Chapter 49: Lost (Part 1)

After opening the door to go out for dinner, I saw that Reimi and Shera were now standing together.

They tried to peek behind me to check on Hatano, who had been beaten heavily and got punished.

"Sigh! Reimi, she deserves that, just look away and go down to eat."

"You too, Princess! Don't waste your time checking up on my subordinates, you may forgive them but I won't."

"Sir Rigen, do you see the punishment is too heavy for her?" - Shera asked me with regret, tch! Care more about your neck, Princess! She just had choked you a few hours ago!

"Ah, I forgot!" - I forgot to confiscate Hatano's weapons so I got inside to make it, if I didn't been strict on Hatano, she would have betrayed me sooner or later

I took Hatano's M21 Sniper Rifle which was placed near her Alrotz bag. After taking it, I changed my direction to Hatano to take her M1911 pistol and her Katana.

"Get out, Sarah!" - Sarah was now checking on Hatano, she didn't want me to disturb her

"Sarah!"

"Just wait for me a bit, Commander!" - Sarah took the pistol from the holster and Hatano's Katana to give me, her action while doing that behaved as if she was scared I would hit her older sister more if she didn't do it

Then I took Hatano's weapons, after taking all of them, I looked back at Hatano's Advisor. Maybe I should confiscate it too in case Hatano used it to harm me.

"Hatano, give me your Advisor."

"Advisor? What do you mean, Commander?" - Sarah made a curious face, these girls must have used the word SA than Advisor

"Advisor means SA, now give it to me."

"Do that yourself, don't order my little sister to do that, I won't hurt you, Commander." - This bitch! Do you still have the confidence to talk after this?

"You!" - I hit Hatano's face

After I hit her, Sarah suddenly covered Hatano, she was scared that I would have beaten her more and more.

"Sir Rigen!" - I felt that I had been held from behind, that was Reimi

"Sarah, remove Advisor from that girl or Sir Rigen will beat her more!" - Shera shouted to Sarah and I saw Sarah start removing Hatano's Advisor

After removing Advisor, Sarah gave it to me and Reimi stopped holding me, we looked at each other for a few seconds then I went back to my room to store Hatano's weapons inside my bag.

After that, I went downstairs for dinner, when I got downstairs, I saw that Ewa, the inn owner was now looking at me, she later made a sigh and stepped toward me.

"Young man, luckily that there's only six of us in this inn or I would have been complained by the customers by the previous quarrel." - What? Ewa said what?

"Your face looks so curious, mister! Only the Royal family people are allowed to stay here, that's all! The dinner is done, please choose your seat and I will bring your meal out." - Seemed like I have understood what Ewa said to me

Then I went to the room that I considered the kitchen and sat down at a dinner table nearby, Ewa was preparing to take out for me some dishes.

"Ah, mister! Which meal do you want?" - Ewa asked me while preparing

"You can look up the menu on the table, please tell me when you have done choosing." - Ewa talked to me and waited until I chose the meal

Then I looked at the menu, maybe I should choose something, let's see, maybe it could be anything.

"I choose "Salad potatoes steak", madame." - The meal's name seemed weird

Ewa started preparing after what I said, after a few seconds, she had brought out for me what I wanted, the meal sure had a very good smell. I was now stopping to eat and sat there to wait until Shera and Reimi, or maybe Sarah to come down to eat.

Why did they come down so long? After a few seconds, Shera and Reimi come down, seemed like Sarah didn't want to get down to eat.

Then Shera and Reimi chose their meals, after choosing the meal, they sat next to me, Shera seemed very frustrated for some reason, also Reimi.

"Sir Rigen, I have made up with that Shizuka girl so please reconsider your punishment." - Reimi talked to me with a begging voice, why you didn't learn anything after that incident?

"Yeah, Sir Rigen! I also think that too, please reconsider your punishment." - Also you, Shera! Dammit! How stupid could two of you be?

"Shera, Reimi! That's my problem with my subordinate, please don't step into our problem, I only say that."

Then I started eating and ignored the girls, I could hear their complaining voices while eating but I tried to rid those things off my ears.

The meal's taste was sure very good but I didn't have the mood to think about them after all these quarrels so I ate fast and stepped upstairs, went back to my room.

After eating, I asked Ewa to give me an extra meal in a bowl to bring up for Sarah, after she had done the meal, I took the bowl and brought it straight to Sarah. I hoped she would at least eat something or she would get starved.

Shera and Reimi had finally done eating as same as me so they also went with me up there, they had stopped complaining but I still remember what they complained to me during dinner.

"Knock! Knock! Sarah, open the door! I just have brought up your dinner"

Then the door was opened, Sarah looked at my hand, which was holding the meal. She shooked her head while looking straight at me, which meant she didn't have a mood to eat.

"Just eat, Sarah! Or you will hungry."

"I will starve with my sis, if there's anything I can do, I want to share the punishment with my sis, so please let us eat just a very little bit, Commander." - How did a stupid like her could be smart at this time?

"No! As a leader of the team, I cannot go soft."

"Then please leave us alone, Commander! Please!" - Sarah after saying that, she shut the door slowly

"Please wait, miss Sarah! I want to talk to you a bit." - Shera spoke to Sarah behind me, she seemed to want to do something

"Me too!" - Also Reimi too?

"Sir Rigen, please get back to your room, I will have a little talk with your subordinates, please hand me over the meal." - Shera asked me to hand over the bowl that had a meal for her, what was her purpose?

But I think I should not make more trouble, I guessed that my team had divided completely after that quarrel, maybe the way I took care of the situation made it worse.

I tried to eavesdrop on the conversations of the girls but it didn't work. I sat in the chair in my room for a while and a knock came out from the door.

"Knock! Knock! Sir Rigen, please open the door." - Shera called me, she seemed to have done the conversation with my subordinates

Then I opened the door and saw Shera standing there with a happy smile, she smiled for some reason. Then she made a bow to me as if to ask my permission to get in then stepped into my room.

"Excuse me, Sir Rigen!" - Reimi who was standing behind Shera also bowed to me and stepped inside

After going inside, Reimi also made smiled as same as Shera, why did they smile?

"Sir Rigen, I've talked to Sarah and the girl Hatano, they have apologized me our previous quarrel and Sarah finally accepted to eat." - Looked like my leadership still lacks many things

Kaori and Amanda didn't teach me about leadership, they said that I needed to train about physical training, reflection, mental and marksmanship more than ever.

They said that I didn't need to learn about leadership because I would have a chance to learn it someday.

Maybe they were right, it's the time for me to learn, the mental part that those two moms taught me when I was still in the army was only effective in combat, not in talking so I always heat my head.

"Sir Rigen, l want to talk to you about something." - Shera talked to me

"Sir Rigen, after saying a bit with Hatano, she said that she hates you, what's wrong?"

"My homeland and her homeland had been enemies decades ago and now we are friends but she saw her government has to humble before us too much so she hates me, just because I'm the citizen of that country."

"Is there anyway else to deal with that problem?" - Shera, you didn't know how to deal, with me either so stop asking me!

"The problem is Hatano's homeland military is restricted by us, they have the military called Self Defense Forces but we restricted their personnel and their weapon equipment."

"Personnel?" - Oh! Shera didn't know this word well

"Personnel in my homeland means soldiers, Hatano's homeland military is restricted only have 250.000 active soldiers and about 50.000 reserve soldiers."

"That low?" - Shera and Reimi shouted loud, they seemed very shocked

"Maybe we have digressed, Princess! We are talking about the problem between me and Hatano, not her homeland."

"Tell me more, Sir Rigen." - Why did Shera make up curious eyes? Sigh!

"I was very shocked, you know? The lowest army in this continent is my country, we only have 600.000 soldiers, other Kingdoms have about 1.000.000 on average."

"And also, what are active soldiers and reserved soldiers, Sir Rigen?" - Wait? Shera, your country didn't have that?

"Ah, active soldiers mean the soldiers that working in the military in a mean number because our defense spending only needs them that much."

"Reserved soldiers are the soldiers that have done the enlist but they are extra number so they will stop their duty to return to their homes until the country got into wars then they will be called to join again."

"What a knowledge!" - Reimi seemed very surprised at what she learned from me

"My homeland doesn't have that kind of system, we only go around the villages to ask for volunteers, when the villagers chose to go with the lords, we will train them gradually from the farmers to real soldiers."

"When those soldiers reached a capable line of their training, they will be trained into Knights then Royal Guards or Elite Guards but they have to be very capable if they want to graduate it."

"There is no rest for soldiers at all, they will work till they pass away because of the contract they made for the lords." - Why did I see what Shera said looked like Mount and Blade?

"Your homeland didn't have mandatory military service, Princess?"

"What is that, Sir Rigen?" - Reimi! Just shut up! Didn't you were supposed to stay guard for Shera?

"When our country gets into a war, we will force men to join the military, Sir Rigen."

"After the war, those men will be returned to their homes, we didn't have the system for reserved soldiers as you say to choose them when the next war comes" - Shera's explanation was quite good

"Shera, I mean Princess! Just cut off that topic out first, why did you lie to me that this place only has one continent?"

"Sir Rigen?" - Still kept that pure face?

"This place has 5 continents, why did you lie to me, Princess?"

"Sir Rigen, like I said to you when we were discussing why you are powerless, I have to doubt you before I can believe you, I'm sorry!" - Maybe I should not talk so harsh to Shera like that, I also doubted her

"I understand, so now get back to the previous topic, you want to ask me some more, Princess?"

"I want to ask, Sir Rigen!" - Sheesh! Reimi, why did you let your guard down?

"What's exactly mandatory military service?" - Why did she ask me this?

"Before I can answer, what's about you, Reimi? You are a Royal Guard?"

"Yes, Sir Rigen! My family has the Knight traditional generations ago, we came from commoners to the nobles."

"Like Her Highness said to you, Sir Rigen, the first generation was my late great-grandfather who had volunteered to follow a lord."

"After years, my late-grandfather had been taught, trained to become the first class of noble which is a Knight, after more years, he becomes a Royal Guard, you have to be very capable to do that." - Ok, Reimi!

"Well! Mandatory military service means every men citizen when they reach are fully matured, they will have to join a military training lasts for three months or more then get graduated to become soldiers."

"After becoming soldiers, they will have to serve in the military for years until their enlistment duration ends."

"They will become reserved soldiers and go home until they got called back when their country gets into wars."

"Thank you, Sir Rigen! I understood." - Reimi seemed to be a muscle brain but at least she could learn something useful for herself

"So Sir Rigen, what is Defence spending means?" - Shera seemed didn't know about this too, maybe Frank Jonathan didn't teach the people in this world about these definitions

"Defence spending means the money the government spends for the military to raise the soldiers and also to develop or upgrade weapons."

Shera after hearing what I said, she went silent a bit, maybe she wanted to ask me something wiser.

"My Highness! Why are you silent?" - Reimi! Shut up for Shera, she was thinking!

"Sir Rigen, does your homeland and Hatano's homeland have that mandatory military service?" - Nice, Shera! Good question!

"No, our military depends on volunteers but when each of our citizens reaches the age of 17, they will be considered an adult according to my country's laws.

"They will have to take their citizen list to the military record in case if somedays the war happens they will be called to join according to their list if they are capable to be a soldier."

"Otherwise, if they volunteered to join the military when their country is in peace, they will join until their enlistment duration ends and they will go home or will register to become an officer if they want to."

"So Hatano's homeland doesn't have mandatory military service, Sir Rigen?"

"Yes!"

"How did Hatano's homeland be so least of voluntary soldiers?" - Shera, it depends on patriotism

"You have to ask Hatano, Princess! I don't know the answer myself."

"Or I have to say, it's because my country affects her homeland's Constitution, it is written by us and the detail in the Constitution has the military limitation."

"When Douglas MacArthur, a General of my homeland came to Hatano's country when her government declared war on us and lost."

"He rewrote the Constitution and taught the people there about Democracy, restricted the spirit of the Samurai / Bushido, which are the parts of their tradition."

"That means her country is nothing but a puppet state of your government, Sir Rigen!"

"How cruel can your homeland be, your government even dare to erase her's homeland tradition!" - Shera was so shocked after hearing what I said, also Reimi

"I feel so happy that my country is not a puppet state like Hatano's country." - Shera seemed very relieved for some reason

"No, Princess, you have misunderstood! We only restricted the obsolete things out of Hatano's country, not erase them."

"If the Bushido code and the Samurai spirit remain in her country, you will have to see the soldiers die uselessly when they fight without thinking about their lives with no surrender or retreat."

"Sir Rigen, what is Bushido and what is Samurai?" - Reimi, can you stay silent? But luckily that Kaori taught me these things

"Bushido code means "The way of the warrior", fights with honors, dies also in honors, do not surrender but commit suicide when you have lost or you are about to be captured."

"And Samurai, that definition can be compared as the Knight."

"Sir Rigen, then why does Hatano's homeland have the very least of voluntary soldiers, they don't love their homeland?" - Shera! I told you I didn't know! Maybe I should make a proper answer for her, take some excuses

"I think because the youths of Hatano's country grow up with the mixed of our tradition and theirs so it makes them have the crisis in lives."

"Think, when your people have the strict and the hard work tradition but we mixed our lifestyle to them make the youths struggle to live in the new kind mixing society we have never through in our lives before."

"I don't think the people in Hatano's homeland don't love their country, they just struggle to live in a new society that developed too fast."

"Think, if you don't have a proper job and don't have a proper meal then how would you love your homeland?"

"We only restricted Hatano's homeland military, just only that, but if I have to say, their country is very developed, as same as us."

"Sir Rigen, can you please let me rest a bit? My head hurts after hearing what you said." - Seemed like Shera needed help

"Okay!"

Then all of us went silent for a few minutes, during that time, I thought about everything that I could then I remembered Mentor Lerer.

Before I leave him, he said to me that I must give something important to these girls but I didn't remember so I quit.

What should I ask these girls? About the ceremony? Yura said to me that maybe the explosion would happen during the ceremony.

"Hey, Princess! There's a thing that I cannot understand, can you please tell me about the ceremony to summon heroes, you say it's very sacred, right?"

After hearing what was said, Reimi suddenly chucked but she held her smile as low as possible, what was wrong with this girl?

"Well, Sir Rigen! The ceremony is held every ten years in one Kingdom by voting, the country that has the most votes will have to hold the ceremony to summon one Hero."

"We can only summon one, cannot have more, if there are Heroes that got summoned here without our intervention, those Heroes would be called Goddess's Heroes because she chose them."

"I want to know about the purpose of the ceremony, Shera! I mean Princess! Why it's sacred?"

"Because we summon the Hero to take out the Demon Lord, Sir Rigen! That's why it's sacred, the Demon Lord always threaten our existence in the past though I think the ceremony is not necessary to be held now."

"Our war with the demons has ended for centuries and the demons have tried to live in peace with us but we still keep the ceremony to summon the Hero to kill the Demon Lord." - Maybe that's why Reimi chucked earlier, the ceremony was so bullshit!

"So, is its success in killing the Demon Lord?"

"Sir Rigen, the heroes got summoned die many like the grass, chuckle!" - Reimi cannot hold her laugh so she exposed her chuckle out

"Talk, Remi! I want to hear, I don't know much about the ceremony but you do." - Shera ordered Reimi

"Yes, chuckle! My Highness, most of the heroes died during their training, some of them survived but died during getting through the Snow border."

"The people who passed the snow border died when they faced an Orc soldier or a Dark elf guard when they were on their way to the Demon Lord's capital."

"Then why do you people have to keep the ceremony when it's useless?"

"We-"

"Knock! Knock! Your Highness, we have come here to pick you up, please follow us to return to the Imperial Palace." - A voice seemed to be a Royal Guard voice called us, maybe it's time to go back to the Palace

"Sir Rigen, let's talk about that later when we return, let's go now!" - Shera held my hand and stepped to the door, our trash talk had been interrupted by the guards

I and my subordinates would go with Shera and Reimi to that place, after going out, I would call them to go with me.

Then Reimi opened the door, many guards had gathered there, we slowly went out, suddenly one of the guards stared at me, what was wrong with him?

"Sir, you are! You may not recognize me but you've ordered me to prepare one more carriage to pick you and your people, Sir!"

"You may be an important man to Her Highness by the way you're allowed to talk in her room, please follow us back to the Imperial Palace, Sir!" - Oh, maybe I have remembered that guard

"Sir John, sorry! I have forgotten to tell my father to prepare more carriage!" - Shera apologized to me

"No problem, Princess! I will tell my subordinate to pack up, you wait outside first, I will get down soon."

"Then I will go now!" - Shera made a slight bow to me then walked with Reimi with the guards downstairs to go out of the inn

Then I got back to my room to take my bag then got inside my subordinates' room, maybe I should not ask their permission to go in, just get in as I wanted.

Then I opened the door and walked inside, when I got inside, I saw that Hatano was now standing with Sarah. Both of them had worn their Alrotz bags but Hatano was checking on Sarah for some reason, seemed serious.

"What's wrong, Hatano?"

"Commander, did you have to go to the toilet when you ate the meal?" - Sarah said to me

Oh, dammit! I forgot that these girls hadn't used to eat here!

"Maybe you don't use to eat here, Sarah! The first time I ate here I vomited and got diarrhea, don't worry, it will end when you're used to eating, just takes days or weeks."

"I also let my sis eat some but she didn't vomit or go toilet." - What did you say, Sarah! But maybe I should cool down my head

"Maybe she has a good immune system, I will consider your punishment later, Sarah! Now we have to go with the Princess to her home, let's go."

Then my subordinates went with me downstairs, when were stepping down the stair, Hatano suddenly went near me.

"Commander, I don't have any regret after trying to kill Shera but Sarah has persuaded me to apologize to Shera so let's consider that I have regretted it." - Hatano whispered to me, this girl didn't want to learn from her faults

"And also, I still hate you and want to kill you, Commander. But seems like Sarah is very obedient to you so from now on I won't mess with you anymore."

"I will stick with you, Commander, until my little sister changes her mind, sorry for disturbing you all this time." - Hatano has done her whisper to me and stepped away from me

At least I could relieve that Hatano would obey me as long as Sarah was still with me, at least for now.

Then we returned our room keys to Ewa and went outside, when we got outside, two carriages waited for us on the street.

Shera and Reimi invited me to sit with them in the first carriage, Sarah and Hatano would sit in the second carriage.

After choosing our seats, the carriages rolled the wheels to the Imperial Palace.

Shera said to me that the journey to the Palace would last 5 minutes or less, after hearing what she said, I took a nap on the seat after having too much thinking about Hatano.