Editing Rakuin no Monshou:Volume8 Chapter2 (section)

=== Part 3 ===

It was midnight when Orba summoned Shique. Not to the medical office but to the private room allocated to him as a captain of the Fifth Army Corps. He had apparently been difficult and had forcibly ended his medical treatment.

Even though he has only just woken up.

Although he understood that his feelings were unsettled because of the princess and the war with Mephius, being unreasonable at this point in time could lead to the irreparable damage. Although he didn't want to get into another quarrel, Shique made up his mind to give him a scolding and opened the door.

''Oh.''

The words he had prepared however vanished the instant he stepped into the room. Orba was alone inside it. But the atmosphere surrounding him was clearly different from when they had seen each other in the infirmary.

Without any preface, Orba took a letter from the desk in front of him.

"I want you to deliver this to Apta," he said.

Shique gaped. Apta was, of course, within Mephian territory and, needless to say, was currently an enemy land.

"Can I read it?"

"Sure."

Orba gave permission while still looking the other way. He didn't seem to want to look the subordinate he had called over at midnight in the eye. Realising why, Shique unintentionally broke into a grin, but when he read the contents, his desire to poke fun at Orba was blown away in one go.

''This is'' -

After reading it once, he returned once again to the start of the document. Orba, who was being kept waiting, uncrossed and re-crossed his legs and looked about him restlessly but Shique deliberately took his time rereading. Then –

"The contents are pretty unexpected."

"Yeah. But he’s in Apta..."

"You're saying to deliver this to General Rogue Saian, right?"

''Correct'' – Orba seemed to say as he nodded wordlessly.

General Rogue Saian was in Apta. The one who had brought that information to Orba was none other than Shique. While Orba was in a coma, he had probed around for information about Mephius' side. Lodging in Taúlia as a trader who was on an errand for the wealthy Birac merchant, Zaj Haman.

"Because of this sudden war, it's not easy to get back home," he had grumbled as he sat in a tavern.

By plying that merchant with drink, Shique had gotten the information that generals Rogue and Odyne had gone to Apta. Shique had summarised the information on paper and had intended to give a verbal explanation of it, but as it didn't seem like Orba was inclined to lend him an ear, he had left the memo for him.

Shique once more gave a cursory look at the contents of the letter that Orba had handed over to him. The sender's name was not ''Orba''. The signature read –

''Imperial Crown Prince Gil Mephius.''

That could only mean one thing.

Orba was going to revive "Gil Mephius" whom he was supposed to have buried.

After announcing that Gil was living on in Taúlia, the letter explained that –

''Having learned about General Oubary's plan to assassinate me, I deliberately made myself disappear and went over to Taúlia.''

In short, the letter denounced Emperor's Guhl's declaration that Taúlia was behind Gil's death as nothing more than a fabricated charge, then continued –

''Who within Mephius' military currently wants war with Taúlia? There is only one person who wishes for it, my father Guhl Mephius. Do not make the mistake of going against your heart. If you are commanders who truly love Mephius and whose duty it is to protect its people, you should know what you have to do.''

With that said, Rogue and the others could not be expected to believe in Prince Gil's survival simply on the basis of a single letter. Because of that, Orba concluded the document saying he would personally appear in Apta three days after the letter had reached them.

"Three days..." Shique murmured in a low voice.

The three-day deferment also gave Rogue and Odyne a delay in which to make a decision. In other words, in the time it gave them to wait for verification on whether or not Prince Gil was still alive, they would also have time to consider how they should act in the event that it was true.

To ignore Emperor Guhl's – to ignore Mephius' orders, was to defy him, which meant treason against their country. No matter how little the retainers might like the emperor's words and deeds, it was not an easy decision to make.

But what if the crown prince, who had undeniably inherited the same imperial blood, stood behind them?

"Orba"

"Yeah"

Orba looked Shique in the eyes for the first time. Shique had a hundred things he wanted to say but, as they stared at each other, those were cleared away in an instant.

To head towards Apta as Gil was equivalent to throwing away his current position as the hero whose praises were sung throughout the west. To appear as Gil was to throw away the carefully fabricated fact of his death and to cast himself once more into the great vortex at the forefront of history.

"Don't regret it, okay."

"Yeah."

Shique was seized by the urge to soliloquy at length. To prevent war between the two countries – that was not a simple decision leading to a single result. To use a slightly exaggerated expression, it could probably be called a turning point in history.

However, while inwardly thinking one thing, Shique said another.

"You're somewhat lacking in with words, Orba."

"Words?"

"We're currently quarrelling. Oh, did you forget? When I was making a reasonable point, who was it now who yelled 'Get out'? Only summoning the other at your convenience, giving out orders without listening to what they have to say, surely it's not as if you want to play the part of the callous prince?"

Even though nobody could know what Orba's expression was behind the mask, he understood it perfectly. But that was enough for Shique. Just as he was about to burst out with "That was a joke", Orba spoke.

"I'm sorry."

Shique was flabbergasted. Orba spoke again –

"You're the only one I can ask. Please, Shique. Take this letter to Apta."

"I-I get it. I get it," as a way of hiding his embarrassment, Shique deliberately laughed proudly. "You're going to say to leave at once, right? I get it, the great Shique will carry it off perfectly. Because you just can't do anything without me."
 



After Shique left, Orba turned the light off in the room.

He crawled into bed but didn't close his eyes.

Something separated itself from the shadows.

When he stared hard at the darkness, something which looked vaguely like a ghost took shape and came into sight.

''No, wouldn't it actually be a ghost?''

A person with the same face as him – Gil Mephius.

A person that he should have once buried with his own hands. A ghost that he was now going to resurrect from the grave with those same hands.

Of course, there were a number of paths that had led to that decision.

As he had told Shique, his mind was made up and he believed that he would not regret it. But be that as it may, he felt a strange uncertainty. Hadn't he rushed too fast down the paths that led to his decision? In other words, did he miss any crucial elements needed for the future he envisioned to become reality?

''Stupid.''

Orba glared at Gil's pallid face. New shapes appeared and flickered indistinctly behind him, those of Guhl Mephius and of the flames of war encircling all of the west.

It wasn't too late yet.

So there was no need to rush too quickly either.

Orba closed his eyes. Within seconds, he was engulfed in the complete darkness.

From under the window, there was a roar like a beast howling.

''A gunshot.''

His eyes suddenly wrenched open.

What had come back to him was the very moment when he had been shot on the battlefield. At that time when Orba had lost sight of himself on the battleground. Just now, Orba had felt again the feeling of having lost himself, of being helpless, of hesitating when detected by the "enemy," and of having been shot in the head.
 



An hour after leaving Orba's room, Shique was on horseback.

He had given the old soldier on guard duty at the stables a small amount of the alcohol that was served in the barracks, claiming it was "refreshments," and had then listened to his long, boastful war stories. When the soldier grew careless and began to doze against the wall, Shique quietly left him and went to choose a horse for himself.

Throwing himself onto the saddle, he proceeded through the still and silent barracks.

He waved at the sentries standing on the way from the barracks to the castle gate as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

''Wow, it's Shique from Orba's unit.''

These soldiers were the complete opposite from the one at the stables, both from their obvious youth and the gazes they sent filled with aspiration towards the former gladiator.

He passed out of the castle gate.

The lamp Shique held up faintly illuminated the darkness and, while patting the neck of his nervous horse, he followed the road to the east. Once he had safely left Taúlia, he breathed a sigh of relief.

''Still, I was surprised.''

Orba had honestly apologised. He kept going over that scene in his mind. Actually, it couldn't be said that he was happy from the bottom of his heart about it.

''It's not like him. He has more of the charm of childhood when he keeps complaining and cursing. Well, although I admit that he's adorable when he is being honest.''

The letter that Orba had written was, of course, tucked at his breast. By nature, Orba's penmanship was terrible; but before, when he was still a body-double, he had referenced available notes written by Gil Mephius in order to imitated his handwriting. Such as when he had written a letter incorporating Shique and the other former gladiators into his own Imperial Guards.

As he remembered how desperately Orba had been back then, trying to memorise that penmanship while writing, Shique couldn't help but also find that adorable.

That Orba was going to return to the front stage of history again.

Shique had deliberately avoided questioning him too deeply about it. After he had been released from vengeance, it had seemed as though Orba's true face had steadily started to show through, but it was probable that not even he himself knew what to expect if he once more put on the “mask” of Gil.

The world of the aristocracy was nothing more than a hell of never-ending strife.

Every kind of desire, in every shape and form, lurked behind the rows of smiling faces and the sequences of flowery words.

Shique had no way of knowing the deepest recesses of that world, but he had actually come into contact with one small part of it. And from just that small part, the indelible scars on his heart had turned into a brand that had been seared into him.

''They’re the flames of Laskeid''. Remembering that old legend as he rode forward, Shique felt like shivering.

Then –

"Wait"

A voice came from in front of him. No, the same thing was coming from behind him.

When Shique swiftly swept his gaze around, he had already been surrounded.

In every direction, the light from his lamp illuminated Zerdian faces.

And in their hands, they warily held up swords and guns.





<noinclude>