Editing Tales of Leo Attiel:Volume1 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 3===


Claude Anglatt held grave doubts about the dispatch of troops towards Conscon. He also found it suspicious that it was Hayden Swift who had urged the king to send the soldiers. At the time, however, the way he saw it was that: ''The fool just wants to vent his resentment and blame the temple for his failure at mediating. It’s just a childish revenge'', and so he viewed Hayden with contempt.

However, the situation began to change after he had been ordered by Hayden to guard the highway. Rumours that “Atall is aiding the temple” started to run rampant.

Claude did not think it was possible, but apparently, Hayden had already captured and interrogated an enemy soldier, and he had learned from him that a force of thousand men had come from Atall, concealing their identities. 

“It looks like the hostage, Lord Leo, is sending information about us to the temple.”

No sooner had that and other similarly groundless rumours started circulating, than embellishments were added. It even began to be whispered that:

“Wouldn’t it be Sir Claude who’s pulling the strings from behind the scene? He’s just a upstart, after all, and he’ll have gotten big money from Atall or from the temple.”

At that point, Claude began to harbour some nasty doubts.

''Impossible. Right, it’s impossible but what with the relationship with the temple going downhill, with the fight being dragged on, with Atall’s sending troops… isn’t it just like everything is moving just to drive me into a corner?''

His impression about it was roughly the same as Leo’s was. But whereas Leo had smiled bitterly and decided that “It really is impossible”, Claude could faintly discern who might be behind it.

He did not have any means of proving it, however.

Therefore, when Hayden assigned him to the dangerous task of messenger, he could not do anything but agree to undertake it so as to demonstrate his loyalty to Allion. At the same time, however, if he returned after safely completing his mission, it would result in fanning rumours such as, “He made it back because he has ties to Atall and to the temple.”

The shame he felt only grew stronger.

And then, a few days after the invitation to surrender had been refused, Hayden mounted an all-out offensive. Claiming that he had been able to obtain information about the temple, he had most of the soldiers leave from the headquarters. Just as Claude was thinking that this unproductive fight was finally coming to an end, he received some unexpected information:

“Hayden is going to have Lord Leo hauled to his camp.”

Claude, who had returned to command the highway guards, was astounded. He could not understand what Hayden’s intentions were. Even though he was a close friend to the king, and even if Atall was planning betrayal, Claude did not believe that Hadyen would, on his own authority, order Leo to be punished. But he still he hurried to the headquarters with his son and a few soldiers. He had wanted to find out what Hayden was intending to do, but the man was nowhere to be found within the camp. Even the soldiers who had been left behind were clattering about and could be seen heading off in all directions.

Something unexpected must have happened.  

Claude caught hold of an attendant to the Swift family to ask him about it, but the attendant, who was the youngest son of a prestigious aristocratic family, looked down on him from the start.

“A skilled commander does not carelessly reveal his movements, even to his allies,” he said.

Claude seized him by the collar. 

“T-T-This is coercion…”

“I’ve received information that the enemy will be attacking the headquarters while the soldiers are all away. Now speak: where is this esteemed ‘skilled commander’?”

He just said whatever came to mind, but the attendant went pale and revealed the whole story. Whereupon, Claude also went white.

''Leo Attiel fled from the mansion? And with my daughter?''

Claude was astonished, but when Hayden had heard the news a few hours earlier, he had apparently, and for reasons known only to himself, received an even greater shock than the general, and had completely lost his composure. He had taken about half of the soldiers who had remained stationed at the headquarters, and had them board the precious air carriers that the base had been equipped with as a precaution.

It was abnormal. Who had ever heard of a commander leaving headquarters during an assault to go conduct a manhunt in the mountains?

''That man is as incomprehensible as ever.''

Claude was inwardly exasperated but, at the same time, his blood ran cold. Just who was that man’s obsession focused on? Was it on Lord Leo, whom he had wanted to summon to the camp, or was it on Claude’s daughter, whom he had pleaded to take with him when he had only just met her? Either way, he was dangerous.

Claude had his men search the headquarters’ surroundings. While he did not know when Leo had run away, and although the possibility was slim, he decided to start from the beginning. Steep mountains and precipitous valleys separated Claude’s castle from the headquarters, and with his daughter in tow, it would be impossible to cross them on foot.

It was while they were searching that, by chance, they came across the attack unit led by Percy Leegan. For Claude, the lie that he had told Hayden’s attendant had apparently become reality. As a result, he captured Percy’s group of four, but he inwardly considered that:

''They’re brave men. Well, no, there’s also a woman among them. Warrior monks are nothing to look down on.''

However, when he looked again at their leader, Percy, he found himself feeling suspicious. Claude had invited a priest of the Cross Faith to his mansion as a teacher for his sons, and he did not sense the same kind of aura from Percy. And he certainly did not look like a mercenary or a bandit. Putting together his manner when he had taken the bit to guide Claude’s horse, and the way he had been willing even to sacrifice himself to allow the soldiers to escape…

''I see. Maybe the rumours that Hayden spread weren’t necessarily lies.''

He realised that Percy was a soldier from Atall, and, moreover, that he was from a noble family. While he was angry that the matter of the ‘reinforcements from Atall’ had brought about this current difficult situation, at the moment, he had no time to waste on blaming them. Instead, a solution which surprised even him flashed through his mind.

“Would you save the life of Atall’s prince, Lord Leo Attiel?”

Once he actually said it, he felt that it wasn’t a bad idea.

Hayden was searching on the north side of the mountain, which meant that he was not far from Claude’s castle, but if Claude had offered to help, given that he was under suspicion, it was unlikely that his soldiers would be allowed to approach. But Atall’s soldiers and the warrior monks were, from the start, enemies of Allion.

“You were travelling along these paths after sundown; you must be used to the mountains. Even so, it’s a gamble whether or not you’ll be able to find the prince, but how about it: won’t you try out your luck?”

Claude offered his suggestion after giving them a brief rundown of Lord Leo’s situation.

Percy remained silent throughout but, inwardly, he was bitterly regretful: to think that not only had Allion gotten wind of Atall’s participation, but that on top of that, it had driven the hostage Lord Leo into danger.

“Are you planning on using us as a decoy?” Kuon spat out, at which point Camus looked as though understanding had dawned on him, and he nodded in agreement.

“Are you perhaps saying that just as we approach this Hayden person and his troops, you will deliberately let them find us and create a commotion, during which time, you will go and rescue the prince?”

“That’s not a bad idea, either,” Claude grinned. “Naturally, we’ll also be sending as many people as we possibly can, so if you do get found by Hayden, we’ll go with that method.”

Both Kuon and Camus sullenly fell silent. They had nothing to answer back. Besides which, they both had a favourable impression of this very honest man. Given the situation, however, they did not want to show it openly.

“Well then,” standing next to her brother, who had been talked down, Sarah interposed. “How about if we find Lord Leo first? Should we bring him to you?”

Claude was surprised that a woman could speak up like that in this kind of situation, but he realised that he quite liked these four people. For one thing, they guts to attempt a surprise attack on the headquarters with only so few soldiers. Considering that they had timed it perfectly to be right after the soldiers had left camp, Hayden had probably been tricked by the enemy.

Thinking so, Claude felt hugely relieved, and his mood lifted considerably. 

“Naturally, I would hope for you to bring the prince back to me, but… who knows what might next.”

Huh? The four made the same expression. There was something quite innocent about it.

“Well yeah, my orders are to defend the border, so there’s no way I could be talking with enemy warrior monks and soldiers from Atall. And in the first place, how would I even meet them if they don’t do something as unthinkably outrageous as try to attack the headquarters? So whatever it is that people I couldn’t possibly meet get up to, there’s no reason for me to take part in it.”

Percy gulped. What Claude was basically saying was: ''Give up on attacking the headquarters. In exchange, if you find Lord Leo, it’s fine for you to take him back to your own country.''

Those words were unthinkable, but returning the prince to Claude’s care would not solve the situation. For one thing, it was still unclear what Hayden intended to do with him, but given that he had run away, things would probably be very bad indeed for Leo. If Claude were to protect him, it would lend credibility to the completely unfounded rumour that he was connected to the principality and had betrayed his own country, which would spell catastrophe for the Anglatt family.

In which case, to Claude’s way of thinking, ''it’s better if he manages to escape out of the country.''

The way Percy saw it, however, ''that’s still plenty dangerous''. Having allowed a hostage to escape from his territory, there was no way that Claude would be able to avoid blame. Rumours that he had deliberately let Leo flee were bound to spread. Yet despite that, and although Leo’s existence was dangerous, caught between the prince and getting into trouble with his own country, Claude had chosen to let him go. 

Percy’s chest felt hot.

''This man is truly compassionate.''

From Claude’s point of view, there should be no issue with delivering Leo to Hayden. Or rather, that was the obvious course of action. Yet even so, he had looked after Leo for six years, and he could not bring himself to simply send him to die. 

Besides, it was not only Claude who was in danger. In actual fact, even if Lord Leo managed to safely make it back to his own country, his situation would still be uncertain. Allion was already aware that Atall had sent reinforcements, and if the hostage escaped on top of that, there was a good chance that the next place Allion would dispatch troops against would be Atall.

''Even so…''

Still, from Percy’s point of view, Claude’s compassion was deeply impressive and to release Leo was… at which point, Percy gave a wry smile.

“What’s making you laugh?” 

Percy shook his head at Claude’s question.

“Nothing. I forgot for a moment that we were prisoners. If it’s possible for the four of us to survive, and also to save the prince, then there was never ay reason for us to decline,” he declared cheerfully.