Irregular Curved
Chapter 2: The Light in Despair
The atmosphere that night was very cold. A light breeze blew away Light's short black hair that was lying under the starry sky.
Unable to sleep soundly in the open, Light reopened his eyes, leaving his sleeping bag to approach the campfire with a few old soldiers sitting around him.
"Hm? Can't you sleep, Young Master?" One of the old soldiers said in astonishment. Judging that Light was still corn-aged, he felt that Light should be able to fall asleep under any circumstances due to a child his age who still needed a lot of time to rest.
Light momentarily silently did not reply, he just sat on one of the empty tree trunks surrounding the fireplace.
"I was just thinking about something not so important, Old Man Eld." Light avoids honest answers.
"Is that so..." Eld decided to stop the conversation.
Unlike the knights who served under the current Count, Eld was a veteran who had retired before Light was born. Originating from the commoners, Eld's career can be said to be good as a knight from a prestigious noble house that has a military history of hundreds of years.
Therefore, even though he knew roughly how Light was treated, Eld still treated Light kindly as he was not affected by the current Count. Even for Eld, the assumption that Light was an unlucky child was just the nonsense of a nobleman who was unable to govern his territory properly.
After Eld's intense approach over the past few days, Light finally allowed Eld's request to speak informally to him. It was Eld's intention to at least ease the mental and mental burden that Light was now experiencing.
"Do you want to?" Eld offered a skewer of meat that had just ripened from the campfire.
"Thank you." Light was a little reluctant. He was forced to accept it because he knew how troublesome Eld was when he rejected his kindness.
In contrast to its slightly charred appearance, miraculously the meat tasted good even though it was only sprinkled with a little salt.
Seeing Light's shock from his expression, Eld revealed a wry smile, "How is that? Will my cooking be able to compete with the palace cooks?"
"In your dream, Old Man," replied Light flatly.
"Gahaha!" loud Eld laughter.
Some other veterans stared at them warmly. Most of them did not care about the situation that Light was in, so they all took the same attitude towards Light as Eld.
Eld slightly managed to melt Light's mood. Despite that, Light's eyes still looked dark.
"Rather than that, Gennes, how are the slaves currently doing? Can they all arrive alive at the border?" Light expressed his concern without hesitation.
Hearing Light immediately switch topics towards the discussion of the troops, Eld looked a little disappointed. Inevitably, his attempt to melt the atmosphere after Light's presence was wasted.
Unlike Eld, Gennes— one of the veteran officers with a strong posture from the bald-headed commoners— replied firmly. From the start, he had a serious expression, "I think it's impossible, Young Master. With the supplies we have today, it is impossible to feed them according to the portion of the soldiers."
"I agree with that, Young Master. In fact, for some reason the Count also gave unnecessary luggage such as handicapped and sickly slaves to us. Sorry, if I count them roughly, maybe only about 300 slaves are expected to arrive at the destination." Eld added, his tone changed respectfully as their topic turned into a military operations chat.
Just then, a sound of stomping sounded faint. Everyone immediately shut their mouths shut and went back to burning the meat while joking around as if nothing had happened before.
The pounding that sounded like the sound of the tread steps was getting louder. Some officers checked the origin of the sound but they only found the old man walking towards their group in the dark forest alone.
Naturally, Light's camp and his officers were separated from the main camp. His subordinate officers were still thinking about how to put Light in a safe position. Even if the Count sent assassins to Light after his departure, they had time to let Light go on the run even though Light himself no longer cared about his life's safety.
"Do you want to join us, Cake?" Eld said that in a friendly manner after approaching him while holding a wine bottle in his right hand.
The grandfather was momentarily shocked that his presence could be easily found, he immediately acted defensively, the axe he held with both hands as if ready to swing, "Who are you?! Are you all from Arcadia?!"
The kingdom of Arcadia, a small country that has for more than a decade defended its territorial sovereignty from the clutches of the empire. In recent years, word has emerged that the Drenzig— Kingdom - a large kingdom located north of Arcadia— - is providing monetary assistance to Arcadia to protect its territory. It was common knowledge that Drenzig intended to make it a puppet state.
After obtaining financial aid, Arcadia gradually strengthened his army. Countless how many they had attacked the imperial border just for intending to avenge the Rhine River that the empire had now completely controlled.
Hearing the news that the Kingdom of Arcadia and Count Allain were preparing his troops, the grandfather always patrolled the forest around the village to be on alert when Arcadia came to attack.
The excessive fear.
No, had her family been the victim of looting so she had this kind of severe trauma?
Eld stared at the trembling old grandfather's body with a frown. After a while, Eld re-created a warm atmosphere, trying to calm the grandfather, "Relax, we are not part of Arcadia, Cake. We're just travelers who happen to be forced to camp in an ugly place like this because they have no other choice."
Although Eld also looked like a grandfather, for some reason he was confident to call the other party as well as a grandfather.
"Don't lie!" the Grandfather cried out trembling.
"Well, if we were lying, there's no way we'd welcome you warmly, wouldn't we?" Eld embraced the old man as he led him closer to the bonfire, "So calm down, there are no suspicious people around here after we checked it out a while ago."
After a few short chats that felt warm, the grandfather slowly burst out. He gradually began to feel comfortable talking about himself. Light, Eld, as well as a few other officers did not waste to retrieve any information they could retrieve.
"Young Master." Gennes called out to Light softly.
"What?" Light answered softly, his attention remaining focused on the conversation of the veterans and the old geezer.
"Worst likely, the soldiers sent to plunder the border villages already knew the terrain of this area well" Gennes said softly, fear emanating from his voice.
"Yes, I know."
Although this area used to be the power of the Kingdom of Arcadia before it was captured by the empire decades ago, but the terrain will continue to grow. There's no way the Arcadia military will rely only on their old memories.
This is also evidenced by the old grandfather's remark on the looting of Arcadia soldiers that is increasingly intense in recent months.
"How many weeks do you think the Arcadia Army will attack? Assume that we are at the border fortress within the next 2 days" Light asked.
"Worst of all, 4 weeks is the fastest time, Young Master." Gennes replied firmly.
"so."
A moment in the midst of a soft conversation with Gennes, all eyes including the grandfather turned towards Light.
"Are you the leader of these travelers?" The grandfather hesitated a little, yet he couldn't possibly not believe his own eyes.
When compared to veterans, the clothes Light wore were of high quality even though it could not compare to those of his family and half-brothers. The old grandfather thought that Light was the son of a wealthy merchant who was escorted by several mercenaries on his way.
So, Light decided to follow the old man's supposition, "Yes."
The old grandfather approached Light in a hurry. Although the old officers were about to protect Light because they saw him as a threat, the grandfather's behavior was against expectations.
The grandfather prostrated himself on Light's feet, pleading in tears grasping Light's legs as if he no longer had any hope of help.
"Kumohon... save Heron Village, sir... We no longer have protectors! We—we..." His sobbing voice, Grandfather pitched his head with teary eyes, "If not, we're just..."
Just then, Gennes whispered something that even his master would never have expected, to ignite the flames of Light's previously unheard-of rage.
"Young Master, at present, Heron Village is a dead village that is impossible to rebuild."
......................