Chapter 16: Prep for battle

Hado was excited.

After all this time, they would be charging in for battle. Several days is far too long to wait to kill. For Hado, he liked instant death, and his only failure had been Sayomi.

Hado didn't aim to fight, or mercy, he aimed to kill his opponents and that was it. The biggest insult was living after he had tried to kill someone, and it was also his biggest torture.

The thought that Sayomi had survived his attack angered him to no end, and perhaps that was why he had done so much to the poor girl. But in his mind, she had wronged him, and that was all.

"Ah, the stars burn quite brightly," General Liver said, walking up behind Hado, who stood at the edge of the encampment, looking up at the sky.

"Yes, they're beautiful... You don't see stars like these where I'm from," Hado said as the man nodded, pleasantly surprised.

"I don't think we've been acquainted, I am General Liver, and you are?" The man asked, clearly expecting Hado to apologize for his rudeness. Though Hado didn't care much, imperial customs were important nonetheless.

"Ah... General, my name is Hado, just Hado." He replied quickly without hesitation, making sure not to forget the titles he'd learned over the last few weeks. It felt good hearing the sound of it roll off his tongue again, feeling more natural than he remembered. As if he was molding himself into the world, like clay being mashed and formed in pottery.

General Liver shook Hado's hand, eyeing the boy up and down.

"Why'd you join the imperial army Hado?" Liver asked.

Hado squinted his eyes, looking at the man suspiciously. "Forgibve me if I'm wrong General, but high ranking officers such as you don't usually entertain conversations with little privates such as myself..."

General Liver smiled a bit. "Well... I don't know Hado, If we don't finish off the south... I may not be a General much longer..."

Hado turned his head a bit, clearly confused. "What do you mean? Like a demotion?"

General Liver nodded. "Something like that... I have been framed for a lot of things, luckily none of them are serious enough yet, but one more screwup and I'm as good as dead son... Well don't worry about that boy, I can tell you have a heroic heart, maybe one day... You'll be where I am."

General Liver turned and began walking away before Hado spoke up again, his voice strange, as if he was trying to figure something out but it just wasn't clicking.

"General," He said, turning and facing the leaving man. "If another general dies or is demoted, does that make a spot for someone else to be promoted?"

General Liver thought on this for a second, eyeing Hado suspiciously.

"Well... That is how General Najenda was promoted, but-"

Hado stopped listening, he didn't need any more explanation, the plan was clear now.

General Liver left after a few more minutes, muttering something that Hado didn't bother to hear.

All is fair in love and war, and Hado wasn't in love.

...

Hado looked around the camp, checking everywhere until he found what he was searching for. A large tent set apart from all other tents near the back. He walked slowly toward it, watching others scurry through their setups, getting ready to charge into battle.

Hado noticed the looks he got from several soldiers. He wasn't really the right build to be in a war, and he knew this, it was why he favored close combat with knives and such rather than a sword.

He made his way to the front, stepping under the canopy covering the entrance of the tent.

The flap opened easily and quietly, revealing a woman with silver hair wearing armor sitting by herself.

"Hado? Just what do you think you-"

"Oh shut the hell up General," Hado said, interrupting the woman as he dropped the flap, smiling at Najenda.

She gritted her teeth. "This is highly inappropriate to walk into a General's tent and-"

"Shhh..." Hado said, placing a finger on her lips and stopping her words. "Do not speak so high and mighty, your career is in my hands..." Hado said, grabbing Najenda's chin lightly before letting go.

"Anyway, what's the plan? I'm so eager to fight it's killing me," Hado said, plopping down on a nearby love seat, smiling at Najenda.

"Do you seriously think you can blackmail me with no repercussions!" Najenda yelled, jumping up and walking over, grabbing Hado by the arm with an angry expression.

"Of course," The boy said, twisting her over until she was under him, her eyes wide as the combined weight of her armour and his body held her down on the sofa.

"G-Get off," Najenda said as she struggled a bit, pushing against Hado's chest as the boy sat on top of her, looking down into her striking purple eyes.

"You're so beautiful Najenda," He said, shocking her as he got off gently. "I don't mean to make you feel as you do... I hope someday you can understand," Hado said, resisting the urge to laugh in her face as he looked at her almost sadly, opening the tent flap and leaving the room.

Manipulation went deeper than just lying or leading someone down the wrong path, no there was a form of manipulation that was even more effective.

Seduction.

***

"Sir, why have we not talked about a treaty with the empire? Perhaps that is the most reasonable solution," A man asked his general as they sat at the edge of an ocean.

"They've yet to send their navy, which makes me think they just can't, I have a theory... As long as this ocean keeps our kingdom from the empire, they can never reach them... So we fight here, and kill them one by one."

The general smiled, holding his spear and looking at the vast flatland, his camp full of soldiers relaxed and comfortable.

"They can't attack again for a few days, we should focus on getting more-"

But the southern general was wrong, he had misguessed. He hadn't expected the empire to bring in reinforcements.

So as the horns sounded out and the southern soldiers jumped out of their makeshift beds, fear in their eyes as the shadows of a huge army riding toward them could be seen, the General began to pray.