おそらく春は迎えられまい。

長い籠城戦の中、軍師は呟いた。
冷酷、残忍、無慈悲と囁かれた男とは思えない、
それは穏やかな微笑みだった。

敗軍の軍師に待つものが死である事は明白だ。
そこに不満も恐れもない。悔しさはあるが。

主と仰いだ主君も命はあるまい。
これも特に辛い事ではない。申し訳なさはあるが。

配下の兵たちは再編され生き延びるだろう。
これも特に喜ばしい事ではない。また違う戦場に放り出され、いずれ死に行く定めであろうから。

この下邳城に呼び寄せた家族たちの命は―――
さて。こればかりは相手の人徳に期待する他なく。
つまり、軍師の手でどうにかなる段階はとうに過ぎていた。

今はただあらゆるものが懐かしい。
大志を抱き、戦に生き、多くの夢を語り合った。
すべては末路に垣間見る蜃気楼。
その最後に見るものが戦場ではなく
春の宴というのは、いやはや―――

思いのほか、己を分かっていなかったか。

I perhaps won't make it until spring.

That was what the strategist whispered during the long-lasting siege.
And the man smiled gently, an unthinkable moment coming from a man known to be cruel, ruthless, and merciless.

Death was obviously waiting for the defeated strategist.
And yet, the man had neither regret nor fear. He did feel frustrated, though.

Death was also imminent to the man he revered as his lord.
And even that didn't pain him. He did feel guilty, though.

The soldiers under his command would likely survive this and reorganize themselves.
That wasn't a gratifying thought. They will probably be reassigned to a different battle where they would be sure to die.

The families who were summoned to Xiapi Castle...well, they will just have to hope that the leaders of the opposing camp are virtuous ones.
In other words, their fates are well out of the human strategist's hands.

All of a sudden, everything seems nostalgic to him.
He carried on with an ambitious heart, lived through battles, and conversed about his many dreams.
Everything appears as a mirage, with glimpses of the end peeking through.
What the man saw at the very end was not the battlefield, but instead a spring banquet...

Turns out, he didn't know as much about himself as he thought.