Because.
Not yet.
I didn’t want screams and blood,
and the terror of the ground collapsing beneath our feet, to spread too deeply through our territory.
&
The Rubant territory.
The faces of the returning soldiers all looked like those of dead men.
“J-Jacob is dead.”
“Next... Next it’ll be us, won’t it?”
“I don’t want to die! Damn it, I have a wife and kid too!”
Anxiety spread in an instant.
Faster than a blade,
and stickier than blood.
One man had his head cut off right before their eyes.
And those who had seen it
were still alive, yet already half broken.
They were soldiers who had never experienced a territorial war.
There was no way they had any resistance to such fear.
The thought that they might be next.
That alone was enough to drive morale into the dirt.
Meanwhile.
Inside the Halsen family estate, the shouting had not stopped.
“Damn it! Damn it! I told you, why did you pull all the men back!”
“There was no other choice. If I hadn’t, our soldiers would have been cut down wholesale by the enemy knight.”
Antony answered calmly,
but Doren Halsen’s face only twisted further.
“Do as I say! I am the head of this house! I am the master here!”
Antony lowered his head in silence.
“If they had at least bought us time with their lives, wouldn’t it have been easier when we pushed forward again! If those bastards set up a proper defense at the levee now, it’ll cost us even more money!”
“Then what will you do?”
Doren huffed for a while, then suddenly raised the corners of his mouth.
“Move immediately. Take it back again.”
“...”
“As long as we block the levee, those bastards won’t be able to hold out anyway. This time, we just don’t let them take the upper reaches. Divide the troops properly. If you see movement upstream, abandon the downstream immediately and slaughter every last one of the bastards who went there. That’s all there is to it. Heh heh... A perfect plan.”
Antony was silent for a moment, then nodded.
“Understood.”
***
We knew they would come to strike the downstream levee again.
So we waited first.
And before long, they appeared.
The knight and soldiers from the Halsen side.
But they did not charge straight in.
They stopped at a certain distance,
and only one knight slowly walked forward.
I went forward with Miles as well.
“I am Sir Antony, employed by House Halsen.”
“I am Rayon Signal.”
“This is quite an awkward situation.”
Antony spoke as if clicking his tongue.
“We are only following orders as well.”
“We would also like to avoid battle.”
“You would like to avoid battle.”
At that moment.
Whoosh.
Antony’s eyes changed.
The air, which had been calm until just before, sharpened all at once.
“You say that quite easily, after killing one of our soldiers.”
“...”
“He had a family too. A wife and children. By now, that wife is probably cursing you and wishing only for your death.”
I stared at him quietly as well,
and slowly, my own gaze changed.
“You seem to be mistaken about something.”
The moment my gaze changed,
Antony’s brow narrowed too.
“You were the ones who attacked. Not us.”
“...”
“If I wanted to protect us, I could have killed every single one of the men there. But I ended it with one.”
A brief silence passed.
Antony’s presence visibly sank.
Only then did I lower my eyes once, then look back at him and quietly ask.
“Jacob. Is that soldier’s name?”
“...It is.”
Surprise and confusion flickered across Antony’s face.
“As an apology to his family, I buried him in a sunny place and sent them money.”
“...”
“Of course, I know that won’t be any comfort. Nor am I trying to justify what I did.”
At that moment, one of the soldiers behind him unconsciously repeated the name.
“Jacob...”
The soldier right beside him pressed his lips together and loosened the strength in the hand gripping his spear shaft.
Antony sensed the reaction of his soldiers
as he listened to me.
I looked straight at him and said,
“I do not yet want the thick stench of blood and grief to settle over Brennan, Halsen, or the entire South.”
“Then why did you kill him!”
Antony’s voice burst out harshly.
But I did not waver.
“Because I had to protect Brennan.”
“...”
“If I can protect Brennan, I do not care if I have to accept curses from hundreds or thousands of people.”
Antony’s eyes trembled.
And soon, he let out a long sigh.
“You’re different. Unlike someone else.”
In truth, the territorial war
had not yet reached the stage where everyone accepted death as a matter of course.
None of them were used to it yet.
That was why it was more frightening,
and why they wanted to avoid it all the more.
I touched precisely that point.
“The soldiers standing behind you.”
I looked once behind Antony.
“Your soldiers are people in the end too. Someone’s husband, someone’s father, the pillar of a household.”
Antony closed his mouth.
“They are not insignificant just because they are commoners. You, we, all of us—there is no need for us to kill one another here.”
“...”
“And.”
I spoke in a firm voice.
“I have found a way to end this.”
Antony’s eyes widened.
“What way?”
“Three days is all I need.”
“Three days?”
I nodded.
“Please postpone the battle for just three days. Then we can end this without either side suffering any harm.”
He was a knight who could be reasoned with.
At the very least, he was a knight who valued his soldiers.
If the other party had been a knight like Miles, it would never have worked,
but I already knew very well that he was someone who cherished his soldiers.
That was also why I had ended it with one.
If it had been two, three, or more, then not only fear, but anger would have taken deep root as well.
Antony stared at me for a long while.
As if trying to determine whether I was lying,
whether I was buying time,
or whether I truly held something in my hands.
At the end of that gaze,
he said in a low voice,
“Exactly three days.”
“That will be enough.”
As Antony turned around, Miles gave a soft whistle.
“He actually accepted that.”
“Because it’s his first time too.”
“What is?”
“A territorial war.”
I said as I watched Antony’s back.
“He won’t want to see more of his soldiers die. Not yet.”
Miles chuckled.
“You bought time.”
“That’s right.”
I immediately turned around,
but Miles did not follow right away.
Only after watching the Halsen soldiers recede once more did he mutter quietly.
“Kill one man and break the enemy’s morale as a whole. Then use the fact that this is their first territorial war to make them fold without a battle.”
He laughed.
“You really are a genius.”
***
To be honest, I had been a little worried.
Things like this were always late.
In the great heroic epics, the full three days would always pass,
and the decisive evidence would only arrive right before the real fight broke out.
Fortunately, however, what was happening to me was not some heroic epic.
It took two days.
“Someone has arrived from House Pimale!”
The problem was
that she had come in person.
“L-Lady Angelina?”
“I came because I wanted to see you.”
Angelina’s eyes sparkled as she came right up in front of me, not even having properly caught her breath.
“To be honest, I wanted to come every day... You’re not disappointed that I only came today, are you? You aren’t, right?”
“N-No. On the contrary, I truly wanted to see you today as well.”
“Really?”
At that single word, her face brightened at once.
“Thank goodness! I was really most worried about that.”
“But... if you could stand just a little farther away...”
“Ah. S-Sorry.”
Just then, Father, Mother, and Risel came out.
I quickly introduced them.
“This is my father, Drevan Signal. My mother, Elasia Signal. My younger sister, Risel Signal. And this is Lady Angelina Pimale.”
Angelina composed her expression in an instant.
The gaze that had been fixed solely on me until just moments ago vanished as if it had been a lie,
and the precise, dignified young lady of House Pimale stood there in its place.
“Hello. It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Angelina Pimale.”
“Ooh. I have heard many rumors about you.”
Father said with a smile.
“Seeing their daughter, I think I understand why House Pimale is so respected.”
“N-Not at all. I am still lacking in many ways. Still, thank you for seeing me in such a light.”
At that attitude, Father and Mother naturally smiled as well.
I suddenly asked,
“But why did you come in person? No, the distance isn’t something that takes only two days, so how... And besides, we’re in the middle of a territorial war right now, and House Pimale is neutral. You could end up suffering harm for no reason.”
I was so flustered that several questions spilled out at once.
Angelina looked at me again, her eyes sparkling, then took out a book and documents from her breast.
“It has to be perfect, doesn’t it?”
“...”
“I finished checking whether this method is truly correct, all the way back to its origins.”
After catching her breath, she added calmly,
“And don’t worry about that either. House Pimale’s movements right now are, to the very end, simply to deliver a book. It has already been proven that our family’s book deliveries and orders are fair under any circumstances.”
As expected of House Pimale.
There was no way they had moved without thinking.
“Thank you. Truly.”
“If I was of help... I’m glad too.”
And the evidence she brought
was truly decisive.
Father accepted the documents and exhaled in admiration.
“To think you would offer us such great help... I truly thank you.”
“N-Not at all! I’m even happier, actually. Because I could be of help to Mr. Rayon.”
Mother said gently,
“You came all this way, so please at least have a meal before you go.”
At that, Angelina jumped in surprise and waved her hands.
“I really, really want to! I also definitely want to eat with F-Father-in-law, Mother-in-law... and Miss Risel. But if I do, it could raise doubts about fairness, and that might instead cause harm to House Signal. So... I have to go.”
Father-in-law.
Mother-in-law.
The moment those titles fell, I froze as well, and Father and Mother wore strange expressions too.
And Risel grinned as she muttered,
“As expected of my brother. Right. I inherited that blood too. Huhuhuhuhu...”
***
I walked Angelina to the entrance of the outer wall to see her off.
“Um... I heard that Aileen, Seraphinlie, and Lady Marsha all came to visit you?”
“Yes? Ah, yes. They did. Each for their own reasons and connections.”
“Then...”
Angelina looked up at me with trembling eyes.
“Does that mean I can now come visit too, for my own reasons and connections?”
I smiled.
“Anytime.”
Her help with the sigil had been great as well,
but this matter had truly been decisive.
I had to repay her somehow.
Angelina’s eyes sparkled again.
“Um... I was a big help today, wasn’t I?”
“Of course. You were truly a great help.”
“Right?”
She adjusted her glasses.
“You wouldn’t be able to manage without me, would you? Right?”
I chuckled.
“That’s right. This time, it really would have been difficult without you, Lady Angelina.”
As soon as those words fell, Angelina bit her lip hard.
Her face turned even redder,
and with her hands clasped behind her back, she took small, quick steps as she said,
“Ah... I don’t want to go.”
“...”
“I... I could do better. Better than those people.”
Do what?
The question rose all the way to my throat, but in the end, I did not ask.
Somehow,
I felt that if I did, a dangerous answer would come back.
Angelina barely lowered her gaze.
“But I can’t put you in danger, Mr. Rayon.”
“...”
“I’ll be going. See you again.”
I silently nodded.
And her carriage slowly began to move.