I refuse to be your enem.., p.13
I Refuse to Be Your Enemy! Volume 4, page 13
“What joyous news! Hahaha! After their most recent loss, surely uncovering their ambush was the final straw—HRK!” Lord Azure exclaimed, only to be silenced with a jab to the arm from Lord Enister’s cane.
“Enough, lad. You know there has to be a catch here. But all the same... storming a castle is never an easy undertaking. We’re better off seizing it while we have the chance.”
“True. In which case, I’d like Lord Delphion and Lord Enister to take the lead. The rest of us will get ready to vacate the fort, then follow after you,” Reggie instructed.
Per the prince’s orders, Lord Delphion and Lord Enister departed first. The rest of us left the day after that.
We spent three days on the road, always keeping a careful eye out for any Llewynian activity. Along the way, we received word from Lord Enister that he hadn’t run into any issues inside or outside the castle, so we proceeded straight to Delphion’s castle town.
The castle town was encased in towering stone ramparts, a remnant of the time when fellow lords of Farzia had fought among themselves. As soon as we passed through those gray walls, we were showered in the voices and gazes of the gathered townspeople.
“Long live Farzia!”
“Long live Prince Reginald!”
Swathed in that chorus of welcomes, I got the sense that everything else around me had been drowned in waves of sound. I was disoriented by the overwhelming pressure, a very different sort than I’d grown accustomed to on the battlefield.
“Is something the matter?” asked Cain, who was once again sharing a horse with me.
“No. It’s been a while since I’ve heard a commotion that wasn’t just shrieks and battle cries, that’s all.”
Sorwen had to have been the last place I’d experienced anything like this. By the time we’d arrived in Cassia, the citizens had been in no state to give us such a warm reception, and Fort Inion had been a good distance from the town.
“It’s nice to know we’re so welcome here,” Cain said. “It’s been a few months since they were occupied; if they were happy with Llewyne’s rule, I doubt they would be receiving our troops with open arms like this.”
I gave a curious tilt of my head. “You think they could have preferred being under Llewyne’s control?”
“Delphion didn’t put up much of a fight. Assuming that few civilians were killed and no unreasonable restrictions were placed upon them, they could have grown accustomed to Llewyne’s rule over time. The average townsperson cares far more about how well their rulers treat them than about history or tradition.”
He had a point. If their lives had only been enriched as a result, some people were bound to welcome the change in regime.
“That said, Delphion does frequently send us men to fight our wars against Llewyne. I’m sure a great deal of their population bears a deep-seated antipathy to the nation.”
Whether that counted as a good thing or not, I was relieved to hear it. Not that I wanted the townspeople to have suffered under Llewyne’s rule or anything, but if we had fought our way here only to be given a cold reception for our troubles, I might’ve broken down crying.
Once again, riding double with Cain drew me plenty of curious looks. The Llewynian troops had withdrawn a good distance by now, but I’d still been ordered to ride with Cain for the sake of a quick getaway... you know, just in case anything happened. The second I’d tried to get on my own horse, I’d gotten a real earful from Alan. You’re too slow! and You don’t know how to dodge! and As if I’d ever permit something so risky!
At this rate, though, I was going to forget how to ride a horse by the time the war was over.
While I fell deep into thought, we followed the main cobblestone road to Delphion Castle.
The castle was surrounded by a large moat. The water was drawn from the river and flowed steadily in one direction, giving it a less muddied look than one might typically envision.
We crossed the stone bridge, just wide enough for one carriage to pass through, arriving outside an open gate. Reggie and his knights proceeded after the vanguard. Alan entered the castle next, Cain and I trailing behind him.
Once we had passed through the gates, I threw a casual glance over my shoulder.
“Oh!”
For a brief moment, I felt like I was looking at new scenery. Smoke billowed from the castle town, and the cityscape was devastated in several places. Everything had been consumed by the fires of war. The corpses of fallen soldiers littered the area outside the gates, and the stone bridge was dyed crimson and black.
Past all that, I saw a dragon on a blue flag, as well as—
“Miss Kiara?”
Cain’s voice brought me back to reality. All that time I’d spent looking behind me, I’d just been staring at the gate from over Cain’s arm. No wonder he’d found it strange.
“Is something bothering you?”
“No... The scenery just reminded me of a picture I’d seen before.”
Surely that was the reason for my hallucination. Thinking back on it, there had been a battle at Delphion Castle in the RPG. Now that the Llewynian forces were gone, however, the siege wasn’t going to happen.
If I remembered correctly, this was where Alan had fought against Game-Kiara’s golem. It must have been that scene that had sprung to mind.
While I was drawing my own conclusions, we finally stepped foot inside Delphion Castle.
Lord Delphion’s troops had performed an inspection of the castle interior back when they first arrived. No traps had been found, so we headed off to our assigned rooms after a short break. Lucille showed me the way.
“The room on the right is mine, and the one next to it is my dear Emmeline’s. Feel free to come play whenever you like, Lady Kiara.”
“I’d love to... but wait, was that always your room?”
“No. Whichever Llewynian stayed in my room took all my things out and threw them away, so I’m taking the opportunity to move to a new one.”
The castle may have been handed over to Llewyne without a fight, but despite all the baron’s behind-the-scenes efforts, it hadn’t escaped some damage via remodeling or the disposal of certain bits of decor.
“Emmeline said we’re just lucky that nothing was drenched in blood or burned to ash. Just a few touch-ups and the place should be ready to be used again.”
“She does have an eye for efficiency.”
“I’ll strive to learn from her example.”
Lucille, who wanted nothing more than to grow up into a second Emmeline, gave a calm assessment of the matter. Still, it had to be sad for her to have what should’ve been her own personal sanctuary ravaged, her belongings cast away. I figured any other girl Lucille’s age would’ve been left in tears. What a tough cookie.
“If there’s anything you want remade out of stone, let me know. I’d be happy to help.”
“Oh, in that case...”
What Lucille asked me to make was, for some bizarre reason, a statue of a terramouse.
Where is she even going to put this in her room? Not that it makes any difference to me. I had zero artistic ability, but so long as it was something I could envision it in my head, I would have no problem materializing it. I promised her I’d make it for her.
While I was having my peaceful chat with Lucille, Reggie and his men were busy milling about. Merchants from the town had flocked over, requesting to greet the prince, and now they were swamped trying to accommodate that request. Some of our men had suggested leaving it for a later date, but Alan said it was better to meet them sooner rather than later, seeing as we needed all the money we could get during wartime.
Each soldier’s pay was covered by his respective province, but there were plenty of other things—provisions, for example—left to pay for. Those funds could be procured from some of the more well-off merchants of the town, so snubbing them wasn’t an option.
Supposedly, the royal family tried not to borrow too much from the nobility. The way the system worked was that territories were given tax exemptions proportional to the expense of the troops they sent over. Thus, if the royals took too much, there would be less income for them to collect the following year, and they wouldn’t have the money to cover the costs of reconstruction.
Not only had the royal capital fallen into the hands of the enemy, but the fight to take it back was bound to put even more areas in need of repairs and restoration. That was going to take a lot of money. Therefore, rather than relying on the contributions of our allies in the nobility, they were better off collecting donations from merchants. On the merchants’ side of things, gaining the monarchy’s favor now would give them a ticket into the royal capital later, so they were more than happy to do their part.
The next day, after all of that had been settled, I was summoned to the great hall of the castle. It wasn’t just Reggie and other such VIPs who were gathered there; both Lucille and I were present, along with a bunch of people from the Delphion branch families.
Once everyone was there, a certain ceremony was held—a transfer of the title “baron of Delphion.”
Although it was to protect his province, the current baron, Henry, had sided with the enemy and aided an assault on the Farzian army more than once. That couldn’t go unpunished.
That being said, we were in the middle of a war. Not only did we still have to fight the Llewynian and Salekhardian forces that had marched back to Trisphede, but once that was dealt with, we would be marching on the royal capital, too. Seeing as Delphion was the halfway point on that path, we had to preserve the balance of the province.
The chosen solution was to transfer the rank of baron from the current lord, Henry, to his younger brother, Ernest. Ernest had never sworn his allegiance to Llewyne, instead choosing to fight alongside the prince’s army. If he was instated as the new lord of the province, surely the Farzian troops would accept the soldiers from Delphion with open arms.
And so, the baron Henry took responsibility for siding with Llewyne by relinquishing his own title. As for what his future would hold after that?
“I must confess that I have no military savvy, Henry. I had planned to leave those matters to Emmeline, but I’d be honored if you would help me as an advisor,” had been Ernest’s proposition. He was thus granted a role as Emmeline’s aide.
Emmeline was designated commanding general of Delphion’s forces. Taking matters into her own hands like that was just about the most “Emmeline” thing I could imagine. Decked out in a gorgeous dress, she proudly accepted Reggie’s official appointment.
The former baron’s wife was in poor health, so she was still recuperating in the castle. Since Lucille had marriage to worry about down the line, she was adopted by Ernest in order to keep on living as the daughter of a baron.
It was truly comforting to see such a lenient judgment passed down on the baron’s family.
The Farzian army stayed in Delphion Castle for a while after that. The goal was to strengthen Delphion’s defenses and, once the situation had stabilized, strike down the Salekhardian army. If we could force Salekhard to retreat, that would be a huge blow to Llewyne as well.
Apparently, it was going to take us at least two weeks to get to that point.
The idea of “striking down” Salekhard made my heart ache all over again. Of course, there was nothing I could say on the matter, so I kept my mouth shut. Even Gina had steeled herself to fight against Isaac, and she had been engaged to him at one point.
Plus, according to what Gina had said, Isaac’s plan was to escape Llewynian rule by losing to Farzia. While he would no doubt do what he could to hand Gina an opportunity to shine, he was equally likely to surrender before things got out of hand. I made up my mind to stop worrying about it.
Besides, Master Horace was being very kind to me as of late. Whenever I went to sleep, he’d stay by my pillow, stroking my hair as I drifted off. I didn’t want to worry him either, so I had to do my best to get over it and keep my spirits up.
One day, amid all that, I was strolling the newly familiar halls of Delphion Castle.
“If I become a spellcaster, will you finally believe you need me?!” I heard Ada’s cry ring out from somewhere nearby. Next came several different voices urging her to stop.
I rushed over as fast as I could, only to find Ada with her back to a pillar, gripping something in her hand. Surrounding her was Reggie’s royal guard, looks of dismay on every one of their faces. Ada’s eyes were fixed on Reggie, who Felix was hiding behind his back.
“Your chances of becoming a spellcaster are low. Most people lose their will and turn into rampaging defectives. If you do that and hurt someone as a result, I’ll have no choice but to kill you,” Reggie responded as he met Ada’s gaze, not a scrap of mercy to be found in his words.
If she had expected him to gently coax her to stop, she was sorely mistaken; he had dismissed the whole charade as pointless from the get-go. Rather than give up, however, Ada only backed herself further into a corner.
“But wouldn’t you rather have another spellcaster around? I can use this to test my aptitude, can’t I? If I don’t die... please, allow me to serve by your side.”
Ada seemed to think that if she became a spellcaster, Reggie would appoint her as a trusted aide. In which case, the thing she was holding had to be the sand of a contract stone. I had no idea where she’d gotten her hands on it, but I was overwhelmed by the strength of her feelings for Reggie.
Reggie gave a small sigh. “I’ve had just about enough. Here I’ve been meeting with you at your request, and yet you still haven’t provided us any worthwhile information. Frankly speaking, I’m starting to doubt whether you know anything more useful than what you gave us the other day.”
“Wha—you can’t mean that!”
“I’m sure you did glean a few more scraps of information in Trisphede. But a good deal of time has passed since then, hasn’t it? Llewyne’s circumstances have no doubt shifted since then, so it’s hard to say whether any of it would still be applicable. I don’t think I’ll bother dragging things out of you for much longer.” After bluntly informing Ada that her intel wasn’t worth anything to him, Reggie gave her a gentle smile. “What you told us the other day spared us the loss of a good deal of soldiers; I won’t deny that. You’ve already done your part. I promise to keep you with us until we make it back to your hometown, so there’s no need to push yourself to such lengths.”
“But... if I become a spellcaster...”
Ada looked frustrated—and more than that, unbearably sad.
Oh no. I see what’s going on, I thought to myself.
Ada knew how kind Reggie could be. And yet, since she wasn’t someone he could afford special treatment, she could sense that he was trying to gently push her away.
That sort of consideration wasn’t what Ada was looking for, though. She wanted Reggie all to herself. To a girl who desired nothing more or less than Reggie’s affections, a guarantee of her safety was meaningless. Hence why she chased after him so desperately, throwing childish tantrums no matter how likely they were to put him off to her.
Watching her made my heart ache.
All I wanted was for Reggie and I to understand each other like family—to reach out to each other without asking for anything in return. Whenever he hugged me, all I felt was peace.
But Reggie was no relation of mine. I couldn’t keep projecting my childish wishes onto him. It was upon that realization that I’d finally decided to get my act together... and yet it still made me so terribly lonely.
And so, in that moment, I couldn’t take my eyes off Ada.
She popped the vial open. As soon as she’d removed the cork-like stopper, Felix stretched out a hand toward her, yelling, “Don’t do anything rash!” Reggie didn’t say anything, simply setting a hand on his sword as he watched the scene unfold.
A chill ran down my spine. Reggie had already chosen to kill Ada before she could do any damage. It was enough to make me fear he was going to cast me aside the same way—after all, I was no relation of his, either.
The thought was too much to bear. I placed both hands on the stone floor, and my magic coursed through the rock, all the way to the pillar behind Ada. The sides of the pillar stretched out like writhing tentacles, knocking the vial out of her hand just as she brought it to her lips.
I ran up to Ada, shoving Reggie’s knights out of my way, and threw my arms around her. She was a little taller than me, so I couldn’t fully wrap her up in the hug, but I held her as tight as I could.
“Wha...?” Ada blinked, utterly stunned, but didn’t try to untangle herself from my embrace.
“Don’t be so cruel to yourself. You’ve endured so much already! If you’re having a hard time, why don’t we just take it easy for a bit?”
Ada just stared down at me like a bewildered child. For the moment, she was still reeling from the shock of it all. If she stayed near Reggie, it wouldn’t be long before memories of his rejection came flooding back to her, which was bound to send her into another fit of despair.
“Let’s go get you something warm to drink.”
If I’d given her a choice in her current state of disarray, it might have sent her into a panic all over again. Instead of waiting for her response, I started carrying her away in my arms. She shuffled her feet along with mine, the same dazed look stuck on her face. Reggie’s knights cleared a path for us, watching us go in silence. After glancing my way to make sure I was okay, Reggie signaled Cain with his eyes.
Cain was the only knight to follow after us. When we happened upon one of the castle servants along the way, he asked her to bring some tea for us. Once that was done, he guided us to a suitable room for the occasion.
“Thank you, Sir Cain.”
“I’ll be waiting outside the door.”
“I appreciate it. Sorry for all the trouble.”
Cain tactfully stepped out of the room. Perhaps he was worried, seeing as he stuck close to the other side of the door. Words couldn’t express how grateful I was for all his help.
I sat us down on a loveseat in the room, my arms still wrapped around Ada. It was made of wood and no-frills, without so much as a cushion, so it wasn’t particularly comfortable.
