Editing Tales of Leo Attiel:Volume2 Chapter5 (section)

===Part 2===


A few days later.

After crossing several mountains to the southwest of Savan’s territory, and stepping over the national border, one arrived in the domains of the Allian general, Claude Anglatt.

South of that territory, across even steeper mountains, stood a hastily constructed fort. Allion had built it to topple the temple, and its commander had long been absent, but now, Hayden Swift had returned.

He had not brought fresh troops, and the less than a thousand soldiers that were stationed in the camp was the sum total of his forces. Equally, they had not been ordered to pull back, which meant that Hayden intended to continue this war.

''In that case, he could pay a little more attention''. Claude was irritated.

He had set soldiers to guard the way between his territory and the fort. Although these mountains looked impossible to travel through on foot without excellent equipment and know-how, two hundred soldiers had previously emerged from them to save Lord Leo. That was apparently thanks to a mercenary who had himself been born in a mountainous area, but since he alone had done the guiding, it meant that there existed a route which was virtually a blind spot, even for the locals.

Even though his headquarters had only narrowly avoided being attacked, Hayden seemed perfectly unconcerned by it. Instead, it was Claude who was setting up precautions.

“It would take pretty big guts. Me, if I had a mistress who shoved a blade to my neck, I wouldn’t go and sleep snoring next to her the very next night.” Claude laughed at the retainers through the use of unfunny metaphors, yet no sooner had he stretched a surveillance net throughout the mountains than he caught prey.

And it was big game at that.

When it was brought in front of him, Claude was once again left irritated; the captured prey was Leo Attiel’s group.



Leo and the others were more or less made up to look like pilgrims of the Cross Faith, but they surely could not have believed that alone would deceive the sharp eyes of Allion’s soldiers.

Actually, although he was a captive, Leo’s expression was cheerful. He had been intending from the start to meet with Claude. The fact that he had not gone through official channels was because there were certain considerations which meant that he did not want anyone else to know about it.

“Good grief, all these braves gathering in my surroundings,” said Claude while picking his nose. Instead of a show of contempt for the one opposite him, it was proof of familiarity towards someone who was, in fact, practically family.

They were in a room at the castle. The sun had already set, so lamps and candles were needed to light it.

“Well, I was thinking I needed to present my greetings to you, Prince, at some point. The order has just gotten a bit reversed.”

Rumours of the betrothal which had been announced in Tiwana had already reached Allion. Not surprisingly, Leo could not stop himself from blushing and lowering his head.

“I-I’m very sorry. It was inconsiderate of me not to have gotten your permission, Sir Claude.”

“I’m amazed. My sons were in uproar, going on about ‘our little sister has been kidnapped by Atall’. If they knew that Lord Leo had nonchalantly come sauntering back, they’d be sharpening their swords in their rooms around about now. I advise you not to wander down any unlit streets at night.”

“Y-Yes,” Leo was finding it decidedly hard to lift his head.

Claude was talking as if it were a joke, but the reality was that he must be feeling at least somewhat humiliated because of his daughter. If nothing else, people were gossiping about how, “Claude must be connected to Atall,” and “that’s why he let the prince escape.” Then on top of that came the news of a betrothal between his daughter and the prince, and the criticism from the capital must have grown even stronger.

Claude, however, laughed it off heartily.

“My wife, Ellen, was the only one who smiled about it: she said she’d know it would happen sooner or later. As for me, as a parent, I’m just not sure. Is this man good enough for Florrie?”

“T-That’s…”

Claude listened with a fatherly expression to what Leo told him about how Florrie was living well in Tiwana. Still, they did not have much time for idle chatter.

“Now then, you won’t have sneaked into my territory just to tell me about your engagement. What’s your business?”

Leo looked towards the soldiers and stewards who were in the room with them. Claude took the hint and ordered them out. Leo’s two attendants remained in the room – although they had of course disarmed before entering the castle – but Claude himself was a ‘brave’, and had no fear of letting them remain.

Being one of the attendants, Percy watched as Leo broached the main topic.

''This is going to be a re-enactment of what happened back then, huh?'' He thought to himself. ‘Back then’ was by no means far in the past; what he meant was the scene in which sparks had flown when Lord Leo and Camus confronted one another head-on. ''There will probably be more and more of those kinds of scenes from now on.''

That was the presentiment Percy had as he watched Claude Anglatt’s expression change from over Lord Leo’s back.

The general was experiencing the same feelings as the people who had only known Leo for a short amount of time.

In other words, he was feeling the same amount of surprise as Percy had; just as Darren had, he found himself filled with doubts – Is this boy who is spouting this nonsense really the same Lord Leo who stayed in my domains for six years? –, and, just as Camus had, he ended up feeling enraged.

“Hang on, Leo,” Claude held out his large hand to interrupt the prince’s talk. “What are you saying? Are you planning on telling me about some fantastical story you saw in a dream?

“No. I’m telling you about the plan I intend to carry out from hereon.

“No, it’s a dream,” while Claude’s eyebrows rose in anger, his lips alone somehow managed to retain the shape of a smile. “Because if you aren’t talking about a dream, I can’t just keep silent and let you go. Leo… you, what you’re saying is that you’re going to betray me… betray Allion.”

“You’re wrong,” Leo shook his head.  

“How am I wrong!” Claude finally roared. “Even if you’re getting engaged to Florrie, do you think I’m the kind of man who would betray my country for my daughter and my future son-in-law? Leave, Leo. Go back to Atall right now! If you don’t, I’ll cut off your head with my own hands!”

As Claude spoke, he actually seized hold of the broadsword which had been hanging from the wall. In that instant, Percy and Kuon, who were both behind Leo, prepared to leap into action, but Leo spread his hands either side of himself and stopped his retainers.

“Wait. Sir Claude, please wait!”

Still in the same position, Leo stared straight at Claude. With his eyebrows drawn together and his teeth tightly clenched, his expression was desperate. He seemed to be declaring that even if Claude came at him with the broadsword, he would not move a single step.

“Sir Claude, you would never betray your country. I came here today because I was convinced of that.”

“What are you talking about?”

“General Claude Anglatt, this isn’t betrayal. On the contrary, you will be ''protecting'' the country from a threat.”

“Yeah, and I’m asking you what you’re on about,” still holding the broadsword, Claude clicked his tongue in irritation. “Do you want to talk ethics? You’re right, there’s no morality in Allion attacking the temple a second time like this. So do you want to say I should support Atall to end this unjust war and become a hero and saviour of Allion? Don’t be ridiculous!”

Claude had his doubts about taking military control of Conscon Temple and he suspected that, on the whole, this entire war had probably been started solely at Hayden’s behest. He also believed that it would be best if every plan attempted by the newly-returned Hayden and his troops could be thwarted. Nevertheless, it was unthinkable for Claude to actively support the enemy side.

“Spare me the fake concern, Leo. You’re far more educated than I am. But you still won’t convince me with the clever way of speaking that you’ve gotten from your learning. Go back to Atall. I won’t tell you to give me back my daughter; Florrie has chosen her own path. So…”

“Please wait!” Leo’s voice flew like an arrow.

''Ah!'' For a fleeting second, Claude, a general famed on the battlefield, had the illusion that a bolt was flying straight towards his face.

Leo rose from his chair and tramped up to Claude, who still had the broadsword in hand, then swiftly knelt before him, his cloak swaying. While Claude stumbled a few steps forward, the prince raised his face towards him.

“I am not talking about ethics or morality. General Claude, with your own hands, you will drive back a ‘foreign enemy’ aiming at Allion,” he flatly asserted.

Claude stared down at the boy’s face. He was pouring with sweat in the glozing heat. The boy continued to look up at Claude.

''This little guy…'' Claude once again felt the same misgivings. They were of the same kind that Darren, Percy, and perhaps even Leo himself held.

''Someone who was insignificant right up until yesterday hatches out today and turns into a different person even while the eggshell is still clinging to them – I’ve seen guys like that a few times on the battlefield. Are you one of them? Just what kind of battlefield did you experience in Atall, Leo? No, if it comes to that, even this foreign country that Allion is to you might have been a battlefield.''

He didn’t understand. And talking about something else that he didn’t understand…

“A ‘foreign enemy’? What foreign enemy? The only enemy Allion currently has abroad is Conscon Temple. Or Is Atall taking part in the war again? Is that who you’re talking of driving back? You, Lord Leo of Atall?”

Claude found it incomprehensible. Lifting his gaze a little, he fixed his eyes on Percy and Kuon, who were arrayed behind Leo. They – Percy especially – were watching what was happening while apparently holding their breath, and also holding themselves back. They had probably resolved to leave this to Leo. Such was the relationship between lord and vassal.

The general heaved a deep sigh and returned the broadsword to its original position. In exchange, he stretched a brawny arm out towards the prince.

“Let’s both sit back down, Leo… sorry, Lord Leo. I’m only saying I’ll listen to what you have to say. But that also means that there’s no going back. No matter how I try, I won’t be able to laugh it off as a joke or a dream anymore. If, once you’ve finished speaking, I judge that you’re a threat to me and to my country, I’ll simply have your head – and that, even if it means that my daughter will hate me for the rest of her life,” said Claude, holding out his hand to pull Leo up.

There was no longer the relaxed attitude of those who had been like family for six years. Nor was there an atmosphere like the one between son-in-law and father-in-law.

“Understood,” yet Leo Attiel’s face was bright as he took the hand that helped pull him to his feet.



While Leo, Percy and Kuon had headed towards Claude’s castle, Camus and Sarah had returned to Conscon Temple.

The road Leo and the others had taken was not an easy one, but rushing along mountain paths at night made it a difficult journey for the siblings. They were covered in mud and sweat by the time they arrived at the temple which they had both been missing. The situation there was likewise in a sorry state.

Even though Allion’s troops had been without their commander, they hadn’t gone easy on the temple. They had sent out soldiers around the base of the mountain to cut off the supply of food and funds. They quickly pulled back when the temple’s side attacked them, but no sooner did they do so than they then started firing from cannons placed at the foot of the mountain, whose existence they seemed to have suddenly remembered.

What wasn’t cut off was the flow of deserting soldiers escaping from the temple, which they believed no longer had any chance of winning. For a time, the temple had clamped down hard on fugitives, but thoughtlessly keeping soldiers who had lost their spirit meant that they had grown violent.

“Then give us food. Hand out money. Show us a path to victory!” they had raged.

With soldiers like that on the inside, there was no longer any way to keep fighting. There was no other choice but to allow them to escape. Almost all of the bandits and marauders who had light-heartedly come to the temple as mercenaries had already vanished. Those left were little more than the Atallese troops led by Nauma Laumarl, who reluctantly remained because of the sovereign-prince’s orders. To be more specific, losses due to the repeated battles and to the departure of Percy’s unit meant that the original five hundred soldiers were down to three hundred.

Apart from them, there were about two or three hundred warrior monks. Even the nuns at the monastery had grabbed spears, saying that “if the time comes, we will fight”, but the current circumstances meant that they could not even get one proper meal a day, so their energy, which had once had the force of a forest fire, would soon be extinguished as though put out by heavy rains.

Naturally, there weren’t only monks and priests at the temple. The people who had originally been living on the outskirts of the temple were also present, and there many too who had fled there from the villages at the foot of the mountain. As he passed through the streets, Camus repeatedly heard the wails of children, and could sense the listless gazes of the adults.

Camus called on those of them that he knew by sight; more than half of them had already passed away. The more elderly among them had apparently declared that, “once this old deadweight is gone, at least there’ll be one less mouth to feed,” and, so saying, they had pushed their old bodies into going to fight the enemy, and had fallen in glory.

He pretended not to see how Sarah’s shoulders shuddered and heaved up and down throughout the entire day.

The sun had set by the time he met with Bishop Rogress. Camus told about how, although their surprise attack on the enemy headquarters had ended in failure, and they had – for a short time – been captured, they had ultimately saved the Atallese prince and had crossed over to Atall.

“To protect the temple, His Highness, Lord Leo, was baptised into our God’s religion, and is moving in various ways.”
When he heard that, the bishop made the sign of the cross in front of his chest.

“Everything is in accordance with God’s will.”

“Nevertheless, Bishop, Lord Leo can only make use of a limited number of soldiers. We cannot be optimistic about the chances of victory.”

“Have faith in the Lord’s will. By complying with it, we will, at the very least, live lives we need never be ashamed of,” said Bishop Rogress.

As was only to be expected, the bishop’s plump face and figure were starting to look gaunt, yet both his posture and his manner remained firm. He presented the appearance of the ideal priest, and Camus should have been deeply impressed by it.

For some reason though, this time, Camus felt strange about it.

He was reminded of Abbot Tom, who had spared his and his sister’s life, and who had taken them in right after they had fled while their family home burned down. The abbot’s heart had been full of splendid ideals; but even though he had ideals, he had no power. Which was why, when Camus was driven out by fire and forced to flee, pulling his sister by the hand, for a second time, he had come to this temple, which had both ideals and power.

Even though Rogress and Tom were each supposed to have given him a completely different impression from the other, at that moment, Camus could see their faces perfectly overlapping with one another.

''What am I thinking?''

After taking his leave from Rogress, Camus shook his head quickly. Still, he could not shake the thought. It was as if there was an area in his own mind that he had not been aware of, in which a devil was crouching, with its black wings folded.

He remained plunged in thought until morning.

The next day, the two siblings were busy doing what needed to be done to fulfil the purpose of their separating with Leo and returning to the temple. Camus had hoped that he might forget if he immersed himself in doing something, but the devil wasn’t so easily driven away.

The next day again, he did something which he himself found hard to believe. Still possessed by that devil that he was deliberately pretending not to have noticed, he intended to act according to the orders he had received.

He himself could not understand why he, a devoted servant of God, could temporarily throw away his own faith.

“Surrender?” In a corner of the chapel, the bishop opened his narrow eyes just a little wider.

“These are not naturally not my own words,” said Camus. “It is just one possibility among the tactics that Lord Leo brought up. Although even if we call it a surrender, it would – again, naturally – only be temporary. The important thing is to make sure that Allion’s attention is focused on us.”

Camus spoke dispassionately, his face expressionless. The morning sun penetrated through the gaps between the pillars, and the two people’s shadows stretched out long.

“There are many faithful within Allion, and public opinion is conflicted about the temple. Not even Hayden would dare to harm believers who have surrendered… is the idea.”

From start to finish, Camus had presented it as ‘Leo’s opinion’. This was by no means a lie: among the points listed in the plan that Leo had presented – to which Percy and Camus had added one or two considerations for analysis – the possibility of having the temple surrender had certainly been raised. The idea behind it was to attract and focus Allion’s attention on it. However, it had soon been dropped from the list of possible courses of action  since there were just too many unknown factors – for example, even if their surrender successfully held the enemy’s attention, it was nonetheless impossible to tell whether Allion would let the populace and the faithful go free immediately, so on Leo’s side they would not be able to count on having Atallese soldiers attack from the mountains . Yet for some reason, Camus talked about it to the bishop as though it were still a valid option.

Rogress’ reply was both swift and simple.

“I have no intention of doing so.”

“But, Bishop…”

“I believe I have already told you: it is our duty to comply with God’s will. Even if only temporarily, even if as part of a plan, we cannot surrender to His enemies. Even if we should be defeated by Allion, whose might is so much greater than ours, the dauntlessness we will have shown by betting our own lives will surely reach the Heavens. And if so, God’s words will cross over our mountains, and in every city and citadel, they will ring out like the tolling of bells.”

Camus said nothing further, and respectfully lowered his head. After putting his fingers in blessing to Camus’ forehead, the bishop left the chapel.

''”Defeated”… you say?''

His head still bowed, Camus stayed a long while scrutinising the floor at his feet.

Arrogant though it might have been, he had been ‘testing’ the bishop. Even if he had not gone along with the plan of surrendering – just as Leo and Camus themselves had not – Camus had wanted to know by what kind of process he would reach that decision, and to see for himself what were the bishop’s inner thoughts.

Did he have determination? Was he prepared to drive away the enemy?

He was prepared.

Prepared to sacrifice himself for God.

Prepared ''only'' for that.

''I believed this temple had power. That it was strong enough to drive back an unjust use of strength, that it had enough power to act upon God’s will. So I was fine with dying for it, as long as I could help it, even if just a little.  If it meant that victory was within reach…''

Camus imagined that perhaps, when he had been younger; Bishop Rogress and the god he believed in had also been harmed by unjust use of power. And maybe that was why, with Allion’s cooperation, he had built up his own armed force and economic territory.

And in truth, he had fought against Allion.

But here too, if it had to be said, he had ''only'' fought.

Perhaps he had never once believed that they might win. In this holy sanctuary that he himself had built, he would continue fighting without retreating before the use of strength, and perish. What counted more than anything else was that  he would sacrifice himself for God’s teachings.

The scattered words and doubts within Camus’ heart were slowly taking shape. But that shape differed from the simple violent thoughts that he had previously held.

He had Percy, who had suggested the reckless plan of carrying out a surprise attack on the enemy headquarters; and Kuon, his treasured disciple with whom he fought side-by-side; and Lord Leo, who was going to use the most outrageous tactics to overturn the current situation. All of them longed for victory.

And also, on the palm of his hand, he could still feel the sensation of Sarah’s very young hand, when he had pulled her along. He didn’t want to see people burned in flames anymore. He couldn’t bear to flee from the fires anymore.

“… so after all, Bishop Rogress, you too…” he mumbled vacantly.

After which, he said nothing further.