was inevitable. It’s different here! You… Right now, you can really save someone! Not just someone, but thousands upon thousands of people. And that’s a conservative estimate.”
“Wait! Let’s sort this out! Are you suggesting that I join forces with a practically unknown mountain monk for what? To convince the kings of the great city-states of the empire to believe that the current emperor is bad and that war is bad? Kings of an empire where military matters are most revered… Kings raised as warriors… They, of course, are great warriors themselves; otherwise, they wouldn’t be worthy of their positions. And then?… What?.. Are you proposing that I defeat, perhaps, the greatest of the great warriors in the whole world and take his throne, instantly changing the nearly millennium-old order of the empire? To just discard most of the traditions and teachings that have prevailed in it. Is that what you want? Am I understanding you correctly?”
“You’ve exaggerated all of that as much as the years of the Raidarian Empire, but yes. You understand me better than I could have dreamed. I know it sounds insane, but the most insane things in the world can be realized with just one will.”
“Oh… In that case, I forgot to mention, in relation to you, the word ‘insane.’ Or maybe ‘crazy’? Or perhaps ‘mad’? I can’t decide…”
“In comparison to the madness of this world, what I’m offering you is not insane at all,” replied Iziro. “The world will manage to accept it, believe me.”
“I don’t know what you do in these mountains of yours, but you’ve clearly gone mad!”
“If I’ve gone mad, I did so long before becoming a monk. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: ‘War is a curse that destroys the soul, and victory in it is a fleeting joy, ultimately bringing only pain.’ The world brought us together then and now, and it will bring us together again not just for any reason.”
“Alright. I think I’ve heard enough from you…” said Rein. “Listening to the nonsense of crazy people… That’s what I needed.”
“You can resist, but I believe the world has already made its choice. It’s within your power to give me peace, and in mine to give it to you.”
“Fine. Good luck to you! I’ll go find my horse.” Rein set off in search of his friend. A horse he still hadn’t named. Suffering people caught his eye, and with each step, he looked at them with increasing cynicism. In his search for the horse, Rein wandered through the half-destroyed streets of the village. Time passed, the village emptied, but the horse didn’t appear.
“Where are you, damn horse?” After quite a long time of searching, Rein couldn’t hold back and shouted, “Calm down, Rein! You need to leave! You don’t want to fight alone against all the Raidarian legions. And if you stay, you’ll definitely fight. You’ll find the horse somewhere else. Maybe it’s running around in that forest, and you’re looking for it here. It’s just an ordinary horse. Good thing I didn’t give it a name. I could have gotten attached.”
Talking to himself, Rein realized he had come back to the same place where he had last talked to Iziro.
“And what am I losing? I have nothing anyway. I even lost the horse. The insane story of Sol Illyrian, nicknamed Rein. Or better yet, ‘How to amuse the kings of Raidaria’? At least it’s a beautiful goal before death. Lived… Talking to myself without a horse.”
Rein shook his head and walked away from the village in the opposite direction of the advancing Raidarian legions. Upon leaving the village, he noticed the last desperate residents sitting on the ground, unwilling to leave despite the looming threat. Walking along the path towards the forest, he spotted a strange but familiar silhouette near a tree in the field. He then veered off the path and headed towards that tree. As he got closer, a smile became more evident on his face. Approaching the tree, Rein said:
“You found him…”
“He was running around here as if nothing happened, and I saw him and decided to calm him down. Haven’t seen horses like him in a while, and feeling so free. They’re usually quite disciplined. He would charge into fire and water without fear if given a worthy owner.”
Sitting under the tree, Iziro calmly stroked the horse’s fur, the one Rein had been searching for so long.
“You spoke of peace, destiny, and meeting. I don’t believe in such nonsense, and your life in blind faith is alien to me, and your plan is not just insane but absurdly foolish. I’m not sure I’ve done anything stupider. But despite all this… I agree… I’ll go with you! And I’ll try to save everyone… I’ll try to do what’s within my power, no matter how foolish it may be.”
“I was once a Raidarian,” Iziro said with a smile. “I understand you more than you understand me. You choose your path, but the world provides you with a way, and you choose whether to follow it or turn away.”
With that, Iziro lightly patted the horse’s coat, and it instantly stood up. Iziro walked towards the path leading into the forest, leaving the horse behind.
“Are you coming?” asked Iziro, stopping in his tracks, facing Rein. “We need to get away from here before the legions arrive and find a way to bypass them to reach Aeris.”
Upon hearing this, Rein took the horse’s reins and followed Iziro.
CHAPTER 4 “GOING TO MEET DESTINY”
“Do you know these places well?” Iziro asked.
“Not really well… I would say reasonably,” replied Rein.
“How do you think we should navigate through the advancing forces?”
“After being expelled from Raedaria to the kingdoms, I initially tried to survive in the forests. Eventually, I realized it wasn’t the best option and started earning a living however I could, usually by using brute force. But I rarely stayed in one place. It wasn’t safe. And one day, I stumbled upon a job at the local iron mine. I didn’t work there for long. As soon as someone started suspecting that I was a Raedarian, I had to leave. Overall… I’m getting to the point that there’s a path there. I’ve heard local smugglers often use it to get into the empire. Maybe we’ll be lucky to pass through it.”
“Not a bad idea,” replied Iziro.
“Yeah, you might be right.”
“And this increasingly sounds like not such a crazy plan after all,” said Iziro, pondering a bit. “Agree?”
“Yeah, it’s true. We have a long road ahead,” replied Rein.
Rein and Iziro decided to circumvent the advance of Raedarian legions through the largest iron mine in the kingdoms, located just south of their current location. To reach this mine, they needed to get on the road leading to it, with the nearest one passing through the way to Rinfall Castle.
Rein and Iziro walked along the road, surrounded by woods on both sides. It seemed like there was not a soul around. Rein rode his horse, while Iziro walked beside him.
“Aren’t you tired of walking yet?” Rein asked.
“I prefer not to burden your horse any further,”
