flypaper qvod

Chapter 71: King’s scenario

We were forced to withdraw. First of all, there is a difference in strength. Even though only one didn’t fall down, most of them declined, but the fact that there is a group of great swordsmen is tough. At first, there is a tactic that can still be won if we have the power of a dragon (or if it strikes at once from the high sky with a breath, it won’t be a match for any kind of swords), but it is nothing but an act of blowing away the whole town. A large number of people would die. There is no need to be in-laws and to kill the old man. We’re just outsiders. Furthermore, the shock that my good-nature was completely used.

I felt like I could be friends with the old man. That’s why I was troubled by his seriousness, spent a month without consulting with anyone and came to measure the meaning of his words without being armed. ……Dianne can’t overlook it for free. It was also calculated as a possibility that Laila, who purported to protect me, relied on Dianne to make up for the loss of the world. All of them, a stone to this timing when the uncle starts the Sword Saint Brigade and marches not far from Laika to the capital city.

This timing. In other words, the Trot Corps doesn’t move in fear of being in tune with the Sword Saint Brigade, and even the arrival of the northern army corps is barely out, considering the slowness of the military headquarters. Support from the main force Ace Knights and other corps gathering Master Knights are impossible to be in time. Only I, who has dragons as a carrying ability and Dianne’s crossbow corps, can only make it in time. He completely read us and I was used.

“Damn it……”

My good-nature was misused. The opponent is a veritable knight who has lived to fight. As a blacksmith and a soldier, I am still a half man, just a sloppy townsman who is surrounded by beautiful women. What about being friends. He has saved me in a dangerous place and just spent a month at the hot spring together with us. There is no reason why I can’t understand or respond to the act of rebellion and revolution that gambling his life and I have little or no connection with him. As he said. What I’m saying is a generalization, a superficial, another thing, and it’s needless to say that everyone knows it. It is not supposed to move him. What did I think I could do? I was a fool.

“Andy, we’re almost done with reconsideration”

“……Dianne”

In the cold wind of dawn. We couldn’t stay at that post town and we were walking to the next post town without any particular reason, but when the sky was white, Dianne stood in front of me and folded her arms, sending a firm line of sight.

“I understand that you used to adore Sir Bonaparte and I know that it was shocking to be used. But, Andy Smithson is a 10-man captain”

Dianne calls me with my job title. In other words, not as a lover, but as a soldier, as an adult, blasting firmly.

“You haven’t done anything yet. There’s still something you can do”

“……”

“If you say to the wind……don’t give up because the enemy is strong. Don’t give up because there is no weapon. Throw a stone if you don’t have a weapon, throw sand if you don’t have a stone”

“But……”

“You still have a hand. We just need to evacuate Ulysses III”

“Ho. It’s a bone to fight with a dragonslayer, but if I fly and carry a person, it’s not like an opponent that rivals me”

“Yes. As long as you live, you have a chance”

Laila and Selenium also encourage me.

“……But he will already have escaped by the Flying Dragon service……”

“Hoho. Well then that’s a good story”

“And, if you hear the king’s story, it might open up a breakthrough. At least for Celesta, that king wasn’t incompetent”

“In the first place, in the reputation, King and Bonaparte were said to be close friends”

“I couldn’t say if that guy was so confident, but if you listened to it a lot, it’s a weird thing”

“……I don’t understand the human world well”

Everyone said it was weird. I was wondering as I was quiet, but I used to be depressed. ……Finally, Apple hugged me from behind and whispers.

“Andy-san, I think that’s fine”

“……What?”

“You′re not a Trot, you′re not a Celesta, you′re not a blacksmith, you′re a little special soldier and you still want everyone to be happy, I think that Andy-san is good at running”

“……I, I’m a decent soldier and a veritable Trot person

“Huhuu. But I think you were able to be liked by different people and help different people just because you can give courage and say things from an unconstrained position”

“……I don’t think so”

I don’t remember having saved someone with my hands so far. After all, only I have been helped. Many people who have liked me seem to have started with a slight misunderstanding. But if Apple says so, that would be the case.

“That’s why……”

“……Uh, that’s right. I think I should go that way”

Not to be too afraid of someone, not to dislike someone, not to be bound by something, but to stretch out my hands. In search of someone’s hand that might hold it. I’ve been doing it that way and it might be better to do so.

“Good, let’s go back to Basson once we have decided on a policy.

“Eh, first is the royal capital……”

“Let’s bring Anzeros”

“Ah, yes……I see”

After all, it will take time and effort to see the king. If we rely on Anzeros, we may be able to see him through Linda-san. The fact that we have a dragon is something that only the Trot Corps HQ knows only and we should treat it as Laila is an attendant. The audience wouldn’t pass obediently when it comes to the story that Laila stuck her head in earnest into such a disturbance between humans. Anzeros is the right answer here?

“Good, Laila……”

“No wait, let’s return with Maia”

Dianne forestals.

“Ho?”

“It’s okay”

“……Why?”

Dianne answered with a nod to the question of Selenium.

“Laila and Maia have to do the big job to carry all the crossbows corps members here after this. It will be tough to just let Laila do it”

“It is not said that it is tiring at that level”

“But I understand. ……Let’s go”

Maia poses nicely. And the next moment a blue dragon appeared.

“Aboard”

Everyone begins to climb quickly.

“Hoho. Once in a while, you can ride another dragon”

“It’s a bit too smooth, it’s hard to climb”

“Se, Selen”

“Yes yes, hold on”

And I myself was embraced by Dianne and jumped on Maia′s back. ……Very cool, but if I climb by myself there is no doubt that I will struggle more than Apple.

“Fly?”

“Fly, Maia!”

“Yup”

As Chibi Maia rode on my shoulder and nodded, she soared into the dawn sky.

——————————

We arrived at the corps building in the afternoon. The crossbow corps got into a big fuss. It becomes a commotion because Laila and Maia which are unidentified guests are all together and they′re dragons and they came with Dianne′s command to get everyone to the royal capital by riding on them (or rather stuffed in the wagon of the corps).

“Ma, Maia-chan! My Maia-chan”

“Dragon……dragon……no wait, though she is a dragon, Smithson′s mark……?”

“Laila-san! No, Laila-sama! Why do you wear Smithson′s collar!?”

“Why are you involved with Smithson? It’s a sign of slavery.”

……No, those guys are more focused on why those two have my collar than the fact that they are dragons itself. And I’ll get ready to start again before I get chased

“Andy! You went without telling us!?

“Why didn’t you say anything!”

“No, Sensei, what if I leave it to Andy-kun?”

“Please wait for your husband……”

I joined the three people who talked about the resentment that I left them behind before I got on Laila and went to the capital again. Maia and Jeanne are left behind instead. It is for reinforcement of the carriage that carries the crossbow corps members. As soon as they are ready, they are in charge of bringing everyone to the capital one after another.

—————————-

And, in the evening, we return to the capital. Anzeros had a difficult face when we talked about the situation during the flight.

“……I see……after all, wasn’t it a mistake?”

……Anzeros seems to have piled up a thin image of her father on Sir Bonaparte. Thinking a little while wrinkling up the eyebrows, she closed her eyes until we landed near the capital city.

And as it is, everyone goes into the capital city.

“……Wa, Waa……really, there are elves in the capital city”

“Right”

Apple is surprised to admit the appearance of the elves who are seen on the street corner and somehow Selenium is proud. ……No, I think it’s not boasting of Selenium. However, it is better to meet Linda-san than to point it out. We went all the way to that big Neumann house.

And the Neumann house.

“Oh, you’re fine, Ange!”

“Mother!”

Linda is overwhelmed by the appearance of her daughter who has visited at an unexpectedly short interval. And after a few seconds of hugging, Anzeros told our purpose to come here.

“……Mother. The king……is it possible to have an audience with the king?”

“Audience?”

“You know, too, Mother. ……Sword Saint brigade”

“!”

Linda-san made her face become stiff.

“……What are you going to do, Ange”

“Tell the king to escape from the capital city”

“I see. ……I think this is a problem within the Trot Kingdom. What are the Celesta′s army intentions?”

Dianne responds to Linda-san’s slow-testing words instead.

“……Anything from the military, there will be a consultation, but we have faster means of movement”

“……Well, I’m fine. If you can tell that old man that, please do so”

Linda has a very cold face and shakes her neck when she flutters. Is the king opposed to the escape plan? ……It is not an impossible story. The ultimate existence meaning of kings and nobles is to protect the people and the country. If the king voluntarily abandons it, even if the life is not cut off, it becomes as good as dead socially. However.

“He already become a symbol without power and there is no chance to win against the Sword Saint Brigade……so why is he staying here”

“Yeah”

Linda agreed with a drowning voice to my mutter.

“Well, that old man……he is in the eastern drawing room.

“Is he here?”

……He really doesn’t have a sense of crisis. Just as Sir Bonaparte said, he seemed to be not competent.

——————————-

The king sat in front of a chessboard at the window, just like the last time we came here.

“Oh, Linda, your turn……”

“King. Its been a long time”

“……Ange. And that young man?”

King Ulysses made his face wrinkle a bit, as he saw us and sighed.

“……You have such a risky face. It’s like the bureaucrats of Celesta”

“Maybe on the same matter”

Anzeros bowed in the Celesta ceremony.

“……The Sword Saint Brigade. A group that is called the strongest unit in the northwestern plains, with Sir Arthur Bonaparte as its figurehead, is coming southward. According to the story from a colleague, a dragonslayer has also been brought up. The Trot corps will not send out their main force out of fear of getting in tune with them, the aim is the king, which is you. ……So could you escape the capital with us?”

“Does the capital stand without the king there?”

“But as it is”

“Arthur will come to the castle. Protecting me are the imperial guards and at best they′re a hundred”

The king is reluctant to move with a feeling that he is reluctant to talk about a boring story.

“Do you want to die!!”

“Well. The king is one of the parts of the country. ……For the sake of the country, there are times when it is a wicked way to spare one’s life”

……I am not convinced by the words of the exhausted king. No, I don’t want to be convinced.

“What do you say is going to die!”

“The revolution will come true”

“You told me that you didn’t have the power anymore! Taking your neck, even if old man Bonaparte becomes king or prime minister, he would only be crushed by the whole Celesta army anyway!”

Celesta won, Trot lost. Now, it is difficult to make up for that difference. Above all, the old kingdom army is now operated by Celesta as the Trot corps. Even if all of them revolted in unison and turned over to Trot, the northern and western corps would arrive until they could be reorganized and capable of sufficient operational action. It is easy for regular troops to strike the confused unit, though it is the northern corps, which is said to be weak.

“That’s right. ……It will be so”

“If you know that, why don’t you try to run away! Before it’s really going to be irreparable, give him room to stop! Why is it that it is a country to die in vain and to flee is an evil way, I don’t understand the reason……”

“Andy Smithson was it”

“……Wh, What is it?”

“Are you from Polka? ……Did you see Arthur?”

“……Ah”

Certainly, it is unnatural for me to say 「Old man」 to that old man. …Is it obvious that I met Sir Bonaparte?

“He’s a good man. He is a man with a high spirit, full of strength and a body and will that has been polished like a single sword. ……Both him and I can’t rebuild Trot. There is no time. It’s a sad story”

“……”

“Even so, if we were to stretch our spines, it would be necessary to show that the Trot’s soul is still on the back of this decrepit king and the nobles. This country is still ill……a person who has never been ill needs the will to stand out of illness”

“……What, that is……no way”

“From that point on, it’s our problem. I like it, but it’s good”

The king shows a tired smile. ……And Dianne smacks her lips at that.

“Everything is connected. I see, ……like that”

“Hohoho. For a short-lived, low-profile human, there is a way of doing something. ……How to use our lives may not be easily understood by the dark elves”

“……”

Dianne turns around. We hurry up and chase her.

“Wh, What does that mean!”

“Promotion of generation change of nobles by the king”

“……?”

While Dianne turned her back, she began arranging words short with a firm voice.

“The complete resurrection of Bonaparte, the age group of the new Sword Saint brigade. The use of a dragonslayer. Provocation against me. How to live in the daylight of the king. ……The engagement of Ruth and Princess Reina and the studying abroad at Duke Gardner’s house”

“……Wh, What is it?”

“All connected. ……All the scenarios are drawn by that old man”

“Eh……?”

“Good. ……The king is playing incompetence. It is as Bonaparte’s talk says. And Bonaparte has used the dragonslayer banned in the international community in a grand manner. This means that whichever wins, the aim is to be criticized as being 『Non』”

“Eh……?”

“Neither the king nor anyone has the right to the military supreme command in the current Trot. In other words, depending on the convenience of Celesta, it is not strange if no one appears in reinforcements to the king. The scenario that the new Sword Saint Brigade loses is also included in the script”

“Wh, What, script!”

“The king and the Sword Saints. The battle between the two former powers who once carried the flag of Trot. The people’s feelings will surely swell, and whichever wins……that battle later, will help the re-revolution of Ruth and Princess Reina supported by the 『Great scholar』 Duke Gardner”

“Re-revolution……!?”

“The incompetent king, who was saved by Célesta, forgot to choose the means of the unclean Sword Saints. Backed by Trot’s largest prestigious family the Gardner family and the generations of their parents who become upset, Ruth and Princess Reina will rise. This is the birth of a new hero king, a rejuvenation in the lower part, scraping out the strange pride, young nobles who are full of hope and motivation. They will revive Trot”

“……E, Eh……in other words”

“That’s right. Both the old Great Sword Saints and Bonaparte are all gathered for the final battle, riding on this scenario. ……The 『King′s most important』 Sword Saint brigade will have us as the last opponent as we were called by his invitation, as if to play the best death fight, as a chance to rinse one′s defeat”

……Eh, wait……wait. Everything…… have they progressed with that scenario? My trip to Polka also. Anzeros’s marriage story too. Everything?

“……Like that……”

“Ah, it’s perfect. Even if we will forsake, defend or just forgive the king……in the end it will be as the king planned”

“……It’s the same as it is, it’s a very difficult person, that king is……!!”

“Either way the old man and the king will die……”

In a dimly lit corridor in Neumann′s house. We are silent.

“If we report this to the Celesta Army General Headquarters……”

Dianne shook her head to Anzeros’s proposal.

“At the moment, there is no reason to force it to stop. ……It doesn’t matter to Celesta whether the king has a centripetal force or not. The Celesta army is welcome to activate if Trot doesn’t turn to an enemy We will try to hold down the new king’s neck root early”

……Fuck. Such…….

“……After all, it’s a magnificent suicide”

“Yeah. …….The tendency to do such things and end one’s life is certainly difficult for us to understand”

“……We can’t even stop it”

“Ho. ……I will burn both sides. It will be the fastest”

“……”

As for me. As I bite my lips, I remembered when I found out that my father was dead. ……Even my father died because he wanted to die. However, on the other hand, these parents who were envied for themselves will die. Only the children are left behind. If you are forced to do well in exchange for it, be happy. You can bathe in such happiness.

“……I want to admit it, hey”

“Andy”

Dianne looks at me sorrowfully.

“Can such a scenario be accepted! It is an irresponsible talk that it will be possible to leave the happiness to the child by bothering purposely in the habit of parents!”

My words echoed long in the corridor of the Neumann house before it disappeared.