C47- A Noble's Duty (2)

The next day came fast and the group started on their journey again.

"Dad. What happened in Asmil city? Why are we going there?"

"You will see..."

"You said it has to do with your job. Is there a war?"

"No."

"Then what?"

"Noah. Do you know monsters?"

"Yes."

"Do you know about the colossus then?"

"What is that?"

"They are big monsters that come sometimes. Your most important job as a Margrave will be dealing with the colossus that appear around the Empire."

"Big monsters... Will I be a hero then!?"

"Haha... You can be one."

"Really!? Are you a hero too?"

Felyp gave a bitter smile and patted Noah's head

"I don't know either."

Noah didn't understand his father's words. He turned back towards the scenery and enjoyed the beautiful colours of spring and the scent of flowers on the horse.

Afternoon, before the sky started to turn yellow, the group reached Asmil city.

"We are finally here!", said Noah happily. He was excited to see what his job was. He wanted to learn it and be the best noble as soon as possible.

But his father's expression wasn't happy. He was tense, along with his comrades.

"Dad? What happened? Aren't we going to your job?"

"...Don't worry about it. We aren't there yet."

"Hm? But we came to the city?"

"We weren't coming to the city. Where we want to go is near the city."

"Oh, okay."

Felyp and his group went towards the city's western gate. There were a lot of guards near the gate, and they started following them after getting out of the city.

"Dad, why are the guards coming with us?"

"They are supposed to come with us."

"Don't they need to protect the city?"

"They have to protect us for now."

Noah wanted to ask why they were treated as more important than the whole city combined.

'Is it because we are nobles?'

But he didn't ask that to his father.

After about fifteen minutes on horse, they reached their destination.

*****

Whirrr~ Clank! Clank! ARRRGHHH!

Death.

That was what Noah saw. Many dead soldiers. Noah wanted to puke, but he didn't have the energy left to do that.

He heard the sound of metal hitting metal. He heard the sounds of the people dying. While his father was giving orders to soldiers and talking with the other nobles inside the tent, he couldn't move while watching the battlefield because of shock.

Furhter away from him, on the green fields, there were many men in armour, holding spears, shields and sometimes swords. They were fighting a horde of bugs. The bugs varied in species, some of them were beetles, some of them were wasps. But all of them looked similar. All of them had a pinkish colour mixed with black in certain parts of their bodies.

Far behind the horde of bugs was a noticeably different bug that looked like a centipede with the head of an ant, with many legs along it's long and giant body. It's exoskeleton had a dark pink colour that neared purple. It's mandibles and legs were a shiny black, and it's wings were almost as long as it's body.

"D-Dad..."

"Don't be scared Noah. I am here to protect you."

"Wh-What is th-that thing?", asked Noah with a shaky voice.

"You remember what I told you today, right?"

"Monsters?"

"Yes."

"I-Is that a co... colo... What was it?"

"Colossus."

"Yes... Is that a colossus?"

"Yes. We named it the Horde Queen. It is leading the bugs down there."

Noah looked at the battlefield again. He saw a soldier's head getting bitten off by a wasp flying from above.

"A-Are you going to fight it, dad?"

"My job is also leading the soldiers."

"B-But they are all dying!"

"..."

Felyp stared at Noah with the same bitter smile he showed before. 

"Wh-What is that smile, dad!? Don't smile like you want to cry! Why are you leading them to die?!"

Noah lowered his head and started to punch Felyp's chest while crying.

"Don't you have a duty? Why do you-"

Cutting his words, a soldier entered the tent.

"Margrave, the mages are ready!"

"I am coming right now."

Felyp turned towards Noah and said.

"Can you stay here for a while? I have something I need to do. You can watch me from here, or talk with the others if you want, okay?"

Noah only nodded silently while looking at the ground.

Felyp went outside, towards the battlefield. Noah, thinking his father was about to enter the battle, watched his father walk towards a group of soldiers. The soldiers raised their hands, and after a second, metal balls appeared in the sky. Felyp, along with some other mages, raised their hands as well.

Soon, the metal balls started to get red. And then, suddenly, light beams came out of the balls and hit the wasps in the air. Some of the wasps evaporated just like that, some of them lost parts of their body, some wasp's wings were destroyed, and they fell on the soldiers.

Noah stared at the soldiers dying at the battlefield. He watched in shock as men as young as sixteen died, being bitten to pieces. He watched the soldiers who burned to death as some bugs spewed fires. 

Then he turned back and looked at the people inside the tent. He stared at the nobles, who sat on their comfortable chairs while hiding behind the soldiers. He looked at the nobleman who ate food like he was starving for a month, while ordering the death of hundreds if not thousands.

He stared at the nobleman who was famous among noble children like Noah for his strenght, sit in the tent behind the dying soldiers while not moving anything more than his hands to help the soldiers that were dying to protect him.

He clenched his fists and wiped his tears. It was like his ideals he had embraced recently were getting ripped apart forcefully. He turned back to the battlefield. The corpses of the bugs were disappearing, leaving behind only the remnant of what once was a living human no longer than a day ago.

He watched as his father started coming back to the tent and turning his back against the soldiers.

'Why?... Why aren't you helping more? Aren't you supposed to lead them? Why are you not fighting with your soldiers?'

Felyp came back to tent to see his son in a miserable state. But he endured the pain in his heart because he was resolved to show his son what a battle was like.

"Noah... Do you want to take a break?"

Noah couldn't stand being near those nobles anymore and decided to leave the tent for a second.

"If you want, you can call a guard to take you to the city."

"Okay..."

Noah got out of the tent slowly. While walking away, he heard what the nobles were discussing.

Loot.

They were talking about how to divide the gains from this battle.

'Wh-Why? Why are they talking about money? Why are they ignoring the soldiers? Just because they were born a noble, does it mean they can ignore the soldiers dying? What happened to the duty of a noble? I was going to do that duty... Will I be like that when I grow up?'

Noah felt his stomach trying to get out of his body at the thought. The stories he read about heroes, the heroic tales of other nobles and his admiration for many adults he saw before. He felt all of it shattering and falling apart.

He wanted to get away from this place as soon as possible, so he called a guard and told him that he wanted to go back to the city.

'Do I really want to be a noble?'

Was the last question that remained in his mind while he was on the way back to Asmil City.