Work Text:
"Did you see that, Clive?"
"See what?"
"That guy. What he's doing. He looks like a plank."
Forsyth, Clive, Fernand, Lucas and I ended up in Valentia, again. This isn't the first time, either. For me, at least. It's the third or fourth time I've set foot on the soil here. I leaned against a tree to try and get some shade from the sweltering heat. There wasn't any water nearby, and it'd be a whole long trek to find a source of fresh water. We were all thirsty. Looking for anything in the sweltering heat would be too hard.
As the sun started to set, we marched out. The nearest source of water was by this large tree. Hopefully the water is fresh, as we were all thirsty. It was a nice place to rest as the sun started to rise.
"I'm hungry," Clive said.
I suggested we go look for food. We returned to the location after an hour's worth of hunting. Clive had hunted and killed a deer. Fernand, a wolf. Forsyth and Lucas caught and killed a boar. I managed to shoot down and kill an eagle. I practiced my archery way before coming here. I am not the best archer like Gordin or Jeorge, but they both ended up teaching me some of the basics. I guess it ended up helping me.
"Look what Forsyth and I caught!!" Lucas said excitedly.
"How long did it take for the two of you to kill that thing? It's huge!" Fernand said.
"It'd take us days to finish all of this! We'd have to have a quarter of the boar each for breakfast tomorrow, or right now if everyone wants."
We started to cook up the boar and finished it by almost three. At five, we cooked the eagle, wolf and deer. Fernand mentioned that he had seen a bush of berries nearby. He had tried one and they weren't poisonous. We ate some the next morning. Soon after, we took up arms as we had seen people riding over to our location in the distance. We tried to hide, but there was another army that had already arrived to our location.
"Hey! Weaklings! Get off our turf!" the enemy general yelled.
"Never!" I yelled back.
I couldn't believe it! I'd be leading the five of us against the enemy here! Marth would be surely proud of me, I'm sure of it!
"Don't get your hopes up too high!" a voice from behind the five of us said.
"You think we need your help?!" I asked.
"No, it just looks like you need it."
"Watch this!!" I said, as the five of us charged ahead.
Their leader looked at us confused. Once the five of us had finished, I dismounted. Clive followed my lead.
"No need to introduce yourselves. I know most of you. You're--"
"Let them introduce themselves!" his tactician said. She looked like his wife too.
Clive had started to remount his horse. I did too, then started to speak.
"I'm Cain," I started off.
"The legendary Cain?!? You aren't an illusion or something right?" one of them asked.
I refused to answer that question. Clive and the others had moved off into the distance, trying to find a camping spot for the night. It wasn't a good idea for them to be doing that without me, but I trusted Clive enough to do that for me. I departed, in the direction of Clive. He must've found a good spot by this point, as the rest were setting up.
The other group's leader had come up to us again later in the evening.
"Would you like to join our group? It wouldn't be too much of a hassle for you five, right?" he asked.
I started to think. Does he really intend for us to join his group? Is he being honest and true with us about it? Maybe the other members of his lowlife group do not want us to join. I looked in their direction. They were all looking at us. Their tactician called out to their leader. Use a bit of persuasion, she said. I laughed.
What would we even be getting ourselves into if we joined theirs? I looked at Clive and Fernand for help. Clive had told me before that he was the leader of the Deliverance.
"What do you think we do, Clive?" I asked.
"We can handle well on our own, we can fight for ourselves. We don't need some stranger tactician telling us what we need to do on the field of battle. We know what we're doing, sorry."
I shrugged. Most of them wanted us to join their ranks, as they have seen how strong we are. Their newest recruit looked like he was clinging onto the tactician more than she'd like him to be. Is this the kind of army we wanted to join? Would we like to be working with an army full of kids and adults married to each other?
"No thanks. I'd have to refuse the offer of us joining your army. We're just here to solve the minor conflicts, but it seems there is only one major conflict going on. A conquest is going on-- one man is trying to take over the entirety of the continent, I believe. I heard there is resistance and their efforts have been futile.
To be honest, where the resistance and all of you are going may seem like the right path, in truth it is the wrong path. Defeating a conqueror is no easy fight.
They may have tons of men standing behind them. Thousands of civilians support them as well. Though there may be resistance, the amount of forces that any kind of conqueror or emperor may have is always going to be a tough fight for your army or anyone."
I stopped speaking to look at Clive, who had nodded for me to continue on.
"Any kind of mad king too would be a hard fight. I've heard tale that the conqueror here has a ruthless kind of behavior. I wouldn't recommend going up against him just with a small number of people- a larger number would need to be on your side. If you can find more people who can resist against him, then your army would be in much better shape in winning against him."
I knew that their leader would beg again to have us join his army. He didn't. I turned and started to walk away. This was a success if it could be even considered one. Hopefully not a large one.
I reported back to Marth what had happened during our stay out in the open without much support. He told me that I'd make a good army leader, for making the right decision. The right decision was that I had my group not join the other guy's. I decided to go rest, after such a long day and a half. I woke up after what felt like days to Lucas peering over me.
"Rhys told me to do this. He's busy right now and I said I'd be able to keep an eye on you. Being head cavalier knight isn't everything, you know. I heard what Marth told you the other day. You passed out almost halfway through his talking, I think. No, don't talk. It'll take too much effort on your end to try and open up your mouth."
It took me a few days to feel better. I don't like wasting that time bedridden. I wanted to be outside more than anything. I was concerned after the second day. Most of my strength was back, although I wasn't able to leave the room. Hopefully I'll be better soon.