79 Chapter 79 - I Quit

Seconds and then minutes passed as everyone in General Lilac's strategy room stared at the bloody dog tags. The maps and documents under it were already red with the blood that seemed to sip from Menoraz Kingdom's coat of arms.

No one in the room was a rookie. They all had seen more death than most people would in their combined lifetimes. Still, the sight was impacting. The fact that the blood had yet to dry made it even more so.

Finally, after a long period of silence, General Lilac tore her eyes from the plaques, and stared at Drake. The young adventurer and unwilling scout's eyes hadn't left her face.

She returned the stare, but he didn't back down. She wished she understood why he was so angry. But, at the same time... She was afraid of what he would say.

Her eyes wandered to the unconscious guards outside. She didn't believe Drake was one to use violence against those who didn't deserve it. In fact, based on what her daughter had told her, Drake would go as far as fight Hober and the other scouts if they tried to harm Lapidum civilians. So, why was he being so brutal now?

There was no way to know the answer unless she asked. So that was what she did. Stepping forward, past her two companions, she touched the dog tags on the table. One of them had a ragged edge, as if it had been struck by something. Maybe a bullet.

"These... Where are their owners?"

There was no hesitation when Drake answered. The fire in his eyes seemd to have subsided, replaced by a coldness that impressed even her.

"I left them to rot where they fell."

Silence. Majors and generals alike opened their eyes wide when they heard Drake. Ruli, Sarah, and Holber had their mouths open in shock.

Each word Drake spoke was spat with hatred. Not only he didn't seem to feel sadness for the death of the soldiers, he was talking as if they deserved it. And there was more, obviously. His choice of words... It implied something else.

"You killed them?!"

General Lilac wasn't the one to break the silence. She was occupied scrutinizing Drake's face, and for a moment, he thought he saw deep sorrow in her eyes. But then it was gone, and he couldn't read her. She was the same general from before. That pissed him off. He was sure she knew what her soldiers did, but she didn't care.

"Answer me! Did you kill our soldiers?!"

Someone was yelling at him angrily, and Drake had to resist the urge to turn around and punch the owner of the voice.

"They attacked a farm. Killed everyone. Their own people. Are those the kind of soldiers that should defend Menoraz, Lilac? Are those the soldiers you command?"

He heard Sarah and Ruli gasping to his left, while the officers around the table and behind him started with surprise. General Lilac said nothing still. Drake felt the fury he was fighting to suppress build up again. He grabbed the dog tags, and threw them at General Lilac. They hit her without doing anything other than staining her uniform with droplets of blood.

"Tell me! Say something, you piece of sh*t!"

Drake yelled, veins bulging on his neck. His eyes were bloodshot, and all he could see was the dead girl. The way her neck was twisted. The soldiers laughing around her. Her eyes, filled with fear even in death.

"You! Who do you think you are, traitor?! You..."

A hand grabbed his shoulder. In a fraction of a second, Drake drew his pistol, and aimed at it's owner. A middle-aged man, whose face had changed from rage to shock and fear. A general. Drake didn't give a f*ck.

He heard sharp intakes of breath around the room as officers reached for their own guns. They didn't dare to draw them just yet, fearing that Drake might shoot their comrade. To them, he had clearly lost his mind.

The general didn't dare to move, white as a sheet of paper. He could feel the cold barrel of the weapon pressing against the soft flesh beneath his right eye. All it was needed was a twich of Drake's fingers, and he would be gone.

But when he looked up, from the black metal to the man wielding it, he forgot about everything. The amount of killing intent he felt was terrifyingly big, threatening to drown him. He felt like a castaway adrift in a dark ocean.

The general had always considered himself above everyone else. His rank allowed that. He gave orders, and watched them being obeyed. Never had he felt so much fear for his life, because he believed that even if he was captured by an enemy, they still wouldn't kill him. He was a good bargaining chip, after all.

But now, he knew his life was worth less than dust. He had no doubt that Drake would kill him if he was given a reason, even if that meant being gunned down in the next second. Drake was mad, and feared nothing.

"Drake. Drake, stay calm, please. And put down your pistol."

"Hahaha... Haha! So this is the first time you deign yourself to talk, Lilac? For him? Not to say anything about the innocents who lost their lives, but to defend this piece of garbage?"

Drake's had snapped back to General Lilac, but his gun was still pressed against the other general's face. Even though he laughed, there was not a hint of fun on his eyes, and the arm holding the pistol was steady. He didn't lower it.

"What do you expect me to say, Drake? That I'm sorry? I command an army of hundreds of thousands. I can't keep an eye on all of them, neither can I be sure there won't be any scum hiding behind their uniforms."

"They r*ped a child, Lilac! A child! A girl not even ten years old!"

There it was. Most people in the room had suspected it already, but that didn't stop them from clenching their fists. Soldiers turning against the people they were supposed to protect, and doing such horrible and unspeakable things to a child...

But Drake wasn't done. He turned to the general, and pressed his gun deeper into his face, to the point he yelped in pain. When Drake yelled at him, he was talking to everyone in the room.

"You asked if I killed them?! I did! I killed every single one of them! And if I suspect, even for a moment, that you knew of their actions, that you agreed with it, I will kill you! All of you!"

Light vanished from the beast's eyes as Drake stabbed his chest repeatedly. Blood gushed out, covering his hands, arms, and torso.

"Drake!"

Jolted awake from his memories, Drake saw in front of him not the Menoraz soldier he had so violently killed, but the general he was threatening. His whole body was trembling, scaring everyone in the room that he might pull the trigger.

"Humph!"

Turning away from the officer, Drake holstered his pistol. There was a collective sigh of relief around the room, and the general stepped back so fast he tripped and fell. Drake ignored the hatred-filled gaze that was directed at him. All the generals and majors and colonels and whatnot in the room, who could influence Menoraz with their every decision, were nothing to him. He meant every word he had spoken.

Looking at General Lilac, he grunted. Meanwhile, the older woman sighed sadly. She knew she had lost any ounce of respect and admiration Drake once had for her. That didn't bother her, neither did the fact that he was so pissed. She was used to being the target of hatred. What saddened her was knowing she had lost his trust. And trust, once broken, could never be rebuilt.

"Bastard! I'm going to kill you!"

General Lilac clenched her teeth when she heard her stupid subordinate babbling out revenge bullsh*t. When she saw him reaching for his gun, then, anger and humiliation replacing fear, she was irate.

Drake saw the General Lilac's eyes flash towards Minxa, and without the need to say anything, the Ifere understood. A thin ice needle appeared on it's skin, and was thrown at her fallen subordinate. It struck the pistol he was holding accurately, sending it flying without harming him. Understandably, the man was stunned.

"General?!"

"Quiet! You have already caused enough trouble today, Larson!"

"But! He is belittling your name, General Lilac!"

"F*ck it. You can kill him next time if you want to, Drake."

"Wha..."

Hearing her words, heads turned towards Drake once again, in time to see him subtly waving a hand at Kniivar. Her claws were coated in a dangerous layer of poison, and would have ripped General Larson's throat if Minxa hadn't been faster.

As for Drake, it was as if he had forgotten the general existed. He was still staring at General Lilac, not at all grateful for her interruption. She still hadn't given him a satisfactory answer, and he was tired of her beating around the bush.

"Tell me, Lilac. Did you know?"

"About them, no. I don't even recognize their names. But I knew it happened. It always had."

The famous general sighed, suddenly looking much older. She was sad. She was outraged. She was used to it.

She had seen much brutality in war, and out of it. She knew that many scumbags used the military as means to satiate their criminal impulses. She had put down many of them herself. Still... Robbing, threatening, murdering, rapping... It happened far too often. To criminals, it didn't matter if their victims were their fellow countrymen or not.

Once again, Drake clenched his fists, so strongly his uncut nails pierced the skin of his palms. he didn't notice. General Lilac being resigned to it was somehow worse than if she wasn't aware of it.

"I liked you, general. I really did. I thought you were different than a bunch of seat-warmers that treat lives as numbers. I once was proud of knowing I had someone like you defending my kingdom. Not anymore. Now I see you for what you truly are."

"And what is that?"

"A coward. A spineless scum who watches innocent people suffer and does nothing."

"That's not fair, Drake! My mother spent her life fighting for Menoraz! For you! She risked her..."

Ruli couldn't take it anymore, and stepped forward. She couldn't believe that Drake, the young man who had saved her life, and later proved to be so much more, could say that. Her indignation was palpable, but he just scoffed.

"So what? I've fought for Menoraz, Ruli. So have you and so many others. That didn't stop those beast from doing what they did."

"She can't possibly control every soldier and her."

"Then she isn't worthy of being a general."

Maybe Drake was being unfair. Maybe he was speaking of things he didn't know about. But every time that young face appeared in his mind, dead brown eyes staring at him, he fet the urge to punch and break things. Maybe someone's face. General Lilac was a good target to lash out at, because she was to blame, at least partially.

"You know nothing about the responsibilities I carry, Drake Stronter. I have the fate of a kingdom on my shoulders. If I stopped every time someone under me misbehaved, we would collapse from the inside. And Lapidum's troops would do much worse than these soldiers."

For the first time, General Lilac broke her cold facade. There was genuine anger in her eyes, her pride insulted. Drake felt the urge to flip her off.

"Bah! You keep telling yourself that. I'm done here, Lilac. I quit."

Suddenly tired, Drake turned around. Just for good measure, he stepped on General Larson's hand, since the man was still on the ground. The general screamed in pain, but dared not do anything else.

Stepping over the still unconsious guards, Drake grinned sadly when Frainer rubbed against his face. He was still as bloody and dirty as when he entered the military camp, but for some reason, he felt much worse. It was weird. He had expected yelling at General Lilac to make him feel better, but it didn't.

"Drake, wait!"

This time, when she called him, he didn't bother to look back. However, he decisively raised his middle finger, in a childish gesture. Nope. He still felt like a bag of sh*t.