Chapter 90 - 8-4
A scene like the end of the world lay before Dash's eyes. There was no sign of life at the entrance, and the dining hall was empty. All the guest rooms were vacant. The interior was so silent that it felt as if one could hear the sound of the sunlight scorching the floorboards.
Not a single guest came to the Black Feather Manor.
—This is bad.
In the past, Carossa, at the eastern edge, had used the Black Feather Manor as a designated lodging facility in the city of Malfa. They had, in a sense, protected it. However, with the abolition of the Necrat family, the Black Feather Manor had lost all contact with Carossa.
There was no luxury in grieving over the loss of their backing. Dash and his wife, Meel, immediately shifted their mindset.
They negotiated with the guild to lower the licensing fees and devised new ways to source ingredients and prepare dishes. They commissioned interior work to increase the number of private rooms and decided to provide meals and alcohol in the dining hall even to guests who were not staying overnight.
Thanks to working without a moment's rest, the number of guests had grown steadily, and they had finally reached a point where they could breathe a sigh of relief. And then came this terrifying, vacuum-like silence. It was the end of the world. There was no presence. People had died out.
To begin with, the town was deserted. Where had those people gone—the ones who had been in the streets to the point of being a nuisance?
—Hmph. It's a good opportunity.
Dash pulled himself together and repaired the gutters and leaks he had been too busy to touch, and sent the broken furniture out for repair. He cleaned every corner of the manor. These tasks were finished in about three days, and once again, he had nothing to do.
When it comes to this, a grown man is a miserable thing, writhing in boredom. It would have been better if he had a hobby for gambling, but since Dash had entered the Black Feather Manor as a son-in-law, he had little money to use freely. While he was feeling irritable, his wife, who had been hanging laundry in the courtyard, returned.
"Meel."
As if taking his frustration out on her, Dash hugged Meel from behind.
"Stop it, what is it?"
"Just let me. Please?"
"Don't 'please' me. Auntie will see us."
"Auntie" referred to the mistress, the owner of the Black Feather Manor.
More than that, Dash was entranced by the skin of his beloved wife moving in his arms. Meel was famous in the neighborhood for her beauty.
"She won't see. Come on, just let me."
Dash intended to lead his wife into one of the guest rooms.
However, her resistance was unexpectedly strong.
"No... no, stop it."
"Let's make a child, a child. You want one, right?"
"I said no!"
A slap flew to his cheek.
It was a sound that seemed to echo throughout the manor. Dash held his cheek and looked at his wife.
Meel shouted,
"Idiot!"
And leaped out through the entrance.
"Meel! Meel? Sorry, Meel-san?"
Hurrying toward the entrance, he nearly collided with a guest who had entered just as his wife left.
The place had been a ghost town for three days, yet a guest arrived exactly during this couple's emergency; it was enough to make him sick.
"What, you're a real poorly-timed bastard, aren't you!"
"Dash!"
The guest spoke bluntly. He took off his cloak with his right hand and tossed it to Dash. Dash caught it with practiced hands.
It was a young man with messy, long black hair. He was knocking his boots against the doorpost to shake off the mud. Dash recognized that crude manner.
"Young Master?"
"Yeah. What's this about being a poorly-timed bastard?"
"Young Master?"
"That's right. I'm back. It's been a while—"
"Y-Young Master—I've... Young Master! Young Master!"
Before he knew it, Dash had leaped upon his master. If he didn't do so, he couldn't believe the reality before his eyes. Yugis Necrat seemed to have grown taller. He had also put on muscle.
Suddenly feeling something out of place, Dash stepped away from Yugis.
Looking closely from a distance, there was clearly a part of him that was different from before.
"Young Master, you're an idiot, aren't you? Just what kind of idiocy did you do to lose an arm? I—that's right. About the Great Lord—no—. Young Master, why have you come back? I thought you had died!"
"I was saved by many people. By that hero over there as well."
Only after Yugis spoke did Dash notice the presence of his companions. A dignified knight who looked to be about fifty, and a swordsman who looked stubborn.
"The one who just left was Meel-san, right?"
"Eh? That's my wife... ah, right, I mustn't."
Yugis laughed as he had when he was a boy. "You two got together? I suppose 'a lucky bastard' refers to someone like you. Go on, go to her. She had a crying face."
"Heh, but..."
"We'll handle ourselves."
Dash apologized for his rudeness while stammering and stepped out into the street.
He felt as if his mind hadn't caught up yet.
Even if this were a dream, Dash would not have been surprised. Dash stepped outside while still holding his master's cloak. When he pressed the cloak to his nose and inhaled, there was a choking smell of sweat.
—No mistake, it's the Young Master.
Dash wanted to go around the whole town telling everyone about the miracle that had happened to him.
In this dead town, he felt that he was the only one who could be said to be truly alive.
The Necrat family had maintained its lifeblood. With this, Carossa would be revived. It was undoubtedly a major event. The only concern was the Kosa people who seemed to be ravaging the east, but the Royal Army would surely handle that. If the Young Master stayed with that army, His Majesty would recognize his efforts, and Carossa would be restored. His Excellency Marquis Sedias Thora, who had been cruel to the east, was surely no longer alive.
In the middle of the street where there were no figures, as if in a daydream, Dash leaped and bounded with excitement, performing a full rotation while jumping.
Meel was by the foot of a bridge on the riverside road. Her back was stiff, and she stood lonely, gazing at the flow of the water.
"Hey, Meel."
Dash suppressed his excitement and stood beside his wife.
"I was an unreliable husband. Even though I was this anxious, you kept a calm face, didn't you? That's why, well, I ended up leaning on you too much."
"..."
"In other words, you must have been anxious too, and I think I was selfish for not being considerate of that."
"..."
"What do I have to do for you to forgive me?"
When he turned his face toward Meel, she was looking down at Dash's hand.
She looked suspiciously at the dirty cloak Dash was holding.
"What is that?"
"Meel, don't be too surprised, okay?" Dash lowered his voice. "Just as you were leaving, the Young Master returned."
"My..." Meel's purple eyes sparkled. "Is it true?"
"It's unexpectedly true, I was shocked myself."
"There's no need to be shocked. Didn't you always say that Yugis-sama was alive?"
"Well, that was just a figure of speech..."
"Dear, let's go back." Meel smiled and pulled Dash's sleeve. "About earlier, I'm sure I was in the wrong too."
"You weren't in the wrong."
Meel chuckled.
"That might be true, but if we decide we were both in the wrong, then neither of us is in the wrong, right? I like this solution. Auntie gets angry and says she's too soft on you, though."
Meel was beaming.
Dash thought that if both were in the wrong, it wasn't so much solving the problem as making it ambiguous, but he understood well what Meel meant. These kinds of trivial, emotional misunderstandings should be left ambiguous if possible.
He felt happy thinking his wife possessed such wisdom, but suddenly a dark premonition struck him, and he became unable to move from the spot.
"What's wrong?"
"Meel, I..." Dash rubbed the cloak against his chest.
That's when he noticed. Yugis's cloak was tattered, full of rips and frays. Thinking he couldn't let him wear such a thing, Dash rolled up the cloak and threw it into the river.
"I will go with the Young Master—"
"It's okay. I know."
Meel rested her forehead on Dash's shoulder. The whiteness of her nape seemed dazzling.
"You are his attendant, and besides—"
—It is a matter of official government business.
Meel called the war "official government business."
That's right, I'm going to war, Dash thought vaguely.
"I'll come back alive."
"Of course you will. Of course, come back. But it would have been good if we'd done it, the baby-making."
"Yeah. No, there's still time, there's no one around anyway, right here..."
"...Idiot."
Meel gave Dash a sweet glare and walked ahead.
Thinking that something pleasant might happen tonight, Dash followed her briskly.
Virgin Yugis felt nothing from the soft atmosphere emanating from Dash and Meel, but he could tell that Godly Curier and Hume Razor were sharing some kind of secretive smile.
"Did something happen?"
"Something?" Hume spoke with a suddenly stern expression. "You're a youngster who doesn't understand the subtleties of human emotion. Don't think you can wage war like that."
"You don't need to worry about it," said the knight, Curier. "At my age, just seeing a young couple make up is entertaining."
—This sounds like some kind of lewd conversation.
Yugis realized.
"What are you thinking?" Hume Razor was grinning.
"Nothing."
"Aren't you blushing?"
Yugis looked away. "Old people are really hopeless. Honestly."
He had grown accustomed to being teased by Hume. This useless adult had been picking on Yugis in various ways during their journey. However, he seemed to be a good man at heart, and he frequently lent a hand to Yugis, whose footing was unsteady. Thanks to that as well, Yugis's legs had recovered steadily throughout the journey.
The three of them were served meat dishes that overflowed from the plates. The taste was not bad. Even Hume, who was picky about taste, praised the food highly. Now the three of them were surrounding the dining table, drinking alcohol. Since they had drunk nothing but beer in the south, the taste of northern wine soaked into his chest.
Dash and Meel seemed to be cleaning up in the kitchen.
The candle on the table flickered, inviting Yugis into memories of the time he lived in this manor. He remembered Haider, Cloden, and his comrades.
Before coming to the city of Malfa, the three had gathered rumors from the people and gained a general understanding of the progress of the war being fought in the east.
—You're a real poorly-timed bastard, aren't you.
How correct Dash's words had been.
Yugis was a man who had started late. Sedias Thora, who had brutally murdered his father, was dead, and the opportunity for revenge was lost forever. His comrades had likely experienced war with the Kosa people as commanders. As for Haider, it was said he had succeeded in a surprise attack that swept away the Thora family's influence from the east. Yugis had been beaten to the punch by everyone. Even Dash had overtaken Yugis and built a family.
Looking back, the days in the south were like a dream.
Yugis had been dreaming. During that time, everyone else had lived in reality and steadily solidified their positions.
Of course, they must have put in that much effort and suffered that much hardship.
He knew that, but Yugis felt a sense of impatience. And a sense of worthlessness toward himself. To put it plainly, he felt jealousy toward his comrades. The command of the war against the Kosa people, the settlement of accounts with the Thora family,
—I wanted to do it.
However, he couldn't say that he would have done it better.
Regarding the recapture of Ganlord, Yugis probably wouldn't have done as well as Haider.
"So, what will you do now?"
Asked by Curier, Yugis foolishly found himself at a loss for words.
Having come this far, he felt as if there was nothing left for him to do. "I..."
He ended up looking down.
"For now, how about going to the east and meeting the young lord of Dint?"
The renowned knight pointed the way with a quiet voice.
The name Godly Curier was known in Siddim as a master of the sword. Until he met him in Noz village, Yugis had imagined a powerhouse with a thick build. The actual Curier was a man of moderation and worldly wisdom. He did not boast or try to be eccentric. Whenever he showed kindness, it was always understated.
"I would be grateful if you put it that way." Yugis bowed his head even deeper.
"Hmph. Don't do it."
When he looked up, Hume was staring into his cup, his grayish eyebrows mixed with white furrowed sharply.
"When you don't know what to do, you shouldn't just stick to someone else's backside. In times like these, first, you think about what you truly want to do. That's where you start thinking."
"That's fine for a carefree wanderer," Curier countered. "But this is war. You don't do what you want to do or what you can do. You do what must be done."
"I am talking about the starting point of one's thinking. Boy, try it. What do you want to do?"
"That is, of course—"
—I want to drive out the Kosa army.
Yugis said.
Putting it into words made it sound stupid. That was why he had returned. For that purpose, he had trained and scoured knowledge. He had even become a mercenary in the south to see the Kosa army up close.
Fight Kosa.
From a certain point, hadn't he intended to live for that alone?
"Also, I want to see the deployment of the Kosa army. I want to know how the Siddim army is responding to it. Also, I want to get in touch. With Haider, Cloden, and the east. I have no objection to Glen Hilboro leading the Royal Army, but even so, I want to consider this a war of the east. And—"
"Wait, wait, let's decide the order," Curier said with a serious face. "First, it starts with gathering more detailed information, right?"
"I'll go," Hume poured himself some wine. "Tell me the information you want."
"No, if possible, I want to see it with my own eyes. Also, I think I should know the situation in Saranti that Curier-dono told me about on the way. And I want to hear Haider's story. That's right, I might be able to be of some help too."
"See, just as I said." Hume poured wine into Curier's cup as well. "Something he wants to do has come up. Also, boy, play with women. Your raw youth is pungent."
Yugis nodded. "I'll find an opportunity eventually."
"So, when do we leave?" Curier asked.
"First, let's gather information in the city of Malfa and make a plan."
"Young Master, I'll come along too."
Hearing the voice from behind, Yugis turned around.
Dash and Meel, with Dash wearing an apron, were standing side by side at the doorway.
—I can't.
Those words almost reached his throat. The Necrat family was gone. There was no longer a reason for Dash to serve Yugis. Moreover, Dash already had a family to protect. It couldn't be like the old days. Dash should seek his own happiness.
—However.
Dash had waited for him.
If he couldn't respond to that loyalty, Yugis would truly cease to be a noble.
It's our Carossa, Yugis thought. It is the hometown of Yugis and Dash.
Yugis looked at Meel's face. Meel nodded strongly.
"I will promote you from attendant to retainer," Yugis said. "Eventually, I'll find a sword for you. Dash, we're going to crush the Kosa people."
"I've been waiting for this, Young Master." Dash smiled, showing his teeth.
"Dash, can you procure horses?"
"Old man Gabo, Haider-sama's attendant, has retired and is in the city of Malfa. I'll try consulting him. More importantly, Young Master, how much do you have?"
"I don't have much."
Dash let out an overt sigh. "I thought so. It can't be helped, I'll—"
"Idiot," Yugis panicked. "How could I use your money?"
"I shall provide them," Curier said. "If I go to my family home tomorrow, I should be able to procure them. However, things are certainly becoming busy."
"Things are certainly becoming interesting."
Hume Razor laughed and poured wine into his own cup, and then into Yugis's cup.
From the next day, using a building roofed with slate that shimmered blue like a crow's feather as their base, the men began their activities.
What they discovered immediately was that the Siddim army had apparently retreated to around the fields of Brazm. It seemed to be in accordance with the protrusion of the enemy cavalry.
—Why wait in a form that the enemy is skilled in?
If they engaged in a wide area, the enemy's horses would be able to maneuver freely.
It would inevitably become a field battle advantageous to the Kosa people.
When Curier and Hume mapped out the ally deployments they had heard about from the Royal Capital Defense Force, the reason became clear.
—The Siddim Royal Army!
Yugis felt as if he had struck his knee in realization. First, the scale was large. The hill in the fields of Brazm and the surrounding hills were, naturally, all held by Siddim. If the enemy cavalry poured in there, they could surround the enemy on a large scale. In a circle that is too large, one cannot keep up with the speed of the enemy cavalry. In a narrow circle, the enemy exhibits breakthrough power with abnormal tenacity.
The scale of the fields of Brazm might be just right. If they were successful, they could disperse the enemy and defeat them in detail.
The Kosa army had advanced into eastern Siddim. The fact that troops had moved forward meant that supply bases had been established behind the troops. Until the supply routes were settled, the troops could not advance.
The enemy's supply base would likely be around the Twin Forts.
The enemy's bases for supply must be struck. That would be the job of the eastern troops, then. But if that were the case, he was concerned about the remaining ally forces deployed north of Ganlord. Ganlord itself was a supply base for the allies and could be targeted by the enemy. Just as they would do, the enemy should also strike the Siddim army's supply bases.
The ones most suited for this would be the army of Saranti.
If they could take over the defense around Ganlord, the eastern army could threaten the enemy's supply lines without hesitation.
One concern was that the fields of Brazm were too close to the enemy's bases.
The Kosa army Yugis had seen in the south had a frighteningly wide range of activity centered around a single base. If an enemy base had been established in southeastern Siddim, then even Malfa Castle would fall within the enemy's range of action.
If the waiting position was too close, the enemy might ignore the deployment of the Siddim Royal Army and advance further.
For example, if the enemy cavalry protruded to around Malfa Castle. What would happen?
The Siddim Royal Army would cut off the enemy's supply route. Provisions would stop reaching the enemy Kosa army, and the enemy would wither away.
Furthermore, the Siddim Royal Army would pursue the enemy to strike their rear. However, this was the dangerous part.
"Striking the rear" sounded good, but looking at it differently, this could mean—
—Being lured in by the enemy.
Showing a gap to lure the opponent in and then turning to strike them was the law of motion for the Kosa army.
Even Malfa Castle was dangerous. Southerners and Easterners were mixed within the Kosa army. They could command siege warfare. Even Attaik had fallen.
—That's it. One card is missing.
There was a missing part to this deployment.
That was Yugis's conclusion.
The one who reached a similar conclusion was Geraha Wolf, who was rubbing his bloated stomach.
The insufficiency that Yugis Necrat felt, Geraha expressed as "thin."
—It's thin.
The enemy Siddim army had retreated in the previous battle and had apparently reorganized their posture in the grassland called the "Fields of Brazm."
Geraha's tent was now in a place quite close to that field. He had just finished eating mutton delivered from the plains nations with his staff.
A map made by Hazab was spread out on the cloth.
"There are troops remaining in this giant castle, right?"
Geraha pointed to Malfa Castle.
"That is correct," Pusiteto answered in a low voice.
"This castle, what does Kirikiri-don think?"
"Well, it seems to have a rather complex structure," the small old man shook his head. "From what I've heard from the prisoners, the moats are wide and deep. Even so, we could probably break through the walls and enter the outer perimeter. But beyond that..."
"Is it difficult?"
"Don't be ridiculous. If the Great King commands it, I'll bring it down, geh-heh-heh. However, until I see the situation with my own eyes, I can't say for sure."
It meant that once he saw it, he could take it.
Geraha pointed to Ganlord and Saranti.
"There are troops around here and here."
"Yes," Pusiteto nodded.
"But the majority are concentrated here," he pointed to the fields of Brazm. "It's thin. In other words, if we crush this concentrated enemy, we can reach the castle without much trouble."
Everyone present fell into thought, crossing their arms or looking upward.
"What is this place?" Geraha asked further.
"It is called the West."
"Are there no troops?"
Pusiteto, still sitting cross-legged, shifted his knee. "There are, of course. However, Great King. This is an inference based on the prisoners' stories, but the number is likely not large. The troops in these fields of Brazm, the main force of the enemy, are all said to be from that West. The soldiers gathered in that field are centered around the Western troops. I wouldn't say the West is empty. However—"
"There aren't enough troops to push us back, eh." Geraha shook his head. "If that's the case, it's still thin. Can't we procure ships in this inner sea, cross the sea, and place our troops in the void of the West?"
"With all due respect," Hazab spoke up from the end of the table. "I heard it somewhere, but Mozu-sama spoke of the state of the inner sea. According to Mozu-sama, warships from the nation of Gyua and the nation of Skesia are patrolling the inner sea."
"I see."
"The West probably," Pusiteto said, "has gathered almost everyone who was willing to become a soldier."
Geraha nodded while rubbing his stomach.
He thought it was possible.
"Kirikiri-don, shall we do it?"
"Malfa Castle?" The old man's back straightened.
"We can just keep the enemy main force pinned to Brazm as it is. With our speed, we can reach the castle. Pusiteto, what do you think?"
"I think it's a fine plan. However, Great King, once we reach a certain stage, shouldn't we urge the enemy to surrender? Through the Roma Church."
Geraha's face suddenly turned red.
Pusiteto had remembered the matter of the primary consort properly.
"Hmm. That's right."
If they were to attack the castle, as Kirikiri said, more information was needed.
Geraha employed many spies among Easterners and Southerners.
However, all spies who investigated the north, including traveling merchants, were supervised by Mozu Wolf.
—I want someone with the skill of intelligence.
Even if he wanted to help Brother Mozu, he didn't even know his whereabouts. Intelligence was necessary.
If an intelligence agent who could move freely in the north appeared before his eyes now, Geraha would have granted any wish.
If one asks what is always present at the rear of a march, it is a group of camp followers.
Like peasant women, they carry baskets on their backs and follow the army wherever it goes. What are stuck in the baskets are swords and spears, like those of weapon merchants. They are items snatched as payment for prostitution. They are women who would grip the testicles of a sturdy soldier to receive their price.
The prostitutes had pitched their tents by the edge of a forest slightly away from the fields of Brazm and had already begun business. Even in the darkness under blackout controls, customers came.
Marvel Boony had not snatched any swords or bows. Instead, she had been given three jewels.
As soon as she joined this group, Marvel had become a prostitute specializing in officers. Her customers were all high-paying.
However, that night, Marvel invited a young ordinary soldier into her tent.
He had a youthfulness that could be called boyish.
"A nasty customer is coming. Please, just stay with me for a while. For free is fine."
She said as she let him into the tent, they both became naked, and she gave him the highest ecstasy one could taste in this world.
Afterward, she held the soldier's head and twisted his neck, putting all her weight into it.
While sitting on a round stool with the corpse at her feet, removing her makeup with a hand towel, footsteps approached. They were footsteps she knew well.
"Ah, Marvel," Rivet lamented in a dry voice. "Is Marvel aware?"
"Aware of what?"
"Your work is becoming increasingly sloppy. There was that tendency before, but..."
"Hmph, not really."
Tossing the hand towel into the water of the washbasin, Marvel stood up. She put on her undergarments and then began putting on the young soldier's clothes. The clothes had been neatly folded by the pillow on the cloth. He seemed to have been raised with good manners.
"I've finally tracked it down. Mozu was apparently transferred to a town called Maslow in Ganlord."
"Then you can just go to Ganlord. There was no need to kill this boy."
"I wanted clothes."
"You could have stolen as many as you wanted."
"I'm stealing them right now. Besides, this one was also an enemy."
Having learned from the idle chatter of enemy soldiers that Mozu Wolf had been captured, Marvel decided to rescue him. This time, Mozu would surely offer Marvel his heartfelt gratitude. He might even let the past wash away. If she could save Mozu, Geraha would surely acknowledge Marvel. Mozu Wolf would also intercede for her.
"I can't imagine the current Marvel being able to lead someone out of a prison in enemy territory."
"I'll try. I'm going first."
Marvel left the tent and began to walk.
Without looking back, she vanished into the cover of night.