"Leave my sister alone, if you don't I will kill you." The voice attracted the attention of both of them. There were similar emotions all over the city, but the child shout wasn't something they could ignore, and Palsa knew very well that even if it wasn't the voice of the child, Kinoya would have responded.
"Hear him out, he is going to kill me." One of the soldiers burst into laughter.
"Give him something, give him your dagger. Let him try." Another one threw a small dagger. But the child never moved from the side of his sister. It was a girl who was still a teen, where the boy might be just 10 years old.
*Slap*
The child had never seen it coming. The side of his lips started to bleed as he started to vomit. The next kick came even before he could clear his stomach.
Palsa gabbed the handle of the saber, but the hand clutched his shoulder, "How many can you tackle?"
"I can kill all of them."
"Not kill, just stale time, leave the one with the girl and the boy alone. Wait till I give you the signal." Palsa nodded as they came out of the shadow.
"What do you want?" The name, 'Blind Devil' was a hot topic in the army but, not many had seen the face and without armor, they had no idea about it. So it was quite natural the threat was aimed at Palsa.
"What the hell you are talking about? Just using my name you rescued so many? Look at them they don't even know me."
With the same commoner robe, scar on the eye, and the speech was enough for the smart one to guess the identity, "You are the devil."
"Oh! You are the one, that general hate. He would happy if…"
"Don't worry I won't do anything," Kinoya turned towards the one who was holding the girl, "You can continue what you are doing. I just don't want you to gang up on them." Palsa got the cue and charged towards the other four without hesitation.
The child, who was sobbing in his own vomit and blood, saw a ray of hope. He ran towards Kinoya, "Brother save my sister, please save my sister."
Kinoya looked at the man, who was holding the girl, with a smile on his face, "Why are you stopping? I am not here to stop you, enjoy yourself and give me a good show."
'Does he want to stop me or encouraging me?' The words weren't assuring enough, the man stared at Kinoya in confusion. Nonetheless, his urges overpowered his fear. No matter how much she struggled it wasn't fruitful.
On the other hand, Palsa was quite energetic with his two sabers. Four of them had been having a hard time against Palsa.
"Brother please I would do anything, please save my sister." The boy was clinging on the leg.
"You will do anything?" The child was surprised for a moment, but soon was nodding his head vigorously. "Go grab the blade and stab that man."
The man's hand was enjoying the soft white mound of the teenager, but the molestation came to a halt. The lost confusion reappeared on his face. Even the one, who was fighting with Palsa, paused for a moment to see what was happening.
"What?!!" The boy jumped in fright, his surprise escaped his throat when Kinoya whispered in his ear. His eyes bulged up as he looked up, his chin moved but not a sound came out.
'Could this man really be the devil?' He had heard a moment ago, that the boy standing in front of him was called a devil, by the soldiers. He couldn't believe them, but his words…
Nonetheless, he grabbed the dagger from the ground, the life of his sister was on the line. His futile charged was broken by a kick, it sent him flying, and the man didn't even release the girl from his clutch.
"You know the rule. There is no free lunch in the world." The child might not understand the metaphor, but Kinoya's intention was clear to him. He charged again and again, but the result never changed.
The fire of lust had been replaced by the sparks of agitation, the man threw away the girl on the side. Unable to control herself, she sprawled on the ground. Tears diluted her vision, but she could see the saber in the hand of the soldier.
'I have to do something.' The voice screamed in her mind. The saber missed the target, the soldier strumbled and fall on his face.
"Ahhhhhh!" The pain escaped his mouth, even before he could realize how the saber missed the target.
Before he could move again, the pain in the back intensified. The boy was aiming to plunge the dagger once more, but…
The punch threw the child in the air. The bloody dagger slide across the paved road. He kicked the girl who was wrapped around his leg.
The pain wasn't something she couldn't ignore, she ran towards the brother without hesitation. The smile on the deformed face of the boy just intensified the pain in her heart. 'I will…' she looked for the dagger.
"Take him, and put off some clothes." Kinoya grabbed the dagger from the floor, but the words poured a bucket of cold water on her thought of revenge.
It the moment of crisis, the girl didn't realize that she had no clothes on, but he she didn't care as she tried to snatch the dagger from Kinoya's grasp.
"Sister, you are safe now. I have done what brother has told me. They won't touch us anymore." As the determination of fight fade away he coughed another batch of fresh blood with the words. The girl was quick to return by the side of her brother.
"Never underestimate the enemy no matter who it is. Palsa let's go." Kinoya never realized before nor he had ever seen it, but Palsa is an excellent fighter.
A powerful force swapped the legs of the four, off the floor. Palsa returned by the side of the Kinoya without wasting a single moment, but how could they let him go just like that? But, their charged came to an unexpected halt.
"Captain I have a letter from the general." General Amboia came off his horse. The cavalries behind him did the same.
Kinoya returned the bow and received the letter. The general left without much formality, but, the four lost the will to attack. They left with their wounded friend.
Chanakya soon followed the general's step, "Captain, General is looking for you."
"General?"
"General Akai."
"Plasa led them," The child wanted to say something but the girl stopped him and followed Palsa.
"Boy, come here." With the call, Kinoya moved in and took the directed seat. "Sergeant leave us alone." It was Vaicus. There was no one other than the general rank in the room.
"No problem, Chanakya will stay." Vaikus looked at Kinoya, but Kinoya didn't respond again.
Akai sighed and took out an orb. This orb was totally different from those Kinoya had seen before.
"Put your hand on it and answer truthfully." He wasn't an idiot, and he could guess what is the effect of the orb.
"Are you a spy?"
"No," It was a true poker face, and the orb glowed green.
"Where did you kill your first human?"
"At the battlefield of Eale" The color didn't change at all.
"Do you have any grudge against any of the generals?"
Kinoya controlled his smile somehow, "If it is the general of west or Riyasu, then they are just idiot, and you can't hold a grudge against an idiot. As for others, I respect those who have earned it."
"What about me?"
"It is respect." Throughout the whole ordeal, the orb didn't change the color for once. Akai puffed a sigh of relief.
"Do you know what the orb is?" Akai asked as he put the orb away.
"Some kind of lie detector."
"Kind of, but it is a truth detector. Do you understand why we used it?"
Kinoya nodded and said, "My only question is why didn't you used it before?"
'The boy never failed to amaze me,' Akai smiled, "Are you angry about it?"
"I am serious about the question when I said it. I would have asked the question long before if 13 years old guessed enemy's every move."
"That is why you are genius, but you are not allowed to stay in the city, it is the same for your followers too." Lack of expression didn't surprise Akai, he continued "You are promoted to the post of a Major, but after the suspension period is over."
Kinoya was as calm as always. But with Akai's next words Kinoya was unable to hold it in. "Don't worry, before we move again you will be reinstated."
"Move? Are we camping here? How long?"
"One year for a minimum. A new batch of people will arrive soon. New recruits, farmers, and others will be arriving soon. We will move again after we fill our resources again."
'These guys are idiots.' Kinoya wanted to scream but he knew from where it was coming from."This time will cost us dearly. But it's not like we can move on the empty stomach, nor the empire could provide the resources."
"The emperor had given us 6 more months to concur Na."
Kinoya's face brightened up again, "Then we still have time, we should move more in the territory. Right now we have the momentum if we lose it will hard."
Akai sighed, "None can do. The imperial edict."
Kinoya took a deep breath and said, "A general always follows order but a good general always knows when to follow and when to ignore. No one knows the field better than the one who is present"
"Sometimes your words makes me think that you are really not a child."
"No, it is just a piece of common knowledge." Kinoya could never unveil his actual origin to someone, just like that.
"Just not as common as you think." With Chanakya's words, the whole room burst into laughter.
"One more thing I am wanting to ask you." Akai's hesitation turned the atmosphere serious again.
"General, you can order me anything. As long as it is logical I will compile." In his mind, Kinoya knew very well that, though old, Akai is a very flexible general. He is the one who leads the soldiers from the front, not the one who orders from the back. There is no way he would say anything unreasonable.
"You are orphan, right?" Kinoya nodded as Akai spoke, "Be my son."
"What?" Kinoya was flabbergasted. "From where that is coming ?"
"I have three daughters, two were married to their happy life and the third one in the mage academy of the capital. I have no son."
Kinoya busted into insane laughter, he couldn't speak at all no matter how much he tried. That was not something he was expecting.
'Speechless', 'Spellbound', 'Shocked'... there were words which he could think of, but none could explain the situation inside his head. He has never had guessed that something like this will happen to him.
"It's good to see, the one who kept on making others to lose their words is now got his own tongue-tied."
"Are you sure about it?"
"That is what you want to ask me?"
"No, I just wanted to make sure that you will not chicken out on me when I create trouble again. And you know I am very good at that."
"All my life, I have done one thing most, was facing the enemies head-on. And you know I am very good at that."
A very soft, kind smile appeared on the face of Kinoya. He had never thought that he will find such warmth in the middle of the battlefield.
'This the feeling that they call the flower that blooms at the battlefield?' Kinoya smiled inside. 'I read about, brotherhood in the battlefield never did I heard about fatherhood.'