Editing Tales of Leo Attiel:Volume1 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 4===


Leo Attiel was cornered. Soldiers from Allion were getting close. There were about seven of them. Leo had already decided on his course of action, but there remained the problem of Florrie, Claude and the people of the Anglatt House.
Leo stood up, his eyes fixed on the approaching lights.

“Florrie, after I’m captured, when you’re being questioned, tell them that you escaped with me because I threatened you,” was what he was about to say, but Florrie didn’t let him. Instead, she pulled the dagger she kept at her waist for self-protection.

“Leo, when they get here, please take me as hostage and run away,” she held out the dagger for him to take.

Unable to say anything, Leo was about to accept the dagger out of reflex, but the lights had already almost drawn up to them. Steel armour appeared in sight, reflecting the colour of the flames from the torches. Leo pushed back Florrie’s hand, and the dagger with it.

“Are you Lord Leo Attiel?”

The one who stepped forward brought the light closer to peer at Leo’s face. Leo could Florrie about to come flying from behind him at any moment, and held her back.

“…That’s right,” he nodded.

Another soldier nodded in return. Having already resigned himself, Leo took a step forward.

“Leo!”

The only thing that was painful to him was the sound of Florrie’s sobbing voice striking him from behind. It was only then that his hands and legs started to shake.

Even though he was supposed to have resigned himself.

No, he couldn’t really tell himself whether or not he was ‘resigned’, but, at the very least, he had to prevent trouble from falling on Florrie and Claude because of him.

Because that was the last display of honour that ‘Leo Attiel’ could show.

At the moment, because of the darkness, Leo failed to realise something. The soldiers naturally took hold of him but, although one would have expected them to descend back down the mountain with him, the one in the lead was smiling strangely beneath his helmet. 

“Would the young lady please come over here.”

“Wait, please wait…”

Yet another soldier forcefully dragged Florrie by the hand, and started to climb down the path a little ahead of the rest of the group.

Once Leo and Florrie were separated, the soldiers who were with Leo reached to unsheathe their swords.

Just then –

“Have you found the prince?”

A different group emerged from behind them. Three soldiers, also wearing armour from Allion.

“We found him first. The reward from Lord Hayden is ours.”

“Who cares? As long as the prince was found,” one of the young men from the newly-arrived group said easily. “But why have you got your hands to your swords? They said that the prince was unarmed.”

Lord Leo noticed then for the first time that the soldiers in front of him seemed about to take out their weapons.

Meanwhile, Florrie continued to be dragged further and further away. Waiting for her to be gone, the first soldier gave a low, scornful laugh.

“What, didn’t you hear about it? Our mission changed when the prince escaped.”

“What do you mean?”

“After the prince fled from us and escaped into the mountains, nobody knows how he met his end. Maybe he was attacked by a ravenous beast, or maybe he slipped and fell to the bottom of a ravine.”

Beneath their helmets, the soldiers from the new group exchanged glances. The young man who had spoken first nodded.

“In other words, your saying that Lord Hayden is using the fact of the prince’s escape to secretly get rid of him.”

He spoke loudly, clearly enunciating every word. Leo gasped and took a step backwards. Florrie, who still being taken away, apparently also heard, and started to shout something in their direction as she struggled with the soldier who had hold of her.

“You idiot, saying that so loud!” groaned one of the soldiers who was about to draw his sword.

This time, it was the young man who chuckled scornfully.

“Were you planning on taking care of things once the young lady was far enough away? You guys aren’t very smart. I guess those were your orders, but you started showed bloodlust too soon. Looks like you’re not used to fighting.”

“What!”

The mood within the first of group of seven turned dangerous. But… Leo could not clearly make out what happened next. It was that fast, and that bewildering.

The first thing was that the man who brought his hand to his waist was, in the end, unable to draw his sword. The young man who had mocked them as ‘not very smart’ casually thrust his spear at him. The tip unerringly pierced his throat, and while Leo was staring in surprise at the red blood that came gushing out, the other two from the new group had already started to move.

One of them likewise started to quickly attack the nearby soldiers with his spear. The one lowered his stance and charged into the group of soldiers, drawing his sword as he moved. He was the fastest of all. He leaped like a wild beast, twice jumping off the ground, smashing through one soldier’s helmet, and striking the legs of another one. As both of them fell to their knees, screaming in pain, the ‘beast’ was already flying towards a third soldier.

Leo could only stand there in amazement. He did not even notice that blood from the first victim had splashed onto his face. 

– The three of them were, of course, not soldiers from Allion. The first to go for his spear had been Camus, the warrior monk from Conscon Temple; the second spearman was Percy, the noble from Atall; and the one who moved like an animal as he sprang at the enemy was Kuon, the mercenaries from the mountains.

A few hours earlier, having accepted Claude’s request, the three of them, along with Camus’s younger sister, Sarah, had entered the mountains. Their weapons had also been returned to them. Claude chose a few of the soldiers who were with him to act as their guides. They were originally hunters who were familiar with where the many small hunting cabins dotted around the mountain area had been built. For about half of the journey, they followed animal trails known only to these men, and things went relatively easily.

Everyone remained mostly silent. Percy felt guilty now that his identity as an Atallese noble had been seen through, but Camus, who had seemed curious about the principality’s movements, did not say anything.

They parted from the hunters when the lights carried by Hayden’s soldiers started to come close. Once it was just them again, Sarah had whispered quietly:

“There’s also the option of just escaping like this.”

For her, Lord Leo’s situation was of no importance whatsoever. The one one who was fastest to shake his head, however, was not Percy, the Atallese aristocrat, but Camus.

“God’s faithful do not go back on their word. The general placed his trust in us. We must return him that trust.”

“What you say sounds nice,” Sarah spoke bitterly, “so, of course, you have some kind of plan, right? If you hadn’t, you’d declare that ‘God’s faithful do not take promises made with savages seriously.’ Since the only thing that you’re good at, Big Brother, is saying what’s convenient for you.”

“W-What did you say?” as Camus nearly raised his voice, Percy got between them.

While mediating between the siblings, he felt that he could guess at the contents of the ‘plan’ Sarah had spoken of. ''If we rescue the prince, we’ll earn a favour from the principality. In which case, the next thing to do is to urge them to openly send reinforcements to the temple''. Which was why he did not reproach Percy despite only finding out now that he was a noble from Atall.

Kuon, the only one who had remained silent, acted as their guide from then on. Along slopes so steep that it seemed you could not climb them without crawling with your knees close to your chest, over so terrain so complicated that there did not seem to be a single foothold, Kuon walked on as though it was nothing, then, just when they occasionally reached a part where it looked like a person could walk unhindered, he would scramble up a tree to check their surroundings.

Percy, Camus and Sarah desperately followed at his heels. Sarah, who was at the end of the line, had almost run out of strength but, just as when they had been they had been struggling to reach the enemy headquarters, she did not utter a word of protest. Instead, it was only the times when Kuon stopped and waited her for to catch up that she spoke.

“You’re looking at me… like a wounded and pathetic pet dog… this time, it’s between those eyes of yours… that I’ll put a bullet,” she threatened, gasping for breath.

Kuon’s went wide for a second before narrowing into slits, after which he once more walked by himself, cursing under his breath. Although he felt sorry for Kuon, Percy could more or less understand Sarah’s feelings. Kuon had never said anything like “you’re slow” or “I’ll leave you behind if you’re any slower than this”. Sarah persisted when even the average man would have collapsed by the side of the road, with the result that Kuon probably more than half acknowledged her, but realising that made Sarah even angrier at him, or, perhaps, angry at herself. Such was Sarah, but her presence was to prove invaluable. And not because of her skill with a gun.

At that time, Kuon’s eyes let him down. Focusing only on scouting out what was ahead, he failed to notice a group of six of Allion’s soldiers approaching from behind. This group had lost their unit, and they were coming after them because they thought that the light Percy was holding belonged to their companions. When they heard the rustling sounds from someone coming through the underbrush behind them, Percy and the others exchanged startled glances.

There weren’t so many enemies that they couldn’t overcome them, but if those enemies fired guns, or even simply shouted out loud, in no time at all, their numbers could double or triple. At that moment, Sarah gave the men an order:

“Hide.”

She personally shoved Kuon, who was staring at her blankly, to the ground. Then, for some reason, she started ripping up her own clothes. Once they were torn enough that skin was peeking through in some suggestive places, she took the light from Percy and went towards the approaching group.

Naturally, the soldiers were startled. They had been expecting to join up with their companions, yet the one walking unsteadily towards them was a woman whose naked skin was exposed.

“W-What the… Who are…”

“Those clothes… Are you a nun from Conscon?”

“Ye… Yes.” No one was more surprised than Kuon at Sarah shedding tears. “I escaped to the mountains. I was afraid of the fighting… I wanted to go back home, but I got lost. I… some bandits happened to find me…”

“F-Found you?”

“It was shameful. I can’t even say it…” Sarah suddenly started sobbing.

Although baffled and embarrassed, the soldiers from Allion could not tear their eyes away from Sarah’s body. Illuminated by the light from the flames, Sarah’s features were beautiful, and the bridge of her nose and the sharply defined contours of her chin line displayed the elegance of a young noblewoman. Captivated by that beauty and by the skin which peeked through her torn clerical robes, the men’s thoughts turned hazy.

Seizing that chance, Percy, Camus and Kuon scattered in three different directions. Synchronising their actions, they leapt out at Allion’s soldiers. From the experience of past fights, they each trusted the other two’s fighting skills. The way that even their breathing was in time with one another was simply splendid.

As a result, the ground was soaking up the blood of the enemy soldiers before they had even raised a cry. 

At Percy’s suggestion, the three men stripped out of their own equipment and put on Allion’s armour. Camus also looted the tunic from one of the fallen and tossed it to his sister.

They continued on for a little over another hour. Just when even the men could no longer conceal their exhaustion, they heard a voice saying, “Someone’s there”. For a second, their blood ran cold, but it was the voice of the soldiers who had found Leo Attiel.

Sarah stayed back alone as the other three approached the group from behind, pretending to be allies.

– Which lead to the scene that Lord Leo Attiel was now starting at in utter amazement.

Partly thanks to the effect of surprise, they did not allow the enemy to so much as resist against them. Percy also jabbed his spear through the neck of the soldier who was taking Florrie away, and the man fell in the pool of blood from his companions. He was the last one.

At that moment -

“Leo... please get away!”

Florrie moved as though she had been released from a spell. She thrust the dagger that she had still been holding right in front of Percy’s eyes. Both the tip of the dagger and her own eyes were trembling. It was the first time in her life that she had seen people die before her eyes.

“L-Leave. Please leave,” Florrie’s voice was also shaking. “Leo and I won’t go back to Allion. So… Please, let us go. Please just leave us be!”

“Oh,” Camus smiled, his face smeared in blood. “It looks like you have enough spirit to kill us if we refuse. As expected from Lord Anglatt’s daughter.”

“Father… My father… You – why…”

Realising that in her confusion, the light of reason had returned to Florrie’s eyes, Percy jabbed his spear into the ground. Startled, Florrie pointed the dagger towards him again.

“At Sir Claude Anglatt’s request, we have come to rescue the two of you,” he said. “We aren’t from Allion. We are soldiers from Atall and clerics from Conscon Temple.”

“From Atall?”

This time, it was Leo’s turn to raise his voice in surprise. Percy smiled, and lowered one knee slightly as he bowed towards him.

“It is my great pleasure to meet you, Your Highness and second-born prince, Lord Leo. My name is undeserving of being placed before you, but I am called Percy Leegan.”

“Leegan… Ah, Nordred Leegan’s….”

“Aye, Nordred is my father. Unworthy though we are, my family has pledged allegiance to sovereign-prince’s House for many generations.”

“Humph,” Camus snorted from behind him. ''So you’re finally giving us your name'' – it was probably because he was thinking that. 

“And, why did Lord Claude request something of a soldier from Atall and warrior monks from the temple?”

“We will explain in detail afterwards. Please come with us.” 

Percy was about to stretch his hand out towards Leo when – “No!” Florrie clung to Leo so suddenly that Percy’s hand was almost pushed aside.

“Because, because… Leo will be killed if he goes! You heard what those soldiers said earlier? Hayden Swift plans to kill him! “

''That right.''

Although realising that it was sudden, Percy was seized with serious doubts.

''That’s what I don’t understand. I get that Allion would pass judgement on the prince since they know about Atall sending reinforcements. But what was it those soldiers said? “Kill him in secret” ... that was definitely what they were saying. And that’s something that only that man names Hayden is aiming for...''

There was something very strange about this fight. Percy started to share the doubts that Claude and Lord Leo had both felt. However, there was naturally no time to think about it at length.

“For the time being, we need to leave,” Percy urged the prince in a firm tone. “Sir Claude’s soldiers should be waiting for us if we climb down to the east of here.”

Leo started to walk behind the three of them, soothing Florrie as they went. The prince himself was still confused. Though he had been aware that the guillotine was bearing down on him, Allion’s soldiers had not been going to capture him and take him for execution, but had been intending to kill him in the mountains. And then just at that moment, a noble from Atall, his native country, had protected him at Claude’s request.

When they climbed down the path, a woman was waiting for them. She was a beautiful girl who looked to be around the same age as Florrie, but she held a gun in her hand and was cautiously surveying the surroundings. Once she noticed Leo and the others approaching, she broke into a smile.

“Are you Lord Leo Attiel? It’s lovely to meet you. I’m Sarah from Conscon Temple, where…”

“Save it for later, Sarah. We need to leave here at once.”

“Buzz off, Big Brother. Don’t disturb our predestined encounter. This is the crucial moment that will decide whether your little sister can marry a rich man in the future.”

“D-Don’t be ridiculous. Sarah, even as a joke, you can’t say something like that.”

“Don’t take her seriously, Camus. She’ll just play you for a fool. That girl’s never happy unless she’s shocking someone.”

“What’s that, Kuon? Since when did the lowly mountain monkey get smart enough to criticise other people?”

“Stop it, all of you. Lower your voices. We don’t want Allion’s soldiers to walk into us like earlier.”

While hearing Percy’s voice, Leo Attiel turned back once to look at the open space they were leaving behind. The sky was pitch-black. It felt as though just by looking at it, that sky could suck up your body and soul, and Leo reluctantly tore his gaze away from it.

Everyone walked in a group.

Percy glanced repeatedly at Lord Leo, who was leading Florrie by the hand. Despite the Leegan House’s high social standing, as the second son, Percy did not have much interaction with the princely House. Lord Leo was the current sovereign-prince’s second son, and because he had gone to Allion as a hostage six years ago, this was the first time that Percy had even seen him.

''Maybe it’s because of his age, but he’s kind of slender. His face looks like a girl’s too.''

Honestly speaking, apart from his position as prince, there was nothing about him that left much of an impression. Florrie Anglatt, who had faced them, dagger in hand, had been far more striking.

Of course, back then, Percy would never have imagined.

That it was not just himself, the second son of the Leegan House, but also Camus, the warrior monk of the Cross Faith, and Kuon, the mercenary from the mountain lands, whose fates were bound with irresistible force to Lord Leo Attiel, and that force would soon attract trouble for the principality of Atall.

None of them were omniscient gods, so none of them could ever have imagined.

That nothing could have been stranger or more wondrous than this one night.

All of those who were led by Lord Leo would remember this night again and again.



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