Editing Tales of Leo Attiel:Volume2 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 3===


From the next day onwards, one sudden ‘change’ took place and Leo started to be proactive. It was hard to believe that he had been secluding himself in his own room at the palace, since he now started visiting the nobles who resided in the outskirts of the capital, Tiwana, as well as the vassal lords, who had gone there to call upon the sovereign-prince. 

Among the nobles that he visited were those of the Leegan House. At the time, Percy, the second son, was out of the house, but he learned about it later from his father, Nordred.

Leo had apparently approached him saying that, “I wish to deploy permanent forces in Tiwana and in the other towns.”

It had been so abrupt that Nordred Leegan had been bewildered.

“Currently, in Atall,” Leo had begun, “the nobles who have soldiers live in the towns or villages of their domains and, if ever war breaks out, they will receive the king’s command and gather their retainers, and sometimes, mercenaries so as to assemble a troop to command. The proportion of mercenaries in Atall’s military forces is unusually high. But don’t you think that this is far too inefficient? I saw that in Allion, several hundred or, depending on the scale, several thousand soldiers were stationed at all times in each of the castles and towns. This isn’t only for defence, but also so that whenever an order comes from the king, military forces can be moved quickly. Moreover, those in command of them are not the domain lords, but ‘generals’. 

The majority of them are nobles but, as was the case with Sir Claude, in whose custody I was left, there are also those whose birth has no bearing on their position. A certain percentage of them serve as domain lords or as lords of a keep, but the remainder reside with their soldiers at the royal capital, or at important strategic locations, and in case of an emergency, their mobility is far greater than that of a keep-lord. Furthermore, since they are, by nature, individual groups, it’s easy to identify each one’s strengths and weaknesses – for example, the House of Gatanoah is good at siege warfare, or the Veen Corps excel at naval battles – so that when Allion is at war, the troops selected from among the keep-lords and generals are organised according to the situation and to the battlefield.”

After expounding at length on Allion’s military superiority, Leo had declared that “Atall should do the same”.

“I wish to request the assistance of each of the vassal lords and of the hereditary retainers. Please, won’t you petition Father with me about it?”

He had leaned forward as he said that, but of course, Nordred could not give him an immediate reply. His eyes politely looking down, he had said, “I will think about it.”

To his son, however, Nordred confided his honest thoughts. “With all due respect to him, His Highness whom you rescued seems to have been a bit too strongly influenced by Allion.”

Percy wasn’t able to say anything, but neither did he laugh at it.

''Just like at the banquet, he’s very sudden in what he does.''

The next day, as he was leaving the castle as usual, Leo was ambushed by Percy. Unsure about what to say after giving his greetings, Percy had decided to leave that for when the time came. As a result –

“I heard about it from my father.”

– Was how he broached the subject. Having halted his steps, Leo smiled.

“I’m sure your father laughed it off as me being whimsical.”

“I did not say that. Still, I’ve crossed spears with soldiers from Allion; there are things to think about in Your Highness’ suggestion. May I accompany you today?”

“Sure,” Leo agreed easily. 

They left the castle building together and attendants lead horses to them.

“Do you intend to go far?” Percy’s eyes went wide.

Leo only had one young boy as an attendant, while Percy hadn’t brought any.

“Today, I’m going to visit the residences of the vassal lords in the suburbs.”

''Do you intend to visit everyone who lives in Tiwana’s suburbs?''

He was certainly being thorough. Which indicated that he was neither doing it just for show or on a whim. Percy deliberately refrained from trying to get Leo’s intentions out of him. Nor did he ask him why. He felt that if he tried to press him now, Leo would simply dodge the issue. Leo Attiel looked like a soft and malleable person to deal with, but there was a certain firmness in his expression.

''Let’s try going with him for a bit.''

After all, he felt a strange ‘connection’ to Lord Leo. There was probably no clear reason for it, but when Leo had publicly announced his betrothal at the banquet – Leo, who had once been humiliated in front of everyone by Hayden and who, from what Percy could see, was now giving Hayden a surprise – Percy’s impression of the prince had acquired a little more depth.

And speaking of ‘connections’, there were also Percy’s strange friends.

From the next day onwards, the mercenary Kuon and the warrior monk Camus joined Leo and Percy. Needless to say, the latter had been the one to call them; partly to protect the prince, of course, but also because Leo had wanted to meet from the start. And with Camus, his younger sister, Sarah, naturally came to, looking intrigued.

“We’re not going to play,” said Camus.

“I know. That’s why I brought ''this'',” on horseback, Sarah brandished what she was talking about. Camus started.

“T-That… Isn’t that the gun I sold? W-Why… How come you have it?”

“I went and spoke honestly with the merchant. He was a very kind-hearted old gentleman, and immediately gave me my gun back.”

“What was honest about that?” Kuon wearily denounced her. “You even dragged me into it.”

From what he said, Sarah had forcefully brought Kuon with her to the shop where her brother had sold her gun and there, she had immediately pointed at the guns lined up in front of it.

“That gun was stolen from our home,” she had declared before suddenly clinging to Kuon.

“Although the family has fallen into ruin, we are descended from village nobles who were once known for their military exploits. Thieves barged into our home, aiming for what little was left from our grandfather’s time. Who was it who brought you this gun? What? It was someone who looked like a priest of the Cross Faith? Kuon, it must definitely have been ''him''. Right… I see, that man was no monk of the Cross Faith. He pretended to be one in order to deceive us but was actually the ringleader. He murdered our father when he tried to stop him. That gun is essentially my little brother’s sole memento of our father. Please, take pity on the child. Please give him a chance to take a revenge of leaden bullets against those hell-spawned demons!”

Sarah buried her face against Kuon – her ‘little brother’s’ – shoulder and burst out weeping. It went without saying that Kuon’s shoulder did not get even remotely wet, but the shopkeeper, who looked so stern at first glance, completely fell for it.

“I thought he looked shady from the moment he appeared in front of my store, but I never imagined it was that bad. My credibility is going to drop like stone for having bought stolen goods from such a vicious bastard. It’s fine, I don’t need the money. Take it. Use it to drill a hole right through his sorry forehead.”

He handed the gun to Sarah, believing her to be the older sister in this imaginary pair of siblings.

“W-What! How could a devout believer lie like that?” Camus roared from on horseback. The poor guy had, after all, been treated like a burglar and got called a ‘hell-spawned demon’. “Get off that horse, Sarah. Kneel and beg the Lord for forgiveness.”

“No,” Sarah’s response was as quick as it was uncompromising. “In the first place, you’re the one in the wrong, Big Brother, for going and selling my gun any way you pleased. You’re the one who should be confessing and repenting.”

Since the usual kind of quarrel had sprung up between them, Percy – also as usual – had to calm things down between them.

“Enough already, you two. Honestly, even though His Highness the Prince is right here.”

“It’s fine. They’re exactly as you said they were,” Leo laughed brightly.

Sarah turned to smile at him and congratulated him on his engagement.

“It’s such a romantic story: the aristocrat’s son and the young lady bound together beneath the starry sky as they were chased down by savages bearing flaming torches. I wouldn’t be surprised if it still gets sung about as a verse in a heroic legend many years from now. Big Brother, we’ll be in that legend too.”

Sarah looked like she was in high spirits.

“It wasn’t a starry sky,” when Kuon threw cold water over it, she immediately turned sulky.

At the same time, Camus wore a complicated expression. The mood was already tending towards a reconciliation between Atall and Allion, and on top of that, if Lord Leo married the daughter of an Allian general, that trend would only get stronger. Which would be a problem for Camus, who was hoping for reinforcements from Atall to help Conscon Temple against Allion’s army.

Still, he didn’t say anything. That was partly because his interest had been caught by the Leo’s ‘business’ with the nobles he was visiting.

“Right, let’s go.”

Even if the number of attendants increased, that didn’t change what the prince needed to do. Leo urged his horse forward.



Leo’s group visited ten nobles in three days. 

By the third day, the rumour had already spread about him paying calls to aristocratic residences. Each and every time, the nobles standing in the entranceway or in front of the gate, or else looking down from the mansion windows, wore an expression that said – ''Wow, so he really came''. Percy had seen it time and time again.

Among the aristocrats they visited were several vassal lords who had been at the party. 

Oswell, Bernard, Tokamakk.

There was no particular difference between their reactions and those of the other nobles. When Leo started to preach about the need of forming a national army:

“I see. What you are saying is certainly very reasonable,” nodded Bernard. 

“However, it isn’t the sort of thing that can be done overnight,” answered Tokamakk, irritated at having to waste time on the prince’s visit.

“It is a momentous topic for the country so, in the future, let us take out time to discuss it at length,” Oswell began, turning him down in an unhurried tone of voice.

In short, it was the same as with Percy’s father.

“His Highness has been a very much ''influenced'' by Allion,” was an impression that was widely shared. Among the nobles:

“Since the prince lived in a foreign country, he seems to believe that only he can recognise how vast the world is.”

“Things can’t go on like this, our country has fallen behind… – well, that kind of fretting is common among young men, but dragging us into it is honestly not funny.”

“His Highness no doubt intends to protect the country single-handedly.”

His father’s words and reactions were more than enough for him to guess what kind of rumours were being whispered. At first, Percy had held similar thoughts. Where he differed the most from the other nobles, however, was that he had found it heart-warming, interpreting it as, ''he is in every way a young man with a budding interest in politics and society.''

Yet after finishing making the rounds of several noble residences, he began to think differently. Although he had known him only a very short time, he could not believe that the second prince was that foolish and unperceptive. He must surely realise that he was not welcome at any of his destinations, and that his proposal was not being favourably received.

Normally, one would at least consider changing their way of doing things.

The prince’s attitude, however, did not change. What he said remained exactly the same. Since his words never changed, even Kuon, who stood behind him like a bodyguard, learned to remember them, and one lunchtime, when the prince wasn’t around, he recited them from memory.

Sarah immediately flared up.

“Do you even understand the meaning of those words? Even a monkey can imitate human actions.”

“He’s talking about how to fight more skilfully and more effectively. Don’t take me for an idiot,” Kuon snarled in reply. In the past, he had surely experienced fighting as part of a group. “I get what the prince is saying. But it’s useless. Because he keeps talking on and on, it’s so boring that listening makes you fall asleep.”

Despite showing sympathy for the prince, even Kuon was critical and felt that he needed to do better. Camus did too.

“It’s presumptuous for us to interfere, but shouldn’t we instruct the prince in a few things?” He came to consult with Percy. “As things are now, the prince is being far too direct. For example, when we speak of God’s teachings, merely preaching with passion is no good. To lull people’s caution, we need wisdom, structure and quick wits at the appropriate times.”

“Oh? Does that mean that you support what the prince is trying to do, Camus?”

“Of course,” Camus raised his thick brows and puffed out his chest. “The prince is no doubt raising the need to reorganise the military because he has experienced how untrustworthy Allion is, and because he has his doubts about the current talks of peace. I can tell that he is far braver compared to those gutless Atallese nobles. While everyone is slavering for a false peace, he is prepared to gather soldiers and to oppose Allion, even if it means doing so alone.”

Previously, Camus had concluded that the prince ‘did not have what it takes to lead soldiers’, and he had felt no little displeasure over the engagement with Florrie, yet it seemed that Leo’s current attitude had greatly impressed him.

“Still,” Percy frowned. “Doesn’t it seem that he is hurrying things too much? Rather than going around calling on anyone and everyone, he should narrow his focus on two or three people who look like they might be open to his suggestion, then carefully argue his case in depth with them.”

“If he does not act swiftly, the vassal lords will all return to their territories. More importantly, about persuading him: Percy, won’t you talk to the prince? I can teach you how to seize a person’s heart so that it can’t break free of your grasp.”

“In that case, wouldn’t it be better for you to talk to him directly?”

“A mere warrior monk cannot talk to a prince about something like that.”

As unlikely as it seemed, it looked like Camus was conscious of differences in social position. Although, rather than it being a case of him being filled with awe, Percy guessed that it was simply because Camus felt awkward dealing the unfamiliar House of the sovereign-princes. Although he seemed like kind of reckless hothead who would come flying out of a house shouting, “I’ll shoot the messenger”, he also had this other side to him.

As for Percy, he had more than once thought about talking to the prince. When the nobles that Leo was trying to persuade looked bored, Percy had several times been on the verge of lending him some help. 

Yet he had stopped himself each time. Not so much because it wasn’t his place to interrupt, but because he had been struck with the thought that, ''perhaps the prince is always repeating the same thing because his purpose is something other than trying to convince the nobles.''

''And even if I’m overestimating him…''

On the evening of the third day since Percy had first joined him, the object of Leo’s final call was Savan Roux. The man who, during the banquet, had tried to petition the monarch over trouble at a quarry, and who had gotten into a quarrel with Darren Actica.

Unlike the other vassal lords, Savan had not set up a mansion within the capital. In cases such as these, there were residences as well as rooms at the palace prepared for those who had come to pay their respects to the ruler. Yet Savan had rented a small, cramped house. But then again, he had only brought three attendants with him. Although the living room served its purpose, it soon got overcrowded as Leo, as well as Percy, Camus, Sarah and Kuon all squeezed into one after another.

“I was thinking of leaving Tiwana tomorrow. If you have business with me, please keep it brief.”

Again unlike the other vassal lords, Savan did not even put up a superficial pretence. He must surely have heard from rumours what the ‘business’ was, and had decided that it was a waste of time. Camus started to frown, however –

“Tomorrow? Did something unexpected come up?” 

– Leo’s curiosity-filled question had him exchanging glances with Percy. The message their gazes exchanged could be summed up as: ''huh?'' Up until then, Leo had always cut directly to his own “business”, without allowing the other party to get even a single word in.

“As to that,” Savan shook his grey head, “it’s simply that if I am away for too long, certain parasitic henchmen will be free to damage my lands.”

“I see. Sir Savan, since your castle is by the western border, you need to prepare for foreign incursions.”
“It’s not limited to foreigners.”

The anger in Savan’s expression was clear even as he smiled, and his words were aimed at Darren for sending marauders to his quarry.

“Do you not think that the current system is insufficient to protect the country against foreign enemies?” Leo returned to the usual ‘business’.

Savan listened in silence while sipping his watery tea.

“What you say is interesting,” he said with a nod. Leo’s expression instantly brightened. 

“Really? In that case, Sir Savan, won’t you cooperate with me and…”

“However, it would cost huge amounts of money,” Savan reigned Leo in. 

It was obvious that it would ‘cost money’. Setting up the aforementioned defensive force would cost two or three times what had been spent on the military up until then. They would need to pay for wages, provisions, weapons, armour and horses. The soldiers would also need places to live and people to help tend to their daily needs.

It was precisely to avoid the cost in money and effort that, in Atall, the sovereign-prince and the nobles employed mercenaries every time there was a war. So in a way, the system was one that maximised efficiency.

“A moment ago, I said that the enemies might not only be outside. But since my castle is at the border, I have to use my personnel and my funds to defend it at all costs, and I cannot afford to spare either for the enemies within. That’s what my situation is. Pardon my rudeness, but your idea is unrealistic.”

What he said was entirely reasonable, yet Leo’s reaction was unexpected for Percy and the others.

“It’s about money?”
[[Image: Leo_Attiel_Den_v02_051.png|thumb]]
For some reason, his good-humoured interest abruptly disappeared, his tone of voice changed, and he started contradicting Savan.

“The ones providing the money will not be you lot but the princely house. There is nothing for you to fret about, Sir Savan.”

“The princely house?” Savan’s expression also changed. “In that case, it’s all the more impossible. As I said a moment ago, I am one link in the western chain of defence. Yet in spite of that, His Majesty Magrid has not once concerned himself with my territory, which was driven to ruin by the previous war. It’s gotten to the point where I have to wonder if His Majesty Magrid hasn’t decided to let Allion have the western border region. If, at this point in time, the ruling House finally decides to raise the vast sums of money needed, then we can start reorganising the military.”

“That…” the prince immediately opened his mouth to argue, but could not find the words to continue.  

Camus elbowed Percy in the ribs. Since he himself was unfamiliar with the country’s situation, he was probably trying to tell Percy that he should the one to help the prince out. Percy, however, remained silent.

“Please go home, Your Highness. My circumstances are as you see, so I am in no position to offer you proper hospitality. Your Highness, why don’t you talk directly to your father about your thoughts?”

After that, there was nothing more to be done. By the time Leo and the others left the house that Savan Roux was renting, it was already starting to get dark. Sitting astride his horse, Percy could read the expression on Leo’s face.

“Well then, let’s go back,” Leo Attiel called out to the others. “I appreciate that you’ve undertaken to act as guards. Not to borrow Savan’s words, but as I do not have money to spend freely, I’m sorry that I cannot pay you.”

He urged his horse into a canter. The others followed behind. Camus was sullen the whole way, since, in the end, things they had not gotten the results he had hoped for. Yet when Percy has glanced at Leo’s face, he was sure that he had seen him smiling.

It was a smile that seemed to imply that far from not having achieved any results, they had accomplished something vital, which the rest of Leo’s party would learn of before long. 



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