Satsuki I Refuse to Be Your Enemy! Volume 6

1. Auflage 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7183-0190-0
Verlag: J-Novel Club
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, Band 6, 250 Seiten

Reihe: I Refuse to Be Your Enemy!

Now that Reggie's feelings are out in the open, romance is in the air as Kiara navigates uncharted territory in her relationship with the prince. Meanwhile, the Farzian army's long campaign finally nears its end as our heroes close in on the royal capital. What does Queen Marianne have in store for them at the end of their journey? And what is the true identity of Kiara and Reggie's mysterious benefactor, the Thorn Princess? All is revealed in the story's thrilling climax!

Autoren/Hrsg.

Satsuki, Kanata

Weitere Mitwirkende

Fuji, Mitsuya

Quinn, Tara

Leseproben

Chapter 1: What the Thorn Princess Once Sought

In dire need of a respite after our victory at the Battle of Eirlain, we returned to Delphion Castle for a time. It was directly south of our current position, so the journey only took three days.

As soon as we arrived at the baron’s castle, we dove right into a discussion of our strategy moving forward. The generals, Reggie’s royal guard, and my own personal advisor—Cain—all gathered in the castle’s council room.

“Immediately following the Battle of Eirlain, I spread the word to the rest of Farzia that Salekhard has joined under our banner, and the results have been everything we hoped for and more. We’ll have all the reinforcements we could possibly need. Several of the noble houses that had previously been sitting on the fence have offered to send us more troops,” said Reggie, flashing a small slip of paper that had been delivered to us by bird.

“Thus, my plan is to have the reinforcements waiting by the Delphion border march west and capture Kilrea. Is our other batch of soldiers ready to row out into the lake?” he asked, turning to Groul.

His knight nodded. “Yes. By now, they ought to have set out in the ship Llewyne left behind in Eirlain.”

“Excellent. While we’re waiting to hear from them, we should likewise set sail and head straight for the royal domain.”

“You certainly aren’t breaking them in gently,” remarked Jerome, the middle-aged commander of the Limerick troops, a hint of pity in his eyes.

“Well, that the basis of the Lady Spellcaster’s proposal.” Reggie glanced over at me.

did

“Besides, if we hope to placate the nobility over the events in Trisphede, we’re better off foisting the more unpleasant work onto them.”

Of course, the “them” we were referring to was Isaac’s Salekhardian troops. We had arranged for them to make their way from Eirlain to the royal domain by boat. Their task was to wipe out the Llewynian forces stationed there ahead of our arrival. That way, we would be able to breeze straight through the royal domain and on to Sestina.

Though I was the one who had originally proposed driving them like cattle, I’d assumed we would be crossing the lake together. The Salekhardians clearly hadn’t expected to be thrown into enemy territory all on their lonesome either, since I recalled them boggling at the orders.

“Once we’ve arrived in the royal domain, we’ll march west from the border with Kilrea to join up with our reinforcements. After that, we head out for Sestina.”

The elderly Lord Enister voiced his concerns, stroking his white beard. “Do you think it’s okay to leave our reinforcements with the Salekhardians?”

Our backup saw the Salekhardians as little more than enemy invaders. He was probably worried that they would be unwilling to work alongside their former foes.

“That won’t be a problem. I’ve asked a former Farzian princess, Lady Évrard, to come lead the reinforcements.”

“Lady Évrard? Really?” I blurted out, surprised.

Reggie smiled. “From the sound of it, the margrave has finally recovered from his injuries. Regardless, I was worried about sending him on such a long journey, and I heard that my aunt had been placed in charge of their new recruits, besides. Thus, I chose to hand command of the reinforcements over to her. The best woman for the job, don’t you agree?”

“Considering her lineage and the status she used to have, the rest of the nobility will be in no position to defy her orders,” asserted Alan, son of the woman in question.

, I thought.

Beside me, the daughter of Lord Delphion, Emmeline, had sparkles in her eyes. “Lady Évrard, you say?!”

Come to think of it, Emmeline mentioned that Lady Évrard was something of an idol to her. No doubt she was dying to meet her.

After that, we were briefed on the current situation in the royal domain and Sestina. The information had come from the man leading a force of 2,000 soldiers from Tarinahaea, the home of one of Reggie’s knight-guards. Evidently, the queen had not ordered the entirety of her forces to keep the royal capital surrounded; instead, she had split her army in two and dispatched about half of the men to Sestina. The soldiers were waiting there to ambush us, knowing we would have to pass through the province eventually.

It sounded like Reggie preferred to leave the royal domain for Salekhard to deal with and head straight through to Sestina.

While I listened in on the discussion, I thought back to the section of the RPG that took place in the royal domain—or more specifically, the mission to find the item needed to recruit the Thorn Princess.

I wondered. Even with Lord Credias gone, there was no telling what the future had in store for us. Having the Thorn Princess in our party would definitely give us a little extra peace of mind.

Whatever the answer, a week later, we would be setting sail from a port not far from the baron’s castle.

???

This was my first time ever setting foot on a ship in this world. Evidently, it was going to take a total of five days to reach the royal domain by boat. It wasn’t all that far, but the lack of a tidal current meant the journey would span multiple days regardless. Our soldiers were split up between the Delphion ships and the ship carrying the Tarinahaea reinforcements Reggie had called upon.

Shortly after our departure, Alan got seasick.

“Wow. You’re such a wild child that I never imagined you’d have trouble with boats,” I commented.

“Who are you calling a wild—urp!” Alan gripped the railing and leaned over the side of the deck, deathly pale as he stared down at the surface of the water.

“I just always got the sense that you were most in your element outdoors. It’s easy to imagine you tearing up the town, like, climbing trees or picking fights with stray dogs.”

“When did I ever tear—hurp!”

“I was mostly kidding about that part. Still, I always see you riding off somewhere on a horse, and rumor has it that you even mounted Lila after she’d grown a few sizes. I was sure you’d do fine on a boat, no matter how hard it shakes.”

I’d figured his inner ear would have been trained for this sort of thing, so I was pretty surprised.

“How come it isn’t getting to ?” Alan asked, shooting a baleful glance my way.

Now that he mentioned it, I had to wonder the same thing. “Good question. Why it?”

“It’s all that time you’ve spent riding your golem. It rocks back and forth even more violently than a ship. Now that you’ve grown used to that, you can handle just about anything,” posited Cain, who had come over looking for me. “So this is where you were hiding, Miss Kiara.”

“I figured I might as well take advantage of the cruise and go get a look at the scenery.”

“That’s all well and good, but let’s give Lord Alan some space. From the look of it, it’s taking everything he has just to keep this conversation going.” Cain gave him a sympathetic glance.

Alan threw his hands over his mouth, looking the most ashen he had yet.

“Let’s, ah, allow him to retch in peace,” his knight urged. Alan seemed to agree with that suggestion, waving his free hand at us in a shooing motion.

He did, indeed, appear to be at his limit. Scolding myself for being such a busybody, I started walking off. “I thought talking might make for a good distraction, that’s all.”

“I believe medicine would do the job better.”

Chester walked over to Alan with something in his hand. Either a canteen or medicine, I figured. If that did the trick, he’d hopefully be feeling better in no time.

, I thought, I burst out giggling.

“What is it?”

“I was just thinking about what a good big brother you are to Alan.”

A surprised look passed over his face, which quickly shifted into a wry smile. “I suppose so. I’ve had my hands full with a certain little sister as of late, but Lord Alan will always be that younger brother I have to keep a close eye on.” He then gave me a couple of light pats on the head. “In any case, sister of mine... I came looking for you because we received news I knew you’d want to hear.”

“Huh? What news?”

“It’s from the Salekhardian army.”

It seemed we’d finally received word from Isaac following his infiltration of the royal domain.

“They sent us a message by bird. It seems they’ve landed in the royal domain safely.”

Not only had they “borrowed” the armor from a slew of Llewynian soldiers, but they had taken Llewyne’s ship the long way around and pretended to be coming from the direction of the royal capital. The soldiers stationed in the royal domain had welcomed Isaac’s men into the port, swallowing their lies about having been sent in...