6kv Chapter 437 Is it that bad?
Chapter 437 Is it that bad?
"My lord," a bloodied soldier fell down on one of his knees at the entrance to Salicious tent. "The Empire took the first floor."
Salicious raised his eyes and looked at the soldier for a moment before turning his head and giving Banjay a quick glance. The old general then stood up and, disregarding his crutch, walked over to the soldier and planted his hand upon the man's shoulder.
"You've done well, soldier," Salicious spoke in a calm, soothing voice. "Now, go get yourself some well-deserved rest," he recommended before raising his eyes looking out into the distance, and adding in a heavy voice, "Gods know we all need it."
"Yes, General!"
Despite several wounds marking his uniform and soft armor, the soldier stood up and straightened up his back while slamming his fist against his solar plexus in a salute.
"So it happened."
Deeper in the tent, Banjay simply sighed.
The old general looked over his head and threw his former student a displeased look.
"It was bound to happen. Their sacrifice was all but a part of your plan, so instead of whining about it, man up and have the decency to meet those carrying your orders face to face."
Continue your saga on empire
Banjay raised his eyes and looked over at his former teacher, only to then roll them and scoff while looking away.
Salicious bit down on his lips, unable to keep up the pretense for all that long.
The first floor of the fortress was down. Despite all the tricks Banjay implemented, all the comebacks those tricks allowed, and small victories wrought from the battle by the courage of his soldiers... it all proved not to be enough to put a stop to the imperial march south.
The first wall of the fortress was now fully and securely in the hands of the empire, and so were all the buildings within the plaza. Out of everything, only the ramp leading up to the second gate was still contested... And it would remain like that as long as the second wall remained within Banjay's hands.
The old general looked straight into Banjay's eyes. And his expression said it all.
'He isn't going to buckle on this,' Banjay thought, gritting his teeth as he forced his expression to remain still.
His entire body froze, save for his hands that now tightened so hard, Banjay's nails bit into the skin of his palms to the point of letting out blood.
"If I tell you, you are going to die," Banjay revealed in a silent, restrained voice.
It was one of the hardest sentences he had to utter in his whole, damn life. Even harder than the vile words he threw Isera's way when he had no other choice but to distance himself from her. And that's including hindsight that allowed the relatively young general the knowledge of what those words would result in.
Hearing those words, though, Salicious didn't laugh. He didn't take it for a threat but, judging by his former pupil's face, a simple statement of the only possible result.
"Is it that bad?" The old general couldn't bear to produce a voice any louder than that.
If there was one thing that this young, troubled soldier bested him at, it wasn't his tactical or strategical sense. It was his talent for trickery either.
It would be the ruthless degree to which he was willing to abuse his knowledge of human nature. And from the looks of things, in that regard, Banjay's current plans were nothing short of a masterpiece of the man's career, easily topping over the orchestrated rebellion he fired up all for the sake of putting it down.
"It is."
This time, Banjay didn't bother playing around but opted to look his former teacher straight in the face as he answered.
"It is a soldier's fate to meet their end on the field of a battle," Salicious pointed out after a moment of deep thought, before bringing his eyes back to his former pupil and smiling slightly. "And my term seems to be long overdue."
The old general took a deep breath before moving closer and falling down on one knee before his former disciple.
"I hereby rest all my responsibilities in your hands. And now," Salicious smile peaked as he came to terms with what the future held for him. "Tell me."