Chapter 20

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 20

AFTER what felt like months of travel, they finally arrived at Cele. The city was surrounded by a series of fortified walls, reminiscent of baumkuchen with Cele at its center.

What a strange city, Yuki thought as they passed through the first set of checkpoints. After passing the outer wall, Yuki was introduced to what she could only describe as a small shantytown of hovels packed tightly together against another set of walls, which required passing through additional armed checkpoints and another set of walls with slightly improved shantytowns.

“Cele was originally a small fortress town. Time passed and the town ended up getting bigger than the walls, so they made another set of walls when people moved outside of the first set. The town’s population grew again, so yet another set of walls was built around them. The pattern continued until they ended up with all these fortifications. The walls you see falling apart are remnants of the first set,” Ain explained when Yuki asked him about the city’s odd design.

Every part of the city was gray—the stone walls were a dirtied gray; so were the buildings, and even the people in the city were tinged in gray soot.

“…What a glum city,” Yuki muttered.

“It is,” Luca agreed from where he held the horse’s reins behind her. She looked over her shoulder at him, surprised he responded.

“Cele is a fortress turned into a prisoner of war camp. Most of the people residing here are either prisoners, vagrants, people released from prison, or former criminals. The majority of former criminals often commit other crimes after being freed. They are pointlessly forced to make these fortress walls when they aren’t serving some other form of penal or military servitude.”

“…You’re well-informed,” Yuki commented.

“I happen to be royalty,” Luca snorted.

Yuki’s height put Luca’s chin against the top of her head when they rode on the horse together. She often worried her head might bump into his chin. Ain rode his own horse and Tita rode with Nasette behind them.

“Hey, how are you going to rescue Sir Dante?” Yuki asked Luca.

“Good question,” he responded, falling silent. Silence spread among the group. They rocked on the cantering horse’s back. In their silence, Yuki heard the horse’s hooves clatter against the gray stone and the sound of stone being cut somewhere in the distance.

“We could use force to break him out, but our current party is not really suited to fighting. Bribery may be best. Well, our current situation was unexpected after all. I’ll talk it over with Nasette later,” Luca finally admitted.

“Heh,” Yuki answered absently. “By the way, what kind of relationship do you have with Nasette and Ain? I know you’re childhood friends, but you’re a prince, right? How does that work, Luca?”

Can a prince really remain friendly with his childhood friends after all this time? Yuki wondered.

“…What does that have to do with anything? I don’t understand why you’re asking about it,” Luca said above her head.

“D-Does it have to matter? I’m curious!” Yuki grumbled.

“Why are you getting so angry?”

Her cheeks flushed red. She wasn’t sure why she was getting so worked up over the topic either.

“Ain’s family line has served as Adolunde’s strategists for generations. He’s their youngest child and the closest in age to me, so he was assigned as my attendant,” Luca answered.

Yuki recalled how Ain took care of everything related to her during her short stay at Adolunde Castle.

“Nasette is an orphan. He was taken in and raised by Sir Dante.”

“Oh? Didn’t you say Sir Dante was from Rvydom?” Yuki asked.

“Yeah,” Luca muttered. “Sir Dante was a soldier in Adolunde’s military, but he was born in Rvydom. When Rvydom and Maruk went to war, he resigned from Adolunde’s forces to join Rvydom’s reinforcements. Tita and Nasette moved to Rvydom with him when he went. Nasette is currently a member of my Imperial Guard.”

“I see,” Yuki said, automatically comprehending how the four of them kept their friendship until now.

***

THE kind of people lying on the side of Cele’s narrow roads existed in the city Yuki grew up in too. They woke and slept within various train station premises, occasionally giving off a terrible, unknown stench and occasionally smelling of alcohol. Clad in tattered clothing, they mingled into the splendor of the city.

Is it hypocritical to want to do something charitable for them? Yuki contemplated against her better judgment every time she saw people like them. If she could do something for them, she wanted to. She wanted to share her food, drinks, entertainment, and clothes with them. She was painfully aware she was in neither the position nor place to give freely of her limited supplies to others.

“Don’t stare,” Luca chided her from behind.

“…I know,” she said, her attention still on them.

Are they cold? Are they starving? Before she realized it, she was glancing around at the disheveled people again.

“I wish I could do something for them,” she murmured.

“Don’t even think of giving something out of charity,” Luca reprimanded.

“Why not?” she responded unknowingly agitated.

“They’re not as pitiful as you make them out to be.”

“…What do you mean by that?”

He glanced down at her with the eyes of someone looking at a naïve child.

“Then what would you do?” Yuki added pushing through her agitation.

Luca’s face was as unreadable as ever. Yuki wondered if it was just her imagination his expression softened. They slowly swayed on the horse’s back as they continued on their way. The heat she felt against her back seeped away in the cool air.

“If you truly pity them and want to have mercy on them, you make the country prosper. In doing so, not as many people will end up this way,” Luca said in an incredibly gentle tone.

***

AFTER traveling to the deepest part of the city, Yuki noticed people gathering in a plaza on her right.

I wonder what they’re doing. Is it some kind of event or entertainment?

The majority of larger towns and cities they passed through usually had some kind of event or fair going on in the town plaza. Yuki loved watching how lively people were as they took part in the festivities. She couldn’t see what was going on too well from where she sat in front of Luca. She turned in the saddle and went to stretch her head over Luca’s arm to get a better view, but he lifted his arm to block her line of sight.

“What are you doing? I can’t see,” she complained.

“Are you mistaking that for a bazaar? They’re holding an execution.”

“Execut—” Yuki was at a loss for words at the sound of the unfriendly word.

Luca sighed, “I told you—this is a city for criminals.”

A piercing scream came from the plaza—a man’s hoarse shriek echoed through the area. The intensity of his scream seemed to shake the air itself. A part of her trembled at the noise, and a sense of dread filled her as she took in the city’s people once more. Their dour hopelessness, the anguish in their eyes…

“…!” Yuki grimaced at the sound of another man’s shrieking. The screams raised and fell over and over again, then stopped abruptly. Silence returned to the plaza once more, only broken by the sound of stone being cut. People scattered in different directions from the plaza—a sign the execution had ended. She squeezed her eyes shut and leaned against Luca’s warm chest for reassurance. Yuki covered her ears with both hands until she was inside the inn.