Ashes and Kingdoms

[Blood staining]

It's been a long time since I've been in the Winnean barracks.

Finn took a slow look around the Command Office, which he had visited several times, feeling as if he was seeing it for the first time. The same room where Dilgius yelled at me and reunited with Ancius. But now, there's less to remind me of.

Some time after the Empire insulated the North, the Eighth Regiment changed its name to Winnean Army. Although the inner matter remained almost imperial, the purpose and existential significance of the organization, as well as the order system, changed subtly beyond the city becoming one independent state, and everything in its class of equipment was renewed.

The helmets and capes that reveal the rank of the officers, the Legion flags and the Commander's staff, all the signs of the Empire were removed. An old hero, Tan, passed down to the north, breathes back, and in the new Legion flag, the wolf is roaring.

"You kept me waiting."

After noticing that the commander had returned from the room, Finn turned around correctly. It's Ansius. Her hair is completely white and her expression calms down.

"I'm sorry, but it's gonna be a while before Vitos gets here. I tried to call them, but they're still hanging out with the soldiers. Hang up."

Shown in the chair, Finn felt strangely restless, although he sat down after the meeting. Talk with a humble and ambiguous look.

Are you sure you want to be discharged?

"I won't let the joke annoy His Excellency the Dragon Hou. I'm too old, I've faded to the point of hanging out with the Corps training until the end. I don't want to admit it. Well, that being said, I'm still going to stick my neck in politics for the time being and serve as a loud old man. It's too late for Vitos to sit here."

Ansius smiled bitterly, slamming the commander's chair before sitting in a familiar motion.

It is parliament that moves the urban state Winnea, just as it was the fashion of the former empire. The status of commander is also elected by the senators. For the rest of the last decade, though, Ancius has naturally been entrusted with it. Long after the infamous predecessor Dilgius died.

That commander only saw where he was yelling, Finn pointed his gaze at one point in the room, remembering. Ansius follows it, too, and, oh, sighs slightly.

Resting on a shelf set on the sidewall are the old Legion flag and the Commander's Wand.

The flag and cane are dirty, damaged, and - stained with black tea colors. It's just dirty if you don't know, it's a stain of blood.

"... I hope Vitos takes over that one properly, too"

Pompous and Ancius crushed. Finn silences without a word to respond.

Surrounded by dark, deep and hateful darkness, many died in the snowstorm mountains. All because of the Commander's foolish outrage.

"Some of the soldiers who were there are still active, but in five more years the majority will be replaced. I want you to remember your lesson about what happens if you don't forgive the commander for his arbitrariness and outrage. Fortunately, Vitos listens to me no matter how many times I tell the same story, without ever looking again."

Ansius said himself, clapping his shoulders, and nagging. After a lot of silence, he turned his gaze back on Finn and said abrupt words.

"I'm sorry"

……

I don't know what the hell my apology is about, Finn makes me look confused. Ansius narrowed his eyes as he tried to find an old shadow there.

"I still sometimes remember the day you first came to this barracks. As suddenly the time returns, I feel a young man dressed in filthy clothes all over my body in front of me."

To Ancius' confession, Finn could not forbid surprise. I thought Ancius would have forgotten about that day. Even if you remember the fact that you met him, you wouldn't even care how much Finn was being hunted down, how dirty, exhausted, desperate he was to be swung away for salvation, and so on by Ancius.

Ancius grinned bitterly at Finn, who honestly put the thought to his face.

"Well, from my response that day, even if they think I got rid of you without any itching at all, there's no way. In fact, I wasn't willing to help you from the start either. I sympathized and listened, and I told him to let me go home for a second, and that was all. But..."

So he cut off his words once, and drank his spit. Even though it's been a long time and an old event, it's as if it's still caught on your chest.

"You laughed. When I asked him if he would return to Nanaith, he laughed bitterly at his shallowness, his ignorance and his hypocrisy. No, I'm not saying you had an insult intent. But then, when you laughed at me, I felt irrationally angry and humiliated. Ironic story, but I guess that's why I still remember vividly.... over and over again, I think about it knowingly. I took your story seriously that day, and if I couldn't help it, I wouldn't throw it from the beginning, and I'd do something about Dilgius."

As he hid his voice trembling at the pain of remorse, he clutched his mouth and looked away from Finn at the bloodstained Legion flag.

If I had chosen to behave differently then.

No such thing would have been put there by now, and a large number of soldiers would have lived forever...

Finn said quietly to Ancius, who sank into a sea of deep self-reproach and regret.

"I've thought about that many times, too. If only you'd kicked Dilgius down sooner. But at that point it would have been such a noise that Winnea would have turned upside down if she had tried to break Dilgius, so many would still have died involved. I can't even compare which one it was because I can't try it. A choice that passes once cannot be redone again. So... just at least oh and leave a lesson and pray that the later ones don't make the same mistake"

To Finn, who said it without hesitation, Ansius nodded with a slightly lonely smile.

Oh, I just had to, I had no choice, and instead of accepting it, I can't take it back anymore, I push it away. That split that sounds cold, but I guess it's because I'm looking at the future, not the past.

"Right."

A little voiceless twinkle overlaps the pleasant footsteps that come down the hallway. Ancius unconsciously softened his eyes, looked at the door and again, now he nodded deeply.

That footstep, too, goes towards the future. You will now give way and watch your back. Well, then...

"Commander, Vitos-Nacias is here."

"Get in."

Finn tilts his neck and puts his eyes on the strength of his voice accordingly. Ansius grinned badly and whispered in a whisper.

"As a responsibility of my predecessor, I will try to make you listen to a very long record sermon at the end. Phineas, of course you're going out with him."

(Final)

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[Clear]

A soft light pouring down through the green periphery envelops the smell of water.

The air alone seemed to fill everything physically and mentally, and Finn took a deep breath and meditated. Even more within this juncture in the Great Forest, every giant tree stands idyllic, and it even feels like consciousness and intelligence dwell on it, but it wasn't surprising.

Standing still with my eyes meditating, I feel like I'm turning into one of those trees. I am about to be deprived of my soul by its happy temptation to put my roots down on the soil and just keep breathing this intense air quietly.

Finn opened his eyes and smiled bitterly at his imagination. I can't believe people turn into trees. - But in this realm dominated by the Dragon Marquis of Org, it may also be.

"Thank you for waiting, Brother Finn"

Called by the voice of his young daughter to regain his mind, Finn turned around. Furnaine. He's got a bunch of little hemp bags. As Finn walked over, she put it on a nearby rock once.

"If it's a place like the one I was telling you about, I think it would be good around here and here."

Open the mouth of the hemp bag slightly as I say and show the contents. The seeds of the grass made a sound of zarari. Farnein explains one by one what seeds are in there and which ones to sow first.

Finn thanked Farnein as he tied the mouth of the hemp bag and transferred it to his own back sac.

"I'm sorry for all your concern. Thank you all, Olg Witch."

Farnayne shook her head with a bitter smile at Finn, who used a daunting designation.

"I'm the one who appreciates it. Thanks to Brother Finn, I can get the wisdom and moves of the Fidae and Eifanes to help me everywhere in Diatius. If it weren't for Dragon Marquis, I wouldn't have cooperated."

To heal the devastated earth, Farnayne serves as a bridge between the Great Forest and the outside world, preparing a variety of seeds and seedlings, which Finn delivers everywhere. Sometimes Farnayne herself went out and did the work, using the slight force given to her by Utier to speed up spraying and rooting.

In addition to knowledge and power, Farnayne, who lived in a different way from the ordinary man, had an atmosphere that was invisible and had only become revered by people as the 'Witch of Org'.

That said, the shadow of Finn's known young girl didn't completely disappear. When Finn gently strokes his head as he used to, he makes a grin of shyness look ticklish.

Finn made sure she looked like that before packing her bags and gazing between the fudge and the wooden tree.

"Looks like Master Utier is here. I'll thank you."

Usually a dragon marquis who pulled into the depths of the junction, but occasionally also shows up in the settlement. Finn, who perceived it in the dragon's perception, went directly to convey his apologies because it was not much of an opportunity.

Step on the moss moss moisturized, straighten the roots of the giant trees, and proceed to the back of the green temple. The air becomes darker and the trees' consciousness is strengthened to the point of being pressurized.

Slightly, the pale green light has expanded to cover up Finn's senses. I didn't know Finn would hold his breath and look at his hands as he narrowed his eyes.

One - No, there was a small figure at the root of a giant tree that deserved to be counted as a pillar.

The green light that surrounds its body rises around the giant trees, passing on the periphery and blending into the forest ceiling. The figure of a giant dragon can no longer be captured by contours.

Only a clear light everywhere is slightly shaken, albeit in the narrow space of time.

Finn, who was overwhelmed by his power and the magnitude of his existence, returned to me the moment he lowered his defiant neck and saw the figure of that man, Dragon Hou.

Transparent. Dark hair, patterned woven clothes, dyed green...

"Master Utier!

The scream shouted.

The voice becomes a stone, disturbing the shadows reflected on the surface of time. The light shook and disappeared, and Utier slowly turned around.

"... Oh, Tenryu Hou"

Org's Dragon Marquis smiles softly and calmly, as if nothing had happened. Finn glanced at him with an ambiguous look.

Thank you for your help and keep asking, keep your head down.

At the parting, turning around, Utier was still at the root of the great tree, smiling in the same way. It didn't look like it was going to disappear anymore, but I could feel the dragon's signs drifting into the atmosphere waiting for that time, making Finn fast enough to escape the bother behind his chest.

Just as dragons are not originally earthly creatures, so may Dragon Hou also leave the earth in that way. It's perfectly clear and leaves no shadow.

(Someday)

Words like that came to mind, and he stopped and shook his head.

Not yet. Not yet, much further.

Strongly denying it, he couldn't forbid a bitter grin at the same time.

Wishing to be human for as long as possible, but the temptation of “then” is just even sweet and happy, and I can't feel the shard of pity.

(I knew I was already a dragon marquis)

I guess that's what keeps my chest from hurting when I think of leaving this earth one day. Even if I can still feel like I've changed now, I won't even know that one day. That's how it disappears like Utier did earlier.

Finn looked back at the back of the tree before exhaling deeply and long. Try to throw away anything you inhale in this forest.

I exhale and often stand up nagging. Then he turned back his heels resolutely and went back to the outside world.

(Final)