Ch.5 The First Mission After 5 Years

"I can't believe you're bringing me along as well, Lady!" the boy in an armour slightly too big for him was so excited he was hugging his horse with a foolish grin on his face.

Luo Yue, on the other hand, had never liked the stuffiness of the armour on her. She remembered that the only times she had worn one was whenever she was fighting alongside 'that person'. He never let her enter a battlefield without one and even her stubbornness had never won against his concerns. This time, however, she did not say anything because her strategy involved disguising herself. She only jumped lightly onto her horse, muttered an 'oh, the things I do for a jar of wine', and speeded off, leaving Shen Tian Ping to help Xiao Liu onto his horse.

Meanwhile, someone equally arrogant has arrived before the gates of the battlefield. The smell of death so prominent in the air was such a warm welcome that Wu Zhe Yan stopped to take in a few breaths, his lips lifting in ecstasy.

This! This was what he has been waiting for! The country? The people? Who cared about all that? This exhilarating feeling of not knowing whether he would be able to walk out of this hell alive or not was the kind of thrills he would die for; and quite literally at that.

The teen beside him has long gotten used to his master's insanity -after all, he wasn't called The Mad Dog of the North for nothing. He held up the imperial decree The Emperor has passed down and spoke to the soldiers guarding the Northern Camp, "Under His Majesty’s order, General Wu Zhe Yan has come to take over the command of the Army! Open the gates immediately!"

~~

The sun was starting to set when the 3 people arrived in LanLing village. There was something eerie about the busy streets that greeted them that was making Xiao Liu gulp as he urged his horse forward towards Luo Yue and whispered, "Lady, don’t you think this village... feels a little weird?"

With her hair tied back into a bun, the helmet she wore was only making it even harder to tell her gender apart. Then she spoke, her lowered voice and apathetic eyes in that disguise making her all the more aloof and domineering, "not bad. At least you can still sense that. Open your eyes and take a better look. Can’t you see that there are no kids, women, or elderly people here?"

Xiao Liu looked around and found that his mistress was right. There was an unusually large amount of people in the streets; either livelily selling their goods or strolling around looking at the myriad of goods neatly lined up. Yet, not a single kid, woman nor senior citizen could be seen.

"Then-…! Have the villagers been killed?! Why would they do that?!"

"Or imprisoned to prevent information from leaking," Shen Tian Ping answered without a change in expression, "and they’re watching us."

"Eek! Have our identities been found out? But we can’t do anything recklessly without proof that they are from the East and-… Lady, what are you doing?!"

Xiao Liu’s whisper-shout did not make Luo Yue pause as she went towards the centre of the streets and spoke loud and clear, "Commander of the East, show yourself!"

With her call, came a deafening silence as all activities in the streets abruptly stopped. The lively atmosphere took an immediate change as everyone turned towards them with expressions that had gone chillingly cold. Like preys in the territory of its predators, the 3 of them felt thousands of eyes on them, carefully watching their every move. Xiao Liu can just about feel cold sweat dripping down the back of his neck.

"Who are you?" the hostile crowd parted as a large, burly man holding onto a sword walked towards them. Well, -Luo Yue hid her distaste behind an expressionless mask- in her eyes, he looked like he was more suited to be a butcher instead.

"A messenger from the South." Xiao Liu tried to hide his astonishment as he witnessed his mistress lying through her teeth. 'Is she seriously pretending to be from the South right now? My Lady! What do you take the East for? Do you really think it’s this easy to deceive them?' However, even he was not prepared when Luo Yue took out a token with the emblem of the South sculptured on it from under her armour. "Under the orders of our Great General, we are here to propose an alliance."

The Eastern commander took over her token and his frown deepened. "How does the South know of our identities?"

"Hah," she snickered, getting into her role effortlessly, "is there something our Great South cannot find out? Do you really think that we do not know what you're trying to do? You want to wait and ambush the remaining victor. To try and attempt to con a free meal out of us, the East sure is ambitious. In case you try to attack us from behind to gain the North's favour, make your stand clear this instance or you will be annihilated along with the North."

"What makes the South think that they will win this war?" the commander was still trying to sound them out before choosing a side. He eyed the person before him carefully, noticing that this aggressiveness was indeed a trait of the Southern people. If he were to provoke them in any way, those Southern brutes known for their merciless way of killing might just change target and aim for the East instead.

"The Northern messengers have been killed to slow down the news." She spoke slowly as though she wasn’t surrounded by five thousand enemies who could start a killing spree at any moment. "The City of JiangNan has fallen and the Northern Army has been defeated. Even the General who has been sent as reinforcement has been assassinated on the way. This is the last chance our Great South is giving the East to make a decision. Our General has said that if we do not bring the Eastern troops here back to the City of JiangNan by tomorrow before we start invading the Northern Capital, you will all be our next targets. So, have you made up your mind, Commander of the East?"

"All the supplies stolen from this village are kept in the warehouses in the middle of the village. We will hand them over to the South as a show of our sincerity." The commander finally pulled out a token with the word 'East' inscribed majestically onto it and handed it over to Luo Yue. "This is the proof of our identity and goodwill granted by our Emperor."

Luo Yue looked it over before handing it back to the commander while Shen Tian Ping stood at the side and even without further instructions from his master, took note of where the commander was keeping the token. That was, after all, all the proof they needed. "Your sincerity has been felt. We will leave immediately once dawn breaks."

~~