Episode 95. The War to Defend the Revolution – Selfish Selflessness
Alsace Front.
Damien de Mirbeau’s unusual plan to evade artillery fire and hide the size of his troops by digging a trench across the river and hiding in it worked very well.
The enemy was unable to hastily attack Damien’s army, who did not even know the size of his army across the river, and wasted time by struggling around. The Count of Baden, who was so angry that he clumsily challenged Damien to a duel despite being a knight and lost, was truly a lucky messenger for Damien.
Even so, Duke Gunhild, who had been caught in a panic by the trench ship that Damien had grandiosely named ‘Mirbosun’, was wasting time negotiating the liberation of the Count of Baden.
Of course, the Count of Baden, who would take full responsibility for it, was begging for his death, but from Damien’s point of view, who had to hold down Duke Gunhild with a small force, it was a perfect progression.
So, it was like that until yesterday.
“This is ridiculous! “This is ridiculous!”
Damien de Mirbeau cried, tearing out his head.
Duke Gunhild, who had been passive in negotiating the exchange ransom for the Count of Baden until the day before, suddenly announced the breakdown of negotiations and began preparing for an offensive.
Up to that point, it could still be thought that Archduke Leopold had given the order.
The real problem came from somewhere else.
Damien looked up at the sky with cursed eyes.
The sky covered with dark clouds and pouring rain.
There was no way that an improvised trench that was simply dug into the ground could have any drainage function, and in the end, Damien’s army had to abandon the dug trench.
Naturally, Duke Gunhild clearly saw that Damien’s army that was holding him was very small.
Even if you didn’t do that, you would be gritting your teeth because you realized that you were being deceived even though you were preparing for an offensive.
Even if the rain stops, the water in the trenches will not drain immediately, so it is clear that as soon as the rain stops and the ground hardens, Duke Gunhild’s artillery will cross the river, crushing his army.
“We’re ruined now, we’re ruined…”
Damien muttered gloomily, holding his soaked military uniform cap in his hand.
“Cheer up, Your Excellency. Still, you’ve done a good job stopping it so far, haven’t you? The Marquis de Lafayette also appreciates your outstanding service-”
“You should not have reported it like that!”
His loyal knight, Peter de Casel, tried to console him, but Damien writhed and expressed belated regret.
When I reported to the Marquis de Lafayette that we were fighting hard and fighting well, I had no idea something like this would happen.
He should have reported it as an emergency situation that could lead to a retreat at any time, but if he reported it as if there was no problem and just kicked
him out of here… Damien quietly made insidious threats with the Marquis de Lafayette, who had caught him and threatened him several times. I trembled as I remembered the Count of Aquitaine speaking.
“My masterpiece ‘Mirboseon’ was perfect, but it was rain. Rain at a time like this. Anyway, I’m out of luck and nothing works!”
Sir Kazel spoke as Damien was screaming.
“Your Excellency the Count. “It appears to be a messenger.”
“messenger? “What kind of messenger again?”
Just yesterday I was told to do the same since I was doing well, but in one day?
The officer who was the messenger rode his horse like a completely drowned rat and came in front of Damien.
“I meet His Excellency Count Damien de Mirbeau! “Sent by His Excellency the Marquis Pierre de Lafayette!”
“Tell me quickly, what is it about?”
The messenger took out the order he had been keeping in his arms, blocked the rain with his body, and handed it to Damien.
“The order may get wet due to the rain, so we will hand it over orally for now! “The main force will abandon Metz and retreat to Nancy, so your Excellency is ordering you to move back and join us!”
“Uh what?”
“Archduke Leopold’s army would have occupied Metz by now, sir! “You must retreat to avoid being surrounded!”
News that is almost tragic news that the enemy has occupied a key frontline location.
But Damien’s face immediately filled with joy.
“I understand! Thanks for coming and telling the story! I’ll prepare some warm drinks for you! “Just take a moment to warm up and then go ahead and tell His Excellency the Marquis de Lafayette that this Damien de Mirbeau will carry out his orders right away!”
“Huh? “Yes, I understand…”
While not only the officers but also Kazel were shocked, Damien shouted excitedly as he looked at the enemy camp across the river visible through the pouring rain.
“Hahaha, Damien de Mirbeau, the master of this defense, is withdrawing! See you next time, you idiots!”
While Duke Gunhild was stranded on the other side of the river due to rain and mud, Damien de Mirbeau withdrew from Alsace with his 10,000 troops without a single battle.
* * *
Nancy, the capital of the former Duchy of Lorraine in eastern Francia.
While the spring rain is pouring down, thunder and lightning are falling occasionally in the sky.
The weather, which had been clear just a few days ago, suddenly changed, but I was lucky.
If my decision had been a little late, I would have been crushed by Archduke Leopold’s offensive without being able to retreat in time and would have been routed in the rain.
If that had been the case, the army would have suffered enormous damage.
However, a well-timed rain would increase the fatigue of the Imperial Army, which was just securing Metz and Alsace, and hinder its reorganization.
It could be said that it was a successful skirmish since we successfully fought a skirmish with the sacrifice of 5,000 men against a force nearly twice as large led by Archduke Leopold, but…
I was faced with a different problem.
“Welcome, Your Excellency the Marquis.”
I was greeted by Sir Frédéric de Beaumont, a knight of the royal guard of Eris, now queen, and Jenny, a maid.
“How is your Majesty the Queen?”
“He told me to bring him inside if he came looking for me.”
“…okay. “Then tell me.”
Jenny bowed her head to me and knocked on the door.
“Her Majesty the Marquis de Lafayette has arrived.”
“Come on in.”
The voice that came from inside the room was far from the lively and bright feeling that Eris usually gave.
A thin and weak voice.
I took a deep breath and stepped inside.
A room lit by the soft light of a magic lamp.
Eris sat down on the bed and welcomed me.
“Welcome, Marquis.”
“…Her Majesty the Queen.”
I sat down on the chair next to the bed.
Eris’s pale skin, which was originally white, was turning slightly red.
Eris’ purple eyes seemed a little blurry, so I bit my lip lightly.
“I don’t think you’re okay, Your Majesty.”
“Iknow, right. “I don’t think I’m okay.”
Eris seemed to be having a hard time keeping her head together and asked while smiling awkwardly.
“Can we just lie down and talk?”
“…Of course, Your Majesty.”
Without hesitation, Eris lay down on the bed and looked up at me.
“…your majesty.”
Eris looked at me silently and opened her mouth.
“Can’t we just treat each other like normal now?”
As usual.
“Now you are Her Majesty the Queen.”
Eris said with a faint smile.
“…I’m sick right now, so please take care of me.”
“If you want that.”
“thank you.”
Eris blinked her purple eyes slowly and looked at the magic light on the ceiling with blank eyes.
“I heard you’re healthy and have never caught a cold.”
“I guess I overdid it a bit.”
In the last battle, while I was traveling between Metz and the Moselle Plain as a fire brigade, Eris used her divine power to directly protect the main force on the Moselle Plain and fought.
After exerting her divine power several times over the course of two days, Eris became completely ill.
This is something I completely overlooked.
When we first met, Eris stumbled because she had reached her limit just by healing dozens of wounded people in a small village.
However, it has now reached a level where it can single-handedly block many of the artillery bombardments of the Germanian Empire.
I don’t know if her divine power increased as she grew up, or if the reverence of those who were influenced by seeing Eris’ activities strengthened her power as a saint.
There are very few precedents in history about the existence of a saint, so we don’t know anything about it.
However, as a result, Eris’ abilities are beyond the level of being called an Irregular, and she is a surprising tactical help.
Before relying on Eris without hesitation just because she wanted it, she should have thought about whether that level of ability would really be worthless.
“…That’s too much of an effort. “You don’t know the price of your power, Eris.”
At first glance, this is different from just feeling a little sick from something like a cold.
The appearance of Eris lying down is completely lifeless, and it looks as if the pure white saint who originally lacks pigment will disappear.
Eris was blank and then slowly opened her mouth.
“But didn’t I help you?”
“…It helped. whopping.”
The troops brought by Archduke Leopold were not simply numerous.
Perhaps due to the limitations of improvised troops, their level of training did not seem to be high, but their equipment was actually better than ours.
In particular, there were a lot of artillery units, so if Eris had not properly blocked us, our losses would have been much higher than they are now.
“But I wanted you to be helpful, I didn’t put you on the battlefield expecting you to push yourself to this point. Even more so now you are the queen.”
“…I’m not dying, so what if I just get a little sick? “The hundreds of lives I saved are more precious than one queen.”
Eris said with a faint smile, but I firmly denied it.
“No, your life is more precious.”
Eris’ expression froze, but I continued speaking.
“You don’t lose a war even if hundreds of soldiers die. But if you die while wasting your life like this, the people who saved you hundreds of times will eventually die, and tens of thousands of people will lose their morale.
“I think that’s a bit too much.”
“You asked me to hide your pain before I judged you. “It’s not like you don’t know at all.”
Eris frowned and covered her eyes with her hands.
After a long moment of silence, Eris opened her mouth.
“I’m having a hard time right now. I know the Marquis is saying this for me, but it’s something. “I… hate it so much.”
Eris, who complained like that, had just turned 20, so I also said with a wry smile.
“…Okay, I’ll stop. “Once the rain stops and we join Count Mirbeau, we will abandon Nancy and retreat to Valois.”
“yes? Do you throw it away here too?”
“Even though Verdun has a military fortress, we need to gain another rotation to protect it. “It’s too much for your physical condition.”
There is still a large gap in troops and a large gap in the number of guns. Even if we give up eastern Lorraine and Alsace, we should buy time for Eris to recover.
“You’ll be fine if you rest a little. If we just give this up, the morale of the soldiers will drop…”
I sighed.
“Didn’t you look in the mirror? With a face that looks like it’s going to die at any moment. “Why on earth do you go to such lengths for this?”
“Mother…”
“You lived affluently during your short stay in the palace as a child, so you have to sacrifice your life to serve this country? “Did your mother really want that?”
There was a cold silence and I stood up.
“…I’m sorry. Get some rest. “It’s not something to say to someone who is sick, but I’ll go.”
“Don’t go.”
Eris called me to me in a weak and faint voice and as I turned my head, tears flowed down the corners of her eyes.
“My story. … Will you listen?”
“If you want.”
“My mother was a really good person. Be kind and dignified to everyone. “Even though I was loved and luxuriated by Abama in the palace, she always taught me that there were poor people out there and that I should be grateful.”
As Eris said that, her face was filled with deep love and pride.
“…I guess Abama was worried that when she passed away, our mother and daughter would be caught up in a dispute over the succession. So I ordered Uncle Frank to leave the palace.”
Eris was silent for a moment and then smiled bitterly.
“Of course, I didn’t know the circumstances. I just vaguely thought I was going on a trip. “I brought some accessories with me, but my mother and Uncle Frank were people from high society, so they didn’t know how to do anything like housekeeping.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“So we hired a servant, but perhaps because we were too clueless, he ran away with our belongings during the night. It was difficult from then on. I lived in the palace enjoying all the luxuries, but I had no talent for making money right away and it was difficult to even find cheap food that didn’t suit my taste…”
“Lord Beaumont managed to stay behind.”
“Uncle Frank has secretly admired my mother since he was a knight of the royal guard.”
“What what?”
Eris laughed.
“…It wasn’t that kind of relationship. Uncle Frank was a steadfast and loyal knight. But if you look at it from the side for a long time, it’s all obvious.”
“Yeah…”
“I think I was immature back then, so I just whined and got irritated at my mother. … When I think about it now, my mother had a hard time just like me, living in luxury but staying hidden for fear of being harmed if she came out and found out about other royals.”
Eris had a faint look on her face.
“My mother quickly fell into severe depression. You may have become like that because you were tired of the reality that was so different from the ideals you had, but after the person who was always elegant and kind ended up like that, I also regretted it later.
From then on, Uncle Frank and I learned to work in order to take care of our mother in any way we could. Fortunately, there were only good people, so we were able to make a living.”
“Okay, so I guess I didn’t have any feelings towards the commoners.”
In general, it would not have been surprising if the royal family, who enjoyed luxury, had been robbed by servants and become destitute.
“…I did. My mother’s depression got worse day by day, and she cursed the employee who stole and criticized me for being immature. When he was in the palace, he looked like someone who taught people that they should serve the people. … It got worse and worse, and eventually it got to the point where my mother was dying…”
Eris laughed.
“It was a very selfish feeling, wasn’t it? “I was immature, and when my mother was at her most difficult, I treated her poorly and she ended up like that. But that didn’t work, so I prayed to God for help, and he granted my wish.”
That smile shakes like a piece of broken glass and I can’t take my eyes off it.
“When I used my powers to save my dying mother, all my depression went away, and for the first time in a long time, I became as sweet and warm as when I was at the palace. I was so happy that God helped me and I said I would repay God by doing many good things.”
Even though I’m smiling, I’m constantly shedding tears.
“My mother also smiled and said that it would be nice if I could live like that. “The next day, when he returned from treating the sick in the village, he hung himself.”
“….”
“I still don’t know why. Is it because my abilities are lacking that my depression quickly returns? Or did you take revenge on your bad daughter? Or is it a punishment from God for receiving divine power with a selfish heart?”
For a while, the only sound was sobbing.
After a while, Eris opened her mouth again in a quiet voice.
“I’m a totally bad kid. Your mother is probably a bad person too. “I was a good person. I would have been a good person, but I was such a bad child that my mother died a bad person.”
It’s not your fault.
It’s easy to say, but is it okay for me, a third party, to say this with a light heart?
Only after a while did Eris speak in her usual cheerful voice.
“…The princess who was praised as a saint is actually such a selfish, foolish, and bad child.”
However, to me it sounded like a difficult imitation of a bright and cheerful tone.
“…I am not the kind of person who would say that the Marquis is better than the lives of hundreds of people. I’m sure there were people more qualified than me, but I was blessed with abilities beyond my means. Because my mother said she hoped I would live my life doing many good things. I thought that if I worked hard like this, God would forgive me and my mother for our sins.
Eris smiled at me.
“I’m doing this for such selfish reasons, so please let me do as much as I can. … I have no choice but to do it. “Not for others, but for myself.”
Is this an extremely selfish altruism?
I was silent for a moment and then answered.
“Okay, I’ll let you do as much as you can. But I make the decision to decide the battlefield.”
Eris blinked slowly.
“If you are a queen, a saint, or a princess, and stand on the battlefield, follow my orders as the commander of the military. I cannot tolerate being reckless and quickly falling over and not being able to use it. “More than anything, a valuable card is trying to destroy itself. If you let that happen, you are not qualified to be a commander.”
“…That’s how you say you won’t let me overdo it. Are you saying that you will eventually abandon this place and step down?”
“okay. Even if you lose land, you can get it back if you have people. But if you protect the land and lose the people, in the end there will be nothing left.”
I looked straight into Eris’ purple eyes and said.
“I make the judgment and take responsibility. As long as you are queen and do your best to protect the soldiers on the front line, that is enough. I will treat you appropriately so that you can use your skills to save as many lives as possible for as long as possible. Until one day, you can say with your own mouth that if you have done something like this, you will be proud of it.”
“…What is it? A general who manipulates the queen as he pleases?”
“Even after becoming a queen, she is too ambitious and unable to manage herself, so I have no choice but to help her as a loyalist. “If you are going to show your altruism selfishly, I will help you more efficiently. By force.”
Eris laughed incredulously with tear stains on her face.
“I should have known from the beginning when you were a fraudulent sponsor, but you are a ruthless believer.”
“That’s quite elaborate.”
I smiled at him too.
“I think you are a very reckless queen.”
