Chapter 1. I'm screwed! (4)
Chapter 1. I'm screwed! (4)
The game was basically a grand strategy game, but that didn't mean units weren't important.
Units moving on the massive map were in squad units, and most were depicted without much personality, but units with a 'Hero' were a bit different.
A unit containing a Hero unit would receive that Hero's buff, becoming stronger against specific types of units. For example, the Hero's unit would gain very strong anti-magic performance. Basically, they were infantry units, but they could take on Rosalyn's cavalry unit head-on and remain unscathed.
I've played both the Hero faction and the Rosalyn faction, so I know the difference in their units.
The Hero's side was obviously mostly human, but Rosalyn's was different. There were many units with the setting that they were 'created' from the people of her territory.
Not only were there units created by 'grafting' onto a Saintess, but there were also units Rosalyn had molded herself. Each unit often had a simple flavor text.
Like, [She was once the captain of a knight order that boasted a legendary status].
"......Your Excellency."
"Do you have something to say, Erna?"
"So...... does that mean I'm the Knight Commander? Starting now?"
She had an expression that suggested she was subtly unconvinced.
Her blonde hair, grown to just below her shoulders, was a common color around here. However, her appearance was quite pretty.
Rosalyn was the type to care about 'decorations' too. Naturally, she had handpicked her knights based on their looks.
And this ill-tempered Rosalyn—meaning me—wouldn't have just left Erna alone after accepting the Demon King's magic.
She didn't have a proper noun name, but she was probably one of the units consumed in the game.
"Of course. Are you disappointed because there wasn't an appointment ceremony? I'm sorry, but since we are still in mourning for my father, that would be a bit difficult. If I made too much of a scene, people would say I'm throwing my weight around as soon as I seized power."
"B-but......."
"Oh my, what's the matter, Erna?"
I curled up one side of my lip.
"You aren't going to say you're scared now, are you? When you were Vice-Captain, didn't you treat me, the Captain, like an eyesore? As if you thought of me as an obstacle preventing you from rising any higher—"
This isn't my story as Rosalyn. It's just a story I made up after realizing I had been reincarnated.
Rosalyn has strong pride. She thought others followed her willingly.
Because that's what those below her were supposed to do.
Shall I be honest?
It seemed I still thought that way even now.
The irritation suppressing the anger and fear I felt until just before. Rosalyn, who thought she was the center of this world, was feeling annoyed at Erna for constantly talking back, rather than feeling immediate fear.
Until before, at least Father was here—
"......Ah."
"Your Excellency?"
Seeing me suddenly stiffen, Erna asked.
Did she feel it was unnatural because I looked like I was about to add something but cut it off?
......That's right.
Rosalyn loved her father. But at the same time, she naturally thought everything her father possessed was hers too.
The County within the country, the Barony too. Everyone living and working within them.
She thought of them as existences she could wield like a sword.
So, apart from the sadness—the moment Father died, that sword came entirely into her hands. She had been taught as a noble, so she knew well that even if it was the 'Knight Order', the one they were loyal to was Father, but since she had come to possess that Knight Order, she thought...... she could do whatever she wanted with it.
I stood up from my seat.
And walked to the corner of the room.
There was an unnecessarily flashy black female-style armor there. I drew the sword at the waist of that armor.
"Your Excellency......!"
Erna jumped up from her seat.
"Erna, kneel."
I said.
"Your Excellency, I......!"
"I'll hold an appointment ceremony, even if it's abbreviated. That's enough, right?"
At my words, Erna had a dumbfounded expression. Although she was still alternating her gaze between the sword I held and me.
She carefully came in front of me and knelt on one knee.
I gripped the sword.
And placing the flat of the blade on Erna's shoulder, I said.
"Loyalty to His Majesty, the Emperor of the sacred Empire."
"I, I swear loyalty."
"Loyalty to the name of the Duchy of Artena, which has received the holy grace of the Goddess."
"......I swear loyalty."
"And unwavering humility and iron-like will. To live for the weak and die for honor. Swear it."
"......I swear."
It seems it was much longer and more long-winded originally, but it doesn't matter.
I lifted the sword and held it up to the light coming through the window.
Naturally, it's a very expensive sword. Too good for me to be holding. I wouldn't have any reason to swing it anyway.
"This sword, it's nice."
"Pardon?"
"You use it."
"Pardon!?"
She keeps complaining since a while ago.
If I tell her to do it, she should just do it.
"B-but, Your Excellency! I am of commoner origin!"
In the end, Erna shouted as if she couldn't hold it in anymore.
"So what?"
"There are nobles in the Knight Order too! Besides, there are Knight Orders far more prestigious and historically deep than ours......!"
"So what?"
I raised one eyebrow.
"You didn't seem to have any such worries when you helped me up this morning."
"That is......!"
"People are strange. Once they think there's no way to rise up, they stop caring about anything else. They just vent their unfairness by cursing and loathing the thing blocking them from above. Well, it might be frustrating. Since the one blocking them was the Duke's only daughter."
I said, looking down at Erna.
"But now that you think you're actually going to rise up, are you scared? To see the other 'high and mighty' people you'll face there?"
"......."
"Then I must have misjudged you. I had taken note of how you confidently applied for the screening despite being a commoner. If your capacity is only that much, then so be it."
I shrugged my shoulders.
"If you were going to break because you couldn't bear the weight, then you were just a person with that much capacity."
"Your Excellency......?"
Erna said, looking up at me with a slightly dazed expression.
"Did you...... consider such things?"
As if.
I just picked her by looking at her face. A look that would go reasonably well with this Rosalyn's appearance, one that wouldn't ruin the picture even if she were riding a horse next to me.
But I can't say that.
"I've already appointed you. There are no orders to give yet, but I want you to act for me in the future. Any questions?"
"......."
Erna bit her lip slightly.
She must be confused. If the young lady who bullied her so much until now suddenly acts like this after becoming a Duke.
But still, one thing was certain.
Rosalyn no longer fears Erna.
Because she knew clearly that she was below her.
"If there are no questions, go back. You can go do patrols or training, right? You have the work you've been doing as Vice-Captain until now. You've been running things until now anyway."
"......Understood."
Erna stood up from her seat and bowed her head to me.
"Then I will stand by and wait for orders."
Her expression still lacks conviction.
She must not be able to trust Rosalyn that much. She might suddenly change her mind tomorrow, or she might give some strange order.
Only after Erna left the room did I let out a long breath.
Good. One thing down.
Work is going to pile up soon anyway, so I can't be handling useless Knight Order work too. The things originally under my name are the core of the Duchy, so I can't give them up.
I sat on the sofa.
"......Okay. What's next."
Father's death was sudden.
It will probably take a very long time for the news to spread, and for the mourners to arrive. And once they start flocking, I won't have time to move personally. Because those are things Rosalyn has to handle herself.
"What's next......."
.......
What should I do?
When I actually try to think, my mind goes blank.
"Is it image?"
Rosalyn, who has lived selfishly until now. Rosalyn, who only threw tantrums at everyone around her. Rosalyn, who played mean pranks on anyone and didn't apologize, and only pushed all her mistakes onto others.
"......There are too many things to point out, I don't know where to start fixing it."
"Th-then, starting with the orphanage."
I said as I stood up.
Arno, the most respected clergyman and monk within this Duchy.
It doesn't seem like it will end just by going and apologizing out of the blue, but still, I have to dilute those feelings somehow.
Because I need connections to get help from the Order in the future.
Isn't she the Rosalyn who didn't even go to church properly, played around when told to pray, and openly insulted the clergy?
"......This is going to kill me. I'm definitely going to die before the war breaks out."
It would be a relief if I don't get assassinated for real. Damn it. I should have lived a little more nicely.
*
When I said I would move, the mansion was in an uproar, but by throwing a 'Rosalyn-like' tantrum, I was able to manage to get to the orphanage somehow.
And only after coming to the orphanage did I remember.
Ah, I hated this place.
It wasn't that the orphanage was the problem, I hated all places where commoners lived.
Because Rosalyn was sensitive to smells.
The musty smell of unwashed children. The smell of dust that hadn't been cleaned properly.
As soon as I entered the orphanage, I smelled that and frowned—
"Your Excellency, Duke."
Only after hearing Arno's voice did I come to my senses.
Brother Arno bowing his head politely before me.
Even though I had come without thinking things through, he didn't show any dissatisfaction toward me.
No, in a sense, is this appearance itself a sign of dissatisfaction?
Because Rosalyn expected anyone meeting her to naturally wash their body and be clean.
And the inside of the orphanage wasn't organized at all either.
"......."
No, it must mean he is a person faithful to his work.
I forced a smile at him.
It probably didn't go well.