Chapter 61: Klauna and Harbin

Running within a dark encampment illuminated by multiple small lamps was a young woman, her purple hair tied down into a low twin ponytail. In her hands was the Grimoire of the Analyst giving off a soft red glow that illuminated her path— the very grimoire that she swore to protect with her life. She kept running with an angry expression on her face, the bright light from the grimoire shone, attracting the attention of the soldiers around. In what looks to be almost complete dark was a light that ran through.

Occasionally, she would get interested looks and curious stares of the other soldiers within the encampment. However, Harbin merely ignored them and ran forth towards her destination, her movement never faltered. Her destination was the private tent of a person very dear to her; a person she and many other Ak’hims look up to; a person that she’ll gladly give her life for.

Klaunaliorilatica Analyst.

Once she arrived, she barged into the small camp. “Good evening Lord Klauna. I’m sorry to be disturbing you, I just wanted....” Harbin's angry face turned into a big frown as she started to pinch her nose.

What entered her eyes was the sight of a woman wearing an officer’s uniform on the ground in a very disorganized room. Her long beautiful hair messed up and in shambles. In her hands and her surrounding area were bottles of what looks to be, without a doubt, liquor. Some of the bottles were toppled over and soaked the floor with alcohol. Klauna was totally wasted on alcohol. Just like Klauna, the pride of the army, the flag of the Seventh Army and the Warrior Spear Indominatus were on the floor, drenched in a pool of toxic water.

“Shia…” Klauna softly muttered as she looked towards the entrance of her tent. After seeing that it was Harbin, she let out a dissatisfied grunt before turning around to grab another bottle to chug down.

Various thoughts came over to Harbin. Questions like how did Klauna manage to get hold of so many bottles of liquor? Harbin was sure that she disposed of every single one in the entire camp— in the entire military. She then started to ask herself several questions: How much has Klauna drunk already? Who was this Shia person that she kept on muttering about? 

‘How is this the person that I look up to…?’

But none of it matters as the first thing that Harbin did was coming straight up to her and taking the bottle of liquor that Klauna was chugging down away.

“How could you be drinking at a time like this, Lord Klauna?! Everyone is depending on you, you can’t just go and do things like this!” Harbin reprimanded the Analyst.

“Leave *hic* me alone…” Klauna said to Harbin as she tried to grab another bottle off the ground.

“No way!” Harbin yelled out as she grabbed Klauna by the hands. She then tried to drag her out of the tent. “Come on, I’m bringing you to Medica so she can detox you right away.” 

Dragging her out proved difficult as the Analyst struggled against her. She may be drunk, but Klauna was still the stronger person of the two. Not wanting to give up, Harbin started to pump mana into her body and started using body strengthening magic against her. Klauna started to slowly get dragged across the floor and to the exit.

“Leave me alone...” Klauna said again as the two struggled against each other.

However, Harbin wouldn’t listen to any of it. She pumped more mana into her body and started to pull Klauna even harder.

“I said… LEAVE ME ALONE!” Klauna yelled and let out a burst of aura which shook the entire room. She then pushed Harbin away harshly, causing her to fall down to the wet floor. 

“...” Harbin found it hard to say anything back. She could feel the air around her was heavy as if crushing her.

Klauna then moved back to grab another bottle. She popped open the cork and brought it over to her mouth in an attempt to drink it.

However, before Klauna could do so, the bottle cracked open and the contents spilt all over the floor. Several loud bangs were heard as more bottles on the floor were smashed open. Turning around, Klauna could see Harbin standing up and shooting projectiles out of her index finger, her defiant face clearly shown towards Klauna.

“From the day I met you...You… just leave me the damn alone. Why can’t you just bloody do that?!” Klauna yelled at Harbin, her aura burst flared even harder. 

The aura was such that Harbin was having a hard time breathing. Her legs and body were shaking, but she stood strong. “I can’t. I refuse! I respect you too much to let you do this to yourself! ” Harbin yelled back despite the overwhelming pressure.

“...I’m a failure. There is nothing to respect about me. I'm not the person you are looking for. You are just wasting your time. You are all wasting your time on me! I don’t have anything to say,” Klauna lay her back on a pillar— the support beam of the tent.

“Don’t say that! I and Everyone out there respect you! Your brilliance and your strength! They are all waiting on you, Lord Klauna! They all have great expectations for you!” Harbin yelled without caring about the crushing air. It was as if the door to all her pent up anger broke down.

“Great expectations? Respect me?" Klauna let out a small maniacal laugh. “Don’t make me laugh. Neither of you knows jack shit about me! All of you are simply looking for someone who can bring about miracles. I’m not that person!”

“Nonsense! Your plans have brought us miracles countless times! Nobody else can come up with a plan as perfect as you!” Harbin stomped her foot forward despite the overwhelming burst of aura from Klauna.

"Perfect? Let me set it straight to you, Harbin. I'm just as clueless as you all. All my plans have never had a hundred percent chance of success. I just acted confident so you and the others would stop asking me questions if it works or not." 

"That's…"

“It’s all a fraud… just dumb luck. I don’t have a single plan. All that 'tactics' and special strategies… I just made all that shit up. I don’t even fucking know if it bloody works! I’m not some sort of special godlike person like you all think I am. It’s all just things that I read from a book a few thousand years ago…”

Harbin’s eyes widened at the mention of time. ‘A few thousand years ago…?’ she thought to herself.

“See what I mean? You don’t bloody know me, Harbin. No one in this country does. Do you even know how old I actually am?”

Klauna answered before Harbin could even muster a response. “I’m eight thousand years old, Harbin. I’ve been here since the era of the First Demon Lord. I was there when the great separation happened and split this continent into broken halves. I saw it all happened."

Harbin’s eyes widened even further. She couldn't believe what Klauna was saying to her. Sure the Ak'hims can live long lives, their lifespans are very long, but to actually live that long was hard for Harbin to believe. People don't usually reach that insane kind of age as they die because of injuries, diseases and various other factors. Some just end up killing themselves because they don't have the will to live anymore. Reaching one thousand is a pretty great achievement in itself, two thousand even more so. Eight thousand years, however, is an unbelievably long time.

“Don’t you get it, Harbin? I’m this old, so why haven’t you heard of me until now? It’s simple. It’s because I’ve wasted my whole life up to this point. I had eight thousand years to do something for myself and the people around me. I knew the Analysts had a bad name and I just let it and myself rot." 

Klauna brought her right hand and covered her face in it. Though her teeth that were grinding against each other could still be seen.

"I had the power way even before this. Venti and Sylendri? I could have taken them both on if I wanted to. I could have stopped this war right there and then. Instead, I did nothing and wasted my life away. I drank away because I don’t want to think about things. About the pain. I’m tired and want it all to end. That’s how much of a loser I am, Harbin.”

“...” Harbin didn’t know what to say to Klauna. She only has a mixture of amazement, shock and frustration.

“Hell, the only reason why I am in this army in the first place is because I and Lionel just so happened to be in the wrong place at the right time. And here you people are, putting your ‘trust’ and your ‘expectations’ on a worthless scum like me. You guys are fools for believing so. I’m not worth following at all. I am a person who can’t even save her friends. A drunkard lowlife. A worthless deadbeat with no pride and honour. A murderer. A war criminal. Whatever the crap you guys want to call me.” 

Klauna paused for a while before she scoffed at Harbin, “Why should I even bother trying in the first place anyway? Nobody ever listens to me when it really matters. Now when things have already turned to shit, now they want my advice? Just get lost. I’m tired of this crap.” Klauna then turned her back to Harbin as she bent down to pick up one of the still intact bottles of liquor.

However, just before Klauna could pick one up, it was destroyed by Harbin who let loose more projectiles. She then started shooting more and more of the bottles of liquor until there was none left. The water seeped into the ground underneath their feet.

Klauna let out an unsettling grunt at the event. The two shared a moment of silence.

Just when Harbin thought it couldn’t get any worse, Klauna started to kneel on the floor. She then brought her head low in an attempt to lick the puddle of liquor on the floor. This disgusted Harbin to the point where she took the Grimoire of the Analyst to smack her head as hard as she could.

“Goddammit, Harbin. What would it take for you to leave me the fuck alone!?” Klauna yelled at her as she touched the sore part of her cheek that got slammed by the book.

“... you mentioned to me a long time ago… that I shouldn’t just stand still and do nothing. That I can’t be stagnant and that I must always be moving. To always be improving myself. That anything is better than just sitting around and doing nothing. I still hold those words dear to me even to this day, Klaunaliorilatica,” Harbin said to Klauna, a drop of tears fell from her eyes.

“...”

“To see the same person in this kind of state. Just sitting around stagnating and doing nothing… It’s a disappointment. Such a person should be gallant! Such a person should bring hope to everyone! A leader! I refuse to leave you alone!” Harbin yelled as the tears started pouring out of her eyes.

The sight hurt Klauna who saw Harbin as a younger sister. The last thing she wanted to do was make her cry.

"Those are just fairytales and fortune cookie nonsense," though Klauna's words did not reflect what was in her heart.

"It's a lovely story! And a good tasting cookie!" Harbin yelled.

“If I am a leader… Then I’m a broken leader, Harbinelikel. A failure. Same as this army right now. What good is a broken leader? Ju—”

Klauna was about to say ‘leave her alone’ when she suddenly got smacked by Harbin with the grimoire again.

“I don’t care! You aren’t a failure! I still look up to you despite your disgusting attempt at licking the damn floor. You haven’t failed me once yet. I’ll knock you awake and drag you to lead this army if I have to!” Harbin yelled as she slammed Klauna again with the grimoire.

“I DON’T BLOODY WANT TO! STOP FORCING THIS ON ME! JUST LET ME DIE!" Klauna yelled the hardest she could to Harbin.

Harbin however, didn’t falter one bit. She just kept hitting Klauna with the book, forcing her to shield herself from the blows.

“TOO BAD THEN! YOU ARE NOW LEADING THIS ARMY OR WHATEVER IS LEFT OF IT. SO ACT LIKE A PERSON WHO IS LEADING AN ARMYYYY!!” Harbin yelled so hard that Klauna could almost feel her eardrum burst.

Not having enough, Harbin then started a fire within the small tent, burning all the liquor on the ground. A force field erected around the two Analysts as Harbin continued smacking Klauna senseless with the grimoire. Again, again and again, again and again. Tears falling down her cheeks in a never-ending stream.

Kotohood

100k views!

Also, I'm about slightly more 2/3 through the story by now, thanks for reading so far! Next chapter will be on the 3rd May.