“How many of you are there?” I asked.
“Five close by. Another twenty in Sibiak. Seven others undercover in various different regions. Of the twenty in Sibiak, five are too badly injured to be of service.”
There were thirty-two royal swords in total. I’d expected more. I assumed some of them had been wounded in the escape.
“What happened to the royal guard’s first order? Did they stay out of it to the very end?”
“It seems they were bribed,” Tillet replied.
I knew it.
“Metina Arkhorse is a close friend of Theresia Cursefit,” Myalo added, her tone scathing. “They might not have been in the same year group, but they attended the Knight Academy at the same time. That means they spent four years washing each other’s backs in their own bathroom. I don’t know how you ever trusted her.”
Metina certainly sounded like a problem. Now I was left wondering why Tillet had assured me that the first order would never betray the queen when we’d been trapped in the castle.
“That’s just how it is... The first order’s commander is always chosen from the Arkhorse family. The royal family has no say in the matter.”
“And that’s why you trusted her?” Myalo asked. “Well, no wonder things turned out this way.”
I had to agree with Myalo. If the first order had taken immediate action, things would’ve been very different.
“Then the first order’s another enemy?” I asked.
“No,” Tillet replied. “Although their commander’s always a member of the Arkhorse family, the soldiers beneath her are utterly devoted to serving the queen. She can give commands, but they won’t be followed. The first order won’t turn against us.”
My thoughts turned to Galla, and I wondered what he was doing at that moment. “Dolla’s dad was one of their officers. He’s a good friend of my father.”
“Yes, Galla Godwin,” Myalo added. “He’s the vice captain of the Dawn Knights.”
“Is he? Isn’t that a big unit?” I asked.
If my memory was correct, Galla should’ve reached the highest rank accessible to men within the first order a long time ago. The Dawn Knights was the strongest unit within the first order of the royal guard. Many considered them the face of the royal guard because they occasionally patrolled the royal capital in flashy uniforms.
“Yes. It’s a permanent legion of one thousand knights, often divided into two regiments of five hundred. Galla Godwin used to be the vice captain of one of those regiments, but by Her Majesty’s recommendation, he was promoted to vice captain of the whole legion.”
“Why did that happen?”
“I don’t know the details, but I suspect the intention was to boost Dolla’s career,” Myalo suggested. “Carol holds Dolla in high regard, and he made a name for himself after the fight on the bridge.”
Wow. They promoted him for Dolla’s sake...
Given Dolla’s incredible strength, it didn’t sound like a terrible idea. Knights needed muscle much more than they needed brains.
“The royal guard is fundamentally flawed,” Myalo explained. “Women take command of each unit, but it’s male officers who form the strongest bonds with the men making up those units. Both on the training ground and on the battlefield, it’s generally male vice captains accompanying them and giving out orders, so ordinary soldiers naturally put their faith in their vice captain. It’s a horribly warped command structure.”
“Ah, I see.”
It did sound problematic.
“This tends to turn the unit’s captain into a mere figurehead. That’s why all ranks above a certain point are available to women only. If the commander of each legion was to turn into a figurehead, it would be an army completely controlled by men.”
I understood why men couldn’t be in control. For reasons both practical and historical, it would be a problem.
It was two thousand years ago now, but long ago the Shantila Empire had suffered an internal conflict known as the Mutna Rebellion where a coup by military generals had brought the empire to the brink of collapse.
The empire had been a matriarchy ruled by an empress, with invasions of Kulati-held territories being commonplace.
During the Mutna Rebellion, a general who’d made a name for himself through victories in battle gathered up the Kulati slaves he’d taken during those campaigns and turned them against the empire. His attempted coup ended in failure, but he’d come very close to capturing the imperial capital of Shantinion, located on the Crimean Peninsula by the Black Sea. It was said that the empress had been left traumatized, and she began to believe that allowing male generals to invade foreign nations would lead to the empire’s downfall.
The events had shown that men could gain considerable power within the empire owing to their control over territories they’d captured. But the empire needed an army in order to defend itself, and that army had to be kept strong.
The empress had concluded that a general’s pride must never be wounded, lest they lead another rebellion. And so, she ensured that military men would be indulged when they boasted of their prowess as warriors, lauded when they successfully defended the empire, and given medals for their accomplishments.
At the same time, she had made sure that generals would never again instigate conflicts for the purpose of expanding the empire’s territory.
All this led to strange changes occurring in the Shantila Empire. The nation’s military was powerful, yet it never invaded other nations. The events also explained why slavery was seldom tolerated within the empire.
It turned out that these changes came with certain benefits. The empire’s territory was more than vast enough already, and halting its uncontrolled expansion made it possible to manage the whole more effectively while avoiding the risk of frontier regions breaking away as independent nations. The empire’s focus shifted to careful development of the land it already held, which had resulted in a time of prosperity.
Over time, a strong connection developed between the Shanti people and their home nation, such that their offspring hadn’t spread throughout the rest of the world.
All this had given rise to our current situation. In essence, the events of history had left the royal family viewing the male-dominated military as a threat. Military units led by women were designed to protect the concept of matriarchal government. If the first order of the royal guard—the queen’s last defense—became a male-dominated force, it wouldn’t be fit for purpose.
All things considered, Galla’s promotion really had been exceptional.
“Then Metina Arkhorse must be under pressure from the soldiers beneath her,” I said.
Considering the soldiers had been held back by the leadership when they’d been needed most, they had to be dissatisfied.