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Published at 12th of June 2018 05:59:42 PM


Chapter 21

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“Eins, you were invited too?”

After his punishment was lifted, for the first time in these two months, Lute who was suddenly called by Yui found Eins who seemed to be lost in thoughts on the third floor of the Military Affairs building.

“Ah, Sir Lute. So you were invited in that letter, too. By the way, I’m looking for the Elite Guard Corps Headquarters, which is written in the letter. Do you have an idea where it is?”

“Beats me. I came out just now. For the time being, why not ask the headquarters of the Ministry of Tactics in the first floor?”

When Eins was told so, they headed towards the reception of the Ministry of Tactics, and called out the bespectacled woman in the first floor.

“Excuse me, is the Elite Guard Corps headquarters located at this floor?”

“Good day, Sir Eins! Uhmm, err, the Elite Guard Corps headquarters, is it……just go straight along that corridor, and then turn right upon reaching the end. It is in the innermost room, however…”

The bespectacled woman answered, but for some reason she was trying hard not to match his gaze. Although he felt somewhat strange in that action, Eins began to walk while remembering her directions.

“That’s strange. As a member of the Ministry of Tactics, I often come to this building, but I never thought there was such a room in this place”

While blurting out those words to no one, the two people turned right after reaching the end of the corridor, as instructed by the woman. Then they arrived at something like a storage room.

“…There is only the storage room”

“See? I knew there is no such room in this place……”

While the two were left puzzled, and was about to turn back, suddenly the door of the storage room opened.

“Oh, it’s you two. You’re late”

From the opened door, showed Yui’s face.

“What are you doing inside the storage room, Sir?”

“Hm? Didn’t I say in the letter that we will be meeting here?”

“Here? But it was written here that we will be meeting at the headquarters of the Elite Guard Corps”

“And that headquarters is here. In this room. The Elite Guard Corps Headquarters. I even wrote it beside the door”

Yui pointed to a piece of board as if it was cut off from an old wood leaning casually next to the door. Shifting their gaze in the direction of the fingers as if they are lured by it, the words “Elite Guard Corps Headquarters” written messily was brought to their eyes.

“And to think that I was looking forward to it”

Lute shrugged his shoulders as if giving up, while Eins held unto Yui, as if he could not believe it just yet. 

“You know, sir, even though it has just been named, for the Elite Guard Corps, this room is kind of……”

“Well, it can’t be helped, I guess. We cannot afford to have a nice room for now, and that’s because the Military Affairs building does not have one available. Even I had a hard time securing this room yesterday you know”

As soon as the letter of appointment for the Elite Guard Corps was given to him, Yui began searching for a place for the corps immediately. He went to each of the ministries in the Military Affairs Building, but he was only left with this abandoned storage room, and could only make a temporary headquarters amidst of the musty smell in the room.

“In the meantime, it’s hard to chat while standing, so please come inside. I have borrowed chairs and desks from various departments for the time being. Well, they are mostly broken though……”

Yui said and went inside. After looking at each other, they both gave a sigh then entered the room in turns.

“And so, let’s talk first about why are we gathered here for today”

On the following night after the audience with the king, Eins and Lute were called by Yui to a place which was previously the storage room of the Military Affairs building.

“Yui, you have called Alex too, haven’t you? What about him?”

“Ah, because that fellow is assigned for today’s training, he said he will be late for today” 

At first Yui wanted to consult to the three officers and arrive at an agreement on who will become executives and also regarding the human resources and future affairs. The two have already gathered here and went without any problems in particular, but Alex told him to wait until his daily routine training was over. Although, Yui and Lute didn’t feel anything unusual, as this was a similar situation back from when they are still students.

“Still the same as usual, that guy. Still, now that my house arrest has ended, thinking that it’s now free to go out once in a while, here I am being transferred in this place. And, what does this “Elite Guard Corps” do?”

“For now even I still haven’t completely grasped the whole idea. Ask Princess Elise if you want the exact meaning. For the time being I think it is somewhat a jack-of-all-trades or something like that” 

Lute kept his arms folded and breathed out a sigh, then shut his eyes as he heard Yui’s remarks. After a single moment has passed, the door opened, then stopped in place. 

“Yo! Sorry for being late. Did I slow you guys down?”

Breaking the frozen air was a man with red hair and fox-like eyes, looking sorry as he entered the room. Graduated from the military academy in the fourth place in the same period as Yui and the others, was Alex Hughes from the Ministry of Defense.

Even back then when they were still students, Alex and Lute’s strengths were well known in the campus, and they always competed for the strongest seat with one another. And because of their specialties, they were called Saber Alex and Demon Lute, and their strengths are still being compared today.

“You’re slow, Alex”

“Oh? If it isn’t Lute! Its been a long time since I saw you guys working together. What a twist of events we’re having right now”

“Hmph, I had loaned a debt to this guy. And I only intend to return that debt. No more, no less”

“Heee, interesting. Well, what do we have here? Aren’t you Eins, son of Duke Rhine? And including me in this party……oh, I see”

Alex looked around all the people who were called in order, then nodded as if he was convinced of something.

“Now that Alex has come all the core members are now gathered here. First of all, I’ll say the most important things first. If there is someone here who wants to be the commanding officer of this group, please come forward by all means.  If he does, that person will be inaugurated as our captain immediately!”

Yui stared widely at the three. Eins breathed a sigh, as if disappointed by those words, Lute closed his eyes and didn’t even move a muscle while crossing his arms together, And Alex as if seeing something amusing just gave a smile.

“I know that you don’t want to work, Sir Yui, but this was addressed by His Majesty the King, so please give yourself up”

As Eins persuaded Yui while also admonishing him, Eins opened his mouth, glaring at Yui with contempt.

“Yui, how about seriously thinking about the future? And now that I mentioned it, do you even know how to think seriously?”

“But, I was already dead serious……uhmm, Lute, please make such a scary face. Okay okay……Well then, umm, basically, this organization is formed as a pretext to become the princess bodyguards. Even if Princess Elise has a different goal, the top priority is still to protect the princess first and foremost. And for this, I want to entrust the protection of the princess to Lute”

Yui seriously stared at the eyes of the lute, and seeing no hesitation in his face, he quickly averted his gaze thereafter.

“Is it really fine when I have already failed the last time?”

“In that ambush at Croceon, Even though we have personnel capable of preventing a surprise attack in advance, I do not think there are any personnel capable of defending them when it is already occuring. Even if Lute had failed the last time, I don’t know anybody else other than you...”

Yui, this time, asked without averting his eyes from Lute, who then looked back at him - now with determination in his eyes.

“All right. However, I cannot afford to stick to it all by myself at all times, so naturally, I need subordinates. I’ll try to discuss it with my men for the time being. I cannot guarantee to pull out everyone, but I can give a few names who will definitely come. You hear?”

“Yeah, I heard. If we can pull some names out of each ministries and agencies, we will be able to pass the princess' orders. I'll leave it to you”

Lute, with his eyes still shut, nodded deeply. 

“Next is the administrative part of this Elite Guard Corps. Eins, can I ask you for this?” 

“When you mentioned administrative part, is it about negotiations in between other ministries and agencies, or the management of the budget? Well, either way, if I leave this to you sir you might certainly quit within three days or so. Please leave it to me”

Getting the feeling that he couldn’t leave them to Yui alone, Eins agreed and accepted the role.

“Now then, in order to maintain this organization’s independence, the last one remaining is……”

“A military force, isn’t it?”

Alex responded promptly even bfore Yui finished speaking.

“That’s correct. Can I ask you, Alex?”

“Sure, Yui. I feel like I’m going to see something interesting, so I’ll help you”

Alex said so, having his usual smile on his face.

“For now, let’s think about how far we can reach ourselves with these. Though basically I just assigned you to your own fields of expertise, so you can move according to your own judgement with ease. As for the future and long term plans in each division, let’s discuss them after we have formed the body of the organization, and after we have reached a reasonable scope of influence. With this, the meeting today is adjourned, so shall we go now?”

As Yui declared so, Lute rose from his seat and left the room. Next in turn was Eins, who called unto Yui and said, “I’ll send the carriage” and left, too. Thus, only Alex and Yui were left in the spot.

“What’s the matter, Alex? Is there something you are worrying about?”

“Yui, I know you, and with that I think you have known this already, but this kind of organization will make a lot of pressure in every meaning from the surroundings. Are you prepared for that?”

Vis-à-vis Alex’s question, Yui made an ambiguous expression while hiding his mouth with his right hand, and after a moment in that thinking pose, he then replied. 

"I don’t want to prepare, really. It’s just that I have been driven into a position where I was forced to prepare”

“Yep, That answer is just like you indeed. Well, in my opinion, I think that no one will openly crush this organization, now that it has been made in public. Anyhow, it was established by His Majesty the King himself, and is under the jurisdiction of the first princess. Moreover, with the son of the Archduke of Rhine, no idiot will dare face us in a direct confrontation. The problem is at the back, though”

“No doubt. As long as it involves anything behind the scenes, signboards like these are useless, even they are made personally by a princess or a king”

“True. Therefore I will take care of those. That is because the true nature of the military force is not to fight in front, but to act as a deterrent for those kind of things, isn’t that right?”

To Alex’s words, Yui could only scratch his head, with a mixed expression of pleasure and apology.

“You see, I have no intention to entrust the dirty work to other people”

“But now you are the signboard of this unit. And signboards do not work with their backs. Besides, that job suits you now, Hero Ystats”

“Quit with the hero thing already…… don’t make my hardships even harder”

“What are you talking about?  Didn’t you know I’m also the same as you in that regard? I was also being isolated inside the Ministry of Defense you know? They say I was somewhat difficult to handle or something. That’s why I’m really happy that you called me out”

“Is that so? I’m glad to be of help”

Seeing Alex closing his eyes and smiling even more than usual, Yui felt relieved.

But that relief was instantly blown away by Alex’s following speech.

“And that’s why I’ll tell you the truth. The reason that I’m late today is not because of the training” 

“Then, why the delay?”

Alex hesitated for a moment, but upon choosing the right words carefully, eventually told the contents in his mind.

“Let me warn you first. This information has not been circulated in the upper echelons of the military yet. The truth is, the Imperial Army has crossed our borders and has begun their invasion. As for their target, it is Eltobourgh”

For a moment, Yui wasn’t able to process immediately what has been said to him.

But when those words began to slowly enter his mind, he couldn’t stop the urge and pulled his own hair.





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