Chapter 134

Swoooosh—!

The Anakros, ‘Risilbak’, went back into the hole in the ground from which it had come out.

Watching it, I replayed the conversation I had with Risilbak just a moment ago. This time too, I had only conversed with Risilbak inside my head, so the others wouldn't have heard.

‘The conclusion was that since I faithfully kept my promise, it would also faithfully keep its promise…… right.’

That was the conclusion, and the content of my conversation with Risilbak went something like this.

—You sealed the Minotaur, even sacrificing someone precious to you, so I will make a worthy sacrifice in return. I will set aside my pride as the patriarch of the Anakros and listen to the words of a mere Half-Elf like you.

—If you listen to my words…… does that mean you will follow my orders?

—Yes. But you cannot demand an unreasonable sacrifice from my entire race. For example, telling your humans to all stay behind while only we fight.

—That won't happen. Then, as long as it's not something that unreasonable, can I understand it as you will listen to my words? Anything?

—That was the meaning of my words, but…… something feels off. To say you’ll order me to do ‘anything’, what exactly are you planning to order me to do?

—I don't know yet. I'll think about various things and let you know.

—……Various things, you say. I made a promise too easily without considering that you are a Half-Elf with human blood mixed in. There’s no way you're as ambitionless as an Elf.

—Haha…….

—Well, fine. Then after we perform the ritual of the covenant, I will return. If you need me for this war, come here again.

—Do I have to come all the way here to speak? It would be nice if we could talk from a distance.

—It's possible if I become your familiar. But that will never happen, not even if you die and come back to life, so don't hope for it. I respect you as a human and as a leader, and I respect you as a covenantor, but I will not become your subordinate. You are too weak. I do not become the familiar of one weaker than myself.

—……Understood.

There were other things in between, but that seemed to be the important content.

‘Hmm…… from what Risilbak said, it seems like it will do pretty much anything. Either with its own power or the power of its race.’

The Future Diary didn't mention how the future me made use of the Anakros.

That might be because the future me simply used the Anakros as a ‘weapon’. I probably just ordered it around casually, like, 「“Just go fight as you see fit.”」

‘I’ll have to use it better than that.’

I didn't know how strong Risilbak and the other Anakros were, but just by their size, they must be extraordinarily strong. Even the great Jereuth was tense in front of Risilbak.

‘The first thing that comes to mind right now is having them pop out in the middle of the monster army during the war and wreak havoc on the battlefield…… but there must be a better way. A way to use the powerful weapon that is the Anakros.’

That aside.

‘What should I say to them.’

The ‘them’ I was referring to were Yoanna, Remond, and the three drill assistants.

Yoanna was sitting on the ground with her legs having given out, looking up at me with a transcendental expression.

Remond was looking at me with fearful eyes, as if the shock and horror of seeing Risilbak hadn't faded.

The three drill assistants just seemed out of it. They looked even more dazed than Remond.

Maybe Remond's mental fortitude was stronger than the drill assistants'.

‘Wait. Come to think of it, Yoanna called me ‘Your Highness’ earlier. Remond and the drill assistants must have heard it too. ……Ah, so this is that ‘incident’.’

I remembered. The line from the Future Diary, 「‘An ‘incident’ occurred that revealed the identity of Recruit Nar.’」

‘Well…… it doesn't seem to be a big problem.’

“Is everyone alrigh—.”

As I was speaking.

Tatata—!

Remond came running towards me in a flurry. Then he knelt before me, slammed his head on the ground, and shouted as if making a confession.

“Y-Your Highness! I'm sorry! I-I-I dared to commit such disrespect until now!!”

Ah, Remond wasn't still scared because of Risilbak.

It was because he found out my identity.

What should I say?

“P-p-please just spare my life!! For slapping the back of your head before…… or for not bringing my towel when I showered and secretly using yours! A-and also…… ah! For secretly swapping our special meal chicken legs because yours was bigger, I'm sorry for that too!!”

I remembered him slapping the back of my head well.

Because I was aware of it.

……But to think this guy was also the one who stole my towel and swapped the chicken legs.

This was a crime.

Especially swapping the chicken legs, that was completely unforgivable.

‘Well…… it was still a fun memory.’

I'll remember it, though.

I'm surprisingly the type to hold a grudge.

Let's take my revenge slowly later.

“Why are you acting so out of character? Get up.”

“N-n-no! H-how could I—!”

“I said get up. It makes me more uncomfortable if you don't.”

Only when I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him up did Remond finally manage to stand.

His gaze was directed somewhere in the air, unable to look at me, and his body was still trembling.

‘Am I that scary? I’m not particularly…… am I scary enough?’

I was the one who purged hundreds of nobles and publicly executed thugs and wicked merchants.

Of course, I ruled with benevolence towards the innocent, but I suppose I would still be scary.

“It's okay, so stop trembling. We're comrades, aren't we?”

“……Yes!”

“I told you to speak comfortably.”

“T-this is comfortable!”

In the meantime, the drill assistants who were a little further back had already lined up behind Remond. Tense to the extreme, they looked just like dried pollack.

The drill assistant standing on the far left, ‘Jack’, spoke.

“T-to not recognize Your Highness and give countless punishments until now—!”

“It’s alright. You were just doing your job as a drill assistant.”

“……”

“I was rather grateful. Thanks to you, I was able to train diligently.”

Jack was trembling just like Remond. The other drill assistants were the same.

‘At this rate, even if I tell them not to show it when we get back to the royal capital, it seems like it will show anyway.’

Since the Future Diary said my identity would eventually be ‘found out’, it was 100% going to happen.

‘I guess it can’t be helped.’

Thinking that, I patted Remond and the three drill assistants on the shoulder. Each one called out their rank and name as I touched them.

—R-Recruit Remond!

—Corporal Jack!

—Corporal Dre!

—Private First Class Hains!

I think I heard the names of the other two for the first time.

“Well, it’s getting late, so please prepare for camping first. I'm going to talk with Yoanna for a bit.”

—Yes! We understand!

The three drill assistants spoke with stiff discipline.

Remond said something else.

“I-I understand! But…… Your Highness, please speak informally!”

“I'll speak comfortably to you, but I should speak formally to the drill assistants. I'm still a ‘recruit’.”

“……”

“I'm going to continue training for a while. Just like any other recruit.”

“Wh-why…… why?”

Was it truly that incomprehensible?

Remond seemed broken.

‘Why do I train……. It was in the Future Diary. It said I didn't say why I was training.’

The purpose of my recruit training was to gain the trust of the knights and soldiers. Trust as a ‘soldier’, not a King.

As for any other reason—

“I told you, to protect this kingdom.”

—…….

“That's the only reason.”

The drill assistants who were preparing the camp seemed to be listening to my words too.

Feeling that I had answered reasonably well, I gave Remond and the drill assistants a light smile and headed towards Yoanna.

‘Yoanna…… has the same expression.’

Should I say she was dazed from fear, or speechless with joy?

Yoanna had exactly that kind of expression. Only her pupils moved, following me.

“Yoanna, are you okay?”

***

Leonardo spoke, extending his hand.

At Leonardo's words, Yoanna replied as if to a god.

“Yes…… I'm alright.”

“Can you stand?”

“Yes…… ugh.”

Yoanna tried to stand by putting strength in her legs, but since her legs had gone so weak that she had even wet herself, she couldn't get up right away.

Seeing this, Leonardo grabbed her arm to help her up, and Yoanna bowed her head as if she were overwhelmed with gratitude.

“Th-thank you…….”

“There’s no need for thanks for something like this. So, what should we do now?”

“Wh-what should we do…… you just have to give the order, Your Highness!”

“That won't do. I am a ‘recruit’ and you are a ‘knight’.”

“……”

“I am the King, but right now I am a soldier, and you are my superior. I told Remond and the other drill assistants to prepare for camping, but you should take command from here on out.”

At Leonardo's words telling her to command him, Yoanna's eyes darted around.

She couldn't bring herself to give an order to Leonardo.

Because he was the King.

However, on the other hand, Yoanna had another thought.

‘His Highness…… is a truly amazing person.’

He says that though he is the King, he is now a soldier, and therefore he will listen to his superior's words.

Having once lived at the bottom of a society with a class system, Yoanna knew well how difficult a thing that was.

Once again, Yoanna felt a different emotion.

An emotion of worship that went beyond human feelings like affection, love, and respect.

‘But I…… do I deserve to stand by such a person's side and protect him? I just sat down because I had no courage at all…….’

As she naturally fell into self-blame.

Leonardo asked Yoanna again.

“Yoanna?”

“Ah…… yes. Th-then, while the other soldiers are preparing the camp, I would be grateful if Your Highness would stand guard of the surroundings.”

“You just have to give the order. There's no need to ask.”

“H-how could I—.”

“This is the army. If you're a superior, you have to give orders. ……Though it's something I'm not good at either.”

Leonardo said with a reluctant tone, then smiled.

Then he straightened his posture again and spoke politely.

“Then, as ordered, I will stand guard of the surroundings.”

“Ah…… yes.”

Yoanna found it utterly impossible to speak comfortably to Leonardo.

***

A week passed like that, and the time came for Leonardo to return to the royal capital from Ness Plains.

***

Clip-clop—.

Just like when they came to Ness Plains from the royal capital, Yoanna was at the head of the group on horseback on their way back.

Behind her followed Leonardo and four other soldiers.

The remaining distance to the royal capital was about an hour.

It seemed they would be able to pass through the royal capital's gate before the sun set.

Yoanna, on horseback, observed Leonardo following behind her.

‘I need to ask His Highness for forgiveness. For not being able to do anything when that snake monster appeared.’

This thought had been tormenting Yoanna for the past week, ever since the ‘giant snake monster’ first appeared.

Self-blame for not being able to do anything when the monster appeared.

‘His Highness didn't say anything in particular about me not being able to do anything…… but it would be right for me to apologize first.’

But Yoanna found it very difficult to bring up the topic with Leonardo first.

If it were simply a knight squire asking for forgiveness from her master, it would have been easy.

If it were simply a young girl speaking to a boy she had affection for, it would have been even easier.

But because Yoanna worshipped Leonardo, it was incredibly difficult.

Just then, Leonardo looked up at Yoanna on her horse and spoke.

“Is there something you wish to say?”

“Pardon? ……No, I mean. Uhm, it's nothing.”

“If you have something to say, please feel free to say it. Whether I was lacking as a soldier or—.”

“Th-that's not it. It's just…….”

Yoanna trailed off.

Whoosh-whoosh-!

She spurred her horse a little faster, increasing the distance from the other soldiers, and gestured for Leonardo to come closer. Leonardo approached beside Yoanna's horse.

Yoanna cleared her throat and spoke to Leonardo, who was looking up at her from her side.

“I wanted to say…… I'm sorry.”

At Yoanna's rather serious words, Leonardo asked back.

“Sorry? For what?”

“Uhm…… when the giant snake appeared a week ago, for not being able to do anything and just sitting there.”

“……”

“I lacked courage. I trained hard to repay the grace Your Highness bestowed upon me…… but in the end, it seems I was fundamentally wrong to try to be like Commander Jereuth or the other knights.”

“Fundamentally wrong. Because you were scared of that monster, the ‘Anakros’, and couldn't do anything?”

“Yes. I should have been…… fearless, like Your Highness.”

‘Fearless like me.’

At those words, Leonardo fell into thought for a moment.

***

‘That I’m not afraid of anything…… that’s not true.’

The reason I could stand confidently before Risilbak was not because I wasn't afraid of it.

It was because I was certain that it would not harm me.

‘I get scared easily. And I worry a lot.’

Every time I read the Future Diary, I worried about tomorrow, the day after, or a few days later.

When I saw my ending, my worries about how to change it were as high as a mountain.

Also, there were countless times when I was terrified by that ending, despaired, and wanted to give up.

“No, I have many things I'm afraid of—.”

The honest words almost came out of me without thinking.

But.

‘……The King, my father, said it. Because I am the pillar of this kingdom, I must never show a weak side.’

I wasn't born a true royal.

So I didn't exactly understand what the King meant by the ‘pillar of the kingdom’.

But still, one thing I knew for sure.

That I ‘must not show a weak side’.

‘A strong king…… a pillar of the kingdom that everyone can believe in, one that does not waver. He said I must become that.’

Organizing my thoughts, I spoke calmly to Yoanna.

“……If you are afraid, you need only look at my back.”

***

If you are afraid, you need only look at my back.

—At those strange words, Yoanna carefully asked back.

“I just need to look at Your Highness's back……?”

“Yes. Don't think things like, ‘I'm scared,’ ‘I can't win,’ ‘What should I do?’. You just need to swing your sword for me from behind me. The role I expect from you is that. A role where you don't think about other things, but trust me and fight.”

“Is Your Highness…… truly not afraid of anything?”

“Nothing.”

“……”

“For me to fear something means I don't trust Commander Jereuth, the other knights, mages, and officials who follow me. That would be a betrayal of the people who believe in and follow me. I will never betray them. As long as I have people who believe in me, I am not afraid of anything.”

“Ah…….”

Royalty is indeed different.

So very different from someone of a common background like herself.

So much so that she couldn't understand how they could be so different.

‘He just has the form of a human…… he is a higher being. This person.’

—That thought dominated Yoanna's mind.

Along with it, Yoanna also felt her heart becoming lighter and melting.

‘I don't have to think, I don't have to doubt, I just have to follow His Highness's back, right? Without having to be afraid of any enemy……?’

To just swing her sword at Leonardo's enemies without any thought. Following orders, not courage.

‘For my master…… for my king.’

Yoanna realized the most important thing for a knight.

Something that most knights never realize in their lifetime.

Just as Hagen had intended, Yoanna had developed even further through her mission with Leonardo.