Episode 174 Krafte War – City of Fire (5)
“Ah…”
Louis Dakiten opened his mouth late, but was unable to squeeze out a meaningful word and only twitched without meaning before closing it again.
What should I say?
It felt like my mind had turned completely white.
How did know?
There were only him, his sister, and the Marquis de Lafayette.
How?
Did your sister tell you this?
If that was the case, he pretended not to know and calmly received consideration and depended on Giselle.
What did it look like to her?
As Louis was shaking with a pale face, Giselle, who was looking at him, sighed lightly and opened her mouth.
“I know how old the lieutenant was at the time. I’m not interrogating you. “I’m just asking innocently.”
Giselle paused for a moment and then asked.
“Was Ellen Darby the assassin who poisoned Jean Malraux and committed suicide?”
Lewis couldn’t bear to answer and nodded as if he was fascinated.
“…was it the Count of Aquitaine who commissioned it?”
This time, Lewis was too quick to nod his head.
However, the stiff appearance of Louis became a clearer answer to Giselle.
“…Yes, that’s right.”
Lewis’s heart seemed to freeze at the bitter, half-self-mocking smile.
“The major’s sister agrees-”
So I blurted out without realizing it and covered my mouth with my hand.
Ellen Darby agreed? I guess I had no choice but to agree.
If I didn’t agree, the whole family, including Giselle, would have starved to death.
Louis closed his eyes tightly because the words he had uttered without realizing it in his desire to defend his sister felt like such garbage.
Giselle’s voice came a long time later.
“…Did you meet your sister in person?”
Lewis felt semi-desperate.
Why am I so stupid?
I thought I wanted to help my sister, but instead she’s only holding me back.
After a long silence, Giselle asked.
“How was your sister? …were you afraid?”
What difference will it make if we come this far and remain silent?
Lewis slowly opened his eyes and opened his mouth.
“…no.”
A woman who looks exactly like Ellen Darby’s angry expression and stubborn yet strong-willed face when she heard her sister say that she overestimated her will is looking at him.
“I asked my sister. “What would you do if you just took the money for your family and ran away?”
Giselle smiled and answered.
“You’re like a big sister.”
The smile was soon covered with bitterness.
“In the end, it was done because of us.”
“…sorry.”
“What?”
Louis swallowed dryly and answered Giselle’s question.
“…Even though I knew, I was hiding it by pretending not to know.”
Giselle looked at Louis intently and slowly approached him.
While Louis flinched a little, Giselle hugged him lightly.
“Uh-”
Louis almost struggled in embarrassment, but Giselle patted him on the back.
When Louis calmed down a little, acting as if he was taking care of a younger sibling rather than a hug from the opposite sex, Giselle opened her mouth.
“I can tell just by looking at your face what heartache it must have been for you to be unnecessarily nice to a boy from a popular noble family. “Why would that be the lieutenant’s fault?”
“Uh… I knew but hid it…”
“You didn’t hide it with the intention of deceiving me. “The Louis Dakiten I watched was tactless, immature, and unnecessarily motivated, so he couldn’t be that treacherous. Did I make a mistake?”
Lewis held back the tears that threatened to burst before he could answer.
Giselle, too, opened her mouth quietly instead of waiting for Louise’s answer.
“…It was my sister’s choice. “No one wanted to avenge their parents like a fool, but for our sake.”
“But in the end…”
Giselle walked away from Louis and asked with a bitter look on her face.
“Do you think, Lieutenant, that in the end, my sister was just a victim who had no choice?”
“That’s not what I said-”
“Or was she just a friend who was used and discarded by the Count of Aquitaine? “Is the Black Witch of Aquitaine that kind of person, as people often say?”
“Oh no!”
Lewis was scared and shouted.
-There is no need to give money to the family of a woman who has already died…
-But your subordinates will remember that incident and think of your actions before carrying out the orders they received. And that woman is just one of many, but is there any guarantee that people in similar situations won’t be familiar with each other? If you don’t keep a deal that risks your life because you don’t care about the money, it’s like reducing your hand.
My sister said that as if she was teaching Lewis.
However, no matter what he says, Lewis now understands that his sister is not a person who simply moves based on such interests.
Christine Daquiten only pretends to be rational, even attaching plausible and reasonable justifications for her actions, but she is far from being a person without blood and tears, as people say.
Doesn’t it make sense to keep Louis alive and raise him or to open the way to the military for Giselle Darby, who might harbor a grudge if she found out the truth?
“…Okay, that’s all I need.”
Giselle answered with a fresh face and then slightly bowed her head to Louis.
“Thank you, Lieutenant. I could have avoided it by hiding it and turning things around, but you told me the truth. … At least I can remember what my sister did for us and what fate she faced.”
When Louis looked like he didn’t know what to say, Giselle smiled slightly at him and raised her head, her eyes turning sharp.
That was the look in the eyes of the staff officer ‘Major Darby’ that he showed throughout the battlefield, and even Lewis reflexively regained his sense of the battlefield.
“That’s right, Sergeant Durand. “It must be quite a pity for you.”
When Luis, who was surprised, looked away, Leon Durand opened the barracks entrance as if it was obvious and stood crookedly.
“This is really unexpected. Why? “Christine Daquiten is the enemy who used and killed your family. Louis Daquiten is her younger brother whom she cherishes and clings to.”
“Sergeant Du Durand?”
While Louis was shocked, Giselle spoke in a cold voice.
“If you could handle magical power, you would have overheard everything anyway.”
“You eavesdropped. “I just did my duty as Lieutenant Dakiten’s bodyguard.”
Giselle chuckled.
“I hate the person who encouraged me to harm that guard.”
“I beg your pardon?”
When Louis completely froze, Giselle sighed lightly.
“The author, Lieutenant Aquitaine, is dangerous. “The author is the one who told me about my sister’s death.”
Lewis fell into even greater confusion.
The only people present at the time were him, his sister, and the Marquis de Lafayette.
But how on earth could the author know that?
Leon Durand. A mercenary from a Franzian noble family.
I didn’t know there was something suspicious. In fact, my sister was also concerned about that.
Lewis also kept the possibility in mind. But it has protected him so far.
There must have been plenty of opportunities for betrayal and misdeeds, but you stayed silent until now and here you are? How do you know something you never even thought about?
“Hmm, this is it. The master’s hurt face is more disturbing than I thought. … Still, it’s puzzling. The leader of the Liberal Party, who passed away a golden opportunity, and you, who passed away the opportunity to take revenge on your enemy. How on earth can you be so calm?”
“Revenge your enemies.”
Giselle seemed to be repeating the words in her mouth and then opened her mouth.
“I have met the Count of Aquitaine in person.”
“Oh did you? That’s surprising. “The rumor that you were recommended by the Count of Aquitaine wasn’t just empty talk.”
“It’s unexpected. “It would be surprising if he took care of the family of a commoner woman whom he had abandoned as an assassin in the first place, as promised, but there is usually no one who will look after him and go out of his way to meet him so that he can become an officer.”
Christine Daquiten even went so far as to get a bill passed in parliament so that Giselle could become an officer.
Giselle clearly remembers what she said the first time she met her.
-Are you the Count who took care of the Darby family?
-well. However, if there is such a person, it would be reasonable to take care of them for a reasonable price. So there is no need to have a sense of debt. … Good luck. Giselle Darby.
There has been no contact whatsoever since then.
If she really was a woman who used and discarded people as nothing more than a pawn, she would have been able to exploit her sense of debt as much as she wanted.
Durang smiled bitterly.
“Is that all? Is the hypocrisy and fickle sensibilities of a mere nobleman the reason you give up your revenge? Ellen Darby, who stained her hands with blood and died trying to feed you and her family-”
“Don’t tarnish your sister’s name with that mouth.”
While Leon Durand was a little surprised, Giselle spat out with burning eyes.
“Even if it seems stupid or incomprehensible, it is my sister’s choice. Thanks to that, I grew up without going hungry, and thanks to the whim of the nobleman who hired my older sister, I became an officer and achieved my dream. Are you telling me to ruin it all with my own hands and make a fool of my sister’s sacrifice? Do you think your sister would have given up her life hoping for something like that?”
Giselle took a deep breath and slowly exhaled as Leon Durand’s smile slowly disappeared.
“Do not try to use the intentions of someone who has already died by interpreting them in your own way.”
Leon Durand looked like he had been completely slapped.
“… Haha haha…. It was the intention of a person who was already dead….”
“Who is revenge for when you cry out for someone who wants revenge and is not dead? That’s just a cowardly act of shifting responsibility for one’s own anger, which has no place to go, onto someone else. “To someone who is even deprived of the opportunity to deny it!”
Leon Durand looked at Giselle blankly for a while and then slowly bowed.
“I apologize, Major Giselle Darby. I arbitrarily projected my position onto you. I thought you were just being used by them without knowing anything. “Please forgive this rudeness.”
Giselle nodded slightly.
“I forgive you, Leon Durand. Thanks to you, I also know my sister’s fate. But-”
In a quick movement, Giselle pulled out a pistol from her waist and pointed it at Leon Durand.
“I don’t think my sister will forgive me. Lieutenant Louis Dakiten was deceived by you. Either way, we can’t just leave a subversive like you alone in the middle of a battle. “I recommend that you be restrained calmly, Leon Durand.”
Leon Durand looked at Giselle without much tension.
“I feel sorry and would like to have you arrested gently, but I don’t think I can understand it as comfortably as you do.”
Only then did Lewis come to his senses and increase his magic power.
Leon Durand is a powerful knight. Giselle is an officer who graduated from a military academy, so she might use both a sword and a gun, but that’s about it.
Can she and Lewis alone stop the author?
“Major Darby, Durand’s skills are…”
Louis carefully whispered in a low voice and Giselle nodded.
“I know. “It wouldn’t be possible for the two of us.”
Then he raised the pistol towards the ceiling and fired.
Taang!
Gunshots ring out and-
“That’s why we’ve prepared reinforcements.”
“Tsk.”
Léon Durand immediately left the tent and Louis and Giselle ran out after him.
As they came out, dozens of knights and soldiers were seen surrounding Leon Durand, Louis, and Giselle.
“You shameless spy! Count Damien de Mirbeau, the ‘guardian of Dilus’ and the ‘master of defense’, has come to visit in person! “Drop your sword and surrender immediately!”
“Puh…”
Léon Durand smiled bitterly and opened his mouth, looking at Giselle.
“I thought you were just a young woman being swayed by this world without knowing anything about it.”
“Before that, I was a staff officer in the revolutionary army. “There is no way out, so surrender, Leon Durand.”
“Huh… To express my respect and apology-”
Leon Durand slowly reached his hand towards the neck- and tore something off with a squeak.
A mask so elaborate that it was indistinguishable from human skin fell to the floor and Damien de Mirbeau was horrified and pointed a finger at him.
“Oh uh oh you-!”
“Gilles de Lionel, the eldest son and last remaining descendant of Lady Darby Lionel Countess, formally greets you. … I salute you for not being haunted by the ghosts of the past. And goodbye.”
“Uh-”
Before Giselle could react, Gilles de Lionel lunged at Damien with a rapid movement that seemed to skid across the ground.
The musket fire fired by the surprised infantry was easily blocked by his magic barrier and-
“Where-!”
“Haaap-!”
The knights tried to block them, but their swords were instantly cut off by Lionel’s sword.
“Woo wow?!”
Damien was scared and pulled out his sword to fight back, but it was difficult to block Gilles de Lionel’s sword strike, which moved with surprising strength and speed.
“Oh wait! Wait a minute, the article was a surprise attack! “You’re so cowardly – ugh?”
In the end, the moment when Damien, who had been struggling from the start with a broken posture, lost his grip on the sword and closed his eyes tightly due to Gilles de Lionel’s sword strike.
A powerful magical barrier unfolded before Damien’s eyes, blocking Jill’s sword attack.
Jill smiled and turned her gaze back to face Louis Daquiten, who was radiating magical power with slightly shaking eyes.
“…That’s pretty good, Louis Dakiten. “Poor master, a close friend for a moment.”
“Durang…!”
Gilles de Lionel smiled bitterly and moved quickly past Damien, disappearing into the darkness.
After a moment of silence, Damien came running in a huff, grabbed both of Giselle’s shoulders, and spit flew out of his mouth.
“G-G Giselle Darby! You almost died! You’re a spy! Why is the eldest son of Lionel, a renowned martial artist, sticking out?”
“You said you would just tell the Marquis de Lafayette! They say being a Count is enough! “How can you be so pathetic?!”
Well, he was just excited at the thought of doing something on his own…
Damien, who couldn’t bring himself to say those words out loud, glanced at the darkness in which Gilles de Lionel was hiding and spat it out with a dejected look on his face.
“Ah… I messed up…”
How should I report this to the Marquis de Lafayette…
