Chapter 88: The End and The Beginning Part 5
When Ruben and the other members reached the battlefield, they saw the soldiers were fighting against monsters. Although the soldiers had experienced doing expedition in Baruda, it was obvious that their physical strength had reached the limit. The battle against these monsters had reached stalemate.
“The coup has just ended in Magenda and their new leader has declared surrender. All that remains is to clean up this mess,” Emperor Gaius Regend Ank Roseberry explained to them. He was the mastermind who had summoned Ruben to this place. He looked at the group of students who were keeping silent. “It’s great that you managed to come here before everything is over.”
Ruben looked at the stalemate situation on the battlefield and suspiciously replied, “It doesn’t look like it’s going to be over soon.”
There were still many monsters left. It seemed it would take some time to finish this battle.
Gaius didn’t seem anxious. He calmly said, “No problem. That person will be here soon.” Behind him, the military strategist who were giving instruction looked nervous but didn’t seem worried.
Ruben: “That person…?”
“Someone you all know very well.” Gaius answered while keeping his eyes on the battlefield. Then he noticed something and said, “Look carefully. Otherwise, you might lose track.” He ignored the confused look on Ruben’s face and pointed to a certain direction.
Flame, water, wind, earth— all sorts of magic were flying around the battlefield with deformed terrain. And beyond the chaotic scene, they could see a vivid blue flag swayed in the wind.
“To all Shian Imperial Army! The Emperor of Magenda is already dead! – The earlier we clear up this mess, the sooner we can go back home!!”
When they followed Gaius’ line of sight, they saw a soldier with petite figure holding a huge flag. The female voice emitted from the loudspeaker sounded familiar.
“—The voice just now…” Folia said with rounded eyes.
The other members had the same reaction and were stunned. How could it be? Did I hear wrong? was written on their faces.
The female soldier held the blue flag with both hands and thrusted it into the ground. This land used to belong to Magenda. The soldiers of Shian Imperial Army watched the flag swayed in the strong wind. All soldiers who had fought in this battlefield could recognize the voice of the valiant girl.
“It’s Leader!”
“It’s Wolf Fang! Wolf Fang is back!!”
The men were bustling with excitement when they realized who it was. She had announced the end of the battle. Their joy was immeasurable with her encouraging words. For them, Wolf Fang was a like a sign for an ending. She would always personally jump into danger to protect others in order to end the battle as soon as possible. It was the moment when the light finally shined on this endless battle. Everyone was yelling excitedly. This battle was about to end. Their eyes were burning with flame.
Ruben and the others were getting goosebumps from their burning passion. They tried very hard to understand what was happening at this moment. However, their thoughts couldn’t keep up, so they turned to Gaius for an answer.
“Razé Orphan, our Wolf Fang— as long as she is here in Shian, we will never lose any battle.” Gaius explanation left them speechless.
“… Razé Orphan…?” It was the first time Adis called her real name.
They knew the reason that had caused this war. They had read the information from the newspapers about where the battle took place and the details of the battle situation. However, this information felt like a story that happened in a world different from theirs. It was nothing more than somebody else’s business.
But now, that reality was rushing through their mind.
Carna put a hand on her mouth and muttered to herself, “Razé is a soldier? And she is the Wolf Fang…?” She realized Razé had been watching over her all this while to protect her. And it was because Razé was a soldier. Maybe Razé had also been putting effort for other matters but she was just not aware of it.
Razé was able to use high-level magic; she was very good at combat; she was acquainted with Sesemann. Everything made senses when they knew that she was a soldier.
“Did I hurt her feeling unknowingly—?” Folia spoke in a scarcely audible voice. She recalled the words she had said to Razé without realizing that she was someone who had been putting her life on the line for her job. At that time, Folia had forced her opinion onto Razé without even thinking about how she felt when she pointed her knife at her companion. Her ideal thoughts must have sounded unrealistic in Razé’s world.
“You don’t have to blame yourself. We are the one who had decided to keep her identity a secret. Orphan is a professional spy. It’s only normal that all of you weren’t aware about this matter.”
Even after hearing Gaius’ words, they were still unable to convince themselves that it was something that couldn’t be helped.
“Since when was it? How long has she been in the military?” Adis sounded agitated, unlike his usual composed character. But Gaius was not offended by his attitude. After all, Adis had been Ruben’s friend since they were small.
Gaius: “I heard that Sesemann picked up Orphan after she lost her family in the previous battle. I think she has been in the military for nearly a decade. She’s also graduated from the military college.”
The members were at a loss for words when they found out Razé’s past. It was far beyond their imagination after hearing that someone their age had spent more than half of her life for her country.
Gaius: “Razé Granoli has finished her duty. Now she’s Razé Orphan. If you think of her as a friend, then stop regretting about the past. You should take a good look of how brave she is instead.”
As the head of the country, Gaius had made many choices. The Razé that he was seeing was a soldier wielding her power.
On the other side, Razé rushed into the pack of monsters leaving behind the blue flag after she heard the excited yelling noise from her fellow comrades.
“GARGG!!!”
The monsters rushed towards Razé when they noticed she was standing behind them. She instantly confirmed the position of each monster and teleported a knife there. The monsters couldn’t even reach her and dropped to the ground one after another. Her fighting style was very quiet. The people who were watching would only realize that she was fighting the monster after hearing the sound of the monster falling to the ground. That was how the fight looked like.
“Amazing…” Claude said in astonishment. “Her movement is very different from the way she fought with us before.”
Gaius: “The objective is different. She entered the academy to protect the student. There’s no way she’d hurt a student.”
Claude watched her closely as he wondered what kind of training did she had for her to be able to defeat the enemy like that.
Razé repeatedly teleported the knife which had been marked in advance to the enemy’s body in an application that went beyond the scope of movement magic. It seemed like a foul play for someone to be able to stab a weapon in any location they desired. No one could avoid her attack. Shian Imperial Army had taken the upper hand after Razé returned.
“She is the Wolf Fang…” Adis suddenly recalled the thing that Vanessa had told him before. It turned out Wolf Fang was not a fantasy story made up during wartime. It really existed and was very close to him.
He was interested in her because he heard that she was a scholarship student. She was a commoner, but she was smarter than any of her classmates. However, she didn’t look down on the aristocrats.
She was not only good at study; her swordsmanship was impressive too. He thought she would put on airs for being the top student, but she was particularly close with Folia and Carna, and always looked happy when she was with them.
She didn’t care if she was inconvenienced for the two girls. Adis had later found out that Razé had been helping Carna to change her prophecy. Even though she herself was in danger too, she was only worried about other people. In a glance, she seemed like a reliable person but she also like to take dangerous risk. Perhaps because she was the Wolf Fang, she liked to do everything herself without relying on others.
Razé made counterattacks from medium and long distances while eliminating the enemies one by one. After a while, she realized she would be wasting time if she waited for the monsters to attack her, so she directly ran ahead to attack them instead. She needed to kill as many and as soon as possible in order to avoid further casualties.
Adis watched Razé as she fought while protecting her companions that were within her reach regardless of her own situation. This was so typical of the Razé that he knew.
Why am I standing here watching her fighting without being able to do anything?
The emotion that he didn’t aware existed inside of him was getting stronger. When they were at the academy, he assumed he had the ability to protect her to some extent. But he assumed wrong.
Should I join the Knights? Or become a soldier? By the time I reach a certain position, what will she be like? Won’t it be too late?
Adis finally realized that as long as she was the Wolf Fang, it would be meaningless for him to try to protect her with strength like a warrior.
“Then I…” Adis clenched his jaws. All this while, he wanted to be a knight because he thought it would allow him to protect others. Unfortunately, the person that he wanted to protect was so far out of his reach.
Then what should I do?
Adis wondered what would be the best option for him. And he knew the answer right away because it was something he was familiar with. He would choose a path where she didn’t have to fight. He needed to join the political world, just like his father, Welrian, had steered the nation as a Prime Minister.
Adis stared at Razé, who was running around the battlefield that had become much quieter. He knew that she was only a motive, and this decision was for his own good. He chose this career path so that he wouldn’t regret it. And if it led to a future that could help to protect her, then he would be happy to choose this path. She didn’t need to know about it. It would be his turn to protect her, just as she had protected him and the others secretly. There was no hesitation in his silver eyes anymore.
* * *
Wolf Fang – Razé Orphan finally stopped moving about 40 minutes after she landed on the battlefield. By this time, only the soldiers from Shian Imperial Army were still standing.
“Leader!” Her subordinates rushed towards her.
Razé took off her gloves and wiped the blood on her face. “Let’s go back. I’m glad you all survived.”
Finally, everything was over. The men put their arms around each other’s shoulders celebrating their victory after they heard her declaration.
Razé relaxed her shoulders while watching them from afar. She felt relieved for being able to end this fight without further casualties. The long-standing bad relationship with Magenda finally ended here. A new era would be born. She hoped by the time Ruben became the emperor, it would be a better period than now.
“I should go tell Corporal Terrier about our victory…”
When she looked up, she saw the fluttering flag that she had thrusted into the ground. In front of her was a desolated land filled with the unique smell of monster’s blood. A military messenger came to announce the order for them to return. Razé gave a salute to him silently.
She still hadn’t realized that her friends were watching her – the soldier-version of her.
