Hisphil Castle Battle (4)
After the prediction that we would win no matter what, Irene had thrown herself into even more rigorous training in preparation for what was to come, and her days had grown correspondingly busier. Mine, by contrast, had hardly changed at all.
I was still helping Reika with her training.
"D-Does this kind of thing really make you stronger…?"
"It does. And no one feels that improvement more clearly than you, Reika."
"Well, that's true, but… ah—I-I'm not doubting you at all, Lord Swen…!"
What Reika and I were doing was holding a pose: one foot planted on the earth, both arms stretched straight out before and behind her, balancing like that for as long as she could manage.
There wasn't much else to occupy us, and if we spent every session doing nothing but meditation, people would start to get suspicious—so I had been trying all sorts of approaches. This pose was simply one more experiment along those lines.
Fortunately, even through this half-forced regimen, Reika's abilities were improving by the day. And the girl who had once kept her heart so tightly shut seemed, as she followed my eccentric training, to be developing a strange sense of camaraderie with me. Little by little, she was opening up and beginning to talk about herself.
"So you really spent all that time cooped up inside the mansion?"
"Yes… Father wouldn't let me go outside…"
After each stretch of what we called training and what anyone else would have called a bizarre performance, I had taken to staying a while longer to listen to her stories. That, too, had become part of the routine.
We sat side by side in the garden and talked.
"Then the first time we met, you really had snuck out, hadn't you?"
"…H-How did you know…?"
Reika looked at me, genuinely startled.
Well—given the atmosphere at the time, the subtle expression on her face, the way she had looked so thoroughly cornered—it hadn't been a difficult conclusion to reach.
"You were practically wearing a sign."
"I see… Ugh."
"It's fine. I'm not scolding you, and I have no intention of bringing it up to anyone now."
"…"
Reika said nothing, burying half her face against her knees.
But why on earth did Zinor keep Reika locked up inside the mansion like that?
From what I had observed so far, Zinor did not seem particularly affectionate toward her. He didn't dislike her, either—he clearly valued her in his own way—but it felt less like a father's love for his adopted daughter and more like the careful handling of an important strategic asset.
He paid no attention whatsoever to her personal life, after all. Focusing on her abilities as a mage would have been the accurate way to put it.
And yet keeping her from ever setting foot outside… that almost felt like the overprotectiveness of a father fretting too much over his daughter.
Is there some other reason?
I was turning that over when she quietly cut through the silence.
"…Still."
"Still?"
"Lately, I've been happy. I got to go outside with you, Lord Swen… and getting stronger with magic was wonderful, but it was also the first time Father ever gave me permission… so, in a lot of ways, I… I should say thank you, I think… or something like that."
"You don't have to explain it in detail."
I smiled at Reika as she hesitated, carefully picking her words.
"I've enjoyed it too. You're someone worth teaching, Reika."
"Ah… th-thank you…"
She said that much, then fell silent again—this time burying her entire face against her knees. I couldn't see her expression, but I could tell her ears had gone bright red.
And then, suddenly, a thought occurred to me.
"Right. Reika."
"…Yes?"
"Have you given any thought to the marriage question?"
"…!!"
She jerked her head up so fast it was almost a leap, then let out a strangled sound.
"M-M-Ma—marriage!"
"No, well. The subject has already come up. You don't have to decide right this moment, and you don't need to treat it like some impossible burden."
I spoke as carefully as I could, trying not to press her.
"This is a matter that concerns your entire life, so I'll convey whatever decision you make. If you don't want it, just say so freely. I'll withdraw the proposal."
"…"
Reika stared at my face for a long time without speaking. Then, carefully, her lips began to move.
"What do you think, Lord Swen…?"
"…Pardon?"
"I mean… whether you… would want to… m-marry… me…"
"…"
Was it just my imagination?
Were those pink eyes of hers looking clearer and brighter than they ever had before?
And was the fact that I was hesitating over my answer also just my imagination?
Marrying Reika?
There was nothing bad about it, of course.
On this point, my way of thinking might not have been so different from Zinor's, whom I had just been considering. She was an exceptional mage, and forming a connection with someone like her would be convenient—that was the shape of the thought.
In fact, the reason I had first tried to make a good impression on her was the judgment that having a mage of Reika's caliber in the Lunarien Army would be useful.
But.
Spending time with the woman named Reika—had something in my heart begun to change?
Simply saying, with a smooth smile, "I'd be glad to" felt strangely difficult. Doing so wouldn't have felt like a proper response to her feelings.
…
I studied her carefully.
A girl who loved baking cakes, yet had been locked inside a house with no one to bake them for. She had no one to share her dreams with, no friends to keep her company—and still she never complained, saying only that she wanted to use magic to do something useful for the world, and following even my absurd training without a word of protest.
So now it was my turn to answer the question.
Did I… want to marry Reika?
Even if she weren't a mage—would I take her as a wife, as a companion for life?
"I…"
The very moment I was about to answer her—
"Swen. So this is where you were."
A familiar voice came from behind us.
An old man's voice.
"Father…!"
"Lord Zinor?"
The owner of the voice, Zinor, was looking our way with an unusually grave expression. This was the first time he had come looking for us during a training session.
"Is something the matter?"
"There is something I wish to discuss with you… What does the rest of your schedule look like today?"
"Everything important is already finished."
"Is that so? Then I would like you to come with me for a moment."
Having said that, Zinor turned to Reika and spoke in a stiff tone.
"You have worked hard again today. You may go and rest."
"…Yes, understood."
Reika bowed to Zinor, then cast a complicated look in my direction.
I regretted not being able to answer her—but there would be time enough for that later…
With that thought, I followed Zinor to his study.
"They sortied from Lacline Castle?"
"A messenger just arrived with the news. It seems they marched roughly fifty thousand troops and launched an assault on Hisphil Castle."
At Zinor's words, I fell into thought.
They're starting a battle in this situation?
Serpina's forces were currently deployed at Gelstrom Castle. Hisphil Castle, which was presumed to have sent troops there, would be left undermanned—so they were seizing that opening?
It wasn't a terrible decision, exactly… but I still wondered whether it was truly right for our side to make the first move.
As long as there remained a disparity in overall troop numbers between us and Serpina's army, it was more advantageous for us to conserve our forces and hold our existing territories than to expand them.
"Did this not receive our lord's approval?"
"Apparently not. Well, Lady Anima has a certain degree of authority granted to her. Our lord did not take issue with that part of it."
…
I had half expected as much, but hearing it confirmed left me strangely deflated.
I recalled Anima's eyes from when I had last faced her. She had wanted so badly to be of use to Yuuri. Perhaps this decision, too, had been made out of a desire to earn merit.
In the coming battle with Serpina's forces, our army would ultimately win.
After all, a mind of Intelligence 100 had declared that we would win—and that made it a future already decided.
And yet I could not erase the sense of dissonance rising in my head.
Because the result that had come back was not you will win, but you will win for now.
Was even this development—Anima acting on her own—already within the scope of that prediction?
Thinking back to what had happened at Zeiland Castle, the possibility seemed high.
You will win for now.
You will win… for now…
…!!
Wait.
Could it be… that "you will win for now" meant something like that?
Just as something seemed to click into place, Zinor addressed me.
"Swen. I would like your considered opinion. Does Lady Anima's choice seem appropriate under the present circumstances?"
Is Anima's choice correct?
Just in case, I fed the question in—but the result came back exactly as expected.
[Unknown.]
Just as it had failed to predict the schemes of the Charam and Alepel armies before, my foresight could not produce a proper answer when asked to pinpoint something so narrowly.
But it didn't matter that no result came back.
I only needed to reason from the results I already had.
"…"
"…Swen?"
"Lord Zinor. Before I answer, may I ask you a question first?"
"A question for me? …What do you intend to ask?"
"It may strike you as somewhat unrelated, but please answer me seriously. Lord Zinor—when do you use the word 'for now'?"
"…What?"
Facing Zinor's puzzled expression, I asked again with complete seriousness.
"Let me rephrase. There is a sentence: 'It will be accomplished for now.' In that case, what do you think would be a natural continuation?"
Zinor stared at my face for a long while as if I had lost my mind, then finally parted his heavy lips.
"'It will be won for now,' so… well, it will be accomplished, but some result other than simply winning will present itself, will it not?"
As I continued questioning Zinor, the "dissonance" I had been feeling began to take on a more concrete shape.
"Now a question about that other result. Between these two sentences—'It will be accomplished for now. And on top of that, some other good result occurs as well.' and 'It will be accomplished for now. But an unfavorable result occurs.'—which do you find more natural? Assume that a far more efficient answer exists than the result of simply accomplishing it."
"In that case, clearly the latter. As you said, if a more efficient answer than that one exists, then the version that produces a negative result is the natural one. But why on earth are you asking me this in the present situation?"
"So you think so as well?"
I had asked him precisely because I thought the same.
Yes. I could not be the only one who thought that way.
Hearing Zinor's answer, I called another sentence to mind.
My prediction regarding the battle with Serpina's forces was not limited to you will win for now.
There had also been this:
[Negotiate with Serpina's forces. That is the most efficient method.]
If we met with Serpina's side and negotiated, the battle itself would never take place. The result of the talks would have been a withdrawal of forces.
At first, I had thought the result came back as "you will win for now" because we would be expending soldiers on a problem that could have been resolved without fighting.
It was not an entirely clean explanation, but with the material available to me at the time, that was all I could derive.
But if Anima had independently raised an army from Lacline Castle, the picture changed.
Assuming my prediction based on the still-unfinished Gelstrom Castle battle was one hundred percent correct… only one conclusion remained.
I rose from my seat.
"There is no time. Can you come with me to the royal castle at once?"
"To the royal castle? Right now?"
I turned to Zinor, who still seemed unable to follow, and spoke with an expression more serious than any I had worn before.
"Lady Anima will lose that battle."