Previously:
"Where are you going?" Dorji asked as Baba moved to leave the circle around the fire. Was she trying to run away?
"Oh, to pee! To pee! I'll leave you alone for a bit!" Baba said with a cheeky grin as she kept walking. She smiled at the sound of her family's laughter echoing through the night. 'What… was I hesitating for?' she wondered, stopping to stare up at the crescent moon. 'Making the country, fighting for hegemony, that was the duty of the past king. Now, my only duty is to keep the family alive… Yes, until I see the faces of my beloved children's great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren… I have to survive, along with everyone else…' She thought with a smile.
SHWIP!
Baba's eyes widened in shock and pain when an arrow suddenly pierced her back, and she collapsed to the ground, bleeding.
"I wonder… when obaa-chan's coming back…" Aladdin said with a smile, waiting patiently for her to return.
Chapter 26: War
"Eh, where is Baba-sama?" Boyan asked when he noticed she still hadn't come back to the circle.
"I don't know." Dorji said. "Toya and the others have gone out to find her."
"Obaa-chan… Where are you…?" Aladdin called out as he searched for Baba with Toya.
"Maybe obaa-chan is waiting for us to call her?" Toya suggested with a smile. Aladdin laughed at that. It sounded like Baba could be quite silly.
"Ahh!" Aladdin was startled when he heard someone cry out in alarm.
"Help! Someone help!!" the twins yelled, waving Faith's phone to use the light to signal the others. "It's Baba…!!" Aladdin and Toya immediately ran over to see what was wrong.
"Waahh!!" They cried when they saw the state she was in.
"Obaa-chan! Quick, find some people and come here!!!" Toya shouted frantically.
"On it!!" Faith said, sprinting off to get more help, while Hope stayed behind, doing her best to keep pressure on Baba's wound and slow bleeding.
"Obaa-chan!!!" Aladdin and Toya cried as they dropped to their knees beside her body.
"Don't worry, she's still alive!" Hope said urgently. "She's still breathing, and her pulse is fairly steady… but she's losing a lot of blood…"
"There is a lot of blood!" one of the men shouted as they came rushing over to help. "This arrow… exactly who was it…!?"
"…!!" Dorji gasped when he recognized the fletching. It was the same as the arrows the Kou Empire had been using earlier! "Is it them!? Where are they!?" he asked, looking around to search for signs of the enemy's presence.
"Hey, forget that for now!" Hope told him. "Baba-sama is still alive! Bring her to the village quickly, and treat her wounds! And don't shake her, if you can help it!!!" Aladdin immediately ripped off his magic turban and summoned Ugo.
"Let me carry her!!!" he said anxiously. "Fly!!! Magic turban!!!" Two strong men helped to carefully move Baba onto the magic turban, and then everyone who could mounted a horse. 'Obaa-chan, please don't die!!!' he begged silently as they raced back to the village.
On the other side, at the base of the army of the Kou Empire…
"You all! What happened!?" Hakuei asked anxiously when the party of soldiers who had participated in the attempted slave hunting staggered into her tent around dawn. She was especially startled to see how bad their superior officer's condition was. His face had been so severely beaten that he was almost unrecognizable.
"Reporting to the general!" He said urgently. "When I was guarding the surrounding campsite… the Kouga clan attacked us all of a sudden!" he lied. "I barely escaped…"
"How could this be!?" Hakuei asked, taken aback.
"It's like I said earlier!" said Ryosai. "The opponents are barbarians, negotiations are meaningless! We do not have to negotiate with them again! We should destroy them once and for all!!!" he shouted, slamming his hand against her desk.
"No, I suggest that we should continue negotiating till the end…" Hakuei said earnestly as a bead of sweat slid down the side of her face. Something about this didn't feel right. "Now, I will go to the Kouga village to get a clearer understanding of the situation. Let's go, Seishun!"
"General Hakuei, you can't make that decision all by yourself." Ryosai said sternly, stopping her as she prepared to leave. "Although you are the first princess, you are actually the former emperor's daughter. You were only given your rank as general as a favor from the current emperor." He reminded her with a disdainful look in his eyes. "Since the emperor ordered me to watch over you, forgive me for not conniving to the general's unauthorized action…" Hakuei furrowed her brow and clenched her fist.
"I understand…" she said. "Therefore… I won't use the identity of the general whom you need to keep watch over. I'll use my personal identity to negotiate with them." She declared as she turned away to leave.
"Hakuei-sama!!!" Ryosai yelled sternly, but she didn't stop.
"My father was assassinated by the rump from the country that my father had invaded… No, it was revenge against him. Domination by military force will only give rise to retribution. What truly captures a person's heart isn't military force… but a sublime ideal!!!" she stated strongly, pausing only to glance back at him with smoldering determination.
"…" Ryosai frowned. "If that's the case, I'll not stop you again… but when you are not around, who will take charge of the army?" he asked pointedly. "Will you temporarily let me take over? Is that fine?"
"Very well." Hakuei answered as she turned away again, feeling she had little choice. "I leave things to you, Ryosai."
"Yes!" Ryosai and the other soldiers responded dutifully with a bow. But as the princess left the tent with Seishun, Ryosai smirked deviously.
Meanwhile, the twins (who had some very decent first aid training) and Aladdin had been doing their best to help the healer care for Baba and comfort her while he worked on her wound. Without anesthetic, it was probably for the best that she had passed out when the pain became too intense.
"I've done all I can for her, but…" the man said regretfully, clenching his fists. But the wound was fatal. It was only a matter of time… "Stay here." he told the children, grabbing the arrow he had removed from her back as he swept from the tent to address everyone who had been waiting anxiously outside.
"The arrow that injured Baba-sama is the same as the arrows used by the Kou Empire when they kidnapped the women." They heard the older man announce. "Do we submit to the Kou Empire, or do we wage war against them?"
"We should fight against them till the end!" one man shouted furiously. "First they hunted us as slaves, and now they've ambushed Baba-sama. There's no reason to take this anymore!" He was angry. They were all angry. And they were scared.
"That's right!" another man agreed. "For the sake of our clan's future, we have to wage war with them!!"
"…" Dorji and the younger adults furrowed their brows and paled, sweating nervously as they watched their seniors panic and lose to their rage. "But—!" he said, clenching his fist.
"But what, Dorji?" one of the older men asked sternly.
"Baba-sama said that no matter what happens, we shouldn't resort to war!!! That we should have a psychological battle in our hearts for the sake of our survival…" Dorji said anxiously.
"But the Kou Empire clearly has no such intentions! Now the only option left is war!" the man retorted angrily. "Even you all were almost caught as slaves just now!" he added, point at Toya and the other girls.
"…!!" Dorji gasped, clenching his teeth as he furrowed his brow, feeling extremely conflicted.
"…" Aladdin and the twins frowned and furrowed their brows with worry as they listened to the commotion happening outside.
"This is bad…" Hope said, biting her lip. They were too agitated to listen to reason. She doubted they would listen to a couple of outsiders when they wouldn't even listen to one of their own.
"Understatement of the year…" said Faith with a frown.
'Obaa-chan… Obaa-chan's favorite village has a big problem now… What should I do?' Aladdin wondered as he stared down at the old woman lying on the bed. Her breathing was extremely labored, and she was sweating heavily. There were dark circles under her eyes, tracks of tearstains on her cheeks, and a small blood smear still clung to the corner of her mouth. You didn't have to be a healer to know that she didn't have much time left.
"Fight to protect the glory of our clan!" the men shouted as they armed themselves, roaring furiously.
"Hey…" Aladdin said as he stepped out of the tent with the girls, stopping Dorji and his friends. "Do you really plan on waging a war?" he asked anxiously. "Is it really good that way?"
"Aladdin!" Dorji exclaimed as he was swept away by the angry mob.
"For the sake of our clan!" the mob yelled as they hurried away. Only Aladdin and the twins remained. Suddenly, Aladdin turned and ran back inside the tent.
"I'm borrowing this for a while, obaa-chan!" Aladdin said, grabbing her staff, before running back out.
"Ah, hey! Aladdin! Where're you going!?" Hope asked when he started following after the warriors.
"That staff…! Don't tell me you're gonna fight too!?" Faith said, furrowing her brow as she remembered how he had fought using one in Amon's dungeon.
"No, I need you two to stay here and take care of obaa-chan for me! I've gotta stop this war!!" he said anxiously, flying away on his turban before they could stop him.
"Aladdin!!" Hope shouted after him, while Faith let out a sigh.
"Looks like the shit's really hit the fan, huh?" Faith commented.
"Geez! Why does he think he has to do something so dangerous on his own? I know he's amazing and all, but he's still just a kid! He could rely on us a little more." Hope said worriedly with a huff.
"You're one to talk." Faith remarked, sweat-dropping. This was totally a case of the pot calling the kettle black.
"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" Hope asked.
"Nothing, nevermind. Just forget I said anything…" Faith told her, sweat-dropping again. '… You damn pot.' she added mentally, chagrined. Hope was really sharp when it came to others, but sometimes she could be annoyingly dense when it came to herself.
"Hope, Faith…" Baba called out softly to them. Their eyes widened slightly in surprise as they turned to face her. "Please, help me…" The twins exchanged a glance, clenched their fists, and nodded, knowing she was probably their only hope of putting a stop to this without bloodshed.
At the same time, in the base of the army of the Kou Empire…
"General Hakuei really went, didn't she? Now you could temporarily take command of the whole army! Ryosai-sama!" the officer involved in the slave hunting said.
"…" Ryosai smirked while he polished his sword.
"But to let that woman talk with the Kouga Clan… Won't there be a problem? The slave hunting and the assault on their elder… she'll learn of these things… When that woman comes back we'll have problems."
"Hmm, that is if she comes back from the village alive." Said Ryosai.
"Sir, what do you mean by that?"
"... Hmm… I'm really worried… about the princess." Ryosai said, lowering his head as he leaned against his sword so they couldn't see the expression on his face. "… If the angry clan, who has suffered from slave hunting and the shooting of their elder… might've already killed the princess before she could come back…"
"…!!" the soldiers gasped. No way… to a member of the royal family…!?
"Everything you did… Was it all for this to happen!?" asked the officer, alarmed. It would be their heads if they got caught! "Just why…?"
"Why?" Ryosai said. "Because I like it… the idiots who say that they hate war… becoming outraged, revealing their true natures… and killing each other… will create war." Ryosai grinned deviously as he admired the sharp, gleaming edge of his sword. "And war is what I enjoy!"
"I do not think the Kouga Clan wishes to start a war." Hakuei told Seishun as they galloped towards the village.
"Why do you think so, princess?" he asked.
"Because… last night, there was an inconceivable youngster who told me so…" she replied, recalling how Aladdin had appeared before her.
"Eh… So such a thing happened?" Seishun asked, surprised. "Is that youngster also a dungeon capturer?"
"… I don't know, but… I feel that I can trust him."
"If the princess thinks like that, then so will I. But, if the youngster is also a capturer… there might be a reason for the meeting between him and the princess. A connection as fellow dungeon capturers…"
"…" Hakuei was silent for a moment as she pondered that. "For now, let's negotiate with the Kouga Clan." She said as they reached the outskirts of the village. It was appeared eerily empty when they arrived.
"That's strange…" Seishun said as they dismounted their horses, furrowing his brow in confusion. "I don't see any of the villagers." While looking around, they failed to notice the archers hiding on the roofs of the yurts surrounding them.
"!?" Hakuei and Seishun gasped, alarmed when several arrows shot into the ground near their feet. Their eyes widened when they realized that they had been surrounded by the rest of the warriors in an instant.
"How dare you hurt the people from our village yesterday!" one of the Kouga men shouted angrily. "We won't be fooled by your pacifist acts any longer!"
"!?" said Hakuei, taken aback. "Just what are you talking about?" she asked, confused.
"…" Aladdin furrowed his brow and frowned as he watched everything from a rocky ridge overlooking the village. He grit his teeth as he tightened his grip on Baba's staff and began gathering more rukh. "I can't let the people of the village fight." He said determinedly. "You, lend me your strength…"