Chronicle Legion:Volume 2 Epilogue
Epilogue[edit]
Part 1[edit]
November 7th, it was late, just after midnight.
Richard I had attacked Suruga but the defensive forces at the Suruga tutelary fort managed to pull through.
After the long night, dawn finally appeared on the horizon.
"Seriously... What a turbulent night."
Akigase Rikka was currently at the Suruga tutelary fort's nation-protecting keep.
The keep was forty meters tall and Rikka was on the roof. The tutelary fort was located on the highest plateau in the area, Nihondaira.
This was the best vantage point of Suruga City.
Alone, she was enjoying the beautiful scenery of Mount Fuji and Suruga Bay under the morning sun.
Such extravagance was one of the few privileges afforded to the Suruga castellan after staying up all night. Rikka stretched.
"Come to think of it... I think I've seen Masatsugu-dono's methods somewhere before."
Following Tachibana Masatsugu's directions, Rikka had fortunately won last night's battle.
He had used all sorts of tricks to lure the peerlessly ferocious king of knights, leading him to fall into an encirclement trap—
Rikka had the impression that she had read about similar tactics in a textbook on strategy or military history.
"Whatever," Rikka shrugged and did not dwell on the matter for too long.
This only meant that "Masatsugu-dono" had used reasonable and effective methods.
The crux of last night's battle was how to draw out Richard I's passion and charging attack. The praiseworthy fact was that Tachibana Masatsugu had accomplished this skillfully. The theory behind the operation was actually quite simple.
"Putting aside whether he is Lord Hijikata or not, there is no doubt that he is amazingly talented."
Ultimately, the tactics in books were not too meaningful.
The crucial point was to be able to apply these tactics "on the battlefield under extreme conditions."
If knowledge alone could win battles, there would be no need for generals. Just find a random student, get him to read a manual on strategy and tactics, then install him as the commander. Enough said.
"I need to greet Masatsugu-dono... and the princess."
The first name to slip out tugged at Rikka's heartstrings unbelievably.
She felt a strange urge to hum. At that moment, a soldier ran over. Rikka suppressed the urge to hum and said with a nonchalant expression, "What's the matter?"
After hearing the soldier's reply, Rikka murmured in puzzlement.
"This early in the morning... A man wants to see me?"
"Good grief."
Half an hour later, Rikka was wearing an exasperated look in the castellan's office.
"How was I supposed to know who the hell is Alexis Yang? Just say you're Yang Zhongda, descendant of the "Generals of the Yang Family," and I would've known immediately."
"I don't really like to call myself that..."
The citizen of Eastern Rome his late thirties replied a little frivolously.
Rikka was sitting behind the heavy office desk. The standing man was greeting her. Although he was dressed casually in a dark-blue jacket with beige pants, he was a soldier in active duty.
Alexis Yang's Chinese name was Yang Zhongda.
He was an acquaintance from the time when Akigase Rikka had been sent to serve Imperial Japan's ally, Eastern Rome.
"Even though the Yang family is famous for our generals, the women are particularly strong-willed and hold higher positions in the army. I don't really want people to know I'm a man from the Yang family, it's too embarrassing. Uh, I'm serious here."
"By the way, your wife... no, your ex-wive is also a distant relative of the Yang Family, isn't she?"
"We were in the same cohort during military academy. Now she's my superior."
After the battle against Richard's army—
A strange man had arrived at the gate of the Suruga tutelary fort and demanded to see the castellan. This frivolous commoner had claimed affiliation with the "Eastern Roman Empire's East Asian Administrative Region Military" and that he would explain his purpose after seeing the castellan...
"I'm surprised you managed to get to Suruga. Did you come from Tokyo?"
"Yeah, it wasn't easy crossing Hakone Checkpoint. Took quite a bit of work on my part."
Rikka nodded, figuring out the story.
Yang Zhongda had joined the military staff since long ago, but his abilities as a staff officer were quite mediocre. However, he was talented at noetic control and cultivating connections with civilian big shots or suspicious individuals.
This time, he must have used a combination of his own abilities and aid from others to arrive here.
"Major Yang, what is your purpose here in Suruga?"
"His Excellency asked me to come here and be your military adviser. Just think of me as a liaison. I'll be in charge of putting you guys in touch with the Roman military."
Rikka had heard whom Alexis Yang was currently serving as staff officer.
She shrugged. The so-called "His Excellency" could be no one else.
"Why did Lord Caesar send you directly to me, bypassing my father, the Tōkaidō Governor General?"
"Maybe... He thinks that Nagoya won't hold much longer, so he's making preparations in advance, as a precautionary measure?"
"If only Lord Caesar, who calls himself Imperial Japan's protector, had taken action earlier..."
Rikka spoke in sarcastic rather than grumbling tone.
"Then there wouldn't be any need for precautionary measures if he had helped Tōkaidō get rid of the British forces, right?"
"Well, there are various difficulties. All things considered, Imperial Japan is an ally, not a Roman province, right? We can't go too out of line."
"True. By the way, if the rebellion persists for the long term..."
Yang swept the issue under the rug by putting on a fool's look and Rikka stared at him.
"Eastern Japan with its strong ties to Rome will become your vassal state, while western Japan will be annexed by the British Empire... thus leading to an east-west split."
"Located right in the center, Tōkaidō will turn into Japan's version of Alsace-Lorraine, right?"
"This place you speak of, I recall it is a border territory that switched hands multiple times between Germany and France, isn't it? In other words, Rome and Britain will invade Tōkaidō repeatedly."
"This is purely the worst-case scenario based on speculation. Personally, I have no comment." Yang smiled wryly then put on a serious face to say, "His Excellency communicated a few plans to me for helping the isolated Suruga City and avoiding the worst-case scenario."
Part 2[edit]
"There are still so many problems..."
Lying on the bed in the sickroom, Shiori murmured.
Dressed in a blue patient's gown, she sat up. This was a special private ward in the Suruga tutelary fort's medical division.
"However, Masatsugu-sama and Hatsune are safe and sound, so let us celebrate this victory for now."
Last night, Shiori's physical strength had given out and she fainted.
As a result, she was admitted to the sickroom to rest.
At five something on the morning of November 7th, the two knights who had fought through the night yesterday, Tachibana Masatsugu and Tachibana Hatsune came to visit Shiori at her bed.
"Of course, I must also pray for those who were killed in action..."
Although the battle had ended in victory, there were a few unfortunate news.
In the earlier battle, 150 Kamuys had hid on Mount Satsuta to support the 360 Kanesadas.
The support forces were led by the three Chevaliers, Habuna, Maike, and Tabi. The Lionheart had left 200 Escalibors at Mount Satsuta to prevent them from striking his army from behind.
Even without their commander present, the British Legions still had numerical superiority. The three Chevaliers fought valiantly.
In the end, the two sides of this localized battle wiped each other out. Unfortunately, Chevalier Tabi had died in action.
In any case, Shiori expressed her concern for the Chevalier in her direct service.
"Masatsugu-sama, how is your wound?"
"Don't worry, at worst I just have trouble exerting force from certain parts."
Tachibana Masatsugu's answer was very straightforward.
After the duel against Richard I last night and intentionally receiving an injury, the Resurrectee had eventually returned to the tutelary fort and received treatment at the medical division.
"Princess, Onii-sama is so funny."
The other Chevalier, Hatsune laughed next to the older brother.
"He told the medic, 'for this kind of minor injury, just give me a bit of alcohol and sew it back up.' The medic gave him a good earful for that."
"After applying local anesthesia, he sewed up my abdomen very carefully."
"Seeing Onii-sama show no reaction to pain on his face, the doctor was totally astounded."
"I-I see..."
The lively maiden Chevalier was cheerfully talking about her "brother."
Masatsugu himself was listening on the side. This was clearly a scene of harmony after a victory. However, a certain worry took root in Shiori's heart.
Before rushing to the battlefield, Hatsune had said, "Don't worry! I know everything about what needs to be done to help Onii-sama!"
During that intense battle, Tachibana Masatsugu must have needed to refill ectoplasmic fluid.
Logically speaking, his source would have been... Shiori wanted to clear up the issue, but felt too embarrassed to ask.
If by any chance the answer was yes, she—
"Hey Onii-sama, let's stop by the commissariat later and take some of the canned liver they've been hiding? You lost a lot of blood and need some iron supplements."
"Sounds good."
"I'll cook them specially for you, okay♪"
"Since it's canned, there's no need for seasoning, right?"
"Canned food tastes even better if you put in extra effort to cook it. Using my prided cooking skills, I'll reward you for fighting bravely, Onii-sama."
"You're very confident in your cooking?"
"Yes, I'm an expert in shortcut cuisine by using canned food."
"...What about cuisine without shortcuts?"
"I am aware that my other cuisine still has room for improvement—Oh, d-don't tell me... Considering the future, Onii-sama, you're worried about my cooking skills?"
"No, I'm not too particular on how food tastes."
"I-I see. But I still need to work hard in that area..."
The two Chevaliers in the princess' direct service were chatting casually as usual.
However, Shiori was secretly surprised. Hatsune was acting quite differently from usual. Especially when she said the word "future," she seemed inexplicably shy, exuding an innocent maidenly allure.
As suspected, that matter needed to be cleared up beyond a doubt. Just as Shiori made her decision...
She heard a weird noise that sounded like metal shattering.
More precisely, it was not a noise but noetic waves. Masatsugu and Hatsune also looked around questioningly.
"What was that...?"
"P-Princess, do you know what happened?"
"Some sort of powerful noetic technique was applied to this area or even all of Suruga... No, it is the opposite. A noetic technique that was originally in effect has been lifted—?"
Shiori then said to the two knights, "Let us go find Rikka-sama. This could be something major."
Ever since the middle of October when the Crusades attacked the first time...
Suruga City and the surrounding region had been under the Restoration Alliance's noetic disruption. Once activated, this barrier-type noetic technique prevented the use of all airwaves and wireless communications within the affected area.
As a result, television and phones had been out of order in the city for over half a month.
The strange noise heard by Shiori and her Chevaliers, as well as other noetic officers, was the noetic waves resulting from the disengagement of this wide-area noetic technique.
"It seems like it was not due to a third party forcibly neutralizing it."
Three hours after the strange noise, Rikka was speaking in a conference room within the tutelary fort.
The result had come out after an emergency investigation. Apart from Shiori, Tachibana Masatsugu, Tachibana Hatsune, and the Chevaliers Habuna and Maike, there was also a young man in casual clothing who claimed to be a soldier from Eastern Rome.
"The British forces, who were responsible for it in the first place, apparently stopped it on their own accord."
"They must have decided there was no need to disrupt this area... Or perhaps, there is a more important mission that required them to shift their focus. I wonder which is more likely?"
Speaking in a relaxed tone of voice, the Roman soldier said, "Uh, I do have some related bad news to inform everyone. Now that noetic disruption is lifted, I can receive wireless communications from 'outside.' Those Restoration Alliance guys are proceeding with the attack on Nagoya even without Richard I's participation. According to the original plan, they will start today at noon..."
Part 3[edit]
"Regardless, even without Uncle's assistance, we will attack Nagoya as planned."
Edward was strolling along the shore of Lake Ashi, one of Hakone's famous sights.
He was accompanied by the doll possessed by the spirit Morrigan.
It was early morning and in the mountains at an elevation over 700m. The air was incredibly clean and pure while the lake water was blue and beautiful.
"While Uncle was on a rampage, I sent several Knights of Her Majesty that were on standby to contain Nagoya. They have the sea fully under control now. It is time to have to return to their original mission. Every knight wishes to go on a rampage. Naturally..."
Edward was dressed in a hot spring inn's yukata. He had just enjoyed a bath and was about to head back.
Enjoying Hakone's picturesque scenery, the Black Prince had his hands in his sleeves. Walking on wooden clogs that clattered crisply, he said solemnly, "I do have many complaints. I wonder what made Uncle crazy, but I originally looked forward to his ability to penetrate defenses. Forget it, I will leave the matter for now."
"Prince. About Suruga's katana user."
Dressed in a beret and sailor outfit, Morrigan murmured, "According to reports from spies who infiltrated Suruga... They found the name 'Hijikata Toshizō'."
"I will confirm it later. To think that Suruga harbors a samurai who piques the interest of British knights like us, as well as a beautiful princess of Imperial Japan. How fascinating."
Edward's handsome face smiled cheerfully. This aristocrat of the Plantagenet dynasty said, "Looks like the day for me to fight directly is not far away."
"In my opinion... There is no need for a commander-in-chief to do that."
A tense situation was building up between Hakone Checkpoint and Suruga.
Currently, only two people were sharp enough to notice this. The Black Prince of the British Empire and the mysterious samurai of Suruga.
Certain of this, Edward nodded to himself in deep thought.
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