102: Rabbits on the Ramparts
I stood alone on the ramparts, watching the sunset over the distant horizon, over the human nations.
“Sorry I’m late.”
“It’s fine.”
I turned to see Bridget climbing the steep stone steps. She wore the same military uniform she’d worn during the training exercise, a longsword and a dagger hanging from her sword belt.
“It’s been… a while.”
“…Yes.” It was awkward.
We’d had many conversations, both as supreme commanders, about matters that needed to be discussed. And whatever Bridget might have been feeling, she was not one to let her personal feelings interfere with her duties.
“First, thank you again for participating in the joint training exercise. The Dark Knights, and the entire Litalside garrison, are all fired up.”
“You’re welcome.” I smiled.
“…I’m surprised you came, with a letter like that.”
“I am a supreme commander… but…” I shook my head slightly.
“We’re… friends, aren’t we?”
Bridget’s expression became unreadable. No, that wasn’t right. She wasn’t expressionless. She was hiding her pain.
Is it different now? Are Bridget and I… different from how we were, when we could talk without worrying about our positions?
“…You still call me a friend?”
“Of course. …What about you, Bridget?”
Bridget’s eyes wavered. She swallowed, averted her gaze for a moment… then looked at me again. She seemed to have steeled herself, though with some hesitation.
“…There’s… something I’ve never been able to tell you.”
“What is it?”
“About… Fort Garnalk.”
—Fort Garnalk. The place where Bridget and I had first met.
I had been on the ramparts.
“I noticed you. On the ramparts, after you’d pushed the defensive mages off… and were being restrained.”
She had noticed me. She had saved me. And that was why I was alive.
“I didn’t know what was happening. I thought… it was some kind of rebellion.”
“It wasn’t a mistake.” I had been summoned by the humans of this world to be a mana battery, a sacrifice to fuel their mages.
Normally, only those with special mana-absorbing abilities, like undead and Black Hound Barghests, could take mana from others. But if you enslaved someone with mind magic, you could drain their mana, like turning on a faucet. The only difference was, there was no way to turn it off.
I had resisted the mind magic, resisted the injustice. I hadn’t been part of the human forces, so it wasn’t exactly a rebellion… but the result was the same.
“…I saw you, after you’d pushed off two pairs and been restrained by a third… and I thought… it was an opportunity. I… thought…”
“…Bridget?” Bridget’s face contorted in pain. She pressed a hand to her forehead, but continued, as if driven by a sense of duty.
“I gave the order. —I gave the order. To bombard that spot with offensive magic. To create an opening.” Tears welled up in her eyes.
“I knew. I knew there were still people there. People who weren’t the enemy… But I was a supreme commander. A knight commander. So, I gave the order.” She continued her confession, her face a mask of anguish.
“I ordered them to kill everyone on the ramparts…!”
Bridget squeezed her eyes shut, as if in unbearable pain, and turned her head away.
“I ordered them to kill you, and everyone else who might have been from your world…”
She spoke, her head bowed, her eyes still closed. I called her name.
“Bridget.”
—The sad expression she sometimes wore. Whenever I thanked her for what she’d done. It was only natural for me to thank her, but her expression had always clouded over.
This was the reason.
“I’m not your savior.”
“You are. You saved my life.” I had many lifesavers. And she was undoubtedly one of them… the first one to save me in this world.
“And after that, I was so concerned with my image as a commander that I treated you poorly. …Even though you called me a friend.”
“I asked for that. I said it myself.”
Was she hurt by the loss of our time together, just as I had been?
“I just took advantage of your kindness. You can blame me. You can hate me, curse me…”
I had been in her heart. A mere human. Someone with no value, from the perspective of a knight commander.
She had seen me as a human being. So much so that she was consumed by guilt.
She, who had shown kindness to a mere human like me, deserved better than the pain of self-recrimination. It wasn’t right.
“Bridget!” I called her name and hugged her tightly. I whispered in her long ear,
“I’m alive. I’m alive. Because you saved me, I’m alive. If you hadn’t, I would have died. And after that, if it weren’t for the letter you wrote, I would never have had an audience with His Majesty. I would never have met Liz. I would never have become the Lord of Disease.”
“…But… you did… become the Lord of Disease…”
Bridget’s voice trembled. Her body shuddered, and I felt her emotions transfer to me.
“You’re a normal person. You said you didn’t want to kill. And yet, I… we… took advantage of you again. We made a human give orders to kill her own kind. And you were used as a decoy, weren’t you? That’s what the position… the name… is for, isn’t it? …You almost died so many times. We forced that dangerous role on you, using the position of supreme commander as bait…”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Bridget.” I said, a hint of anger in my voice. I grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back, looking into her eyes.
“I decided. I chose to become the Lord of Disease.”
I had been called a heartless monster, the enemy of humanity. There was no lie in those titles. My orders had created a living hell.
But no one in this nation had ever forced me to do it.
I hugged her again. She pressed her face into my shoulder. We held each other, as if sharing our pain, our arms tight around each other’s backs.
“I was happy. I really was. I don’t know why. Even if it was out of guilt. But are you saying all of that was a lie? I remember. The first thing I saw when I woke up from the fever was you. I remember your gentle touch when you helped me up, when you pulled the blanket over my shoulders. I was happy every time you came to visit.” Tears welled up in my eyes, and I pressed my face into her shoulder.
“When you said I could call you Bridget. When you said you were my friend. Even after I moved to the barn, you didn’t abandon me; you made sure I was taken care of. I was happy. I still remember the warmth of the blanket you gave me…”
If it hadn’t been for that warmth…
If it hadn’t been for her, I would have died.
If it hadn’t been for her, the Lord of Disease would never have been born.
“To me, that one blanket was heavier than all of humanity.”
I was bad at math. The scales of my heart were heavily weighted towards those I cherished.
“…It was just a blanket.” Bridget whispered, her voice weak.
“Not to me.”
We both pulled away at the same time.
We leaned against the stone ramparts, watching the sunset over the distant horizon.
“Do you remember when you asked me for something?”
“I do. You said you’d get me anything.”
“…I thought it would be something material. So, when you asked if you could call me by my name… I was ashamed of myself.”
“I was happy. When you said I could call you Bridget.”
“…I thought… if we became friends… maybe I could forget what I’d done… Maybe if I was kind to you… it would make up for it…”
“Your kindness made me happy. …And I was hurt by the humans who summoned me to this world. Don’t forget that.” If she hadn’t ordered the attack, I would have undoubtedly been killed by my captors.
“Do you remember when I pointed my sword at you in the royal castle?”
“Yes. My hair was short for a while.” I touched the right side of my hair, which was shorter than the left.
“…I really thought I might have to kill you then. I thought… you were being used.”
“Well, I wouldn’t deny that… but do I look like the type to be used?”
“Not now. But I thought so then. …I mean, can you believe it?” Bridget’s tone was playfully accusatory.
“A mere human, with no backing, who had only been here a short time, became the ‘heartless monster and enemy of humanity,’ the Lord of Disease, in such a short time?”
“No, it’s unbelievable.” It was a story so far-fetched, it was almost laughable.
“And on top of that, the Sixth Army was established, and you became the sixth supreme commander in the history of Listrea. I was sure you were being deceived, being set up as a convenient decoy.”
“I wouldn’t say that’s entirely untrue, but the basic plan was my idea, and all the field operative units are under my direct command.”
I was a decoy. My job was to be conspicuous, to be hated.
But that wasn’t my only job.
I had authority, subordinates, a budget—I was a small, special unit, but I was undeniably a supreme commander, a pillar of the Listrea Demon Kingdom.
I also had a mansion with a maid and a supreme commander’s salary.
We looked at each other and laughed.
“…I’m sorry. For not telling you anything.”
“No… it’s fine. It’s just how things turned out. There were things I couldn’t say, too.”
Bridget stepped away from the rampart and smiled, offering her right hand. I took it, and she squeezed it firmly.
“Congratulations on your appointment as a supreme commander. —I welcome you, from the bottom of my heart. As a protector of the Listrea Demon Kingdom. …And as a friend.”
I returned her handshake, my heart full.
I felt like we were finally equals.
I felt like we could finally, proudly, call each other friends.
