"{\3cHFFFFFF\4cH808080\cH23373D\3aHFF\4aHFF\fnPoor Richard\move(213,181,216,186,33,2661)}Gyouten" "General." "With the Major General and the Lieutenant General bring Takuhou under your control promptly." "And rescue the soldiers at the town castle, including the town chief, Shoukou." "Yes, sir." "However..." "There should be no need for a battle." "They will give themselves up once they see the Dragon Flag." "Yes, sir." "Are you sure about that, sir?" "What if her Majesty is..." "Even if battle should break out before her, her Majesty would just cower." "Your Majesty..." "Episode 38" "{\3cHFFFFFF\4aHFF\fnPoor Richard\b1\bord1.5\pos(191,176)\cH010AF8}A Great Distance in The Wind, The Sky at Dawn, Chapter Fifteen." "{\3cHFFFFFF\4cH808080\cH23373D\3aHFF\4aHFF\fnPoor Richard\move(214,146,217,147,28,2731)}Takuhou" "I see..." "The townspeople still won't take up arms..." "We have a force of five thousand men." "Even against the provincial army, we could still win." "But that doesn't mean anything to them." "I wish we could hold out here for three days and wait until Gahou is brought down but we cannot let them take the townspeople hostage." "I understand." "I can understand how they feel." "The lady I used to serve was very mean to her servants." "If I think about it now, we should've just stood up to her." "But none of us dared to get her angry, so we didn't say anything." "When you keep your mouth shut and endure everything you become a coward." "If I look back now, Lady Riyou would never have killed me but I thought if I resisted, I would suffer more." "That may be true." "As you put up with it, your self-pity grows." "You just sit there and lick your wounds" "That's how the citizens are feeling now." "They're not going to wake up until their loved ones get killed" "And then the others will say it's their own fault for making Shoukou angry." "People are competitive about how unfortunate they are." "But the truth is, the one who loses his life is the most unfortunate." "They feel as if they'll lose if they have pity for someone else." "Maybe feeling like the most unfortunate person in the world gives you the very same pleasure as being the happiest person in the world." "And when someone denies you that, it makes you angry." "You don't know why they'd say such a thing when you're already so unhappy." "Youshi?" "I guess we're all in the same boat." "You feel that way too?" "Being happy seems so simple, yet it's very difficult that's how I feel." "You know, I was told that life is half happiness, and half hardship." "So many lives have been sacrificed, I hope Queen Kei has noticed by now." "It would mean a lot if she hears about this rebellion and stops people like Shoukou and Gahou from oppressing the people." "Actually, I came to Kei to meet Queen Kei." "So did Shoukei." "To meet Queen Kei?" "Why?" "Because we're about the same age as she is." "Besides, she's a Kaikyaku like I am." "So I thought she would save me from my misery." "I had a different reason." "I despised Queen Kei." "After I was driven away from the royal palace I heard that some young girl became a queen." "I knew I was just taking it out on her, but I couldn't accept it." "If I hadn't met Rakushun, I would still hate her." "Rakushun..." "He was very kind, I'm grateful that I met him." "If Queen Kei is his friend, I'm sure she's a good person." "It's me." "What is?" "I'm Queen Kei." "I know this must sound hard to believe but after listening to you two, I just can't keep it to myself anymore." "That's why that Kaikyaku said..." "Please save Queen Kei..." "Please..." "I didn't understand what he meant then but if you're Queen Kei, Sekishi..." "Asano was calling you Youko..." "Because that's my real name." "The ministers gave me the name Sekishi, because of my hair." "I went to Kinpa Palace..." "But the queen wasn't there." "They said she was in En, but something wasn't right." "I was learning about this world from a man named Enho." "Enho?" "The teacher of Shoujyuku who was abducted?" "Enho was abducted by Shoukou, under Gahou's order." "I've been trying to rescue him, and ended up here." "I don't understand, if you really are the queen you could just dismiss Shoukou and Gahou." "You wouldn't have to be doing all of this." "The ministers have no faith in me." "Keiki was asked to submit proof to convince them to remove Shoukou from the position of town chief." "I have no real power." "That can't be true..." "It is true." "Even if I went back to the Royal Palace, and assembled a conference I don't know how long it would take for me to mobilize the Royal Army." "And Enho could be killed in the meantime." "Recently, a young girl about our age was killed at a Rike." "And her young brother is on his deathbed." "Even in this town, a boy was killed..." "I wanted to save them..." "So..." "If you made it in time, would you have saved him?" "Of course, we're talking about the life of a human being." "What if he wasn't badly injured, or it wasn't Shoukou who did it?" "Would you leave them dead?" "You're right..." "I'm a useless queen." "I was unaware that so many innocent people were being killed were taxed so heavily, and were forced into labor." "I know it might sound selfish, I was only trying to save the one who was suffering right in front of me." "Even if I saved Keikei or the boy there probably are more children dying somewhere else." "But if only saving the one right in front of me is all I could do I would still want to do it." "I'm such a pathetic ruler." "Please forgive me." "Hey, Suzu..." "This is ridiculous..." "Suzu." "I believed what I wanted to believe." "I was really naive." "But I think this is what it means to be a ruler." "When you don't live up to people's expectations, they blame it on you." "People are so selfish." "What should I do?" "There's only one thing." "That's right." "We will fight the provincial army here, and drag Gahou down!" "What's that?" "We have nothing to do with this!" "It appears that the provincial cavalries have arrived." "I should've known, it's Gahou we're dealing with." "They are going to burn down the town, along with us and Shoukou." "Don't go!" "The strongest provincial cavalries will be waiting for us in the town." "Sekki is right." "It'll be a while before the fire gets to the town castle." "We should observe them from here for now." "You're telling me to abandon the townspeople?" "There is nothing we can do..." "It'll be like walking into their trap." "If we abandon them now, their blood will be on our hands." "If we don't go help them now, everything we did will be wasted." "Suzu..." "We'll secure the West Garrison, and let the townspeople escape outside." "If we cannot let the people out of town, we'll let them into the castle." "Okay!" "So you're going out there after all?" "How could I not?" "When they put it that way..." "It doesn't matter who praises me." "But I couldn't forgive myself if I gave Koshou a chance to call me a coward." "I'll leave the rest to you." "An ambush!" "What happened?" "Luck's on our side, huh?" "Not bad." "It's just like when we attacked the town castle." "I feel like something is on our side." "The horses are just falling on their own." "There should've been more soldiers, where are they?" "Hmm..." "Decrease the soldiers outside the West Garrison by as many as possible." "When you're done with that, there's somewhere I want you to go." "Understood." "It seems that you don't like killing people." "I try to avoid killing if I don't need to." "But don't we need to diminish their numbers?" "Lowering their morale is enough." "By the way, were you just talking to someone?" "No." "He's inhuman!" "Hurry!" "We gotta open the Yuu Gate, don't we?" "The Yuu Gate is opening." "Go to Yuu Gate to escape!" "We'll transport the injured to the castle!" "L-Leave us alone!" "What do you think we are?" "Get out of here!" "Thank you very much." "It's all right." "So, is Shoukou dead?" "No, but he's been captured." "We're going to hand him over to the Royal Court." "Is there anything we can do?" "Put out the fires, and help people escape to Yuu Gate." "We cannot run away now, can we?" "Wait, Youshi!" "Did you know that they had been defeated?" "No..." "Let's hurry and help the people escape." "Right." "Wait." "They're here." "I guess we'll have to make a stand here." "They brought Unkyou." "Those fortified carriages are built to lead the assault." "They are going to attack the castle with them." "We must stop them at any cost..." "Koshou!" "You swing that thing around and stop the Unkyou on the north side." "That will slow them down." "Okay, but what about the south side?" "Leave it to me!" "Are you going to take them out with your bare hands?" "More than just bare hands." "A Hanjyuu?" "Sorry about that." "We have just received word from Meikaku!" "A rebellion occurred in Meikaku at dawn today!" "What?" "We must leave for Meikaku at once!" "With all the citizenry against us, it'll take too long to suppress Takuhou!" "No, we cannot ignore the rebellion, besides..." "They're here." "Hey!" "Look at the sky in the west!" "Dragon Flags..." "The flags of the ruler..." "What's the color of the banner?" "Violet..." "It's the Royal Army." "Youko, is it really the Royal Army?" "Are they here to attack us?" "I thought I was the only one who could mobilize the Royal Army." "That means there's someone connected to Gahou in Gyouten." "Someone who's in position to mobilize the army..." "The Royal Army is commanded by the Minister of Military Affairs, Daishiba but I don't know if he could do all this by himself." "The Minister of Military Affairs is Seikyou's dog." "The former Chousai, Seikyou, is the only one who can give him orders." "That's it." "Wait a minute." "Why would the Chousai mobilize the Royal Army for Gahou?" "It's for himself..." "Just like Gahou was using Shoukou, the Chousai was using Gahou." "But..." "Seikyou seemed to be opposed to Gahou." "Did he ever suggest punishing him?" "No, he said there wasn't proof." "If he was using Gahou to do his dirty work, it was probably all an act." "Were they the ones, by any chance, who suggested the dismissal of Koukan?" "That's right, they claimed that he was suspected of treason." "The Chousai must've hated Koukan because he was well liked by his people." "And Shoujyuku, the school Koukan attended, was a thorn in his side." "Because if you became fond of Koukan more graduates of Shoujyuku might serve in the government." "It'd be bad if the people discovered what they've been doing." "Then Seikyou is the one who ordered Shoukou to abduct Enho?" "Of course." "Why else would Gahou care about some school in another province?" "Shoukei, you're very sharp." "I know the way ministers think very well." "Come on, open the gate already!" "We're just the hostages of you rebels." "Only if you scoundrels didn't start this ordeal..." "Let us go!" "We cannot fight against the Royal Army." "Enough already!" "Didn't you hate Shoukou?" "Were you happy with his way?" "Is that why when a boy was run over by Shoukou no one did anything?" "Listen, of course we hated Shoukou, but we had no choice." "If we didn't do what he ordered, we couldn't survive!" "We are grateful that you defeated Shoukou!" "But now we've exchanged him for a bigger demon, the queen!" "The queen isn't our enemy!" "Then why is the Royal Army here?" "The queen must've ordered them to crush this rebellion!" "Yeah, he's right!" "That's not true!" "The queen didn't mobilize the Royal Army." "Everything was set up by the former Chousai, Seikyou." "He is the real demon who's been controlling Shoukou and Gahou." "The profit that was squeezed out of Shisui went to Wa Province and then flowed to Seikyou." "If Shoukou's crimes were revealed, that could jeopardize Seikyou's position." "That's why he dispatched the Royal Army." "Shoukei, how do you know all this?" "The Royal Army isn't acting on the queen's order." "As a matter of fact, the Royal Army will not move any closer because no one's supposed to mobilize the Royal Army except the ruler!" "It's just a threat!" "What proof do you have?" "The queen must be in on this with Seikyou, and using with Gahou and the others!" "That's impossible!" "You two sound as if you know the queen." "That's right." "We do know her." "How do young girls like you two know the queen?" "Is it so strange if I'm acquainted with the queen?" "Of course it is!" "My name is Shoukei, I was the daughter of the last king of Hou, Retsu-Ou." "Do you find it strange that a princess is acquainted with another ruler?" "If you doubt my identity you may inquire with the lord of Kei Province of Hou, Gekkei." "Ask if he knows the princess of the previous King Hou, Sonshou." "My father perished, so I came to Kei to seek Queen Kei." "Queen Kei sent me here to observe the situation in Wa Province." "Her Majesty intends to use this rebellion as a trap to catch Seikyou and the whole corrupt lot." "That's impossible!" "Take a look at this." "This is..." "What is it?" "The seal of a ruler..." "This is the seal of Queen Sai." "I served Suibikun, the mistress of Mt." "Ha in the kingdom of Sai." "I have been given permission by Queen Sai herself to visit Queen Kei in the Kingdom of Kei." "If you do not believe me, you can contact Choukan Palace." "Only if you doubt the ruler's seal, that is." "Have faith in Queen Kei and wait." "She will not let you down." "Seikyou..." "I will no longer allow you to do as you wish." "I was counting the sands of time without realizing." "In a false dream I became speechless." "{\3cH000000\cH8A7F78}I would stare into the fire... {\3cH000000\cH8A7F78}...as I swore to be true forever." "Let my prayers be heard, I will overcome hardship and keep my oath until the end of the world." "In the second month of the second year of Sekiraku a group of rebels, the Shu-On, rose against the town chief of Shisui." "The tyranny of the town chief, Seki-On, came to an end." "The Twelve Kingdoms, episode 39..." "Episode 39" "{\3cHFFFFFF\4aHFF\fnPoor Richard\b1\bord1.5\pos(191,176)\cH010AF8}A Great Distance in The Wind, The Sky at Dawn, Final Chapter." "A Great Distance in the Wind, the Sky at Dawn, Final Chapter"