Editing Rakuin no Monshou:Volume10 Chapter2 (section)

=== Part 3 ===

That night.

To the north of Nedain there was a relatively large quarry.

It was sunk in shadows. Drinking songs carried by the wind could be heard from far away. No doubt the masons who were staying overnight were getting drunk on cheap liquor.

A person with their hood drawn down low had unexpectedly turned up there, then continued along the narrow path leading to the quarry.

“Oho, a guest?” Several masons barred the way. Walking up with tottering footsteps, they surrounded the person in the hood from both sides.

“Sorry, but this is a private party. No outsiders welcome.”

“At least bring a present. You got any booze with you?”

Since they performed heavy labour every day, they were a burly-looking bunch. The person wearing a hood however did not seem panicked and instead said something strange –

“I don’t have anything with me today. But one day we’ll share a toast in Solon.”

The drunken-seeming men promptly drew up straight.

“It’s you, Lord Raymond.”

“We were rude.”

“No,” the face that appeared when the hood was pulled back was undoubtedly that of Raymond Peacelow, “you’re being excellently thorough. It’s only if you weren’t that I’d be bothered.”

Raymond himself had decided on the exchange of passwords.

Nearly three hundred men were making merry but, when Raymond’s figure appeared in the doorway, just like the lookouts had earlier, they all stood straight to greet him.

“Everyone, at ease,” Raymond called out, but the men’s attitude remained as it was.

They wore rough, shabby clothes on their muscular bodies, and their faces were grimy and black from the sweat and dust of manual labour. But they gazed at Raymond with a fiery radiance in their eyes.

Their ages ranged between twenty and fifty years old. Their occupations were actually equally varied and only about half of them were originally masons. The remaining half were the second or third sons of craftsmen, farmers, or merchants.

One man stepped forward from among them and wordlessly took Raymond’s hand. He seemed to be somewhere in his mid-thirties. It was him however who had caused Raymond to make a certain decision.

“Lord Raymond, it was good of you to come.”

“Dolph,” Raymond spoke his name and clasped his hand firmly.

If you brought up the topic of a man named Dolph with, say, the father and son of the Abigoal family, they would undoubtedly tilt their heads in confusion, wondering who and what you were talking about. Dolph himself however held an uncommonly strong feeling towards the House of the lords of Nedain.

Hatred.

Dolph was the older brother of the young man who had recently been hung. Not only that, but his older sister had married into the village which had been set alight by the forces dispatched by Jairus Abigoal. Which meant that in a very short period of time, he had lost his sister, his brother-in-law, and his younger brother.

All at the hands of Lord Jairus Abigoal.

When the village had burned down, he had raged that “I’ll kill Jairus!” His brother had talked him out of it in tears. His younger brother, who had only just decided to get married. Of course, he too shared the agonising pain of losing their older sister, but when he clung to him, saying –

“What will those of us you’ve left behind do if we lose you now too?” Dolph had wavered. From the start, he had only had the smallest hope of being successful in his revenge.

It was at that point that Raymond, hearing about the situation, had rushed to find him.

“Please, Dolph. Endure. I am going to gallop to Solon right now. I intend to appeal directly to His Majesty about this.”

In honour of the completion of the new temple in Solon, Jairus himself also planned to go to the capital. Raymond would bring Jairus’ actions to the light under his very eyes.

“Don’t do anything hasty before I return. Have faith in me please and wait.”

Although he was young, Raymond was a noble who acted out of care for the people of the fief. When that Raymond was pleading with him with such a desperate expression, Dolph could do nothing but agree to his request.

Afterwards, Dolph’s heart was plunged into turmoil for a while as Raymond was imprisoned in punishment, but he was soon released.

And after that, it was the country that was thrown into an uproar. They had heard that there had been a battle near Apta, in the southwest, with Taúlia, and a large army brandishing spears had headed west by way of Nedain; but, just when they had been thinking that they were headed for war with Taúlia again, it turned out that these troops were going to face the impostor crown prince in Apta.

The quiet, rural town of Nedain was thrown into chaos.

Airships were sent in all directions from the town, even though it meant using what little ether they had. Raymond himself was run off his feet as he worked on intelligence gathering and plans for ensuring the people’s security.

And on top of all of that, Jairus gathered together three hundred militiamen and ordered them to man Nedain’s fortress.

''Just how many of the good people of this domain do you really think would risk their lives to protect yours?'' He almost blurted out those words but just managed to swallow them. 

It was during that time that the young man had been executed. Raymond had no time to halt it. When he had heard that the youth was Dolph’s brother, he had immediately leaped on a horse.

It was the same as when the village had been burned to the ground. By the time he had arrived at the quarry, Dolph had already rushed out. He followed him without a moment’s delay. He had only just managed to catch up with him when he was already halfway to Nedain.

This time however, Dolph would not listen to him. In his hand, he was clutching a pickaxe. He raged on that he would definitely, definitely bring it down on Jairus’ neck.

Raymond, who had jumped from his horse, was practically clinging to Dolph’s back. No matter how many times he was shaken off, Raymond did not give up. In the hand that was not grasping the pickaxe, Dolph was gripping a small box.

He did not know what was inside. But Raymond could guess. He had heard from the gossip among Dolph’s fellow workers that Dolph, who was by nature a lover of wine and women, had not gone drinking with them or gone to enjoy himself with prostitutes for several months. He had surely been saving his meagre wages in order to buy a wedding present for his little brother.

When Raymond realised that, he drew the sword that was at his waist.

“And now, are you going to kill me?” Dolph had screamed at him in tears. It was obvious from his attitude that he was prepared to resist to the bitter end, but Raymond instead grasped his hand and put the sword hilt in it. He whispered in the ear of the utterly dumbfounded Dolph –

“Kill Jairus with this sword.” Raymond had repeatedly been flung to the ground and his face was covered in sweat and dirt and tears. “But I won’t let go of its hilt either. We’ll do it together, Dolph.”

“L-Lord Raymond...”

“But not now. If we try to kill Jairus with just the two of us, we will only fail. There is no sense in that. We’ll gather enough people, wait for the right time, and we will definitely drive Jairus into a corner.”

At the moment when he said that, Raymond had neither a plan nor confidence in their chances of success. But those were not words that were simply meant to buy time either. At that time, Raymond very certainly made the decision to chase Jairus Abigoal out of Nedain.

And the current of the times was with them.

Needless to say, the faction led by the one who called himself Prince Gil and denounced the emperor’s actions had defeated the large army that had been dispatched from the capital. The lord of Birac, Fedom Aulin, immediately sent out appeals, having clearly switched to the crown prince’s side.

The effect of these was huge. With Raymond and Dolph at the centre, men who were dissatisfied with Jairus were assembled together.

“Lord Raymond, we’re glad that you often come here, but has it not been noticed?”

“It’s all right,” Dolph had entirely become the leader of the anti-Jairus group. Raymond felt no reserve about it either. The young nobleman smiled with irony, “I was under surveillance right after being released from confinement, but the others are completely reassured by now. At the time, Jairus’ son seemed to always be hunting in the nearby forest.”

“Oh? Hunting.”

“Even though to all appearances, they should not have the leisure to spare. Jairus has also been running around recently gathering soldiers. He seems to constantly be sending messengers to Solon.”

“Then…”

“Yes. An opportunity will definitely appear soon.” Raymond nodded firmly.

Excitement instantly ran through the men. So many eyes were shining brightly from the blackened faces that even Raymond felt dazzled for a moment.

Still, no matter how much energy they had piled up, they could not, of course, capture Nedain Fortress with just three hundred alone. When he saw a chance, Raymond would go to Birac where he intended to meet with the crown prince.

To ask him to dispatch troops.

At that time, the three hundred would riot within Nedain.

After he set a village alight for sheltering a single slave, and then hanged a young man for joking around when drunk, Jairus feared a revolt in his territory. Or to be more accurate, he feared that the emperor would hear of such a thing. 

Since Zaat Quark’s rebellion during the Founding Festival, as well as the slaves of Kilro all rising at once, the emperor had become terrifyingly well-attuned to similar issues.
  
Jairus could not afford to ignore this. To prevent the fire from spreading, he would certainly use greater armed force than was necessary to beat down any men who might rise to action.

There were preparations in place for the men to escape to the stone quarry once the soldiers drew near. Jairus’ men would surely pursue after them.

Raymond would guide the crown prince there. After all, Jairus’ troops would look down on their opponents as being just rabble that was unused to using weapons, and so they would be helpless when faced with a surprise attack.

Separated from a great many of his men, Jairus would be as good as naked.

He could picture in his mind the scene of the crown prince entering Nedain in grand style. Beside him there would surely be his fiancée, Princess Vileena. Raymond Peacelow felt his chest grow warm. He had heard the rumour that, when he had been held captive, the one who had approached the lord of Nedain about his release was none other than the Garberan princess.

The Prince who honoured justice and the princess who had saved one such as himself. If these two people would also save Nedain, he felt that not only his and his companions’ future, but also the future of all of Mephius would be bright.

“But for that, we need to maintain the utmost caution. Don’t do anything hasty, Dolph.”

“Of course,” Dolph struck his fist against his rock-firm chest. “If it means being able to tie a rope around Jairus and Boyce’s necks with my own hands, I’d even sit in a fire and wait.”

''Boyce Abigoal''. Raymond recalled how they had passed one another by that evening.

When the village had been set alight, it was, of course, Jairus who had given the order, but it was actually his son Boyce who had carried out the action. He was a man who spent his time hunting from morning till night. He had aimed his gun at the people of the fief just as he would at deer or wild boars, and then raised his sword to slaughter women and children.

Raymond frequently went to the villages that surrounded Nedain. Just as those who mocked it said, the town was undeniably provincial. But because of that, the people all had simple, warm characters. And of course, those living in the village that had been set alight had all been well-known to him.

''Unforgivable'' – Raymond’s sense of that towards Boyce might be even greater than that of those who had lost family members.

“What’s that?” Asked Dolph when he saw Raymond hang something from the bracket that was used to hold a pine torch to the stone wall.

A flower. An artificial flower that seemed to have been made by folding thin sheets of paper.

“A charm,” Raymond smiled faintly. “Louise folded it for everyone last night.”

“Lady Louise did?”
[[Image:Rakuin no Monshou v10 104.jpg|thumb]]
When they heard the name of Raymond’s younger sister, the men all crowded around the pale artificial flower.

She, just like Raymond, was very popular in the various villages. Her health was by no means robust, so she did not frequently visit the villages in person in the same way that her brother did, but her fair and unprejudiced personality was widely known among the villagers.

“Oh, it’s beautiful.”

“Idiot, don’t touch it! It’ll get broken if you touch it with your rough fingers.”

“What was that!”

The atmosphere grew boisterous.

Folding paper flowers was something like an old custom within the Peacelow family. Or rather, it was a kind of tradition that was still handed down in the northern region of Garbera that had once been their territory.

When a daughter from the Peacelow House turned fifteen years old, she received a present of high-quality paper from her mother. She was to use them to fold flowers for her friends and for the people who had taken care of her, only this time as a present from herself. And lastly, with the remaining paper, she would fold herself a bouquet once her marriage had been decided.

“Oi, Molt. Don’t stay in that corner and come see.”

“Ah, y-yeah.”

“Watch it, you’re always so clumsy, you might touch it and mess it up.”

The men were probably superimposing the image of the girl they would have seen no more than once or twice with the origami flower. Their vigour now was clearly different from the dazzle they had had until just moments ago, and Raymond smiled wryly at the scene.

The siblings’ parents had died when Raymond was young. Their father had been killed ten years ago, in the very first battle at the start of the war with Garbera. Since the Peacelow House had originally been a Garberan family, he was concerned that they would come under intense criticism and so he had taken the initiative of leading a troop and joining the battle.

Their mother’s health collapsed when she heard of their father’s death and she soon passed away. Raymond had been fifteen at the time. He succeeded as head of the household with no time to properly grieve for the loss of both his parents.

The year before last, when Louise had also reached the age of fifteen, Raymond had given her the gift of paper in their mother’s place.

The flower that was now decorating the stone wall was the first one she had folded. Since it was the first, in all honesty, it was not that good. In his memory, his mother’s paper flowers were much daintier and far more elaborate.

But still, this first flower that his little sister had painstakingly folded seemed to shine on its surroundings. It seemed to symbolise the present and future of the Peacelow House.



The perfect opportunity finally arose.

Jairus Abigoal would be leaving for the capital. He was probably going to plead directly for reinforcements, or perhaps a dispatch had already been decided and he was going there to organise the troops, including those for the garrison.

Boyce, who was in charge of defending Nedain in his father’s place until he returned, was spending his days hunting, just as he always did.

''Right'' – Raymond made up his mind. He would head for Birac when the sun set.

Since Nedain’s garrison took it in turns to watch over the highway, he would avoid that route. There was a good chance that the River Zwimm, which ran between the two cities, would also have lookouts. He followed a detour south and galloped hard, it should take him three or four days.

His preparations for food and provisions were already complete. Raymond called together the pages and stewards of the Peacelow House.

“I will be away for a short while.”

He avoided talking about his destination, but almost everyone could sense something of the situation. They all nodded with serious expressions or while shedding tears. When Raymond, the current head of the family, had been imprisoned, they had all endured the humiliation and the anxiety. None of them opposed his decision.

His sister Louise, who never spoke much, did not say anything in particular now either, as she looked at him with her large, anxious-looking eyes. But when he was finally about to depart, Louise, who seeing him off, suddenly held out her hand to him.

“Brother,” in her palm, there was a white origami. It was so small that it seemed likely to be blown away in the evening breeze. Raymond took it and tucked it in at his breast.

“Have I gotten a bit better?” Louise smiled shyly.

Raymond smiled too and shook his head. “Not there yet. You need to polish your skills much, much more before your marriage is arranged.”

When he said that, his sister blushed for a variety of reasons.

Sunset. With the dark mountain ridges behind him, Raymond was hurtling along on horseback.

''Finally.''

History was moving.

The future was changing.

And in that future, the people’s lives would be bright and he would find a partner for Louise and send her towards a happy married life. Raymond Peacelow was setting off as the first step towards that.

Without noticing the shadow that watched intently from behind him as he galloped away from the highway.