The morning after Hakurei left for Rinkei, we woke to find Keiyou surrounded by Gen, their number so great the army seemed more like a thick red fog. I estimated that there were thirty thousand soldiers around us—far more than I’d expected. We could hardly see past them. All of the cavalrymen and foot soldiers were dressed in crimson armor, and the character “Gen” was proudly emblazoned upon their war flags. In front of them was the Crimson Wolf himself, the same general who had attacked us three months ago. He looked like he was barely managing to keep himself from leaping for our throats.
“Wow, what a view,” I said as I leaned a leg against the ramparts. The tension before combat was a unique one, heightened by the reflection off the enemies’ weapons and the dull thudding of their war drums. “I gotta say I’m surprised. The Crimson Wolf himself came all the way here instead of leaving everything to his underlings! He’s a good commander. Or maybe it’s because he still harbors a grudge over what happened three months ago? In any case, it makes for an impressive sight.”
“L-Lord Sekiei, please step down! You’re making yourself a target!” Teiha exclaimed as he pulled on my left arm. Much like the other soldiers behind him, his face was pale and stiff.
This isn’t good. I tried to maintain my usual tone as I asked, “Teiha, the soldiers are all in position, right?”
“Yessir. They’re stationed at all sides of the city. It’s just that...”
“Uh-huh, got it.”
I wouldn’t let him finish voicing his worries. I knew what he wanted to say: there were more enemies than expected and we wouldn’t be able to last if Gen used its superior numbers to overpower us. If Teiha’s fears came to pass, then Gen would annihilate the Chou army stationed at the river with a pincer attack. It was commendable that he was able to calmly assess a hopeless situation; he had the makings of a good commander.
We couldn’t roll over and die just yet. I looked around at the soldiers gathered around me and smiled. A general could not let his subordinates see his fear. He had to radiate confidence. “All right, I’m gonna go and say hello to the enemy general. Do you want to come with me?”
Teiha and the soldiers didn’t say anything for a moment—but as soon as they realized they hadn’t been hearing things, they all gave me disbelieving looks.
“Huh?”
“Lord Sekiei,” Teiha said, the expression under his helmet tight with anxiety, “I don’t know if this is the right time for jokes...”
“I’m not joking.” As soon as I said it, I leaped from the ramparts and landed on the stairs below. Ignoring the confused shouts of the soldiers above me, I ran to the west gate and yelled, “I’m going out! Get me a horse!”
“Y-Yessir!” One of the new soldiers, who appeared no older than an adolescent, looked surprised at my sudden order but led a black horse to me nonetheless.
I leaped onto its back, ran my hand down its neck, and then bellowed, “Open the gate!”
“P-Please wait!” Teiha, eyes wide, practically tumbled down the stairs in his haste to get to me. He grabbed onto my mount’s reins, his expression frantic. “You mustn’t give up hope just yet! The enemy army is powerful, but we still have a chance of victory if we all work together. If anything happens to you, then Keiyou will—”
“That’s precisely why I have to go.” The west gate was slowly opening and I lowered my voice so that only Teiha could hear me. “Our enemy is the Crimson Wolf and thirty thousand of Gen’s finest. Unless we do something about our morale, we aren’t going to last until father returns. Words won’t do anything. In order to inspire his soldiers, a general has to show his willingness to fight, even if it’s just an act. That’s what I believe anyway.”
Teiha’s eyes widened and he sucked in a breath. “Y-You...”
I gave him a few encouraging pats on the shoulder. “Don’t make that face. I’ll be back before you know it. Hyah!”
“Lord Sekiei!”
The gate opened a crack and I kicked the horse into a gallop, slipping through the small exit. The drumming picked up speed and the rows of cavalrymen nocked their arrows, the deadly tips all pointed directly at me. The next moment, however, the drums stopped. The cavalrymen lowered their bows and backed up their horses.
I narrowed my eyes. “No music and no arrows? He’s an honest one.” I stopped my horse in between Keiyou’s walls and the Gen army and then, unsheathing my sword, held it aloft. The ribbon around the hilt flashed scarlet as it billowed in the wind. “My name is Sekiei, and I am the man left in charge of Keiyou! I call upon the enemy commander to show himself! Where are you?!”
At my demand, murmurs buzzed through the air from both enemy and ally. I was calling for a duel. In their wildest dreams they couldn’t have expected this. For a short time the Gen soldiers looked at each other, unsure of what to do, before they started to step aside to form a path. A general who looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties, seated upon an impressively massive horse, made his way forward. He was dressed in deep crimson armor and in his hand, he held a giant halberd which had been engraved with a wolf.
I could see the large scar on his left cheek. I knew it. It’s the same general I fought against three months ago. Sword still in hand, I flung out my arm to signal to my allies—no matter what, don’t shoot.
The general stopped his horse a short distance from me and then roared, “My name is Nguyen Gui, the Crimson Wolf of the Gen Empire! I apologize that I kept you waiting, Chou Sekiei!” The Gen soldiers cheered while the Chou soldiers groaned. Even from this short exchange, I could tell that my opponent was a fearless fighter. He undoubtedly had thousands of battles’ worth of experience.