The morning after we executed the nowhere-to-be-found 「Yuoh Nevilnel」 and safely completed our mission.
While being served a lavish breakfast full of game meat at a villager’s house, Lieutenant Macaran of the cavalry arrived.
「Good morning, Lieutenant Fonkt.」
He was alone without his men. A squad leader moving alone was unlikely—he had probably left them waiting outside the settlement.
Second Lieutenant Crimine, ever perceptive, slipped quietly out of the room. I gave a small nod to show my thanks for her thoughtfulness.
Then I smiled at Lieutenant Macaran.
「Do you need something, Lieutenant Macaran?」
「It is about yesterday. I am troubled. If you have time, will you hear me out?」
「Of course. It must be hard to talk here, so let us stroll through the woods.」
Macaran and I walked shoulder to shoulder through the wooded hills around the settlement.
「So then, what troubles you?」
「Well… First, what became of that young woman who was hanged?」
「A post-mortem report was drawn up, and the body buried.」
「I see.」
Lieutenant Macaran fell silent.
After a few steps he spoke again.
「Was this really right?」
「Right or wrong doesn’t matter. It was an imperial edict.」
I answered quietly. Of course that was a lie, but the truth was too dangerous to reveal.
But Macaran was still unsatisfied.
「This affair will only deepen the resentment of both lords and commoners in Kavallaf toward the Imperial House. If we think in terms of the Empire’s greater good, it feels wrong.」
「We are soldiers. Our duty is to swear loyalty to His Majesty the Emperor and carry out orders faithfully. Private opinions are to be voiced only when asked for.」
I myself have sworn no loyalty at all, and do as I please, but I at least keep up appearances. That much I owe my salary.
Macaran looked at me with a pained expression.
「As a nobleman, I will admit frankly that I dislike commoners. They are lazy, undisciplined, selfish, and sly.」
Commoners think the same of nobles, by the way.
But I kept that to myself.
「Even so, to execute a young woman for nothing more than petitioning her lord… it is far too much. She committed neither murder nor theft, correct?」
「That is correct. The only charge was treason against the Imperial House.」
That is how it usually goes with the cases our battalion handles.
Because I did not flinch, Macaran glared at me.
「Do you, who are also born of common stock, feel nothing?」
From a commoner’s view, 「the same」 does not apply—but from a noble’s, all peasants from every province are equally 「just peasants.」 The young lordling could never understand.
I studied Macaran’s earnest face, and decided to take a small risk.
「Lieutenant Macaran. As a nobleman, to what do you truly swear loyalty?」
「Eh? O-of course, to His Majesty the Emperor…」
「A lie. The fact that you question an imperial edict means something else shines in your heart. What is it?」
I turned toward him and stepped closer. Reflexively, Macaran backed away.
I pressed further, driving him back until his shoulders hit the trunk of a tree.
「Answer me, Macaran. To what do you truly swear loyalty? If you want truth from me, you must give truth in return.」
Macaran’s eyes darted in panic, but after much inner struggle he finally answered.
「I-I swear loyalty to the noble spirit of the knight! My sword does not kill unarmed women!」
「Well said.」
I clapped his shoulder, then ruffled his golden hair roughly for good measure.
「Then swear upon that noble spirit of yours: the story I tell you now, you will never reveal to anyone.」
「What do you mean, Lieutenant? Who are you really…?」
「Do you swear, or not?」
Macaran looked troubled like a boy, but at last he gave his answer.
「I swear. I swear it. On my sword, no secret will I betray.」
「Thank you, Macaran. Then I shall tell you.」
After making sure no one was around, I leaned in and whispered at his ear.
「The person called ‘Yuoh Nevilnel’ never existed. Naturally, no one was executed. Yesterday was staged.」
「What!?」
Too loud.
I pressed a finger to his lips to hush him.
「That woman was a loyal accomplice. At the gallows we tightened ropes around her shoulder and waist to fake a hanging. She is alive. But after showing herself in such a state, her identity can never be revealed.」
Sorry, Lieutenant Crimine. This part of the secret I will never expose.
Lieutenant Macaran turned pale as a sheet.
Well, of course. We had defied an imperial edict and faked an execution. If exposed, we ourselves would be executed.
「Y-you… this can’t be true!? Why would you do such…?」
「It is impossible to execute someone who never existed. Yet the edict must be fulfilled. If not, punishment would surely fall upon someone. So I balanced the accounts.」
With that I released him.
「Now then, what will you do with this truth? Report it to your cavalry commander?」
「Wait, my head is spinning. If I report, what would happen…?」
I explained to sweating Macaran.
「I and Lord Humarzov would without question be executed. Perhaps his whole house as well. Our battalion commander would be in danger too. And naturally all officers present that day would be interrogated, on suspicion of collusion.」
「That… is indeed possible…」
Macaran nodded, then voiced a question.
「Then why tell me such a grave secret? You gain nothing from it.」
「Oh, is that all.」
I gave a bitter smile.
「Because you swear loyalty not to the Emperor, but to your own sense of justice. As a soldier, that makes you unfit. Which means—」
「Which means?」
「You are the same as me.」
Macaran stared at me dumbfounded, as if stunned, while I waved my hand casually and turned my back.
「I like you. Let us meet again somewhere, Macaran.」
＊ ＊
And now, Second Lieutenant Crimine is nagging me endlessly.
「I cannot believe it. To leak a secret to an outsider!」
「Sorry.」
「What will you do if this causes trouble?」
「Sorry.」
I apologized, but of course I had not done it without thought.
「Do not worry, Lieutenant. Even if he accuses me, no evidence will appear. The grave of ‘Yuoh Nevilnel’ exists, with a body buried beneath it.」
Admittedly, a body of some unknown wanderer.
In an age of disease and murder, many die while peddling or on pilgrimage. Unlike the modern world, corpses are common.
Within all of Humarzov’s domain, a suitable body would not be hard to find.
What matters is that an execution was carried out, and witnessed by many officers as fact.
「This settlement’s inhabitants are all former retainers of House Humarzov and their descendants. They pay no tax, granted special status, and will guard the House’s secrets with their lives.」
Unlike other villages, this one is firmly on the lord’s side. When peasants bring outrageous demands in a ‘Bride Dispute,’ they crush them with an opposite ‘Bride Dispute.’ Frightening people.
「The Second Division officers who witnessed the execution would never speak against their own standing either. They will insist, ‘It did not look like a fake.’」
「So with no evidence, any accusation fails. You are terrifying, Lieutenant.」
Terrifying, aren’t I?
I laughed evilly to myself in my heart. But then Second Lieutenant Crimine said something odd.
「By the way, Lieutenant… are you perhaps fine with blond men?」
…Huh?
「What… do you mean, Lieutenant Crimine?」
「Because earlier, you were patting that cavalry lieutenant’s head. You do like blond hair, don’t you?」
Why would it mean that. It was male friendship, damn it.
「No, it is not—」
「And the Major is blond too. I see, so that is how it is.」
While she nodded in false understanding, I hurried to defend myself.
「Do not twist things. I do not choose people by hair color.」
If anything, when it came to anime characters, I liked blue or green-haired girls.
But thinking carefully, that was just because black hair would weigh down the screen.
Which meant, perhaps I actually liked black hair.
That thought slipped out of my mouth.
「But if I were allowed to choose… perhaps I like black-haired women.」
「What!?」
Crimine froze mid-step, trembling like a washing machine mid-spin.
「L-Lieutenant… do you mean…!?」
「No, it is a misunderstanding! Do not look at me that way.」
Because of this foolish exchange, our return was considerably delayed.