RATH 75
TL: Eevee

9. The others’ stories (4)

#6 Their story: the anti-empire forces’ story.

When a country is founded or ruined, it is a matter of truth that great bloodshed is had in the process.

And even among those, the history of the Karuan empire is particularly harsh.

A famine the likes of which were unheralded in history.

Where even the weeds were stripped bare from the earth in search of food, the corruption of the nobles grew by the day.

Normally, it would not have been unreasonable for a rebellion to have broken out.

But the nightmare that was the famine that spread through the entire continent denied the peasants even the strength to try.

It was then. A hero appeared.

A youth that described himself as the descendant of dragons.

That youth took care of the commoners with a miraculous power, and miracles appeared wherever that youth walked.

And so he took his followers, and declared war on the kingdom.

Up to here was a common story of how many kingdoms were founded.

But the difference between the stories of other kingdoms and this one, was that this story did not end once he prevailed and became king.

When he took the throne, this was what he allegedly said in his first public speech.

“Behold, there are still many people suffering in the continent! There are still many rotten countries that bleed their people dry!”

And so the moment he established his kingdom, he immediately declared war on his neighbouring nations, and in just three years, he annexed another six countries and founded an empire.

A result that could only have been said to be a miracle of the famine that reduced both populations and war capabilities.

The end result was that the Karuan Empire began its first steps as an empire, and right now it has become the center of the continent as a superpower nation.

But, because of that the Karuan Empire had many enemies.

“If we wait any longer, then there will be no more opportunities.”
“I agree. Right now, when we are the strongest is the greatest opportunity. We need to strike when they have let their guards down.”
“Now is the chance!”

And among those many foes, the sole organization that acted within the empire.

Once they used to cooperate with the evil organization Howling, but after it was destroyed at the hands of the current Crown Prince, it became the sole organization hidden in the empire.

It was the secret hideout of the anti-empire forces, established by the descendants of the royal families that had fallen to the empire!

In that secret hideout, scores of people were strongly pushing their opinions onto a single person.

“Howling has fallen. In an extremely short period of time. At most three days, no, in reality, it fell in just a couple of days.”
“And in the Great War, the imperial army suffered very few losses as they ended the war.”
“Yes, compared to the other victorious kingdoms that suffered significant setbacks to their military might despite their victory, the empire suffered almost no losses aside from losing their great general Ertea due to the ambush of the Merdeia kingdom’s army.”
“Because of that they could concentrate on destroying Howling which was hiding inside their territory. And that is the same for us.”

Normally everyone here would be suggesting opposite opinions, but today, each and every one of them were offering the same conclusion.

“Indeed, I believe that it is harder for us to go on any further as well.”

At the mutterings of the old man who stood at the head of the table, everyone else looked at the old man with nervous faces.

“The empire is strong. Yes, even if it is strong, it is too strong.”

No one objected to the old man’s words.

Because like the old man said, the empire was the strongest nation that no one could touch.

“Because of that, this is our last chance… indeed, it is a good chance. But there is something that you are all mistaken on.”
“Wh, what is it?”

Looking at the follower that had been with him for a long time, he smiled sagaciously and said.

“We are too old.”
“What does that mean?”
“It is exactly as I say. We are too old. A thousand years. We existed for that long purely for the sake of revenge against the empire.”
“Exactly, it’s because of that!”
“No, that’s the weird thing. Out of the nations that fell when the empire was founded, the oldest of them had a history of five hundred years. But it has been over a thousand since that country fell. To think we would hone our blades of revenge for twice as long as our countries existed…”

With a bitter smile, the old man looked over his followers who were looking at him with stunned faces.

Revenge for the fallen nations.

Very good, it was a good ideal.

Working to revive your fallen nation.

That was also certainly a good ambition.

But if that time had already passed over a thousand years then that was another story altogether.

For the sake of a thousand years of history, many descendants lost their lives for a thousand years.

Was this truly the right thing to do?

And was it right to pass that burden on to our successors?

“We have honed our blades for too long. Our blades are sharp, but sharped so thinly we can no longer see our own blades.”
“Then, does that mean we are giving up on this opportunity as well?”

An education that bordered on brainwashing.

From the moment they were born they were taught why to destroy the empire, and were taught how to fight against it.

Howling’s first beginnings was as an anti-imperial rebel army, but it became an evil organization and turned their hands to other work, but this organization did not, and remained purely as the enemy of the empire.

Enemy of the empire, do not forget it was what our ancestors had in mind as they named our organization the anti-empire army.

The history that was succeeded from those ancestors, this old man was now trying to end it.

“I believe that all of you are mistaken. I am not suggesting to avoid fighting the empire.

As he looked at the faces of his followers that were shocked once again, the old man.

The head of the anti-imperial army gave a powerful smile as he declared.

“The reason why I say that you fellows are wrong is because you are leaving behind a path of retreat. Retreat? Contingency plans? We don’t need those. Our only objective is to end this war. And for that, we will devote everything to this imperial festival.

“Everything?”
“Yes, the empire is strong. And they will only get stronger. Because of that, we do not have much time. We need to put everything on this one chance and run with it. This long and boring fight that has stretched on for a thousand years. Even if we burn everything to ashes, should we not finish it here?”

At the old man’s maniacal grin, the others could not respond.

But they all knew.

At the end of this imperial festival, between them and the empire, one of them would disappear.

And the probability that the ones disappearing would be them was extremely high.

“Yes, it has. It has been too long.”
“A thousand years, we’re bored of it. It’s time to end this.”

The empire of tomorrow was stronger than yesterday’s.

Any country would fall to ruin in time, but for the empire, that time was not now.

No, that time would not come until much, much longer.

The anti-empire army was much too exhausted to wait for that moment.

So much that if a little bit more time passed, they would exhaust themselves and disappear on their own.

“Hahaha, it seems that my comrades have all understood me.”

In that case, before we go out with a whimper, let’s go out with in a blaze of glory.

To the blasted imperials who had forgotten their ancestors that they had driven to ruin, that we were still alive and kicking!

That was what the old man said, and there was no one here who did not understand that.

“We will end the empire, on their imperial festival which marks their beginnings!”

And so, the anti-empire army began the fight where they put everything on the line.

#7 Their story: A certain tavern’s story.

What if.

Could there be any words that were more fun than these.

What if I was ~?
What if A and B fought?

Countless people thought of these what ifs, and would fight to prove their own opinion.

And there were those who bet money on those what ifs.

“This time is Marcis! They even have that daughter from the Nermia family! That famous Nermia!”
“Yeah, and I heard that the lady of the Nermia house this time is a summoner of an archdevil that not even anyone from the summoner’s academy has!”
“Kahh~ if the archdevil leads the vanguard for the Nermia specialty magic barrage, who could beat that!”

In a large tavern that was somewhat rickety for its large size, everyone that was drinking here were all gamblers.

For these gamblers, the events before the imperial festival were the main event to the imperial festival itself.

Because that was where they would begin their gambles for their luck and security.

“Ha? Arucia has the empire’s strongest prospective swordsman, you know?”
“Yeah, even when you take his work in last year’s imperial festival into account, he’s still the frontrunner to become the next swordsmaster.”
“From what I’ve heard, there’s rumours that he’s already a swordsmaster, but the imperial army’s keeping that under wraps.”

These gamblers will bet on anything.

From how many coins are in the other person’s hand, or how many drinks that person over in the corner could handle before passing out.

And in the imperial festival, which academy would come out on top!

“What about Yugrasia? I heard there were a couple of god-class summoners in Yugrasia.”
“The odds are… holy shit, twelve times. Even if you bet a single gold on it that would increase to twelve.””
“But there’s a reason for that.”

But even among these people, no one bet on Yugrasia.

“Even if Professor Nicerwin came, it’s just half a year. No one would hope for anything in that half year.”

Aside from a few geniuses, the people that performed the greatest feats during the imperial festival were the third and fourth years.

Skill-wise, there was little difference between a first year and a fourth year, but the difference in experience was immense.

And the difference of experience made a huge difference in real matches like the imperial festival.

A real match was where even a single mistake could have you losing to an inferior opponent.

Just how much practical experience one had could lead to huge upsets.

“Maybe if it was next year, but imperial festival isn’t as low as to create upsets like that with just half a year.”
“that’s true even if Nicerwin, one of the legendary summoners became a teacher there.”
“You can see just by the fact the odds are 12:1 as well.”
“What were the odds for Arucia and Marcis again?”
“Arucis is 1.2:1, Marcis is 1.3:1? How cheap.”
“Mercadia is 49:1… shouldn’t they honestly make some events for Mercaria as well?”
“Don’t you know? There were during the first imperial festivals but after the emperor said they were too boring and removed by imperial edict, they haven’t returned since.”

Out of the people who were knocking back the booze, no one predicted a victory for Yugrasia.

Just a few individuals betting some petty change on the off chance of a windfall.

It was then.

Wham!

“Ordah up!”
“Wh, what the?”

There were many customers who kicked in the door.

This tavern-cum-gambling den was home to people who all had improper personalities after all.

But if the person in question was a little girl that barely seemed ten years old, that was a different story.

“Hey, little girl. This isn’t a place for kids.”
“What the hell, which dumbass moron told their daughter this place? Even so, don’t bring your daughter here!”
“Yeah, for people like us with fuck-all lives, pure little children are way too scary.”
“Oioi, chase her out, chase her out!”

Even as countless people, especially those with one hell of a mug and scowl all glared at her, the little girl still shamelessly moved her short legs forward.

“Kiddo, this isn’t a place to come at your age.”
“Yep yep. Good children shouldn’t be in this place.”
“It’s a cute little kid, isn’t it? Want a drink with oppa here?”
“Wait a second, who was the last one? Report him to the imperial soldiers.”

Looking at the men that were approaching one by one, the little girl finally began to scowl.

And to the first sacrifice who tried to put his hand on her.

“Aruspecial, lolicon destruction punch☆”
“Kweeeeeekk!”

She clocked his chin with a perfect shoryuken, and at this clean strike the man’s eyes rolled back and he fell to the ground.

“Wh, what?”
“Did he just go down with a single hit from a kid?”
“Hang on! Isn’t that the high-ranking mercenary Pellet! He can go toe to toe with knights as well, can’t he?”

Even as they murmured amongst themselves, the girl thought it was a pity that no more of them approached her.

‘Hiing… at times like this they need to go all how dare you to my comrades! And all rush me so I can have even more fun!’

But she was here for something else today.

If she just did this job right, then her owner said that he could create an even more exciting and fun academy life for her next year.

And so regathering herself, the girl pulled a barstool in front of the tavern’s owner who was cleaning glasses and sat herself onto it with lithe movements.

“No matter how screwed over our establishment is, I still have no intentions of selling booze to minors?”
“Haang, I was never gunna drink in th’ first place! And since when did we care f’ things like dat? Ya sirrius?”

As she said that, the little girl pulled out a jingling pouch from her pocket and tossed it the owner’s way with a smile.

“Five thousand gold on Yugrasia. Piss off if ya gonna wimp out.”

Betting odds of 12:1.

In this gamble that all the veteran gamblers said was impossible to win.

Only the master of this silver girl, guaranteed victory.