63. A Smile Worth Protecting
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Chapter 63: A Smile Worth Protecting

 

“What do you think is going on?”
“I don’t know, probably something bad I assume.”
"Is it about the war? Is the enemy upon us?"
“I hope they won’t take too long. All I want to do is have a nice meal and go to sleep.”

Chatters and murmurs could be heard as twelve thousand people gathered around in a large field in the middle of the encampment. Many of the topics going around were the soldiers asking among themselves why they are there and their self-made answers. 

It was strange, to say the least. Out of nowhere, right before dinner time, after a suspicious day of staying in place instead of travelling to Divinatus were they suddenly called to gather around with no explanation whatsoever. They were hungry for an answer. 

There were some people who didn't attend, but most of the Ak'hims were present in the area. This includes most of the top brass, the officers, who waited in a circle in the middle of the field. Key figures of the Ak’hims themselves were discussing among each other about the sudden gathering as well. Among them was Harbin who was looking very off her game at the moment. The Grimoire of the Analysts not with her as she just stood there looking at the ground with a defeated expression.

It doesn't take a genius to know that something had happened between her and Klauna. The whole camp basically knew about the whole fiasco by now— about the fire at Klauna's tent and the large argument they had said as the fire raged on. Both of them screamed at each other before Harbin had enough and ran away. Some of them had asked Harbin about what happened, but she only kept quiet and refused to respond. Asking Klauna was probably out of the question for the soldiers and thus, they were only left with rumours and speculation.

The area grew rowdier as more people started to engage in idle chatter when one of the soldiers spotted Klauna arriving at the fields. At first, some of them let out wry smiles at the sight of Klauna— messy hair and messed up attire— it was as if she just came out of a fight. She was also well known for being a drunkard, it was not a rare sight for her to be walking around dressed like that. 

But something about her was different that day. There was a sort of aura being emitted around her. Her eyes were laser-focused and she wasn’t wobbling around like when she was drunk. Her movements were precise and determined. The banner of the Seventh Army waved proudly for all to see. It was quite a contrast compared to the normal Klauna.

The entire area went quiet as they observed the Seventh General walking through the crowd to get to the middle, a big line and path were formed by the Ak’hims who moved away for her to walk through. During this time, the few other soldiers who have yet to arrive at the fields finally came. Lina, Medica and a few other Succours flew in from the skies and landed, just in time for Klauna to arrive.

Klauna who was walking through then spotted Harbin among the soldiers. Harbin looked at her with an uneasy expression. It was clear that she didn’t want Klauna to get any closer to her. Though, Klauna did exactly that, making a beeline towards her at a brisk pace. The other soldiers saw this and promptly gave way for Klauna to walk over to Harbin. After several moments, the two Analysts finally met each other.

“...”

“...”

The two did not say anything to each other. Klauna just stared at Harbin while Harbin only looked away, trying her best to avoid eye contact with Klauna. The first person to act was Klauna who brought her hand and patted Harbin’s head.

“You’ve grown taller, Harbin,” Klauna said as she rubbed the top of her head.

“...” Harbin didn’t say anything back; though she did try to push Klauna’s hand away, a little bit embarrassed and being treated like a child in front of everyone.

“...here, you left this at my tent,” Klauna handed over the Grimoire of the Analyst to her.

Harbin slowly picked the grimoire from Klauna before holding it close to her. She then finally looked up to face Klauna and looked at her directly in the eyes. Klauna could see the anger in her face, but the anger soon faded and was replaced with curiosity when she realised something— that Klauna no longer had that ‘look’ in her eyes anymore. 

Klauna then took out a small black orb from a hidden compartment within her clothes; the one magic trick that Klauna never showed Harbin, the reason how she was able to hide all those bottles of liquor from her— an orb that distorts the space around it. 

Klauna handed the orb to Harbin. “You can take this as well. I won’t be needing it anymore. My entire stash is in there.” 

“Lord Klauna…” Harbin muttered softly as she took the orb. Though she was a little surprised when she realised that the orb was much heavier than she thought. 

“I’m not going to apologize,” Klauna said to her, looking towards the orange skies.

“...I’m not really going to forgive you anyway,” Harbin replied back for the first time. She then gave out a disgusted look towards Klauna. “I’m still quite apprehensive at you from trying to lick off the floor you know.”

“You aren’t going to let that go will you?” Klauna asked back with a wry smile.

Harbin then gave out a bright innocent smile, a smile that can melt people’s hearts. “Nope,” she said to Klauna with a small chuckle.

Klauna nodded to Harbin before turning around to face everyone. “I want you all to listen to me!” She shouted loud enough for everyone to hear. Her strong commanding voice resonated across the field. 

“I’m going to be honest and tell you all right now... We cannot win this war. Our defeat is inevitable. No matter how hard we struggle, the results will be the same,” she said as she stared at the ground.

Those that hear her all gave a look of defeat. Klauna was right, there was no real way for them to win the war now. Hell, even a draw was good enough for them. But they knew deep inside, that that was not going to happen. The Alliance would not stop until every single one of them was dead.

“However! This battle of ours isn’t over yet! It’s not the time for you nor me to wallow in despair! There are still hundreds of thousands of us still alive. Hundreds of thousands of people that we can still save!”

Klauna then waved her banner up high for all to see. The glow of the setting sun complimented the banner.

“I have a plan that can still let us survive this war! But I cannot do it alone. I need the help of everyone here! Please give me that chance so that we can make it a reality! I need you all to be soldiers!” 

Having yelled out her words, Klauna then took a step back and faced Harbin once more. “You want a leader, you are getting a leader. Just be warned, I can be quite crazy at times,” Klauna said it in a way that only Harbin could hear it. 

Harbin had wanted to respond with something, but she was soon interrupted by Cera who started clapping. That clap was followed by Lina and Medica, then it was Samiyadare, Saladis, Poi, Yuupiecca, Parash, Aberanis. More and more people started clapping and soon, the whole area started cheering.

The two Analysts just stood there under the applause, smiling at each other.

 

* * * * *

 

Having known that the unshakeable strategist has a plan, the soldiers of the Northern Demon Kingdom started regaining their lost morale again— from an all-time low to something manageable for Klauna.  She needed them to at least try their best instead of just doing things for the sake of doing things. Plus, it was better if everyone in camp stopped being so depressed, after all, even if it’s just a little bit.

Satisfied with the results that she had gotten today, Klauna walked down the encampment towards the cafeteria to have her first meal of the day. She was famished and could use a good meal. Harbin was right next to her side, walking along with her. It was as if the big fight between them the day before never happened.

“To think that it would be this easy to rouse a broken army…” Harbin commented as she moved closer to Klauna, copying her leg movements, unbeknownst to Klauna.

“Nothing beats giving people hope after all,” Klauna responded to Harbin. “Even fake hope is better than no hope.”

“This is… real hope right? Not something you made up?” Harbin then looked at the immediate surroundings before coming close to Klauna and whispering to her. "You really got a plan right?”

“If I didn’t I wouldn’t have embarrassed myself in that lame speech now would I?” Klauna responded.

“I see. Yeah, I guess so. Speech is not your forte. You don’t like doing these kinds of things, after all…"

“...”

"Hey, Lord Klauna… can I ask you a serious question?” Harbin voiced with a meek tone after a moment of silence between the two.

“Yeah?”

“How does this orb work?” Harbin asked as she tried to make sense of the somewhat heavy orb that Klauna gave her, fiddling it around with her fingers.

“...of all the things to ask in this situation you ask about that one?” Klauna gave her a deadpan look.

“E-he-he,” Harbin scratched the back of her head.

Letting out a sigh, Klauna then turned around and showed her how to use the orb. She applied magic to her hands and twisted it in a specific motion. The orb then expanded before turning into a large spherical container. From the opening of the container, she took out two bottles before tossing them away. The bottles smashed upon hitting the ground. Twisting the sphere in a specific way again, it then turned back into a small orb.

Bright smiles and a voice of amazement came out from Harbin as she witnessed the whole thing. It was like a child looking at a new toy. It reminded Klauna of the time that Shia gave the orb to her as well. She was just like Harbin, except a little less excited and was more taciturn.

‘I’m going to protect that smile, no matter the cost,’ Klauna thought to herself as she continued to watch a happy Harbin.

 

Thanks for reading guys! Next chapter will be out on Friday, 8th of May. We are skipping one day of the schedule because I'm too busy playing Etrian Odyssey. I'm sorry, but the game is dragging me into the abyss....

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