Chapter 40 - 4-4
Cloden Danforth was somewhat flustered by the fact that he was not very suited for being a soldier. First of all, he was hopeless at martial arts. His body was frail. When it came to hand-to-hand combat, he was a disaster, constantly being knocked onto his backside or sent rolling onto his back. The sword was heavy and difficult to handle with Cloden's thin arms. The bow was too stiff, and the spearhead would often hit the ground, causing him to stumble.
—I'm the type who competes with my head.
Thinking this, he hadn't cared much about it back when he was a common soldier.
The wind shifted after Yugis made a deal with Commander Sedias Thora and snatched away promotions for the children of the eastern nobles.
He came to receive what was called classroom instruction.
"Soldiers should seize the initiative."
"Soldiers must be gathered as one and slammed into the opponent's weak point."
"A general decides the strategy based on the objective of the war."
He heard things like this. He understood these parts well.
Yet, despite understanding, he would suddenly become confused the moment it came to exercise problems.
The instructor was a strategist for the Royal Army. A middle-aged man in his fifties.
He had a bad habit of scanning the students with a sharp gaze and pointing to one to ask a question.
The moment the middle-aged man began explaining the premise, such as "Army C, moving from point A to point B in two days...", Cloden would lose track.
—Is that by horse? Is it a flat road? A steep mountain path? How heavy is the luggage?
For example, Yugis didn't seem to care about such things at all and answered skillfully. Haider was also excellent. Raslaf Dravar also produced good answers that didn't lose out to the other two, and was sometimes praised by the middle-aged strategist.
Raslaf was as terrible at martial arts as Cloden.
—I probably won't lose to a Dravar.
Because he had set that expectation, he felt depressed when he was left behind in the classroom studies.
"I really thought your head was outstanding, you know."
An obese youth named Kashu Coil often teased Cloden. The students of the Eastern Regional Army—or rather, the Fourth Army—were currently in their own dedicated barracks. On that day, they were gathered around a fireplace where logs were burning.
"Because Cloden is a genius," Yugis said.
Whenever Kashu started joking, Yugis always played along.
"When someone is as clever as Cloden, classroom studies like that are too simple, and it actually throws off his rhythm."
"Genius is a bit of an overstatement," Cloden still had the mental leeway to play along with the teasing. "Well, I'm about as fond of classroom studies as I am of horsemanship."
Laughter erupted in the room. Cloden was also terrible at handling horses.
Perhaps because their excitement had not yet subsided, everyone laughed easily. The promotion from common soldiers exceeded expectations and changed the lives of Cloden and the others. They were given rooms within the Royal Army barracks, and a new stable was built for them with the Royal Army's money. Cloden didn't have one yet, but the former common soldiers could now own their own horses if they wished. The cloaks and gloves of the Fourth Army were matching. The cloaks were black, and the gloves were deep green. These were not provided by the Royal Army's money. They were fashioned using the commissions gathered from collecting debts at the taverns.
All the boys of the Fourth Army felt the rising tide of fortune and were full of vigor.
When they gathered together, the atmosphere naturally became lively.
Perhaps because of that, there was not much panic even when rumors arrived that the Kosa people might invade, and that they, the eastern children, would be the ones tasked with dealing with it.
—Barbarians, what do they think they're doing?
That was their spirit.
However, Haider seemed to have regained his composure.
That Haider Skyner spoke up.
"I think I can accurately guess Cloden's aptitude."
The boys warming themselves by the fireplace turned their attention to Haider.
—Intelligence.
That was the ability Haider claimed Cloden possessed.
"I wonder," Cloden was dissatisfied. Though he was the seventh son, he was a prince of the Dint territory. Cloden intended to be a knight. "I don't think I'm suited for it."
"Do you know what is in the left pocket of Raidi's doublet?"
"Everyone knows that."
"Does anyone actually know?"
Haider looked around at their companions.
There was no answer. Only Raidi Mengel held his pocket with an anxious face.
"A charm. A rabbit's foot," Cloden answered.
Raidi Mengel was something of a handsome man. That handsome man, stared at by everyone, cleared his throat and took the item out of his pocket as if resigning himself.
"I wonder about a Roma believer carrying such a pagan charm."
The younger brother of the Mengel siblings, Zett Mengel, snapped at his older brother.
Raidi sighed. "Because you'd think that, I've been hiding it this whole time. Why do you have to say such boring things? Cloden, why do you know?"
"Why? You're taking it out all the time."
"Not all the time. Only at the critical moment, I hide it in my hand and press it to my chest for just a moment. I was confident that no one had seen me."
"If you're pressing something to your chest at the critical moment, you'll be found out."
"You're shrewd, Cloden," the effeminate youth said. "How does Haider know?"
"I only knew that he had something in his bosom."
"Hey, Cloden. Do you know where I go on my days off?"
Zeal Androsh, who had a sword scar on his face, asked in a confrontational tone.
"The gambling dens. Your attendant lets it slip."
"Which shop sells the cheapest roasted apples?"
Kashu Coil threw out a question that seemed typical of a glutton.
"You're really trivial. The stall at the Bell Tower Market, right? Eighty kran."
"Do you know that I met Norbert Kabert?"
Yugis asked.
"Yeah. Apparently, you treated the instructor to some black tea. What did you talk about?"
"I heard that the person who knows the most about war in this country is His Excellency General Commander Sedias Thora. However, it seems that even His Excellency cannot win against the Kosa people."
"That's a hopeless story."
"Exactly. That's why I thought. If we cannot win against Kosa even with the greatest authority on war in Siddim, we should send someone to Kandasyata and have them teach us how to wage war."
"Would they teach us such a thing?"
"We just need to watch and steal their methods. Someone shrewd."
"Are you telling me to go? To inspect the enemy's condition?"
"Not immediately. However, an ordinary person wouldn't be able to handle it."
Yugis spoke with a serious face.
That day, Cloden did not go to the Withered Leaf Slope where he usually stopped, but went straight back to his boarding house.
Soon the sunlight faded, darkness closed in, and the moon rose.
Cloden threw on his cloak and slipped out of the boarding house.
His destination was the Sigihilt Palace—the place commonly known as the "Detached Palace" where His Majesty the King resides.
The gates were closed, but if one went around to the back along the wall, there was a servants' entrance.
Cloden knocked on the small door of the servants' entrance. Eventually, the door opened, and an old man who managed this entrance peeked his face out. Cloden dropped a single gold coin into the palm the old man held out.
The nights when the moon drenched the world in white were the free hours for the white-haired girl.
During the day, the sun was too strong for her to walk as she pleased, and the candlesticks on moonless nights were too bright. Only the moonlight felt right to the girl, like twin sisters.
Leaving the princess's room, Krisina Mcgillis had just reached the corridor surrounding the courtyard.
As she always did on bright moonlit nights, Krisina gazed at the white courtyard that looked as if milk had been poured over it.
Then, a shadow moved behind the standing trees.
She knew instantly it was Cloden. It was not the first time he had visited on a moonlit night. However, Krisina was always struck by a sense of wonder as if it were the first time.
—How is it possible for him to sneak into the Detached Palace at night?
That was her surprise. Cloden had a side to him like a little imp who used magic.
Suppressing her racing heart, Krisina crossed the courtyard. Unconsciously, she rubbed her palms against her clothes. Because her fiancé had recently started holding her hand every time they met.
"I absolutely wanted to talk with you."
Cloden ran up to her and, as expected, took Krisina's hand.
"This way."
The imp-like boy took Krisina's hand and started running.
For a brief moment, Krisina felt freedom. There was a sense of liberation in entrusting everything to someone other than herself and running under the moon. With a moon this bright, she could go anywhere. She wished for him to take her. To a vast, blue-grassed prairie. To rolling hills of earth. To a plateau where there was nothing but the moon and green earth, and no end no matter how much she ran.
When the two of them crouched in the shadow of a building, not only Krisina, but Cloden was also slightly out of breath. Here, there was no need to worry about being seen by others.
"Krisina, I might be going far away."
"Oh... where to?"
"The Kandasyata Plateau."
"The Kandasyata Plateau... Kandasyata?" she asked back, feeling as if she had awakened from a dream. "Where the Kosa people ride their horses?"
"Exactly. Yugis told me. I want to see the Kosa people's way of war in detail. I can't get it out of my head. If I can see how they fight, learn their methods, and find their weaknesses, there is a chance of victory for us."
Cloden spoke as if feverish.
"When do you leave?"
"Who knows. Not right now."
"Is it an order from Yugis-sama?"
"An order? Ah, perhaps. He doesn't care about other people's convenience. However, it's certainly true that someone should do it. Yugis says that I'm the only one who can. The more I think about it, the more I feel that way too."
Cloden wants to go. Krisina sensed this. Of course, she would not stop him. She wouldn't, but in her heart, she didn't want him to go to such a place.
To be honest, she didn't want him to be obsessed with something like the Fourth Army.
He was trying to go far away. Perhaps to a place so distant that he would leave the white-haired woman behind.
Even so, Kandasyata was beyond her imagination.
"I wonder if it will really become a war," Krisina whispered.
"It will. I'm preparing with the intention that it definitely will. Siddim will not lose. Krisina, before long, we will recruit in the east and create the strongest legion in this country. I will become a general."
"Then I will become the general's bride."
Feeling embarrassed for having said it herself, Krisina looked down with a weak smile. Suddenly, she felt Cloden move, and her chin was touched by his fingertips.
Krisina looked up.
She received a modest and well-mannered kiss from Cloden.
"I'm going now. Can you get back alone?"
"Yes."
"Krisina, I will make you happier and happier, someday for sure."
Cloden Danforth melted into the shadows cast by the moonlit night, without making a sound or leaving a presence, like a renowned hunter.
The white-haired maid stood up.
"Silly person..."
Though she tried saying it to herself, she couldn't help her heart fluttering and her cheeks softening. As she began to walk with a grin,
"Truly silly, men are."
She heard a voice.
There was a woman leaning against the shadow of the curtain wall.
—The Queen.
Her Majesty Queen Yumeria Alish.
Krisina couldn't even make a sound.
"I was watching with excitement, thinking you might do something, but a kiss is all. Nothing is more tedious than a man without courage."
She had been seen, she had been heard. Just since when—...
"A secret rendezvous; lately, even the maids cannot be trusted. Even so, what a thought. I couldn't believe there was a man who would want to embrace a woman like you, but I see, under the moonlight, your hair looks considerably better."
"Queen-sama..."
Her Majesty the Queen stepped forward and approached.
She reached out casually and touched Krisina's white hair.
Her shoulders were slender, and looking closely, her face was youthful. However, she was not a person who looked like a young girl. She had dignity. Her eyes held vitality. Furthermore, her stomach was noticeably rounded.
It was a stomach that cradled the future of the kingdom.
Krisina had no choice but to be formal.
"Do you want me to keep quiet?" the Queen said. "Shall I keep it quiet for you? That boy called Cloden, sneaking into the Detached Palace at this hour... if it were known, it wouldn't end well. For him, for his friends. And for you."
Krisina looked up.
She could feel the blood draining from her face. She might have been trembling.
She didn't know what kind of expression she was making, but the Queen burst out laughing.
"It's a joke. I don't intend to be boorish."
"Queen-sama..."
Pathetically, feelings of relief and gratitude welled up.
"Let us talk again. Yes. A moonlit night would be good. Let us talk on a night like this. I will send a messenger. Stay in your room on moonlit nights."
Krisina watched the Queen depart, mindful of her stomach.
With this, moonlit nights were no longer a time when Krisina could freely spread her wings.
Her only freedom had been taken away so abruptly and easily.
—The Kandasyata Plateau.
It must be a prairie like a waving ocean. Even after crossing a hill, another hill would be visible, the moon would be brilliant, turning the clouds into a silver world, and the earth would surely sway the blue grass. Krisina was a person who would spend her entire life indoors. Because of that, she wanted to see such a sight.
Cloden Danforth would see it.
He would surely return and tell her about the silver moon.
For now, that was all she could think.