Chapter 39: Human, Hero, or Monster?

After the meeting in Madress came to a close, Irvan sent out a secret messenger to invite a certain someone to the waiting room. None were as relied on as the one who had just taken another castle. No one noticed Irvan’s movements as the Military and civil officials turned to their new tasks in a rush. He had summoned the young hero of Coimbra: Noel Bosheit. Irvan surrounded himself with his most skilled militant adherents, and prolific assassins were waiting just above the ceiling. They numbered thirty in all, and nobody would stand in their way.

Lord Elgar’s blind faith in Noel is too dangerous for us. I don’t want to do this, but the order of the day is getting rid of Noel.

It was his best shot. The castle was still disorderly, and with the recent territorial gains, Wilm’s final acts still had to be surveyed. Such a chance wouldn’t come again. Irvan was navigating a slippery slope, but the dead couldn’t complain. There was a rather high chance that he would be executed himself, but if he had to be crushed to take the initiative, he would prepare his death bed. The one thing he would never do was idly wait for his destruction. Ir would never again rise to great power and influence unless a great many risks paid off.

Elgar was betrothed to Irvan’s daughter; a daughter who obediently followed her father’s instructions. It had all the makings of a political marriage. Above all, she was a faithful adherent to the sect of Ir and she understood how difficult her position was; likely unbothered by questions of love. All was well before Noel appeared. As far as Irvan could tell, there was no mistaking Elgar’s special feelings for her. On the off chance that the engagement fell through, the possibility of Noel becoming his legal wife would make any waiting on their part no more than watching their ever nearing destruction approach. Ir had nowhere to run and no backing on the continent outside of Elgar —in whom Irvan had invested all of their wealth—. More than a few sacrifices had to be made just to gain a foothold. Irvan had bet everything on a young ruler in hopes of finding a land to live in. No laughing matter, it would be, then, if everything was taken by one girl who had just entered the scene.

No matter how brave she is, if we strike fast, she will die. Even a hero is human.

He wondered if she trusted her ability, or was simply a fool, as she responded right away. All it took was a simple invitation to try some tasty wine from the continent. If she refused, he had planned to invite her under the pretense of a secret discussion, and if that was refused, it would prove that she was a threat. Irvan was prepared to go all out.

At any rate, I haven’t fully decided whether or not to move. I would much prefer this go peacefully.

The newly formed reunited Coimbra’s influence was the sect of Ir’s only lifeline. Without that, the pagans in a majority sun-god worshiping land would be quickly swallowed up. For this reason it was necessary to confirm the intent of the girl who stood before him expecting wine.

“Is it… to your liking, Sir Noel?”

“Yup, this is really good. And this strange fruit here is super delicious!”

“This brew is known as Velta wine. Madress wine is also rather palatable, but the continental tradition has a different tenor. That green fruit is the Velta melon. With a rich sweetness and a mellow fragrance, it has a very captivating flavour.”

“Mmmn, there’s really all kinds of things over there, I kind-of didn’t want to go, but now I’m a little interested. Oh, but it’s a little far just to play around.”

Noel tilted her head as she continued to dig in with a spoon. She drank the wine as if she intended to down it all in a single gulp; not a trace of nobility in her movements.

“A plebeian could survive for a few years off the price of just these two. That’s just how rare they are.”

“So that’s how it is.”

“However, if you find it that agreeable then we might find some use for it amid our troubles… at the end of the day, you are the hero of Coimbra.”

“The hero of Coimbra?”

“How humble. Have you not heard the voices of the people? Do they not all praise you as the hero who defeated the tyrant Wilm? If we listen closely, we’ll hear that even the emperor Amil respects your valour. I invited you here because I thought it prudent to be closer to such a one.”

“I see. Well, thanks a lot for letting me eat something incredible! Looks like you’re a great guy, Irvan.”

Irvan could feel his venom draining at the sight of Noel’s complete lack of malice. After a few words he’d planned on distracting her, but now he started to feel like avoiding it. Finding himself smiling wryly, Irvan decided to change the topic to the main issue as he had started to feel that any more beating around the bush would lead to her misunderstanding him.

“Hahaha, I don’t know if I’m a great guy, but I have the responsibility to be upright. The lives of every adherent to the sect of Ir are resting on my shoulders. As such, I want to deepen our friendship with the famously valorous Sir Noel. I’ll spare no expense in my labour for their sake.”

“I see. I’m also giving my all for my companions. So it’s like that.”

Noel finished off her wine and Irvan brought up the main topic. He hadn’t fully grasped her personality yet. She looked pretty, that was for sure, but he couldn’t call her a lady. As a military woman she seemed rather hardy. She seemed to have the skill to actually lead men on the field considering how she had taken the castle; however, she was a child inside, and it would be fair to criticize her inexperience. Irvan could see a little of what had attracted Elgar. It probably wasn’t too much of a guess to say that he was attracted to her innocence in a world that only showed him atrocities, but if the girl was going to be Irvan’s political opponent, he wouldn’t forgive her even if she was a child. He held a glass in his left hand, and when he dropped it, Noel would die. Maneuvreing for an assassination was the specialty of his sect; application was how they survived.

“The reason I called a woman such as yourself so late at night was to hear your true intentions.”

“What do you want to know?”

“I’ll be direct. What do you think of our sect, Sir Noel?”

“You’re companions that the young master is reliant on and my ally. You specifically are a great guy who gave me tasty food… is about all.”

She didn’t seem particularly nervous or guarded or anything. It seemed like she had no inkling of the notion that the man before her could become a future enemy.

“Hahaha, thank you very much. I, Irvan, am glad to have such a hearty companion as yourself, Sir Noel.”

“Ahaha, I guess I’m just glad I got to chat with someone from the continent. This was a good idea.”

“Finally, there is one last thing I would like to ask. How do you feel about Lord Elgar’s engagement to my daughter Illum? From what I can see, Lord Elgar harbours special feelings for you. Could it be that you feel the same? Of course I understand this is probing too much, but marriage should be a loving bond between both parties. We can’t have it go wrong.”

Irvan had asked in a very specific tone so as to easily notice any irritation, fully expecting opposition from Noel. A woman’s jealousy was fearsome; at times enough to bring down a nation.

He knew that there had been objections to the marriage since the formation of the Red Circle Army. The Coimbran old guard particularly opposed; Cynthia among them, who hadn’t been excluded solely because they didn’t think she would ever become an obstacle. She was a female knight adored by the rough and tumble regulars, but she had almost no political sway as evidenced by the success of the engagement. Had Irvan been in her shoes, he never would have allowed the marriage to succeed, knowing it would lead to disaster.

Irvan would further expand his influence because he had to expand the region in which the adherents could live. There was a need to propagate favourably and find allies he could trust, hence his strong backing of Elgar. The two could use each other, but that was not the only reason for his investment: Irvan had bet on Elgar’s future; the young man had been through hell and somehow survived with a strong tenacity and will. Likely all he needed to become a magnificent ruler was knowledge and experience.

“Well then, I would love to hear your thoughts, Sir Noel.”

“I heard about the young master’s engagement from Cynthia. It’ll be a new family, eh? I hope everyone turns out to be happy. Oh, and invite me to the ceremony, okay? I’ve never been to one so I’d like to see it up close. We’ll celebrate with delicious food and fun music right?”

“Ah… yes, yes that’s right. I’m not sure of the traditions here, but on the continent we host a grand blessing.”

“I see, I see. Yup, I’m really looking forward to it!”

Noel finished off her melon with a laugh, scratched her red hair, and praised the flavour of the fruit. Thereafter she gave no hint of jealousy or hostility, only thinking to properly attend the ceremony when hearing about the wedding. If all was an act, she was quite the knave. Irvan stepped forward. The real issue was whether or not she would become an enemy; remaining unsure changed nothing.

“Sir Noel… I’m sure we both share the goal of bringing good to Coimbra in these troubled times. From here on out I would like to cooperate all the more intensely. I’m sure that if we combine our continental knowledge with your valour we can bring forth great fruit in Coimbra.”

“Hey, this Mundonovo continent has, like, all sorts of amazing things doesn’t it?”

“Y-yes. Well, I don’t have any here, but there are many…”

“Are there people who can use magic?”

“You… might laugh about it here, but over there, there are certainly people who could be described as such.”

“Can they fly?”

“They… they can’t fly, but they can produce flames and water.”

“Oh, I’ve got a bident that can spit flames! I’ll show you!”

Noel laughed pleasantly. Irvan smiled politely to indicate he looked forward to it. The entire event had been about probing Noel, but the results so far had been good enough. Irvan smiled internally as well.

“Hmmmm, magic, eh? I didn’t really want to go, but I might have to adjust my thinking a bit. Ah, I think it’d be great to cooperate from here on out. We’re companions, so let’s do our best together!”

After Irvan politely wiped the sticky juice off Noel’s extended hand, he accepted her handshake, feeling a bit mentally drained as if he had been dealing with an actual child even though she looked by all accounts to be in her late teens or early twenties. Her mental age was far too low.

I don’t really know for sure, but she doesn’t seem to be one to be too cautious of. That is fine. We won’t have to shed any unnecessary blood.

“It was a truly enlightening conversation. Now, finally, Sir Noel, shall I give you something as a symbol of your friendship with the sect of Ir? Is there anything you would like? Maybe some money, rare spirits, precious metal, a gem, or some continental art? I’ll gift you whatever you want, so don’t worry and let me know what it is.”

He intended to fulfill any request that wasn’t unreasonable; even offer up a young man if that’s what she wanted. People bought with things were easy to deal with and saved him trouble. The dangerous ones were those who wouldn’t move without duty or conviction.

“Let’s see… I’d like a rare toy, I think. If possible one that I can use to play with Cynthia and Riglette too.”

“What?”

“There are loads of rare goods there right? I kind of want to know what the kids play with.”

“Ah… yes, I see. Er, well, of course we have some. Chose whichever one you like.”

She had caught him off guard, but he quickly regained his composure. Irvan had gotten much more than he had hoped: everything would go well for only the price of a child’s toy. No undue investment was required; a great success. Noel could not become a political opponent, and was not one to be feared even on the off chance she ever did.

It was then that he knew: the girl was a fool. With the mind of a child, she had survived on military prowess alone. No other conclusion could be drawn. The plans that had captured Evear and Madress most likely came from Riglette. She was the brain of the hero, and that wasn’t a problem at all. Irvan had enough ammunition to deal with her on the basis of her status as a daughter of the Grambull family. If she ever became a hindrance, a few baseless rumors would drive her close to death. From his research he knew that she had a horrible reputation with soldiers and plebeians alike. Noel stood, humming, clueless of Irvan’s true thoughts. He sat as he watched her recede, poured wine into the glass that was supposed to be a signal, and drank to his victory.

I’m really glad that it always goes this well. It may be that the God we have devoted ourselves to has finally smiled upon us after so long.

“Hey…”

An angry voice came from behind him as he let out a laugh. His breath stopped and his heart pounded.

“S-sir… Noel?”

“If you want to kill me, you’ll need to bring three hundred men, you know. Thirty aren’t nearly enough. Would it be okay to burn them all when they try to attack at once? If I really went for it, I’d burn right down to the bone, and everyone might end the up same.”

“W-what are you…”

“Ahaha, you’re a great guy Irvan, so I’ll overlook it this once: a special service just for today. It’s heavy stuff to kill a companion after all. So take care from here on out, okay?”

Smiling, Noel gently smoothed out Irvan’s green robes before slowly closing the door behind herself as she left, but Irvan had seen that her eyes held no trace of a smile. His breathing was irregular and he knew she had been out for blood. Shaking, he couldn’t stop himself from sweating. Wine spilled like blood over the edges of his glass. The assassins in the ceiling silently came out, as did the adherents in the surroundings; all with pale faces.

“Lord Irvan… that one spotted us, there is no mistake. It seems that she had been looking in our direction the entire time. A-also, there was a strange presence behind us.”

“W-we report the same. Even though nobody should have been there, it felt like something was. It was as if we were bound by iron, unable to move.”

“Then… had I given the signal?”

“I believe everyone would have died for sure… Sir Irvan, she is a monster. A monster seeking our destruction is on this side as well! Oh, God!”

“What… is this?”

Irvan staggered to the desk, leaning with both hands upon it. What a horrific thing he had done. They had woken the ire of a dangerous beast. No more than luck had kept him alive.

“L-lord Irvan, shall we observe Noel after this point? If we continue, she may kill us all on a whim.”

“Lord Irvan, I believe we should avoid danger for now.”

The assassins were worried. Once they had thought their observations to be fruitful, but everything had been seen. It was as if the grim reaper pressed his scythe to their necks. Despite the Ir sect’s lack of fear regarding death, it was difficult to hold back the dread. Touch a flame and find it hot, touch water and find it cold; this was the same. If they crossed the line, reason would go out the window.

“We will stop. We will cease all observations of her. Absolutely do not raise a hand to that thing hereafter. Don’t even oppose her accidentally, understand?”

“Y-yes sir, understood, sir.”

“At best, it won’t view us with hostility without getting too involved in our business. We don’t know what it wants, but we probably won’t be rolled up in anything if we don’t oppose her. It should be okay if we stay out of her way.”

Irvan made his decision based on optimistic thinking. It didn’t seem like she had romantic feelings for Elgar. He wasn’t sure what she was aiming for, but it looked like some of it involved the revival of Coimbra. For the moment, the most important thing was staying uninvolved. Noel had likely been honest about overlooking things this time, but there wouldn’t be a next.

“That was a monster without a doubt,” Irvan began his instructions firmly, “A monster just like the one that sought our destruction. The same as that monster that spread death on the continent. Under no circumstances are you to raise a hand against her, you hear me? We must not lay a hand on monsters.”

The other adherents nodded without attempting to hide their fears. There were monsters in that world. People only appropriately described as such certainly existed. A monster they thought only existed on their continent was here as well. Irvan had seen the menace himself as a child. They were things that must never be disturbed. Irvan’s own late father had opposed a monster, and met a tragic end even though he had been backed by the hegemonic power of the church of the star. As a result, Irvan’s sect became known as heretical on the continent.

Then another monster came incessantly after them to eradicate the heresy. It had wielded a scythe like the grim reaper himself in the name of the inquisition and killed all the brothers and families who had hidden themselves and vowed to return. All the adherents who resisted had been slaughtered. As a child, Irvan had only survived due to luck and so the fear of such monsters was deeply ingrained in him. He would keep his hands off at all costs.

At the end of the day, I’ve been spared. I’ve been saved, and saved again. Even facing a monster, my luck prevailed again! My God, oh how I thank you!

Irvan was grateful from the bottom of his heart for the grace of his god that had spared him from death by a hair’s breadth.

Noel was playing with a supremely displeased looking Riglette in her room with the toy she had gotten from Irvan. It was a solid body toy called a star tower. Various addons could be connected together to raise the tower, then each piece would be removed one by one in turn and the one who caused a collapse would lose. Between one and three pieces could be removed per turn. While it was a good idea to try to force the opponent into a bad position, the tables could quickly be turned. At any rate, the fate of the tower was to fall into ruin. Irvan had talked about ‘faithfully rebuilding everything they had accomplished’ with a dark expression.

“Is it over, is it over? I’ve gotten tired.”

Noel yawned deeply. She wasn’t tired at all, in truth, but it was also an important part of the game to get under the opponent’s skin. As per usual, a vein bulged along Riglette’s forehead. Noel had set a trap for her that seemed about to work, but Riglette held the piece in place as the tower wobbled.

“H-how annoying. Just shut up!”

“Your will be done.”

Suddenly, Noel was mimicking Irvan in what might have clinched the game.

“Didn’t I tell you to shut it!?”

Riglette tutted, fingers trembling. While she had been blindly focused on bringing about Wilm’s death, she now had returned to her usual self. It seemed like she was now thinking of how to tease Leue. If he was under her direct command, she seemed the sort who really wanted to rub it in. Unfortunately for her, it wasn’t going to happen as Elgar had no intention of letting that occur. There probably wasn’t anyone who wanted to go so far out of his way to stir up trouble in the ranks. Incidentally, he had told her that it was okay to retire if she was happy now, and had received the ultimate tut in response. Noel thought that it looked like she would be around to play for a little while longer, which made her happy, and when she voiced her gratitude, Riglette had gotten mad at her even though she played with Noel despite having gotten angry. She was now a precious friend that Noel couldn’t send away.

All that aside, her hand wasn’t moving; it was on the piece, and it wasn’t shaking at all. With that, the game would never end.

“Okay, well tomorrow is an early day, so from now on we’ve got a ten second limit. Ten… nine…”

“Wa-wait, suddenly being unfair…”

Hastily pulling the block, Riglette brought the tower down with force. All the pieces crashed down with a resounding sound.

“All right, that’s a loss for Riglette. I’ll leave the cleaning to you, loser!”

After a victory stretch from Noel, she nimbly got into her pajamas. Riglette left with a groan. Noel threw herself onto her bed, which felt refreshingly cool.

“Ah, this bed’s great. I’m about to pass out.”

It seemed as if Irvan felt as if he couldn’t win. Noel wanted to get along with Elgar, but there was a chance that she would cause some tension by killing his father-in-law. Usually after that much intimidation, people wouldn’t go after her anymore, but she wouldn’t hold back on him if he ever did that again, and she really would kill all those members of the sect of Ir.

“Hmmm, was I too lenient?”

“What was lenient about using an unfair time limit!? You fiend!”

“Ahaha, you’re funny Riglette.”

“Shut up!”

Noel slowly shut her eyes as she watched Riglette violently clean. Next, she wanted to play with Cynthia and Elgar, but she didn’t know if she could because of how busy they all were. It seemed like becoming important inevitably decreased personal time.

When will I become important? It might be cool to become a major general?

She imagined lying around self-importantly in a major general’s armour with loads of medals. Wilm’s devious face floated through her mind, and it bothered her a bit. When she then tried to imagine herself as a general of the army, Cynthia’s scolding fist somehow came to mind so she decided it was about time to get to sleep.

Riglette was moaning sadly even in Noel’s dreams, so she consoled her a bit.

Author’s Note:

Irvan barely avoided a bad end.

There is an established opinion of military skill. That’s how he survived until now.