It was just another day of a distant war when I rode a carriage with my partner Elina and little weirdo fox. After Fuji kicked the king out of her beloved patch of land she decided to send us deliver food to a faraway town. There were no signs of any trouble until Elina spotted a smoke.
When out little party looked in the town we found a lot of dead people, murdered in the most sophisticated ways. While I dragged Elina out of there to avoid seeing this mess, Fuji stayed in the town to search something. I saw a lot of her flying machines buzzing around for some time before she returned and reported that the town is completely extinct. After this she rushed the caravan to another town where we were supposed to stay later.
Unlike Fuji the people were not thinking that there is a threat. She was agitated for no apparent reason so I asked her.
“Do you really think something is going to come?”
“I lost 3 flights! 3 FULL FLIGHTS! IN A SECOND!” She started shouting at me and that was a clear sign that she is not hesitating to go all out without even concerning herself with what the others think.
A few days later we finally heard what is going on: our war against the king became war of humanity against the demons. They were secluded in their mountains for centuries and suddenly they began moving, together with huge masses of human armies. Right after fox was done talking to the ‘Blackstone’ guys she said something to Elina and disappeared.
“What the hell happened?” I asked my pal.
“She said we should go somewhere and meet with ‘Blackstone’. I don’t know what the hell she thinks but it’s not like we have a choice.” (E)
When we arrived we saw an entire town of tents filled with several armies. In an enigmatic way all those armies gathered here within a week after the war began. And in another enigmatic way there was only one encounter with supposed enemy. The entire encounter was a dragon fighting with our crazy foxess.
That was a small impulse for my doubt that the demons were guilty. Yes, I saw a thrashed town but it was still possible that it was set up.
Another exciting thing was that Fuji declared that she will just take over the entire continent. I did not doubt that she just arbitrarily decided to do this while she had an option but I was moreover surprised that she began with pounding a demon army that showed up nearby while her proclamation was directed at the other countries.
Right after she was done she headed back to her beloved cliff while I was dragged in the back of her army. I was thinking if what I did was right. I was thinking if demons were not the actual bad guys. I even started to doubt Fuji and her own role in the conflict.
I ran as fast as I could.
The others will realize that I ran away very soon but the forest was my ally here, it will protect me from fox’s flying eyes. I will run as long and as far as I can and then I will try to establish contact with the demons. I hope they are just the victims and not the aggressors.
While I was running I walked into a girl from ‘Blackstone’, an archer.
“Why are you here? Are you not with the others?”
“I am here by myself. Prince returns to the capital, princess disappeared and I am here all by myself. What about you?” (M)
“I broke away from the goddess. I want to find out the truth about the demon invasion.”
“You think they are not the attackers?” (M)
“Yes…”
“Welcome to the party? I too find it weird that the demons were sitting somewhere for centuries and now ‘suddenly’ declared war.” Just like that we joined our efforts to survive and find the truth.
We spent two weeks wandering around but were yet to encounter any demons. We followed rumors and were closer and closer to our goal.
In the end we walked into a group of demon soldiers and by gesturing we convinced them that we are friendly. Unlike what the propaganda claimed, the demons were friendly and did not do anything bad to us. We were presented to their commanding officer who asked us about Fuji.
“We would like to meet the Goddess, our King wants to present our help as a sign of friendship.”
I was confused by their request but after some consulting with Marin we decided to show where her ‘palace’ is located. The demon commander whole-heartedly thanked us and soon we parted ways. We were escorted to the demon nation where we will be the messengers of peace.
We already crossed the pre-war border when we walked into a large group of other people. There were women and old who were shackled and obviously not well-treated.
“What is going on?!” I was furious and together with Marin we wanted to know the truth.
“They are rebels who began attacking our army, they are taken to the court where they will be judged.”
The people looked at us imploringly and I realized that something is not right.
‘Thrust’
I was pierced before I could react and fell down.
[So… cold… so… bitter…]
What I saw in my last moments was a woman being killed after she tried running away, and Marin who barely avoided the ambush and disappeared in the darkness of the forest.
[Why… was I so… stupid…]
Who this?
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