Chapter 43 – Tedla’s Choice

“Rulan Kingdom is attacking because it wants this country’s blessed lands. However, this country’s biggest harbor town, Manrinia, is inaccessible to people due to the taint. Apart from that, the last leg of the purification journey will be Manrinia. Do you understand so far?”

“Ahh, yes, yes. I understand.”

“Good, now to continue. When we, The Dipterous Sword, accomplish the request from the Kingdom of Rulan, we will be granted a single wish on behalf of the whole guild. That wish is to receive land in an ideal location.”

“Eh?”

“We want to make a new headquarters, you see. And, that ideal place is Manrinia.”

“Well, I never……”

Tedla, realizing what Alhart was trying to say, opened his eyes wide in disbelief.

Alhart smiles at Tedla’s reaction.

“You’re very perceptive, Second Son. Yes, we, The Dipterous Sword, have been aiming for Manrinia from the start. The guild accepted Rulan Kingdom’s request in order to obtain Manrinia.”

“Well, that’s not the only reason, though.”

“But, for it to be that easy……”

“Well, I don’t think we’ll be able to obtain Manrinia that easily, whether this country wins or Rulan Kingdom wins. But, do you think we’re just going to easily lend about half our forces to the Rulan Kingdom? Did you think that it was just a coincidence that the last destination of our trip is Manrinia?”

“No way…… then, all of this was your……”

“Yes. It was all part of the plan. Well, it’s fine if we just lent a hand to Rulan Kingdom though. But, there were some guys who were eager to get back at the people in this country who treated Sylti poorly while taking Manrinia…..no, rather, it’s the opposite. If I’m not mistaken, when we were thinking of ways to get revenge on the people who hurt Sylti, it also occurred to us to make use of Rulan Kingdom. Isn’t that right, Sylti?”

“Yes. If Jin were to make a new headquarters, then, we would not need a branch. And, if he is going to leave anyway, he was going to involve the Rulan Kingdom in his decision so he could give a blow to the Royal Family of Rulan Kingdom, who have been pushing him around so much until now.”

“Conquered by a country supposedly weaker than themselves, the largest port town, overtaken by the person they exiled and their comrades. Is there a more ridiculous story than this? This country’s citizens…… especially the Royal Family, will remember it every time they see Manrinia. The humiliation they’ve suffered. Utter defeat. Fear of the strong. Despair worse than death. For eternity, until death, and many times over. They will suffer as long as they are alive. Although, that treatment is still lukewarm for someone who has hurt our friend.”

“You’re doing all of this for the sake of one person……?”

“Exactly. Now, choose, Second Son.”

“Eh?”

“Will you side with us, or will you die for the country’s sake, of course!?”

“So, that’s what I have to choose……”

“Oh, right.”

The choice presented to him was such that there was no longer room to choose.

Sword held against his throat, it was the same as being asked, do you want to live? Or do you want to die?

“I…”

But, strangely enough, Tedla had no qualms about the choice he had to make.

Staring right at Alhart, Tedla forcefully clenched his fists.

“I don’t want to have any more regrets. I don’t want to make the same mistake I made two years ago. Even if what you’re doing will lead to the downfall of this country, it’s still a lot better than losing the smiles on the faces of those I care about again… so, I will be siding with you.”

Alhart laughed at Tedla’s statement.

“Good choice, Second Son. Don’t you feel a little better now?”

Responding to Alhart’s words with a wry smile, Syltina clapped once and changed the topic.

“Well, now that we’ve done our shopping, let’s go back to the others. It’s a little earlier than planned, but we are leaving this evening. We stand out too much in this town, and we don’t know when the Knights will come sniffing around.”

“That’s right. So, from now on, we’re going to have to move while being careful of the Order too? What a pain.”

“Umm, do you have some kind of general plan?”

“The general flow has been decided, but there is no detailed plan. In the end, it’s fine if we just go according to plan, but, we’re free to take care of the little details as we please.”

“Well, if the plan is too detailed, there tends to be a delay in responding when things don’t go as planned, so we’re just playing this by ear.”

“Playing it by ear……”

“As long as we don’t forget the final goal, we can do whatever we want. The Dipterous Sword has mostly operated like this until now.”

“In the first place, we’re not the types who will just move obediently when we know a strategy has been decided. Everyone in The Dipterous Sword Guild is……”

“……”

“This time our final goal is to accompany the Saintess to Manrinia and have her perform the purification. So, well, I’m sure it’s okay, but please be careful not to let the Saintess or the Prince find out. Other than that, it’s not much different from what we’ve been doing.”

“I see. Understood.”

“Well, we’re almost there. I’ll leave it to Yuto to persuade her, but you, Second Son, tell the Prince that we’re leaving tonight.”

“Understood……eh? By ‘leaving it to Yuto’, could it be that……”

“Yuto is also one of our comrades from The Dipterous Sword.”

“Well, it was really just a coincidence that he joined us on this trip.”

“……”

Tedla gazed in amazement at those words.

Apparently different from what he thought, it seemed that their surroundings were full of people related to The Dipterous Sword.

“Then, let’s go.”

“Sure.”

“Yes.”

Tedla’s face stiffened as the campsite came into view.

Up until now, in a different sense, he had to go through the days without feeling relief.