Ashes and Kingdoms

A stream of white foam runs over the rock, falling into the green and blue starch. Although there are still summer remnants in the noon sun, the water is too cold to soak up very long. But Finn, conscious of its cold, continued to swim without freezing thanks to the light that warmed him from the inside.

The rest of us have already gathered around the fire that burned in the river plains. Some of them seem to be warming up after drinking the fruit liquor they received from the Sarda tribe. The fire is also burning beneath the river, with Sarda men dismantling today's prey.

From above the small waterfall, the women's voices reach. They wash the collected fruits and weeds, cook the meals, and prepare meals.

Unlike the Imperials of the Lowlands, they hold very few fields or ranches. It's about staple meals and beans that are grown, and very few of them, and only dogs that are hunting partners. Although a few rows of lowlanders were cluttered in their lives, they were treated politely by the villagers as strangers, so after a few days they were able to settle into their own place.

It is not necessary to forcibly blend in, for example by joining the village's collaborative work, but to do the work required while keeping each other at a distance - that became the implicit understanding.

Even today, while the Sarda men were going hunting, Finn and the others were walking around the woods from the village to the streets of the Village, looking down at suitable places to stop the Legion soldiers. He jumped into the river before returning for lunch, as he became sweaty on unfamiliar mountain walks and several slipped and soiled.

Small round stones gleam at the bottom of the river. Finn defies the cold flow and dives to the bottom. I was confident in the swim I remembered in the sea of Nanais, but the water in the river seems to be a different creature from the sea.

I get a headache from the weight of the water, faster than I take the stone I'm looking for. I had no choice but to grab one and escape back to the surface. As he rose with Zabba, a fun laugh descended from the river. Hearing Lena and Nellis out of it, Finn smiles.

Lena had recently taught Nellis and Fauna about women's work. Even if the dragon didn't do that, Finn said, but Lena replied with a laugh.

"This is how you can show up, so I want to try anything. Besides, if I could pretend to be human, I'm sure... you know, sometimes it would be convenient, right?

It was like something else had a purpose, but, well, then, Finn pulled back. I was quick to remember and not clumsy, so I stepped in to learn the work itself quickly. Then it won't be too much of a burden for those who teach.

(Most likely, you can't impersonate a human being)

I think so, with my ears clear in my innocent voice. Her innocent glow can never be hidden, even as she takes a person's appearance and does the same thing as a person. After decades of living in human society and being out of the public, maybe a little bit different.

(... no, but I knew Lena would stay Lena)

Spread your hands and look at the stones you have appropriately taken. Stone washed, scraped, polished over the years, like a matte jewel. But its essence hasn't changed anything.

"Hey Phineas, come on up here, come on! Your clothes are going to burn."

Suddenly Valt called. Finn rushes off to the shore in an ominous tone that includes laughter. Even if they don't burn, they shouldn't jokingly burn them to the ground.

- But.

"Whew!?

The prank was beyond expectation. The faces, faces, faces, and faces of the people who are watching this place surrounded by the fire. Beyond that, a Sarda girl stood.

Finn was on the verge of climbing a rock, but raised his bare voice or slipped back to the river. Along with the flashy splash, the laughter of my people keeps rising.

As Finn coughed his head out, the girl was coming up close, kneeling over the rock and peeking this way. Is he about seventeen years old? I knit both sides of my long silver hair, and the back is bound in one. Eyes are the same as blue mist, tinted with fine gold. A beautiful girl with a clear yet bright colorful fragrance, but Hate Finn now was not the side to be admired, but the side to be made.

The girl casually said looking at Finn, who was turning red and in trouble.

"I heard the Imperials are fine with showing naked, but they're not?

"Who would do that?"

Finn roars and stares at Valt's back, trembling at the laughter that pushed him to death. Then the girl finally reached out and fingered Finn's jaw, forcefully pointing at herself.

Reflectively Finn paid for the hand. He was treated more often than not as a slave, and more angry than ashamed. Tough eyes from the beginning, twisting the girl. But the target was not frightened.

"I don't know. I was hoping to hear that even Deia's Dragon Marquis was disappointed. I'm not a kid."

…………

What the hell, man? Why should a girl I've never met, perhaps younger than myself, say something that looked down on me like this?

Blue fog helped me from under the river as Finn lost his word and couldn't even fight back.

"Aoyagi! What are you doing without everyone's help? If you came here to tease Phineas, you'd already care."

"Huh."

As soon as she did, the girl changed her attitude and stood up for the deer to jump, running towards the blue mist. To the gap she's talking about somehow over there, Finn hurries up to shore, doesn't even wipe his wet body much, and wears his clothes tucked away from Valt's hands.

As Valt was still grinning so badly, Finn finally cut off his indulgence bag and made a harsh noise while suppressing it.

"Valt! Come on, even Nellis is badly affected by you blowing bullshit in! There are limits to playing with me!

"Oh, I'm finally calling it off, too. Excuse me, Commander."

Valt responded with disgust, but fortunately he didn't feel malicious there. Although Finn was slightly frightened, he did not say it again politely, just roared low with a bitter face.

It was the day that Finn arrived in the village that he became commander. Blue fog said - when the legions attacked, Phineas was in command. There were several reasons.

Being able to grasp the situation even in the dark thanks to Lena, and not having to worry about interrupting instructions because he rarely dies. That it is difficult to be guessed who you are because the tone and manner of action are not stained with the customs of the Legion.

Of course, Valt and Blue Mist assisted him for the time being, and now he hasn't carried out a single raid because the enemy hasn't come into the mountains yet. In other words, the commander was simply seated because it was convenient, and the reality is that he is only a student being helped by the elderly.

Finn shook his head, sighing small.

"You know, I'm not saying anything from above you"

"Oh, I know."

Valt slapped Finn's foot roughly as he nibbled.

"You just came to your head, boy."

…………

I'm worried about the treatment as well, but I swallowed what I wanted to say, and Finn managed to smile bitterly and sit down by the fire. To be called Lord Commander, or Lord Dragon Hou, or vice versa, to be called a kid is the same thing. Then it would be a loss just to worry about.

Do you know what such Finn's patience is or not, Walt told me on the side that it was obvious.

"Yeah, well, it's not my fault how naked you are. She seemed reluctant, so I just taught her how to think of the Empire. When I go to the city, there are bare god statues everywhere, but they think that the most ideal and splendid thing about humans is that they're not deceiving me with their clothes, so what?!

The oddity at the end of the story is that Finn hit me in the head, but that's why I screamed. While Finn regretted that he should have done this sooner, he was also fighting the temptation to liquidate his previous bumps.

"Fuck this son of a bitch, if you abandon your hesitation at all, you're relentless. Towards the elderly."

"If you want me to be respectful, you have to behave accordingly. Be cautious of the disrespect that unites the figure of the gods with ordinary human beings, etc. I don't want to hit the elderly either."

"You did it with me, I just explained the facts. We're not gods, so we're ashamed of ourselves naked. We had a big closing call, and you came out before that. I'm nothing, I didn't know Dragon Hou's ass was completely indispensable... oh ok, sorry, so pull that fist in!

Totally the kid these days is blurry to the point where Valt can hear things like that. Finn glanced at him, then sighed to confront him.

"Adults these days are like getting beaten up by someone as far away from home as their parents and children..."

"Who's my father?"

Interrupted sharply as soon as possible, Finn raised his eyebrows and looked back. Seeing it, Valt, on the contrary, distorts his face with serious anger and aversion. The seepage of black emotions seems to depend on the dragon's eyesight.

(Shit)

Finn regrets that he screwed the dagger on the old wound. But Valt's anger seemed to be elsewhere. You read the inside out of Finn's expression, he extinguished his temper and simply turned into a bumpy face and threw a dead branch into the fire.

"Your father must be Oandus."

…………

Not knowing the reason for the odd attitude, Finn nodded silently, sneaking up on his shoulder. If I wanted to see it, it would probably be possible to know what Valt was so angry about. But it's impolite to reveal the true intentions that people are hiding on their own, and most importantly, it doesn't have many consequences.

Finn took a nearby branch, lit it and deceived the awkwardness.

"Speaking of which, where is that uncle now?

"I'm going to the women's with Mac. They said it would be tough for women to bring this over here."

"Oh... by reason"

No one stopped Finn from going up to shore. If my allies were here, they would have stopped me for a minute or at least brought my clothes to the rocks.

He looked slightly down the river, watching a girl called Aoyagi smile and wave to the blue mist, running up the river. Silver hair sways as the light footsteps, and the skirt's hem glides away to reveal its supple legs.

(Beautiful)

Shortly after I finally had room to admire it and thought of that, the blue leaves of the day turned around a bit. And you show me a little grin. On the contrary, it's like floating to pity.

She disappeared across the tree while Finn stared at her face.

"I'm sorry, Phineas," Plast sympathized with Blur. "He totally got insulted by that girl. It's going to be hard to get your honor back."

"You don't have to salvage it."

Reluctantly Finn roared, blurring in his heart about what the hell was really going on, but his gaze was nailed around where she left off.