When I summoned Winter, he was deeply dejected. Because the enemy happened to swarm in from a direction near the ranch, the ranch he’d lovingly built at great expense was reduced to ashes in an instant.

Fortunately, the horses kept there suffered no harm, since Winter quickly brought them into Feuzen. But the project he’d thrown himself into so eagerly had been ruined, and that left him crushed.

No one had foreseen the southern rebels’ invasion. Had we noticed in advance, we’d have crushed them in an ambush before they ever reached Feuzen, but war doesn’t always go the way you want.

"I’m sorry, master. The ranch I worked so hard to finish..."

"Winter, it wasn’t your fault, so there’s no need to be so dejected."

"Even so, as the one in charge, it pains me terribly."

He had the face of a rookie team leader who’d eagerly taken on his first project only to watch it smashed to pieces. It all becomes experience and helps you grow. I’m not the type to fixate on a mere building.

What I value most is people.

A building can be rebuilt anytime, but once a person dies, that’s the end of it. Not losing Winter, who could care for my horses better than anyone, mattered far more. There’s nothing more precious than people.

"The building can be rebuilt. Wasn’t there anything you wished you’d done while building the ranch?"

"...I was a little sorry I didn’t make the stables a bit bigger."

"Then you can do it properly this time. Right?"

Winter seemed deeply moved that I was entrusting the work to him again. For someone who had risen from an ordinary stable hand to the lord’s ranch manager, this project was a matter of pride.

So all I had to do was show him my unwavering support.

On top of that, the horses had grown by a full forty head. There were a considerable number of mares among them, too.

It was a shame the horse ranch had collapsed, but since I’d secured the most important thing, the horses, I wanted to find meaning in having laid the basic foundation. It was a relief that Winter, once comforted, had recovered his drive.

"Move the wounded over here!"

"Aaargh! M-my leg!"

I left my study and visited the makeshift field hospital set up in the Feuzen plaza. With Arzt at the center, the townsmen’s wives had volunteered as nurses, treating wounded allies and prisoners alike.

This place was every bit as much a scene of pandemonium as the battlefield. The wounded soldiers groaning and screaming and the nurses rushing busily about were as fierce as soldiers fighting a battle.

Father Andreas worked to restore peace of mind to the wounded through the last rites. The wounded confessed their sins and found courage as well.

It was as if, in the midst of cleaning up one battlefield, another had appeared.

To think I’d be seeing in Feuzen what I’d only ever seen on the battlefield.

Even with blood smeared all over his clothes, Arzt kept his hands and tools clean. He had a tendency to follow my instructions like a zealot, but either way it had a positive effect.

"H-hands clean! D-don’t forget!"

"I’m sorry! I’ll go wash right away!"

Even while treating the wounded, Arzt ceaselessly monitored the nurses’ hygiene.

Simply paying attention to hygiene lowered the chance of a wounded soldier dying, but the nurses still didn’t seem to grasp why they had to keep clean. It was a troublesome thing, but it was the most important policy.

Among the nurses, though, were some unexpected figures.

Wait, why were those two mixed in over there?

"Madam Steinhof, we’re out of bandages!"

"Oh, dear! I’ll go find some right away!"

I was the flustered one, witnessing the unexpected sight of them not only leading the nurses but personally changing the wounded soldiers’ bandages and the like. My sister-in-law and Elisabeth were of noble rank.

They were also guests who’d been caught up in the war because they’d been staying in Feuzen.

Naturally, as the lord, I apologized to them first. A noble who fails to protect his guests can easily become a laughingstock in noble society. But they didn’t mind in the slightest.

"It’s all right, my lord. I’m just glad everyone is safe."

"I wanted to help Hilda, but I’m sorry I couldn’t be of use."

Elisabeth actually apologized to me, saying that if only she’d had arms, she’d have helped Hilda and fought alongside her. Truly fitting for Hilda’s friend. Apparently she too had been called a Valkyrie, a formidable woman, before she married Fiel.

Maybe that was why she’d seemed terribly envious when Hilda was appointed a knight of Feuzen. Still, I never imagined high-ranking ladies would think to personally help Arzt at a field hospital.

And their actions seemed to have a very positive effect on those around them. With such esteemed ladies tending to wounds with their own hands, it fostered a sense of belonging, as if they were all one community.

This is why enterprising women are so impressive, I think.

Ladies who can step forward like that, unbound by their rank, are extremely rare. Hilda had a good friend, and Michael had a good wife too. But Michael, the fellow, might not even realize how blessed he is.

But where was Lily, the most important person, and what was she doing?

One of Lily’s handmaids was working as a nurse.

"The young lady is at the church."

"Is she? She volunteered as a nurse? How admirable."

"I’m filling in for the young lady. The truth is, she volunteered first, but she got a serious scolding from Madam Steinhof and was driven out. The poor thing was just hopelessly clumsy."

"Oh, no."

Apparently Lily had stepped up to help the older women, but she’d tied the bandages so tightly that the wounded kept crying out in pain, so in the end she was driven off to the church. So a more skilled handmaid was working in her place.

At the Feuzen church, that Brabant painter fellow would be painting his crazed holy picture. Even amid the fighting, Aachen had kept on painting.

"The vivid sounds of battle erupting close by endlessly stimulated my inspiration."

So he’d painted hell, and it seemed he’d captured the pandemonium amid the fires of hell extremely well. Aachen praised himself, declaring it the masterpiece of his life. The dynamism really was remarkable.

He claimed that when he unveiled this work, the Flanders school would be astonished.

I’m the one about to be astonished. Won’t this get him hauled off for blasphemy?

And Lily was diligently writing her novel beside Aachen’s workspace.

This wasn’t cognitive dissonance, but what in the world was this combination?

I’d thought she’d be cowed, but seeing Lily’s eyes sparkling like a galaxy and her face flushed with excitement, it seemed she’d found some good material and was happily painting pictures with her words.

Beside her, the handmaid was looking at me with a sigh.

Even the great Aachen clicked his tongue as he watched Lily.

"I knew I myself was mad, but that young lady is no ordinary one either."

I think so too. So this was the crown prince’s peculiar taste.

Spotting me, Lily sprang up and cried out.

"Brother! I’ve been truly inspired by Mister Aachen!"

Her white dress seemed to contrast exquisitely with the drab church. The crown prince had fallen for this very sight. Like an edelweiss blooming loftily atop the Alps, he’d said.

Edelweiss, my foot.

The girl in white’s mental world is utterly beyond comprehension.

"All right, what is it that inspired you so?"

"To never stop your brush no matter what happens, that’s what makes an artist! So I wrote my novel as hard as I could!"

Following Aachen’s example, she’d apparently kept writing her novel even amid the kill-or-be-killed battle. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

When I looked at Aachen, he was making a deliberate effort to avert his gaze.

Even the misanthropic pessimist seemed to have thrown in the towel.

Don’t go instilling strange ideas in the kid.

Watching Lily answer briskly with steam practically blowing from her nostrils, I found myself wanting to take after that incredible mental fortitude of hers, if nothing else. Yes, you’re a million times better than someone sniveling and trembling in terror. Just that, though.

"Ah, Hilda’s gallant figure as she became a knight! It was the moment the noble Valkyrie, blooming amid pride and prejudice, finally revealed herself to the world!"

Pride and prejudice? I’m the one who appointed her a knight.

"A wonderful tale of becoming a knight despite hardship and adversity! Beren’s great female knight! The heroic saga of Brünhilt, the noble Valkyrie who surpasses Joan of Arc! My urge to create is blazing! Hee hee!"

...Yeah, as long as you’re happy, that’s good enough.