Episode 180 Krafte War – Choice (3)
The raindrops that fell little by little at first soon turned into raindrops and covered the sky.
As I watched the rain falling incessantly, I thought to myself that even if reinforcements came, it would be difficult for them to recognize me.
Gilles de Lionel looked down at me right next to me and opened her mouth.
“What’s funny?”
-Thank you for the help Lionel gave me. … If the situation changes and you change your mind, I am willing to help, so please let me know at any time.
-I will remember your words of gratitude.
When I met Gilles de Lionel several years after that last conversation, his sad expression had disappeared somewhere and he had a sharp, desolate face.
I gave up trying to read what he was thinking and slightly turned my head to answer.
“…No, just. “I thought I should thank God if I survived this time, but as soon as I could think about it, I saw you appear and I realized that even a gentleman called God has a very unique personality.”
Is it because my body is wet and heavy from the rain, or is it because the poison has already spread?
Even as I spoke, I prepared to move my body somehow, but it didn’t follow suit.
Maybe it was because I used up all my magical power when I killed Count Wittelsbach…
Gilles de Lionel, who had been looking down at me for a while while I was struggling, spoke again.
“That’s fascinating. “You’re still alive.”
“…I feel sorry for being alive, but why are you talking as if I have to die?…”
“It’s a poison that kills within a minute at most if you just touch it.”
Jill said that and took out a dagger from her waist.
Even though the rain continues to fall, the opaque and cloudy liquid on the dagger glows a pale pink color and does not wash away.
…I don’t know exactly what kind of poison it is, but it’s the devil’s poison.
As he said, originally, he would have already died just from being poisoned.
The fact that I am alive right now may be a miracle of the divine power within me.
But more than that.
Although I was only half sure, his words confirmed it.
“…So you came to finish what they couldn’t?”
When asked while looking towards Count Wittelsbach, who was making a red puddle on the floor, Gilles de Lionel was silent.
That was the answer, so I forced myself to stand up and not listen.
I didn’t realize it when I was lying down, but my head was spinning and I was so dizzy that I felt like I was going to collapse at any moment.
Still, I forced my limp body up, stuck my sword into the ground, and stood against it.
Gilles de Lionel looked at me, adjusted the sword in his hand, and opened his mouth.
“Anything to say?”
“Hahahaha….”
Count Wittelsbach and Lionel too.
Why do they keep telling me to leave a will?
Make people angry who won’t die.
“There are people who act like the world is over if they die arbitrarily.”
Gilles de Lionel paused for a moment and then opened his mouth.
“I’m sure there were people like that among those who died to you.”
This time I couldn’t answer.
While we were all silent, the only sound was the sound of rain falling.
How long was the silence?
he asked.
“Do you regret it?”
“what?”
“The choices you have made so far have resulted in a lot of resentment and the choices that have put you in danger of dying right here.”
I thought about it for a while.
Regret regret.
A self-mocking smile appeared.
Before returning, almost everything was filled with regret.
What is left other than regret in a life where one’s head is cut off on a guillotine while one is simply dragged around by a situation without knowing anything about reality?
“regret. …I did it a lot. a lot.”
Did you have any regrets after returning?
It wasn’t funny.
Rather, what I learned only after returning brought about more regrets about my previous life.
It’s not much different after regression.
Before the return, I didn’t think about it because no one recognized Eris until the Church found out about her, but the Blue Knight recognized Sir Beaumont at a glance, so I almost ruined the whole thing.
Without really knowing how messed up the internal situation of the Republic was, he thought that the lesser evil was better than the worst and forced his people to make sacrifices. As a result, it festered and almost killed Christine.
If I had been a little more rational, I could have handled that situation more elegantly than slaughtering all the lawmakers who almost killed Christine.
At the very least, if I hadn’t acted like a fool under the pretense of respecting Christine’s wishes, the time I had to keep her alive would have been much shorter.
If we had known in advance that Raphael Balian would only bring greater chaos to the Republic and that he would not be able to give up his ambition until the end, eliminating him in advance might have produced a better result.
“When I look back on the past, I did a lot of really stupid things.”
When he was an aristocrat, he made a deal with the devil to raise capital, and he got rid of Jean Malraux, who was an obstacle to joining the republic.
And who would have thought that personally defeating Count Lionel to save the people of the West would turn around and lead to a crisis again?
“Pierre de Lafayette, Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Army. You made countless sacrifices to get to that position. “Shouldn’t you atone for those who sacrificed their lives because of you?”
“It is atonement for countless sacrifices…”
I smiled bitterly.
“I’m not sure about that.”
Gilles de Lionel’s brow twitched.
Nevertheless, I honestly didn’t know.
“I’m sure quite a few people may have been sacrificed.”
Gilles de Lionel, who is right in front of me, must be a victim of that.
In order to save the people of the West and receive recognition from the Republic, I subdued Count Lionel as a scapegoat.
“Maybe there was a better way. “If I had chosen that path, I might not have had any regrets.”
If only I had been a little bolder, a little more cautious, or had taken a different path.
If so, we might have been able to achieve better results.
However, no one knows whether the path I did not take would have led to a better outcome.
It could have been a worse way.
“I took that path because I couldn’t think of any better path at the time. At least there are definitely people who were saved by that choice.”
Gilles de Lionel was silent and then asked.
“Were the commoners of the West, whom you had never met, more valuable to you than your old allies?”
Count Lionel was clearly sacrificed because of me.
But at the same time, he led a revolt without caring about the fate that would come to the people of the West, and I saved them by putting the blame on Count Lionel and suppressing him.
“…At least as a general of the revolutionary army, the answer to the question of who to choose between the innocent people at risk of being subjugated and those who led the rebellion was decided.”
Gilles de Lionel let out a laugh.
“Pierre de Lafayette. “A great general who was an aristocrat of the old system, but who sold out his fiefdoms and allies, committed himself to the republic, and fought without sparing his body, earning the respect of all revolutionary troops.”
His voice is heavily suppressed.
“Why? “Why did the political enemy who discovered the weakness that would lead to your downfall and the woman who lost her family for your path choose to turn a blind eye to you?”
The incomprehensible voice, a mixture of anger and resentment, seems to penetrate my brain even through the rain.
“Because all your decisions are not for your own selfishness, but only for Franzia’s benefit? So does this mean that you can’t be acknowledged by them and atone for them? “Are you justice?”
“…no.”
“…I regret it, but I didn’t atone, and I didn’t live only for Francia?”
I slowly got up from where I was leaning on my sword-
“In the end, I just do my best to secure a better future with those I want to protect. As a result, we have made many sacrifices, but we will do so in the future if it is inevitable.”
I straightened my body.
“Atonement means being convinced that I was wrong and swearing not to repeat the same sin in the future. But that would be nothing more than an act of denying those saved by my choice and hypocrisy that would deny the actions I will take in the future.”
Gilles de Lionel is staring at me.
“What I am doing is far from a noble ideal for Franzia. Just doing the best I can for myself and my people at this moment. “Like your father, who fought until the moment he collapsed even though he knew he would die because he could not abandon the glory of his ancestors and family.”
I somehow managed to lift the arm that kept refusing to move-
“I cannot deny your justification for seeking revenge. Likewise, I cannot deny my life to you. What I can give to my enemies, then and now, is nothing like atonement. “There is only one thing you can offer to an enemy whose position is different.”
I pointed my sword at him.
“I have nothing but respect for people like me who do the best they can in their path.”
Jill stayed still for a while and then quickly pulled a dagger from her belt.
The moment I reacted, the dagger had already been blown out of his hand.
Is it because of poison? The moment I thought
this in vain,
a scream came from behind me.
When I unconsciously turn my head, I see a Krafte soldier holding a bayonet in his hand, lying on the floor, shaking.
“This is my choice.”
Gilles de Lionel’s voice sounded oppressed.
“…Even if I kill you, who can’t even properly resist now, there’s no way Lionel’s honor will be preserved.”
He looked away, but his eyes were fixed on the dagger he had thrown.
“…We will watch. My enemy who paid tribute to my father. “You say you regret but cannot atone, and you are just doing your best on the spot.”
He turned around, soaking wet with rainwater.
“The day will come when you will sell out your old alliance and prove that you were just paying lip service to the corrupt commoners’ government and power. … I will come and find you.”
Gilles de Lionel left only those words and disappeared into the rain.
All that can be seen is the sight of the Krafte army being chased away in the heavy rain from afar and the revolutionary army chasing after them.
As if letting out a small sigh was a signal, all strength was drained from my body.
The world turns upside down and-
“Marquis!”
My memory stopped there.
* * *
“Your Majesty! The enemy has launched a counterattack from the North and West Gates! Our troops within the siege have already….”
“The unit that was conducting an all-out offensive at the south gate to lure the enemy away has suffered crushing damage! The Royal Guard has already been wiped out! General Leberecht is requesting permission to retreat!”
“The imperial knights, including Count Wittelsbach, who launched an offensive against His Majesty’s East Gate, were completely destroyed, and the forces that advanced to the center of the city are being pushed back again after paying enormous sacrifices to the enemy’s reinforcements.”
Charles II, the Great King of Krafte, was sitting on a chair with a cane in his hand, quietly listening to countless sad news.
I knew the odds of winning were not high.
The enemy had made all the preparations they could, and had actually inflicted enormous losses on Krafte’s strong forces, even outmaneuvering them with unimaginable detours.
However, it was a battlefield from which there was no retreat. If they don’t win here, Krafte will have no choice but to be completely on the defensive due to the invasion of the Northern United Kingdom and internal rebellion.
He was caught off guard by abandoning the unit that had fallen into the Marquis de Lafayette’s trap and even using the Royal Guard, which had suffered heavy losses from artillery fire, as a throwaway party.
Even in a battlefield where the number of players was extremely limited, such as a street battle, he used all the tactics he could devise, pushing all the capabilities of Krafte’s strong soldiers to their limits.
Nevertheless, the result was a clear and thorough defeat.
The great king looked at the generals who were dripping with cold sweat in front of him and muttered lowly.
“Krafte-kun is finished.”
All the generals fell silent.
Although they suffered considerable losses in the Battle of Bahua, it was closer to a retreat after an engagement than a defeat.
Above all, at that time, the elite standing army of the Krafte Army was relatively large.
The Krafte Army is humanity’s strongest and most invincible army.
This is the driving force behind the Krafte army maintaining overwhelming discipline and obeying orders even in attacks that at first glance seemed suicidal.
The soldiers were able to advance even though they knew they would die because the militaristic thinking that destroying their pride and honor was a dishonor that would last for generations was deeply rooted in their brainwashing.
However, instead of the harsh training that castrated their humanity, their pride and honor collapsed.
The standing army that formed the basis suffered crushing damage while launching an unreasonable offensive in the harsh environment of urban warfare, and they are not people who can be easily replenished.
The remaining troops are mostly mobilized reserve forces, so the Krafte Army, whose myth of being humanity’s strongest and invincible army has already collapsed, will no longer be the Krafte Army it used to be.
“This war is lost.”
The great king stood up and declared so.
“Your Majesty the Great King.”
The great king turned his head to the generals who did not know what to do and said.
“Without giving any order to retreat. “We will gather our forces and retreat to the Rhineland.”
“I will do so, Your Majesty!”
While the generals were busy moving and giving orders, the King’s eyes turned to the entrance of the barracks where the rain was pouring down.
General Gerhardt looked at the king’s back in silence.
The blurry appearance of an old man, as if he would disappear at any moment after fighting and losing the war he had been waiting for his whole life.
Seeing that, Gerhard unconsciously tried to open his mouth, but the Great King opened his mouth first.
“Don’t say unnecessary things. “It is a sign of denial of my life.”
“I am very sorry, Your Majesty.”
Charles II turned around.
“We achieved victory and showed glory.”
And then he stood, holding his cane with both hands.
“And in defeat, the glory I had built was destroyed again.”
In front of Gerhardt, who bowed his head without saying anything, the Great King opened his mouth softly.
“Then it must be a burden to pay homage to the one who defeated Jim and become the strongest, and to acknowledge the defeat of this kingdom. “It is a mistake that must be borne by those who started this war.”
“…I apologize, Your Majesty.”
If the war is virtually over and he just dies, it is obvious where the anger of the people who have lost someone to blame will go.
Charles II slowly turned his head to see the capital he had left behind in the distance.
Instead, he looked towards Mittelburg, where his successor was fighting for his life, and spoke.
“It’s all about Jim’s life. “If you have enjoyed victory and glory, you should not leave defeat and criticism to your successor. I cannot die at least until then.”
