92 副官アーサー・ニルバの悔恨
私はガレ帝国の三侯爵家の一つニルバ家の長男として生を受けた。
ガレは実力主義、例え三侯爵家であっても油断し流れを見誤ればすぐに追い落とされる。
皇族ともなればそれは更に苛烈を極める。
皇位継承権を持つ皇族が八人連なる中、私は無難に第1皇子派に落ち着いた。父親である侯爵がその方向で私も異を唱えなかった。第1皇子は私よりも10も年上で、4属性全ての魔力を使いこなし、続く弟妹達を無難にはねつける力を持っているように見えた。
皇族は皇帝以外は全て臣下に下る。血みどろの戦いをした兄弟を厚遇する勝者などおらず、臣下に下った後は国の端のなんの収穫も得られない不毛の土地に追いやられ、死ぬまでの時間を過ごす。
そしてその皇族を担いだ貴族もその運命に準じる。
私は国内の学校で魔力と武術を伸ばし、少年として高位貴族として順調な成長を遂げていた。
私が11歳になったとき、長いこと隣国に留学していたギレン皇子がガレに戻った。
それを見たのは偶然だった。
父侯爵とともに皇宮に第1皇子にご機嫌のお伺いに出かけた帰り、離れへ繋がる通路で、儀式などで見知った顔の二人......宰相閣下と軍の魔法部隊のトップの将軍......が頭を垂れていた。一人の大人にさしかかった少年に。その少年は大人も凍らせるような瞳で二人を見下し、ふと自分の隣の
「父上、一体......?」
「なんということだ......」
右手のひらで口元を覆った父は真っ青になり、冷や汗をダラダラと流した。
その少年、ギレン皇子が我がガレの象徴である南の聖獣、霊鳥様を〈使役〉したと裏が取れたのはその数日後。
聖獣を使役するほどの力、何より聖獣は間違えない。
我が侯爵家は判断を誤ったのだ。
ギレン陛下が皇帝となった。
第1皇子派からギレン皇子派に鞍替えすることはできなかった。あまりに日和見主義だと思われてしまう。ただ。既に副官という立場にありながら第1皇子への参内を控え、少しずつ距離を置き、二人が激突した折には、領地にありもしない紛争を仕立てあげて、領地に戻り、参戦しなかった。当然このような行動は咎められて然るべきものであったが、肝心のギレン陛下は我が家に何の沙汰も下さなかった。
お前になど興味ないとばかりに。
そんな陛下の無関心さを利用して、副官に収まった。
そばに仕えて思うのは......容赦のない強さ。刃向かうものへの慈悲なき処遇。眼を覆いたくなるときもあるが、その度に陛下の顔の傷が目に入る。
陛下を恐れずニコニコと笑って話しかけ、最も距離が近いと思われた弟皇子から受けた致命傷になりえた傷。
陛下の目が凍ってしまったのはしょうがないこと。
我が国を他国から守り、このガレをまとめあげてくれるのであれば、私も陛下をいただいて生きていこう。
陛下がたった一人の女のために、二年の月日をかけてマルシュを手に入れた。
噂ばかりが先行し、どんな美女だと興味津々であったが、みすぼらしい格好をし、髪は修道女のように短い、ただの小さな少女だった。
こんな小娘のせいで面倒な交渉を重ねてきたのかと思うと腹がたち、殺気を当てて嫌味を言ったが、怯えることもなく、淡々と受け答えする。ひょっとして頭が悪いのか?そう思っていると、宰相閣下がやってきて、大慌てで膝をついた。
この場面......私はまた間違えたのか?
「セレ」
陛下が見たこともない柔らかな表情で少女の手を取り去った後、急にうずくまった宰相閣下がふらふらと立ち上がった。
「宰相閣下!」
「はあ、死ぬかと思ったよ」
「アーサー、お前ももう20才、もう少し状況を観察し先の先まで読まぬか?陛下がただの少女にあれほどまで執着するわけがなかろう?」
「セレフィオーネ嬢も我らの霊鳥様の加護を受けているということですか?」
聖獣と人間は1対1だと思っていたのだが......
「......セレフィオーネ嬢のそばにおられるのは我らの南の四天様ではない。西の御方だ」
「っ!」
「あらゆる意味で、セレフィオーネ嬢こそが陛下のお相手なのだよ。ふふ、愉快だ。アーサー、我が国に聖獣が二柱ぞ?素晴らしき光景だった。アーサー、もう少し魔力を鍛えることを勧めるね。サカキは聖獣様が見えている様子。陛下は身分にこだわらぬ。じきに副官奪われるぞ?」
セレフィオーネ嬢は陛下からの寵愛を見せつけることもなく、くたびれた離宮に住まう。たまに打ち合わせで訪れると、魔力操作の特訓の成果が出てきたのか、最近になってようやくぼんやりと聖獣様の輪郭が見えるようになってきた。
光り輝く、我らの霊鳥様と話しながら西の御方の毛並みを梳くセレフィオーネ嬢、神話のような光景だった。自分の見る目のなさに笑った。
そして婚約披露で、エスコートすることになり、彼女を迎えに行くと、清楚な青いドレスを着て、頭には霊鳥様の加護そのものの羽を飾り、憂いを帯びた表情の......宵闇の妖精がそこにいた。
黒目はトランドルの強者の証のはずなのに、何故か寂しげで......
「ホームシックです」
私は目の前の姫がいかに強く、契約者であって、陛下の婚約者であっても、16才、自分よりも4歳も年下であることに気がついた。
私は愚かだ......。
そんな幼き、か弱い姫が、並み居るガレの曲者の目の前で、陛下に絶対の忠誠を誓った。裏切り当然のガレのなか、姫の存在は値千金。
陛下が何故、たった一人、この姫だけを愛するのか?賢い者は理解した。
宰相閣下の戯れには笑えなかったが、私も自然と跪いた。
陛下の指示で姫を我が領の孤児院に案内すると、ありえないスピードでお荷物孤児院を黒字経営の商店もどきに変身させた。子供一人一人に厳しい指導で技術を身につけさせる姿に衝撃を受けた。
ふんわりした貴族令嬢を思い浮かべていた自分を殴り倒したい。ガレに来るまでマルシュで平民として苦労してきたと聞いていたのに、話半分に思っていた。
「アーサー様、この子達の後ろ盾には陛下の副官のアーサー様がいるんだぞって宣伝していい?」
「なぜ?」
「だって巧妙なやり口で子供だからと騙すヤカラが絶対出てくるもん。材料の仕入れとかボラれそうでしょ?あとは侯爵家のイメージでブランド力アップ!」
「違う!何故姫が後ろ盾にならないんだ!?」
「ああ、だって、私、いつまで生きられるかわかんないでしょ?」
わからないのは私だ。最強の陛下の婚約者が何故死を用心する?
「......人間なんて、そんなもんよ。私は明日死ぬかもしれない。アーサー様、私が死んだら、代わりにギレンを守ってくれる?」
姫と、陛下は私よりもずっと死に近いところで生きているのだ......互いに支えあいながら。
「無理です。姫より私は弱いので。姫が死ぬ前に私が死んでます」
「えー!男でしょー!そこは胸張って、任せろって言ってー!」
言えない。今のままでは。
もっともっと強くならなければ。
そして、願わくば陛下の唯一の姫の一の盾に............
92 92 Remorse Of Lieutenant Arthur Nilva
I was born as the eldest son of the Nilva family, one of the three Marquis families of the Galle Empire.
Galle is a meritocracy, even if it is the Three Marquis family.
When it comes to the royal family, it gets even more intense.
With eight royals with the right to inherit the throne, I was safely settled into the First Prince. My father, the Marquis, did not disagree in that direction. The first prince was ten years older than me, used all four magical attributes, and seemed to have the ability to safely repel the following siblings.
The Imperial family descends under the rule of all but the Emperor. There is no winner to treat the brothers who fought a bloody battle, and after falling down, they are relegated to barren land on the edge of the country where no harvest is available, and they spend their time dying.
And the aristocrat who carried the royal family followed that fate.
I developed magic and martial arts at schools in the country, and had grown steadily as a high-ranking nobleman as a boy.
When I was 11, Prince Gillen, who had been studying in a neighboring country for a long time, returned to Galle.
I saw it by accident.
On the way back to the Imperial Palace with the Father and the Marquis, asking the first prince for his mood, on the passage leading to the distance, two people with faces that we knew at the ceremony etc. ... The Prime Minister and the top general of the magical unit of the army ... I was hanging my head. To a boy who is approaching one adult. The boy looked down at them with their freezing eyes, and suddenly touched the space next to him and flew away the cape.
"Father, what the heck ...?"
"I can not believe that......"
His father, whose mouth was covered with his right hand palm, turned pale and sweated cold.
It was only a few days later that the boy, Prince Gillen, was outwitted that he had used a sacred bird, a sacred beast in the south, which is a symbol of our galle.
The power to use sacred beasts, and most importantly, sacred beasts.
Our Marquis made a mistake.
His Majesty Gillen became emperor.
It was not possible to switch from the First Prince to the Giren. It seems too opportunistic. However. Although he was already a deputy secretary, he refrained from entering the First Prince, kept a little distance away, and when the two collided, tailored a dispute that did not exist in the territory and returned to the territory and did not participate in the war . Naturally, such an action was appropriate for being accused, but his heart, Majesty Gillen, did not return to my home.
Just because you are not interested.
Utilizing such indifferentity of His Majesty, he was accommodated as an aide.
I want to serve by my side ... I have unrelenting strength. The merciless treatment of those who are edgy. Sometimes you want to cover your eyes, but each time you see a scar on your Majesty's face.
He was laughing and talking to Nico Nico without fear of His Majesty.
It is unavoidable that His Majesty's eyes have frozen.
If I can protect our country from other countries and put this garbage together, I'll live with His Majesty.
His Majesty obtained Marche for only one woman over two years.
Rumors preceded him, and she was curious about what she was, but she was just a little girl with a shabby look and short hair like a nun.
I was angry that I thought that such puss had repeated troublesome negotiations, and I was hungry and said hatefulness, but she was not scared and answered plainly. Are you possibly sick? With that in mind, the Prime Minister came and fell in a hurry.
This scene ... I made another mistake?
"Celebrity"
After removing the girl's hand with a gentle expression that the Majesty had never seen, the Prime Minister, who crouched suddenly, stood up.
"His Excellency!"
"Yes, I thought I would die."
"Arthur, you're 20 years old, why don't you look a little further and read ahead? Isn't your Majesty so attached to just a girl?"
"Do you mean that Miss Serefione is also protected by our spirit bird?"
I thought that sacred beasts and humans are one to one, but ...
"... It's not our southern four heavens beside Miss Serefione, but the west."
"That!"
"In every way, Miss Serefione is your Majesty's opponent. Huh, it's fun. Arthur, there are two sacred beasts in our country? It was a wonderful sight. Arthur, I recommend a little more magic. Sakaki is seeing the sacred beast. His Majesty is not particular about his status. Will he be robbed of his deputy soon? "
Miss Serefione lives in a tired imperial palace, without showing her grace. Occasionally, I came to a meeting to see if the results of the special training in magical manipulation came out, and recently, the outline of the sacred beast has finally come to be seen.
A shining, mythological sight, Miss Serefione combing the fur of the West while talking to our spirit birds. I laughed at my blindness.
Then, at the wedding, she was escorted. When she picked her up, she wore a neat blue dress, adorned her wings with the spirit bird's blessing, and had a sad expression. Was there.
Black eyes should be proof of the strong of Trandle, but somehow lonely ...
"Homesick"
I realized that the princess in front of me was 16 years old, 4 years younger than myself, no matter how strong, contractor, and Majesty's fiancee.
I'm stupid ...
Such a young, weak princess swears absolute loyalty to His Majesty in front of a skater of galle. The princess is worth a thousand dollars in the betrayal.
Why does His Majesty love only one princess? The wise understood.
I couldn't laugh at the play of the Prime Minister, but I naturally knelt.
He guided the princess to our orphanage under the direction of His Majesty, and turned the luggage orphanage into a profitable shop at an impossible speed. I was shocked to see each child learn the skills with strict guidance.
I want to beat myself thinking of a fluffy aristocratic daughter. I heard that he had struggled as a commoner in Marsh until he arrived at Galle, but thought he was half-talked.
"Mr. Arthur, can I advertise that the backing of these children has His Majesty's aide, Arthur?"
"why?"
"Because there's definitely a yakara that tricks you into thinking you're a child with a clever trick. It looks like you're going to buy materials or you're going to get messed up. Then you're up for the brand with the image of the Marquis!"
"No! Why isn't the princess a backing !?"
"Oh, I don't know how long I can live, right?"
I don't know. Why the Strongest Majesty Fiance Beware of Death?
"... humans are like that. I might die tomorrow. Arthur, if I die, will you protect Gillen instead?"
The princess and His Majesty live much closer to death than I ... while supporting each other.
"I can't. I'm weaker than the princess. I die before the princess dies."
"Eh! He's a man! Chest up there and tell him to leave!"
I can not say. As it is now.
I need to be even stronger.
And hopefully your Majesty's only princess's one shield ............
The Reincarnated Young Lady Aims to Be an Adventurer
転生令嬢は冒険者を志す
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/the-reincarnated-young-lady-aim-to-be-an-adventurer/
Action Adventure Fantasy Romance School Life Shoujo
Adapted to Manga Beast Companions Beautiful Female Lead Child Protagonist Cute Story Doting Older Siblings Doting Parents Female Protagonist Guilds Magic Magic Beasts Monster Tamer Multiple POV Multiple Reincarnated Individuals Ninjas Nobles Older Love Interests Reincarnated in Another World Reincarnation Royalty Sister Complex Strong to Stronger Sword And Magic Sword Wielder Transmigration Villainess Noble Girls
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n2024er/
小田 ヒロ