A Wish to Grab Happiness

Volume 10, Chapter 241: Those who did not open their eyes

Roseau made heavy footsteps while leaving the Lord’s residence, the residence where the ruler of the city lived in.

There was almost no facial expression on his face. Roseau always showed cheerfulness and a smile on his face while in public. By behaving like that, he would easily gain credibility from the people, because on the contrary, a gloomy facial expression would only incite people’s disapproval. Roseau knew that well.

In front of the large gate, the guard raised his right hand and took a salute towards Roseau. Roseau was the citizen’s spokesperson. The guard was also one of the citizens. For the guards, Roseau was a very respectful man.

Roseau put a gentle smile on his previously expressionless face, waved lightly at the guard, and then stepped out of the gate in a dignified manner. It was as if he was the Lord. No one was blaming him for behaving such way.

「How was the ruler? Lord Roseau. 」

A man who followed Roseau like a secretary was waiting in front of the gate. Then, he handed a large cloak to Roseau and murmured in a quiet voice. It was the opposite of Roseau’s high-pitched tone.

Roseau moved his lips and said.

「It’s as expected, of course. 」

Looking back at Philos Trait’s appearance in the office, Roseau said that it was as expected. He even implied that it was obvious, as if it were natural.

She was someone who always tried to walk the right path.

The battle of Sanyo showed her essence. In order for Philos, who was nothing more than an autonomous city, to survive, it was natural to cling to the feet of the mighty Great Holy Church. Her choices, both as ruler and human, were surely correct, including when she used her own private army to show her resolve.

Therefore, Roseau muttered in the back of his chest that if he were to say the opposite, neither he nor the majority of citizens who opposed her actions would be right. Roseau, who was leading the citizens, knew of that fact very well. However, the people of the city could insist they were right despite the efforts of their ruler.

Roseau knew that some of his actions were not right. Much of what was being blown into the People’s Assembly Hall was nothing more than empty words. Moreover, both the Great Holy Church and the Heraldic Order continued to hunt down Philos Trait. Both the enemies and the citizens continued to drive her right beyond the cliffs.

Roseau was sure that such an act was not correct. Believing that, Roseau still continued to walk the path of unrighteousness and injustice.

Next to Roseau, the secretary distorted his face and opened his lips.

「What do you mean? She is deplorable. That white eye will not wake up to reality until we reach our last moment.」

It was a terrible and indignant tone. Roseau’s lips were slightly hardened. This behavior was the current behavior of Philos’ citizens.

…The ruler, Philos Trait, will not wake up to reality until the last moment. She doesn’t know what is right.

Everyone was familiar with the words that were infused at the Assembly Hall. Every time he heard these words, Roseau felt like his flanks were about to collapse.

God had not given him money, status, bloodline, or power, except for one thing. God gave him the talent to make people’s chests rustle, and to inflict flames in their eyes.

Roseau knew that he only had that talent. Many men had been praised and supported by the citizens at the private Assembly Hall, and had been given the status of being spokespeople for the citizens. But those men were not like Roseau.

Roseau touched the beard around his mouth slightly and spoke.

「Tell the citizens. The days of deception are over. 」

That was fine. Even if it was not right, it was still a good call. After all, Roseau hated people who said they were right. Roseau opened his mouth wide again, staring straight into his secretary’s eyes.

—

Dressed in a green military uniform and wearing thin gloves, I kept frowning. I lightly moved my fingers in the air.

In the large tent, only I, Saint Matia and her aide Largud Ann were breathing the heavy air. With only three people, the inside of this tent felt quite wide.

Naturally, my chest became heavier, and I sighed. I looked straight at Ann and said.

「Is it really necessary for me to meet with the ruler of Philos? I think it’s still better to have a scarecrow to stand up.」

I thought to myself whether this was right or wrong. Moreover, I just wanted to end this talk quickly since I didn’t want to breathe the heavy air that stuck inside of this tent.

However, Ann showed an expression that seemed to see through all my thoughts and said the following words.

「Yes, Lord Lugis. There is no such thing as leaving important matters behind. If something like that happens, I might end up cutting off your luxury goods.」

When I heard Ann’s words, I put my slightly floating hips back into the chair. My cheeks quivered unknowingly, resembling ongoing convulsions.

It was useless to escape from these affairs. Ann was in charge of the distribution of goods in this campaign. Her word implied that if I moved freely, I would only get poor hard bread and dirty water from now on. She was threatening me.

I could survive without ale, but it would be fatal if she cut off my chewing tobacco.

By the way, the chewing tobacco that I had kept in my pocket until now was soaked in blood by the strike I had received at the battle of Sanyo. As expected, I didn’t want to taste the bloody chewing tobacco. Therefore, I had no choice but to bow down and try to speak to that petite ruler.

When I gave up my shoulders and stiffened my expression, Ann snorted lightly and smiled beautifully.

Recently, she often had a difficult face in the morning and evening, so watching her smile was weird. It had been a very long time since she smiled that way. Looking at her friendly smile, made me wonder if she was not a person who only repeated calculations in her head every day, so that she could give the heavy goods, mainly military supplies and armor, to the Heraldic army.

I wondered if Matia was also struck by Ann’s smile. She put a thin, ephemeral smile on her face and opened her mouth. Expectations rang a noise in my chest, hoping that she would take my side, even if for a short moment.

「Yes. It said Saint and Hero. We’re partners in this negotiation. And Lugis, I hope you haven’t forgotten. As I have been saying from the other day, you need to have the awareness of being a leader of the Heraldic Order soon.」

And the sound of my chest stopped. Apparently, she was not on my side on this matter.

Saint Matia and I, so it seemed. We were the negotiating partners sought by Philos Trait, the ruler of the autonomous city of Philos.

Would she hang her head or make the city into a graveyard? Faced with the hard choice, Philos Trait chose to take this hand. But, she added that she wouldn’t surrender.

In a sense, of course, the city of Philos still had enough troops to fight against us. There were various circumstances inside and outside, but that was a fact.

And again, none of us could afford to take hard measures from the beginning to the end. In the battle of Sanyo, her troops were injured to the extent that she was not a winner, but the limbs of the Heraldic religion got hurt too. To be honest, we wanted to avoid more losses, and it seemed that Philos wanted to refrain from making unnecessary sacrifices as well. After all, the Great Holy Church was still aiming at this war with too much power.

As a result of the combination of the circumstances of both parties, a forum for negotiations was opened. The number of negotiators was the same from both sides. The place of rendezvous was inside the grand tent of the Heraldic Order.

Honestly, I was wondering if being here would be useful, since Saint Matia and the negotiator Ann were already here. It would have been nice to go to my tent and sleep peacefully.

With that in mind, I leaned over on my chair and closed my eyes. I wondered if my brain couldn’t stand the storms of the last few days, since that was all it took to let go of my consciousness.

For the past few days, as soon as my wounds had healed, Matia and Ann began to force me to study about tactics, future policies and political affairs.

To be honest, I wanted them to spare me. The structure of my brain and their brains was completely different. Good human resources should be in the right place, and I was not a very good human resource.

Thanks to that daily practice, my body was full of life, but my brain was on the verge of collapse due to exhaustion.

My eyelids were extremely heavy. My consciousness was about to go away. If I took only one step further, I would travel to a very comfortable, dream world. I would no longer feel the gap between dreams and reality.

…Lugis. Did you hear what I’ve just said?

Matia’s voice, entangled in the back of my ears, echoed in the tent.