Editing Tales of Leo Attiel:Volume4 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 1===


Most of Darren's army was made up of hired mercenaries. Although that single word, 'mercenaries', actually covered a wide range of situations and realities, in this particular case, there was a very simple connection: when the money ended, so did the relationship. They had lost the guarantee of being paid when their employer, Darren Actica, had fallen, and now all that remained was to save their own life by escaping.

Olt Rose, Darren's castle, was emptied in the blink of an eye. Savan sent out more soldiers who met up with Kuon's unit, and together, they occupied the castle while clearing up any groups of enemy soldiers who showed any signs of still wanting to resist. Soon after, and once he had paid and dismissed the youths hired from the villages, Leo Attiel entered Olt Rose with Camus and the other warrior monks.

‘’Is that Lord Leo?’’

The people of the castle town peered up at him with fear or curiosity as he rode by.

‘’What the... he still looks like a child.’’

‘’So he's the one who defeated Lord Darren?’’

There were, of course, no cheers or acclamations, but since the town around the castle had fortunately suffered no damage, it didn't look like its populace felt any deep-seated hatred for Leo. This was due to another of Leo's instructions to Kuon and Savan: he had strictly forbidden the victorious troops from breaking into town houses after the castle had fallen and seizing women and goods, or from randomly capturing and imprisoning anyone they didn't like the look of in the name of 'hunting for survivors'.

Having said that, Darren Actica had not been particularly cruel towards his people – the story behind the massacre on the day of the festival was not yet known – and so, naturally, there were many who lamented and grieved over his death. It was obvious, however, that they would prioritise their own safety and that of their family, so there was practically no one who openly displayed hostility towards the prince's soldiers.

Riding alongside Leo as they paraded down the streets, Camus felt shivers across the back of his neck for some reason. He had experienced victory before. When he was in Conscon, there had been more times than he could count when he had used the spearmanship of which he was so proud to send bands of ruffians packing. There had also been a number of victories since he started following Leo, including the one against Hayden. But the 'taste' of this victory felt different from the others. Or perhaps the fights that he had experienced up until then had finally allowed him to distinguish the 'taste' of battles?

Camus could not conceal his excitement.

‘’At one point, I really thought it might be impossible. We were forced to withdraw from Olt Rose, this very same castle, and seemed about to be invaded by Darren in return. The prince was in despair as well. I thought the fires of war were going to snatch away things I care for again.’’

‘’But so what? We won. We drove back that pack of fiends, and the prince can stride into this city that was once a den of evil with a crucifix hanging across his chest.’’

Thinking about it, Leo's actions had set everything in motion. For better or for worse, there was nothing half-hearted about how he carried out what he did – nor did he simply think about taking action, like others would – and he forced the situation to move even if it meant kicking through it and crushing it.

This was the decisive difference between Leo and Bishop Rogress, or Abbott Tom who had taken care of Camus in the past. Although he loved and revered both of them even now, there was no denying that they fell short of his idea of what holy men should be. In that sense, Lord Leo could be seen as a certain embodiment of Camus' ideals. There was no end to his exaltation.

‘’Even now, His Highness isn't particularly ardent about the faith, but if I stay by his side and take the time to reach his mind and instil the teachings in him, then, one day, His Highness Lord Leo will certainly become an envoy in God's employ in this world.’’

‘’Oh,’’ that's ‘’it.’’

That ‘’was God's plan in bringing the prince and me together. Both Abbot Tom and Bishop Rogress disappeared as I travelled along my path. But it's different this time. This time, it's the other way around, and I'm part of the path that Lord Leo is travelling. If an arrow comes flying from his destination, I will serve as his shield; if the road becomes impassable, my body  will serve as a bridge; if there is no more light along the way, I will take the lead and venture into the darkness... that is the mission that I've received from God.’’

Camus was so delighted with the idea that he rode along in ecstasy. This must be what it meant to feel as if his body and mind were dissolving. This was what laymen experienced when they slept with a fine woman or drank good wine. Those were states that had little connection to Camus but, for the first time, he felt like he could understand them. The pleasure was causing him to lose his balance, and, at one point, he was in danger of falling off his horse.

While the young warrior monk's heart was writhing with new sensations, Leo Attiel's expression never brightened. When he had been travelling along the way to Olt Rose, he had met with a messenger sent by Savan. According to his report, there had been a little under three hundred casualties at the marketplace. Fortunately, the church was unharmed, and Savan's messenger had also been carrying a letter from Bishop Bosc. It explained that most of those who had perished had – except for those whose families had claimed their remains – been buried in the churchyard. The messenger had also said that Savan was doing everything he could to compensate the merchants for their lost goods.

Still, damage had been kept to a minimum thanks to Kuon having rushed over. That was a profound relief for Leo, and he felt like he wanted to hug Kuon the moment he met him again. His feeling of happiness that there had not been more lives lost in vain was even greater than his sense of accomplishment at having won.

However... taken another way, it meant that if Kuon had arrived late, or if he had been unable to bring back reinforcements in the first place, then the marketplace would have fallen, and there would now be far more than three hundred corpses, none of them with graves.

Kuon had not brought reinforcements on Leo's orders. Which was why Leo, seeing no hope for victory, had for a time been ready to accept defeat. It was that realisation that clouded the prince's expression. The drawbridge at Olt Rose had just been lowered, and Leo raised his downcast eyes, gazing up at the castle as though he was glaring at it.



Leo's actions after entering Olt Rose Castle would be known for generations to come.

First, as soon as he got in and saw Kuon again, his expression brightened all at once, he rushed over to him and, just as he pictured earlier, hugged him with all his strength.

Kuon was utterly at a loss and Camus, who was watching from nearby, smiled at the sight. Still, his expression changed when he heard the story of how Kuon had brought his reinforcements. He had not previously known that Sarah had also gone along. Before he could berate his sister, however, Leo clasped her hand with words of gratitude.

Leo also gave endless thanks and compliments to the warriors from the mountain tribe when Kuon introduced him to them.

“He's completely different from what I'd imagined,” the mountain warrior Aqua whispered to Kuon, looking as confused as he did, after receiving the prince's effusive greetings and thanks.

The mountain warriors were worried about leaving their home for too long, and Leo looked disappointed upon hearing that more than half of them had already left.

“I wanted to meet all of them. Those of you who are left, please do me the honour of staying in Atall for as long as you can. I will make sure that we can talk at length,” he said, and it was a long time before he let go of the warriors' hands.

Afterwards, when Leo caught a glimpse of what was at Kuon's waist, he raised an eyebrow.

“Oh my, that girl is quite a philanderer.”

“Huh?”

“It looks like you're the hero now.”

A small ragdoll was dangling from Kuon's belt. Her craftsmanship must have improved in that short amount of time, as it seemed better made than the one Leo had received.

In the end, Kuon remained bewildered from start to finish.

The problem was what came afterwards.

The actions Leo took next seemed like those of a different person from the one who was happily frisking about upon seeing his friends again.

Most of Darren's servants and retainers were confined within the castle. Among them was Darren's second son, Dingo Actica, who had been given a private room on the instructions of the castle doctor, on the grounds that he was seriously wounded. Yet Leo had Dingo dragged from that room.

This was a person whose bones were broken in more than ten different places, who had fragments of cannon shell embedded in his flesh, and whose skin was covered in burns.

“This is outrageously cruel!” cried the doctor and those who served the House of Actica as they tried to stop what was happening, but Leo had his soldiers mercilessly push them back. Those who still tried to resist found themselves threatened by gleaming swords.

Leo used Dingo Actica as a hostage.

If Dingo lived long enough, he could ensure the direct continuation of the Actica House. The long-serving steward of the Actica family, as well as a village head with a family connection to Darren and the younger brother of Darren's father – a man who lived in retirement in the castle town – all begged Leo for mercy in tears. He took all three of them with him to Tiwana.

By that time, the sovereign-prince had already heard Stark's report. In the face of a direct appeal from Stark, even the sovereign-prince had roused himself, and was in the middle of assembling troops to block Darren's invasion when a courier riding a swift horse arrived from Leo.

‘’What is it now?’’ The sovereign-prince looked sour. When it came to Leo, his second son, he felt as though he was caught in a whirlwind of bad premonitions whenever he simply heard his name.

And sure enough, the information that had been brought to the court sent everyone simultaneously into an uproar. Not only had he prevented Darren's invasion of Guinbar, but during the fight, Darren himself had been struck down by an 'unfortunate' stray arrow and had passed away.

‘’That boy, he's done it again...’’ thought Magrid, but since he had heard from Stark – on whom Magrid's own father had once relied – about Darren's deceit, he could not condemn Leo outright.

Moreover, Leo brought the three men who were so deeply connected to the Actica family to explain the circumstances in the presence of their ruler. Since Dingo was being held hostage, they had no choice but to do what Leo wanted, and tell everything. They revealed the truth about the plot Darren had put in motion because he coveted Savan's stone quarry, about the attempted assassination against Lord Leo when he visited the resort area, and also about how Darren had killed his own people to give himself justification to attack Savan's territory.

There was also the added support of Stark and Bernard's testimonies, so neither the sovereign-prince nor those of the vassal-lords who disliked Leo's way of doing things had any choice but to acknowledge both Darren's villainy, and that Leo had acted with justice on his side to protect Guinbar.

Actually, it would be more accurate to say that Stark strongly encouraged Magrid to publicly acknowledge Leo's accomplishments.

Back when Magrid had asked him to take Leo under his wing, Stark had taken the detached attitude of one who had all but retired from the world. Yet now, he threw himself into protecting and covering the prince: exhausting  his words in persuading the sovereign-prince; and sending out letters to the vassal-lords and retainers who were still in shock over Darren's defeat. Stark himself found it almost amusing: ‘’To think I still had this much energy and stamina left inside me...’’

The sovereign-prince dispatched people to reorganise things in the Dharam region and, after investigation, he decided to entrust the territory to a long-serving family of retainers who were currently without lands of their own.

Darren had planned to turn his blades against the princely house, and it was Leo who had successfully suppressed him, so that territory should have been given to him had he asked for it,  but Leo himself had never had any intention of requesting that as a reward. After all, there was still something he needed to do before becoming the lord of his own castle.