Death's Daughter and the Ebony Blade: Volume 6 [Parts 1 to 7] by Maito Ayamine

Author:Maito Ayamine
Language: eng
Format: epub

VI

Long ago, in the midst of a hopeless battle, one man stood against fifty fierce warriors and single-handedly forced them back. Later, he would inspire awe as the God of the Battlefield, his renown resounding throughout all of Duvedirica.

Now number two in the Royal Army in both name and reality, Senior General Paul von Baltza gazed out over the battlefield, gripped yet again by an inexplicable sense of unease.

Brigadier General Otto Steiner finished running through his orders to his subordinates, then turned to Paul.

“For the past few days you’ve seemed somehow off, my lord. Is something worrying you?”

Paul smiled wryly. Not for nothing had his Otto served as his aide for more than twenty years.

A month had passed since the fighting had begun. The imperial army had not emerged from Kier Fortress, and the battle was proceeding just as the First Allied Legion had hoped. The Second Allied Legion was advancing at a steady pace, and Olivia and the Eighth Legion had engaged the Azure Knights. It was going so smoothly, in fact, it seemed almost preordained. And yet with every passing day, Paul’s unease only grew.

“Please don’t tell me you’re worried about Lieutenant General Olivia?” Otto asked, a little reproachfully. Unusually for him, he was off the mark this time. Paul waved the question aside. Coincidentally, his mention of Olivia’s name reminded Paul of a conversation he had had with her five days before the First Allied Legion marched from Galia Fortress when they met for the first time in a long while.

“Am I allowed to eat this cake, General Paul?”

“Of course, that’s why I have it here. You eat as much as you like. The Man in the Iron Mask isn’t here right now,” he added, winking. Grinning, Olivia immediately speared a piece of cake on her fork, and moments later, she sported a full white beard of frosting. Paul patted her on the head.

“I know it’s too late for this now, my child,” he said, “but I’m sorry you had to get mixed up in this adults’ quarrel.”

Olivia stopped mindlessly shoveling cake into her mouth and looked up at him, her ebony eyes, more beautiful than jewels, blinking at him in puzzlement.

“Why are you apologizing? I volunteered to enlist.”

“The truth is, Lieutenant General, I was opposed to it.”

Olivia looked at him for a moment. “Because I’m a child?” she asked.

“That’s right. Like I said, this is an adults’ quarrel, and there’s nothing more shameful than dragging a child into that. Otto pushed for it, yes, but in the end, it was I who approved it.”

“But way back in the olden days, I forget the name of the book, but it said that people came of age at thirteen and fought in wars.”

“That’s right. Back in the age of unending war, it was so. Those days were too unforgiving to distinguish between adult and child. Only even then, it was only boys who went off to war at thirteen. Women rarely rode into battle, if ever. I’m sure those people would be shocked to see how we live today.

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