"Have you done it?"
Kinoya was forcing the horse to run at its fastest speed possible, he had little time to chit chat. But with his techniques, Chanakya could follow him with ease.
"Would it change anything?" Kinoya frowned, it wasn't something he wanted to talk about right now.
"How does it feel like to be with a succubus?" Chanakya was oblivious of his expression.
'Succubus? What succubus? The one that lives on the energy of men? Is there something like that in this world?' Kinoya had no idea about such that situation but he could guess what Chanakya was talking about, "I rather not talk about it."
There was an odd tension between them. Chanakya didn't talk and Kinoya didn't ask. The silence continued until they stopped to rest.
"Why did you stayed?" Kinoya was most curious about the reason. Chanakya just could leave with the army, he was part of Red corps, to begin with.
"I have my own reason to stay."
Kinoya felt like he didn't want to talk about it, so he fired, "What about the other?"
"There was about 23 who wanted to stay but I asked general Akai to take them."
Kinoya didn't expect that many wanted to stay. He felt little warmth inside him. But Chanakya's next words took him off guard.
"Don't be too happy. Most of them wanted to stay because they were afraid of fighting." Chanakya was nonchalant as ever.
"Is your reason same?" Chanakya didn't respond this time.
"So it was about the thing you talked me about, the one you serve?" Chanakya looked towards Kinoya and trying to understand where he was going. But silence followed.
"Chanakya, why do we fight the war? Why do we kill?"
"Why do you fight in the war? For fame? For riches? Or for the lord you want to serve?" Before Chanakya could respond, Kinoya continued, "I asked myself the same question at the beginning, I thought that I fought because it was fun. It was fun to outwit the enemy. But, it changed, when I was trapped. Outwitting the enemy is something, who are at the top of the army could do, the fame goes to them too, so does the riches. So why are we fighting for?"
Chanakya was silent, Kinoya took a deep breath, "We, who are at the bottom, are fighting for our lives, and we are struggling to live. At least I am fighting so I wouldn't die and the longer the war goes on the more harmful it will be for us."
"And you are telling me these because…" Chanakya was curious with the attitude of Kinoya. Little did he knew Kinoya was equally surprised.
'Wouldn't a brother-in-arm will get too emotional over the talk of life. Is the man or machine?' he was curious about Chanakya's attitude but each word, he had told, was true. He really wanted to end the war quickly. It wasn't something he could do alone, but he could buy some breather, the edge empire needed to prevail over the enemy.
He knew very well, if that plan of blowing the city was successful, he would have been long dead. In the heat, he had felt what war actually is? He wanted to survive and the only way to survive is to go to the top. And he will do it by whatever means possible, as he did with general Andlat.
"Nothing, I just want you to know that I might not be suitable for your optional lord after the next thing I am going to do." Kinoya couldn't find any other excuse.
"How that matters to you? You do whatever you want, it's not like you are doing this to be my lord, or you won't do it if I ask you to. So don't give such cheesy excuses. I don't swing that way." With the words, Chanakya went towards his horse. Kinoya just sat there not knowing what to do.
********
Drops of sweat formed on his forehead, as he read the contents of the letter, out loud. As a messenger never did he expected that the letter, he was carrying, was full of such frightening words.
*Boom*
Riyasu slammed his fist on the table, his eyes were red, "What that boy think, he is?"
After 2 months of blockade, they finally able to breach the city of Paeng. It was their night of celebration. But…
'That boy had survived.' Riaysu was curious, but the emotion which was more active in his mind was anger. This person, not just insulted him in front of everyone but also forced him to swallow his humiliation in silence, whenever words he had said was proven wrong.
"Kinoya had never done anything that would hurt the empire. All his steps were for the empire." On the other hand, Akai was ashamed. Ashamed, that he couldn't protect one of his own soldiers, the one, who tried to protect the crops until his last moment. No matter what, he wouldn't make mistake twice.
Riaysu frowned. He had expected such a reaction from Akai, but what concerned him more was the letter in the hand of the General of West, the commander-in-chief. The messenger came with two letters, one, he had read out loud, but the other one was handed to the general. He needed to know what was in the letter but he dared not to.
"General please don't be manipulated to the evil way again. We have already taken down 8 cities already, the result is great but if..."
General raised his hand to stop Riyasu, as he opened the letter. Reading the first line was enough to surprise him. If it was not written by Andlat herself, he wouldn't have believed a single word. But that was what he was surprised about.
'If the boy could really act the way he said, it wouldn't be a problem for me to do what he asked for. Still, we are not in need of doing such extreme measure.' The general shook his head and was about say something before a loud voice stopped himself from doing so.
"The envoy, here, carry the imperial edict. Show respect in the presence of the emperor's words." With the words, three men came in. One was holding the banner of the emperor, one was carrying a golden scroll while the other one put them on knees. It was the chief eunuch of the palace. Without wasting a single second, the chief eunuch took out the scroll and started reading.
"Liright Ain, The general of West, the commander-in-chief of the empire's army against Torria, are hereby decreed to conquer the city of Na within six months. If he couldn't do that by the end of the eleventh month of the year, then he must report to the imperial court within ten days, to accept the new order."
Without caring about the bomb, he just dropped, the chief eunuch rolled back the scroll and left without batting an eye.
'Decreed' and 'imperial court' were the two words that hurt him the most. The general of the west understood very well, that he is not getting any aid, at least not until he conquered Na.
It was not an impossible task. Excluding the town of Ulgyo, the only city that was between Paeng and Na was Jingeon. And counting two months, those were needed to siege each city till now, he would have conquered Na within four months. But, only if the city wasn't Na. He knew very well, that it would be impossible to conquer the city of Na, even within 6 months.
"General, should we try the boy's way?" Surprising everyone the first one to talk was not Akai, much less Riyasu, it was Vorn.
"No Vorn we couldn't do that. Don't believe that sly-tongue." Riyasu was quick to protest. "If we left the city of Jingeon at our back unattended and march straight for Na, and the army of Jingeon might attack us from behind. What will we do then?"
"That why he told us not to take the road close to Jigeon."
Riyasu gave a disdainful look to Akai and said, "Like they wouldn't know about us if we don't get too close to the city." He turned towards the commander-in-chief "General, we are out of time and the best thing to do is not fall in such a silly trap. First, we need to take down Jingeon before moving on Na."
"What if he could do what he said? He was actually able to stop the city of Yeomcheon from exploding and stopped the attack." Vorn was still calm as usual.
"The one who defended against the attack was the red corps, not the boy, and we don't even know whether the city was going to explode or not. All that could have been a hoax from him. A trick to get on us due to stripping from his rank."
"Do you think the destruction of the city centre and the Chararch wasn't just a trick? And my red corps was able to defend, only because he gave the news to us, at the right time."
"Using the transportation circle was enough to destroy the city? Don't make me laugh, Akai. You need to stop defending him. Even if he was from your corps, he is just a child and war is not a game of a child." Riyasu was loud.
The general raised his hand and stopped everybody again. "Get the army ready we will move out tomorrow morning, to… Na."
"General do you really think he would be able to conquer the city of Jingeon alone? That was bullshit. How can one single man conquer an entire city?" Riyasu shouted, disregarding the fact that he was in the presence of the commander-in-chief.
But the general of West didn't care about him anymore, neither did the other general. Akai and Vorn left the room as soon as they received the order. Riyasu was reluctant but he had to compile.
"General, are you really going to make him captain again?"
"If he really could do what he said even becoming a major wouldn't be a problem. Now leave, be prepare to move out in the morning." Right now he didn't have time for petite arguments. What surprised him more was the attitude of Kinoya.
The message was like an order. There was no way for him to contact Kinoya. He said he would do it without the regard of any of his opinion. The general was a little unhappy about it, but the fear of imperial edict overwritten it. Little did they know, what Kinoya had talked about was not conquering but...