Satsuki I Refuse to Be Your Enemy! Volume 2

1. Auflage 2020
ISBN: 978-1-7183-0182-5
Verlag: J-Novel Heart
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 305 Seiten

Reihe: I Refuse to Be Your Enemy!

Kiara has finally become a spellcaster, just like her game counterpart-only this time, she's fighting for the heroes! But gaining the power to fight for her friends is only the start of her struggle. The pressure is on to lead the forces of Évrard to victory-and if the newfound responsibility wasn't enough, she also has to grapple with the guilt of taking human lives on the battlefield. Meanwhile, what is she supposed to make of Reggie and Cain's puzzling advances? Between her professional and personal life, Kiara has a lot on her plate.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Satsuki, Kanata

Weitere Mitwirkende

Fuji, Mitsuya

Quinn, Tara

Leseproben

???

When morning came, everyone noticed that the corpses had been buried. Well, naturally. The source of the terrible odor was gone, and the unpleasant scenery had vanished—it would be hard not to notice.

The soldiers’ reactions were mixed.

I was surprised at the even split of opinion. Given how strong everyone’s grudges were, I’d expected louder objections.

If anyone suspected that the spellcaster must have had a hand in burying so many bodies at once, they didn’t come to me to complain.

“Eheheh. If you get bent out of shape and refuse to show up to the next battle, the number of casualties will double. Who’s gonna complain at the cost of their own life?” That was Master Horace’s explanation.

All the complaints were instead directed toward the unit commanders, who then broached the subject to the knights and other higher-ranked officials. In the end, it went all the way to Reggie, who just matter-of-factly delivered my explanation: that it was to avoid troubling the neighboring townspeople with the smell or potential spread of disease.

The soldiers accepted the explanation without a fight. They knew from experience that disease was rampant wherever there were large amounts of casualties, so they must have decided burying the bodies was worth it.

But ultimately, it was framed as something I’d done on Reggie’s orders. I felt a little guilty that I’d forced him to take the heat for me.

???

We had a lot more men to account for on the way back with Lord Limerick’s and Lord Reinstar’s troops added to our forces, not to mention all the injured soldiers who needed to be carried. Plus, we weren’t in any particular hurry, so it took us two days to return.

When the castle finally came into view, it felt like coming home after a long journey.

It was a bit silly, considering I’d only been away for a few days. Still, it was a sign that over the course of two years, Évrard Castle had truly become my home.

Something dawned on me at that moment.

“Oh, that’s right. I’ll need to hold a funeral here, too.”

There were bound to be more enemy corpses lying about near Évrard Castle. The Llewynian troops were in the midst of a war, so they had probably left the bodies of their fallen soldiers behind.

Cain took me to task for my mutterings. “Worrying about the enemy again?”

I didn’t have to look back at Cain, holding the reins while I sat in front of him on the saddle, to guess what kind of face he was making. It was probably a faintly sullen expression. That was how he’d looked when I performed the burial on the hills.

Usually, he never interfered with anything I wanted to do, but this one really got to him. His family had been killed by Llewynian soldiers, so he probably couldn’t accept it on an emotional level.

It wasn’t hard to imagine why. If Cain or Reggie or Alan were killed, I was sure I wouldn’t hesitate to kill the enemy, either.

Surely it was sad and painful, and he needed someone to take it out on. Of course he wouldn’t feel guilt over killing the enemy. I understood where he was coming from, so I didn’t want to ask him for too much.

“It really is true that it spreads disease! And it wouldn’t be good if the people in the castle or the residents of the town got sick. Right?”

“Yes... I have heard similar stories before. Once, the carcasses of dead animals were hurled inside a castle’s walls during a siege, and disease ran rampant through the grounds like some kind of curse.”

“Ew...”

I was glad the resentment had vanished from Cain’s voice, but did he really need to share such a nasty story?

“Um... yeah! Just like that!” I did my best to cut off the conversation there. Master Horace snickered from where he hung at my waist.

When we arrived at the castle, Lord and Lady Évrard were standing outside the open gates.

They’d already been informed of our victory by post-horse, so they welcomed us with bright faces. Still, they must have been worried about whether we were hurt. When they saw Alan and Reggie, their beloved son and nephew, they broke into relieved smiles.

After receiving a short report from Reggie, Lord Évrard greeted the two men leading the reinforcements. One was Lord Limerick’s younger brother, a well-built middle-aged man, and the other was Lord Reinstar’s uncle, a grizzled gentleman.

I had Cain let me down from the horse so I could walk over to them.

“Thank you, Kiara. We owe you the lives of many of our soldiers.” Lady Évrard wrapped me up in a powerful hug. Her warm arms and soft chest reminded me of a mother, and perhaps because of that, tears nearly began to well up in my eyes.

Who could blame me? For the past few days, the only touch I’d felt was the earthen surface of my golem; or Cain’s metal breastplate, which I worried would kill me if I bumped my head against it; or Master Horace, in which case I might as well have been hugging an unglazed vase.

It would make him much more appealing as an emotional support doll, so I decided I’d ask Maya for advice on that later.

As I developed plans for remodeling Master Horace in my head, Lady Évrard finally pulled back. However, she left her hand on my shoulder and looked me straight in the eyes. “It was my own inadequacy that forced you to choose a fate where you can’t even die a normal death. I know... If they use too much of their magic, even a genuine spellcaster can turn into sand. If nothing else, I can promise you every bit of support you deserve for what you’ve done for us. If you ever need anything, all you have to do is ask.”

The expressions of the people standing around us changed. Those who were reminded that I would one day turn into sand and die hung their heads. The rest probably hadn’t known that spellcasters led such a wretched existence.

I heard the surrounding soldiers start to whisper.

“Is that true? I didn’t know being a spellcaster was such a trial.”

“I heard that if they use up too much of their magic, they turn into sand and perish.”

“So why Lord Alan and His Highness go to such lengths to protect her...”

The atmosphere had suddenly become heavy.

It was proof that Évrard was full of good people, right down to the murmuring soldiers. Everyone’s hearts were breaking for me.

I almost wanted to apologize. I felt bad garnering all this pity... considering I had completely forgotten about that until Lady Évrard brought it up.

Therefore, I did my best to smooth things over. “I’m fine for now, really! Plus, I have Master Horace on my side! If I mess up, he can get me back on track!”

“Sir Horace, we leave her in your capable hands.”

Unfortunately, between Lord Évrard’s courtly bow and Lady Évrard’s tearful face, the mood didn’t lighten up one bit.

Master Horace’s half-hearted reply of “Sure, I’ll do what I can” didn’t help matters, either.

My eyes wandered, desperately seeking some help. Luckily, I spotted Reggie and Alan walking over.

Reggie clapped Lord Évrard on the shoulder with a wry smile. “Let’s leave it at that, Margrave. In light of our safe return, we should honor our soldiers and rejoice that the danger has passed.”

“Right you are, Your Highness.” Brought back to his senses, Lord Évrard lifted his head and nodded.

Thanks to Reggie’s intervention, things settled down, and we were able to head inside the castle.

The soldiers couldn’t be dismissed just yet, so, excluding the ones who usually worked inside the castle, they were ordered to wait with the townspeople being sheltered inside the castle walls.

However, we couldn’t ask the same of Lord Limerick’s and Lord Reinstar’s men. The ladies who worked in the castle scurried about, preparing a place for them to stay.

In the meantime, everyone told me to go rest, so I went back to my room. Taking a bath for the first time in days felt like heaven.

Much to my own surprise, I promptly found myself stuck in bed with a fever.

“Must be growing pains. Eeeheehee.” Master Horace laughed at me from where he sat atop the table.

“You think so? But... isn’t sixteen a little old for that?”

I wondered, but thanks to the fever, my recollection was foggy.

“Besides, most spellcasters end up bedridden as soon as they make their contract. They’re useless for a whole day, at least.”

“What, really?!”

I had no idea.

“You’re just a weird one,” Master Horace sniped. “Think about it: the process is like injecting poison into your body. Mmheehee. To run around fit as a fiddle after going through is the exception, not the...