Editing Rakuin no Monshou:Volume7 Chapter6 (section)

=== Part 2 ===

After the Garberan princess had left, things suddenly got busy for Bouwen.

He first reported to Ravan Dol, who was confined to bed, and to Toún Bazgan, who was in voluntary confinement within his own chambers; then he personally reconfirmed the military manpower currently available within Taúlia.

The city’s Defence Force, led by Toún, now stood at a mere two hundred soldiers. Normally, there should have been at least five hundred men, but about two hundred had been taken for the Zer Illias capture force, and about a hundred of those remaining had joined Raswan Bazgan in his recent uprising.

The Fifth Army Corps, which Bouwen should originally have been commanding, had essentially been annihilated during the battle against Garda’s army and Greygun’s forces in the outskirts of Helio. The last remaining trace of the ‘Fifth Army Corps’ was the mercenary unit attached to it, currently led by Orba, and which was about fifty men strong.

Less than a hundred of Nidhal’s soldiers had escorted Princess Esmena back as her guards, and Natokk had likewise returned from Eimen with about fifty men.

There was also the crew of the cruiser that Esmena had returned in, but this was after a major battle: they did not have sufficient arrangements either for personnel or for ether.

''Tsk''.

It was very obvious that if Mephius were to march in earnest, forget about repelling them, with their current military strength, they would be hard pressed to even defend against them.

''But'' –

Taúlia’s fate depended on it. Bouwen lived in constant shame over the defeat in the battle at Helio and of the disgrace of having afterwards let one of Garda’s lackeys kidnap Esmena. If Ax had given him permission, he would voluntarily have abandoned his position as general.

But now, before him was a fight worthy of a warrior, one in which he could throw his life away proudly.

''Since it means death either way''.

He hoped to die reclaiming his honour as a warrior, holding fast until the end and defending Taúlia until reinforcements arrived. He would consecrate his death to Ax, who had placed expectations in him, and to the now deceased Archduke Hirgo Tedos, who had adopted him as his son.
 


It was close to midnight when Bouwen summoned the various commanders. Three company captains under Toún’s command, Nidhal, Natokk, and also – although as a foreigner he stood out – the mercenary platoon captain, Orba.. Bouwen briefly explained the situation. As it would only invite needless speculation, he concealed the fact that the messenger who had brought the advance warning was Princess Vileena. The fastest to react to the name ‘Mephius’ was, both surprisingly and unsurprisingly, Orba.

“Impossible!” He almost leapt to his feet.

That was rare for him, who never expressed any emotion and whose face was hidden behind a mask; it was usually impossible to know what he was thinking. For a second, everyone’s eyes turned towards him, and even though he immediately returned to his senses and sat back down, he could not conceal how shaken he was.

Nor was it only Orba; informed of the emergency, the warriors whose faces had been flushed red after the banquet suddenly looked tense. And hatred towards Mephius of course filled the room.

“Curse Mephius, so they can’t be trusted after all.”

“They must have caught wind of the war with Garda. The alliance was probably a trick to throw us off guard.”

“So this is how base you really are, Guhl Mephius!”

But cursing Mephius now would only be a waste of time. They quickly moved onto discussing the real issues at hand. Most of them were of the opinion that they should use what little ether they had left to fly airships requesting reinforcements. But even after sending messengers to their nearest neighbours, Helio and Cherik, help would not arrive for about eight days – even at the very lowest estimate, it would take at least five days.

''Can we hold out that long?'' That thought was written on every one of their faces.

The messengers would of course continue from Helio and Cherik to Eimen, where Ax was.

“It would be good if you report that the enemy numbers over ten thousand.”

The one who said that was a man who had barely opened his mouth until then – Orba.

“Ten thousand?” Bouwen asked.

He did not have detailed information about their numbers, but ten thousand must surely represent the vast majority of the total number of troops that Mephius could mobilise under normal circumstances. But as he was asking the question, he realised the intention behind that ‘ten thousand’.

“You want to give the impression that this isn’t a request for reinforcements for Taúlia but a call to arms to every city to defend the whole of Tauran?”

The masked swordsman gave a slight nod.

It was the same as saying that the threat was not simply against Taúlia, but that Mephius was going to invade the entire western region. And this was also right after all the cities had united to subjugate Garda.

Messengers requesting reinforcements would be sent immediately. What came next was deciding how to defend the city with their remaining troops.

“Should we increase the guards at the border? It would let them see that we’ve made preparations. Since the enemy is planning a surprise attack, once they’ve realised that we know what they’re up to, they won’t be so quick to cross the border.”

“No, we should call back the guards. According to the messenger, the soldiers have already left Apta.”

“They’ve lined up formations on the opposite shore? I still find it hard to believe that they’re going to violate the border…”

At that very moment, a messenger came rushing from the border zone. The enemy force had crossed the border. The reason the guards had not sent up a beacon was to hide the fact that they had noticed the invading troops.

Everyone there was feeling increasingly furious.

Naturally, everyone understood that it would be a difficult fight. In a way, the sense of crisis was even greater than when Garda's army had taken Helio and were drawing in on Taúlia. The problem was not only the number of soldiers. Their ruler, Ax Bazgan, was away and the old sage, Ravan Dol, was confined to bed since his injury had been a serious one.

Because of that, the warriors were even fiercer than usual and the blood was rushing to their head. It looked like at any moment now, bullets would start flying right there, and they would grab their swords or guns and go charging out.

They could no longer postpone things by wasting time and words. Having reached that conclusion, Bouwen was going to have the entirety of Taúlia's military take up position and prepare to defend the city.

''Slow'' – Orba muttered in a low voice. The nearby Bouwen lashed out.

"I know," he barked. "We've lost the initiative. That's why we have to hurry and..."

"No," said Orba. His arms were crossed in such a way that it looked as though his nails were digging into his own skin, but he did not seem to have any intention of unfolding them. "It's Mephius who is being slow."
 


"Captain!"

Dohrai exclaimed in surprise when he saw the unit of guards that he belonged to earlier than he had expected - which was to say- when he saw them near Taúlia rather than at the border.

They were in the middle of escorting the Princess back. The sun had set, so flying at low-altitude without guidance was difficult. When they stopped at the relay station to replenish their ether, they had taken a three-hour nap. Even after waking up, there had still been no report of a beacon being lit.

The night had already been considerably advanced when Vileena, Dohrai, and the others had touched down there to resupply before covering the final distance to the border only to run into the border guards.
About three hours earlier, these guards had seen lights on the River Yunos and had immediately dispatched a messenger to Taúlia – who seemed to have stopped by while Dohrai’s group was sleeping and so had missed them – after which, the captain had decided to pull back. Considering how low their numbers were, staying would simply have meant needlessly squandering Taúlia’s military manpower.

“Princess,” the captain of the border guards turned anxious eyes towards her. Now that the enemy invasion had become a reality, her position had become far more perilous. And it would become even more so if she returned to Mephius.

Vileena, however, shook her slender neck. “I do not think that I will be able to do anything more. But still, I will try my best.”

She once again sat astride the airship. Aware of how determined the Princess was, Dohrai and the others acted sensibly and furnished her with a tank of ether from the supply tanks in their ships. With no one to guide from there on, she would need to pick up altitude. And for that, one could never have too much ether.

“Thank you… Well then, see you next time.”

With those parting words, Vileena speedily flew off. In no time at all, she had ascended high and was cutting her way through the wind.

''Next tim''e – she herself did not believe in it. She had done her best to keep her expression unconcerned for the sake of the Taúlian, but once she was alone, she bit down hard on her lip.

''So they crossed the border after all''.

She had been expecting it, but now that it had actually happened, even the wind, which should have been lashing at her from the front, seemed to have turned into a heavy weight pressing down on the girl’s shoulders.

How could they tear up an agreement so easily?

How could they smash peace as though it were nothing?

As expected, Nabarl was in the lead with three hundred of his soldiers. They had set up camp and lit their fires on top of the hill which had been occupied by the Taúlian border guards until just a short while earlier.

Having noticed the sound of the airship, the sentries had the raised the muzzles of their guns. Vileena was unfazed and dropped her altitude when she was right before them, just as she had earlier with the Taúlian border guards. Realising that the pilot was the Garberan princess, the Mephian soldiers all broke out into cries of surprise and confusion.

Their commander-in-chief, Nabarl, stepped forward with an understandably equally surprised appearance. Thinking that there would be enemy guards in this area, he had from the start made an ostentatious show of fording the river and had expected a verbal challenge or warning shots to be fired, so it had come as a surprise to find the border area completely empty.

His unit of course included Pashir, who had been made up to look like Felipe.

Once Vileena had alighted from the airship, her long hair swaying, Nabarl started interrogating her like he wanted to rip her apart.

“Princess, would you care to tell me why you are here, across the border?”

“I also have the same question to make.”

“Princess.”

“I have just been to Taúlia.”

Although the Princess’ complexion was a little pale, she stood up straight and faced Nabarl.

“What, Taúlia?”

Unease flitted across Nabarl’s face. Vileena nodded.

“Is there something strange about that? The relationship with Taúlia is one of sworn future friendship. The Princess of Taúlia, Lady Esmena, was received at Apta. This time, as the daughter of the king of Garbera and as the fiancée to His Highness Gil, the crown prince of Mephius, I was the one to visit them.”

“…”

“Ah yes, by the way…” Vileena deliberately paused as she was speaking. That way of doing things resembled her fiancé. “Just before leaving for Taúlia, I observed a military unit departing through Apta’s north gate. I thought it strange since these are not times of war, but being a woman, it is not something I would understand. When I talked about it with the people in Taúlia, everyone greatly wondered at it. Oh but right after that, for some reason everyone seemed to become very busy. The gentlemen especially seemed to be hurrying to prepare guns and armour.”

“Princess!’

A commotion ran though the soldiers while Nabarl was left temporarily open-mouthed. His thoughts could not catch up with reality.

''This commander-in-chief'' – This commander-in-chief– a new thought struck Vileena as she observed his expression– she might be able to sway him depending on his mental state.

Meanwhile, Nabarl had finally grasped that this girl had betrayed information of the surprise attack to Taúlia.

“Princess. I do not know what you are playing at, but this is an act of treachery towards Mephius.”

“Playing? I merely went to Taúlia. Did I not say so? If it comes to that, what are you gentlemen planning? Surely you are not taking guns and swords to go sightseeing in Taúlia?”

“It’s a shame, Princess, but we don’t have time to waste playing word games with you,” Nabarl barked, visibly irritated.

Vileena frowned slightly at his rudeness, “even if you continue to drag your cannons to go and ‘play’ in Taúlia, those on the Taúlian side already know and will be preparing their swords and guns to ‘play’ with you. Your strategy was no doubt to suddenly go and ‘play’ without prior declaration, but that plan has already failed. Fortunately, there has not yet been any exchange of gunfire. I am willing to return, once more, to Taúlia and apologise for your ill-manners which have induced this misunderstanding.”

Nabarl’s face was thunderous but he remained silent. Convinced of her victory, Vileena clapped her hands together. It was a strangely discordant sound on that almost barren hilltop.

“Right, it will soon be dawn. If you tarry too much in returning home, the families of the soldiers will get worried, won’t they? It would be wise to move back for now. I am sure that Taúlia will welcome you if you come to ‘play’ another day, bringing a visiting gift rather than weapons and…”

“Ha ha,” Nabarl snorted with contemptuous laughter, cutting through the girl’s words. “Are you imitating Prince Gil? He also seems to have liked putting himself forward, pretending to be a hero.”

“What?”

“You might be royalty, but you’re very young. You seem to think that you’re some sort of envoy of justice, but what happens if I decide not to step back?”

“What is it you are trying to say?”

Nabarl rudely stepped up and shoved his face near hers.

“Because you betrayed information, more soldiers than expected will die on Mephius’ side. Which is the same as saying that you killed them, Princess.”

Vileena’s face was even paler than before. She clenched her trembling fists.

“Absurd. If you know that there will be casualties, then that gives you all the more reason to turn back. What justification does this war have?”

There was no more playing with words.

“So,” Nabarl suddenly stooped, bringing his gaze level with Vileena’s, “this conversation is over, Princess. I guess what I’m saying, in a roundabout way, is that you are stupid.”

Vileena said nothing. This time, it was the Princess’ thoughts that were having trouble catching up to the reality of so much disdain. Nabarl barred his teeth and laughed.

“Hand over information.. befriend our enemies... do whatever you like. I’m sure you don’t know this, but Taúlia doesn’t currently have the military strength to stop us. In other words, what you did was completely pointless. Do you understand why I said that you’re stupid?”

Nabarl then continued in a voice too low for the soldiers to hear.

“I see... Was it at your instigation that that ''foolish'' prince seemed to change? He was stupid too. Seduced, by an empty-headed woman, he took himself for a hero and died.”

This time, Vileena’s face flushed crimson.

The sound of slap rang out as her palm struck Nabarl’s cheek. Hidden from the soldiers view, at that moment, Nabarl’s hand had brushed Vileena’s breasts.

Nabarl stroked his cheek with a smirk.

Her face still flushed in anger and humiliation, Vileena quickly turned her back to him and rushed back to the airship.

Nabarl sneered, “What do you intend to do, Princess? Are you going back to your country to cling to your father in tears?”

“I’m going back to Taúlia.”

“Oh?”

Straddling the airship, Vileena glared sharply at the Mephian soldier.

“If you bomb or charge at Taúlia knowing that I am there, it will be the same as turning your sword against Garbera. Mephius will then unilaterally have broken its alliance not only with Taúlia, but also with Garbera. It will not be able to escape censure for baseness.”

“Ooh. Protecting your dignity by dying with the people of Taúlia?” Nabarl still jeered.

''I’ll show you even if it means dying'' – Vileena wanted to retort, but it just felt to childish, so she kept her rosy lips shut in a straight line.

Nabarl, commander of the Blue Zenith Division, watched the airship once again soar into the sky.

“Take up formation. That little girl has spared us the trouble of lighting a beacon. Taúlia’s first wave of troops is coming!”

He seemed rather joyous and his paunch juggled as he laughed.