These rebel forces werenât anything to talk about.
Sir Golan said, âthis one is the Commanderâ as he slapped the cheek of a man who was lying on the floor.
âUuuuhhâŚâ
The man regained consciousness. He was going to be questioned now.
âJuga. You keep watch outside. They might return with more men. If that happens, shout so that I will know.â
âUnderstood!â
Sir Golan had entrusted me with a mission.
And so I would have to watch the area. I would not miss a single person.
I climbed up to the top of the pillbox and squinted.
Inside, Sir Golan was torâŚquestioning the man. I think.
I could occasionally hear loud voices.
However, since the hardened earth was so thick, I couldnât hear most of it.
After some time, the questioning ended, and Sir Golan came out.
âCongratulations, Sir Golan.â
But when I ran up to him, he had a very troubled expression.
He was just staring at the road up ahead. And would not answer.
âUh, Sir Golan?â
I called him again once I was closer.
Then he finally seemed to notice me.
But his expression was the same.
ââŚDamn it!â
He spat. Why?
Sir Golan had destroyed the fortress as soon as the battle started.
And then he had gone inside, and the enemy had fled.
Did his face look like this because of what he had heard?
He had been talking to someone before the fight, and then talked again with the Commander.
But up until a moment ago, he had been acting normally.
It was only after the questioning that he changed.
âWeâre going.â
âHuh? What?â
Without waiting for my reply, Sir Golan got down from the fortress and started walking.
The hollow cave would be up ahead.
It was the main base of the rebel forces.
And while there was only one entrance to the cave, it was said to be very big and complex once you were inside.
In spite of being a cave, there was a giant hall and very deep, vertical tunnels. The stories of the place alone were astonishing.
âSir Golan. What happened?â
Youâre going to go and defeat Vargan and Noshe, arenât youâŚ? That was what I wanted to ask.
They were the reason that I was separated from the others.
How many different races had been driven out of these lands after they took over?
If Sir Golan was going to defeat them, then that was something to be celebrated.
However, Sir Golan was acting very strangely.
He was clearly very angry.
But I had no idea why he had become angry.
And so I could no longer talk to him.
ââŚâ
ââŚâ
We continued to walk silently.
Along the coast we walked, and walkedâŚand then I realized.
They were in front of us.
But they werenât moving any closer.
When they saw usâŚwell, Sir Golan, they would frantically run back.
And then there was no one. This repeated several times.
And so the roads were empty as we walked.
âUmâŚSir Golan.â
âHmm?â
What a relief. He finally answered.
Everything had felt so tense a moment ago. I was scared.
âWhy were youâŚso angryâŚearlier?â
That was one thing that I had to know.
The reason that Sir Golan was so furious.
âDo you respect King Yamato?â
He didnât answer my question.
Instead, he asked me something very strange. The answer was so obvious.
âI do respect him. Of course, I do.â
âI see.â
He seemed indifferent.
But why? What did Sir Golan getting mad have to do with respecting King Yamato?
âSir GolanâŚsomething is wrong. What happened?â
This was a gamble.
If I pried in too much, his anger might be redirected towards me.
However, that did not happen.
Sir Golan stopped and turned his face to look at me.
âThey rebelled against King Yamato.â
âYes. I know that.â
âThey donât know how to do anything but fight. So it would be troublesome if it became forbidden.â
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Sir Golan said that it was the destruction of their identity.
I didnât know what he meant exactly. But I had an idea.
âIs that why you are angry, Sir Golan?â
âI realized it. I understood it. Donât do this, donât do that. Binding peopleâŚitâs no wonder that they exploded.â
âYou mean the rebel forces?â
âYes. Before fighting, I asked them something.â
When they were arguing. As they were too far away, I had not been able to hear them.
Sir Golan was grinding his teeth.
âThey said that they wanted to fight. Wanted to die fighting. They shouted about how they hated this life. The Commander was the same. They all felt like that.â
What was it that was taken away from themâŚ
Sir Golan said.
They wanted to die. They could only think about fighting and death.
But not just any death. They did not want to kill themselves.
A battle with meaning. They wanted the satisfaction of dying in battle, in this land that they were born in.
They had all said this same thing.
I couldnât help but think. This was not unusual.
King Yamato made this Other World. And in order to protect everyone who lived here, a rule was put in place.
âWe were forbidden from fighting each other.
That was the only rule in this world.
And they had broken it.
âYou said that there had been other rebel uprisings before.â
âYes. It seems to happen every few hundred years.â
âThose who are dissatisfied start to run wild. I donât know if he letâs them destroy each other or he hunts them down himself. But I suppose thatâs how things are settled. âŚBut why?â
Why? He was likely asking this about King Yamato.
So, Sir Golan was against King Yamatoâs way of thinking? For what reason?
âItâs no surprise that they want to die. If you canât fight freely. No rivalries between lords, no Gekokujyo⌠Itâs like rejecting the life of the Demon World.â
Sir Golan was laughing now. But it was strange.
He did not seem to be happy.
âThen I wonât kill them. Iâll suppress them instead. You want to die? As if I would let you. Hey, can you believe it?â
Sir Golan bared his teeth and laughed.
As he was in a Personification, no mana leaked to the outside.
And yet⌠And yet. I felt cold when I looked at his smile.
My body started to shake.
Right now, Sir Golan was veryâŚterrifying.
âNow, itâs time to make an appearance.â
âHuh?â
Sir Golan pointed with his jaw.
There were a great number of rebel soldiers ahead of us.
Some wielded swords, while others had spears.
There were even some who were preparing to use magic.
Two hundred, maybe even three hundredâŚ
âNow, letâs start this feast. There is no night that does not end. So letâs dream while we can.â
In spite of this great army standing in front of him, Golan did not balk, and continued to move towards the enemy.
My legs grew weak at the mere sight of them.
I was too scared to go any further.
But while I stood frozen, Sir Golan continued to advance.
After a while, his back seemed like it was far away.
âSirâŚGâŚâ
I was about to call after him, but changed my mind.
As someone who could not move, I had no words to say to him.