On the morning of September 8, Gerald sat beneath the gatehouse, heart heavy like a stone in deep water.
Gulo and the squad leaders stood beside him like a row of spears, shadows straight in the pale light.
Their rigid backs couldn’t mask faces as flat as still ponds, clouded like bruised skies before rain.
“I’ll be the one to play the villain.” He forced the words out like wind from a spent bellows.
“Get the things ready and don’t talk.”
“Really… there’s no salvaging it?” Gulo’s voice shook like a twig in the rain.
“Why not speak with her? Maybe with her—”
“This is our war.” Gerald cut him off, calm as black ice over a river.
“We won’t drag her into this mire. She’s suffered enough.”
“Our war?” Norris, a handsome blond youth, snapped like frost underfoot.
“Wasn’t it her who brought the Hexclaw Legion? It’s her duty—she owes us!”
Gerald glared at him, his silence sharp as a blade; then his voice fell like winter.
“Norris, you think we’d be safe without her? No—exactly the opposite.”
“With her here, the Hexclaw Legion steps like cats on glass, and for many reasons they won’t rip the veil with Medith.”
“If we keep Medith, we give them the opening they want. I won’t spell it out.”
“I said I’d be the villain. You shut up and do the work.”
The weight in Gerald’s tone dropped like a mountain, and years of command iced the air.
They fell quiet, shivering like cicadas in sudden shade.
Gulo’s scar-scored face tightened, as if a hook twisted deep inside.
“Gulo, I know how deeply you feel about Medith,” Gerald said, voice low as dusk.
“But right now, the only thing we can do is throw them clear of this whirlpool.”
“Even if our lives buy them a single breath of respite, that is enough—like a torch held against the night.”
“It’s the best tribute to them. After last night’s revelry by lantern and song, you still don’t see?”
“They’re fairies in the mortal dust; this ugly world doesn’t belong to them, even if they insist on shouldering it.”
“Believe me, Gulo—I hurt worse.”
He patted the man’s broad shoulder, a weathered hand on iron, then set off toward Medith and the others with storm in his eyes.
Gulo lifted his head and sighed, the sound thin as wind through reeds.
His hands trembled like leaves; at last he clenched his iron fists and turned away, jaw set like rock.
“Gerald Fortress Lord! Thanks for staying up with us last night!” Yunita bounced over, a sparrow in the morning.
Gerald only nodded, face as still as dead water, a brewing squall behind the calm.
Yunita’s smile froze like petals in frost; she thought she’d offended him.
Medith and the others came at the sound, joy bright as flowers opening after rain.
Medith caught the change in his color, and her heart thudded like a dropped stone.
“Wow. Counting it up—General Medith and your people have been here several days, right?” Gerald’s words carried a hidden barb, thin as a fishbone.
Milia’s brows creased, ripples crossing a quiet lake—this wasn’t simple.
“It has been a while,” Medith said, bowing like a willow in wind.
“If we’ve troubled you, please forgive us. My subordinates act like children, disturbing your training—my apologies.”
Pain pricked Gerald’s heart like needles, but his face stayed willow-still.
“Mm. You understand. Your arrival lit our humble halls like lanterns at dusk and delighted our eyes.”
“But the cost is steep. Each day here adds a weight of unknowns to our scales.”
“The extra rations and the armor you requested bite hard—coins bleeding like a cut left open.”
“Most crucially, your presence has torn holes in our training and sentry posts. Keep this up and morale frays like an old rope.”
“We can’t afford the distraction of beauty in our ranks.”
“So… I want you packed and gone by noon.”
The women stared, stunned—like birds struck by sudden frost.
Medith’s brows knotted, a storm gathering between them.
“Fortress Lord, why say this? If that’s how it is, we’ll leave tomorrow.”
“We agreed we’d be leaving soon—why this sudden turn?”
Gerald didn’t answer. His eyes cut through them like winter blades.
Nameless met that gaze and felt cold like snow in June.
Sais ground her teeth, heat behind ice; Yunita faltered, lost as a fawn.
Iling and Milia traded glances, whispers like moths in the dark.
The Lina Sisters rolled their bright eyes, thoughts spinning like gyres.
Clap, clap!
Gerald brought his hands together, and work across the yard stopped like wind hitting a wall.
Mercenaries traded looks, faces set like carved stone, then marched in lockstep.
Boots drummed the earth; they ringed Medith’s group like a tightening noose.
Before long, the squad leaders stepped out, medals shining like little suns on their chests.
They carried packed bundles, full waterskins and hard bread, plus the sets of armor and weapons Medith had requested at the start.
“Everything’s ready. Now get lost! The trouble you’ve caused is more than enough!” Norris barked, hurling the gear so it hit the ground like a sack on rock.
“You’re pushing it!” Sais flared, anger rising like a storm tide, breath heavy as bellows.
“We treated you with honest hearts last night, and today you turn your faces? Humans are scum—filth!”
Nameless burned as well, sparks snapping under a lid, but he held—Medith hadn’t moved.
“Pretty as you ladies are,” a mercenary called, voice like a cold knife, “you’re trouble, just like the Fortress Lord said.”
“Sorry it came to this. Pick the right time, and we’d welcome you with drums.”
“Please. These dumb Sprites can sing and dance—what else? Eye candy and a hazard. Better gone sooner.”
Even with steady hearts, the women felt the sting—humiliation like grit in the throat, anger rising like red sun.
Sais ignited, her stance coiling like a bow about to loose.
Medith caught her and hauled her back, tossing her behind like a falcon turned from the hunt.
“If we’re not welcome, we leave,” she said, voice flat as a blade’s spine.
She bent and lifted their bundles, movements neat as a drill.
She set them on a horse, leather creaking like an old saddle at dawn.
Chin raised, she met her people’s eyes, steady as a captain in rain.
“Why are you standing there? Pack up. Or do you want them to throw us out?”
