by Y. R. Shin
“I know that the commander-in-chief’s decision was for Rarke, sir. But would not the others be confounded by the suddenly changed operation and the suddenly discovered existence of the mine? So, delete everything about me on official records, and leave this as proof of your wisdom on the glorious pages of history, Your Grace.”
“Do you mean to insult me? I am not one who cannot discern the difference between true pride and empty vanity.”
“I have violated a military law with a crime that not even my death can absolve, sir. Will you officially praise such a woman? Or will you leave all those contributions behind now and punish me?”
Paseid closed his mouth for a moment. He could not find anything to say. Reuyen had expected this and continued with a faint smile. “But, if you feel indebted to me, give me the body of the general. That’s all I want, sir.”
It was truly ridiculous.
But if he considered the behavior of the woman until now, it really wasn’t that surprising a request. “What is the reason you want the corpse of the general?”
Her parched lips clamped shut like those of a doll. Paseid tried to be patient.
He could not ask why she did not act like a knight or a woman who knew the weight of the ordination, even with a red wolf brassard around her arm. But that did not mean he would tolerate everything.
She was a hindrance in the army. He had an intuition, no, a prediction that she would continue to act like this if she stayed. He did admit that his personal feelings had affected his decision, but at the same time, he solidified the decision because of the unbearable feeling of irritation.
“I see very well that you do not value ordination or a title. I will give the order promptly. The temporary brassard I granted you for the contribution of shooting the enemy commander at Camp Anf will be seized, based on the severe crime of pointing a sword at me, the commander-in-chief. But the matter and treatment related to the taking of Olzore will be determined once I return to complete my investigation on you, after I report to His Majesty. Of course, until His Majesty’s orders are in effect, I will not speak of the mine.”
“I accept, sir. But what about the body?”
Paseid was silent.
“I will take that as your permission, sir.”
That was enough for Reuyen. She unwrapped the red triangular cloth around her left arm and put it down on the table. “If I can just see his body, sir, I will never again disturb the discipline of the army with any kind of action.”
Was he, the commander-in-chief, to just sit and listen to such things? Paseid opened his mouth, dumbstruck, then clamped it shut.
It really was not that big of a problem to let her see the dead body of the fort’s general. Still, he wondered, why did she obsess over his body so?
He scrunched up one eyebrow, then changed his mind and nodded. “In return, I will restrain your freedom until there is an order from His Majesty after the investigation.”
“As you wish, sir.”
“I also forbid you from holding a weapon.”
She lowered her head without protest. “Yes, sir.”
But even at Reuyen’s humble answer, Paseid’s uneasy mind could not come to a rest.
The other knights who were up until early in the morning looked at Reuyen disapprovingly for leaving her post without permission.
Reuyen took in all that without any resistance, sat on a blanket near the water where a campfire had been lit, and looked up at the dark sky littered with lights. She estimated the time until sunbreak. Perhaps around four hours from now. It must have been a short night, and yet the sleepless early morning was long.
The fallen Olzore was far away in the darkness, and here, there was a woman whose joys and delights were burned to white ashes. Only the remorse remained. Her resentment for Olzore collapsing so easily angered her for a moment, but even that dissipated into the night wind. The shattered starlight shone into her eyes.
“Paseid…”
Paseid Calandok Brionake.
Her lips unconsciously repeated his name and drew an arc on their own. She could not say that they were the same, but she could not deny that his calm face had resembled Belbarote, whose mind was armed with virtuosity, for a moment.
According to her intuition, Paseid was not a man suited for killing another. Not that his talents and skills were unsuited for that, but his nature was.
He claimed he would execute her on the spot, then pushed it back and said he would let her live, though he could take her dubious life even if it were just as a precaution. To be honest, she was quite grateful for it.
Of course, she did not know what calculations were being made in that black head of his, but she wanted to believe he was not the kind of person to scheme, maybe because of his appearance.
That nature was most likely the reason he did not hesitate in protecting the rear and could make the decision everyone had negative responses to. She remembered Jacalrin saying that Paseid wanted to end the war with as little damage as possible.
She recalled being rather proud of piling victory on top of the lives of others. Her fierce nature brought her victories with countless wounds. Her old self, who thought a great victory won with sharp weapons was the only way to achieve glory for Rarke, believed that she alone was the savior of the kingdom.
But in the present day, she now understood that many were doing just fine, living, loving, and cherishing each other. This filled her heart with a bittersweet warmth. Reuyen recalled the time she was surrounded by overflowing love.
She loved, so much. It was a love dear enough to not even resent them for betraying her and taking her life.
She loved the dear people of Rarke who did not stop striving to live on that small strip of land adjacent to the south, in the kingdom of cold winters. She loved those people, the forests and fields, and every single grain of Rarke. She wished they would not be easily dismissed, would not tremble in fear before the break of winter, but would live and love freely in abundant riches. These were wishes that faded away in the lost queen’s malice…
She slowly closed her eyes.
Even if the people talked like the world had turned upside down, the unchanged sun would again rise…
Now, there was no grudge to be held.
Since early morning, most of the army had been busy reinforcing the defense in preparation for the returning enemy.
Dismissing their business like he did not care at all, Jacalrin trotted apace. He had just run out without even washing his face upon hearing the report that the treatment of the general would take place before the enemy’s return. But when he arrived, the ground where the body was laid was empty of all save the corpse. He looked around a couple times, then scrunched up his brows as he pressed down on his unkempt hair.
Darn it, I should have slept in.
He had spent the whole of last night organizing the replacements for those in the supply unit who got injured when the gunpowder exploded. His head felt quite heavy. If he hadn’t felt the tension about the battle with the Olzorean army that would take place that afternoon, he would have just plopped down there and fallen asleep.
Feeling rather irritated, Jacalrin tapped on the rigidly stiffened, unsightly body with the tip of his army boot. To be quite honest, when he thought of the unpleasant encounters with Olzore, he wanted to spit on this corpse, at the very least. But now that he was looking at the man who’d witnessed his nest crumbling down in mere seconds and committed suicide in despair, he could not help but think that the man was quite pitiful.
The arrogant, pompous fort that had lived through seven hundred and fifty years had fallen just like that, so the general was going to be mocked for generations. The most incompetent of the era.
“Sir Calandok has arrived, sir.”
Jacalrin turned around with his arms still stretched out from trying to wake himself up after yawning. A woman wearing not armor but a set of tattered and glum civilian clothes came into his sight first, followed by Paseid, as calm as a
lways. Evinbur and a couple other knights were trailing behind him.
Jacalrin sprang up and briskly saluted. “Oh, Commander, sir, why is she here?”
Even though Reuyen had put many in a precarious position by disappearing like a silent rat, she looked as proud as ever. That much fearlessness really had no cure.
The knights looked at her disapprovingly.
She followed Evinbur around even though she had no right nor title to do so, and more than a dozen knights had seen her draw out her sword and run to Paseid. They were staying silent simply because they had missed the time to ask for an atonement thanks to the collapse of Olzore, and because Paseid was remaining silent as well.
“I requested it, sir,” said Reuyen.
“Yeah?” Just letting it slip, Jacalrin nodded.
Honestly, whatever the other knights thought, Jacalrin had become quite fond of Reuyen since this mine incident. He wondered about her identity, but she probably wasn’t an enemy. He could not prove it, for it was an intuition that leaned heavily on his instincts, but after all, he had another thing to brag about thanks to her. So, what was not to like?
The others were doing his share of doubting her and more, even if he didn’t chime in. The country would not go down just because he, a single man, did not doubt her.
“But, hey, your brassard’s…” he began.
The low-ranking knights wore the triangular brassard, and the high-ranking knights wore a trapezoid brassard. Those were the symbol of one’s position that one had to always wear as long as one belonged in the army. It related to hierarchy, so even he, who regarded rules and laws as highly as dog poo, always wore his trapezoid brassard of House Chesa.
Jacalrin unconsciously turned his head to find Paseid quietly gazing at Reuyen, and realized what was going on. He was wondering why she had taken off her armor, but it seemed like even her brassard had been seized.
To be fair, even if she had not been intending to kill him, she had put a blade against the commander-in-chief’s back. She should be thankful for him just withdrawing what he had granted and not giving her a worse punishment.
The reason must’ve been that Paseid took into consideration that she was the one who’d guided him to the mine. Jacalrin clicked his tongue. “I thought you were going overboard. But what did you request, again?”
“I have been given the authority to determine his treatment, sir.”
“Hmm?”
Jacalrin made an odd nasal noise and tilted his head to one side. He had expected them to cut the general’s head off within the day and show it to the returning Olzorean army, since his corpse had a lot of symbolic meaning. But…
“What treatment? Are you going to cut his head off yourself?” he asked again, but Reuyen did not give an answer he could understand. Guessing that there was an underlying agreement, since Paseid and Evinbur were standing in silence, Jacalrin awkwardly stepped back. It was quite sudden, but considering that truly, Reuyen was the one who had made the biggest contribution to the taking of the fort, they could have made myriad excuses if they wanted to.
But he did wonder if this woman with such slender arms could cleanly cut off a human head. She did have some dazzling skills, but she did not look like someone who had slain another person before.
“If you have a spare gold coin, will you please give it to me, sir?”
Flustered, Jacalrin stopped his train of thought and looked back at Paseid. Paseid was frowning like he had not expected her to request that, either. The woman kneeling respectfully by the corpse with composed, aloof eyes did not seem to want to revoke her request.
Gold coin was valuable in itself as a means of currency, but it had a different meaning to some higher nobles. They said that the gold coin used in a funeral was the rightful price of utopia. But all the other regular soldiers and low-ranking knights present, other than the few knights such as Paseid, Jacalrin, and Evinbur, just tilted their heads at her request.
Reading the disquiet on their faces, Reuyen looked up at Paseid. As he looked back at the woman who showed neither hesitance nor reluctance, his black eyes started to fill with a skeptical doubt.
The eyes looking up at him without even a blink under the sunlight asked him once more. It was an odd pressure. After standing motionlessly for a long time, Paseid reluctantly nodded. Then, a soldier ran somewhere and soon returned with an old leather bag filled with gold coins issued by the royal house.
Reuyen took out one cold coin from the bag. It was not a gold coin with the intaglio of the bay tree of Rarkalia, but she hoped this would be enough for Nuadga, the guide to utopia. She opened the rigid jaw of the dead enemy commander like she was going to rip it off. Evinbur, who had remained silent the whole time, narrowed his eyes. At the same time, Jacalrin, who was closely observing her, widened his eyes with irrepressible shock.
The royal funeral? For real? She’s completely out of her mind!
Paseid, who was looking at her skeptically, took a step forward. “Enough.”
“Yeah. Hey, stop that! How dare you do that to some Morganaan swine…!”
Jacalrin tried to approach and grab her. But Reuyen was faster. She shoved the coin into the filthy mouth of the corpse and clamped shut his twisted jaw. Jacalrin awkwardly stopped in the midst of moving.
She lowered her head, then smiled. Her dry lips whispered. That small voice, as faint as a moan, was a secret exchange between her and the dead.
“Guitella.”
He probably was named something else, but it didn’t matter to her.
To the queen, Olzore was Guitella, and Guitella was Olzore. Looking down at the face of the corpse, she engraved it in her heart. She then muttered the oration of farewell, ingrained in her mind like a fossil.
“Nuadga, muin janlisas guire Rarkaddanya.”
Nuadga, guide him to the utopia with this glory as the price.
Her voice was small enough to not be understood even if Jacalrin tried his best, but the sight of her burying her face in the corpse and mumbling something was quite peculiar by itself. Jacalrin stared at her, dumbfounded. The mumbling sounded almost like an oration. No, considering that she’d shoved the gold coin into that repulsive mouth, it probably was an oration.
When he looked around to see if he was the only one who was befuddled here, he found Paseid glaring at her with eyes so cold he couldn’t even read them. Needless to say, Evinbur’s face was as stiff as a rock.
Disregarding their eyes, Reuyen slid her gaze over the corpse. She bit her lip again at her eyes welling up and bent her waist to touch the corpse’s cold forehead with her warm one. She could plainly feel the sensation of the dead. A splendid sight of forests and fields and light somewhere in the afterlife appeared in her closed eyelids.
It was the utopia she would never reach.
The other side, where the executed queen and the daughter of a horse dealer would never arrive even at their deaths. Many she missed had to be there. This was the punishment life was giving her.
She hugged the wish she could not say aloud.
So Olzore, tell my countless people there with your shame and resentment and cries. The queen has climbed.
Belbarote, even if you cannot forgive me, I will forgive you. Peijak, we could not be hand in hand, but your sister climbed at last.
Now, all is over.
The woman who hugged the corpse’s face with her trembling body and stayed like that for a long while did not even stir. She was like the frozen surface of a lake. No one thought to talk to her or approach her.
The strange silence ended with her raising her body. Snapping back to his senses at the sound of her light inhale and exhale, Jacalrin stumbled out a question. “You…wha, wha, what did you just do?”
Reuyen’s eyes looked into Jacalrin’s. Instead of giving an answer, she pulled up the ends of her lips into a smile. She looked over at Paseid with softer eyes than ever, then slowly bent her torso. “I thank you for your generosity, sir.”
Paseid looked at he
r. The clenched mouth of the dead, the gold coin, the oration. In contrast to the soldiers who’d just exchanged gazes, still not knowing what had just happened, the woman sounded refreshed, like she had just been relieved of a great burden.
“Are you aware of the meaning of placing a gold coin in the dead’s mouth?”
“Do you not think the ancestors of Rarke resenting Olzore would rejoice, sir?”
“Where did you learn it?”
“I read it in a book, sir.”
He did not believe her answer, but he didn’t show it. He had a hunch that he would not get the honest answer he desired even if he asked again. Maybe a part of him was getting used to her strangeness.
She was not a pressing matter in this present moment. Paseid raised his head and estimated the time by the position of the white sun soaring through the sky. Then, instead of a series of reprimands and questions, he ordered the knight standing across from him:
“Cut the head and hang it up.”
Soon, Reuyen was dragged off by the soldiers like a criminal. That noon, the severed head of the fort’s general was hung at the front of the Rarkian army.
The returned soldiers of Olzore erupted in a chaos at the sight of their crushed nest. The shocked men lost the will to fight after a short battle, resulting in about a thousand of the four thousand or so running away or surrendering. The remaining three thousand or so of the Olzorean soldiers who fought until the end were overcome by the nine thousand or so soldiers of Rarke, who took over the entire field.
After defeating every enemy in the fort, the Rarkians returned to their main camp after eight restless days of marching.
Rovantis’s army, which did not hear about the Olzorean army’s retreat and was still moving according to their feint operation, pushed into the Anf region and tried with all their might, but retreated after thousands of casualties when the Rarkian army standing by at the main camp joined forces with the army at Camp Anf. The tragic news that Olzore had fallen soon circulated, and the Morganaans’ spirit dropped down and down into the deep earth. The Rarkian army used that momentum to raid Rovantis’s army along the cliff road, and took the entrance to Plain Ishas.