Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 127. Pride and Worry.
“What in the world is that?” Mustafa muttered as he began reading through the content of the scroll once more, this time more diligently. “The secretive military alliance between our Makarash and the Ruishi Federation, furthermore the plans to establish a similar alliance with the Holy Union. The plans to occupy the southern half of Eulene and split it up between Makarash, the Ruishi Federation, and the Holy Union. Furthermore, the clause involving the plan to split-up and ambush Yimar Maar’s and Arakar’s forces using Arslan as a bait, using our White Guards, the few hundred elites of the Ruishi Federation and the aid they are expecting to receive from the Holy Union,” he pointed one after another, all within his own thoughts, all the while wondering what should he think about this crazy document, that was apparently signed by both Arslan and Elder Samuel, someone who by the looks of it, acted as a representative of the Ruishian Grand Council of Elders.
“Why wasn’t I told about it before it was signed?” Mustafa asked with a hint of anger, though he couldn’t help but feel favorably towards the overall content of this document. He didn’t yet read through the minute details of the cooperation between their three sides, but since he had an absurd amount of experience as a military commander, he could instantly tell that pros of the plan to deal with Yimar Maar and Arakar which this document outlined far outweighed the cons.
“It was little master’s decision,” Zaban informed diligently. He had expected this and many other questions to be brought up by Mustafa, so he had made sure to learn enough from Arslan and the others to be able to provide thorough answers. “From what I’ve heard, he doesn’t wish to cower away in fear while our elites die to provide him safe passage back to Makarash. As for why you weren’t informed before the document was signed, Grand Yimar, is because little master declared that he is intent on going through with the plan regardless of your opinion,” he explained, trying to actively touch upon the points that Mustafa was likely to soon inquire about.
“He what?” Mustafa blurted out and shook his head, the look on his face expression both amazement and concern for his son. “This boy, when did he grow up to be so courageous? I wonder if it’s because of all the events and dangers he encountered while traveling with that bunch,” he mused aloud, unable to prevent a full-of-pride smile from emerging on his face despite the concerns he had for Arslan’s safety. He understood that the idea to split up the forces of their enemies was a great one, but as a father, he couldn’t help but worry over his only child.
“Was this thing proposed by that Elder Samuel?” he asked after calming himself down a little. He would rather know if Arslan was talked into making this choice by others, but judging from Zaban’s words, it wasn’t the case. However, he preferred to be at least aware of the deal was pushed forward by Elder Samuel or if it was Jasmine or Sirius, or perhaps Reian, who came up with it.
“No,” Zaban answered faithfully. “The whole agreement was brought up by little master. However… it was mainly due to the influence of one of those boys who are traveling alongside him, of the kid called Laien,” he elaborated, though even with all the professionalism of his, he couldn’t quite hide the note of disdain he had for Laien. He couldn’t deny that the kid was a prodigious talent, but he just couldn’t stand his arrogant character when speaking with his elders.
“Truly?” Mustafa asked in surprise, then a second later, he smiled wryly. “And I’m to understand that Arslan and the rest agreed with that boy and designed the idea of the three-way-alliance alongside that plan that’s supposed to… hrm, that’s happening in a week?” he asked with a laugh, only to confirm what he was already quite sure of. After he had heard the first story Zaban reported to him, he became convinced that neither Laien nor Yin would push to do anything harmful to Arslan.
“It is as you say, Grand Yimar,” Zaban said, choosing not to elaborate too much. “From the way he spoke, he seems to have already accepted this plan. It looks like we are going to have a lot more work to do in the next seven days,” he thought to himself, not quite sure if he was supposed to be feeling excited or resigned. As a member of the White Guard, he welcomed a good plan that didn’t involve turning tail and running, but since he really couldn’t stand the one who had proposed this whole idea, he couldn’t help but grumble a little in his heart.
“Hah,” Mustafa let out a sigh, the smile still present on his face. “So it’s going to be like that, huh,” he said with a laugh. He was truly impressed by the way Arslan handed this whole thing and he was glad that Laien brought the idea of going on the offensive up. He had always thought that Arslan would grow up to be an amazing man in the near future, but he never imagined that it would happen so soon! For Arslan to go as far as to dare to go through with his own plan even if he didn’t agree to it, thus forcing his hand in this matter, was admittedly a bit annoying in principle, but considering the circumstance, he could only feel proud of his young son.
“That being said,” Mustafa mused to himself. “I really was more shaken-up by my injury than I thought. I was sure I was keeping my calm, but it looks like I was too fixated on providing absolute safety to Arslan to realize the other options I had…. no. That’s an arrogant way of thinking,” he reprimanded himself silently and laughed, causing Zaban to grow a little confused.
“I didn’t know that a new faction emerged in the isolationist Ruishi Federation, so I didn’t even consider the idea of allying with them. I couldn’t have imagined that they would agree to it with the level of knowledge I had, but that’s my own fault for not spreading my intelligence network far and deep enough. I also wrote off allying with Holy Union as too unreliable as they have quite a few grudged against Ikarians. I can’t always expect everyone to distinguish us from Makarash and the rest, but I should have at least considered the possibility for longer or maybe straight-up attempted negotiations in the time-frame that I still had.”
“Well, that’s about it for the review.” Mustafa laughed again. He had only come this far by always thinking about what he had done and if he could have done something better or if he had made mistakes that could have been avoided. At one point, he had fallen into the trap of attempting to micromanage every little thing, but luckily, he had people around him who didn’t fear to tell him to face that he was being too forceful and needed to trust his subordinates more. His remaining lifespan might have been cut very considerably, but he wasn’t planning to just lie down and die in depression; for as long as possible, he wanted to provide all the aid to his son that he could.
“Is there anything else you have to report?” Mustafa inquired, bringing his attention back to Zaban, who had been standing before him in silence for the past few moments.
“One more thing,” Zaban said without hesitation, having prepared himself to speak about all the points beforehand. “Elder Samuel’s youngest son and the Ruishi Federation’s strongest young genius both were called to the Grand Camp by Elder Samuel and appear to have become friends with little master and those two boys,” he informed straightforwardly, then added. “As far as I know, however, it is Laien who gets along especially well with those two kids from the Ruishi Federation.”
“Interesting,” Mustafa said with a smile. “It looks like this Elder Samuel has a good head on his shoulders,” he added and chuckled. He had been feeling quite pressured since Arakar permanently damaged his Qi Origin, but now, he felt the burden lessen considerably. As long as he could live for at least ten years longer, he was fairly confident that he would be able to help Arslan establish himself as a ruler of Makarash and wouldn’t need to worry about Arslan’s safety after his death.
“Do me a favor,” he brought up, looking Zaban in the eye. “Bring those four Lieutenants of mine over here. I’ll have you tell me the rest of the details I want to know during the meeting we’re going to have… and we’ll need to discuss how to prevent the fiasco with Nuan and the hundred men he was leading from repeating. I’ll have you guys in the intelligence unit worked to the bone, and the same goes for the people the Ruishi Federation can provide. You’ll later go back to deliver the news and further instructions for those four and the guards the Ruishians are going to provide, but for now get going and get the Lieutenants here,” he spoke eagerly, the usual liveliness he had always had to himself returning to his behavior and appearance.
“Understood,” Zaban bowed slightly and left the room in a hurry. However, as he was spreading his aura to find the Lieutenants, who were bound to be nearby, he couldn’t resist smiling. “Hell, I don’t like that brat, but seeing Lord Mustafa regain his spirit thanks to this whole endeavor… I can forgive him for being an arrogant bastard,” he thought, then laughed quietly and put his mind back to the matters involving his job. It wasn’t an over-exaggeration to say that this time around, the intelligence units of the White Guard would play an absolutely pivotal role in this plans, so he wouldn’t forgive himself if he slacked for even a second.
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“I want to be there already,” Mikaela said with an impatient smile as their whole group getting ready to leave the house. “Nicolai can’t wait either,” he added with a laugh, already playing around with his sword in anticipation of another sparring with Laien. He had had so much fun last time that he wished he could spar with Laien every day and as far as he was able to, he would love to do just that.
“I want to be there too,” Laien said with a laugh, then glanced in the direction of the opposite end of the living room. “As soon as those two finish their talk, we can go,” he said, his smile growing weaker. This morning Sarah finally brought herself to come to Johan to have another talk with him about his decision to become Arslan’s follower and live in Makarash, though as far as Laien was concerned, she really could have picked a better time to do that.
“They’ve already been talking for so long though,” Mikaela grumbled, all the while swinging his sword leisurely a few steps away from everyone.
“Not really,” Raphael said with a smile. “It’s only been like three minutes,” he added wryly, thinking that Mikaela really was way too eager to train with Laien. Be it martial training or the discussion about the water-element Profound Mysteries Mikaela had had with Laien yesterday evening, there was no end to his energy and desire to learn more.
“They really are a perfect match of a teacher and a student,” he mused, but unlike two days ago, he was wholeheartedly happy for Mikaela and wasn’t feeling jealous at all. He had been a bit worried that Mikaela would suggest doing naughty things together to Laien, but it looked like the two of them weren’t interested in each other in this way. “He understood that much far earlier than me,” he thought and suppressed a laugh, glancing at Yin out of the corner of his eye. It was like Yin said early on, Laien was looking at Mikaela as nothing else than a good friend and now, he had learned that the opposite was also true. It might have seemed like a silly worry on his part, but he was glad to have resolved it so he no longer needed to worry about it in the back of his mind.
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“C’mon, hurry up,” Mikaela said once again, just a moment after ignoring the annoying time-correction Raphael made.
“Eh,” Laien let out a resigned sigh. “It doesn’t look like it’s going all too well,” he said quietly, looking at the frustrated and angered expressions both of the siblings had on their faces. Seeing Johan not back down in the slightest was refreshing, but Sarah was just too stubborn. Couldn’t she let Johan do as he wished instead of making choices for him? Arslan wouldn’t mistreat Johan and Makarash seemed to be a really nice place to live; he really couldn’t understand where she was seeing the problem.
“Oh, they are still talking,” a handsome, though somewhat unreliable-looking man’s voice rang out from the doorway. “I wonder if it would be better to let them finish before we try talking with them,” he wondered aloud, looking to be quite concerned with finding the right way to approach his children.
“I told you.” The old man beside the unreliable-looking man clicked his tongue. “You should act with more confidence, what’s the point of being scared to talk to your own kids? Anyway, you… eh, looks like there’s no need to decide anything, they seem to be done,” the old man said with a resigned sigh, then exchanged an embarrassed look with Laien and the rest of the kids. He had tagged along saying he wanted to repay the blood debt to Sarah and Johan’s mother, but he ended up staying away with Sarah and the five thousand refugees during the battle with Yimar Furi’s forces.
He was merely a martial master of the first rank and objectively speaking, there wasn’t much at all he could have done to influence a battle at that level. He really thought he would be more useful protecting Sarah and the rest just in case, but from the perspective of time, he could only ask himself if he didn’t do so out of cowardice; out of the fear of death. He had at most ten years of lifespan left, so what was he so worried about? He asked himself that, but he couldn’t find a definite answer.
“Jacob and Rakar, was it?’ Laien asked half-uncertainly, not too sure if he remembered the names of those two men without much of a presence to themselves. “Did you come to talk with those two?” he inquired and looked at Johan and Sarah, who just walked up to their whole group at this moment.
“Um, yes,” Jacob answered with a smile that certainly seemed like an apologetic one. “I’d like to talk with you two, could we?” he asked, moving his gaze towards his two children.
“What for?” Sarah asked coldly. She was already extremely ticked-off from the unproductive talk she had with Johan, but now her useless father wanted to talk with them? Were it not for all the nagging of Albert’s that she had listened in the morning, she would have already lost her temper, but she was somehow managing to keep her anger tucked deep inside her without letting it explode.
“It’s just…” Jacob began saying but paused for a second or two before he could find proper words. “I think it’s for the best if we let Johan do as he wants. If you want to live in this country, then it’s fine. If Johan wants to live in Makarash… then I and Rakar will follow him and make sure that he will be doing fine,” he said while smiling amiably, all the while trying to make his voice to sound as calm and inoffensive as possible.
“Huh?”
“Huh?”
The two siblings had the exact same first reaction to their father’s words, but their subsequent responses were diametrically different. Johan was glad to hear that their father was supporting him and was a bit relieved that he wouldn’t go going to Makarash without anyone from his family, while Sarah couldn’t believe her ears and sure enough didn’t want long at all to voice her complaints.
“What the hell do you mean you are going to go with him? What use can you be? You’ve never done anything to protect either of us nor our mother, so why would that change now all of the sudden? What right do you have to decide anything about our family?” Sarah asked away, raising her voice with every sentence to the point that towards the end, she was almost shouting. Perhaps it was to be expected, but faced with the out-of-the-blue declaration of her father’s, she had lost her temper.
“No, it’s just that…” Jacob raised his hands defensively and spoke in an honest, apologetic manner with an awkward smile on his face. “I just think that if Johan really wants to do that, then we shouldn’t be stopping him. Weren’t we all saved because of Arslan and everyone else? I really don’t think it will be bad for Johan to go with him,” he attempted to explain, but seeing the unchanged and very much angry expression of Sarah’s, he could merely let out a weak laugh. He expected it to happen, but it looked like his daughter wasn’t going to listen to anything he said.
However, at the very least Sarah managed to bite her tongue before she started yelling. Albert mentioning that he was going to consider breaking up with her if she kept letting emotions get better of her in each and every argument worked wonders; she took a few deep breaths and made sure to calm down and only then spoke up.
“No matter what you think, I still consider the idea of going to live amongst Ikarians to be too dangerous. Sure I admit that Arslan and his guards after different, but who knows if that’s not just the upper-class thing? What about the common people? Won’t Johan be forced to do things he doesn’t want to after he gets there just because their religion says so? And what can he do there anyway, be Arslan’s servant? Let’s be honest, his talent for cultivation is worse than mine, and mine isn’t good to begin with. Nothing good waits for him there, he just wants to go because he made friends with Arslan and is too scared that he won’t be able to make new friends in this country.”
“Amusing,” Laien mused silently. “She is just as annoying with it as previously, but at least she has some arguments now instead of ‘no’, ‘I think it’s too dangerous’ , and ‘I won’t let you’ from before. Still, she could have just asked Arslan about all those things… though maybe she wouldn’t believe him and that’s why she didn’t. What a waste of time,” he thought with a sigh, hoping that this situation wouldn’t drag for too long.
“If she knew about the thing with Yimar Maar and the rest, I bet she would straight-out say that she refuses to allow Johan to risk his life,” he admitted with a sigh. The safest way would be for Johan to join up with them after the fact, but since Johan had already been told everything and decided to follow regardless, he was of the opinion that Johan’s choice should be respected. After all, it wasn’t like Arslan was going to face the death head-on and Johan would inevitably be protected alongside him. All in all, it wouldn’t be a life-threatening experience for those two unless something were to go horribly wrong.
“I’ve asked around,” Jacob said with an amiable smile, having waited for Sarah to finish speaking while making sure to properly listen to her arguments. “No such things will happen to Johan in Makarash. He will even have a chance to gain a good education and achieve something great. I’m sure it will turn out to be okay and if not, we can always bring him back,” he argued with perfect calm, speaking unhurriedly and without any unnecessary pressure in the tone of his voice.
“Hmph.” Yet, Sarah’s response remained unchanged. “What can the likes of you know? A useless father shouldn’t be trying to play a good dad now, after all this time,” she declared harshly, seeing no reason at all why she should consider her father’s arguments. So what if he had good intentions? The path to hell was paved with nothing but them! As far as she was concerned, he had always been the worst father imaginable; she would have loved him more if he at least stood up and fought in their defense, but he had never done that! She didn’t want to even look at his face, much less listen to him!
“Girl.” Unable to hold his tongue in check any longer, Rakar joined the conversation. “You really shouldn’t speak like that to your father,” he said in a saddened tone. Truth to be told, he had a similar impression of Jacob until the night two days ago when the two of them had gotten dead-drunk and now, he came to view Jacob with respect. Jacob was weak, true, and he never resorted to using strength as he was best aware of his own weakness, but unbeknownst to his children, he had done a mountain of things to protect them and shield them from harm.
“Just because he’s my father?” Sarah asked with a snort, dismissing the idea that her useless father could possibly be of any value to her at this point in their life. “He’s an idiot who was always smiling and telling us it was going to be okay when mother died and everything was getting worse with each passing day. Don’t tell me about things like ‘respecting your father’, idiocy,” she said dismissively, looking at Rakar with a clear hint of hatred shining in her eyes. The old man was an Ikarian, so despite all what Arslan and other Makarash-native Ikarians had done for her family, she was unable to bring herself not to bear a degree of resentment towards him.
“No girl, no,” Rakar said while shaking his head. To him, this situation was too pitiable. He really wanted to straight out tell Sarah about all the beatings Jacob had taken in her stead when she kept acting out throughout the years, about the times he had walked with broken bones and shattered ribs and yet smiled like always, about the times when Ikarians from their village used his body to pleasure themselves. He wanted to throw it all into her face, but Jacob made him promise not to tell Sarah; he said that he owed that much to her and to Johan because he allowed their mother to die.
“You never looked at your father,” Rakar said with a mix of resignation and anger, then gave Jacob a bleak smile when he looked at him in a concerned way, probably worried that he was going to say too much. “Girl, how about you try and speak with your father about everything for once? Just speak honestly and try to listen to him for once,” he advised, but his words ended up being inevitably misinterpreted.
“There’s no way I’m going to talk with him about anything,” Sarah said in an annoyed fashion. “Can you both just go away? Whatever you say isn’t going to change my mind,” she declared, wishing that her father and this annoying old Ikarian would get out of her sight.
“Silly girl,” Rakar said with a sigh, then added within his own heart while looking at Sarah’s face and eyes, which were entirely overcome with anger and resentment. “Do you really think that you would still be alive with how feisty you behaved back in your village if not for your father? Silly, silly girl… and he’s such an idiot too for not telling her anything.”
“Is that all?” Sarah asked, the frown on her face deepening further. She wasn’t going to agree to have Johan live in Makarash and that was it. No matter how much she thought about it or spoke about it with Albert, she couldn’t change her mind about this one thing. As for whatever that whole ‘Prophet’ said? She couldn’t care less about his ‘prophecy’ for her and would tell the same to anyone who dared to bring it up at this moment. She would regret it if she didn’t allow Johan to go? And who said she wouldn’t regret it even more if she did let him go? Or if she ended up not regretting it since she let him do what he wanted but he ended up dying? Who could guarantee her that he would be fine amongst those Ikarians? No one could!
“Yes,” Jacob said with his usual, amiable smile. “Just let me say one thing. If you don’t want to talk with me, how about you talk with some of those who live in Makarash? Maybe their perspective would help,” he tried to propose a solution that wouldn’t involve him, alas, all he got in response was a harrumph and an angry ‘as if’.
“Okay, whatever,” Laien joined in, having already gotten thoroughly tired of this conversation. “She’s not going to change her mind no matter what, but it’s not like she can stop you with force, can she? Anyway, I’ve had enough of this crap. Let’s get going,” he said bluntly and smirked at Sarah midway, then glanced at Johan to see if he was coming or if he wanted to stay here and waste time.
“Let’s go,” Johan said and quickly left his sister’s side. He did feel a bit guilty to see the pained expression of hers after Laien mentioned that she had no way of stopping him from going even if she disagreed with the idea, but he had made up his mind. Regardless of what Sarah said, he was going to go with Arslan and try to find his own happiness in Makarash and that was it.