Intermission: Commander Saran

Intermission:
Commander Saran

 

POV: ODA AKIRA

 

COMMANDER SARAN was such an eccentric—I’d never met anyone who better fit the description.

“Akira, have you seen the commander?” asked Sir Gilles, his right-hand man.

Perhaps the best word to describe Sir Gilles would be “exasperated.” If only because he was more often than not trying to hunt down the wayward commander.

“Uh, I think he’s supposed to be running drills with the knights, isn’t he?”

“Yes, I’m aware. And yet, he’s not.”

Sir Gilles needed a GPS chip to keep tabs on Commander Saran. Funnily enough, the commander always appeared out of nowhere whenever I needed his help with something, like he was using some sort of skill.

“Well, if you see him, could you let him know I’m looking for him? And there’s urgent paperwork he needs to attend to? Thanks, Akira,” he said before trotting off.

That poor guy really has too much on his plate. He’s gonna have gray hair before you know it. I wondered why these things always fell to Sir Gilles and not the commander himself. A lot more would get done if Sir Gilles were Knight Commander. Though he did seem to respect Commander Saran an awful lot, so perhaps he was happy in his position.

I mused over the dynamic duo as I snuck into the castle archives. The door was locked, of course, but with my leveled-up assassin skills—along with some handy tools—I could crack any lock short of a fingerprint scanner, and it was all thanks to the commander. He’d taught me everything from how to walk without making a sound to how to kill a man with one blow even when unarmed. With his help, I was becoming unstoppable. The man was well worthy of the title “Saran the Sage.”

“Let’s see… I think I’ve already read all the books on this shelf up through this one…”

I consumed as much knowledge as I could each and every night, and I now knew the exact locations of specific books and documents on each shelf. The commander could probably recite any given page from memory, so I still had a long way to go.

“I think this is where I left off,” I whispered, picking up a book. “Hm. It’s pretty easy to read, but there are a few words I don’t understand.” Oh, well. Nothing the commander can’t help me with, I thought as I made to leave.

“Oh, that word? It means a coup d’état. That book is a sort of manifesto, you see. You’ve got quite the discerning eye, picking it out from the bunch, Akira.”

It was rather startling to suddenly hear another person’s voice in the room when you thought you were alone. The first time it happened, I’d reflexively reached for my dagger, but I’d gotten used to it. Plus, I had no dagger to speak of anymore, and I couldn’t very well go swinging my new katana around in the midst of all these priceless books. I turned around. “Sometimes I feel like you’re more cut out to be an assassin than I am, Commander.”

Commander Saran emerged, grinning, from the shadow of a bookshelf.

“Well, now! That’s quite the compliment, coming from a true-blue assassin like yourself.”

I frowned. To think this guy was the country’s “Last Bastion.” Why did the talented ones always have to be either too arrogant or too carefree?

“Sir Gilles was looking for you, by the way. Said there’s some urgent paperwork that needs to be done.”

“Oh, yes, I already took care of that. Gilles should be reviewing it as we speak.”

Even the commander knew when it was time to screw around and when it was time to be a responsible adult, apparently; he was great at keeping his true self hidden. For all his eccentricities, I respected Commander Saran, and I even thought of him as a mentor.

“Gotcha… How’d you know this was some revolutionary’s manifesto?”

I wouldn’t have thought a dangerous volume that might inspire a coup would be so accessible.

The commander grinned at my inquiry, then sat down on a nearby stack of books.

“Well, the king of that author’s country loved his queen very much, you see. But one day she went into town to buy a present for her daughter’s birthday and was assailed by a group of bandits. She tragically lost her life because her personal guard failed to protect her. Heartbroken, the king roped his daughter and several other countries into a ludicrous scheme to resurrect the queen via a ritual that would cost thousands of innocent lives. That book in your hands was written by the knight commander who uncovered the dastardly plot. As for why it’s here in the castle archives, well… That’s where books go, isn’t it? Libraries are for books as forests are for trees. I thought its disguise as a cookbook was quite clever. You have quite the eagle eye.”

The commander grinned at me devilishly. I felt cold sweat break out as I realized the tale was familiar. In fact, it sounded almost identical to the story Commander Saran had told me about Morrigan’s queen.

“Nice try, but I have a feeling you had a hand in me picking up this book. You rearranged the shelves after I left last night, didn’t you?” I asked, trying to steady my trembling voice.

“Well, now that the cat’s out of the bag, I suppose I’d better bring you into our ranks, shouldn’t I? But first, we need to get through our little mission tonight.”

He was referring to my plan to sneak into the princess’s bedchambers and destroy whatever she was using to curse the hero. I suddenly realized, despite the commander’s aloof demeanor, he was a true puppet master, which was scary, intimidating, and a little mystifying.

“All right, then.”

I hadn’t uncovered his secret. He’d led me to it so I would have to join his cause. The commander cracked a bewitching smile.

“Good. I do love a boy who follows directions.”

 

In that moment, I would never have believed such a brilliant and cunning man would be found dead the next morning.