"Safe travels, Rest..."
"Lord Rest... please, take care of yourself."
It was only a few days after the war council that Rest made his departure for the north.
The preparation window had been vanishingly small, but Rest was merely part of the Advance Force—a stopgap reinforcement unit meant to hold the line until the main force could finish mobilizing.
With Viola and Primula there to see him off, Rest stepped away from the Count Clover House.
"We truly wanted to go with you, but..."
"We... we can't, can we?"
"No," Rest said, offering a small smile to the two girls and their apologetic expressions. "I need you two to stay here and protect our territory. I'm counting on you."
For this deployment, the only people leaving the Count Clover House were Rest and a handful of guards. As a newly-risen noble, Rest lacked anything resembling a private army. His few remaining soldiers were fully occupied with patrolling the land and monster subjugation; he couldn't afford to send them to a conflict beyond his borders.
Moreover, it would be a disaster if Viola and Primula weren't here to safeguard the estate. He couldn't bring himself to lead them toward a war zone.
(If they were anywhere near the front lines, I’d be too worried to focus. It’s a relief to know they’re safe here.)
"Don't look so worried. I doubt these foreign tribes are any stronger than Subnock. I'll come back without a single scratch, so just look after the mansion for me."
"...Yes, I understand."
"Lord Rest... please, take this."
"What is it?" Rest asked.
Primula held out a small stone that fit easily in his palm. Strange characters had been etched into the surface of the white stone with a blade.
"It's a protection stone that Big Sister and I made together. We both carved words of prayer into it."
"It doesn't have any special magic imbued in it, but... we poured all our feelings into the carving. Please, keep it with you."
It was clearly a lucky charm.
Rest remembered that in Japan, soldiers heading to the front had been given 'thousand-stitch charms' to carry. Even the ancient Sengoku warlords had decorated their helmets with motifs meant to serve as talismans against evil.
In much the same way, stones etched with incantation words served as charms for luck in the fortunes of war in this country.
"Thank you. I'll cherish it."
Rest carefully placed the stone into the small bag that came with it and tucked it securely into his shirt.
"Be careful..."
"Please, be careful..."
"I will. I'm off."
Leaving them with a smile to ease their worries, Rest set out for the battlefield.
Once outside the mansion, he joined the guards who were waiting for him.
"Are you ready to depart, Lord Rest?"
"Yes. Sorry to keep you waiting, Professor Dieble."
Rest’s escort consisted of only five men. Their leader was Dieble, the butler of the Marquis Rosemary House. Instead of his customary butler uniform, he was dressed in practical black travel attire.
"Are you sure about this, Professor Dieble? Coming with me, I mean. Will everything be alright at the Marquis House?"
"It is an order from the Master, so pray, do not concern yourself," Dieble replied with a serene smile.
Assigning Dieble as a guard had been the work of Rest’s father-in-law, Marquis Rosemary. The Marquis likely wanted to provide peace of mind to his daughters, so he had sent his most trusted veteran to act as Rest's protector.
The plan was to rendezvous with the rest of the Advance Force before heading toward the northern border fortress.
"Father-in-law is supposed to follow later, right?"
"Indeed. He will depart for the war zone as soon as the main force is fully prepared."
"That’s heartening... This is my second time going to war, but the nerves are still there. We’re still far from the front, yet my heart is already racing."
Rest had faced life-or-death struggles against monsters countless times, but there was a distinct, heavy tension that came with facing other humans, even if they were from the foreign tribes.
The reality that he would have to kill people on the battlefield made his chest feel tight.
"Do not be ashamed. I feel the same way."
"You too, Professor Dieble? You're joking, surely?"
Dieble was a master mage. He was the very teacher who had instructed Rest in the art of interpersonal combat; he should have been well-accustomed to fighting other humans.
"If you grow so accustomed to the act of killing that you feel nothing, you’ve failed as a human being. We are mages. For the sake of those we protect, we must be prepared to become beasts or demons, but we must never stop feeling the burden of taking a life. Carry both the lives you protect and the lives you must take, and use that weight to move forward."
"...You're a hard taskmaster."
It would be so much easier to simply forget the weight of a human life. By refusing to let him take the easy path, Dieble proved just how demanding a mentor he really was.
"However, do not mistake my words for an excuse to hesitate on the battlefield. You must not waver when the time comes. Strike down your enemies without mercy."
"Truly, you're impossible..."
Kill without hesitation, but don't get used to it; feel the weight of every life, but don't let it slow you down. It was a mass of contradictions, and yet his master expected him to do exactly that.
Rest let out a long, heavy sigh as he boarded the carriage and began his journey toward the battlefield.