The Girl Raised by the Death God Holds the Sword of Darkness in Her Arms - Volume 6 - Chapter 5.3

III

The Elfiel Canyon

After meeting up with the main force of the Eighth Legion in the Elfiel Canyon, Ashton immediately went to Luke and the other principal commanders to tell them what had happened—Olivia and Felix’s duel, the words of the self-proclaimed new Emperor Darmés, and the horde of the dead who had dragged themselves up out of the ground. He told them that they had a truce with the Azure Knights and were, for the time being, working together. When he had finished, everyone there looked as confused as he had ever seen them.

“Thank you for bringing us this news,” Luke said. “In truth, I didn’t follow most of it. It’s all too far beyond the realm of common sense...” His reaction was only natural. Thinking back now, Ashton knew he would have been skeptical if he had not seen that bloodcurdling scene with his own eyes. In that sense, it was safe to say Luke was far more broad-minded than he was.

“After the Azure Knights who were keeping us penned in took off like that, I was sure General Olivia must have taken down their commander...”

“If only it were that simple. This whole situation is a convoluted mess.”

“We were just fighting the Azure Knights. No one could have seen it coming, joining forces with them—and that’s to say nothing of walking dead,” Luke said. “But, anyway. What do we do from here, ser?”

“First, we need to see to it that the First and Second Allied Legions hear what has happened. We’ll make our way back to Fis via the forts that the Eighth Legion captured.”

“Understood. But ser, I have to wonder if the higher-ups will believe us.”

Ashton had tucked away a letter that bore both the details of the situation and the signatures of Felix and Olivia. For a blessing, the high-ranking commanders of the Royal Army were willing to listen to reason, but that didn’t make the tale he had to tell any less fantastical. If he were honest with himself, Ashton thought the odds of their believing him were about split down the middle.

“Take care of these.”

“Yes, ser!”

Though he still felt a little uneasy, Ashton handed the letter over to two runners; then, taking over command from Luke, he put them on the road to the royal capital. For two days they advanced, tracing the path by which they had come, until they arrived at the captured Fort Tezcapolis. Almost at once, they were met by a runner from the Second Allied Legion who seemed to be in poor shape, for their face was pallid, and it seemed as though their eyes were out of focus.

“I bear a message from General Blood,” they said. “He understands the situation, and wishes Lieutenant Colonel Ashton to remain at the fort so that they may discuss what to do next, while the Eighth Legion returns to Fis as planned.”

Ashton breathed a sigh of relief. The letter had clearly arrived safely, and Blood had believed them. Now he only had to wait for word from the First Allied Legion.

“The Second Allied Legion will be here in a few days. In addition, with the situation being what it is, it is General Olivia’s wish that the Ten Swords all return to Fis as well.”

Riful, usually so expressionless, in that moment looked openly mutinous. “This is still...a battlefield. We have to be...on our guard. I will...stay as protection.”

“Come on, you can’t defy an order.”

The battle with the Azure Knights might have been over, but Ashton felt in his bones that a threat unlike any they had faced before was near at hand. He was honestly loath to lose Riful’s protection at such a critical moment, but he could not turn a blind eye to a violation of orders.

“You don’t need to worry, Special Officer Riful. I will ensure that Ashton is protected.” With something of a swagger, Gile clapped a hand on Ashton’s shoulder. Riful’s eyes swept over him suspiciously; then she let out a massive sigh.

“Hey, that’s mean!”

The next morning, the Eighth Legion set off once more for Fis with Luke at the helm. Riful and the badly injured Gauss went with them, though the former remained reluctant to part with Ashton to the last. Remaining at Fort Tezcapolis were Ashton, Gile, Ellis, Evanson, and another five hundred soldiers.

“They’re gone...” Ashton murmured, lowering the hand he had been waving after them. Gile’s shoulders quivered as he burst out laughing. “What’s so funny?”

“Oh, nothing...” Gile replied. “Only, doesn’t the two of us being here like this bring back memories? It’s just a different fort.”

Gile had to be thinking of the time they had spent at Fort Lamburke. “I suppose,” Ashton replied shortly.

“Back then, a pack of bandits had us shaking in our boots. Now look at us. Not even two years later and we’ve really moved up in the world. If we could’ve seen us now back then, I bet our heads would’ve imploded.” Gile gave another hearty laugh, but there was a nostalgic note in his voice. Ashton, who thought of Gile a little like a rash he couldn’t get rid of, stared at the other man’s profile.

“Probably,” he agreed. “You’ve really come into your own, Gile.”

Even now, Gile put himself through a grueling training regimen. It was extraordinary to Ashton that he had risen so far with only the desire to follow Olivia into battle as his original motivation—even if he had been blessed with a natural talent for battle.

“Whereas you, Ashton...” Gile said. “You might be an important man now, but on the inside, you’ve hardly changed at all.”

“Um, what? You’re supposed to say, ‘You’ve come into your own too.’”

Gile burst out laughing and Ashton, drawn in by him, laughed as well. They chuckled together for a while, then fell silent. It wasn’t an awkward silence, but rather comfortable, like a spring breeze.

“Gile,” Ashton said abruptly.

“Huh?”

“Do...do you love Olivia?”

Gile was quiet for a moment. “To me, she has always been a person I revered. Love and hate are feelings from a different world. Nothing could make me happier than being at her side, than being of service to her. Now,” he went on, “what about you?”

Ashton looked distantly up at the sky. “I... Yes, I think I do love her.”

“You think? Vague as ever, aren’t you?”

“Well, I can’t help it. This is the first time I’ve ever felt this way.”

Gile gaped at him in disbelief. “No! First love? At your age?!”

“Sorry.”

“It’s nothing to apologize for,” Gile said. “But there is that thing everyone says, you know. That first love never bears fruit.”

“What?! Do they really say that?!”

“I mean, I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s major progress that you were able to honestly say how you feel just now, seriously.”

Ashton groaned. “Condescending as ever about this sort of thing, aren’t you?”

“Look, when you find yourself talking to a twenty-one-year-old man in love for the first time, you can’t help feeling a bit superior. Unlike you, I’ve had my share of experience.”

“Uh-huh, do tell me more.”

“I mean, where these matters are concerned, you’re so beyond clueless you’re practically a menace. It’s all well and good if you scrounge up a bit of courage to tell her how you feel, but with all that I know, I can’t help but have mixed feelings, myself.”

“So you do love Olivia?”

“Where did you get that out of this conversation? Only...” Gile trailed off.

“Only what?” Ashton prompted him.

Gile’s eyes moved this way and that as he ran his fingers through his hair as though in irritation. “No, you figure it out yourself,” he said at last.

“Excuse me? After all that hinting, that’s all you give me? Actually, now you mention it, Ellis said something similar to me before.” He paused, then added, “Time to pull rank, is it?”

He cleared his throat loudly, at which Gile clicked his heels together and saluted. “I would ask that you refrain from doing so, ser! My soldiers will be waiting for me. Allow me to excuse myself!” And with that, he fled into the fort.

Ashton scratched his cheek. Gile, it seemed, had not gotten his joke. Oh well. I’m not going to tell her how I feel right now. That’ll come when everything’s over.