Ashes and Kingdoms

When I woke up, I was falling over the cobblestone.

Finn wakes up his body like a rusty hinge and puts his face in the light of the Pay Dawn. A short while ago, Karsum's barracks appeared small.

Anyway, if you carried me a little further, someone might have found me, but when I stretched my heart blurring, etc., I could see the light spreading in my body.

Morning, Lena.

Very naturally, there's a grin. and a fluttering girl appeared directly beside her.

"Finn, does it hurt anywhere?

In response to a worrying lana, Finn nodded as he slowly moved his body to make sure.

"I'm fine. Well, if you spent the night on cobblestones in the winter, you're in good shape."

"Yes... good"

Relaxed, Lena snuggled herself up to Finn. Finn held her shoulders and thought, once again, that the dragons were not like the gods. It's not omnipotent, and if it's weak, it can probably die. In that situation last night, it must have been difficult to even survive, as opposed to exercising power. Only with a bonding partner named Finn could we protect each other.

"Are you okay?"

As Finn cared as he was late, Lena grinned.

"I'm fine now. It's bright here, and the power of darkness isn't that strong."

That said, spread your arms so that you can receive the sunlight all over your body. Finn looked at it with envy and put his hand on his empty stomach.

"Then let's go check on the barracks. I wish I had something on my food at last."

"... Humans are sometimes inconvenient."

Lena looked complicated but did not disagree and walked out the road alongside Finn.

I didn't realize it when I was looking from afar, but as I approached the barracks, the remnants of last night's nightmare caught my eye. The body of a soldier who fell as hard as he could while fleeing this far. I thought I was caught up in the darkness, white bones and parts of my body that were left to eat. Some soldiers are abandoned by their companions, circling their bodies in the grass on the side of the road and sobbing in pain and fear.

When Finn found survival, with the help of Lena, he applied first aid, encouraged him to stand, and lent him a shoulder to those who could not walk. In the light of a refreshing morning, they seem to be the only gray stains out of color.

When the miserable line reached the barracks, this was a similar situation here. A groan of anguish, a grudging voice, spills from everywhere to the floor.

But as Finn and Lena proceeded through it, the blurring began to change.

Dragon Marquis, someone whispers, and the light returns to his vain eyes.

Finn goes to the infirmary to keep the wounded he brings with him, painfully aware of their voices and gaze. No one dared follow him, but praise and awe followed him everywhere.

When I got to the infirmary, I saw a familiar face. Finn deposits the wounded with the military doctor and explores his memory wondering who it was. and one man from the bedroom raised his hand and saluted him.

"Thank you again, Dragon Marquis of Deia."

"Ah!" I heard that voice and remembered. "You were, then."

It was that captain who helped Finn, Mac and Valt where they were surrounded by dark beasts in the mountain hut. Finn smiled horribly.

"Are you all right? Good."

Thanks to you.

The captain tried and then turned his attention to Lena.

"Could that young lady..."

"Yes, it's a dragon from Deia."

Introduced, Lena was unfamiliar with the trick, and she met to tilt her neck. "That was a disaster," Finn said sympathetically, looking at the captain. The captain leaks a bitter voice, not at all. But sooner than he blamed Dilgius for the outrage, those who blocked the conversation appeared.

"Phineas, it's you!

It wasn't a voice happy to reunite, but I can't ignore it when my name calls me. Finn looked back with a bad feeling and bowed his head silently to Ancius. Because I didn't forget my position as a deserter. He also remembers the young man who put mud on the commander's face. He stares at Finn, making his tired complexion even worse and wondering if he should yell or thank him.

Slightly, Ancius broke better.

"... I have to thank you for saving the danger. I really didn't know you were Dragon Marquis."

"If I hadn't, I wouldn't have had to run away"

"Why did you escape? With all that power."

"When I was in Winnea, I still didn't know what I could do... and in any case, I didn't want Commander Dilgius to use me."

Finn answered frankly. If you're angry, get angry, something to know, and reopen it.

But I'm guessing Ancius also appreciated the similarities and stops with Finn against Dilgius. Instead of blaming me, I just nodded that I could understand.

"... its commander, but if..."

"Dead."

Finn answers the facts terminally, then remembers and looks a little troubled.

"I'm sorry, the Legion flag and everything came flying over there. If you go back, maybe there's a flag or a commander's cane left."

Speaking of which, I lost my sword myself. I unwittingly hunch my hips and am disappointed to see that only the sheath remains.

"The body..."

Ansius asked vaguely, but when Finn shook his head, yes, he snapped. If the beast of darkness eats you, no body will remain. You may find the bone, but you don't know whose it belongs.

After breathing so much, Ansius smiled bitterly at his mouth.

"You're also disciplined to say you've escaped but care about the flag. Aren't you going back to the Legion?"

"No," Finn shook his head again. "I have to go home to my family"

family, and Ansius tried to say something, but gave up on second thoughts. He realizes he seems to be quite there too, and Finn softens his voice just a little bit.

"Please, please return the legions to Winnea. I'm sure that city is in a predicament now, too. Tetna or Nanais..."

My throat almost clogged when I mouthed my hometown name.

"I'm not asking you to take it back. Please at least protect Winnea. It's the only decent city in the north."

"Right."

Ansius replied, nodding slightly. I didn't have to be told, it was a peeping expression that I was thinking of retreating. Many lives and military funds were wasted, months wasted, and credibility undermined. Even if we can publicly push that responsibility on one Dilgius, we cannot escape the blame of conscience and the regret of coming back to our hearts and minds over and over again.

Faded and dull, his heart looked like a gray beard, and Finn nagged.

When Ansius realized he was sympathetic to the young man and spilled his self-derisive bitterness, he coughed and deceived.

"Phineas, will you work another one? I would ask you to inform General Glaus of Costom, south of the mountains, that we are withdrawing to Winnea. The Emperor seems to expect our support, but I want to let him know as soon as possible that it's not happening."

"It's..."

"Of course, only this time. I'm going to write you a letter, but if I deliver it, your work will be done. Go home to your family, but it's good. No, I don't mind dropping by my family first. With the wings of a dragon, you can jump over the mountains."

"... ok"

I would still have about that kind of in-laws. Finn nodded, then glanced a little hard.

"So can I procure something in the dining room until I can prepare a letter"

From the edge of what I said, my belly rings as if I had targeted it. Ansius rounded his mind and then, for the first time, laughed in front of Finn.

"Of course, pack as much as you like. Though Dragon Marquis, you're a grown-up young man! The flavour is guaranteed, but anything that is hungry will taste good."

When Ansius slapped Finn on the shoulder to intimacy, he left the room telling him to come to the command room later. Finn drops it off, hands on his shoulder and feels complicated.

If, by the time we got to Winnea, Ancius was the commander. If you had somehow eliminated Dilgius and had control of the Legion. How much would that have changed?

(no... still, the results could have been the same)

The city had a leading influence on the Legion's trends. I drained Dilgius. Very, Ancius alone might not have changed anything. It doesn't matter if Finn becomes a dragon march or not, the Eighth Army may still have decided to go south for the Emperor, or for Lord Nakte.

What Ancius looks like now is the result of this accomplishment. That's all I saw, and now, oh well, I wish it were like this, but it doesn't add up to anything.

Finn turned around and grinned as he was often confused.

"So do you want to go pack something? Maybe you should just disappear."

"Why?"

"I mistakenly think there's a beautiful girl, and if they come by in their spare time, they're too busy to get rid of it to drink water."

Finn joked and said. The truth is, I didn't want Lena to stay in such a slaughterhouse. I don't think this situation will have a good effect on her innocent and pure, even if she is no longer harmed by human dark emotions.

Lena seemed vaguely to have guessed such care, but she still didn't seem to understand exactly, and tilted her neck. And a word,

"Then Finn will be surrounded by free people, too?

………………

Finn sat on the floor nagging, unable to resist a long sense of frustration.