The war

Being born in a world is not your choice to make, nor the choice of choosing your parents is yours.The childhood flows by without even realising that you were born and when you reach a sensible age you start to realize the unfairness you have gone through and will be going to.

>

“ Fresh vegetables here!”

“ Check out these strong pieces of equipment!”

“Customer, would you like to take a look at these top quality furniture's “

As usual the streets were quite busy. Everyone is trying to earn some money to feed the mouth of themselves and their loved ones. Grabbing the attention of passersby by either some strange things or some basic needs they are seeking for. At the end of the day what they need is a sense of relief that they can live without any hitch.

Clatter Clatter

Stealing all the gazes and luring everyone's attention to them, some knights walked by these streets. Radiating out their strong presence in the surroundings, stepping each time with a heaviness and eyes with sharpness to cut through everything in the field of view and focus only at their destination.

Random guy: oh, so they have returned!

Random child: Mama,mama! Why are there so many knights here?

Mother: They? They are here to protect us.

Child: Pro..Protect? From whom? I don't see anyone dangerous here?

Mother: It's because they are here that no one dangerous is running around the streets.

Child: hmm… But why so many of them ? And they are different from the knight we saw a few days ago. Their armor is also different.

Mother: They are knights commanders in the royal army, that's why their armor is different. They just came back from scouting and are heading back to the castle.

Child: Sco..scouting? Something happening mama?

Mother: That…That's nothing for you to worry about. . . yeah nothing for you to worry about

Her voice trailed off near end as she reassured herself by saying

Mother: because I will keep you safe. . I will protect you in this Year Of War.

>

All of the knights who were sent to scouting came in front of the king's presence in the throne room. Sitting on the throne made of white blocks,the king was eager to hear the information his knights were capable of collecting.

Kneeling ahead of all the knights, the closest to the king was the knight commander of this mission, Zarachi Venus. Without lifting his head he greeted the one sitting on the throne, the king– Theos O Wasachi.

Zarachi: Wasachi, my majesty. We have returned.

Wasachi(King): … Were there any strange moments?

Zarachi: No, my majesty.

Wasachi: Hmm..

Zarachi: From what we were capable of identifying from afar everything seems the same as the past scouting. The agricultural fields near the partitioned land are increasing, knight placement and night rounds there have decreased, and the number of civilians outside of their main territory have also been decreasing. Mining spots are increasing. In anything other than these things there were no significant changes in the Samai land.

Wasachi: …

The king furrowed a bit and ordered them

King: There is no point in sending any more scouting units in near future. Go and take a rest for a day or two, my knights.

Zarachi: Thanks for your kindness, your majesty.

Standing up, all the knights bowed in front of the king and said, “ May the land of Atsui be blessed with a bright future.” and left.

As the knights left, the king leaned a bit forward on the throne and went into deep thoughts. Completely disconnected from the surrounding, the king was planning for the necessary adjustments he needed to make for the upcoming future.

And at the same time overlooking the current state was not acceptable. It was not like the kingdom of his was on the verge of collapse neither was it going to be crumbled down by any ongoing internal conflict, but preparing for the future while still looking at the present is necessary.

After a while when he was mentally exhausted he sighed and took a deep breath, following it with a deep exhale he stood up and left the throne room.

>

The moon once again awakened from the slumber to cast asleep on the awaken once.

The castle was as always guarded by knights from corner to corner. Looking out that no one suspicious dares to enter without permission and if some did- either their throats were slit open at the instant or were captured and were presented in front of the king.

Amidst all the high security, in the dining hall the table was decorated with food on the table by maids. The food was served for 7 people in total. Starting from the end, the one for the king who was yet to arrive there, following it on both sides for the 2 queens and 4 for their child's.

On the right hand side of the king's chair was Queen Murasaki and her daughter Yuriko and son Naoki. On the left hand side was Queen Yuna and her two sons Isamu and Kenji. The first son of both the queens and the daughter of Murasaki–Yuriko and second son Kenji, of Yuna were of the same age.Both the queens and their children had good bonds without any sort of ire or any ill will directed toward the other.

Everything was set. Three maids were standing close to the walls to carry out any orders given during the meal, the head maid was standing on the opposite end of the table. Now only king wasachi’s arrival was awaited. In the meantime, queens were discussing the recent problems in the kingdom, with their child giving their opinions in between.

The king arrived in the room and the dinner started. While everyone was focused on the food, Isamu was rather worried about something. Couldn't able to shook off his worries he asked,

Isamu: Father,... I am worried that our current army size is not good.

Forcing down the food in his mouth the king replied with,

Wasachi: I don't know what's worrisome about an army of around 150,000 people including medical support.

Isamu: But father still..

Wasachi: It's nothing but your fear of death asking for a false reassurance by adding more knights. What we have now are no less than the bests of our kingdom.

Isamu: I do completely agree with that but, having more knights is always better even if they are not directly placed in front lines or used in wars. Not to mention we are not sure of enemy soldier numbers, a simple tactic of overpowering the opponent by numbers could be played against us.

Wasachi: ...

Naoki: I also do agree with Isamu, father. Having limited information about the opposite is a limitation for both us and the enemy. Even if we have the best among our side we still can't take the enemy's side lightly as it could lead us to a fatal outcome.

Both of their points made the king lean in favour of this decision. As battle will only happen once, it's best to not let the small ripple in the ocean turn into a tide. Even if it turned out that the enemy had a lower number of knights compared to them then the extra numbers of these could help end the war faster and save them from some casualties or loss of power. It’s a win-win situation in either way.

Before king could expand his opinion on it Queen Murasaki spoke,

Murasaki: I have repeated it many times that I wish you three stop bringing political talks during the meals.

Not frequently but it was repeated some times during their meal that either of the males would bring up a political topic and both the queens were mad at that. It's not like they hated talking during the meals but the political topics always take away the joy of eating something good.

Wasachi: ..Let's stop the topic for now. I will discuss it more with others and tell you both later.

Rather than taking an immediate decision, the king wanted to discuss it a little more and then take action. He had to discuss many other things like the need for more ration and where to find people to recruit in the army.

After that last words there were not any more political talks during the meal and the night went by.

>

Two days went by after that talk. The king finally made a decision after mulling over it for 2 days. He had already informed his sons about it and now was sitting in the throne room, waiting for Zarachi whom he summoned.

The first thing Zarachi did after entering the room was to kneel before the king and show his respect. The eyes of his, which glow with the fuel of strength, only drop down in front of his majesty.

Wasachi: Raise your head, Zarachi.

Zarachi: Is something the matter my majesty?

Wasachi: Yes. After the suggestion of my sons I have decided to recruit more knights for the war.

Zarachi: …

Wasachi: And for their training I want you and some other knight commanders, I have chosen, to make them into some of the finest.

Zarachi: Your wish is my command, your majesty.

The king was quite pleased with the quick response from one of his trustworthy knights.

Wasachi: Though, the number of people you have to train will not be big. At most it could be 40 to 50. I will tell you about the other things in a few days, I will still be needing your help for other matters so be sure to drop by regularly.

Zarachi: Yes, my majesty.

Zarachi then started hearing heavy footsteps approaching the throne room. Like a big creature wearing metal armor was heading towards them. Each step reverberates through the King and Zarachi’s bones. But neither of them were surprised by this sensation as both of them were familiar with this sensation as they had experienced it many times.

The noise of footsteps was at its highest and then someone entered the room.

If the person who entered the room was to be described in simple words it would be, A Giant.

A man, around 8 to 9 feet long, wearing metal armor so thick that it could break bones of one whom it will fall upon. An ordinary person could feel how powerless he was when standing in front of him. Not being able to see his face because of the iron helmet he was wearing sometimes made the enemy think of him as nothing but an emotionless wild animal.

Zarachi slowly raised his head to look at this familiar being. The familiar being by which even he was a little intimidated by. It was no other than a fellow knight commander known by the name of,

Zarachi: Goro?

And in the hand of this giant, Goro, was a person lifted in the air by his neck. One tight squeeze and it will end his life.Like a small creature at the mercy of a cruel person. Zarachi was annoyed by the person in mercy of Goro so much that he asked in a rather loud voice,

Zarachi: Why did you bring him here Goro? Why..Why is this insolent lowly being brought here. No one asked for Sōzō !