Part 1 :
>>14905563Part 2 :
>>14897911Final Part : A Thousand Men
Toya returned to the Castle having won the honor of Silver... but after his first taste of the Gold honor a week ago, this just didn't feel as good. He had lost with probably the highest numbers he could potentially get, and the Demon Rabbit had humiliated him further by letting him live. Though perhaps to her, it was just a game. He could never tell what went on inside their greatest rival's head.
He clenched his fist and then relaxed. No matter. They had the Silver honor, and Captain Kuzuha's army had secured the honor of Bronze today. King Riku's army would be revived tomorrow, and the Demon Lord's armor would no longer be at the peak of its power. Their scouting was immaculate, they still had the Steering Wheel spell-item going, and there would be no other obstacles. It felt just the slightest bit hollow, but their gold honor was pretty much assured for tomorrow.
He heard some commotion from the revival room, and walked in to find Kuzuha materializing. He felt confused for a bit, Captain Kuzuha should have returned to the castle via the Cavalry roads, so why would he-
His eyes widened, as he suddenly remembered something that had completely slipped his mind. His men made way for him as he moved towards the stairs leading up to the revival circle.
"Captain!" he shouted at Kuzuha, who grimaced and grabbed at his head.
"Can you stop shouting at me just after revival, General? It hurts my head." he said with a sneer.
"Ah, sorry." Toya calmed himself, then met Kuzuha's eyes and asked the dreaded question "Was it the Fox?".
Kuzuha sat down on the stairs and crossed his arms on his legs. After a few tense seconds, he put his head between his arms and then sighed "Yeah".
Horror and Rage warred within Toya, but he tightened his clenched fist and took a deep breath. And then another.
This was another threat they had begun to face this month - Fubuki the wicked white fox of yore. They were used to her armies being around 8-10k on bigger days, but all of a sudden they had surged to 30k, then 35k, and sometimes even 40k. That was not big enough to threaten Gold most of the days this month, but she had been consistently stealing the Silver and Bronze honors for an uncomfortable number of days. Scouts reported that she was using some spell-item called "Red Fish naa". He didn't exactly understand how it worked, but his officers had assured him that such items wouldn't be usable for a very long time.
"...how could that be possible? All our scouts from her territory had reported that her biggest army size to date should have been 42k!" he took another breath. It would be beneath the General, no matter how inexperienced, to let him emotions get the best of him.
Kuzuha said nothing for a while, then sighed again "There was an instant that she had about a thousand more men than me, and she attacked the Cavalry road at that exact moment. She also said 'This is for Marine!' when she defeated me."
Toya felt his mouth dry up, and felt himself drop on his knees and palms. That demonic sadist rabbit... did she knew this would happen? Was this why she let him live? A difference of just a thousand men, and they had lost their all but guaranteed Bronze... Toya felt his stomach tie itself into a knot, and resisted the urge to puke in front of his men.
Kuzuha sighed again, and wrapped his arm around his shoulder "Let it go Toya, we have the gold locked for tomorrow, and I'll get us the silver back. Don't lose sight of our goals."
That shook him up. Right, the day was done - there was no need for formalities, or to refer to each other by their titles anymore. He let Kuzuha drag him to the stairs, and sat down in thought as Kuzuha ordered his men to bring them some beer.
This... this was just bullshit! How could they lose an honor with just a thousand man difference!? Even as he narrowed his eyes, he struggled to control his anger. No. He was DONE with this shit. They no longer had the luxury to care about "fairness". Their "guaranteed gold" was the work of many folks within their Kingdom, most of all himself and King Riku.
He took a long gulp of the beer the men had brought. So what if there was no competition? Gold was Gold. And they would celebrate it.
And so they spent the entire night drinking.
