The Bitter Truth

"Winning war." He could see veins popping on his forehead but Kinoya couldn't care less about the general of the west.

'A spineless coward who knows how to dig into the glory of the subordinates, but never defends them.' Kinoya sneered. 'You blame me for saving your ass yet you expect me to respect you?'

Unlike Akai or Vorn, who made their effort talk on the battlefield, Kinoya had lost all his respect towards the general of the west.

"Insolent brat, you talk like that in front of the commander-in-chief?" It was not the captain of the general's guard, but Riyasu.

"In case you forgot, let me remind you, I am not a soldier right now." Kinoya looked at the known man with the unknown identity, "And… Is there anyone in the room, worth respecting?"

"Guards kill him." The fist slammed on the table as the general broke into an explosive shout. A veil of fear had already eclipsed the face of Akai, Vorn didn't know how to respond, but Riyasu had the brightest smile.

"And the reason is?" The guard forced him on his knees, but it didn't stop him from asking.

"The esteemed person is the Chief Eunuch of the royal palace. It is punishable by death when a commoner disrespects a noble." Riyasu tried his best to suppress the happiness inside, as explained in a stern voice.

"I don't know where you live, but from the empire, I am from, Eunuchs are just palace servants of the Emperor, and in that regards the chief Eunuch would be just a butler of the Emperor. I don't think he is noble."

'The general of the west is a different matter, but do you need to antagonize the chief eunuch?' Yet Akai couldn't ask it aloud.

The guards stopped moving, holding their breath, fearing that it would make too much noise. None dare to look at the accused one, much less speak.

"Boy do you want to be a Eunuch?" The pressure coming from the voice was enough to crush every bone in the body.

"I wouldn't mind if I got to boss around the commander-in-chief at the battlefront." His face was full of smiles, even when he was on his knees. 'No wonder he knew everything about the plan.'

"Boy, you got politics crossing through your vein, why are you in the army? You should join the royal court." The smile that appeared on the face of the Chief Eunuch surprised most of them, but Kinoya wasn't one of them.

"Because politics doesn't excite me." Kinoya could feel the pressure lift up from him in a moment.

"Tell me why did they suspend you?" It was not like he didn't know about it, but he knew very well how biased the words can be.

"They lacked a scapegoat."

"Wh…" Riyasu couldn't end the first words, as the Chief Eunuch stopped him from speaking.

"According to the report, I, who was a sergeant at that time, forced the commander-in-chief, the general of the west, who is a 5 star general of the Empire, to do something unethical like attacking the army camp at night."

"You did it?"

"Yes, I suggested it." Kinoya had no intention to hide it, 'Why would I let the general busk in the glory of my success?'

"Why?"

"Wasn't the result enough?!" Kinoya stopped for a moment. "But what annoyed me most was that such a perfect technique was deemed immoral. Why should it have been? You're murdering a human being, that's what should be called unethical; you're raping an innocent woman, that's what should be called unethical; you're using innocent people as slaves, that should be called unethical but NOOO; what's called unethical? It was hitting the enemy camp at night when they did the same thing."

Some frowned, some nodded but Kinoya smiled, "These guys are just fools. They don't even understand that they've been playing in the enemy's palm all along. If I weren't here at Yeomcheon, they all would have been gone."

"Pisa, Roirus, was offered by the enemy without any battle and then they tried to demonstrate some false resistance at Wang, Paeng. And these fools couldn't even understand that the enemy was wasting some time."

"The empire is fighting wars on three fronts, it would be a matter of time before the resources would be lost."

His last words dropped like a bomb, shaking up the chief eunuch, "Does he know?" Kinoya didn't know why but the chief Eunuch looked at the general of the west, who in turn turned to Akai.

"He was stuck at Yeomcheon and we were at Paeng. And it was secret, even Vaicus didn't know."

'Looks like I hit the right spot.' Kinoya grinned, "What? The order had already arrived? No wonder he accepted my suggestion so easily. So, the general isn't a complete fool."

'YOU…' His eyes were red, blood was sipping out his clenched fist, yet the general of the West had somehow stopped himself from exploding.

'A good seed indeed.' The chief eunuch could not help but admire the boy before him. It did make him more curious about Kinoya though.

"Are you saying they've been wasting time for 7 months?" The atmosphere tensed by the question.

"Sorry, but I have no way to sugarcoat the truth. But that is because they lack practical war experience." The words couldn't be more comical when it was coming from a 13 years old boy, but nobody dared to laugh.

"They are strong. Without general Akai and the general's Guard captain, it would have been hard to win the battle of Eale. Likewise, Without general Vorn, general Vaicus, and general Amboia it would have been hard today. And let's not forget those four who went into the city today."

"But how can you say, it was a fake resistance at Wang and Paeng? You haven't even been there" The general of the west could no longer hold him. These are two victories, he could say, were due to his efforts and now the boy says it was false again.

"If you want to defend it you don't evacuate the area. Some may run away but the entire population is never going to be wealthy or powerful enough to migrate. And all you get there are some soldiers, some elders, some women, maybe."

He could not be more correct about the case, even though he wasn't there. The chief eunuch had his way of knowing it, but that should be the case for 13 years old. He couldn't help but think, "How do you know?"

"Because it was the same at Jinsan and Jingeon. They never intended to defend, they were just wasting our time."

For some moment everything stayed still, nobody refuted, nobody talked, only some hopeless sigh resonated in the room. They just stood there compiling the information they got from Kinoya.

"Boy, you can leave now." It was the chief Eunuch who broke the silence.

The edge of the mouth curved up with the eunuch's attitude, Kinoya was on his leg again, "You can send a magic knight of mage here. They're not going to have to fight, just some magical knowledge is good. Otherwise, the whole army might be blown up like the cities I've blown."

He didn't wait for the response and left without giving them a bow.

"Captain, your promise hold, right?" Palsa was waiting right outside the hall of the commander. He had little interest in the situation inside, But Kinoya was confused, hearing about the forgotten promise, "What promise?"

"You said we would get one silver for each woman we rescue."

Kinoya smiled and nodded, "How many did you rescue?"

"Not much, 500 or 600 maybe."

Kinoya almost fell on the ground, "Just 17 of you?"

"No, Chanakya was there too, 18 in total." Kinoya couldn't help but ask how they did it.

"You are more famous than you think and we had beaten the stubborn one."

"That means you have done half of the work, then you get 50 bronze for each."

"That's cheating, captain" Looking at the reaction Kinoya broke into laughter, "Don't worry. I will hold on as long as I don't run out of money."