INTERLUDE - ZIKR OSMAN
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—Volakian General Second-Class Zikr Osman was infamous as a skirt chaser.
A sex maniac, lascivious, a disciple of love—he had been called all sorts of things. For an imperial officer who needed the respect of his subordinates, such labels were nothing short of derogatory. However, Zikr Osman embraced his reputation as a skirt chaser.
—In fact, he was proud of it.
The reason was simple: He despised the nickname he had been given before. For a soldier, that name had been unbearably humiliating, and so he took on the moniker of skirt chaser as a badge of honor, wearing it proudly until his old nickname was forgotten by officers and enlisted alike.
Yet despite being called a skirt chaser, Zikr was unlike those men who held a low opinion of women. The Osman line had produced generations of fine soldiers who served the empire, but in some twist of fate, Zikr’s family was made up almost entirely of women. He was born and raised in a home with four older sisters and six younger sisters, growing up as the lone male among them. In that environment, it was almost miraculous that he came to see all women as nearly sacred.
When he left home, parting from his sisters—who adored their only brother—Zikr embarked on the path of an imperial soldier. It was then, upon first meeting a woman outside his family, that he “burst.”
From that moment on, Zikr Osman saw women as a forbidden fruit—a blend of love and hatred, existing like an ephemeral dream between reality and ideals. Unlike the domineering men of the empire, he believed it was right and good to devote himself to women, just as women should devote themselves to him.
His skill in battle, marked by solid tactics and safe, unremarkable victories, led to both envy and scorn. Many twisted his beliefs into the roots of a whisper campaign against him. Yet Zikr took pride in the name they gave him.
—Was it not splendid?
After all, more men liked women than hated them. His reputation even gave him a common topic of conversation among fellow officers and soldiers.
Zikr held no doubts about his pragmatic stance, and those who served under him respected the man known as a skirt chaser.
—And so Zikr Osman climbed to the rank of general second-class with a certain reputation.
When the emperor was driven from his throne and his enemies sought to snuff him out for good, the best weapon his political adversaries could wield—within their limited authority—was none other than Zikr Osman.
The menacing, workmanlike General Zikr Osman, a known skirt chaser.
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