Chapter 190: of Spirit Verse: A War’s Consequences

What does war mean?

Two nations opposing each other, sending their soldiers, their very citizens forth to fight for whatever they believe to be worth it.

“The Federation of Bruven has declared war on the Akkian Empire.”

I gasped. Korwen’s words confirmed the rumours that had been going around the mercenaries already. The semblance of hope that it had been just someone mishearing things had been dashed.

“Do we know the reason, Cap?”

“Containment of heretic magic practices deemed too dangerous. Or so they say, officially.”

“The hell’s that supposed to mean?”

Taddick, who had posed the question, crossed his arms as he looked at Korwen, confusion and doubt in his expression.

“Basically, the federation believes that the empire is researching magic that is considered heretic on one hand and far too dangerous to leave alone on the other. That’s pretty much all.”

“The dangerous bit I get… but heretic? What kinda magic would that even be?”

“Think of it like the Worshippers’ magic. That kind.”

“Ah. Got it. Yeah, nobody needs that shit.”

A chuckle escaped Korwen, amused by Taddick’s reaction.

“Agreed. And so will many other people think, which is probably why they gave this as a reason. That said, there’s little doubt that there’s a bit of truth in it, knowing what we saw in Arkesta.”

Ahhh… If the things they did to Rina weren’t considered ‘heretic’ then I would be dreading what the heck they were talking about.

“However, for now, the important part isn’t their reasoning. The federation has already amassed its army near the Akkian border and is ready to invade. Considering the time it took for the letter to reach us… They’re likely well underway already.”

Speaking of which, a letter would need to travel here, right?

“Captain, how long would it take for a letter to reach here?” I asked him.

“Mm… This letter was sent by Ruben so it was probably sent along with a messenger for the governor. It’d still take several days. I guess it was sent less than a week after we departed from Lafria.”

If we had stayed in Lafria for a few more days, this news would have reached us at the time there already, huh…

“Either way, this is going to be one hot mess. Ruben requests our aid to clean up the border since they can’t move the army either.”

“Clean up… the border?”

He definitely wasn’t going to send us to the border with brooms in hand. But why would it be necessary to clean up there? After all…

“The fighting is between the Akkians and the Bruvenians, no?”

“Well… Wait a second.”

“Nn?”

Korwen turned and picked up something from the back. A large cylindrical leather container. Opening it, he pulled out a rolled-up piece of paper and spread it out on the table. It was a map.

“In essence, you’re right that the fight is between them alone and that we’re not involved. Not like I’d want us to, anyway. However, war comes with its own share of problems. Look here. See this line, the river? The river is the border between the empire and the federation.”

“Nn.”

“If the federation wants to invade the empire they obviously have to cross the border. However, the river isn’t passable everywhere, not to mention it is surrounded by thick forests that make it difficult for an army to march through. The only place where they can reasonably invade from is further to the north.”

Korwen pointed further north, to a spot that was suspiciously close to Lafria.

“Of course, the empire knows this, too. So chances are very high that they clash either right there or, in case the empire can’t mobilise its army quick enough, further inland. This means battles are likely fought near the border. You following me so far?”

“Nn.”

“Good. Now, what do you think happens when a battle breaks out?”

“Well… soldiers are fighting?”

“Yes. And what else?”

“Uhhh… They’re… Well… dying?”

Korwen smiled wryly at my response.

“Then, think about it. If people ran toward you, weapons drawn and ready to kill you. What would you do?”

“Run away.”

“Correct.”

Oh? Unexpectedly, my response was the right one? And here I expected something more along the lines of ‘defending yourself’ or ‘kill them first’ or something… Okay, the latter one probably not. Probably…

“While not everyone will have that response, a good portion of them will. Now, assume you ran away from the battle, abandoning your duty to your country. What will you do?”

“Uhhh…”

“You turn to banditry.”

“Huh?”

They would become bandits? Seriously?

“Deserters aren’t exactly welcome in an army. Worst case, you could be tried and executed. Though realistically speaking that happens very rarely. Usually only if it's a higher-ranking officer. Still, with the fear of execution looming over their head, they can’t return to a normal life. If they’re skilled, they could join a mercenary band. If not, banditry it is.”

“I see…”

They just wanted to save their own lives only to fall into a life of banditry. Not exactly the happiest fate.

“Unfortunately, bandits know no borders. That’s why those deserters and soon-to-be bandits come to Lafria as well. And we can’t very well leave them to their own devices, can we? That’s why we need to ‘clean them up,’ so to speak. Soldiers turned bandits can be very troublesome if left alone.”

“Nn, I can imagine…”

After all, they already had equipment and training.

“That said, it will still take a good while before then. And we’re still busy with the fort for now anyway.”

“Are we not going to accept the job, Captain?” asked Fenna.

“No, we’ll accept it. The letter stated we’d have to leave in a month earliest. That should give us enough time to get things sorted out in the fort. At least enough that we can take on this job. Furthermore, it’s a good chance to let the young ones gain experience with fighting people.”

Fighting deserters and bandits as rookie training, huh… Well, it was better than throwing them straight onto the battlefield.

“Border patrol, huh…”

“Something the matter, Merim?”

“Well, there’s something I am wondering. That the battles are close to Lafria’s border is one thing… But the Aldreighan border isn’t far either. Do we know what their stance is?”

“Unfortunately, no. Ruben’s letter didn’t mention the Aldreighans.”

“Mm… I guess it’d be too easy if we knew. We all know how… overbearing the mage army can be.”

I tilted my head, wondering about what Merim meant. The mage army of Aldreigh… I heard about them before already and that they were incredibly strong.

“Even they wouldn’t violate the borders without a very good reason. They would likely limit it to border patrol as well. Still, I’ll see if I can reach out to a few acquaintances in Aldreigh and see if they can let us know anything.”

“I hope they won’t.”

Merim crossed his arms and looked and stared at the map for several seconds, before sighing and shrugging his shoulders.

“Guess you’re right. I’ll reach out to some of my friends from my time in Aldreigh, as well. Mind letting me borrow some paper, Captain?”

“Buy your own next time.”

“It’s expensive.”

“I’m paying you way enough that you can afford that.”

“It’s a work expense.”

“Tsk. Whatever.”

Was that how you declared a ‘work expense?’

“Let’s get back to the topic. We’ll accept the job but we won’t take everyone. No matter how fast we work, the fort’s repairs and everything else that needs to be done for us to settle in are going to take a long time. That’s why we’ll only half the squads as well as the rookies. The others will stay here to continue the repairs on the fort and protect the families.”

“Half… Captain, are you planning to stay behind or…” asked Merim.

“I won’t.”

“... Great.”

With his shoulders slumping, Merim let out a deep sigh. A very deep one.

“I’m going to stay behind?”

“I’m counting on you.”

“The worst…”

Chuckles escaped us, seeing how unmotivated Merim was. Not like we could help him much. He was the vice-captain, after all.

“Captain.”

“Fenna?”

“What will we do about the Black Guards?”

Now that she mentioned it, Greyward was suspiciously absent.

“Right, the Black Guards… I’ll have to discuss it with Greyward first, but they’ll likely stay behind.”

“Might I also ask where Mr Greyward is? Did you not call for him, Captain?”

“He’s not at the camp or the fort right now. I’ll inform him later when he returns.”

“I see, I understand.”

So that’s why he wasn’t present. Couldn’t exactly call for someone not physically around, after all.

“Either way, we’ll decide at a later date who will go and who won’t. There is no need to rush this. We got at the very least a whole month to work with before we will have to move out.”

A whole month, huh…

“So, that was basically the most important stuff. Any questions?”

“Will the army move out as well or will there be other mercenaries? Or will it be only us?” asked Taddick.

“We’ll be accompanied by the army and possibly other mercenary bands. The details aren’t clear yet and we’ll be informed before we leave.”

Well,  they barely had the time to put everything together, so that was to be expected.

“Mm… Captain, how many recruits do we currently have again? I remember that we picked up quite a few in the independent cities but…”

“A good two dozen. Most of them come from the independent cities, as you said, and we picked up a few others in Aldreigh before that.”

“So they haven’t been with us for even a year yet…”

“I know what you want to say but there’s little point in babying them now. We’ll assign the squads to take care of them, that should be enough. It’s better we find out sooner rather than later whether they can deal with the mercenary life or not.”

As in, whether they’d be able to fight people… That’s likely what he meant. Speaking of recruits, though… This wasn’t completely unrelated to us.

“Nn, Captain, what about Sis and me?”

“You two, huh…”

Korwen looked at me, then at Karen, not saying anything for several seconds. The suspense made me a little nervous, to be honest.

“I’d like you two to go along as well. It’d be good practice for you two as well.”

“Nn, got it.”

Pretty much what I expected.

“Any other questions?”

“””...”””

“None at all? Well, isn’t that nice. Am I that good at explaining things?”

“Isn’t that because there’s no plan or anything yet to ask about? No point in asking about things that haven’t been decided or even considered yet,” commented Taddick.

Just as Taddick said, even if we had questions, there wouldn’t be an answer to most of them anyway. Or not, as Taddick spoke up once more.

“Actually, Cap, there’s one thing I want to make sure of.”

“Go ahead.”

“We’re assuming personal combat against former soldiers to be the major part of the job, right? No monsters or anything.”

“That’s right. Apart from the odd stray monster, we shouldn’t have to deal with any this time. That said, if a tamer happens to be among the deserters, we might have to fight with magic beasts.”

“Got it. Then I’ll make sure the recruits are up to snuff by the time the job comes around.”

“I’ll leave it to you.”

Speaking of which, Taddick was also responsible for training, wasn’t he?

“Then, I guess that was all for questions, wasn’t it?”

Korwen clapped his hands as if trying to take a break from the serious discussion. He stood up from his seat and fetched something from the back of the tent.

“Someone up for a drink?”

“I still got work, Cap.”

“Same here, captain.”

“Too bad. What about you two?”

Korwen directed his question toward Karen and me.

“Nn, well…”

“Not for me. Thank you, Mr Captain.”

“I’ll refrain, too.”

While I enjoyed a drink, I wasn’t quite in the mood for it. Especially, if Karen wasn’t going to join in.

Not like she’s ever going to do that anyway.

Maybe, one day, she’d gain a taste for it. But it wasn’t today. And either way, I already decided to hold back a little. I didn’t want another hangover.

“No fun around here. Want some snacks at least?”

“That’s okay with me.”

“Nn. Same.”

Somehow, Korwen’s expression became a little weird, raising an eyebrow at us. It was only for a moment, however, and it soon turned it a chuckle.

“Captain?”

“It’s nothing. Sorry about that.”

No, it clearly wasn’t 'nothing' if he chuckled at us. Not like I was going to pry.

Korwen went once more to the back and fetched a small plate with dried fruits on it.

“There you go.”

“Thank you, Captain.”

“Thank you, Mr Captain.”

Oh, they were quite sweet. These were different fruits from last time, though. Then again, he said that those had been expensive.

“Don’t spoil them too much, Captain.”

“Merim, you’re free to take some as well.”

“Don’t mind if I do.”

What was that about spoiling?

“You usually only bring the snacks out if the kids are around, so it’s rare to eat these. Mm, delicious.”

“Nn?”

He only brought them out when the kids were here? He meant Emily, Maya and Sele, right? So…

Is he treating us like kids? Nn… No, it’s not quite that…

Whatever it was, the snacks were delicious.

“By the way, Captain… Are those papers over there the letter?”

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“Yes, they are. Why are you asking, Fenna?”

“I can’t help but spot a second letter next to it.”

The moment those words left her mouth, Korwen froze up.

“Ah, it’s as I thought? It’s her letter.”

“... It is.”

“She’ll be coming?”

“Chances are high.”

Korwen sighed as he took the second letter in his hand and stared at it.

“She was in Krohmea when this letter was sent two months ago. If our schedule had gone like normal, it would have arrived during our stay in Lafria. Says she plans to come to Lafria around the time we’d be there so she hopes to meet us.”

“Ahhh… She’ll find out immediately.”

“She will.”

I was confused. Who were they talking about? Taddick and Merim seemed to understand them, judging by their gazes full of pity.

“If she was in Krohmea two months ago… She’d have plenty of time to reach Lafria, even on foot. And the moment she’d find out, she’d come here. No doubt.”

“Yes, no doubt about it.”

“Ah, but she might try to stay for Ruben for a while.”

“...”

Woah, that was quite the intense gaze from Korwen.

“It’s not impossible.”

“That’s exactly the problem, Fenna.”

“Well, I still think she’d run here immediately. You know how she is. She never thinks that mu— far ahead.”

“...”

Korwen held his head with one hand, staring at the mug in front of him as if the world was ending.

“Errr… Miss Fenna, who are you talking about?”

“Oh, sorry, I forgot you wouldn’t know. It’s about the captain’s daughter.”

“His daughter?”

“Yes. She regularly sends letters to the locations where we’d be… And sometimes visits us. If she hears about the fort, there’s no doubt she’ll come flying in a moment.”

“I see.”

So it was about his daughter. Now things made a little more sense. Well, apart from Korwen’s reactions.

Right, Fenna did tell us before that his daughter was… a little weird… Good luck Captain. You can do it.

I cheered Korwen on in my heart, hoping he’d get through these struggles of a father. Not like I’d had any idea what those struggles were like.

“Isn’t it good if she comes to visit?” asked Karen.

“Well… I’d say it is.”

Fenna glanced toward Korwen with a wry smile.

“But she can be a little difficult at times. There’s no telling what chaos she’ll cause if she learns about the fort.“

“I just wish the girl would settle down finally… Haaa…”

“Captain, we both know the chances of that happening are rather low. It’d be one thing if she found a husband but that’s…”

“... Not happening either.”

Both of them sighed, quite in sync with each other.

“Haaa… Not like we’ll have much choice but to wait and see what will happen. Judging from the letter, it should be right around this time that she’d arrive in Lafria. She’s on foot so I guess it’d take her about two to three weeks.”

The more I heard about his daughter the more intrigued I was by her. And now it’d be only two to three weeks until we’d meet her? Well, wasn’t that something to look forward to.

“Two to three weeks… Well, I guess it’s soon going to be noisy again. Well, all that said, I can’t say that I didn’t miss her. Even if she caused trouble to no end. I’m sure that Maya and the girls are going to be happy about seeing her again, as well. And captain, I’m sure you’re glad to see her again, too. The last time was over a year ago.”

“... I guess I am. What father wouldn’t be happy to see their little girl again? I’m just worried about all the trouble that’s accompanying her.”

Korwen heaved up his mug, downing its contents in one go.

“Haaa… I guess there’s a lot we’ll have to prepare.”

“... Speaking of which, what was she doing in Krohmea?”

“... I’m not sure. Her letter is as incomprehensible as always when it comes to whatever she was doing. Something about a herd of boars assaulting towns and her saving the day.”

“... A herd of boars?”

“That’s exactly how she called it.”

How were we supposed to imagine this herd of boars attacking a town, though? Well, boars could be quite vicious… But I couldn’t quite imagine a herd of them attacking a town. What for? Maybe food?

“Captain, doesn’t she mean the orcs? I vaguely recall her calling them boars on two legs before.”

“How in the hell does an orc look like a boar to you, Taddick?”

“Not to me, to her. I never quite understood it either.”

“But orcs, huh… I guess that would make sense. Krohmea always has trouble with the orc tribes, after all.”

Orcs? That’s something I hadn’t expected to hear.  Not wanting to interrupt them I leaned over to Karen and whispered my question to her.

“Sis, what are orcs?”

“You don’t know about them?”

“Nn.”

“I see… They’re apparently a race of green-skinned people that are extremely belligerent. I never met an orc so I can’t tell you much about them either.”

“A race? They’re not monsters?”

“They’re not, I think. Though many people don’t really care about that distinction.”

A belligerent race of green-skinned people, huh… That wasn’t too far from what I had imagined.

While I had exchanged whispers with Karen, Korwen and the others had continued their small talk, or rather had come to an end.

“Cap, I’ll return to work now.”

“Mm. Do that. Report to me later what you have found.”

“Will do, Cap.”

Taddick answered with vigour in his voice before leaving.

“I guess it is time to wrap things up. There’s not much we can do about any of this for now. Merim, I’ll leave the work with moving the supplies to you. I still have a few things to attend to.”

“Sure thing.”

“Also, there’s one thing I wanted to ask.”

“Yes?”

Korwen narrowed his eyes at Merim, eyeing him from top to bottom.

“The hell happened to you? You look like you dove into a swamp.”

“... We played tag.”

“... Are you children?”

Korwen shook his head. It was probably good that he hadn’t seen them in action. That had been quite a sight, watching all those mercenaries chase after Merim. I had no idea what became of the chase but judging from Merim’s appearance, he had apparently been caught by them…

“No matter. Just… clean up before you return to work. You’re my vice-captain and I can’t have you run around looking like that, got that?”

“Yes, yes. Got it.”

“I hope so.”

Still shaking his head, Korwen turned to Karen and me.

“There’s something I need both of you for later. I’ll call for you but make sure you’re free, got that?

“Nn, got it.”

“Understood.”

“Mm. Take a break until then.”

More like, we’d be continuing our break from before. Not that I minded, though.

“Then, we’ll take our leave, Captain. And thank you for the snacks.”

“Sure.”

And with that, Karen and I both left the tent. Fenna stayed behind and we could hear both of them talking inside. There was probably still something he needed to discuss with her.

“I wonder what he needs us for, though.”

“I don’t know.”

Maybe it was related to this whole war stuff…

“Hey, Sis… What do you think of this war?”

“What do I think?”

“Nn.”

“Even if you ask me… I don’t really know?”

“Nn, I see…”

“If I had to say something, I guess it doesn’t really feel like it’s something real? I mean, I know that it is. I don’t think that Mr Ruben would tell a lie but… Mmm… I guess it is hard to imagine what that really means.”

Hard to imagine, huh…

“I get that the people there clash and fight each other but… I just can’t imagine it.”

Well, that was… quite understandable, to be honest. War and the battlefield were certainly not things a normal person could think of so easily.

“It’d be troublesome if war was something that you could imagine so easily. We’d never hear the end of it.”

“Ah, Fenna. You’re already done?”

“It was just a little something the captain wanted me to do for him. In preparation for his daughter’s homecoming.”

Fenna, who had appeared behind us, laughed heartily.

“Fenna, do you know her well?”

“Well, I guess you could say I do. She’s only a few years younger than me so we always got along quite well. Though even then I could never grasp what goes on in her little head.”

“I see…”

“Well, you’ll meet her soon enough. Though we always say how troublesome she is, she is a good girl at heart.”

“Huh…”

Well, even though they kept saying that, I never had the feeling that they were truly bothered by it.

“Honestly, it’s great news to know she will be coming. It’d be nice if she would stay with us again, though,” she muttered, the last part quietly.

I couldn’t help but smile when I heard Fenna’s mutters. It was obvious she cared for that girl, after all.

“Ahhh, well, you’ll see how she is! For now, I’ll need to tell everyone about this. We got a lot of work to do…”

“Ah, yes…”

Actually, we were on break… but that probably wasn’t something I should say right now.

“Now then, I’ll take my leave as well. Take care you two.”

“Nn, you too, Fenna.”

Fenna waved us as she left, walking back to the tentacle door and the fort.

“Now then… what shall we do, Sis?”

“I wonder.”

“I think we were looking for a place to relax.”

We just had gotten caught up in the rumour mill and then we were called by Korwen. 

“By the way, Yumi…”

“Nn?”

“We’re in the middle of the camp, aren’t we?”

“Nn. Why?”

“Well, weren’t we supposed to stay away for now…”

Oh, that had been the case, hadn’t it? But it was the captain who called us here so…

“Does that mean there’s no point in staying away now? If so, couldn’t we just return to our wagon?”

“... You’re right.”

Honestly, there were few places as relaxing as our wagon. It was, after all, our own little castle, so to say.

“Nn, it’s the captain’s fault anyway.”

“That’s a little…”

“It’s true, isn’t it?”

In the first place, what point was there in us staying away while Korwen, Fenna and the others kept running back and forth? Not like I could say that outright to him.

“Still, we should probably ask him for permission first.”

“Nn… That’s probably better.”

“I’ll ask him quickly.”

Karen returned to the tent and poked her head inside, calling out to Korwen. I could hear them exchange a few words before Karen turned around and came back, a smile on her face.

“He said we shouldn’t mind it anymore. Apparently, he just forgot to tell us about it, because he had already stopped trying to hide things earlier.”

“Oh, I see.”

Earlier? Mm… Maybe when he was called back the first time due to some other mercenaries visiting?

“Well, anyway, I guess we can go to our wagon?”

“That’s what he said.”

“Great. Let’s get back.”

“Yes.”

I grasped Karen’s outstretched hand, holding hers tight in mine. It had already become such a natural action for us to do this. Just thinking about that made me incredibly happy.

And I’m sure it won’t be the only thing that will become natural for us.

“Yumi? Why are you giggling?”

“Nn? Nothing, sorry about that.”

“Okay…”

With these happy thoughts in my head, we walked back to our home.

Rinne

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