Chapter 28
THE settlements they visited thus far had more elderly, women, and children than men. But the encampment Touta’s group showed them to only had gruff men. Surprisingly, everyone knew Vigo and Selena. When Yuki asked how they knew each other, most answered they had either served under or beside Selena and Vigo during the war.
Upon arrival, they made their rounds around the encampment examining patients with the Ten Day Fever. Unlike the other settlements and villages, the patients here had light symptoms and Vigo’s prognosis was they would recover soon. Once the medical business was attended to, they were led to a large cabin and served food.
“I can’t believe Fast-footed Touta was the one who came to get us,” Vigo teased.
“Fast-footed Touta?” Yuki repeated.
“It means he was always the first to run from battle,” Selena explained, taking a swig of her mug.
“Just how many years do you think have passed since I was a greenhorn on the field? I am now in a position where I am in command of the troops. You won’t find me running away. Please don’t give the men any more ammunition to tease me with later. I won’t hear the end of it.” Touta grimaced.
The lot of them appeared to enjoy reveling in memories of serving in Rvydom’s army together. Yuki watched them have fun with an absent smile as regret constantly nagged at her.
“But I seriously didn’t think the rumored doctor and his entourage was Vigo and Selena. Where are you heading next? Are you going inland?”
“No, we finished the inner regions before coming here. We journey to Adolunde from here.”
Adolunde—the mere mention of the country sent tension through the room. All the laughter died in cold, hard stares.
“You are going to Adolunde?” Touta demurred, scowling worse than Yuki had ever seen someone scowl before—and Luca was her Knight.
“We made a promise to take this little lady all the way to Adolunde,” Vigo clarified. The eyes of everyone present focused in on Yuki, flustering her.
“…Who is she?” Touta asked Vigo, layering Yuki with a skeptical look.
“Rifaenotis’ princess,” Vigo sighed.
Touta ran a hand over his scowling face to hide the disgust.
“Oh dear. Do you still hate Rifaenotis, Touta?” Selena prodded, biting into a chicken leg.
“To think he’s still alive. I respect him, but I can’t handle the man,” Touta spat, emphasizing his inability to handle Rifaenotis. “Let’s forget this talk about him. Are you aware of what is taking place in Rvydom?”
“Yes, I’m aware,” Vigo said over Touta, effectively stopping him from saying more. “I ran into them a few weeks back. I take it you lot will be going there too?”
Touta’s eyes widened before a happy smile erased his earlier frown. “We are. Since you know about it, that means you agree with the cause, yeah?”
“You could say that.”
“I am overjoyed to have the opportunity to fight alongside you both again.”
What are they talking about?
Despite listening while she ate, the subject of their conversation never became apparent.
“My trip to Adolunde coincides with their wishes,” Vigo divulged with a shrug, getting Touta even more excited.
“I am glad I never gave up on our dream of rebuilding Rvydom as the kingdom it once was,” Touta exclaimed.
“What?” Yuki coughed into her soup.
They plan on rebuilding Rvydom?
Yuki’s voice came out louder than she thought, because she effectively interrupted their conversation.
“What’s wrong, Yuki?” Selena asked, patting her back.
“Why would you…rebuild Rvydom?”
Although Yuki’s time in Aridol was short compared to the people of this world, she knew the world was mired in chaos. Why would they set about rebuilding a country when it wasn’t safe to?
“By rebuild, you plan to take it back from Maruk, right?”
“Of course. There’s no other way to rebuild without getting back what’s rightfully ours,” Touta snapped, slamming his hand on the table. Selena swiftly caught a cup before it tipped over the edge.
“Which means you’re going to start a war with Maruk again? How do you plan to do that when Rvydom’s population is less than half of what it was when you lost the war the first time around?” she retorted, stabbing at a sensitive topic. Touta and several other men sitting at the bar clenched their drinks, but held their tongue out of respect for Vigo.
Doubts whirled around Yuki’s mind, rendering her incapable of seeing her questions weren’t welcomed here.
Rvydom lost the war and is now Maruk’s tributary state.
“Are you going to start an independence war?”
“We are,” Touta answered with frustration and a bit of hesitance. For all he disliked Rifaenotis, he was smart enough to know not to be crass with someone dear to him.
“…Why?”
More of their people and Maruk’s people will die if they start another war.
The gory battle she witnessed earlier in the day was only one of many happening across Aridol. Yuki had met too many people during her travels who gave up hope of living after losing their loved ones to war.
“Why? Why do you want to rebuild Rvydom? Is the price of human life worth it to you?”
“Yuki,” Vigo called her name with a warning edge.
“Don’t look at me like I’m the crazy one here. You’re going to start another war!”
“Yuki,” Selena cautioned.
“You’re going to create even more people who are stuck with nothing but their anguish! People are only going to die as a result, with nothing to say for it! It’s far better not to start more wars! Yet you’re going to start another one? Why? For what purpose?” Yuki fumed and balled her fists on her lap.
“Yuki!” Selena hissed.
“Japan—the country I’m from was a part of a major war long before I was born. We invaded countries and killed many people and had many of our own people killed as retribution. Nothing came from any of it! Rvydom lost the war and is a part of Maruk now. What’s so wrong with that? Becoming a part of Maruk might lead to its own form of growth and advancement. Your war will only bring sadness with it! There’s no point—”
A hard slap to her cheek by Selena stopped her rant.
What was that?
Heat rushed to her numb, stinging cheek. Blood from cutting it on her teeth filled her mouth with a metallic flavor.
“I suggest you refrain from saying more. You’ll regret it, Yuki,” Selena said sadly as she somberly fixed her eyes on Yuki’s cheek.
“…Why?”
“Your country may have a lot of experience with invasions.” Yuki nodded. “But Aridol has always been made up of three distinct nations. Always. History books have records of wars and invasion plans, but the border creating three countries held strong for centuries.”
Yuki held a hand to her cheek and quietly listened to Selena’s mournful voice. “We were born and raised in Rvydom. We take pride in being citizens of Rvydom.” She paused and bit the bottom of her lip. A trail of blood trickled down as she continued, “Rvydom stopped existing as its own country ten years ago. We don’t know what caused the war. Did they want our advanced technology and research? Were they trying to eradicate the Witches who made their home in Rvydom? We still don’t know. They just suddenly invaded.”
The sound of utensils scraping plates and drinks being refilled all stopped. Silence filled the room as the people present grappled with memories of the war.
“Rvydom’s king was absent at the time of the war. The king’s absence meant he couldn’t be killed. How could Rvydom surrender without a king or royalty to take his place? No one had the power to make the decision. The people did their best to fight back. But a five-year war was too much for us. Rvydom is the smallest of the three countries.”
Luca had once told Yuki that Rvydom’s king was missing. She never gave much thought to what his absence meant for Rvydom.
“With no one to surrender, somehow Rvydom became Maruk’s territory… The kingdom of Rvydom disappeared from Aridol.” Selena looked up from her cup and straight into Yuki’s eyes. “Yuki, do you know what happens to the citizens of a country that loses?”
“I—”
Selena continued over her, “Maruk treated the citizens of Rvydom as less than dogs. They forced the women into prostitution, the men into slavery, and experimented on the rest. Horrible human experiments.”
The intensity of those words caused Yuki to blanch.
“Yuki, is it really all right for things to stay the way they are? Maruk stole our country, our livelihood, and our dignity from us, and then they spat on it and crushed it underfoot. Is there still a future or hope for us? Will growth and advancement come to us as we serve as slaves?”
“That’s…horrific,” Yuki managed to get out through the lump in her throat.
“But that’s reality.”
Yuki was speechless. She never thought the defeated country received such horrible treatment. It was unconceivable to her. Even after World War II, with the loss and hatred of a losing nation, Japan was still treated as a country worthy of respect; they were not experimented on, tortured, or executed in public. People eventually picked up the pieces, but then again they were allowed to pick up the pieces. What about Rvydom?
But that’s reality.
Selena stroked Yuki’s red cheek and pulled her into her arms. “I understand you don’t know any of this, Yuki. I kept quiet because I didn’t want to be the one to tell you. There are things better off not known. But all of it is the bitter truth.”
“…I’m sorry,” Yuki mumbled into Selena’s shirt.
I wasn’t thinking about Rvydom’s citizens. It didn’t occur to me that they want to fight to regain their country and their peaceful days. What terrible things did I just say to them?
Yuki’s cheeks reddened and she wished she could disappear somewhere. She clung to Selena to hide her face and find solace from what she said.
“All we have left is our desire to return Rvydom to its former glory. We were born to Rvydom—we can’t conceive belonging to any nation but Rvydom,” Touta muttered, his tone quivering as he endured the pain his admittance brought. “You know, Rvydom had a princess. Lord Cahn’s daughter.”
“…It did?” asked Yuki, her voice muffled by Selena’s shirt.
“She must have been in hiding waiting for the right time to return to us. She rose to action for Rvydom and for those of us left behind. But she died for our cause—at Maruk’s hand!” Touta spat, his fists trembling with rage. He bit his lip to keep his anger in check.
“She would have never died had she chosen to live in secret and not to fight for us! But she chose to die for Rvydom!” he cried out. He took a deep breath and let the tension out. A languid smile replaced his frown. “Our princess died to rebuild our country. What’s wrong with wanting to take up her mantle and rebuild it?”
His smile easily squeezed her heart and squelched any argument she could come up with.