Chapter 6: The Light That Shines on the Battlefield

It didn’t take too long to take down the troops formerly under Lord Credias’ control. Sensing which way the wind was blowing now that their spellcaster was dead, the Llewynians had started running off in all different directions.

Letting the deserters be, we hurried to join up with the main body. A few daring Llewynian soldiers made to intercept us along the way, but I just mowed them down with the golem I had running alongside us.

It was hard to manage that while running at the same time, however. I had to dissemble my golem partway there.

When he saw that I’d run out of breath, Reggie spoke up, concerned, from my side. “Don’t push yourself too hard.”

“I’m fine,” I managed to answer him with a smile. After all that time spent under Lord Credias’ restraints, my body was feeling exceptionally light. It was true that my mana hadn’t stabilized, however, and I was still a little feverish, too. Thus, I refrained from wielding the full extent of my power and opted not to keep my golem going.

The main body, led by Alan, was still in the midst of their fight. While we were busy battling Lord Credias, we’d had the elite troops we recruited at an additional expense rush in wielding the frostfoxes’ swords of ice.

They were so much mightier than your regular sword that the Llewynian soldiers faltered, allowing us to force a clean break between the Llewynian and Salekhardian forces. The Llewynians continued to advance, attempting to skirt around the chaos. Once they’d used their defective spellcasters to break down a part of the fence I’d built earlier, enemy soldiers flooded in through the openings.

I spotted Jerome—who was defending the right flank, the forces closest to us—pulling his soldiers back, overwhelmed by the enemy’s momentum. Lured into charging forward, the Llewynians soon found themselves hurtling down a number of pitfalls. The holes were a touch deep, but not particularly wide; since they weren’t big enough to bring the men to a full stop, the soldiers instead landed in a heap on top of each other, presenting an obstacle for the forces in the rear.

Jerome had asked me to make those ahead of time, too. The Farzian soldiers had been instructed to avoid the holes, and I’d left markings to make it clear where they were. Obviously the Llewynians weren’t aware of that, and carefully watching where they stepped wasn’t a luxury most soldiers could afford on the battlefield.

Now that the enemy’s march had slowed, Lord Enister’s troops in the center rear went on the move, launching a joint attack with Jerome’s forces. Unfortunately, that wasn’t quite enough to force the Llewynians to retreat. They’d gone back to mass-producing defective spellcasters.

Worse still, they were using injured Farzian soldiers now. Finding themselves under attack by their fellow soldiers in blue capes was understandably throwing our men into disarray.

Meanwhile, the Llewynians were starting to reposition their forces.

“Just how many contract stones does Llewyne have?!”

“No idea, but it looks like they dug up enough to hand ’em out like candy. Heeheehee! This isn’t looking too good. The unrest within our ranks is the worst of it.”

Master Horace was right. Back during the battle at Delphion, too, adding soldiers who had only just defected from Llewyne into the mix had bred enough paranoia to throw our troops into disarray. At this rate, we were going to come out of this with considerable damage.

“Stop right there, Kiara. Someone bring us a skilled archer!” Reggie commanded, having arrived at a similar assessment. As soon as I’d come to a halt, Reggie whispered his idea into my ear. I nodded, then handed some copper ore to the soldier who had come along with a bow in hand.

The soldier promptly moved to a spot of Reggie’s choosing, firing off an arrow fastened with the copper ore. I placed my hands on the ground, raising the earth on either side of where the ore had landed. With that maneuver, I managed to separate the Farzian and Llewynian forces.

“Kiara!”

I stood up and placed my hand on Reggie’s shoulder, and lightning gushed from his sword. With a mighty roar, the lightning extended its light as far as Reggie willed it. It rose all the way to the sky in the blink of an eye, then came crashing back down—toward the side of my earthen wall where all the Llewynians were gathered.

The rumbling of the earth carried all the way back to my ears and feet.

Based on how many screams I’d heard, that attack had killed a great number of Llewynian soldiers. Though I hadn’t been the one to strike them down myself, their cries didn’t hit me any less hard for it. Perhaps the reason I wasn’t quite as scared as I usually was, however, was because Reggie was the one running the show.

Almost as though he’d sensed what I was feeling, Reggie lowered his sword and placed a hand over the one I had on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry. I’m right here with you.”

Just knowing that there would be someone by my side through all the tough times—whenever I had to fight, whenever I had to kill—was enough to give me peace.

“Don’t mourn them too much. It’s easier to resign yourself to your fate when your opponent shows no shame. If the person you lost to apologizes, it just makes it harder to hate them, no?”

“Uh... yeah? Maybe?”

He did have a point; if someone punched you in the face and then got down on their knees to apologize, it would be hard to know how to react. Perhaps it was best to think of a fight to the death the same way.

There wasn’t much time to dwell on that, though. While the Llewynians were still in disarray, we ran closer and closer to the Farzian camp. As we dashed by, Reggie yelled to his soldiers, “The spellcaster of Llewyne is dead! The defectives are no match for Farzia!” His declaration dealt quite a blow to the Llewynian soldiers’ morale.

After Lord Credias had come along with his huge line of defective spellcasters in tow, everything had panned out just as Reggie had expected. Now that their lifeline of a spellcaster had fallen in battle, the Llewynian troops had steadily begun to bleed soldiers.

Now that we’d cut down so many of the Llewynian troops, there was no reason for Salekhard to keep up the fight. As I was thinking to myself about what a good opportunity this was for Isaac to put on a show of being cornered and raise the white flag, we finally arrived back at the vanguard of the Farzian army.

“How’s the battle proceeding?” Reggie asked briskly.

Alan was looking out over the battlefield from atop his horse, his expression grim. He replied, “As you can see, we have the upper hand—all thanks to the reinforcements you had that knight of yours, Dior, call in from his home territory of Tarinahaea. It’s only a matter of time before we clear out the Llewynians... but that still leaves the matter of Salekhard.”

Given how the frostfoxes’ onslaught was keeping them from effectively utilizing their defective spellcasters, the Llewynians looked ready to make a run for it. Yet Salekhard still hadn’t shown any signs of retreating.

“Perhaps we need to push a little bit harder; for now, let’s concentrate on wiping out the Llewynians. I’d like to throw Salekhard off their game, too. Where’s Gina?”

“Salekhard knows how to deal with the frostfoxes, so she’s having trouble getting an attack in.”

“Then let’s just focus on Llewyne.”

“Alright. You just stand back and watch, Reggie. You’re looking awfully pale.”

Alan gave him a shove on the shoulder. Reggie must not have seen it coming, seeing as it actually threw him off balance for once.

Groul rushed in to catch him. “Are you quite alright, Your Grace?”

“Yes. I’m feeling the burn from earlier, that’s all.”

Reggie had used his magic several times in the battle against Lord Credias. During the climactic moment of the fight, he’d even had to absorb the mana blast Lord Credias had unleashed with the intent to kill. Considering it wasn’t my mana he was dealing with there, it had probably taken an unforeseen toll on him.

“Let me have a look at you, Reggie,” I demanded, dragging him back out of the way and urging him to take a seat.

It was clear that he was in quite a bit of pain; for once, he didn’t bother to dig in his heels when I grabbed him by the wrist. Now that I was touching him, I could sense the mana writhing around inside of him, rough enough to turn his throat into sandpaper.

All that running must have been hard on him, too. He was in no condition to be worrying about me! No, this is my fault. He’s still getting used to using his magic, so I should have paid more attention.

“I’m sorry I didn’t notice until now.”

“Don’t be, Kiara. We didn’t exactly have the luxury to rest until we made it back here.”

So he claimed, but the moment the storm of mana finally began to die down, I heard him breathe a sigh of relief.

“What about you, Kiara?”

“I’m fine. This is nothing.”

I still had plenty of fight left in me. If we wanted to protect our soldiers, we had to use the viscount’s death to our full advantage.

And so I declared, “Well, off I go!” before leaving Reggie’s side and making my way back over to Alan.

“I’m good to use my magic whenever, Alan. Is there anything you need me to do?” I asked him.

He pointed straight at Salekhard’s forces. “Lila is stuck in a standoff over there. She is helping to keep Salekhard at bay, but we’ll be in trouble if we can’t get her out of there soon.”

It was hard to see around the crowds of soldiers, so Cain lifted me up onto the front of his horse, giving me a better angle. From the looks of it, the frostfoxes were indeed at an impasse. Since they were standing on low ground, I had a clear view of the oversized Lila and the knights accompanying her, as well as the torch-bearing soldiers surrounding them.

Being frostfoxes and all, Lila, Reynard, and Sara were weak to heat. It was solely thanks to their magic that they could stroll around in the middle of summer without issue. Of course, having a heat source thrust before them like this forced them to drain their mana reserves just to stave off the warmth. Perhaps that explained why Lila was looking a full size smaller than she had yesterday.

Though they were continuing to fight back, their attacks were limited to the occasional blizzard—possibly because they knew Salekhard would have to retreat sooner or later.

“Take me to them, Sir Cain.”

“Alright.”

As we galloped toward the frostfoxes, we found only Évrard soldiers in the vicinity. That was likely an intentional move on Alan’s part; if he left the fight up to soldiers under his direct command, it would make it easier to call off the attack once Salekhard raised the white flag.

When I hopped down from our horse, Cain ordered the soldiers to open a path for me. Knowing that the spellcaster was about to take action, the soldiers swiftly complied. Now that they’d moved out of the way, I had a clear view of the frostfoxes, even as I knelt down to place my hands on the ground.

“I’m going to levitate the ground around the frostfoxes! Everyone get out of the way!” I called out, and once I was sure I had the timing right, I cast my spell.

The ground soon began to swell underneath the feet of the Salekhardians, who had formed a semicircle around the foxes. Some of the men fell on their backsides in shock, while others bumped into the soldiers behind them as they tried to get out of the way—and soon the rising slope of the ground hid them from view entirely.

Gina and her frostfoxes fled downhill toward the Farzian troops. To stave off the Salekhardians who had come chasing after them, weaving around the bulges of earth, I went to work constructing an earthen wall straight across. I piled two-mer walls one on top of the other to give the straggling Évrard soldiers a chance to escape.

All that work had left me a little strapped for breath. Perhaps this was starting to take too much of a toll on me.

“That’s enough, little disciple. Go take a break.” Having picked up on the turbulence in my mana, Master Horace advised me to stop there. I nodded in response.

Évrard fell back to make sure we kept a clear view of the front lines. Now that it had become significantly harder to attack us, Salekhard was likewise bound to withdraw for now—or so I’d thought.

Contrary to my expectations, Salekhard had begun navigating around my wall. And here I’d just given them a perfectly good excuse for a ceasefire.

“Why aren’t they retreating?!”

“Miss Kiara, if you’re not planning to cast any more spells, let’s move to the rear.” Cain scooped me up and plopped me down on his horse, moving me out of the way whether I liked it or not.

When I glanced back over Cain’s shoulder, I saw the Salekhardian forces colliding with Évrard’s. As they slashed at each other with their swords and stabbed each other through with their lances, the bodies started to pile up one after the other.

Given the enemy’s numerical advantage, Delphion soldiers were rushing over to join the fight. Lord Enister and his men, too.

With the way things were headed, Alan was going to have trouble calling off the attack on Salekhard. It would look far too contrived.

While I was sitting there at a loss, Reggie and his guard passed us by on horseback.

“What’s going on, Reggie?!” I shouted.

Reggie brought his horse to a halt and explained, “Llewyne brought in reinforcements. They hid themselves on the islands of the lake, so I didn’t notice they were here until it was too late. The new troops have a ship moored in the lake, and they’re sending soldiers out in smaller boats to join up with Salekhard from behind. Thus, Salekhard is in no position to retreat.”

We had rushed to get here precisely so that we could put an end to this before reinforcements arrived. Unfortunately, the Llewynians had been one step ahead of us.

“So Salekhard is going to keep on fighting?”

“It looks that way.”

We have to keep on fighting them? What, all the way until one side or the other is defeated?!

Knowing that Reggie was heading for the front lines didn’t help ease my nerves one bit.

“I’m going to go stop them in their tracks, so you ought to hang back a little, Reggie.”

I could always buy us some time by creating more pitfalls. That was what I’d had in mind, in any case, but Reggie just gave a calm shake of his head.

“I have to end this now. If it’s a duel with me the king of Salekhard wants, then I’m going to give it to him.”

“What? Why?!”

If he fought against Reggie, it would only draw the attention of even more Farzian soldiers. It would rob them of the chance to pull their punches and fake a predetermined outcome. Sensing that things were heading in a direction I hadn’t accounted for, I felt a shiver down my spine.

That was when Reggie said, “Say, Kiara. If all he planned to do was surrender, he could easily do that behind closed doors. He could feign defeat any time he wanted. Didn’t that ever occur to you?”

He was right, and I had thought as much back when Gina told me the full story. I’d bought the idea that he had to fight against Farzia to avoid arousing suspicion from Llewyne. Still, considering that he’d conquered Trisphede and crossed swords with Farzia once already, he ought to have pulled his weight by now. I didn’t really understand politics, so I’d just chalked that up to some unspoken rule he had to abide by.

“Frankly speaking, given that they invaded Trisphede and killed the lord of the land, we would have had to extort quite a bit from Salekhard upon their surrender. To do otherwise would set a bad precedent, after all,” Reggie declared. “We can’t simply let them off the hook. Surely you understand that.

“But if the king responsible for the invasion were to die, it would be difficult to take his successor to task for his misdeeds. Painting him as the villain who single-handedly threw the nation into turmoil allows Salekhard an excuse for their defeat, too. He whose lineage was the root of all this trouble will be estranged from his homeland. Being the practical man that he is, he’s never once hoped for a different outcome. He even said that this would be a fitting place for him to die.”

“He did?”

Why is he so set on dying? I thought, when something suddenly occurred to me.

“Wait a second, Reggie. You talked to Isaac?” I asked, noticing that his phrasing implied that he’d spoken to the man himself.

Reggie nodded. “And by the end of our discussion, I realized how difficult it would be to dissuade him. I decided that, if nothing else, I could at least slay him by my own hand. So... what’s your plan now, Kiara?”

After dropping that one last hint, he galloped off into the distance. I was too stunned to stop him.

Cain stepped in to explain, “His Highness knew beforehand that the king of Salekhard would seek leniency for his country in exchange for his own life. He met with the man the other day to confirm his position, and found that he was firm in his decision.”

When I glanced back over my shoulder, I locked eyes with Cain, who was staring down at me with a tranquil expression.

“How did Reggie know that? Why did he decide to meet with him?”

It would’ve been one thing if he’d been forced to negotiate with an enemy, but given that Salekhard was going to be the one surrendering, Farzia had them at an advantage. There shouldn’t have been any need to find a compromise.

“We heard about the king’s plans to die from Gina. Considering your relationship with him, she was worried you might be upset when the time came, so she came to talk to us about it.”

I see. So Gina knew about this from the start.

It must have been hard on her, knowing that her childhood friend was going to die and not being able to do a thing about it. If it were me, I wouldn’t have been able to bear it.

“I’m the one who heard it straight from her mouth. She never managed to talk the king out of it herself... and so she found herself wishing that you might be able to make him stop. That said, we had no idea how the battle against Lord Credias was going to turn out. Being forced to deal with Salekhard on top of that could have put too much pressure on you. That is why Gina neglected to mention it to you, and why His Highness and I likewise chose to keep mum on the matter. Instead, His Highness opted to negotiate with the man directly.”

“Reggie tried to talk him out of it?”

If Reggie went to meet with Isaac, he’d probably had to venture pretty close to enemy territory. He’d likely had to keep the number of bodyguards he brought to a minimum, too, to make sure no one spotted him there. Had he really gone to such lengths just to dissuade Isaac—the same man who had nearly murdered Cain—from his plan?

Cain flashed me a faint, rueful smile. “He did it for you. He knew how sad you were going to be. Considering how much you hate killing your enemies, there was no telling how shaken you’d be by the death of someone closer.”

I couldn’t believe how far Reggie had gone just to look out for me. The guilt was crushing.

“I broke my promise to you and refrained from saying anything because I thought it might hamper your ability to fight. You already had your hands full dealing with the viscount, didn’t you?”

I thought back to the conversation Cain and Reggie had had just before the fight against Lord Credias. So that’s what they were talking about, I realized.

If everything went well, they would tell me the truth. On the other hand, if I had exhausted myself and collapsed on the spot, I wouldn’t have found out until after Isaac was dead.

I chewed on my lip. I knew that Isaac was doing all this because he wanted to protect both his country and his brother, who would become its next king. I wasn’t sure whether I had any right to get in his way.

It was right then that I caught sight of Gina and Girsch, who had withdrawn to the rear alongside their frostfoxes. Gina was watching Reggie and his knights gallop away, her mouth drawn into a thin line as she did her utmost to keep herself from crying. Once I saw that, I knew exactly what I had to do.

In the heat of the moment, I hopped down from my horse.

“Miss Kiara?!” Cain cried out.

“Sorry! Coming through!” I shouted as I made a beeline for Gina.

“Kiara?!” she exclaimed.

“You came over here all by yourself?” Girsch asked, equally shocked.

“Let’s go, Gina!” was my only response as I grabbed her by the wrist.

She seemed bewildered by this turn of events. “Go where?”

“We’re going to stop Isaac!”

Gina let out a gasp, and her expression quickly shifted to something more contrite. “You heard?”

“Yeah, just now. But I refuse to accept it. You aren’t okay with it either, are you? Let’s go stop him, then. I need your help.”

The moment I asked Gina and Girsch to pitch in, the looks on their faces changed.

“What should we do? Just say the word!”

“If you need my help for something, that must mean my frostfoxes are part of your plan. What do you want me to do?”

I was relieved to see how quickly they had started looking to me for instructions.

“Thanks, you two. If we want to stop Salekhard, first we need to focus on taking out Llewyne’s reinforcements. To that end, I’d like you to lend me the frostfoxes for a bit.”

“The frostfoxes?”

I nodded. “Also, I’ll need you to buy me some time until I’m ready.”

“I’ll ask Lord Alan,” Cain offered, now that he’d finally caught up to me again. “I have a vague idea of what you’re planning to do. I fear it might put too much strain on the both of you, but if you believe you can manage, I’ll let you have at it.”

Cain swiftly took his leave. Meanwhile, I dashed off alongside Gina and Girsch, hoping to drag Reggie back from the Salekhardian ranks he’d headed off into.

“If you need someone to go fetch His Highness, just leave it to me!” As soon as we’d reached the front lines, Girsch called me and Gina to a halt before diving straight into enemy ranks. Swinging about a sword at a furious pace, the mercenary struck down one Salekhardian soldier after the other to carve out a path. It wasn’t long before other Farzian soldiers had begun to flock over, hiding Girsch from sight.

Not too much later, Girsch came running back from the front lines with Reggie and his royal guard in tow.

“Found him!” the mercenary declared, wiping away a few beads of sweat with the refreshed smile of someone who had just finished up a light jog.

All that was only enough to work up a light sweat? Girsch sure is incredible!

Reggie probably figured that I’d come up with some sort of plan, and he looked absolutely delighted by this turn of events. “I heard that you wanted to speak to me?”

“Let’s start by defeating Llewyne’s reinforcements. I think I know a way to lighten the load on us, so let me check something real quick.” I then asked Reynard, “Hey, boy, could you try brushing up against Reggie for me?”

If the frostfoxes could quell the storm of my mana, the same ought to apply to Reggie. Inferring what I had in mind, he extended a hand toward Reynard... only for the fox to chomp down on it. Reggie stared down in round-eyed surprise before bursting into a fit of giggles.

“Does that hurt?”

“Not at all. He’s just play-biting. I suppose he’s taken his consumption of me rather literally. But in any case, I more or less understand what you’re getting at.”

From the sound of it, Reggie could feel the heat of his mana draining away. Everything was going according to plan.

“Let’s do this, then!”

“Of course. I’d never refuse a request of yours,” Reggie smoothly replied, flashing me a smile. Just knowing I had his approval was enough to ease my nerves and give me the strength to do my best.

Alright! I psyched myself up. There was one more thing I had left to do if I wanted to stop Salekhard. While Alan’s troops were in “standby” mode, I had to do something to keep casualties on either side to a minimum.

“Can I put you in control of another golem, Master Horace?”

“Heheh! What, you want me to send those kids running around in a panic one more time? Can’t believe all my hard work prowling around in the dead of night storing up mana is going to pay off a second time. Why, just the thought of it is enough to lift my spirits! Mmheehee!”

Once I’d gotten his consent, I used a block of copper ore to give him an extra coating and toughen up his defenses, just like I had way back when. Next, I stepped away from our battle lines to go make my Master-Horace-equipped giant golem. Of course, in hopes of giving all those Salekhardians who believed he was a cursed doll a good scare, I formed the golem itself in his image, too.

“Have at it!” I shouted, and Master Horace stomped his way along the edge of the battlefield, heading for the Salekhardian troops.

Amid the subsequent screams of the soldiers, I moved to a spot near the lake with Gina, Girsch, and Reggie. We were already surrounded by knights, but soon after Groul had spoken to the knight commanding the nearby soldiers, we found ourselves even more tightly guarded. Cain joined up with us, bringing a flock of Évrard soldiers along with him. By then, our numbers had reached nearly seventy.

Reggie lifted me up onto his horse. With the way my pulse was going a mile a minute from deploying Master Horace, I was worried about what would have happened if I’d tried to run, so I appreciated having the ride. Then again, the way he wrapped his arms around me from behind just made my heart race for an entirely different reason.

“Hey, Reggie...”

Riding a horse together didn’t require him getting this close to me. But no matter how flustered he was making me, I was dismayed to find that I hated the thought of pulling away.

Reggie murmured, “I’ll always want to aid you in doing whatever it is you desire, but keep in mind that he’s a fairly stubborn man himself. I don’t want you to take this too far.”

“Uh, sure? I’m not really planning to get myself killed.”

I wasn’t sure what he was getting at, but I could tell he was worried about me. Not long after, we arrived close enough to get a clear view of the lake.

“We ought to be able to reach from here.”

More accurately, we couldn’t get any closer than this. The Llewynian reinforcements were disembarking not a few hundred mers away, and the Salekhardian soldiers who had spotted us were already moving in to defend them.

Wait, they’re already here?!

“Hold it right there, prince of Farzia!”

A group comprised of nothing but cavalrymen clad in the green capes of Salekhard began charging toward us. Surprisingly, Isaac was there among them. I couldn’t say for sure whether their numbers reached the triple digits or not, but either way, they certainly had more knights than we did.

Once we were close enough, I could hear Isaac’s voice loud and clear from the vanguard. “You wretched liar! You agreed to settle things one-on-one with me!”

Reggie’s reply was nonchalant. “I may have heard out your request, but I never said I’d do it.”

“You damned pedant!” Isaac screeched, looking just about ready to tear out his hair. I felt oddly sympathetic to his reaction, but nevertheless, I pressed on with what I had to do.

“You know what to do,” Reggie offhandedly ordered Groul, who had been tasked with holding Isaac’s men at bay.

The ones to step out front and center were Girsch and Gina, who had Lila in tow.

“Stay out of our way! You know full well what the plan is, Lady Ginaida!” a knight shouted as he was brought to a halt by Lila’s blizzard.

“Nope, I don’t know a thing! I’m just a hired mercenary for Farzia now.”

“And I’m just a fruitcake!” Girsch chimed in.

Watching the pair grin from ear to ear and brush off the enraged knight was quite the sight to behold. Anyone who attempted to skirt around them found themselves blocked by the wall Groul, Cain, and the rest of the knights had formed, forcing them into a deadlock.

“Now’s the time.” Having dismounted the horse along with me, Reggie drew his sword, held it in his left hand, and raised it high toward the sky.

I placed a hand on his shoulder. “Aim for that big ship in the lake, Reggie. Try to spread the blast out as much as you can. I’m going to give you an extra helping of mana, so it might be a little much to bear.”

“That’s fine. Whatever it takes to put an end to this battle.”

Once Reggie had nodded his consent, I poured my mana inside of him, being a little more liberal with it than usual. Soon after I felt my hand link up to Reggie’s arm, I was struck with a bout of anemia.

While I was doing my best to ride out the dizzy spell, a flash of light flooded my vision. A strip of lightning soared up into the sky in the blink of an eye, and in nearly the same instant, split off in seven different directions and crashed back down toward the lake. As my eyes were once again seared with white, there came a loud clap of thunder I felt all the way down my spine.

I screwed my eyes shut on reflex, but of course, I had to see what had happened for myself. I opened them up to take a look at the lake.

Of the five ships anchored in the lake, two of their bows had been left completely destroyed, smoke billowing into the air. One of the smaller boats caught rushing back to the shore had also been capsized, remnants of the demolished vessel left to float in the water with its former passengers. Perhaps because the lightning had been borne of magic, dregs of the blast lingered in the aftermath, sparks crackling over the surface of the lake.

I couldn’t tear my gaze away from all the corpses floating in the water.

A single stroke of lightning had completely wrecked the ship carrying the Llewynian reinforcements, killing a majority of the soldiers in the process. I’d known this was what was going to happen, but my legs trembled beneath me all the same.

The eyes of Isaac and the rest of the Salekhardian soldiers who had witnessed it were glued to the slaughter, stunned. Even the soldiers of Évrard couldn’t bring themselves to look away.

Now was our chance.

“Are you alright?” I asked Reggie, whose breath was coming a bit raggedly.

He just smiled back. “Yes, thanks to Sara’s help.”

Now that he mentioned it, I noticed Sara nibbling on the same hand Reynard had chomped down on earlier. So both of them would rather take a bite out of his hand than snuggle up to him? What, does he taste that good?

I took my hand off of Reggie’s shoulder to hide the fact that I was getting the chills. A moment later, Reynard came up by my side. As much as I appreciated him suppressing my fever...

“Uh, Reynard? What happened to the fight?”

When I took a look, I saw that the Salekhardians had lowered their swords, as had Isaac himself. After seeing them draw to a halt, Gina and the Farzian soldiers had likewise paused their attack.

“Llewyne’s reinforcements have been annihilated. They no longer have any hope of turning the tide of this battle. That means you have no reason left to fight either, king of Salekhard,” Reggie declared.

Isaac glowered in response. “I wasn’t aware you had become a spellcaster as well, prince of Farzia. Were you aiming to hand us a pretext for surrender from the start?”

“I did suspect that things might end this way. Why on earth did you believe that I would show you all of my cards, anyway?”

“And here I recall you promising to kill me. Hmph. Fine then. I surrender,” Isaac conceded, heaving a weary sigh, before adding, “I expect you to adhere to our agreement.”

No sooner had he said that than he turned his sword on his own body, aiming to run himself clean through.

Everyone standing witness let out a gasp. Gina rushed to stop him, but she was too late. Girsch, who had been standing nearby, ran over to knock the sword out of his hands, but all that managed to do was shift where the blade made contact. Isaac thrust the sword deep into his own gut. The tip of the blade punctured him all the way through to his back, where it dripped blood over the ground.

“Isaac!” Before I knew what I was doing, I found myself breaking into a run. Wait. Why would he do that?!

Reggie had defeated the Llewynian reinforcements. We’d put Salekhard at enough of a disadvantage that it would have been perfectly understandable for them to raise the white flag.

Perhaps the Salekhardian cavalry had seen this coming. Only one of the knights stepped up to catch the king’s crumpling body, lowering him to the ground in his arms. The rest of the men simply dismounted their horses, stowing their swords in their sheaths.

Gina had slumped to the ground in shock. I breezed right past her, rushing over to Isaac’s side.

Nobody tried to hold me back. It was clear now that the curtains had been drawn on this fight. Only Reggie and a handful of soldiers even bothered to follow after me.

One Salekhardian knight sent another cavalryman off with a message—presumably to inform the rest of the army of Salekhard’s surrender, now that Isaac was dead.

Except he wasn’t dead just yet. He relayed something in hushed tones to the knight kneeling by his side. As soon as that man had risen to his feet, Isaac’s eyes flicked over to me. I staggered over, drawn in by his gaze, and kneeled down next to him.

“Why...? Why are you so determined to die?”

“Because that’s what I decided to do. I botched it, though... I meant to take better aim at my vitals, but... well.” Isaac glanced over at Girsch, who was standing a few steps away and watching over us with a rueful expression.

If he had the strength left to talk, he was going to be alright.

“Let me tend to your wounds.” I reached out a hand, ready to cast my magic with or without his approval.

“No thanks,” Isaac replied, grabbing me by the wrist and refusing to let me touch his wound. He had more strength left in him than I would have thought—more than enough to keep me at bay. “Seeing as that knight of yours I left for dead is back in tip-top shape, I assume you have some sort of ability to that end. I’d prefer you keep your hands off of me. Besides,” he went on, “I think this is the perfect opportunity to teach you the harsh realities of life.”

“Excuse me?”

“The people you failed to save... were always those far removed from your own life, no? So it was always easier to gloss over the death... by covering your eyes.”

“What are you talking about? Just let go of me!”

Isaac’s voice was growing weak, his words dropping off every now and then. Why was he doing this? I had to hurry up and heal him soon, or there would be no saving him.

I desperately wanted someone to come help me out, but none of the Salekhardian knights standing around me so much as moved a muscle. Gina was still on the ground, wailing. Girsch was staring down at Isaac where he lay, lips drawn into a tight line.

“Girsch, please! Come help me!” I begged, but the mercenary only looked back at me with a heartbroken expression.

“Kiara... I want to, but if he’s that staunchly against it, I just don’t know if I should. Rather than forcing him to suffer through the rest of his life, it might be kinder to let him do as he wishes.”

Was Girsch telling me to give up now that it was clear Isaac wanted to die? My vision blurred as panicked tears welled up in my eyes.

Isaac only teased me in that hoarse voice of his. “Not only am I your enemy, but I personally gave you hell... and you’d still cry for me? Give it a rest. Your prince is going to get jealous enough to come finish me off before I can breathe my last.”

As I wiped my tears on my arm, I shot back, “It’s your fault for feeding me.”

“Hah! So that was what did it?” Isaac huffed a tiny laugh, only to wheeze for air in the next moment.

“Besides, whether you’re an enemy or an ally doesn’t make any difference to me. It’s to keep the people I know from dying that I fight... and kill.”

If it weren’t for my past-life memories, Reggie would have died. On the other hand, everything always felt too much like it was happening on the other side of a glass wall for me to feel rage over my loved ones getting killed. The impact of it was too weak. Perhaps it was because part of me believed that these were all just the events of a game, and that when I opened my eyes, I would wake back up in my past-life home.

“You’ve learned by now that this is reality. That’s why it bothers you so much to watch an acquaintance die.”

“Oh, Isaac...”

“If you want to feel something even more real than this... go ask that prince of yours. He’ll teach you everything you want to know and more.” Despite hanging on death’s door, Isaac flashed me a grin.

“Why do you always have to be so nice to me?”

I just barely managed to catch his breathy murmur. “Because I loved you, probably.”

It was a simple, clear-cut answer, and that made it hit all the harder. It was so heart-rending, so painful, that all that spilled from my trembling lips was, “Dummy.”

Isaac looked like he wanted to say something back, but he could only manage to part his lips a fraction. The light in his eyes was starting to fade away—and yet, the strength of his grip alone was the only thing that had yet to give. He took a shuddering breath, turned his head to the side, and spat up blood onto the earth.

“Hurry up and move your hand!” I shouted, but Isaac refused to loosen his grip, dying man though he was. Someone help! I frantically thought, looking back over my shoulder.

The one I saw standing there was Reggie.

“Reggie, please!” I pleaded.

The look on his face was conflicted. “We’ve offered him more than enough ways out of his predicament, yet he’s simply brushed our hands away, determined to die. If he’s that set on it, I’d prefer to respect his will. Are you willing to overturn his decision, even if it means going against his own wishes? If so, I’ll help you out. You’re the only one left who can save his life, now that it’s come to this.”

Saving Isaac’s life would mean forcing my own desires onto him. As long as I was willing to rescue him in spite of that, Reggie was offering to help me.

After chewing on my lip for a moment, I said, “Reggie, make a cut across the back of my hand.”

Reggie nodded, then did as I’d asked. I grimaced at the searing pain as his knife sliced through my skin. Too weak to say anything more, Isaac only frowned, looking as though he hadn’t the faintest idea what I was doing.

He didn’t want me doing this. I realized that, but I paid him no mind, allowing my freely flowing blood to drip down over his body.

“Can you make sure no one else can see?”

If I was going to be disregarding Isaac’s own wishes to save him, I wanted to do everything in my power. Hence why I made the request.

Reggie rose to his feet. As the footsteps of soldiers shuffling around reached my ears, I channeled my mana through Isaac’s hand—the one still firmly gripping my wrist—working to heal his injury. For each part of the broken flow of his mana I mended, his face twisted in agony. The pain ought to have been unbearable, yet he still held stubbornly on to consciousness, looking up at me with a fierce glare.

“Damn you... Just let me meet my maker,” he berated me, barely able to squeeze out the words. But it was too late; I refused to back down now.

“Not on your life.”

“You... selfish harpy. Don’t think I’ll forget this.”

Maybe I was doing him an injustice here. Deep down, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had no right resuscitating someone who had no desire to live. The thought hurt enough that I almost wanted to cry, but since I was the one being selfish here, I held it in.

“You’re not allowed to die before I’ve given you a piece of my mind, mister. And I’m going to work you so hard you’re going to wish you were dead, so you’d better get ready for what’s coming,” I retorted, putting on a tough act to steel my resolve.

I didn’t need him to be grateful; I just wanted him to live. Still, it was hard to know how livid he was with me—and that only enhanced the reality of the situation. I just knew that I was bending someone’s life in a direction they didn’t want.

At the same time, that gave me a firm sense of what exactly I was doing. I’d made a decision for myself, and I was going to see it through.

Before long, Isaac passed out, unable to bear the pain any longer. A few seconds later, I managed to close up the wound just enough to keep him alive.

Now that the strength had left Isaac’s body and I could move my hand freely again, I reached out to touch his neck. I couldn’t tell how his pulse was doing. My own heart was beating so fast that I could hear it drumming in my ears, and my fingertips felt like they might as well be an extension of it.

“Reggie... Can you check on him for me?” I asked, strapped for breath. At some point, Cain had come up by my side, and he checked on Isaac’s pulse and breathing for me.

“Don’t worry; he’s alive.”

What a relief.

What struck me in that moment was lethargy, chills, and drowsiness, all bundled up with the strong desire to break down sobbing. By the time I realized what was happening, I was already fading out of consciousness.

“Bring him back to our camp, please. And go find Master Horace while you’re at it.” It was all I could manage just to ask that of Cain.

“Are you happy now, Kiara?” a certain someone asked gently, wrapping his arms around me from behind. I couldn’t bring myself to struggle against his embrace.

“Reggie...”

Just as soon as I’d grasped his fingers in mine, I lost consciousness, feeling myself hurtle down into a deep, dark abyss.