Chapter 83 - 7-9
The offensive by the Kosa Forest Army, which began at noon, momentarily overwhelmed the Siddim army. Then, as if on cue, a fierce counteroffensive by the Siddim army began, supported by the fort.
The battlefield was the space between the Twin Forts, a space that was by no means wide. Countless men armed with weapons were crammed into it, scrambling and thrusting blades at one another, pushing in a bloody struggle. Spears and shields, sabers and swords, Kosa helmets and Siddim helmets clashed with a loud noise. They pushed with thrust after thrust, and were pushed back while hiding behind shields for protection; it seemed more a measure of physical strength and weight than of skill. The faces of the enemy were so close one could feel their breath. When one looked up at the sky, desperate for fresh air, the sky was filled black with arrows. It was an exchange of arrows that felt like the end of the world.
There were shouts and there were screams. War cries, unchanged since the era when humanity lived in tribes of naked men, roared like a tide from both camps.
The log barricades laid by the Siddim army had been mostly removed by the strength of the Kosa horses. Even so, it was the Siddim army that maintained the advantage.
The Siddim army stepped gradually into the enemy lines.
However, the infantry behind them did not follow that movement.
At this time, the rear of the Siddim army was under attack by Kosa light cavalry coming from the mountain range. The damage was minor, but the Siddim heavy cavalry stationed for defense had sallyed forth to drive the enemy away.
The remaining heavy cavalry extended their wings to strive for defense, but that defensive line was exceedingly thin. The rear of the Siddim army was in a state nearly naked.
The front line of the Siddim army fought desperately, hoping not to let that anxiety be noticed.
The Kosa Forest Army, believing that the enemy's rear must be under threat, also did not retreat. Given the support of bows and arrows fired from the fort, it was the Kosa Forest Army that was in a painful position. And yet, they stubbornly refused to retreat. It was as if they were saying they would rather die than return to the forest.
In the end, it was the Siddim army that cried out first.
The desertion from the front, which had begun gradually, crossed some line.
Though the sun was still high, the rout of the Siddim army began.
Cloden Danforth, riding side-by-side with Udoh Renne, watched from atop a hill as the soldiers came rushing down. It was a steep hill. Everyone was running as if tumbling down. It was like watching ants fleeing in confusion.
"Udoh, don't you think it'd be better if we ran too?"
"But still, runnin', eh. This area here is my family's territory, ya know."
Udoh Renne was stroking a chin that looked like an eggplant.
Because Udoh was a dull man, he never panicked.
"Come to think of it, what happened to the villagers?" Cloden asked.
"Evacuated 'em long ago."
"To where?"
"Dankuin City. They're under the care of the Eichner family. Only, not everyone's evacuated. About sixteen hundred of 'em were drafted to help with the Royal Army's meals."
"I see. I'll take care of them on my end."
"To Dint? For real?" Udoh laughed, showing his gums in a rustic manner. "I'm mighty happy to hear that."
"Now that it's settled, let's hurry."
"Nah, we're stayin'."
Cloden blinked. "Why?"
"Can't just abandon Ostra-sama."
Indeed, the soldiers at the front line were staying and fighting desperately.
If they were broken through, a collapse would occur and enemy soldiers would overflow. It would be as if the gates of Siddim had been flung open to the enemy.
Cloden frowned. He understood Udoh's feelings. He understood the spirit.
—But, it's no good.
He couldn't let Udoh die in a place like this. A resolve to die is something one decides after a prospect of winning the war has been established. If he died and they didn't win, he wouldn't be able to rest in peace.
While he was thinking about how to persuade his stubborn friend, an unexpected helping hand appeared from behind Cloden.
"You lot!"
Suddenly shouted at, both Cloden and Udoh hurriedly dismounted.
They took off their helmets, rotated them, tucked them under their arms, opened and aligned their feet, and straightened their backs. Habit is a terrifying thing; both Cloden and Udoh turned toward the voice with exactly the same movements.
Norbert Kabert, whose hair and beard had turned completely white, approached with his cloak fluttering. Kabert was a short, muscular man. At the King's school, he was the mentor who had provided military training to the group of subordinates including Cloden.
"I had no inkling you were here—"
"Shut up." Kabert silenced Cloden,
"Now, Instructor-dono—"
"I said shut up." He silenced Udoh as well.
"You lot, what are you doing! Look around you, why aren't you retreating!"
What was around them was less a retreat and more an abandonment of combat. The chain of command was also annihilated.
"We—we are, uh, well?"
Cloden looked at Udoh. Udoh nodded. "We're, uh, still able to fight, so..."
"What could you lot possibly do!" the instructor said, as if whipping them. "Just get back, quickly. Where is Yugis! Cloden!"
"Yugis is... uh—"
"Find him quickly and tell him to settle his business! You lot, don't you ever loiter before my eyes again!"
Shouting until the end, Norbert Kabert walked toward the Twin Forts.
He was walking toward the battlefield where a fierce battle was taking place.
"Now, where is Instructor-dono going?"
Instructor Kabert turned a sharp gaze back without stopping his pace. "Don't underestimate the Royal Army. I'm going to instruct the front line on how to withdraw. Renne, Danforth, just go. You're in the way."
With a "Yes, sir," Cloden and Udoh did not budge for a while.
During that time, infantry ran past them one after another, fleeing.
"He sure yelled at us," Cloden said.
"Let's go. If Instructor-dono catches us, he'll yell again."
"Yeah, let's hurry."
Though they said so, both Cloden and Udoh could not take their eyes off the direction where Norbert Kabert had disappeared for a while. The place where the instructor vanished was, so to speak, filled with an aura that suggested one could not return alive.
Taking the sixteen hundred people who had been drafted for the Royal Army's soup kitchens, Cloden and Udoh Renne hid in a nearby forest.
Even from a distance, they knew the Twin Forts had fallen silent. What had happened to the Royal Army soldiers who fought at the front line? Had they retreated when the time was right? Had they fought until the end to protect the cowards who fled?
After night had deepened, they left the forest and headed east along the highway.
Since the refugees had been instructed not to speak, the march proceeded quietly.
Whether it should be called luck, the clouds cleared at night. There was moonlight.
After walking for a while, Cloden noticed the sound of a horse galloping approaching. Udoh seemed to notice as well. So did the Renne squad assigned to guard the refugees.
The one coming from behind was a single rider.
It was a Kosa person. Even in the dark, Cloden knew by the way the horse was handled.
It was a Kosa person who was still a boy. Though he quickly caught up to the line of refugees, the boy did not make any move to take up a weapon. He simply looked at them incessantly and followed.
Cloden, Udoh, the guards, and the refugees all continued walking, ignoring the Kosa rider.
The Kosa boy skillfully drew level with Cloden.
"It's nothing. We're just sending farmers. It's nothing," Cloden said, though he didn't think the words would be understood.
The opponent had a suspicious look on his face. He was a small youth, not much different from Cloden.
The boy moved slightly forward. Leaning out from the horse, he peered into the face of a girl of fourteen or fifteen. The girl quickened her pace. Perhaps the blonde hair was rare; the boy of the horse-riding people tried to touch the walking girl's hair carelessly.
Udoh, who had been close to the boy, swung his long arm and slapped the boy's hand away.
"No! No you don't!"
Udoh looked the opponent in the eye and admonished him.
The Kosa boy pulled back the horse. From the way he pulled back, it was rein-handling that could only be described as the man and horse being one.
The boy had a hurt expression. He looked at Udoh with frightened eyes.
"No!" Udoh repeated.
The Kosa boy stopped the horse. He seemed to watch them go for a while. Eventually, he turned the horse and went back along the highway. Because of the sheer eeriness, everyone remained silent for a while.
"He won't come back with comrades, will he?" eventually, Udoh said in a low voice.
"I think he won't, but let's be cautious. I'll move to the rear. If I hear their footsteps, I'll come back quickly."
If the Kosa came in large numbers, they would have no choice but to hide in the forest again.
Both sides of the highway were forests of coniferous trees.
"I'll move back too. There's somethin' I wanna ask ya."
Cloden nodded and pulled back his horse.
Cloden also had something he wanted to discuss with Udoh alone.
—Why did the Royal Army lose?
Their topic naturally turned to that.
"They lost pretty easily, didn't they," Udoh said.
"Well, it's the fault of the soldiers who fled, including us."
Even so.
In Cloden's observation, the troop strength, spirit, and skill of the enemy and their own could be considered equal. Considering equipment, supplies, and the support of the Twin Forts, it could be said that their side was superior.
True, their rear had been taken by the enemy cavalry coming from Tosha.
However, the cavalry in the rear had not inflicted damage on their heavy cavalry.
They might have killed many of their soldiers in a surprise attack. They might have toyed with their heavy cavalry.
That was all. They hadn't lost. They shouldn't have lost. It was too early to lose.
—But, they lost.
There was no need to flee.
Why did the desertion begin?
"The Royal Army is mostly folks from the West, right? Didn't they just think they didn't wanna die in the East?"
"The enemy is the same. They probably wanted to return to where they were born, like the plains, or the South, or Kandasyata."
—And yet, they didn't flee.
"That's 'cause the other side was desperate, I reckon," Udoh said. In other words, the enemy had come to a place where there was no returning. They were pushed into a situation where they had no choice but to move forward. That sense of crisis had crushed their side.
"The Siddim Royal Army isn't losing in terms of desperation. Their own Siddim mainland is being attacked. They're in a situation with no way back from the start. Naturally, they're desperate."
In fact, at the Twin Forts, they had been engaged in an offense and defense where neither side would retreat.
Both were desperate.
"What about the generals?"
"Yeah. It might be the difference between Sedias Thora and Geraha Wolf."
Sedias had effectively permitted his own soldiers to flee. The Kosa army did not permit that; that was the difference. If Sedias Thora had been able to stop the soldiers' desertion, who knows what would have happened by now.
"No, that's part of it, but... what I wanna say is," Udoh continued slowly, "for what kind of reason were the Kosa people told they were fightin' when they came all the way to a place like this?"
"The reason for the war? Apparently, the enemy wants to open trade routes that span the world."
"Nah, it ain't a complicated story like that. I reckon they were taught this: as long as they win the war, they can live a better life than yesterday."
Hearing Udoh's words, Cloden could not respond.
Suddenly, he understood what his friend wanted to say.
To borrow Udoh's words, the words the Siddim soldiers had been told were this:
'Hey, rejoice. If you win the war, you can continue living the same life as yesterday.'
Nothing changes even if they win. The goal is passive. Military pay would be provided. However, it is not a sum of money one would risk their life for.
Compared to the enemy, the goal their side was looking at was low; that is what Udoh wanted to say. If so, then indeed, their side could not become strong. People who cannot believe in tomorrow are weak.
—Why did they lose?
Simply put, the words spoken to the soldiers were wrong. They had failed to show an ideal. In that battle, Siddim lost in politics. They had failed in the act of governing people.
"You might be right," Cloden said.
"What would Yugis have done?"
"Udoh, I hadn't told you, but that bastard Necrat—"
When Cloden told him the results of Godly Curier's investigation, Udoh seemed to take offense.
"You kept such an important thing to yourself?"
"Why, because you—"
The reason was that Cloden himself still could not fully believe that Yugis was dead.
"Even if the bastard is alive, there's nothing we can do," Cloden said. "What Siddim needs now isn't a great army or a great strategist. What is required now is a bastard who can speak to the Siddim people. A bastard who can speak and gather a great deal of agreement."
—It's about time to give up on Yugis.
Cloden thought so.
"What would he speak of?"
"I don't know that."
—Well, probably something like hope for tomorrow.
Cloden answered. He wondered if there was anyone who could speak of such a thing in this situation.
A fast horse that witnessed the collapse of the Royal Army galloped past Ganlord and arrived in Belgau by the following evening. The fast horse did not go to the Danforth family, the Thora family's stewards, but visited Haider of the Skyner family and whispered the latest war situation into the young master's ear.
Haider was composed.
First, he drafted a secret letter to send to Kraff, then he dispatched a new messenger.
He wrote a letter of almost the same content to Saranti.
After that, he put on his helmet.
When the sun set, he led the knights of the Skyner family and surrounded the Skyner manor with torches held high. Perhaps noticing the imposing atmosphere, tumultuous voices leaked from inside the manor.
Haider looked back at Vimherik.
"Well then, I'll be back in a bit," he said, dismounting the horse he was riding.
"I shall accompany you, young master."
Haider Skyner stopped Vimherik, who was about to dismount, by turning his palm toward him. "I will go alone. It's fine, Aram Danforth is a clever man."
"Haid, that is not wise—"
"He won't speak to me unless I'm alone. Please believe in me and wait."
—It would be embarrassing to put on this much of a front and then get captured inside.
That said, if he failed to persuade Danforth here, it would mean nothing could have been done from the start.
When he knocked on the entrance door, the sound of unlocking echoed from the inside.
Haider pushed the door. The lights of the wall sconces reddened the foreheads and pupils of the soldiers gathered in the hallway. All of them uniformly held their swords glinting, wary of him.
Haider removed his sword belt and cast it into the hallway. Danforth's retainers took a step back.
"Seize him," someone said,
"Right," another responded.
"I wish to meet with the steward," Haider said.
It was then that Aram Danforth came running from the end of the hallway.
"Idiot, idiot! What are you doing! Sheathe your swords!"
Shaking the fat of his body, Aram came pushing through the people.
Coming before Haider, he rested his hands on his knees to steady his breath, then spoke.
"You are foolish, Skyner."
"Do you think so?"
"Anyway, let us talk. You should understand."
Haider followed Aram Danforth to the office. The Danforth family retainers followed, surrounding Haider. The room became filled with bloodthirsty men.
Haider sat in the chair in front of the office desk.
Whether he looked up to the right or the left, there were bloodshot eyes glaring down at him.
Naturally, it was not a comfortable feeling, but Haider did not break his composed attitude, removed his helmet, and crossed his legs.
"You lot, get out," Aram, sitting in the chair across the desk, said to his vassals with a stern expression.
"No. I cannot leave this man alone with you," said a particularly large retainer standing directly behind Haider. "This man is a traitor."
"Traitor?" Haider caught the word. "Does that mean some kind of alliance existed between us? If so, the Danforth family also has an obligation to be loyal to the Skyner family, does it not?"
"Such talk is irrelevant," Aram said. "Skyner, do you realize what you are doing? This house will take this as the will of Count Meizan Skyner of Belgau."
"It is precisely our head's will, steward-dono," Haider said. "A fast horse came and reported the war situation. The Royal Army has been defeated—"
As soon as he said that, voices of abuse overflowed in the room. Several arms reached out toward Haider's body. The fingers of the men entered the gaps in his armor. Haider was forced up from the chair by sheer strength.
"Shut up!"
"What nonsense are you spouting!"
"Who would believe you!"
The faces of the men with flared nostrils pressed in. The men were screaming like barking wild dogs. Then, a loud sound echoed.
Bang, bang, bang—three times, it was the sound of Aram Danforth striking the desk with both hands.
The men fell silent.
"That is enough, you lot," Aram said in a strangely polite tone. "Those who do not understand the importance of what is being discussed here, leave immediately."
The strength of the arms gripping Haider loosened.
"My apologies, Lord Aram," the large retainer said.
"Leave."
The men headed for the door and left one by one. The office suddenly felt spacious.
Haider adjusted the fit of his armor and sat in the chair, and Aram stood up the fallen sconce on the desk.
"It is reliable information, I assume," Aram said, scraping solidified wax spilled on the desk with his nail.
"I hear the Royal Army has scattered."
"And so..."
"Please lead the Royal Army reserves located around Ganlord."
Aram looked at Haider with suspicious eyes. "Dico Thora is there."
"Dico Thora will be struck down by Belgau. Let us say the Skyner family will take Ganlord."
"Are you sane?" Aram stopped scraping the wax. "That is unforgivable, impossible."
"The Thora family failed. Your younger brother Dico Thora has also lost his qualification."
"Qualification? What qualification?"
"It means the people of the East no longer trust the Thora family. This is not lawlessness. It is the path a lord who has lost trust eventually follows. The people have the right to entrust themselves to a better lord."
"Does such logic hold? You always said you would walk in step with the Thora family."
"Why would I walk in step with a losing war?"
"Don't get ahead of yourself. For someone of Belgau's level—"
"It is possible, if you seize the reserves and do not let them interfere with us."
"You want me to hijack the Royal Army? By what authority? I am the Thora family steward. How can I stand by and watch Dico Thora be defeated?"
"You have a rank in the Royal Army. A rank given to you by His Majesty. The Royal Army is not the Thora family's private property. Don't you see, right now, the reserves are in a floating state. They don't know whose orders to follow. If we don't hurry, Sedias Thora will lead the soldiers who remained without fleeing and march north."
"...And if the commander-in-chief arrives?"
"Please arrest him."
"Don't be absurd!"
At Aram's loud voice, there was a stir on the other side of the door.
Aram lowered his voice. "Don't be absurd. I'll be clear: the Royal Army is Sedias Thora's private army. It is an army that swore loyalty to Sedias Thora. Sedias leads the army with His Majesty's trust. If you lay a hand on Sedias, both you and I will be slaughtered."
"There must be a way. Just confine him secretly. The Skyner family, representing the East, will legally sue the Thora family. The pretext can be that it is necessary to secure the commander-in-chief's person until the trial begins. If you do that much, everyone will understand the change in the tide. You simply have to issue orders to the Royal Army based on your rank."
Aram Danforth lowered his head to the desk and rubbed his face several times. "You want me to betray the Thora family?"
"Precisely."
"The reward?"
"Kraff."
"I'm so grateful I could cry. The territory that hates the Thora family the most?"
"That is why it is necessary for you to cut ties with the Thora family."
"If you give me Kraff, I'll take Carossa as well."
"The only thing I can promise is Kraff."
"If I don't also secure Carossa, that region will not be settled."
"Take it with your own capability. In any case, you will come to Ganlord with me."
"Wait. Let me write a letter. I am becoming a traitor, after all. I must warn my wife's family and my brothers."
"I'll have my messenger deliver it. If I leave it to your retainers, they might take a detour somewhere."
Aram Danforth sharpened his narrow eyes like a chisel. "You are foolish, Skyner. Do you think we can fight the Kosa army with the East leading?"
"It's just that there are no other options."
Haider believed that if the Anavis family, the Gilmond family, and the Necrat family were still intact, it would not have come to this wretched state. If he said that to Aram, he would likely counter with, 'The Count of Carossa drew in the Kosa army in the first place.'
Haider did not believe such a story. Manipulating the Kosa as one wished was not something that could be done even if one tried.
If, hypothetically, Urgil Necrat had done it, it would be to use the threat of the Kosa army to drive the Thora family back to Delroy in the West. He thought it was a foolish plan rather than a clever one, but now the phenomenon of the Thora family's loss of authority had appeared here.
—If so, there is no option but to move here.
Haider's great ambition, which he had not even revealed to the knight Godly Curier, might be realized.
He had anticipated this far.
The problem was the Kosa army. This was beyond Haider's control.
Had the Count of Carossa considered what to do in such an event?
Even that was uncertain.
The northward march of Sedias Thora, which Haider and Aram had worried about, did not happen.
Sedias Thora and the crowd of soldiers following him were heading west.
The unit of Huchi Bas, which had received reinforcements of cavalry from the Forest Army, was pursuing Sedias's retreating Royal Army. They were poking around Sedias's main force at will.
Huchi Bas would not permit the enemy general Sedias to enter the reserves of Ganlord.
The one who had promised this to the Forest Army general Pusiteto was Mozu Wolf.
Pusiteto and Mozu had finally achieved their rendezvous near the Twin Forts.
Looking at Pusiteto's somewhat thinned face, Mozu was overcome with emotion. He couldn't find the words and struck Pusiteto's shoulder two or three times with his fist.
Pusiteto's face also crumpled, and he said something in a small voice, gripped Mozu's shoulder strongly, and headbutted him in the chest. Hazab joined them, and the men ended up shedding tears silently, without words.
The three of them entered the tent and gathered the main captains to exchange reports.
The enemy soldiers in the forest had apparently been driven as far as the southwest direction within the forest.
"However, mopping up is difficult. You may consider it almost impossible."
But with this, the prospect of constructing a road through the 'Dark Forest' was established, Pusiteto said.
"The problem is from here on." Pusiteto's complexion was pale, perhaps from being shut in the forest. "If we are to welcome the Great King and have him command, some kind of form will be necessary."
"That is certainly true. In particular, I want to somehow seal off the reserves coiled around Ganlord," Mozu said. "That area seems to have many forts. Most are earthworks or wooden, nothing great, but the key points are properly held. It feels as if they have been wary of us for years."
"I have heard from the King of the Tawaru that there are independent forces in the East of Siddim."
Saying so, Pusiteto looked at Hazab.
Hazab nodded. "The enemies the two generals defeated were likely from the Central Army. And—"
"The ones who built forts and waited were the local army," Mozu stroked his black beard.
Their side was exhausted and could not deal with the soldiers gathered in Ganlord. They might have no choice but to guard this place for a while and wait for the forest road construction to progress. However, whether the enemy would permit that was another matter.
Moreover, stopping activities here would mean dropping the initiative they had worked so hard to gain.
"Even so, the way the Central Army collapsed in the previous battle was a bit strange."
"I felt that as well." Pusiteto, whose voice was smaller than usual, continued in an even thinner voice. "Almost like the time at Attaik."
The reason the enemy's offensive weakened at Attaik was, above all, because the enemy commander Prince Sitris had died. Pusiteto likely suspected that Sedias Thora had also died.
Regarding Sitris's death, Mozu Wolf knew the hidden circumstances.
However, he had no intention of telling anyone about the assassination. The victory at Attaik was because the Great King was great, the generals were wise, and the soldiers were brave. That was enough.
—The enemy general's spirit was probably broken, that's all.
While their side was superior in the use of cavalry, in other aspects the opponent had actually had the momentum. However, the enemy general did not see it that way. The Kosa army was likely saved by the weakness of the general.
If the other side's spirit is withered, wouldn't it be better to force an offensive here in order to 'establish a form' as Pusiteto said?
—Ideally.
"I want to strike out to the Siddim center," Mozu said.
"But according to the prisoners, there is a giant castle called Malfa Castle," Pusiteto said.
"I've seen it with my own eyes. It's certainly a hassle. It would be fine if we could neutralize it without having to make it fall."
"If we can seal off the soldiers in the Ganlord region, we can reach the vicinity of the center and divide the East and West," Hazab said. "If we advance that far, wouldn't the enemy respond to negotiations? If we can hold negotiations, we can propose a ceasefire and buy time."
"Hmm."
Not bad. If they could welcome Great King Geraha at the stage where they had closed in on the enemy's heart, the form would be flawless. However, the enemy wouldn't be fools. If they advanced while leaving an undamaged Ganlord in their rear, the enemy would see through that they feared Ganlord.
They would immediately be exposed to attacks from the East and West, and the Kosa army would be annihilated.
Days passed without them finding a very good plan.
On the fifth day after the rendezvous, Huchi Bas returned. Huchi arrived triumphantly and sat cross-legged before Mozu and Pusiteto.
"I have taken the head of the enemy general Sedias Thora."
It was during the battle of the Twin Forts.
An arrow fired for provocation by the enemy light cavalry who had launched a surprise attack from the north hit Sedias Thora around his left flank.
From that impact, Sedias apparently lost consciousness.
When he regained consciousness, the surroundings were dim, and Sedias was lying in a wagon. He was being transported somewhere.
"Lubeck."
The lieutenant walking beside him widened his eyes and peered into Sedias's face.
"What happened?"
"The wound is shallow, and your life is not in danger. You must not speak; please stay asleep."
"What are you doing here? What happened to the battlefield?"
Lubeck began to chatter something incoherently.
"Just go back."
"No. Our army must attempt to reorganize. According to reconnaissance, enemy patrols are loitering on the road to Ganlord. Probably—"
Listening to the sound of the wagon wheels pressing the ground and the sound of the axle rubbing, Sedias fell into sleep. Whether he had a dream or a hallucination, Sedias Thora met his parents. He thought he had long forgotten his mother's face, but the face of his mother that floated in his mind was vivid. He saw his wife's face too. The faces of his brothers, daughter, and sons.
'Release Laicanel!'
Sedias screamed. It was no use screaming in a dream. He had to wake up and tell someone. Wanting to tell someone, he screamed desperately in the dream.
'Release Laicanel. We shall return to Delroy with Her Highness Luchentin!'
Sedias began to think, in a half-dreaming state, about a splendid wedding ceremony. Even the position of the flowers, he planned with a hazy head. He wanted to invite His Majesty to Delroy. He would borrow Gilma's wisdom. The one to perform the ceremony would, naturally, be the Archbishop of Siddim.
After an unknown amount of time, Sedias woke up feeling an impact.
He noticed he was lying on the ground.
In the dream, Sedias had remembered the previous king Yude II, the deceased Queen Dravia Alish, and even his mistress Morana whom he kept in Malfa City. And yet, the last person he remembered was Urgil Necrat.
The Kosa person looking down at Sedias had a mustache exactly like Urgil Necrat's.
"Is it you, Necrat?" Sedias Thora said with a clouded consciousness. "You certainly troubled me. How is hell? Is this the battlefield?"
Looking down at Sedias, the mustachioed man shook his head.
Sedias looked around. A man who seemed to be Lubeck was lying there. A small-scale battle had been fought. It seemed the middle of the procession had been surprise-attacked.
"Good, good. I'm grateful to be able to die on a battlefield. Now then, let's go, let's go."
As he tried to stand up, Sedias was pierced in the chest by a spear thrust by the man.
The man heartlessly pulled out the spear. Shouting one or two words in the Kosa language, the man entered the forest with a lowly hunchback. He must have been hiding in the forest in ambush. Indeed, it was a splendid thing, Sedias felt.
However, in the forest, his specialty, the horse, seemed inconvenient; it was a pity.
—Ah, I see.
Siddim was, from the start, a country full of forests. If they had fought a war that was Siddim-like from the beginning, they might have won. He thought so faintly. He wanted to get up and run wild one more time. Next time, he would win. But his body did not seem likely to move.
It couldn't be helped. Sedias Thora closed his eyes as if falling asleep.