Episode 19 : The Great Advance - Part 1

 It seemed that there was still some time before dawn.

 There is a quietness, a strange tension, that fills the depths of the night.

 The small, hairy warriors of Shem, lying on their sides with their stone axe to their chests in a dreamy daze, shifted with incomprehensible breathlessness, and let out small voices.

 The mixed army of Semites, seven thousand in all, gathered around the oasis in different tribes, huddled together on their knees, as if they were in a field of black fruit.

 The night air around them was filled with the peculiar body odor of Seme, and those who were not accustomed to it might even find it difficult to breathe. Whenever one of them turned over or tried to stretch out his arms or legs from among the black masses here and there, a frightening shout of reprimand immediately arose from those around him.

 It was a time when, as is typical of the Semites, this cursed race, which has always been on the edge of the line between man and ape, and which cannot be called either man or beast, revealed most directly the half of itself that is nothing but the beast itself. This was the time to reveal most directly the half of this cursed race that is nothing but a beast itself.

 The sleeping breaths, snores, and faint murmurs that could be heard from here and there - these were not the night camps of warriors who were preparing to fight a decisive battle for the survival of the tribe, but rather the night camps of the ape-men who were moving in groups. Rather than a place for warriors to camp for the night in preparation for a decisive battle, it is more like a place for a group of ape-men to spend the night.

Istvan's fallen to the wayside now that these guys are his only hope!

 For some reason, Istvan the Valakian was unable to sleep that night.

 The exhaustion of hiding in Mongol's army for a long time, and then traveling to the oasis with the barbarians who could not even speak the language - it was impossible that his body was not exhausted, but for some reason he could not sleep. He could not sleep.

 After struggling for some time to find rest, he finally gave it up and stood up, crept past the sleeping warriors of Shem, and went to the roots of a bush on the outskirts of the oasis to sit down.

 Having lived all these twenty years on his own, by himself, he has never been bored or lonely, even though he has been left alone. But instead, he has developed a troublesome habit of talking to himself at all times and trying to answer himself and collect his thoughts. On his knees, crumpling his copper-ringed hair with his fingers, he talks to himself unconsciously.

"Yes, that's right... no matter what, I've already gone so deep into the interior of Nosferus that I can't go out into the desert alone. Even if I were to go out into the desert alone now, I wouldn't know which way to go and the monsters would come to me. I don't think I'll survive.

 But the other way, the way to surrender to the Mongol army or pretend to be a Mongol soldier, is now firmly closed. If there's even one man left of the accursed Mars Squad who knows who I am. I'm sure there's a more splendid torture table and a burning iron waiting for me.

 Well, well, well, well... the Lord Istvan of Valachia has found himself in the most delicate of predicaments. I can't go on, I can't go back, and all I ask is for a false hope that Shem and his men will defeat Mongol - with Ishtar's silver tail! Where the hell did the bastard Guin leave us?"

 Istvan shuddered as if he had felt a chill in the night air. It was understandable. He had stripped off his blue knight's armor jacket one by one and thrown it into the fire, so he was now wearing only his under-armor coat, footpads, and boots, very light clothing suitable for daytime.

 Like a woman, he hugged his shoulders with his hands, trying to ward off the cold air that was coming in, and gently looked around. The black undulations of the spreading desert, and the faint glow of the oasis water catching the light of the stars, were all that was left of the still, cold, late night of the desert region.

"Ugh, what kind of demon has eaten my sleep again?"

 Shaking his head, Istvan muttered irritably.

"Even in the dungeons of Staphorus Castle, I have never slept soundly, not even for a single night. I, Istvan the Valakian, have always been the beloved son of a special god, endowed with another sense that no ordinary man has, a sense of foreknowledge. On nights when the ship was about to catch fire, my neck would grow hot, and on nights when I knew that a patrolman was on his way this way, I would get chilly and stop stealing.

 So I believe that if I'm so sleepless and anxious and irritable, it must be because there's something going on that I should be awake for. Yarn, the grandfather of the gods, has his reasons. If you don't feel it, then that tomboy, Linda the seer, isn't much of a seer either.

 But you look like a monkey! How long has it been since I drank a jar of Valakian fire wine? When was the last time I bought a yellow-skinned, fiercely barbered Kitai whore who could eat a whole roast pig's rib with her fingers covered in oil?

 Istvan, realizing that he had raised his voice somewhat too high, turned over in the grass of the oasis, embarrassed to himself. The cool undergrowth, with its scent of green grass, embraced him pleasantly.

"This is not something I want to think about, but if I have to think about it, I'm always willing to think about it. I'm not a fool-- what's going to happen to us? What if-- what if Guin doesn't come back ... or Shem is defeated and we're captured by Mongol's army? Whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo!"

 For all intents and purposes, it seemed to offer only a very unpleasant prospect. Istvan, shaking his head and sneering, suddenly stood up and stretched wildly, as if he were trying to drive away an unpleasant thought, but his movements suddenly stopped there and then, and he suddenly became rigid, as if he were a statue.

 Then, slowly, slowly, he put his hands down. As if his arms were a bellows to let out the breath in his chest, he let out one deep breath and let his hands down, then lifted his head up to see what had caught his attention.

 Whatever else he was, Istvan was at least an accomplished soldier, and as a mercenary he had more experience than a soldier who was at least twice his age. There was no way he could have missed it or overlooked it.

"Oh, my God!"

 When I checked him carefully, he whispered again as if he were gasping for breath. His black eyes, with a strange glow, shine like those of a jaguar in the darkness.

"It's Mongol's army. They're trying to sneak up on us with their lights out and their hooves and horses' mouths wrapped in cloth."

 He concluded, and stood with his hands on his hips and his chest turned away, his eyes still fixed on the mass slithering like a black snake through the depths of darkness, wondering what to do.

"Oh, no! The monkeys don't have the wisdom or the art of war to build a sentinel? That's understandable. They're monkeys. But... we're in big trouble!

 He knew that he was now a traitor, as interesting to the Mongols as Guin and Paro's twins. The thought came quickly.

 He sprang up again, and, having surveyed the distance, he yawned deliberately, and wandered through the midst of the Shemites to the place where Rak was sleeping.

 Linda and Remus, together with Suni, are sleeping soundly in the shade of a tree, a little apart from each other, covered with furs.

 Find it,

"Hey-- hey, wake up. Hey!"

 Throwing aside his feigned calm, he called out in an urgent voice and gently tried to shake Linda and Remus awake.

"Hmm."

 The children were in a deep and healthy sleep.

 Linda noisily turned over in her sleep.

"What is it, Bogan-- Father wants to see you? If it's not morning, let me sleep yet, please."

"Cheeks!"

 Istvan was annoyed and kept calling in a hushed voice. Finally, Remus opened his eyes and asked in a muffled voice, "What is it?" he asked in a muffled voice.

"Oh, you princes and princesses, you'll never wake up when the Mongols storm the Crystal Palace through the front gate! But wake up, wake up, please!"

"It's happening, it's happening-- Hey, Istvan. Guin's back?"

 Linda came to her senses more quickly than Remus and asked him sleepily. Then she seemed to wake up clearly at what she had said, and suddenly sprang up, full of hope,

"Hey, Guin's back?"

 I yelled.

"Keep it down, for Christ's sake.

 Istvan is in a terrible mood,

"The opposite. All right, listen up. Mongol's army is heading this way. If I'm not mistaken, they're close enough to spread out around the oasis in less than an hour. It's probably all of Mongol's main force too.

 Istvan grabbed the arms of Linda and Remus, who were about to scream, and restrained them severely.

"Perhaps Mongol thought this was the time to settle the score and decided to finish it off with a surprise attack. Listen, I don't speak Semitic. I don't think you can speak it properly... but I'm sure that Roto can speak some of our language. Wake him up quietly and tell him this quietly so that the whole army won't be in an uproar. If the monkeys start rioting and Mongol's army finds out that we've been caught by surprise, they'll come straight at us so as not to give us time to prepare for a fight. That'd be the same as if we were ambushed out of the blue. Look, if you run into them head on, they'll be stronger than you. Whether or not we can manage to get out of it depends solely on how much time we can gain by pretending not to know them at first. You have to make Roto understand that somehow, whether by imitation or otherwise. Just make him understand that screaming is the worst thing you can do. All right, now, go quietly to Roto and tell him that. Don't even send a scout. Anyway, don't let him see that you noticed the ambush. You understand?"

"I'll--I'll figure it out."

 Linda said in a shaky voice. Now, at this moment, they were painfully aware of how much it meant to them that Guin was not around. Linda and Remus looked into each other's eyes and hugged each other without saying a word. Suni raised herself up and looked at them with round, curious eyes.

"Soon. We've got a lot of time."

"I--I know."

 Linda pushed Remus aside, faced Suni, and began to struggle to tell him that she wanted to see Loto secretly and talk to him. The twins and Suni had been excluded from the battle, and their main task had been to learn each other's language quickly and communicate freely. However, they were not strong enough to convey such highly abstract contents, and there was a limit to what they could convey with their hands and gestures, no matter how well they understood each other.

 The mercenary stared at Linda, who was sweating, and then suddenly took the sword that was lying beside her, hung it on his belt, and tried to stand up.

 Remus stopped miming Linda's help and rolled his eyes, staring at Istvan.

"Where are you going? Istvan."

"I'm going to do some recon."

 Istvan's tone was even more blunt than usual.

"Oh."

 This time, Linda paused in her sign language and looked back at him. With Guin gone, they had no one to turn to but this unreliable mercenary, even if he was not as good as Guin.

"Because you just told me not to send out a recon team.

 I'll tell them to stop.

"If we send out a scouting party, we'll stand out, so I'm going to go out of my way to see what's going on."

 István explained it in a lame way.

"If they find me, I'll be able to get away with anything. Just tell Roto that, too."

"That's true, too."

 Remus said in a somewhat hushed tone, and with that Istvan started walking again as if in a panic.

 Seeing this off, Linda and Remus rushed to Lotho, with Suni, who had finally got the gist of the story. Of course, they knew nothing of the small but terrible role that Istvan had played in the Valley of the Karoi. For Guin said nothing about why Istvan had disappeared for a while, and Istvan, of course, said nothing to his disadvantage. If they had known that, they would have realized that, however little they knew of suspicion, the prudent Istvan, who hated more than anything else to expose himself to danger, would never have shown himself to the army of Mongols who were seeking him for his treachery. I would have known.

 But Remus and Linda had no misgivings, and when they were finally shown to Lothor, they began to struggle to make sense of what Istvan had said, using the words of Suni and their gestures. It was still deep in the night, and Kaloy and Glo were so soundly asleep that the approaching doom and death seemed deaf to their ears.

 In the meantime, Istvan had successfully escaped from the circle of Latha, and instead of heading in the direction of the Mongols on a reconnaissance mission, he was heading in the opposite direction, towards the rocky terrain near Dogu Hetudu. At first, they ran slowly, but eventually they were running with great speed.

 Even he was not without a faint feeling of guilt. But for him, the most important thing was always his own life, and although he could be incredibly brave whenever he needed to be, he valued above all the bravery that he could exercise when it was not necessary.

(That's right... even Guin left us and quickly ran away! Why should I be the only one to take on Mongol's army and fight on his behalf?

 He thought to himself. He ran to the edge of a rocky dune and stopped at last, thumping about with his sword to see if he could find any id, sandworm or other unpleasant creature, and then, finding a spot in the shade of a rock where he could hide well, he crouched there and closed his eyes, holding his sword. He hugged his sword and closed his eyes. Instead of exposing his wanted face to the Mongols and fighting an unwinnable battle, he would hide there and watch them until the battle was settled one way or the other.

 For a while he closed his eyes and tried to sleep, but he could not be so brazen as to do so. Even when he closed his eyes, they were still glazed over under his eyelids, and all sorts of anxieties and calculations went through his mind, and on top of that, being alone in the shade of such a rock, as opposed to that oasis, might not be as safe as being part of a battle, considering the many strange creatures in the desert, It might not be safe at all, even compared to joining the battle.

 István moved restlessly, tried to sleep, opened his eyes in anxiety, and closed them again. At last, keeping his eyes open, he began to chew on a piece of cut grass that he had secretly grazed on, and to make various plans for the future. This still somewhat distracted me.

"Yeah - it's Guin's fault."

 He got up, fell to his knees, and tried to justify himself for leaving Linda and Remus alone with Shem and his men, who were about to fight a battle with Mongol, abandoning their duty.

"I could have done anything with Guin... but the Leopard wanted one of you to run away and put the burden on me. You don't know that. If I were him, I wouldn't risk my life looking for such dreamy reinforcements. Of course he ran away because protecting the twins was too much for him. Of course he did - he knew it would happen from the start."

 Rather than speaking to himself, Istvan raised his voice as if he were trying to persuade himself.

"Yeah, I know. So it's not my fault. I'm not trying to run away without the twins. I'm just trying to keep myself hidden for now because if they see me now I'll be Mongol's enforcer for the rest of my life. After all, if there's only one Nakahara soldier among the Semites, no matter what I say, they'll know that I did it. Oh, that's horrible. I didn't want to do it at all. Count Mars, Count Mars, it was Guin who ordered me to do it. So please. Please, if you're gonna hold a grudge, don't hold it against me, just show yourself to be Guin. I never hated you. I don't want your ghost haunting me for the rest of my life. It's not worth it.

 Suddenly, Istvan the Valakian ceased his habitual monologue as if something had startled him, and he stiffened.

 He listened closely and listened to the sounds that were coming through, but he held the hilt of his sword tightly and murmured.

"Oh--I can hear it, I can hear it! It has begun. The war has begun, to the horn of the goddess of war!"

 His body trembled with uncontrollable fervor, and he crawled out from under the rock as if he could not bear it any longer.

 As they emerged from the shadows of the rock, they could hear the distant sounds more clearly now. The clash of swords, the shouts of Mongol troops,

"Aye, aye!"

"Hyah!"

 the distinctive voice of Shem, and the humming of crossbows and arrows.

 The unintelligible ranting and screaming, the bellowing of the horses, the deafening, life-and-death clamor peculiar to wars - it seems that the battle between the main force of Mongol and the Semitic hybrid army is now in full swing.

 The night has not even begun to break. Grasping the hilt of his sword for a staff, Istvan listened long and hard, trying to make out from the shouting which side was pushing the battle.

 But none of them could be heard. The cries of Shem and the cries of Mongol's troops were mingled together, drowned out by the roar of horses and the clash of metal and stone, and all in all became the sound of a huge "battle" itself, rising up like a muffled mass.

 Istvan, in his uncontrollable frustration and impatience, unconsciously stooped down more and more. At last he got completely out of the rock, and not only stood up, but climbed up on it and looked at it.

 But of course, there is still some time before dawn. The oasis beyond the desert is not even clearly discernible. If there had been morning light, at least with the dust of battle, it would have been easy to tell where the battle was.

"..."

 Istvan was in a state of uncontrollable fidgeting.

 Several times, he jumped from the rock, hesitated to join the battle, almost did so, and then rushed to restrain himself. He stood on the rock, listening to the distant sounds, as if his innocent and compassionate heart, hidden underneath the self-centered and self-protective instincts that he had been born with in order to survive the bitter battle, were desperately fighting with each other. He stood on the rock, listening to distant noises, and fumbling with his hands, thinking of the fourteen-year-old twins who were supposed to be in the middle of the battle.

 He looked to the sky. And realized that the night was almost gone.

 The sky was no longer completely dark. It had changed to a deep blue, and from the east a faint light was breaking through the darkness, little by little. He also clutched his sword in his sweaty hand and looked to the south, and then, suddenly,

"Ei, shit!"

 I yelled.

"What the hell was I thinking? You're naive, Istvan of Valachia! How much attention do you think you'll attract if you run away and hide like this and then go into battle later? What about your ambition to be king? You shouldn't die for a monkey or a worn-out child!

 In the morning, we'll know a little more - so he told himself. In the morning, in the morning, when the light of morning breaks through the darkness of the deadly struggle. And it was almost there.

 And it would also mark the beginning of the fourth day of the day-limit, the day that Guin had promised Shem and the others that he would return with reinforcements at sundown that day. the beginning of the fourth day of the month.