The Girl Who Bore the Flame Ring

Chapter 32: The Clown’s Tears of Broken?Dreams

Having withdrawn from Yavits pass, Noel corps made its way back to Madress via the highway through Rockbell. Having thought it would be troublesome for Noel to return triumphantly to the city, Amil ordered the obstruction of their march. The Black Sun Cavalry moved to disrupt them, but they were faced with traps and ambush, so the harassment was accomplished with an ethos of never chasing too far. Though it seemed passive, Amil had strongly warned them that Noel was likely to use herself as bait as they traveled. Unlikely as it was, if he was to lose his right hand man, Falid, it would mar even an otherwise flawless victory, and the common consensus was that they had no real need to fervently pursue. Wilm was sent ahead with orders to siege the city of Madress where Grohl had confined himself. He would work with the Ribeldam navy to pressure Grohl into accepting an ultimatum. Of course, they would assault if it was refused, but he wanted to take the city bloodlessly. Madress had the continent’s westernmost harbour. Together with Ribeldam, it would be the platform from which his Mundonovo expeditions were to be launched. If they could, they would use the men, supplies, and facilities just as they were.

Noel, on the other hand, was forced to change her route to Madress when faced with enemy harassment. The men were wounded, and had decreased in number to eight hundred. Even their commander Noel had injured her hand. They were unable to simply force their way back. Prevented from making her triumphal return to Madress, Noel changed their destination to Bolbo, the city just north of Coimbra that had managed to remain under their control. That aside, the local lord had already betrayed Coimbra and fled with any useful supplies as it wasn’t a particularly strategically important location, and the region was slowly declining as the money from the Bolk mines dried up. Bahar had no reason to take it, and even the Gembites to the north had stopped their advance at the border outposts, coincidentally turning the region into a demilitarized zone.

Noel corps faced countless skirmishes at the hands of the traitorous local lords as Amil had placed a great bounty on her. Blinded by the dazzling rewards, one had gathered up about one hundred men in a rush and led the small force out triumphantly.

“They have so few men, but they always attack head on. Do we really look that weak to them?”

Noel crossed her arms. A direct attack was insane unless the numbers were almost even. There was even a possibility of a crushing defeat even with an ambush if it was laid poorly so she simply could not fathom why they would rush towards defeat by a numerically superior foe repeatedly.

“Yeah, he just doesn’t know how to fight. He’s underestimatin’ us because he thinks we’re on the run.”

“In Gemb, we call it hunting. Our peasantry takes their weapons, heads, and everything else.”

It was a practice of killing fleeing foes and reappropriating their belongings. If a man was able to kill the commander and present his head, he would be rewarded.

“I get it, but it can’t be helped if the tables are turned.”

“The local lords are only needed to make money and welcome guests. Why would they be good at fightin’?”

“You idiot. That’s just prejudice. There are plenty of capable local lords.”

“Too bad I’ve never met one. Local lords are nobles aren’t they? Well, nobles are all shit. Like you, for example.”

Barbas snorted as he spoke, and Riglette gave her rebuttal as her lips twitched, “Sir Cynthia’s a noble, too. Just thought I’d let you know.”

“She’s a good knight despite her nobility. Hehe, she’s an exception.”

“I can’t let that slide.”

“I think that’s about enough for now. Riglette, sound the retreat. We’re falling back at once!”

With those words, Noel had them feigning retreat. They led the enemy to a location they had prepared in advance to catch the whole force with an ambush from both flanks. Without much of a detailed plan, they intended on giving the small scale enemy force a good dusting. Nobles commanding for the first time with no combat experience weren’t a match for Noel corps. Once pincered, they immediately fell into disarray, and began to flee. Noel used her bow to take the life of a horse on which rode a pompous man. This action was repeated many times.

“W-wait. I’m from a family dating back to the founding of the nation of Coimbra…”

“It’s better if you don’t say anything unnecessary. I’ve heard lots about the founding fathers. Soooo, you were saying?”

“Right, well let’s not waste time, and just do it. Look, this way, please.”

“What are you doing!? S-stop! Please stop!!”

At Riglette’s order, the soldiers crucified him, and lit the base of the stake on fire as he screamed. Its flames spread slowly toward the body of the noble before touching the straw they had piled up and roaring to life, wreathing him in fire. The shrieks and screams of the prisoners and the noble echoed all around as a wretched smell wafted in the breeze. After a while, the noble’s voice disappeared. Once the prisoners had been petrified, Noel entrusted their release to Barbas. Most likely, they wouldn’t fight again for another few months.

“If he didn’t want to die he could have just stayed obediently in his land. Why did he even come out?”

“Chasing someone strong probably made him feel strong. Well, this is how that turned out.”

“Hmph, the captain’s infamy should be spreading about now. And how striking at her will lead to a fiery introduction to hell. The fools should stop showing up now.”

Riglette looked proud of her work, and asked what they thought of it.

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“Yeah, I don’t know if it was the best method. The attacks don’t seem to be decreasing. It’s like only the infamy is spreading.”

Noel tilted her head as she thought. Bothered by the incessant harassment, Noel had asked Riglette for ideas, unable to think up anything special herself. The first thing that came to mind was to raze the cities of any lords who dared attack her, but it would have made Barbas furious, so Noel didn’t bring it up. That was when Riglette had thought up a brilliant idea: burn the captured lords to show what happened to those who underestimated them. Apparently, she had already done that to the previous lord on her own. Noel thought she’d try it out, but the skirmishes continued on as always.

“No, the attacks are abating without doubt. Once they’ve seen this, their morale will plummet, so everything is going well.”

“Really? It seems like it’s just extra trouble. It’s a pain to gather the firewood every time.”

“Everything is going fine.”

Riglette lacked persuasive power when she said that from the position of the person who didn’t have to gather the materials. Barbas wanted Riglette burned at the stake, but Noel had rejected his proposal. A skirmish broke out with a nearby outpost on the following day, seemingly having turned traitor. They were turned aside with ease. The day after that, the roasted lord’s younger brother came seeking revenge, and met his death: stabbed. Riglette was disappointed, and tutted many times.

Making examples did appear to be effective, but unlike Carness, there weren’t many eye witnesses. Now there were only the people of the city and the soldiers in it, and it would take some time for the rumors to spread beyond there. Deep down, Noel thought that any results would be subtle. Meeting Noel’s gaze, Riglette told her that it was a long term strategy, and reminded her that even a journey of a thousand miles began with a single step, impressing her with such forward thinking, eliciting praise. The praise was met with a satisfied tut.

After ten days of this and that, Noel finally set course for Bolbo. As the local lord had fled, they were able to make use of his empty mansion. The first order of the day, as far as Noel was concerned, was to shore up the poor defences of the town. Hiring local labour, they cut trees for a palisade, and dug a moat to buy some time. Without any sort of defences, the enemy cavalry would have been able to easily stampede through the streets. Though they had no intentions of mounting a desperate defence, it did serve to deter skirmishes launched by the Black Sun Cavalry.

“Hey, why aren’t the townsfolk taking shelter?”

“The ones who’ve remained here are all the ones who’ve given up. They live day to day without thinking of the future. They have no intentions of leaving now, so isn’t it fine to let them do as they please?”

The city of Bolbo had once been a gold rush town. These people were the ones who had lived in poverty through the glory years. Those who hoped for revival had already moved away. Once she knew, Noel let them do as they pleased, and then, she gave Barbas an order aside from strengthening the defences.

“Make more combustion stones? Well, yeah, but it’ll take time.”

“That’s not a problem, just, could you try and make as many as you can?”

“What are you going to burn with them all? You… you can’t be planning on burning the land around Madress while its under siege?”

Scorched earth tactics would harm the Baharans, but would likely result in even more Coimbran deaths. She had no intention of such a thing.

“No! If I did that, it’d probably kill Cynthia and the young master, too. Can you have a look at this for a bit?”

After angrily denying it, Noel took out a small jar from her pouch. A rope extended from the lid of the jar, and it was also strung together with several others. After lighting the chord on fire with her bident, she twirled the bundle and threw it far. Several seconds later, the sound of an explosion rang out, and the jars burst open, raining flaming stones upon the surrounding land. Fortunately, nobody was near it, but had somebody been, he would have likely been scalded.

“T-that’s impressive. I bet the enemy’d have to pick their jaws off the floor, they’d be so surprised.”

“I want to know why you didn’t think to throw them yourselves, considering you used them in the mines.”

“You know, if we threw them around in that highly forested place, it’d have made one hell of a bush fire. We banned their use outside, and we never really wanted to kill the Coimbran soldiers. The chances of accidents were high, too. We made sure to be as careful as possible with them outside.”

“I get it. I guess you really had no choice.”

Noel nodded at his prudent measures. If they used them too often, the enemy would also probably get suspicious and begin to investigate. They had worked to disguise it with oil and hay, but it wouldn’t be strange if the enemy noticed sometime soon. Before that happened, it was best for them to deliver a crushing blow.

“So, we’re going to mass produce these?”

“Yup. It doesn’t have the power to kill -yet-, but it’ll surely surprise them. I figured we might use the shock to clear a path through the encirclement and enter the city. We can also use them as provocation. Tossing them in while they’re asleep would definitely be a bother to them.”

Noel tossed another one of the jars to Barbas, who caught it in a bit of a panic. It was empty, though, so it wasn’t a problem.

Noel had been thinking of a way to break the encirclement of Madress ever since she had first heard of its completion. Above all, she wanted to go to Cynthia, and knew she had to fight to protect Elgar. She had to keep her word. The spark came when she had forcefully dragged Riglette into a discussion of the matter. It had to be the combustion stones used to take advantage of the enemy’s fear of fire. On top of that, the Bolk mines were right before their eyes. She dubbed the devices: Noel type throwing shells. Barbas took the White Ant Bloc to begin mining the combustion stones at once. They had about a month to mass produce as much as they could.

Incidentally, while that was underway, a Baharan messenger had come to them, high-handedly requesting their surrender; an offer Noel refused with both her word and foot. The site of which caused Noel corps to give a great cheer, and for some reason, the mood spread even to the townsfolk. Noel nodded in satisfaction as the men had not shrunk back in the face of their situation, but Riglette merely tutted and sighed deeply.

The meeting room in Madress Castle had a completely different mood about it. Wilm stood before Grohl’s sickly pallor and sunken cheeks as an envoy of Bahar. His uniform bore the glorious Horsheido Sun instead of the Coimbran Scales, as if declaring he was no longer a servant of Coimbra.

“It has truly been a while, Lord Grohl. I don’t believe that we have met since the Trais. It is good to see you safe.”

Grohl chewed his lips in anger as Wilm mocked him.

“Wilm, you bastard, you dare to show yourself before me? If you have any sense of shame, kill yourself right now, you traitor!”

“You worked against us even as our highest commander! Sir Wilm has none of the honour of a knight!”

“Know you no shame, traitor!?”

The retainers too, threw both words and glares at him. Among them, Cynthia’s blood was boiling.

“Suicide is a bit much. My loyalty and my pride are in this emblem of the sun. Therein lies the proof of my correct judgement. The house of Grambull has been given the highest honours. I have nothing to be ashamed about.”

“How shameless. Was this not all your doing, Wilm!? You led me to defeat, and wag your tail for Amil! Just when did you betray me, you bastard!?”

“Hahaha, ‘led’. You were the one to fight. You were the one who implemented my plans. The responsibility therefore falls at your feet, as the supreme commander. You have no grounds from which to accuse me. Oh, and why don’t we leave when I betrayed you to your imagination.”

Wilm gave a snort. Unable to bear it any longer, Cynthia’s hand reached for her sword.

“I’ll fix this right now, you traitor! I’ll judge you right now!”

“Hmph, so you are going to kill me, a good friend of your father? He would not approve. The only reason you rose so high as a woman was because of me.”

“Silence! If my father was here, he would do the same as I! I’ll take your head, and send your soul to him as an offering!”

“I understand your sentiment, Sir Cynthia, but calm down! While it is true that Sir Wilm should be hated as a traitor, but he is an envoy of Bahar right now! We must hear him out to advance the peace talks!”

“B-but!”

“Temperance!!”

Perius’ word very nearly brought Cynthia to a stop by itself, but she had to grind her teeth through the rage to stay her trembling hand.

“Hehe, I am presently acting as the temporary viceroy of Coimbra. To put it simply: you are the traitors, and not I. That is simply the truth.”

“Sir Wilm, please further the talks. We should not waste any more time than we already have.”

Cynthia was not alone in her anger, and Perius’ response was a testament to that, but they had to advance the talks. They were to hear out the conditions, and Grohl would make his decision. That decision was to leave things to Perius.

“Lord Amil of Bahar requests three things for peace: First, open the gates to Madress and allow entry to our forces as well as the Ribeldam navy without resistance.”

“Then?”

Wilm looked displeased as he read out the next term, “Second: disarm all Coimbran soldiers at once, and desist from mounting another attack. This has been adapted to account for Noel Corps’ position in Bolbo. Amil does not believe that peace can be maintained if Noel does not surrender.”

Wilm himself had wanted her head, but Amil had rejected his proposition as it would have forced her to descend upon the surrounding fields.

“The final one?”

“Third: Grol Wardka will take responsibility for all his sins, and accept full judgement for the war. If you comply, the lives of your wife, children, and officers will be spared. You may confirm this if you wish.”

Wilm took a letter from his breast pocket and handed it to Grohl.

Looking it over with a drained expression, Grohl sought confirmation with a rough voice, “Will the lives of all my officers and men, as well as Sarah and Elgar be spared? There’s no mistake here, Wilm?”

“Of course not. Hehe, everyone who isn’t you will be spared. Only, you will die as the man who began a pointless war and brought death to many homes. You will be the only one labeled a foolish traitor by the Horsheido Empire. Even one as incompetent as you can do that as your final duty.”

“…”

Wilm scoffed as he continued, “The lives of your son and wife will be spared, I, Wilm, guarantee it. I keep my word, so you can rest assured.”

In place of Grohl’s silence, Cynthia spoke up, “That’s unbelievable! We cannot accept those conditions! It is true that Coimbra began the war, but the original cause came at the hands of Bahar! The whole matter should be impartially investigated!”

“It’s fine, Cynthia.”

“You cannot accept sole responsibility, Viceroy! The dead will not be avenged!”

“It’s… fine. There is no need to sacrifice any more life. I’ll go to the dead and ask for forgiveness.”

“Viceroy!!”

Cynthia tried to change his mind, but his face made it clear that he had only hardened his resolve.

“If my death alone can spare the lives of my men, then it is for the best. Above all, Sarah and Elgar would normally be considered implicated in the crime, but they can be spared. I’ll… surrender to Amil and will submit myself to my punishment. It will be my final act as viceroy.”

He nodded weakly. He had already accepted death, already forfeit his pride, already lost sight of his ambitions; he had already shattered his self confidence.

“Noel, however, is still fighting. She will not give up. She is moving on behalf of the young master, and has promised to search for happiness with him. Will she not oppose this to the very end!?”

“I… am very sorry for Noel. Her greatest misfortune was the lord she served. Everything is my fault. I truly could not bear to face her.”

“The fight is not over yet. The twin consecutive walls of Madress are strong, and cooperating with Noel in Bolbo, we can continue the fight another year. If we prove that we are prepared to fight to the end, we can probably sue for better terms!”

Noel would never break her word. Knowing that, Cynthia once more appealed to Grohl. They still had ten thousand men in Madress, and if they dug in, they would be able to buy a year, even faced with a large assaulting force. They would use that time to sue for better terms.

“You are still young, Cynthia. You are very gallant just like your late father, but even if you hold out here, Lord Amil will not back down. Try to think about how many lives would be lost in futile resistance. Madress is a formidable castle, and even incompetent command could hold out here for six months, but the plebeians would suffer en masse. Are you prepared to accept responsibility for that?”

“What are you saying, you traitor!? Just how many Coimbrans have died because of your cowardice!?!?”

Wilm spoke out to persuade her, “Everything I have done was for the development of Coimbra, and the lives of its people. The death toll is regrettable, but I wanted to end the war as quickly as possible for their sakes. I, of course, intend to suitably compensate the families of the dead.”

He was fond of her and had no intentions of letting her die in the war. He wouldn’t harm the child of his late friend no matter how much she berated him.

“How shameless! I’ll never accept it!”

“Think it out calmly. It’s true that you can gain time by working with Noel’s force in Bolbo, but this is obviously an unwinnable war for you now. You should know this having fought on the front. I know you want to fight to the end, but is that really the correct thing for a knight to do here? Don’t get caught up in your emotions, and think it through!”

“Khh…”

Grohl looked up at Cynthia as she chewed her lips, “It’s fine, Cynthia, it’s fine. You, and all those who have proved their loyalty by staying with me to the end, have my heartfelt gratitude for your services… Wilm, tell Amil that I accept all of his conditions. We’ll open the castle gates tomorrow, and disarm the troops. I’ll leave the persuasion of Noel to you, Cynthia.”

“B-but, I don’t think that Noel will comply!”

“If she won’t be persuaded, we will pay with the lives of my wife and child. Please beg for the lives of the men in the castle. It can’t be helped if she refuses to follow my orders. I’m in no position to judge her. Don’t blame her for it,” he muttered with a face as pale as death.

Exhausted were his plans, ambitions, and spirits. He had completely given up.

“Hehe, it is a redemptive decision, Lord Grohl. It may well be the best decision you’ve made as viceroy of Coimbra. You have my sincerest admiration.”

Wilm smirked and clapped his hands, but Grohl only glared at him.

“Wilm, I may be insufficient, but one day your payment will come. Never forget it.”

“Then I shall tell you a different story. You were the one who first betrayed my expectations, no, I should say that you continued to betray them. You are the only one to reap what you’ve sown. I said this before, but I have done nothing worthy of condemnation.”

“…”

“Your misfortune was that you were given a load which you were not fit to bear, but do not worry, that burden will soon be relieved. Please leave that matter to us Coimbrans. We will revive, and show you once more our former glory. Make sure to watch us closely from down there. Oh, and your wife and child will be given enough to live out their lives in exile.”

With a laugh, Wilm glanced at the silent Perius and the rest of his audience before exiting the grand hall. Grohl too rose unsteadily to his feet, and was helped out of the room by his retainers. The faces of the remaining retainers told of how they were resigned to their fates. Unable to accept it, Cynthia stood stock still for some time before finally relenting and setting out to fulfill her duty. Had only she beheaded Wilm when she could have, her mood would have been as clear as day, but she had to consider the ten thousand lives at stake. The fight had not ended. She knew that Noel had probably already started something, and had perhaps even been beheaded already. Her simplicity made her clearly understandable.

Cynthia truly wanted to fight together with Noel, but Grohl had already made up his mind. It was painfully clear that he now only wanted to avoid wasting any more lives, and to spare Sarah and Elgar from death.

It can’t be helped, I suppose. This world is truly unbearable, isn’t it Noel?

With a deep breath, Cynthia hardened a single resolve.

One hour after the negotiations, Cynthia departed from the castle with one hundred of her men. In order to allow the message to be passed on, the encirclement was temporarily loosened to allow her through. Her destination was the symbol of the glory and decline of Coimbra, the city which held Noel, the city of Bolbo.