Editing Tales of Leo Attiel:Volume2 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 1===


Later historians would say that in his life, Sovereign-Prince Magrid Attiel of Atall had greatly misread the situation on three occasions.

The first was seven years earlier.

Atall was a country with a long history. After the collapse of the Magic Dynasty which had united the world, the continent was engulfed in the torrents of chaos, and Atall was one of the countries which had been born as though it had come crawling out from those waves. But, turning one’s eyes to the west, the mighty Allion, a nation with an even longer history, and with a size more than several times that of Atall, had settled its massive bulk right next to the principality.

So as not to be crushed underfoot, Atall inevitably studied the mood of this large country on every occasion. It could even be said that the length of Atall’s history corresponded to the length of time that it had been sending envoys and tribute to Allion.

Southeast of Allion and to the west-northwest when looking from Atall, there was a kingdom called Shazarn. In terms of territory, it was slightly larger than Atall, but in terms of its financial power, it far exceeded Atall, thanks in part to its close relationship with the northern coastal countries, and the prosperous trade that went with it. It was said that when it came to the number of their guns – cannons and firearms – Shazarn could even hold its own against Allion, and so its surroundings whispered that it was ‘the Silent Ruler’.

There was an area where the borders of the three countries – Allion, Atall and Shazarn – met. Because of the nature of that region, skirmishes had broken out time and again, but, throughout the long years of history, it had served as something of a buffer zone between the three of them, and no matter how fiercely they glared at each other from across it, none of them forayed too deeply into it.

Then Shazarn suddenly built a fortress there. They hired groups of marauding soldiers – mercenaries who acted on a country’s orders but who frequently concealed or lied about where they were from or who their employers were – and repeatedly sent them to that area, to drive out the gangs of bandits and vagrant thieves who tried to settle there, or else to bring those men under their influence and borrow their help to construct the fortress. After which, Shazarn sent in regular soldiers one after another.

The general in charge of defending Allion’s northeast border was astounded by this, and he immediately flung open his castle gates and led an onslaught against the fortress. For Shazarn, this was completely unexpected. When undertaking military action that involved crossing the border, a commander should naturally first ask their king to make a decision, and Shazarn had judged that since Allion’s territory was vast, it would take time simply to send a message to the royal capital.

However, Allion’s king, who had been enthroned in his twenties, vigorously crushed any opposition through sheer might. From time immemorial, it has been said that retainers take their cue from their liege’s personality, and this border general too followed his king’s way of doing things.

''If I carelessly let things slide, it’ll be too late afterwards'' – he decided for himself, so before anything else, he sent out messengers requesting reinforcements from the nearby forts and towns, while he himself set out with a party of five hundred soldiers to lead an assault.

Facing his manoeuvre, the fortress took hurried action. They naturally sent messengers to their own country, Shazarn, but they also requested reinforcements from Atall, which was closer to their location than Shazarn was.
Atall had long had good relations with Shazarn, and had, from the start, taken part in building the fortress. In those days, Allion was active in expanding its territory, and the cooperation between the two countries stemmed in part from the fear of not knowing when Allion might extend its reach eastwards. In fact, it could well be said that the king of Allion’s towering ambitions had caused Shazarn’s apparently abrupt actions.

From Atall’s point of view, rather than having a border in direct contact with such a dangerous military force, it would be preferable to have the ‘Silent Ruler’ become a wall for them. Sovereign-Prince Magrid immediately assembled more than five hundred of his troops and sent them to the fortress.

In that, however, he had misread the situation.

At the time, in Shazarn, the king had begun to hint that he was thinking of abdicating. A fight for the throne was secretly being fought between the two princes and the king’s younger brother. Building a fortress in the neutral zone at the border was the sole decision of one of the young princes, who was trying to get a step ahead in that struggle, and it had never been the king of Shazarn’s wish.

Moreover, that young prince had apparently naively believed that:

“We won’t be attacking any of Allion’s keeps, so you can’t say that we’re seizing a part of their territory. Allion is currently filled with enemies inside the country, without even mentioning those outside of it. They won’t go all-out for something like us building a single fort.”

On top of that, the bold general who had launched an assault against the fortress suffered because of that same boldness. He repeatedly assailed the fort, but the reinforcements from Atall attacked him from behind and he died in battle. 

Worse was yet to come. 

Those at the fortress were drunk on their victory. Setting aside the regular soldiers, the prince of Shazarn did not have the makings of a commander capable of harmoniously uniting this group of bandits and marauders, as well as the reinforcements from Atall. Quite the opposite; the prince rode on the wave of momentum and personally led an invasion into the deceased general’s territory. Villages were looted at the hands of savage soldiers, and even the castle town was set ablaze.

The king of Allion was enraged. At the time, he had been in the region of the southwestern Kilawoo Mountains, engaged in a standoff against a rebellious territory, so he plucked a thousand men from his camp there and, for five days, almost without pause, he rode hard towards the north. On the sixth day, after riding for part of it, he swooped down on those invading his territory. 

No matter how well-maintained Allion’s highways might be, that speed was extraordinary. And it too came down to the fact that Allion’s vigorous and resilient king was in command. Lacking experience because of his youth, the prince of Shazarn was no match for him. Forced further and further back as the king of Allion pressed forward, he might have been expected to barricade himself in the fortress, but, contrary to all expectations, he passed straight by it, and before anyone had time to realise what was happening, he had already holed himself up in his own country’s territory.

Once Shazarn’s soldiers had withdrawn, the only ones left were the bandits, the marauders and the troops from Atall. Naturally, they fled too. The fortress that Shazarn had built burned to the ground in no time at all.

After that, negotiations were conducted between Allion, Shazarn and Atall. The territory that had once been the neutral zone between borders was given to Claude Anglatt, a general from Allion who had distinguished himself during the war, with the result that Shazarn’s border was pushed to the north, while Atall was forced to send its second prince, Leo Attiel, as a hostage to Allion.

That was the first occasion on which Sovereign-Prince Magrid had misread the situation.

Seven years had passed since the war. For a time, the relationship between Allion and Atall seemed to have reverted to calm, but then a change occurred. Relations worsened between Conscon Temple, which was situated within the neutral zone, and Allion, which had once funded the temple and promoted its reconstruction.

In response to the temple’s request, Magrid Attiel sent reinforcements. Although they did not take part from the start, unlike the time with Shazarn, the situation was very similar.

Tensions sprang up again between Atall and Allion. On Allion’s side, they dispatched an envoy to find out what Atall’s real intentions were. Sovereign-Prince Magrid was hard-pressed to give an answer, but judging from Hayden, the envoy’s, attitude, he guessed that Allion was not planning on immediately sending troops, and it seemed that they had just barely managed to maintain a semblance of friendly relations.

Additionally, an unexpected but happy situation occurred.

It concerned Lord Leo Attiel, who had been sent to Allion as a hostage. Although given that he had escaped from Allion, the prince might potentially have become a new source of conflict with them, he now announced that he had pledged his future with Florrie, the daughter of General Anglatt, in whose custody he had been placed. It was at a banquet at which Hayden had been the guest of honour, but thunderous applause filled the hall. 

Not having been informed of any of it, Magrid was taken by surprise, but he quickly realised that this was not a bad idea. Once the marriage was completed, far from being a source of conflict, Leo would become a good link with Allion. The only thing was that since General Anglatt was an upstart, he had no connection to Allion’s royal family. It would be a lie to say that Magrid was unconcerned about that, but, for now, he was not in a position to aim too high.

“Is that true, Leo?” Magrid also clapped his hands. After which, “Really, in sending my son away, I had intended for him to broaden his perspective, but then he goes and finds himself a bride. I guess you can’t fight the Attiel blood, huh?”

He joked and made everyone laugh. He glanced towards his wife, the princess-consort, to get her approval, but as she responded with an unamused expression, he quickly cleared his throat. Nevertheless, there was no doubt that Sovereign-Prince Magrid welcomed the announcement.

That was the second occasion on which he misread the situation.

The hall was enveloped in a harmonious mood, but Lord Leo Attiel’s announcement was in no way likely to strengthen the relationship between the two countries, and was instead a ‘declaration of war’ from Atall to Allion – or rather, from Lord Leo to the Allian aristocrat, Hayden Swift.

But then, perhaps it was too harsh to blame Magrid for misreading the situation. The only one there who had realised Leo’s real intention was Hayden Swift, who was staring intently at Leo, his face ashen. In other words, within that hall that was filled with warm applause, it was only between Leo and Hayden that feelings of furious enmity were colliding.



Speaking of declarations of war, Leo had already received one from Hayden. It was he who had first said that, “Atall’s peace is just like the feed tossed to cattle. It won’t last for long.”

It was nothing less than a declaration of his intention to burn Atall to the ground. For a moment, Leo had not thought that he was serious, but when he noticed how unnatural Florrie’s attitude was as she announced to everyone that she would be returning home, he had realised, ''that man would actually do it''. It was only now that he realised how this man had worked out scheme after scheme to get his hands on Florrie.

For a moment, the capital, Tiwana, appeared in Leo’s mind; set alight at Hayden’s hands, its buildings burning down. The people who were running about, trying to flee, were cut down one after another by Allion’s soldiers. Hayden Swift watched as women, children and the elderly were run through with spears. He wore a faint smile, and Florrie was at his side, his hand on her waist.

''That ''was what Hayden had said he would do.

Which was why Leo had also spoken.

“I’ll show it you. How Atall, how this second-born prince, Lord Leo, will turn the tables on you.”

He had spent more than six years as a hostage in a foreign country, and he was a prince who had rarely openly displayed his emotions before now. His anger, sadness and joy all seemed to be wrapped up in a cloth, which they never came out from. He frequently did not even now what kind of expression he himself was showing at any given time. In that moment, those feelings that he had been accumulating for six years and more had condensed and transformed into a single arrow which were fitted to a bow drawn as tightly as it would go before being released at full power.

Hayden Swift – the enemy pierced by that arrow – staggered and stared astounded at Leo. And Leo Attiel savoured unparalleled delight.

But that too lasted no more than an instant. Hayden’s face slowly turned scarlet from rage and, as if keeping pace with it, Leo's joy faded. ''I might have done something that can never be undone'', a surging sense of regret completely shrouded his delight at his victory.

Allion was, of course, a great power. Even if all of Atall fought against it, they did not have a one in a million chance of victory. Which meant that the words which had ridden on the arrow he had just fired might have been no more than an incantation to bring ruin and destruction to his native land.

While Leo might have gotten frightened at Hayden’s furious expression, now that he understood its true nature as well as what lay behind it, there was no longer anything dignified about it. On the contrary, Leo could see that the essence of Hayden’s anger was that of a childish and vain man filled with a distorted desire to monopolise what he wanted, and a desire to flaunt his own power.

For a while, Leo and Hayden continued their silent exchange of emotions, carried out only through their gazes, but this too did not last long.

“Congratulations, Prince.”

“Congratulations!”

Wine cups in hand, men and women of all ages crowded around Leo to express their delight. Even though they had been curious about Leo, there was a world of difference with how they had earlier hesitated to even stand around talking with him. By nature, Leo was always flustered when he had to appear before a large number of people, yet this time, perhaps because he had only recently put on an act in front of Oswell and Bernard, he was able to receive all of their congratulations with a smile.

“Thank you very much.”

His heart was learning to feel relaxed enough to calmly return their good wishes.

On this occasion, the entire crowd converged on Leo. Everyone wanted to hear about the start of his romance with Florrie, and about his life in Allion. Although Leo was still under some strain, he managed to answer them more or less tactfully.

During all of that, from the corner of his eye, Leo caught sight of Hayden addressing Sovereign-Prince Magrid. He seemed to be requesting permission to withdraw. The sovereign-prince nodded and called to gather everyone’s attention, once more saying a few words in celebration of the good relationship with Allion.

Hayden crossed the hall and walked straight towards Leo, who could not avoid tensing up. Hayden passed him by without pausing, sending him only a slight bow. Observers would not even have been able to see it.

In that instant, however – 

“Remember this,” he whispered. “Brat, I’ll take Florrie to bed in front of your severed head.”

He darted no sharp glare towards Leo. It was only that there was a darkness within his eyes. Leo remembered the first time he had been anywhere near Hayden; the Allian noble had worn the exact same expression while pouring scorn on Leo and on Atall.

Although he had an air of being terribly level-headed, in fact, and just as Leo had earlier sensed, Hayden was as immature as a child who had yet to grow up. In spite of that, he could not, of course, be dismissed as “nothing but a child” since he was a high-ranking noble from the great country of Allion, and one whose position allowed him to be entrusted with diplomatic missions such as his current role of envoy.

At the very least, compared to Leo, who was not in a position to freely move even a single soldier, he held some ‘power’. And he had both the ability to take action and the ambition to put that power into practice. The proof of that was that he had come to Atall Palace according to his own wish.

''How does he intend to wield his ‘power’ next?''

Before long, Hayden’s retreating back passed out of sight, but Leo was inwardly plunged in worried thoughts, even as he was still surrounded by people offering him their congratulations.