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Chapter: 41
Because I love you.
Because you are precious to me.
Because I can never hand you over to that butcher of a bastard, Alexis.
Because even if I have to stake everything I have, I will protect you.
There were countless answers Claude could have given to Jeanne’s question.
Yet he could not bring himself to say a single one of them. This feeling—at least this much—he would never reveal to Jeanne.
“I’m not kind enough to obediently hand over a goddess’s child who came bundled in with the vines to a prince, you know.”
Knowing how we end… how could I possibly say it?
“Who was it that taught you how to use divine power and aura?”
“Well… you did.”
“I went to all the trouble of teaching you, only to let go of a talent who could become the strongest force in the knight order just because I’d regret a little sponsorship money? That would be an even worse deal. Honestly, I feel like praising you instead.”
“What?”
“If you’d hidden away in some quiet countryside just to avoid the prince, I would’ve been more disappointed. I’d have said, ‘That’s why you never beat me even once. Idiot. Eternal second place.’”
“Why is ‘eternal second place’ coming up here?!”
She’d been watching his mood just moments ago, but the instant he used the nickname she hated, Jeanne exploded as expected.
He knew he was being mischievous, but honestly, seeing her angry like this—full of life—was much better than seeing her look dejected.
“Anyway, I mean you did well.”
“Seriously.”
Claude wrapped up the conversation at an appropriate point. Jeanne was still fuming, but her expression gradually softened.
Seeing that, a foolish smile slipped out of Claude before he realized it.
“So, what are you going to do from now on? About your father.”
“I was debating whether to say this, but why do you keep calling my father ‘sir’?”
“Because he’s your father?”
“What are you even saying?”
Her mood must have improved a little, because Jeanne started nitpicking. Now that he thought about it, he could see exactly who she took after.
“Originally, I planned to take some time and persuade him calmly. If he changed his mind, I was going to bring him to Loren. But…”
Jeanne let out a helpless sigh.
“I don’t know. I keep thinking maybe I should drag him here by force, but right now, it feels like he wouldn’t listen no matter what I say.”
Claude knew why she was so anxious. In this life, she had to protect her father—but she couldn’t exactly talk honestly about her past life, so the frustration must be eating her alive.
Even to Claude, Jacques Leclerc was, at best, steadfast—and at worst, stubborn to a fault. Trying to explain inexplicable phenomena to someone like that would only do more harm.
If it’s that suffocating, you could at least confide in me.
He already knew, but even if he hadn’t known about the regression, he would have believed her and helped her.
The fact that he still wasn’t someone Jeanne could trust completely was… regrettable.
Still, for your sake.
At the very least, he had already explained to Jacques that Jeanne hadn’t come here out of ambition for power. The rest was up to Jeanne.
And what he could do for her right now—
“Here.”
Claude handed Jeanne the sword he’d been holding in his left hand all along. It was the sword Jeanne had dropped on the reception room floor.
When he thrust it toward her, Jeanne alternated her gaze between the sword and Claude. Her expression clearly asked, Why do you have my sword?
She must have been truly out of it to notice only now.
“You said your father passed this sword down to you when you entered the academy, right?”
“Yeah.”
“If he truly meant to deny you and cut ties, wouldn’t he have taken it back?”
Since his conversation with Jacques was a secret, Claude slightly twisted the truth.
“Let’s give your father some time. If he sees you grow as a knight during that time, he may change his mind.”
“……”
“And if you’re still worried, Brienne has exchanges often enough. You could tag along sometime and drop by your hometown.”
He understood better than anyone the desperate struggle to avoid reliving the pain of loss. He dared say he’d endured it more painfully than even Jeanne.
So, Jeanne—
Don’t worry about anything else. Just protect the people you want to protect.
Don’t stay shackled to the past and hurt anymore.
Claude pushed the sword closer, urging her to take it. Jeanne looked between the sword and Claude once more, then let out a small laugh as if her mood had finally eased.
“You know that ‘sir’ thing really sounds weird, right?”
“Does it?”
When he played dumb, Jeanne shook her head as if he was hopeless—yet the corners of her lips twitched upward.
No matter how many times I see it, I never get tired of it.
“Thank you.”
Jeanne slid the reclaimed sword back into her belt.
“If you’re thankful, then work hard—with the resolve to plant your stake here.”
The sinking sunset briefly revealed itself between the ridgelines, bathing everything in hot hues.
Jeanne grew brighter, while Claude was gradually swallowed by the deepening shadows of the trees. The shadows intertwined between them like a net, drawing a line.
“I will, Your Highness.”
Jeanne saluted like a knight, wearing a beautiful smile. Claude etched that image deeply into his eyes.
The wind rustled softly, and the faint scent of soap drifted from the white bed sheets, brushing his nose.
Everything was vague and fleeting, yet beside Jeanne, it all asserted its presence vividly.
Yes. This is the you I wanted to see.
For a very long time.
Even if, the closer you move toward the light, the deeper I sink into darkness.
Even so.
* * *
Under an ashen sky, crows circled lazily overhead. A soldier stretched out his arm toward the black bird gliding through the air.
“S-someone… please…”
The bird was waiting only for his breath to stop. Even so, the man squeezed out every last bit of strength to force his voice out.
There was no living creature around but the crows. The bird flying above his head—the bird that fed on the dead.
“R-report… I have to…”
Cough!
Hot blood surged up from deep inside his body. His breath caught painfully. Even if a rescue unit arrived, there was no chance he would survive.
His body had already been severed from the waist down.
The words he forced out until the very end never reached completion.
His pupils dilated, and the hand he’d stretched out in desperation dropped limply. As if it had been waiting for the soul to leave the empty shell, a crow descended to the ground.
Caw! Caw!
The cries of crows echoed at Brienne’s northern outpost.
All that remained were the shredded remnants of Brienne’s flag and corpses so mangled they were unrecognizable.
At the northernmost outpost of Brienne, more than one hundred soldiers standing guard were annihilated in just five minutes.
And at the same time, that outpost was not the only one struck by a sudden monster assault.
The news reached the royal capital one day later.
* * *
Brienne Royal Palace, Grand Hall.
They hadn’t expected to use this place before the engagement banquet, yet Queen Marie, Alexis, and numerous ministers had gathered in haste. With no moon, the night was especially dark.
“What in the world is going on?!”
One minister who had rushed over shouted. He had already grasped the situation before leaving his estate, yet disbelief still drove his outcry.
The other ministers were no different.
“As you have heard, massive monster hordes have appeared in both northern and southern Brienne. Reports state that Ieper and Andorra have already been wiped out. The scale is estimated at ten thousand each—twenty thousand in total.”
“Gah!”
“T-twenty thousand?!”
“Good heavens… how could this be!”
The ministers’ faces turned pale in an instant.
Facing their lamentations, Queen Marie spoke with a hardened expression.
“That is why I urgently summoned you all—to discuss countermeasures.”
She turned her head, signaling the Royal Knights Commander and Chief of Staff to speak. Pointing at the map spread out before him, he explained.
“The monster hordes this time consist solely of insect-type monsters. Both flying and ground units have been observed on each front. Based on their current speed and direction of advance, they are expected to invade Rédel and Lacave in four days, and Dorman and Bluois in ten days…”
He alternately pointed to the major cities lying along the projected invasion routes.
“In fifteen days, both groups are expected to reach the royal capital.”
“Then isn’t this no time to be calmly explaining things like this?!”
A corpulent noble shouted.
“Doesn’t that mean the monsters are still advancing even as we speak? You must evacuate at once, Your Majesty!”
“Are you telling me to abandon my people and flee to another territory?”
“B-but, Your Majesty. If something were to happen to you or His Highness—”
“What meaning would Brienne have without its people?”
At the Queen’s firm words, the noble who had urged escape bowed his head like a scolded dog.
Letting out a weary sigh, the Queen turned back to the Knights Commander.
“Continue.”
“Yes. The problem is that the total number of Royal Knights who can be deployed immediately is only twelve thousand. It is impossible to stop both the northern and southern forces.”
“And we can’t exactly concentrate all our forces on just one side either…”
Faced with this unprecedented crisis, everyone fell silent.
Each noble had private troops, but they were no more than the minimum forces required to defend their own territories. Even gathering them all together wouldn’t be enough to stop the monster hordes.
“May I speak?”
In the heavy, sinking atmosphere, someone raised a hand.
The man wore plain white robes that draped from his shoulders to his feet. With no ornaments, simple and unadorned, he stood out all the more among the colorfully dressed nobles.
Sebastian Roche.
He was the representative of the High Priest of the Temple, and had been staying at the royal court for some time now.
