Heroic Lord Roland

**Heroic Lord Roland** is a unit in *Last Cloudia*.

 Elements | Light
 Race | Human
 Birthday | December 12
 Height | 177cm
 Demerits | Sometimes overly harsh on himself

# Summary

## Story

### Heroic Lord

Crown Prince Roland of the Aldana Empire. While he was born in possesion of many things, he has also come to lose many things in his lifetime. When the grand ambition he held was crushed, he was forced to face a new verion of himself.

After experiencing the Army of Ruin and fierce opposition by the people he had used until now, Roland recognized his faults; to make amends for them, he visits Blaze Garden by himself, and there he vitnesses a surprising sight.

It is the perpetually sleeping girl whose power he used to realize his ideals. To wake her, Roland entered her mindscape, was attacked by a certain someone and made aware of his wrongdoings once again. However, Roland decides that he will not die for his sins, rather, he will use them as a source of sustenance and continue forward alongside the girl who became self-aware...

Having shaken off his doubts, Roland also awakens the power that was sleeping inside of him. Now he has grown into a hero who is fit to bear the future of the empire, no, the world, on his shoulders.

### Childhood Cockiness

Although Roland can be seeb as a flawless person, it would be inaccurate to say he has lived until now without his own mistakes.

Crown Prince Roland received some basic sword training from his childhood attendants. Naturally talented from the start, he quickly became skilled enough that those around him were no match, and before long he began to formally study with a swordsmanship teacher. That teacher was a youthful woman, so Roland, confident in his abilities, felt secret condescension toward her. One day, as if she saw through him, the woman made a proposal to Roland.

"Spar with me."

If he was able to win, there would be no question that Roland's sword abilities were already first-class. He could already become an imperial knight, and she offered to recommend him to the emperoe and commanders of the imperial army.

Roland, who was eager to experience battle on the frontlines as a fully fledged knigh, accepted her proposal.

So, the spar with the female teacher began... and ended with Roland's overwhelming defeat.

### From Fault to Sustenance

Roland thought that he could easily win against the female teacher, but in reality his sword didn't even leave a scratch. It was an utter defeat that left him bruised all over. And his second and third attempts afterwards had similar results.

After countless failures with feelings of humiliation and frustration obvious on his face, Roland asked the female teacher a question.

"Why? Why can't I win against you?"

"That's easy. The current you is weaker than me."

Hearing those words, the young Roland brought his frustration under control and regained composure. Then he spoke again, declaring,

"I see... It certainly seems that way. I take your point. Then, train me so that I can win."

Laughing at what he said the female teacher accepted. While on one hand she would train Roland mercilessly alongside her brother, she had the neighbor girl bring them lunch and introduced her to him.

In later years, Roland, who had grown and become the head of the Council of Ten, was eating together with Lanceveil and Eliza when those times become the topic of the conversation. Lanceveil was ashamed to admit that the woman who beat Roland so ruthlessly and declared him weak was his sister. Eliza, who was also familiar with her, apologized to Roland.

Roland laughed and said,

"No that was a good lesson for me in my youth. If she had gone easy on me there, I would've grown up staying arrogant. Then, I would've become a person who couldn't make mistakes, couldn't reflect on them and couldn't turn them into sustenance."

He continued,

"I believe that I possess the proper knowledge and sword skills for my current position. I take pride in it. It's proof of my growth. But, that time, after experiencing that frustration of losing, to think that I said, 'then, train me so that I can win...' I want to keep moving forward while recognizing my faults without ever forgetting that strengh of trying to move forward."

### The Girl

One day, while Crown Prince Roland's project was continuing behind closed doors, two people from the imperial city emerged from his office in the imperial capital. They were Roland's confidants, Lanceveil the knight and Eliza the mage. Having conducted a secret meeting with Roland and received orders from him, they took their leave.

The contents of the meeting were about the core of Roland's project and the synthetic girl who had just recently been created, Alice. Eliza was a bit concerned about her.

To her, when Lord Roland was talking about that girl, Alice, it seemed as if he possessed a certain kind of special... sort of kindness. PLus she had caught wind of a rumor she couldn't brush aside. Without thinking, she called out to her childhood friend, the knight walking in front of her.

"Hey, Lanceveil. About Prince Roland today..."

"Prince Roland... Oh, do you mean his attitude toward that girl Alice?"

She was speechless at having what was on her mind told to her so precisely.

"N-not at all..."

"I've known you for a long time, so that much I can tell. Plus, there's a rumor spreading around that I think you'll find interesting."

The existence of that girl was known to only a few, but among these very few, the rumor that being spread was:

"Roland is the one who gave her the name Alice."

"Exactly!! Who could possibly spread such a nonsensical false runor!? To think of Roland, of all people, naming that girl and acting like her father..."

Observing Eliza's anger, Lanceveil thought that the rumor might actually not be so false. Perhaps it was the truth. Alice was the name of the wet-nurse who looked after Roland in his early childhood. It was too big a coincidence to be just a rumor.

(Most likely Roland had some special reason for giving that name to that girl...)

Lanceveil carefully considers Lord Roland's true motives. Being a crown prince doubtlessly put one under an inconceivable amount of pressure. Someone in Roland's place would have to endlessly speculate on the future of the empire—nay, all Granzelia. The weight of the responsibility of the whole world... The feuds with his father, His Majesty, the emperor... We retainers can serve at Roland's every beck and call, but, not all the burdens he bears can be shared with us... Perhaps that feeling of loneliness gave rise to some special feelings about the girl who was created...?

"Hey, are you listening!?"

"Hm? Oh..."

Lanceveil's thoughts were interrupted by Eliza's shouting. She fumed that they should have their officers sniff out the culprit responsible for spreading that misinformation, but Lanceveil ordered her to stop, saying that there was no time to be concerned about that while they were in Roland's employ.

Hearing those words, Eliza reluctantly gave up on her hunt for the culprit, but it seemed she didn't have many good feelings about that girl.

While Eliza has a tendency to act rashly based on assumptions, at any rate she doesn't have a cynical personality. In fact, she has a very caring disposition.

(Either through work or training, if she was given even one chance to connect with that girl, Eliza's impression would probably change as well...)

While thinking that, Lanceveil remembered Roland's eyes as he talked about Alice. In them was a gentleness that neither he nor Eliza had ever seen up until now, with a strange kind of strength.

(I don't know Alice very well but... I do pray that she will have a good influence on Roland...)

## Traits

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5