Episode 7 : The Lady's Tent - Part 1

 The frontier sun now rose high in the middle of the sky, its white, ruthless radiance shining on the desolate rocks of Nosferus as if it were trying to dry up all life.

 In the shadow of a strangely shaped rocky hill, a leather tent has been pitched as a temporary camp. It is the tent of Amneris, the Lady of Mongol, who led the pursuit party across the Kes and into Nosferus.

 On the roof of the tent fluttered the black lion banner of Gora and the golden scorpion banner of Mongol, and two samurai children were huddled at its entrance. The five hundred knights are resting on their horses in a circle around them, resting quietly and waiting for the signal to depart.

 Guin, guarded by several knights, and Linda and Remus were kept huddled in front of the tent. The sun scorched their skin, especially Guin, who had burns all over his chest and belly.

 Linda protested to the knights against this cruel treatment, even though she had not been nabbed. However, the knights of Mongol only said that she should wait a little longer. She could not even wait to return to the temporary fort she had built on the banks of the Kes to interrogate the prisoners she had finally taken possession of.

"If you want me to wait, you could at least give me a glass of water... How long do you want to hold me like this? Is this the justice of a knight of Mongol?"

 Linda cried out in frustration because of her concern for Guin, her anger at Istvan for successfully escaping on his own, and her concern for Suni's well-being.

"Yarn who gave such a Mongol victory, even for a moment, may be cursed a thousand times over!"

 Furious, Linda screamed, but then..,

"Let the prisoners proceed to their tents."

 I heard a sharp command.

 The three of them look up. They were poked in the back from behind.

 Although they felt humiliated, they were indescribably grateful to be inside the cool tent, away from the blazing sun. The three prisoners staggered into the large tent.

 In a moment, eyes accustomed to the intense sun can see nothing. Remus quickly helps Linda when she trips over something.

"Is this all you got? It can't be!"

 I heard a cool voice, crisp and clear, with a crack that was somehow familiar to me from giving orders to others.

"Vron! Lint!"

"is."

"There are two more rafters that I saw - have a platoon search the perimeter immediately."

"Yes, sir."

"But, well, we've pretty much accomplished what we set out to do. Therefore, there's no need to have a platoon search so far away from the main body. Just as long as they don't feel in danger."

"I know what I'm doing."

"Well--"

 The prisoners, whose eyes had finally become accustomed to the darkness in the tent, raised their heads and blinked their eyes.

 The first thing that came into his eyes as he slowly raised them was a long white cloak and a pair of white leather boots attached to a pair of silver shin guards. The boots were made to look light and comfortable, with silver carvings scattered around the edge as decorations, and the slender, slender legs were tightly wrapped around them like a sheath around a sword.

 It extends smoothly and evenly, and leads to the body of the slenderly tailored armor of the same color. Looking at the slenderness of the armor, if the armor were removed, the splendid elongation and slenderness of the body of the wearer would be a sight to behold. And on the breast of the armor, lavishly painted with silver and precious stones, is the beautiful crest of Mongol.

 A supple hand, wrapped in a white chain-knit glove, rests on his hip, and a cloak of armor and cloak covers his throat, but on top of that, his helmet is removed, and he has no hood.

"Oh ..."

 At last she raised her eyes and heard the low gasp of astonishment from her brother, who had also seen the figure standing there.

 My first impression was that it was white and gold.

(What beautiful pure gold hair!

 The man's hair, which rippled in a natural wave that had not been twisted with any trowel, was as bright as the gold of Arceis, and fell carelessly over his shoulders without being tied up. On his high, white forehead was a silver band, very thin, with a small diamond in the middle.

 There was not a single ring to adorn her body, yet she looked as dazzling and gorgeous as a work of art painted by a master artist against the backdrop of darkness in a dusky tent.

 Remus just stares blankly at her. Guin's leopard's head could not see the expression on his face, but Linda glanced over at him and thought she saw something in those yellow, unfathomable eyes that certainly resembled the glow of admiration and praise.

 The proud little princess of Paro suddenly shrank back. She suddenly realized that she had not bathed well since the war at Paro, that all she wore was a dusty, scratchy, leather man's garment, that her crumpled, platinum hair had not a single comb in it, and that her limbs, too slender to be a boy's, were soiled and scarred by the perils she had endured. I felt the painful exposé of the fact that he was soiled and scarred by his peril.

 A white hand reached out and brushed back her blond hair. Like the statue of Ilana framed in a golden frame, her face was revealed, infinitely graceful, infinitely dignified and beautiful. The prisoners of war stared in amazement, not even noticing the warriors who flanked the white and gold goddess of war.

"So you're the Paro twins."

 Said the alto with the enchanting sound. Linda blinked her lips and didn't answer, so Remus opened his mouth cautiously.

"That's right. You are ...."

 Rems, you're the head of the enemy, Linda thinks angrily.

"I am Amneris, Princess and Agent of the Grand Duke of Vlad, Captain of the White Guard and General of the Right Sector."

 The noblewoman said her name quietly. Immediately, a cold electric shock ran through Linda's body.

The captain of the White Knights... the captain of the Black Knights and the White Knights who overran the beautiful city of Crystal, killed your father and mother, and ostracized us from Paro!

 It became unbearable and she closed her eyes. In the back of Linda's eyelids, she could see the ranks of black knights running through the crystal city with black smoke and raging fires, looking as if they had just stepped out of the darkness, and the white knights behind them with their white cloaks fluttering like sinister ghosts, cutting down the brave warriors of Paro. The image of the white knight, his white cloak fluttering like an ominous ghost, cutting down the brave warriors of Paro.

"What does this Lady Amneris want with us ...?"

 Her timid brother, pressured by the older man-dressed beauty, tries to protest. Amneris gazed at the three prisoners before him with keen, penetrating eyes, as if he could see to the very bottom of things.

 What the lady saw were three very strange, almost mythical, yet somehow compelling and striking figures - two children in tattered leather garments, holding hands, looking so helpless and insignificant, yet with eyes like stars. Two children who looked so helpless and insignificant, and yet had eyes like stars.

 They looked like two naughty boys who looked exactly alike, only their hair was different in length. And the leopard-headed warrior standing arrogantly beside them as if he were their guardian god.

 Amneris's deep green eyes stared in amazement. Unwillingly, she leaned forward a little, showing that she had not lost her famous, perfect restraint and unfeeling quietness, but that she was so intensely interested that she could be recognized.

"This again."

 He murmured lowly and clutched the arm of his chair. It was the first time in my life that I had seen a creature like Guin.

 Its strange appearance of course drew people's amazement and attracted their attention, and the remarkable beauty of its physique, its wonderful muscles that no warrior could help but feel a pang of envy and jealousy, also drew the breath of those who saw it.

 But - it was rather something else that made Amneris' eyes linger on Guin.

 There was something inexplicable about those shining yellow eyes. It made Amneris's heart beat unjustifiably hard and made him uneasy.

 To a duller or more cynical eye, it might have been seen as a mere boisterous ferocity, a beastly savagery, or simply a strange quality that made one feel unsettled. But for people like Linda and Amneris, who were closer to the truth of things than most people in the world, it evoked feelings that were unsettling even to put into words--though for Linda it might have evoked different feelings. But it will inevitably induce a strange feeling of trepidation.

 It was, perhaps, too selfless to be ambitious. The will to change--even so, it was too unconscious.

 Guin's eyes, the air around his leopard-headed physique, the tremendous vitality emanating from his robust body--there was a sense of isolation in them that made me want to call them noble.

 But that's not all. The thing in Guin that Amneris had unconsciously sensed, that had made him tremble slightly, inexplicably, was something that, if he had to name it, he would probably have to call "fate". If he had to name it, he would probably call it "fate.

 Guin seemed to be a manifestation of some grand and tumultuous "destiny" itself. The fate of something else, crystallized into a half-beast, half-god warrior. Something fierce, even fierce, that would not let even Guin himself be caught up in it and could change everything.

 It was no wonder that Amneris's thin hands were trembling like unstoppable waves as he gripped the arms of the chair.

 Amneris swallowed a few spits. Seeing the agitation of the unmoved young right general, she suddenly noticed that the knights in the ranks, the white knights Lint and Vron, the red knights Melum and Cain, were looking away in bewilderment. They should have started questioning her, but she just stared at them as if she were utterly fascinated by the other side. Amneris swallowed another spit.

"You're--"

 He spoke to the Paro twins, his voice faint, as if he were a different person from the flowing Alto.

"Who are you?"

"Me?"

 Guin meets her eyes without showing any emotion.

"Guin."

"Guin?"

"Yes."

"Is that your name?"

"Yes--perhaps."

"What's a maybe?"

 Like a sleeping lion chasing away a noisy insect, Guin only moved his round head a little, but did not answer.

"Your Highness, Amneris, I have an answer for you!"

 Captain Vron says angrily. Amneris holds up his hand to stop him. Little by little, the dreaminess fades and the calm returns.

"Why do you look like that?"

"I don't know."

 was the answer of the Leopard.