“You came back?” Zamin asked as he lay in bed, watching Tess and Nagi enter his house.
After meeting with Keele, the two of them had returned to Garuga Village once more. Zamin’s expression was as unreadable as ever, but his voice contained an air of exasperation.
“I’ve come to ask you one more time. I want you to fight by my side.”
“It cannot be. Not with you.”
“It’s true that I don’t possess a crest. I’m no Crestfolk. I’m just one of the commoners who forced you to live in this place.”
Zamin stared at Nagi from deep beneath his wrinkles.
“I thought the Crestfolk were frightening,” Nagi continued. “The adults of the village told me they were a bunch of mountain bandits with a weird disease, calling them ‘the Tainted.’ I believed them.”
Tess looked at him. Her eyes were criticizing him, demanding to know why he was saying such a thing.
“But now, I don’t really know. Tess taught me that was wrong. Bloodmark disease isn’t contagious, and you aren’t mountain bandits.”
The village elder nodded gently.
“From your point of view, I may be an enemy. However, I’d still like all of you to fight by my side. It seems we’ll be able to obtain a large quantity of Halahala, so we’ll use it to give the nobles a big scare. By doing so, we can get them to rethink their ways. We might be able to get them to stop the blood offerings—and I’d like to get them to stop the sterilizations too.”
Tess suddenly held her breath.
Zamin turned toward her. “You informed a crestless of this?”
“He’s Keele’s little brother. It concerns his family. Isn’t it fine to tell him?”
“The crestless are not our family.”
Furious, Tess shot back, “This is what I hate about our village! Yeah, we were cast away. But the family I had back then is still my family!”
“They do not think so.”
“There are those who do. Just like Nagi here. Right?”
“Yeah. I still consider Keele to be my older brother.”
He still hated him, too, but he kept that part to himself.
“I figured it out after talking with Nagi. It’s obvious that the commoners would fear us because they know nothing about us. I mean, we don’t tell them anything about ourselves.”
“Staying hidden is the only way we will be allowed to exist.”
“‘Allowed?’” Nagi repeated, feeling the weight of the word. “The nobles were the ones who decided that, right?”
Zamin kept silent.
“Listen, Zamin, I know you’re thinking of what’s best for the Crestfolk. You’re doing what you can to keep them from being murdered by the nobles, which is why you’re keeping your word. So long as you stay hidden, they won’t kill you. But is that really for the best? Tess said you had all been killed because being sterilized is the same as being dead. Not that I’m of the same opinion.”
Zamin shut his eyes. It wasn’t clear whether he was even awake when he did so. However, he was surely listening to Nagi, so the boy continued.
“To Tess, it’s as painful as dying. I’m sure more of your people feel the same way. We need to get them to stop the sterilizations.”
“So, you’re saying that is why we should join the fight. Your brother said the same. Still, it cannot be. The only one we stand by is the bearer of the True Crest. It has been decided.”
“Fine, then.”
In the face of Zamin’s stubborn attitude, Nagi resolved to handle this another way.
“Wait, you’re giving up?” Tess asked.
“I’m not. I’m going to convince the people here one by one.”
“Huh?” She gave him a look of bewilderment.
“First is you, Tess. Please fight by my side. Let’s stop the nobles from performing sterilizations. Let’s get them to acknowledge the existence of the Crestfolk. Last time, you said you couldn’t join my fight. You said I was different from you. That’s true. All of you were driven out because of this disease, made so you can’t have children, and forced to live in these hidden villages. Your lives were stolen from you. You’re different from an idiot like me who’s just acting on impulse. But I know of one other girl who had her life stolen from her.”
The image of a girl with silver hair and vivid crimson eyes flickered in Nagi’s mind.
“I want the Crestfolk to fight alongside Saya. I want to retake her life from the nobles.”
“That girl is Lady Saya?” Zamin uttered, his sunken eyes flying open. When Nagi nodded, he murmured, “Then she really is the one...”.
Seeing him like this, Tess cocked her head. “Chief? What’s wrong?”
Zamin faced Nagi, paying no attention to her. “Do you seek our strength for Lady Saya’s sake?”
“That’s right. I can’t leave her all locked up.”
Zamin trembled. He was hesitating tremendously. His mouth opened, then closed again. Nagi and Tess exchanged glances; both of them were befuddled by Zamin’s current state.
After some time, the wrinkled man finally spoke. “Tess, what do you wish to do?”
“I think... it’s fine for us to fight alongside Nagi. I hate commoners, but he’s all right. He’s different from other commoners. I feel like it’s okay to trust him.”
Zamin nodded slowly and deeply.
“Very well. Nagi, you may gather whoever wishes to fight with you. A fair number are sure to join. However, you must absolutely not pressure them into it.”
“Really?!” Tess yelled in shock. “No way! You really convinced the chief.”
“What are you saying? I’m not that obstinate.”
“That’s not true. Everyone says your head is harder than stone.”
Nagi stood there in a daze, unable to believe his ears. Why had Zamin suddenly changed his mind? It was immediately after Saya’s name had come up.
“You did it, Nagi!”
Nagi’s thoughts came to a complete stop when Tess hugged him. Her body was far softer than he imagined, which made him feel like he was going numb.
After leaving Garuga village, Nagi and Tess quickly made their way to the capital. He asked a passerby about the bar Crow had told him to look for, which was in the fifth block of the Marinera district.
“Marinera?” the stranger asked, giving Nagi a dubious stare before looking awkwardly at Tess.
“The red-light district?” Tess mumbled.
Marinera was the pleasure district of the capital. It wasn’t a place to openly ask others about, especially not with a female companion in tow.
“Cobalt’s in a place like that?”
“A convenient spot to hide, don’t you think?” Nagi replied.
The Wild Rose was a bar on one of the seedier streets in Marinera. Cobalt seemed to prefer having bases in these sorts of areas. After passing through the front door, Nagi was greeted by Keele and Crow.
“Hey, ya made it.”
“Hello there, Nagi. What’s the password?” Crow asked.
“Is there a point to that?”
“I suppose not,” Crow responded with a grin.
“That’s the kinda guy he is. You’re better off not talkin’ with him too much. It’ll just piss you off,” Keele added with a bitter expression as he knocked back a shot of liquor. “So, how’d it go?”
“I convinced Zamin. Fifty Crestfolk warriors will take part in the attack.”
Keele’s eyes bulged wide as he lowered his glass back to the table. “You shittin’ me?”
“It’s true,” Tess replied.
After speaking with Zamin, Nagi and Tess had gone around speaking to the Crestfolk. Once they knew Zamin had given permission, the villagers’ reactions had been dramatically different from before. Many of them wished to take part in the fight. The excitement written on their faces had shown Nagi just how much the Crestfolk were being oppressed.
“You’ve got some real cozy vibes goin’ on with Tess now, huh? You done with that princess? There’s plenty of places you can shack up around here. How ’bout you go teach him your lady bits still work?”
Tess angrily glared back at Keele. “Quit joking about that stuff.”
“All it’s good for is jokin’ now,” Keele muttered bitterly.
“At any rate, the Crestfolk, huh?” Crow interjected.
“You have a problem with that?” Tess asked in a sharp voice.
“None. Keele’s the same, right?” he answered, lightly sidestepping the issue. “Cobalt doesn’t worry about that sort of thing. We don’t have the leisure to.”
“There’re guys who hate the Crestfolk, though. Like Senak.”
“Isn’t he fine with it now? You hold too much of a grudge, Keele.”
“I wonder ’bout that.”
“I’m actually quite impressed, Nagi. I did think of looking to the Crestfolk for help, and I even asked Keele to convince them, but we haven’t had any luck until now.”
“The old rock hardly budges. I never thought you’d actually win him over.”
“Splendidly done. Even if Keele objects, I would like you to join Cobalt.”
“I ain’t opposed no more. A deal’s a deal,” Keele cut in with a click of the tongue.
Crow ignored him. “Nagi, it seems you don’t understand how big a deal this is. There are many Crestfolk in exile. If they were all to join us, we would far outnumber the nobles.”
Nagi was shocked. He hadn’t realized that there were so many Crestfolk. He had heard there were many hidden villages aside from the one Tess came from, but it was far beyond what he had imagined.