Tenkyou no Alderamin:Volume 2 Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - The Various Problems with the Land of the North

intro

After moving toward the northern boundaries, the humidity that always lingered around disappeared, the huge plants covering the dry soil were also replaced by grasslands, further north they arrived at a gravel area with very few water sources spread in the wilderness, this was an area harsh even for the most prepared traveler.

The soldiers, during this long-drawn carriage travel, could only gaze at the ever-changing terrain. At the very least they reached the so called “Place with no reclamation value” and consequentially abandoned as borders.

From the last village, which was also the closest about 10 KM away from their current position, they are welcomed to the Empire’s most northern outpost.

After all personnel were accommodated into the base, the welcome speech to the neatly-lined soldiers begun.

“High Grade Military Officer Cadets as well as the training soldiers, I welcome your arrival this year as well. I feel extremely joyous for your presence at the Northern stronghold!”

The interlocutor was the supreme commander of the Northern stronghold, Lieutenant General Tamshiikushik Safida.

“Then, moving to a gloomier topic… surely everyone present knows of the collapse of the eastern region. As a fellow protector of one-fifth of the Empire’s land, I feel deep regrets. The moment the savages of Kioka ravaged our lands, if I had lead a group of soldiers to the Eastern stronghold, then it wouldn’t have ended with such results… Even now, my chest still fills up with remorse when I think about this.”

After hearing such words, not only Ikta but many felt disagreement… Even without knowing how many people his ‘a group of soldiers’ referred to, but given the scenario that even Lieutenant General Rikan, who was present there and risking his own life couldn’t do a thing, in which way would Lieutenant General Safida have overturned the situation? Furthermore, in his speech, not once has he given commemoration to the fallen officers.

“In order to avoid such re-occurrence, we have to train exhaustively every day and wholeheartedly mold an indomitable strength, technique and mindset. Because the day for the battle of revenge will come, and whether we are able to counterattack Kioka, all will depend on our soldiers’ loyalty and patriotism.”

After that, the rubbish motivational opening, which was something that would enter from one ear end exit throughout the other, continued for 20 minutes. The speaker was completely unaware of the growing boredom and the increasing annoyance among the soldiers.

“…based on the aforementioned, I hope that you, whom will be shouldering the future of the army, your patriotism shall be strong and pure! — Although brief, that was my speech.”

After the ending words, Ikta, standing at the front of the third illumination battalion, shrugged disapprovingly–Brief, huh? Where was it brief? Since it was just statement devoid of any content you should at least have the decency to end it early.

Lieutenant General Safida, while walking down and enjoying the feeling of finishing the speech, was replaced by a tall and slim looking man who is now standing on the podium.

Maybe he was feeling unwell? His complexion looked bad.

“…I’m the aide of the supreme commander… cough, cough… Major Yuskushiram Taekk. Cough…cough, cough… Sorry. Then I will herein state everyone’s treatment.”

Completely opposite to the empty speech given by the commander, Major Taekk exclusively instructed on practical and complete instruction. Such were information regarding which local troop the training troops will be incorporated, how the command system will become, where will be the living quarters of the soldiers, where is the dining room, etc.

“…That’s it, if…cough, cough… there’s anything you don’t understand, you can ask me questions now.”

After determining there were no more questions and ascertaining no one raised hands, Major Taekk made a salute to all present and left the podium while coughing.

While he obliviously wasn’t that old, yet his slightly curved back is giving a feeling of sadness comparable to that of an old cad.

Only now Ikta murmured something everyone present was thinking.

“… You can discern the job distribution at a glance, that man must be under a lot of psychological pressure”

***

A notification requesting everyone’s presence at the welcome party immediately came when they were finally taking a breath after being led to their rooms and depositing their luggage.

Since the time is now noon and this is a military facility on the border, even if it is called a welcome party, it is mainly just a plain gathering, even the location is just the big room used for conferences.

Based on the contents, Ikta and Yatori’s Imperial Segal High Grade Academy’s graduation meal was much more prosperous, but that situation was a given, and the only person who could complain about the absence of liquors would be Ikta.

“To the prosperity of the rule of his majesty and the lands protected by us soldiers– Cheers!”

Following the lead of Lieutenant General Safida, the military officers raised their cups filled with grape juice.

Next came the time of socializing, which to the High Grade Military Officer Cadets was a moment where they must accept the greetings of all senior officers.

Of course the interest of these people wouldn’t have left alone the members of the legendary ‘Order of Knights’.

“Are you the five who were bestowed knighthood together, the much anticipated newbies?”

“Heard you guys passed the Kioka border with her Highness the Princess? That luck is worth a toast, let’s drink!”

“Did you meet Kioka soldiers? I heard they run like beasts and eat raw meat, is it true?”

Facing the five who obtained knighthood in such special case, the attitude of senior officers was displayed in a wide range. There were those who closed in by pure curiosity; also people leaking jealousy every time they spoke; and of course people who tried to get close to them thinking ahead of the time.

There were especially many people asking a description of their fight with Kioka soldiers. The reason was because most of the soldiers living in the far north had no experience in engaging battle with Kioka.

Yatori and Torway’s displayed the ability to cope with the situation, however Matthew and Haru’s puzzled look were also at the center of the spotlight. Incidentally, Her Highness Chamille, with a not so amused look while sitting at the seat of honor, was having a conversation with Lieutenant General Safida who was sitting next to her.

Since she didn’t want to intrude in the military formalities, she especially made use of her royal position to get out of the scene.

Well, talking about the only one who was left, he was already hiding around the corners of the room trying to avoid being at the center of discussion.

He had very little interest in military socializing to begin with, furthermore the only few female officials were already swarming around Torway, which made this case’s boringness rare even for Ikta’s standards.

However, when he was just about to sweep through all the food by munching silently, an officer left the group and walked towards Ikta. It was a young man with an uncleanly shaven beard and mustache. In his pouch one could see the same kind of light spirit as Ikta’s Kusu.

“–Hey, are you having fun?”

The man affectionately spoke to Ikta and readily pulled a chair to sit next to him.

“Yes, thanks to you.”

“There’s no need to be so sarcastic…Anyway you too are a light spirit user huh?”

The man’s gaze landed at Ikta’s waist.

Ikta originally wanted to drive him away by being cynical, but after seeing no such reaction from his counterpart, he corrected his attitude slightly and started a self-introduction.

“…I’m the Platoon Leader of the third illumination battalion, Warrant Officer Ikta Sorlok. This is my partner Kusu.”

“I belong to the first regiment of the Northern Region, the commander of the ninth illumination company, Lieutenant Senpa Sazaruf and this is my partner Chi, pleased to meet you”

After the greetings of their respective masters the spirits in their pouch also did the same action. Past the official introductions, a bold yet pleasant smile surfaced on Lieutenant Sazaruf’s face.

“I’ve heard before that in the legendary ‘Order of Knights’ there was a troublesome guy, as I thought it was you, right?”

“Since being there would expose my unfitness, I’m keeping my distances.”

“Hm, yeah you certainly don’t look like a Knight, that handsome guy there sure looks a lot more into the role.”

The words inadvertently spoken by Lieutenant Sazaruf cruelly stabbed in Ikta’s chest.

“Haha–hahaha, hey you really are straightforward. Hahahaha…. Haha.”

Ikta, who originally attempted to overcome the situation with an impactful laughter failed, is now frozen in place with a half smiling face…

“…UuuUuuuUuArghHhhhHh…!!”

In the end, he held his head with both hands, lowered his stance and let out a beast-like sound.

“Whoa! Wait… you’re crying just for that…? Are these the legendary Manly Tears?”

“Damnit…! Those Ikemen who can attract women even without saying a word…such odious creatures!”

“Hey Hey Hey, you really just spoke whatever passed through your head! Your collapse as a human being is way too sudden!”

One could feel the commotion even from afar, and while Lieutenant Sazaruf was being overwhelmed by the situation, Her Highness Chamille, already feeling exhausted by the conversation with Lieutenant General, walked towards them with a disapproving expression.

“…I only took my eyes away from you for a moment… Sorlok, the banquet has just started, what are you feeling dissatisfied for?”

Instead of Ikta who was being interpolated by the Princess, it was Lieutenant Sazaruf who overreacted.

Seeing how he was standing straight while doing a formal salute, the Princess shook her head with a difficult expression.

“You can relax… No, please relax Lieutenant. As stated by the military ranks, you are actually my superior.”

“Ah, no… that would be outrageous…!”

“It seems Sorlok immediately brought you troubles. Not only he has a bad personality, his character is also an issue, but if you look deep enough there are still good parts. So, thank you for your care in the future… uhm…”

“This one belong to the first regiment of the Northern Region, Commander of the ninth illumination company, Lieutenant Senpa Sazaruf!”

Their statements made it very awkward and he was not certain of which side was better. The so-called Royals are truly an existence that creates confusion in a vertical structure– Ikta thought so, but at that right moment a loud voice reverberated.

“Hahaha! My long awaited day has finally come! Daughter of Igsem!”

With a voice loud enough to make everybody turn their head, the owner of it proudly stood at the center of the room; Yatori who was laughing with senior officers faced him with a positive attitude.

The man was full of muscles, whether you looked at it vertically or horizontally, and had a lion like mane of hard red hair.

In addition to the two wooden swords in his hands, there was another strapped at his waist totaling three.

“What may I do for you?”

At Yatori’s earnest replay, the strongman forcefully stepped on the floor.

“I will say this only once so listen well! My affiliation is with the first regiment of the Northern Region, I serve as the Platoon Leader of twenty-second cuirassier battalion, Deinkun Hargunska! The age is 26, rank is Warrant Officer! My reliable partner is the water spirit Niki!”

“I also shall present myself then, I’m the Platoon leader of the first training platoon of incineration division, Warrant Officer Yatorishino Igsem, my partner is Shia. Please take care of me, Warrant Officer Hargunska.”

“I was aware of your name, and now I will remember your affiliation and rank! Okay, let’s leave the rest to our sword!”

Hargunska threw the swords in his hands and Yatori received them. The other party carefully prepared a set of military saber and a short gauche. She moved her sight line upward to the seat of Lieutenant General Safida.

“I have received a duel request. Lieutenant General Safida, may we borrow some fighting space?”

“Major, your heard her, what now?”

“Yes… cough, cough… the girl is the current generation of Igsem? Then, since outside is getting dark, feel free to fight here. We just need to set an area and the rules as we can’t let you break furniture. Cough…”

The Major feebly finished speaking, the Lieutenant General then fumblingly nodded, announcing to both:

“Good, you two may proceed, everyone else help moving the tableware… also it’s worth mentioning that in the whole Northern Garrison there’s no one who can match Hargunska’s sword skills. Against such fierce opponent, you can fully display the renowned reputation of the best two handed techniques of the Igsem family.”

Hearing that, Yatori instead left the short wooden gauche threw by her opponent in Haro’s custody.

Seeing this made Warrant Officer Hargunska very angry.

“Oi! What is the meaning of this?”

“Please don’t worry, I think facing an opponent wielding only one sword with two is unfair.”

Hearing those underestimating like lines made a vein pop on Hargunska’s solar plexus. He drew the large sword at his waist and held it in a frontal stance. His audacity made him look like a solid tower.

“You mean you are not taking me seriously! I sure am being underestimated!”

“Igsem’s two sword style was developed for the sake of facing many foes at once, if the opponent is a lone person, one sword is enough.”

Yatori’s casual replay made the calm officers get excited too. Without anyone saying so, the spectator moved to form a circle around the two resulting in the formation of a dueling space. The sudden tension made the majority of the people happy, but there were also a few among them with a cheeky unpleased look.

“…Such a vulgar practice, Yatori’s skills are not a showpiece for people to enjoy.”

Her Highness Chamille spoke with an unhappy face.

Hearing the Royalty’s thoughts, Lieutenant Sazaruf immediately intended to intrude the duel and stop it, but before he could, someone bluntly interrupted him:

“Your idea is wrong, Igsem’s sword skill is indeed a showpiece, princess.”

“… What did you say?” The princess stared Ikta with sharp eyes.

The young man disregarded the look Lieutenant Sazaruf sent as if saying “Have you gone mad? Who do you think you are replying to?” and continued:

“Seeing how smoothly the whole process went, I would say that nine out of ten this is a scheduled arrangement. Yatori should also have noticed it, this is common practice, it happens wherever a member of the Igsem family goes.”

“You mean even the supreme commander Safida want to watch such commotion? I really can’t understand people. Such abrupt and selfish actions clearly are ruining the order which is the basics of the military.”

Ikta gave a fleeting glance at the disagreeing princess and then moved his hand to his chin.

“… Why do you think Yatori is allowed to wield two swords?”

“If you are asking why… isn’t it because she is really strong?”

“It is not so. As princess has said it before, it is essential to maintain order in the military. Following this principle, not only soldiers but also officer should be given a standardized set of equipment, this is not something that can be changed on a personal basis. So the two wielding Yatori would be an impossible figure if you were following the normal rules.”

Seeing Ikta gushing out that speech made Lieutenant Sazaruf widen his eyes in surprise.

Since it seemed the tables have been moved, the dueling field prepared and the crowd parted to have a better look, the youth said to the princess as a prelude: “This will be a little long”

“Hundreds of years ago, when Katjvarna Empire was still in chaos, there were warlords everywhere, each advocating independence and regarding the land entrusted to them by the Emperor as their own. At that time without a strong central power, there were no military administration and the army had its own administrative unit. To be clearer it meant that in the Empire there where multiple Kings totaling dozens. In this scenario even the Emperor is but ‘one of the kings’.”

“That was common knowledge. After that, feeling a sense of looming crisis in the politically and militarily lacking Empire, from the powerful warlords, three forces stood out and crowned the Emperor as the absolute monarch. They were the Igsem, Remeon and Yurgus… the nowadays called ‘Loyal Triad’ families.”

“Yes, their objective was a central administration for political and military affairs, and putting those powers in the hands of the ‘Emperor’. This practice would reduce the risk of internal strife and create a system which could wholeheartedly fight foreign enemies.

Of course this was not an easy task since conflict could not be avoided with the selfishly proclaimed local warlords. But even so, in order to promote reforms, the loyal triad had to substantially reduce the amount of warlord clans. In other words, they used the tool called war to destroy them, but the process was not an eradication done indiscriminately and without distinction, they thought it through and made survival impossible only to hostile families. Among those who lived, there are families existing still today, the Tetdrich is one of such… them and the loyal triad are now called the old warlord families.”

“Exactly as you said…but what connection does this history have with ‘showpiece of Yatori’s swords’?”

“So, ah, the central government and the modern focus on order in the Katjvarna’s army… the one who established those foundations were no other but Yatori’s ancestor. As a descendant of the orthodox Igsem, even if she had real power, if she did not put on display, under clear view, on her waist the privilege they obtained, wouldn’t that be forfeiting history?”

“Hm, that is true… but in reality Yatori, no I should say all those related to Igsem, are allowed double swords isn’t it so?”

“Yeah. Thus those who initially got excited were not the Igsem. After the long period of chaos… at the completion of the centralization of political and military power, while the Igsem family head was reporting of those success to the Emperor, he had at his side the two blades he considered part of his soul. But in order to establish the supremacy of ‘Order’ in the newly formed national army, he first had to devoid himself of his individuality.

On the other hand, the Emperor felt puzzled. Since the Emperor put a vast amount of trust in Igsem, losing the two swords that could be called a symbol of Igsem was a very serious issue. Although the Emperor tried to persuade him with various reason, the stubbornly loyal Igsem didn’t show any will to compromise. As he was the monarch, the Emperor could simply order ‘You shalt not discard thine swords’ but giving orders with no proper reason could form cracks in their relationship. The Emperor was fret by this but in the end he did not waste efforts as he finally found an excuse.”

Hearing that her Highness the Princess suddenly remembered.

“… Is that so, this is the story about the ‘Undefeated Oath’ right?”

“Correct. To the unwilling Igsem the Emperor said ‘Although you are forfeiting your swords for the Order, your swords have already become the honor of the Empire itself. The soldier step on the battlefield encouraged by the swords, the populace trusts the blades will defend the country so they can faithfully believe in us every day. This is obliviously the truth but you still intend to discard your swords, if this is not a disruption of Order then I don’t know what is.'”

“That was a really bad argument… and it shouldn’t have been generalized like that. But in those unsettling times, I guess everybody hoped there would be a Hero.”

“Igsem was touched by the speech and after reflecting on it, he said so: ‘Then, till these swords suffer a crushing defeat and fails to protect those it has to’. He swore to continue wielding the two swords until he is defeated in fight… this is also a strong declaration that he will definitely not enjoy the privilege of wielding two swords just because of his status.”

During the lengthy conversation between the two, at the center of the room the duel finally begun. Warrant Officer Hargunska attacked first, he raised the wooden sword over his head and swung it down with all his might.

“At the condition of being undefeated, the existence of Igsem’s double swords is allowed in the military, so it actually is a showpiece. It is a simple premise of incredible strength. If a Igsem want to succeed in having two swords at their waist, then they have to demonstrate to everybody the fact that they are the strongest.”

Yatori who sidestepped the enemy’s attack is for the moment only focusing on defense.

This is also a tacit understanding, if you truly are the strongest then there would be no need to rush in determining the winner.

To undertake all of enemy’s ability and then beautifully defeat the opponent. In a duel this approach is the only allowed one for an Igsem.

“Not all Igsem descendant possessed such strong spirit. Since ‘Undefeated Oath’ is renewed every generation…. the ones who could keep the two swords at waist from their coming of age to the end of their life, even if you were to count the entirety of Igsem’s family tree, could be counted on your fingers.”

Although warrant officer Hargunska successfully performed an attack, his face still showed anxiety. That was a normal reaction as Yatori who received his fierce attack did not strike back. Even so, the position of the two hardly changed from their initial standing.

“Princess, you should have already seen this during the incident with Captain Ison– but it is a rare opportunity, please enjoy the spectacle… the rare incarnation of an undefeated person, the so called Igsem.”

Klang! At the ring of this crisp sound, the wooden sword in Warrant Officer Hargunska’s hand disappeared. Even if only a handful of people grasped the moment the sword flew, everyone raised their head to see the result of her action.

Chatter spread among the spectators– as the missing wooden sword is stabbed directly in the ceiling above.

“That surely can be called fortitude of the sword. I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to exchange blows with you Warrant Officer Hargunska.”

The winner, Yatori, started praising her opponent first. Even though it was just a step away from being considered sarcasm, Hargunska himself understood Yatori’s intentions.

Grasping the exact instant the wooden sword was about to be swung down, an upward hit carefully aimed at the hilt, such divine technique used the impact to make him lose grip. As for how far the sword would flew, it depended on how much upstream force there was. Thus by making the sword stuck on the ceiling proved not only she defeated the opponent but also the incredible strength she possessed.

“….. Brilliant, Yatorishino Igsem!”

Even with such landslide victory she has not insulting the opponent. This noble attitude would make even the loser feel admiration. Warrant Officer Hargunska, without even realizing it, stretched his right hand, Yatori also replied to the handshake with a smile.

The outcome of such impeccable duel made the public very excited. People flocked toward Yatori and the circle formed to observe the match quickly dissolved.

Ikta who stayed out of the crowd murmured with a blank face to the scene:

“That’s for safeguarding the current imperial system. Because she truly believes in your capability, princess, that she risked her life protecting you.”

“………..”

“Please don’t forget this fact, princess. No matter how big your dreams are, please absolutely never forget this.”

Maybe because he couldn’t stand watching Yatori being pushed around, Ikta after concluding the conversation stood up and calmly, with little efforts, mixed together with the officers surrounding her.

The princess while thinking about the warning she just received, walked back to the seat of honor with a serious expression.

“…. I feel like the newcomers this year are all freaks.”

The ignored Lieutenant Sazaruf could only put out this thought.

***

“Anyway, to tell the truth you guys arrived with the perfect timing, well, you could also call it the most boring time.”

With the endless mountains as background in the north, the soldiers marched uniformly. Walking at the front of the ranks, Lieutenant Sazaruf told the young officers.

“In fact, just a while back the tension here could be cut with a knife. Because of the difficulties the Eastern front was facing, I thought they would request reinforcements from the north.”

After Torway, who thought this was way too easy even for a military exercise asked, Lieutenant Sazaruf replied with a depressed expression while shaking his head.

“It goes without saying. That was the blazing war front even that Lieutenant General Rikan couldn’t handle, who would ever volunteer to go there? In the records of this Eastern War, most of the officials handling the final retreat have perished, including Lieutenant General Rikan himself.”

“But maybe by sending out a large amount of reinforcements we could have changed the outcome of the war.”

Matthew boldly interrupted with his opinion, making Lieutenant’s lips turn up in a grin.

“Quite brave opinion you have there… incidentally, warrant officer Tetdrich, people with such brave thoughts are called ‘Soldiers from Central’ in the northern region.”

“Huh? From Central?”

“Right, according to our sayings, Warrant Officer Deinkun who had a fight with miss Igsem at the welcome party is also that kind of person. Not long ago, that guy was insisting to send reinforcements to the east. Not to say about the problems he caused to his superior officer, he later went to discuss directly with the supreme commander and even wrote a voluntary letter to the Emperor, of course he was stopped by the disciplinary committee before sending it.”

“So… the phrase ‘Soldiers from Central’ is referring to very motivated people?”

Haro’s innocent question made the Lieutenant first widen his eyes, then burst into an uncontrollable laugh.

“T-That, don’t you want to go help?”

“…Wahahaaha! Yeah, that’s basically it Warrant Officer Bekkel. But to be more precise it means ‘Those who still have motivation even after being dispatched to the North’. Maybe the situation is different at Central but here those kind of people are the minority.”

After making these youths filled with dreams and passion widen their eyes, Lieutenant Sazaruf shifted his gaze toward the northern mountains, he then spread his arms as to embrace the scenery.

“And which mountain shall bear the responsibility!”

“…Are you referring to the Arfatra Mountains? Why is it so?”

“Do you even need to ask? Because those mountains will block the enemies in front of us.”

Lieutenant Sazaruf confidently made this assertion, but the young officers’ faces were caught in a surprised frown.

“‘Grand Arfatra is ‘God’s ladder’… In 900 years of Katjvarna Empire’s history never once as an enemy crossed those mountains to attack…so the name ‘God’s ladder’ originated because of that.”

“You are totally right Warrant Officer Remeon. It’s a shame, if I were an instructor I would draw you a flower circle.”

Note
in japan flowers are drawn on the test paper of children who scored the maximum

Uhm… isn’t Lieutenant our standing instructor here?”

“What? Is it so? Then let’s really draw you a flower circle.”

Saying that, Lieutenant took out a pen from his breast pocket and drew a flower on Torway’s forehead.

A laughter busted around him and Torway was left with an expression hard to describe.

“Even if enemies haven’t crossed the god’s ladder, there are people living over there right?”

Yatori, who was silent until now, interrupted with a sharp tone.

Hearing that, Lieutenant Sazaruf wanted to draw a flower on Yatori’s forehead too but seeing how easily she dodged with an upper body movement, he quickly gave up.

“…Huhuhu, you are right. Though the northern region has the protection of the Grand Arfatra, we can’t leave all the troublesome work to the mountains. In other words, our job is–”

“Natives risk control, or the management of the situation with the natives living on the Grand Arfatra Mountains, the Shinaak Tribe.”

Lieutenant Sazaruf nodded to Torway’s answer and proceeded to draw a second flower on his forehead.

“That’s it. In the mountain range lives many, who although are considered belonging to the empire, are not thought as resident of Katjvarna, the people of Shinaak tribe. According to history we have not been harmonious with them. Even though for the last few hundred years there were no major conflict, small disputes often occur.”

“Meaning our job is to give those mountain rednecks a lesson? It’s almost like exterminating pests.”

The muscle-brain Agra said with a sneer, the Lieutenant shrugged his shoulder with a wry smile.

“While we do exterminate pests, our past job also included dealing with the brave men who wet their pants due to the shock… but now, even that has changed.”

“Changed? Why is it so?”

“Since two years ago, incidents with the Shinaak tribe have significantly diminished. Seems like those guy have turned page and don’t want to cause troubles anymore. In the past, maybe twice per month, if unlucky, five or six times, there were even days when you had to deal with mountain thieves at the same time. But for the past six months not even the operation ‘Send Punitive Force’ happened.”

To the ‘Many Battles’ they heard before coming here, this news made disappointment appear on the majority of the motivated young warrant officers’ faces, only Yatori and Torway had a severe expression.

When the talks ended, the march resumed. Unable to tolerate the boredom, the muscle-brain Agra complained with dissatisfaction:

“Lieutenant, I know that this battalion is idle now, so what is the exercise for? Since three hours ago we have been marching along the mountains to and fro, this can’t even be considered training!”

“You are right! But we cannot stop midway through, after all we used the excuse of training to put this display of military prowess. Maybe it is precisely because we send out these subtle messages: ‘So what? We have such military strength! We are very strong! Very scary!’ that peace is maintained. Furthermore, if we were to cancel even this then we would really just become idleness idiots. We absolutely have to avoid that, but…”

Lieutenant Sazaruf suddenly turned back and stared anxiously left and right to the officers behind him.

“…Warrant Officer Sorlok, what’s up? You’re not planning to say anything? I heard you would be the first one to cut in these chit chats.”

The main reason Lieutenant Sazaruf brought a pen with him was because he wanted to draw flowers circles on Ikta’s forehead, but no traces of the rookie could be found.

The members of ‘Order of Knights’ knew it since long ago but the other officers had only now noticed it and the commotion further spread.

“Ooi~ what happened to Warrant Officer Ikta? Nobody saw him but the third illumination platoon seems to be here…”

“…I-I have something to report, Lieutenant”

Standing directly behind the officers and managing the troops, Sergeant Suuya cautiously opened her mouth, with a surprised look Lieutenant Sazaruf turned to her.

“Sergeant Mittokalif, your report is?”

“This is a message from Warrant Officer Sorlok: Because of a violation of the military rules, I’m voluntarily confining myself in the punishment cell. The violation is abandoning the exercise without permission…”

Without any pretense or excuse, instead using directly the action as a reasoning, he went straightforward with such declaration.

Lieutenant Sazaruf finally came back to his senses after blanking out for a minute.

He, who didn’t know what reaction to show, took out the pen from his chest pocket.

“…It seems I was wrong. What I have to draw on his forehead is not a flower but a big red X”

Thus, he learned a way to deal with the problematic person named Ikta Sorlok.

***

“I can’t accept this!”

A female soldier shouted. Her trembling anger even propagated to the brown ribbon tied to her ponytail.

That day, some disturbance happened at the base as well. The object at the center of the dispute was the big bookshelf placed in front of the female quarters.

“It is unbearable right, PFC Kanna?”

Note
PFC= Private First Class

The target of her anger— Lieutenant Talca whose main facial feature is having a squared face, is hardly even considering her protest.

He took out another book from the shelf and started appraising it, his attention is now wholly focused on this action.

“Why must all the books in our barracks be confiscated!”

On the contrary, the female soldier– this year was her third enlisted year with the wind spirit Tabb as partner, she, of the air shooter troops, Kanna Temari felt very indignant. That tomboy face was contorted to the point it could be called furious.

Kanna protesting agains lieutenant Talca

She was not a recruit and knew well that going against a superior officer brought no benefit. But to her, the current situation was a moment she had to talk back even fully knowing that.

“Then I ask you, why should we cram the soldiers’ sleeping place with bookshelves full of books?”

Lieutenant Talca replied with in a cold tone, after gathering all her strength, Kanna replied.

“Because the people living here read books when they are free from training! Because having a lot of books is great but they cost a lot, so everybody put their property in one place as shared property, you should understand that!”

“It is, please understand that, right? No matter how much time passes you never learn how to be polite.”

“Guh! Don’t try… please don’t try to change to topic, we are now discussing the matter regarding these books!”

Other female soldiers also showed their face from the windows of the barrack, nervously observing the situation from the sidelines. Though sharing the same opinion as Kanna that the confiscation was unfair, they couldn’t muster the courage to go against a superior officer.

“Sigh, so you are claiming ownership of these books as your private property?”

“It can be regarded as such. Although not so much as private property, in fact it is shared property among everybody living here… and there should be no military regulation against bringing in books, right?”

Kanna, having no confidence in her memory, spoke fuzzily. Lieutenant Talca ridiculed her.

“That excuse won’t work, where are you leaving your books?”

“At the end of the corridor. We especially made a bookshelf so that everybody could easily pick a book…”

“That is the problem. PFC Kanna, you should recall the regulation told to recruits. The space allocated for private property is only your room, you remember?”

“Ughh…”

“Even in the living quarters, the corridor is public space. So the books left here are considered public goods of the base, in other words, they are property of the northern garrison. As the supervisor of the living quarters, whether they should be confiscated or discarded is for me to decide.”

“This… this is nitpicking! Indeed, only us put a bookshelf there, but considering the end of the corridor as common space is a something that happens in every dorm!”

“Even if there is such practice, it still remains just a practice. Of course you have to consider the written rules first, finished talking? Good, take them.”

Lieutenant Talca made a gesture to the two male soldiers who, by the look of their eyes, seemed like they were forced to come. However, Kanna continued to pester the superior who unilaterally ended the argument and tried to leave.

“Even so, why did you confiscate without a warning! If the issue is occupying public space, then you could just have told us to bring them back to our rooms–”

“…Tsk! Ooi! Is that the attitude you should have when talking to a superior officer?”

Lieutenant Talca shouted with a tone completely different from the previous indifferent attitude, which scared Kanna so much that she forgot to breath.

“A mere soldier dares to be so arrogant, before talking irrationally think about your standing! The ones who broke the regulation were you, as a supervisor I have to take measures for it. In moment like this you should not be telling excuses but self-reflecting! Isn’t it so!”

Compared to looking down on people, Lieutenant Talca who is now forcing others to accept his own justice made Kanna grit her teeth as she was unable to defend herself. Shrinking when the superior officer is yelling was already a conditioned reflex instilled in soldiers.

“Moreover, reading is an entertainment of the rich, this interest to you, foot soldiers, are just not knowing your own places! Since you have time to read such stupid entertainment why don’t you increase your stamina by running laps! Really, this kind of boring stuff…”

Lieutenant Talca while speaking with disdain, took out an old looking book from the bookshelf. Seeing that cover, Kanna’s face paled.

“W-wait! Don’t be so rough!”

“Hmm, seeing your panicking expression, is this your book? <Records of Grand Arfatra>? I noticed this because the binding looked luxurious…huh? Where have I seen this author before…?”

Lieutenant Talca frowned his eyebrows in thinking, a few seconds later he breathed out with upturned eyes.

“This… isn’t this written by that ‘Blasphemer’ Anarai Khan! Not only he insulted our great God with weird experiments but then even fled to Kioka, our enemies, becoming one of the most hated defectors! PFC Kanna! To think you like books written by criminals!”

“The… the contents of a book have no correlation with its author…”

Kanna tried to argue back, but this instead only made Lieutenant Talca rage more.

“You are still making excuses! Really intolerable! Brace yourself!”

Lieutenant Talca lifted the hand holding the book, thinking she was going to get beaten, Kanna shut her eyes.

“No, no, no, this method is wrong.”

The black haired youth who moved between the two stopped the Lieutenant in the nick of time by grabbing his wrist.

“Books are not tools to beat others, furthermore a girl’s face shouldn’t be hit in the first place. I thought that was common knowledge in this world.”

“Who the hell are you!”

“I’m an Imperial Knight who happened to pass by, my mission is to make all older women in the world never cry again.”

Ikta said those creepy lines with a straight face.

Lieutenant Talca frowned.

“Imperial Knight… so you are a member of the legendary ‘Order of Knights’? The name of the black haired black eyed guy should be Ikta Sorlok correct… you didn’t seem very conspicuous at the welcome party.”

“It’s because I’m not good at attracting attention, even though I look like this, I’m pretty humble.”

“Then, what’s the meaning of your right hand?”

Lieutenant Talca fiercely stared, Ikta then simply released the grip suppressing the other’s hand.

“I apologize for intervening without authorization in the dispute, but after hearing your conversation so far, I’m feeling quite concerned about something.”

Ikta moved to the bookshelf while saying so and looked with memorable interest at the books lined there.

“…Oh the ordering of this bookshelf is not bad at all. Fictional novels and specialized books are separated according to their genre, although there are old books none of them are in bad condition, the residents must all be careful readers.”

“So what–”

“Since the invention of letter pressing technology, compared to the past where books were handwritten, books have become an existence much closer to people. Coupled with an increase in literacy, the reading demographic spread to the general population.”

Ikta interrupted the Lieutenant with swaggerish statements while ignoring him, this thick nerved attitude made Kanna speechless.

“Having said so, books are still not commodities that could be thoughtlessly purchased. It may be different in twenty years’ time, but right now the limit should be ‘spurge to buy one at a special occasion’… but since this is the case, sellers also devised various strategies.”

Ikta selected two books from the shelf and raised them with his hands.

“On the cover of this <Flower girl Lisrei> is written ‘a gift to your dearest daughter’, this <Yobzniek’s Knight> has ‘given to the son who will be braver than anyone else’. One can tell with a glance alone that these lines have nothing to do with the story, it’s just propaganda to promote sales. The focus here should be ‘parents who buy book for their children’ as the main target of sales.

The important product itself is a good fit for this strategy. No matter whether it is <Flower Girl Lisrei> or <Yobzniek’s Knight>, the protagonist was always the kind that would make parents think ‘It would be great if my child could become someone like that’. But if you think about it calmly you will find different aspects in which they are just too perfect.”

Ikta exaggeratedly shrugged his shoulder, then continued talking.

“Within the scope of my knowledge, the pioneering books that used such strategies are these two. Then, many other works successfully adopted the same concept thus making the notion of books in the Empire become: ‘For the coming of age of their children, one must spurge in buying a pricey book’. The end result of such epidemic thinking is nowadays, the only property many youths have, is the one book their parents gifted them.”

After leading the discourse here, Ikta suddenly knocked lightly on the bookshelf while exposing a smile with deeper meanings.

“Each of these are not cheap. Although some are old, but with this many it is worth a fortune— don’t you think so, Lieutenant?”

“What…?”

Kanna abruptly moved her sight line because of the surprise, only to see Lieutenant Talca with a stiff expression.

“W-What are you talking about…?”

“Oh, you’re still playing the fool, I see. After confiscating their books, you are planning to resell them right? There’s no other reason you would do something so troublesome. At first I thought you were the kind to enjoy seeing their subordinates suffer, but contrary to that your expression wasn’t that of joy… The deciding factor was you confirming each book one by one, those were certainly the eyes of someone appraising goods.”

The female soldiers, who were waiting in their residences for the storm to pass, had some reaction to Ikta’s statement and Kanna put their doubts into actual words.

“You don’t mean… that Lieutenant wanted to earn some pocket money by taking our books…?”

“W-What nonsense! What proof do you have…!”

Subject of countless angry stares, Lieutenant Talca’s head broke in a cold sweat. At this point Ikta chased with his attacks.

“…<The handsome Badilan>, <The rose of Miyajan>, <Parsek and Urpina>, <Records of Darius’ Generation>.”

“…Urgh!”

“These are the works you took out from the shelves earlier in order to ascertain their condition… it’s not like you’d want to read those, then why were you so clear about these? They are works that could be sold at high price and are popular in an old book market.”

“Haa…Argh…!”

“If my life had smoothly progressed, I was originally supposed to work as librarian at the National Library of the Capital and keep a peaceful life. If you want to earn money by selling old books, instead of the over printed popular works, one would earn much more by selling hard to get niche works to collectors. You sure are very knowledgeable about such market.”

“Gah…!”

“You have already contacted the buyer right? Eyeing an easy tar—kah!”

A fist cruelly connected to Ikta’s stomach. With raging eyes, the lieutenant chased the youth who was stomping the ground due to pain.

“You bastard, don’t fiddle in other’s business… since I heard you were cherished by the third princess I wanted to resolve this peacefully… but seeing to which point you insulted me, I see no other choice…!”

Lieutenant Talca threw away the <Records of Grand Arfatra> he was holding, raised the newly freed hands and slowly approached the opponent.

Ikta retreated while coughing.

“Cough cough… gosh turning to violence so easily, please listen till I finish talking.”

“You’re on your deathbed, keep saying all the bullshit you want!”

Ikta while avoiding Lieutenant’s hands, still sprouted words.

“Yes, yes, yes, since you said so I won’t restrain myself anymore— what I really wanted Lieutenant to understand is that the value of books is not only ‘entertainment of the rich’. Now please allow me to demonstrate it to you.”

“You can prove it while I hit your face to deformity?”

“The books will teach me the strength to not fall into that predicament, anyway this a bit sudden but allow me to ask you a question Lieutenant. Do you like insects? Or do you hate them?”

“I never considered whether I liked them, since mere insects are just bugs… If I sighted any, I could just stomp on it.”

“Oyaoya that’s really forthright. But you know, in this world there are all kinds of insects, some fly in the sky, some can move really fast, some have extremely powerful venom too. Without any preparation would you be able to confront such threats?”

Even during these conversations, the lieutenant continued cornering Ikta toward the wall. Kanna thought of intruding and stopping them before blood is shed, but halted after the youth who was getting cornered sent her a rejecting look.

“One last thing. If you think the soldierly spirit is almighty, you’re going to face lots of hardships.”

“Don’t use that understanding tone to judge something you didn’t have to begin with– Die!”

Seeing his prey with the back against the wall, Lieutenant Talca, who had long awaited this opportunity, exclaimed.

At the same time Ikta jumped backward– even knowing he only had the wall behind him, he still took the initiative to hit it.

Receiving the impact, something fell from the ceiling of the dormitory. The next moment, Ikta without hesitation grabbed the thing that fell in front of him- -then proceeded to threw it to Lieutenant’s face.

“Wha…?”

His gesture could not be called a punch so Lieutenant was fearlessly facing that.

What he saw were eight hairy legs wriggling around, only two centimeters away from his eyes, constantly wriggling and making rustling sounds.

“–GyAAaAAa!”

A scream resounded from Lieutenant’s throat while he jumped back. His action was not a result of rational judgement, but instead the fear mechanism all mammals have developed that couldn’t be resisted.

The as the only one who knew the events would unfold this way, the youth chased the fleeting enemy. After reaching the lieutenant, Ikta pulled on the collar of his shirt and ripped off the top two buttons, then taking advantage of the gap created in the shirt he, in one swift action, threw in ‘that thing’ he held in his right hand.

The lieutenant clearly saw what that was.

“GuaAaAaaaaaaAA!”

He panicked. No, it’s not enough to describe it with panic alone, he frenzied. Lieutenant Talca desperately reached into the shirt but ‘that thing’ with extreme agility avoided his hands by moving left and right. Hearing rustling sounds and feeling hairy arthropod legs crawling around your skin can make your reason disappear in an instant.

Endless screams came from the Lieutenant.

The more he tried to reach with his hands in order to get it out, the deeper it went. During the struggle, unknowingly how it did it, that thing actually went into his pants. Feeling that hairy touch, the initial fear that was meant as a defense mechanism erupted from each pore of his body. The lieutenant with painful screams continued to hit his whole body.

Facing the unreal crazed scenery, the female soldiers could only stare in astonishment at the Lieutenant’s actions.

“GuaAaAaaaaaaAA!UghaaRg!GyAAaAAa!!!”

Nobody knew how long such battle lasted… whether it was seconds or minutes or even more.

Then when Lieutenant forfeited all resistance to his dignity as a soldier, that thing finally left the tight military uniform.

An eight legged shadow, about as big as an adult’s hand was quickly running away on the sandy road, Ikta only saluted it till it disappeared from sight.

“Good work, you successfully completed the mission Sergeant Heteropoda Venatoria… If throwing centipedes at people is be considered a prank, then the move I did earlier must be classified as esoteric prohibition. If there’s someone not afraid of that move, they must have the name Igsem…”

Ikta looked at the Lieutenant who is already lying absent minded on the ground, and continued:

“However, if you have read the book you had just thrown away… the <Records of Grand Arfatra>, you could have avoided this tragedy, after all I gave you such a big clue when I said ‘Insect’. You just had to know that during the day, they like to avoid the sun by resting on ceiling and near corners… then you would have noticed I wasn’t just running away but leading you to where ‘that thing’ was. Now you understand don’t you? The value of the books I talked about earlier was referring to this, Lieutenant.”

Even without knowing whether the other was listening, Ikta continued explaining.

This is the oblige of the winner.

“Although it possesses a scaring appearance, heteropoda venatoria is a very common animal. Since they protect the crops from harmful insects, lots of them are raised in Shinaak tribe’s barn. They are expert hunters that predates on pest, but will not harm humans and their crop. Even with that look heteropoda venatoria is definitely a useful insect. What I just did was out of emergency, good children should no imitate.”

The grabbing of a spider alone, normal people wouldn’t be able to do that… Kanna complained in her heart. In front of her she could see Ikta illumining Lieutenant Talca’s eyes with Kusu’s high beam.

“Ahhh… this is not good huh… Ooi~ you two over there, can you please bring this guy to the infirmary? You don’t have to bother with the bookshelf anymore.”

Hearing Ikta sprouting those sluggish words, the two soldiers, who were on standby observing the evolving situation, exposed a face as if saying they finally had something to do, and begun to move.

Accordingly, they were just ordered to come help and didn’t have any connection with Lieutenant Talca.

The two lifted the fainted body of the supervisor and left the living quarters from the front door.

“Sigh… I’m so tired… Originally I didn’t want to knock him out… Today I had to solve this all by myself, maybe because of that I overdid a little…”

Ikta murmured a complain while picking up the book thrown by the lieutenant.

“Great, it wasn’t damaged…. there you go, this yours right? Take it.”

“Ah…”

Kanna reflexively grabbed the book Ikta threw to her after dusting it.

“T-thank God… Thanks. Ah… no… Thank you very much for your help, Warrant Officer.”

After panicky fixing her wording, she, with a desperate look stared at Ikta’s face.

“……Can you call me Ikkun? Ah, no, to normal people I should perhaps be more gradual…? But to be honest in the battle before I consumed all the energy that should have been put in this as well… ah, right, what is your name?”

While that was an incomprehensible request, Kanna didn’t have any reason to refuse, furthermore he was her benefactor.

“I belong to the first northern regimen PFC Kanna Temari, my partner is the wind spirit Tabb. Pleased to meet you, uhm… officer Ikkun.”

“Officer Ikkun huh… well whatever. Ah, nice to meet you, Kanna. This may sound a bit sudden but you are my fellow junior apprentice.”

“What…? Ju-Junior apprentice…?”

Without understanding the meaning Kanna tilted her head, Ikta then explained by indicating the book in her hands:

“You have read that book right? Then that makes you a ‘Disciple of Anarai’. Though you appear to be older than me, I have been a disciple for a long time thus making me your senior.”

After Ikta finished speaking, a smile full of familiarity surfaced on his lips.

With no reason at all, Kanna’s heartbeats accelerated.

“Uh…Ah… That means… Officer Ikkun was this author’s… Professor Anarai Khan’s disciple…? Ah… No… May I inquire if it is so?”

“Yes, it is so. You and I are both believers of Science.”

Also a believer of science. Though she didn’t quite understand the meaning, that remark left a deep impression in her heart.

“I say, Kanna, which part of this book you think is most interesting?”

Ikta asked in a casual tone. This kind of attitude does not show normally and it made Kanna very curious. Because this is the first time she discovered someone she could discuss something like this with.

“Ah…Umm… It should be… the part regarding the study of the Alderah church.”

Ikta’s shoulder shook with surprise, this was not an answer he anticipated.

“…The studying of the Alderah church? Not the faith the Shinaak Tribe have on the spirits?”

“Ye-Yes…That is, after studying the spirit beliefs of the Shinaak and then comparing them to the Alderah faith of the Empire, you can then find all kinds of wonderful things–”

Seeing how Kanna hesitatingly begun to explain, Ikta wanted to keep listening to her–but at that instant, his head was firmly grabbed by someone from behind.

“…Weren’t you supposed to be in voluntary confinement? Warrant Officer Sorlok.”

Ikta timidly turned back, as expected, appearing in front of him with a twisted smile was Lieutenant Sazaruf.

The youth spoke with a blue face.

“…Crap, to think I had such an oversight, I stayed here at my own leisure for too long…!”

“That statement alone is cheeky enough. Sure, there were unmotivated people among higher ups’ students, but for you to skip the exercise to flirt with a girl, you might be the first one in history.”

Without saying another word, Lieutenant Sazaruf grabbed Ikta’s collar and started dragging him to the punishment cell. Even so, the youth with no intention to reflect on his action shouted to Kanna who was staring blankly:

“Kanna, we will surely meet again! We will then continue this conversation! This is a promise!”

“Ah… Yes…?”

“Yeah, yeah, this is truly youthfulness… but I really hope you can survive till your next meeting.”

The problem child was dragged away by a deviously smiling Lieutenant Sazaruf leaving behind only a sand trail.

“…What…what just happened…”

Even after the images of the two disappeared, Kanna still kept dazing for a while. But if she didn’t hurry to put the books and the bookshelf back in the dormitory they would get damaged.

Thus she turned around to search for someone who would help carry the shelf. Right then a strong gust of wind blew laterally making the pages of the <Records of Grand Arfatra> in her hands turn pages after pages. The turnings finally stopped when they reached the book’s cover, on the first page there was a sentence to the prospect reader, a message left there by the author.

–Welcome to the world of Science!

These words were like what the youth had said, enclosing an incredible warmth.

***

With the rough escort of the supervisor, Ikta went straight to the punishment cell located in the inner side of the base. It was no larger than three square meters, completely devoid of any light, even the monitoring window was barred, it was no different from a prison.

“Warrant Officer Sorlok. How many days have you lasted with no food or water?”

Hearing the terrifying question Lieutenant asked from over the monitoring window, Ikta seriously though about it.

“… are snacks considered food?”

“Of course, also your clever tricks won’t work in here.”

“Then, are insects considered snacks?”

“Don’t look for weird gray areas. Food means anything besides air that you can put in your mouth.”

Ikta tried to gain some time with these jokes while hard thinking– if he were to make a single mistake then it would probably result in tragedy. He must find the right amount of time, not too long nor too short, something that the other will find appropriate.

“Then around three days I guess…”

Hearing the youth’s final answer, Lieutenant Sazaruf lightly nodded.

“I see; then let’s try leaving you in here for 300 days.”

“You just multiplied it 100 fold! Won’t I starve to death whatever my answer was!?”

Ikta knocked strongly on the door with both hands, the one on the other side, Lieutenant Sazaruf, with his back against the door, sat down.

“C’mon, don’t be so agitated. You skipped the exercise without permission, you have no excuse on this. You didn’t think you would be let off with just some light punishment right?”

“Even so, I didn’t think that as a first time offender I would be given a death sentence!”

“I don’t really plan to leave you here till you die. But if I didn’t render you weak enough, who doesn’t know when to talk, from using that mouth, then don’t you think it would be hard to maintain my position as superior?”

Sigh– Lieutenant Sazaruf after heavily sighing, continued:

“…To tell you the truth, I really can’t understand. What kind of ideas brought you to your current situation?”

“Even if you ask me the ideas I had, I can’t really answer that… to be clearer, 100% of them were compelling circumstances”

“If that is so, then the rumors wouldn’t be so action packed and exciting right? Even if I considered you getting knighted was a complete lucky stroke, then what about the incident regarding the attempted kidnapping of the third princess? No matter how I look at it, the positive outcome could only be attributed to your swift actions.”

“About that, it would be annoying if I denied so let’s leave it alone for now… but Lieutenant Sazaruf, do you perhaps have some prejudice against me?”

With Ikta’s sharp counterattack, the Lieutenant nodded while shrugging his shoulders.

“…. It may be so. Even if you look like a freak, that’s still just your outer appearance. I originally thought you were the standard type to strictly adhere to successfulness. That would be the oblivious conclusion right? After all, those kind of guys always flock to high ranked officers.”

“I think this would be a good example of misunderstanding the nature of an opponent because of prejudice.”

“Oh, I admit it. It looks like you don’t have the slightest interest in having success. Because if it were so the you wouldn’t have skipped an easy exercise which would create materials that could be held against you.”

“It’s not like everyone in ‘Order of Knights’ is the same as me. True, Haro might lack some ambition, but that’s just because she is humble. The remaining three are all very focused on having success, please don’t misunderstand this point.”

“You would even speak for your companions, I really can’t understand– Guh!”

Lieutenant Sazaruf received a strong hit on his back and head making him topple forward.

That was the result of Ikta’s incessant knocking, the hinges, which have deteriorated over the years, have succumbed to his unyielding efforts.

After receiving an unexpected help from fortune, Ikta jumped over the superior who was holding the back of his head with his hand and groaning in pain, and immediately tried to escape. However, something curious entered his field of view making him suddenly stop his movements.

“…What is closed in this cell? Kusu, shine some light.”

“Ouch… Hey! What are you doing! Don’t do things without permi–”

Before Lieutenant Sazaruf finished his warning, Kusu’s beam already dispelled the darkness in the cell. Small creatures that did not even reach a human’s knee reacted to the sudden light and trembled on the floor.

“…Wait…those are…”

The moment he recognized the identity of those creature, a similar trembling expression appeared on Ikta’s face.

“…Spirits! What is this? Why are spirits being held in such place–”

“Ahhh~ you shined on them… Warrant Officer Sorlok, tell your partner to stop the light, this is an order.”

Hearing the commanding tone Lieutenant Sazaruf issued his order, Ikta could only turn off the light for the time being. Because of that, one couldn’t see the shapes of the spirits anymore, only their highly reflective irises shone in the darkness like those of a cat’s.

“…Lieutenant, can you explain what is this?”

Lieutenant Sazaruf revealed an expression as if saying ‘the troublesome guy has seen it huh’ and scratched his head.

“In short, it’s as you can see.”

“No, no, although it is weird that I’m the one saying this, isn’t that an abnormal scenery? ‘The spirit and its contractor shalt always be together, no one shalt violate the will of the two forcing them to separate’–this is at the base of the teachings of the Alderamin church, and shouldn’t this principle be upheld even in battle against enemies?”

“The war has already ended, furthermore this is the northern region far from the frontlines, these can’t be spirits that are awaiting to be returned, even if that were so such treatment is not reasonable. Because they don’t receive enough light, they are not able to move.”

The four spirit uses light as energy. Though there are exceptions, light is indeed their main source of vitality, this kind of resource could be ‘stored beforehand’ making it a common sight, in clear days, spirits growing thin, membrane like, wings and bathe in the sun.

“These spirits have been locked in such dark environment for far too long making them unable to move. To a human standpoint that would be imprisonment, starvation and abuse of the spirits… What is the objective behind this, and who gave the orders for it to be conducted?”

Ikta put away his evil intents and with his spirit partner stared at the superior.

Lieutenant Sazaruf, unable to stand their impeaching looks, shook his head as if trying to avoid it.

“Don’t talk like I’m the culprit… I will tell you since you saw that. The one who ordered this is no one else than the supreme commander of the northern region Lieutenant General Safida.”

When that name appeared, Ikta immediately figured out the situation.

“…I see; they were taken away from the Shinaak tribe who are in tension with the military right?”

“As expected of you, that’s correct, you understand very quickly.”

“Because when I shined on them, all I saw were wind and fire spirits. Among the four spirits, these two kinds can be directly used as weapons…Air guns and fire. Without these two, in the modern warfare, their battle prowess would significantly decrease. So I can understand from a strategic point of view the merit of removing them.”

“You are pretty smart… well, that’s the nutshell of the situation. Facing the long-lasting and never ending conflicts with the Shinaak Tribe, this is our last resort in restraining them. By confiscating both spirits and weapons from those troublesome guys we prevent after fires.”

Although those words came out of his own mouth, Lieutenant Sazaruf’s nature could not approve of such ruthless methods and while he was speaking, he moved his gaze around in an awkward manner.

Ikta ignored the officer and deeply though about the case with severe expression.

“I don’t want to advocate its justice or ethicality, but if we were all just respecting the rules, then under those conditions we absolutely wouldn’t be able to win wars. Still– about this method in particular, there are several parts that makes me feel uneasy.”

“…What is bothering you? At least in practice, this method proved to be effective. Even with their recent subdued behavior, people still find that hard to believe.”

As a base for his reasoning, lieutenant Sazaruf told him about the recent decrease in small scale conflicts… However even after hearing this, the doubts covering the youth’s face didn’t disappear.

“The possibility for this strategy to affect the war might be high… but does it really create the effect desired by Lieutenant General Safida?”

“For the past half year, they almost never rioted, they clearly calmed down.”

“It maybe so, or may not… the only thing I can really assert is… the nature of this method is like a scumbagish, forced approach to a child throwing tantrum.”

“Scumbagish forced approach…?”

“If it were me, I would have avoided this method. After all, just the thought of rising contents inside a pressure pot makes me scared… and the most important part is that this way, the opponent now has the right to call their fight a just cause, ‘Retrieve our brutally ravished partners’, this is a simple but righteous call for arms.”

Ikta muttered some inauspicious predictions and while doing so walked past Lieutenant Sazaruf. He crossed the iron barred door, stepping with heavy footsteps, gradually moved toward the brightly illuminated corridor.

“Stop, where are you planning to go!”

–Just a step away from a successful escape, Lieutenant’s extended arm grabbed him, completely stopping his plan to escape amid the confusion.

“…Huh…weird, isn’t the scenario that was supposed to happen the ‘Sazaruf blankly watched him get away’?”

“Your theory sure is interesting… but unfortunately, my personality doesn’t allow me to be too bother by matters outside of the garrison.”

After finishing with a smile, he grabbed Ikta’s collar and threw him back in the closest punishment cell.

The Lieutenant then locked the room and carefully inspected the hinges. This door’s hinges did not show any sign of deterioration.

“Since you amused me with your speech, I kindly deduct 295 days from your sentence, hang in there.”

“I have to starve for five days?! That’s too much! When I go back to Central, I will surely report this mistreatment to high ranked officials! I will make local officer’s salary reduce to desperate amounts! I definitely will!”

“So you resorted to this trick… you know; I don’t really hate such forthright attitude. Perhaps it is people like you that in the end will become the typical elite.”

Not knowing how serious he was when he made such remark, Lieutenant Sazaruf left the brig. Even after he disappeared from sight, Ikta kept shouting curses through the metal railing for a long time.

***

One week after reaching the northern domains, when High Grade Military Officer Cadets and their subordinates finally started getting used to the life there…

“Accept my challenge! Oh youngest of Remeons!”

The members of order of knights minus Ikta, resting on the tables outside of the canteen were shocked when Warrant Officer Deinkun intruded with a thunderous voice.

This time though, his fingers pointed to a different opponent.

“…Huh? Eh? Me? Not Yatori-san?”

“Today I want to challenge you! Good, if you are a man of the Empire, readily accept my challenge!”

“But… I’m not good with the sword… ”

Torway hesitatingly responded, making a discontent look appear on Deinkun’s face.

“What you say!? Nevertheless, you are a soldier who received knighthood from his Majesty the Emperor! If you can’t even swing a sword you won’t be able to protect the princess you’re serving!”

Maybe because he hit where it hurts, Torway could only lower his head and remain silent… But Deinkun’s unilateral intrusion and his rebukes irked the other present as well.

“You should know some restrain, warrant officer Deinkun. Do you plan to ridicule my knight in front of me?”

The tone of her Highness Chamille was ice cold because, the same reason she didn’t like when Yatori was challenged during the welcome party, she hated the primitive way of ‘determining the hierarchy by sword’.

“First, Torway’s specialty is shooting. If we were to talk about his skills as air gunner, he won’t fall behind anyone else; in the modern battlefield that technique is much more valuable than swordsmanship–”

“I apologize for my rudenessssssss!”

Before she even finished speaking, Warrant Officer Deinkun prostrated in an exaggerated manner that could probably have broken the flooring.

The princess, only halfway through her speech, was staring at the scene with her mouth half open.

“………No, what I meant was… instead of wooden swordplay, you should pay more attention to individual strength…”

“This subordinate’s rudenesssssss!”

“…. You were judging a person’s value from just one single aspect, that’s not a commendable behavior….”

“Please do forgiveeeeeeee!”

The princess, who wanted to start a debate with him but because of his actions, now looked like someone had poured a buckle of cold water on her… looking closer, Warrant Officer Deinkun did not have the slightest intention to retort her words. He was displaying complete obedience as if the words he was about to hear were those of an oracle.

But the princess’ puzzled look did not last long… Although a bit extreme, this was the natural conduct of an imperial citizen. Words spoken by royalties are absolute, the ones who could refute in such situation were rare.

Even the completely familiar members of the order of knights wouldn’t undertake a war of words with her Highness, there was only one exception, and because of how she always thought about that exception lately, it led astray the princess’ common knowledge.

“How about shoji? Warrant Officer Deinkun. If it’s shoji, then Torway is very good too.”

Sensing the complex feelings in her Highness Chamille’s, Yatori cheerfully proposed a solution. The princess also nodded as if she has just been saved.

“It is alright now; you can lift your head Warrant Officer Deinkun… I also agree with Yatori’s proposal. Sometimes you need to demonstrate your excellency as soldier with the foresight you have on top a board of chess instead of sword skills, so?”

“Yes sir! To receive a chance to redeem myself, I feel very honored!”

Deinkun stood up full of spirit.

Yatori, who proposed this, immediately went to the closet at the corner of the canteen and brought the board and the pieces. After setting everything properly, the two sat across each other.

“This way you have nothing to complain about! Show me your full strength, oh youngest of Remeon!”

“Ha…Haha…please be lenient…”

Attacking first, Warrant Officer Deinkun used strength that could easily break the board in two to move his piece. Although Torway was intimidated by his vigor, he still breathed in deeply and started planning the early scheme.

At about ten minutes after the start, under the gaze of the audience, the outcome of the battle was quickly settled–

“Sorry, this is checkmate….”

“Guaaaah!”

Torway won the match in just 54 moves, even Matthew on the sideline was left dumbfounded.

“…Weak, it is way too weak. Why did he attack when he was at disadvantage?”

“D-Defense is not for me! As the general, I must compensate the lack of troops with morale!”

Note
general here is the most important piece in shogi (like the king in chess)

“Since this is shogi, no matter how hard you try the pieces’ performance won’t change~”

The logical words Matthew and Haro said mercilessly stabbed into Deinkun’s back. Unable to bear the humiliation, he stood up with shaking shoulders, with almost teary eyes, stared at Torway.

“You are a dreadful man, Torway Remeon… but, don’t think this is over!”

“Hah, sure. If it is shoji, I can fight anytime…”

After hearing the promise of a rematch, Warrant Officer Deinkun turned his back and left the canteen with a dignified demeanor unlike that of a someone who lost.

“Don’t block my way! Get out!”

“Woah….”

His big body with its momentum kicked a nearby object away as if it were trash, looking closely, with looks similar to that of a newborn fawn, the one trying to get up with shaky knees was in truth Ikta.

He gasped out some sounds from his dried up lips, then collapsed directly in front of the canteen. Panicking, the princess stood up and ran to where Ikta was.

“You… what happened Sorlok! To be so haggard…! I heard you were locked in the punishment cell; it couldn’t be they didn’t give you food right…?”

“Wa-water…”

“You want water? Wait… Kya! What are you doing! Don’t lick my neck!”

With a strong instinct seeking for water, the dehydrated Ikta with clouded awareness extended his tongue to lick the sweaty neck.

A chill ran down the princess’ spine.

“Uauaua! You can’t Ikta-san! It’s her Highness the princess!”

“Have you gone mad?! Here, there’s water here– Hua, the kettle is empty? …There’s no other choice, Haro, does Miru have some water stored?”

“Ah… yes, there should be enough for one person! Miru, please!”

Miru after being lifted by its master, moved the horizontally protruding ‘Water faucet’ in front of Ikta. At first he didn’t react but after a droplet fell on Ikta’s lips, it worked as a detonator causing him to excitedly hold onto the faucet, he finally gulped down the long desired water. During this, Chamille, whose body was still stuck to Ikta, didn’t seem too bothered, but maybe its thinking too deeply into things.

After drying up Miru’s internal reserve, Ikta finally separated his mouth from the ‘Water faucet’, then dropped his head and lied down on the lap of the princess who was still next to him.

“……Aahhhh… I’m still alive.”

“Oh, did your consciousness come back? Seriously, Ikta-san when was the last time you drank?”

“Six whole days ago… that damned Lieutenant Sazaruf, even saying something like ‘Sorry, sorry, I forgot the date’…”

“But you put yourself in that predicament right? If you are okay now, move away from the princess!”

After Yatori’s words, Ikta finally realized on whose lap his head had been resting till now. He and the princess, who was still red on face because of what just happened, kept silently staring at each other.

“…….Sorlok, don’t you have anything to say to me?”

“…Yes. If I wanted to enjoy a lap pillow, I should have found a more abundant one–Guhee!”

Her Highness Chamille’s downward swing already hit his nose before Ikta could finish his sentence. Afterward the princess stared with teary eyes at Ikta who rolled down her lap because of the pain.

“You should have just starved to death!”

“Ugh… Please don’t shout, if you were to leave me alone I will starve to death sooner or later… ahh~ I’m so hungry. I don’t even have the energy to grab insects…”

Ikta meekly laid down on the floor, at that moment a small bag landed on his concave, starved stomach. Yatori gently threw that bag without a word.

“Resurrect faster, if you were to kick the bucket in such place you would only bring troubles to the base.”

Hearing that, Ikta happily opened the bag to see inside some toasted bread, a piece of papaya and also some mutton. All of them were meals provided to the personnel in these days.

“As expected of Yatori, such wonderful and considerate gesture!”

Right after finishing speaking, Ikta immediately stuffed the food in his mouth. Haro, while looking at the scene, was thinking ‘That…’ and silently whispered to Yatori.

“…Since yesterday I thought I saw you bring stuff back to the dorm in small bags… was that for Ikta-san? Did you predict that he would be released today with an empty stomach…?”

“I just wanted to eat it later myself, don’t think too highly of me, Haro.”

While saying so, Yatori gently pinched Haro’s nose with her fingers. Overhearing this conversation, Torway gazed at Yatori with a difficult expression, but as expected the person herself did not notice.

In the meanwhile, Ikta emptied the sack’s content without even leaving crumbs, then, as a totally different person from just a few minutes ago, he energetically stood up.

“Great~! Ikta has successfully revived! …huh? What’s this? Who played shoji?”

He saw the chessboard laid on the table and walked to it. After sitting on a nearby chair and analyzing the board for one second, he lifted his face with a confused look.

“…I say, who played this match? Even the Matthew I met for the first time didn’t lose so badly.”

“Why are you using me as a comparison in this situation!”

“Hahaha… Ikkun, the ones who played this game were me and Dekkun.”

Torway already gave a nickname to his opponent.

Hearing that, Ikta tilted his head.

“Dekku? ….. Dekkun…Dekkun… incompetent… oh I see, it’s the guy at the welcome party that got trashed by Yatori. The guy with no equal in both body and voice volume.”

Note
Ikta start with デくん(katakana), moves to でくん(hiragana), and then デクの棒(short stick/useless)

“You got to the right answer through rude associations… please at least revise the part of him getting trashed.”

“The one who kicked away Ikta-san was also Warrant Officer Deinkun… yeah~ his shoji skills are weak to a surprising point, at that level even me who is the weakest in the order of knights would be able to easily win.”

Haro innocently spoke overly inconsiderate worlds. Hearing that, Ikta waved at Torway, had him sit across the table and made him recreate every move of the duel.

The princess, watching the discussion between the two, asked a question she just thought of.

“Speaking of it, who is stronger?”

“Eh?” “What?”

“So, ah, I mean in shoji skills. I often played shogi against Yatori and Torway and know their strength are on par with each other, but I don’t know where on the scale I should place Sorlok. You rarely play against Yatori or Torway and even when you do, you leave halfway through, no?”

And when you play against me you’re even meaner… the princess resentfully added. That known rascal, putting in effort only when he wants to tease the princess, brazenly shrugged.

“…So you want me to compete with Torway here and now?”

“Eh…”

“That would be good too. We have enough time for another game…. no, if we get a winner with faster pace, we can have the winner play against Yatori at the second game.”

The princess’ half-joking half-serious expression shook the three… even if it was only shoji, the result of the match could still indicate to some degree their true strength.

There was no harm in letting them fight.

“Although I don’t intend to order you, but you have no reason to refuse right, Sorlok?”

The princess said so with pungent words… during the fight between Yatori and Deinkun, Ikta once said: the successor to the leading old warlord families, Yatorishino Igsem is willing to protect the third princess because she strongly believes Chamille Kitra Katjvanmaninik will, as a royal, walk on the right path in life.

If Yatori was like this, then Torway who was also born from the ‘Loyal Triad’ should be the same. In other word if she kept being a royal with decency, both Yatori and Torway will be reliable allies.

…However what would happen in the opposite were to happen? If the day the secrets she is now holding dear in her heart were to come to light, what would the development that comes after that be…?

Honestly, to her Highness the Princess, this was an inauspicious future she didn’t want to think about. However, she cannot run away from her own imagination. After all the one who asked her whether she was mentally prepared was none other than Ikta.

— Do you have the determination to keep fighting even if Yatori and Torway were to turn into enemies?

Her Highness Chamille finally understood the meaning. At that time, she just received it as question, but that was also Ikta’s way of persuading—implying that ‘it would be smart not to do that’.

“Ikta Sorlok, Torway Remeon, Yatorishino Igsem—the ranking of you three is something I am most interested in. Even if it is just skills in shoji.”

Simultaneously the three parties felt the air had changed—this was not a situation they could get out with jokes. The princess was asking them to compete at their full strength thus clearly establishing a ranking.

“If her highness desires so.”

Without hesitation, the first to answer was Yatori… On the other hand, Matthew and Haro who were observing from the sides finally caught on the tense air.

“…Eh…That… W-we were talking about shoji right? When did it become like this…?”

“Don’t ask me, I don’t understand either… but… damn it…”

Haro was just feeling confused but Matthew was biting his lips out of frustration… The names listed by her highness Chamille did not include his own, this fact made him so angry he could start screaming.

“…But…That…I….”

“Don’t wanna.”

The princess defying Ikta with shoji

When Torway was having a hard time finding words to say, Ikta already firmly declined. The princess stared at him with a disappointed face as he got up, like he didn’t have anything to do there anymore.

“Say your reasons, Sorlok.”

“If I must say it– it’s because my value is the opposite of what the princess wants.”

“I will think you are just afraid to accept a serious match.”

“Think it as you want, since the beginning I didn’t have any reputation to lose.”

Ikta after nonchalantly replying decided to leave, her Highness the Princess with voice filled with anger shouted at his back:

“Now I understand–the one who is not mentally prepared is not me, it’s you!”

“Correct, I will draw you a flower circle princess.”

Before the retreating figure disappeared at the corner, her highness Chamille turned away and left with violent steps.

***

Kanna was forcing her legs forward step by step on the graveled road while thinking the goods in the cart today were especially heavy.

The whole platoon, including her, was dispatched to ferry the goods. To be more accurate, it was to transport the supplies, including food and other necessities, from the nearest city two hours away back to the base.

Since it would be a waste to bring an empty cart to the city, as there is stuff that are more easily processed there than at the base such as damaged pots, knives, shoes and so on, they had to carry these objects. This would obliviously be cause of substantial weights, but today, Kanna felt the weight bothered her body way more than usual.

“Ah… so tired… those cavalry units have it so good…”

To the four-man groups, responsible in pulling the carts, the figures of horse riding soldiers in front of them would involuntary generate feelings of envy.

The one leading in front of the cavalry ranks, with crimson hair on the winds and far looking eyes, was Warrant Officer Yatorishino.

But all responsibilities of this transporting goods mission falls on the one next to her, clutching to the horse, a slim man with poor complexion– aide to the supreme commander of the northern region, Major Yuskushiram Taekk.

“You must feel bored in this kind of mission, Warrant Officer Yatorishino. Cough…”

Major Taekk, who gets a coughing attack whenever he relaxes, said so.

“Not at all sir, because I understand the importance of escorting.”

Yatori honestly replied.

Although there were also horses behind the ranks, those were ‘workhorse’ pulling cargo carts or have goods strapped to their bodies, in contrast to the much lighter weighted ‘war horses’ Yatori and others were on.

“Instead, I was taken aback that a high ranked official such as yourself, Major, is personally participating these transport missions. Your careful supervision will be very helpful to me, as I lack the geographic knowledge pertaining this area.”

“Supervising you…? Well, there was also that reason. Yeah… Cough cough…”

In addition to ferrying goods, there were other matters that had to be personally handled by the Major– even if Yatori was aware of this, she understanding her position, did not inquire further. Having said that, she could still vaguely guess the reason.

“I would advise youngsters with bright future like you not to be obsessed with tactics and strategies, instead start learning right now military management… you should do so especially in peacetimes when you are unable to make use of war to climb.”

Major Taekk spontaneously said those words with a tired and self-deprecating tone…

So it really was that? Yatori could also understand. On borders such as this, you wouldn’t be able to maintain a military organization without painstaking efforts.

“To you who has already been in central and the eastern region, the northern base must look like a doghouse… leaving central aside, even comparing to the eastern garrison bordering Kioka, the north lacks severely on soldiers, because of that our fort would naturally have poorer appearances, of course there are also other reasons.”

When the major finished speaking, he moved his gaze sideway to have a look at Yatori. She also returned his gauging stare.

“It’s because of supply problems that you can’t establish a large-scale stronghold right? If you were to set a base capable of accommodating massive numbers of soldiers, then the cost of maintaining such huge operation would befall on nearby populace… the result will be feeding the soldiers but starve the people scenario. So the only option was to spread the combat power, knowing the risks associated with it, and build multiple small-scale bases.”

“…Yes, that’s it. An army, with the populace as the enemy does not have a future. This is not just some idealistic talks, it’s simply that when they no longer harvest grain, we too will starve. If you look at it in a straightforward way we must accommodate to the populace in order to survive, the so called army is just such a thing… cough, cough, how is it? Are you youngsters full of dreams disappointed by the reality?”

Major Taekk asked with an anguished expression, but contrary to his expectation Yatori shook her head with a hearty expression instead.

“Precisely because the army was originally this kind of thing, so the current condition is just a reflection of reality. War exist so we can obtain peace, thus we can’t allow the peace be dragged down by war.”

Looking like he was admiring at Yatori who had finished speaking, major Taekk emotionally nodded.

“If you were not bluffing when you said those words, then you would be a good soldier no matter the times you are in.”

“The times?”

“Cough, Cough. Yes, no matter how famous the general, whether you can experience war in your lifetime depends purely on luck. Many are the aging soldiers without any warfare experience. To tell the truth, even here we have them… but let’s not discuss whether that’s lucky or not.”

“No, I don’t think there’s a need for a discussion, it certainly is lucky. From another standpoint having few war veterans means results of the northern garrison in keeping peace for many years, becoming an inhibiting force.”

“…You really are frank with your words, Warrant Officer Yatorishino. Are you like this to all your superiors?”

“If I had said something inappropriate, please do forgive me.”

“No, to tell you the truth I feel refreshed… it’s rare to hear praises from youngsters, it even reignited some of my motivation. Although I can only teach you the military behavior in peacetime, but this and the soldiers lacking a sense of crisis, even if they perform similar actions, their condition is totally different… Cough… Cough Cough…”

A pained smile emerged on major Taekk’s thin face, Yatori too nodded solemnly to him as reply.

***

The place to supply the materials was a small town built around an oasis. Throughout the dry lands of the north only this area had enough nourishment allowing people to cultivate a variety of crops, led by wheat.

“Fi-Finally arrived.”

Reaching the gathering point, Kanna, exhausted, slumped on the ground.

Equality of the sexes was considered important in Katjvanmaninik’s army, but when it comes to pulling heavy weights, no matter what, differences in muscles between males and females in the ‘amount of stamina’ are oblivious.

Seeing the males with burly physiques were still left with a margin made Kanna somewhat dissatisfied. In order recover some of her stamina, she moved to rest under the shade of a nearby tree.

“Uah… We arrived already?”

She just found a black haired youth poking his head out of the clothed cart, the youth immediately moved, before any soldier could spot him, to the shade of the tree which was a dead corner to the eyes of the others, arriving right in front of Kanna.

“Huh… Ahh…AHHHH! You…You are officer Ikkun–Gah!”

When Kanna had just opened her mouth with surprise, Ikta already sealed her lips with his fingers.

“Haa~! Be quiet. You’re prohibited from emitting loud noises. Because Yatori and Major Taekk are still over there.”

“Uh…Yesh~!”

“Anyway, good afternoon Kanna. Your ribbon strapped ponytail is very attractive today as well… Hm it seems the people that would notice me are all gone, good.”

After estimating that Yatori and Major Taekk should have turned the corner, Ikta finally released Kanna’s mouth. She held her lips with her own hands while staring at the youth with teary eyes.

“You were hidden on the cart this whole time…? No wonder it felt extremely heavy today!”

“It’s not like that, you guys were the ones who moved the cart I was using as napping place in the first place. No wonder I felt rocking to and fro all the time.”

“Liar! When you just came out, didn’t you say ‘arrived already’?”

“It may be an auditory hallucination caused by dehydration. Poor girl, you should always make sure to be well hydrated.”

While Ikta shamelessly said those words playing the fool, at the same time he stretched his hand and pulled up Kanna leading her away.

“W-Wait a moment, where are we going? I must wait here…”

“You just had to wait there right? Just the delivery of the stuff alone would take around one hour, then don’t you think we should effectively make use of the extra time, after all we finally came to town.”

Facing the elated Ikta walking in front of her, Kanna couldn’t find within herself the will to refuse him.

At that precise moment, she was already playing on the palm of his hand as he obtained dominance.

“Anyway, I feel thirsty, let’s go get something to drink. ”

“I-I didn’t bring money, if it’s water we can just go back to the troops…”

Kanna tried to make Ikta go back, but Ikta ignored her strategy as if he didn’t hear it. He reached out to one of the nearby houses and lightly knocked on the window, with a surprised face a middle aged woman leant out from the window.

“…Who are ya?”

The woman stared out with intimidating air but Ikta without faltering bowed.

“Good afternoon, beautiful Onee-san, although presumptuous, we are a little thirsty–”

The middle aged woman started listening with a serious expression to Ikta, who came asking for water with exaggerated movements, but without knowing the reason, as time went, her face softened.

The reason lies within Ikta’s furious offensive of glib praises that would make a hardened man embarrassed.

After a few minutes of conversation, the woman said ‘wait a bit’ and moved back in the house, after a while she came back with two thumb thick, long stem of something that looked like vegetable. Ikta received that with a full face smile, lightly kissed on the back of the woman’s hand and came back to Kanna.

“Kanna, look, look. I got sugarcanes from that beautiful woman. She also told me the directions to the well, let’s chew on this while we go look for that.”

“…. is that so, officer Ikkun? Don’t tell me you are one of those so called playboy?”

“That’s a misconception, instead it’s me who has been captivated by all older women in the world.”

While receiving the sugarcane, she though this person’s quibbles were amazing.

This thing needed you to remove its hard outer bark before it could be consumed thus the two started doing so while walking forward.

“That woman didn’t mind my military outfit even after seeing it. The residents here do not hate soldiers nor excessively fear them.”

“Huh? Ah… yes, because this is an important supply point, so no matter which side, both desires friendly relationships…”

“To accomplish that, the military assumed a low profile as last resort. Is this Lieutenant General Safida’s ploy?”

Ikta bit into the sugarcane after removing the outer layer and asked the question while savoring the overflowing sweetness.

“Instead of it being Lieutenant General Safida’s ploy… I would say it is something Major Taekk planned. Because Lieutenant General threw all managerial and operational responsibilities to him.”

Kanna answered with dismissive actions. After thinking for a while, Ikta also nodded in understanding.

“So the leader is just decorations? After all, only the position of the supreme commander of the norther garrison could have been obtained on connections with nobles alone.”

In the Katjvanmaninik empire, the military officer ‘soldiers’ and the administrative officer ‘nobles’ are separated fields. Although there are few exceptions like knights, but the reality of soldiers controlling the nobles could never happen, so is vice versa. Not letting military and politics getting entangles, instead leaving each field to their respective experts, that was the correct legacy left us by the ‘loyal triad’.

“Getting the position of a high ranked official without any real accomplishment. Even if they fully implemented the practice of meritocracy in the imperial army to avoid such situation, those bad habits are still really hard to eradicate. The position of the supreme commander of the northern garrison must be the most overblown of such case.”

Lieutenant Safida was not born a noble, but the Safida family had a long history of being close to those in power. Therefore, the nobles came up with all kinds of ideas to help a person like him.

Of course the military felt disgusted by that. It would be a different matter if the person was actually capable, but the military of course didn’t want to leave a high ranking position to someone lacking.

However, they couldn’t ignore the noble’s pressure too– in such dilemma they found a compromise, and that was to entrust the actual duty of managing the garrison to reliable aides with robust capabilities.

“So you mean the aide chosen was Major Taekk. The lieutenant general is a decoration and the Major is his watchdog?”

“This is a matter every soldier knows. The Lieutenant General just stays in the commander’s room with a self-important look, in fact almost all the instructions come from Major Taekk’s orders…. ah, but there is one exception.”

“Exception?”

“Yes. Only the matters concerning the Shinaak tribe go through Lieutenant General Safida directly. It hasn’t happened lately, but setting up the punitive units was such an example… also the Lieutenant General is the kind who likes to steal all credits so he often goes personally to the frontlines.”

“So he likes war more than peace? Well those kind of people aren’t rare among soldiers.”

“Instead of saying Lieutenant General likes wars… I think it may be because he hates the Shinaak tribe? That’s what I feel seeing his everyday demeanor.”

Hearing Kanna’s words an image popped in Ikta’s mind… the spirits packed like canned sardines in that dark cell. Those should be something the Lieutenant General took from the Shinaak tribe.

“If he understands he has been put in an empty, useless position, the oppression against the Shinaak tribe may in the end just be a way to release his anger… no matter what he is still a superior, and Major Taekk couldn’t do anything but comply.”

Ikta frowned with an unhappy expression while chewing on the sugarcane.

When he was just about to finish consuming the almost twenty centimeters long sugarcane, they arrived to the public well they were looking for.

It was a small well with two rope bound buckets nearby.

“Forget it, that doesn’t concern us. Since this is a rare occasion, let’s talk about something more interesting.”

Ikta changed the topic while pulling up the bucket he threw in with the rope and pulley. In front of him, Kanna, doing the same action, faced Ikta with a question, just like what the other wanted.

“…Then, may I ask you a question officer Ikkun?”

“Sure, a side note, the right side of my bed is still empty today.”

“B-Bed…? N-No it’s not about that… that, can you tell me what is ‘Science’?”

Kanna asked, remembering the first page of that book. Ikta answered without stopping his hands pulling on the ropes.

“For example this well– it is the product of human intellect right? With this they could get the water needed for a living without going to faraway river or lakes. Another example is this pulley– the design stabilizes the rope that pass through it so the water in the bucket will not splash out when you finally draw it out. Whichever, they are objects that makes life easier.”

“Oh…it certainly is so.”

“But, inventions such as this are not something that just appears one day, there are three indispensable conditions. The first is laziness, the natural feeling you get when you are given hard work. The second is awareness– the ability to understand which part of work is most tiresome. The third condition is the creativity to combine the first two requirements.”

“Creativity…”

“I want to find a way to be lazy at work; but if I were lazy, in some part the work will have problems; then how should I take care of that part– this kind of thought process leads people to invent. Then one invention will become the source of another. Like the well that came first brought the invention of the pulley which makes getting the water easier. Arranging in order the various inventions and the indispensable know how that comes with them, that is called systematic recording… phew!”

Ikta after moving the bucket from the well, lifted it with both hands and poured the content into his mouth. After repeating this action three more times and making sure his dry throat got enough moisture, he turned back to face Kanna.

“The blend of reasonable but easily understood systematic information which will become the knowledge spring, a foundation for the next invention– this is the so called science. If you are personally involved in the systemization of information, then you are practicing science. Do you understand what I’m saying Kanna?”

“…I only have a general understanding. The thinking of not monopolizing the invention and the know-how, instead share these resources in a public pool, thus springing the next invention… it this right? ”

Without any confidence, Kanna said those words, but after hearing them, Ikta grabbed her hand with a face full of smile.

“It’s exactly as you say! Furthermore, the understanding of the subject you have just displayed, it’s the condition that is most required when practicing science. You are amazing, Kanna, you have an innate talent for science!”

“Y-You are exaggerating… I don’t have any talent at all…”

“No, I’m sure you have it. Because you are my junior apprentice, how can my junior lack in talent.”

I don’t remember being your junior… Kanna couldn’t speak out these thoughts after seeing his pure smile. Ikta made use of Kanna’s kindness and proceeded speaking:

“Oh right, I also have something I want to ask you, it’s the conversation that was interrupted last time. I say, after reading that book, which part of the Alderah Church you find interesting?”

That book– the book that inconceivably knotted the fate of a High Grade Military Officer Cadet to that of a soldier, written by Anarai Khan, the <Records of Grand Arfatra>. Kanna while recalling its content, started answering:

“Uh, that book mentioned a lot of differences between the spirit beliefs of the Shinaak tribe and the Alderah faith…”

The Shinaak tribe have a different religion from the empire’s ‘Alderah Church’, it’s called ‘Spirit faith’. An attentive analysis of such religion was one of Anarai Khan’s most focused theme.

“Hm.”

“Although the narrative was also very interesting… but since long ago I had questions regarding the part about the origin.”

“Origin… what do you mean?”

Seeing Ikta is looking at her with probing eyes, Kanna desperately tried to find the appropriate words.

“…Because, don’t you find it weird after thinking about it? When the Shinaak tribe refers to the spirits, they do not take ‘God’s* existence’ as prerequisite. However, to our knowledge, the so called four great spirits are messengers sent on earth by our great lord… Uh… so…”

Note
God written as main god, read as Alderamin

“What you mean is… when you want to discuss the existence of spirits, you have to have the premise of God right?”

“Uh… Um… yeah, something like that. To our understanding a faith that worship spirits but do not have beliefs in God is something extremely weird. Like a situation with only fish but no sea nor rivers.”

Reaching this point, Kanna stopped for a while, then with troubled expression continued:

“But after thinking about it I suddenly realized… which side is the truly weird one?”

“…Which side is the truly weird one?”

“Because if you believe in this book, that Shinaak tribe’s spirit faith can exist without any correlation with God. If the theory we discussed earlier was correct, then such situation shouldn’t happen.”

“………”

“Thus… I think, shouldn’t it be our common sense the subjects we have to suspect? The way of thinking ‘Because of God, Spirits exists’, couldn’t that be wrong from the beginning? Because in truth the spirits themselves never told us: ‘Believe in God’, did they?”

Kanna unconsciously said something that would probably make people faint if heard by Alderah devotees.

“It was also written in the book that our Alderah beliefs and their Spirits beliefs content are completely different. After all, the backbone of the Alderah faith is that believers must abide by the rules set by our great God. Like how we have to do this, we mustn’t do that or something we have to restrain ourselves about…”

“What you are talking about is ‘religious laws’, that is the term from the book.”

“Ah…yes, it’s that. In contrast in Shinaak tribe’s spirit belief there are no such pyramidal organization…so…in other words… it is….”

“Kanna, don’t be so agitated. You can slowly choose words to say and explain things one by one.”

Ikta with a calming tone told Kanna who couldn’t finish her sentences because of how anxious she was. After calming down, she took in a deep breath before continuing:

“…in Shinaak tribe’s spirit belief there are no such pyramidal organization. Instead they just simply show gratefulness toward the four great spirits who are considered ‘Love of the World’ and do various rituals to show gratitude, only those… as for laws dictating what or what not to do, it seems those are decided by the chief and the council… and has nothing to do with spirits.”

Without noticing Ikta’s eyes, which were looking more surprised as time passes, Kanna concluded her argument:

“If it is as that book says, the Alderah faith and the spirits faith are two completely different things… then at the same time God and the four great spirits are different existences…in addition of them being messengers of God, the true identity of these children may also be completely different? This is what I think.”

Kanna finished expressing herself while petting the partner at her waist. She was feeling uneasy as she didn’t know if she conveyed her thoughts, but that was an unnecessary worry.

“The spirits will never tell us to believe in God, this is what you mean right? Kanna.”

Ikta’s voice was trembling. He slowly reached out with his hands and placed them on Kanna’s palm.

“…You really are great. You dispelled God’s curse, Kanna. And you did it almost completely by yourself!”

“G-God’s curse?”

“This curse is the crucial difference that separates Science from Theology. Stubbornly denying truth that does not comply with God’s will, while only making use of those favorable to god… their paranoia distorted the truth. Obliviously if they are not able to throw away such indoctrination, humanity will never be able to step forward on the road of science!”

Finishing speaking, Ikta didn’t bother with the surrounding gazes anymore and started dancing while holding Kanna’s hands.

“You are right Kanna! If there truly is a supreme God, then his first words would have been ordering us to ‘be lazy’! All other God’s commands are all fakes! Ideology that should be thrown away, made by those in power!”

“Huh…officer Ikkun…? I-I didn’t say so mu–”

In the state he is now, these words didn’t enter Ikta’s ear. He continued dancing happily like he is converting his present feelings into movements, producing a messy, creative and unrestrained dance.

Kanna couldn’t do anything but follow him… however she found out that being together with the youth in front of her was not a cause of trouble for her.

–Ah, so this Nii-chan is a lot more childish than what he appears to be.

Kanna Temari intuitively comprehended that… the carefree boy in front of him must have been using this method to seduce others. Getting people to participate in science, lazing around in the right way–this behavior to lure others into depravation, it must be his way of showing affection.

–Science is really fun you know, so Kanna you should join too.

The kid who invited the one he liked to participate in this special game. After wiping away the simple tricks he shows on the surface, Ikta’s loving nature could be encompassed with one sentence. Many people, after noticing his true nature of naivety and innocence, hidden beneath the mischievous mask…will find themselves unable to have anything but good impressions about him.

“…Haha, Ikkun sure is a weird person.”

When that incredible feeling diffused in her chest, she found it natural to omit the honorifics in addressing him. The one in front of her right now, is but a two years’ younger teenager worth caring about.

They originally thought the time seemed to go on forever, but a sudden scream brought it to an end. The youth’s smile dispersed. It was followed by a roar that reverberated in the area coupled with sharp sounds of swords clashing.

“…? W-What was that just then? Did something happen over there…?”

Kanna moved her gaze to the direction the sounds came from, Ikta also, with a stiff face, looked at the same place.

“…It seems so. Do you know what is located over there?”

“Uh… I remember that at the end of this road there is the building used by those in power to hold meetings… ah!”

“Sorry, let’s separate here. You hurry back to where the rest of the troops are.”

Ikta did not wait for Kanna to finish her explanation, separated the hands that were previously tied together, and started running. Kanna couldn’t catch up with the disappearing figure and could only send him away with her gaze.

The residual body temperature left in her hands slowly dispersed making her feel reluctant to let it go.

***

Going back just five minutes from when Ikta started running.

“You can stop here. It’s rare to be in town, until the meeting is over go find somewhere you like to relax… Cough, cough.”

After arriving in front of an especially big building, Major with these words refused Yatori who wished to stay together. Having said that, he was not going to go alone as he brought four subordinates.

However, standing with these big, burly, sturdy figures, it was Major Taekk as superior who looked lacking in spirit.

“Then I will wait outside.”

Thus Yatori stood upright on the doorway. Of course she decided to keep that same position till the meeting is over.

I clearly said she could do whatever she wanted… seeing Yatori’s strong sense of duty, the Major couldn’t help but smile wryly.

“It seems necessary to order you to go relax your body a bit, warrant officer Yatorishino.”

“Yes sir, I will also comply to that order.”

Yatori took out her partner Shia from her waist bag, only to see many squared ‘wings’ reaching out from his back. After absorbing the shining bright sunlight, the usually sullen faced Shia also had upturned eyes showing satisfaction.

“Sir, the only one this subordinate have that could stretch ‘wings’ is this.”

“The reasons your seriousness doesn’t make the atmosphere heavy must be thanks to this humor… do as you wish.”

Major Taekk turned away and walked forward. It seems she is different from her father– that was the Major’s thought about Yatori. If it was that person, he wouldn’t leave room for interpretation to orders. No matter if he was in the position of giving or receiving orders, that famous general would still adhere in being the incarnation of discipline.

To tell the truth, Major Taekk didn’t like paying attention to youngsters.

Almost every year High Grade Military Officer Cadets will flock to his side, and go back after learning seven tenths of boredom, two tenths of disillusionment and one tenths of actual military knowledge.

No matter how hard work it is to run military units at borders, to those elites, the northern territory is but a simple stepping stone, some place they wish to go through as soon as possible.

Major Taekk could understand very well their feelings, because he himself was once one of those.

Around twenty years ago, Major Taekk was also a High Grade Military Officer cadet. After finishing the High Grade Academy, directly passed the High Grade Military Exam, with a heart filled of loyalty and ambitions, a young man who had just started the life journey of a soldier.

From the results, he had long deviated from the road of success. Although major Taekk is currently forty-six years old, it is essentially impossible to climb further in rank in the lifetime he has left. The aide to the supreme commander of the norther region is just such a position. Having mixed feelings of admiration and envy when seeing youngsters with bright futures is just an inevitable reaction.

Major Taekk’s current status is to be a substitute to the supreme commander who obtained his position through noble’s support and with no actual strength, while resolving the financial troubles and the populace’s doubts, he also had to properly manage the garrison.

–If it wasn’t for this, he would have long retired and started his life anew.

Furthermore, when he recalled how he suffered from the chronic lung disease, Major Taekk could only sigh. That was also one of the reasons that deviated him from the road of success. The disease was not advancing, nor there was the possibility of curing it completely, the symptoms just grow with age. For how many years more could he keep lying about his physical condition and keep working?

–It’s only, well no matter. If there is something that could become a role model for the younger generations, then there would still be a value in forcing himself to keep at it.

Being proud of his lack in combat experience, thinking that as the result of maintaining peace in the northern region– thinking back of Warrant Officer Yatorishino who indirectly praised him made major Taekk smile unconsciously.

“How come today’s welcoming hasn’t come yet?” his subordinate interrupted his thoughts in an unhappy voice. After passing through the gates and entering the inner building, they were left foolishly waiting at the entrance and no answer came even after their repeated calls. The major also felt it was natural his subordinate was irritated.

“Maybe they had some urgent matters and couldn’t leave. But we came here out of our own volition… we don’t have to wait here at the entrance like idiots.”

After the major finished saying so, he led the way to the inner side of the building. Since he already memorized the planimetry in his previous visits, without hesitation he walked to the big room situated ahead of them. He thought they would be stopped midway by someone, but that didn’t happen.

After walking for twenty seconds, the group arrived at their objective.

“I beg pardon for my rudeness, I am Yuskushiram Taekk coming from the base in stead of the supreme commander–”

Major Taekk had just walked into the room greeting whoever was inside but after a second, stench of blood filled his nostrils making him stop his feet out of caution.

In front of him was the body of a sturdy man collapsed on the big table placed in the center of the room. You could tell he was dead at first glance, because he had a deep wound going from head to the spine.

“…Immediately retreat to the outside!”

From someone who hasn’t stood in battle for long times, Major Taekk’s judgement could be thought as fast and correct. But his choice was to ‘backtrack’, it was also the most oblivious choice, to some extent this action was also predicted by the enemy.

The major and his men tried to run back the corridor together, however the assassins appeared one after another in front of them from the shadows. Half of them were wielding half-length air guns suitable for indoor uses; the other half had a unique ‘ㄑ shaped’ knife weapon at their side. There were even those with blood stains, probably the result of what happened in that room.

Although the culprits’ short-sleeved face covering attire was very unique as well, the thing that caught most attention was their skin which was of a darker color than the average empire man. Without doubts, this is proof of living on the faraway highlands closer to the sun, that is people living on the lands of the Grand Arfatra mountain range.

“These guys, they are from Shinaak Tri–”

Before the soldiers could react, the air gun armed intruders fired a flurry of bullets. Then while taking advantage of the retreating soldiers, the gunners are switched with swordsmen which rushed forward to slash.

“Whoa–” “Gaah!” “Wuu…!”

The Shinaak warriors used the blade called Kukri knife to cut their prey’s arms, slash the body and decapitate– Major Taekk originally brought four men but in just a dozen seconds they all left this world.

“…Failed…”

Although he survived because he was surrounded by his subordinates, the major still took two bullets to the chest. The already chronic diseased lungs, after being pierced by bullets are wailing in pain.

“Wuh…!”

The impulse to cough came mixed with blood. Instead he resisted the urge and swallowed, with trembling arms took out a sword from his military uniform.

“Hm…! What is wrong with you! Are you scared?”

Perhaps overwhelmed by the dying struggle, or maybe they felt repulsed from killing the diseased, Shinaak tribe intruders hesitated in giving him the final blow. But when major Taekk raised his blade trying to cut the enemy, in that instant one air gunner with raised gun in the back cleared his doubts.

First the blade fell on the ground, then strength left his legs, finally his whole body fell.

The third bulled reached just above the heart. The diseased lungs also seemed to have given up, stopping the wailing, even coughing up blood was too much effort.

–Is it going to end like this? At least I’m not falling to the disease, is that considered a consolation…?

An intruder armed with kukri knife came close to the body of the major on the ground. He could still feel the movements. Although he was striving to at least cut his opponent once, but no matter how hard he tried, not a single finger moved.

He sure enough was still feeling regret. In the end even though so many years had passed, he still felt motivated by the youngsters’ excitement…

While quickly losing consciousness due to the large blood loss… Major Taekk felt like hearing somebody kicking open the front door and rushing like wind with heroic footsteps.

***

When she heard sounds of fighting, without hesitation, Yatori rushed into the building, after running at full speed to the location she felt the presence came from, she was immediately presented with that scene.

“Major–!”

The first thing that caught her eyes was the superior’s body in a pool of blood. When Yatori arrived, Major Taekk was receiving the fatal blow.

The ㄑ shaped knife was extracted from his ribs, spraying fresh blood. The intruders caught in the blood are observing with sharp eyes the prey that had just appeared.

Even when facing many, Yatori advanced without hesitation– if you wanted to act, it was obliviously the best if you had the first move. And if you want to reach the enemies, then it would be too slow to start moving after readying your swords.

The conclusion she arrived at was– readying her swords and slashing while closing in to the enemy…!

The blades arrived at their target two breaths before what the enemy had expected. Yatori’s attack bypassed the sword the enemy raised to parry, and laterally swept through his neck. Huge amount of blood gushed out from the severed carotid– she who continued her attack, used her short sword to stab at his heart. The body of the enemy who originally intended to resist, lost all strength in an instant.

Yatori fighting

Seeing their companion’s death, the intruders sought revenge by attacking Yatori, and she replied accordingly. After turning her body, the two swords engaged the enemy while avoiding their attacks, catching a moment of vulnerability caused by the confusion of the battle, the sharp blades performed a counterattack.

The air-gunners in the back of course hesitated to shoot at this target who was constantly moving between comrades and couldn’t be aimed at.

The enemy leader, noticing the current situation was far from good, ordered his companions to temporally get some distance from the foe. The bullets came at the same time from the openings created, but Yatori calmly used the corpse of the man she took down at the beginning as a shield.

Normal air guns are not equipped with such power to perforate a human body.

The status quo fell into a stalemate with the parties staring at each other… however, this was a beneficial development for Yatori. Since they had been making such ruckus, her companions, noticing the disturbance would reach there sooner or later. That way the side with superior numbers will be hers while the enemy would become the minority, then with smooth actions they could capture them all alive.

“…Let’s retreat. We have archived our goal already.”

However, it appeared that the enemy understood the situation as well. It was as if the man who looked like their leader could tone down his emotions, and managed to give order to his companions with blood-shot eyes full of revenge.

The companions made protest with their eyes but the leader shook his head and spoke a decisive statement.

“Did you forget chief Nanak’s orders?… Before the holy war, do not risk. Retreat!”

It began after the order, the intruders one after another disappeared in the opposite direction Yatori was. They intended to use the back door or the windows, anyway sought an escape route diverse from the front door.

Even if it was Yatori, she wouldn’t rush to give chase alone. She first put the body of the intruder she used as a shield on the ground, then rushed to Major Taekk’s side, stretched her arm toward the neck and made sure there were no pulse anymore.

The sorrowful look on her face lasted only an instant, she then immediately stood straight and made a salute to the departed. Mourning the man who even at the end didn’t receive any return from his lifetime achievements, and his military spirit that even at death didn’t allow him to let go of his military knife.

“…. Please leave the rest to me, Major Taekk– I will now continue pursue the enemy!”

Yatori after firmly stating so, turned away and ran straight for the door, rushed out of the building without hesitation.

***

As if changing shifts, when the girl had just rushed out of the door, a young man slipped in from a window on the corridor, at the sight of the six bodies lying in the corridor–Ikta Sorlok snorted with a ‘Whoa’ sound.

“What is this? Almost all of them are empire military, is this the work of those who just ran away?”

“Please be careful, Ikta. Enemies may still be inside.”

Ikta, while listening to Kusu’s advices, at the same time checked every single room within the building.

A male who looked like the owner in the conference room, five females who looked like maids in the next room, also an old couple at the corner of the stairway leading to the second floor, all these people were leaking blood from the head or chest and were already deceased.

“On the first floor, five men from the empire’s military and a Shinaak Tribe man who should be with the culprits. Just looking around I found fourteen bodies… the inhabitants of this house were all massacred.”

After getting a gist of this tragedy, Ikta crooked his head as if there was something wrong.

“But, it’s really weird. From the state of the drying blood… the death time of the family members should have been much earlier that the military’s downstairs.”

Speaking of which, the intruders were able to kill everyone in this house without the neighbors noticing. Ikta thought the other party had to be really agile, furthermore he hadn’t seen any trace of plundering on valuables, with these observation, the chances of it being thieves aiming for money was really low.

“…Although with crimes committed by the Shinaak Tribe are not uncommon in this area, it’s hard to believe that the attack just had to happen when Major Taekk was visiting and is a pure coincidence. Adding to the fact that the perpetrators didn’t plunder the house and left it as is, if I wanted to speculate on their reasons–”

Ikta arrived at this conclusion that the most likely case was the Major got ambushed. If it really was so, then this would be a planned crime… No, it should be called strategy.

Ikta while confirming his deduction walked through one room to another. Thus he discovered a mysterious item in the next room that looked like a guest room.

All around the room were thrown away white, a little dirty, cloth-like materials.

“What is this? They are too small to be curtains… Ah, there is a hole just big enough for the head, meaning this is clothing?”

“Ikta, aren’t those pilgrimage clothing of the Alderah Church?”

Hearing Kusu’s reminder, the young man exclaimed in understanding.

The devout believers of the Alderah faith would walk across the mainland all around seeking for temples to accumulate virtue, and this was something that must be worn during their travels. It could also be called an easy version of priest vestments.

However, understanding what this really was made Ikta even more puzzled. It would be another matter if this was a clergy school dormitory, but why would there be this many pilgrimage clothing thrown on the floor here? Even him and Kusu couldn’t explain the reasons.

Just when the young man was immersed in thought to find something to aid in his deduction, suddenly a high pitched scream came from downstairs. It should have been someone who came because of the disturbance and found the macabre spectacle downstairs right?

Feeling someone moving closer, Kusu worryingly pulled its master’s sleeve from the waist pocket.

“Ikta, shouldn’t we run away now? In here, regardless of who sees us it will be hard to explain.”

“Yeah, let’s run. The current situation is not one I should be thrown in the brig again.”

After Ikta nodded with a serious expression, he stepped on the nearest windows and nimbly jumped down.

***

The wind mixed with dust hit on her cheeks.

Faster and faster, accelerate more and more making the field of vision narrow, slapping the beloved horse’s side to make it give it’s all.

“Don’t let them run away…!”

The horsemen were the same.

Yatori who was straddled on the horse with a leaning forward position, put in more strength into the hands holding the reins. Leading the cavalry unit behind, she stared at the back of the intruders in front of her.

After confirming Major Taekk’s death and rushing out of the building, Yatori left the job of preserving the crime scene and reporting to HQ to her subordinates, she herself took command and mobilized the cavalry unit in pursuit of the fleeing enemies. Compared to the peas sized figures they were chasing twenty minutes ago, the distance between the two sides has now been greatly shortened.

“No, do not slow down! The moment they get to the mountain it’s over!”

The condition of the road below was obliviously bad to the point to be impossible to rectify. If you wanted to avoid the horses tripping over the rocks, while at the same time keep rushing forward with that kind of speed, you would need extraordinary skills and guts. Even among the veteran cavalry unit whom should have already accumulated plenty of experiences, there were those who lagged behind.

However, Yatori thought– If we are not keeping this speed, the distance wouldn’t shorten at all!

“Everybody, raise your long-ranged weapons! Start a volley aiming for the enemy’s left, after that prepare for melee combat!”

In response to Yatori’s orders, a group of soldiers raised their air guns, the majority however immediately raised the crossbow. The hard to aim shooting while on horseback was just an opening event, the main action was the spear assault after that– numbers of soldiers, quality of the horses, the remaining stamina, all the elements were in our favor. If we further attacked from their weaker side, then without doubts it will become the formula of victory.

Yatori made this judgement with confidence.

However, just as she was about to give the orders to ‘shoot!’, Yatori had to forcibly hold back the voice that almost leaked out. That was because behind the boulders the enemy was running to, a figure flashed by.

“…Guh! Abort the attack! Everybody halt!”

The corner of mind in Yatori’s brain dedicated to commanding always kept its cool, and repels the silly ideas of pushing into enemy ambushes regardless of the risk.

The cavalry unit stopped its advance. Noticing this the enemy also immediately slowed down and stopped, at the same time one after another new foes holding either crossbows or air-guns appeared from behind the rock.

“…So they set an ambush beforehand, the enemy was also quite well prepared.”

Knowing that this plan even took consideration of the case being pursued, made Yatori feel admiration. If they followed them into the rocky area just then, the troops would have been shaken by the surprise, in that situation the flaw would have given the enemy the opportunity to deal a major blow to the main force.

But the reality was that Yatori’s observation and quick decision had effects, her troops stopped before entering the enemy’s effective shooting range. The reason the ambushing units showed themselves should be because they understood they were discovered.

At the foot of the Grand Arfatra Mountains range, the two forces stared at each other from long distances.

“…What can we do, platoon leader? Seeing the enemy numbers, if we charged while they attack, our force should also be prepared to face substantial sacrifices.”

“It is so, Sergeant. Of course I would do it if the case required so but right now it’s not that kind of situation.”

After Yatori nodded in agreement to the adjutant, stared at the enemy group and shouted with all her strength:

“People of Shinaak! Why did you commit the atrocities of killing our comrades! Let me hear your excuses!”

This voice clearly reached the enemies stationed hundreds of meters away. After a little while, the enemy also replied. The surprising fact was the reply also came in a female voice.

“–The pain of your comrade’s death, do you feel it! Do you also feel it, it is painful!”

Compared to the not fluent impression unique to the Shinaak tribe’s dialect, the appearance of the opponent who said those words surprised Yatori even more. Although she couldn’t distinguish her face because of the distances, but without doubts she was a very petite young girl. Right now that young girl was shouting words representing the many Shinaak warriors present there.

“…Those who don’t care for their companions lives, aren’t those considered cold-blooded brutes on the mountains?!”

“You, you are the cold-blooded brutes! If it weren’t so, why did you take away our Hahashik?!”

“…. Hahashik? What are those?!”

“You have it at your side right now! You call them spirits! You took them away from us, if that’s not being cold-blooded brutes then what is?!”

Hearing her refer to something she absolutely had no recollection of made Yatori feel very confused. Even now she was ignorant regarding the repressing policy against the Shinaak tribe set by Lieutenant General Safida, the means employed and the matter regarding the confiscation of the spirits.

“Before that, you also forced us to accept various conditions! First you prohibited us to sell on the plains, then the military forcibly bought at dirty cheap prices our corn! So we could only buy few vegetables and fruits! The corn stock left was also not enough to pass the winter! The elderly, the children, they always, always starved to death!”

“……………..”

“Our companion who resorted to stealing as last resort were also killed by you one after another! You then even started to take away our fire and wind Hahashik! Taking away our food, killing our companions, even stealing our very important Hahashik–these kind of actions, if not brutes who would commit them! You tell me!”

Yatori gasped. Even her who was not familiar with the matter could feel the other party’s profound hatred. At the same time, she realized the situation would not be solved with Major Taekk’s death alone.

“…Then, make your request! From the tomorrow’s military, what do you wish for?”

Yatori’s hope of at least leaving a foot for negotiation was completely destroyed by the reply that came.

“Hn! We have no hope for you! Who would expect anything from brutes! …. We just wanted to resume it to the original way! We just wanted to return to the life before you forced us to go farther and farther north, return to the time we could go up the mountains and back to the plains freely, to those days that now makes people nostalgic!”

After the girl finished shouting, she extracted two thick Kukri knives from her sides and pointed them to the sky. The polished blade that could even be used as a mirror reflected the bright and brilliant sunlight.

“We will beat you and get the Hahashik back, at the same time obtain the mountains and lowlands, returning them the original Shinaak world, the next step to archive our goal is the holy war! So I… chief of the Shinaak tribe, Nanak Dar, by this name I declare the beginning of the holy war!”

She waved down both swords at same time, and accurately aimed the tip at Yatori– She, the chief of Shinaak tribe, the youngest in history to reach such leading position, Nanak Dar raised her chest and with an imposing bearing made a declaration of war:

“Prepare yourselves! O devils of the plains!”

***

“–After such declaration, the enemy immediately retreated to the Grand Arfatra Mountains. The loss we suffered, starting from Major Yuskushiram Taekk, including the guards totals five men, all dead… These were the reports of Warrant Officer Yatorishino.”

In the command room, with the sunset leaking in from the open window, Lieutenant General Safida who finished listening to the subordinate’s report lightly nodded his head with an affirming sound while keeping staring out of the window.

Although he was initially greatly shocked from the news of his colleague being killed, but after calming down finishing listening till the end to the report, no matter how, he had restored his cool head. Now he even seems to have enough margin to care whether his beard near the mouth is a little bit overgrown.

“Yusku passed away? It’s regrettable to lose such talent.”

These words of farewell harbored no emotion at all. Although to the Lieutenant General, losing an as talented aid as the Major was not something he shouldn’t feel sorry about– but honestly, the daily pesky advices on everything just like his subordinate sister, irked him a lot.

“Those Shinaak mountain folks even dared to proclaim a holy war, they really do not understand the position they are in. Don’t you think so?”

“Yes sir…”

“They were still likable when they were only barking, however they now even dared to claim they will bite, even I can’t let those untamed stray dogs roam as they please.”

The lieutenant general said so with a lacking tone. The underling behind did not notice the shallow smile that appeared on his mouth, and did not find out the dull tone used to mask the reckless excitement caused by the happy mood.

“It seems the time for mass extradition has come…it always pained me that the Grand Arfatra Mountains became the residence of stray dogs. So far I let them off on the friendly neighbor relationship we had, since they bit the hand that fed them, there are no other alternatives.”

Hah…an uncontrollable laugh leaked from Lieutenant General’s mouth, his heart truly was filled with gratitude.

In the extremely boring job of managing the northern region, repressing the Shinaak tribe was one of lieutenant general’s biggest entertainment. The tribes living in the northern mountains to him were nothing more than unclean and brutal human-like creatures, hunting them was just a stimulating and enjoyable game.

Having said so, legally even the Shinaak tribe was considered empire citizen, even him with his position of Lieutenant General could not openly regard them as hunting subjects. In addition to occasionally punishing those with thievery tendencies, what he could do was setting heavy taxes and taking away the spirits to abuse the Shinaak tribe. That was true till now.

–I did not expect the other party would take the initiative in creating the pretext…!

Lieutenant general Safida liked war. Because when ordering huge amounts of soldiers, he truly felt the authority of being the supreme commander of the northern region. His self-esteem, inflated to a curved shape could only be filled with gratification in such situations.

Not to mention that the fight with the Shinaak tribe was something he could only wish for. To be able of doing something he enjoyed while at the same time getting rid of those annoying people, of course he couldn’t find a more wonderful recreational activity.

“I found the previous declaration of war a sign of rebellion from the whole tribe, our side must also act appropriately.”

“Yes sir. Then we must have all the bases in the northern region rise their alert level…”

“That’s too lenient. Gather soldiers from all bases and form a punitive force, the formation will be brigades.”

Hearing the superior’s orders, the subordinates could not help but doubt their own ears.

“…Sir you mean; our forces will take the initiative in attacking the Grand Arfatra Mountains?”

“What are you surprised for? You also know the northern region have small scale bases scattered all around because of the supply problems, if we continue like this we face the risk of the enemy taking them one after another, that’s why we must turn that over by taking the initiative to attack.”

Lieutenant general made this assertion confidently. A defensive battle didn’t suit his character; the only way is to use huge amounts of soldiers to one-sidedly trample other ethnic groups–the heated stare he carried away gave this information.

“If our side gave an all-out attack, those guys would be too busy to defend to do anything else. We just need to act according the words of wisdom that says ‘attack is the best form of defense’. Is there anything else?”

“No… None sir… I don’t have any question… it’s just, basically we still should hear the Major’s opinion–”

Although the already ingrained habit made the officer say those words, however the figure that would make reasonable decisions was no longer in this world. Reminded of this fact, he could only remain silent.

Lieutenant general Safida took the subordinate’s silence as agreement, happily hummed air from the nose. Then, like it suddenly came to his mind, added:

“–Right, do not report Yusku’s death to Central yet.”

“Huh? But sir…”

“Regardless of what, there will be sacrifices in a crusade. It’s not too late to wait till the end of the war and send the whole list together, that way is more natural.”

Lieutenant general Safida while using a randomly made up reason to convince his subordinate, at the same time was thinking– the moment they know of Yusku’s death, they will immediately dispatch the next overseer right? It is so annoying. But I will have to accept it sooner or later, but I still want to hold out as long as I can.

That’s right, at least until the punitive expedition is over. Until I have fully enjoyed this war that came from the heavens….

***

Once dinnertime came, in the canteen there was this subtle but noticeable difference in atmosphere from the usual. Even if it was oblivious no one was speaking loudly, however the chatter that was intentionally toned down was rampaging no stop. This was totally a symptom of the tension.

The members of the order of Knights were of no exception. After everybody globed down the food, all five were currently in a posture of intently listening to Yatori’s words.

“…. Holy war… Yatori, let me confirm this, did the opponent really say those exact words?”

After the first round of explanation, Ikta asked with frowning brows. Yatori nodded heavily.

“Yes, they indeed said so. Their resolution was quite firm.”

“Meaning they will do it even knowing such difference in combat power? We are really being hated huh.”

Matthew said with a bitter expression, Torway next to him kept holding the hands on his knees remaining silent.

“Although Major Taekk’s death was regrettable, but at present we had just lost to Kioka, right now national power is being consumed, thinking of having infighting within the empire is simply madness. What should be done is looking for ways to live in harmony.”

“I… I think so too, I can’t find any reason to wage war.”

Haro concurred with her Highness Chamille’s opinion. But, with just a look at the surrounding you could find the people with opposite opinions who were clearly much more noticeable.

“Isn’t it good enough to have a direct confrontation? We should make use of this time and have those guys of the Shinaak tribe truly understand the situation they are in.”

“Those mountain folks dares to be so arrogant, I want to make them suffer the same fate as our dead companions!”

“We should revenge Major Taekk, the Major himself would wish so!”

Blood boiling comments came one after another. In addition, it was fueled by the fact that there were already victims, compared to the faction unwilling to go to war, the aggressive warmonger faction seems to get the blessing in such situation. There were no doubts, furthermore the simple concept of revenge war especially drove the soldiers’ sense of justice.

Once the wave inciting war became louder it naturally becomes more difficult to raise objections. That was the very natural mass psychology– because of this no one expected that in such unified upcoming atmosphere, there would be someone who dared to fearlessly advocate with a voice louder than anyone else a ‘NO’.

“Are you guys all drunk?! How can there be a knight excited about such war?!”

The fingers closed in a tight fist hit the table, at the same time his huge body stood on the chair and spoke with raised voice, it was Warrant Officer Deinkun.

Although the crowd felt overwhelmed by the eardrum shattering voice, that was only at the beginning, laughers and jeers soon came and covered the whole floor.

“Huh, this is so unlike you, Warrant Officer Deinkun. Wasn’t it you, not so long ago that wanted to go to war more than anyone else?”

“That was of course the extreme case! Because at that time the opponent was the hated republic of Kioka!… Listen me well you guys. The so called sword of knights can only be swung to fight back the threat of enemies from foreign countries! It absolutely is not a weapon used to kill fellow citizens!”

Deinkun asserted so loudly. Although the laughers disappeared, but there was someone who replaced it with icy cold sarcasm.

“Stop screaming lousy words, to put it simply you got scared right?”

“…. What?”

“Meaning that when war truly appeared in front of you, you became a coward. You clearly possess a body more massive than others yet you are still so unsuccessful, even saying something like sword of knights, it truly makes me disgusted.”

“…. You want to insult my honor? If you dare so I want to hear you say it again!”

The muscular Agra stood up and stared at each other with Dekkun. Since both of them were comparable brawny men, once this escalates into a fighting incident, the canteen must be prepared to be completely trashed.

“What are you being noisy for! Keep quiet! Quiet!”

Only thanks to the intervention of the patrol officers that the big tragedy could be avoided. Agra harshly smashed his lips and sat down again, Deinkun also distorted away his line sight away from the other and sat down.

Under the repression exercised by the superior, the canteen was under high pressure and full of silence. As expected, the second after the officer returned to the corridor after inspecting the room, the conversation immediately revamped. Although there was a feeling the volume was toned down, but the number of conversations increased instead.

“…That was surprising, the Warrant Officer Hargunska full of fighting spirit decided to side with the non-war faction this time.”

Haro said so with a tad of intimacy, hearing that Yatori too revealed a faint smile.

“Thinking that was surprising is a faux pas of his assessment. As he himself stated, the so called knight is an existence to protect the country and its people from foreign countries’ invasion. Thus feeling resistance in having to act against the empire’s citizen would be the natural emotion.”

Different from the self-proclaimed knight Deinkun, Yatori’s words, the empire nominated knight, in name and reality, harbored a relative weight. Torway, while looking at Yatori with admiring eyes, added too:

“I think so as well. Furthermore, I think Dekkun is really great to be able to speak up the minority’s opinion in the earlier atmosphere. Because I though those kind of actions were something only Ikkun would do.”

“…Yeah, that indeed is the case. Speaking of which, the guy who can’t read the atmosphere and always exaggerate stuff… Sorlok, that’s your own unparalleled clique right? This time someone is imitating your forte huh?”

Her Highness Chamille spoke words full of sarcasm, Ikta instead completely ignored her. The youth holding his hands at chest while assuming a fetal position on the chair, stared into nothingness with empty eyes.

“…Holy war…. Holy war huh…Ah holy war…”

“What? Are you still fixated on that?”

Yatori watched Ikta with suspicious eyes, Ikta instead murmured with a deep voice:

“…there is no such use.”

“…..?”

“It does not exist, in the Shinaak tribe language there is no world representing ‘Holy war'”

The others couldn’t understand what he thought and could only tilt their head in confusion.

Ikta recovering his gaze started to explain:

“For the Shinaak tribe, warfare is simply competition for survival, in other words it’s just the most extreme display of the natural law of ‘the strong survive and the weak perish’. They do not affirm nor deny war, they just accept it as the plain truth of this world– it’s only they will never make the war ‘sacred’.”

“…You mean those guys from the Shinaak tribe do not require a righteous cause?”

“Of course they do, the tribe’s prosperity and happiness is their righteousness. However, to them that is not some ‘sacred thing’. In another perspective the wealth obtained through warfare is nothing but property seized from others, and the reason is for your own beneficence. So that is just being unscrupulous for the sake of survival, it’s something completely opposite from sanctity.”

After reaching that point, Ikta paused and lightly stroked Kusu’s head in the waist bag.

“The subjects revered by the Shinaak people are different, they are Hahashik– the four great spirits in our pocket. The Shinaak people without exception consider these children who consider us human masters and devote themselves without condition, as ‘sacred beings’… we too understand it very well because when these children want to protect their human masters, they do so with no regard of their own status.”

In a world where the strong survive and the weak perish the spirits are the lone exception. In order to help the humans that are a completely different race, they not only put in all their efforts but also won’t require any form of return from the humans for their dedication. They wouldn’t say a word no matter how cruel their treatment was, the same even if they were shattered into pieces.

“There is only one thing in this world that the Shinaak people define as ‘sacred’– that is the existence of spirits who wholeheartedly devote to their masters. ‘Sacred’ and ‘spirits’ not only are interchangeable, any former non-interchangeable use of them are unlikely to have ever been recorded. Not to mention to mix it with a vulgar world such as ‘war’ is simply absurd.”

“…. I now understand what you mean. But what if their determination to start the war has a direct connection to the spirits?”

–You took them away from us, if that’s not cold-blooded brute then what is?!

Yatori while vividly remembering the words the Shinaak girl told her, asked a question.

“By the look of it, you too are aware of that matter?”

The ‘matter’ Ikta said was one of the repression policy lieutenant general Safida implemented, the action of taking away the spirits from the Shinaak tribe. The others, without understanding what they were talking about felt very confused, the two however without minding them, continued.

“…The spirits have been taken away by the enemy; spirits are sacred existence; if you want to take back the stolen sacred beings, in any case you have to wage war. Then this war is truly a ‘Holy war’– if it is determined the Shinaak tribe was using the above reasoning, is there anything unreasonable?”

“None, this is the perfect sophistry scheme, it’s so perfect that it makes me feel queasy.”

After speaking with disdain to his own words, without hiding his displeasure, Ikta re-opened his twisted mouth:

“However this theory of their smart tricks is only something that us, who have understood their morals and ethics, can think of…. As I have said before, if it was the Shinaak people alone they definitely wouldn’t sanctify war. Therefore, will not twist the truth just to sanctify this war, let’s not even talk about what is used or not, that is not a thought that they would even conceive.”

Ikta concluded and bitterly grinded his teeth. His appearance was like spitting out lava.

“Since it obliviously should have been so, they still used the word ‘Holy war’, then there is only one answer– there is someone else, a mastermind behind. Coming from outside, instilling the previously completed fallacy to the guys from Shinaak tribe.”

***

The night passed, and morning came.

Under the command of the supreme commander of the Northern Garrison Lieutenant General Safida it is issued a formal announcement, because of the murder of Major Taekk and Co a punitive force will be assembled.

By the time of mobilization, the troops were predicted to reach eighteen thousand people, becoming a military operation on a scale without precedence in the history of the northern region.

–Unrest at Katjvarna’s northern boundaries.

The war thus begun, covering a part of the Empire’s history with a thick layer of compatriots’ blood.

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