My Beloved Princess ~The Boy Called Incompetent Rises with Only a Sword and the Princess's Devotion~ - Chapter 110: Ominous Signs

Chapter 110: Ominous Signs

Black-tiled roofs and white plaster.

Intricate designs had been carved throughout the palace where the Dragon Emperor resided.

Stone steps rose towards the solemn palace above.

And the sunset from the very top was well worth seeing.

Kokuren pressed a flask of sake to his lips and drained it in one long gulp. Heat slid down his throat and seeped into his gut. He wiped his mouth, looked up at the sky once more, and then…

“Out here again, dressed like that.”

At the familiar scolding, Kokuren let out a sigh.

Without even turning around, he kept drinking as he stared blankly at the evening sky.

As if in answer to that sulky mood, a pale, sensual arm slipped around his chest from behind. Her fingertips traced across his breastbone in a way meant to stir desire.

“Come now. You’re the one with strange ideas. What do you think this place is?”

“This Black Emperor Castle, from the smallest grain of sand to the palaces lined up in rows, all of it belongs to you. And depending on how you choose to be, it can become anything at all. For example, if my lord is wandering about in his nightclothes, then would it not be more fitting to call this place a bedchamber?”

Sweet breath brushed his ear.

A shiver raced down his spine. He started to lift himself away, only for the lush softness of her breasts to press against his back.

“I wouldn’t mind either way.”

“I give up. I surrender. Honestly, compared to those days, the only thing that’s improved is that silver tongue of yours.”

With a smile touched by nostalgia, Rakuyō finally moved away from his back. Then, for some reason, she sat down beside him on the stone steps and turned the same unchanging beauty she had always possessed towards him.

“Hey. Your expensive dragon robes are going to get dirty.”

“Every seat of the Dragon Emperor is equally a throne. Then surely the place beside the throne is where I belong.”

“By that logic, the whole staircase is a throne, which means you’re sitting on one too.”

“Oh? Does that displease you?”

He averted his eyes from the wife leaning against him.

In all his long life, he had never once met a woman whose beauty surpassed Rakuyō’s. The seductive body she had possessed in youth had not changed in the slightest. He had embraced that body thousands upon thousands of times, and still Kokuren had never tired of it. Even now, it continued to pour off the pheromones of a woman in full bloom.

If he let his guard down, his reason would be swept away in an instant. Rakuyō pouted her red lips in displeasure at Kokuren trying to keep his distance from the dangerous charm his wife possessed.

“Were you thinking about that woman again?”

Kokuren’s back twitched.

That all-too-obvious reaction made Rakuyō’s expression harden. Her gaze stung. It even felt as though the nails of the arm around him were beginning to dig in. Unable to endure the awkward air any longer, he emptied the rest of the sake in one go. Then he lifted his face and turned his eyes to the crimson-stained sky.

“I was remembering Koharu.”

He heard Rakuyō murmur, “Koharu?” in puzzlement.

“The war with the Kingdom of Castelia. Do you remember it?”

“Yes. That was already more than two hundred years ago. We were declared unfit for combat almost immediately and sent to the rear. It was humiliating.”

“So you really were dissatisfied.”

“Of course I was. But I also think it couldn’t be helped. For us, still so young back then, that stage came too soon.”

Rakuyō lightly hugged her own arms and shivered.

“When I think about what would have happened if we’d joined the fighting, it chills me.”

Husband and wife together looked down over the view of Black Emperor Castle spread beneath them.

There lay a magnificent cityscape and, with it, the lives of their comrades.

Kokuren silently lowered his eyes to that peaceful sight. Sadness trembled in his black eyes, and Rakuyō, glancing at his profile, said with quiet feeling,

“That war changed the way you thought as well, didn’t it?”

“………”

Kokuren could not bring himself to speak through the swell of emotion rushing up inside him. If he opened his mouth now, surely something pathetic would come out.

That day, after Kirin’s exploits robbed the Kingdom of Castelia of its trump card, the kingdom fled in defeat.

And then came the battle to capture the royal capital.

If, back then, he had chosen differently…

How might the future have changed?

◇◇◇◇◇

“No changes!? Don’t be absurd.”

“Half of the Black Kirin. I acknowledge your achievements. But a mere mercenary has no place sticking his nose into strategy.”

The commander with the little moustache dismissed Kokuren with open disgust on his narrow face.

Inside the makeshift command post built from rough timber gathered the members of the noble coalition’s core command, the Thirteen Nobles. Every one of those battle-hardened generals wore a grim expression, and the gazes they aimed at the young upstart Kokuren were sharp enough to seem openly hostile. The prickling air, thick with anger, stabbed at his whole body and sought to crush his spirit.

And yet Kokuren, having barged into that place alone despite so obviously not belonging there, did not shrink even before such an illustrious gathering as he spat out his words.

“I’m telling you, something’s wrong with the royal capital. Stationing soldiers on the walls isn’t just textbook tactics, it’s common sense. If they’re not doing it, then there’s definitely something going on.”

“That is only your conjecture. Did you really think we would follow something so uncertain?”

Kokuren’s desperate cry was cut down without mercy.

Irritated by that cold treatment, Kokuren leaned forward, only for his body to lose balance and pitch to the side. He was on the verge of falling when Koharu, who had been waiting behind him, quietly stepped in to support him.

“Are you all right, Kokuren-sama?”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

When he had protected Koharu in the previous battle, Kokuren had injured his right leg.

Using Koharu’s shoulder in place of the crutch he had dropped, he somehow managed to steady himself again. He gave a brief word of thanks to the girl so diligently looking after him, then turned back to the Thirteen Nobles gathered around the strategy table.

“Kirin destroyed every last one of their new siege weapons. But they might’ve prepared some other trick. It’ll be too late if we wait until it happens.”

“You fail to understand, half of the Black Kirin. Because of that thing, we suffered heavy losses as well. After facing the hateful enemy that slew our comrades, how could we possibly slink away with our tails between our legs?”

“I never said retreat! I’m telling you to send out scouts.”

For all his desperate appeal, not one of those fierce generals showed any sign of understanding.

The nobles who had lost many comrades were in no calm state of mind, and it was plain to see that all they wanted was to wipe out the enemy as quickly as possible.

No one listened to Kokuren’s argument. In that dead end, the one who finally spoke was Dragon King Anraku, leader of the Thirteen Nobles.

“To think that at your age you can speak so boldly before this gathering. You have admirable nerve. Added to your accomplishments on the battlefield, there is no choice but to call it splendid. I would go so far as to give you my daughter in marriage. However, that is one matter and this another. It is not a request I can grant.”

“Why not? You don’t want any more casualties either. Right?”

The man serving as supreme commander gave a thoughtful hum and slowly shook his head. Raising one finger, he said,

“First, we must not give the enemy any time. If we do, there is a chance they will bring out yet another siege weapon of some sort. We strike before that happens.”

“Even if you call it time, sending scouts would only cost a day or two, right? There’s no way they could build a new siege weapon in that little time, and even if they were bringing one in from outside, there aren’t enough days for that. If they have additional siege weapons, then they’re ones they’ve already deployed.”

Anraku tucked his chin and raised a second finger.

“To begin with, even if it is a trap, once we pour into the royal capital, they will not be able to use a slaughter weapon like that. If they are willing to abandon the defence of the walls, that only works to our advantage. We need only use the residents of the royal capital as hostages as we manoeuvre.”

“The residents might’ve evacuated. If they have, then they could fire it in the middle of the city too.”

Before the unconvinced Kokuren, a third finger was raised.

“Lastly, we will never forgive those who took our comrades’ lives. We will chase them to the ends of hell and cut them down without fail. Anyone who prattles on about leisurely things like scouting…”

With a speed too fast for the eye to follow, he drew his greatsword and brought the heavy blade crashing down.

It happened in an instant.

The strategy table was smashed into a V shape, and the models upon it and the shattered wooden fragments flew into the air together. As they pattered back down, Anraku said quietly,

“I will cut down every last one of them myself. That concludes this discussion.”

◇◇◇◇◇

“Damn it! How can they not understand something this simple?”

Slamming the door of the command post shut behind him, Kokuren spat out the curse.

Leaning on his crutch, he started down the stone steps. As his unsteady gait wavered, Koharu voiced her anxiety while helping support him.

“Will a lot of people die again?”

Koharu was very short. Placing a hand on the head of the girl who had to crane so far upward because of the difference in height between them, Kokuren bit his lip, feeling bad for making her anxious.

This was Koharu, who had driven her body to the brink of death from overwork while trying to build graves for their fallen comrades. More than her own life, she was surely worrying about the lives of the others.

“The die’s been cast. Does that mean there’s nothing we can do now…?”

Thanks to Kirin’s exploits, the front lines of the Kingdom of Castelia had collapsed after losing their trump card. The Castelian soldiers had fled back to the royal capital in miserable disarray. Then, after finishing their pursuit of the routed troops, the noble coalition gathered ten kilometres south of the royal capital. The situation now was that they intended to launch an all-out assault on the capital before the enemy could rebuild its formation.

On the broad road before the command post, wagons loaded with supplies came and went while regular soldiers bustled about in a hurry. The mercenaries and slave units serving as the vanguard had already set out. The start of battle was close at hand, and his final direct appeal had failed too. There was no longer any way to stop it.

He had a bad feeling.

No matter what military doctrine one compared it against, whether ancient or modern, abandoning the city walls, a vital point of defence, was an outrageous act beyond belief.

If that was so, then there had to be a reason. There had to be some compelling reason strong enough to justify abandoning the walls.

“But I don’t know what that reason is.”

That was why his attempt to persuade them had failed.

They could not throw away a golden opportunity over something uncertain, like the possibility that it might be a trap. That was the consensus among the noble coalition’s upper ranks.

Of course, if it all ended up being nothing more than needless worry, then that would be the best possible outcome.

But the new model’s performance had evolved far beyond the conventional siege weapons Kokuren knew. Humanity must not be underestimated. Lacking strength, they strove to make up the difference by wringing out every drop of their ingenuity. The crystallisation of that wisdom was the civilising tool known as siege weaponry.

In that case, there was nothing strange about them having made some kind of preparations for the defence of the royal capital as well. No, it was more accurate to assume they certainly had.

Yet that concern was already starting to lose its meaning.

The decisive battle was unavoidable, and the options available to Kokuren were narrowing.

“I’d like to put my body on the line at the front, but…”

He lowered his eyes to his deeply gouged right calf. Dark red blood had faintly seeped through the bandages wrapped tightly around it. Even while using crutches, the slightest vibration sent searing pain through him. He could not run on his own, and could barely even walk. Even with a dragonkin’s naturally high healing ability, it would still take another two days or so to fully recover.

He could choose not to go to the battlefield on the grounds of his injury.

If he did, then no matter what kind of trap lay in wait, he would avoid disaster. The same went for Kirin, who had collapsed after exhausting her strength and was lying in the field hospital. But Koharu was different.

As a slave, and moreover one with all four limbs sound, she had no right to refuse deployment.

Deserting before the enemy was a grave crime. Combined with her status as a slave, it would absolutely result in capital punishment. She had no choice but to go to the battlefield.

In that case, was the best option to deploy with Koharu and protect her? Thinking that far, Kokuren ground his back teeth in frustration. In a state where even walking was difficult, how exactly was he supposed to protect Koharu? As things stood, with him needing help just to move, Kokuren was nothing but dead weight.

It was then.

A foolish thought crossed his mind, and Kokuren’s heart wavered before its sweet temptation.

Should I take Koharu and run away like this?

But he immediately realised it was the sort of fantasy born from a moment’s emotion, something divorced from reality.

First of all, there was no way he could escape on this injured leg.

Second, there was no way he could run off and leave Kirin lying in the field hospital.

Suppose there were conditions that let him clear both of those hurdles, some convenient scenario where he carried out the unconscious Kirin and then stole a wagon to flee. Even in that case, pursuers would still come after them, and if they were caught, then with his crippled leg he would have to protect both Kirin and Koharu at the same time. That was impossible.

What’s more, if they used the black doves capable of high-speed travel, word would be relayed to the entire noble coalition at once. If that happened, Rakuyō and the others, who had been assigned to rear support, would immediately be seized on charges of treason. There was no way to prevent that.

What further made Kokuren hesitate was the possibility that the royal capital would fall without incident. If he took on all this risk only for it to amount to nothing more than needless worry…

“Kokuren-sama.”

Koharu tugged on his sleeve.

“Let’s rest for a little while.”

Before he knew it, beads of sweat had formed on his brow, and his whole body was soaked.

As if waking from a nightmare, Kokuren looked blankly around him.

At some point, the wagons coming and going had vanished. The regular soldiers who had been moving about in a rush were gone as well. The makeshift village of tents had fallen under a hush.

Moving off the broad road where countless wagon ruts crossed, he sat down on a wooden crate by the roadside as Koharu urged him on. Then, standing before Kokuren, Koharu bowed her head.

“Thanks to you, Kokuren-sama, I was able to survive until today. I’m truly grateful.”

For some reason, her voice sounded far away.

It felt strangely formal.

“That’s not like you, Koharu. Getting all stiff like that.”

Feeling an unease he couldn’t identify, he reached out a hand. Just as his fingertips were about to brush Koharu’s bangs, she took a step back. His fingers cut emptily through the air.

“You were kind to someone like me, a slave… and it made me so, so happy. Did you know, Kokuren-sama? Ever since I was little, my dream was to have the boy I liked pat me on the head. Thanks to you, that dream came true.”

Every time he praised her cooking, she would beg him to praise her more. And yet not once had Koharu ever said, “Pat my head.”

Was that restraint because she was a slave, or because it was her dream, and she had wanted that reward to come of its own accord?

Koharu smiled bashfully with a little laugh, just like the cheerful Koharu she always was.

“What are you talking about, Koharu? I’ll pat your head as much as you want from now on too.”

Koharu shook her head and refused Kokuren’s beckoning gesture.

“You told me not to tell my superiors, and secretly helped me with my work, didn’t you? You even held my hands after they got cold from washing and warmed them for me. I was really, really happy then.”

She would get covered in soot while heating bathwater, finish making the beds while Kokuren and the others bathed, soak her hands in icy water after sunset, and scrub the bloodstained dragon robes without a single complaint. She always put herself last, and because of that, Koharu’s own clothes were always dingy.

Because she was a slave. For that reason alone, she had no freedom.

All the drudgery everyone hated was foisted onto her as if it were only natural.

Kokuren could not stand that injustice.

That was why he had wanted, even a little, to help her.

“I knew Kirin-sama didn’t think well of me. Even so, I ended up wishing, presumptuous as it was, that I could stay with you a little longer, Kokuren-sama. Of course, that was a dream that could never come true. I was supposed to have given up on it as impossible… and yet the two of you even called me a comrade. You tried to accept someone like me. I was so happy I could have cried.”

That’s right.

Koharu, who always worked so hard.

Koharu, who had grown attached to him like a little sister.

He was ready to accept her.

He had secured the approval of Kirin, who had seemed like the highest hurdle, and all that remained was to wait for Koharu’s birthday and formally welcome her into the pack. They had finally made it that far.

And yet, what was Koharu trying to do?

“Enough already. Get over here.”

“No. Please don’t catch me, Kokuren-sama.”

Kokuren leaned forward and stretched his fingertips even farther. Just as he was about to reach her, Koharu lightly stepped back again.

He was about to step forward so she could not escape when he suddenly noticed it.

At some point, his crutch was in Koharu’s hands.

She hugged the crutch to her chest as if it were precious, and firmly pressed her lips together.

“It’s dangerous… isn’t it? Then I can’t let you go to the battlefield, Kokuren-sama.”

“You idiot! What are you saying, y-“

“Kokuren-sama has such a great heart!”

Her shout, louder than Kokuren’s raised angry voice, rang out beneath the cold sky.

“One day, I’m sure you’ll become a splendid leader. You’re not someone who should die here, Kokuren-sama. So please, keep saving lost little lambs from now on as well.”

One last time, Koharu bowed her head deeply.

“This is goodbye. Please take care of yourself.”

◇◇◇◇◇

He had to go after her, even if he had to crawl across the ground.

No matter how pathetic he looked, he would catch up to her.

That was what comrades were.

He had to cast aside appearances and protect her.

That was the duty of the one who led the pack.

On one leg. Dragging his right leg behind him.

Burn your life away and move forward.

Enduring the agonising pain, Kokuren searched everywhere for a horse so he could secure transport.

Dust got in his eyes.

He did not know how many times he had lost his balance and fallen.

Each time, he got back up and headed for the stables.

The white bandages were stained dark red and were starting to fail as a means of staunching the bleeding.

That didn’t matter.

He would do anything if it meant catching up to Koharu.

After all that struggle, the stable he finally reached was deserted and empty. There were no horses, but no people either. Everyone had already departed for battle.

But the instant he stood there in despair passed quickly, and Kokuren immediately pulled himself together.

“Right. A wagon. If I use one of the supply wagons…”

He wandered aimlessly through the tent village as dust storms swept across it.

But not a single wagon was in sight, even though they should have been passing through one after another until only half a koku ago. No, more than that, there was not even a trace of human presence.

The remains of campfires still smouldered, and pots set over the flames still bubbled away. Steam rose from half-finished cups, and bread fallen on the ground had been trampled by countless footprints.

A cluster of deserted tents left behind in the wasteland.

And in the middle of it, one solitary figure.

As though everyone in the world except himself had vanished.

That was the kind of loneliness Kokuren felt.

At last his leg reached its limit, and he collapsed onto the ground.

Even so, he dragged himself forward using only the strength of his arms, literally crawling along the earth towards the royal capital.

All that swirled through his head was Koharu.

Kind Koharu, who had kept mourning their comrades even while putting herself last. If he told a girl like that about the danger awaiting the royal capital, then of course she would worry about Kokuren’s safety.

When he chose the life of a mercenary, Kokuren had wished that the woman he loved would not be sent to her death. In the same way, if Koharu too had wished for Kokuren to live, then this response of hers could only be called inevitable. It was exactly the sort of thing he should have foreseen.

“And yet I failed to foresee it.”

The mercenaries and slave soldiers who had fought alongside him until today.

Faced with the danger threatening his comrades-in-arms, Kokuren had been in too much of a hurry.

Filled only with the powerful sense of duty that he had to stop the march of death as soon as possible, his thoughts had raced ahead, and without thinking deeply, he had asked the nearest person, Koharu, to help him.

And she alone had believed the ravings that none of the Thirteen Nobles had believed.

This was the result.

How much easier it would have been if she had simply laughed and called it nonsense.

Because she believed in Kokuren, she had no choice but to reject him.

“Which is exactly why I can’t let Koharu die like this.”

There was still a chance, however small, that the assault on the royal capital would end without incident, that everyone would return safely, and that Koharu, having survived, would be welcomed into the pack. That possibility should not have been zero.

And yet he had a feeling that such a dazzling future would never come to pass.

If he stopped moving here, he was certain Koharu would never come back.

At some point the agony had turned into numbness, and he was losing all feeling in his leg.

Crawling forward using only the strength of his arms, the skin on his elbows peeled away, and specks of blood dotted the ground where Kokuren had crawled.

Even so, after wasting so much time, he had only made it a few hundred metres. He had not even managed to leave the tent village yet. At this rate, even if he somehow reached it, he would never make it in time for the battle for the royal capital. No, it had likely already begun.

Had he made the wrong choice?

If he had, then when and where had he gone wrong?

“Damn it. If it was going to come to this, I should’ve just done as Kirin said and killed that useless commander right away.”

Kill the commander, turn the noble coalition into an enemy, and flee with Koharu.

That was no longer a choice he could make.

The moment his leg was injured and Kirin collapsed, that path had vanished completely.

They no longer had the strength to make an enemy of the noble coalition.

Ever since raising the pack’s banner, he had believed he had always made rational judgements.

But rational judgements did not always lead down the right path.

What Kirin had said had been nothing more than an emotional argument devoid of any trace of calm, but perhaps it had been the one and only path that could have kept Koharu alive.

“So you’ve finally understood. Anyone who harms a comrade is an enemy. And enemies must be slain. There is no logic simpler than that.”

Carried by the wind, he heard the soft voice of a woman.

Before he knew it, there were two sandalled feet standing before him.

Light blue dragon robes, dingy with dirt, fluttered in the wind. He lifted his chin and raised his gaze. There, with the sun behind her, stood his dependable wife, smiling gently.

“We’re in a hurry, Kokuren. We’re going to save Koharu, aren’t we?”