The Tragic Defender (Part 1)

  The Tragic Defender (Part 1)

  "Winter in Yemon Port is really cold."

  The drowsy alchemist yawned, fumbled to open the heavy curtains of his bedroom, and found that a thick layer of snow had already piled up on the windowsill outside. A string of icicles hung from the eaves above his head. The cold wind, previously blocked by the curtains, seeped through the gaps between the window frame and glass, piercing his thin nightgown and making him shiver, forcing him to turn back and grab his long gown to wrap himself in.

  The red-haired beauty on the bed seemed unwilling to get up so early, frowning and turning over, making a displeased humming sound. Fili hastily pulled the curtains back up, leaving only a small gap, then began dressing in the faint light.

  "Wah wah wah wah!"

  A cacophonous howl, comparable to the sound of a broken gong, burst forth like thunder on that quiet winter morning, loud enough to rouse the dead from their graves. It was followed by dozens more equally ear-piercing wails, heavy with resentment. The startled residents nearby flung open their windows and hurled abuse in various languages, wildly throwing whatever objects were within reach onto the streets.

  Feili quickly covered her ears, and at the same time turned around to look at the bed, only to find her boyfriend rolling off the bed with the quilt, his head against the wall, his two eyeballs spinning aimlessly without focus, it took him a long time to come back to his senses.

  "That dead dog bear is at it again?" The female pastor rubbed her sore butt with one hand and massaged her sleepy eyes with the other, grumbling in a tone full of resentment and morning grogginess.

  "Ah, I suppose Mr. Vini's last failed transformation into an eagle still hasn't fully recovered from the aftereffects."

  "It's really, people don't take it seriously, but instead of being a bear, why didn't you hibernate and learn to crow like a rooster? If this continues, I'll be neurotic. The female pastor stood up and stretched her waist, completely disregarding the fact that she was naked, "But it's okay, at least for now, we can save money on buying an alarm clock."

  Feili looked at the snow-white figure in front of him, and couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva, with great difficulty suppressing his desire to pounce on her again. He opened the door and walked out, "I'm going to the cafeteria for breakfast, do you want me to bring a portion back up for you?"

  "It's okay, I'll come down in a little while."

  Fili walked out of his quarters in the command center, taking a deep breath of the chilly air in the corridor. He felt refreshed but also sensed the biting cold on top of his head. He touched his smooth scalp and quickly turned back into the room to grab a black wig to put on. After the battle at Wenspring Valley, he had become bald again, not only looking embarrassing but also particularly unbearable in the freezing winter when water would turn to ice with just a few drops.

  After putting on a fur hat over his wig, Fili finally felt warm enough and bid farewell to Renni before heading downstairs, trudging through the snow without boots towards the officers' mess hall dozens of yards away.

  Since it was still early, the cafeteria was empty and deserted with only a few people present. Fili sat down at a table with his own food, but before he could even put anything in his mouth, he heard Renn's loud voice.

  "How can there only be cookies and coffee? Not even bread!?" The female pastor tapped the edge of her plate with a spoon, indignantly protesting the poor food, "What kind of crappy cafeteria is this?!"

  "I'm really sorry, I didn't close the window properly last night and the stove cracked from the frost. This coffee was heated on the wall furnace, please make do with it for today." The chubby chef said apologetically, rubbing his hands together in embarrassment.

  The female pastor snatched the whole pot of coffee from the chef, ignoring his pleas behind her back, and sat down next to Phil. "I'm telling you, little Phil, what kind of crappy place is this? Not only do I have to listen to that bear's growling every day, but I also have to put up with such terrible food. I've only been here for a few days and I'm already on the verge of getting anorexia."

  He swallowed a dry cookie and forced a smile, "Or, I'll treat you to lunch at a restaurant outside this afternoon?"

  "That goes without saying!" Renny gurgled down a large cup of coffee and refilled it from the pot, "I'm talking about when we move out to live! We can't always squeeze in this small room, my weapon shop's lease is also up, might as well take care of it all at once."

  "But Emon will soon have a battle, isn't it too risky to buy a house now?"

  "I didn't say I was going to buy it in Emon, actually. Yesterday, a friend of mine came to see me in New Madosoble City and said he wanted to move house and sell his old one. The price he's asking is quite reasonable, and besides, the enemy can't reach us underground, right?"

  "...But my job is in Yemon Port! And aren't you also holding a high-ranking advisor position? Be careful not to be accused of deserting the battlefield!"

  "Hey, isn't Charlotte always insisting on retreating to New Misorbrey Castle? Anyway, we'll have to leave eventually, so it's better to prepare early, what's wrong with that?"

  "But Norma will never agree with it."

  A loud, earsplitting crash suddenly echoed through the dining hall, interrupting the intense discussion between the two. Mr. Druid Vini expressed his dissatisfaction with the meal in a simple and direct manner: he slapped the chef onto the ceiling with one swipe of his paw, then poured all the cookies into Little Griselda's basket with a clatter, casually casting a healing spell on the chef who had gotten a concussion, before slowly leading Little Griselda out of the dining hall - leaving behind the officers who didn't even get to nibble on any cookies.

  Ferry and Lenny exchanged a look, tacitly picked up their food and left to avoid being robbed of their breakfast by the hungry guys behind them. The discussion about the house also came to a temporary halt.

  ****

  The luxurious conference room of the Governor's Mansion was filled with gunpowder smell, General Norm and Speaker Zena stared at each other like fighting cocks, while others whispered to each other, caught in the anger between the two officials.

  "No, absolutely not! There has never been a war zone commander in the history of the Empire who abandoned his post without a fight, and I don't want to be the first one to set this precedent!" General Norm's dark face turned bright red as he waved his hands wildly, showing just how agitated he was.

  "You must be responsible for the 100,000 citizens of Emon Port! I don't care where you die, but don't drag so many people down with you!" Zena, the Speaker, also didn't show any weakness, pointing at General Norm's nose and scolding him.

  "I am the warlord of the 13 states of New Eridoria! You think you can give orders? Wait until I'm dead first!"

  "Is that so? Then please do some good deeds before you die and order the evacuation of the entire city!" said Zena, the Speaker who had smoothly taken over as Vice Commander of the War Zone after the death of Governor Lyle, with a sharp tone and no intention of obeying her superiors.

  "But if there weren't volunteer citizens helping with the city's defense, how could the Giant Bear Army, with just this many people, possibly defend Emon?"

  "That's your problem, Colonel. Both General Sutton and I think we should fall back to the interior." Chairwoman Zorvath spread her hands, nodded briefly at Charlotte, and the division commander, who had no confidence in his troops whatsoever, immediately nodded in agreement.

  Glaring at Charlotte, who had "betrayed" him, Norma thought for a moment before vetoing the female speaker's opinion. "If I were still just the governor of New Mazosubrei State, perhaps I would have ordered an evacuation and retreat. But now my identity is the war zone commander of New Nazarene Thirteen States. If we retreat without even seeing the enemy, how can I continue to hold this position? How can I make other states believe in me?"

  "But how do they treat the new state of Masobrea?" As soon as she mentioned other states, Speaker Zena's face turned red with rage. "They don't give us anything - no food, no weapons, no soldiers. They just sent over a sum of money that isn't even enough to buy anything, and refused to provide everything else. But can you fight a war by firing gold coins from cannons?"

  "That's because of the heavy snow, and the traffic is not convenient. Also, they suffered too much personnel loss, and are organizing emergency elections, so local operations are more difficult..." General Nohm weakly made excuses for other states, but even he himself didn't believe the reasons he gave.

  "Hmph, those are just excuses. Didn't the new Mazosubrei state have casualties among its senators? Wasn't an emergency election held? And isn't everything settled now?" Zena, the Speaker of the House, put one foot on her chair, with a very arrogant attitude. "If supplies can't be transported, then why won't they even send personnel over? It's simply that in their hearts, they don't acknowledge you as the commander of this war zone."

  Norm was going to have some gloomy nods, as the big shots who had originally negotiated with him were almost wiped out in the hot spring valley, and the old written or verbal agreements were no longer recognized by their successors. The local forces of each state would not truly listen to his dispatches. It wasn't impossible to reach a new cooperation agreement with them, but that meant another round of lengthy and tedious haggling, and what he lacked most now was time.

  The general sighed and turned to his most trusted and only available general, "Charlotte, do you really think Emon Port can't be defended anymore? Even with the help of such bad weather?" He stretched out his hand and pointed at the snowflakes fluttering outside the window again.