HYOGOKU - journey to unity-

*please open the map in another tab or download it to zoom in and see the place names clearer

+++

In the northeast of the main island of Hyogoku a new generation of leadership was on its way in the province of Oki. 

Oki, a clan with a strong leadership over its province. The main city was gloriously standing on the steep cliffs in front of the ocean. The white dragon emblem of the Oki Clan visible on the dark blue banners of the watchtowers. Unknown lands and with it other enemy territories were close, yet the cliffs and the turbulent sea protected them from attacks. On land the clan had made other provinces their allies to assure safety on land as well. The provinces Bodaisei and Wazaigo, both peaceful provinces, now under Oki’s protection, helped them cover territory and protect their own province from direct attacks.

The Oki Clan was one of the oldest in Hyogoku, one of the old leaders of the country and their pride had them fight for their right of leadership over the entire country in the times of the Great War.

The current leader had only witnessed the fall of the empire while still young, his ambition not as fierce as the one of his father and instead of threatening other provinces, he established a system to ensure their own safety. 

Their clan offered protection and soldiers for those who promised payment and alliance to them. Simple sellswords. But their skills were known all over the country, no province had ever dared to march into Oki for a direct battle.

With the new generation ready to take over, their bonds inside their own clan were put to the test as the clan’s pride was stronger in some of them and they did not agree on the current methods used to create a peaceful era.

The first day of the eighth month, the day the new generals would be officially announced. A great day for the clan as those generals would lead their soldiers into more battles, give their province a stronger name and more territories on their side.

Today was the day Taiga finally felt a tiny bit of freedom in the breath he took. He knew he would pass. There was no way he would fail. He was a great strategist and his archery skills were the best in the Oki Clan. His clan, at least in the eyes of most of the people applauding and congratulating him when the clan leader handed him a wooden plate with the emblem of the Oki Clan engraved into it. General Kyomoto Taiga, Oki Clan. As simple as that the words were engraved, yet it had immense influence and power not just in their own province. 

“The youngest general I ever awarded the symbol of our clan,” the older man spoke. His uncle, the older brother of his late father.

“It’s a great honor to receive it from you,” Taiga said with another bow as he put the plate with the wine red silk string around the belt of his armor. 

Their flexible armors were thin, yet strong, arrows and swords not easily able to damage the material if not used in a brutal close combat fight. It made it possible for them to be swift at fights and use their skills of horse riding and archery even more effectively in battle. Their armor was of light silver color, even their heavier close combat armors equipped with stronger metal and helmets not too heavy for them to still be fast, as their blacksmiths were skilled and their province also offered a lot of iron resources.

For their tests on this day they were equipped with helmets as well, yet Taiga had taken it off, holding it under one arm, his blonde hair up in the typical clan hairstyle of a half up ponytail, visible to everyone around him. He saw the looks, he heard the whispers. He knew that not everyone agreed on the rank he was awarded today, but he didn’t care. He had never cared. Now he was finally allowed out of his province. Out of that limestone castle that was unfortunately like a prison to him depending on his company. Even if a possible death in battle awaited him, this was the freedom he had been longing for. After all he wasn’t the successor of this clan. He was a mere bastard. The son of the younger brother of the clan leader, but with a woman not belonging to their clan. An outrageous act to their clan as they were keeping their line pure, yet Taiga’s father hadn’t cared for those rules. He had loved Taiga’s mother, yet the death of Taiga’s father in battle when he was still young, had led the clan to discuss Taiga’s rightful place inside the castle. An illness had taken away his mother just two years after his father’s passing. Like a thorn in a beautiful bouquet, Taiga was standing out in his own clan. Blonde hair wasn’t part of their genetics. All of them had brown hair, not a single one had ever gotten lighter hair, yet here Taiga was reminded of his status through it every single day.

The fighting and tests of the day had exhausted him, with a lot of clan members and civilians congratulating him and the other few generals who had been awarded the rank to be allowed to go into battle. Taiga was barely of adulthood, just old enough to officially take part in the fights needed to earn this title. He had taken some injuries with him back to the castle, but nothing he couldn’t handle. Unlike the other generals he had never fought in a real battle, but as it was no official condition, he had been allowed to participate.

The castle of Oki was huge, with several floors. High walls and gates around the inner yard and heavy metal doors at the entrance protected it against any possible enemy, but big balconies towards the ocean made it feel welcoming when inside. All the living quarters were in the back on the third floor, Taiga’s room having an amazing view towards the cliffs and at least here he was able to find some quiet and peace, sometimes.

Only clan members were allowed inside the castle, so there had been debates about Taiga even being allowed to stay after the passing of his parents, but eventually it had been his uncle and his extremely lovely wife who had allowed Taiga to stay. After all, he never disobeyed them or gave them any reason to believe that he was going to go against them. 

Taiga had changed out of his armor, putting on a loose white shirt and black pants as he sat on his spacious bed, looking out towards the now darkening blue sky. Carefully he closed the buttons of his high neck shirt and was ready to just call it a day. It wasn’t like there were any servants in their castles who would disturb him later. Their clan forbade servants and punished slavery with death. Everything had to be a fairly paid job, so of course there were people in the castle taking care of certain tasks, but no one would help Taiga with getting dressed or taking a bath. He liked it that way. It was easier to decide his own schedule and needs. 

But while he had hoped for a silent evening the door to his room opened minutes later. No knocking, no greeting of the person entering and that was all Taiga needed to hear for his look to immediately darken. He didn’t turn around when the other one was approaching the bed and stopped next to Taiga. 

“Great job today, cousin.”

There were only two people who would address him like this, but unfortunately it wasn’t the cousin he wanted to see. Not just today.

“Thank you Taisuke,” Taiga said casually as he got up from the bed and looked at the older one.

A half up ponytail, the same as him, but brown hair, not the same as him and Taisuke would never see them as equal in the first place. The smile on his lips was as fake as everything he showed towards Taiga when they were around people.

“If you don’t mind, I am exhausted from the day and would like to take some rest.”

Taiga tried to move away from the bed, but of course Taisuke would step in his way. Not even today he would leave him alone, no, especially today he wouldn’t.

Taisuke wasn’t a general. There was no need for him to be one. He was the son of their leader. Yet he wasn’t lazy or just waiting to take over the province. He was a skilled fighter, but he was also skilled in making everyone believe that he accepted Taiga in their clan and Taiga had no way of telling his uncle about the way he was treated, it would make things even more difficult for him.

“Oh come on, show me how much effort you put into your fight today,” Taisuke said, but didn’t move from his spot. Taiga was used to Taisuke’s manipulative way of speaking, knowing exactly what was giving him satisfaction and as annoyed as he was by the other one treating him this way, he knew that there was no way he would act up now. Not now that he was finally going to leave the province for longer, to his first battle as a general. 

When Taiga didn’t make any move, Taisuke crossed his arms to his chest with a warning look and Taiga had to fight the urge to roll his eyes. He got out of his shirt, turning to the side so that Taisuke could see the purple bruise on his ribs. Beneath it a lot of old scars were visible all over Taiga’s skin, scars Taisuke was aware of very well. The new bruise was big, going all the way from his hipbone up to the back of his shoulder blade. It had been his own carelessness resulting in it as he had not protected his body well enough against an opponent in a three on one fight. He was fast, yet close combat against several people wasn’t his strongest skill. The day had been hard on him, the soldiers fighting with all their might and he had been extremely unfortunate that Iwamoto had been one of his opponents. Iwamoto Hikaru, a general, yet not an official war general, but bound to the castle as he was the assigned general at Taisuke’s side. 

“Oh what a nasty bruise,” Taisuke said as he stepped closer and of course he put his hand on Taiga’s ribs, the boy flinching, but not pulling away. “Was that Iwamoto’s fault?”

“It was a fair fight,” Taiga said, but he had of course realized that Iwamoto had aimed to harm him way more than the other soldiers. 

“Anything else?” Taisuke asked as he moved his hand from Taiga’s ribs up to his shoulder as he stepped behind him and when he closed his hand tightly around Taiga’s shoulder blade, Taiga let out a hiss, pulling a bit to the front out of reflex.

That move had Taisuke put his other hand on the bruise on Taiga’s hip, pulling him back. “You know on the battlefield this is nothing.”

“I am not complaining,” Taiga shot back over his shoulder, knowing that he had to watch his tone.

“Do you really think you will have a chance out there?” Taisuke asked as he stepped back this time, Taiga turning towards him.

“As if you’d care if I die out there.”

Now he had lost his patience. He shouldn’t have, but sometimes he just couldn’t take all that arrogance anymore, especially not after such a long day. Of course Taisuke immediately lunged out and gave Taiga a resounding slap, but then grabbed his chin, turning his face back and moving his hand up to his cheek to caress it. 

“We’re family, how dare you say something like that?”

Taiga wanted to laugh at Taisuke’s perfect game. The way he brought hell over Taiga every single day, while pretending that he was his safe harbor. It was a twisted game, but Taiga knew that he wasn’t a strong enough player in it to take Taisuke down. Like a pawn in a chess game he was able to avoid the bishop, but only step by step. One wrong move and he would be directly in the line of the enemy.

“I will wait for your safe return each time you head into battle,” Taisuke said with a grin as he grabbed Taiga by the chin once more, taking a side glance at Taiga’s neck, yet he didn’t comment on the scar, which Taiga usually hid under his high collar. “I bet your enemies will love your strong eyes.”

Not exactly a praise. Taisuke hated Taiga for his eyes. Not because of their color, as they both shared the same brown eyes, but because of the disobedience they showed towards him. They had lost their shine of fear towards Taisuke long ago. That fear had almost destroyed him before so he would never let it surface again. Not in front of Taisuke, not even alone in his room. Fear was something he didn’t allow himself to feel anymore.

A knock on the door had Taiga look over Taisuke’s shoulder and just when the door got opened, Taisuke released him and stepped back, fetching Taiga’s shirt from the bed with a calm look.

“Taiga, are you- oh, Taisuke, I am so sorry. I didn’t know you were here.”

“It’s okay Shime,” Taisuke said with a perfect smile while Taiga hurried to close the high collar of his shirt.

“I just congratulated our new general and made sure he’s taking care of his injuries.”

Shime thanked him for his concern and of course Taisuke took the chance to remind Shime that he had to work hard as well to become a general.

But Shime wasn’t made to be on the battlefield. He was their second cousin, the son of their fathers’ cousin. With that Shime wasn’t in any way the heir of their clan, but if anything happened to Taisuke, he would indeed have way more right than Taiga to step into the position of the king of Oki, but his poor health would make that task extremely difficult.

Taisuke left the room as carefree as he had entered while Shime walked over to the bed with a last look over the shoulder to the closed door.

“Did he do anything?” Shime asked, Taiga giving him a grateful smile.

“Thanks for your worries, but I told you so often now that everything is okay and that you should not get involved.”

“Nothing is okay,” Shime scolded him. 

“Then what would you do?”

A difficult question as Shime wasn’t even healthy enough to fight. From his looks he didn’t look that much thinner than Taisuke and Taiga, but his heart was weak, his body not stable enough to handle a lot of physical exercise. But he was smart and their king valued the way he studied hard to be of help in their council meetings.

“I will hopefully soon get my first invite, then I will be out of here for a while,” Taiga said as he moved to sit down on his bed, moving one hand to his ribs as the bruise burned now more than before.

“Can I ask a favor when you go?” Shime asked as he knew that an invite would mean Taiga would need to go into battle as a sellsword for another province and battles were getting bigger and more gruesome, so he worried a lot for his return, but he knew he would get scolded if he voiced it out. “Can you bring me back a few books if you get the chance?”

Taiga chuckled at his cousin’s words, but nodded as he also enjoyed reading a lot and he was already looking forward to leaving the province, because that meant he would pass through Wazaigo, the province with their country’s biggest archives and libraries. 

“I will make sure to do so.”

***

Almost a month had passed in which Taiga had tried to not let his impatience show too much. Some generals wouldn’t leave for the battlefield for months if not needed and he wasn’t the only one after all, yet he had made sure to make his voice heard next to his aunt and uncle. They understood how much he wanted to get an invite, not that they understood the reason for it, but him trying to serve their clan was the only reason they needed to know of.

The days were long, the summer hot and humid, so most people spent their time inside the heavy stone buildings, giving them at least some shelter from the unforgiving heat.

Taiga had taken his horse down to the beach. A training course with targets for archery was installed at one side and he had indeed used it in the earlier hours, but now that the noon hours were bringing unforgivable heat towards him, he had let his horse grass on the hillside next to the sand beach while he dared his way out to the water.

Warriors of Oki were trained in various kinds of war arts, the ocean giving them the opportunity to also learn how to swim and sail boats. Taiga had learned almost every single skill faster than any other child. Yet the reason for that had been his instinct to survive. Taisuke had thrown his life into chaos since he could remember. He had tried to drown him, let his horse trample him to death, way more attempts on the list, but the older they got, the harder it got for Taisuke to get his hands on Taiga without it looking too obvious. He was trying to get him out of his way, not that anyone would put Taiga over Taisuke as the leader of Oki, but Taisuke still saw him as a threat and as the bastard he was. He didn’t think he was worthy of the name Oki. 

There were so many scars on Taiga’s skin, all telling horrible stories, but weirdly he had always made it out alive. None of those planned accidents ever took his life and by now Taiga was sure that Taisuke had found too much pleasure in keeping the game up, because he could easily just order Iwamoto or any other soldier to kill him and make it look like an accident, not to forget that Taisuke had stopped him once from ending the game.

Slowly Taiga put one hand up to his high collar, but then walked into the shallow waves with a sigh, until he was in the water until his hips. The water was cold even in summer so in winter they would use it as a training ground to fight through the cold. Their province would barely get any snow, so the water was the only way for them to actually train for colder regions. Maybe he would soon visit a northwest province or maybe one of the desert provinces in the South.

The sound of a horse galloping down from the city made Taiga look towards the beach behind which the huge castle stood strong on the cliffs. It was a fascinating view, a place so beautiful, yet it wasn’t the warm home he wished to have.

Luckily the person rushing down to him was bringing a smile on his lips. The boy on the horse was the same age as Taiga, but he had short black hair, showing that he wasn’t a direct Oki Clan member, which didn’t mean that he wasn’t a part of their city. Most soldiers and civilians were no direct clan members, yet they were of course allowed to work around and in the castle and join their battles. 

But Takada Sho wasn’t a soldier. He was a blacksmith and a very skilled one. He was also the only person Taiga called a friend in this city. Except for Shime of course, but they were family, not that Sho didn’t count as family to him by now as well.

Sho made his horse stop when Taiga walked out of the water and the boy gave him a bright smile. “Trying to escape the heat or life in general?”

“Drowning myself is not really on my list of goals right now,” Taiga teased as the boy got off his horse and walked it over to the grass at the cliffs.

“How did you know I was out here?” Taiga asked.

“Shime told me,” Sho said as he put his horse next to Taiga’s on the grass. “Still no invite?”

Taiga shook his head, but he didn’t look too disappointed. He knew he had to be patient. 

“How is your bruise?” Sho asked and hit Taiga against the ribs, the boy immediately scolding him, but by now it was not that painful anymore. Taiga had told his friend about the injury, but only because he knew that Sho wasn’t the type to ask him questions about it or have him show the bruise.

“It would be better if you would all stop touching it.”

“I bet Taisuke laughed at you a lot,” Sho said as he walked back to the sand and sat down, stretching his arms out with a loud sigh before he fell back into the sand. As he had his eyes closed he missed the shadow passing Taiga’s face, but then he smiled and sat down next to his friend.

His own burdens were for himself, only for himself. Shime had found out by coincidence a few years ago, but Taiga had been extremely threatening towards him at that time to never dare speak to someone about Taisuke’s behavior. It wasn’t his pride stopping him, but his fear of his little cousin being the next one on Taisuke’s list if he ever found out.

“So do you need any extra weapons? New arrows? Or a bow? I can make you some cool daggers as well?” Sho said as he looked at Taiga with a bright smile.

The boy loved his job as he had learned everything from his grandfather. The man was still working, but Sho tried to take over as much work as possible as the man was already too old to stand in the smithy the entire day. His mum was well, living together with both of them in a house close to the shop. His father was unknown to him, a dark past lying over that story, but Sho still grew up to be a boy with one of the brightest smiles and the most honest heart.

“Let me think about it,” Taiga said. “I don’t even know where I will be going so I don’t know what weapons or which armor I will need.”

“Where would you like to go?” Sho asked as he sat back up and pointed out to the ocean. “I mean in general, not for battle.”

Taiga gave it a thought before another smile bloomed on his face. “Everywhere.”

That reply had Sho tilt his head in confusion and Taiga chuckled at him.

“I want to explore. I want to see places, meet people, gather experience in all possible aspects of life.”

“Does that include love?” Sho teased and hit him against the arm with his elbow, Taiga rolling his eyes at him. 

“We talk about love when you finally dare to talk to the young lady of the saddler down your street.”

Sho’s face immediately showed a different color on that topic and he looked away with an embarrassed smile. “I guess we need to wait a bit then.”

“Why is that? Come on, shall I ask her in your place? I bet she’d be thrilled if an Oki Clan member shows up in front of her door to tell her that his friend wants to meet her.”

“And then she will be disappointed that I’m not an Oki Clan member,” Sho laughed.

“Not that I am much of one,” Taiga said with a bitter smile, but Sho hurried to pick up some sand and emptied it over Taiga’s head. With a curse Taiga pulled back, shaking his head to get the sand out of his hair and he jumped up to chase after Sho who had already dashed towards the water.

“You’re as short tempered as them," Sho laughed as he kept running, but there was no way he could outrun Taiga, especially not on the sand. Even training like that had been part of Taiga’s childhood. He wasn’t that muscular or strong, but he was swift and fast. Able to run on any possible uneven ground and soon he tackled Sho to the ground, right when a wave hit the sand, both of them laughing when they got buried underneath it.

“I hope you can find what you’re looking for,” Sho said when he got up, all covered in wet sand.

“Now I have the freedom to finally search for it,” Taiga said as he looked towards the ocean with a smile. One positive outcome of being a bastard of his clan was the fact that he wasn’t allowed to marry back into it. For him it was more about not being forced to marry back into it, so he could freely choose who to love and be with, but if he ever dared that step, then his place in the castle would be lost for good. But his rank as a general would be something he would still keep. Yet Taisuke’s view of that matter was different. He tried to push Taiga out of the important clan business, yet keep him strictly bound to the rules when it came to anything that gave him freedom.

“Does that look like trouble or good news?” Sho asked and Taiga followed his look towards the castle where two soldiers were riding towards them, in front of them Shime was on his horse as well. 

“Definitely something important,” Taiga said as he knew that Shime shouldn’t even be out in such heat and definitely not in full gallop on a horse. So when he stopped with the soldiers next to them, Taiga hurried to give him a hand to get down and take a moment to calm down. His heart wasn’t strong enough for simple tasks like horse riding.

“What’s the hurry for?” Taiga finally asked when Shime’s breathing pace had calmed down. His cousin looked up at him with a bright smile as he grabbed him by the shoulders.

“Taiga, you got an invite!”

Taiga hurried back to the castle, promising Sho to tell him about everything later as he wasn’t allowed inside, but the boy was extremely excited about the news of the invite. So was Taiga, but he tried his best to not let it show too much. After all, this wasn’t a simple invitation to visit another prefecture. It meant that there was a battle going on somewhere and they needed Oki’s assistance.

Shime hurried after Taiga while the soldiers hadn’t followed them up to the great hall. Taiga’s mood immediately dropped when he saw Taisuke standing next to Taiga's uncle, but he tried his best to ignore his presence as he walked up to the clan leader. 

The man waited for him with a scroll in his hand. It was rare to see his uncle in the great hall as they were using a council room for important meetings most of the time. His uncle had always loved good counsel and he didn’t want to be seen as a strict king, a completely different view to what Taisuke had in mind, not that the young man easily let that side of his thoughts show towards his father.

“There you are, young general,” the man said, making Taiga bow slightly as he felt a bit embarrassed about his dirty clothes. “I guess you didn’t take off a single day from training.”

Taiga nodded as he had been indeed training a few hours ago, but now his focus was on the beige scroll in the man’s hand. 

“I received it this morning,” the man said, but his look didn’t seem too excited and Taiga tried hard to not impatiently shift from side to side while Shime remained a bit in the back, but wanted to hear about the invite as well. “I wanted to hand it to another general.”

Those news had Taiga stare back at his uncle in disbelief. Hadn’t he been clear enough? Was his uncle protecting him, because he was family? He was ready to find every possible reason to get that invite, but then the man turned to Taisuke.

“But my son convinced me that you were ready for this.”

Now Taiga had no other choice, but to turn to his cousin and Taisuke gave him a soft smile. So innocent and fake. 

“I am sure my little cousin can handle this invite. He isn’t just the youngest general, but also one of the most skilled ones after all.”

“I agree,” the man said as he turned back to Taiga and finally handed the invite to him, but his look still remained a bit doubtful. “You’re still free to hand it to a more experienced general, I leave that choice to you.”

Taiga nodded for now, not that he would let anyone take this chance away from him. He hurried to open the scroll and he held it a bit to the right on purpose as he knew that Shime would try to read from the back over his shoulder.

“Kita-Shosan,” Taiga read out loud. One of the biggest provinces in the country. Wazaigo was the only province between Oki and Kita-Shosan. None of their provinces had a big battle until now as Kita-Shosan understood that if they dared to attack Wazaigo that Oki wouldn’t stand down. But they weren’t known to be a province to go into battle easily. They had mountains, forests, rivers and huge agricultural lands. Their main city was a harbor city like Oki, but they had an easier access to the ocean and the water was less turbulent, giving them the chance to use boats to cast for fish. They even traded with Wazaigo, Mabara-Kinmitsu and Bodaisei sometimes. But there was one other province at their western border and there was no way they would trade or have any other contact than that of a battle. 

“Basarano,” Taiga read out loud once more and he could hear a gasp from Shime in the back. Now Taiga understood his uncle’s worries, but also Taisuke’s pressure on his uncle to let Taiga take on this battle. It was an easy way to get rid of Taiga without having to be part of it and it would be the same province his father had died against in battle.

Basarano was known for its fearless warriors, but also their chaotic leadership as the Basarano Clan had been destroyed in the great war, leaving many clans in a civil battle for leadership. They were all ruthless and heartless. A battle against them was something Kita-Shosan had tried to avoid for decades. The Seikyo mountain range, a huge mountain ridge lying between their provinces, made a direct battle difficult. Basarano had everything they needed. Unfortunately, wide lands, agriculture and strong warriors wasn’t enough for them. They weren’t known to make trades or friends in the first place. They were known for battles and massacres. 

Southwards the province Kaikakuto had once almost completely vanished through an attack of Basarano 15 years ago. Their lands had been on fire for weeks, their civilians had been killed gruesomely and their soldiers had been tortured to death for everyone to see. The reason for the battle was unknown to them. Their leaders of the now extinct Basarano Clan had been part of the council of their peaceful nameless era, but they wanted more. They became greedy and they were the first ones to ride into battle at the great war, bringing uproar over Hyogoku. Eventually the clan paid the highest price with extinction. 

“We already sent one of our troops from Wazaigo towards them as they will need every possible help they can get,” his uncle said with a troubled expression, but there was no way he would sit back and not help them, especially because they got well paid by Kita-Shosan for their help and they were also their shield against Basarano.

“I will take the invite.”

Taiga’s words hang in the great hall for a moment, his family members all giving him different looks. Shime shook his head, Taisuke was grinning and his uncle gave him a proud yet worried nod.

“You will get the strongest soldiers, the fastest horses and the best weapons,” his uncle explained as he walked up to Taiga and clapped him on the shoulder. The man was getting old, Taiga could see it clearer now. He was tired, not able to ride into battle himself anymore. But he had been out in the battlefield when Taiga’s father had died. It had been exactly the same enemy. They had come to Kaikakuto’s aid after Basarano had rolled over them without any warning. 15 years had passed since then and they hadn’t started another big battle, until now. 

“You need to leave today,” his uncle said. They had to hurry. It would take them at least a week to reach the city of Kita-Shosan. If the enemy had already invaded other territories of the province then they would run into them faster already. At least the weather should be on their side as the northern provinces were sunny and warm around this time of the year as well. A bit cooler than Oki and at least not that humid, so they didn’t need to carry too much extra clothes or winter armor. 

“Shime, would you be so nice and help me with preparations?” The man asked and Shime nodded, but gave Taiga a worried look as he left with his uncle while Taiga remained in the room with Taisuke.

“As expected of you, so fearless,” Taisuke let out as he walked up to Taiga and grabbed the rolled up paper, but when Taiga didn’t immediately let go, the older one raised an eyebrow at him.

When Taisuke stepped closer, Taiga finally let go of the invite, but Taisuke didn’t even bother stepping away as he opened it with an excited smile at the name of their enemy. He rolled it back up and put it under Taiga’s chin.

“I’ve heard stories about them. One worse than the other,” Taisuke said, looking at every single reaction on Taiga’s face. But Taiga knew the stories as well and he didn’t fear them. If death was going to be part of his freedom then so may it be.

Taisuke wasn’t pleased with the lack of reaction and he shifted his weight, putting his free hand into Taiga’s hair and pulled a bit, forcing Taiga to lift his head. “They’re famous for their torture methods. Some of them seem to enjoy scalping their enemies and taking home their hair and skin to sew them into their armor as a token of power.”  

Taisuke gave a harsh pull on Taiga’s hair and this time Taiga let out a small hiss on the rough movement, but that wasn’t enough for Taisuke to show a smile. Not anymore. When they had been younger, Taisuke had enjoyed every single bruise or scar he had caused on Taiga. Now it had become too boring for him and it was obvious how much he would enjoy joining the battle just to be present if Taiga indeed got tortured or killed.

“I will make sure to show you all the damage they caused when I make my way back to Oki,” Taiga replied calmly and this time Taisuke laughed, releasing Taiga, but giving him a few claps on the cheek. Of course a bit too harsh to call it a caressing act.

“You do that little cousin and if you can’t do it, then I will make sure to get what they left of you back here so I can have a look.”

It were those direct words that had Taiga shiver each time. The lack of empathy and the excitement about pain and death. It fascinated him how Taisuke was able to behave calmly around everyone else in the castle, but it was clear that at least Iwamoto knew about Taisuke’s real personality. Yet the general was still at his side and that was another scary fact. Taiga had to watch out more for Iwamoto than for Taisuke. One direct order and Iwamoto could end his life without any consequences for Taisuke.

Taisuke stepped back and handed the scroll back to Taiga, but when he made a move to leave the room he stopped next to Taiga once more and pulled down his high neck part to put one finger right above the long and thin scar on it.

“Just don’t be a coward again.”

***     

The province of Oki was Hyogoku’s fourth biggest province of the country, but what was outstanding at their province was the amount of people willing to fight for their clan. 20,000 soldiers in full, a number so big that only the army of Minami-Hian could be a direct threat to them, but even though the southern province was the biggest of the country it also had the most provinces connected to them and mostly protected its own borders instead of trying to head into battle.  

Basarano could be a threat to them in numbers as well, but they weren’t one organized army, just a lot of clans all trying to fight for leadership. Oki split their soldiers into divisions to protect Wazaigo and Bodaisei and was also offering their services as sellswords to other regions, so usually most of their soldiers were on duty outside of Oki.

Nevertheless the army Taiga led out of their main city was of a strong size. 2,000 brave women and men fighting under his command, no one questioning his age or experience as a general. For the Oki Clan it was most important to trust in each other and obey orders, even if they came from the youngest member of their army.

500 of his soldiers would remain in Wazaigo as they had let the same amount of soldiers head into battle from there already to make sure that the Basarano soldiers wouldn’t storm through Kita-Shosan right to their borders. 

Kita-Shosan had an army of 15,000 soldiers as well, but they were scattered over the province, only around 7,000 at the main harbor city where Basarano had directly attacked. Reports had stated that around 6,000 soldiers had invaded the province, burning down smaller towns and villages on the way. Chances were high that more soldiers were trying to make it to other regions of the province to destroy it the same way as they had done it with Kaikakuto.

Right at their departure Sho had made sure to equipped Taiga with as many useful weapons as he could and Taiga had his bow and quiver on his back, while he had a short sword on his belt and a knife hidden in his long boots. They had provision on their horses for a few days, but they would restock at Wazaigo. For now they had to be swift and couldn’t get delayed by any heavy luggage.

Shime and Sho had both worried for him and wished him a safe return, while Taisuke had of course said the same, his look longed for Taiga to never return. Taiga’s willpower and confidence wasn’t that easily scratched and after a three day ride through their open lands with small towns and villages on their way throwing flowers on the streets they passed, to send them into a safe battle, they had finally arrived in the province of Wazaigo.

The entire atmosphere changed over one day as their surroundings changed from simple wooden houses of their villages to huge houses of red bricks and the most beautiful architecture Taiga had ever seen. 

It had been two years already since he had last been allowed to visit Wazaigo together with his uncle. A province of history and knowledge. A place his uncle wanted to protect under any circumstances. Wazaigo didn’t have a standing army themselves, but their people would fight if needed. 

In the main city they were greeted with an escort of a dozen riders. Their city was lying at the border of the Seishi forest. It was the biggest forest in their country, reaching over several hundreds of kilometers. It gave Wazaigo a natural border to other provinces, but they were on good terms with Bodasei, which was lying on the other side of their forest border.

They were also allowed to use the stone provided from Oki as they had the Renkyo mountain range between their borders. Towards Kita-Shosan the Waru mountains gave them a natural border, but they wouldn’t just use the resources without making sure Kita-Shosan would agree. 

The buildings inside the big city were a mix of wood and stone. Some of them white, others red, the color of the wood also varying from dark brown to light beige. The mix might seem chaotic at first, but Taiga felt at ease each time he visited this place. A lot of the architects and handymen from Wazaigo were called to Oki to help them out with new buildings. The province was led by a democratic council and three of the council leaders were awaiting them at their beautiful council hall. 

They seemed surprised when they saw the plate on Taiga’s belt. The proof of him being the general of this army, but they still greeted him with the respect he deserved. Taiga didn’t waste much time with formal talks as he knew that they needed to hurry. He told his soldiers to rest for a few hours before they’d depart. 

Farriers were taking a look at their horses, while civilians of the city had already prepared food and provisions for the soldiers. They led them to a place close to the forest where there was enough space for all the soldiers to rest and escape the heat of the sunny day. 

Taiga ensured that everything was set and then he excused himself for a moment. He hurried along the streets, knowing his way around perfectly. 

After a few minutes of walking he reached a white paved street. It was short and there was only a single big building at the end. Black ebony wood mixed with beige limestone. High windows and two small conical roofs on each side. The center roof was lower, beneath it a heavy double door with metal rings making Taiga stop to look at them with a nostalgic smile. The first time he had come to this place he had been too small to even reach the rings to open the door.

The doors opened with a creak and Taiga stepped inside the spacious entrance hall. The entire building was connected, the roofs high even inside and the only furniture were hundreds of bookshelves, so high that climbing the ladders to the top shelf would take more time than first expected.

Taiga walked through the main aisle of the library, the biggest library in their country. The floor was out of white and black marble, showing Taiga’s reflection. Taiga’s steps echoed through the building as he looked up to the tower to the left where a beautiful round staircase led up to the newest shelves where no new books were placed yet. Just a few years more and they would definitely need a second building.

“What a rare guest.”

The voice came from a staircase on the right side of the building and Taiga turned towards the young man smiling down at him. Just a few years older than him, brown wavy hair and the brightest smile he had ever known. 

In Oki, Sho was indeed the only person Taiga truly called a friend, but in Wazaigo, Kochi Yugo was falling into the same category. 

“And what do I see there?” Kochi asked as he pointed at Taiga’s belt. “Don’t tell me your uncle actually let you take an invite?”

“I am officially a general now, what else would I do with my spare time?” Taiga teased while Kochi walked down the stairs and stopped at a bookshelf on the way, picking two books before he stopped right in front of Taiga and held them out to him.

“Reading, what else?” Kochi teased and Taiga took the books, giving them a quick read. One was a fictional book, magic and fights, a topic that wasn’t that far off from their world, but Taiga wished their fights would be as glorious as the ones in those books. The second one was about their world. Explanations of trading and economics.

“I guess one is for me and the other one for Shime?” Taiga asked and Kochi nodded before he went off to another corridor and handed one more book to Taiga. 

Taiga had to suppress a laugh when he realized that it was a kind of twisted story about true events, yet explained from the view of an outsider. The story of a mad man riding into battle for his own needs of power, while the people around him watched him rise and then fall through his own arrogance.

“You can hand that one to Taisuke,” Kochi said neutrally, but Taiga had already known years ago that Kochi was good at reading people. While he was taking care of the library he was a council member as well after all. Taisuke had never misbehaved while being in Wazaigo. He had been a calm child around everyone, except around Taiga of course. But Kochi had been able to sense more, especially when Taiga’s uncle had come by with both of them.

“I will have someone pick them up on my way back,” Taiga promised as he put them down on a table. “Could you grab a handful more for Shime later? He will be thrilled to get books recommended by you.”

Kochi nodded, but now the worry on his face was obvious as well. “Make sure you come back to be able to hand them to Shime.”

“It will take us some weeks I fear, but I won’t break that promise.”

“You better don’t,” Kochi said with another smile. “Don’t give Taisuke that satisfaction.”

“Never.”

***

It took them another two days to make it to the border of Kita-Shosan as the Waru mountains weren’t that easily crossed even if they stayed close to the Hokubu river.

As much as Taiga wanted to hurry, the weather was making it hard for them to push their horses and themselves too much. With the sun burning down on them even in the ninth month of the year they had to make sure that they would arrive in a condition to fight, even if that meant a day or two delay.

Around this area the province had no big towns or cities and Taiga had never visited Kita-Shosan before. He had heard stories though. Their main city had no castle, no big towers, nothing that would compare to the big stone buildings they had in the east, but the people were happy. They were loved and protected by a strong leader. While Kita-Shosan was indeed a monarchy, their king seemed humble and put trade over battles.

Taiga made his army hold when he saw two of their scouts riding back towards them. He had sent out three groups of scouts to check on the villages and towns around the borders. For now they should be okay to proceed without delay, but they needed to make sure that their enemy hadn’t already pushed further into the province. The scouts had been ahead a day's ride and it seemed like the way to the next bigger town was safe, for now.

“We will camp around this area for the night, make sure the villages around are getting informed about our arrival,” Taiga ordered.

They needed a wide space to camp with such a big army, but he didn’t want the civilians around them to fear them. They had come to help after all.

The next day they needed to hurry. To the main city it would take them at least another three or four days, but Taiga was sure that they wouldn’t easily make it that far. His gut feeling told him that something similar to Kaikakuto was going on, so the Basarano soldiers wouldn’t just try and attack the main city to take control. That wasn’t their way of handling things. 

After a short night they all hurried towards the next big town at sunrise, people luckily greeting them with grateful expressions as they had already heard the news of the war, but had until now luckily stayed unharmed.

Taiga considered leaving some soldiers behind for protection, but he had to trust in their strength and ability to stop their enemy before they could make it towards the eastern or southern border. His remaining scouts had all returned with positive news, but in the afternoon of the following day Taiga felt an extremely unpleasant shiver when only one of his two scouts came into sight.

“General, Basarano is gaining ground. Around 500 soldiers, maybe more. A three or four hour ride from here.”
“Did you engage in a fight?” Taiga asked and was relieved when the man shook his head.

“We split up as we wanted to check on more of the towns around us to see if more soldiers were trying to get past us.”

“A good decision,” Taiga praised him and let him stay at the back for now to take a break after such a long ride, but now they had to hurry and he decided to take his best 500 soldiers to sprint ahead. For now they had to face them head on and hold them back, the remaining soldiers could push them back completely later on. 

His orders had been clear and in case any scout reported more fights close to them, they would split the same amount of soldiers to fight at that location. Their soldiers were strong and skilled after all, Taiga had to put his trust into them.

They could see smoke rising after a two hour ride and Taiga made their horses hurry even more. 

“Push them back, do everything possible to get them out of that town,” Taiga shouted at the soldiers behind him who were in charge of smaller units which would split up inside the town to push the enemy back. In bigger battles they would use war horns or drums if they were stationed at a battlefield, but right now they used the advantage of surprise and rushed to the front without making themselves known.

They had been discovered before reaching the town and some soldiers were already awaiting them in front of some burning buildings. Taiga could hear people screaming, and see some civilians at the borders of the town who desperately tried to get away. The town wasn’t too big, but there were definitely a few hundred civilians.

“Split up,” Taiga shouted to the back and two units hurried to the left and right of the town, making their enemy move as well. Some were storming towards Taiga’s unit, others were trying to head after the other soldiers.

It was the moment when Taiga had to avoid some arrows getting shot towards them that his strong front finally broke a bit and he could feel the worry and tension filling his mind. He was still moving swiftly, shooting his own arrows while in full gallop and each and every single one of them hit. 

Their armors weren’t the thickest, but even when some of his soldiers got hit by arrows the wounds wouldn’t be life threatening. The material was made in a way that it would slow down the weapon on impact, small fibers breaking bit by bit on a heavy impact. Only a heavy sword thrust would be of lethal danger. 

Taiga hissed when an arrow hit his hand, one of the few unprotected parts of his body as they were wearing helmets as well, but of course his face and his hands he had to protect most. On his forearms he had heavier arm guards, helping him in close combat to block the enemy’s weapons. The injury on his hand was luckily only a graze and the next moment he put his bow on his back and made his horse storm the rows of enemies as they had reached the town. 

Both sides drew their swords, but while the Basarano soldiers had black armors with heavy swords, Oki had lighter weapons and they were able to move faster. It was obvious that it was one of the smaller clans of Basarano which had marched further into the province on its own. They would most likely have to face several different clans on their way, which also meant different kinds of fighting styles and dangers.

Taiga jumped off his horse the moment they had arrived behind the line of the enemy. For now his goal was to make them retreat, but if they wanted to fight, then Taiga wouldn’t hold back. He was new to real war and killing people, but he wouldn’t spare their lives if they threatened the already unsteady peace of Hyogoku.

But as expected the soldiers of Basarano were fighting with brutal strength, making it difficult for them to try and push them out of town. Taiga was forced to jump back at some point, trying to make the alleys around the small wooden houses a tactical retreating place, but after two turns he stopped with wide eyes. 

He didn’t have much time to feel shocked or disgusted by the amount of dead civilians in his way. Slaughtered like animals they were scattered over the ground. Taiga got his bow out to aim for the soldiers chasing him, the narrow alleyway giving him the perfect place to make them slow down and aim for one after the other. But he knew he would soon run out of arrows and then he hissed when an arrow from above hit dangerously close to his neck, his armor luckily stopping it. The high neck part had protected him from fatal damage, but the arrow had been shot from the roof next to him, so close that Taiga would definitely need to treat the wound as soon as possible. He hurried to shoot the archer down, but instead of them pushing the enemy back, they had been forced to split up. 

Taiga tried to dash back to his unit. He needed to make them all gather to get the upper hand. It was clear that these soldiers would rather die than retreat. Out of options and with too many soldiers around him, Taiga dashed to the back, daring his way further into the town. His own soldiers had obviously been cut off at the border as he couldn’t spot any of them close to him, but he could hear fighting noises, so he knew they were close. Even without him around they knew what to do. They needed to stay together, that was also why Taiga cursed himself for getting separated. He had underestimated the strong will of his enemies. 

“And where do you think you’re going?” A soldier asked him as he got stopped at another street. This time one of the main streets, but there were only a few buildings on the sides, no alleys to run off to. 

Taiga drew his short sword and turned at the last second when an arrow came towards him. He had aimed well enough to hit it, but it didn’t seem like the soldier had aimed for any fatal injury. He had aimed for his hip.

“What a fancy plate for such a young soldier,” one of them laughed as he looked at Taiga’s general plate. 

“A general of Oki,” another one said who had obviously seen one of the plates before, but Taiga wasn’t scared of them surrounding him. “So what will you do now, young general?”

Fighting noises to their right finally brought some of Taiga’s soldiers into sight and everyone tried to block the path towards their direction. A wrong move as Taiga dashed right towards one of the wooden buildings and slammed his shoulder into the door. Luckily it broke as it was only simple wood, nothing fancy or strong. 

“Get him!” One of the soldiers ordered and they immediately ran after Taiga. He had seen his soldiers getting the upper hand, that was all he needed to know. He only had like half a dozen around him. He was able to handle them himself. 

In the small rooms of the house Taiga had the advantage of his swift movements. People easily died at his hand and he counted down, knowing that there should be less than four people left, but without a warning he got tackled to the ground from the back. The one soldier who had realized that he was a general now on top of him. He was physically a lot stronger, so Taiga hurried to try and get away from him as the man tried to stab him with his sword. But he was too close to easily lunge out and Taiga succeeded in stabbing his short sword up into the other one’s abdomen first as Basarano’s armors weren't the most tactical ones with a lot of weak spots.

Right after, another soldier had reached them and kicked Taiga's head. His helmet took the impact, but was also kicked away on that move. The soldier on top of Taiga wasn’t going down easily, even though Taiga knew that he had found a weak spot in his armor and the man would die of his injuries. Nevertheless he lunged out for Taiga now that his head was unprotected. 

With two more soldiers showing up, Taiga knew that he had to do something fast and he succeeded in pulling himself up on the soldier’s armor right before another one tried to swing with his sword for his head. With the momentum he brought the hurt soldier finally out of balance and freed himself. He dodged a sword thrust from the side before he hit the soldier behind him right in the face while slashing to the back and with the Basarano soldiers not wearing helmets, he easily hit him fatally. Once more he tried to aim for the door, knowing that only two more soldiers were after him. He had almost made it over the broken door when one fast soldier tackled him down once more and on the way he had raised a knife, Taiga taking a hard impact on the street as his focus was on the knife directed at his face. 

The second soldier was right behind them, ready to lunge out as well, but to Taiga’s surprise both soldiers got stopped. A sword appeared right in front of his face, but got sliced up towards the soldier on top of him, while two other soldiers had attacked the last Basarano soldier. But the armors he saw in front of him weren’t of his own soldiers. Silver metal armors, heavy mail coats protecting them even up to their heads, silver shining helmets covering half their faces with long nose parts going down into their faces. 

“Right on time,” the man behind Taiga said. He had his sword still close to Taiga, but as there was no direct enemy near them he dared to step aside and stretch his hand out to help Taiga up. Taiga’s look immediately fell on the arm part of the armor. The bear emblem of Kita-Shosan on it.

“No need to worry, we’re soldiers from Kita-Shosan. Looking at your armor I think you’re from Oki, right?”

“Indeed,” Taiga said as he looked around, but the fighting noises had gotten less.

“We just arrived. We gathered soldiers in the south, 1,000 in number. We have the situation under control. But without you even more people would have lost their lives, so thank you so much for your early arrival.”

“General,” one of the soldiers said and handed something to the man in front of Taiga. With the long helmet and the heavy armor he couldn’t even see his face that well. But when the soldier handed the Kita-Shosan general a plate, Taiga automatically grabbed his belt. Only the wine colored string was left.

“General Kyomoto Taiga, Oki,” the General of Kita-Shosan read, but then he looked up at Taiga in confusion. In such confusion actually that he finally took his helmet off. This time it was Taiga’s turn to look a bit confused as well, but he had never thought that only he was young for his rank. 

The general of Kita-Shosan was of his age, even thinner of build than him. So thin that Taiga wondered how he was able to even stand with that heavy armor.

“You’re the general of Oki?” He asked and Taiga slowly nodded. 

“And you’re one of the generals of Kita-Shosan,” Taiga said, not knowing how to address him and the general finally handed him back his plate and pulled out a small metal plate with an engraving of his name and the emblem of Kita-Shosan.

“Tanaka Juri, General of Kita-Shosan,” Taiga read the metal plate and he stepped back and bowed to the young man. “Thank you for your help, General Tanaka. It would have been an embarrassing first battle for me if I had died today.”

Juri only nodded, still seeming quite impressed by Taiga’s identity, not that he seemed much older, but definitely more experienced in battle.

“General Tanaka, we got the town back,” one of the soldiers running towards them shouted. “Shall we chase after the remaining soldiers?”

“How many?” Juri asked.

“Less than one hundred.”

“Where are they heading?” Taiga asked and the man first looked at Juri who nodded for his soldier to answer.

“Eastwards.”

“They won’t come far then,” Taiga explained. “I had 500 of my soldiers ride ahead with me, but another 1,000 soldiers are on their way. They will directly run into them.”

“Then I think we should make it a priority to keep the town safe. There are more troops trying to invade more parts of the province.”

Juri’s soldiers nodded, but then Juri looked back at Taiga with a sudden troubled expression.

“My apologies. I will of course let my soldiers chase after them if you prefer that? I do not want to endanger your soldiers over ours.”

Taiga blinked at him in confusion before he formed a smile and shook his head. “I am grateful for the thought, but they will be fine.”

Juri bowed towards Taiga and made his soldiers secure the town while some of Taiga’s soldiers had also finally made it back to him and he urged them to take care of the hurt civilians and stop the fires.

“Do you need any medical assistance?” Juri asked, but Taiga only tilted his head. A move that had Juri point at his neck and then look down at his hand. Taiga had totally forgotten that he was indeed bleeding and that he should take care of those wounds.

“Thank you, but we have medical supplies on us.”

“Okay, then if you don’t mind, I would like to update you about the situation in our province as soon as the town is secured.”

Taiga nodded and once more Juri gave him a small bow before he kept moving.

Taiga put his plate back on his belt and looked after Juri who was ordering his soldiers around with a surprisingly calm, yet strict tone. The young man didn’t seem like a fierce soldier who could easily become a general, but yet again Taiga wasn’t exactly a person like that either. 

With a smile he finally turned away to get himself some bandages. He felt like he had made an interesting new acquaintance.

After Taiga’s remaining soldiers had caught up with his unit they had made camp in front of the town. Juri had offered them to use some of the houses, but with the civilians this shaken he had kindly refused and offered patrols together with Juri’s soldiers over the night to assure their safety.

Now it was already dark outside, close to midnight, but one of Juri’s soldiers had made it out to their camp and asked if Taiga had time to discuss with Juri for a while. The day had been chaotic for all of them so he understood that Juri hadn’t found the time to meet with him yet and he followed the soldier to one of the houses Juri was using with his troop leaders for preparations. To his surprise they all excused themselves on Taiga’s arrival and he was left alone with Juri who told him to take a seat. It was only a wooden table with half a dozen chairs around it. The only light in the house came from several candles on and around the table. It was still possible for Taiga to see the map on the table clearly. A map of Kita-Shosan and on it were black, red and blue wooden pieces, all in a triangle form. 

“6,000,” Juri said as he touched one of the black triangles in front of Kita-Shosan. “Basarano arrived at night, they attacked even before sunrise. We couldn't rescue anyone outside of the city walls. They were slaughtered like animals. 4,000 civilians and soldiers outside of the walls died in less than a day.”

Taiga didn’t respond or nod. He looked at Juri who was staring down at the black piece as if he wanted to crush it in his palm. The devastation and pain was visible in his eyes.

“We lost at least two or three thousand more over one week. Basarano sent troops around the main city. We couldn’t easily bring the main soldiers out of the walls to stop them and troops like mine were still scattered at the borders. We needed too long and after two destroyed cities we finally caught them in this town.”

Eventually all Basarano soldiers had been killed by Taiga’s soldiers as they had tried to flee, but of course there were more.

“How many troops do you think they sent?” Taiga asked and Juri took a deep breath before he moved his hand to the pieces once more. He picked up one red one and put it next to a blue one in Kita-Shosan.

“Your soldiers from Wazaigo arrived a few days ago at Kita-Shosan and are now cornering the Basarano soldiers in front of the city walls. The city hasn’t fallen yet and we sent our own troops for support. By now there should be over 10,000 soldiers on their way to the city and as long as Basarano doesn’t send a huge backup we should be able to push them back.”

“But until then they will slaughter their way through the province,” Taiga concluded with a look at the map.

They had caught one of those troops today in this small town called Aoko. With that one of the black pieces had been flipped over while one blue and one red remained. There was only one red in Kita-Shosan and one at Aoko. Taiga immediately felt like they weren’t helping enough, especially when he realized that there were five more black ones out of the main city, but only four more blue.

“Our troops are trying to trap them before they can spread out too much, but information is passed on too slowly. There could be even more troops and we need to get to the main city as fast as possible.”

Juri looked exhausted, his eyes showing how much he had fought and planned through long nights until this day. 

“May I bring in some ideas on how to corner them?” Taiga offered and Juri nodded immediately. “Looking at the locations and the numbers of soldiers you have the advantage of the bigger numbers. They know that so they are trying to slip through your net. But to be able to do so they will have scouts as well.”

Juri looked on the map in silence, trying to figure out possible routes of the scouts together with Taiga. Only at their borders to Wazaigo, Bodaisei and Minami-Hian they had thick forests and high mountains, so it wasn’t that easy for soldiers to scout without getting noticed. They had a lot of farmland and untouched grasslands with small rivers and lakes, but even with some small forests in between it wasn’t going to be that easy to stay undiscovered, but they hadn’t caught any scouts yet.

“Basarano is usually acting alone,” Taiga said, his words making Juri look at Mabara-Kinmitsu. “Each clan going on their own.”

“So their scouts shouldn’t be as skilled as the shinobi of Mabara-Kinmitsu. They have too much pride to pay them for assistance.”

“Exactly. But their scouts might still be their most skilled warriors in matters of hide and seek. Which means we shouldn’t look for soldiers.”

“But for civilians,” Juri concluded. “But they will fit in perfectly if it’s not a really small village and with our soldiers being this obvious they definitely find spots to hide before we could even start suspecting anyone.”

“That is why you shouldn’t send soldiers,” Taiga said. Juri finally looked up at him on those words and Taiga gave him a calm smile. “Play the game with the same rules. Don’t send your best scouts, send your most ordinary soldier without his armor.”

It was a simple plan, yet it was exactly what Juri needed. He was so focused on the direct confrontation of both armies that he hadn’t even had the time to think about the details in between.

Taiga pointed at a small area between two of the black pieces. “They know that you have spotted them. They definitely spotted your troop already as well, but you have an advantage here. Their troops have two rivers crossing this area, so one troop will definitely aim for a northern passage to not get trapped at the river and the other troop would need to cross both rivers or aim for a forest path, both not the most ideal, but they will go for cover instead of the danger of getting stuck. Head up to that troop of yours. Let them know the circumstances. Send out scouts tomorrow and they will be able to narrow down the paths for your army. They will only have 1,000 soldiers at max and even if there are more you haven’t spotted yet, you can be at their side in less than two days with your remaining soldiers so you will have 2,000 soldiers to block them.”

“Will you ride with my troop?” Juri asked, but Taiga shook his head and pointed at the Shinsai river. The biggest river in their country, dividing Kita-Shosan and Minami-Hian. 

“I will ride down here and move up from the Shinsai river to the Shosatsu forest.”

“You think they could have actually made their way through the Shosatsu forest?” Juri asked, knowing very well how hard it would be to lead a troop through the thick forest. Basarano had used Mabara-Kinmitsu to get to Kita-Shosan as they wouldn’t be able to find an easy path through the Seikyo mountain range with thousands of soldiers. But while Mabara-Kinmitsu had their main city right at the same mountain range, they wouldn’t easily attack if they were left alone.

“They knew that you’re having your soldiers around that area so I doubt they made it directly through the forest on your border, but if they planned this ahead then there might be another path they could have taken.”

“Over the Nanmitsu river?” Juri asked, realizing what Taiga was aiming for at the river. “It would be a huge risk to aim for the forest from the southern side.”

“The mountains are still on Basarano territory, so they could sneak around without Mabara-Kinmitsu feeling threatened by them. Crossing the forest brings them into Minami-Hian, but still northern enough to not draw their attention.”

Juri slowly nodded, realizing how dangerous their move was to gather soldiers from the east and south border to corner the enemy more towards the north. 

“But they need to cross the Shinsai river at one of its widest places,” Juri said, hoping that such a dangerous task would stop them from sending too many soldiers from the south.

“If they indeed dared that move then I think they used their most skilled clan for that task. They won’t go for numbers, but for strength and strategic thinking in the south,” Taiga said and finally moved his red piece down to the south.

“We will leave at daybreak, but I will leave 500 hundred of my soldiers with you and another 500 will head north west to make sure that no other troop can easily try to pass you unnoticed.”

“That would leave you with only 500 soldiers in the south,” Juri said and shook his head. “If they really send such skilled soldiers through the south then you will be in trouble.”

“You’re underestimating Oki,” Taiga said with a smile and suddenly Juri looked a bit taken aback, his eyes falling back on the table as he bowed a bit to the front.

“You came all this way to help us, my apologies for judging your methods.”

It definitely came to Juri’s surprise when Taiga laughed, but he could of course understand that Juri only tried to calculate the risks on both sides.

“I don’t think there is any need between us to speak at such a distance, don’t you think?” Taiga asked.

It took a moment for Juri to move again and he slowly nodded, but he still seemed a bit stiff. 

“This is your province and your war. We’re here to help as you said, so if you want me to cooperate with a plan you have then I will go with your wishes.”

Once more Juri seemed a bit startled. But this time Taiga showed an even more relaxed expression when he smiled and sat a bit more to the front, putting his chin on the back of his fist with his elbow on the table. “I don’t know what image we have in your province, but let me tell you that not everyone from Oki is as arrogant as you’ve heard.”

“I didn’t-,” Juri started, but then bit his lip, obviously not quite sure what to reply, not that Taiga wanted any reply or apology. He knew that Oki soldiers were known for their skills, not necessarily for socializing easily. 

“Take your time to think about my offer,” Taiga said as he got up, Juri following his move. “If you have any other plans by sunrise let me know. If not, then we will head southwards.”

Taiga turned away from the table and headed for the door when Juri didn’t say anything, but he knew that he had startled Juri and put him in a difficult position.

“General,” Juri said before Taiga left the building. Taiga turned back to him with a questioning look and Juri approached him with more confidence in his eyes this time as he stretched out his hand towards him. “May this war end in our favor.”

Taiga smiled at the other one’s words and put his hand forward as well. “May all the gods ride with us over the upcoming days.”

***       

They had to hurry if they wanted to make it to the border town in time and Taiga headed straight down to the Shinsai river. 

It was a cloudy day, but still extremely hot and Taiga made his 500 soldier strong troop hold at the river for a break. 

The river was fast flowing even at this time of the year. It was several dozen meters wide and too deep to stand after a few steps into the water. Swimming through it was no option. There were some trading points where they had bridges and parts where it was easier to cross. Some bigger boats could also make it over, but right now Taiga couldn't spot any boats or suspicious movements on the other side.

Juri had given him a small map of the southern towns and there were only two close by. One to the east and one to the west.

"There are no signs of them having reached the east yet," a scout told Taiga after he had ridden eastwards towards a 600 civilian small town called Kawashi.

"Then we'll head west first," Taiga said and made his army saddle back up. They would need one or two hours to reach the town of the name Sakai. There were only around 800 people in that town, an easy target for trained soldiers even if it were only a hundred or less. 

After two hours Taiga lifted his hand, making everyone stop. Smoke. Right in front of them. Maybe another 30-40 minutes ride. 

"Get ready," Taiga shouted back at his soldiers while he took his bow. "Do not let any soldier escape."

In a hurry they approached Sakai’s border, Taiga hoping that they could still save the civilians as no soldiers had come their way yet. The closer they got the more smoke was rising, but there was not much fire left. Neither were there active fight noises or people trying to run away. The town was indeed small, more like a big village. Wooden houses, easily burned and crumbled. Around them were only flat fields of rice and wheat. 

Instead of entering the town, Taiga made them halt and he got off his horse, taking only around 50 of his soldiers with him on foot while he told the others to ride around the town to scan the area for soldiers and possible escape routes. If they had indeed lost too many soldiers then maybe they had retreated and they could chase them down. But right now Taiga's focus was on the town in front of him. His heart was beating up to his throat. He hated the smell of blood and burned flesh in the air. He hated that he had been right and they had attacked from the south as well.

"General, there don't seem to be any soldiers left in town," one of the few soldiers who had dared their way inside the town first were reporting back. Taiga had moved further down the main street with his remaining few soldiers as well. Once more people around him had been slaughtered in the most cruel way, but then he could see some movements. Only here and there, but some people seemed still alive.

"Let the riders take care of possible nearby soldiers," Taiga ordered. "Search through the city for survivors. Be cautious of possible ambushes from inside any intact buildings."

Everyone nodded on Taiga's orders and they all started moving through the streets. Only a few of the main streets were paved. A lot of the side alleys were just dusty sand streets and most of the wooden buildings were on fire, making it hard to see from one street to the other. 

Taiga had first proceeded with three other soldiers, but they found more wounded people than Taiga had expected. In a hurry he kept walking towards the next alley alone when he heard someone calling for help.

The person in front of him was lying on his back, his clothes bloodstained and ripped. It was hard to even see where exactly he was losing the blood from with the blood being everywhere on his upper body.

"Hey, we're here to help. You're going to be okay," Taiga said as he sat down next to the person on the ground, now realizing that it was a young man his age. Black, slight curly hair, dirt, blood and sweat mixed on his face. The other one looked at him in panic, but Taiga tried to calm him down. There should be no direct threats left in the town.

"They're monsters," the young man said with a disgusted look as he grabbed the shirt over his chest. Taiga wanted to help him stop the bleeding, but he wasn't sure how as he didn't have much on him to help. He dared to put his helmet aside, making the other one look up at him quite astonished.

"Can you tell me where you're hurt? Maybe I can help you stop the bleeding until our soldiers with the medical supplies make it here."

Taiga tried to see if he could rip off anything from the other one's big shirt. A really big shirt indeed, it didn't seem to fit him quite well, but extra fabric would help him now.

There was a sudden noise from somewhere around the town. Taiga could hear shouting and fighting. Had they just waited for them after all? Had they been hiding?

He wanted to grab his helmet and tell the other one to just hold on for a bit longer, but when he turned back all he saw was a sharp blade in front of his face, right after it had cut through his skin. 

The pain of the long cut going from his chin, over his left eye and up to his forehead had put his mind on survival mode and he had intuitively grabbed the knife in his boot before he reached his helmet. When he lunged out to the front the blade of the other one got pulled down again and stopped on the side of his neck right above his high neck armor, while Taiga's knife also stopped right at the other one's neck. The neck of the same young man who had been lying on the ground a second before. Now he showed an entertained expression as they both froze with their knives already cutting each others' skin, but not deep enough to be life threatening.

They were both still sitting on their knees, Taiga's other hand on the young man's arm with the knife, but he knew he wouldn't be fast enough to pull it away safely. 

The other one had his free hand on Taiga's wrist, but it would also be too dangerous for him to try and move.

"Now we're stuck," the other one said.

"You're indeed monsters," Taiga said, making the other one show a kind of annoyed expression. "You killed them all just to pretend to be wounded civilians so we would run into your trap."

"You should know Basarano’s ways if you dare to engage into battle with them," the other one said with a warning look. "But I bet you have more soldiers around? Scanning the area? We don't have much time here then."

Taiga hated how easily he had been played. How had he not thought of this? He had been the one giving Juri the hint of possible civilian scouts and here he threw his own soldiers so easily to the wolves. But the other one’s words meant that there were not enough soldiers to take on all of Taiga’s remaining soldiers, so he needed to play for time.

"So, Oki Clan, right? Yet I thought you had brown hair," the other one asked as he dared to look down at Taiga's plate.

"General Kyomoto Taiga. A bit young for a general, aren't we?"

"And you are not?" 

"Who said that I was a general?"

Taiga had to close his left eye when more and more blood ran down his face, but luckily his eye hadn't been hit. Yet he had to think fast how to get out of this situation.

"That must hurt. But if you don’t watch out, someone will peel off the rest of your skin."

The calmness the other one spoke with made him look like Taisuke, yet the way he spoke about Basarano as if he wasn’t one of their soldiers himself, made Taiga wonder what his status in that province was, but for now he needed to move. He wouldn't just get killed here. No matter if by any general, soldier or other person. He wouldn't give Taisuke that satisfaction.

With a swift movement he pulled on the other one's arm, shifted to the side and pushed his knife forcefully against the other one's neck. The result was as he had hoped and the other one also pulled back, but he was swift enough to cut Taiga on the back of his hand as he turned his blade around in his hand and slammed it so forcefully into Taiga’s hand that it would have been a dangerous deep cut if Taiga hadn't pulled back immediately. Taiga threw his knife when the other one pulled back as he still had his short sword and it hit the other one in the face, a cut under the other one's eye. Nothing as deep as Taiga's wounds.

They had both jumped up,Taiga had his short sword in his hand now while the other one still had his knife, but he retreated to the end of the alley to see how things were going.

"You're lucky today, but this cut will cost you greatly," the young man said when he touched the cut under his eye before he dashed away. Taiga immediately ran after him just to realize that around him everything had fallen silent once more. In shock he realized that his own soldiers had all gone down. His mistake had cost their lives. An ambush he should have seen coming.

He could follow the remaining Basarano soldiers who aimed for the forest at the Shinsai river, but he was on his own. He could hear the horses of his remaining soldiers entering the town borders, but it was too late. They wouldn't be able to fight in the deep forest and they had no clue how many more soldiers could be waiting for them.

Strategically speaking Taiga hadn't lost a high number of soldiers, but he didn't want to think of them as pieces in a game. He hated seeing them dead to his feet. Women and men of all ages. Most of them had fought way more battles than him and yet they had died because of his mistake. He had underestimated Basarano. 

But it wouldn't happen again. He wouldn't let those inhuman monsters slaughter through their country just because they enjoyed showing their power to everyone.

***

It had been a long discussion with his higher ranked soldiers after they had secured the town even through Taiga’s unforgivable judgment mistake that had cost around fifty of his soldiers their lives. But after getting his injuries treated he let the others convince him that he should rejoin Juri’s force to march towards the city of Kita-Shosan and lead the remaining soldiers to victory against Basarano. 

200 soldiers would hopefully be enough to keep the remaining Basarano soldiers away from the southern border, chances were high that they would retreat and focus on the city now as well. But Taiga’s confidence had been more than just a little scratched and for the first time he felt like he’d be better off just defending the border in case Basarano would not give up on marching through the province, burning down villages and towns just because they were able to.

With the remaining soldiers Taiga hurried northwards, leaving the border to his highest ranked soldiers. It took him until the evening of the next day to finally reach a town with soldiers. A good sign as all the villages on the way had still been untouched by the intruders.

“General Kyomoto.”

The greeting came from his own soldiers who had spotted him approaching the town in the evening hours. 

“Update me on the situation,” Taiga requested as he got off his horse, but refrained from taking his helmet off yet.

“As you predicted we encountered a troop from Basarano at one of the rivers. General Tanaka made an impressive decision of splitting up the troops to not have any scouts in between to let a possible second Basarano troop escape. We easily cornered them at the river and in the meanwhile General Tanaka encountered another troop and pushed them back. We were ordered to rest the night and ride for the city tomorrow.”

It was perfect timing for them to return. Taiga let his soldiers rest and asked some of the Kita-Shosan soldiers about Juri’s whereabouts. This time Juri was in one of the tents as well. Way bigger than the soldier tents, with a big table in the middle and the same big map on it, but this time the remaining black pieces were all around the city of Kita-Shosan while the spread out Oki troops would now also all be moved back to this location to ride towards the city.

Juri was discussing with some high ranked soldiers around the table and didn’t realize that Taiga had entered. Taiga remained next to the entrance with his helmet still on and he waited for the heated conversation about tactics to calm down and finally one of the soldiers made Juri aware of his presence.

“You are dismissed. We’re riding at sunrise,” Juri finally ended the meeting and waited for everyone to leave the tent. 

“I heard you had an impressive success with your troop,” Taiga said while still not approaching the table that had some candles on it, the only light in the tent.

“Thanks to your ideas and the help of your soldiers. Is your arrival at this destination a good or a bad sign?”

Taiga felt annoyed by his own behavior. Why was he acting like he had committed a war crime? He had messed up, yes, but he had known that he wouldn’t just come out of this battle with cheers and applause and all of his soldiers returning home.

Slowly he approached the table and stopped on the opposite side from Juri before he took off his helmet.

“Let’s say I am not pleased that I was right and I am definitely not in any way proud of underestimating them.”

Juri didn’t reply. All he did was look back at Taiga with wide eyes. The wound on his face was deep and still freshly sewed together around his chin and cheek area. Around his eye it luckily wasn’t that deep anymore so if a scar remained then only on the lower part.

To Taiga’s surprise Juri turned away from him and walked over to some small black cupboard in the corner before he came back with a small glass bottle. 

“Please have a seat,” Juri said and pointed to two wooden chairs in the corner. Taiga only nodded and sat down while Juri took the second chair to sit and lifted the glass bottle and a cotton fabric in his other hand.

“This is a special medicine we’ve used in our province for a long time already. It helps with disinfecting wounds, reduces bleeding and speeds up the skin recovery to not form too much scar tissue.”

The confusion on Taiga’s face lasted only for a few seconds before he nodded and accepted Juri’s offer to help with his fresh wound. He had expected Juri to scold him, maybe even laugh at him. He had messed up. Yet the general didn’t seem to find any need to make Taiga drown in those thoughts even more.

“This might hurt a bit,” Juri said as he put the soaked cotton on Taiga’s forehead, slowly dabbing it down to his chin. Taiga flinched a bit when Juri reached the deeper part of the wound, but he didn’t pull away.

“Any other injuries?” Juri asked and automatically grabbed Taiga’s high neck to pull it a bit to the side as he could see the bandage on it, but Taiga grabbed the other one’s wrist and shook his head. 

“That one isn’t bad, but thank you for your help.”

His hand hurt just through his sudden movement, but the cut on it was just one more scar on his body, nothing he minded. After all, he usually treated all his injuries himself, making sure that no word about his scars would make its round through the line of soldiers.

Juri nodded with a brief smile before he put the supplies back, while Taiga got up again and moved over to the map.

“Around one hundred, maybe a few more or less,” Taiga said and moved one of the unused back pieces to the Shosatsu forest. Juri walked back to the table and nodded, listening to Taiga’s explanation of the situation. “They had already reached Sakai. No one survived.”

Taiga took a small break, looking up at Juri who seemed to have already feared such an outcome as they remembered what Basarano had done to Kaikakuto before.

“The Basarano soldiers pretended to be wounded civilians. I should have realized their plan. There was no way that anyone could have survived and they wouldn’t have just retreated after such an easy win.”

“But you thought about rescuing lives at that moment, not about hunting down soldiers,” Juri said, making Taiga look back up at him after he had put one red piece next to the black one at the Shosatsu forest. “We’re generals, but no gods. Humans make mistakes, we miscalculate and sometimes it costs lives. But that doesn’t mean you didn’t try to be a good general at that time.”

Taiga was grateful for the other one’s words, yet they were of course hard to accept with his bitterness still being so fresh. 

“A year ago I stood on my first battlefield,” Juri said, pointing at Minami-Hian. “I was just a low ranked soldier at that time. Things had escalated between some minor clans in both of our provinces. We tried to not turn it into a long battle, but things were chaotic, people not willing to cooperate on either side.”

Taiga gave Juri his full attention when the boy put two unused triangle pieces next to the Shinsai river on Minami-Hian territory. 

“Our general was a member of the Kita-Shosan Clan, experienced in war strategies and he had already fought way bigger battles against more fierce enemies. But exactly that made him underestimate the situation and he sent almost all of his first battalion into their deaths through his miscalculations.”

Juri lifted his shirt on the left side as he wasn’t in his armor right now and only had simple black cotton clothes on. Taiga could see a scar over the other one’s hips, the size obviously from a sword he got stabbed with.

“I was lying on the battlefield for two days until our soldiers had finally settled the battle. No side had actually won. The Kita-Shosan Clan and the Minami-Hian Clan had come to an agreement. It had been an irresponsible and unnecessary loss of lives.”

“And you still remained a soldier and even became a general,” Taiga praised him. “But if you don’t mind me asking, you’re not from the Kita-Shosan Clan, are you?”

“What gave me away?” Juri asked with a sheepish smile, Taiga finally feeling relaxed enough to smile too as he remembered that he had already tried to get rid of the formalities between them in the first place.

“You’re too open minded and light hearted for their clan,” Taiga said. “One of their generals came to Oki a few years ago and he as well as the soldiers seemed friendly, yet also kind of distant. No offense to your soldiers though.”

“No offense taken,” Juri said with a laugh before he gave Taiga a longer look this time in silence. “So do you mind me asking as well?”

“Blonde hair, it always gives me away,” Taiga said as he already knew what Juri wanted to know. “My father was the younger brother of the Oki Clan leader.”

“Was,” Juri repeated with a more serious expression this time. “I am sorry to hear about your loss.”

“He was a general as well and fought alongside my uncle in the uproar at Kaikakuto. I heard Kita-Shosan was also involved at that time.”

“The soldiers were indeed,” Juri said. “But my family is not made of soldiers.”

That was a fact that had Taiga startled for the first time as he knew that only a few provinces let commoners become more than just foot soldiers and Kita-Shosan wasn’t one as much as he knew and yet Juri was a general.

“Let me give you the details at a calmer time after this battle is over?” Juri asked and Taiga nodded.

“Then I will remind you of that topic after we hopefully ride to victory tomorrow,” Taiga said with a bow towards the other one. "Let me show you the beauty of Kita-Shosan when the next calm day arrives."

This time they both showed more confidence about their upcoming battle and also a stronger bond between their provinces. A former commoner and a bastard riding into battle was definitely something their history hadn’t seen so far.

It was a horrible picture. Smoke over the city, buildings and fields around the city walls burned to ashes and the dead to their feet were neither their soldiers nor from Basarano. Women, children, older people. Farmers, traders and so many more innocent people had lost their lives in this gruesome and senseless attack. Now the main fight was at the walls. Kita-Shosan had stood their ground impressively, but while Oki had sent backup, Basarano had also attacked with one last destructive backup of around 2,000 soldiers. Too many and too sudden for the walls to hold them all off and now they had finally found a weak spot and had brought the stone walls to fall, burning and killing their way through the city.

"We'll go right after them. With our troops combined and the remaining backup from Kita-Shosan we can corner them inside the walls," Juri spoke next to Taiga as they rode right for the city. 

"What about their soldiers outside of the walls?" Taiga asked, seeing at least around 2,000 soldiers still outside of the walls, fighting against those who were brave enough to leave the safety of the city walls, not that their enemy wasn't right inside their middle already.

"I can let one of our troops take care of them," Juri offered, but Taiga remained silent, looking at the way they fought for actually no reason, but to murder. 

"Let Oki take care of them."

"Are you sure?" Juri asked worriedly, but Taiga nodded, slowing down his horse to give a signal to his soldiers to move left. 

"This is your province, your city. Your people should fight inside of it. We will make sure to not let even more enemies get inside."

"Take care of yourself and your soldiers. They are not fighting for any specific purpose, but that makes them also as dangerous as no other soldiers."

"Because they will gladly die without a purpose as well," Taiga said, knowing exactly what Juri wanted to say.

They nodded at each other and let their troops gallop ahead. Taiga started drifting to the left, the Basarano soldiers immediately sending soldiers out towards them, while Juri aimed for the city. 

"Archers," Taiga shouted and in full gallop his soldiers as well as himself drew their bows and shot arrows precisely at their enemies as they had been on the battlefield too long already to have more than their swords and knives on them.

The first attack of arrows went down right over the first rows attacking and gave Juri the opening he needed to enter the city.

Taiga's soldiers had time to release two more rows of arrows before they changed to swords and jumped into the enemy's lines with their horses.

Taiga's aim was to make the soldiers split up and his high ranked soldiers helped split the lines of soldiers so that they were up against smaller troops.

Without any big injuries Taiga made it through the troops and turned his horse around, aiming straight at the foot soldiers in front of him. 

Some Kita-Shosan soldiers were now mixed in the fight, giving Oki the advantage. Taiga was sure that this time they could overpower their enemy, but it was clear that if he made one wrong move he'd end up like so many other soldiers. Beheaded, disfigured or even worse. The battlefield was filled with blood, leaving red puddles all over the dusty ground.

With the advantage of height, Taiga made his way through the rows of soldiers once more, precisely using his short sword to aim for the soldiers' heads. An arrogant trade of Basarano was to not have a big armor or helmet, it gave Taiga the best advantage to attack. 

After he got hit on the leg three times, his armor would get easily pierced on the next few impacts. But getting off was still too risky. There were still too many soldiers and he dashed ahead, looking for an area where he could surprise some soldiers from behind. 

There was one person standing out from the crowd. Around him a lot of skilled soldiers made it difficult for any Oki warriors to get even near him. Arrows that got shot into the middle, were dodged and even blocked by the man standing grinning in the middle of the circle. A tall figure, black straight hair and a way too satisfied smile. Basarano soldiers didn't wear any general marks or special armor to show their rank, but it was clear that this one was definitely in some way special. The Basarano Clan had been extinct at the great and left several smaller clans fighting over the leadership in their chaotic province. This person could definitely be one of those clan leaders. 

Taiga took his chances as he had the advantage of speed and strength through his horse and he aimed to go through the strong line of soldiers to give his soldiers which were now on foot partly as well, a better chance. 

He surprised the first few, getting a hit on some, but he aimed straight for the one in the middle. Yet there was a movement that stopped him from reaching the young man. Out of nowhere someone else jumped right in front of him, grabbing the reins with such force that the horse turned abruptly to the left, leaving Taiga to fall off to the right, but he immediately rolled over, losing his helmet on the move, but he was still ready to attack. 

"Your attention is at the wrong spot."

The sword right over his shoulder proved the other one's words, but Taiga had been distracted. The one who had jumped in front of his horse was no other than the soldier from Sakai at the Shinsai river.

Now the unknown man from before was standing right behind him, but the sword wasn't really a danger to him. The other one just wanted to show Taiga that he could have killed him already if he wanted to.

"He's mine."

"Oh? Rare to get you interested in any soldier," the young man said and withdrew his sword. "Oh my apologies. General."

The unnecessary correction had Taiga look over his shoulder, but the young man didn't seem to mind leaving the fight to the other one. 

The soldiers around them shielded them perfectly from help reaching Taiga, not that he minded. Their goal was to take down as many soldiers as possible. A one on one was unnecessary.

"So tell me, Hokuto, what did he do that made you look this excited about killing him? Is it that cut under your eye?"

Now he finally had a name. Hokuto. The one in question touched the cut under his eye, but it wasn't even half as bad as the wound Taiga was carrying thanks to him. Juri's medicine had helped a lot, but through all the fighting some new blood was already dripping down from his chin and his hand was also aching.

"I see. General, you have to learn that you shouldn't go for his face."

"Meguro, you're in the way," Hokuto said as he drew his sword. This time he was in the black leather armor of Basarano, without any obvious injuries yet. Taiga kept his eyes on both of them, but Meguro shrugged his shoulders and turned away.

"Suit yourself. Just don't waste your time too much. We've to win a battle here. I bet you can’t wait to head back to your clan."

Hokuto didn't reply while Meguro showed an excited smile before he dashed back into the battle without even spending Taiga any attention. Was he that confident that his soldier would win? No, not his soldier. A member of another clan of Basarano. Yet Hokuto didn't seem like a normal clan soldier, especially with these two addressing each other this easily. But Meguro was definitely of the higher rank with Hokuto calling him by his last name. 

"If you want to keep your head, you better retreat."

"How about you prove that those words are even worth anything?" Taiga shot back.

"Okay, maybe I should go for your tongue first," Hokuto said with a pissed expression and dashed to the front with his sword. The older one's reach was longer, but now that he didn't have the moment of surprise on his side, Taiga could easily dodge and block. But he was sure that if Hokuto got a grip on him, he would indeed cause a lot of damage. Unlike what Taiga knew about Basarano though, Hokuto fought a fair battle. He wouldn’t mind killing Taiga that was for sure, but while their ambush in Sakai had been indeed ruthless, Hokuto seemed to enjoy a frontal attack way more.

Their fight wouldn't take long, that was clear. One of them would die or someone needed to interfere soon. Hokuto kept pushing Taiga to the back until he had enough and actually dared to jump right onto him, even though that caused him a heavy shoulder injury from Taiga's short sword that he had pierced through the other one's skin.

Nevertheless, Hokuto just pulled back, freeing his arm and trying to push his own sword down towards Taiga's face now that he was sitting on top of him.

"Such a shame that I have to put my blade through that beautiful face."

"You did so before, we should already be even," Taiga reminded him.

"A cut for a cut, what a shame that you won’t get my head in exchange for yours," Hokuto laughed while Taiga finally had enough and brought the other one out of balance, slicing his sword over Hokuto's thigh before he kicked him to the back. With the next move he reached out for the knife in his boot and dashed to the front, making it hard for Hokuto to dodge on both fronts. 

When Taiga aimed the knife at Hokuto's face, the older one grabbed the knife with his bare hand. The split second in which Taiga wanted to pull the knife back was already too long and Hokuto had moved his head back just to slam it to the front right against Taiga's forehead now that he was that close. At the same time he slashed up his sword, taking Taiga's short sword out of his hand. Taiga's arm armor had luckily prevented him from any heavier arm injuries, but now Hokuto had switched into destruction mode and he grabbed Taiga by the hair, trying to keep him close while also aiming with his sword for his face. Luckily Taiga still had the knife and he tried to get it in between them.

Taiga lifted his arm to block Hokuto's sword, while he slashed his knife up to Hokuto's neck. This time the older one finally saw the danger and let go fast enough to not get a fatal injury, but he was still heavily bleeding after the knife hit him.

"You look kind of irritated," Taiga mocked the other one when Hokuto reached out for his own neck with an annoyed look that turned to murderous on Taiga's words. "Not used to losing?"

"There is no losing in Basarano," Hokuto shot back, but his anger showed something else as well as if he was disgusted by his own words. "We either win or die."

"Then what is that behind you?" Taiga asked and with enough space between them Hokuto dared to turn to the city. Basarano soldiers were indeed fleeing the city. Kita-Shosan was finally pushing them back.

"So what will it be for you today?" Taiga mocked, but to his surprise Hokuto ignored his own troops retreating and he went for Taiga once more. This time with a strength and determination that Taiga had no time to even try to get his sword back. He got pushed back more and more, but luckily the main fight was already pushed to the back. Oki and Kita-Shosan pushed Basarano southwest so that they would retreat to the mountains and then southwards as they definitely didn't want to get stuck.

"There is no meaning in you keeping the fight up alone," Taiga yelled at the other one after a so heavy impact on his hand with the other one's sword that at least some bones were broken and the cut on its back had reopened as well. 

"This is not for any battle anymore. This is personal," Hokuto hissed back. Different from Hokuto though, Taiga didn't share the same hate or pride and he just turned and ran for the city where more Kita-Shosan soldiers were coming towards them now.

He was sure that he could outrun Hokuto, yet what he hadn't seen coming at all was the other one throwing his extremely heavy sword right into the back of his legs, bringing him to fall in a painful way as the blade had gotten stuck between his legs at full speed.

"Just killing you today will give me the satisfaction of killing an entire army."

"You really are a sore loser," Taiga said when he turned on his back.

"The only one who will lose today is you," Hokuto said as he approached, but Taiga wouldn't let him get back his sword. Yet he was surprised by the weight of it when he tried to take it for himself. Even if his hand wasn’t hurt, it would be a challenge for him to fight with it.

Hokuto took a run up at him and kicked him to the back, Taiga finally losing his knife as well, but like this it was down to a fistfight.

Hokuto tried to strangle Taiga, but the younger one used his legs to wrap them around Hokuto's neck. Like that they were stuck and Hokuto started punching Taiga's body instead, hitting precisely on every wound he could find. With a curse Taiga kicked the other one to the back, but Hokuto wasn't easily brought out of balance.

"And here I thought Oki had too much pride to run from a battle," Hokuto hissed when Taiga tried to get up once more, but the truth was that the battle was over. Hokuto was indeed only fighting a personal battle and Taiga had no reason to engage in it. When Hokuto tried to attack once more, an arrow hit him into his already hurt shoulder. Followed by a second one which he barely avoided.

Finally Hokuto fell back, reaching out for his sword to block more incoming arrows.

Taiga dared to look behind him while staying down. Juri was riding towards him with some Oki soldiers next to him. 

"You could have just stayed out of this," Hokuto said towards Taiga with another death glare. "Now you turned yourself into Basarano's enemy as well."

"Basarano has no allies in the first place," Taiga reminded him as Oki had fought against them before already. "And didn't you just say this was personal?"

This time Taiga's mocking had something changed in Hokuto's expression, but he needed to retreat if he didn't want to get killed. 

"I'll show you how personal I can take things," Hokuto threatened before he finally dashed away, following his own soldiers and getting picked up by some soldiers on horses before Juri was close enough to actually cause more damage.

"Leave him," Taiga said when his soldiers aimed for the fleeing soldiers.

"Are you sure?" Juri asked as he got off his horse and gave Taiga a worried look, but Taiga nodded at him.

"You got your city back. They lost a battle. It's a win for Kita-Shosan today. They won't easily learn their lesson, but killing them has no meaning to them either. Let them dwell in their defeat."

"That somehow sounds cruel," Juri said with a small smile as letting such brutal soldiers suffer a mental defeat could indeed be called cruel somehow.

"Was he a general?" Juri asked when they looked after Hokuto, but Taiga shook his head.

"He's a skilled fighter and he's definitely not just a normal soldier, but I feel like there is more to his outraged behavior."

"Like what?" Juri asked while tilting his head.

"Something dangerous," Taiga replied as he could see way more emotions in Hokuto's behavior than just the random killing behavior of a Basarano soldier.

***

Kita-Shosan, a strong and big harbor city, yet beautiful wasn't the way Taiga would describe it and that was not just because of all the damage the surrounding and buildings inside had taken. Different from Wazaigo, the buildings were out of simple wood, barely any stone buildings, making it easy to burn them in a battle. A fate a lot of the smaller buildings had unfortunately faced and the soldiers were still busy putting out some fires inside the walls.

The city was huge, but it didn't feel crowded. The buildings were mainly only one or two stories high and there was no castle even with the high city walls.

The king of this hierarchy was a wise man, the leader of the Kita-Shosan Clan. Right after the battle Taiga had made sure to meet with the clan leader and his most trusted general. Nikaido Takashi was a Kita-Shosan Clan general who had been in charge of defending the city over the time of this harsh battle and his king praised not only him, but all the generals, including Oki. Nikaido was the one to thank Oki for their help in this battle and promised their alliance for their generation as well, yet that alliance wasn’t in Taiga’s hands as he would never be the clan leader of Oki.

Taiga had reunited with the rest of his army, except for those in Sakai. He had sent some scouts to check on the situation, so had other generals. They were checking the borders and towns, making sure no soldiers were still trying to sneak in. Oki had offered protection with 500 soldiers around the borders to Mabara-Kinmitsu for two months to ensure that no second wave of attacks was coming, but as there hadn't been with Kaikakuto, Taiga was sure this time Basarano had only aimed to reduce enemies as well.

"You were extremely silent," Taiga said as he stepped next to Juri after they had left the wooden meeting hall. It wasn't in any kind as special as Oki's castle, but it suited the purpose of a meeting, all they had needed.

"I know when to remain silent, especially around so many of Kita-Shosan’s clan members," Juri said, but Taiga could see the change in his eyes now. The exhaustion.

"So, what is a good place to have a drink?"

"What?" Juri asked in confusion. He had indeed stood next to himself half of the meeting. But while he should have taken more credit for his battles on the way to Kita-Shosan he didn't even mention them. A heavy atmosphere from the other generals had kept him from saying too much. 

"A commoner becoming a general has quite some burdens I guess. The same as being a bastard in one of the purest clans."

Now Juri's look slowly changed, a bit more life showing in his eyes as he showed a brief smile.

"Right, there was supposed to be a talk."

"And now that we won and other generals are protecting the borders for now, I'd say it's the perfect time."

"Are your wounds okay? We can also wait a few days, you must be exhausted."

Taiga touched his face, but he had made sure to fix his wounds as well as he could for now, while politely refusing to see one of the recommended healers in Kita-Shosan at least for now. His broken hand was swollen and hurt quite a lot, but it could still wait a bit. He had survived one night with it already so he knew his wounds would be fine. A heavy bandage together with a wooden place was making the pain bearable.

"If you're okay to go then I'm too," Taiga finally said. "It's not like you're unhurt yourself, but your city seems strong, they are treating it as another normal day."

Juri slightly limped with his right leg while they walked down the paved street. But Juri had only some small cuts here and there with his armor being heavy. But he had fallen off his horse at some point, hurting his leg and Taiga was right, the people around them towards the harbor had their daily tasks and they took them seriously. Just one day after the battle, a normal routine had settled in. No matter if they were blacksmiths or food supply shops, they all worked as if it was a regular day.

"It suits you by the way."

Juri pointing at Taiga's clothes had him smile as they had both changed out of their armors. Juri's clothes were from Kita-Shosan, simple cotton clothes, nothing too fancy, but also not too simple to look like farm clothes. Some leather parts around the chest, a fancy belt and high boots made Juri look even thinner.

Taiga had brought his own change of clothes. White trousers, high black boots and a silver and white top that was closed vertically over the chest, held together with a silver belt with the crest of Oki as the buckle. The high neck part wasn't typical for Oki if not for their armor, but it was a part Taiga would never easily give up on.

"Our clan always has to remind everyone how fancy we are," Taiga said with a smile, but he had to watch out to not smile too much as the stitches around his chin were still fresh.

"With blonde hair I think the clothes suit you better than them," Juri said, making Taiga want to smile even more, but he held back and only gave a small bow on the comment.

They walked through the city for a while. Paved and unpaved streets on their way. Carriages and horses inside the city as well, as there was a pretty big distance to walk from one side to the other. When they reached the harbor, Taiga was astonished by the calm waves and all the ships lying in the bay.

"It's the same ocean, yet so much calmer than our region."

"I heard a lot about Oki. I would love to see your high cliffs with your castle one day."

"Then come visit," Taiga offered, Juri suddenly a bit reluctant as he walked the last paved street next to the harbor with slow steps. "I have seen other Kita-Shosan generals in Oki, you are allowed to travel, right?"

"With a good reason we are."

"Then I'll make sure to find a reason," Taiga said confidently before he dropped the topic as he could see that Juri was eager to visit other provinces, but was also afraid of asking for it.

"We're here," Juri announced after a few more minutes of walking.

Taiga looked up at a tall wooden building. Three stories high and an interesting structure. Staircases were on the outside, a balcony on all floors pointing towards the ocean. Tables with pillows to sit on were placed on the wood of the veranda while some tables and chairs were also placed close to the street.

"Do you want to sit outside?" Juri asked.

There were some people here and there, but with all the happenings it didn't seem too busy. Taiga was impressed that they had even opened so fast, but maybe distraction was indeed what people needed right now.

"Let's have a look inside?" Taiga asked as he was curious about the inside.

There was a high roof over a big room inside. More verandas were placed on the inside of the building, a staircase going up to all floors, leaving the middle open to look up until the roof. It was indeed a pretty construction with a lot of places where people could sit in silence and not get disturbed. 

It wasn't like a fancy restaurant, they had some drinks and small foods, but nothing too big. On the other hand, Taiga noticed that they had something else on some tables.

"Do you play?" Taiga asked and Juri immediately knew what he meant. The change on his face was also immediate and when he nodded, Taiga aimed for a low table in the back of the room on a small platform, away from all of the first floor seats.

They both sat down on the pillows and between them on the table was a chess board placed. Some of the tables had them and some people were also playing on the verandas. 

An older waitress asked them for their order and after she went to prepare some food and drinks for them, Taiga immediately touched the white pieces in front of him and put a pawn to the front.

"White opens," Taiga said with a grin.

"Do you play a lot in Oki too?" Juri asked as he opened on the black side as well.

"It's not that famous, but my little cousin likes playing so he taught me, yet I doubt I will be a challenge for you."

Juri suddenly seemed embarrassed by his words, but they still kept playing. One rook from white, one knight from black. More and more pieces moved and soon Taiga chuckled.

"What is it?" Juri asked as they took a small break when their drinks and food arrived.

"I see your behavior on the battlefield in your moves."

"Is that good or bad?" 

"You're playing in the defensive, protecting your king, yet also trying to not lose too many pieces. It's a good strategy, unless,"

Taiga moved his knight, taking one of Juri's rooks. Juri carefully decided for his next move, but four moves later he had lost two more pieces.

"Unless my opponent goes in for all or nothing," Juri said with a smile, knowing that Taiga only played this straightforward to tease Juri a bit. A few moves later Juri had cornered Taiga even with fewer pieces.

"Check," Juri said, Taiga looked at the board for a moment before he sighed and put his king down.

"Told you I wasn't a challenge."

"But you are one on the battlefield and that's what counts," Juri replied. "Was this your first battle as a general?"

Taiga nodded, touching his face once more.

"Not the prettiest first victory. I will get a lot of scolding when I get back." Taiga laughed at his own words, while he knew that some scolding from his uncle was the least he had to worry about. A shiver went down his spine on the thought that he had to go back in the first place.

"Are you okay?" Juri asked, realizing the change of behavior, but Taiga nodded, focusing back on the conversation.

"So how come they allowed you to become a general?"

Juri shifted a bit on Taiga's direct question, but he didn't seem unwilling to reply.

"At the battle at Minami-Hian I stood out through strategic thinking and a young general heard the story afterwards. As our general had failed at protecting us, I took over when I realized that we'll all die if we don't change our tactics. I'm not the strongest fighter in a head on battle and to be honest my main goal was egoistic at that time as all I wanted was to get out of it alive."

"Nothing to be ashamed of," Taiga said as he sat back and listened to the other one's story while drinking the hot tea that had been placed in front of him.

"In Kita-Shosan we're allowed to be soldiers even at 15 years old, but to be a general I had to be 18. That one young general took me into his troop, teaching me strategies and fighting skills, but on top of that he taught me how to stand up to those who had been born into high ranks and clans."

"Social skills are important too after all," Taiga agreed.

"I was only allowed to be a general a few months before the attack from Basarano started. I'm not even sure if they can take the title away once more."

"Even if, what counts is your strength and your loyalty to the soldiers and civilians. Let the higher ups do the talking and rule making. We can still do what we want to," Taiga said, trying to lift the other one's mood, but this time Juri gave him a scanning look.

"Are you doing what you want to do?"

"I wanted to become a general, so I guess so?" Taiga said.

"But why? If I may ask," Juri immediately added formalities as he easily got too straight forward, but this time Taiga put his cup back on the table and gave Juri a scolding look. The other one immediately feared he had angered him.

"General Tanaka."

"...yes?" Juri asked when Taiga didn't add anything else. 

"Doesn't sound right," Taiga said as he formed a thoughtful expression.

"What exactly doesn't sound right about it?" Juri asked.

"Call me by my name," Taiga suddenly asked the other one and after a moment of hesitation Juri spoke.

"General Kyomoto," Juri said.

"Yeah, doesn't sound right," Taiga said once more.

Juri was unable to understand what exactly sounded wrong, but then Taiga smiled and leaned a bit to the front.

"Kyomoto Taiga, a bastard of Oki, a general as well, but on top of that I'm a person who wants to gain the freedom to explore the country, meet with other clans and build stronger bonds between the provinces. Taiga."

When Taiga stretched out his unhurt hand towards Juri when he said his first name, Juri finally caught up and smiled.

"Tanaka Juri, a commoner who walked the path from a soldier to a general. My goals are not that clear yet, but I wish for a peaceful era to come between all our provinces once more. Juri."

Juri shook hands with Taiga on his own first name and they both grinned at each other before they started laughing.

"Yeah, this feels better," Taiga said and nodded. "So then, Juri, let me tell you a bit about Oki."