Chapter 44: Harbin’s Worries

Within an open-air meeting room, within the highest point of Dragonsmourne, was Harbin alongside Leida and Samiyadare, discussing the upcoming mission. After Harbin successfully completed her task on briefing the upcoming mission to the Seventh Army, Klauna gave her another one— an order to brief Leida about it. It was a task that Harbin was a little bit nervous about completing. Though it didn’t scare her as much as Cera and Medica gave Harbin their word of assurance that Leida was not that scary of a person.

“And that is the plan for the upcoming battles,” Harbin finished her sentence, feeling a lot better about herself. Leida was not as crazy as the rumours said she was. As a matter of fact, Leida was very cooperative about the matter.

Leida who has kept quiet up to this point gave a nod. “I see… Ticah sure has her own style of doing things, huh? If I didn’t know her any better, I would have called it reckless.”

“What do you think of the feasibility of this plan, Big Sister?” Samiyadare who was at Leida’s side asked.

“I think it’s good, I guess, but I will need to talk to Parash and Aberanis about this,” Leida replied.

They both then nodded in understanding and said that they will relay it to the rest of the First Army.

“Thanks for coming here to tell us about it. Though next time, get that drunk sloth to come and tell me herself. You can’t just let that meanie push you around like that!” Leida let out a dissatisfied voice before placing her hands on Harbin’s shoulders.

“I-I’ll tell her that...” Harbin responded while looking away, avoiding eye contact with the scary First General.

It was then, during this moment that Harbin took notice of the beautiful sight of Dragonsmourne. The view from the summit was jawbreaking. Rows and rows of beautifully crafted gardens and farms lit up by the light of the evening sun. Neatly built houses placed at very specific spots of the valley, making the sight even more beautiful. A river passes through the middle of the village, glittering like diamonds as it flows through.

“What’s wrong, Young Harbin?” Samiyadare asked when she noticed Harbin’s lack of response.

“Eh? Ah! No- nothing!” Harbin snapped back to normal before breaking her of Leida’s tight grip on her shoulders. She then looked back at the view. “It’s just that… Dragonsmourne is pretty beautiful.”

“Well, of course Dragonsmourne is beautiful. It’s the place that we grew up in!” Leida put her nose up high as she bragged about her hometown. Samiyadre kept quiet and let out a proud smile as well.

Harbin saw their reaction and scratched her cheeks. “E-he-he… Well... I’ve always heard about Dragonsmourne and how they are the birthplace of the Dragonicias, but I always thought the place to be a deserted mountain with Lava and stuff. You know… Because dragons love living in those kinds of places.”

Leida let out a sigh before retorting back. “That’s just myths and stereotypes, you know that? What makes you think that we want to live near a bloody volcano?”

Samiyadare elbowed Leida at the shoulders. “Big Sister…”

“What?” Leida replied back, touching her sore shoulders.

“Do you like this place, Young Harbin?” Samiyadare ignored her older sister before asking Harbin a question.

“Yeah! The place is so pretty and so peaceful. I can see myself coming here for a vacation or two. You know, to get your mind out of the gutter and stuff,” Harbin said out in excitement. All of a sudden, her face turned into a frown and she looked all sullen.

“Hmm? What’s wrong, Young Harbin?” Samiyadare asked about her sudden change in behaviour.

“No… It’s just that… it’s so peaceful over here that I almost forgot a war is going on.”

“Ah, I see…”

“Why is it happening anyways? People are dying and destroying everything around them. Wouldn’t it be better if everyone got together in peace? That way, everyone could see this beautiful sight,” Harbin said as she rubbed the heel of her palm against her chest.

Samiyadare was lost for words at the matter, but Leida responded back fast— as if she knew what her answer was going to be before Harbin even asked it.

“Why is this war happening? The Kingdom attacked them and they are retaliating. That’s all there is to it. It just so happens that this time they have the balls to finally get rid of us,” Leida responded nonchalantly.

Not satisfied with Leida’s answer, Harbin asked even more questions. “Even so… why would they attack us so far into the Kingdom? To the point of killing everyone as well. Is it because they wanted land or resources or was it some sort of crusade? Can’t we negotiate with them for peace?”

“Their motives? I don’t know. It’s probably the combination of every single reason you can think of. The humans hated us and that hatred is shared by us who hate them back. It’s been like that ever since I could remember. Perhaps they are simply using any excuse they could find to justify their slaughter of us. Negotiation is probably too late at this point too,” Leida said.

“Hatred?” Harbin asked, unable to understand why would just hatred be enough to justify the deaths of millions.

Leida took a deep breath before giving out a serious look, thinking about the ways to answer Harbin. “Harbin, was it? Do you know the official reasons why the Ak’hims went to war with the humans in the first place?”

“Hmm? Medica said that the Sixth Demon Lord, Sylendri, wanted to claim the Succour’s relic from the capital city of Serrora. Perhaps a little bit of revenge,” Harbin responded.

“Then, Harbin, do you know why the Succour’s relic is in the capital city of Serrora in the first place?”

Harbin didn’t even have a chance to answer before Leida continued on. 

“Rhetorical question. Not many people would know about it. Back a few thousand years ago, the Third Demon Lord attacked the humans. Why? Don’t know. She hated them, I guess. She made it as far as Serrora, but was eventually defeated by a group of heroes and lost the relic there. The relic was probably hidden by the Third Demon Lord with her dying breath as I’ve never heard about the relic ever since.”

Harbin tilted her head, unable to understand how does the story correlate to the discussion at hand.

It was Samiyadare who spoke out to make it clearer for Harbin. “For a lot of people, the relic might seem important, but at the end of the day, the relics hold no worth other than being a symbol of honour and pride. A pointless symbol of power. Sylendri’s true reason for starting the war is simply petty revenge. She’s just using the relic as an excuse to find revenge on the people who killed Venti the Fifth. A motive disguised as restoring honour to Succours and the Ak’hims.”

Leida nodded before adding to the matter. “All I’m trying to say is that the war is really just pure hatred between the two factions, passed down from people that we don’t even know from thousands of years ago. Harbin, listen well. There doesn’t need to be some special reason for a war to happen. Only a trigger.”

“I see...” Harbin replied. She doesn’t fully understand their explanations but decided not to pursue it any further. 

It was such an unknown concept for Harbin. She understood hating somebody, but to have yourself be blinded by anger to the point of genocide and destruction was something that she was unable to comprehend.

“I can see that you are still confused. Just know this, not all things have to make sense. The reason for the whole thing doesn’t really matter anyway, nothing we do now will change the outcome. All that’s left to do is steel ourselves for the future and try our best to live on,” Leida shrugged her shoulders before walking away. Seeing this, Samiyadare gave a respectful bow to Harbin before following her elder sister, leaving Harbin alone within the summit.

Harbin let out a sigh, walking to the edge of the room in order to see the beautiful village of Dragonsmourne.

Harbin simply could not understand why there was such a big hatred between the two races in the first place. What was the point of the whole war? Just to quench an unsatisfiable bloodthirst?

Kotohood

Thanks for reading! Next Chapter will be on the 30th of March!