494 - Side Story - Leonardo's Perspective - Border Anomaly
My work itself is no different whether at Grenore Fortress or Meele Fortress. Training my body, keeping in step with the other knights, watching the border, maintaining order in the city. Given my position as Fortress Lord, I inevitably end up with more paperwork than the other Black Knights, but that was the same at Grenore Fortress. If there is a difference from Grenore Fortress, it is that even when I return to the residence assigned to the Fortress Lord, Christina is not waiting for me. So I stopped deliberately making time to go back to the residence and rest. At Grenore Fortress, Alf would see me and kick me out to take a break, but since Alf is not at Meele Fortress, there is no one to drive me back to the residence. Thanks to that, I have not had a spare moment to feel the lack of a life without Christina.
...No particular anomalies at Grenore, it seems.
The declaration of war against the entire continent issued by the Zugali Empire also affects Grenore Fortress. The border facing the Zugali Empire is the mountainside of the Erath mountain range, so under normal circumstances there is little fear of an advance from the Grenore direction, but as long as the possibility is not zero, I cannot leave it undermanned. In that sense, the war with Saenard Kingdom a few years ago was extremely convenient, as it allowed us to eliminate another threat. Thanks to them tearing each other apart internally, there are almost no threats at the moment. I would say there is little worry about someone targeting our backs while we are at war with the Zugali Empire.
...No letters from Tina yet. Last time she snuck one into the report.
When we parted at the capital, Christina said she would write letters, but as I expected, or rather, she seems to be holding back out of consideration for me, who was forced to move for work. Letters probably will not arrive at the frequency she claimed.
...Actually, more than that, might the war start before a letter from Tina reaches me, and might I return before a reply arrives?
Of course, there is also the possibility I will die in battle, but I will not think about that. Christina has lost both parents, lost the married couple next door who she loved like grandparents, lost Aurelia who she was attached to, lost her nurse maid who was closest to her. I want to avoid losing any more of Christina's precious people. The only thing I think about is my resolve to definitely return to Christina.
"Commander, the regular report."
I receive the report from the Black Knight who enters the office and quickly glance through it. We have people keeping watch over the visible range from the border and even beyond it, but there seems to be no particular change. Within visible range, there are slightly more gatekeepers than usual, but no change. According to scouts who infiltrated the Zugali Empire, there seem to be more outsiders in the towns near the border. Probably some of the soldiers gathered near the border are coming into town for a breather.
...Really, it looks like I will be able to return to Tina soon.
The Zugali Empire has already declared war. Unlike the war with Saenard Kingdom last time, this probably will not drag on for over a year of staring each other down.
"...What the hell!?"
A rumbling sound echoes from afar. As I furrow my brow wondering what the sound is, my knees suddenly buckle. A dizzying impact assails me, but I put strength into my legs and hold my ground. As Fortress Lord, I could not make the disgraceful move of tumbling to the floor from the sudden shock.
"What is happening!?"
"I, I do not know! I will check the situation right..."
The Black Knight who had been on one knee enduring the impact stands up to check outside. But he must have been dizzy from the shock, because he immediately wobbles and falls on his rear.
"Did we take a catapult hit? The impact was about that strong."
If the fortress had been attacked by catapults, the culprit could only be the Zugali Empire. The report said everything was normal, but something must have changed on site before the report arrived.
I step out onto the balcony overlooking the lake on the border side, wondering if I can see anything. True to its origins as a castle, Meele Fortress has a good view. From the balcony, I can see Zugali Empire territory across Lake Vienne, but before my gaze reaches the other side of the lake, I notice a huge shadow squirming in the water.
...What is that? What the...
What is squirming in the lake? Before I can finish that thought, something bursts out of the lake, sending up a waterspout.
"Really, what the..."
The waterspout must have reached quite high, because even from this distance, lake water rains down on the balcony like a sudden shower. When the scattered sounds of water subside, the thing that had been squirming across the lake reveals itself.
From a distance, it looks like an earthworm or a plant root.
Something thin and branching into several parts squirms through the lake, crossing Lake Vienne like a line splitting it in two. When I realize the dividing line is right around the border, the squirming thing begins to sink back into the lake.
Once it completely disappears, the scenery returns to normal, aside from the lake water having decreased somewhat. As if the waterspout I just saw was some kind of illusion, a terrifying stillness returns.
"What was that? It cannot be an illusion, but..."
My gaze follows the mysterious object that appeared tracing the border line, wondering where it was headed. After crossing the lake and reaching land, the border lies ahead. On the Ivizia Kingdom side, there are buildings and gates for merchants and travelers crossing the border to wait in, and similar facilities exist on the Zugali Empire side. Between the two gates guarding the border lies the border line drawn between the nations.
And, as if hiding that border line, I can see some kind of dust rising.
"That side too? Really, what is happening?"
Even leaning out from the balcony, there are limits to what I can see. Still, I strain my eyes trying to see if there is anything, and the same mysterious long thin thing that came out of the lake rises as a shadow within the dust.
"Commander! Some mysterious black wriggling thing has appeared in Lake Vienne!"
"I already saw that. More importantly, there is something on the border line!"
I do not know what happened. The only thing I can say for certain is that this is not the kind of anomaly that can be dealt with by catapults.
"...What happened?"
When you encounter such an incomprehensible anomaly, anyone would be speechless. I let out another muttered question, but a voice responding to it came from an unexpected place.
— Do not know. What happened?
A high-pitched voice like a child's comes from below my waist. There are many Black Knights and servants supporting the Black Knights at Meele Fortress, but there should not be any children shorter than my waist. This is a fortress, not a playground for children. So who... I lower my gaze and find a small imp dripping water from its whole body. It carries a staff, similar to the imp I once saw in Camille's cave.
...I can see spirits again?
I could always see them in Camille's cave, but after leaving the cave, I could not see spirits anymore. There was always a nurse maid Kalisa on Christina's shoulder, but I could not see her either. Yet now, suddenly, I can see spirits again.
"Whoa!? What is that weird creature!?"
...Hm?
I would understand if I was the one surprised by the spirit's appearance, but that voice is not mine. So who else is seeing the imp? I look over and see the Black Knight who brought the report earlier staring at my feet with an astonished expression. He must be the one who cried out at the sight of the imp.
...Other people besides me can see spirits too?
I approach to confirm whether the Black Knight really can see the imp, and he jumps in surprise. He takes two or three steps back in shock, then trips over a spirit that looks like a lantern with limbs where he landed. I wonder if I need to help him up, but while I am thinking, spirits that look like candles with eyes gather on the balcony from who knows where.
...Is the number of spirits not a bit too many?
"...So, what exactly happened?"
Faced with an obviously abnormal situation, I observe my surroundings while listening to the spirits. Like when I was in Camille's cave, the spirits are generally friendly and honestly answer my questions to the best of their knowledge.
Unfortunately, even from their honest answers, it is hard to grasp the full picture. The spirits do not lie, telling me what they saw and felt, but their fundamental perspective and values are different from humans'.
— Do not know.
— Was sleeping nice. Was sleeping and fell.
— Fell with a boom.
They explain with gestures, but I have no idea what they mean. If Alf or Christina were here, I feel like they could interpret, but neither of them is at Meele Fortress. I cannot rely on people who are not here, so I will have to deal with it with those who are.
...Fortunately, or I suppose, it seems quite a few people can see them this time.
From observing my surroundings, I realize I am not the only one who can see these spirits. The Black Knight who first reported the situation could see them, and several others can too. I had them check, and nearly half the Black Knights can see spirits now. According to reports from outside the fortress, about 70% of the children in the city seem to be on the side that can see them.
Looking at these results, the difference between seeing and not seeing spirits seems to depend on flexibility of mind. The more pure-hearted children are, the easier it is for them to accept this situation, while it is harder for stubborn craftsman-type adults and the elderly to accept. Thinking about it this way, I think the reason I can see spirits is because Christina frequently interacted with them. For me, spirits are beings that certainly exist, even if I cannot see their forms.
"Commander! A messenger has arrived from the border!"
The Black Knight who snaps to attention is probably one who cannot see spirits. Small spirits are clinging tightly to his head and shoulders, and when they see my face, they let go of the knight and scatter freely around the office.
"Something like a tree, or a plant root, has appeared at the border with the Empire, cutting off the road! Additionally, there are reports of numerous naked men appearing around the border."
"...What is that second part?"
"That is, well...? There is no other way to put it, sir!"
The more I hear, the more I want to scratch my head. The plant-like thing blocking the border, though it seems to be a plant, apparently squirms and moves around quite a bit. And with that movement, it prevents entry from our side, while spewing out naked men from the other side. The Black Knights guarding the border cannot just leave naked men alone, so they have restrained all of them, but when questioned, the men turned out to be knights and soldiers of the Zugali Empire. It seems they were lurking near the border, spying on the Kingdom of Ivizia, when they were entangled by the plant that appeared with the shaking, stripped of their equipment, and when they realized it, they had been pushed out to the Ivizia Kingdom side.
"I do not really understand, but one thing is clear. If they are unarmed, just restrain them. We cannot have them looting nearby towns and villages."
I give the order to capture them without leaving a single one, and the Black Knight salutes and immediately runs off. I do not understand what is going on, but it seems I need to move.
While giving orders to capture the naked men, I prepare to head outside myself. Even holed up in the office, information comes in, but the situation on site is too absurd for me to keep up. In that case, it is faster to go see the site myself.
"Commander! A report from a village along the border says naked men are causing trouble."
"Another report of naked men. Six naked men appeared and started looting in a village. However, since they were originally unarmed, the village men subdued them with farming tools."
They are tied up with rope and stuffed in a barn, awaiting pickup by the Black Knights, the report says. The appearance of these men was a threat, but the people of this region have lived alongside the threat of the Zugali Empire for generations. In times of crisis, they have the courage and initiative to act on their own without waiting for the Black Knights to arrive.
"...For now, let us move while searching the area around the border for suspicious individuals."
First, I will check the border that is supposedly cut off by the mysterious plant, and hear directly from the gatekeepers about what happened. Instructions after that come after. I have no idea how many of these so-called naked men there are, but since I cannot leave them be, I will have to capture them one by one.
— Gonna catch nakeds?
The imp carrying a bow hops onto my horse's head, having approached without my notice. When it looks up at me with a face full of excitement and a sense of mission, my curiosity stirs. Maybe letting them handle it would not be bad.
"...That would help, but can I leave it to you?"
— Yeahhh.
— Leave it to usss.
When I speak to one, responses come from all around. I had intended to leave it to the imp on the horse's head, but the spirits seem to have taken my words as directed to all of them.
— That way, one.
— This way, one.
I cannot sense any presence at all, but the spirits apparently know where the men are. Pointing this way and that, they appear and disappear in a swarm.
"...I cannot keep up."
"Should we pair those who can see spirits with those who cannot?"
"Yeah, do that."
Following the spirits' guidance, we find naked men foaming at the mouth and collapsed, just as reported. I will refrain from thinking about how the spirits knocked them unconscious. Since the spirits are offering to help, I will gratefully accept their goodwill and capture the men.
I pair Black Knights who can see spirits with those who cannot, and have them capture naked men roaming the border area with the spirits' guidance. I had thought there might be twenty or thirty at most, but it is far more than expected. By the time we had more prisoners than the knights I had brought, it became difficult to transport them, and we ended up borrowing barns from nearby villages instead.
This vaguely disheartening work continued until nearly evening. Since the spirits knocked the naked men unconscious the moment they found them, there was no harm to the Black Knights or the people, but still, the numbers are too many. Far too many to fit in Meele Fortress's prison.
"...For now, we need to sort the prisoners."
We were sorting out men with some command authority, captains and company commanders, but even then, there are too many. When I wondered if I could narrow it down further, a scrawny man with the imposing title of 'Supreme Commander of the Kingdom of Ivizia Subjugation Force' surprisingly stepped forward. He is the fiance of the next head of a prestigious family descended from Zugali Empire royalty, he declares. He will not tolerate rough treatment. First, give him silk clothes. Naked and full of himself.
"This guy is the 'Supreme Commander'? This scrawny thing?"
"No, maybe it makes sense in a way. The Empire is all about family status, after all. Depending on the family you are born into, even a scrawny guy who would collapse just from wearing armor can become a Commander-sama."
"Quite a difference from our Commander."
Being compared is not flattering, but the guards are not wrong. The Zugali Empire and the Kingdom of Ivizia are completely different in nature. It would not be surprising if the Empire's commander was an inexperienced, unmuscular young nobleman.
"...How is it?"
"Yeah, boss. That guy really was the supreme commander of that unit."
"I see."
I do not know the faces of Zugali Empire nobles, but I happened to find a familiar face among the gathered men and pulled him out. One of the righteous thieves I got to know while laying low in the Zugali Empire before. The group had disbanded after roughly finding Christina's location and realizing they needed to return to farm work for the season, and this man was among them. Thanks to the former righteous thief being caught up in this commotion, I might be able to learn a little about what happened in the Zugali Empire.
"...Life really is unpredictable. You never know what will come in handy."
"You said it, boss. I never imagined I would get to reunite with you in a place like this fortress."
The former righteous thief adjusts his collar, saying he gets to wear clothes thanks to being acquainted with me. We cannot prepare clothes for everyone, there are too many, but it is better to clothe and use useful people.
According to the former righteous thief's explanation, it seems they were gathered from villages as soldiers due to the Zugali Empire's declaration of war against the entire continent. I looked for other familiar faces and found four more former righteous thieves. Having originally held strong distrust toward the Zugali Empire as a nation, they readily agreed to cooperate with me when I spoke to them. Thanks to that, subsequent work went smoothly. The work of finding people of commanding rank among the gathered naked men.
Thus, we separated the men with command authority from those merely conscripted by force, and swapped the prison occupants. To the Empire nobles who became residents of the prison, I told them to be grateful they were put in a 'room with a roof,' and for the overflow of merely conscripted men, we borrowed tents set up in the fortress courtyard and village barns to stuff them in. At first glance, those in the prison seemed better treated, but the conscripted men seem to be mostly villagers from around Anheim. Anheim was a city that was part of the Kingdom of Ivizia until just twenty years ago. Some have acquaintances or relatives in the nearby villages, and the villagers are sympathetic to them. They provide old clothes, hold food distributions, and it is probably more comforting than spending time in the fortress prison.
Incidentally, the men who engaged in looting in the villages were of course handled separately.
"...So, can you tell what happened in the Zugali Empire?"
Once the sorting work was done, I let out a sigh of relief. Freed from the ordeal of having male members I did not want to see constantly exposed before my eyes, today I somehow desperately wanted to see Christina's cute face.
...Well, lately I do sometimes get glared at with a predator's face, like she is targeting prey.
Even if she is a predator, Christina is my cute little sister. Lately she has been scolding me for treating her as a little sister rather than a lady, but I cannot help it. To me, Christina is the precious little sister entrusted to me by my name-giver, and I have difficulty seeing her as the opposite sex. Christina says I should just switch my mindset over the next few years, but even after three years pass, I am not very confident I will be able to see Christina as a woman.
"Do not know what happened. Sorry, boss."
"I thought the ground suddenly shook, then some huge tree-like things came out of the ground..."
It seems they were snatched up by things coming out of the ground, had their hatchets, their only weapons, taken, their padded clothes that served as armor taken, and before they knew it, they had been thrown into the Kingdom of Ivizia naked. They did not know where they were, but there were no orders from above, and they could not show themselves naked in public, so they were hiding in the forest when the spirits knocked them out and the Black Knights captured them.
Wanting to hear other opinions, I also questioned the men packed into the prison. I provided near-rag towels for their unsightly lower bodies, but when they started demanding silk clothes and new towels, I cancelled the offering of blankets. Fortunately, it is spring, and the temperature is warmer compared to the Zugali Empire. They probably will not freeze to death spending one night naked.
...Could not get very different stories.
Interrogating the Empire nobles felt like a waste of energy. For all that effort, what I heard was not much different from what the former righteous thief had told me, so it was just a loss.
...For now, organizing the information I have gathered... there are people who were attacked by the tree roots and people who were not.
I wonder what the difference is, but there is no way I would know the answer. All the testimonies are too much of snap judgments to make any sense of, to be honest.
...But how am I supposed to report this?
Just saying there was an anomaly at the border and in the Zugali Empire is easy enough, but I have not grasped the full picture of that anomaly at all. The more I ask, the less I understand. It is hard to summarize concisely, and I even feel like by the time I finally finish writing it, the next anomaly will already be happening.
...Same with Tina's letters. If I send a report, will the Empire not just conveniently collapse on its own before a reply comes back?
That would be fine in a way, but that does not mean there could not be a situation happening that I cannot just leave alone without understanding the reason. However I look at it, tree roots cutting off the border is an abnormal situation, and naked men being pushed out from that border is also strange. The sudden ability to see spirits is also concerning.
"...Hm?"
I look up, thinking I heard Christina's voice, though she should not be here. I reflexively look around, but of course there is no sign of Christina. Thinking it must be my imagination, I lower my gaze to the report I was writing, when this time I clearly hear Christina's voice right at my ear.
"Tina!"
I look up again at hearing Christina's voice, but there is no Christina. Have I started hearing things from missing my little sister so much? I was feeling a chill at my own state when Christina's voice comes again. And a somewhat dull-witted voice at that.
— Leonardo-sama, can you hear me? It is your cute, cute fiancee, Christina.
"...That is such a Tina-like Tina, even for an auditory hallucination. Could she not at least be a demure lady in my hallucinations?"
As I shake my head slowly, thinking such thoughts, a translucent spirit flickers into my field of vision. The spirit seems to want my attention, frantically waving its hand.
...A strangely affectionate spirit, and Tina's voice...?
A strange combination. No, on the contrary, it fits perfectly. There is no mistake that Christina and spirits are inseparable.
— Um, I asked the wind spirit to carry my voice to Leonardo-sama. I can only speak one-way, but it should be faster than sending a messenger by horse.
"It certainly would be faster than sending a messenger, but... is this really a message from Tina in the capital? The wind spirit carries voices...?"
As I voice my thoughts out loud, the translucent spirit I had noticed earlier puffs out its chest. Probably it is the wind spirit. From the atmosphere, I gather it is proud of its work.
— Since it is one-way, I will just talk. Please listen for a bit.
What Christina began to say after that made me doubt my ears. First of all, the impact I felt earlier was apparently a phenomenon called an 'earthquake.' However, this earthquake was not an ordinary one. It was probably just an illusion, according to the spirits that Alfred and Christina spoke to. It seems spirits are overflowing in the capital too, with some people able to see them and others not, just like here. Following the spirits' advice, they tried a method to contact distant places, which apparently was asking for the wind spirit's help to deliver one's voice. It is possible to deliver a voice one-way, but conversation seems difficult.
...No, even one-way is incredible. Being able to contact from the capital to the edge of the country where the border is in such a short time.
I do not know what Christina is comparing this to that makes her dissatisfied with this wonderful situation, but in this incomprehensible situation, it seems like nothing less than a blessing from Perseashi, the god of messengers and communication. At the very least, I can learn about the situation in the capital immediately. Simply put, the time between sending a report and receiving instructions back is cut in half. If I could do the same from here, I could even complete an exchange within the same day.
...The problem is how I negotiate with the wind spirit...
That concern proved unfounded. Christina's voice added one final thing. She had already negotiated for a reply to be delivered.
— I had my voice delivered so only Leonardo-sama could hear it, but please have your reply delivered so both Christoph-sama and Alfred-sama can hear it.
With those words, so please make your report with that in mind, Christina's voice faded. But the translucent spirit in front of me started waving, so I assume it is asserting that it will deliver my reply.
...I thought having spirits snatch things away would be troublesome, but being able to use spirits as a means of communication. That is probably something only Tina could manage.
Dealing with spirits is not all bad. This time, I will accept it as such and give thanks for this good fortune.
Will fix typos and errors at a later date.