“Arton, an employee bartender. May I ask how old you are?”
“I’ll be sixteen in a month,” Tenil states.
“And she is a girl,” Lerrot fills in.
The bartender is awed. “A girl in the army? And an officer at that? Whoa, wait here! I’ll get the owner!” For some reason, Arton the employee is fired up.
Tenil, Lerrot, and Eloy wait at the counter, listening to the loud customers out of boredom. Soon enough, Arton is back with a big man behind him. He has to be the owner, having eaten his fill each day for the past decades. His mustache is the real thing.
“Oh? Are you the officer?” The old, fat man asks.
“Yes. Staff Sergeant Tenil, pleased to meet you.”
“Ursol, owner of the Mind’s Realm! Welcome! I hear you’re a girl, fifteen years old, and on top of that a commander! How marvelous!”
“Umm, yeah. I never wanted to join the army, but fate wasn’t on my side. I had a chance to withdraw, however, but I decided to stay.”
“Ho! If you promise to visit my tavern instead of the others in the city whenever you’re off duty, the drinks are on the house for you!”
“Uhm, thanks, I’ll keep that in mind. May I ask why, though?”
“Well, you oughta be the first female knight, am I right? If people start hearing rumors of you, they’ll be curious, and that’s where my proposal comes into play! Once people hear that you’ll be visiting my tavern once in a while, they’ll naturally gather here on daily basis in hopes of seeing you! It’s not a bad deal, is it? Free drinks and meals, and all I ask is that you visit my tavern.”
“I’d accept it,” Eloy shares his opinion.
“As long as I won’t have to write down my name anywhere, I’m fine with it. It’s not like I prefer those other taverns over this anyway. I’ll pay a visit whenever I can.”
“Marvelous! Now, what’d you like to have?”
“A beer and maybe some steak or chicken, I don’t know.”
“That’s the spirit! Arton, do your job! I’ll be up in my office if you need me.”
With that, Tenil, Lerrot, and Eloy are served, though the corporals are paying for their drinks and meals, unlike Tenil. Arton has chosen to serve steak and potatoes with a sauce since Tenil can’t make up her mind. She can’t help but love it, having eaten rations for weeks. To her surprise, the beer isn’t too bad; she actually likes the taste. She makes a mental note to restrain herself from drinking too much. Hangover is the last thing she wants to suffer in the morning, knowing that her unit will be guarding the gate tomorrow.
As Tenil takes a sip from the mug, her eyes meet with an officer’s who is sitting at a table next to hers. She almost chokes as she realizes that it’s Colonel Harrol. Flustered, she takes a handkerchief to wipe her uniform. Lerrot and Eloy are perplexed by her sudden outburst.
“What’s the matter?” Lerrot asks.
And then, Harrol stands up, walking over to their table. “Oi, brat! I hear you got wounded. Is it true? Is your arm limp?”
If not for the noise, the whole saloon would be staring at the colonel. It is true that Tenil’s left arm is still in a bad condition. The arrow pierced her, after all.
“Sir, why are you interested?” Tenil asks.
“Because if your arm is truly limp, then I’ll report to the marshal that Knights in Red is in need of a new commander until the current one has healed. So, is it?”
Tenil takes a bite from her steak, chewing it as she speaks to express her contempt. “Sir, I have no obligations to answer you under these conditions. I am off duty, and on top of that, you are not my commanding officer. Also, we are from completely different divisions.”
Lerrot defends Tenil. “Sir, Staff Sergeant Tenil’s argument is valid.”
“Listen, you brat,” Harrol’s voice is off, slurred because of alcohol, “I hate you.”
“Affirmative,” Tenil says that as she chews the steak.
“Sir, isn’t it about time you return to your seat?” Eloy courtly suggests.
“Not until I see her use her left arm!”
Tenil’s brow twitches. She despises males, and Harrol is the worst type. He has authority, and he is trying to abuse it. She makes up her mind to teach him a lesson.
“Understood,” Tenil replies, and immediately after, she raises her left arm—and slams her fist onto the table. “Sir, let’s do arm wrestling with left hands.”
Lerrot and Eloy have their eyes wide open out of fluster. She will be exposed here, they think. Harrol nods with a smile.
“Challenge accepted!” He sits down at the table as he says that.
Tenil holds her hand ready, waiting for the colonel. Once they’re tackling their hands, Lerrot starts counting from three. Tenil has a wry smile, and Harrol has a pleased one.
“Start!” Lerrot shouts.
With that they both start wrestling, and two seconds after, Tenil is already losing, but still fighting. For twenty seconds, she manages to hold her ground, but inevitably she loses the match.
“Ha! I won! So you are wounded!” The drunken colonel blurts.
Tenil has a face that seems to be asking him really? “Sir, your accusation is invalid. First of all, from that statement of yours I can assume you were expecting to lose to me who’s a girl, given that I wasn’t wounded, which, in fact, is false. If I were wounded, I wouldn’t be able to use my arm for wrestling, yet I did and held my ground for a long period. So, Colonel Harrol thinks he can’t beat a girl unless she is wounded, eh?”
Lerrot and Eloy are laughing as Harrol’s face is changing color. He is infuriated. “Shut up, bitch,” saying that, he stands up and leaves the table.
“Damn, you nailed it, Sir!” Eloy is still laughing.
“I guess I did.” Tenil eats the rest of the meal, gulping down the beer too. Once she finishes eating and drinking, she stands up. “I’m tired. I’m off to the citadel.”
“Wait for me,” Lerrot says.
“I’ll be staying here,” Eloy says.
As soon as Lerrot is done with his meal, they head back to the accommodation. Sunset is only an hour away. Thanks to the last light of the day, Lerrot can see red substance streaming down Tenil’s left arm.
“Sir, you’re bleeding.”
Tenil looks at her left hand. Blood has painted her sleeve red. The wound has reopened because of the arm wrestling.
“I messed up, didn’t I?” Tenil speaks her mind.
“Let’s just get to the citadel, and fast. There we can tend to it.”
Chapter Eight
Slayer of Thousand Men
The kingdom has finished building the defense line. The empire is remaining very passive on the Northern battlefield, for they’re preparing to advance elsewhere. According to the reports, the empire is ready to move out. It has been almost two weeks since the infiltration of Renyil, after all.
The royal division has left Tungon to repel the enemy advance in the wilderness between Tungon and Teckton. Should they fail, Tror’s regiments will be lost, and Tungon will be sieged. Ivymn regiments are guarding Tungon while marshal leads the royal division to battle.
Tenil has been told the specifics of her unit’s purpose in battle. First of all, the marshal’s strategy is to challenge the enemy army head on with a pincer maneuver, aiming to win the war with a battle of annihilation in mind. As to how they’ll force the empire’s army into such a position, the second and fourth regiments of the royal division will remain on standby at the rear, stationed on both flanks of the kingdom’s main body. The first and third regiments will slowly retreat and lure the massive enemy army deeper into their ranks. If the plan is a success, the second and fourth regiments will ambush the enemy formation with a pincer maneuver.
Tenil will be on the Southeastern flank, foremost unit. Her heart is racing even now as she thinks about the battle. Although they aim to make it a battle of annihilation, it’s unlikely the empire’s resources will be depleted so easily. In military terms, battle of annih
ilation is a pivotal battle where the offensive faction eliminates the opposing faction’s military capacity, often leading to the end of the war.
The whole royal division is marching Southwest. They have left Tungon during the dark so that the enemy scouts cannot make heads or tails out of their formation. The night is cold because fall is close.
As they march in the dark, Tenil suddenly slips, letting out a shriek as she does. She has accidentally stepped too close to the edge of an incline and has now slid down the muddy slope. Yes, it rained during the day, so the earth is slippery. Thankfully, Tenil lands without injuries.
“Sir, are you okay!?”
“Affirmative. Keep going, I will catch up with you,” Tenil replies.
“Yes Sir!”
She stands up, taking a look around her. She can’t climb the slope, but she can go around it and meet up with her unit further ahead. She’ll do just that. However, as she takes her first step, she can hear a voice in her head.
Hi. Can you hear me?
Tenil draws her sword, taking a stance.
Uh, you know, I can’t harm you. But you can hear me, can you not?
Tenil is mystified. Could it be the creature from her vivid dreams? Thinking back, the voice doesn’t sound similar. This one is malicious, too, but not as evil as the one in her dreams. Although its choice of words is casual, it sure as hell doesn’t sound friendly.
I don’t know anything about your dreams, and yes, I can read your mind.
Who are you? Tenil asks the voice in her head.
Aoveon. Nice to meet you.
I’m Tenil. What’s your business?
Er, I need help. In exchange for your aid, I’ll raze the whole empire if you wish. Deal?
Tenil is shaken by the proposal. Raze the empire? What are you?
The Black Dragon King. Yeah, I come from Cerphet, the afterlife world where you will end up some day.
Where are you!? Dragons are huge, are they not!?
I am huge, but right now, I’m trapped in a prison, and I’d like it if you released me. I won’t touch your kingdom or anything you find dear. I will, however, erase at least one country from existence. The empire will do it.
Wait, if you claim to be the legendary dragon who almost caused the extinction of mankind, how am I supposed to trust you!? No, even if you somehow did convince me, I’d still prefer taking out the empire on my own.
Oh? You’re saying you want to kill humans yourself? My! This is interesting. Then please, at least take this little gift with you.
Suddenly, an object falls from the sky, landing right in front of Tenil. At first, she can’t tell what it is, but thanks to the moonlight, she can make out its features in the end. It’s a sword—nay, it’s too big to be called a mere sword. It’s a claymore. No, even that isn’t enough to describe its monstrous size. The hilt alone is as long as her short sword, and the blade of the massive weapon is at least as long as her.
As if I could even lift that massive chunk of hulking iron! And I’m not releasing you, so why’d you give me this?
I’m not asking you to release me in exchange for my remodeled fang. And you can actually lift it. I gave you my dragonic blessing, so it should weigh about as much as lumber of same size—no, it’s less than that, dunno. All I ask is that you take the crystal with you, or at least leave it somewhere where I can eventually meet someone else.
The last part catches her attention. What if someone else finds the prison? Assuming the crystal the dragon is talking about is the prison, anyone can release him.
Where is this crystal thing?
Above you on the branch. I’ll tell you later how it got there, if you want, that is. As long as you keep the crystal close to you, I can talk to you. And yes, I’m inside it, I suppose.
Tenil looks up. There is a branch right above her, half a yard higher than her head. She tries to cut it with her short sword, but fails to do so.
C’mon, take my fang, damn it. It can cut anything, even stone or iron.
Tenil sheathes her sword and attempts to lift the massive chunk of hulking iron. She is baffled by the weight soon after; she has successfully lifted it. It is heavy for her, but it’s something she can get used to in time. Of course, if it were a mere iron weapon, she would’ve only broken her back. If she had to guess the weight, she’d say sixteen pounds.
Told you. It’s light in comparison to real iron when you wield it. No one else can ever even lift it.
Tenil puts her shield on her back and swings the fang of the dragon that looks like a generic, gargantuan sword. The branch is cut with ease. The crystal is on a crow’s nest, shining as the moonlight illuminates it.
Is this it?
Yeah. Make sure not to break it, lest I’ll be free, haha. By the way, if you ever need my help, I can temporarily empower you physically.
And why’d you do that?
Because you want to kill humans, am I right?
...Yes, I guess.
Then what else can I ask for?
Tenil isn’t sure if she should be happy or disgusted. Nevertheless, she is eager to test the huge sword in combat. She carries the weapon on her right shoulder, the blade sticking partly upward behind her. From a different perspective, her figure looks disturbing with such a weapon carried around as if it didn’t weigh much.
When she meets up with her unit, her comrades are thunderstruck by the view.
“Sir, what’s that?” Lerrot asks.
“Finders keepers, that’s all,” Tenil answers.
“Y-yeah, but isn’t that, er, heavy, you know?” Ruick wonders.
“Not too heavy. I can swing this beast,” she replies.
By the way, the voice of the dragon speaks in her head, if I end up enhancing you, I won’t be able to do it again in a while, I think. Haven’t tried it before, but I know I can do it, so yeah.
And what becomes of me if I accept your blessings?
First of all, I don’t need your permission to do it, but I’ll respect your opinion, so I won’t do it unless you ask for it. And as for the downsides, uh, no idea. Like I said, it’d be the first time. I don’t know, maybe you’ll grow a tail? The dragon throws a joke at the end.
Are you really the Black Dragon King?
I sure as hell am. Why?
Forget it.
***
There is a legend of the Black Dragon King appearing in the world of the living. That’s how humans got to know about the realm of the Lords: Cerphet. All who die reincarnate in the purgatory region of Cerphet.
Ever since then, religions have been exacerbated in every nation. The kingdom is no different in that regard. The fact that there is an afterlife has made it easier for some people to accept their deaths. People like Tenil are the opposite, however. She has a family she needs to protect, and she can’t do that from the other side, should she die.
By the time it’s dawn, loud thundering can be heard in the distance. It’s not a thunderstorm, but an army. The empire is marching towards Tungon. Just as the marshal had planned, the enemy army is coming directly at them, most likely aware of their whereabouts. Scouts of the empire aren’t blind, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if they knew about the formations at the rear.
The royal division is positioned at the edge of an opening. It’s not exactly a plain, for it’s too small to be called such, but it is vast enough to serve as a battlefield. The invading army is on the other side, halting its advance upon sighting the kingdom’s army.
The regiments waiting in ambush at the rear have hid themselves so that it’s impossible to spot them from a distance. The empire is a proud country, and their military prowess in numerical terms is clearly superior, so it’s likely that they’ll blindly charge the inferior kingdom’s army head on. Nay, even if they didn’t want to, that’s their only option if they wish to conquer Phyr. The kingdom is on the defensive, so they have no reason to go on the offensive since they’re defending their own land. At least, right now, it’s pointless to try offensive
from the kingdom’s side. Of course, if they win the battle today, then they can use the tide to ride the flow and invade the empire, though that’s not the marshal’s goal.
No one from the regiments waiting in ambush is allowed to peek at the battlefield until the kingdom’s warhorn is blown for four seconds. If that happens, it means the enemy has been lured into position and the second and fourth regiments will emerge from the flanks to pincer the enemy army. If the horn is blown for only a second, it means all forces are to retreat to Tungon. There are other commands as well, but those two are the most important.
As Tenil lies low with her unit, she chats with the dragon in her head. It’s addicting in a way. She never even imagined to have a conversation with someone in her head. Now that she is experiencing it, it’s certainly peculiar.
“Sir, where did you find that weapon?” A knight beside her asks.
“From the forest. I don’t know who left it there, but it’s mine now.”
The dragon has been talking about his circumstances, and Tenil is listening eagerly. Centuries ago when he was defeated by his brethren, he was imprisoned in a crystal. Since the prison was a physical object of the world of the living, it couldn’t have been taken to Cerphet, so the task of hiding and preserving it befell on humans. Three priests of the federation to South from the kingdom took the crystal to a mountain and hid it at the top of it. According to Aoveon, the Black Dragon King, some goat accidentally kicked it a decade ago as it was scaling the mountain. Since it landed on a nice spot where the Sun irradiated the stone on a daily basis, a crow picked the shiny object only two months ago and took it to its nest. As funny as it sounds, another crow stole it and further moved it from its original location. Thus the crystal ended up in Phyr.
That’s extremely messed up.
I know right? I’m glad though. I finally have someone to talk to. Even if you won’t release me, I’m content with this. Just don’t leave me alone. Spending even a year in utter loneliness is too much.
It’s not like it’s a big deal to carry this crystal around.
Thank the Chaos they sealed me in such a small object...! By the way, about your dreams, you said you’ve seen vivid dreams of a creature that keeps talking to you. May I ask what it looks like? I’m from Cerphet, so I can pinpoint who it is, assuming it’s a real thing.
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