I'm back
Three days later, the gates of the city of Les open, the one who leaves the city is Hargeil, who went alone to surrender. As he entered the camp he was mocked by the other Imperials, being chained and forced to kneel before me in my personal tent, surrounded by guards and my generals.
"So... you are the one who gave me so much trouble..." I said in a serious tone, a mix between respect and anger. I could tell he was looking at my wounds.
After a few moments Hargeil opens his mouth to start talking, leaving me completely surprised.
"Quem é você? Você não é Zorzal".
Completely stunned to hear that he spoke Portuguese, this meant that he was a reincarnate just like me.
Although I couldn't speak Portuguese, I could understand the minimum to understand him, and I quickly waved my hand for everyone to leave the tent.
"Tenés razón, no soy el verdadero Zorzal."
I said in my language from my former life, confirming what he was saying.
Harngeil gives a heavy sigh. "O verdadeiro Zorzal tinha as duas orelhas". He said pointing to my missing ear.
"Cortesía de uno de tus soldados, dolió una banda y sigue doliendo.." I said bringing my hand to the bandaged wound, wincing.
"Por que você foi para a guerra? Você sabe o que vai acontecer no anime e sabe que é melhor para você se afastar porque o império está fodido".
I could understand that he was asking why I got into this war.
"Es simple en realidad... Quiero matar al emperador Molt, el es el responsable del desastre al atacar a Japon. Me convertiré en emperador y evitar tragedias mayores."
I was answering sincerely about my intentions to kill Molt.
Harngeil ducking his head, speaking again in the Saderan language.
"I understand... That means that no matter if we could have discovered this earlier, we would have fought anyway... And this would be the end result." He said looking at his chains. "Did I reincarnate in this world to be defeated by you... Am I just a piece because some god wants you to succeed... Or were the deities just bored and place bets on who would win?"
Those words left me thinking, surely there will be other reincarnated in this world and maybe I will have to face them, but that was not something I wanted to do, I had enough problems with my father without having to deal with reincarnated who want to kill me because they hate Zorzal.
"Knowing the gods of this world I don't think any of them would do anything good for mortals. Most likely someone must have been celebrating when I was starving to death in Tania." I replied leaning towards the latter option.
"So... What are you going to do with me?" he asks resignedly. "Are you going to display my head on a pike to boost your prestige?"
"I wouldn't want to do that, you're the only link I have left to my old world. Join me and we can face whatever those gods have planned."
I proposed, he was clearly a better military man than I was and that I would have been completely defeated in Tania if not for a lucky break with the rains. If the Gali army had been a professional army like the empire's I would have been completely wrecked in Ali's city. I could not afford to lose someone like him.
Harngeil looks at me, considering my proposal in silence for a few minutes, before finally speaking.
"It is a tempting proposal, however it would be too obvious to anyone that you have something on your mind if I simply appear at your side. The emperor will smell something and that means I'll be kidnapped and tortured, so I'll pass on all that. I had too many headaches with my own plots to be king of the Galis to go back to that." He said resignedly.
"It's a pity...you seem to have an idea already."
I said Disappointed to see that it was not possible to get his help.
"A glass of poisoned wine and nothing else, with a poison that isn't too painful."
"Are you sure you want to die? I could pull some strings to keep you alive." I was trying to convince him otherwise.
"I'm sure many in the senate will not be happy about letting an enemy king live, it will cause you to lose influence and if you lose influence it means I will be less likely to survive... And about dying, being here tells me that there is life after death, so the only thing I'm worried about is having a painful death."
"All right, if that's what you want... But you will die when we are about to arrive at Sadera, until that time you will be treated as a guest and you will have decent food. I'm sure you're very hungry."
"É claro! Você estava me matando de fome!" He said with a more radiant countenance upon hearing that he would be able to eat something before he left.
And so, the battle of Les and the conquest of the Gali lands came to an end, once the news of the capture of Les spread everywhere and several cities decided to surrender.
/
Imperial Capital.
The news of the fall of Les, the battle of Ruthenia and the capture of Ali did not take long to reach Sadera, when Emperor Molt heard about this he became completely nervous and worried, he could not believe that the war had lasted barely two years, let alone that his son would win with mostly foot troops, without wyverns or backup mages and after the disaster of the battle of Ali, it was simply absurd!
"We are in real trouble, my friend." Spoke the emperor to Marcus, "With this clear victory, the prince's support will soar to the heavens."
"What do you say we bring the people's attention to General Servius?" he proposed. "His impossible victory being outnumbered 7 to 1 could overshadow Les' battle, we could also use Ali's fiasco and the fact that they are almost exterminated in Tania as a way to... detract from their accomplishments."
"hmmm..." Molt mulled over that proposal and his arguments. "That might work... if only the enemy king had been able to flee. No matter what we do, capturing a king will make everyone pay attention to that battle."
"That... is bad news... being the center of attention it will be hard to kill him... let alone exile him, there will be no reason to do so after that quick victory for the empire."
"... Exile huh?..." the old emperor was thinking what to do." once the prince comes here triumphant it will be the delivery of honors and rewards for his work won't it?" he said with a smile on his face.
/
Imperial Camp.
"¿Así que sos brasilero? ¿Cómo moriste?" Curious about how he got here.
"Eu era um soldado do exército brasileiro, estávamos em uma operação no Rio de Janeiro quando fui emboscado". While explaining about the operation and how he was ambushed, Harngeil ate a roasted deer.
Both were eating lunch, this conversation left the others present confused.
"Hey slave, do you know what language the boss is speaking?" Volcats was asking Saskia, he knew she was a Gali and that she was close to Zorzal so he believed she knew what they were talking about.
"I have no idea, those are not any Gali dialect." Replied the girl. "And what's that about 'boss'? You must call him Your Highness." She said reprimanding the Volralden's way of speaking.
"I have sworn no allegiance to the empire, our agreement is for a monetary contract and not an oath of vassalage." Replied the werewolf.
"Does that mean that tomorrow you could fight against my master?"
"As long as I get paid well and it's not suicide then yes. It's nothing personal little girl, but business is business."
"Then why didn't you switch sides after the defeat at Ali? I'm sure it would have been very easy for you to send a delegate to the Gali army and negotiate." She was curious
"If we spent our time betraying our clients then no one would hire us. Besides if the prince fell because of us then the empire would declare war on us."
"Well, that puts my mind at ease. After Tania City you should already know what happens to traitors." Saskia poured herself a glass of wine to start drinking.
"You're pretty bold for a slave, I like you but that behavior will get you in trouble."
"Maybe so, but some Imperials are so dense that putting them in their place is very satisfying." She said remembering how she got on the nerves of many a racial soldier who thought they could walk all over her.
"True, watching those proud assholes turn red with anger and impotence is one of the best shows you can see." Laughing, Volcats recalled some anecdotes when he was a beginner. "When a supremacist nobleman would hire me to do some task they thought impossible they would always go ballistic when they had to pay me."
"They sure are funny anecdotes." Pouring wine into another glass, smiling amicably. "I'd like to hear some of your stories."
/
Zorzal's personal tent.
A few hours after dinner I found myself reviewing the reports on Saskia's performance in Ali's city.
"Boy, you sure showed no mercy to the Parisians." I spoke as I sat at my wooden desk, she had boldly laid down on my bed.
"What can I say, master, I'm a pretty vindictive girl."
I could tell that she had definitely left her shyness behind.
"I know, by the way. Were you able to find out who the traitor was who had opened the door to the Parisians?"
"No, whoever it was disappeared without a trace. Maybe it wasn't a traitor and just an enemy who snuck in at night?" She said somewhat disappointed that she couldn't find the person responsible.
"That's strange, I had asked Harngeil about that but it seems that most of the details about the Andean-Parisian war disappeared with the death of Hanrgeil's father."
I could notice a small grimace of displeasure forming on her face when she heard the name of the Parisian king, it was clear that she was not pleased that the former enemy king is quietly in the camp as a guest, however questioning my decision was beyond her limits.
I was still reviewing the report when something caught my attention.
"Did you put someone else in as the provincial prime minister? I thought you would be the one to take control of the new Andean country."
"Emm, no. It's good that I organized the revolt but nothing else."
"But it's just that... When you were talking about liberating the city, I thought you were some kind of princess." I said somewhat confused.
Hearing that, she couldn't help but laugh.
"No no, my parents were bakers. Sorry to disappoint you but I'm just of common blood." She said with a playful smile.
Smiling a little too, I finished reading the report to go to sleep.
"Tomorrow Servius will arrive so we can return to the capital, we must sleep early." I said getting into bed.
"Are you sure we can't take a few minutes to have some fun?~" I flirtatiously started stroking my hair.
"You're not 18 yet, so no." I said closing my eyes and enjoying the caresses.
"Hold on, I understand you don't like them flat but I'm not. Why are you so insistent that I'm 18?" She really wanted to know.
"W-well..." I had to find an excuse that wasn't moral. "I know childbirth is a very risky thing, so if a woman who is not well developed is pregnant it can be much riskier don't you think?"
"You have a point, and the use of silphium is not always effective enough to prevent pregnancy."
Hearing her, I was somewhat relieved that she agreed with me.
"However... I can't have children anymore so you don't have to worry about that~" she said stroking my hair, thinking that that would be enough for us to do it.
This was bad, knowing that I was in a position of power being a prince I had to avoid crossing my self-imposed lines at all costs. I could not allow myself to take exceptions as that would risk blurring those lines little by little: 'There is no difference between 17 and 18` After that there is the likelihood that I would continue to lower the bar by excusing myself on things like 'this world doesn't care' and then who can stop me if I am the prince? I can't have the confidence to say I would never do something like that because in my world I would surely be horrified if I knew I was going to be responsible for massacres and the buying and selling of thousands of slaves.
"A-are you sterile? You never told me that before." I was trying to create a topic of conversation to divert her attention, even though I might come off as insensitive. "Naturally or..."
She seemed to lose her mood and then looked up at the ceiling.
"Well, you're right in your theory, the younger the one who is going to give birth the higher the risk of something bad happening."
Saskia used her hand on her belly, as she began to speak in a serious manner.
"It was a few years before I was given to you, I think I was about twelve at the time, I had been bought by a wealthy guy, I have no idea if he was an imperial or if I was still in Gali. I was forced to get pregnant by that man but once my water broke I felt like everything inside me was tearing apart, I couldn't stop bleeding and I was lucky that a healing mage who worked with the lord of that place said to help me, otherwise I would be dead."
I could tell that the more she spoke the lump in her throat began to form.
"The baby was stillborn with the umbilical cord tied around my neck, after that I was resold to another slaver."
I listened in silence, just like the first nights when she came to the palace and told me about the Gali and their customs. This was the last thing she kept to herself.
I could tell that she, unlike before, was trying not to cry. I began to hug her because she still needed comfort.
"All that is now behind me... You were able to take revenge on the Parisians who did that to you. YOU were able to drive them out of your city and take back the land of your people..."
"Not yet... " She said almost crying. "There's still someone to put it all behind us... That Parisian king is still alive."
Hearing that I was surprised, even though it was something I should have seen coming. It's normal for her to feel bad about having King Parisius as a guest regardless of whether it was Harngeil's father who did it.
During all this time I was thinking of a plan to keep Harngeil alive so that he could be of help to me in the future but that will be impossible without making Saskia feel disappointed and betrayed.
If we put both of them in the balance it is more than clear that Harngeil would be much more valuable than Saskia, knowing about weapons and modern combat tactics that would be very useful in case a conflict with the JDSF is inevitable.
However Saskia has helped me a lot and has proven to be someone I can trust, I owe her too much. Besides the risk of Harngeil leaving through the Gate to return to the comfort of the modern world now that he doesn't have a kingdom exists.
"He will die when he is no longer useful to me, that will be before I get to Sadera." I said making my decision.
/
The next morning I had gone to Harngeil's tent to discuss a few things, because we were both alone and would be having a not so casual chat we used Falmart language so as not to give rise to misunderstandings.
"Do you want me to make a small manual on the use and maintenance of firearms and modern warfare tactics?" the former king asked.
"Exactly, in case a war with the other side of the GATE is inevitable it would be foolish to believe that we could not get hold of even a few of the Japanese weapons. However they would be almost useless because no one in this world knows how to use them, and even if someone did know how to use them effectively there is still the matter of maintenance and wear and tear on the weapon."
"It seems your time in this war is giving you a military mind, however I must decline. I would support your cause of making Molt pay for what he did, however I have nothing against the JSDF, in fact I had planned to ally with them when they arrived and thus take more land from the empire."
"I understand that, but there is also the possibility that what enters this world might not be the Japanese: it could be the Soviets or Nazi Germany, even Imperial Japan." I was trying to argue.
"In that case you're going to be completely screwed, if they are the ones coming in then they won't hold back like the Japanese in the anime, they're going to send everything they have and in a couple of months they'll already take the capital." He said something very true. The reason why Japan behaved in such a peaceful and restrained way in the story, besides propaganda, is so that the story would not end in the first 10 chapters, once an airport was built and some planes were flown in and it would have been an immediate game over.
The survival of the empire depended on the personality of the Japanese, or whoever came in, being the same as in the original story, that or preventing the invasion of the other side by killing my father and becoming the emperor.
"W-well... you could do it so you don't get bored..." I said without much idea to convince him, neither could I threaten to torture him or put him in a dungeon because I doubt that someone who reincarnated would be afraid of suicide.
"Besides I'm not sure that teaching the maintenance thing is going to work, after all I don't know exactly what weapons the JSDF use. They probably use US NATO weapons like the M4 or M16 or maybe something from the German Heckler & Koch. These are weapons we also have in the Brazilian Army but I'm not sure about which versions or variants either."
"Anything is better than nothing, I have all the paper and ink you need, I will find a way for you to make copies."
"I still didn't say anything about helping you with this, at least not for free." He said smiling.
"That's okay... Considering you accepted that you're going to die I don't know what you're going to ask for in return."
"It's pretty simple... I want you to engrave on your banner in gold a phrase in Portuguese that says that Pele is greater than Maradona."
A silence of ultratomb took over the tent where we were, I was in shock for a few moments.
"No, no puedo decir tal pecaminosa blasfemia." I refused such sacrilege.
"Esse é o meu preço, boa sorte com sua guerra com os japoneses."
"No podes estar hablando en serio la concha de tu hermana." Massaging my temples, releasing the occasional insult. "Bueno dale, pero mas te vale que hagas un buen manual o le voy a decir a uno de los lobos que te rompa el orto y que te lo rompa en ambos sentidos ¿Entendiste pelotudo?"
"Eu sei, eu sei, é engraçado que os argentinos só depois de mortos possam aceitar a verdade."
"Estoy comenzando a creer que tu estas mas emocionado por este trato que yo..."
/
South Palace, Sadera.
After training with the order of the rose, the little devil was in the gardens along with Zorzal and everyone had a papyrus and a feather at the discretion of Thalassa, who accompanied Diabolic.
"No, Moon, you're confusing the lowercase l with the i, remember to put the dot above." The little prince explained while teaching the girls to read and write.
"But the stick with a dot was not the exclamation mark?" The cat girl asked confused.
"In that one the dot goes to the bottom of the stick and not up." Explained Thalassa, who could read and write. She was Diabo's assistant.
"I give up! I don't understand anything!" Exclaimed Fent-Kaus, the nomadic girl.
"Come on, you must learn and thus be useful to His highness! " Zilfy, the medusa, was talking.
"What's the point? Saskia made him win a war, there's no way to beat that. Surely when they return she will be released with a fortune or she will become the most important concubine or at least she will control everything in the palace" Answered Nuriel the harpy. "I have no intentions of making her believe that I am going to try to take away her new position, not knowing what she did in Tania. I prefer to live quietly knowing that my only duty is to satisfy the master when he asks for it."
"Wait a minute, I don't understand. Saskia and you are not friends?" Zorzal's younger brother couldn't understand them talking that way.
"Your Highness, what do you think is actually a harem?" The nomadic girl asked.
"Therefore... When several people are in love with the same person and this corresponds to all?" She said innocently after thinking about it for a few moments.
"Aww, so innocent ~" The medusa girl was starting to squeeze the young man's cheeks.
"D-stop that!"
"Your Highness Diabo. Have you ever wondered why at a certain age the imperial princes leave the main palace and then each one goes to live in his own? Master Zorzal would have moved here sooner if it wasn't for the war, do you know why? or because the concubines of His majesty the emperor don't live in the same palace" Thalassa seriously asked.
The little prince only shook his head.
"Harems become a bloodbath and betrayals if the one in the middle is an authority figure." Replied the nomad girl. "When I was still with my tribe, I saw how the sheikhs formed harems with every beautiful girl they found, whether they were princesses, slaves or ordinary people, they just kept adding women to the harem."
"What do you mean by that?..." Diabo didn't like where the story was going.
"Well, you see... women do not like to feel that we are the second or the third, so it is very common for them to try to be the first wife, not only for themselves but also for their children so that they inherit their father's fortune and position."
"E-I understand... But you girls seemed to get along quite well with each other, that's not going to happen with you is it?"
"Well, because we never intended to be anything more than slaves doing their duty, I wouldn't put this comfort at risk by making Saskia believe that I want to become the main girl." Nuriel replied, an answer that reassured the little prince.
"But if she convinces herself of that for any reason we are doomed..." Moon commented, commenting that it made everyone silent for a long enough time to become uncomfortable, everyone started to reflect on it.
"That's true, if she comes to believe that we are a threat she could get rid of us." Nuriel was saying.
"And if I stay where I am I won't be able to defend myself..." Thalassa could tell.
"What happened to Mom could happen to me..." A chill ran through Fent-Kaus's body.
"And everything will get worse if she gives up having a child!" They all seemed to come to an agreement in their own heads.
Diabo could see in everyone's face how they were starting to work out some kind of plan mentally.
"W-Well... This is where the writing and reading classes come in..."
Quite nervous, he was walking away from there at an accelerated pace.
"Brother, what kind of death trap did you get into?"
While he was going to his habitation, he made a mental note written in stone: "Don't even think about having a harem!"
/
Imperial Camp, two days away from Sadera.
"So the time has come?" Said Harngeil receiving a glass of wine brought by Saskia.
"I don't know what you mean." Saskia wanted to play dumb about the poison she had put in the wine.
"I'm not an idiot, I know it's poison. It seems you don't know that I made a deal with your prince to have a quick and painless death."
"Oh... then I don't have to hide that I have the honor of delivering the poison to you."
"Aha" The ex-king looked at Saskia intently and then held the wine glass. "You're a gal, aren't you? How did you end up next to Zorzal?"
"It is called His Highness Zorzal." She said something irritated to hear him. "And if you want to know how I ended up next to him you should ask your father when they meet in the other world"
"I doubt that we will go to the same world." He responded with a little laugh. "So you're from the Andes tribe, I heard that you took the city of Ali when I was gone."
"Not only that, it was also my idea to make you run to Les first." She said proudly. "How does it feel to know that it was your father's mistakes that caused you to lose the war and your entire kingdom?" She was trying to make him angry.
"It could have been worse, at least this time I wasn't sold to die shot in the middle of a favela." He was saying calmly, something that irritated Saskia.
"Your kingdom was destroyed, all your work and effort was in vain and you are about to die. How can you be so calm?"
"Dying is no longer a problem in reality, I just have to make an effort in my next life."
"Do you believe in reincarnations?" she was asking a little confused.
"I know they are real, I already died once and was born back into this world. I just hope to have more luck in the next one." He was about to take the wine, but he stopped. "By the way. Do you know anything about alternative realities? I know that this theory has its own name in this world but I don't remember its name."
"Let me guess, is there a reality where you win this war? Well, it didn't happen, don't console yourself with that."
"No no... I was just wondering what it was about you on the parallel line where you met the real Zorzal."He said taking the poison.
"Eh?! What do you mean by that?!" She was confused by those words.
"You don't think that, to be the heir to the most powerful empire who is pampered like a capricious child by all the most important nobles is so... kind?"He answered as he sat down in a chair, feeling the forces of his body begin to leave him.
"Is that he is!... It's because he is!..."She couldn't find words to contradict him, she felt like her voice was leaving before she finished a sentence.
"Just say this, that Zorzal is an impostor. And you should thank the gods that he is!"Starting to cough a little.
"N-NO! You're not going to fool me! I have confidence in the prince and nothing you say will cause me to break that trust!"Furious, giving him a hard slap.
"Heh, it's not my intention..."Feeling like his eyes were getting heavier little by little. "If you want to help your Zorzal then you should know where you are standing... Otherwise you will become useless and a burden."He stretched his hand with difficulty towards a drawer to aim, his hand was shaking a lot because of the great effort he needed to lift it. "Take a look at my work... and give it to your prince."
And after saying that Harngeil, king of the Parisians, gave his last breath.
She, still in doubt for her words, approaches the drawer to see Harngeil's work, what she sees at first she does not understand: Drawings of metal triangles and on how to clean them.
"It looks like some kind of improved crossbow... too bad I couldn't finish His Highness Diabo's reading classes, so I could know exactly what they say."
But the more she advanced and the more she saw the drawings, the color left her skin to turn pale: Drawings of iron elephants, giant dragons with strange shapes that cross the skies and the drawing of a city with buildings so large that they seemed to have been built by the gods themselves.
Her hands began to tremble from fear, feeling as the pressure of her body began to drop and being about to faint from the shock received, but she was able to maintain composure.
"Should His Highness face this?..."