her eyes on me once more.
"I'll be honest. Last time, our army was ambushed and suffered a crushing defeat. We got careless. Eight thousand troops weren't enough to take your country. Fine—I'll grant you that. But you know what? The force I sent against your country this time numbers twenty-three thousand. You know that too, right?"
"Of course I do."
"I don't know how many more troops you people plan to scrape together, or whether you're plotting some surprise reinforcement through another ambush like last time… but listen."
She rose from her throne and began walking slowly toward me.
With every step that closed the distance, I felt a suffocating pressure settle over me—an illusion, almost, of being unable to breathe.
Killing intent!
Her mere movement radiated an overwhelming murderous aura. It even felt as though a blade of freezing cold was cutting into my flesh.
So this was the sovereign of a great power?
An ordinary person would have been crushed under that killing intent, unable even to voice their own opinion.
But so what?
I was a man of Intelligence 100.
Even in this moment, I was certain: she would have no choice but to accept this ceasefire.
I never once averted my eyes as she approached.
"Your army is finished. Even if a defensive siege is more advantageous than an assault, with a disparity this large you absolutely cannot win. Even with a general who can fly and crawl, it wouldn't be easy… Ah, right. Do you know who our vanguard commander is?"
"Is it not the renowned General Airen?"
"Exactly. So whether you offer thirteen hundred gold or three thousand, I have no intention of making this agreement."
Having said that, she crouched down until her eyes were level with mine as I knelt.
The scent of whatever perfume she used struck my nose with sharp intensity. Even that alluring fragrance carried a chill that made one think of fear.
So this world has perfume too.
Of course, from my perspective, that was nothing more than a frivolous thought.
"Am I insane? Hmm? If I take the head of that lord of yours, Lunarien, not only will I get thirteen hundred gold—Zeiland Castle itself will roll right into my lap. Why the hell would I take this money and grant you a ceasefire?"
She stared straight into my eyes, as if waiting for my answer.
There was an extraordinary beauty right in front of my nose… but given the circumstances, this was a dangerous situation, wasn't it?
Even so, I was completely unshaken. My prediction was absolute.
I sank into thought for the briefest of moments.
If this agreement was a future already decided to come to pass—then it meant the hardline Lin Brans before me would change her attitude, didn't it?
Which meant that, in the end, this agreement would benefit the Brans Army as well.
I could predict the outcome, but not the process that led there.
But no matter how many paths the process might take, if the result was fixed, there had to be some plausible road that led to it.
In that case—wasn't it up to me to draw that path myself?
I slowly lifted the brush that was my tongue.
"Because accepting this money and making a ceasefire with us would, in the end, be to the Brans Army's advantage."
"……What?"
"I will say it again. Accepting this money and making a ceasefire with us would, in the end, be to the Brans Army's advantage."
"……."
Lin heard those words and stared into my eyes for a long time without speaking.
How long did that silence stretch on, as if we were locked in a staring contest?
"……Haa."
Lin made a face like a child who had grown bored of a new toy, let out a short sigh, and opened her mouth.
"What is this. Just empty bluster. I thought you actually had something."
"It is not bluster."
"……Listen. Ordinarily I'd just throw you out, but since you're reasonably good-looking, I'll specially explain this to you with logic. Thirteen hundred gold is no merit whatsoever to our army. I already told you—even three thousand gold wouldn't make me want it. Do you really think it makes sense to take pocket change and abandon a war we're guaranteed to win? Honestly… or rather."
She said this, then pinched my chin between two fingers and lifted it.
Running her tongue lightly over her own lips, she appraised me as she spoke.
"If you handed yourself over to me, I might have considered it a little…♡ My taste in men runs toward the pretty, delicate type, you know? Fufu…♡ Well? Any interest in attending me at night?"
"None."
"……You're no fun."
Only then did she slowly rise and return to her throne.
And then she cut the matter off cleanly.
"I have no intention of making a ceasefire. Go back and tell your lord that. Of course, whether your lord's head will still be properly attached by the time you return is another question."
I looked at Lin as she waved me away.
And then, instinctively, I understood.
If this agreement—whose result was already decided—had a decisive turning point, it was now.
"You truly will not make the agreement?"
"Nope."
"You will regret it. Without question."
"Sure, sure. You're right about everything. Anyway, I'm not doing it."
"The one who rejected a ceasefire under these terms is not me—it is Lady Lin Brans. You are the one who kicked this opportunity away. You agree, yes?"
"……Hey."
Lin looked at me with irritation in her voice.
"Be grateful I'm the sovereign of the Brans Army. If this were Serpina's country up north, your neck would already be gone. Got it? Anyway, I have nothing more to say to you, so leave."
"………."
I will be honest.
In this situation, figuring out how the agreement would come about was extremely difficult.
What should I do?
I nearly fell into a brief moment of doubt—but—
"What are you doing? Not leaving? Or what, do you actually want to go to prison? Should I send you?"
It's fine. Things will go my way. This ceasefire will absolutely be made. No need to worry.
She started twisting her hair around her finger again.
She had a distinctive little habit.
At Lin's urging, I rose from my place and slowly opened my mouth.
"You will come to regret this."
"Yes, yes. Hurry on back. I'll be regretting it to my heart's content."
I slowly turned my back and walked out.
It's fine.
No matter what happens, this ceasefire will absolutely be concluded.
Things will go my way.
My words are always right.
After all, I—
"My lord!!"
—have Intelligence 100.
"What is it? I told you not to barge in like this during an audience."
Lin began speaking as she looked at the soldier who had burst into the audience chamber—then her face started to drain of color.
"……What? You?"
Lin's gaze locked onto his right arm.
I turned my head slightly and checked the uniform of the soldier who had stormed into the room.
The armor he wore was different from our army's, but there was still a familiar detail that caught the eye.
A strip of red cloth bound tightly around his right arm.
Just seeing that was enough for even me to recognize who this soldier was at a glance.
That man was a messenger.
And there was only one moment when a messenger would come running to his sovereign in such a frantic voice, regardless of the situation.
That was when—
"Se-Serpina's army…!"
—someone had seized the initiative.
"Serpina's army is advancing on Kelstein Castle, a territory of the Brans Army, with a force of some fifty-five thousand troops!"
"……Huh?"
Lin started in surprise and let the hair she had been twisting slip from her fingers.
But that did nothing to change the situation.
"You must prepare at once! My lord, your orders!"
Serpina? At this moment? Why?
Because their borders were adjacent, the Brans Army constantly monitored Serpina's movements from within. According to recent intelligence, although she had conquered the north, rebels who refused to recognize her continued to appear throughout the northern territories, and the outlook had been that she would focus on internal consolidation for the time being and pay no attention to external expansion.
Was the intelligence… wrong? Or did they deliberately leak false information…?
Either way, what had already happened could not be undone.
At present, Kelstein Castle—adjacent to the border with Serpina's army—held only about twenty thousand troops. There had originally been more, but they had been pulled away for the assault on Zeiland Castle, had they not?
She could not pull troops from the southern front where a war was already underway, and using eastern forces was complicated by the presence of the Aeshus Army to the east.
In the end, the most rational decision was—
to pull back the roughly twenty thousand soldiers sent to take Zeiland.
The western front was also the closest to here.
No—to stop Serpina's army, that was the only option.
Failing to take Zeiland would have little impact on their army, but if the fortress-like Kelstein Castle fell, it would be over. Every castle from here to Anel was mediocre at best.
And the opponent was the northern overlord, Serpina's army. They would undoubtedly wage a lightning campaign at an absurd speed.
And the moment her thoughts reached that far—
—a chill ran down her spine.
As if a ghost were climbing her back, her entire body went cold.
Don't tell me…!
Lin slowly turned her head and looked at the envoy of the Lunarien Army, who was walking out with his back to her.
He had definitely said this:
"Because accepting this money and making a ceasefire with us would, in the end, be to the Brans Army's advantage."
That bastard… he knew this would happen…?
That strangely confident attitude.
The way he had kept insisting with absolute certainty that it would benefit the Brans Army.
His behavior made sense if he had known all of this.
And yet an unanswered question remained.
But how?
How could the envoy of a minor power know that Serpina's army was about to invade?
Either way, she had to make the ceasefire now.
She needed to withdraw safely and deploy as many troops as possible to the northern front.
"You there! Stop!"
"……."
The white-haired man—Swen—who had been about to leave the royal castle slowly turned his head to look at Lin.
And then, with a thoroughly shameless expression, he opened his mouth.
"Is something the matter?"
"……That……."
Lin bit down hard on her lower lip.
Having to stop and call back the envoy of a minor power she had already dismissed once was not a good look—but she knew full well that losing Kelstein Castle over pointless pride would be far more foolish.
Was that not how she had risen to this position in the first place?
"……Fine. I'll do it. The ceasefire. Thirteen hundred gold. You're lucky, aren't you? You'll get to be the envoy who stopped a war with an agreement. I'm sure you'll be given a grand welcome when you return to your country—"
"Lady Lin."
The envoy of a minor power cut off the sovereign herself mid-sentence.
Ordinarily this would have been grounds for great anger… but the fact that Serpina's army was advancing even at this very moment had so unsettled Lin Brans that she did not even care.
"Did you say thirteen hundred gold?"
"Hmm? Uh… yes. That's right. Thirteen hundred gold. I'll do it for that. Specially."
"That condition may be difficult."
"……What do you mean by that?"
Swen approached Lin and, just as before, knelt on one knee.
Then, in a consistently, remarkably confident voice, he said:
"You'll have to make it three thousand gold."
"Huh? Three thousand gold? ……Well, that doesn't really matter, but do you even have the money?"
"Pardon? Us? Why are you suddenly asking that……."
Hearing the question about whether they had the money, Swen tilted his head.
As if to ask what on earth she was talking about.
And then—
Lin finally realized what Swen was getting at, and spoke in a voice of pure shock.
"……You, don't tell me……."
Once again, Swen's voice reached her ear.
"The one who rejected a ceasefire under these terms is not me—it is Lady Lin Brans. You are the one who kicked this opportunity away. You agree, yes?"
……!!!
In the same tone as before, Swen presented a slightly different set of terms.
"I will take three thousand gold. If you give us the gold, we will grant you a ceasefire. We promise we will absolutely not pursue the withdrawing Brans Army."