Kaiba Erize,
The Hiroki boys made some plans for an offensive against Kuro. I’d come back to say it personally, but I’d rather get this over with now. Sorry. Keep praying, and maybe this can be over by the end of the year. I’ll try to make up for all of this then.
I’ll likely miss Kyoumi’s birthday again. She’s a bit too young to care, but I’ll try to get her something nice. You’re around her more than I am—do you know what kind of toys she likes? If she likes any at all?
Hopefully, Kuro won’t have the same idea we do. Just keep Takeo within eyesight, and you’ll be fine—Masaru and Ninsei might not fight in the war, but they can defend you, at least, if they need to. They’re the closest nobles to the capital, and I’ve been told not to expect much from the Tsujihara family; they’re still east of the mountains, after all.
Stay safe. Try to keep little Kyoumi happy. I’ll do my best to stay alive. If I make it back before spring, we could go to the festival together—all of the family. That’s a promise I can keep for once.
Gin-Mashimo Utaka
——
They were off to Kuro a month after plans were finalized. Their goal was to dispatch or otherwise disable the royal family if they could—even Kuro couldn’t keep fighting if their leader was lost. Nari’s children weren’t much older than Kyoumi, and due to Kuro’s way of choosing heirs, none of them could ascend to the throne until they were fifteen at the youngest. Unless they planned on going against traditions set by Kurokami and his immediate descendants, they wouldn’t just pick the second-strongest of Nari’s generation. Revenge may come at a later date, but at the very least the war could stop for a few years.
Utaka wasn’t particularly fond of harming the Kuro children, but he had very little opinions towards the rest. Nari and her siblings could die for all he cared—they were the ones that started this and fought. Not all of their children, however, deserved death—if any of them deserved being children of a Kuro queen at all. Only the favorites got much attention in a place where more heirs meant your line was more likely to carry on with ruling and eventually produce ‘the strongest mortal.’
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
There were two forces—a small group of a dozen or so men to attack Kuro’s capital and kill some adult in the royal family, then the main force of about three hundred to put on the front of an offensive campaign. Utaka led the latter, with Izo as an advisor; a fallen noble of some kind or another led the smaller group.
He didn’t like the idea of bringing destruction along with him, so they only fought the people who attacked them—even then, some were just brushed aside if all they had were dull knives. The people of Kuro either stayed in their houses or came out to fight; not all of them were trained, so not all of them fought.
By Izo’s suggestion, Utaka had his hair dyed the whole time so Kuro wouldn’t go out of their way to fight him—otherwise, he still held the same authority as before. All they really needed to do was look menacing and hope they didn’t run into any capable soldiers or noblemen.
Utaka’s small army usually lingered in the forests, where they wouldn’t bother anyone. They changed position every few days, going into a town and just…walking through it. He wasn’t going to cause needless bloodshed—he preferred to go about this humanely, instead of slaughtering everyone like Kuro liked to do. Fortunately, Kuro winters were oddly mild; there was more things to hinder the wind, and more natural ways to keep the snow off of them.
They stayed there, wandering around and rarely engaging with enemy troops, until the smaller group returned. For now, at least, it seemed they could rest—Nari’s first husband was killed, although the queen herself remained relatively unscathed. It would take a few months at least for her to deal with what came afterward—preparing a funeral, as well as deciding what to do with the children she had by him. It wasn’t permanent, but it was something. Utaka made another person go back to send another peace petition—if Kuro didn’t attack Gin, Gin wouldn’t attack Kuro—and his forces left the black kingdom.
They all drank when they got back to Hiroki lands, although it was in celebration; Utaka waited another week for any response before heading back home. A small part of him felt…unfulfilled—dissatisfied, somehow, with the outcome, even if it was more than he had hoped for. Nari eventually agreed to a ceasefire, ending that war for now.
Some sort of normalcy followed for a few years. Utaka managed to keep his drinking to a minimum, finally able to do better than the people that came before him. Even if he missed out on the first two years, he was glad to be able to watch his daughter grow from then on.