Editing Rakuin no Monshou:Volume8 Chapter3 (section)

=== Part 1 ===

“Please wait,” changing his tone, one of them stepped towards Shique. Judging from his weapons, he was undoubtedly a Taúlian soldier. “Where are you going, Sir Shique? Your unit should not have received any orders this evening, I believe.”

There were seven or eight of them. Each of them set alight the torches in their hands at the same time. As his figure was brought to light by the fire, Shique desperately repressed his inner turmoil.

Judging by the fact that they had deliberately extinguished the fires and concealed themselves, they could not have followed him from Taúlia. The ambush had been set from the start. In other words, Orba’s surroundings must have been kept under vigilant surveillance for some time already.

Having been caught here, if the secret message tucked at his breast was found, the situation would veer off in the worst possible direction. It would probably not end well for Orba either. Shique deliberately plastered a smile on his face.

“Hello, thank you for your hard work. But isn’t this a bit overboard? I’m an ally, even if I am a Mephian.”

“I would like you to prove that. Could you come over here?”

Those who were surrounding Shique were subordinates of Natokk, the commander of the Sixth Army Corps. The one who had ordered them to keep watch on Orba was the lord of Taúlia, Ax Bazgan himself.

Because Orba had been quick to leave Eimen, Ax had become suspicious about his identity. It wasn’t that he particularly sensed signs of betrayal from him. But it was certain that Orba was no longer a disposable mercenary.

So Ax had instructed his men to follow Orba, ordering them to keep him under surveillance and to monitor his movements. His choice of who to put on the job was nothing more than coincidence, but when Natokk had received the order, a thought had struck to him...

Just at the same time, a certain rumour had been circulating among Natokk’s men. It concerned Orba, the hero who had defeated Garda.

Previously, Natokk’s unit had been the at the vanguard of the attack on Apta. While a detached force moved to the enemy’s rear, they had been tasked with drawing the enemy’s attention but, instead of catching Mephius in a trap, they had been the ones to fall into an ambush.

The one leading the unit which had performed that ambush was a swordsman in an iron mask.

He himself had not given his name as “Orba”. Once they had made peace with Mephius however, information from neighbouring countries far and wide had all at once become available. Of course, this included the many heroic activities accomplished in just under half a year by Gil Mephius, who had overcome Ax’s forces and who on top of that had made a peace settlement, and among that information were anecdotes about one of his subordinates, a mysterious masked swordsman. He had defeated Garbera’s great general Ryucown then had magnificently won the gladiatorial competition held in Mephius’ capital, Solon.

It seemed that his name was Orba.

The rumour had spread among Natokk’s subordinates. Natokk himself had heard it very shortly after Garda’s defeat. A masked swordsman of the same name. Natokk had only caught a glimpse of either of them, but their build looked the same.

''Is it a coincidence or…''

Just as he had been seized by a sudden suspicion, he had received orders from Ax to monitor Orba. Consequently, Natokk has tightened the watch on him more thoroughly than anyone else would have done if they had received those instructions.

Shique had been caught in that surveillance net.

“It’s exactly as though I was the enemy,” he put on a sulky expression even as he was conscious of being in a cold sweat. “The ones who defeated Garda was our unit. You can’t possibly be thinking that I’m a spy sent by Garda or by Mephius, can you?”

“I am requesting proof of that. If you can prove your innocence, as an apology for our rudeness, it will be our treat. It’s already so late. We could be relaxing and exchanging toasts.”

“So what? I shouldn’t have bothered coming to a country like this. Maybe I should tell Orba to hurry up and move the unit out?”	

Shique’s eyes darted about while he pretended to turn back.

Should I go back for now? He wondered but judging from the state of the soldiers, he would not be able to avoid an investigation if he turned on his heels now.

In that case  —

“Shit, this is stupid. I’ve had it with being a Taúlian mercenary. ''I’m'' going back to Mephius. Give my regards to the masked gentleman. Next time we meet, we’ll be on different sides. I accept that our bond was just that weak. But you can tell him that I won’t forgive him either.”

He had no choice but to drive his horse forward as soon as he saw a chance.

Afterwards, Orba would be able to treat him as a “deserter”. If the net stretched further, Orba would of course also be investigated but as long as the secret message didn’t come to light, as the hero who had saved the west, he should be able to pull through.

The net around Shique grew even narrower. The one in the lead raised the gun he held. Even if he spurred on his horse, his odds for success were fifty-fifty. Just as he was about to give a sharp kick to his horse’s flank —

“Uwah!”

“Ow, w-what the…”

The ring of soldiers was momentarily thrown into confusion. From the distance, stones had been thrown at them.

“Ahoy there, you Zerdian soldiers! You picking a fight with a member of our unit?”

The disconcerted soldiers shone the light towards the voice and a huge shadow suddenly came into view.

“Gilliam!”

Exactly as Shique’s shout indicated, the figure that had appeared was that of the giant mercenary Gilliam. He shook his mane-like hair and beard while giving a threatening smile.

“What’re you planning on doing if Mephius attacks again while you’re having your internal quarrel? If he wants to go, let him go.  A soldier who runs away at the last moment is useless from the start.”

“Please wait, Sir Gilliam. We haven’t – Yeow!”

The stone Gilliam threw hit the protesting soldier right on the nose. The Mephian was acting as flippant as though he were drunk.

“Oi, Shique. We’ve known each other for a long time but this is goodbye. Wherever it is you’re going, get out of here fast. But mark my words, if we meet on the battlefield, I won’t let you off. I’ve been thinking for a while now that you’re obnoxious so if I see you, I’ll go straight for your head.”

“That’s exactly what I was hoping for,” Shique laughed cheerfully.

“Wait. Bastards, doing what you please…”

Several of the soldiers turned on Gilliam. Even though he was hurling stones at them, they closed in on him them and tried to subdue him. Gilliam however easily took on the charging soldiers and knocked them down.

''Now''.

Seizing his chance the moment their attention was distracted, Shique gave a sharp kick to his horse’s flank. With a neigh, the horse started sprinting forward.

“W-Wait!”

The Taúlian soldiers tried to hurriedly grab the horse’s neck or Shique’s feet, but their hands missed. Carried on his horse, Shique was about to disappear into the darkness beyond their lights.

“Shit!”

The soldiers had received strict orders from Natokk. One of them raised the gun he had been pulling out. He was going to aim for the horse, but its shape had already been almost entirely swallowed up by the shadows. Although his aim wasn’t fixed, he still pulled the trigger.

A gunshot.

Along with it, the shadow on horseback seemed to jerk violently; but maybe he had merely been grazed, or maybe he just been surprised by the sound of the shot, as he immediately righted his posture and disappeared from sight.

Left behind, Gilliam laughed cheerfully. The soldiers soon all crowded around him but even though he could no longer move, he still laughed.

''Hmph''. Inwardly, the one he was jeering at was himself. ''Achieving all these feats and thinking our treatment would change from when we were gladiators''.

Gilliam hadn’t leapt into action because he had understood everything that Orba and Shique were aiming for. It was simply that he couldn’t stand how Shique, after it having been just him and Orba in the medical office, had sneakily moved around alone. Actually, the one he found “obnoxious” was that boy whose thoughts were impossible to understand.

But —

''That guy always makes his moves to win.''

He certainly recognised that. And so, he thought that if necessary, he might just lend his strength for the sake of that. He thought that if he wielded his axe near where that boy was, he might see something beyond what he had known until now.

''At any rate, the crown prince of Mephius and the hero of the west. There aren’t two such interesting guys in this world.''

In the past, Gilliam had once been a soldier who had sided with a certain faction. Having lost that fight, he had fallen into slavery and had swung swords and axes as a gladiator. Currently, he was in the middle of gaining renown as a mercenary.

But what could the position of mercenary lead to? If his was going to be a life of brandishing steel without using his brain, he should at least choose the more interesting option.

Gilliam continued pretending to be drunk and spat at the soldier who was trying to tie him up. When the soldier flinched, he laughed out loud. Even when he caught a hard blow to the stomach, he didn’t feel a thing.
 



Without wasting any time, Natokk’s subordinates went to the barracks of the Fifth Army Corps where Orba was. When they kicked down the door, he was sitting up in bed.

He wore his mask.

But he had not armed himself with a sword or a gun. What he had in his hands was a book.

“What business do you have with me in the middle of the night?” Orba asked. It was impossible to tell what his expression was but through the mask his eyes glittered sharply.

For a moment, the brawny Zerdian soldiers held their breath. Although he had no weapon nearby, they had the chilling feeling that any moment now he would grab them with his bare hands.

At that moment, Orba’s anger was certainly boundless. It had been that way since he had heard the gunshot, but it was not aimed at them.   

One of the soldiers came back to his senses.

“I am very sorry but I would ask you to come with us. If there are any personal belongings you need to take, please prepare them at once.”

The soldiers were armed with bayonets but they did not point them towards him.

“There’s nothing,” Orba shrugged. “I don’t need anything. I’ll follow you. Oh, but…”

“But?”

His eyes glinted dangerously in the dark and for a moment, the soldiers once more held their breath. But what Orba said was —

“Don’t touch my mask. It was a present from Princess Esmena. No one is to lay a single finger on it.”