Taking Refuge with the Brans Army (1)
I left the royal castle and joined the ranks of the Brans Army.
The streets of Zeiland, which I had walked every day, somehow felt unfamiliar now.
Whenever I turned my head and looked up at the castle, the bright sky-blue banner of the Brans Army was flying vigorously overhead.
Yes.
Zeiland Castle and the surrounding territories now belonged to the Brans Army.
Along the road, if I glanced back, I could still see the market that had only just begun to bustle with life — including the new buildings Tifa had raised. A little farther on, turning aside, the golden wheat fields Luna and I had once watched together stretched out before me. And a little farther still, the small village square where she and I had danced came into view.
Because the soldiers had flooded in, every last resident of the territory had retreated indoors, leaving the present landscape desolate and hollow — yet the traces of the months I had walked beside her still rose like afterimages across every corner of the city. There was no escaping them.
…Lunarien.
I set down everything that still remained of her in one corner of my heart.
If I wanted to survive, I could not let anyone discover that I planned to return to the Lunarien Army.
That pale green banner that had once flown over Zeiland Castle.
Someday, I would raise it again.
Until then, I was Lin Brans's Swen.
No.
I was prepared to become anyone's Swen at all.
Even if it meant working like a dog under that tyrant Serpina, I was ready.
I would survive — and then, without fail, I would place myself under Luna, the one destined to found a unified nation.
At least for as long as she continued to hold that fate in her hands.
And so I emptied the chest that had held her, filled the hollow with a new sky-blue sun, and followed the column out of Zeiland Castle.
The first thing Lin did upon arriving at Anel Castle was reassign her massive force of eighty thousand troops back to the various fronts they had originally been holding.
"Brother. I'll leave the south to you, all right? If anything comes up, tell me anytime."
"Yes! Understood."
Chel nodded and swiftly left the castle.
Since most of the troops had come from the southern front, Chel was the one who needed to move the fastest.
On the southern continent, several nations were locked in a fierce struggle for supremacy. Setting aside the minor states with only a handful of territories, there were four major powers.
The Roland Army, which shared the longest border with Brans; the Hesna Army, whose border was somewhat shorter; and below them, the Karelia Army and the Ohana Army, which did not border Brans at all.
It was convenient to think of these four nations as maintaining a roughly equal balance of power. Though divided, their combined national strength would easily surpass that of the Brans Army.
Of course they would never form an alliance — but if Brans ever meant to conquer the south, the front lines needed to be narrower than they were now.
Serpina in the north was one thing, but the swarm of minor states scattered across the central continent, along with the quietly concerning powers of the east — including the Aishus Army — had to be dealt with first before Brans could freely pour its forces southward.
So, until the situation settled to some degree, Chel — the finest sword of Brans — would be stationed in the south. In the meantime, Brans would swiftly pacify the central-western continent, and if possible, the east as well.
That was the grand strategy Lin had laid out for the Brans Army.
This position really is terrible.
From the standpoint of holding the richest, most fertile lands in the central continent, it might have sounded like a spoiled complaint — but it was true that they occupied a location from which battle was simply unavoidable.
"My lord. Shall I continue assisting Lord Chel in the south this time as well?"
At Parfalle's question, Lin shook her head.
"No. Stay here for a while. Something's going to blow up in the south, I can feel it… but they won't touch us just yet."
"Is that so?"
"Mm. Intelligence came in. Looks like quite a ruckus is about to break out."
"Is the Hesna Army on the move?"
"My, my."
Lin looked at Parfalle with an amused expression.
"So you already have a guess?"
"Well, I was stationed in the south until quite recently."
Word had come that troops were massing along the border between the Hesna Army and the Ohana Army.
There was a good chance no war would break out at all — but if one did?
The Roland Army would be more concerned with the Hesna Army next door than with Brans. Then Brans could simply move according to the situation. Whether they raided the emptied Roland territories or struck Hesna first instead — the winning hand was already in their grasp.
"Exactly. So for now, let's take our time and watch. More importantly — why don't you go fetch Swen?"
"Swen… you mean that man who was cast out by Lunarien?"
"Yep!"
Parfalle's face took on a doubtful look.
"He doesn't strike me as anyone particularly remarkable…"
"No, no. He completely made a fool of me. Of course, it might have been because you weren't there beside me… but either way, he's no ordinary fellow! Now that he's one of us, shouldn't we show him around a bit? Hehe♡"
"…"
Listening to Lin laugh so cheerfully, Parfalle fell into thought.
Was her lord the kind of true sovereign who genuinely cared for every one of her retainers, fretting over each of them like this?
Objectively speaking — no.
The only people Lin ever looked after were the clearly useful S-Class Generals. Everyone else was treated as little more than administrative staff for castle affairs, or warm bodies to fill unimportant posts that simply needed someone assigned.
In Parfalle's judgment, her lord's eye for talent — though it had its share of strange stubbornness — was not bad overall.
Was this man Swen truly someone exceptional? Even Parfalle was beginning to wonder.
"Please wait a moment."
"Mm-hmm! Tell him not to be nervous — just come on in comfortably!"
"Yes."
Parfalle nodded and left the castle.
Exactly ten minutes later, Swen — now a free man — walked in alongside her.
He dropped to one knee in formal respect, then spoke a sentence that was, to Lin, utterly delicious.
"You summoned me, my lord."
"Yes! Come in! Seeing you here again is somehow nice, isn't it?"
The man who had once arrived as an envoy, toying with her with his tongue as he announced, I come bearing a message from my sovereign, Lady Lunarien — that same man was now kneeling before her, calling her my lord.
This thrilling sensation!
Nothing excited her more than capable talent serving her and addressing her as their lord.
"Well, now that you're part of the family, shouldn't we exchange proper greetings?"
Lin beamed at once, her energy soaring.
"I'm Lin Brans! As you already know, I'm the sovereign of the Brans Army. The one who will unify this continent — that's me. Swen, what do you think? You think so too, right?"
Standing beside the throne, Parfalle felt a quiet pang of sympathy for the man called Swen.
She had no idea what ability he had used to toy with her lord so thoroughly that he now received this much attention… but the Lin she knew was a results-above-all absolutist. Fail to produce eye-catching achievements, and you would fall out of favor in an instant, left to waste away in some lowly post.
For someone whose only concern was scraping by, that might be fine enough — but for anyone with ambition, it was an unbearable way to be treated.
Besides, this was hardly the first time Lin had made such a fuss over a new talent. And not a single person had ever lived up to her absurdly high expectations.
"…"
Swen lowered his head at Lin's words, then carefully opened his mouth.
"I will do everything in my power to assist you in achieving your goals, Lady Lin."
"Good! I like that attitude! Yes! From now on, I expect you to put those abilities of yours to work for me, all right?"
"Of course."
Lin regarded him with satisfaction — then something seemed to occur to her.
"Oh, right. Come to think of it, you don't have a place to stay here, do you? Do you?"
"Nothing in particular… I would be fine using an inn."
"An inn? What are you talking about. Sure, the inns in Anel Castle are decent enough, but I can't treat a valuable subordinate of ours like that. Hold on a second. Parfalle, any empty rooms?"
"No, my lord. There are none…"
Naturally, she did not personally assign rooms to every single retainer. She was clearly giving this man Swen special treatment.
"Hmm — nowhere decent…"
Lin pondered for a moment, then seemed to hit upon a fine idea. She tapped the armrest of her chair.
"Ah. Right. East Anel, Street Thirty-Two, on the right side of the castle. There's a general living there with a spacious room. Go stay with them."
"Live together, you mean?"
"Yep! Like roommates, sort of. The whole block of buildings is managed by the state, so just go settle in! The one living there is my subordinate too, so you can ask them about whatever you need."
Swen bowed his head.
"Yes, understood. I shall reside there as ordered."
"Great!"
Lin smiled brightly again, thoroughly pleased.
"You can go now! The next regular council meeting is in three days, so come to the castle then. Your roommate will fill you in on the details. See you then?"
"Yes."
With that, Swen rose, offered a final bow of respect, and slowly left the castle.
The moment he was gone, Lin turned to Parfalle.
"Well? What do you think?"
"Well…"
Parfalle struggled to find an appropriate reply.
After all — her first impression of the man called Swen was that of a rather unremarkable general: a face worth looking at, but frail and unimpressive overall.
You couldn't live off a pretty face. A man needed talent to be of any use, didn't he?
She simply could not understand what had happened to make her lord this obsessed with him.
Still, there was no need to sour her mood right now.
Parfalle finally settled on a suitably vague answer.
"He certainly has an uncommon air about him."
"Right? See, I told you."
That should do it.
Parfalle inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. Few things were more dreadful than putting her lord in a foul temper.
Then —
…Wait.
Lin had clearly told him to go to East Anel, Street Thirty-Two. And to live there as roommates with whoever was already there.
Parfalle knew that neighborhood well. She herself lived in the East Anel district. Which meant she also knew exactly who lived on Street Thirty-Two.
That place is definitely…!
A chill ran through her.
Parfalle looked at her lord. Lin was sitting on the throne, smiling sweetly as she sorted through the documents on the side table.
…She had done it on purpose.
She had deliberately sent this man named Swen there.
…Anyone who falls out of favor with our lord really does have it rough.
The secret to surviving in the Brans Army was simple.
Never, ever fall out of Lin Brans's good graces.
Outside Anel Castle, within the territory.
"I'm Lin Brans! As you already know, I'm the sovereign of the Brans Army. The one who will unify this continent — that's me. Swen, what do you think? You think so too, right?"
In that moment, I was able to input the question with certainty.
Can Lin Brans unify the continent?
And once again, the result came back with absurd speed.
[That is not the case.]
There you have it, my new lord.
The same result as when I first met Luna, all that time ago.
She was not destined to become the unifier of the continent.
But there was no need to say that out loud.
In any case, if I wanted to avoid her pointless suspicion, I had to make myself useful and earn her trust.
After checking the map of the village square, I headed for East Anel Street.
The place had an entirely different feel from Zeiland Castle, with its rows of dilapidated buildings. Even at evening hour, a fair number of people were still walking about, and instead of the aging wooden houses that had lined Zeiland, there were only beautiful two-story brick residences steeped in a medieval atmosphere.
After walking for several minutes, I finally arrived at East Anel, Street Thirty-Two.
Is this it?
An ordinary brick house with a handsome tree nearby. Still, it was far better than the place I had stayed in Zeiland — a lodging so bare it barely deserved the name, with nothing but a single bed.
Ordinarily I might have felt I had come up in the world… yet somehow I could not bring myself to feel purely glad.
Where was Lunarien by now?
Somewhere along the road south, perhaps.
Were Kane and Tifa following her without incident?
…Enough.
Thinking about her now would solve nothing.
Emptying my mind of the thought, I slowly knocked on the door.
And then —
A voice came from the other side.
"Who is it?"
Hm?
…It was a woman's voice.