Two days later, the Holy Army stopped on a plain to gather the armies that were on their way to the forest of Brudes. A temporary camp was set up for the next two days, and Edmond sat around a campfire with his group.
Around the campfire sat the girl who was friendly to him and the other men.
The girl who was cooking kebabs gave him one, "Here!" she said with a smile. Edmond accepted it graciously and ate while she handed the others their portions. Good taste,' he thought.
It was already dark in the camp and the campfires were burning brightly in the half-light, most of the soldiers were already asleep. It was up to their groups to keep an eye on their camp before the next round arrived.
The atmosphere was heavy, no one was talking apart from the girl who was trying to make friends with the others. I opened my mouth to lighten the mood, "Er... why else did you come to enlist for the war?" I said.
The others turned to look at him, and the most muscular man spoke, "Hm. It's to fight bad guys, the elves have killed a lot of humans so I have to punish them," he said in a cold voice but with a rather silly expression.
Edmond smiled, "Oh, I see! A warrior, ha ha!" I laughed, the muscular man glanced at him then turned to go and get the next skewers.
Another man who appeared to be quite ordinary spoke to him with a small smile at the corner of his mouth, "Me, it's to earn money for my family!" he confessed, "I live with a sickly mother and a younger sister so I hope I can earn enough money for them to live on."
Edmond nodded, people in those days didn't have the modern means to look after themselves, so life must have been hard in those days. A person who takes care of his family in exchange for his life is very commendable, he thought.
"Good will, sir!" replied Edmond.
The other man laughed, "Ha ha. Thank you, call me Freyon!" he smiled. Edmond nodded with a smile of understanding.
"And you?" asked Edmond of the dark-haired man who had been quiet all along. The mysterious man raised his head in his direction, then lowered it. A mute man, he supposed.
"Ryan", he replied, surprising the others before falling silent.
Edmond nodded, "Oh right, Ryan then!
A few moments later, the sound of a trumpet drew everyone together, "PHOUU! In the distance a man in black armour arrived, followed by an army of horsemen who followed behind him a few paces away.
"Who are they?" asked Freyon, who was suspicious of the sudden army that had appeared. The guards guarding the camp all began to move to let in the army and the army commander who entered gracefully.
We stood up and looked at the man, who had an astonishing charisma; he wore an obsidian helmet and held a sword in his hands that symbolised the power of a man.
"The Emperor of the Northern Empire has arrived!" shouted the messenger to the rest of the camp. The man on his horse dismounted and headed towards the Holy Emperor's camp. Walking in the direction of the imperial paladins who were directing him towards the Emperor, Kreton met Edmond's gaze.
A moment later, his gaze detached from him and left. Could he have seen my disguise?" said Edmond nervously, an extraordinary power at such a young age! Edmond was shocked and delighted that such a man had been born.
***
An imperial paladin raised the tent and announced, "The Emperor of the North, Kreton IV has arrived!" A few moments later, a man arrived and walked towards Emperor Augustus, who was waiting for him seated on a table.
He sat down on a wooden chair, and opened his mouth, "Tell me, you little shit, why did you declare war on the elves?"
The imperial paladins standing motionless on the side were stunned by the lack of respect, "How dare you disrespect the Holy Emperor- !" Augustus raised his hand, silencing the paladins.
"I need to speak privately with my interlocutor," he said in a cold voice that left the paladins with no answer. They nodded and all quickly left at the same time, Augustus' words were God's words after all.
Augustus, who had been waiting for the last paladin to leave, sighed, "Haa... It's more complicated than that Kreton, I tried to negotiate a possible peace with the elves but everything failed," he said, his expression had become sullen, "I have the impression that someone is manipulating in the shadows so that our two races face each other in a bloody war."
Kreton, who had heard Augustus' words, nodded, his face also sullen. The two strongest men in the human domain were sitting in front of each other, but in the face of hidden intrigues, they were just poor men who had to follow the world's trend.
"Who would benefit from such a war?" asked Kreton, taking a sip of green tea. All the stress he had accumulated over so many years had left him half bald.
Augustus thought for a few seconds, then spoke, "According to imperial intelligence, the most likely scenario would be a coalition of the western kingdoms, but it's not certain that it's them."
Kreton nodded, "There's no way it's just them, they must have a hidden brain, they don't have brains in their heads, if they're still in power at the moment, it's because of family ties. They'll be struck off their statutes when their people revolt anyway."
Augustus took a sip of his tea and thought. The human domain was faced with a complex intrigue, the war between the two races would result in many deaths and it was not advantageous for many people to send their race to its death.
He wasn't sure what they were doing, but what he was sure of was that he would protect his race in the name of God, even if the elves were innocent, they would spill blood to protect just one of their followers. And most of the human leaders had the same thoughts as him.
Kreton reflected and opened his mouth after a moment's silence: "Do you know anyone with black hair and a rather ordinary body? "he asked.
Auguste was surprised by his off-topic question but replied calmly: "Black hair and an ordinary build? Precisely?"
"As I walked towards your tent, a man caught my eye, giving off a rather mysterious and strong aura. I had the impression I'd seen you, it intrigued me," he said.
Auguste thought he was just a poor soldier and didn't elaborate, "There are a lot of people with that kind of profile, perhaps it was your imagination?
Kreton nodded weakly, "Maybe."
PHOUUUU!
Trumpets sounded outside the camp, various flags were raised high into the sky, the other late armies were now gathered in the same place. "At last we can talk strategy," announced Kreton and Augustus, who nodded in agreement.
***
"You piece of shit! Do you want me to kill you or what? Wipe that smile off your face before I send it straight back to your mother!" shouts a foreign soldier.
Tonight's going to be complicated", Edmond says to himself.
Moments before the tragedy.
It was Emperor Kreton IV who walked past us, wasn't it?" exclaimed Freyon, delighted to have seen the Emperor of the North in person.
The others nodded in agreement, except for Ryan, who did not move from his position. It was unclear whether he was asleep or unaware of Freyon's words, but whatever the case, he agreed with him.
"Look, the rest of the army is moving into camp," the girl said. Edmond followed her gaze and watched as the rest of the army set up camp next to the tents that had already been erected, one group in particular setting up very close to ours.
Edmond scowled; he already knew from experience that this sort of thing didn't end well in novels and his feelings had got the better of him. Freyon stood up and addressed the group that had settled in, "Er... ! You're too close to our aunt, please move back a bit!" he shouted.
The knights who were setting up their aunts turned at the noise behind them, staring coldly at Freyon who was shouting at them. Edmond held his forehead with his hand; it was too late to stop him, he thought.
The strongest-looking knight in the group stepped forward in front of Freyon, 10 centimetres taller than him, a rather humiliating contrast for Freyon, who must have been looking down on him.
He began to open his mouth, "We don't want any trouble, so please let us settle in. We don't have time to look for somewhere to set up, so please be understanding," he said before backing away from his concerns.
Edmond nodded thinking this person was pretty good, he wasn't some clichéd thug who appeared out of nowhere but before he could think of anything else Freyon had stepped forward spitting at him.
"What did I tell you?" he shouted behind the back of the opposing group leader. Edmond hit himself on the head and changed his gaze towards Freyon, I should never have thought he was a good person, he shouted inside his head.
The young girl, who sensed a fight was coming, tried to come between the two to resolve the conflict, but before anyone could react the boss of the opposing group turned and slapped him across the face, startling the others.
A moment later, the young girl fell to the ground stunned by the sudden action, she couldn't believe that the man who had been humble just a few seconds ago had slapped her. She put her hand on her cheek and felt the heat of the sudden blow. She began to cry in pain.
The muscular man who had been listening to the conversation stood up, pounding his fists, the mysterious man, Ryan, who had been watching them calmly, put a hand on his sword, hidden behind his black cloak, and Edmond, who had seen such a scene, looked at him calmly.
The man who had slapped the girl opened his mouth, "I warned you. We were only looking for a place to rest but you spat in our faces despite our kindness," he said with a cold voice and a heavy gaze devoid of any emotion.
Clink!
His group behind him quickly drew their swords and pointed them at us. The soldiers in the vicinity began to move closer, seeing a fight about to break out. Edmond approached to try and calm the tense atmosphere despite his growing anger.
Emotions must not dictate my actions...' he thought strongly in his heart.
"Calm yourself. Go back to your camp and we'll go back to ours, let's pretend nothing happened." Edmond picked up the girl who was still on the ground and took Freyon, who was shocked by the situation he had provoked.
"You piece of shit! Do you want me to kill you or what?! Wipe that smile off your face before I send it straight back to your mother!" shouted a soldier who was following his leader, making the already tense situation even tenser. Edmond wanted to punch him in the face but he couldn't.
Despite Edmond's efforts to calm the situation in a friendly manner, the man refused to be cowed and suddenly lunged at them with his sword. Edmond, who suddenly sensed danger behind him, calmly swung a fiery magic fist at his sword, shattering it into a thousand pieces, then struck him in the abdomen, sending him flying a few metres away from their position.
BOOM!
The leader had fainted from shock, eyes wide open, and everyone was shocked by the power he had unleashed, Edmond glanced coldly at him and withdrew with the others, "Let's get out of here before more trouble comes our way," he said, not expecting any refusal.
The others in the group were shocked, even Ryan who was calmly looking at Edmond. They all nodded and followed him, they didn't want to upset him any more and the girl had started to puff out her cheek.
Finally, they left behind them the group who were stunned with their leaders who had fainted. Passers-by were also in shock and a paladin who was watching the whole situation from the sidelines informed the Emperor of the North of what had happened.
Little did Edmond know that his actions were being monitored by someone intrigued by his strange existence.
At the same time as the group returned to their home, Edmond and the young girl headed for an infirmary to treat her. A young girl who had been beaten could not leave a small mark on her sweet face, after all it could ruin her future marriage if her appearance was not good at the time.
"It's not a very bad wound," said the nurse, who cast divine magic to heal the girl. Although weak compared to Edmond's power, it was strong enough to heal a small wound on the face.
The power of faith, present in the world, seems rather weak compared to what I can deploy, he thought inside himself.
The girl nodded, "All right, thank you".
Edmond left, followed by the girl, a silence hung over them as they returned to their camps. "Josephine..." said the girl, surprising Edmond.
"My name is Josephine..." she repeated, thinking that Edmond had not heard her. He nodded and smiled, "Enchanté Joséphine, ha ha." he said with a laugh, Joséphine laughed too then separated before returning to their respective aunts.
Edmond went into his head and the men in the group with him were already asleep, he sat down on his bed and lay down to sleep. He didn't sleep but thought about what he should do for the next few days, given the turn of events war was imminent and many deaths would have taken place.
He thought about what position he should choose to move his world in the right direction, and without any news from Lyrisse, Edmond was pretty much on his own.
In any case, what bothered him was Ryan's weak gaze spying on him. Edmond laughed out of the corner of his mouth and drifted off to sleep, "That kid looks interesting," he thought before drifting off.
He had a big day ahead of him tomorrow.