Episode 74 Governor’s Government – Requiem (2)
Raphael Balian seemed quite pleased with me.
When he saw the bread and wine in the basket I brought, he started to be happy.
“Oh, this is right. Haha… What is the winner’s tolerance or something like that?”
In the meantime, Balian came closer to the iron bars, smiling even with his pale face.
“well.”
I pushed the basket under the bars.
Balian picked up the wine he had previously opened, chugged it down from the bottle, and began eating the bread eagerly.
As I watched the scene, I added something.
“I’m just returning the favor I received.”
“…?”
Balian looked like he didn’t understand what was going on, but soon focused on devouring the high-quality wine and bread he had tasted for the first time in a long time.
When I saw Balian like that, I thought of Jenny.
Now a girl who is Eris’s exclusive maid, she is always bickering and complaining thanks to the saintess who can hardly stay still.
I was determined to make Eris wear a dress at the victory banquet, but when I remembered her sullen face after losing, I started to laugh.
I looked back on the paths I took in this prison.
A dark and cold place to intimidate people.
The guards who had treated me harshly before my return had a hard time with me, who was called the guardian of the revolution, and politely guided me.
But that would never have been the case for a former maid from a noble family who had no power or power.
What was she thinking and what kind of heart did she have for showing me such favor at a time when no commoner could be executed for being accused of having an affair with an aristocrat or branded as counter-revolutionary?
I actually received that favor and couldn’t even remember her name.
While I was lost in thought, Balian, who had quenched his thirst and filled his stomach, had become more relaxed and opened his mouth.
“Oh, thank you. “I think I’ll live a little longer now.”
Balian seemed to study my expression for a moment and then asked.
“So what’s going on?”
“Should I say goodbye before leaving?”
“Haha, should I at least express my gratitude?”
I smiled at Balian’s answer and opened my mouth.
“The major commanders of the Northern Army will be relieved of their positions first, but we plan to reinstate them in wartime after receiving light punishment.”
“Oh yeah.”
Balian didn’t look very interested.
“Wasn’t he quite close to the northern army commanders?”
“Well, that was it. “I had some friends.”
Balian shrugged his shoulders and then snorted.
“Isn’t that why everyone surrendered in search of a way to survive once my defeat was confirmed?”
I didn’t give any answer and Balian laughed.
“I would be of much greater help to the Marquis than they would be.”
“Your fate will be decided by the National Assembly, not me.”
“That’s a bit surprising.”
Balian looked a little surprised, but then opened his mouth again.
“I thought the Marquis would take the lead and ask me to be executed?”
“Why should I? “I was planning on going with you until this happened.”
“Haha, that’s a thank you. “Then, since you know my value, Marquis, you still want to save me?”
I chuckled.
“well. “Just because I didn’t insist that you be executed doesn’t mean I asked you to be spared.”
Anyway, looking at the atmosphere in the National Assembly, his execution is certain. I just didn’t need to add another hand.
Balian was silent for a moment.
Just when he thought he had swallowed dry saliva, his mouth opened again.
“I am still worthy, Marquis.”
“….”
“If you are willing, I can become your general and fight against that foreign invasion.”
“Even if I wanted it, the National Assembly would have no intention of letting you live.”
“Why is the opinion of the National Assembly important?”
“….”
Balian had a serious face.
“Maximilian Isidore died, and your opponent prepared by the National Assembly also committed suicide. Now, if you decide to do so, who can stop you from overthrowing the National Assembly and seizing power?”
I laughed out loud.
“I thought you had clearly admitted defeat and surrendered?”
At the moment of surrender, didn’t he admit defeat and accept his own death that it would lead to?
“That’s true.”
“Then why are you asking me to follow the path you failed in?”
“Now you are the only hero worthy of leading Franzia.”
I smiled bitterly.
“You, the hero who would make France greater, were defeated by the Francia Republic.”
“I admit it. I lost because I underestimated the French Republic too much. But the republic that defeated me included you, the Count of Aquitaine, and Governor Isidore.”
Balian shrugged his shoulders.
“But the Count of Aquitaine is willing to follow you, so there is no one left now, is there? …To be honest, there is a part of me that doesn’t want to just die like this, but I don’t think there is any reason for you, who have come this far, to take on the same burden as them. “I would be much more helpful to you.”
Balian’s attitude when he said that was very confident, as if he was speaking an immutable truth.
Right. For Raphael Balian, it all comes down to being a hero. It must be said that he is the embodiment of heroism.
Even if he admits that he was defeated by Maximilien Isidore, it is not a defeat against the values of the Republic and the National Assembly that Isidor spoke of, but rather a defeat against an individual hero whom Balian did not know.
I quietly looked at Raphael Balian.
For me, Raphael Balian was something that was irreplaceable.
After regression.
If I find and eliminate him before the revolution breaks out, I might be able to win the fight against the revolutionary army, but I didn’t even consider that option when I found him through Christine.
Before I returned, I was denounced by the Blue Knight as a disgrace to nobility and could not find my value as a noble.
At least I cared about the people who respected me, but by the time I came to my senses, the revolution had already broken out and I had no choice but to follow King Louis and fight to survive.
To me, the image of Raphael Balian fighting while holding up the banner of revolution, putting pressure on my army, and receiving praise from the people was the ideal image I had longed for.
But in the end, it was nothing more than an exposed shell without any essence being seen.
For a man named Raphael Balian, who spoke properly and watched closely, the revolution was nothing more than a means from beginning to end.
The result, the republic, and the people who praised, believed in, and followed him were nothing more than tools for him to prove his worth.
“Marquis, I think you may not like me.”
When he rushed towards the Storm Witch, he did not see the soldiers who had risked their lives with me, spreading blood and sweat to clear the way.
The soldiers who fought desperately and risked their lives on Raphael Balian’s map were nothing more than words.
“But I quite like you, Marquis. It may seem like an excuse, but it also contributed greatly to my defeat. “I wanted to appease the Marquis if possible.”
What Raphael Balian focused on was Eris, who cleared the way according to his plan, and me as the hero who put an end to the Storm Witch.
Balian said with a smile.
“But even if you abandon me like this, I am sincere in saying that you should rise to a higher position and not just be a general in the National Assembly.”
He did not see Isidor’s funeral.
We do not know that the death that Maximilien Isidor faced created countless people who would follow him and protect the revolution.
I answered Balian.
“That is not my way.”
Balian’s expression distorted.
“Do you plan to dedicate your loyalty and devotion to those who are still encroached by idealism and cannot see reality?”
I looked at him and opened my mouth.
“I absolutely hate the guillotine.”
Balian looked like he was saying such a stupid thing.
“The purpose of doing it humanely without suffering is good. It is an item that can cause death to a person very easily and quickly. “To the point where we forget that death is a terrible and miserable thing and make it seem like a kind of entertainment.”
“…I didn’t know that the Marquis, who fought more courageously than anyone else on the battlefield, had such emotions.”
I laughed and continued.
“To be more precise, I would hate the very act of driving others to death too easily just because they think differently, may be dangerous, or are a little intrusive. “The guillotine is both a tool and a symbol.”
Balian frowned.
“When the Marquis was my enemy, I believed that I could reach a compromise with the Marquis even if I had to stage a coup against him. But now that I’m gone from Franzia, such soft thinking will only hold you back.”
“Is that so?”
I laughed.
“The Marquis is a being who shakes the very meaning of the revolution just by existing. “I don’t know what it will be like as war approaches, but when the Marquis’ utility value runs out, they will definitely try to get rid of you.”
In order to prevent such a situation, we have strengthened our position in the National Assembly together with Christine.
Moreover, if Eris were crowned queen, she would be willing to pursue harmony.
Raphael Balian has no idea what cards I have prepared. But before that.
“Even if a coup that was carried out on such arbitrary presumption succeeds, how many people will have to die for the coup to be recognized and to quell opposition?”
How is that any different from the radicals who tried to kill Christine because they assumed we were a threat to the Republic?
“To gain power and achieve greater results, sacrifice is also necessary, Marquis. You surpassed me! “To think that the greatest hero of all in Francia would belittle his own value because he could not even pay such a price!”
Balian is more angry that I, who defeated him, am not following the path of the hero he wanted, than that he is dying.
“I don’t think so.”
Before returning.
Christine was nothing more than an ill-fated fiancée who died young from illness.
Although Eris was called a saint and did all kinds of good deeds, she was framed as a witch and died without being able to change anything.
Gaston remained an unknown knight who died while following me without even seeing the light of day.
Maximilien Isidor was nothing but an object of fear as the self-righteous executioner of the Republic.
But were all of them just that?
Before my return, I was just a nobleman who was executed on the guillotine for standing up to the threat of revolution.
“You can be much greater! A hero who will lead those fools! It must be the spirit of their times! “If I can’t do it, you have to do it!”
Just as the current Raphael Balian cannot escape his limitations, without the experiences I experienced after returning, I would have been nothing more than an ordinary human being.
A person can change so much with just a small opportunity and a small attempt.
Deje Mirbeau Talleyrand, etc. Even those who were not even aware of their existence before returning contain countless possibilities.
But since I am a greater hero than them, I have to sacrifice others for my sake.
A blue knight who swept the battlefield, sacrificing countless people for his own prestige.
The National Assembly attempted to exterminate the people of a region because they did not follow the values of the Republic.
Balian attempted to collapse the republic that was built through countless sacrifices in order to secure his own power and honor.
“no. I won’t be like that.”
I am not as sure as they are that I am absolutely right, nor am I arrogant enough to believe that I am superior to others in every way.
There is no reason for me to hold absolute power while making others unhappy and incurring resentment.
Christine will help me with anything I lack in strategy. If there really is someone who cannot compromise without killing them, she will find them first.
Selfless actions and harmony between the nobility and the third estate, which I cannot do, are possible for Eris.
The National Assembly, which has abandoned its original self-righteous and exclusive attitude, clearly has possibilities that we who have not escaped the limitations of aristocracy do not have.
I spoke to the enemy who had defeated me before my return and who I thought I could never overcome.
“Raphael Balian. I was able to win against you because I am not the hero you want.”
Balian made a blank expression and gave no further answer.
I said goodbye to him and turned my back.
Before returning, I walked down the road where I was taken for trial and execution.
A shadow of his life before his return, where he was called the shame of nobility and was swayed by fate without knowing what he was fighting for.
The man who defeated me and the man who denied me met their ends in different ways.
Raphael Balian, the hero of the Republic, is no more.
But I say no, we can surpass Raphael Balian.
From now on, the path we will show you, different from theirs, is the funeral song I will dedicate to them.
