Ashes and Kingdoms

Finn, who returned to the barracks after a tough labor and dragged his shaky and painful body, was about to be crushed by more and more doubled fatigue after receiving the captain's stifling welcome.

"Don't look so happy"

Masud said with pleasure, follow me, and called out with his jaw and just walked out. An uncomfortable attitude, looking the same as usual. Well, Finn frowned, then he noticed and looked at me a lot.

Usually, Musdo should send someone over to call Finn. If you're going to the captain's office anyway, there's nothing he won't bother to pick you up.

When he entered the room in surprise, Masud ordered him to hand gesture and close the door. This is also the same as usual and rarely. I have a bad feeling about it.

As Finn stood up, Masud offered a piece of parchment.

"Special." A quiet, but intimidating voice. "I'll have this delivered to you"

"Deliver," he said... to where?

To Finn's enquiry, Masud shrugged his jaw to tell him to read the contents. I wonder, reluctantly Finn drops his eyes on parchment. Unbeautiful but easy to read letters and concise sentences that are military and useless. It was a voiceless cry for help from an army stationed in Winnea.

That the salary did not arrive and a large number of deserters occurred, and that it is now best to rely on the city walls of Nanais to leave the beast of darkness. that the procurement of food also increases the degree of difficulty on a daily basis and that anxiety and despair are widespread among citizens.

Have we ever asked for repeated reinforcements, but have we not received that document? I need you to at least let me know what's going on over there.

Finn stared stunnedly at Masud as he finished reading to the end. A man in front of me was thought to be a completely different person than before. I wasn't doing anything. He was up. Even while Finn falls into insensitivity and only recognizes the narrow world around him. Even while many of our citizens are caught up in the immediate matter and desperate only to get some food from somewhere.

Seeing the fear and respect in Finn's eyes, Masud turned his face away by bending his mouth to the letter to. Sigh deliberately and scratch your head.

"I wrote the same thing too many times, and now I can say it sora. It may not be worth it this time. But I can only let him come back to life."

"Why not?

"Idiot. A dead man in a wild boarding house overnight?

Said to be rusty, Finn trembled as if he had been exposed to cold water. It darkens in front of me, and how many pairs of blue light points come to life.

(Can you get through that? Just one person, just a bonfire at best)

When I thought I was the one challenging it, I was relieved.

"Can you fulfill your mission desperately, even though you have no hope? Even Winnea might have the same situation. Throw everything out, put out the fire, flip it over to the wilderness, it's afterlife in the morning. I don't need any trouble with that. The only one who can beat that temptation is the one who's still alive, kid."

Masud continues pale, retrieving the parchment and wrapping it around the stick of the tree. A sign of the army's special mission, wrapped around a red ribbon, draped with a wax to mark. The habituated behavior seemed to reveal remnants of former legion soldiers.

"Sora"

Finn didn't receive the roll immediately. Swallow and stare at the edge.

Sooner or later Nanais falls. If we don't get out of here - it's true that I thought of that. But you're alone, and that's now too?

Fearfully noticed Finn, Masud grinned sarcastically.

"What, are we going back to the grave after all? You can do that. But if you're going, I can get you all the food, a horse, a sword and a bow and arrow. If anyone wants to volunteer, you can take one or two of them, but I won't guarantee them until their minute. And."

and he looked up at the old map strewn on the wall.

"If you run all you can on your own, you might be able to get to some safe village by sundown. I may not be able to wear it. I don't even know that."

Finn also looked at the map when he was told, and he seemed sober. It's a map near Nanais. Small villages dotted along the streets. How many of them would still hold up? Because our own windmill hut worked so hard, if it's a village where we can afford manpower and supplies, or... But if it was only ruins that drove through the day alone and exhausted, and reached the quote.

(Ends at that point)

Farewell to the world by dawn, unless it happens even by some miracle. So, after all, should we have some alignment of numbers so that we can take turns and get through the night, even if it takes time?

Fear soothes as you think about it, and sober calculations flare.

"Is there a soldier who might want to volunteer?

"Igross will go. I haven't let him know about the new envoy yet, but he's got a relative in Tetna who wants to make sure he's safe. It's a passage to Winnea. He doesn't feel like going alone."

Masud then stripped his teeth. An obvious expression of contempt. Finn ignored it and asked further.

"What happens to my plan? Dear Fianella, you said you'd try."

"Then don't worry. Either way, I can't do anything about the food. The soldiers do their duty so best, but if the temple moves, the dead in town will live and work a little. All we can prepare is some seed and some... and then you sprinkle the spring of hope."

Also boring. Finn counted five in his heart to reduce frustration and exhaled slowly.

"... would you mind if I came to see my family"

"Oh. You can leave whenever you want until your next duty comes around. No farewell party."

Sora, and again, the scroll sticks out. When Finn was ready, he received it and squeezed it tight.

Once I consolidated my resolve like this, Finn wasn't grumpy. When you first go to the warehouse in a tight foothold and receive the necessary travel clothes, you return to your room and start cleaning up thoroughly.

Finn, who came to this barracks on his own, had also obtained fine items in less than a month. Essentials around you such as small grinding wheels and leather grinding, razors and soap shards. A seemingly ineffective amulet, conceded from a dead soldier on the same duty night. Likewise, a small knife more useful than that. A thin string to brace the hair that is growing.

I put those things together and put them in my bag handily.

When he looked out the window and noticed that dusk was coming down, Finn thought, Hmm.

(Dawn the day after tomorrow would be nice to leave)

Let's say hello to Nellis and his uncles tomorrow. Then go to the temple and bless Master Fianella.... If you leave at the same time as dawn, you will earn your distance within one day. If they're just Igross, we should move on considerably. If you have a safe village on the way, you can decide to stay there overnight without having to.

All right, and happy with his plan, Finn tied the string of bags.

It's okay, I'm sure we can get there. If reinforcements are dispatched from Winnea, the situation in Nanais must get better too. That way, my uncle, my aunt, Nellis - that girl, she can go back to a decent life.

Even in my head, I didn't use words like, maybe, maybe. That's what happens. Nothing else.

Finn told himself and believed in the realization of the plan.

- But.

And as soon as the plan of the iron wall had been put into practice, the stumbling blocks had been frustrated.

Finn was totally halfway down and stood up in the Kunad family garden. In front of me is a nellis of flair such as indignation. Behind it stands Oandus as a rocky mountain, plus Audia, the goddess of the sea. Regards, Fauna refrains with a unquestioned smile. Finn's voice didn't rely too much to break through the triple wall.

"Don't be silly, Nellis"

"Fools are that way"

Said pizza back, Finn flaunted his face like he was actually snagged.

"Just because Brother Finn is stronger and his partner is a soldier doesn't mean we can get to Winnea alone. That's all I know. If it's just for one night, maybe you and I can figure it out. But how many days do you think it'll take to get to Winnea? If that partner gets hit by the Dark Beast along the way, if he's sick or hurt, he's one of your brothers, right? I'm not an idiot. - No, you're an idiot! Ben, I'm disappointed!

Relentlessly decided, Finn just got tanned. My adoptive parents, who would treat Nellis in the right place if it was the usual sibling fight, couldn't count on it all this time.

"I'm disappointed too, Phineas," Oandus says severely. "You didn't talk to us, you let your family go, and you decided to go alone."

"Uncle... but this isn't what it's always been like."

"You're not. When you left for the barracks alone, I had no choice but to drop you off in pity and silence. Are you gonna make me do the same thing again? No, I'm coming with you."

"But!"

Finn vandalized his voice. They don't understand, the horror of that night on duty. It's not like the night at the windmill cabin, where the lights were on and we were leaning against each other in the house. There are no walls to protect you, and the relying flames blow in the wind. If it rains......

I can't stand losing my family. If that's the case, we'd better break up.

I didn't put it into words, but they drew fear from Finn's tight face, and Oandus also gave a frightened look. But still, he couldn't help but make a smile.

"I know, we might be on foot. But we can take turns, we can throw stones at them. With so many people, you're more likely to survive."

"... then at least just my uncle"

"I can't!" Nellis pinched his mouth. "You're just gonna leave me and my mother here? Your brother knows how dangerous an unaccompanied woman is in this town."

He whispered sharply, and Finn wandered. Yes, all I leave behind is self-satisfaction. That's all, that it's easier to turn away and be sure that you're safe and cheating on yourself than risking it in front of you.

"If it's food to Winnea, Dear Fianella will manage to accommodate it."

Fauna said gently. Less than a month later, the fuzzy cheeks had completely fallen meat, but the softness of that grin had not changed.

"Actually, I have a little something to hide."

"What!? Mother, when! Shut up!"

"A whisker is something a smart housewife must do, Nellis. Remember that. That's how I use it when I have to. You think it's important to your family?"

When I gave my husband all my love, I added this in a whisper. What a complicated face Oandus turned into, a grin that I wanted to put on Nellis. Finn, who hasn't been in contact with the warmth of his family in a long time, can also naturally flaunt his face.

"... thanks," the words said. "The truth is, I want you to come with me..."

Unconsciously, tears were about to spill. Finn panicked and nodded, chewing his lips and deceiving. He turned his arm around his son's shoulder and Oandus caressed his head in silence.

Nellis, on the other hand, said, "You just have to be honest with me!" and so on, he still slapped his mouth down, but there was a stinking grin on his face.

"We have to hurry if we decide to! Did I say this before?

Fauna laughs at Nellis.

"Right, Seikichi. While there's nothing you need to prepare this time as much as before, but don't let the troubled fool begin again, prepare it. Come on, you have other business, don't you? Go now. But please don't leave without telling us."

Fauna gently pinched both cheeks of Finn and gently mouthed them on her forehead. Finn nods and returns his embrace.

"The departure is tomorrow at dawn. I'll call the captain if I can get another robot or horse by then."

Let himself go, he hasn't had a pranky smile in a long time.

"If you think it's only tomorrow anyway, it's easy to ask for an unscrupulous favor too! I don't think I'm in a bad mood. Bye!"

Stepping aside, Finn gently raised his hand to bid farewell and ran away lightly.

In the end, it was Finn and his family, five human beings, including Igross, and two horses, who left the castle gate with the dawn of the following day.

There is no drop-off. At the dawn of duty, half-dead men lend each other shoulders and just go back inside the wall cursorily and incorrectly.

The streets stretching into the thin were white and seemed to lead to the Yellow Springs on the other side.

Finn shook his head and paid off the association. No. That road runs on the ground. Far southwest, through Tetna, all the way to Winnea, the state capital - and we're going there.

"Come on, let's go"

He told in a quiet voice, but with strong conviction.