The Battle of Hisphil Castle (7)
Me, Reika, and a handful of guards Zinor had assigned to us.
Hoods drawn low over our faces, we raced toward Hisphil Castle as fast as the carriage would take us.
True to the men Zinor had chosen, they already knew Reika could use magic. They felt less like ordinary soldiers and more like a private household force of the Nighthart family — small enough, apparently, that Yuuri saw no reason to interfere.
"Waaah…"
Reika had been staring out of the carriage for a long while, as if determined to burn every scrap of the passing landscape into her eyes. That pink-lit gaze held the blue of the world with startling clarity.
"…"
I watched her profile. She really was quite cute.
A soft, round face. Skin so pale it looked almost translucent. Unlike Irene, whose warrior's path had left her with a light dusting of muscle, Reika had the look of someone who had never known the sun — a body that seemed soft even at a glance, as if she had been carefully sheltered inside a manor her whole life.
There were many women in this world, but few who announced their femininity so completely, from the crown of their head to the tips of their toes, the way Reika did.
"…Ah."
Only then did she notice my gaze. Her eyes went round as saucers, and she started flapping both arms in helpless panic.
"Th-th-this is— I mean, that isn't— I mean—! That is to say…!"
I considered savoring her fluster a little longer. But needling someone endlessly wasn't really my style.
"You seem to be enjoying the view."
"Huh? Ah… well, um… leaving the Valharat estate is… the first time since Father entered service with the Asius force, so…"
Ah. That explained the fascination.
And then—
Grrrrrowl.
"…Ah…"
Reika's face went scarlet all the way to her ears. Without making a fuss of it, I simply held out a hard wheat roll from inside my coat.
"Want some?"
"Ah, I… um."
She covered her mouth with both hands, utterly at a loss. I kept my tone as light as I could.
"You don't have to refuse. I'm not hungry."
"…Th-then…!"
She reached out with those pale hands, took the bread, and bit into it as widely as she could manage. Of course, "as widely as she could manage" still meant little more than nipping at the corner of the crust.
Watching her nibble with both hands wrapped around the roll, I found myself thinking she looked oddly like a hamster.
Peaceful.
Considering what we were about to do, the scene was almost absurdly peaceful.
"It would be nice if this were just an outing. Nice weather, packed lunches — a proper picnic."
"Ah… no. From what I heard, Father said… there was something I absolutely had to do…"
"Come to think of it, it's surprising Lord Zinor gave his permission so readily."
This was the same Zinor who would not tolerate her setting foot outside the manor — and yet, when I made the request, he had agreed without a single word of protest. I was glad not to have wasted time arguing… but if he was going to unlock the door that easily, what had all the locking been for in the first place?
…Well. From my perspective, it hardly mattered.
"I was surprised too… It makes me wonder if whatever I have to do is something enormously, enormously important… Nom."
She finished speaking and went back to carefully tearing off pieces of bread.
"By the way — do you know what the work actually is?"
"Just… that I should properly assist Lord Swen. I don't really know beyond that."
"Aren't you worried?"
"Huh?"
"You came out here without knowing how you're supposed to help."
Given Reika's personality, this was exactly the sort of situation that should have left her stammering and flustered. Something predictable like, S-someone like me couldn't possibly… She had real ability, and yet she always seemed to lack confidence.
But then she turned her head, glanced at me — and gave an answer I had not expected at all.
"I'm not, really… Lord Swen. You called for me because of my magic, didn't you…?"
"Well — yes, that's true."
"Then… it's all right. I'm confident… Nom."
Oh?
Her voice was still soft and shrinking, but there was not a scrap of bluff in those words. Purely, simply — as if that particular worry had never even crossed her mind.
Following me meant stepping onto a battlefield. The fact that she didn't look frightened, even while she stammered, was remarkable enough in its own right.
"Is that so? I'm glad to hear it. That confidence is reassuring."
"Hehe… If it's about magic and nothing else, I do believe I can be of help…"
"…?"
I caught something subtle tucked inside that sentence.
"What do you mean by that?"
"…Huh?"
She looked up at me with perfectly clear eyes, as if wondering whether she had said something wrong.
"If magic is where you can help — what about everything else? You're good at other things too, Miss Reika. Baking, for instance."
"Ah… no. Baking is just… a hobby, really. The part of me that properly earns my keep is… knowing how to use magic… and how to read mana."
She said it, and then — for the first time in front of me — she smiled a smile that looked faintly sad.
I had seen a smile like that before. Back when Irene still could not let go of Lin Brans, she used to wear that same expression — the kind that looked ready to crumble at any moment.
"Um… Lord Swen. You know I'm an adopted daughter, right…?"
"Yes."
"I… before Father took me in, I was an orphan with nowhere to go."
I had known that much — but only as a line of character text: orphan. Not the path the living girl in front of me had actually walked. In every way that mattered, I was hearing it for the first time.
"I see."
"When Father recognized my gift and adopted me… he said something. That the reason I could read mana was so that I could become someone who would save this world… and that if I could wield that power rightly, I would surely accomplish something great."
She kept her head lowered, her tone even and quiet. The girl who so often trembled and stumbled over her words was speaking with startling clarity now, without a single break.
"So… I have to use magic. Because that is what Father — and this world — want from me."
"…"
"I'm truly happy. Someone like me, with no family at all… because I was born with this ability — the ability to use magic — I can become a hero of this world, can't I? If I can help build a peaceful age… that is enough for me."
Having said it, she beamed, then scratched her cheek with a finger and mumbled something like, Ahaha, that sounded a bit full of myself…
Watching her, something rose hot and sharp in my chest.
"Miss Reika."
"Yes?"
"You're lying."
"…Eh?"
Her eyes flickered. But I had no intention of taking the words back.
"Is that really enough? If you can become a hero, does that satisfy you completely?"
"Huh? W-well… th-that would be the reason I exist, so—"
"No, Miss Reika. There is no such thing as a 'reason for existing.' You were simply born, and you exist because you exist. That is all."
"…!"
She stared at me, startled. In this age the idea might have been radical — but right now, I wanted her to hear it.
"I will not deny that Reika the mage is extraordinary. With your power, you might well plant peace across this land, just as Lord Zinor said. But that does not mean you must walk the path of a mage. If there is something you want to do, you are free to choose it. No one has the right to condemn you for not becoming a mage. Reika who is not a mage is still Reika. That alone is more than enough to give you worth."
"Ah…"
Having said it, I almost laughed at myself.
How ridiculous. The whole reason I had approached her in the first place was because she was destined to become a powerful mage — and here I was telling her she did not need to walk that path.
Why, then, had that expression of hers struck me so hard? Because I had seen Irene in it?
I was still reeling from the words I had spoken without thinking when her small voice reached me again.
"Ah, um… that is… um…"
She lowered her head the way she had before, face burning red, and spoke with careful care.
"Thank… you."
"…"
I had meant to say something easy — It's nothing, really — but the words would not come. Instead I did the same thing she had done. I lowered my head and simply sat still.
A delicate silence filled the carriage — until, with perfect timing, a soldier's voice cut through it.
"We have arrived, Lord Swen."
I wiped away cold sweat I could not explain, then looked at Reika.
"…Shall we get down?"
"Ah — y-yes…!"
"This is…"
We stood before a watchtower on the outer fringe of Hisphil Castle's walls. In a proper siege, archers would have manned it; for now, with no battle underway, it sat empty.
The walls were studded with such towers, and this particular one sat in a position awkward enough that I had gambled it would be left unmanned. The gamble had paid off. If someone had been there, I would simply have switched to another plan.
"Miss Reika. Do you see that watchtower?"
"Ah — yes…!"
"I need you to destroy it."
"…Pardon?"
Yes. That was the decisive reason I had brought her.
I needed to stage a situation in which something had gone wrong at Hisphil Castle.
For a false agitation to take root, it needed one drop of plausible truth mixed into the lies. Agitation itself rarely found real force unless a few grains of fact were stirred into the fiction.
That was the False Report Stratagem I had devised.
Strictly speaking, it was not entirely false — a watchtower really would have fallen. But even a mysterious collapse was not, by itself, reason enough to pull an army back. That was where the spy's work became essential. If he could exaggerate freely enough — something along the lines of a rebellion is about to break out inside the castle — I judged we would have a real chance of making it stick.
With my Intelligence at 100, it would be nice if that alone nudged the success rate of the scheme… but it probably won't. It never has before.
I laid the outline of the plan out for Reika. She nodded, studied the watchtower a few times, then finally parted her lips.
"…Yes. I think I can do it. Destroying a watchtower of that size…!"
"As expected of you, Miss Reika. That is reassuring."
"I-is it? Hehe… thank you."
After that I explained the operation to the guards as well. The moment the tower came down and the commotion began, they would insert themselves into the enemy lines. Their armor already bore the crest of Serpina's force; under ordinary circumstances, no one would look twice.
"Understood. We will keep it firmly in mind."
Good. Briefing complete. All that remained was to begin.
"Miss Reika. I leave it to you."
"Yes…!"
She nodded, closed her eyes slowly, stretched out her hand, and concentrated. Without difficulty, a sphere of flame took shape above her palm.
Now we just wait until she grows it to a usable size—
That was what I was thinking when something seared across my vision. I turned my head.
The rapier hanging at my hip was glittering — flashing, hard and bright.
What? Why is it doing that?
Nothing like this had ever happened. I drew the ornamental green rapier from my belt. In that moment it was shining more fiercely than the sun itself.
And the instant I pulled it free—
"Wh-what…?!"
Reika, still gathering her fireball, suddenly cried out in alarm. The flame in her hand flew toward me — or more precisely, began to gather at the tip of the rapier I was holding.
"Ah? Lord Swen?"
"Wh-what is this?!"
Fwoooooosh!
I staggered, unable to make sense of what was happening. That "stagger" was closer to compulsion than choice — because the fireball caught on the tip of the blade was swelling exponentially as it burned.
"Wha— wh-whaaa?!"
A situation I had never imagined. Startled, I shook the rapier as if trying to fling the thing off. Truly — up to that very second — I had not the faintest idea what was about to happen.
Whoooosh—!
The fireball, grown as vast as it could grow, left the tip of the blade and shot at high speed toward the walls of Hisphil Castle.
No — it was supposed to hit the watchtower, not the wall.
Even if Reika's magic had grown stronger, a blast that could shatter a few timbers should only have scorched stone at worst.
If I had had even a little more composure, those were the thoughts I might have formed. Reality, of course, had no intention of granting me that luxury.
KRAAAAAAAAAANG!!!!!!
"…!!!!!"
The enormous fireball that had left the tip of the rapier slammed into the walls of Hisphil Castle. A tremendous roar filled the air, and a wall of furious smoke cut off our sight.
And then… after some stretch of time… when we carefully, warily opened our eyes again, a landscape we could scarcely believe lay spread before us.
"Th… this is…!"
In the wall that had protected Hisphil Castle… a vast, perfectly circular hole had been punched clean through.