Chapter 26 - 3-3
On the Kandasyata Plateau, the Kutai tribe's unification of Kosa was steadily progressing.
Geraha Wolf had commanded four battles since his first campaign. All were decisive victories.
"Geraha, your battles are fast,"
his adjutant Astai said repeatedly.
"Fast, as if you were in a race. I'm surprised not only by how fast you fight, but also that you could drive your horse so hard."
"It must be fast, Brother Astai. The enemy will flee like a cat that hates being touched, won't they? It must be fast."
Geraha's method of battle was simply this: find the enemy faster than they find you, creep close, then charge into their camp.
When attacked suddenly, the Ishma tribe seemed less afraid and more inclined to put distance between them and regroup. To give them no chance to regroup, Geraha hurried, and he hurried his allies.
In the final battle, Geraha's unit received support from Tenge's army and had grown to about a thousand riders. Geraha had effectively become a thousand-household chief. The sight of those thousand riders, each leading three or four spare horses, charging without stretching out lengthwise or spreading out widthwise, was magnificent.
"It's thanks to you, Brother Astai,"
Geraha said when they won the final battle. Astai laughed.
"Don't mock me. It's your strength."
According to Astai — I certainly did assist Geraha. I gave orders during the charge to keep the battle lines in order. But lining up doesn't win a battle —.
"I look forward to seeing Tenge,"
Geraha was worried about that.
"Why won't Big Brother come see me? He hasn't come to see me even once since I joined the battle."
"I don't know what you're worrying about,"
Astai had gone to the main camp and met with Tenge several times for consultations. "I think it's a foolish thought. Tenge wants to come see you. He's busy."
When the fourth battle ended, Astai said, 'In the next battle, the enemy will be prepared for our tactics.' Geraha agreed.
But the fifth battle never came.
Peace negotiations were apparently underway.
Geraha's unit suddenly had time on its hands.
"At times like this, 'unexpected incidents occur,'" Astai said. The soldiers missed their families and were getting restless, apparently.
"How about holding a feast, having everyone sing and dance?"
"Too early. The war isn't over yet."
"Well then, how about dividing the soldiers into groups by lottery and having them compete in javelin throwing and archery?"
Geraha rolled his bulging single eye. He didn't know how to handle an army not under tension like this.
Astai slapped his knee. "Not bad. It'll be military training. Let's start preparing immediately."
The next day, they were scheduled to begin preparations for the competition, but circumstances changed.
Peace had been concluded.
The one who brought the news was his older brother. Tenge came alone, without a single attendant, riding a single horse.
"Geraha!"
His brother, as if standing on the saddle of his galloping horse, leaped from there and crashed onto Geraha's chest.
Geraha's chest and weight were enough to catch his brother.
But his heart was shaken. Tenge repeatedly struck his head against Geraha's chest, rubbing his whole body against him as if trying to meld into him.
"We won, Geraha,"
His brother's voice was tearful. Geraha was flustered by his brother's intensity. Moreover, since a moment ago, he felt something hard rubbing against his thigh. It was unmistakably his brother's manhood.
Tenge himself seemed to notice the change in his own crotch and finally pulled away from Geraha.
"The blood, the blood is surging and I have nowhere to put it,"
When he looked up, Tenge's expression was like a child's. For the first time in his life, Geraha felt his brother seemed younger, and he let out a choked sob. Indeed, I was able to make Big Brother happy, he thought.
"Come,"
His brother took his hand.
There was a river near their lodging place, and when they reached its bank, Tenge began to undress. It was nostalgic. Geraha immediately understood that his brother would wash his back. When they were children, he had often done that for him.
They both stripped naked and entered the water. Spring was about to begin, but the plateau's water was still cold. His brother was still erect.
Perhaps that state triggered an association,
"About your bride,"
Tenge suddenly said.
"I've finally decided. The princess of the Byo Empire's emperor. She's a great beauty."
"The emperor?"
"She's certainly a beauty," Tenge said, holding a cloth towel in one hand and turning Geraha's back to him. "But a woman's value isn't decided by that. It's the dowry. In that respect, Princess Sura passes. If it's the Byo nation, they'll be able to help you with what you're trying to do."
"Wait a moment, Big Brother."
"I know. I'll explain from the beginning. First, sit down."
Geraha sank into the river, entrusting his back to his brother.
"When it comes to conquering the Byo Empire..."
"Conquer it?"
"If we don't conquer it, the Kosa people cannot become one. They always incite the Ishma tribe to rebel. We'll cut off the source of betrayal, and you and I will do it."
"Do what? Conquer the Byo nation? Take their castle?"
As for the main force, his brother continued without pause.
"We'll use the Ishma tribe people."
"Aren't they allies of the Byo nation?"
When Geraha turned around, Tenge was smiling. Apparently, many among the Ishma tribe also hate the Byo Empire. The empire's high officials offer tribute to the Kosa people with faces of reverence, but that reverence is a facade. Their hearts are different. Inside, they don't think of us Kosa people as even worth as much as livestock.
Moreover, the Ishma tribe knows the internal affairs of the Byo nation well.
"Think from the Byo Empire's perspective. The barbarians they've always despised are turning their banners and coming for them. And those barbarians know everything about them. The empire will be terrified."
"I see. However,"
The Byo Empire has a stone castle, and if they hole up there, we can't touch them, Geraha said.
"If we fight a castle, we'll take damage too. But it might not come to that. I hear there's been a drought there for the past few years."
The Kandasyata Plateau had actually seen a lot of rain recently, but the territory of the Byo Empire was suffering from a severe drought.
For people who farm the fields, drought is fatal. Food becomes scarce.
Geraha vaguely understood that his brother was planning a strategy to cut off their food supplies.
"This next war, we'll do it without Father or the tribal chief. After that's done, we'll drive the Tawaru bastards off the plateau."
The Tawaru people are nomads, like the Kosa people. Their soldiers are said to be strong.
"We'll do that too, just the two of us. Do you understand? Just the two of us will establish the nation of Kosa."
Geraha, feeling he couldn't keep up, turned to look at his brother.
Several streams of tears flowed from Tenge Wolf's eyes, shining on his red cheeks.
Geraha did not have the sensibility to doubt his brother's madness. His brother's passion transmitted from the hands moving the towel into Geraha's body, swelling his enormous heart stronger and larger. The blood filling Geraha's massive frame gathered in his head, and large teardrops fell from his mismatched eyes. Hot like an overflowing spring, they gushed forth endlessly.
"I understand. Big Brother, I understand well."
In truth, he understood it better than any explanation.
I am a man who must die for my brother. Though I was born with this form, if I can die for my brother, I cannot express how proud I would be of myself.
Geraha sank his head into the river, thinking this.
Even when night fell, his brother did not return. Realizing he seemed to be staying the night, Geraha's soldiers hurriedly set up tents and prepared for a banquet.
Tenge Wolf was a gentle-looking man, but when he sat cross-legged at the head of the table, an appropriate dignity rose like mist. Geraha and Astai sat on either side of Tenge. Below them, the hundred-household chiefs and ten-household chiefs lined up.
After the toast, when the banquet of appreciation began, Astai, licking his lips, started talking about Geraha's exploits. He didn't monopolize the conversation; at every turn, he asked the chiefs for explanations and opinions, and the squad and company leaders responded cheerfully. Expecting rewards for their services, the chiefs praised Geraha lavishly, probably trying to curry favor with his brother by flattering Geraha.
Geraha was embarrassed and restless. He remained expressionless, just shaking his shoulders.
The alcohol spread quickly, and the tent was soon filled with voices and laughter, everyone trying to speak over each other.
His brother also seemed satisfied. His face red, he never let his cheerful expression falter.
"Well, well, however," one of the hundred-household chiefs moved forward on his knees and straightened his posture. "Once, when I heard Lord Tenge say that Lord Geraha was a child of the gods and would one day become the Great King, I truly thought it was a pitiful delusion."
"It seems you finally understand," his brother replied with a laugh.
"I understand now. I felt that way of fighting with my own skin, you know?"
"Excellent. Lord Radoba. Then there's no need for hesitation. Present Geraha with sheep, pastureland, horses — all your property."
When Tenge Wolf said this cheerfully, the celebratory banquet fell silent.
Geraha looked up. Hundred-household chief Radoba stared wide-eyed, not moving a muscle.
"All of you, do the same. Make Geraha your master."
Only his brother was cheerfully gulping down from his earthenware cup.
"Big Brother," Geraha was flustered. "What in the world are you..."
"Are you dissatisfied, Geraha?"
"That's a bad joke. We won thanks to everyone. They fought thinking of their rewards, and now you're not only denying them rewards but taking their property..."
Even Geraha understood that much. Pasturelands belong to each clan, and the lord-vassal relationship is established through ancestral dealings. His brother was trying to take away even the history of their clans. Not even Tribal Chief Salakesh had such authoritarian power.
"What, you don't like it?"
Tenge Wolf slowly surveyed the gathering.
"I don't mind either way,"
Astai said that, but the Tokapu clan to which Astai belonged was originally a retainer family of the Wolf clan. Everyone knew that, so only cold laughter emerged.
Hundred-household chief Radoba's eye sockets were dark, his cheeks pale, his lips trembling and his back teeth grinding. He glared at Tenge with fierce eyes.
Tenge, with an innocent face, tilted his earthenware cup.
"Lord Radoba..." Geraha got scared and tried to call out to him.
Then — the hundred-household chief turned his bearded face toward Geraha and slowly prostrated himself.
"My mind is made up. I wish to become your retainer,"
he spat out.
He said so.
And his brother slapped his knee and burst out laughing, but Geraha could not laugh at all.
What Geraha thought at that moment was not anxiety about becoming a master himself.
It was about peace.
The war among the Kosa people was not over. It might intensify. A man of Lord Radoba's standing was betraying his lord house and attaching himself to someone like him. This was —
— It seems the world is about to fall into chaos.