Chapter 43 - A Song Dedicated to a Big, Beautiful Green Lump (5)

"Your Highness."

Arwen approached.

Her body was covered in blood, and her hair was soaked with sweat and blood, plastered to her forehead and cheeks.

She was a complete mess, without a trace of her usual neatness or haughty composure to be found, and yet she was shining more brightly than ever.

"I give thanks for Your Highness's safety, and I pay tribute to your astonishing brave battle."

With those words, she placed a hand to her chest and gave a military salute.

THUD!

A beat late came the sound of feet stamping the ground, and before I knew it, the royal infantry had formed ranks and were looking at me.

"We pay tribute to His Highness the Prince's brave battle!"

The soldiers stamped their feet with a thud and shouted.

Their shields, gouged and dented all over, showed that they had by no means remained bystanders in this battle.

Their terribly exhausted faces still held the tension and fear of their first real battle, but their wavering eyes were filled to the brim with the thrill and joy of victory.

"You worked hard, Arwen. The same goes for you. You worked hard."

SNAP, THUD!

Arwen and the soldiers stamped their feet at the same time and gave a military salute.

"See to the wounded. We return now."

"Saaalute!"

I watched Hansdeck shout in a completely hoarse voice, then turned my head.

"Your Highness."

Vincent was there, though I had no idea when he had approached. In his hand, he held the torn and severed banner of the Orc unit.

I asked what he wanted.

But instead of answering, he stared at me silently. The twitching corners of his eyes, the quivering line of his mouth—in that brief moment, his expression changed several times.

It was a face that made it impossible to tell what on earth he was thinking.

Abruptly.

Vincent, who had been staring holes into me like that, suddenly thrust the banner at me.

I wondered what the hell he was doing now and just stared at him, and then he opened his mouth.

"It is a tradition of the 3rd Legion that the soldier who fought most bravely takes possession of the Orcs' banner."

Vincent said that the Orcs' banner was the most valuable trophy, an honorable proof of victory that could not be exchanged for anything else.

And apparently, it was mine.

THUMP.

When I only stared blankly, Vincent forced the banner into my hand.

Ah...

Only then did I realize that countless people were looking at me. The Rangers and knights of the 3rd Legion, the royal infantry, Arwen, and Vincent were all looking at me with the same eyes.

Thump, thump.

My heartbeat, which had slowed, began to quicken again.

The emotion held in the soldiers' gazes became an unknowable heat and wrapped around me.

I was flustered and at a loss.

At me, Vincent gave a nod.

"We..."

I hesitated, then opened my mouth.

"Say it louder."

"We."

"Loud enough for them to hear!"

Vincent raised high the hand in which I held the banner.

"We... have won!"

The Rangers of the 3rd Legion who were looking at me, the royal infantry, and the knights raised their swords. Then, as if they were one, they burst into a roar.

"We won!"

As I watched them shout at the top of their lungs, for some reason something around my chest tickled. It was a feeling I had never felt in my life, both embarrassing and proud.

"We have won!"

To confirm that strange sensation, I shouted once more.

"Honor to His Highness the Prince!"

"Welcome to Winter Castle, Your Highness!"

The Rangers cheered toward me. The knights offered me words of welcome. The royal infantry paid tribute to me.

Amid all of that, I realized.

What I had wanted most in the days when I lived as a sword.

Victory, cheers, glory.

What would it feel like if all of those things belonged to me, not to those who claimed to be my masters? I had imagined it countless times, and I had longed for it for a truly long time.

And now, both my curiosity and my longing had been satisfied.

It felt rather wonderful.

"We won!"

Excited, I shouted once more.

Someday, time would pass and the day would come when I looked back on this. Perhaps the me of that time would kick off my blanket in shame. No, I would certainly do that.

But at least in this moment, I did not want to think about what came after.

I only savored my victory, the cheers toward me, and my own glory to the fullest.

Again and again, I cried victory, and again and again, I declared that I was the owner of the banner.

"I am the owner of this banner!"

"Sixteen."

Just as I had been shouting excitedly for a long while, Vincent, who was beside me, said something completely out of nowhere.

"What?"

"I have sixteen."

"Of what?"

When I asked what on earth he was talking about, Vincent said with a face that was deliberately pretending to be unconcerned.

"Orc banners. I have sixteen of them too."

When I looked to the side, Vincent's sullen face was there.

"This banner is mine!"

Looking at that face, I shouted as if to show him. Vincent turned his head away.

I felt like I could fly.

* * *

The 3rd Legion's clearing of the battlefield was so swift that even the word swift was not enough.

They retrieved the crossbow bolts and gathered up the usable weapons and gear the Orcs had used. And they collected the swords and equipment of the Rangers who had fallen in battle.

The corpses, whether Orc or human, were gathered in one place and burned.

That was the end of it.

For the 3rd Legion, which had fought with life and death on the line in the mountains for so long, even mourning and grief were that plain.

"We return to the castle!"

At Vincent's words, some thirty Rangers began making their way down the mountain.

"Let us go too."

Leading Arwen and the infantry, I followed the Rangers down the mountain.

Then, suddenly, I looked back.

I saw pale smoke, and that smoke looked as if it connected the pure white earth to the blue sky. I stared blankly at the sight for a moment, then turned away.

Now it was time to go back.

* * *

On the way down the mountain, other Rangers joined us. They were Rangers from Winter Castle who had set out to subjugate a small monster village.

After they joined us, Vincent's expression had grown noticeably darker. He seemed to be worrying about something.

I quietly approached and asked why he was being like that.

"Not one of the Rangers detected the movement of the Orc combat unit."

Vincent expressed deep concern, saying that either something had gone wrong with the Rangers' warning net, or something had happened among the Orcs. Neither possibility was welcome.

"We must hurry back."

With a somewhat urgent face, Vincent increased the marching speed.

"You worked hard."

When we returned to Winter Castle, my maternal uncle was waiting. The soldiers in the castle welcomed the safe return of the troops who had set out.

Listening to those cheers and shouts, I raised the banner again.

"I am the owner of this banner!"

Arwen shook her head. Vincent put on a fed-up face. The infantry and Rangers who had fought with me all had similar faces.

It seemed I had bragged a little too much.

But what was I supposed to do when it felt this good?

Unlike those who returned with me, the soldiers of the castle looked shocked when they saw the banner I had raised. They were deeply surprised that I, not a knight of the 3rd Legion, was the owner of the banner, and nevertheless they cheered enthusiastically.

Yes. This is the feeling.

The heat in my chest, which had grown faint during the return, grew hot again,

"Yes. There are suspicious signs in the mountains?"

It tried to blaze up, only to be extinguished again by my maternal uncle's heavy voice.

"An Orc combat unit that should still be deep inside the mountains appeared far too early. They were in close proximity to the scouts."

"Either they found big prey..."

"Or something must have happened deeper inside the mountains."

Watching them exchange grave words, I awkwardly lowered the banner.

"I do not wish to commit the discourtesy of depriving someone who has just returned from the battlefield of rest, but the matter is grave. Follow me."

Vincent started to follow my maternal uncle, then suddenly looked back.

"You worked hard, Your Highness."

Vincent made an embarrassed face all by himself, then disappeared as if fleeing.

"Doesn't he seem a little strange?"

That thing where he suddenly bragged about how many banners he had, too. He looked fine on the outside, but there was something rather childish about him.

"He is a rough-tempered man, so he must have been embarrassed to change his attitude so abruptly."

Arwen said with a smile.

"Your Highneeess!"

Just then, Adelia appeared from farther inside.

Perhaps she had been waiting for me in anxious worry, because even her gait, unlike usual, was quick and striding.

"I am glad you returned safely."

Only after seeing her welcome my return, stopping right in front of me, did it truly feel as though the battle had completely ended.

Smiling at her welcome, I,

"Do you know what this is?"

showed her the banner.

* * *

They said that no less than a third of the 3rd Legion Rangers who had fought the battle with me had died. Vincent said that, considering they had fought an elite Orc combat unit with that force, it was not a great loss.

To my ears, that sounded rather cold.

"Still, it is too unfortunate."

Perhaps I was not the only one who thought that, because Arwen asked whether they did not need time to mourn the dead. "Victory is enough mourning and remembrance to send to the fallen."

Vincent said that killing Orcs and soothing the spirits of the fallen with their blood was the Ballorhard way.

The moment I heard those words, I felt once again that it was a strange coincidence.

A man with the same name as that pitiful avenger said the same words. It did not feel like a simple coincidence.

Reincarnation, perhaps...

I looked at Vincent.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

There was no grief or despair anywhere on that face as he asked defiantly.

Well, he had taken as many as sixteen banners, so if anyone was to be sad, it would have to be the Orcs.

No, more importantly.

Why is he in my room doing this?

As soon as the meeting ended, Vincent had come running over and was now telling me every little detail of the meeting's results. His behavior was truly out of the blue.

So I asked him why.

"His Excellency the Commander ordered me to."

Apparently, my maternal uncle had told him to.

It seemed my maternal uncle wanted me to get along with his son.

Now that I had dealt with him, he was not a crooked sort by nature. It was not a difficult thing.

"Then please rest well."

As if his business was roughly finished, Vincent rose from his seat. Arwen stayed a little longer before disappearing as well, and Adelia had long since fallen asleep on the sofa while listening to the story.

"Tsk."

It seemed she had waited for me the entire time I was away from the castle without even sleeping. Seeing how deeply she was asleep, unable to even sense my presence.

I brought a blanket from the bed and covered her with it.

I sat down in a chair. Looking out the window, I sank into thought.

The aftereffects of the [Poem of Vengeance] had not yet completely faded. It seemed I had become too immersed in the Poem of Martial Deeds I had sung in full, without a single verse missing.

Considering that even synchronization had occurred.

I frowned.

This would happen often in the future as well. Those poems were not wholly mine.

They were my poems, and at the same time, not my poems. I had to make them wholly mine.

Just as the [Poem of Vengeance] had become the [Poem of Requiem].

Tap.

At the alien noise, I was startled out of my thoughts.

Tap.

Outside the window where darkness had settled, a bird was pecking its beak again and again. Its color was pure white, and its bearing was graceful, so it was no ordinary bird. But it truly was no ordinary bird.

Because an ordinary bird would not split its beak and smile like a human like that.