Every Morning, My Mirror Saves the World - Chapter 59

The battle at the front suddenly took a decisive turn.

With the Dark Elf Queen’s (boy toy’s) formidable tracking magic, Orc King Kandaru (under pressure from what remained of his dignity) finally left enough clues to reveal his whereabouts. (Self-proclaimed) Supreme Commander of the Alliance Army Juvina issued the order to advance without hesitation. Under the leadership of (the only one taking this seriously) Deputy Commander Lars, (hopelessly lost) Silver Knight Galahad and his (terrified) dragon cleverly (and completely by accident) launched a surprise attack. On a dark and windy night, they stormed the Orc encampment in one fell swoop. The unexpected assault and flawless leadership dealt the domineering, ferocious Orcs their first devastating blow. It was the greatest victory in the history of humanity’s war against the Orcs. (I’ve lived this long and never seen a battle where a pack of morons like these actually managed to win!)

After receiving this letter from the front, Ruiyin carefully deleted everything inside the parentheses, then calmly instructed the clerk to turn the rest of the battle report into an official proclamation and post it throughout the empire.

Almost overnight, the good news spread across the entire continent. People rushed to tell one another and cheered in celebration of the great victory. More good news followed in quick succession. The Alliance Army swept onward, reclaiming nearly all the Sunan Empire’s lost territory. In a matter of months, aside from a small region far off in the Viper Desert, virtually the whole continent had been reunited. Juvina, the youngest genius mage in history and their magnificent prince, had once again achieved victory through his extraordinary intellect and outstanding leadership.

Yet the prince was not the man who drew the most attention during this lightning-fast campaign.

That figure in pitch-black armor, his long black hair merging with the deepest night, his emerald eyes gleaming with the eerie light of a wolf’s. As he wielded the bloodred Sword of Shadow and coldly cut down berserk Orcs, he also conquered the hearts of countless young women.

Deputy Commander of the Alliance Army. The War God’s Envoy. Master of the Sword of Shadow. He bore countless exalted titles, yet always charged into the deadliest fighting at the front. His broad, powerful shoulders seemed capable of holding up the very sky. Again and again he fought bathed in blood; again and again he turned certain disaster into safety. Lars’s name spread through every street and alley alongside news of victory, and in a matter of days he defeated the prince to claim the top spot on the list of “Ten Hottest Men Women Most Want to Be Banged By.”

Supposedly, eighty percent of the votes came with the same explanation: “A knight’s hips have got to be stronger than a mage’s!”

Meanwhile, the heroic Alliance Army was still making its way home, completely unaware of the salacious gossip already setting the imperial capital abuzz. The Dark Elves had swiftly left the force after the fighting ended. Months of war had left the humans exhausted, but with the imperial capital already in sight, even the commanders who ought to have remained the calmest could not contain their excitement.

“Towns! Good food! A comfortable bed! Wash yourselves and wait for Uncle Galahad!” Galahad clenched a fist, tears streaming down his face. The past several months had worn him down considerably. Blue-black stubble covered his gaunt cheeks, and the rugged edge freshly honed by war actually lent him a trace of heart-stopping masculine charm.

“Hmph. Vulgar man.” Vigia, still perched like a ball on Galahad’s shoulder, shot him a contemptuous sidelong glance. “It’s only a bed. What’s so special about that?”

“…Of course you don’t mind! You sleep on top of me every night! Don’t you know you lose control of your transformations in your sleep? Waking up every morning to find a woman in my bed, only to remember she’s a dragon, is going to give me some kind of disorder! Do you understand?!”

Vigia’s entire ball-shaped body flushed scarlet. “Idiot! Shut up! You’re the stupid human man who doesn’t know how to be gentle! Look at Lars—even on campaign, he didn’t forget to bring Ruiyin a present!”

“Oh?” Galahad sneered. “If you want something like that, I can climb down and pick one up for you too.”

Vigia paused, then turned to look at Lars, who had not said a word from the start. His solemn, imposing deputy commander was enthusiastically polishing the object in his hands, a heartbreakingly tender smile on his lips. Noticing her stare, he guardedly stuffed it into his clothes, turned his back to Vigia, and curled around it. Then he looked over his shoulder, green eyes wide. “What are you looking at? This is for Ruiyin. You can’t have it, even if you look!”

“…”

Nobody would want that thing in the first place!

Vigia obediently nestled against Galahad’s shoulder again and rubbed her head ingratiatingly against his cheek. “I don’t need a present… Just keep giving me your monthly suicide-squad salary, okay~~?”

“Why should I keep giving it to you? What happened to your own share?!”

“Huh? Didn’t we spend it last night on [BEEP—] and eat it together? You even said it tasted good.”

“That cost an entire life insurance payout?! QAQ”

“No, silly. It actually cost mine too. You’re so bad at math…”

The long procession moved slowly onward amid the sounds of yet another scuffle. The Thread of Life stretched beneath their feet. Once, they had followed it toward an unknown future. But of those who had crossed the defensive line together, some now returned in glory with the title of hero, while others would remain forever beyond that line, unable to come home even as bones.

Whether in victory or defeat, honor and pain never left war’s side.

Lars rode beside Juvina at the head of the procession. When the dark city walls finally appeared in the distance once more, his breathing—steady and restrained until now—began to falter.

“It’s His Highness! The prince and the others are back! Lord Ruiyin has personally ordered us to open the gates at once!”

At the messenger’s excited shout, the heavy black wooden gates slowly swung open, revealing the restless crowd that had long been waiting behind them.

“Your Highness! Thank you for all you’ve done!”

“Look, that’s Galahad—the first Silver Knight ever to become a Dragon Knight! Mom, I want to be just like him when I grow up!”

“Ahhh! Is that Lars? He’s so handsome! The magazines really weren’t lying!”

“Our heroes are home—!”

The black figure at the heart of the procession slowly rode across the stone-paved street, surrounded by the noisy crowd. With eerie green eyes and a bloodred sword, he was so silent and oppressive that he seemed a demon god newly returned from the killing fields. Even the most excited young women fell quiet as mice when his gaze swept over them.

Everything before him seemed like a vividly colored dream. Those excited, unfamiliar faces, the shouts and cries, the extravagant adoration and praise—they were nothing but irrelevant fragments. The one thing he truly wanted still waited for him at the end of the road.

Lars’s expression remained calm to the point of freezing, but his breaths grew steadily heavier. When the solid-gold columns of Golden Rose Castle appeared in the distance, the figure he had not seen for several months finally came into view.

Her long hair was tied somewhat messily behind her head. The dark circles under her eyes and faint exhaustion on her face suggested she had probably stayed up all night. A quill was still tucked behind her ear, and one glance made it obvious she had rushed straight out of the study. She seemed to notice the impeccably arranged honor guard around her only then. Realizing that her appearance might be a little inappropriate, she frowned and prepared to retreat again.

Lars quickened his pace. Before the snail could withdraw into her shell, he strode to the very front of the procession. A vast shadow fell over her. Ruiyin finally looked up as if startled and managed, “L-Lars? Um… welcome back!”

More than two months. Sixty-three days. One thousand five hundred and twelve hours. Ninety thousand seven hundred and twenty minutes.

After more than two months, that familiar voice finally reached his ears again. It was not a hallucination, nor a dream that battle might shatter at any moment. Her slightly pale complexion, her faintly bewildered expression—everything was real enough to touch.

“Hey, that’s enough…” Juvina’s disgruntled reminder from behind interrupted Lars’s almost ravenous stare.

As if waking from a dream, Lars drew a deep breath, swept the cloak hanging over his chest back across his shoulder, and dropped decisively to one knee before Ruiyin.

“I’m back,” he said in a low voice. “I’ve brought you the souls of eleven hundred Orcs, thirty-two occupied cities, and this…”

The Deputy Commander of the Alliance Army, the most celebrated hero of the entire expedition, raised both hands and presented her with something wrapped in a filthy scrap of cloth. Ruiyin took it. After a moment of hesitation, she slowly peeled the cloth away.

A curved, hornlike object lay quietly in her hands. It was as long and thick as her arm, with a dull, sharp gleam at its tip. It looked like nothing more than an ordinary bull’s horn.

“This is Kandaru’s horn,” Lars explained softly, holding her gaze with stubborn determination while everyone who knew what it was covered their faces in secondhand embarrassment. “They told me no girl would like something like this, but it really is what I wanted most to give you. I’m sorry I could only bring back his horn. But don’t worry. Next time, I’ll bring you his head.”

“Ruiyin, look. I can do the things I was once incapable of now.”

Nearly everyone in the Sunan imperial capital witnessed what happened that day.

The slightly disheveled black-haired woman held the bull’s horn, still caked with dust and blood, in both hands and revealed a faint smile lovely enough to steal the breath from anyone who saw it.

“Welcome home,” she said with a smile. “The city garrison is where it should be, the treasury and taxes are all in order, and every official document has been reviewed. The victory banquet prepared for you will begin shortly.”

Then, while everyone else was busy cheering, she bent down, rested both hands on his shoulders, and pressed a kiss to the knight’s forehead.

“You were absolutely perfect, Lars,” she whispered in his ear, too softly for anyone else to hear. “We both did well, but you were clearly a little more amazing. This gift… is the best gift I could ever have received.”

Lars looked up. Ruiyin’s smile was brighter and more sincere than any he had ever seen from her. She repeated herself with deliberate emphasis.

“Thank you. I like it very much, Lars.”

Author’s Note:

Lars: *Sneaks a look around, then quickly reaches out and removes the final comma.*

*Spins around happily:* Ruiyin said she likes Lars! Yay, yay, yay~~~