35 Determination

"Have you done it?"

Kinoya heard it loud and clear. With the cold wind crashing onto his cheek, he pretended he didn't and urged his horse to run faster. But with his techniques, Chanakya could follow him with ease. Soon, a smiling face was staring at him from the side.

"Would it change anything?" Kinoya frowned, it wasn't something he wanted to talk about right now, yet Chanakya was persistent.

"No, I just want to hear the experience of the man who quenched the thirst of her and lived to tell the tale"

"What does that even mean? It is not like she would swallow me."

Chanakya smiled at his captain's ignorance, "Let me rephrase the question. How did it feel to do it with a succubus?"

Kinoya almost fell from the horse. A voice screamed in his mind, 'Succubus? What succubus? The one that lives on the energy of men? Is there something like that in this world?'

"I rather not talk about it." Looking at the awkward expression on Kinoya's face, Chanakya was forced to swallow his laughter.

There was an odd tension between them. Chanakya didn't talk and Kinoya didn't ask. The silence continued until they stopped to rest.

"Why did you stay?" Kinoya was most curious about the reason. Chanakya just could leave with the army, he was part of the Red corps, to begin with.

"I have my reason to stay."

Kinoya felt like he didn't want to talk about it, so he fired, "What about the other?"

"There were about 23 who wanted to stay but I asked general Akai to take them."

Kinoya didn't expect that many wanted to stay. He felt little warmth inside him. But Chanakya's next words took him off guard.

"Don't be too happy. Most of them wanted to stay because they were afraid of fighting." Chanakya was nonchalant as ever.

"Is your reason the same?" He knew very well that Chanakya won't say a single word if he didn't want to so, "Chanakya, Why do we fight in the war?"

He was staring at the crackle of firewood, Kinoya's sudden words surprised him. Yet before he could answer Kinoya continued.

"For fame? For riches? For power? I don't know, still, I kill hundreds of people whom I don't know for a person whom I didn't see."

A cold wind quenched the silence. They just sat there without a single word for who knew how long. Then,

"I have thought about it. And I think I understand why." Kinoya was expecting a response from Chanakya but he kept on staring at the fire. " It would have been better if I didn't join the war at all but now that I have joined in I think I am fighting so I don't die. So why do you fight?"

"Do I need to answer that question?"

"Not that I want to force you, but it will be better if I hear your opinion."

Feeling the incoming silence, Kinoya put up a smile and continued, "I am going to do something unethical. So I just want to know whether you like to follow me in the future or not."

"Unethical? Again? Captain, you shouldn't worry that much. It's not like you are going to slaughter a whole city…" Yet before he could complete his words, a chill ran down his spine, looking at the warm smile on Kinoya's face, "You can't be serious."

"So you can be afraid too"

"Is that important now?" Chanakya shouted. However, he was quick to control himself, took a deep breath and, "Care to explain?"

"If I don't kill them, they will kill you."

"Isn't not participating in the war would have been a better option?"

Rather than answering, Kinoya asked another question, "What would have happened if I had failed to stop the explosion?"

"You have died."

"Yes, anybody would have, but not I."

From the look on his face, Kinoya understood that Chanakya didn't believe him, "Let's say I have a guardian angel, he might have protected me."

The expected shock never appeared on Chanakya's face, the only thing he had heard was "I understand."

'You understand? How can you understand?' Kinoya was dumb-founded, he wanted to ask, but…

"So you want to take all the responsibility on your shoulders?" All Kinoya could do was nod in response, and silence followed.

"My forefather didn't betray the old Roginian kingdom because they wanted to. It was because our guardian angel asked him to."

"Asked him?"

Chanakya nodded, "Asked him. Our guardian angel gives us the work that will aid the people around us, but not us. After skipping 2 generations I inherited him. It is also because of him, we are called 'Military noble'."

"What happens if you complete the task?"

"I am rewarded and with that, a new task is given."

'Wait a minute, that is not a guardian angel but a system. He got a system! That is unexpected.' Kinoya couldn't help but put on a smile, "Just let me know when it gives you a job to go against me."

********

Beads of sweat formed on his forehead, as he read the contents of the letter, out loud. As a messenger never did he had expected that the letter, he was carrying, was full of such frightening words.

*Boom*

Riyasu slammed his fist on the table, his eyes were red, "What that boy thinks, he is?"

After 2 months of blockade, they were finally able to breach the city of Paeng. It was their night of celebration. Yet…

'That boy had survived.' Riaysu was curious, but the emotion which was more active in his mind was anger. This person, not just insulted him in front of everyone but also forced him to swallow his humiliation in silence. Whatever words he had said were proven wrong.

"Kinoya had never done anything that would hurt the empire. All his steps were for the empire." On the other hand, Akai was ashamed. Ashamed, that he couldn't protect one of his soldiers. The very one, who tried to protect the crops until his last moment. No matter what, he wouldn't make a mistake twice.

Riaysu frowned. He had expected such a reaction from Akai, but what concerned him more was the letter in the hand of the General of West, the commander-in-chief.

The messenger came with two letters, one, he had read out loud, but the other one was handed to the general. He needed to know what was in the letter but he dared not to.

"General please don't be manipulated by his evil way again. We have already taken down 8 cities, the result is great but if..."

General raised his hand to stop Riyasu, as he opened the letter. Reading the first line was enough to surprise him. If it was not written by Andlat herself, he wouldn't have believed a single word. But that was what he was surprised about.

'If the boy could act the way he said, it wouldn't be a problem for me to do what he asked for. Still, we do not require doing such extreme measures.' The general shook his head and was about to say something before a loud voice stopped himself from doing so.

"Show respect in the presence of the emperor's words." A loud voice thundered from outside, as three men came in.

One was holding the banner of the emperor, one was carrying a golden scroll while the other one put them on their knees.

'Why is the chief eunuch here?' That was only a question in the minds of everybody in the room. 'Even if it is the imperial edict there is no reason to send him, unless…'

He was the chief eunuch but he had another identity. He was the butler of the emperor himself. His words weigh in gold.

Without wasting a single second, the chief eunuch took out the scroll and started reading.

"Liright Ain, The general of West, the commander-in-chief of the empire's army against Torria, hereby decreed to conquer the city of Na within six months. If he couldn't do that by the end of the eleventh month of the year, then he must report to the imperial court within ten days, to accept the new order."

Without caring about the bomb, he just dropped, the chief eunuch rolled back the scroll and left without batting an eye.

'Decreed' and 'imperial court' were the two words that hurt him the most. The general of the west understood very well that he was not getting any aid, at least not until he conquered Na.

It was not an impossible task. Excluding the town of Ulgyo, the only city that was between Paeng and Na was Jingeon.

And counting two months, those were needed to siege each city till now, he would have conquered Na within four months. But, only if the city wasn't Na.

"General, should we try the boy's way?" Surprising everyone, the first one to talk was not Akai, much less Riyasu, it was Vorn.

"No Vorn, we couldn't do that. Don't believe that sly-tongue." Riyasu was quick to protest. "If we left the city of Jingeon at our back unattended and marched straight for Na, and the army of Jingeon might attack us from behind. What will we do then?"

"That's why he told us not to take the road close to Jigeon."

Riyasu gave a disdainful look to Akai and said, "Like they wouldn't know about us if we don't get too close to the city."

He turned towards the commander-in-chief "General, we are out of time and the best thing to do is not fall in such a silly trap. First, we need to take down Jingeon before moving on Na."

"What if he could do what he said? He was able to stop the city of Yeomcheon from exploding and stopped the attack." Vorn was still calm as usual.

"The one who defended against the attack was the red corps, not the boy, and we don't even know whether the city was going to explode or not. All that could have been a hoax from him. A trick to get on us due to stripping from his rank."

"Do you think the destruction of the city centre and the Chararch wasn't just a trick? And my red corps was able to defend, only because he gave the news to us, at the right time."

"Using the transportation circle was enough to destroy the city? Don't make me laugh, Akai. You need to stop defending him. Even if he was from your corps, he is just a child and war is not a game of a child." Riyasu was loud.

The general raised his hand and stopped everybody again. "Get the army ready we will move out tomorrow morning, to… Na."

"General do you think he would be able to conquer the city of Jingeon alone? That was bullshit. How can one single man conquer an entire city?" Riyasu shouted, disregarding the fact that he was in the presence of the commander-in-chief.

But the general of the West didn't care about him anymore, neither did the other general. Akai and Vorn left the room as soon as they received the order. Riyasu was reluctant but he had to compile.

"General, are you going to make him captain again?"

"If he really could do what he said even becoming a major wouldn't be a problem. Now leave, be prepared to move out in the morning." Right now he didn't have time for petite arguments. What surprised him more was the attitude of Kinoya.

The message was like an order. There was no way for him to contact Kinoya. He said he would do it without the regard of any of his opinion. The general was a little unhappy about it, but the fear of imperial edict overwritten it. Little did they know, what Kinoya had talked about was not conquering but...