Tales of Leo Attiel ~Portrait of the Headless Prince~

Part 1

Leo was lying spread-eagled in the grass.

The sky was a light purple. First one, then two stars started to twinkle.

Will I die? he thought. Am I going to die?

The sun would soon have set. He had heard that at this time of year, nights were unbelievably cold in the mountains. Leo had not yet experienced winter in these lands.

It had all started with the two brothers, Walter and Jack.

“We’re going out hunting,” Walter had suddenly woken him up early that morning.

“Hurry up and get ready. Everything you guys from Atall do is so slow,” Jack’s shrill voice came next.

Without understanding what was going on, he was made to get dressed, and a bow and arrows were shoved into his hands.

“The wild animals in Allion are way faster than someone like you, and they have keen noses. If you dress up too heavily, they’ll catch the scent.”

With that for an explanation, he was taken outside in thin clothing. Given that the brothers were properly equipped against the cold, it was obvious that this was what they had been aiming for from the start.

Each astride a horse, the three of them had galloped north of the Anglatt family’s manor.

“Listen,” on the way, Walter had sternly lectured him, “I don’t know what it’s like in your country, Atall, but in the Kingdom of Allion, a weakling who can’t bring down a deer can’t inherit his House, and wouldn’t even be recognised as a man in the first place.”

“And, of course, you can’t use a gun. You have to do it with a bow, like a man,” Jack, the younger brother, had followed up. “So in other words, here in Allion, you’re just someone who isn’t even a man yet. You’re already eleven, right? Go on and prove that you’ve inherited that noble blood. I’ll especially let you use this bow. This was specially made for when I killed a boar when I was two years younger than you…”

Leo realised they were lying. It didn’t seem like a very Allion-like custom. Besides, although the two of them were always taking every opportunity to boast about “here in Allion”, they weren’t part of Allion’s royalty or nobility. Leo Attiel, on the other hand, was incontrovertibly the son of the current ruler of the Principality of Atall. But when he had pointed that out –

“Oh, is that right? Is that riiight? Then in that case, can you show us your might, O great lord?” Walter’s lips had curled into a faint, contemptuous smile.

“Yeah, yeah,” Leo remembered how Jack had immediately chimed in.

So he had not protested. He wordlessly followed the two of them into the mountains. After following a river on horseback for an hour, they had tied the horses to trees which had lost all their leaves, and had then climbed on foot for another hour.

“Right, this is the perfect place to hunt,” when Walter came to a halt, Leo was already drenched in sweat ad his breathing was ragged.

Seeing that, Jack sneered. “Men from Atall have no stamina.” However, given that he was three years older than Leo, and that Walter was more than five years older, that was not exactly a fair evaluation.

“There’s a good view from here. We’ll drive the game towards you right away, so you lie and hide in that underbrush.” “Don’t let go of the bow. Keep your breath quiet and lie still.”

“Once the prey comes, kill it in one strike. Like you're hunting the heads of enemy soldiers.”

The two of them spoke in turns before leaving Leo behind. They were soon gone.

Leo lay hidden as he was told. He pulled the bowstring a few times. Although it was quite a bit smaller than the ones adults used to hunt and go to war with, his thin arms couldn’t even draw the bow a third of the way. He was worried that he would not even be able to kill a rabbit with it.

He realised at once though that it was a needless anxiety. He didn’t need to wait half an hour, or even ten minutes. Their two figures had vanished from sight, the sound of their footsteps faded, and afterwards all he could hear was the occasional sound of a branch swaying in the wind and the chirping of birds.

Yeah, I knew it: it was a lie.

There was absolutely no sign that the brothers were driving prey towards him. They had, from the very start, had no intention of going hunting. He was willing to bet that the horses tied fast in the woods – his own included – were already gone.

Even so, Leo continued to lie where he was for a while longer. If he hurried back to the manor, the two brothers from the Anglatt House would feign ignorance.

“Yo, you sure were slow.”

“It’s fine to be engrossed in hunting, but don’t get that caught up.”

While behind his back, they would be sticking their tongues out and jeering behind his back.

Therefore, Leo didn’t move. It didn’t need to be a wild boar or a small deer. If a bird or two could swoop down in front of him… or even just a squirrel that was late hibernating. As long as he went back carrying something, nobody was likely to openly make fun of him.

Oh, but I need to be careful. Florrie loves those birds with the green-tipped feathers. If I come back with a dead one of those, there’ll definitely be a fuss in a different sense.

Leo pictured the sight of that girl who was a year younger than him sobbing and wailing. It was only at that point that his mouth formed into a wry smile. Determined to see things through, he once more turned his gaze forward.

In the end, however, he did not even stay at it another hour. His sweat had long since dried, and the cold wind had instead robbed his body of its heat. Leo stood up and brushed the dirt and grass from his clothes.

“Let’s head back,” he said to no one. Even though going back was entirely his own intention, perhaps he had needed to hear himself say it.

Although he knew that it was pointless, he went back to where the horses had been tied.

Or rather, he tried to go back, but was unable to do so. When they had climbed for almost an hour, they had practically walked in a straight line. He had though that going back would be easy, but no matter how much he walked, only unfamiliar scenery surrounded him.

Weird…

As was to be expected, he got irritated and impatient. He started worrying that he was going down the wrong way, and decided to go back the way he had come. Then, just as he was turning around, his ankle twisted beneath him. Leo’s small body went tumbling down the hill. Stones of all sizes bit into his back and his chest, and branches slashed at his hands and feet.

When he stopped rolling, the evening light washed over his face. He had arrived in a somewhat open space. Leo didn’t move and stayed lying spread-eagled. Or rather, he no longer had the energy to move. The sky he looked up at was almost shockingly vast.

Let’s head back – he thought he was a complete idiot for having said that earlier.

Go back? And where on earth to? The Anglatt manor? To helplessly continue playing his part as a hostage?

Or else, would he wind his way north-east across these mountains until he was treading on the soil of his native country, Atall? At that thought, Leo’s cheeks quivered with laughter. Although, right now, he couldn’t even go back the way he had come!

And to start with, he knew that he wouldn’t be welcomed even if he did go back. He was a hostage. The proof of friendship between the two countries of Atall and Allion – it sounded nice, but basically, this was a reprimand and a punishment against Atall for having defied the powerful Allion.

It had been about two months since Leo had left his native country and set foot in the eastern part of Allion.

A general named Claude Anglatt was to take charge of him. Thanks to his achievements in the previous war, he had only just been made lord of a keep. According to rumour, he was a man who had risen from being a simple soldier, which was rare in Allion’s long history.

From that day forward, the general’s manor became where Leo was to stay. He would live in accordance with Allion’s customs, would eat Allion’s food, and would study Allion’s learning. However, although it had already been two months, Leo had not yet met General Claude. Apparently, he had temporarily been posted in the royal capital, far to the west.

Jack and Walter were the general’s sons. At first, they had been perplexed as to how to treat this noble who had suddenly come from a foreign country. No matter what the era or the circumstances, men were cautious towards those they did not know, exercised mutual restraint, and weighed up which attitude to take. The younger they were, the shorter that period was. The two brothers soon decided which manner to adopt.

Even if he’s a lord, the fact is that he’s a hostage that a weak country presented to out powerful Allion.

And like that, the mood coalesced into one of looking down on Leo.

Leo Attiel was eleven years old. He was too old to be cared for like a little brother, and too young to become a friend. Above all else, his attitude was not endearing. He was always plunged into his own thoughts, alone and with a sour look on his face.

Claude had one other child, the youngest, Florrie. From her, there was none of the caution and restraint between men. She simply innocently rejoiced that “now I have one more big brother.”

In the hall where dinner was being held, she would pay no attention to her mother’s attempts to stop her, instead pulling her chair close to Leo, and badgering him for stories about the Principality of Atall.

Although he didn’t go so far as outright ignoring her, Leo adopted an uninterested attitude. No matter what he was asked, he would answer coldly with something like “Heh, how was it again? I don’t remember,” or “I’ve forgotten. I’ll try and remember next time.”

As Florrie sadly lowered her large eyes, her two brothers almost looked as though they were about to leap from their seats and throw themselves at Leo.

“Leave it at that, Florrie. The prince has only just arrived and he isn’t used to the atmosphere in Allion.”

The mother to Florrie and the boys, Claude’s wife Ellen, held the brothers back at times like these, but when she was not around, such as during his studies or martial training, Leo was made a target of. Near the eastern border was Conscon Temple, and Claude had invited one of the monks to educate his sons, but when Leo failed to answer the monk’s questions, they openly scorned him.

“The barbarians from Atall don’t know a thing.”

During sword practice and barehanded training, he was always hit so brutally that if the instructor didn’t intervene to stop them, he would have been left not just with bruises but probably with broken bones.

On the whole, and right from the start, Leo had not been concentrating on the lessons in Allion’s learning or military arts. He simply needed to live a long life. The value of a hostage lay in their continued existence, and currently had no other worth except as a hostage…

I…

Who would welcome him back if he stepped into his native land, which was so far away from where he was in Allion? Not the soldiers who had been wounded in the war, not the people, not the members of the ruling princely house – nobody would welcome him. Especially not his mother: her gentle features would probably change all at once, she would look at him as though he were an enemy, and her plump lips would hurl out accusations as sharp as arrows.

“No!” In the same way as back then. “He’s only an eight-year-old child. And his health is particularly fragile. If it’s to send to Allion, can’t it just be Leo?”

Still lying stretched out, Leo harshly bit his lip. f𝘳𝚎𝐞we𝐛𝑛𝐨𝘃e𝘭.co𝘮

As the darkness grew deeper, the ground under his back became colder and harder. His own body temperature seemed to be slowly seeping into the soil.

If I’m here when the sun sets…

He would die.

Would the point when his warmth finally disappeared within the earth also be the point when a beast prowling the mountain, now almost barren of prey, would smell the scent of fresh meat and gobble him up completely? The instant he thought of that, Leo felt a strangely pleasant sensation, as though his body had shattered into tiny pieces that were swept away by the early winter winds and flung to every corner of the sky that he had been gazing up at.

He didn’t have anywhere to go back to anyway, and his life didn’t matter to anybody, so it was better to end things that way. He was sure that the general he still hadn’t seen, and that general’s children, would be thrown into a panic. Worthless though Leo’s existence was, he was still supposed to be a guest who had been left in their care by a foreign country. Having struggled to become a general, he would end up in a wretched state. He would be made to take responsibility, and his land and castle would probably be taken from him. Leo smiled. His features were naturally delicate and when he smiled innocently, he looked like a girl.

And in Atall… Just as he was about to imagine what would happen there, his hard-earned and happy delusions were shattered by the echo of horses’ hooves.

He wondered if Walter and Jack had returned for him, but there was the sound of metal clanging. A sword at the waist. Leo didn’t need to see them to guess that whoever it was, they were wearing armour. Probably a soldier serving General Claude. They had come searching for him because he hadn’t been back in so long. The horse gave a light snort and came to a stop. Leo’s eyes turned towards its direction for the first time.

He was immediately startled. An unfamiliar man was staring down at him from horseback. Just as Leo had guessed, he was wearing light armour and a sword. His build was sturdy and large, and his skin was tanned from the sun, giving an impression of weather-beaten leather. His bushy beard probably hadn’t seen a razor in a long time, and above it, his large eyes were glaring.

Part 2

Rather than a soldier, this was a bandit.

No way, Leo thought for an instant. This territory had only just been torn away by Allion and because of that, immediately after being awarded the entire region, General Claude had been busy running around to subjugate it. This land lay deep within the mountains, so there were plenty of bandits and thieves, but Claude had fed them the taste of sword and bullet until they could taste no more. Leo had heard any number of those tales of bravery in the Anglatt house.

Meeting a bandit here in the area of the Anglatt stronghold shouldn’t be… he gazed as though mesmerised at the man on horseback.

“Is your tongue not working, boy?” the man suddenly hurled at him. “I’m looking for someone. A noble lord by the name of Leo Attiel. I’ve been left with the important task of immediately bringing him back to the Anglatt manor, so do you happen to know anything about him, boy?”

“M-Me. I’m Leo Attiel,” Leo answered him. Although he could have pretended not to know, he was overwhelmed by the wild energy flowing from the man. Whereupon –

“Oh, that right? I’ve been rude. I’m here now, so there’s nothing to worry about. Come on,” the man beamed with joy as he jumped down from his horse. His bandit-like features were completely transformed by his friendly smile.

Caught up in it, Leo got up and, with the man’s help, scrambled into the saddle. The man himself once more got his feet in the stirrups, and Leo ended up clinging to him by the waist.

“Well then, off we go.”

It was hard to believe from his appearance, but he really was a soldier in the employ of the Anglatt House. He seemed to be familiar with their surroundings, and handled the reins to guide his horse without any hesitation.

They continued in silence for a while. It was only when they could hear the murmur of the river that the man unexpectedly started speaking.

“You’ve got guts. The locals would find it unbelievable for a child to go to spend a night alone in the mountains at this time of year.”

“It’s not like I wanted to do it.”

“Oh? But when I found you, you seemed relatively calm.”

“I figured that instead of wandering about without knowing where I was going, there was a better chance of people coming to rescue me without getting lost if I didn’t move.”

“I see. Just what you’d expect from a son of Atall’s ruling family. …Is what I wish I could say, but the way I see it, it was a little different. You were looking up at the sky, smiling like a monk who had finally reached their holy land after a journey of martyrdom. Were you intending to die?”

Leo kept silent. After a while, the bandit-like man changed his question.

“For me, no matter how old I get or how many battlefields I’ve been on, death is just scary. How about you, aren’t you afraid to die?”

“I’m not afraid.”

Their surroundings had gotten darker. Because of the trees crowded around them, the evening light could not filter through. To their right, the sound of the river was growing louder.

The man gave a small snort.

“Those words would be heartening on a battlefield, but here, you’re in the middle of the mountains of a foreign country. If a prince of Atall gets eaten by a wild beast after being left to freeze to death, a great many people will grieve.”

“Who’d grieve if I died,” atop the horse, Leo let out a small chuckle. “I have an older brother. And… a younger brother.”

When he said “younger brother”, Leo stopped smiling for a moment, but he quickly gave another chortle. “So neither my parents nor the people who want the princely house to continue would be sad if it’s just me who dies. Even my family name, Attiel, is meaningless to me. The same way that if I die as a person, it would be meaningless to other people.”

At that moment, the horse stood bolt upright. The man had suddenly pulled the reins in tight. Since he had also wrenched his waist aside, Leo’s hands instantly fell away from it, and he fell from the horse’s back. He couldn’t even speak from the pain. He wondered if bandits really had appeared this time and the man was getting ready to fight them, but –

“Then die.”

While Leo was groaning, the man took aim at him.

“I pushed my way into the mountain to come help a young lord of the Attiel House. It wasn’t for some boy without a family name who would even throw away his own life. Who’d go risking their lives for a boy like that? If you want to die, then just go wherever and die.”

“What did you say?”

It was as though fire had come crashing onto Leo’s head. He might be a hostage, but there was no reason for him to be treated that way. He forgot the pain in his back and glared at the man with eyes that were slightly misty with tears. Just then, the man kicked his horse’s flank and took off at a gallop.

“W-Wait.”

Leo ran after the horse’s vanishing rump. The heat that was like a fire in his head continued to produce, one after another, emotions so violent that he himself couldn’t understand them.

“Die, you say? I’m a prince of Atall. I don’t remember having to take orders from you. Get back here!”

“You’re the one who said that names don’t have any meaning. And same for me, I’m not in a position where I need to take orders from a corpse who threw away his own life.”

Leo chased after him, repeatedly telling him to wait. Occasionally, the man would stop his horse.

“And why are you chasing after me? Are you planning on cutting down the insolent?” or “Hey-ho, a corpse is opening its mouth wide and running after me,” he would say, laughing all the while.

Each time, Leo’s face flushed bright red as, struggling and gasping for breath, he sped up and tried to reach the horse’s backside.

“Oh?” the man laughed as he once again halted his horse. “Best not to move. Those bushes to the left just rustled. A bloodthirsty beast with gleaming claws and fangs is aiming for you.”

With a sharp intake of breath, Leo stopped moving. Just as the man had said, the bushes to the left were making rustling noises as they shook. Although he thought that it must be the wind, he couldn’t be sure of it.

The man on horseback drew his sword.

“Nameless boy, want me to act as your backup?”

“Don’t need it,” Leo slowly moved forward while being vigilant of the what was on the left. “G-Give me your sword. I’ll get rid of it myself.”

“You’re a strange boy: didn’t you just say that your life had no value to you? Anyway, I won’t let you use my weapon. Be sure to die like a man.”

The man returned the sword to his waist and once more urged his horse into a canter. Leo was thrown into panic. He was afraid of drawing the beast’s attention by running, but it was even more terrifying to remain where he was. And so, he broke into a run. In other words, at that point, he realised something.

“Wait, waitwaiiit!” he shouted.

For all that it looked like he was burning with anger as he chased after the man, the truth was that Leo was utterly terrified of finding himself alone in this darkness. He looked up at the sky in which the sun was just about to set. In the end, dreaming about dying had been no more than nonsense that he could afford to think because he had been lying comfortably somewhere safe.

Leo hurried. At some point, he had started crying. He wasn’t calling out for the man to wait anymore. He couldn’t talk as he was desperately trying to breathe. The man’s back was gradually getting further and further away. Soon, his figure, which already barely looked human, would be swallowed up by the darkness. The sound of the horse’s hooves was also becoming distant. Leo put all the strength he could into his hands and feet. Right then, a line of red appeared on the other side of the darkness. Illuminated by the light, the figure of the man on horseback once more came into sight. Leo exerted the last of his strength and ran.

They were at the foot of the mountain. The man had already halted his horse, and Leo sank to his knees, looking as though he was clinging to its rump.

He realised what that burning red light was: fires lit by a group of people. Soldiers and servants employed by the Anglatt House, and also as many as a hundred people from the castle town and the surroundings who had probably all been roped in, were milling about at the foot of the mountain, with fires blazing. As soon as one of them noticed the horse, he came hurrying up to it.

“Lord Claude!”

“Whoa,” the man on horseback answered their call and waved his hand.

Leo suddenly had a new reason for gasping.

“The Atallese prince his here,” the man said loudly, pointing to Leo.

The people gathered around in a rumble of voices.

“General, you have only just returned yet we’ve already had to bother you.”

“What’re you saying? We’re the ones’ who’ve troubled you. My sons seem to have gone hunting and caught prey today. How about grilling their catch on the fire and eating it with everyone? Right? Walter, Jack?”

When the man suddenly raised his voice, those gathered together by one side of a fire gave a start. Walter, who had been hidden among the people there, took a step forward.

“I-I’m sorry, Father,” he said quickly, “Although we did go hunting… we couldn’t catch anything.”

“I heard from the servants that you went home real triumphantly considering you were empty-handed.”

“No, that was… er, to save face…”

“Fine. They’ll be some suitable snack if we rummage around the castle. It would be a disgrace to the Anglatt House if there was nothing. Although, there are a lot of people here, huh…”

When the man said that, everyone burst out laughing.

Leo looked up in amazement at his smiling face. The man that he had for a time seen as a bandit had been hailed as “Lord Claude”. Needless to say, he could only be Claude Anglatt: the lord of this territory, the one Leo had been entrusted to, and, of course, Walter, Jack and Florrie’s father.

Claude jumped nimbly from his horse. He grasped Leo’s shoulder in his large hand and stooped forward towards Leo, who could not break free.

“You said that you’d thrown away your family name,” he started to whisper, while pretending to be tying his boot straps. “However you look at it, every human’s name and family name is a gift they received from others at birth. People are free to keep it or abandon it, but it’s still too soon for you. You don’t yet possess power greater than the family name ‘Attiel’.”

He continued in a rush, “Originally, I didn’t have a name. Well, no, I did have one, but nobody knew it, so it’s the same thing. So I made a name for myself and proved my own existence. Compared to that, even if you abandon the name ‘Attiel’, it’s kind of a waste to let you die in obscurity. Until you’ve amassed power equal to it, why don’t you mentally lean on it for a while?”

After said that, he immediately stood straight, turned down a subaltern who was going to take his horse by the bit, and personally walked his mount away. People promptly came up to Leo and wrapped him up in a blanket. It was so warm that he felt like crying.

Led towards it, Leo also walked towards the line of lit fires. He felt that every step took him further away from the early evening sky that he had looked up at from the grass. Further from that moment in which his body and mind had seemed to fuse. Yet it was also for that very reason that Leo Attiel now took shelter by the fire, where the wind from the plain would not chill him.

Part 3

It was clear from the affair on the mountain that Claude Anglatt was adored by the local people. This was a territory which had only just fallen into Allion’s hands, and apparently unexpectedly at that, but this land which lay deep in the mountains had originally been criss-crossed by several national borders, and bands of outlaws had frequently laid waste to its villages. No sooner had he been granted the domain than Claude personally drove the horses forward and led his soldiers to annihilate the outlaw strongholds one after another. Moreover, he had put a network of soldiers and swift horses in place in the villages, and he kept the roads in order so that if anything happened, reinforcements could immediately be dispatched from the castle. He employed scores of locals for those engineering works, and although the wages they received were not high, during the slack season for farmers, the people – and especially the inhabitants of the poorer villages that had little livestock or pastures – were glad to have the money.

Walter and Jack often told Leo tall stories about how “I also rode with Father and drove my spear bang through those bandits,” when they boasted about their father.

After the night when Claude Anglatt had found him in the mountains, Leo Attiel gradually began to change.

For a start, he threw himself into his studies. From back when he had been in Atall, he had never disliked learning. He had a brother who was two years older then him, Branton, who was known for his love of scholarship and who provided an objective for Leo. At seven, he started on the books that his brother had finished reading when he was ten. When his brother was thirteen, he presented his own original analysis on a topic found in old documents; Leo poured over them, and wrote an essay offering a different interpretation from his brother’s when he was ten. He did not show it to anybody, which meant that nobody assessed it and it was no more than for his own self-satisfaction, but he had originally had an extraordinary passion for learning.

He regained it. During class, he spoke up more actively than anyone, he gave more accurate answers than anyone, and when the monk set an assignment, he wrote essays with opinions that no one else would have come up with.

The monk in charge of their education was deeply impressed, and even went so far as to compliment him by saying that “You could already be recommended to Allion’s university right now.”

Walter and Jack did not find this amusing. After the events on the mountain, the brothers had been quiet for a while, but once Leo started standing out, their antagonism flared up once more with the desire to bring him down a peg or two. However, their father, Claude, was often in the fief lately, so they could not openly torment Leo.

Thus it was only during combat training that they could show off their strength. There, the brothers struck Leo even more violently than before. Studies were one thing, but he could not overturn the difference in physical strength and physique simply by becoming a bit more motivated.

Moreover, from back when he had been in Atall, Leo had been poor at martial arts as a whole. He had a slender build, and not much strength. Let alone his older brother, this was the one thing he could not compete in even with boys of his own age. At eleven years old, he himself realised that I’m not cut out for this.

Naturally, Walter and Jack could no longer thoughtlessly designate him as a sparring partner. Allion had a unique form of wrestling called kabat. Opponents stripped naked to the waist and grappled with each other in a circular ring. Victory was obtained by pushing the opponent out of the ring, or by toppling him backwards to the ground. You could jab or kick anywhere beneath the neck except for the crotch. It was a popular competition in Allion, that was both held in large-scale tournaments and often used for hand-to-hand training.

Walter, who was proud of his own strength, easily hurled Leo away. Compared to his brother, Jack gave a somewhat weaker impression, and when the instructor wasn’t looking, he would hit Leo in the face with his shoulder or elbow.

However –

Leo started to take martial arts seriously. He didn’t give up from the start just because he couldn’t win. Even when he was thrown to the side, even when his mouth and nose were filled with blood, he stood back up, kicking himself off the ground.

His energy sometimes created a chance at victory. At the very least, compared to when he had given up right away, he had a better chance of winning. At most, he would come out triumphant in one out of every ten challenges, but as it continued on, the Anglatt brothers could no longer comfortably designate Leo to spar with. Previously, they had easily dealt with him, and had treated him as being beneath contempt, so losing even once in ten thousand times would be embarrassing.

They became afraid that they might even lose in public, and so in the end –

“I don’t want Leo.”

“He’s violent at kabat.”

– They complained with sullen expressions.

Thus, Leo continued to work hard at his studies and at combat, but even though it was true that he had acquired an awareness as a prince of the Principality of Atall, it was not in order to one day get revenge that he was absorbing Allion’s civilian and military knowledge.

In fact, it was the opposite.

“Lean mentally on your family name, ‘Attiel’.” The words that Claude had thrown at him that night had left Leo astounded.

They also implied that there was a possibility for him to live as someone other than an Attiel. Not being an Attiel meant that on that night when he had been thrown into the mountains, he would not have been met by crowds of people and lit fires, and he would not have been wrapped up in a blanket. He would have had no choice but to obtain the fires and the blanket for himself.

Leo was fully aware that was currently impossible for him. In other words –

When I lose my family name, I’ll die.

It was an absolutely terrifying thought but, at the same time, it was also a thought that Leo found extremely pleasant. He only had to decide to throw his life to the four winds, and then, at any time, he could cast himself into the vast horizon. Whenever he thought of it, Leo Attiel felt moved to tears. It was the same as when he had first become aware of ‘death’.

And so, Leo worked hard at his daily training. He was all but in a trance. When he thought about a life other than as an Attiel, he got caught up in dreams. When he was studying, he imagined a future surrounded by countless books and fellow scholars; when he was training, he imagined himself as a soldier, armed with a single spear, standing on the battle front.

However… almost without fail, in those times, a feeling appeared in a specific part of his chest to block his happy daydreams. Those feelings, that were like a stagnant black sludge, were directly related to what had happened just before he had left the Principality of Atall. The warm blood that flowed throughout his body all at once ran so cold that it almost felt like it had coagulated. Leo consciously expelled those feelings from him. That was something which required more hardship and effort than forging his physique or than chasing tiny letters across a page – in other words, it was something that needed its own form of training. 𝒇𝑟𝐞𝐞w𝐞𝑏𝙣𝑜vℯl.co𝑚

There is no field in which daily practice would fail to produce its effect. Little by little, Leo grew better at driving out that sludge. He was able to put more effort into studying and military training. Still, the stagnant sludge did not completely disappear. He was aware of it, and it felt as though, with time, those feelings that had forcefully been torn from him acquired their own face and their own limbs, taking the shape of another Leo Attiel who stared at him intently from afar with emotionless eyes.

I know, it whispered soundlessly to him, I know, I know it well, Leo Attiel. I know you…

Part 4

Time passed.

Leo turned seventeen years old. It had been six whole years since he had been sent over as a hostage from the Principality of Atall. Atallese messengers would occasionally come to visit to check on him, but no permission to return to his home country was ever issued.

These past few years, Allion had rapidly expanded its territory through force of arms. The conflict which had resulted in Leo becoming a hostage was rooted in the ambition for supremacy that the current king of Allion had suddenly started displaying. This, however, also caused rebellions to frequently break out within his domains. Even though troops were sent out at once to put out the fire, what remained of it immediately scattered as small, smouldering embers that were still connected to each other.

Allion needed to be cautious, so that even when he received news around the time of the New Year’s celebrations that his father, the sovereign-prince, was ill and had taken to bed, and although Atall was only a small power, Leo was not allowed to return home even for a short while.

Moreover, at that point in time, new embers were being lit, and they were not unconnected to Leo.

The monk from Conscon Temple who had long been in charge of educating the sons of the Anglatt House suddenly stopped coming to the manor.

Leo heard from people swapping rumours that relations between Allion and the temple had apparently turned sour. Yet he never once imagined that this would bring about a huge transformation in his own fate.

The Anglatt brothers had been restless since the previous evening. A ‘ship’ was coming from the capital, and they intended to go see it.

Walter, the older brother, was coming up to twenty-two, and Jack, the younger, to twenty. Appearance-wise, they looked remarkably mature, but personality-wise, they had not lost their childishness.

The next day,

“My brothers apparently went to the waterfall before the sun had even risen,” Florrie, looking exasperated, informed Leo. “They said that since crowds of people were going to go have a look, they would go early to reserve a good spot. Don’t you think they’ve been a bit too unruly since Master stopped coming?”

Despite what she said, Florrie also seemed to be excited and, after breakfast –

“Leo, shall we go together?” she invited him to go see the ‘ship’.

A few days earlier, an envoy from Atall had arrived with books for Leo, so he had wanted to read them all in one go, but seeing Florrie look so lively, he couldn’t turn her down.

Ten days earlier, Florrie’s beloved horse had broken its leg and had to be put down. Florrie herself was not in the habit of going horseback riding, but she had always loved looking after animals, and she had, in particular, taken care of that mare, that she named “Princess”, since it was born. Florrie hadn’t shed a single tear in front of others. But every morning, when they met, her big eyes were red and swollen. Leo had seen how, in spite of her tell-tale eyes, she had smiled and pretended to be cheerful in front of her family. If it could help lift her spirits even a little, then he would go with her.

“Leo, look! There’re so many people!”

Just as Florrie had said, there were crowds of people on the hill from which you could see the front of the waterfall. Those gathered there were probably not only from the castle town but also from the nearby villages.

The River Bahré, which had once acted as the national border, coursed vigorously downwards and formed a small lake there. With the added sound from the waterfall, the area was already filled with noise. The Anglatt brothers were probably also somewhere in the crowd.

Leo and Florrie stood together some distance away from the end of the line of people.

An improvised pier could be seen on the lake. Amidst the throng of sightseers milling around, it was the only place which was left clear. On the other hand, soldiers armed with spears and guns were positioned on either side of it. The castle lord, Claude Anglatt, would personally greet the messenger who was to alight from the ‘ship’.

“Look, your father’s there.”

“Where’s that, Leo?”

Florrie stood on tiptoe and lightly jumped up and down, but it looked as though she couldn’t see because there were too many people. Leo gave a small laugh.

“Want a piggyback ride?”

“Don’t be silly,” Florrie looked sulky.

At seventeen, Leo had grown very tall and had already overtaken Jack, the second son of the Anglatt House. However, since that was not matched by an increase in width, his lanky appearance gave an impression of frailty. He almost looked as though he might be blown away by a gust from the wind that blew from the waterfall, but as he imposed harsh daily training on himself, his legs were far steadier and sturdier than they seemed.

With that being said, from infancy onwards, he had always had delicate features that could be mistaken for a girl’s, and even though he had a sword strapped at his waist for self-protection, in no way did he look like a military man.

His chestnut-coloured hair that was swaying in the wind was worn long. Apart from around Allion’s capital city, neither the men in this region, nor in Atall had the custom of growing out their hair, and since it looked increasingly feminine, he had more than once wanted to cut it short.

“Oh no, it would be such a waste,” Florrie stopped him every time. “Even the ladies in the capital would be jealous of such soft, fine hair. If you find it bothersome to have to take care of it every morning, then I’ll do it for you.”

True to her word, Florrie came to help every morning. Even if she had to drag him there before he could escape, she led her “brother” in front of the dresser and diligently combed out his hair. From time to time, when it needed it, she ran scissors through it. Occasionally also she would braid it into whatever shape her fancy dictated.

Claude Anglatt was from a line of hunters, but his wife, Ellen, came from a distinguished merchant family. She was also the only follower of Badyne within the family, so she was not pleased to see her daughter act that way.

“Florrie, an unmarried woman shouldn’t touch a man’s body anymore than necessary.”

Despite those admonishments, Florrie, who was usually extraordinarily obedient to her parents for a girl of her age, always became stubborn when it came to Leo. That morning as well, she had hastily braided Leo’s hair, which was now swaying in the wind, even though they had been running short on time before setting out.

The girl who was barely ten years old when Leo had come to Allion would now soon be sixteen. “I have a new big brother” – the child who had called him ‘brother’ ever since their first meeting, when she had welcomed him with an innocent grin, had grown up to be a girl so beautiful that whenever she went out, everyone who met her, regardless of age or gender, would unconsciously stop and smile, and think to themselves, Ah, the young lady from the manor.

Even now, a lot of people were sending glances her way. Even Leo, who, by nature, disliked being exposed to people’s eyes, felt somewhat proud.

“Florrie, are you cold?”

“No, I’m fine. Leo… Ah!” Florrie exclaimed suddenly and pointed to the sky.

The people gathered there all looked up in the same direction and likewise pointed while exclaiming out loud. The ‘ship’ had finally come into sight. This ‘ship’ was not sailing down the river. While everyone, Leo and Florrie included, shaded their eyes to look up, it flew down from the sky.

A dragonstone ship – commonly called an air carrier. By spewing out ether – a legacy from the Magic Dynasty – to repulse the earth’s magnetic force, the ship stayed afloat and, just as its name indicated, it flew in the sky. Since times immemorial, small, single-person airships had been used by messengers and scouts on the battlefield, but the ship which now appeared in the sky had a overall length of over twenty metres, from its curved prow to the end of its line of engines.

Air carrier engineering was said to have accomplished remarkable advances in the past few years, and every country on the continent was now building ships that were able to carry several dozen people.

Even for Leo, a prince of Atall, this was his first time seeing such a large ship, and as for the people of what was aptly known as a backwater area, this was the first time they laid eyes on any kind of air carrier. Everyone, young and old alike, greeted the ship with cheers.

This region had not long been part of Allion’s territory, so there was no landing pad for air carriers. Therefore, when Claude received notice of the its arrival from the capital, he looked into using the lake on the River Bahré.

The ship’s slow descent made the spectators nervous, but it landed successfully on the water, sending up impressive sprays of water as it did so.

While cheers were raining down, a small airship appeared from inside the hold. Since it was the sort that the pilot operated while standing up, the design was very plain, with almost no cladding, and the seat was located directly above the engines. As it was a type of craft designed for when nobles had to travel short distances, this too was a novelty for the populace.

Given that the man aboard had alighted from the airship onto the pier, it seemed that this was the guest Claude had gone to meet. Even from a distance, he seemed young. Probably not yet thirty. Even so, Claude received him with great courtesy.

Apparently, he possessed a small territory close to the capital, while at the same time being a general with troops under his command. His name was Hayden Swift and he was a noble who had been chosen to act as a mediator with Conscon Temple, now that relations with them were breaking down. For that reason, he would be staying a while at Claude’s castle.

Leo narrowed his eyes to get a better look at him.

“I will be singing for him,” said Florrie. It appeared that her father had asked her to entertain at the welcome reception that would be held that night.

“That’s great,” Leo nodded with a smile. Florrie, however, went sulky again.

“It’s not great at all.”

“Why not? Your singing makes people happy, Florrie. I’m sure Lord Hayden will enjoy it too.”

“You’re being mean to me when you say things like that, Leo,” Florrie glared reproachfully at Leo. “I’ve heard that he's closely related to the royal family. The royal palace has tons of orchestras and singers that only perform there. Rumour has it that since our king is especially fond of music, he invited them from Allion, of course, but also from other countries. I’m going to be compared to all those famous singers, so please show some sympathy. He’ll definitely snicker at me for having a weak and shabby singing voice.”

Florrie was a young woman in appearance only, and when she pouted, she looked just the same as when she had been a child.

“You just need to sing as confidently as you always do. If you worry about useless things, your voice will dry up in your throat and you won’t be able to show off even half of your talent,” Leo said soothingly.

That evening, Leo attended the welcome dinner held for Hayden Swift alongside General Claude and his sons. Hayden himself, incidentally, did not bring a single attendant with him.

From up close, Hayden Swift seemed old.

It wasn’t a question of appearance. Far from it: his looks were the sort that probably sent the court ladies at Allion’s royal palace in a flutter, and he was every bit the young nobleman. The air around him, however, was dark. He spoke little, and although Claude talked about a variety of things, Hayden’s attitude did not reveal any interest in any of them. He was the very definition of expressionless and impassive, and in that, he did not seem at all like a young man, but projected instead an air of maturity.

Strangely, that caught Leo’s interest. He himself could not tell if what he felt towards the man was dislike or its exact opposite, sympathy.

Claude’s two sons sensed from Hayden’s manner that he looked down on their upstart father, and so they seemed to have disliked him from the start. Since he was who was, however, they couldn't say anything and morosely continued eating their meal.

As Hayden drank, first one cup of wine, then a second, the sombre expression that clung to his eyes like dirt grew darker. As bad luck would have it, he began at that point to take an interest in Leo.

“Honourable prince of Atall… how long has it been since you came to Allion?”

Although startled by the attention, Leo cleared his throat and answered, “It will soon be six years.”

“Six years… that’s a long time,” Hayden theatrically closed his eyes, as though to experience the six years that Leo had spent there. “I truly would not be able to bear it. I’m sure it would be painful.”

“No… The Anglatt House has received me well. To go as far as calling it painful is…”

“For someone related, even in the furthest degree, to a royal house, being forcefully separated from their native land and family, and being treated like a prisoner… I, for one, simply could not bear it. Or rather, not me myself: my bloodline, that unbroken flow of history that courses through me, could never endure the dishonour.”

“Dishonour… In terms of dishonour, I…”

“Why not go die in battle?”

Receiving that sudden strike, Leo was unable to breathe, as though he was moments away from meeting death. After a short while,

“What… What is it that you mean?”

“Atall and Shazarn had an agreement to set Allion’s territory aflame. Although posterity will surely judge their actions to be those of foolish barbarians unable to think ahead, since they did take action, Atall and Shazarn had both the will and the enthusiasm. So naturally, they must also have had the resolve.”

“Lord Swift,”

Claude was going to intervene between the two of them, but Hayden looked as though he did not hear what anyone else was saying. He continued to observe Leo closely. His gaze was like white flashes of lightning coming from behind rumbling, swirling black clouds.

“Take your enemy’s head, or have you own head taken... A noble should not hold a sword in hand without that resolve. And yet, as soon as they saw that the tide of war was turning against them, Atall easily sent messengers to broker peace. Their words and deeds are as insubstantial as air. That’s right, they’re as light as a whore who opens her legs for money.”

Leo furiously sprang up from his chair. His face was suffused with rage, which was rare for him. Claude’s two sons, who had simultaneously turned to look at him, drew in their breath when they saw his face.

Claude also started to get up. No matter how closely related Hayden was to the royal family, those words had crossed the line. Meanwhile, Hayden Swift, as though feasting on the boy’s rage, fixed his eyes on his face and tilted back his wine cup.

“Why are you getting angry? For the past six years, you’ve been enduring the shame of being a prisoner, haven’t you? The words I just spoke are the self-same words that everyone around you is silently thinking. You can’t tell me you hadn’t noticed.”

“I would like you to take them back,” the voice that came from him didn’t seem to Leo to have passed through his body, but rather to be reverberating from above his head.

“I refuse,” across from him, Hayden’s sneering face was as pallid as though the blood had receded from it, in sharp contrast to Leo’s face, which was flushed blood-red.

Leo started towards Hayden. He didn’t know himself what he intended to do. Or rather, in that moment, he could not grasp the true nature of his own fury.

There was of course no one who would laugh at hearing their birthplace being insulted. Yet Leo was someone who had once thought of abandoning the family name ‘Attiel’. It felt to him as though this time, everything he had secretly dreamed of without telling anyone, everything he had worked hard for, everything that had brought him comfort at that time had all been negated and denied.

It’s hopeless, you’re an Attiel – the stagnant black sludge seemed to whisper to him.

Hayden meanwhile had raised his hand halfway to his waist, and made it clear that he was ready to fight back.

Just as Claude was about to step between the two of them –

“Oh, my… What’s all this commotion about?” Florrie Anglatt, all dressed up, appeared in the hall.

Florrie apologised, saying that it had taken time for her to get ready. But there was no need to hear how her breathing was already uneven, or to see how her cheeks were coloured as red as roses, to realise that she had not readily agreed to sing before the guest. It looked as though her mother had forcefully pushed her forward the whole way until they finally came in.

Regardless, Claude Anglatt was far from blaming his daughter, and, indeed, he looked profoundly relieved as he led her to give her greetings to Hayden.

Hayden Swift politely returned it. Gone was his earlier pallid face, and the maliciousness had, for the time being, also left it. Wearing an expression as though nothing had happened, he even went so far as to say:

“Lord Leo. It seems my words were a little excessive. I am often criticised for making mistakes when I drink. It was just a boorish man’s ridiculously bad habit: won’t you laugh it off?”

Leo had no choice but to back down. He returned to his seat with a sullen expression.

Florrie looked nervous as she gave a bow. She formed a circle with the index and thumb of her right hand, and brought it to the tip of her chin. This was one of the numerous good-luck charms of the believers of Badyne and was said to be effective for taking away nervousness. Florrie’s mother had been brought up in a community which had many Badyne faithful, which was unusual in Allion’s domains. She did not force her religious precepts on her husband and children, nor, for that matter, was she a particularly fervent believer herself. However, since Florrie had been interested in these good-luck charms, the mother had taught many of them to her daughter.

The song started. It was a song of thanks dedicated to the spirits. Belief in spirits thrived in Allion, and not only among the nobles and the royal family. Even the farmers ploughing the soil, or the hunters tracking wild beasts, believed that spirits dwelt in their belongings, so even in run-down taverns on the outskirts of town, drunken, tuneless voices sang similar songs.

In short, it was an ordinary song.

After that, the dinner party peacefully came to an end, yet Claude was tearing his hair out.

That was a strange turn of events.

First of all, quite honestly, Florrie’s song had not been a success. In the past, when Leo had first arrived in their family, Florrie had cheerfully called out to him but, as she grew older, she had developed a shyness of strangers. When guests came, she would often hole up in her own room and refuse to take a step out of it.

Thinking that he needed to do something to remedy this, Claude had brought his daughter out for Hayden’s welcome reception but, predictably, she could not hide her nervousness. In front of her family, with her two brothers whistling and beating time with their hands, she would sing without a care. That evening, however, her naturally rich voice had been shaking, she lost her ease of modulation, and there were even a few times when she hadn’t been able to make a sound.

Florrie had probably also been self-conscious about it since she left the room as soon as she had finished singing. Claude felt sorry for his daughter but, contrary to expectation, Hayden was satisfied with the performance.

Except that was not what had happened.

Apart from when he had been making snide remarks aimed at Leo, Hayden had remained impassive and unimpressed at all times. Yet when Florrie had earnestly been singing, he had gone wide-eyed, his mouth had been hanging open, and he had gazed at her with heated admiration.

In short, he had fallen in love at first sight.

Hayden was already married and his wife, who was of ancient and noble lineage, had borne him two children. Even so, the next day, when he went to see Claude alone in his chambers, he sounded him out.

“How about letting Miss Florrie receive an education at the royal capital?” he said. “Naturally, I will take responsibility for her so that her talent can blossom.”

He did not ask that she be given to him as a concubine. But it was as good as. He intended to place her beside him under the pretext of letting her receive an education then, after she had acquired some polish by serving as an attendant to some influential noble lady at court, he would make her his.

Such was the strange turn of events.

In truth, this was not a bad proposal for Claude. Allion had a long history, and a man like Claude, who had risen from being a simple soldier, was naturally the target of a lot of criticism. He had now been entrusted with a castle, but this was no more than one of the many unimportant fortresses along the border, and naturally, it was a poor territory that produced little.

Moreover, this territory was one that Allion had only just acquired, so it had been left to Claude until the situation within had settled down, but once the rebellions and banditry had been brought under control, and if the border line was fixed in position here, several fortresses would probably be combined into one large territory, and Claude would no longer be needed. It was the same for the family name ‘Anglatt’: when he had received the castle, the name of a famous historical figure had been handed over along with it.

In other words, Claude’s position was still unstable.

Hayden Swift on the other hand was a person who was close to the centre of power. He was descended from a royal bastard, so his title of nobility and his position as a general existed largely in name only, yet even so, his ancestry was a force to be reckoned with. Claude had also heard that he was a close personal friend to the king. It would certainly be no disadvantage to an upstart like Claude to have a connection to the seat of power, and Hayden himself had hinted as much.

He had gone so far as to say: “A man of your ability, Sir Claude, should be in charge of a division of troops at the royal capital.”

Claude’s heart wavered. The upstart that he was had not yet given up on his childlike dream of achieving the kind of success in life that you heard of in legends. He did not plan to end up as no more than the governor of a fortress far from the centre of power.

But… Hayden…

The way he had insulted Leo, or more correctly, Atall, had left a deep impression on Claude. He had also heard several rumours about him in the royal capital. Although it was a fact that he was close to the king, and although it was said that the king was unusually fond of him, there were also plenty of unsavoury stories among those that he had heard. Claude had a commoner’s love for his daughter, and his wish for her happiness outweighed his na?ve dreams of success.

“As a parent, I really don’t know what to do about my daughter, seeing as she is that shy. Even though she is already sixteen, she is just no good at coping with strangers, as I am sure you realised from last night’s song. Your proposal of course fills me with so much delight that I could jump with joy, but would Florrie be able to fit into life at our resplendent royal capital? That is not something that she is ready for yet,” he gave a roundabout refusal.

Hayden Swift extended his stay to continue negotiating.

Even though neither Claude nor Hayden revealed a word about it, Leo and the others started to hear rumours of what was going on.

“You can’t, Father.”

“Of course you can’t.”

Walter and Jack protested vehemently. Although the two brothers sometimes made the gentle Florrie cry when they teased her, they very deeply loved their younger sister.

When Florrie herself heard about it, she flushed bright red and from then on avoided being anywhere near Hayden.

Yet Hayden was irritatingly persistent. Een though Claude did everything he could, choosing his words and attitude so as to not stir up trouble, he realised that Hayden’s passion was continuing to be enflamed. And so, he lied.

“The truth is, my daughter apparently already has someone in her heart, and she cannot bear the thought of going to the capital and being separated from him.”

Even so, Hayden was not going to give up so easily, but as the day of the meeting at Conscon Temple was drawing near, he was reluctantly forced to leave the castle.

On the day of his departure, Claude, his sons and Leo went to see him off. The lake on the Bahré was once again crowded with people. This time, they were there to see the ship take off.

Just as he had at the time of the banquet, Hayden Swift wore an entirely detached expression and, after having courteously given his thanks, he jauntily embarked on the air carrier.

It would be a long time, however, before Leo Attiel would forget the glance that Hayden cast towards him right at the end.

Even though he was smiling, he could not conceal the hatred smouldering in his eyes as he looked at Leo.