Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Vol. 03: Endurance by Yoshiki Tanaka

Author:Yoshiki Tanaka
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: VIZ Media, LLC (HAIKASORU)
Published: 1984-04-30T00:00:00+00:00

IV

“I can’t vouch for every word and every syllable,” Yang replied, “but I certainly did say something along those lines.”

If there were witnesses, there was no point in denying it. But most of all, Yang didn’t believe he had said anything wrong. It wasn’t like he was always right about everything, but what he had said that day—that had been right on target. If the state were to fall, they could start over and build it back up again. There were plenty of nations that had fallen for a time only to be rebuilt. Of course, far more had fallen never to rise again, but that was because they had already exhausted their roles in history, become corrupt, grown weak in their old age, and lost the value of their continued existence. The death of a nation was tragic in most cases to be sure, but the reason was because of the large amount of blood spilled in the process. What was worse was how that tragedy would turn into the gravest of comedies as many people laid down their lives sure in the belief that they could save an unworthy nation from its inevitable doom—and then with their sacrifices accomplish absolutely nothing. States unworthy of their own existence, jealous of people who did deserve to live, took as many with them as they could in the moment they were cast into hell. Sometimes, the supreme authorities of those nations even lived out their lives in luxury as aristocrats of the enemy nation, forgetting all about the countless war dead who had been crying out their names as they fell on the battlefield. Yang wondered: throughout history, how many of those who were ultimately responsible for wars had actually died on the front lines?

Personal liberty and individual rights—those were the words Yang had spoken to the soldiers. Should he have maybe added “life” to that? But when Yang thought about all he had done up till then and all he was likely to do in the future, he knew there was no way he could have spoken that word. Just what in blazes do you think you’re even doing! There have got to be all kinds of things to do out there that matter more than ordering murder and destruction on the battlefield.

“Don’t you think you made a rather indiscreet comment?” a grating voice was saying.

During his days at Officers’ Academy, there had been instructors whose eyes would light up at the sight of a student making a mistake. This guy sounded just like them: a voice like a cat licking his chops in ecstasy.

“Huh? How so?”

The Defense Committee chair, perhaps growing uncomfortable due to Yang’s failure to roll over for them, allowed a stern edge to creep into his voice. “You’re a soldier with a duty to protect your nation. Young as you are, you wear the title of admiral. You command a military force with numbers equivalent to the population of a large city. So how is it

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