Wortenia Senki (LN) - Volume 10 - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Hero’s Homecoming

That day, a banner of a two-headed serpent coiled around a sword, its scales silvery and golden, flew over Rhoadseria’s capital city of Pireas. A shower of petals fluttered down on a group of soldiers covered in black armor. They advanced down the main street of the city in uniform, organized lines as the citizens around them cheered enthusiastically.

“All hail Lord Mikoshiba!”

“Bless your safe return!”

“The elite armies of Rhoadseria march through our streets!”

The citizens in the streets raised their voices as they sang out praises.

“Ooh, talk about a warm welcome,” Ryoma said, the words escaping his lips. He was somewhat overwhelmed by the vigorous cheering.

The Malfist sisters, who rode next to him, seemed to be taken aback by his surprise.

“This much is obvious, Master Ryoma,” Sara said. “You’re a national hero who abided by the Kingdom of Rhoadseria’s orders and saved Xarooda.” She beat a fist against her chest for emphasis. Her face was flushed, as if she was overtaken by the excitement in the air.

“Sara is correct,” Laura added. “Your feats are just as grand as Lady Helena’s! Of course, I understand how you feel, Master Ryoma, but for now...”

Ryoma regarded the Malfist twins with a forced smile. The sisters wanted to take pride in their master’s achievements, even if the events unfolding before their eyes were the result of a third party’s plot...

Ryoma sighed. “Fine, fine... You wave at them too, then.”

The Malfist sisters weren’t wrong. A hero who returned from war shouldn’t greet the masses with a listless expression. He was, when all was said and done, a military commander. No matter what emotions might swirl within his heart of hearts, he had to keep up appearances as a Rhoadserian noble.

Still, Ryoma couldn’t help but feel a sense of futility. His spirits were very much dampened.

I understand wanting to rejoice, but...

Ryoma did save the kingdom of Xarooda, but it hadn’t curbed the O’ltormea Empire’s ambitions. All he really did was hold a wound closed until the bleeding stopped. It was first aid at best, and all he did was minimize the amount of blood lost. Everything else depended on the treatment to come. Even if everyone else praised him for saving this “patient,” Ryoma would need to be incredibly brazen to not feel bad about being celebrated like this. The only thing he could do was hold back the urge to shout that said patient needed to be carried to the hospital.

What’s more, Julianus I’s warning made Ryoma even less inclined to rejoice, and the attempt on his life only made him more suspicious. Ryoma’s heart had grown too cold to be receptive to praise, especially since he knew this crowd wasn’t truly here of its own will.

There are soldiers stationed everywhere. Given how decorated their armor is, they must be the palace’s guard. I suppose their excuse would be that they’re here for security reasons, but would you really go this far?

Recalling the report Sakuya delivered from the intelligence unit they sent ahead, Ryoma sank even deeper into his thoughts.

This crowd was here for two purposes. The first was purely for the sake of celebration. Ryoma had nothing in particular to say about that. The people of this Earth lived in the present and only focused on the events unfolding before their eyes. He couldn’t expect people utterly incapable of seeing the bigger picture to grasp the reality of the situation. The problem was that they had another purpose. They were there because someone wanted to distract everyone from the shadow settling over Rhoadseria.

I was right to have Sakuya send that intelligence unit ahead...

The report he received last night matched his expectations. This was one case where he wasn’t happy to see his predictions come true.

They sure put in effort, but getting the masses riled up like this won’t change the situation any.

Ever since his audience with Queen Lupis, when she ordered him to deploy to Xarooda, Ryoma got the impression that there was a shadow behind the capital city of Pireas. On the surface it was full of passionate cheering, but Ryoma aptly noticed how fabricated this whole affair felt.

Queen Lupis’s reforms must be going poorly. Not that it comes as any surprise...

He’d predicted that much from the beginning. Lupis Rhoadserians wasn’t very fit to be a leader to begin with. It was perhaps hard to notice that at first sight, but upon closer inspection, her flaws seemed to drown out any merits she had.

As a noble in a world with low standards of education, she was indeed relatively knowledgeable and cultivated. And unlike nobles and royals from other countries, she exhibited very little prejudice against commoners. After all, as cornered as she was at the time, a royal wouldn’t normally accept the aid of someone as suspicious and unknown as Ryoma. The fact she was willing to put her trust in him was part of why Ryoma was willing to gamble on helping her out of such a hopeless situation. Though, that was before he’d realized Lupis Rhoadserians’s most fatal flaw...

Noticing it at that point would have been hard, though, Ryoma thought with a self-deprecating smile.

At the time, Ryoma found himself caught up in an international plot operated by Wallace Heinkel, the guildmaster of the trade city of Pherzaad. From his perspective at that point in time, nothing mattered more than defending himself and the Malfist sisters. And the whims of fate brought him and Lione, who was in the same plight, together. Placed in that precarious position, even Ryoma, with his discerning eye for people, would have been hard-pressed to perfectly realize everything about Lupis.

Her flaws only started manifesting that strongly when she became queen. If I knew what she was all about to begin with, I’d never have...

Lupis Rhoadserians was too emotional by nature. Depending on who was asking, she could even be called impulsive. Both of those appraisals were correct, and as a matter of fact, Lupis Rhoadserians was reputed to be a tenderhearted, merciful woman. There could be no doubt she devoted every day of her life to her kingdom and its people. This was a wonderful trait for a sovereign. That was why her close associates, Meltina Lecter and Mikhail Vanash, never left her side even as the former Duke Gelhart and his noble allies gained de facto control of the country.

But when taken too far, this virtue of hers became a flaw—her greatest flaw, indeed. She was extremely indecisive, particularly when it came to Mikhail and Meltina, who had shared years of friendship and intimacy with her.

Lupis’s naivete was starkly evident when it came to Mikhail. As far as Ryoma knew, Mikhail had committed at least two major blunders in his career as a knight. The first was when the nobles’ faction plotted to ferry Lupis’s illegitimate sister, Radine, from Myest to Rhoadseria. Mikhail had unknowingly attacked Ryoma’s caravan when it was en route to Pireas, not realizing they were unwitting stand-ins for the real princess. That was the nobles’ faction’s plot and not an intentional mistake on his part. But he had been fooled by false information and lost many knights faithful to Lupis’s cause because of it. This was a blot on his honor as commander, and normally he would be ordered to pay for such a blunder with his life.

His second blunder occurred when Ryoma crossed the river Thebes and formed a bridgehead there. Ryoma had ordered him to lead a scouting party, but Mikhail disregarded his orders and attacked an opposing army. There were some extenuating circumstances in that case. The army was led by Kael Iruna, an old friend of Mikhail’s who had defected from Lupis’s side to the nobles’ faction. One could imagine Mikhail struggled to remain composed in that situation.

After his first blunder, Lupis pardoned him on the condition that he would compensate for his initial failure with his achievements in the civil war. This undoubtedly influenced his decisions as well. But the biggest reason Mikhail disobeyed orders was his grudge against Ryoma, who from his perspective appeared out of nowhere and quickly curried favor with Lupis. And indeed, Kael’s plot duped Mikhail and he fell captive.

He had made multiple blunders in quick succession. One might expect Lupis to run out of patience with him. A ruler would even be expected to do away with such an incompetent subordinate. But Lupis didn’t abandon Mikhail. She couldn’t abandon him.

Lupis just doesn’t understand. Letting emotion control her decisions so many times makes other people look down on her. And now she’s seeing the results of that.

Forgiving a subordinate for his failures could be seen as magnanimous. But there was a difference between patience and lack of judgment, especially considering that Lupis’s reign was still in its early days and she was trying to reform the country. There were likely multiple occasions since she assumed the throne where she faced painful decisions and made poor choices.

Lupis Rhoadserians was incapable of making cold, calculated decisions. She easily gave in to emotion and tended to believe in the good in people. The nobles who left Gelhart’s side after he’d lost much of his territory and title saw this and began conspiring once again. The result was the state of the capital city of Pireas, as Ryoma saw it at that very moment.

It’s ironic. This capital’s situation and the state of the Wortenia Peninsula are both the result of me failing to judge Lupis’s character correctly.

After the civil war instigated by the former Duke Gelhart ended, Ryoma was forced to accept a reward—lordship over the Wortenia Peninsula, a no-man’s-land. No one could have suspected such an outcome. But the result of these errors in judgment produced two results that stood in stark contrast to one another.

Just goes to show that even a land no one lives in has its advantages.

An unpopulated land generated no tax revenue. But in exchange, this peninsula held the potential to produce anything and everything Ryoma would need. True, the peninsula initially had no human population and was overrun by monsters. Cutting down forests to build a city was tiring work. But had Ryoma received lordship over an existing city, though he may have had a steady stream of revenue, it would have whittled down any potential the place had for development.

There was a plan in Japan to tear down electric poles and instead run the electric lines underground. Removing the poles would do little to harm the scenery and would allow for wider roads. It was a wonderful plan. But for how beautiful it was, realizing this plan would be difficult. There were multiple reasons, but ignoring the legal problems, the biggest concern was that people already lived on that land. The plan would require large-scale construction, which would influence the lives of the people living there. There would be road closures, deafening noise, and temporary power outages. All of this required a great deal of funds.

The idea of removing the power poles was admirable in and of itself, but the difficulties it would force upon the people meant it had to be done little by little. The mere fact that people lived in a land made developing it that much harder. For that reason, the Wortenia Peninsula being empty of people meant Ryoma was free to pursue any large-scale construction he might please.

Everything seems fine, given the periodic reports I got. I’ll just have to see it for myself.

Before leaving on the expedition to Xarooda, Ryoma entrusted management of his domain on the Wortenia Peninsula to Boltz and Gennou. Their role was not only to drive back any external threats but to also develop and maintain the city of Sirius, the heart of the Mikoshiba Barony. Even in the absence of its lord, the lands of Wortenia were gradually developing.

“Master Ryoma?”

A voice pulled Ryoma out of his sea of thoughts. Turning to face the voice, Ryoma found Laura gazing at him.

“Oh, it’s nothing... Let’s get this job done,” Ryoma said, fixing his gaze on the ivory castle standing imposingly in the distance.

♱

That night, after her audience with Ryoma, Lupis Rhoadserians returned to her room. She sank into her sofa, looking up into the air as a long, despondent sigh escaped her shapely lips.

Seeing her mistress so dejected, Meltina Lecter was rendered speechless.

“I didn’t think this would be the result...”

Lupis’s faint whisper slithered through the air. Meltina, being the faithful and astute servant she was, heard those words clearly.

“There was nothing else you could have done differently,” said Meltina. “In my humble opinion, Your Majesty, you have done the best you could in this situation.”

Lupis turned to look at her. “You really...think so?” she asked, her eyes filled with a mixture of anxiety and relief.

“I do,” Meltina said, nodding.

I can’t let her waver now. If she’s overcome by doubts, she will surely...

All of Lupis’s choices ended up backfiring. The thick shadow hanging over Epirus made that quite clear. The reform she led was meant to consolidate power in the sovereign’s hands, but it was met with resistance. The public officers and nobles, wishing to protect their vested interests, sabotaged the reform’s progress. As such, little to no progress had been made.

During the civil war, even the defensive military units situated within each region were mobilized, and the injuries they suffered still hadn’t fully healed. As such, the public order within the kingdom had severely worsened. The nobles who continually looked down on Lupis increased the taxation in their territories, forcing the farmers who couldn’t withstand the extortion to leave their lands and drift to the capital instead.

On the surface, there weren’t many visible changes in the capital. But the alleys were full of refugees who left their lands behind. There were constant disputes between the citizens of the capital and the refugees, and Meltina received daily reports of arguments devolving into bloodshed. From a political standpoint, there was only one word to describe this: misgovernment.

But that’s just the end result. No one is more devoted to this country and its people than Her Majesty is.

Meltina couldn’t imagine anyone more fitting to rule this country than the queen standing before her, her eyes full of sorrow and mourning for her kingdom. Sadly, politics were often judged by the end result. It was hard to dispute that no matter how lofty one’s ideals and beliefs might be, if their regime couldn’t implement them properly, a kind ruler was as good as a vile one. But Meltina had spent so much time at Lupis’s side that she couldn’t bring herself to say anything that would deny her feelings.

The other problem was that they couldn’t afford to let the former king’s illegitimate child, Radine Rhoadserians, become queen. Even now, the nobles’ tyranny showed no signs of stopping. If they were allowed to continue, Rhoadseria would be eaten from the inside out by these treacherous aristocrats.

The other royals, excluding Radine, weren’t a problem. Most of them were members of branch families that had splintered off from the main royal house two or three generations ago. They had succession rights on paper, but their royal blood was so thin that even a bastard child like Radine had more legitimacy than they did. Most of them possessed no real authority or power to speak of. They were considered royals in terms of standing, and were promised a comfortable life, but they were harmless presences that simply spent their days living on a pension granted to them by the kingdom.

And he returned from the war at a time like this...

That man’s face surfaced in Meltina’s mind. The smug, confident face of a young man who looked older than he really was. He was once a reliable ally that helped Queen Lupis, but she banished him to the Wortenia Peninsula for fear of his intellect and talent.

At first, Meltina thought Ryoma was just some unknown man. The only things she felt toward him were suspicion, loathing, and derision. After all, he appeared out of nowhere and confidently declared he would bring victory to Lupis. She thought he was a foolish commoner who didn’t know his place. The class system was quite strict in Rhoadseria, and Meltina was the child of a long-running line of high-ranking knights, so it was only natural she would initially feel this way.

However, Ryoma proved himself right and brought Lupis the crown, as promised. And when he did, her impression of him changed. The same could be said of Lupis, as well. That was why she sent him to Wortenia, hoping he would die there. But not only did he surmount that adversity, it only made him stronger. And now, Meltina’s heart was constricted by inexplicable terror toward this man.

The question is, what is he going to do next...?

Normally, Ryoma Mikoshiba’s homecoming would be cause for celebration. He had overcome overwhelming odds and beaten back the O’ltormean invasion force. He was returning as a national hero. Helena Steiner was still stationed in Xarooda, so even considering the way other countries viewed Rhoadseria, things finally seemed to be calming down. However, this was just how things might have seemed to someone who didn’t understand how things worked behind the scenes.

If nothing else, Her Majesty can no longer force him to cooperate...

No matter how other nobles saw him, the commoners now held Ryoma in high regard. He was the hero who led the legitimate heir from the brink of defeat to rightful victory. True, when he received the Wortenia Peninsula, he asked Queen Lupis for significant financial support. When he was sent to Xarooda, he also asked for more money under the pretense of war funds, as well as making the queen promise she would send engineers to his land. But all of those requests and negotiations were reasonable considering Ryoma’s position as a rising, developing noble. Many people even agreed it was surprising he was willing to swallow Lupis’s challenging requests given how relatively small his recompense was.

Anyone who knew the truth would scoff at the prospect, but by all appearances, Ryoma looked like Queen Lupis’s most trustworthy and dependable vassal—especially now, when he had only just returned from Xarooda. Making any more unreasonable demands of him would look like Queen Lupis was exploiting him. In any event, it was very possible Ryoma might try to create that perception if Queen Lupis were to try.

Considering Queen Lupis essentially twisted his arm into accepting the Wortenia Peninsula, and considering she demanded he join the expedition to Xarooda, it was clear to anyone who knew anything of the situation that Ryoma likely held intense enmity toward Queen Lupis. Not even Lupis herself was foolish enough to think he might still be on her side after everything that had happened between them.

This left her with two choices: either welcome him warmly enough to make up for their past disputes or attempt to physically dispose of him—even if it meant resorting to assassination.

Do we try to win him over to our side? Now, after everything that’s happened?

Reconciling with Ryoma would require many sacrifices. Firstly, they’d need to reward him handsomely for his service in Xarooda. Secondly, they’d need to explain the acts of espionage they had Count Salzberg commit in the Wortenia Peninsula during Ryoma’s time in expedition. The peninsula was already under a state of intense counter-espionage, and they gained no useful information, so Ryoma was not harmed in any way by this. But no one would be comfortable with someone investigating their home while they were absent.

On top of all that, Queen Lupis would have to apologize for what amounted to personal treachery. If she went that far, even Ryoma would be inclined to hear her out. A personal apology from the ruler of a country was very meaningful.

But the problem was what came next. They might convince him to negotiate, but whether they’d be able to successfully broker a reconciliation with him was honestly unknown. Even if he accepted their apology, he might still choose to keep them at arm’s length.

Another issue was that placating Ryoma would leave most of the other nobles—with the exception of Count Bergstone and his brother-in-law, Count Zeleph—quite displeased. The other nobles accepted the founding of the Mikoshiba Barony, but that was mostly because he was given an inhospitable territory. They did not truly welcome him as a fellow noble.

With all that in mind, the idea of winning Ryoma over seemed like a poor option. With interior affairs being as feeble as they were, they couldn’t risk introducing this kind of volatile dispute.

Which leaves killing him. Can we really do that, though?

The thought hung heavily in her mind. If they could have chosen to assassinate or execute Ryoma, they would have done so by now. But they couldn’t, which was why they gave Ryoma his barony, hoping he would die before he became a problem.

Unfortunately, his aptitude for commanding an army is much greater than mine. I can’t hope to match him in battlefield tactics. Our only way of slaying him would be in one-on-one combat.

Meltina wasn’t a prudent woman. She was impulsive and militaristic, so much so that people called her a meatheaded idiot behind her back. But she wasn’t foolish enough to overlook the overwhelming difference between Ryoma and herself. It wasn’t for nothing that she’d served at Queen Lupis’s side for as long as she did.

Meltina was no match for Ryoma when it came to commanding an army, but when it came to actual, live combat, things were different. Meltina’s skill with the blade matched Mikhail’s, who was considered the greatest swordsman in Rhoadseria. In Rhoadseria’s martial tournaments, everyone could participate regardless of gender. Meltina and Mikhail had locked blades several times during these occasions. While Meltina failed to ever beat Mikhail, she could still boast that none of his victories were easy ones. As such, she was clearly seen as the strongest female knight in Rhoadseria. She owed that reputation to the transcendent strength martial thaumaturgy afforded her and to her talent at controlling it.

Meltina certainly had a chance of beating Ryoma in one-on-one combat. But an emotion bubbled up from her heart, stifling her confidence.

This is...regret.

Meltina founded her entire identity on the basis of her martial prowess. She devoted her life to being a knight in service to the kingdom of Rhoadseria. So even if Ryoma were to exceed her in every other way, she did not want to be seen as inferior to him on the field of battle.

Yet Ryoma single-handedly slew Kael Iruna, a knight said to be Mikhail’s equal. And during the battle for Fort Notis, he claimed the head of the base’s captain in charge of defenses, Greg Moore. Moore was a well-known warrior, feared across the continent as the Water God’s Blade. Meltina might have been able to get the better of him in a match, but in a battle to the death, she doubted she could beat him. Meltina had her share of real combat experience, but Ryoma had a distinct edge over her in that regard.

But then, what do we do?

They couldn’t afford to win him over, and killing him was too difficult. They were out of options.

I suppose we’ll have to use Count Salzberg...

Meltina wasn’t keen on this solution. Rhoadseria’s northern regions were ruled by ten allied noble houses. The leader of that alliance was House Salzberg, which was charged with defending the border. Be that as it may, the count hadn’t visited the capital in recent years, instead choosing to shut himself off in his domain where rumor had it he governed however he pleased. During the civil war, Count Salzberg didn’t join the nobles’ faction, as he was on bad terms with many of its members, including Gelhart himself. Still, he was without a doubt one of the vermin eating away at Rhoadseria at present.

The reality of things, however, was that his domain bordered the Wortenia Peninsula. Without his help, Meltina and Lupis would be powerless to do anything about Ryoma. When Ryoma first departed to the Wortenia Peninsula, Lupis had sent Count Salzberg a message in secret, ordering him to keep a close watch on what the Mikoshiba Barony was doing.

He hasn’t achieved much so far, but we might want to order him to gather information on what goes on within the peninsula again. The tides might eventually shift, giving us a chance to strike.

In truth, there wasn’t much else they could do.

I can only do so much alone...

Lupis currently had many vassals serving under her, but very few of them were actually loyal to her. Most of the nobles flouted her influence and did as they pleased. Her relationship with Count Bergstone had been shaky at best since the dispute regarding Ryoma’s dispatch to Xarooda. Her relationship with his brother-in-law, Count Zeleph, was also estranged. Most of the knights had swung under Helena’s influence, who was currently stationed in Xarooda.

Both politically and in terms of her military, Lupis was isolated. Knowing this, Meltina desperately tried to assist her to the best of her ability, but there was only so much she could do alone. Truly, Lupis was at her limits. Her situation was so fragile that any bit of force could send her shattering to the floor like glasswork.

Sir Mikhail... Her Majesty needs you, after all...

Meltina heaved a deep sigh, thinking of her colleague who had remained shut up in his estate without visiting the castle.