12. “That Woman”
Episode 80
With a trembling, spasming hand, Akenaus untied the eyepatch that slanted across his face.
“……Damn it.”
It took an enormous amount of courage just to glance sideways at the eyelid where the flesh had roughly knitted together. Even that was bearable only because he had merely let his gaze skim over it. Ever since injuring his eye, Akenaus had never once looked his own face squarely in the mirror.
All of this was because of Ezekail—every last bit of it, because of that damned bastard.
When he had fled the main Valdemaera estate, he had been in no state to properly grasp what condition his face was in. That was only natural, seeing as he had barely escaped death when it had been right before his eyes. It had simply hurt, hurt so much, hurt horrifically.
The first place Akenaus went, having fled Ezekail in a panic without even knowing what state of mind he was in, was the house of a mistress who lived nearby. In the dead of night, he had pounded on her door hard enough to break it down. Only when the woman, roused from sleep, opened the door in a daze and then screamed loud enough to split his eardrums did Akenaus realize something had gone terribly wrong.
That sense that something was wrong had continued even now, after the men he had hired to serve as his guards appeared, proposed that he accompany them, revealed themselves to be soldiers who had secretly infiltrated from Dabis, and brought him along.
Everything was fucking awful.
Truly, every last thing was so fucking awful he felt like he was going to lose his mind.
At first, he smashed every mirror he could see. He caused disturbances even at the inns where they stayed. Only after the spies, who had been forced several times to pay compensation in his stead for Akenaus’s rampages, issued a warning did his bizarre behavior stop. It was the result of his very difficult acceptance of the reality that no matter how many mirrors he smashed, it would be nothing more than a temporary venting of anger, and the wound that had gouged deep into his eye would not heal.
“That bastard, I could tear him to pieces and it still wouldn’t be enough……”
To think of putting a bullet in the middle of someone’s face—there was no denying that man was truly insane. Were all soldiers who had rolled around on the battlefield such evil spirits?
“You want me to restore an eyeball blown apart by a bullet? I’m a doctor, not a god. No matter what physician you bring, no one will be able to do anything with this eye.”
Even the doctor they had carefully tracked down through the spies declared that he could not fix his eye. Far from attempting anything, he showed not even the will to try. Akenaus exploded at once.
“Aren’t you just a complete quack? Someone else came back with an eye that couldn’t see at all healed perfectly, so my eye should be fixable too! Of course it should be! Why are you saying mine can’t be fixed?”
After shouting at the doctor and taking out his anger on him, Akenaus regretted it. He felt uneasy afterward, as though in his excitement he had needlessly exposed his identity.
“Young master, let’s stop causing such a fuss.”
Knock, knock. Someone rapped on the door.
He was in no mood to meet anyone right now. But before Akenaus could refuse, the other person flung the door open and came in.
“There’s a limit to how often we can keep changing lodgings. How many times have I told you we need to move quietly, attracting as little attention as possible? It would have been nice if your disposition had been as pretty as your face.”
“If you’re going to treat me like a young master, then treat me accordingly, Levian.”
He knew they called him “young master” to mock him, implying that he had grown up delicate and frail like a flower in a greenhouse. At first he had bristled, but after thinking about it, he decided young master was preferable to being treated like a hostage. In truth, he had grown up frail and delicately within the fence called Valdemaera, so it was not an especially inaccurate expression.
Akenaus stared at the Dabis spy with his one remaining eye. The man he had first come to know as a guard had made contact with Akenaus after he fled Ezekail and introduced himself anew by his real name, Levian.
“In any case, your complaints come in all shapes and varieties. It’s only because it’s us that we’re escorting you around like this, young master…… Now what has offended your delicate sensibilities?”
“……Just when exactly am I going to hear this good news you people claim you’re planning?”
On the day he had revealed his true identity, Levian had set Akenaus’s heart racing by saying that the purpose of the Dabis spies’ illegal entry was to gather information on Astrie and assassinate key figures.
“Ezekail Valdemaera is included among those key figures. Whenever that man interferes in battle, things become troublesome.”
Levian was someone who had faced Ezekail several times on the battlefield.
“You think he must have set up an ambush, but he’s never hiding where you expect. Then, out of nowhere, bullets rain down from above and strike you from behind. Once, that man covered a mud pit with branches and leaves, and we nearly fell into the swamp and were wiped out. He’s an elusive one.”
“Are you praising him in front of me right now, or cursing him?”
“I’m acknowledging his ability, at least. If that man had been my superior, he would have been someone worth trusting and following. That unit in particular has strong camaraderie and sticks together well. That means their commander has good judgment and a keen sense of responsibility for his position. You have to experience it to know how rare a superior who doesn’t shift blame onto his subordinates is. But we didn’t meet as allies. We met as enemies.”
Levian shrugged.
“If Ezekail Valdemaera alone were erased from Astrie’s military strength, the location of the border would probably change. We have to deal with him.”
He had injected Akenaus with hope, as though he would exact revenge on his behalf, and yet even now there was no sign they were approaching Ezekail. Waiting indefinitely was so frustrating it was driving him mad. Akenaus let loose the anxiety he had been holding back.
“If you were going to kill that bastard, you should have killed him quickly. Why have you been dragging your feet all this time? Honestly, didn’t you let the best chance slip away ages ago? When that bastard was blind and living in hiding, what the hell were you doing, only to say you’ll deal with him now after he’s recovered and reappeared……”
“Young master, you’ve never put your body through rough use, so I suppose you wouldn’t know, but it isn’t as easy as it sounds. Before crossing the border, we needed time to erase traces of Dabis so our nationality wouldn’t be suspected. By the time we crossed over, those so-called king’s army men or whatever were already spread out everywhere, inspecting travelers. We couldn’t even carry rifles because we were hiding our identities, while fully armed soldiers were posted all over the place. Do you know how dangerous that is? Soldiers, by profession, are good at recognizing other soldiers. Even if you hide it, the killing intent shows.”
Levian replied smoothly.
“And even when we were busy digging up traces of him, we were told he was definitely holed up in his mansion, living in seclusion, but then he would ostentatiously muster troops too, so we couldn’t move rashly. That man is rather like that. It’s impossible to get a grasp on what’s going on in his head. Then, when we tried to legally carry weapons by entering your service as guards, young master, this mess happened in the meantime.”
Akenaus, the protagonist of that mess, clenched his molars hard. There were few men brazen enough to openly mention that day’s incident to Akenaus’s face. Only Levian, who played the role of leader among the spies, could do such a thing.
After suppressing a surge of anger, Akenaus snapped.
“You can just sneak into Cleris and snipe him!”
“Cleris is his territory. Besides, it’s the busiest city in Astrie—where exactly are we supposed to hide and snipe him from? An officer who goes around with his subordinates and is always armed, at that. Unless there were a guarantee of success, there’s a high chance we would only expose our existence to them.”
“If you can’t do this and you can’t do that, do you really even want to kill him?”
Akenaus glared at Levian. Levian, who always needled his temper with that smiling face of his, was an unpleasant man. Having only ever heard anecdotes of Ezekail, famous as the very model of a soldier, Akenaus had been surprised more than once after meeting Levian to learn that soldiers like this sly old fox existed too. But Akenaus was also in a position where he needed this spy’s help, so he could not carelessly vent the rage boiling inside him.
“That’s why I’m saying we should look for a certain method. Since we’re already on the subject, is there any weakness we can make use of? A weakness that would make him completely lose his head and see red. In any case, he’s human too, so if we turn him upside down and shake him hard enough, some dust ought to fall……”
“Why are you asking me about his weakness?”
“You’re still family, aren’t you? You should know him best out of all of us, so if anything comes to mind, say it. Aren’t we in the same boat?”
“You lot who occasionally ran into him on the battlefield have probably seen that bastard more often than I have.”
Akenaus, brow furrowed, had been speaking without much thought when he suddenly looked at Levian. Come to think of it, there was one useful weakness.
“What is it? Did you think of something?”
“……That bastard has a woman.”