When Carla had asked him, Souma had pointed towards the incoming suicide squad.
“That suicide squad is targeting me. Even in the worst scenario, they’ll burn out after they’ve taken my head. It should be easy to wipe them out at that point. So, I have a request. If I fall in this battle, tell Liscia, ‘I give the throne to you.’ Well… It’s my last will.”
“Your last will? Are you joking?”
When she’d asked him that, Souma’s face had taken on a serious expression, and he’d said:
“I’m dead serious. I’m the king, so I have to consider the worst case scenario. I’d feel bad for pushing things off on her with the job only half-done, but, well, if we can just take down Gaius, Van will fall easily enough. If she does what Hakuya tells her from there, everything will be fine.”
After saying that, Souma had smiled.
When she saw him smile… Carla realized she had misunderstood something.
The king was the most powerful person in the country, so she’d thought he could control everything. Looking at things as a warrior who served the king, that was what she had come to see a king as.
That was why Carla had thought Souma had usurped the throne.
She’d thought he had been seduced by that tremendous power, deceiving the kindhearted king Albert into giving it to him, and that he had forced Liscia into an unwanted engagement, trying to use her to cement his power. While she had later found out from Liscia’s letters that she was wrong, she had still harbored those doubts in some corner of her heart. That was why she followed Castor to the bitter end when he chose to die for his friendship with Georg.
Had Souma truly not been seduced by that power and authority? Even as she stood as a prisoner at his side, Carla had been pondering that question.
However… with his words earlier, it had become clear to her.
“Carla, I may be a ‘fake.’”
“After all… If I can’t get into the role of king, I can’t send soldiers off to the battlefield.”
He had to get into the role. That was proof that he was aware he wasn’t a king.
Souma never wanted to be king…
If he’d had a carefree attitude and had been able to ignore the responsibility that came with that power, he might have become king without worrying too much about it. However, for one who understood that responsibility, power was nothing but a burden. Souma was managing to bear that burden by playing a role.
The things she thought he had stolen had in fact been forced onto him by others.
By Sir Albert, the former king, by Liscia, by his vassals, by the people of this country, he’s been forced to bear every kind of burden, Carla thought. When I heard Souma speaking so easily about his own death, I thought he might be feeling sick, but… I was wrong. If there’s something wrong with him, it’s not his body, it’s his mind.
Souma’s mind was slowly being eaten away at by the pressure.
Liscia sensed that. That’s why she’s been trying so earnestly, so gallantly, to support Souma.
Carla realized it now, but it was too late.
It’s too late… Yes, far too late…
She was already a criminal awaiting judgment. Even if she fought for Souma now, nothing would come of it.
Even so, when she saw Souma trying to leave the throne and his last will to Liscia when his own life was in peril, Carla couldn’t simply leave him be. If Souma died here, Liscia would be sad.
My blind stubbornness has already brought Liscia enough grief. I won’t let Liscia be sad anymore!
Carla readied her two swords.
“That is why I will slay you!” she shouted at the general on horseback who was rushing towards the main camp alone.
“What?!” the man screamed.
Carla glided down, throwing her full momentum into a downward swing with the swords in both her hands. She planned to end it in an instant with that surprise attack.
However, the enemy general blocked with two swords of his own. She thought she had caught him off guard, but he must have been a very capable warrior.
Carla bent her body into an V-shape, using her remaining momentum to land a kick on his open torso.
“Urgh…”
The enemy general was thrown from his horse, tumbling across the ground. However, he immediately rose to his feet, readying his sword and glaring towards Carla.
“You… You’re a dragonewt, aren’t you?” he demanded.
“I suppose you must be a well-known general,” she responded. “I am Carla, daughter of Castor Vargas.”
“Castor? Didn’t he rebel against the king?”
“…Yeah. That would be why I’m in this pitiful state,” Carla said, pointing to the slave collar around her neck.
When the enemy general saw it, he roared, “Then step aside! My only target here is to take Souma’s head!”
“Sadly, I can’t let you do that anymore,” she said.
“Isn’t Souma supposed to be your enemy, too?!”
“He was, but he’s also the man my best friend loves. I can’t let you kill him.”
“You make no sense! Very well, then you can die with him!” The enemy general swung at Carla.
Carla crossed her swords to block, but that powerful blow forced her to take a knee.
“What?! Was that really a human’s power?!” she gasped.
To make a dragonewt, far more powerful than a human, take a knee… It was hard to believe that this general was human.
“While you in the kingdom have sat on your laurels, we have polished our magic and martial prowess!” the man shouted.
“…I see. Earth magic, huh.”
As mentioned when reinforcements came from the Dark Elf village, Earth magic manipulated gravity. He must have increased the power of his slash by making the tip of his blade heavier at the moment of impact.
The enemy shouted as he tried to crush Carla. “Our royal family’s long-held wish is to take revenge on Elfrieden! For that, we have polished our fangs and sharpened our claws! I will accomplish the wish of three generations of our royal family here and now!”
“I see… So you’re Gaius, are you?” she asked.
Having discerned the enemy general’s true identity, Carla turned his heavy blade aside with a smooth motion of her right-hand sword, then used her left-hand sword for a diagonal upwards slash. Just when she almost had him, Gaius leapt backwards.
Carla pointed her blade towards Gaius. “If you’re the sovereign prince… shouldn’t you worry about your people before your revenge?”
“Hmph!” Gaius spat. “I would be in a sad state if I let myself think like the weaklings of Elfrieden’s royal family. In the Principality of Amidonia, a king is one who can use his strength of will and arms to keep the people in check!”
“…Right,” said Carla. “When I look at you, Albert starts to look like a great ruler by comparison.”
He may not have been especially good or bad, but Albert’s reign had at least been peaceful. Gaius had started a war because he cared more about his own desire for revenge than how his people lived. She could never accept a man like that as a king.
“I wouldn’t want Souma to become a king like you…” she muttered.
“Hmph, I don’t need my enemies to love me… Hah!” Gaius suddenly shoved his hand to the ground.