“What did you do?” Nagi asked as he walked up to his brother.
Keele answered with a question of his own. “You think a woman with no legs can survive after getting out of here?”
Coming to an understanding as to what these two had done, Nagi couldn’t say a single word.
With the inclusion of the prisoners who were capable of fighting, an attack from within the prison threw the defensive forces at the main gate into disarray. Even the knights were surrounded and brought down one by one by the elite squad. The boost in morale from their successful operation had largely eradicated their fear of nobles.
Nagi searched for Tess in the middle of the chaos, but was unable to find her. He did, however, find the large man, Bandore, surrounded by a knight and two soldiers. Nagi immediately loosed an arrow. He aimed for the knight’s head, but missed, instead hitting him in the shoulder. Bandore took advantage of the shaken knight and drove in his axe. The knight blocked the axe with one hand, but the blow brought him to a stop. Nagi fired another arrow, which pierced the crown of the knight’s head.
“Hey, if it isn’t Keele’s little brother! You have my thanks!”
“The name’s Nagi!” he shouted back.
That knight had apparently been the commander. The defensive force routed immediately upon seeing their officer fall, and thus the battle ended in Cobalt’s victory. Even though Keele had contributed greatly by personally defeating three knights, he seemed displeased.
“None of them used their fuckin’ blood calibers... Talk about lame.”
“Tess! Thank goodness you’re okay!”
Nagi ran over upon seeing Tess safe and sound within the occupied prison. Her chestnut hair was disheveled, and her black eyes were unfocused. Mud dirtied her face all the way up to the bloodmark on her cheek and neck. Nevertheless, Nagi felt like Tess’ figure was brighter than everything around her.
“Nagi!”
Apparently, Tess had also been looking for Nagi. She ran over to him without slowing down and embraced him. The warmth he felt finally reassured him that both of them were alive.
Tess was trembling. Sobs escaped her lips as she burst into tears. “Lots of people died.”
“Yeah.”
Nagi noticed that the other members of Cobalt were high on victory, whereas a heavy air hung over the Crestfolk. It was natural. Even though they’d won, Cobalt’s side had suffered major casualties. The deaths at the main gate had been particularly numerous. In other words, many of the dead were Crestfolk. In fact, of the ones who came from Garuga Village, over half of them had lost their lives. Nagi was the one who had gotten the Crestfolk involved in this fight, as was Tess. He felt they were both complicit.
“Tess, let’s go,” Bandore said in a deep voice.
“Nagi too,” Tess said.
Bandore thought it over for a bit. “Okay, you can come along as well.”
He began walking off. His attitude gave no room for debate. Nagi looked at Tess’ face as she silently nodded back to him. The two of them followed Bandore through the prison. Their destination was the back door Nagi’s group had come through. After exiting the prison and walking into the woods, they were greeted by an assembly of the Crestfolk. Judging by the atmosphere and the large hole dug in the ground, he realized it was a burial rite for the Crestfolk. The dead warriors were being laid to rest within the hole.
“Let’s begin,” Bandore declared in a solemn voice.
“He’s joining, too?” one of the Crestfolk men asked. “He’s not our comrade. He’s a commoner.”
“He’s—”
Bandore started to say something, but Nagi held out his hand to stop him.
“Please allow me to pray for them as well. If you’d rather I not participate in the funeral service, then I’ll do as you say. But these people died because of me, so I at least want to pray for them.”
“It’s not just your fault. I’m the one who gathered everyone.”
“You’re their comrade, right, Tess? I’m different. I came from the outside and dragged everyone into this fight.”
“Yeah, it’s your fault!” the same man yelled, his eyes dark. “My brother died because of you commoners. You left the dangerous parts to us Crestfolk. Barely any of you died.”
“Sorry. I know every one of you had your own lives. Your own joys and sorrows.”
Nagi looked down at the corpses in the hole. Was this man’s brother among them?
“These people also had those dear to them, but now they can’t see them anymore. Because of me.”
“Do you truly believe that?”
“Yeah.”
“You commoners look down on us.”
“That’s right.”
“That includes you.”
“Nagi’s not like them!” Tess yelled, but Nagi shook his head.
“That included me. I didn’t know anything about you people and simply believed what I was told... But I’m different now.”
“Do you regret it? Calling us into this fight, I mean,” Bandore cut in.
Nagi thought it over for a moment. Did he regret it?
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “We won thanks to all of you. Yes, there were sacrifices. I feel sorry, but I don’t regret it.”
“You said we had our own joys,” Bandore said in a deep and trembling voice, “but you’re wrong about that. We have no happiness. We don’t have anything of the sort so long as nobody out there approves of us. We came here of our own will to break those chains. We don’t regret anything, either. Neither do the guys who died.”
Several voices murmured in agreement.
“I want to see my comrades off together with this guy. He’s not a Crestfolk, but his anger is the same as ours. His eyes are the same as ours, the eyes of someone who was stolen from and is standing up to take it all back!”
Bandore’s speech rendered the other Crestfolk silent.
“Can you swear to the dead here? That you’ll fight alongside us?”
“I swear,” Nagi answered immediately.
All was quiet.
The first one to break the silence was the man who had been opposed to Nagi’s presence. “You’re saying we should accept this guy?”
“This guy saved me. If you’ve got a problem with him, you can say it to my face.”
Bandore would accept no argument. The man fell silent.
“I acknowledge this man, Nagi, as a guest of Garuga Village! Any objections?”
“None,” several voices said in unison. They were the voices of those who had been saved by Nagi’s arrows during the fighting.
The service was a simple ritual.
“Born by man, yet wiser than man. Many, yet one. Recursive, yet multilayered. That which is only known by name and existence. That which granted us this miniature garden from the depths of ruin. Oh, Intelligence, we pray that our brethren parting with us in this moment are reunited by your side. Grant those who have been given short lives and fulfilled their hopeless time here peace at last.”
After reciting the standard prayer, they began burying the corpses. As Nagi listened to those familiar verses, he thought of their meaning in a daze. If the Intelligence was the one who had granted them this world, then why was it so unfair?