How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom: Volume 10 (Premium) Page 4

  “To get some exercise? Randel’s on the west side of the kingdom, isn’t it? This island’s in the far east, you know? Just how far did you come just to get some exercise?”

  Halbert’s strained excuse had obviously not worked.

  One of the men even said, “Oho! I see! Commander, you got scared, didn’t you? I understand the feeling, but that’s not gonna fly, sir. If you start mistreating your wives now, they’re going to hold that over your head for life, you know?” The stubble-faced middle-aged soldier nodded sagely.

  He might have been speaking from experience, but he was a little off the mark.

  Halbert smiled wryly, poking the soldier lightly in the chest with the head of his sheathed spear.

  “I have permission, don’t you worry. Now then, you lot, I hope you haven’t been slacking off while Kaede and I are away, right? Just because we’ve been set free from the battles in the Union of Eastern Nations doesn’t mean I’m going to let you relax forever.”

  “Don’t underestimate us, sir,” one of the soldiers who was younger than Halbert said with a serious look on his face. He was the newest member of the Dratroopers, being only eighteen, and the mission to reinforce the Union of Eastern Nations had been his first campaign. “In the battle at Lasta, we were forced to reevaluate our understanding of what sort of situations our unit will be deployed into. We descended from far above to allies who were fighting at a disadvantage, then fought hard to open a way through the middle of the enemy. No one would slack off in their training after going through a battle like that one.”

  “...You have a point.”

  That was just how close the Battle of Lasta had been.

  There had been few allies against the enemy’s overwhelming numbers. And though the elite Dratroopers had been sent ahead, they’d been forced to fight at a disadvantage. If the wyvern cavalry hadn’t brought gunpowder casks for aerial bombardment, Halbert shuddered to think what might have happened.

  He faced his unit and sincerely lowered his head. “Sorry. Forget what I just said.”

  “Oh, no! I’m the one who was being presumptuous!” the young Dratrooper protested.

  “Ha ha ha! You can really hold your own now, kid,” another one laughed. “Did that first night” (it was a night battle) “make a man of ya?”

  “Whoa, don’t say that so vulgarly!”

  The middle-aged soldier put an arm around the younger one’s shoulders, and the other unit members were laughing, too. The harmonious scene made Halbert smile.

  Souma had said Halbert didn’t necessarily have to beat Fuuga. That meant not relying on his own personal martial prowess, but to surpass Fuuga as a unit, an army, or a country.

  Halbert had such reliable comrades. He wouldn’t be fighting alone.

  Halbert felt his hesitation clearing up.

  Crossing his two spears, he slid them along each other to make noise as he turned to his unit to say, “Okay, I came all this way. That’s enough idle banter. It’s time to train!”

  “““Yes, sir!”””

  And so, Halbert sweated alongside the members of the Dratroopers.

  About two hours later, Halbert, having finished his training, stood in front of a hand-pump well (though, this being a carrier, it was attached to a water tank), naked from the waist up, pouring water over his head.

  When he was washing the sweat of training from that manly body and catching his breath, someone who was passing by called out to him.

  “You! Are you Commander Halbert of the Dratroopers?”

  “Huh?”

  When Halbert turned in response to the sudden question, the person standing there was Castor, the captain of this island carrier, the Hiryuu.

  The Dratroopers were a land combat force, so, strictly speaking, he belonged to a different organization than Castor, but as long as he was aboard the Hiryuu, Captain Castor was effectively the highest in rank.

  Halbert hurried to salute. “Ah! Captain, pardon me!”

  “No need to be so stiff,” Castor said. “I heard you were on leave, though?”

  “Y-Yes. I am, but, um... stuff happened...”

  Everyone kept pointing out that same thing, and Halbert was getting tired of explaining, so he tried to laugh it off.

  Castor, sensing he didn’t want to talk about it, simply said, “Hmm...” with a gesture as though he were thinking. “So, you’re free now, then?”

  “Huh? Err, well, yeah.”

  Castor grinned. “Then will you join me after this?”

  Castor brought Halbert to his private room, which was separate from the captain’s room, and had him sit on the sofa. Meanwhile, he took a bottle of wine from the shelf, a glass, as well as crackers and nuts as a snack.

  “My second-in-command is on leave, too, you see,” Castor explained. “I’ve been bored.”

  It seemed that Halbert was being asked to join him in drinking.

  Castor sat down on the opposite sofa and asked, “Commander Halbert... Ah, can I just call you Halbert? How are you with alcohol, Halbert? Strong, or weak?”

  “Huh? Uh, normal, I guess.”

  Castor gave a satisfied nod. “I see. Well, normal is best. My mother-in-law is such a heavy drinker, the mornings after I’m forced to join her are rough.”

  “O-Oh... Is that right?”

  Halbert blinked as Castor poured wine into the glass.

  Why was he here drinking with one of the former three dukes, and the current captain of the Hiryuu?

  If you consider our positions... Wait, if I’m going to say that, the way I treat Souma like a buddy is even more of a problem.

  The House of Magna was by no means a small house, but even considering that, Halbert seemed fated to be tied to the important figures of this country. That was no doubt a headache for Kaede.

  If he thought back, the time Souma and the others had overheard him and Kaede arguing in the singing cafe Lorelei may have been when his luck had run out (?).

  Castor tilted back his glass and said, “I envy those who can go home at times like this. I know it’s my just desserts, but... I’m not able to return to my home in Red Dragon City. It would cause problems for Accela and Carl.”

  Even though he’d had a good reason, Castor had rebelled against Souma, and for that, his family name had been taken from him, and he was now in Excel’s custody. He had been forbidden from meeting his young son who was allowed to inherit the family name in Red Dragon City, as well as his wife, Accela, who was effectively the one managing things.

  Castor agreed that the punishment was only natural, but being unable to see his wife and child still made him feel lonely.

  Seeing Castor’s pain, Halbert, who had once thought about siding with the former General of the Army, Georg Carmine, in an attempt to make a name for himself, couldn’t help but sympathize.

  He had a question he wanted to ask Castor, who was forced to live away from his family.

  “Captain... how did you feel when you got married? When you took on a new family?”

  “Hm? What’s this about, so suddenly?”

  “Well, I’m getting married soon myself, you see.”

  “Ohh, now that you mention it, you are. To the fox-eared girl and the red dragon girl, right?” Castor smirked. “Oho! If you’re here, then does that mean you got scared of getting married?”

  Halbert only smiled wryly, neither confirming nor denying, because he was partially correct.

  Castor cackled. “Oh, I envy your youth. I felt much the same when I married Accela.”

  “Huh? You, too, captain?”

  “Did you think I wasn’t thinking anything at all?” Castor said teasingly, then tilted back his drink. “Well, I’m not much of a thinker or a worrier, but... that time, I stupidly started thinking about all sorts of things. Like whether I could protect Accela or the children who would be born to us.”

  Halbert was silent.

  He was surprised that Castor had thought the same sorts of things he was. Maybe, no matter the ti
me or place, the things men thought about before marriage were the same.

  “So, once you were married, what then?” Halbert asked.

  Castor downed the rest of his drink and laughed awkwardly. “Having gone into marriage with all that ardor... Well, I soon saw that I’d been misunderstanding the situation.”

  “Misunderstanding?”

  “The woman I was wanting to defend was more flexible and resilient than I’d given her credit for. Even more than I was, maybe. There were plenty of times I thought I was protecting her when the opposite was true.”

  Castor poured himself another glass.

  “Think about it. Even if I did it to stay true to my convictions, I broke the House of Vargas apart. But when I sent Accela to be with Duchess Excel, she told me, ‘Please, do what you want,’ and supported me. Then, after the war, she protected the House of Vargas. Furthermore, even though I cut my ties, she still behaves as my wife, sending letters telling me about everything that’s happened recently. Honestly... she’s so strong.”

  Halbert was silent.

  “How about you, Halbert?” Castor asked. “Are the people that you want to protect so weak that you need to worry about protecting them?”

  Halbert closed his eyes and considered his fiancées.

  Kaede was his childhood friend. She’d been timid long ago, always quick to hide in Halbert’s shadow. He’d thought he needed to protect her.

  But at some point, their positions had changed. She was now his superior, and he fought under her command.

  She had a strong core that allowed her to tell him off and make him stop when he tried to go the wrong way, too.

  There were still situations where Halbert would need to protect her, but she wasn’t a little girl who needed protecting all the time.

  Ruby, meanwhile, was both an adorable girl and a powerful red dragon.

  If Ruby got into a fight in dragon form, she could burn her enemies to a crisp from far away with a fire attack. She was a strong girl, no objections there. However, he knew she could be emotionally vulnerable. He hadn’t forgotten her wounded eyes from when they first met.

  Kaede was a girl who wasn’t just weak; she had strengths, too. And Ruby was a girl who wasn’t just strong; she had weaknesses, too.

  When he thought of the two of them, Halbert realized something.

  Huh? Neither of them are girls that need constant defending?

  Thinking back on it, neither was so weak that he needed to worry about whether he could protect them or not.

  In fact, because he was agonizing over it like this, despite how busy they were before the wedding, they’d sent him off out of necessity.

  If anything, Halbert was the one being protected here.

  Misunderstanding things... He’s right.

  With this, Halbert felt like all his worries had fallen away.

  His unease about Fuuga had been assuaged by talking to Souma, and Castor had helped him realize that his concern over if he could protect the others was a misunderstanding of the situation.

  It seemed he hadn’t needed to worry about any of the things he’d been agonizing over.

  Halbert smiled wryly. “...Captain?”

  “What is it?”

  “Is marriage... Is having a wife a good thing?”

  Castor bashfully laughed. “Well, of course it’s good. She can be a bit of a nag at times, though. I was just telling you about Accela, but in her letters, she’s always writing, ‘You aren’t drinking too much, are you?’ and ‘Are you taking care of your appearance?’ It makes me want to say, ‘Who are you, my mom?’”

  “Isn’t that nice, though?” Halbert asked. “It means she loves you, right?”

  “I get that, but it’s exhausting to be asked over and over. Well, not having to hear her nagging may be one benefit of not being able to go back home.”

  Just as Castor said that... it happened.

  Knock, knock, knock.

  “Hm? I wasn’t expecting anyone today.” Castor inclined his head towards the door. “Come in!”

  The door was silent, and no one showed any sign of entering.

  Castor stood up, suspicious, and went to open the door...

  “Ah?!” he cried.

  He shut that door so fast there was a loud, echoing bang. Whatever he had seen on the other side, Castor was sweating buckets.

  “Um, was it not a guest?” Halbert asked, dubious about what was happening, but Castor didn’t answer.

  While Halbert was wondering what was up, this time, the door opened on its own.

  “Geez,” a woman said indignantly. “Closing the door on me so suddenly? Isn’t that awful of you?”

  The person saying that was a lone woman.

  She was a blue-haired beauty with horns and a tail. Halbert thought it was Duchess Walter for a moment, but on closer examination, there were some details that were off.

  First of all, Duchess Walter’s horns were small antlers, while this woman’s were singular horns. On top of that, she had a pair of dragon wings on her back that Duchess Walter didn’t.

  Looking at her, Castor finally managed to force himself to respond. “A-Accela?! Why are you here?!”

  The blue-haired beauty was Excel’s daughter and Castor’s wife, Accela.

  She was a daughter born to Excel and her second husband, who had also been a dragonewt (but he’d fallen sick and died at an age that was young for a dragonewt).

  Because of that, despite her looks being similar to Excel’s, she had the features of a dragonewt.

  Accela turned what looked like a plastered-on smile towards Castor. “Oh, my? Is it strange for a wife to come visit her husband?”

  “Ah! No, we cut ties to avoid you being responsible by association, so you’re not my wife anymore, are you?”

  “You were judged, weren’t you? So where’s the harm in us restoring our ties?”

  “That’s not the issue... I mean, I’m forbidden from coming into contact with you or Carl, you know?!”

  Accela giggled. “Yes, you can’t make contact from your end. However, there’s no issue with me coming to visit you.”

  “Huh?! Is that how it works?!”

  “Remember, you did a brilliant job capturing a ship from the Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago, didn’t you? His Majesty was quite pleased to be able to find out what’s happening in the Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago, and in recognition of your meritorious deed, he gave permission for me to come visit you.”

  “H-He did...? I’m glad to see you, Accela.”

  Castor tried to keep up appearances by saying that, but Accela immediately noticed the half-drunk bottle of wine lying out on the table.

  Her eyes narrowed, and she stared as Castor’s face up close. “Drinking while the sun’s still high, are we? Did I not tell you, repeatedly, in my letters to practice moderation and take care of your health?”

  “Th-That’s... I was doing it to deepen bonds with my subordinate here.”

  “Deepening your bonds with your men,” Accela said sardonically. “Yes, there was something about that in Mother’s letters. You and your men have been frequenting an establishment where you can drink with women, she said. What exactly is that about, may I ask?”

  “That’s also... um... I couldn’t refuse.” Unable to bear Accela’s gaze, Castor tried to avert his eyes, but Accela caught his face with her hands and snapped it back to facing her.

  “Look me in the eye and answer me. You haven’t done anything you’d have to feel guilty about, have you?”

  “No, no! ...I may have looked a little, but I haven’t done a thing I’d have to feel bad about you finding out about!”

  “You don’t seem to be lying.” Accela, seemingly satisfied with that answer, released Castor... only to then pull him in hard for a kiss.

  Castor was shocked at first, but then eventually wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close to him.

  They shared a kiss so passionate that Halbert, who was forced to watch, turned a brigh
t shade of red.

  When Accela eventually moved her face away, there was a soft smile on her lips. “I’m glad to see you again, Castor.”

  “...Me, too, Accela.”

  Castor had a natural smile on now. There was a warm atmosphere around them.

  Halbert, who had been watching them with a dumbfounded look on his face, came back to his senses, and realized he was getting in the way. He crept along the wall to the door, closing it behind them as he left so as not to disturb them.

  “Now, since I’ve come all this way, shall I clean your room for you?” Accela asked. “You don’t have laundry piling up, do you? Your subordinates won’t like you if your quarters are gross, you know?”

  “H-Hey. Don’t mess with my desk too much! I’ll bring out the laundry myself, okay?”

  He could hear that sort of husband and wife conversation from the other side of the door. It was clear he should give them some alone time.

  Halbert moved away from the door, walking off down the corridor.

  Watching the two of them, it kind of makes me want to go see Kaede and Ruby.

  Walking faster and faster, he eventually broke into a run.

  Halbert wasn’t confused anymore.

  I’m going back! To those two!

  Halbert’s journey ended, and he returned to Randel, where the people he loved were waiting.

  Chapter 2: Ginger Wipes It All Away

  — 3rd day, 2nd month, 1548th year, Continental Calendar — Parnam Castle —

  On this cold day, Ginger Camus, the principal of Ginger’s Vocational School, where various fields were studied academically in the castle town, was having a meeting with Souma.

  This was to report on a certain study from the music department which had opened just the other day.

  In the governmental affairs office, Ginger sat on the sofa, anxiously waiting for Souma to finish looking through the materials he had submitted.

  The only sound in the room they were alone in was the flipping of pages.

  Eventually Souma, who had been intently reading the research documents, asked Ginger a number of questions. Ginger answered them.

  “Hmm,” Souma groaned. “I see. That’s fascinating. It’s an interesting thing you’ve focused on, but... I can’t say whether it’s of any practical use to me or not. I’ll want to get opinions from a singer like Juna and a specialist on magic.”