Don't Insult Me

Rukelion ended up running into some other soldiers and one of them asked what happened to Veese since they saw him go down. He had to pretend to be upset about it and made his expression and tone grim.

"Veese is dead. I tried to help but he had lost too much blood."

"What?!" Pole yelped.

"Oh man, Bridger is going to lose it…" Harland said with a shake of his head. "Those two have been best friends for most of their lives."

Rukelion was counting on it. With any luck, the captain would lose his head and make himself an easy target. He was high on the list of people who needed to die during this war for their crimes against Katalya.

The fighting continued and he was able to take down his first water mage but it wasn't nearly as satisfying as he hoped it would be. Probably because the water mage didn't know who he was and why he had to die. He died thinking it was because of the Mireans' betrayal rather than in retribution for what he had done.

There had only been two casualties for the Mireans by the end of the day when the commanding officers ordered people to retreat on both sides, though there were several injuries as well. Veese and a second-rank soldier from the Black Dragons.

Bridger had been the one to collect his body and his howls of rage filled Rukelion with genuine pleasure. Yes. Understand what it's like to lose someone you love for such a senseless reason, you filthy murderers!

Many of the soldiers decided to hold a vigil with the bodies of their fallen comrades but not all of them did. He was specifically told not to participate because, as their strongest, he needed his sleep for battle tomorrow. He wouldn't have wanted to go anyway so that worked out perfectly.

The next day as Rukelion took down a bunch of insignificant Aveleenian soldiers, he wondered what ratio of soldier to water mage he should take down. If he truly wanted to, he could probably end this whole thing in a matter of days but that didn't align with his plans.

He was trying to hold off on killing water mages as much as possible so they could take down the officers with his help. The military needed to suffer heavy losses if he was going to end up promoted.

They would all die though. It was only a matter of time.

He didn't even have to do anything in Bridger's case. He was killed by a couple of water mages easily since he was exhausted and too blinded by grief to have any sort of fighting strategy in place. What an idiot.

Grief could make you either stupid or shrewd. If Rukelion had done something as harebrained as that in his grief the day his life was destroyed, he would be dead now too.

But he hadn't. He had done everything in his power to live another day so he could avenge the fallen. Which he was now finally doing after four long years of wondering if it would ever truly happen.

The soldiers who had participated in the vigils were all either killed or injured at the very least. So that night Major Calloway from the border post acknowledged it was a terrible idea and that they wouldn't be doing it again.

These people were awfully sentimental considering they killed indiscriminately. Anyone with half a brain could have told them that losing out on precious sleep in the middle of a battle was suicidal.

Rukelion was in the middle of eating his rations when he was approached by Captain Odell of the Golden Eagles, whose eyes looked rather haunted though his expression was hard. What did he want?

"May, I hate to ask this of you while the Silver Wolves are suffering a shock but with both your captain and lieutenant gone there isn't anyone to lead your squadron. They all respect you and look up to you.

"General Huxley asked the officers from headquarters who they thought the best replacement captain would be and we all recommended you. I know this is sudden but we need you to take over Captain Bridger's post.

"You're possibly the strongest fighter here and are able to keep calm in tense situations. We need you. It will come with a pay increase of two gold coins per month if that's any consolation."

Consolation? Rukelion didn't need any of that. This was exactly what he had been hoping for!

He had to play it cool. Odell couldn't know how desperately he had wanted this. "I'll do my best to serve my squadron, sir."

"No need to 'sir' me. We're the same rank now. You'll get your official papers and uniform upgrade soon enough but for the time being, I'm afraid you won't look the part."

That was the last thing Rukelion was concerned about. The Silver Wolves would know and that was what mattered. Now that he had been put in charge, he couldn't let anyone else die on his watch. Word of his leadership would make it back to headquarters and he needed it to all be positive.

"Not a problem. Thank you, Captain Odell," he said and the man nodded as he left.

He finished his rations in high spirits. Things were looking up already. He had been studying military strategy through strict observation during the months he spent back at headquarters and had still been paying close attention to what the officers were doing now in real combat.

Rukelion was confident he could lead his squadron to victory. The problem was how to do it in a way that took out other officers from headquarters so he was the last one standing.

Narrowing down the exact soldiers who had participated in the slaughter would be difficult but it was almost guaranteed that the officers had because they had been here long enough to be promoted.

Unfortunately, he was going to have to let the others slide for now. The officers and water mages were top priority right now. It would be more difficult to make this happen too now that he had to make sure not a single one of his soldiers was killed. He would figure out a way to make it happen though even if it took a little longer than originally anticipated.

Days passed and Rukelion only managed to kill off one water mage and the lieutenants from Black Dragon and Golden Eagle since he was primarily running around protecting the idiots on his squad who were sleep deprived or whose skills weren't enough to go up against people using magic.

He felt like he had saved every one of the sixteen lives he was still responsible for at least once at this point, whether they had noticed it or not. Sometimes his rescues were rather subtle.

The most noticeable save was Conrad, who was injured and about to be dealt a fatal blow by a water mage when he intervened, swooping forward to block the sword. "Conrad! Are you alright?"

"M-may," he coughed. "I think I need a medic."

"I'll get you to one," Rukelion promised, scanning the battlefield for someone who could take him since as the captain he couldn't leave even after he finished this water mage off.

He used a bit of his fire magic to make it happen faster then managed to locate somebody. "Ermes! Conrad needs a medic. Take him back to camp then report back on his condition to me."

"Yes, sir!"

Ermes carefully lifted Conrad onto his back and made his way toward the medical tent as quickly as he could considering the weight. Rukelion watched them go to make sure no one tried attacking them on the way and ended up fighting quite a few Aveleenians in the process.

One of the water mages seemed to have caught on to what he was doing making people's swords slip. Highly observant of him, really.

"Are you one of us?"

The question implied that he thought Rukelion was making swords slip with water rather than by making the hands holding it sweaty. That was as far from the truth as possible!

"Don't insult me," he said coldly.

"I did wonder why a water mage would fight for the Mireans…I thought you might be from a different province and moved there years ago. But you are doing something. What are you?"

The water mage tried to douse him as they fought, likely thinking the water would freeze and it would make movement more difficult. Not a bad plan if he had been fighting anyone other than a fire mage.

As much as Rukelion didn't want to out himself, it didn't seem like anyone was paying attention to what they were saying considering they were on the edge of the fighting. He couldn't let the water freeze so he used his flames to make it evaporate.

He had been practicing making water evaporate for years because he knew he would need that skill going up against the water mages. He couldn't allow them to put his flames out the way they had for his family members'.

The water mage was visibly stunned and stumbled backward when his next attack was easily parried, the steam rising faintly off of his opponent. "Impossible! You're a—"

"Yes, I am," Rukelion growled as he got in close with his blade. "Did you really think you were invincible? I've trained for years to be able to evaporate any water-based attack."

True fear shone in the mage's eyes. He knew he was done for. He could sense the heat emanating from his opponent along with his rage and knew that a Katalyan prince had survived and was now exacting his revenge.

Finally. The sort of reaction he had been waiting for!

With a slash of his sword, the mage crumpled to the ground. Another one down. Who else needed to be taken care of today?