Chapter 21: Chapter 19: The Warmage Pupil Arc

Chapter One:

 

War, a conflict between two or more entities for the sake of disputing a territory. Through our history, the empire we waged war the most was against the kingdom Sybery who remains under the domain of the water goddess. 

May we respect her title as much as we fear it, for those who don’t will drown in their anguish.

Thanks to magic; the war didn’t take long to develop from its primordial times. Whereas at the beginning of times when such didn’t exist in our world, tactics were primitive and we built men to become sturdy with enormous bodies. However, despite the more recent changes, it would be a lack of truth to say that only magicians impact the battlefields. No matter the territory, the number of named is never too numerous, and most aren’t talented enough to control the front. Even with the exceptions to this, there’re indeed very few capable of such feats. Nonetheless, they too have worthy enemies who can rival them on the opposite side, thus bringing their prowess to a halt and often even to a stalemate.

It is not wrong that even the warmages who peered into the abyss of magic, the seventh tiered wisest humans would lose against an army. After all, they can only use so much mana per day, and depending on the battlefield condition, even hindered from it. This is the inflexible primary fact of war. The side with the most numbers in their army will always have an advantage.

Before exploring further this concept, it is important that every soldier understands what they are fighting for. In our case, inside the greatest kingdom of all, the kingdom of Einhol. We count with a well-established theocracy, upon the godly watch of his holiness and those who revere him. This originated from ancient times, where there was a day that the many races brought the world to ruin through never-ending destruction. It was at that moment when everyone thought it was done and no winner declared that eight lights pierced the sky and befell in the mortal realm. Their exuberance and auras, the dignified appearances and overwhelming pressures, the solar tribe wrote that such an experience was like meeting the sun itself, that eight of them fell into their views and burned their sights with a new truth, and a fresh horror.

Be it as it may have been, it was back then where the identities became known as gods and they proposed an offer to the many who remained dumbfounded looking at them. To once more wage war, to dominate the world under the deity they liked the most, and in exchange, the tribe that won would receive eternal blessings and be able to live in a paradise.

The diverse races who saw the ruin and destruction they brought to the world looked at their own families, and quickly came to terms with the higher beings. They wished for happiness, no matter the cost. After all, they had already destroyed the world once. However, this time, the gods promised that as long as there was a winner, even if it came to total annihilation for a second time, that it was fine. Such was the power of such divine beings. This was their worth and, of course, that the 50 tribes accepted the oath, and each chose a light of their own. This was the origin of the hungry monster called the first grand war, who, up to the last day of this enlightened vow, will keep on consuming many lives. 

“Gods...” My fingers placed a crow feather, which I saved from back then between the pages, while glaring at the book. My mind didn’t immediately understand then what exactly it was, but at the very least there was a realization that the world became like this thanks to them. “They could have ended everyone’s suffering if they were that great.” It was at this moment that I first came to scorn them through the hidden truth of the world, one passed from the royal family to their descendants. And the only reason I got to know it was thanks to the fact that my master's existence was that great to his highness. He, too, knew of the contents of this book. There was no way Ryhn didn’t, or so I believed.

As I was about to close the book in fury, my hands didn’t listen. It wasn’t long ago that I hurt the one who adopted me and gave me his blessings. This, too, must have been one of the many tests our master enjoyed giving us. All in the name of the brotherhood loyalty. ‘I won’t betray you Ryhn.’ I assured myself of this much, reminded of those who lied and betrayed others. At the very least, that was not something I wanted to partake. And it was too late to walk a different path. With only thirteen years, I had already done the unspoken. Many war prisoners in my hands suffered and many more would likely go through.

From this book's initial content, it was not entirely wrong to assume my days in the master domain would be changing in some way as the trust placed in me was possibly growing. I exhaled all the negativity away and caressed the feather out of my vision way. 

“The ideal soldier?” I mumbled out loud at the following title, contents before my eyes scrolled lower for the next sentence, curious about its possible meaning.

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It is optimal to know that every soldier partakes as much of a role in war as his knowledge about his job goes. A man that is taught incorrectly will inevitably do wrong. The responsibility in such a case would befall on his superior, the official. But before going deeper, let us focus on the basics.

Everyone is part of a greater force than their selves, often a squad composed from five to ten. Ideally, during the training phase of such soldiers, it is often when we instruct them on how to protect each other. After all, the strength of many together will always surpass the typical ‘every man for himself’ philosophy. In the chaos that is war, we often find ourselves sidetracked and soon dead, or even lost in the front lines where corpses pile on top of one another.

At these words, I gulped as my right hand squeezed itself tightly. ‘Is this the path I must follow?’ My mind led me astray, chasing after the teachings that went through this year. Good manners at the table, followed by how to greet someone of a higher standing, the dressing code for certain occasions taught by my sisters, and even what was right and wrong in this kingdom. None of it felt too shocking, but a lot of it was truly bad, some of it worse than the sins I carried.

Time flew and with it, I found myself feeding the animals per instructions of the unnamed boy from before. “Soon these chickens will be fat enough to be cooked.” A remark that didn’t make me particularly pleased, knowing their life would come to an end, but knowing of what it felt like to be hungry, and its immaculate taste, there was no proper room to protect such animals from that fate. In fact, the water in my mouth, increased whenever I reminded myself of Rubia’s cooking, the one in particular with the tender meat, with crispy skin upon the tiniest of bites, and of course the yellow rice that surrounded it, very often along with green looking mushrooms, to what she called broccoli.

With my hand extended while having golden grains on top of it, the poultry skillfully kept bickering from my hand, often making me open the space between my fingers, where some of them would fall onto the barren-looking ground. At times, it looked like fairy dust, the one that fell from the clapping of their tiny yet colorful and beautiful wings. “As long as you feed them since they’re born, it is to say that their lives belong to you.”

My eyes stared at him momentarily. He took a seat at the place where the old man was the time before. The ranch boy it was the way the unnamed called him, one of the rules my master told me of. Since we’re not allowed to name people, we entitle them based on their jobs and roles in society. ‘The henchman, the farmer, the hunter, the fool.’ Some of the titles he mentioned back then, furthermore Ryhn made sure of referring to the last one. There was some despise in his tongue when he did so, but I didn’t know yet whose imbecile had gained such honor.

My lips curved into a smirk, finding amusement in my thoughts and recent memories. “To live happily is to be successful in life.”

The boy muttered at my words, possibly enticed by them as his face gained a tender smile. He knew now that I was the successor, so my expectations for him had died ever since such truth slipped out of my tongue. After all, everyone in this place changes once they know, humble servants, they were. They feared the master and knew that messing up with him could be terrifying. A lesson that didn’t take me long to learn, the reason why my back shouldered the suffering of my victims, the weight of their scrambled emotions, and, in a way, the despair of their buried souls.

I looked into the chickens, my gaze floundered through and between many of them. My hand was now empty, but they hadn’t run away. Their stomachs were likely satisfied, and my presence was no longer unwelcomed. “Simpleminded birds.” I added before getting up from the grounds where my knees left a mark where they stood resting for a while.

“Their worth doesn’t lie in their minds, but in their bodies.” The boy reminded me with a wide smile, poking a long stick that rested on his lap, against one of them, causing one of them to flap its wings and run away. We laughed at his harmless action, be it as it may. We were the hunters, and they were the prey.

“It is time, Aura.” His long and thin stick pointed upwards towards the last light of the day, and upon the rules of the base, all of us had to stay inside. I consented with a nod and turned my sight towards home, heading towards it with lengthy steps. 

‘Unlike our master, this one seems a lot nicer.’ The boy's mind danced with joy as his gaze remained on my back as I left, thinking about the future and what kind of person I would one day become.

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