by Takehaya
“And it seems the rumor of a powerful knight joining Alaia is true.”
“The Blue Knight, was it?”
“Yes. It seems he played a large part in this as well. Apart from planning the feint, he also entered the fort on his own and opened the gates from the inside.”
“So our forces never stood a chance...”
“So it seems. Apparently the fort was captured in mere moments, and once our forces lost their base of operations, they retreated.”
“Hahahaha, splendid! Well done, Alaia and Blue Knight!”
Maxfern burst out laughing and praised both Alaia and Koutarou. He didn’t seem to care that he had lost a vital base without much of a fight, allowing the enemy to advance further south.
“There was no damage to the town and there were almost no casualties. As a result, the Reborn Forthorthian Army’s reputation is skyrocketing.”
“As expected. It’s the kind of story the people just eat up.”
Maxfern nodded as he listened to Grevanas, but he suddenly narrowed his eyes into a more serious expression.
“Grevanas, if they are able to produce such results, it must mean that Alaia has broken the seal on the royal family’s treasured sword, right?”
“Well... it seems they have been achieving such victories without the help of the holy sword.”
“What?!”
Maxfern was astonished. He slammed his fists into the arms of the throne and stood up. All of his smug confidence from before had vanished.
“Is that true?! You are certain of this?!”
“Yes. The seal at the temple of the Goddess of Dawn is still intact, and there are no signs the sword has been removed. My subordinates on location have confirmed it.”
While listening to Grevanas’s report, Maxfern slowly sank back down on the throne.
“To think... To think that Alaia is winning this easily without using the holy sword... It’s hard to believe...”
“But it’s the truth. They defeated the magical soldier and are successfully advancing despite the difference in forces and without the help of the sword.”
“It seems things have gotten quite complicated...”
Maxfern sighed loudly as his expression turned bitter. Alaia was putting up an unexpectedly good fight, and Maxfern was both surprised and unhappy.
“It looks like that Blue Knight is better than we thought.”
Grevanas’s expression hadn’t changed, but the bitterness was audible in his voice.
“Which means that we’ll have to change our approach too.”
“I believe it is as you say. With this victory, support for Alaia’s cause will likely rise even more. We’re already seeing sympathizers in our own ranks. It’s well within the realm of possibility that they will manage to muster an army that can rival ours.”
“If that happens, our wish will never come true. How can we threaten Alaia as things stand now?”
Grevanas and Maxfern began plotting their next move, but it wasn’t a plan for how to deal with the Reborn Forthorthian Army. Rather, it was a plan to personally corner Alaia.
An Oath and an Insignia
Charl’s golden hair swayed as she ran. The sunlight rained down from above, vividly reflecting off of her tresses. It looked like golden stalks of wheat blowing in the wind.
“Blue Knight! Where are you?! Show yourself!” she shouted out as she ran through the confused crowd.
Compared to the people around her, she was extremely short, so she couldn’t see ahead. All she could do was shout as she continued to search.
She was at the fort near the town of Raustor. It had previously been a coup d’etat army base, but it was now under the control of the Reborn Forthorthian Army. They had successfully driven the rebel forces out just yesterday.
And with the Reborn Forthorthian Army newly in control, the fort was plenty crowded. When thinking of a fort, one might imagine lots of knights and soldiers, but that wasn’t quite the case. When a military force was on the move, they needed almost as many men to carry supplies as they did soldiers. Since trucks and aircrafts didn’t exist in this time period, that much was inevitable. They mostly had to manage with manpower, and thusly there were a lot of civilian volunteers helping to support the army, including traders who provided the actual supplies. Between them and the actual army, the fort was quite full.
But despite the crowding, everyone was cheerful and morale was high. They were all excited to retake their home country. Even putting the matter of Alaia and the royal family aside, that much would still be true.
The coup d’etat had begun with the assassination of the emperor and empress, and from there the country’s economic situation and public order began deteriorating. The citizens’ lives took a turn for the worse over the course of just a few months. However, thanks to victories of the Reborn Forthorthian Army, the citizens felt like the winds were starting to change. As a result, the people began rallying to the Reborn Forthorthian Army and decided to solve the national crisis before them by joining hands. They banded together around their beacon of hope: a single young knight.
On the battlefield he was peerless, but he was always humble. He showed mercy, even to his enemies. He was a model knight and a loyal subject devoted to protecting Princess Alaia. When people called his name, they did so with great reverence. They called him “Forthorthe’s Blue Knight, Layous Fatra Veltlion.”
Princess Charl was currently looking for exactly that knight.
“Your Highness, if you’re looking for Layous-sama, I saw him at the training grounds.”
“Oh, of course! The Blue Knight is always hiding over there!”
“Heehee, I don’t think he’s hiding, Your Highness. It looks like he’s training with the new recruits.”
“Good work, Mary! You have my praise!”
“I’m honored, Your Highness.”
After hearing of his whereabouts from Mary the maid, Charl ran towards the training grounds by the ramparts. The people made way for her and watched fondly as she ran through the crowd. The sight of such a sunny child had the power to warm hearts even in the midst of war.
“Blue Knight!”
Charl shouted out for him again and again as she approached, but her voice didn’t seem to reach him. He didn’t even notice she was there. He was currently sparring with Flair, a female knight Charl knew very well.
“Veltlion, your sword handling is too proper. I think your moves would be harder to read if you drop your shoulders a little.”
“My teacher was very strict about my posture, so it’s quite hard to break the habit.”
Since Flair was from the Pardomshiha family, famous for creating splendid knights across countless generations, she was an expert when it came to the sword. In order to make up for her feminine physique, she used a thin blade and quick strikes to target her enemy’s weak points. Speed and precision were her specialties.
However, her attacks yielded little result against the knight in blue armor. He was wearing heavy full plate armor and using a large, traditional knight’s sword while she was wearing light armor and using a thin sword. Despite her superior mobility, the knight in blue armor evaded each of her attacks at the last moment. On top of that, they had been at it for several minutes already. It was clear that the knight in blue armor must have an absurd amount of stamina as well as great skill with the sword. Of course, the same could be said for Flair. She hadn’t taken a single attack yet either.
“Blue Knight!”
Calling out to him again, Charl finally got his attention.
“Your Highness?”
When he realized he was in the presence of the young princess, he instinctively turned towards her.
“You’re wide open!”
Flair then made her move on him. However, her sword stopped just before reaching his throat. Any further and it would have pierced right through.
“That’s why I keep telling you that you’re too honest, Veltlion...”
“Well
done, Lady Flairan.”
Flair smiled wryly as she returned her sword to its sheath. As she did, the soldiers who had been watching the two erupted. Some rejoiced in Flair’s victory while others were bitter the Blue Knight had lost, and some were just excited to have witnessed a good fight. Seeing their commanders’ skills up close was a thrill for all of them.
“B-Blue Knight! Ah, oooh! Hey!”
Charl forced her way through the enthusiastic soldiers and appeared on the training grounds. She had momentarily lost her balance pushing her way through the crowd, but she quickly collected herself and cheerfully began running once more as she spotted the knight in blue armor.
“I’ve found you at last, Blue Knight! You certainly made that difficult on me!”
Having finally found the person she was looking for after searching all over the fort, Charl’s smile was so bright that it genuinely appeared to shine.
As Koutarou squatted down and looked her way, Charl dashed forward like a bullet.
“Blue Knight!”
“Your Highness?!”
Just in front of Koutarou, she kicked off the ground with all of her strength in a mighty leap. It was her signature affectionate greeting. Koutarou gently caught her tiny body mid-air. Since Charl frequently jumped at him even though he was wearing his armor, he had to catch her like that in order to keep her from hurting herself. Between his armor calculating her trajectory and the spirit sight he’d gotten from Sanae, he always managed to catch her the right way, but it was a nerve-racking experience every time.
“Your Highness... I keep telling you that you should come over more slowly or you may get hurt.”
“Are you saying you don’t want to catch me anymore?”
After being admonished, Charl looked up at Koutarou with a rather crestfallen expression. Seeing her puppy-dog eyes up close, Koutarou felt like he was the one who’d done something wrong.
“That’s not it, but―”
“Then isn’t it all right? I will jump and you will catch me. Where is the problem in that?”
“That’s not quite it...”
This wasn’t the first time they’d had this conversation, but it always ended the same way: with Koutarou backing down. In the end, he was always unable to reject Charl’s frank and earnest feelings.
“More importantly...”
And this time was no different. Charl casually dismissed the entire discussion and moved on to the next topic. She jumped out of his arms, then pulled out something and handed it to Koutarou with both hands.
“Blue Knight, I present you with this.”
Inside her hands was a small ornament. It was a piece of rectangular wood with a belt of wool around it.
“My, Your Highness, what is this?”
Flair, who peeked into Charl’s hands alongside Koutarou, asked Charl about it with a smile on her face. In response, Charl proudly puffed out her chest.
“This is a rank insignia that Alaia and I made.”
“A rank insignia, you say?”
Having been told what the ornament was, Koutarou stared at the wooden object. On it was something written in ink.
Since Koutarou couldn’t read Forthorthian, he tilted his head to the side as his armor began translating the characters on the wooden ornament for him: “Insignia of Forthorthe’s Blue Knight, the Super Important Bodyguard of Charl and Alaia.”
It was obvious at first glance it had been written by a child, but Koutarou could tell that it had been written with great care. A colorful knitted wool ribbon decorated the wooden ornament. While it too was simple and crafted with care, Koutarou was certain that Alaia had made it.
“We present you with this as thanks for your contributions to us and the royal family.”
Charl had asked to make an insignia for him, and she and Alaia had worked together to make it. After staring at it for a long moment and letting everything that it meant soak in, Koutarou smiled at her.
“Thank you very much, Princess Charl. Please give Princess Alaia my thanks as well.”
“You can do that yourself later, Blue Knight.”
Seeing Koutarou’s smile, Charl’s proud expression turned into a cheerful smile too. She then reached her hand up towards Koutarou’s chest and pinned the insignia in its proper place.
“There. Take pride in this for a long time, Blue Knight.”
“I will make it a family heirloom, Your Highness.”
“Good!”
Charl was an innocent girl, but by no means stupid. She knew that there was no guarantee that Koutarou would be pleased with the insignia, yet she hadn’t been able to come up with another way to show her gratitude. She was anxious as she gave it to him, but fortunately Koutarou liked the handmade insignia. That pleased Charl to no end.
“All right, then let’s go.”
Satisfied, Charl climbed up onto Koutarou’s back while he was still squatting down. After getting into position, she lightly tapped on Koutarou’s shoulder twice.
“You may stand.”
“Yes, Your Highness. But where to now?”
Koutarou got a firm grip on Charl and stood up. Charl pointed to the building in the center of the fort. It was a large, solid building made out of bricks. It was a vital part of the fort, serving as both the headquarters and the barracks.
“Like I said, you can thank Alaia yourself.”
“So to Princess Alaia?”
“Yes, she needs you. And because I had some business with you too, I came to find you myself,” Charl said as she wrapped her arms around Koutarou’s neck and held on tight.
“I see.”
Koutarou now got the bigger picture. Apart from giving him the insignia, Charl had come to find Koutarou because Alaia needed to talk to him.
“Indeed. So as you can see, Flair, I will be borrowing the Blue Knight.”
“Okay. Veltlion, take care of Her Highness.”
“Understood.”
“Enough already! Let’s go.”
“Y-Yes, right away.”
Koutarou was rushed by Charl off the training grounds, leaving Flair and Mary, who had come chasing after Charl, behind.
“Come on, hurry! Sister is waiting for you!”
“I understand, so please stay still! Ah, look out!”
Koutarou ran towards the center of the fort with Charl on his back. Flair and Mary watched them go as they continued their lively discussion. After they ducked into the building, Flair smiled wryly.
“And to think such a man is a peerless knight on the battlefield... The world is full of mysteries,” she mumbled.
Seeing Koutarou with Charl, it was easy to forget how much of a powerhouse he was in battle. If Flair didn’t know any better, she never would have even guessed he was a knight, much less one experienced in battle. He simply didn’t have that kind of presence about him. Especially not while he was with Charl. But despite what it may or may not have seemed like, he was indeed an impressive knight, and that perplexed Flair somewhat. Mary, however, saw it differently. After Koutarou and Charl vanished, she looked over at Flair and smiled.
“But isn’t that why we’re winning?”
“What do you mean?”
Flair looked back at Mary, somewhat stumped. She was having trouble understanding what Mary was saying.
“If Layous-sama just went around slaughtering his enemies, we wouldn’t have this many allies and there’s no guarantee we would have gotten this far.”
Koutarou didn’t kill people—not even his enemies. It was possible that his way of doing things risked his safety and the safety of those around him, but he hadn’t taken a single life. He had shown restraint and mercy, and everyone praised Koutarou as an exemplary knight. The Reborn Forthorthian Army also tried to follow his lead and refrain from any unnecessary killing.
And since they didn’t kill people without good reason, there was no ill will among the people for the Reborn Forthorthian Army. In fact, they always had plenty of recruits coming in and there were even Imper
ial Army soldiers defecting to join them. Regardless of people’s political beliefs, no one wanted to be on the side that would slaughter their families in cold blood. The coup d’etat army soldiers were mostly locals, after all.
And the result was profound. As such a peculiar knight in this age, Koutarou’s very existence led the Reborn Forthorthian Army from victory to victory.
“That might be true. No matter how strong you are on your own, the war isn’t about any single soldier. It’s about all of us together as an army.”
Flair slowly nodded. Mary might be onto something. If Koutarou did the opposite of what he was doing now and simply killed all of his enemies, the Reborn Forthorthian Army might have been suppressed by now. Even if he could kill hundreds on his own, he couldn’t beat the coup d’etat army alone. And without the cooperation of the people, he wouldn’t be able to protect Alaia and Charl. He would just become an object of fear and would eventually die alone, peerless but without allies.
In the short term, it might be effective to use as much force as necessary to kill as many enemies as possible, but that kind of abuse of power often came back to bite those who used it so. Earth’s history was full of such examples. Like the Roman Empire, nations that used overwhelming force to slaughter their enemies and expand their reach eventually perished. Though they were only able to appreciate it after the fact, Alaia and the others would consider themselves lucky that Koutarou hadn’t gone down that path.
The inside of the building was much warmer than it was outside. The solid brick walls helped keep the warmth in while blocking out the cold wind.
“Blue Knight, Alaia is waiting in her room.”
“Understood.”
After closing the door to the building behind him, Koutarou headed towards Alaia’s private room with Charl still on his back. Koutarou’s armored boots clacked with every step he took. The sound rang out through the wide entrance hall, the long stairs leading up to the third floor, and the winding passage that followed before it went silent.
In front of Koutarou was a large door. The room behind it was originally used as a headquarters by the commander of the fort. The Reborn Forthorthian Army was using it much the same way. It was currently occupied by their commander in chief, Alaia. Koutarou was already familiar with the room as he’d visited it several times over the last day. Before he could knock on the door this time, however, it opened from the inside and several government officials carrying a mass of documents practically leaped out.