32. Battlefield (3)
32. Battlefield (3)
Yuma stared intently at the face of the woman kneeling before him.
"...."
The Revolutionary Group <Dawn>.
Clearly, it was Cassiela, whom he had encountered on the magic train heading to the transit city of Akan.
Yuma wasn't the only one flabbergasted by the situation.
Marquis Tornel looked back and forth between the two and spoke.
"Are you acquaintances?"
Yuma set that question aside and walked toward the barracks door, looking down at Cassiela, who was still kneeling.
"Rise, Commander of the Revolutionary Group."
"Lord Yuma."
Cassiela's black eyes met Yuma's blue ones.
"Whatever the matter is, it's proper that we talk about it later, just the two of us. This is a battlefield, Commander Cassiela."
Cassiela sprang to her feet at Yuma's rebuke.
"...My apologies."
After making the kneeling Cassiela stand, Yuma went back and sat in the chair in front.
"You sit down too, Cassiela."
Cassiela lowered her head.
"Yes, Lord Yuma."
And then she sat down right beside Yuma, on his left.
He figured he'd have to create a private moment between just the two of them as quickly as possible and hear the story. From Yuma's perspective, he couldn't even get a handle on why exactly Cassiela was acting like this.
Yuma slowly opened his mouth again.
"First, let's talk about the battlefield. You said the Revolutionary Group's activities led to less damage than yesterday, Marquis Tornel."
"Indeed. Thanks to you and the Revolutionary Group, most of the enemy troops occupying places belonging to the marquisate retreated today."
Marquis Tornel spread out a map.
"There is only one place we haven't taken back yet: the western wall."
Kuk!
Tornel lifted his command baton and pointed at the western wall.
Looking at the topographical features displayed on the map, the western wall side was a spot where the battle situation could be assessed at a glance. In other words, it was the location they absolutely had to retake to draw the curtain on this war.
"It would be proper to direct the Revolutionary Group's strength here. And the reinforcements from the 2nd Seat, who will probably arrive tomorrow, should also be deployed here. As for me, as I just told the Marquis, I'll face the Conqueror King Kamet at the main camp."
Cassiela's eyes widened sharply.
A low, beautiful voice came out.
"...Do you intend to personally take on the Conqueror King?"
"Yes."
Cassiela wore a somewhat worried expression.
It was a worry colored by a subtle emotion. It didn't look like she was worried Yuma would be defeated.
"There is a legend that the Conqueror King Kamet's bloodline originates from the Lion Tribe."
Tornel nodded.
"I've heard that too. If he can draw on the power of that Lion Tribe species, he could become roughly twice as strong as he was when he fought me."
Yuma was unfazed by those words.
"It doesn't matter."
Because whatever power of some inhuman species he drew upon, it wouldn't have greater defensive strength than the <Black Dragon>.
"I can defeat him. If we strike the head, the enemy's fighting spirit will be lost. Then we plug the front lines completely."
"Understood."
Tornel felt an assured confidence in Yuma's words.
The un-meeting-like meeting came to an end.
Yuma looked toward Commander Cassiela.
"Let's go outside and talk."
Cassiela nodded vigorously.
"Yes, Lord Yuma."
Yuma led Cassiela into an empty barracks outside. Yuma gazed at Cassiela.
"Explain in detail what you mean by saying you followed me."
Cassiela also stared intently at Yuma.
"Erestina."
The name of a person Yuma knew came out of Cassiela's mouth.
An NPC he had become friends with in the VR game <Loof Blood>.
In that game, the name of the Revolutionary Army <Dawn>'s legion commander had been 'Erestina'.
"She is my mother. The person you, Lord Yuma, called a friend. The person who, 22 years ago, when she was young, founded the Dawn Revolutionary Army."
Erestina.
This Revolutionary Group commander was.
Erestina's daughter?
Yuma felt like he'd been smacked in the head by the revelation that Cassiela, standing before him, was Erestina's daughter.
-Later on. Once I make this world a bit more fair, I'll get married and live happily. That's my dream.
She had been a woman with a charming eye-smile. Erestina.
'...The probability she's the same person is low. No, almost nonexistent.'
<Loof Blood> was just a game.
In the first place, the names of the continents and kingdoms Yuma had known did not exist in this world.
The 'Argalos Archipelago,' the place where he had parted ways with Erestina in the game, didn't exist in this world either.
Even if the Loof Blood developers and the bastards who shoved him into this world were connected.
In the end, he thought an NPC he'd merely brushed past inside a game, just a piece of data, couldn't be seen as the same person as a being who had lived and breathed in this world.
"A photograph."
Yuma looked at Cassiela and continued speaking.
"Do you have something like a photograph?"
Yuma clearly remembered Erestina's face.
He had played <Loof Blood> with [Don't Screw Me Over] dozens of times.
During that time, he had gone through Erestina's route in all but three or four of those runs.
There was no way he couldn't remember her face.
Cassiela pulled out a pendant necklace from inside her clothing. Inside the pendant was a single photograph.
Red hair exactly like Cassiela's. And a beautiful face that was somewhat different.
Eyebrows and eyes that made her look like a good person.
An eye-smile that drew a crescent moon.
"...."
Yuma stared at that photograph for a long time.
The person in that photograph was definitely Erestina from the <Loof Blood> he knew.
Yuma slowly raised his head.
"When did she die?"
"The year I turned 14, she passed away. The year marking five years since my father died of illness... Her trade route, which she'd built up as a revolutionary soldier, was seized by a noble who had his sights on it, and she was murdered."
Yuma spoke slowly.
"In the pub... called Dawn, I presume?"
Dawn.
Another name for Yeomyeong.
Cassiela's eyes flew wide open at the name of that pub, which she hadn't heard in a long time.
"Yes."
Cassiela was steeped in memories.
No, perhaps she was steeped in regret.
"Did she ever talk about the days when the pub was used as the Revolutionary Army's headquarters?"
"Yes, she often did. When I was very young."
The tales of adventure Erestina had undertaken before getting married.
Cassiela began to recount them.
The story started with Erestina talking about her own childhood.
How she escaped from her father, who would get drunk and assault her, ran away from home, and found work as the youngest member of a small merchant company. And the story of how she built up that small merchant company with her own hands.
Then the narrative of how she set up the pub, Dawn, as a haven for the have-nots to block the tyranny of noble families. And how she used that pub to help merchants avoid the nobles' scrutiny and form a full-fledged trade union.
'It's the same.'
The place names, the countries, the specific locations, and so forth.
The geographical conditions and eras were slightly different, but the deeds Erestina performed were exactly the same.
Yuma recalled a line Erestina used to say habitually in <Loof Blood>.
-The world's probably changing, little by little. With this.
After saying that, she always smiled bashfully.
She had been a person who acted with full conviction, but without any certainty that her conviction would bring about something. Just someone who quietly carried on.
-You'll have a drink today? [Don't Screw Me Over].
'...It was just a game.'
Yuma let out an internal sigh.
She had only been a game character, nothing more.
He couldn't bring himself to flatly state that the Erestina he knew and Cassiela's mother were different people.
"Erestina never used a sword, though."
At Yuma's words, Cassiela smiled faintly.
Because she was so happy at this moment—the fact that someone was here talking with her about a hero no one else remembered, a hero only she wholly remembered.
Because it was an emotion she was feeling after far, far too long, a smile crept onto her face involuntarily.
"That's right. Because mother was brilliant. Brilliant enough that she didn't need to use a sword for a revolution."
Erestina had achieved revolution with nothing but pen and ink. And her mind.
Cassiela drew the sword from her waist.
Blue sparks flickered up from the blade.
"But I was different. I had to wield a sword to survive."
With both her parents dead when she was young.
A young girl who had to stand alone in this world had no choice but to pick up a sword.
"When I met you, Lord Yuma, on the Heilro magic train, you told me that my revolution was wrong."
He had definitely said those words.
"Hearing it from someone who knew my mother's revolution... those words echoed so powerfully inside my head."
Cassiela slowly continued.
"I wondered what a righteous revolution was. But you, Lord Yuma, were just pulling it off, one after another. All alone. Saving Akan from a crisis where it nearly became a drug city. Vanquishing the dragon that tried to dominate the countdom."
Tears streamed from Cassiela's eyes.
"I understood it very well: what the dreamlike salvation that will save this world is. I am sorry."
Cassiela, who had inherited the Revolutionary Group's legacy and carried it forth to this world, burst into tears. Perhaps a surge of sorrow had risen up inside her, now that she was in the relieving situation of having met a towering adult figure.
Yuma raised his right hand.
And patted Cassiela on the shoulder.
"You've been through a lot."
Those were the only words Yuma could offer the Revolutionary Group Commander who had struggled on alone through life.
"Thank you. Lord Yuma."
Resting her face against Yuma's shoulder, Cassiela smiled faintly.
-My revolution. It wouldn't have been completely useless, right? It'll leave something behind for the next generation, won't it? Hm? Answer me, [Don't Screw Me Over].
Erestina's voice echoed vividly in his head.
She had certainly left something behind.
Something.