Episode 175 Krafte War – City of Fire (6)
Gilles de Lionel ran across the rooftops of the deserted Bahua City on a dark night.
It might not have been known if it had been a military camp set up in the open plains, but this is a large city where the entire population has been evacuated.
Since most of the main forces were deployed to the front lines, it was not that difficult to escape under the cover of darkness.
No, he slowly shook his head.
Perhaps this is Damien de Mirbeau’s opinion.
I guess he wanted to get some credit. If it had been the Marquis de Lafayette, he would have laid out a more elaborate siege.
Even if that wasn’t the case, if the opponent was the Marquis Lafayette… the one who defeated his father, who was famous as a knight, he wouldn’t have been able to escape so easily.
After running quickly for a while, he glanced back and looked at the central city area where the command center was located.
The city, which had become a little noisy, soon became quiet again.
Jill took a breath of the lukewarm air of the quiet summer night and slowly caught her breath.
His eyes, strengthened by magic, can easily observe a small number of troops standing guard holding small torches.
No matter how you look at it, it is nothing more than a warning against possible night raids rather than a search of the city.
The Krafte army stopped its offensive around evening, so considering the silence so far, it would be reasonable to assume that they are preparing for a general offensive the next day.
It seems that the Marquis de Lafayette, who received the report, decided that it would be better for the soldiers to get enough rest to prepare for the next day’s battle rather than lose sleep trying to capture a spy.
Gilles de Lionel let out a self-deprecating laugh.
Perhaps he is just that.
A negligible variable that isn’t that big of a deal.
A forgotten descendant of a family that was defeated long ago. A person who may not even have a significant role in Pierre de Lafayette’s life now.
He opposed his father’s actions to encourage rebellion in the southwest.
I argued that we should rather submit to them.
-Son. During that long civil war, too many loyal men were lost under Lionel’s coat of arms. What did they fall to protect?
My father couldn’t accept his mantra.
-If they abandon their loyalty, their honor, and the territory inherited from their ancestors and save their lives, what is left in their lives? I can’t do that.
Nevertheless, he was not ordered to settle down with Lionel.
-But it is enough for just one person to protect Lionel’s honor by dying. … And it is enough for just one person to leave Lionel’s name. Go, survive, and continue the family.
Even though he left his family, life was not easy. For him, who grew up as the heir of a wealthy noble family, the wandering life was an unimaginable hardship.
When he was driven to the brink of starvation, the mercenary work he denied as something an honorable knight would do soon became his job.
The idea of carrying on the honorable family name quickly faded away in the harsh life where it was difficult to make a living.
It was already a year after his father’s death that he heard the news that his father had lost and died in a duel with the Marquis de Lafayette while wandering aimlessly and eating a lot of food.
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t angry. Still, I didn’t even think that the Marquis de Lafayette, with whom I had an old crush, would personally subdue them.
But all that remained was emptiness. What can he do when he puts aside his pride as an honorable warrior and lives as a fugitive, making a living as a mercenary?
I tried to ignore it. I tried to live quietly.
However, the devil-like person wearing glasses appeared to him and poured fuel on the dying embers.
-If you give a person who has no power, so he swallows his emotions, and wears cynicism and contemplation on the outside, the power to make a just decision, how will he wield it? This is much more interesting than a boring story that is just childish and didactic.
Justin von Wittenfeld, Chancellor of Krafte.
The one who handed him his identity as Leon Durand and information that could shake Pierre de Lafayette and Christine Daquitaine.
However, after successfully infiltrating Frangia, Gilles did not listen to his instructions.
Half of it was intentional.
Even if he wanted to hear it anyway, Christine Dakiten’s suspicious eyes on him would not fall.
Even though he saved Louis Daquiten’s life several times.
And half.
-Now you come?
-Not now, Gilles de Lionel.
Bittenfeld’s voice, whispering with a smile that was more devil-like than human, still rings in my ears.
-‘Finally’, I guess.
He was despairing, saying that it had nothing to do with him anyway and that
he had no way to touch Pierre de Lafayette, who had become a high-ranking member of Revolutionary Frangiia, but in reality, he was waiting for an opportunity for revenge.
Even though he infiltrated Francia with the help of Krafte, he did not want to admit it, so he ignored it.
I did not want to be used as a disposable card, a puppet that acted according to their intentions.
At that moment, Louis D’Aquiten hired him as expected, and he was able to naturally hide in the revolutionary army.
For some time he naturally acted as a member of the revolutionary army and guarded Louis D’Aquitaine.
And then I watched them.
Louis Daquiten was an incredibly innocent and kind boy.
Even though he was a boy who approached me from the beginning with the intention of stabbing him when he needed it most, he was reluctant to hurt me directly with such a dirty mind.
He instead watched Pierre de Lafayette on the same battlefield.
I rather hoped he was a renegade who joined the revolution just to survive.
I expected them to simply abandon their old allies in order to survive, join the revolutionary establishment, and continue the fight to protect their position.
However, Pierre de Lafayette’s fight was not something that could be disparaged in that way.
Among the nobles of the old system, who risked their lives and fought at the forefront, shedding blood together, for individual soldiers?
Who would take the political risk of turning an entire large city into a fortress for street fighting to save soldiers’ blood?
Even after seeing something like that with his own eyes, he could not accept the ending that ended with the Marquis de Lafayette being disparaged as a hypocrite and assassinated.
No, I may have known from the beginning.
-Good luck, Marquis.
-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 they said goodbye, didn’t they acknowledge that they were people worth respecting, even if they were divided due to differences of understanding?
But if you admit it. What about his dead father? What about his family that was destroyed?
I can’t admit it, so if he’s right, I’m the one who’s wrong.
Pierre de Lafayette thought that he should not be taken down by a simple assassination.
If he falls, it will not be from Krafte’s dagger, but from the sins he has accumulated.
He believed that only by being denied by those he protected could he be proven wrong.
I thought Pierre de Lafayette would pay for his crimes when he was denied the very revolution he had defended.
Nowadays, no one knows that Pierre de Lafayette values Christine Daquitaine more than his life, so he thought that Christine’s despair over losing her beloved sister through betrayal would be the best revenge.
But both of them behaved differently than he expected.
Nicola Brissot kept his mouth shut. He visited Pierre de Lafayette in person and chose to trust the Marquis de Lafayette as he had done so far.
Giselle Darby….
-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?
can not understand.
No, you shouldn’t understand.
-Do not try to use the intentions of someone who has already died by interpreting them in your own way.
If only I could understand.
If you throw it away, what is he for?
“Ha…”
Gilles de Lionel covered her face with her hands.
Feeling hot and stinging in your eyes is definitely just a side effect of wearing a mask for a long time.
I chose it because I didn’t want to be used as a disposable card, a puppet that acted according to their intentions.
In the end, he used others as puppets and hoped that they would deny the Marquis de Lafayette and the woman he loved.
-Who is the 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. Even to those who are deprived of the opportunity to deny it!
Did his father, who had sent him alive to survive and continue the family and died while embracing the family’s honor, want revenge?
Why is he here?
He betrayed the good boy who trusted and relied on him and sat alone in the dark, having been rejected by those who expected him to reject his enemies.
He who has lost his way, which path should he choose?
Jill entered the mansion, which had been left in an eerie appearance as the residents had been evicted and the walls had been torn down during the fortification process, and leaned against the wall.
The messed up interior seemed like a scene straight from his imagination. Gilles de Lionel stared at the pitch-black night sky with bloodshot eyes.
Even in that darkness, dawn will eventually emerge.
He couldn’t prove his enemy’s life wrong and he didn’t even understand why he was here.
What choice should we make in the offensive that comes with dawn?
* * *
I couldn’t sleep and woke up early, sitting on a chair in a dark cathedral.
How much time had passed? The dim light of dawn began to seep through the ceiling that had been shattered by artillery fire.
The sight of a statue of a god hidden in darkness gradually revealing itself in the falling light somehow feels unrealistic.
Eris said that the more she used her divine power when she was with me, the more it seemed to increase.
The more divine power I receive, the stronger I become.
I have a connection with divine power.
Perhaps my regression.
At this point, is it right to think that my return is related to God’s intentions?
Saint Eris, who denied God, said she felt like she should at least give thanks to God.
Still, I don’t feel like praying like Eris in front of God.
I saw the corruption and decadence of the Holy Church.
We remember that they, who received God’s blessings more than anyone else and were supposed to embrace the believers and protect the saint, accused Eris of being a witch and executed her.
Is it God’s will to make it right?
But then why is it me and not Eris?
What on earth is God’s intention?
The demon succubus uses divine power as powerful as that of a saint.
I, who was said to have returned by divine power, ended up staining my hands with blood and ended up fighting a war that put my loved ones in danger and drove tens of thousands to death.
I’m also facing the consequences of my past actions.
As I was sighing softly, I heard a familiar voice.
“uh. “Marquis, what are you doing here?”
I laughed and turned my head.
“I told you to get some rest, Your Majesty.”
“I just went to bed early and woke up early. Look, dawn is breaking.”
“…I see.”
Before I knew it, I looked up at the bright light coming through the hole in the ceiling and muttered absentmindedly.
“Are you disturbed?”
“…little?”
I knew about Leon Durand after receiving it from Christine. Christine placed sufficient surveillance.
In the war against Krafte for several months already, he had protected Lewis several times and was performing well, so he was somewhat relieved.
I had no idea that Christine would show her true colors during the siege of the city, where she could not be contacted.
But that is Gilles de Lionel.
“Would it have been better to arrest them, even if it meant going too far?”
“No, I’m sure he’s not that clumsy.”
Leo de Lionel I barely won the duel with Count Lionel.
Considering that he was a recognized successor and had a high reputation in the civil war, there is no guarantee that he will be caught for causing the soldiers to suffer needlessly.
In a situation where it was clear that Krafte’s general offensive was imminent, it was more important to make the soldiers feel at least a little more comfortable.
-Lionel’s land and honor are with me, so Lionel’s seed is for that child…
No, maybe.
-Would you just pretend not to know that child?
He may be hoping to take advantage of the chaos of war and quietly escape.
“…I was actually quite surprised. Well, I was just receiving support at the time, so I have nothing to say about what you didn’t tell me.”
I answered Eris’ voice with a wry smile.
“I apologize, Your Majesty.”
“…No, the person in charge said it was okay, but I have no right to say anything.”
The person in charge.
I thought of the private meeting I had with Giselle Davy after I had sufficiently scared Damien de Mirbeau, who was worried that he would be punished, and sent him away.
-Don’t worry, His Excellency the Marquis de Lafayette. I will never testify or reveal anything about Ellen Darby.
-…why? A person as competent as you would fully understand the value of that information. There would be many political enemies who would be thrilled to know that I had done something like that before them, having slaughtered them in anger at those who attempted to assassinate the Count of Aquitaine. … I can understand if you are disappointed by my hypocrisy.
-Jean Malraux was the most dangerous figure among the radicals who advocated the annihilation of the entire aristocratic class. It is understandable that without his removal, it would have been impossible for the Marquis de Lafayette and the Count of Aquitaine to form an alliance with the Republic. … On the contrary, I am amazed at their tactical skill in that they were able to eliminate the elements of the Republic from that point on without their masterminds being discovered.
-…No, wait a minute. It’s your sister’s business. Can I talk about it like that?
Giselle Darby smiled bitterly in response to my shocked words.
-Privately, Jean Malraux was an enemy of her parents and it was her sister’s choice. Just from my presence here, it is clear that the Count of Aquitaine has faithfully fulfilled his bargain with my sister. … Or do you think, His Excellency the Marquis, that your sister, who is just a commoner, did not make a deal with the Count of Aquitaine, but was just taken advantage of?
-…No, that’s not it. I’m sorry.
-I saw how the Marquis de Lafayette led the revolutionary army. And I judged that His Excellency the Marquis of Lafayette’s contribution to the revolutionary army was much greater than the problems that His Excellency the Marquis of Lafayette had. Therefore, as a staff officer of the Revolutionary Army, I decided to keep quiet about this matter. Is there a problem?
Without being able to refute anything, I thanked Giselle Darby and ordered her to take a break.
…A wry smile inevitably spreads.
“…I see. “Everyone overestimates me.”
Nicola Brisso and Giselle Davido.
People who have not even talked to me that much cover up my weaknesses as much as the sins I have accumulated while coming here and say that I should lead the revolutionary army.
…Even Eris, whose purple eyes are shining as if she believes in me.
At best, I came this far by avoiding the worst and stepping on the lesser evil.
Eris smiled softly and opened her mouth.
“Are you suddenly anxious after coming this far?”
“Well, just. “I thought I was doing my best, but now that I’m facing the consequences of what I’ve done, I feel weak.”
…Right now, in this destroyed city alone, I can’t make a more perfect judgment, so I can’t even count how many corpses there are piled up.
“Hmm-”
Eris looked at me for a moment and then smiled shyly.
“It’s difficult. I don’t know what advice to give even though I have a name like the King of Saints. “I think even saying I trust you now will be a burden.”
“Don’t push yourself too hard. “You are still young, considering you are the Queen of Saints.”
“What are you treating me like a child!” “I’m already 24!”
Oh, I see.
I’m sorry, but even though I’m over 50 in all my past lives, I’m just a weak and blind person in the face of life.
As I smiled bitterly, Eris spoke again.
“But I’ve changed a lot. “It’s okay to brag, but wouldn’t it be better than when I first met the Marquis?”
“Ah, yes. “My saint, I have the patience to rush to the casualty clinic right now and not use up all my magical power.”
Eris laughed.
“The same goes for you, Marquis. In my opinion, the Marquis has improved considerably.”
“…is it?”
“Actually, the Marquis has improved a lot, but Christine has improved significantly. … Thanks to whom?”
Eris asked playfully, and I smiled bitterly.
Okay, then you can’t just sit here.
I slowly got up, and as soon as I could, a gunshot rang out in the distance.
“…It’s the beginning. “Shall we go, Her Majesty?”
“Yes, Marquis de Lafayette. Let’s go together as always. … As we go, it will get better than it is now, right? Then, well-”
Eris glanced back at the statue of a god that remained in the cathedral whose ceiling had been blown away by artillery fire, and smiled.
“Won’t there come a day when we can both feel at ease together and give sincere thanks to God?”
I answered while holding the sword at my waist.
“…That would be good.”
