Aruosumente, 14th chapter

Late is better than never, right…? …or so I keep telling myself.

So the 14th chapter of Aruosumente, which was published in the WARD number 27, had the first pages of WARD and hence three color pages. I think the twins, especially Lante, looked a bit freaky… Ö.ö Hahahaa…

…and the children were in a rainbow…

Color pages:
One
Two
Three

Summary:

The chapter opens with the twins in a church, where light is coming through the stained glass. Lante is all excited, and thinks that the God must look like that rainbow light.
When the monochrome pages begin, Lante, as a storyteller, comments on how they were a bit odd pair of twins. Whenever Lante would cry, Dante would undoubtedly rush to his side. Young Lante asks how Dante knows when he is crying to which Dante answers that it hurts. Also, when they were away from each other neither could sleep and got easily sick. Adults didn’t really like this and told that “you cannot be together forever”. They even said it out loud: Lante was simply useless.

In the western fortress, Richter is talking to his subordinates who all wonder why there is not attack coming. This makes some think that maybe Kian’s information was incorrect, and whether the oracle hears the right god… Couple of the knights turn to talk about an unsuccessful rebellion in Granbarg, in which the king’s oracle took part in was beheaded among others. This makes Richter think of what would happen to a country without an oracle. He also concludes to himself, that having Kian turn against the king would be absurd.
When the knights finally spot smoke, it is in the eastern horizon. They come to realize that of course the enemy wishes to see the king’s oracle dead. Richter orders them to ready for leaving back. Yet, when a report comes he is surprised to the point of doubting the reporting man: they have lost only one, but the enemy had 300 killed. Having a large part of the force with him, no wonder Richter does not believe the man. He asks what the vice-captain Lamia said, but the man answers she wasn’t there.

“Did he dispose of them”

After returning to the eastern fortress, Richter finds out Kian has left back to the castle. After questioning his men, Richter gets the truth out of them: they don’t quite get it themselves, but the whole force of the enemy was stopped outside the gates by Dante alone. They add that Lante was outside, but that he had no sword. Richter is genuinely shocked when the men further tell it was somehow decided or caused by Kian. Yet he is even further shocked when hearing the twins are alive and it was vice-captain Lamia who died, rushing to save the children. The people of Finfield had fled spreading a rumor of Noie Torariddo, their legendary black horse which runs amok crushing the earth, after being defeated by black-clad Dante alone.
The knight captain goes to see the twins whom everyone else is afraid of. Dante is still unconscious with Lante sitting by his bed. Richter asks Lante how it all happened, and the boy says he was called outside by Kian. Of course, the man knew that by putting Lante in danger, Dante would always come to save him. He sees how Kian used Dante as a weapon of mass destruction, and starts to wonder what happened if Lante would realize how Kian had created the situation. Lante, on the other hand, is sad that Lamia is not coming to see them. Richter asks whether he doesn’t know, but after all cannot tell the boy what happened to her. He wonders how the children, the twins would change if they knew.

“In other words…”

Back in the current day, Lante finishes his story, asking whether Reguna is surprised to find out the truth behind the Noie Torariddo. Further he explains he was granted his seat only to stop his brother and according to himself, it makes him merely the useless captain of the knights and nothing more. Emphasis being on the word useless.

“Surprised, Angel? This is the truth behind Noie Torariddo, this country’s guardian deity.”

This chapter really made me think of how Aki always brings these sad elements to her stories. They’re all silent in some way, but as far as I can tell, there is no happy-go-lucky story among the ones I’ve read. Hanamatsuri was sad too, but in a more … singular way. Although I guess it was probably happiest of the series of Aki I’m familiar with.
Hope you liked to see another rough summary…