Editing Rakuin no Monshou:Volume6 Chapter7 (section)

=== Part 4 ===

Orba’s body suddenly grew very heavy. It was the weight of a body and heart that others had entrusted themselves to.

Noticing Orba’s voice when he coughed violently, Garda’s face showed surprised.

“What!” Seeing Orba starting to stagger to his feet, Garda’s expression then momentarily turned to one of utter amazement. However, “Eei, I don’t have time to deal with you. Sleep a bit longer!”

Genuine animosity finally darted from his eyes as he pointed his staff towards Orba. Just as darkness seemed about to spill from it once more, Orba closed his eyes.

He had encountered many “Roans” on the battlefield. The faces of the phantoms he had just seen flittered across the back of his eyelids. Here in the western lands of Tauran, he had witnessed more than enough people like his mother and Alice who had lost their families and their everyday lives when their towns were burned down.

''It’s already…'' What hesitations did he harbour within himself, what decision had he reached?

He lifted his hand and held the edge of his mask with his fingers.

“Whatever a mere human does, it’s useless,” Garda sneered as he was about to cast magic on Orba a second time.
At the same moment, Orba removed his mask.

“It’s me, Princess. Gil Mephius!” He yelled at the top of his lungs.

Of course at that time, Garda could not possibly have guessed. That when the swordsman removed the mask concealing his face, he would still be wearing another “mask”. And that as soon as that “mask” appeared, the flow of ether emanating from Esmena would rapidly dry up.
[[Image:Rakuin no Monshou v06 312.jpg|thumb]]
Life almost instantly returned to her face that had been blank and as that of one who was dreaming. A reddish tinge spread over her cheeks and a steel grey sparkle appeared in her eyes. Orba yelled again,

“Mephius’ Crown Prince Gil Mephius didn’t die or run and hide. I’m here!”

At the same time as Esmena’s expression was struck with surprise and tears spilled from her eyes, Garda looked towards her in confused dismay.

“What is the meaning of this? This…”

At that moment – Orba’s feet kicked the ground.

As sharp as an arrow, he covered the distance between Garda and himself. The startled sorcerer again escaped backwards at a speed that seemed unthinkable for his age. But Orba’s steps did not halt. He leaped up and brought his sword down towards his opponent’s head. Garda held up the staff in his hands.

Orba’s feet landed on the ground. The tip of his sword instantly changed direction and swept towards the sorcerer’s heart.

“Guh!”

Garda staggered, clots of blood smearing his beard, but he still hadn’t lost his tenacious fervour for life and he swung the staff once more, stopping Orba’s sword as it lunged towards him.

The shock ran through his arm. That strength was also unthinkable for an old man. That too was probably the power of sorcery. For a while, both of them fought without speaking.

“Send it!” Garda yelled, blood spraying from his mouth. “Send the ether in Zer Illias to me at once. Do you hear me, Tahī? What are you doing!”

What happened at that moment in that area that only a sorcerer could understand? Garda’s face wore an expression of far greater astonishment than it had when the supply of ether coming from Esmena was severed.

“Why, why? My ether is being sucked up. What’s going on? It’s as though… there isn’t a pathway towards me!”

“Garda.”

“Yes, I’m Garda. Garda himself.”

Pressing on with strength, Orba suddenly sprang several steps forward. He gave a shout that almost sounded mad and, just as Garda raised his staff in defence, Orba’s sword drew a glittering arc.

The wind it raised was still whistling as, this time, steel drove into Garda’s head.

With a dreadful expression, his eyelids peeled back from the whites of his eyes as blood trickled from their outer corners, the old sorcerer collapsed without a word.

Something fell from Garda’s head. The jewel fragment that had been at his forehead. Even though it had seemed deeply embedded, as though the jewel itself had lost its power along with its owner’s life, its ominous glow faded and it looked like any valueless stone as it rolled to the floor.

His breathing ragged, Orba gazed down at the remains of the man who, just a moment earlier, had been on the verge of controlling all of the western lands. It was clear that the heat was rapidly being snatched from the body. It was always the same thing. His heart that had seemed to be set ablaze in the moment he brought the fight to its end was cooling down along with his body and in its place he experienced a sense of futility and lethargy.

“Moldorf, Moldorf!”

He heard a woman shouting. When he looked, he saw that Moldorf, who had collapsed, was starting to regain consciousness. Lima Khadein – although of course Orba knew neither her name nor her identity – was kneeling beside him and had lifted him up in her arms.

“P-Princess,” gasping for breath, Moldorf raised his upper body.

He stared at the sobbing Lima in a daze then looked around the hall in utter amazement. His eyes travelled between Garda’s corpse, the mask that had tumbled to the floor and then towards Orba.

“B-Boy. You. You did it!”

Silently, without so much as smiling, Orba simply gave a slight nod. Moldorf heaved a sigh that seemed to come from the depth of his being. After a moment, he appeared to be concerned over something and separated himself from Lima, who was still holding him.

“Princess. I pointed a spear at you. I am unworthy of being in your presence like this.”

“What are you saying. Moldorf, I am in your debt.”

“If my aim had been off by even a fraction, I would have taken your life, Princess… No, at that moment, I even thought that even if that happened, it didn’t matter. How could someone like that ever face Kadyne’s royal family again.”

“Yes, Moldorf. You were kind enough to kill me.”

“P-Princess.”

Tears glistened in Lima’s eyes and, nestling close to the bearded general as though to the man she longed for, she took his arm.

“I am the one who lead Kadyne to ruin. You killed that person that I was and in doing so saved me. I thank you, Moldorf. You are a true protector of the royal family.”

Having come to that point, Moldorf finally allowed himself to weep. His figure, as his shoulders heaved and he shook with sobs, greatly resembled that of his younger brother.

As Orba was watching that scene, he felt a presence standing before him and turned to face it.

“A-Are you…” It was Esmena Bazgan. Her eyes round, she stretched out a trembling hand. “Are you, Prince Gil? Are you truly His Highness, Gil Mephius?”

Orba didn’t answer. Although his mask had fallen within reach, for some reason, it seemed terribly far away.

“Am I still being tricked by Garda’s magic? Is this another sweet illusion? Please, Your Highness. Please say something. Please say that you are Gil Mephius.”

The tears flowing from those steel grey eyes seemed ceaseless. Orba shook his sword and blood flew off it.

“Princess, I…”

His voice wouldn’t come out to give the name. His eyes also avoided Esmena’s. He knew that he only had to say a single sentence. All he needed to say was “I’m Gil Mephius.” But,

“I’m –”

All he could manage was to repeat that. Then,

“It doesn’t matter.” As soon as Esmena cried out, Orba could feel himself being warmly embraced. “It doesn’t matter. A dream or a phantom, it doesn’t matter. Your Highness Gil! Please, even if it is only a dream, please stay like this a while.”

As she sobbed, Esmena clung to Orba with unexpected strength.



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