Lord of Disease (JP-GL) 386

386: The End of Ordregalia

“…A large army… outside the forest…?”

My father’s voice was filled with a mixture of doubt and curiosity. My sister Annette and I looked at each other.

“Yes… they are deployed outside the forest. We have already sent a messenger, but they only say to send out the royal family…”

“But we are not ‘royalty’… anything else?”

“Father, I will go. If anything happens to you…”

“Annette, I, the Forest Emperor, should go.”

“Then how many guards?”

“It is a large army, is it not? …One that could destroy Ordregalia.”

“…Yes.” The messenger nodded.

“Then they are not needed. I will take only a civilian official. —I leave the rest to you, Annette.”

“Yes, please be careful…”

The next report was unbelievable. It was no wonder that my sister Annette frowned and questioned it.

“A large army on the main road? Father—the Forest Emperor—should have gone to negotiate.”

“But in reality…”

“The banner?”

“A white holy cross and wings on a blue background… the religious flag was the most common. The other flags were a mix, so it is probably a mixed army of the neighboring countries…”

That religion. A religion that worshipped a single, nameless god. I remembered that their argument was that since there was only one ‘God,’ he had no name.

A religion that did not accept non-humans.

“…” My sister Annette gritted her teeth.

“And from the town, the frightened people are rushing to the royal castle.”

“Accept them. …And open the armory.”

“Huh? Annette-sama?”

“Recruit volunteers. Hurry.”

“Annette-sama! At this stage, to do such a thing—”

“Don’t be a fool. This is a border violation, with an army. And there has been no contact from Father. What stage do you think this is?”

A silence fell.

“—This is war. Act on that premise.”

No one said a word. My sister Annette laughed, as if to break the tension.

“…If it is a joke, then that is fine. I will take responsibility. Recruit volunteers, and arm them as much as possible. Summon the knightly order. Have the soldiers take their positions. …Just do as you have been trained.”

“Yes…!”

The tension eased, and everyone scattered to carry out their orders.

“Annette-neesama, …do you think it will be a war?”

“I hope not… I want to think that it is a show of force, as a prelude to negotiations. …But if it were a threat, then to deploy outside the forest would have been enough. Father went without any guards. If they wanted profit…”

If all they had wanted was profit, then Harnadiva probably would not have been destroyed. The merchants there were known to be shrewd, but a peaceful commercial city was a golden goose. To destroy it, along with its experienced merchants, along with the very foundation of its trade…? It was madness.

“I am going. Rebecca…”

“I am going, too. I… am a guardian of Ordregalia.”

“I see. Then I will go first. Bring me my sword.”

There was no armor that would fit me, so I just wrapped a sword belt around my waist and headed for the ramparts.

“—The Forest Emperor of Ordregalia should have gone to you. What happened to the talks? I would like to see him.”

I could hear my sister Annette’s voice, amplified, calling from the top of the ramparts.

A vulgar laugh, which was best described as a cackle, answered.

“What is so funny? The Forest Emperor of Ordregalia—”

Something flew, and I heard the sound of a tree shattering. On top of the ramparts, near my sister Annette.

“…Father?”

My heart leaped. And another something flew over the ramparts and landed in the courtyard.

In the courtyard, which had also been used for the coronation ceremony, was a shattered wooden barrel. Rich, wavy, golden hair was visible in the iron rings and the wooden splinters. I reached for ‘it.’

“Rebecca! —Don’t!”

“…Henrietta-neesama.”

The strength left my legs, and I collapsed, and I gathered ‘Henrietta-neesama’ into my arms.

“…”

I thought I shouldn’t cry, but a sob escaped my gritted teeth, and tears streamed down my face, as if to pry open my tightly closed eyes.

My heart was painted black. And it grew cold, and it felt as if it would freeze.

—Checkmate.

Ordregalia should not have fought anyone. The enemy had come to destroy them. And we, too… had no choice but to fight. After this. After this, who could forgive? Who would not be angry?

—Was it alright to allow such a thing?

But I knew, with a terrible certainty. My anger was boiling within me, but even colder than that, my heart was freezing. Because there was nothing at the end of this anger and this hatred.

Today, Ordregalia would fall.

So easily, the world would end. When, where, had Ordregalia gone wrong? It was too sudden, too abrupt.

“Rebecca. …Henrietta-neesama.”

“Yes…”

My sister Annette took the head from me and, with a gentle touch, she wrapped it in her cloak and placed it on the ground.

“Rebecca, raise your head. —This is your first battle.”

“Annette-neesama… no more.”

My sister Annette knelt down and, with her hands on my shoulders, she said.

“…Hey, Rebecca. We have been educated as royalty, have we not?”

“Yes…” I looked up at my sister Annette with my tear-stained eyes. Now, there were only two of us.

“…I wished for the position of a knight. As a guardian of Ordregalia, to strike down the coming hardships with my sword.”

“Yes… But the hardships that can be struck down with a sword, in truth…”

“There are none. —Is that what you think?”

“Huh?”

“We will probably all die. But… there might be elves who did not flee to the royal castle.”

“That’s…” The depths of the forest were a nest of magical beasts. And outside the forest was a world that did not accept the existence of elves. Even the goodwill mission—even the experienced caravan—had been hunted.

“Do you think that to fight will change nothing?”

“…Yes.” My sister’s words were so strong that I almost saw a hope that did not exist, and yet I denied her words.

“Then let us fight.”

“…Yes?”

“It cannot get any worse. …There is no room for negotiation. We will all die. Ordregalia will fall. That is all.”

That was the reality. That was the future.

“—And on that note, I ask you, Rebecca.”

Her expression was, surprisingly, calm.

“Can you give up?”

“Give up…” I muttered.

“I cannot. If we buy time, reinforcements might come. If the damage is great, there might be room for negotiation. If we fight bravely, a hole might open in the encirclement. If we see an opportunity, we might be able to let the people escape. It might be a help to those who have already fled. …At the very least, I want to believe in such a thing, and to fight and die.”

“Annette-neesama…”

—I had a feeling I knew the ending.

If you looked at the situation, you could see. Nothing would probably change. For the better, or for the worse. But in that moment, I felt as if something in my heart had changed.

I had been raised as a princess, and I had lived as one. To do what was necessary, as was necessary. To do what was desired, as was desired. Always, to choose a better future.

But now, to choose a future—was impossible.

“Annette-neesama. —I, too, cannot give up.”

And on that note.

“Will you die with me?”

“Yes. …I’m sorry.”

“No. This is my selfishness. My first—and my last.”

I smiled.

“Let us fight, Annette-neesama. And wish for a future where even a single elf will survive.”

And ‘Rebecca Stagnet’ died.

Nothing had changed. For better or for worse—nothing.

Even if everyone had fought beyond their limits, even if my mother, in her illness, had deployed a defensive spell, and had coughed up blood and still blocked an offensive spell. Even if my sister Annette, with her demonic fighting style, had frightened the enemy and had inspired her allies. Even if ‘Rebecca Stagnet,’ too, with an offensive magic that did not suit her age, had burned the enemy soldiers, and had swung her sword, and had fought so bravely that anyone who saw her would have cried.

If anything had changed, it was the number of enemy casualties, and not the future where Ordregalia would fall.

And yet—even that gentle third princess had felt a sense of exhilaration. The expressions of those who had underestimated a small nation in the forest, as they gradually hardened, and in the end, were stained with despair. The corpses of those who had spat on the hand that could have been a peaceful neighbor, as they piled up.

And yet, that battle had no strategic meaning anymore.

The third princess, after a fierce battle, had reached the limit of her mana and her stamina, and she had been beheaded. Her tiara had been taken, and her body had been cast aside.

The royal castle was burning. All of its accumulated history. The old furnishings, the carefully tended garden, the long-lived elves who lived there, all of it was being trampled.

‘She’ had wished, in the end.

—If Ordregalia were to disappear from the map, then at the very least, a future where as many elves as possible would survive.

So, ‘I’ had continued her time.