Day 25 of the Fourth Month, Year 1016 - night

The Plains, Nave Province

AFTER instructing Jason to bring Nile carefully and giving him a letter for Alize, Victoria and Dev set off that very night.

Dev didn’t ask where exactly they were going, but he just followed quietly. They walked by foot because they couldn’t bring a horse—that is, to lose Arachnids’ trackers back in the city. However, he noticed that Victoria looked tired. “Should we take a rest?” He suggested.

Victoria glanced at him, thought for a second, and finally nodded. They were now in the north of the capital city, following a stone road separating a wide grass field. The last village they walked past by was half an hour away, but they hadn’t taken a rest there—both had been walking for consecutively two hours.

The Princess looked very worried, as Dev observed. They sat by the roadside, on the grassy green field. He started to get the waterskin and a few dry foods out of the bag. “Do you want to eat?” Dev offered.

She looked at him for a few moments and made him feel a bit nervous, but then she smiled and nodded at him. “Thank you,” she said, taking the dry goods from his hands. “It’s not far now.”

Dev observed her. “I’ve been wondering… Why do you have to go by yourself?”

“To reassemble the Corps?”

“Yes. Wouldn’t it be faster for you to send a message?”

Victoria nodded. “Sure. But Crimson Army as a whole could only be commanded by me, as the Great General—not even General Adefine could do it. Even the commanders under me could only mobilize a few parts of them. We are going to see the part that only Nile could mobilize.”

“Ah.” Dev nodded. He himself didn’t know why Victoria chose to let him follow her. Of course, he had to protect her as officially he was put under escort mission, but this was practically a military secret—a high-grade one that a small major like him shouldn’t know. That was why he never asked where they were going. Well, it didn’t really matter if he didn’t ask, as he wasn’t even blindfolded. He would know the location anyway.

Nevertheless, her trust in him warmed him. Someone that wasn’t his subordinate, someone that actually far above his station, trusted him. Why? She kept joking it was because he let her borrow money from him before, but he felt like that was too ridiculous.

The young maiden had been sighing countless of times since they left Jason and Nile, however, and it started to make him feel concerned. “Are you okay?” She talked about how people around her died earlier. Dev realized that she was actually quite soft-hearted, despite her brave and careless front.

She sighed again. “I think a few of my personal guards died, in Dustor, when I was kidnapped by Arachnids.”

Dev didn’t answer, as he didn’t know how to answer her. She had entanglement in her heart and it wouldn’t matter however he answered her. He could, however, shared his thoughts. “I…”

Victoria looked at him. He could feel it.

He, however, was looking at the waterskin in his hands. “My brother died in prison to protect me,” he said, and then he was surprised by what came out of his mouth. He never really said that out loud before.

The Princess, undoubtedly, was stunned by his sudden confession.

Her silence made him continue talking. “He was working as a gardener for one of the wealthy nobles in Savire City. He insisted I should continue my education, so he enrolled me in a school.” He laughed slightly. “My brother looked pretty good, good enough to catch the eye of the noblewoman he worked for.”

Victoria’s breath caught, and he knew she understood his meaning.

“But the noblewoman is married, obviously, and my brother is an upright person. He refused. Perhaps she felt humiliated or whatever, so she said a few words to his husband that my brother was trying to force her.” Dev clenched his fists. After so many years, recounting it still hurts. “My brother was reported to the government, so we had to live on the run. I was fine with that, but he felt guilty about it. So he actually turned himself in. Turning himself in for a crime he didn’t even do!” He almost didn’t notice that his tone rose at the end, and took a deep breath to calm his emotions.

“And then?” Victoria asked softly.

Dev snorted. “What then? He was sentenced to death. It doesn’t matter that he was innocent. What matters is that the powerful people said he was wrong, so he was wrong.” Again, he took a deep breath. “I’m sorry,” he said at last.

“No, I’m sorry,” Victoria said. “I know there’s a lot of corrupt nobles out there… My mother has been purging them out, as far as I know, but obviously not everyone was caught. There was something fundamentally wrong in the society itself.” She hung her head down. “This nobility hierarchy… I feel like it’s very wrong.”

Dev loosened his grip on the waterskin before it broke. “Yeah. But you can’t control everyone. A few people will always be loose in morals… Such is the case in humanity.”

“Thank Goddess that a few other people will always be morally-driven,” she said with a slight smile, nudging him.

He shook his head, not looking at Victoria. “I did a lot of bad things while living in the street, after my brother died.”

Victoria turned to him. “The Arachnids thing? What did they have you do?” There was no judgement in her tone, only curiosity.

“Well, taking in information around Blue. I had to go around, extorted a few people, hurting a few others just for some intel that are meaningless for me.” He looked down, feeling awful at himself. “They thought I was good and all so I even got sent to Naveland for a few months, but then I started to feel like my life is going in the direction I don’t want. So… I quit.”

She still was looking at him. “Jason said they were ruthless. You said they valued secrecy. I suppose getting out shouldn’t be easy.”

Dev smiled in contempt. “Of course. Anyone who wanted to leave would be killed.” He shrugged. “I used the same method they use on people.”

“Which is?”

“Well, as long as I get out and lose them to another place, I would be fine. Their spies are everywhere, so obviously I couldn’t use my original identity.”

Victoria opened her mouth in astonishment. “You mean, you had a different name back then? What is it?”

Dev shook his head. “You don’t need to know.”

Victoria could see that he wasn’t willing to talk, so she just nodded. “Alright. I think it’s enough rest. Just a little bit ahead.”

Dev nodded and they started to get a move on. He cleaned up the food, packed it up, and then followed beside her without a voice of protest. She wasn’t in a hurry, but he knew how she felt. It was the mentality of the sooner the better, which he agreed with in this case.

“Speaking of which, that Jason was pretty good,” Victoria said. “They’re worth my money.”

Dev looked at her, and said what he had been wondering all these times. “Why do you have to pay? Aren’t they supposed to support the Kingdom?”

Victoria sighed. “Ah, I’ve said such arguments to Brad as well,” she said. “But that man said business is business, it has to be handled separately. Whatever, whatever. Just take it as me sponsoring them. In any case, my mother’s treasury is yet to be empty.”

Dev laughed. Normally he hated it when nobles bragged about their wealth, but the Princess said it so matter-of-factly that it was her parent’s wealth. “Then I shouldn’t be worried.”

Day 26 of the Fourth Month, Year 1016 - midnight

The Plains, Nave Province

A few hours later, when midnight came and the moon hung high above the sky, Dev could see buildings in the middle of the grass field. The one in the center looked most conspicuous because of its size, despite only being a medium-sized courtyard house built with stone. Around it, there were similar looking smaller houses. It was like a small village.

“Is this the place?” Dev asked.

Victoria nodded. They kept walking forward. When Dev thought they were going to stop in front of the central building, she kept walking forward. Confused, Dev followed behind her.

She finally stopped on a small stone house right behind the courtyard house, hidden from sight. On the stone door, she knocked a few times with invariable rhythm.

The door opened. A man in his forties opened the door and looked immediately shocked when he found Victoria. “You… You’re here!”

“Old man, don’t look so surprised,” the girl said while smiling cheerily. “The condition is bad, so I’m here ahead of schedule.”

“Come in, come in,” the man said, opening the stone door even wider. After he closed the door, he looked at Dev before turning back to Victoria. “Your Highness, this is…?”

“This is Dustor City’s Major Andres,” Victoria said with a smile. “Major, this is General Harvey. He was one of the famous commanders in the war a decade ago.”

“General Harvey,” Dev nodded, greeting him respectfully.

“Major.” The man nodded back.

Victoria continued. “Major Andres has been helping me. Nile told me about your location, but he did not have a chance to tell me what had been happening.”

The old man hung his head down. “Yes. Your Highness. From the number of old veterans from last decade’s war that was supposed to be here, only half of them had arrived. I had news that the other half are dead.”

Victoria nodded nonchalantly, but even Dev could see the flicker of pain in her eyes. She didn’t miss a beat, though, and asked right away, “Are the recruits safe?”

The general nodded. “All safe and sound, gathered together, ready to march.”

From the sound of it, it seemed like there were a variation of places where they placed new recruits in, before gathering them here. That made more sense. Dev did wonder, how could anyone hide such large troops? So, they were scattered everywhere.

“Then you go and prepare,” Victoria said. “We will march tomorrow. It’s too risky to wait any longer… Lirsk already found out that Crimson Corps reassembling.”

“That’s not good.” The old man frowned. “Then I’ll prepare. Your Highness, you should go rest first.”

In the corner of the room that they were in right now, there was a spiral stair, leading down somewhere bright. Victoria led Dev downstairs and found themselves in an oddly lively cavernous room. It was underground, but the ceiling was lit with loads of lanterns, and underneath it was the military base, split into four courtyards.

General Harvey also followed them downstairs and went off to talk to a few people. Two of them came forward and welcomed the Princess, then led her to one of the empty rooms. Dev also got his own room right next to the Princess.

The room was simple, but it was comfortable enough for a soldier like him. Strangely, though, he couldn’t fall asleep. It felt like his mind was just too occupied to rest.

Which was exactly as needed. He opened his eyes right when it started to bustle outside. Opening his door, he almost bumped into Victoria who also opened her door. “What’s happening?” The Princess pulled one of the soldiers.

“Someone is attacking the village above!” The soldier said.

“What?” She widened her eyes, and met his eyes.

“Did they track us here?” Dev frowned. It was possible, but he really didn’t want to think about that possibility.

“Damn it! Did Nile and Jason get captured then?” Victoria clenched her fists. “They won’t let them off, would they?”

“Now isn’t the time to think about it,” Dev said slowly, but Victoria seemed to be lost in her own thoughts. “Your Highness?” She still didn’t respond. “Victa!”

Victoria snapped. “Yes, yes, you’re right. We need to deal with it. Where’s General Harvey?” She asked the soldier again.

“He’s dealing with the situation…” The soldier said carefully. “We had activated the traps above. But there’s a lot of people attacking us. General Harvey said we just needed to wait up, since there was no one up there. Your Highness, you can stay calm, the situation is under control.”

Dev had to admit, even at this junction, the Crimson Corps’ soldiers were indeed superior. They faced a new situation, but they didn’t panic, instead moved coordinately. Which made him wonder, who was brave enough to attack them? If it was Arachnids, then they should know that since this place housed all, if not most of the Crimson Corps—there was no way they could win. Unless they had Lirsk troops, which was impossible. Where would the troops come from?

Unless there were another traitor in the kingdom…

Victoria nodded. “Let them die then. We’ll all stay here. You can go.” The soldier nodded respectfully and walked on. The princess turned towards Dev. “What do you think?”

“It could be Arachnids, but since they know this place housed the Crimson Corps, I don’t think they were that stupid to attack it right on.”

Victoria nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I don’t think so either. This is really odd.”

“What are you going to do?” He asked.

“We’ll wait,” Victoria said, which made Dev looked at her slightly. She was usually impulsive, dependent on her feelings and did what she wanted as long as she thought it would be good. Though, he knew she could hold herself off in dangerous circumstances, like that time in Duskbury where she was wanting to help, but they couldn’t since there’s still the red signal from Dustor.

Dev couldn’t help but smile. She was young, but she knew priority. She seemed reckless, but actually responsible. Dev found her to be quite conflicting.

They went to find General Harvey, who was currently listening to the report of a scout. “Your Highness,” he greeted the Princess when they entered. “They had surrounded the village above, but it was all empty, after all. We have more than fifty buildings, so we have time until they find our entrance.”

Dev thought of the sizable courtyard in the center of the village. Presumably those people would also think that it was the actual barracks. “Then what is that big building in the middle?” He asked.

General Harvey turned to him and smiled. “If they enter, they will have to face death.”

He understood—so, they also had traps there. “Then the whole village is riddled with traps?”

“Precisely.” Harvey turned back to Victoria. “Your Highness has any idea who had come to attack us? My scout said they seemed like well-trained soldiers.”

“From which direction could the soldiers come?” Victoria said, her face a bit ugly. “Unless… Do you have any clue, sir?”

General Harvey shook his head. “Wait until we capture one or two, then maybe we can question them. But we are under siege right now. They are cautious since tens of their people were caught dead in our traps, so they are camping outside the village now.”

Victoria gritted her teeth. She was probably itching to fight, but holding herself back. He just praised her for knowing priority, but she looked really angry now and he started to worry if she could really hold herself back.

While General Harvey and Victoria discussed a few other methods to fight the enemy, another scout came in and saluted. “I checked,” he said. “There’s about two hundred soldiers out there.”

Victoria’s expression turned uglier. Dev remembered them saying there was only a hundred soldiers here. They were elite troops and one could fight many men, but still, this troops were meant to fight Lirsk in the south. Fighting two hundred people, even if they could win, they would still have some loss, which was detrimental to the whole plan.

Other than that, where did Lirsk get two hundred soldiers to fight here? Dev frowned.

“This is not very good,” Victoria said.

General Harvey agreed. “We cannot fight. The battle in the south still needs aid. I think, we can go through another secret entrance path, through the tunnel to the south.”

Victoria nodded, which he understood—this underground barracks couldn’t possibly have just one entrance.

“There’s another thing, sir,” the scout said. “We captured one of their scouts in the dungeon.”

Everyone in the room stood up. “Bring me there,” Victoria said.

General Harvey shot Dev a pleading look that he understood well. It was dangerous in the dungeon. Dev wanted to say something to dissuade her, but he remembered that she had been holding herself back—and anyway, last time she went down to the dungeon to save him, no one can dissuade her. He looked back to General Harvey in helplessness.

Victoria broke his thoughts. “Major, you go and help take care of the troops.”

Dev frowned, but he nodded. He wouldn’t contradict the Princess in front of everyone. “Yes, Your Highness. Please be careful.”

Victoria only nodded and left.

She followed the scout down to the second level of the basement.

General Harvey went with her, despite very much disagreeing with her decision. But she only said, “I am your Great General. You are disobeying military order.”

That shut him up.

The dungeon was damp, but it wasn’t as dirty as the dungeon she found Nile in, back in the Arachnids base. She walked on with sure steps following the scout and it was just a short while until he stopped. “Here it is.”

Victoria peered into the cell. It was a soldier wearing non-descript uniform. Nothing could be gleaned from his appearance—he looked exactly like any other soldier of her army. Which army did they come from?

The sentry who kept watch of the dungeon was one of the veterans from previous war and happened to recognize her. “Your Highness! Why are you here?”

At his greeting, the captured enemy lifted up his head and laughed. “You know, I happened to think that they were lying. Turns out Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess was really here.”

General Harvey frowned and shouted, “Impudent!”

Following his words, one of the sentries whipped the captive.

But the prisoner didn’t seem bothered—he didn’t even look like he was in pain. He looked towards the Princess straightly and grinned. Victoria suddenly had a bad hunch in her heart. Now that she observed him, the soldier seemed rather familiar, though she couldn’t quite place him. It nagged in her mind, but she had no idea who he was.

“Indeed, what they say about the arrogant Crown Princess is true,” he laughed. “You can abandon your subordinates in a moment of crisis.”

“What are you talking about?” Victoria slammed the prison bars in anger.

“Oh, you don’t know? We have your Lieutenant Nile—sorry, I meant General Nile. I heard he’s a relative of yours?” There’s a sneer on his face. “Not to mention whoever that Sergeant you sent him to?”

Victoria’s heart lurched in her chest. Nile and Alize. Her valued relative and her dear friend were in the hands of the enemy. No, she couldn’t let people die for her again. Where was Jason? Did he escape? Would he be able to help them? Her mind was racing, but her expression, was guarded and unchanging. “Who are you?” She asked in a cold voice. “Where do you come from?”

“You want to know?” The soldier snorted. “Try to remember.”

Victoria glanced at the sentry, who whipped the soldier again.

But the soldier’s eyes turned crazed instead. “So, you are the type to torture people. I knew it, I knew you would be.”

Victoria gritted her teeth. “Where are they?”

The soldier only blinked.

After nudging him a few more times, an activity of which Victoria didn’t enjoy, the crazed look in his eyes turned even redder. “Sinjar Town!” He yelled. “Sinjar.”

Sinjar Town. Victoria frowned and turned to Harvey, who looked complicated. “Sinjar Town is a small town to the west,” he said slowly. “It was on the way from the capital, a respite for travelers who seek to go to Blue Province.”

Sinjar Town.

Victoria turned to run upstairs, ignoring the laugh that seemed to emanate from the captured soldier. []