Chapter 64 - 6-3
"Hey!"
It happened while Yugis Necrat was practicing spear throwing under Petu's guidance. A voice reached his ears.
The area they were using as a practice ground was a vacant lot owned by Boss Broy. A few rugged mercenary comrades were sitting on stone materials piled up at the edge of the property. The man calling Yugis was a man named Cassisi.
"Hey, your sweetheart is here!"
Looking over, Yugis saw a Southern girl looking his way.
"You finally got yourself a woman, huh?" Petu said. "She's quite cute, isn't she?"
"It's nothing like that. She's just a flower girl."
"You made a move on a flower girl? You're a lump of sexual desire, aren't you?"
"I didn't do anything. Let's go; thanks for helping me practice."
Yugis and Petu shouldered their spears and approached the girl.
The girl stared at Yugis and held out her hand. Southern women, unless they were followers of the Jahy religion, often wore sleeveless tunics that left their shoulders and upper arms bare. This girl also wore a small tunic that accentuated the swell of her breasts and revealed her navel. Her skirt was only long enough to cover her kneecaps, exposing a lot of skin. Yugis felt somewhat flustered.
He searched his pocket and dropped a silver coin into the girl's hand. The girl curved her mouth into a pout and did not withdraw her palm.
"Hey everyone, give me one copper coin each."
Yugis suddenly realized and called out to his comrades. The mercenaries took out copper coins with smirks, without asking why. They were likely interested in what was happening. Yugis collected the copper coins and handed them to the girl.
"A Kosa person has come."
The girl smiled.
"At the East Gate, they say. Go take a look."
The mercenaries looked as if they had been struck by lightning.
A moment later, without a word, the mercenaries leaped down from the stone materials with an agility unimaginable for their large bodies and began to run.
Petu also tossed his practice javelin slightly upward and ran off.
Yugis caught the spear in mid-air.
"Leave it to me. I'll put it back."
"Sorry, the caretaker old man is in that hut over there."
He handed the two javelins to the girl.
"Big Brother, what's your name?"
"Yugis."
"Yugis is about the only one with any generosity. I'm Bikira."
"Bikira, about the Kosa—"
"'If you hear anything about Kosa, I'll buy that information,' right?"
"I'm counting on you."
Yugis started running with enthusiasm.
If one were to look at Attaik from directly above, the city would appear nearly square.
One side was probably about half a ri. Completely besieging it would be difficult.
Great gates were located to the east, west, south, and north, and were closed at sunset. The four great gates were sandwiched between circular towers. These circular towers protruded outward from the city wall by a half-circle, allowing them to respond to enemies attacking the gates. The city walls were high and robust.
Square protrusions were lined up regularly, like pillars supporting the city wall. They were square towers. The square towers at the corners of the city wall were particularly massive.
As Yugis ran, he looked up at the top of the city wall. It was a passage atop the wall called a walkway. The regular soldiers of Attaik were gathered on that walkway, creating a commotion.
Since he was fast, Yugis soon caught up with his comrades.
A soldier guarding the entrance to the southeast square tower stood with arms wide, blocking the way.
"No, no."
"Don't be like that, I'm a guest of Boss Broy!"
Cassisi said and pushed his way in by force.
The inside of the tower was dim. Because sunlight entered through the arrow slits, it was not complete darkness. He rushed up the stairs and reached the top floor. The expanse and blueness of the sky were dizzying. The backsides of regular soldiers were lined up against the parapet of the walkway. They were peering out of the indentations of the parapet, looking outside the city.
Yugis and the mercenaries followed suit, sticking their backsides out toward the passage side.
Outside the wall, a large moat had been dug. Yugis, along with other mercenaries, had been conscripted for this excavation work. Thanks to that, he had tanned considerably and gained muscle. He had also saved money. Between the moat and the wall, there was a so-called berm, where a rampart had been established using the excavated soil.
It was on the other side of that moat.
There was a boy on horseback wearing green clothes.
The soldiers of Attaik were chasing the boy, rushing about in an attempt to surround him.
"Is that little green thing the Kosa person?"
"Seems so," Petu, who was next to him, laughed deep in his throat. "Looks like your sweetheart isn't a liar."
"Is it just one rider?"
"Even one rider is a Kosa person."
Indeed, if it was a Kosa person, it was worth seeing even a single rider. Yugis observed in silence.
—Unity of horse and rider.
He had never understood those words more than at this moment. Though there are those who are skilled at riding and those who are not.
—What is that?
The impression was that of a person walking at an impossible speed.
The good posture of the boy's upper body and the beautiful stretch of his spine reminded him of a person walking. From the waist up, he was elegant.
However, from the waist down, he was not human. There was the fierce movement of four hooves.
Using the body in accordance with the horse's rhythm was the same as Northern riding. However, those movements were unnaturally small. The rider's up-and-down movement was almost imperceptible, and one could only faintly tell that he was swaying his body forward and backward. Since the hem of his coat was long, it might also be difficult to discern the movement of his hips. The boy remained composed while atop the horse. There was no part of his body that was tense.
Yet, when he lowered his head and lifted his hips to gallop, he was fast as lightning.
What he couldn't understand, no matter how much he looked, was when the horse turned. When trying to change direction to the opposite way, a horse normally slows down and shortens its stride to change orientation. The boy's horse was not like that. As soon as it slowed down, it changed direction at twice the previous speed. Before one knew it, it was running in the opposite direction. The change of direction was instantaneous.
Due in part to those changes of direction, the soldiers of Attaik were being toyed with.
They brought out nets, spreading them wide horizontally as they pressed in to surround the boy. However, the boy's horse leaped over them with ease. He was as light as a feather.
After repeating this several times, the boy finally took the short bow he had slung over his shoulder in his hand.
The moment he took the short bow, it was already fired before the elbow of the arm holding the bow had even fully extended. He didn't even squint to aim. It was as casual as plucking a bowstring near his stomach. With that, a needle-like arrow flew, and the man holding one side of the net among the Attaik soldiers fell.
The men atop the wall watched this with bated breath.
It wasn't just humans surrounding the boy. About three dogs were noisily clinging to him.
The barking of the dogs reached Yugis atop the wall. Those dogs, too, were pierced by the boy's arrows in an instant, all three of them. The sad screams of the dogs echoed three times in the same tone.
The movements of the twenty or so Attaik soldiers suddenly grew sluggish.
Looking closely, a man who seemed to be the captain was waving his arm, signaling toward the city wall.
Yugis looked left and right. The regular soldiers of Attaik, who had been watching in a line along the city wall, simultaneously began to draw their longbows. The sound of bowstrings snapping rang out almost all at once.
Longbow arrows reached unexpectedly far.
Furthermore, the archers atop the wall did not rest their hands.
A fierce barrage began. Arrows pierced the ground one after another at the feet of the Kosa boy's horse. The arrows seemed to trace the boy's trajectory. No one could catch up to the boy's speed.
The Kosa boy, whom Yugis saw for the first time, changed direction. He moved away from Attaik. After getting quite far away, the boy stopped his horse. With a somewhat innocent air, he dismounted, picked up one of the arrows stuck in the ground as if plucking a flower, and returned to his horse. Then, without looking back, he galloped away and eventually disappeared from sight.
Not a single Attaik soldier pursued him. Everyone there knew it would be useless to chase. He had escaped completely.
It was as if he had seen a daydream.
He heard later that the boy had appeared suddenly alone and tried to enter Attaik. When the gatekeeper demanded a bribe, the boy apparently became suddenly ill-humored and punched the gatekeeper.
What Yugis had witnessed was the scene where the security guards attempted to arrest the boy.
That boy was named Tulsi, and he was the nephew of Geraha Wolf.
He returned to the Great King in Kandasyata at a speed that would have surprised Yugis had he known.
At that time, Geraha was in the middle of an audience with Kijimute. Kijimute was the man who had looked after Geraha when Geraha had been a prisoner of the Tawaru. He had come as a member of a delegation for alliance discussions from the Tawaru.
The reunion with Kijimute delighted Geraha from the bottom of his heart. King Kushitante of the Tawaru must have known that Geraha would soften and therefore chose Kijimute as the handler.
"Is the King of Tawaru well?"
Even so, Geraha asked without breaking his solemn tone.
"He is doing better and better, of course."
Kijimute narrowed his eyes happily as he looked at Geraha's face. Geraha looked down, trying to hide the loosening of his mouth. However, he couldn't suppress his voice. When he looked up, Kijimute was also covering his mouth, holding back laughter.
The two laughed together.
Back when Geraha was a prisoner, both Geraha and Kijimute were hopeless sorts. For example, the two had a half-serious fight over the propriety of eating ox tongue. He had changed his mind now, but back then, Geraha felt that putting an animal's tongue in one's mouth was an intolerable immorality.
Next to Kijimute was a man with black skin. A Southern. This Southern man introduced himself as Hazab. This Hazab was the leader of the seven-member delegation.
After ending the brief friendship with Kijimute, he began negotiations with Hazab.
"Tawaru Chief Kushitante claims the rights to the plains and the plains nations as before."
"Hmm."
"These were granted by Great King Aframa, and we seek the ratification of Great King Geraha."
"Is that so."
"Tawaru Chief Kushitante demands the subjugation of Koroi."
"Hmm. Koroi."
"Tawaru has always been a victim of Koroi's treachery, so it is necessary to sever this ill connection."
"I understand the feeling."
"For that purpose, we seek the rights to Koroi."
The gathering naturally fell silent.
"All rights to Koroi?"
"All rights."
"Does that mean all regions that submit to Koroi?"
"Indeed."
"But would those regions not be ungovernable if not for Koroi?"
"Even so, to prevent Koroi's machinations, it must be done no matter what."
"Promise that they will no longer be made to suffer by Koroi. That is what Kushitante wishes to say, is it not?"
Hazab nodded slightly.
—Am I being tested?
Geraha thought. Among the parts of the continent, Koroi could be called the tastiest part. If compared to a female body, the Eastern Byo would be the breasts. Koroi was that which lies between a woman's thighs. Everyone drools and wants it. Unless one uses this as bait to gather soldiers, war cannot be waged. Even Kushitante should know that it is not something the Tawaru should monopolize.
As for Geraha, he wanted to leave Koroi to the Southern people as before. He believed that without borrowing the authority of the Koroi Emperor, it would not be governed.
However, the Southern people are cunning. Geraha did not trust them.
One could say the Tawaru were better.
Southern governance with Koroi as the leader, while borrowing the authority of the Koroi Emperor and involving the Tawaru, might be one way.
He wanted to probe Kushitante's true intentions a bit more.
"A man," Geraha, who had recently become interested in romance, used an analogy. "If he falls for a woman and wants her as his bride, first the man goes to the woman's father and explains with great effort how he will make the daughter happy. The King of Tawaru seems to want Koroi as a bride. I must hear how the Tawaru will make the Southern people happy."
"From my side—"
"I wish to hear it from the mouth of the King of Tawaru."
"The Tawaru Chief does not bend to the Great King. It is useless to try and summon him."
"I simply wish to speak. I am not saying he must come here and bow his head."
"That is meaningless. I am here having been granted full authority."
"As the Great King, as the one who succeeds Aframa, I command—"
Geraha said with a composed face.
"If I say that, how will it be? Will you defy me?"
"—How many Kosa people did the Tawaru sacrifice in the previous war. Oops... at that time, where was the Great King?"
"Hazab. I am the Great King who succeeds Aframa. The decisions Aframa made have been inherited by me. That is precisely why you seek ratification, is it not?"
"........."
"Regarding the rights to the plains nations and the plains, tell him it depends on the heart of the King of Tawaru."
The Southern man wore a smile. Geraha stared at Hazab expressionlessly until that smile twitched.
He waited, thinking he would say something. He said nothing.
Geraha turned around. Seven negotiators from the Kosa side were waiting. The representative was Nahal Bas. He was a man of the Ishma tribe with no relation to the Wolf clan, but he had received a recommendation for excellence from Mozu Wolf. He had been handpicked.
This young Kosa person would likely handle the detailed negotiations.
Feeling like he wanted a drink, he looked at Kijimute.
Kijimute crossed his arms and looked away. Geraha also liked this man's simple loyalty toward the Tawaru. Having no choice, he left the tent alone.
As soon as he left the negotiation tent, he was surrounded by men.
There were countless things to adjudicate. Geraha gave instructions as he walked.
When he returned to the Great King's tent, he was greeted by noisy voices. Someone's angry voice.
"What is all this noise?"
Young men, two or three years younger than Geraha, were loitering.
"Great King!" they gathered, raising high-pitched voices.
Upon asking, it seemed his nephew Tulsi had gone to Attaik alone and had been chased around by the soldiers there.
"Were you injured?"
He asked in a low voice and looked at Tulsi.
Tulsi was sitting cross-legged, sulking. "No. I just went there intending it as a simple long ride."
"Fool!" Geraha scolded.
The one guarding Attaik was Prince Sitris, the son of the Koroi Emperor. Prince Sitris had been frequently invading Parakitai in the southern part of Kandasyata by making Southern cavalry ride long distances.
He likely wanted to seize the initiative and set the battlefield in a place of his choosing.
If they came, they would naturally be driven away. However, they could not yet face them in earnest. Until an alliance was formed with the Tawaru, it was a chilling prospect.
"It is such a time. Do you think it is a place where a child can go to play?"
"But, Great King. I received a terrible insult. Even though I did nothing, they shot this at me."
He placed an enemy arrow he had apparently picked up onto the rug.
Tulsi was the surviving child of Nakuritai, the eldest brother of the deceased Wolf clan. Nakuritai had been killed by someone, along with his father Zuft Wolf and the tribal chief Salakesh. Tulsi must have a sense of frustration.
"Shall we go?"
Geraha glared at his nephew with terrifying eyes.
Not only Tulsi, but the surrounding boys also straightened their backs.
"Can you gather two hundred of your comrades?"
"Immediately."
"Shall we go with them? To scout Attaik."
"Uncle! No, Great King!"
—It is strictly scouting.
Geraha made them understand. They must not engage in combat. They must act covertly and appear in Attaik as if they were omnipresent. Since he was worried about them alone, he would attach an adult.
"Even if I say do not engage, the enemy will surely strike. Listen, if that happens, just run back. Fighting them only leads to death."
"...Then, what are we doing?"
"Tulsi, your role is one. Draw your longbow and shoot arrows high, high into the air. High enough to far exceed the walls of Attaik. Those arrows," Geraha pointed with his chin to the arrow on the rug. "Return them to those people."
The boys let out a shout of joy.
He had not ordered it to make them happy. Geraha's plan was, first, a declaration of war against Koroi. If a single arrow were shot into Attaik, Koroi might see that war was finally coming and contact Tawaru's Kushitante. This was to pull the Tawaru onto their side. When that happened, he wanted to see how Kushitante would react. It wasn't certain that Kushitante truly hated Koroi from his heart.
Besides that, he also wanted to test if their longbows could reach the walls of Attaik. In short, it was scouting, but scouting is difficult without experience in war. He had to attach someone experienced.
—Kirikiri would be good.
King Kirikiri of the Mukuri people was the person who had captured Saada, the capital of the Byo Empire. He should be able to see through the way to attack Attaik with a single glance.
Speaking of Kirikiri.
His sons in the East were apparently behaving exactly like Great Kings.
He had also received reports that they were gorging on profits by borrowing the authority of Kosa.
Kirikiri likely intended to be a hostage himself to protect such sons. No matter how much time passed, he did not leave Kandasyata.
He intended to let them do as they pleased. For now, it couldn't be helped.
After the boys left the tent, Geraha took a breath.
"It is a grave matter."
He was surprised to be spoken to from behind. Turning around, three black lumps, as if merged with the shadows, were crouching in the dimness of the tent's corner.
"Oh, this is—"
They were the old sorcerers. They must have been there from the start. He hadn't noticed.
"My apologies for not attending to you. If you are hungry, there is a waiter named Binga."
"Thank you. Binga-dono has been very kind to us."
An old man named Manam bowed his head.
As if overlapping him, an old man named Nezumo moved forward on his knees.
"Great King!" he said energetically. "We three, no, these three wretches, decided to become the Great King's subjects from the very moment the Great King was born!"
"Ho. Subjects."
"To know that these wretches can finally be of use to the Great King, the emotion is all the more profound!"
The old man named Nezumo truly shed tears. He raised his face with a sharp movement and wept softly. It seemed there had been some hardships leading up to this.
"You three, such things are fine, so please take care of your aged bodies."
When Geraha spoke kindly, the old men took on suspicious expressions.
They looked at each other's faces.
"Um, have you not heard from Hishaku-dono?" Manam said.
"Hah?"
"About the slightly large precious jewel that the Great King dangles between his legs!"
Nezumo said clearly. Geraha hurriedly confirmed that there was no one else in the tent. He approached the old men and sat cross-legged.
"I see. So you are the ones knowledgeable in the treatment of infertility."
—However.
He began to speak in a low voice. His older sister had told him 'there is hope,' but Geraha felt that his impairment was congenital and not something that could be cured.
"It is a unsightly thing... would you like to see?"
The old men nodded.
Geraha untied his sash and lowered his trousers and undergarments. When he thought of Hishaku's body, his crotch increased in volume as if it would make a sound.
"This is..."
"To the point of becoming suffocating—"
"The Great King among Great Kings..."
Ignoring the old men who were wide-eyed, he immediately returned his clothes to normal.
"Seven months and seven nights by the waxing and waning of the moon!" Nezumo said. "We wish to be granted that much time. We shall show you a masterpiece that will make a woman's hips melt. In other words!"
His voice was loud at every turn.
"We shall make that large thing slightly smaller, into the size, shape, and hardness that women prefer most. However! The treatment must be performed every day for the effect to appear. We wretches shall accompany you even to the battlefield and shall not leave the Great King's side!"
It was an unbelievable story and seemed troublesome. He thought about refusing, but he did not want to disregard his older sister's recommendation.
"What kind of treatment is it?"
"Nothing, we simply wish to stroke the Great King's private part a little."
"You won't do anything strange, will you?"
Though he had said it casually, the old men's lips trembled in fear. They immediately prostrated themselves, saying "No, never," "Such a thing," "Out of the question," and so on.
"Fine, fine."
Finding it tedious, Geraha leaned his body and offered his head. He disliked things like sorcery and incantations, finding them suspicious. However, he was not afraid. He had confidence that no matter what magic was cast, it would not affect him.
The old man's hand stroked Geraha's bald head. The hand left immediately.
"This is..."
When he looked up, Nezumo's eyes were opened so wide it seemed his eyeballs might roll out.
"...It is wrong. Everything is wrong. Not a single part is correct."
"Are you talking about me?" Geraha asked. "Hmm. Where is it wrong?"
"Everything. No, my words were poor. I do not intend to flatter, but the Great King's brain is connected to the world. It is as if it is contiguous with the world."
"I don't quite understand."
When Geraha said that, Nezumo began to shake, clutching his body as if with a fever.
The old men Manam and Persa looked at each other and nodded.
"I see."
"So that's how it is."
"The form of the world."
"The distortion of the world."
"The center of that."
"Within the Great King."
"They intersect."
They were saying such things with completely serious faces.
Searching for an excuse to leave the gathering, Geraha shifted his body.
"Great King," Manam said. "We wish to continue the treatment."
"Great King," Persa also said. "You should receive the treatment."
"For knowing human affection is the first step on the path of a ruler."
"The intense satisfaction of physical union shall substantiate human affection."
The old men pressed in to an eerie degree.
Geraha stood up. "I see, understood. If there is anything insufficient, please tell me. Do not think that I, Geraha, would treat poorly a guest who has received Salakesh's hospitality."
He left the tent as if escaping.
He began to walk aimlessly.
—What is this, affection?
That was his feeling. Geraha was becoming more and more obsessed with Quimel, the child of his brother Tenge. Did Quimel read his heart? For some reason, the child did the very selfishness he least wanted. Once, the child even tried to eat their own excrement. Geraha found that endlessly amusing. That foolishness gave Geraha a shock, and it changed Geraha's—indeed, the world.
—If it's affection, even I already know it.
Geraha wanted to say that.
—No, however.
There was one thing that the men and women of the world knew, but Geraha did not. That was a fact. Although he did not think the union of men and women was particularly important, for example, if Geraha's thing became average.
—Would my older sister welcome me?
Regarding that point, he had a frightening curiosity.
In the end, Geraha accepted the old men's proposal and received Nezumo's treatment for about a month. He felt that since he had nothing to lose, it was worth trying.
It was around that time that his nephew Tulsi returned from Attaik.
Tulsi was despondent.
His expression was as dark as a funeral.
When asked the reason, Tulsi said, "I lost about fifty comrades."
"Did you engage in combat?"
"No, never. No..."
Tulsi collapsed onto the rug and began to cry.
"Never, never."
"Tulsi, I understand," Geraha said. "Even if you lost, you must be brave until the end. Lift your head. Tell me what happened."
"We acted covertly. Please ask Kirikiri-sama. When we moved quickly and reached Attaik, the enemy was prepared and waiting for us."
"It was Sitris, was it?"
"...It might have been, but they were mercenaries."
"What?"
"The mercenaries persistently appeared before us, and then—"
Large tears overflowed from Tulsi's eyes. Tulsi began to wail.
Geraha felt awkward. He had ordered something foolish in a fit of enthusiasm.
The tattoo-covered old man, Kirikiri, was waiting behind Tulsi. When Geraha called him with his eyes, he shuffled forward on his knees.
"Even if it is scouting, people die when they encounter the enemy. You should understand that now."
"Hmm."
Kirikiri, as expected, did not say "ge-he-he." However,
"Fifty deaths in battle are not in vain," he said bluntly. "Great King, Attaik can be taken. There is a proper weakness."
Kirikiri showed a fearless smile.