Chapter 22 - Remember Death (4)
Just leaving the Military Academy and heading out beyond Grimman was an ordeal in itself.
The Founding Declaration Day city parade wasn't just a big event in Grimman—people flocked in from the surrounding towns and across the entire Empire to watch.
For a young cadet, participating in such an event was a tremendous honor and a spectacular sight for onlookers.
"Wow!"
"That's amazing!"
Crowds of people had already gathered in front of the Military Academy, shouting and cheering.
At the very front, Major General Armin rode his horse with a composed expression, not so much as blinking as he calmly led the Academy's soldiers.
Imperial Army troops controlling the roads pressed back the crowds to clear the way.
The cadets held their heads high and marched proudly. For those leaving Grimman for the city parade, this was truly when the parade began. Some of the cadets glanced at the Capital Defense Force officers managing the crowd—more specifically, at their commanders—with looks of open admiration.
The highest honor for a military academy cadet was to be selected for Beowatcher, the Emperor's personal guard.
But since becoming Beowatcher was nearly impossible, most cadets set their sights on joining the Capital Defense Force.
Simply serving in Grimman, the Empire's capital, was already a unique privilege. It meant they could get close to the very seat of imperial power.
Beyond that, serving in the Capital Defense Force meant they wouldn't have to fight on the front lines. In fact, the only time the Capital Defense Force would see combat was if Grimman itself were attacked. And that, they believed, would never happen. The Mihahil Empire had halted its wars of conquest precisely because launching an attack had become so difficult. If the Empire truly decided to go on the defensive, its overwhelming military might was enough for a single legion to repel any and all attacks from neighboring countries.
The Commanders of the Capital Defense Force gave a wide, friendly grin and tipped their helmets slightly to the cadets who were eyeing them with such admiration. The cadets marveled at that relaxed, elegant gesture.
"Hard to believe he got into so much trouble back when he was a cadet..."
"Well, he must have had the skills—that's how he ended up in the Capital Defense Force."
The instructors and disciplinary officers whispered quietly to each other, pointing out which of the Capital Defense Force commanders had once been their own troublesome students.
The truth was, they enjoyed this moment. It was rewarding to see the results of their work.
And this would serve as powerful motivation for the cadets as well. Founding Declaration Day wasn't only important to the Empire—it was a huge day for the cadets, too.
"Hey, I think I'm about to pee my pants."
"If something like that happens, I don't think we can stay friends."
"Ugh, how did I end up in this situation..."
Of course, Robert, whose ambition didn't even reach the level of Bereter's loyalty, and Ernest, whose goal was to join Beowatcher, were exceptions.
The cadets marched in perfect step, and, fortunately, not a single one of them made a mistake as they made their way out of Grimman.
"Let the cadets rest until the city parade begins."
"Yes, sir."
At Armin's order, the cadets were given time to rest before the city parade. But with so many people gathered for this moment, it wasn't possible to simply flop down on the ground. All kinds of high noble families, as well as numerous senior officers and soldiers, were waiting nearby.
Even His Highness the Crown Prince was waiting to lead the parade in place of His Majesty the Emperor—how could mere cadets dare to sit on the ground and rest?
"Can you see him?"
"No, I can't."
"Damn! He's standing right in front of us!"
The cadets craned their necks and stood on tiptoe, doing everything they could to catch a glimpse of His Highness the Crown Prince.
They had seen him before during city parades among the crowds, but never this close.
Security was always airtight against possible assassination attempts on major figures of the Empire.
"Ugh! I feel alive again!"
"Disgusting."
"Hey, there were plenty of other people in the bathroom besides me. If you eat, you obviously have to go—what's so disgusting about that? Eve—"
Robert, just back from using the bathroom the soldiers had worked so hard to set up, started to retort to Ernest's scolding like he always did, but abruptly shut his mouth. Now was definitely not the time to say, 'Even His Majesty the Emperor eats and goes to the bathroom just like everyone else.'
"Wilfried, look, over there—that's Ravid's Flag!"
"Wow!"
Among the cadets excitedly crowding around and pointing at Ravid's Flag, Wilfried simply stared intently at it in silence, his lips pressed tightly together.
"…Yeah, that's my eldest brother. He'll make a brief appearance at the Evening Party, too."
Wilfried spoke with his usual gentle smile. However, his bright blue eyes were burning fiercely like a blaze.
People had gathered in droves from across the Empire for this very day. No one could afford to waste such a precious opportunity. Surrounded by the crowd, voices mingled, secret promises were exchanged. Even though the City Parade hadn't begun yet, the air was already thick with the heat of their burning ambitions.
"Pass it down—we're to get ready."
After some time had passed, the command to prepare was quietly relayed from the front. Ernest and Robert passed the word back, and thanks to that, when the call to get ready for the City Parade echoed through the crowd, every cadet stood sharply in formation, perfectly poised for the march.
"…I think I'm going to throw up."
"Don't."
"What if I do?"
"Then don't."
"But what if I do?"
"I told you, just don't."
Ernest replied distractedly to Robert's mumbling as they waited for the signal to start. At some point, despite the massive crowd, a heavy hush settled that felt almost frightening. All that remained was the sound of the wind, the brush of grass, and the horses.
Vroooom...
Within that sound, the deep, heavy thrum of the Balt Engine could be heard.
During the City Parade, only one person rode in a Balt Automobile: His Highness the Crown Prince, a member of the imperial family.
Only those of the Emperor's blood, the master Baltracher, could enjoy such a privilege.
'They said it would become available to the public, but it still hasn't happened.'
Even in that moment, Ernest found himself pondering the commercialization of the Balt Automobile. With the constant drills since dawn and the chaos swirling around him, his focus had reached its limit.
'Why haven't they made such an excellent machine available yet? Is it on purpose, kept as a privilege for the elite? Or maybe they're reserving it just for military use? Or is there a production issue? No, it's probably more about the supply of Balt Batteries than production itself. The only Balt Batteries available to civilians so far are the small ones for lighting.'
Ernest became absorbed in the endless chain of thoughts.
"Ernest."
But when Robert's quiet voice reached him, Ernest snapped back to his senses. Thanks to that, he was able to move forward without delay.
"Thanks."
"Get your head in the game, you crazy idiot."
As Ernest quietly thanked Robert, Robert—looking like his soul had just escaped him—blurted out a curse. Only Robert knew how terrified he'd been seeing Ernest completely zone out at the most critical moment of the City Parade, after everything they'd practiced so far.
'With Ernest, who knows what kind of ridiculous mess he might cause during the parade!'
Robert decided he had to watch over Ernest with fierce vigilance, just to make sure he didn't do anything insane.
Still, because of all this, Robert figured he might actually make it through the parade without throwing up. With someone next to him who could make an even bigger mess than he could, someone he couldn't just ignore since they'd become friends from their very first day at the Academy, he simply didn't have the mental space to worry too much about his own mistakes.
"Why do I have to look after you? Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?"
"I don't really see a reason why I should look after you, either..."
"Please get it together, Ernest. I'm begging you."
Listening to Robert's desperate plea, Ernest focused on the parade. Soon, it would be their turn to pass through Grimman's Castle Gate.
He could hear cheers rising up in the distance. To Ernest, who was born and raised in Grimman, the City Parade was a familiar thing. So he simply behaved as he'd practiced, without much thought—but the moment he passed through the Castle Gate, he was caught off guard.
Waaaaaaah!
Cheers erupted not just from both sides of the road, but from far down the street as well, and the roar made his head feel like it might explode. Even when he was in the crowd, the cheers had sounded enormous, but actually marching down the street, he couldn't hear anything but the roar—a chaotic tangle of voices all blended together.
Bang!
Some sounds managed to filter through the sea of cheers, though only faintly. It was the crack of the Balt Gun, fired to announce the arrival of His Highness the Crown Prince, who led the City Parade from the very front.
Fortunately, Ernest quickly shook off his confusion and immediately tapped Robert, who looked completely out of it, on the arm to snap him back to his senses. Robert spun around, startled, and said something to Ernest—but whatever it was, Ernest couldn't make out a single word.
This confusion was the same for every first-year cadet experiencing the City Parade for the first time. Robert glanced around, took in the scene, then, while marching onward, gave the next dazed cadet a firm tap to help him snap out of it. This pattern gradually spread among the first-years, so that by the time they were leaving Grimman's Outskirts, everyone was marching with tense, determined steps.
"You… You're actually thinking of looking after someone else, even in a situation like this?"
"Hey, I'm so nervous I think I'm going to be sick."
"Yeah, nice job."
"They said Dad should be somewhere out there."
Ernest and Robert exchanged glances and shouted at each other, but with even their own voices drowned out, there was no way they could hear what the other was saying. Each ended up just babbling whatever came to mind. Soon they all realized this, and exchanged wide, friendly grins.
"Oh, you idiot. If it weren't for me, who else would look after you?"
"Spacing out before it's even begun—real nice job. You half-wit."
It was almost peaceful, not having to hear what the other person was actually saying. They could blurt out whatever they wanted without holding back. A warm, friendly energy hovered between the two boys.
This is driving me crazy.
While Ernest and Robert were releasing some of their nerves by hurling insults at each other, right at the very front of the first-year cadets, Ferdinand, the Flag Bearer, felt the crushing weight of every pair of eyes focused solely on him.
I think I'm about to cramp up.
Ferdinand was so tense, it felt like his hand gripping the flag might seize up at any moment. Still, his face remained as steadfast as stone, and not a single movement betrayed his inner turmoil.
Maybe it would have been better not to do this at all. Damn it, but there was no way I could say no. This is an incredible opportunity—a huge honor! Pull yourself together, Ferdinand Hartmann. If you make a mistake, it's over. Failing the role you've been given would be a disgrace.
Ferdinand clenched his teeth. His strong, squared jaw jutted forward.
While Ferdinand waged his lonely battle at the front, Wilfried was fighting one of his own, even as he stood surrounded by fellow cadets.
"..."
This was a completely different kind of battle from the one the other cadets were fighting. Wilfried had already attended all sorts of official events as the Duke's Son. Since he was five years old.
Wilfried was used to situations like this. Still, that didn't mean he wasn't nervous at all. And yet, right now, he was afraid that his lack of tension would make him slip up.
"…How pathetic can I get…"
Wilfried whispered quietly to himself, hiding behind the noise of the crowd.
The moment he caught a glimpse of his eldest brother's shadow among the people, everything started to feel hopelessly pointless and stupid.
His brother, who had everything simply by being born first.
And himself, who had to struggle desperately to earn even a fraction of the family's support, just because he was born later.
Wilfried knew it was only natural for the firstborn to inherit the family name. But it was almost unbearable.
It wasn't that he craved wealth or power. What he couldn't accept was being denied a chance before he even started, having every opportunity taken away from him.
"…Do I really have the right to complain?"
After brooding for a while, Wilfried asked himself if he even had the right to resent losing out on those opportunities. He glanced around at the crowd, roaring with cheers. The countless people here weren't even allowed to stand anywhere near the starting line at all. Simply because they were commoners.
"..."
Wilfried walked on in silence. He kept his eyes fixed straight ahead, refusing to meet anyone's gaze. It was as if he were paralyzed by fear.
Boom!
At that moment, a massive explosion echoed across the sky.
Every cadet—even everyone participating in the city parade, and the crowds—looked up in shock.
The blue spring sky was illuminated by an even bluer, paler light from the Balt Light, which flashed without fading, bathing everyone beneath it. The wind whipped around, and countless flower petals filled the sky.
"Waaah…"
Enchanted by the surreal spectacle, people lost themselves, their eyes drawn upward.
"They really went all out this year."
"Damn. If they've got power to waste on this…"
"Shh."
The crowd quieted as some of the soldiers in the parade murmured to each other, but nobody paid them any mind.
Boom!
"Ah!"
"Ugh!
"Ugh…!"
"Damn it! What the hell is this?! If they were going to pull something like this, they should've given us some warning!"
When the Balt exploded in the sky again, the Baltrachers grimaced and grumbled in frustration. A few of the Baltracher Cadets, still unskilled at handling the power, even collapsed to the ground, retching violently. Instructors from the Special Training Division rushed to drag them away, but the instructors themselves looked pale as ghosts.
Having trained to manipulate the Balt, the Baltrachers had become highly sensitive to it, so they felt the force of this incredible burst of power in its entirety—as if their brains and guts were being pummeled. For a Baltracher, this was nothing short of a physical assault.
Fwaaaash!
Once again, the Balt Light flashed across the sky—a blue gleam, even brighter than the sky itself. A monumental rush of power.
"..."
As Ernest gazed up at it in a daze, he was suddenly overcome by a strange sensation.
He felt as though he were being sucked into some enormous void. No, it wasn't that he was being pulled in—more like he had leapt in of his own accord. Or maybe it wasn't even that. Perhaps he was being dragged out of the hole, into the open? Or maybe he was being pushed out.
Ernest felt as if something on the other side of that void was calling out to him. From within that pitch-black darkness, a cacophony of voices echoed, wailing and clamoring.
They were countless screams of despair and lamentation.
In that moment, an unfathomable vision flashed before Ernest's eyes.
Countless hands reached out to him from the darkness.
Were they trying to grab hold of him?
Or were they pushing him away?
······
Even amid that darkness and those screams, Ernest thought he heard a very small, faint whisper. The whisper called to him. Ernest listened intently to that sound, gripped by the premonition that, if he truly heard it, something was bound to happen.
Ernest's normally brilliant black eyes lost their shine and grew dim, clouding over with an unfamiliar color.
"Ernest!"
At that moment, Robert's sharp cry jolted Ernest back to himself.
He realized his feet had come to a halt, and he hurried to fall back in line.
Luckily—or perhaps unluckily—so many other cadets had stopped moving too that his mistake didn't draw much attention.
"Get a hold of yourself! Please!"
"Ah, um… Sorry."
"What's going on with you!"
"It's just… well, I, um, I don't really know…"
"Damn it! Honestly, I got distracted, too! It was pretty amazing!"
"…Yeah."
Ernest had no idea why he had stopped or what had distracted him. No matter how preoccupied he was, his quick mind never failed to register what he'd been thinking. But this time, Ernest genuinely couldn't recall what he'd just been doing.
It felt as if time itself had mischievously snatched him away and then dropped him back here.
Even surrounded by this crowd, Ernest felt strangely alone. He glanced around, searching for a familiar face.
Tall and slender, with dark brown hair, black eyes, an inscrutable gaze quietly observing the surroundings with a clenched jaw.
Father.
He found himself looking for his father, even though he knew there was no way his father would be here. Realizing it again brought a fresh wave of disappointment.
Disappointment…
No, it was more accurate to call it emptiness than disappointment.
Ernest couldn't understand why.
The city parade ended successfully. That is, except for the accident caused by the unexpected explosion of the Balt Automobile.
"Don't take what happened today too much to heart. Since it wasn't in the schedule, no one will be able to blame you for it."
After the parade ended and the cadets had returned to the Military Academy, Armin addressed the downcast cadets in a serious voice. Then, as usual, he added in a gentle tone and with a soft expression,
"In fact, my own horse was so startled that it stopped dead in its tracks. How could I blame you?"
Truly, it wasn't just Armin's horse—almost every horse either froze in fright or reared up, narrowly avoiding a major accident. In the midst of this, only the Crown Prince, riding in a Balt Automobile, managed to keep moving forward, looking dignified and unshaken.
The unknowing crowds believed this had all been a performance for Founding Declaration Day, but the politicians saw it as a political move to demonstrate the Emperor's authority and put pressure on the nobles. So no one could really fault the cadets for making a few mistakes. After all, those mistakes were likely exactly what the Emperor had intended.
Armin admitted that he, too, had frozen up. From now on, mentioning today's blunders at the academy would be taboo. By humbling himself, Armin had protected everyone, and all who understood this were deeply moved. After all, it's no small thing for someone high up to lower themselves and shield those beneath them.
"Rest up until the evening party, get yourselves tidied up and ready, understood?"
"Yes!"
With Armin's words, the cadets dispersed. The Founding Declaration Day events weren't over yet. After all, there was still the evening party, wasn't there? It was a gathering for the cadets and their families. In other words, this was where the families of those noble boys—boys who had earned the right to attend the Imperial Military Academy—came together.
This too would become a stage for politics. That mattered a great deal to the cadets as well; if they made a good impression on the high-ranking military officials present, it could help determine their assignments and promotions after graduation.
"Aren't you two going to get ready?"
"Hmm..."
"Why not?"
As the other cadets hurried back to the dormitory, Ernest and Robert trailed along listlessly, prompting some curious glances and questions from their peers.
"Ah... You mean us? We're just the guys who'll get tossed into the party hall with no family, wandering around awkwardly by ourselves until the day's over."
"Oh, right. You're a minor noble, aren't you? I totally forgot."
At Robert's words, another cadet suddenly remembered, looking sheepish.
Robert fit in so well with everyone that they'd forgotten he was a minor noble.
"Yeah, I'm a minor noble."
"But what about you, Krieger?"
"My father's busy..."
"Oh, I see. That's a shame."
"What about me?"
"You're a minor noble, so your family was never going to come anyway. It's not like you were expecting them."
"This is discrimination!"
"Well, it actually is discrimination, so I can't really argue with that."
Leaving Robert, who was being discriminated against for being a minor noble, behind, Ernest trudged along, comforted by the other cadets he'd grown close to.
Damn Founding Declaration Day.
Why did the Emperor have to found the Empire.
Ernest muttered words in his head that would have gotten him executed if he'd said them out loud.
He just wished the party would end quickly so he could get some sleep.