The initial chaos had already died down. The original residents of the city have either been mutilated or their bodies were decorating the walls around the city. Those, who were lucky enough to find a bed for the night, might not be seeing the sun of tomorrow.
The soldiers were preparing for a hard fight, so their easy victory made them very excited. They were setting up camp around the city, taking the best building in the city. But some unusual movement had attracted their attention.
Someone was dragged through the city. Curiosity got the best of them and followed behind. Some curious minds even tried to peek at the face.
The procession stopped in front of the Chararch. Kinoya was forced to kneel. He put the talwar down beside him. With Riyasu's whispers, one of the guards tried to move it but all was in vain.
The failed attempts made Riyasu angry. He had wanted to take the talwar but fearing another failure, he gave up with reluctance. As more crowd gathered he took out the edict and announced the punishments.
"He is the blind devil!!"
"Yes. Can't you see he doesn't have an eye?"
"Wow! I had never expected such a young child."
The whispers grew stronger. Some were gloating at his misfortune and some were sad but none came forward to protect him.
*Whoop* *whoop*
First one fell, then the second, and it continued without rest until the 17th. Then the one whipping noticed it. He hesitated for a moment but continued. By 22nd, everybody could see the black smoke oozing off the wounds.
They didn't understand what was happening. But that was not the case for the general's guards who went with him on that night. Being one, the whipper was more hesitant.
"Don't worry, nothing like that will happen. You can continue." Kinoya spoke in a calm voice, without raising his head. The whipper looked at the captain with questioning eyes.
Even after getting the confirmation he was a little hesitant but compiled under the urges of Riyasu. Soon the only one left at the place was Kinoya, with a bloody back.
The city centre became normal again. Nobody cared for Kinoya. All except four. The four he beat up before. They flocked together like a bunch of hyenas.
"Look who we got here?"
"Isn't it the mister righteous?"
"Look Akori, it's the one who stole your first wife from you."
Before joining the military he was satisfied with himself. There were very few in his village who could stand up to him, whether child or adult. But he had shared the caves with monsters. One beat him for the cave leadership, one for the best cavalry, and this one almost beat him for a girl. Akori couldn't hold it any longer.
That incident had worsened his mood. Now looking at beaten up Kinoya, his anger and pent up frustrations got the best of him. He kicked at the head of Kinoya.
Nobody had expected the sudden outburst, not even his partners. But what was more surprising was that Kinoya grabbed the kick with his bare hand.
They instinctively stepped back. The blue flame eye awakened the fear in their heart. Akori, who was unable to control his weight, fell on his butt.
Not many could stay sane after taking so many whiplashes. It was his bad luck that Kinoya was one of them.
They had observed the whole ordeal from the crowd. They couldn't even believe that a 12 years old could stay conscious after 100 whiplashes, much less retaliate.
"What do you want?" His voice was hoarse, the eye was blue but there was no change in his demeanour.
"Re-Release my leg." Akori stammered his words out, "You are not a captain anymore."
Kinoya was dumbfounded from the answer, "That is your reason? I may not be a captain, but that doesn't mean I will not protect myself." Even before he had ended the sentence, he had punched Akori.
"Unhand him," the lieutenant shouted but by one look from Kinoya, the tone changed, "...Captain."
"Don't want to." Kinoya showered more punches on him without hesitation. Akori was facing the blunt edge of Kinoya's pent up anger and there was nothing the lieutenant could do about it.
Neither the lieutenant nor the other two could come forward to help him. Even looking at the pleading eyes of Akori all they could do was avert their gaze.
'You brought this on yourself. Who told you to kick him? Even if it is wounded, a tiger will still be a tiger.'
Without the help of others, all Akori could do was accept his fate. His face turned into an unrecognizable mess with bruises and cuts all over it.
Kinoya didn't care, but he was reaching his limit too. Soon he was panting on his four. It took a few moments before he could stand up again. His steps weren't steady but as soon as he grabbed the talwar he vanished into thin air with a puff of black smoke.
**********
"Do you know captain how hard it was to find you here?"
"Chanakya?" Kinoya was surprised seeing Chanakya on the top of the Chararch. There were no stairs to climb nor did he have something like Varytita.
"There is no need to be surprised. If you can do it I could do it too."
"But you didn't obey my order."
"But you are not the captain anymore." There was a moment of silence before Kinoya asked again.
"Then what about the girls?"
"Don't worry, the others are there. They didn't know what happened here." Listening to his concern Kinoya could only smile.
"By the way captain there were 234 women, so you own them like 2 gold coins and 34 silver ones. Do you have that kind of money?"
Kino didn't answer but asked another question"Why are you still calling me captain?"
"Because I mostly couldn't remember people's names."
"Hi, I am Kinoya Arviga. Nice to meet you." Kinoya introduced himself with a bright smile.
"Kinoya? That is not a good name, captain suits you better. And I know they are going to reinstate you soon enough. All you need to do is to wait here."
Kinoya smiled and said, "Well about that, I think we need to do something about the trap."
"Why? They are the one who didn't believe you, beat you, and cast you out. And now you want to save them?" While talking, Chanakya continued to stare at the distant city wall.
"Well, I thought about those idiots, believe me, they are real idiots. I want to beat some sense into them, I want to beat up Riyasu and the general west and everybody. I want to beat them senseless. You won't believe me…"
"Captain, I think you are deviating from the main topic."
Kinoya gave a silly smile, " The point is no matter how much I want, I couldn't let all of them die." Kinoya looked at the soldiers in the city centre. "They don't know what is coming for them. Only because their superiors are ignorant I couldn't just let them die. We have to find a way to save them."
Chanakya took a look at him, before turning his head towards the horizon again. It was the same old sun diving the horizon. 'Yet it felt different.' So he thought. His smile didn't miss the eye of Kinoya but Kinoya chose not to speak.
"There was an old kingdom named Roginian. The Vishnuguptas clan were the chief military advisor of the country, but the increasing number of corruption was polluting the country. And when they pointed it out my great-great-grandfather and his father were assassinated while my great-grandfather was forced to and came over to the Kounen mountain range."
Chanakya's eyes didn't have a shard of emotion as he continued to talk.
"There was no empire at that time; there was just a tribe of the current emperor's families and the other hereditary noble families. They saved my great-grandfather. And in return, he helped them to build the empire. As a token of faith, we became a military nobility. As long as we are not asking for something absurd, our demand will be fulfilled, at least in the military."
Chanakya took a deep breath. For a while, he stood silent. Kinoya could see the hesitation all over his face, yet he waited.
"My grandfather served the nation, then my father did too. But when I was small, he had committed suicide." He sighed, "What is the profit of serving if one couldn't save himself? Why does he have to die just to protect the family?"
'That is the story of every nation, no matter how clean a nation appears, there is bound to be some corruption in it.' The empire was around 94 years old, it meant the amount of corruption is less that didn't mean it was void of it.
'But, his dad…' Kinoya could only sigh thinking about it. To begin with, he wasn't any good in those emotional situations, and it didn't look like Chanakya was asking for any sentiment. Kinoya didn't even understand what Chanakya was looking for.
"You sounded depressing, you know."
Chanakya was stunned by the remarks for a moment "Why would you even say that? You don't say that to a person who is smiling."
Kinoya shook his head and said, "You know, depressed people usually have the biggest smile." He smiled, took another look at Chanakya, "Well if that is not a depressed smile then there is nothing to worry. I don't want to lose a friend again."
Chanakya didn't know how to respond so he continued to stare at the horizon, "Captain, do you know there are sometimes even I don't get you."
Kinoya was all smiles but didn't answer. "You know, magic or not, this view is always beautiful."
The sea of orange was drowning the sky, the horizon already had taken a bite of the sun. Little clouds were like the schools of fishes in the sky. It was really beautiful. But that didn't attract Chanakya like Kinoya's words.
"What do you mean by 'magic or not'? Is there any place where magic does not exist."
Kinoya was about to say something but he started shouting, "It's magic, magic is the secret. Chanakya you are a genius."
On the other hand, Chanakya was surprised not knowing why he was regarded as a genius and continued to stare at him with a question in mind, 'Even without a string on his body, how that talwar was still sticking to the captain's naked back?'