By the time they noticed him, Souma Kazuya was standing around twenty meters
away from them. There were four dolls of the same design as the one that had
protected Carla floating around him in midair. It was a large-sized Little Musashibo
doll that had protected Carla, while the ones deployed around Souma were mediumsized.
"You idiot! What are you doing out here?!" Carla landed next to Souma and
scolded him.
Souma shrugged and said, "This guy's the only one left. Our allies will gather here
soon enough. So I decided, rather than wait back in camp, I'd kill time out here
fighting alongside you."
"If you die, Liscia will be sad, and you know that!" she screamed.
"Yeah. That's why I came here," he said. "To live. It's better if we concentrate our
power. Rather than both of us fighting him alone, the odds of us surviving are better
if we cooperate from the beginning."
With that said, Souma swung his arm out in front of him. When he did, two of the
medium-sized Little Musashibo dolls that were carrying crossbows fired at Gaius.
The bolts shot straight at Gaius, but Gaius kicked the large Little Musashibo doll
that had been in his way to the ground and cut the two bolts out of the air.
This time, it was Souma's turn to be dumbstruck. "You can defend against that?"
"Be careful," Carla cautioned. "That man is very powerful."
With that word of caution, Souma braced himself for what was to come.
"Souma Kazuya!" Gaius howled, a sharp glint in his eye. "I will defeat you and
destroy the kingdom."
"...I hate to break this to you, but I'm pretty sure the kingdom won't be destroyed
even if you do kill me." Despite the fact that Gaius scared him, Souma had a big grin
on his face. "I've gathered talented people. I've laid out a transportation network,
I've reworked the city infrastructure, and I've laid all the groundwork for prosperity.
Even if I were to die, I'm sure someone could take over and run things just fine."
"Then I will erase all of that!" Gaius stretched out his arm. In that instant, a stone
shot at them from the ground.
""I won't let you!"" Souma and Carla shouted in unison.
First, two medium-sized Little Musashibo dolls carrying shields moved up to
block that attack. At the same time, Carla circled around to the side of Gaius and took
a swing at him.
Gaius blocked that attack with his sword, then kicked Carla to get her away from
him and covered his body with his cloak to protect himself from two more arrows
that Souma fired. In this world where magic could be attached to things, even a cloak
was a viable piece of armor.
"Damn. I know he's a king, but he's way too strong..." Souma grumbled.
"He's trained himself very differently from the way you do, I'm sure... Hahh!"
Carla spat fire in Gaius's direction.
"Urkh." Gaius blocked the flames with another swish of his cloak. Then he
launched another stone.
Souma blocked the attack with one of his doll's shields, but he could tell it was
slowly breaking it. At this rate, they weren't even going to buy him time.
...Then, something occurred to Souma.
"Move!" he shouted.
Souma had the fallen large-size Little Musashibo doll stand up and attack Gaius.
Gaius shouted "You pest!" and cut it down, but he'd only cut the top half, so the
large-sized Little Musashibo doll wrapped its arms around Gaius.
"What?!" Gaius shouted.
"Now, Carla! Burn the doll!"
"Huh?! Why..."
"Just do it! Hurry!"
"F-Fine!"
With no clue why she was doing it, Carla spat flames towards the large-sized
Little Musashibo doll. There was a bright flash when the flames touched the doll,
followed by...
Boom!
Gaius was caught in billowing flames and a cloud of black smoke.
It had exploded. Having taken the blast at close range, Gaius was hurled around
ten meters through the air.
When Gaius landed on his back, he was burnt all over.
"What was that?" Carla came closer and asked.
Souma answered her question, relieved that it had worked out. "I keep all sorts of
tools in that doll's wicker basket. I remembered I'd put something like a ceramic ball
packed with gunpowder in there, too. You ignited it and it exploded. After taking an
explosion like that at close range, even Gaius has got to be..."
"...He's moving," said Carla.
Even as he heard Carla, Souma could see for himself, and doubted his own eyes.
Even though he had been engulfed in that explosion, Gaius was getting up. He had
the serious wounds to his entire body that you would expect, but he stumbled
towards the two of them like a zombie.
"I... will destroy... the kingdom... and show them... the spirit of Amidonia..." Gaius
murmured, his eyes unfocused.
Truly, he was like a solid lump of tenacity.
"What a guy..." Carla let the words slip without thinking, and Souma agreed with
her.
Gaius continued to tread forward, fueled by the sole purpose of destroying the
kingdom. Souma felt both fear and reverence towards his tenacity. Then...
Twang, twang, twang, twang!
Gaius's body was riddled with countless arrows. After reorganizing their unit, the
archers had caught up at last and fired a volley towards Gaius.
Gaius stopped in his tracks, his body beginning to shake.
He's going to fall... The moment Souma thought that, Gaius switched the sword he
was carrying to a backhand grip, and, mustering all his remaining strength, he threw
it like a spear.
The sword traced an arc as it flew, stabbing into the ground near Souma's feet.
"...Is this how far your tenacity can reach?" Souma let out those words along with
a sigh of admiration. Then he said to Gaius, even though it wasn't clear he could hear
him anymore, "I have seen the spirit of Amidonia! Long will they tell tales of your
valor! Prince Gaius VIII of Amidonia. I... King Souma of Elfrieden, will not forget the
terror you inspired in me for my entire life!"
When Souma said that, it looked like Gaius smiled a little.
Then Gaius gently tumbled forward, never to rise again.
Souma burned that final vision of him into his memory. Then, he looked down to
the sword at his feet.
"Perhaps I could stand to learn from his single-minded tenacity."
"If you turn out like him, Liscia will cry," Carla, who was standing at his side, said.
"Yeah, I guess she would..."
With those words, Souma walked up next to Gaius's unmoving remains, put his
hands together, and prayed. Unsure what the gesture meant, Carla tilted her head to
the side in confusion.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Everyone becomes a Buddha once they're dead... a god, in other words. It's a
custom from my old world. That's why I'm praying so he can find his way to
Nirvana."
"You're praying for this revenge-obsessed monster?" she asked incredulously.
"That's all the more reason," he said. "You wouldn't want him coming back to
curse me as a ghost because he had regrets in this world, would you?"
"That's a very calculating religion you've got there."
Souma stood up with a laugh, then looked down at his hands and sighed again.
"...This is my first time seeing someone be murdered."
When Souma said that, Carla looked at him incredulously. "What are you saying,
after everything you've done? I'm sure you must have ordered your soldiers to kill
people before this."
"You sure don't hold back, huh..."
As they were arguing, their comrades who had learned of the main camp's crisis
finally arrived. Liscia, Aisha, Ludwin, Halbert, and Kaede reacted with surprise when
they saw Gaius' fallen body.
Liscia rushed over and hugged Souma. "Souma, you fought, too?! Are you okay?
You're not hurt anywhere, are you?"
As Liscia searched all over his body, Souma wore a wry smile. "I'm fine, really.
The two of us managed to handle him somehow until help arrived."
"I see," Liscia said. "...Thanks, Carla. For protecting Souma."
"...It just sort of happened." Carla was too embarrassed to say "I did it for you," so
she turned her head to the side and kept quiet.
While he was watching the two of them, Souma clapped his hands to get their
attention. "Well, things are settled here. Let's go ride into Van."
As he and his companions began moving, he saw Gaius's body being carried
away. From the glimpse he saw of the man's face, he really did seem satisfied.
For you, with your martial prowess... perhaps this was the only path you could
choose, Souma thought. You truly believed that taking revenge on the kingdom would
lead the people of the principality to happiness. I don't want to completely deny that
way of thinking.
In order to avoid ruining the victorious mood, Souma offered his prayers in
silence.
I don't think you were right. But I don't think you were entirely wrong. Even so, now
that I've defeated you, I will move forward...
...to protect Liscia, and all those I consider family.
[MISTERLP]: did you say family? nothing is more important than family.
◇ ◇ ◇
Some hours later, Van, the capital of Amidonia, opened its gates under the
condition that the city's defenders would be spared, that all those who wished to
leave be allowed to depart (they would not be allowed to bring more luggage than
they could carry themselves), and that Gaius's remains be returned. When Souma
brought his entire army into Van, the series of battles that would come to be known
as the One Week War came to a close.
However, it was only the battles that had ended.