第４６９堀：姫と脳筋の行方 (Part1)
Chapter 469: The Princess and the Muscle-Brain’s Destination
Side: Uesugi Terutora & Bitz
"Damn it!! Let me go!! You cowards!!"
There was an idiot shouting that right next to me.
*Sigh.* Is this really the figure of the man they call the God of Swords around these parts?
Drowning in his own power, drowning in his nation, and having reached the point where he can no longer gauge his opponent—this is the natural conclusion.
Well, such stories are common in this warring era, but it’s infuriating to see someone so pathetic.
『But we cannot simply cut him down. If we don’t persuade him, won’t we be executed as well?』
Indeed. You’ve finally understood.
『You’ve explained it to me enough times. I will pretend to submit, and this time, I will surely take back Ranks.』
I doubt it will go that smoothly. Originally, the rebellion was only successful because of your own poor management.
『Guh!! But this time, I will succeed. After all, Terutora, I have you.』
Hmm.
So, you want me to help you become the master of a nation and a castle once again?
It’s not a bad feeling to be relied upon, I suppose.
『Then you will cooperate with me, won’t you?』
Well, that’s another matter. What you aim for and what I aim for are not necessarily the same. I worry whether you can look at reality and set the same goals.
『What do you mean by that?』
You know too little. Or rather, you of the old royal faction do.
Perhaps it is my duty, since I am borrowing your body, to teach you such things. If I don’t, there is no doubt we will be wiped out by those people.
I never expected them to suppress Shuten-doji. Until the time comes—no, if possible, that man is not someone we should make an enemy of.
『I don’t understand what you are saying. Could you explain more concretely?』
It means that your destruction was inevitable.
You oppressed the people you were meant to protect, treated the hero—a champion—with disdain, and used that as leverage to make unreasonable demands of other nations.
If you think about it for a moment, you should understand. How much resentment do you think you bought?
『……』
I will take that silence as understanding.
Well, that is progress. In the past, you wouldn’t have even understood that; you would have thought it natural for others to obey you, and you wouldn’t have even listened to this conversation.
So, this journey has had some meaning after all.
『……Are you saying that we were wrong?』
I won’t say everything was wrong, but looking at the results, you were wrong beyond the margin of tolerance, which is why you are in this position now.
Those who stand above others must, to some extent, choose something and discard something.
That does not mean choosing the path where you can live comfortably.
No, everyone chooses how they live. No matter how painful it is, they choose it believing it will lead to the future.
『But even if we try our best with a heart-wrenching effort, it doesn’t mean we will get results……』
That is also natural. If results followed just because you tried hard, no one would be unhappy.
However, that does not mean you are allowed to look away from reality.
In the first place, those who stand above others do so only because of the support of the people.
There is no such thing as a lord without subjects or subordinates.
I hate to put it this way, but it is the people who produce taxes, crops, and labor.
That is precisely why, to protect and maintain these assets, those who stand above must protect, govern, and cherish the people.
It is not merely to satisfy one’s own desires.
If they are only oppressed, they will not know why they are serving a lord. It is only natural that they would turn their backs on you.
『……If the royalty and nobility do that, it sounds like they are serving the people.』
That mindset is the problem.
It is not "serving"; it is the natural way of being to maintain a country. I told you that you perished because you could not understand that.
And the problem is whether you, who are beginning to understand that, can still harbor the same ambitions as before.
『Th-that’s not true!! I will absolutely take back Ranks!!』
Indeed. That spirit is commendable.
Regardless, there is no future unless we persuade the idiot next to us.
『……Why is Lord Nogosh shouting so much?』
To him, it happened in an instant. He is a man who has worked hard in his own way until now. He probably cannot admit defeat so easily.
If he admits defeat, he would have to renounce the name of the God of Swords.
In that sense, he is the same as you. He cannot see the essence of things.
There is no future for those who cling to the past.
『Then, how will you persuade him?』
We will stop for now. They have left their seats, and they are likely going to call for other personnel. We can persuade him along with them.
Well, there is almost no need to worry about being cut down.
『Why is that?』
If they intended to kill us, our heads would have rolled together at the execution grounds back then. They have other goals. I don’t know the details, though.
In the first place, what was that monster that stepped on our heads and immobilized us at the end? They called him Yuki.
Isn’t that young man the top of Ranks? Why was that monster giving the orders at the end?
『……That man is the Dungeon Master of Weed. Despite quickly forming an alliance and overwhelming other gods, he is a strange man who says he does it for the sake of the people and tries to negotiate peace instead of attacking outward. Well, on the surface, a princess named Seraria is the leader.』
I see. The collaborator of Ranks you mentioned.
It is only natural to lose when facing him.
But as you said, I didn’t feel that much evil intent from him.
『What are you saying? You called him a monster, didn’t you?』
Hm? Ah, I don’t mean a monster in the sense of a demon or a fiend.
He is perfected to an absurd degree. He is a monster in that sense.
『Perfected?』
Indeed. All humans have some strengths and weaknesses.
But he seems to have extremely few of those. It’s just a gut feeling, though.
He is not someone you should normally make an opponent of.
Like Kamiizumi Nobutsuna, he easily leaps over the laws of the world, yet he doesn’t just do what he wants; he remains in the world. As if it were the most natural thing.
『……I don’t really understand.』
……My apologies. This is difficult to put into words.
It’s just that his way of existing is strange. That’s all I can say.
Well, you should try to get along with him and investigate him.
Without knowing that monster, reclaiming Ranks is a dream within a dream.
Actually, if you ask me to lend you my hand without investigating that monster, I won’t do it.
Fighting is something you do because you can win, not to lose.
It is fine to fight to the end with one’s final pride, but this is not that kind of situation.
『……For now, I understand that the man named Yuki is dangerous. Oh, it seems they have returned.』
While I was talking to Bitz, the young man who had left returned with two women.
They were Nonoa, who was with us on the road, and that corpse doll called Comet.
『Corpse…… what does that mean?』
Hm? Ah, that is……
Just as I was about to explain, it happened.
"Oh!! You were safe!! Nono……"
Nonoa delivered a clean kick to the head of Nogosh, who was shouting that.
*CRACK!!*
The chair tipped over, and a pleasant sound echoed through the room.