A Soldier’s Perspective

Nir and Rain are at the market, facing an aggressive soldier arguing with a merchant.

“And they come straight to us!” - The soldier says, looking at them. He then sees they are holding hands and gets angrier, saying: “Hanging around here like it’s a school-trip! I’ve had enough of the two of you!”

He then steps in their direction. Nir immediately stands in front of Rain and reaches out for his sword, forced to let go of her hand and position his own next to the handle, just in case he needs to draw it.

The soldier keeps coming closer to them, drawing his own sword, then suddenly, the merchant comes in between, spreading his arms to create a human wall - defending Nir and Rain.

Nir notices it’s the same merchant who hit him really hard last time. -”He must have felt really bad…” - Nir thinks to himself.

-”Don’t lay a finger on them! Are you willing to defy your empress for that hatred of yours?” - The merchant challenges him.

The soldier is visibly conflicted. He is thinking for a few moments. His rage seems to slowly diminish. As his aggression disappears, albeit still looking mad, he puts his sword back into the hilt. Nir too, returns to normal stance, still standing in front of Rain.

-”We are part of the empire now. You people summoned us. One of your soldiers attacked us and I rationally defended against his assault. I’m truly sorry for how things turned out. The other soldier… I have no idea what happened to him. He was already wounded and he collapsed. We just happened to pass there”. - Nir explains.

-” Why should I trust you?” - The soldier asks him.

-”Why would I lie about this? Why would I bother to specifically mention I killed one and then not the other? Why wouldn’t I just claim both were self defence? It’s because it’s regrettable that either of them died, yet the truth is one. We didn’t choose where to spawn, nor did we spawn in a village, we were led to one by a villager who was thankful to us for killing a soldier, as he was unaware that we didn’t - just like you”.

-”So you don’t side with the villages?” - The soldier asks.

-”Some of the people in the village we stayed at treated us kindly, but we were mostly hostages there. Thank god… I mean, thank the two gods we managed to join the empire”.

-”I see…” - The soldier replies, seemingly much calmer.

-”I’m not sure if you have a written report of the day we were first spotted, but we had no weapons at the time… It might have been mentioned. We did get empire’s weapons later on inside the village, but that’s because those are good weapons. We do not blame you for the usage or creation of them. We just arrived at a completely new world, and only attacked if we were attacked first at ALL TIMES”.

-”I remember the empress said something about saving the life of the summoned… What did she mean by that?” - The soldier asks.

Nir seems troubled thinking about that.

-”Exactly how it sounds”. - Rain quickly joins in. As he hears that, Nir turns his head towards her while maintaining his stance. “We were about to be killed by someone in our own world. That’s why, although we aren’t sure if we’ll ever be able to get back - we are very thankful to the empress”. - She explains.

She then turns to Nir, grabs his hand again and says: “Nir, Thank you for standing up for me, no matter what world we are in”. She says with a genuine smile.

Nir looks at her smiling face. A few tears show up with a big smile in return.

The soldier sees this. He is having a complete change of mind about them.

-”I owe you two an apology. My name is Ika. I took my friends’ death… Very harshly”. - He says.

-”I apologize too”. - Nir replies.

-”It’s not your fault… Raul was a hot head. I bet he came charging right in when he saw your weapons… We already lost friends before”. - Ika explains.

-”Raul, huh? Yes, Ranmei already told me his name”.

-”You even asked to know about him… I’m ashamed I misjudged you”.

-”No, no, please. I just happened to hear his name from Ranmei. It was hard for me too… To handle all of this. Your friend’s death is tragic and I thank you for being understanding of our situation.” - Nir tells him. “And so… I give you my word, we are on the same side”.

Rain nods multiple times in affirmation.

-”You are an honest person. I respect that, yea”. - Says Ika. He thinks for a bit, then asks: “Did you notice anything weird when you saw Tao? Our other friend whom you have seen collapsing…”

-”I… Don’t think so…” - Nir replies, turning to Rain as if to ask if she remembers anything. She looks back at Nir, moving her head from side to side while clenching her lips to signal a negative answer, then she turns to Ika and says: ”Nothing comes to mind”.

-”Well, I just thought I should ask… I will take my leave. I came here since we still have time and we needed some extra rations”. - Says Ika. “I already put them in my backpack”. - He adds, pointing at his leather bag.

-”Before you go, can I ask you something?” - Nir requests politely.

-”Sure, what do you want to ask?”

-”Earlier you used the term: ‘school-trip’... Surely you have schools in the empire, right?” - Nir asks.

-”Of course”. - Ika replies

-”Do you have ‘school-trips’? If so, where to? Where would you even take the students?”

-”Hmm… We don’t have school-trips”.

-”So why did you say that?”

-”I guess it’s just an expression”. - He answers. He then waves them goodbye and leaves for his post.

-”Nir, to be honest… I’m surprised he believed us”. - Says Rain.

-”Yea, me too”.

-”I wonder how things got so out of control… But I am glad we solved it. By the way, did you ask him about that term because of whatever the empress was afraid of?”

-”Yes. Any clues about this world might be useful. ‘School-trip’ is a term that probably came before the empire. Either from a far away place within this world… Or a far away place… Within another one”.

The merchant understands their words, but is visibly confused as if they are talking in a different language.

-”And you…” - Nir turns to the merchant. “I thank you for defending us”.

-”It’s my pleasure”. - He replies humbly.

Nir and Rain start shopping. They are checking out the different stands and shops, having fun just looking around.

-”Let’s decide what to eat”. - Nir says. “I’m starving”.

-”Oh yea, me too”.

They keep walking around, until they see everyone is looking in a certain direction. The town’s people are hailing and shouting: “It’s the empress!” - “Yea! Show them what we are made of!” - “She looks so powerful!”

The empress is walking by the market towards her post. She is wearing a full set of heavy battle armor, completely different from her light getup from last time. She is carrying her incredible sword. She is getting everyone’s support.

“I guess everyone was informed about the invasion by now…” - Says Rain.

-”Yea, seems like it.” - Nir replies. “It’s interesting how popular the empress is with the people ”. - He says, seeing she is basically being worshipped.

The empress stops next to Nir and Rain.

-”Are you guys enjoying the town? Looking for something to eat?”

-”Yes, mam!” Rain answers quickly.

-”You see that stand, over there?” - The empress points at one of the stands in their vicinity. “Tell the guy I am the one who sent you, and that you want the special”.

-”Okay! Thank you!” - Says Rain, hyped up.

-”I got you”. - The empress replies.

She walks away while the voices of the people are still heard loudly.

Nir and Rain walk to the stand the empress mentioned. They start noticing some stands around them have a weird doll that looks like a baby. As they reach it, they see the stand is selling different kinds of meat dishes, and also - the baby dolls. They watch the dolls up close. It seems to be stuffed with something fluffy.

-”What a weird doll”. - Says Rain.

-”Agreed”. - Nir confirms.

-“Hello, you two! I’m glad to see you at my shop, what an honor!” - The food merchant claims. He is wearing simple kitchen clothes, suggesting he may be the cook himself.

-”Thank you!” - Rain replies. “The empress sent us. She told us to order the special. We want one for each… And we will pay, of course!” - She says with a smile.

-”Coming right up!” - The food merchant replies.

-”By the way…” - Nir tries to get his attention again - “What are those dolls?”

-”Oh! The baby dolls! Some stands sell them since it’s kind of our tradition by now. There are rumors about ghosts of babies roaming around the town. They say it’s babies from the villages who are angry and vengeful since they are being harvested in the villages, and our soldiers get those hearts when we win. These stories about the ghosts are just myths, but some say they saw an actual baby ghost around the house of worship. There were also stories of babies appearing on the streets as if they were abandoned… And then… After getting adopted… THEY DISAPPEARED!” - The merchant tries to sound spooky.

Nir turns to Rain and says: “I think it might be their version of halloween”.

-”A very messed up version of it…” - She replies.

-”You can go and visit the house of worship”. - The food merchant suggests. “I’m sure the two gods would love it if you visit, knowing it’s the two of you”.

-”Yea, we can go check it out”. - Says Rain.

-”Not to mention…” - He adds - “...That way you can check the rumors yourselves”.