Editing Rakuin no Monshou:Volume5 Chapter4 (section)

=== Part 4 ===

It was a terrible fight.

Friend and foe were jumbled together at close range, there were neither positions nor battle formations and all anyone could do was swing their weapon of choice at those who stood out as opponents. Among the mercenaries who had suffered Greygun's betrayal, it was impossible to tell who was an enemy and who was an ally, and so there were allies who killed each other by mistake.

Amidst that, Duncan finally managed to get away from the free-for-all fight and, at a gallop, escort Bouwen to the hill.

"General, you are safe."

"Where is Greygun?" Bouwen asked hoarsely. He was half lying atop his horse. His shoulder was broken. And the one who had smashed it was that very same Greygun. When the Red Hawk unit had drawn up to them from the rear, Bouwen had made the mistake of reacting too slowly. He hadn't been able to believe their betrayal.

"If he's alive, we'll meet him and face him again."

Duncan encouraged him, though his own limbs were covered in inumerable injuries. Even just now, he had taken a spear to the shoulder from enemy riders in hot pursuit. He had smashed it by force and, brandishing a longsword, had cleaved open his opponent's skull.

"Bouwen's head. Take his head! There'll be a reward from General Greygun!"

Like vultures flocking towards carrion, the Red Hawks swarmed. Shique, Gilliam and the others plunged headlong down from the side.

The soldiers who had come galloping up to the side of Bouwen's horse were sent flying from their saddle by Gilliam's ax. Shique meanwhile jabbed at a Red Hawk soldier who was moving in on a pincer attack towards the spear-wielding Duncan.

"Oh?" Shique smiled as a spurt of blood splashed across his face. "It's you."

It was the man who had hit Shique. For a moment, he glared at Shique hatefully then fell from his horse with a crash.

In that time, Orba was still defending the battery position to the death. Before the enemy could move into a mop-up operation, the gun was preparing to fire another shot. In order for that to happen, he couldn't let Moldorf pass. However,

"Your back is light. You won't hit me with a spear that way."

Orba was embarrassingly unused to fighting on horseback. Against Moldorf, who was an expert at handling a spear from atop a horse, he was at a disadvantage. While Rouno's platoon readied their guns' aim, Orba could only engage in a defensive fight.

"Aren't you coming, boy?"

Reading his opponents' intentions, Moldorf decided on a forcible breakthrough. His impetus was such that he looked like he was going to slam into the other horse. And that was the chance that Orba had been waiting for. Maintaining his posture with his back lightly raised, Orba suddenly pulled his feet out of the stirrups, kicked himself off the horse's back and leapt. Losing its target, the spear tore through empty space.

"Guh!"

While jumping off, Orba gave a single jab with his spear and struck Moldorf in the back. But it didn't pierce through the armour. Even so, his breath agonisingly knocked out of him, Moldorf tumbled from his horse and was forced to hear the roar of another shot from the cannon.

"Good, retreat. Retreat."

Orba shouted as though he were a commanding officer. He quickly grabbed Moldorf's horse.

"W-Wait!" The Red Dragon of Kadyne yelled while getting to his feet. "This match isn't settled yet!"

"We'll have to postpone it."

Orba who responded thus was far from being uninjured. Rather, of the two, he had received a greater number of wounds. However, without so much as a groan of pain, Orba set the horse at a gallop and dashed down the steep slope to join up with Shique and the others.

Thanks to their assault and to the cannon strikes, the enemy's pursuit had somewhat slowed down. For now, they could only rush at a gallop. The fast-moving riders protecting the wounded Bouwen at their centre were not even fifty strong. The others had been taken down during the pincer attack by Greygun and Garda's armies, had been too slow to escape or had scattered and escaped elsewhere.

Less than half an hour later, the Taúlian soldiers tasted the true flavour of despair.

Although behind them was a cloud of dust kicked up by a group of enemies, they halted their steps. Flames were rising up from the direction of Helio.

"They were attacked," from atop his horse, Duncan's clenched fists shook. "Those bastards, they've seized Helio."

At the same time as Greygun's army made its move, the Red Hawk unit that had been left in the city must have set fire to the palace. Everything had gone according to the enemy's plan. It was as though their path had been torn to pieces before their very eyes.

Duncan glanced towards Bouwen; his face was nearly chalk white and he was about to lose consciousness. At this rate they were racing headlong towards the enemy and furthermore, they had pursuers at their back; even a valiant and uninjured warrior would not be able to make his way back to Taúlia.

Duncan seemed to think about something, then called thirty of the regular soldiers to gather around him. Not long after, he also beckoned Orba to him.

"Several kilometres north of Helio, there's a bridge. Take the general, cross the river and head towards the Belgana Summits. After that, hide yourselves and wait for an opportunity."

"What will you do, Captain?"

"It's called being the rear guard. All the regular soldiers will defend it to the last," said Duncan.
[[Image:Rakuin no Monshou v05 163.jpg|thumb]]

Rear guard or whatever, if the regular soldiers stayed behind here, those that were left were almost all mercenaries. It was saying that Bouwen alone was considered to be the 'main force' and that he was entrusting him to Orba and the others.

"Why are you saying this to me?"

"Why indeed. You're quick-witted and seem trustworthy. And besides," Duncan's eyes crinkled as he smiled, "you drove away that Adelber that I couldn't stand."

"You're a fool. I might sell Bouwen to Greygun for the high reward."

"And when you do, my ghost will seize you by the throat." From Duncan's voice, it was impossible to tell if he was joking or serious. "Anyway, as things are now, all we can do is wait to be annihilated. Mercenaries aren't suited to act as the rear guard so all I can do is to take a chance on you."

Next to Duncan there was also the platoon leader Rouno. He too seemed to have determined that this was a fitting place to die.

Stars had begun to be scattered across the sky. After taking a moment to look up at them, "Hurry!" was all Duncan said as he turned his horse's head back to the direction they had come from. The thirty regular Taúlian soldiers did the same. Duncan held the position of captain of the mercenary unit, but such was his calibre that it was rumoured he would sooner or later be given the command of an army corps. Nor did the faces of the soldiers who accompanied him show any hesitation.

They didn't know how many soldiers were pursuing them but naturally, no one believed that they would be held in check by thirty men. The cloud of dust rose before them.

''Then, I too''...

It was the image of a hero that Orba had idealised in his childhood. ‘I cannot watch a companion die without doing anything, I too will stay here.’ Prepared to face of death as an overwhelming number of enemies closed in on them yet finding a means of escape at the last minute thanks to miraculous ingenuity and insight, and through sword skills that no ordinary person could compare with – he had longed to be the protagonist in that kind of tale.

But here and now, there wasn't a single plan he could prepare, and Orba wasn't a superhuman who could mow down enemies who outnumbered them ten times over and who were noisily descending upon them.

At that moment, Shique drew his horse up to his.

"Let's go, Orba," his face that was daubed with his victims' blood seemed the same as usual. 

"Yeah," said Gilliam, likewise drawing his horse to theirs. "This is an honourable duty that can only be performed by Taúlian soldiers. We can't lend a hand."

"Stan, take the lead and let's get out of here fast," Talcott yelled while looking in horror in their enemies' direction. "Stan will find a safe route. Right?"

"If you depend on me, I'll be bothered by it."

"You're supposed to say 'Absolutely, leave it to me'. This is why you're an idiot, an idiot."

Orba looked towards the backs of Duncan and his group.

''An honourable duty''...

"Shit!" He spat out through the mask then he and Shique placed themselves on either side of Bouwen's horse and broke into a gallop, propping him up between them.


A long, long night began.

Two fell along the way. Their wounds were deep and they were unable to endure the march on horseback.

The first one fell from his horse as he died. Gilliam got down from his own horse and took the soldier's emergency rations and water canteen. They couldn't afford to mourn the dead. Instead, they hid them somewhere inconspicuous so that their pursuers would not spot them.

The second one dismounted by himself.

"I can't carry on. Go on ahead – Don't worry, I won't make the mistake of being found by the enemy."

The middle-aged mercenary was in agony. They couldn't take food and water from a dying man, but it was obvious that he would be dead before long. Even so, there was nothing that Orba could do.

Gilliam and Stan pulled the two horses. For the soldiers who no longer had anything, the horses were valuable. They might be able to sell them for a good price in some village or, if it came to it, eat them as food.

The bitter truth was that they were the remnants of a defeated army. Orba was exhausted. In terms of physical condition only, he had been brought lower than this before. But his spirit was utterly exhausted. The heroes of legends could demonstrate their virtue and chivalrous spirit because they were in good health and didn't have to deal with situations like being pursued, or not knowing where to get fresh food and water, or being worried about someone else.

Those remaining were Orba, Shique, Gilliam, Talcott and Stan as well as Kurun. There were only two regular soldiers and they were so exhausted that they couldn't speak. Bouwen was in the same state, and if hadn't been for the faint heaving of his back, they might have thought that he had died.

They fled on without lighting torches, without looking back.

It reminded Orba of that time in his childhood when he had been forced to flee from his native village. He had been terrified from the dread of not knowing where Garberan soldiers might appear from as he pulled his mother by the hand during their journey by night.

''It's the same as back then''.

The darkness shrouding their surroundings wore away at the fugitives' nerves. Before you know it, the darkness is speaking, a voice flickering in your ear. Don't make a sound, don't breathe, behind you  –  There! – an enemy is drawing near. No, it's from the side. From the front. Instead of this, you want to scream and ride your horse at full speed. You want to break into a gallop as you wait for certain death without being able to move, while your throat slowly starts to tighten.

''That damn Greygun''.

As he was now, Orba was remembering a bitterness strong enough to burn up his own body.

If he wanted to accomplish something at all cost, Orba could even throw away his own feelings, but if that purpose was lost, then he couldn't suppress the hot-headed boy, or rather, he couldn't suppress his own emotions. At the Coldrin Hills, his purpose had been to somehow prevent his allies' annihilation. Because of that, he had been able to calmly assess the situation and come up with tactics, but now, his body and mind both exhausted, all that remained was anger, seething in his belly like fire.

In that way, several hours passed without anyone saying a thing.

"Where do you want to go now?"

When the light of dawn had begun to dye the wilderness a bluish-purple, Talcott spoke. Ahead of them was the bridge spanning the river. It was probably that which made them think that there might be some sort of settlement nearby. Shique answered,

"There does seem to be a village nearby, but we can't go looking like this. We should hide in the Belganas then send one or two of us to scout things out."

"You really are stupidly honest. You'd do that for the sake of an employer who can no longer pay us?"

"Are you thinking of selling out Bouwen?" Gilliam asked threateningly. "If you do, you'll be a disgrace among mercenaries. You'll be known far and wide for it and you won't find employment anywhere, or anyone to trust you.  I'm going to make my name as a mercenary. There's no way I'd stoop to being a two-bit villain like you."

"Shut up, Jumbo. Where there's life, there's hope. I'm not saying to sell out Bouwen. First comes food, then wine! I'm going to go take looksie for a village."

"But you're injured and anyone can tell at a glance that you're a defeated soldier. We can't afford to be reported to Helio," Shique pointed out.

"Tsk, you Mephians are all the same. If you want to stop me, try it. Even you lot won't get out of it unscathed."

Everyone was in a state of physical and mental collapse. His expression angry, Talcott was like a different person. He looked like he might swing a sword if anyone approached him. Just as Stan was starting to try and calm him down,

"There's food in the Belganas."

"What?"

Everyone turned their startled eyes towards Kurun. Blood that looked like dirt now that it had gone dry clung to his face, but his gaze as he looked at Orba and the others was unusually direct.

"I'm not sure about wine but I think it can only provide water. Since there's an underground river flowing there."
"Oi, newbie who can't even swing a sword properly. Have you finally gone mad?"

"That’s rich coming from you."

"Wha...?"

"Anyway!" Kurun spoke in an unusually loud voice, "I'll guide you. Because I have a request for you."

"A request?"

At Gilliam's question, Kurun nodded. And said something completely out of place for the situation.

"So that he can return as rightful king of Helio, I want you to work for the prince of Helio."



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