The End of the Lord-Vassal Bond
Turning the clock back a few days — to just before I made my proposal to Lin.
"A letter?"
"Yes. I have somewhere I need to send it. I've just finished writing it, as it happens."
"Right. You said you had something to discuss. Give me a moment."
Having completed the letter, I sipped the black tea Airen had brewed for me and briefly laid out the plan ahead.
"You're saying she'll send me back to the battlefield?"
"That's correct. As the commander of a newly constructed fortress, you'll be granted full authority over roughly thirty to forty thousand soldiers."
"Full authority… But I doubt that's even possible. My lord doesn't trust me much. At the last fortress, the order was essentially a death sentence, so she handed me command for the moment — but leading an entirely new force is a different matter altogether."
"That's precisely what we turn to our advantage."
"To our advantage?"
Airen asked, her expression brightening with interest.
"Lady Lin is strangely desperate to eliminate you, Airen. So we simply set the board so that she can. If the only way to remove you is by granting you full authority first — wouldn't she do exactly that?"
"That she can only eliminate me by first giving me full authority…? I'm not sure I follow… Still, what kind of authority would I actually receive?"
I answered with quiet confidence.
"I intend to propose building a fortress on the front approach to Valharat Castle. And I'll arrange for you, Airen, to temporarily hold full command of that fortress."
"Valharat Castle — you mean the capital of the Asius Army?"
"I do."
"Why there? No matter how much weight your words carry, my lord is fundamentally suspicious by nature. If you simply say, 'Let's build a fortress to strike the Asius Army,' without any real grounds, she's unlikely to listen."
"Then we'll create a situation she can't refuse. I've prepared something for that."
"Prepared something…"
Airen tilted her head, not every question resolved — then a faint smile touched her lips.
"Very well, Swen. If you say you've prepared something, then I believe you have. Even if you offered the most unconvincing opinion in the world, I swore I would raise my sword for you."
"I'm grateful for your trust."
"So once I have full authority — what am I supposed to do with it? It doesn't sound like you want me to simply fight the Asius Army. And even if I were to rebel, a fortress alone wouldn't make that possible. It isn't a castle."
Yes.
Why had I constructed this impossibly complicated scheme?
It was time to explain.
"Make contact with Baranga Yuuri Asius, lord of the Asius Army."
"Make contact — and then?"
I looked straight into her eyes.
"Surrender to her."
"……!!"
Only then did Airen's composed tone falter.
"Surrender… to her."
"That's right. The lord we will serve from now on is Baranga Yuuri Asius of the Asius Army."
We had to leave the Brans Army.
The most important reason was to save the woman sitting before me — Airen Juliette.
Inevitably, if she remained here, Lin would one day take her life.
Now that I had succeeded in turning the heart of this deeply loyal knight, the only path to her safety was to get out of this place as quickly as possible.
But that was my private justification alone. To outsiders, we would simply look like traitors — and there was nothing to be done about that.
I didn't particularly care.
After all, I was destined to return someday to Lunarien, the sovereign who would unify the continent.
Up to that point, fine.
But if I was taking Airen with me, a bare surrender would be meaningless.
Leaving the Brans Army would inevitably earn both of us Lin Brans's enmity — and whatever her temperament, she currently commanded a force that could not be ignored.
In the worst case, the possibility that she would capture and kill us both could not be ruled out.
That meant we needed, at minimum, to strip away as many surplus troops as possible and throw the Brans Army's balance into disarray.
Which was exactly why I had been so fixated on building a fortress and putting Airen in a position of full command.
If she surrendered while holding that authority, she could take every last soldier with her.
Of course, because the troops themselves would be transferring, our options were limited to a border nation that could offer reliable support immediately after the surrender —
but since the most efficient way to shake the Brans Army was to strengthen a neighboring power, that restriction didn't matter.
Which left only one question.
Which nation should we go to?
The Brans Army sat at the absolute center of the continent, bordered on every side.
There were many nations on the map, but they essentially fell into four branches.
First: the north. The Serpina Army.
Serpina von Aingart was a tyrant. Even if we went to surrender, she was fully capable of taking our heads on a whim. She was infamous for showing no mercy to enemy commanders.
Our surrender wouldn't even be much of a prize to her. We would be the ones bowing our heads — dealing with someone who held absolute advantage would be troublesome in every way.
Besides, after Kalintz had already made a mess of things in the north, persuading Lin to push north again would be difficult.
In short, she was out of the question. Pass.
Second: one of the two southern nations sharing a border.
Not a bad option. Except… they would almost certainly refuse to take us in, precisely to avoid friction with the Brans Army.
The moment they accepted defectors, they would become permanent enemies of Brans — and with the southern continent still unconquered, earning Brans's hatred would be far from pleasant for them.
If we went to all the trouble of building a fortress and peeling off troops only to be turned away, we would be in serious trouble.
And critically, there was a chance we would end up fighting Lunarien, who was currently with the Karelia Army in a region that didn't even share a border.
Third: the minor states of the central-western continent.
Also out of the question. Given enough time, Brans banners would inevitably fly over those lands. Pass.
The fourth was the Asius Army to the east.
She hadn't finished dealing with the Charam Army and the Allepel Army yet, but she was clearly the strongest power in the east.
Her territory was narrow, but she had many S-Class Generals — so additional troops would make her the greatest possible threat to the Brans Army.
In other words, the soldiers and fortress we could hand over would be highly desirable not only to us, but to the Asius Army as well.
Which meant that even if it meant making an enemy of Brans, she was likely to accept our surrender and protect us.
After all, for the Asius Army to stretch its wings at all, it would eventually have to push the Brans Army back.
There were many nations — but once sorted this way, only one destination remained.
"Baranga Yuuri Asius is an extremely shrewd woman. She'll quickly realize that gaining us is pure profit, never a loss. And from what I can gather, the Asius Army has an exceptionally capable strategist. Someone who will calculate the gains and losses just as fast. Of all our options, they are the most likely to take us in."
Of course.
This path would hardly be lined with flowers.
But to save Airen, it was the only way.
"Both of us will earn the Brans Army's hatred for our betrayal — but under the Asius Army's banner, we won't be so easily crushed."
"You mentioned a strategist… May I ask what that rests on?"
"They tried to deceive our army using the Allepel Army and the Charam Army."
That particular "betrayal" stratagem was something only a person with Intelligence of 95 or higher and the Betrayal specialty could employ.
Whoever it was, someone with a sharp mind was definitely there.
"I see… Baranga Yuuri Asius."
Airen fell silent for a moment, then asked with unusual care.
"But our final destination isn't the Asius Army, is it?"
"That's right. When the Lunarien Army eventually rises, I intend to go there."
"Is that so…"
She said it, then her expression grew grave.
I thought I understood why.
Airen was, at her core, a person of deep loyalty.
Even if that loyalty had been misplaced, she was someone who placed enormous weight on the bond between lord and vassal.
From her perspective, switching sovereigns over and over like a migratory bird was bound to trouble her.
Following me meant wandering from place to place the way I did.
I bowed my head lightly to her.
"I'm sorry, Lady Airen."
"Hm? What for?"
"Because of me, you'll have to keep changing the lord you serve. I don't imagine that's a pleasant thing for you. I wanted to apologize for that."
Hearing that, Airen began waving her hands in denial.
"Wha…? No, no, Swen. It's fine. That doesn't matter."
"Lady Airen…?"
"I was only… worried about what happens if the Asius Army suspects you. I at least have a plausible reason — that my lord has come to hate me. You don't. A general who suddenly shows up offering to surrender won't exactly be welcomed with open arms… You're shouldering a traitor's name because of me, and that only seems to make things harder for you… I was fretting over how to get you safely to Lady Lunarien from here."
"……"
"Isn't that the truth? You could make a name for yourself perfectly well here in Brans. No — it would be easier. You've already shown and proven what you can do. So… I can't help but notice that leaving this place is something you're doing for me, and no one else."
I froze in surprise at her words. She spoke as if stating the most obvious thing in the world.
"I'm fine, Swen. My conviction is to protect you. Who I serve, at that point, means nothing."
She said it with a soft, open smile directed at me.
Her face, lit by the lantern, was more beautiful than at any other moment — and before I knew it, my true feelings slipped out.
"Lady Airen. For as long as you protect me, I will protect you as well. Even if it means wearing a name worse than traitor. And… when that time comes…"
"…When that time comes…?"
"……"
I scratched my cheek.
And in the very instant I was about to open my mouth —
"Swen."
Airen reached out and laid her hand over mine.
Then, with a smile of extraordinary tenderness, she said,
"It doesn't have to be now. When everything is over… tell me then. I'll be waiting."
"……!"
My face burned.
Whenever I spoke with Airen, I had always felt — somehow — that I held the upper hand.
Not that I was superior. She simply… had a strangely offbeat quality about her.
Her expressions were more varied than I'd expected.
Whenever I said something, she always seemed to be drawn along by me… or so I'd thought.
But in this moment.
I could no longer deny it.
In this moment alone, she completely dominated the conversation.
Do you know, Lady Airen?
I…
"Well then. I simply wait for my lord's orders, correct?"
"Huh? Ah… yes. That's right."
"Good. So I'll be saying goodbye to this house soon as well. I'd grown rather fond of it."
She rose and cleared the table.
"It's late. We should sleep. Things are about to get busy."
With that, she did as she always did — forgoing the bed and settling down with her back against the wall.
I stood, extinguished the lantern…
and instead of going to the bed, I went and sat beside her.
"Swen…?"
"Let's sleep together tonight, Lady Airen."
"……!!!"
Even in the dark, I could tell her face had gone red.
She sat there flustered for a long while, at a complete loss —
and then,
"…Alright."
She said it, and rested her head against my shoulder.
I, in turn, rested my face against the top of her head.
And so, leaning against each other, we spent one of our last remaining nights in the Brans Army together.
"……"
Unlike Swen, who had fallen asleep early,
Airen remained awake for a long time, staring at his sleeping face with flushed cheeks.
Lady Airen. For as long as you protect me, I will protect you as well. Even if it means wearing a name worse than traitor. And… when that time comes…
Thump. Thump.
Even now, her heart was pounding as if it might burst.
Her chest was hot. Something fluttered low in her stomach.
That was why… she had cut him off so quickly.
If the words she had been expecting had actually left his mouth… she might have become a distraction right before something important.
Of course, half of her thinking had been different.
Honestly… her heart had felt ready to explode, she had been so embarrassed, and turning the conversation aside had simply been the truer reason.
Swen…
She knew it too.
That the reason he wanted to leave this place was to protect her.
The man who had once risked his life for her
was now prepared to throw away a position whose path was already paved with flowers — for her sake.
Suddenly that scene rose in her mind.
At the fortress, after she had returned in defeat — the way he had held her and said he was glad she was alive.
……
An emotion she had never felt in her life kept stirring inside her.
But if this was her heart…
Airen had no intention of going against it.
And so —
Airen spent the night sleepless, feeling his warmth against her.
Several days later, in the royal palace of Anel Castle.
Summoned by Lin, Airen knelt and listened carefully to her lord's words.
"Airen. You've worked hard recently."
"Not at all. I merely did what was expected of me. That it was of use to my lord is more than enough."
Lin looked down at the kneeling Airen and smiled with gentle benevolence.
And then… she began to act exactly as Swen had predicted.
"I trust your abilities, so I thought I might put you to use once more."
"Yes, my lord!"
Airen bowed her head still lower and answered firmly.
"Whatever the mission, assign it to me. I will obey."
"Good. I like that very much."
Lin smiled as she spoke.
"I intend to invade the Asius Army to the east. And it seems I'll need your help for that."
The moment she heard those words, Swen's voice brushed through Airen's mind.
…You were right, Swen.
Airen slowly closed her eyes.
And in her heart… she offered a farewell to the one sovereign she had once so desperately wanted to serve.
Farewell, my lord… no — Lady Lin Brans.
I wish you good health, she thought.
"Go and win glory for me, Airen."
"Yes! Understood!"
Airen answered in a voice more valiant than ever before.
And that was the end of this lord-vassal bond.