Story of Raidarian Peace

Four people were trying to fix a broken wagon in the middle of the road.

As Rein approached the group, Iziro immediately dismounted and began helping them lift the wagon so they could replace the wheel.

“I thought we had more important matters,” said Rein, smiling slightly.

Iziro saw three men, a woman, and even a little boy struggling to lift the loaded wagon.

“Thanks, we’ll manage,” said one of the men, straining to lift it.

“Let me help!” Iziro said to the boy.

Once Iziro joined in, the wagon almost lifted off the ground.

“Thank you,” said the man, while the other two started changing the wheel. The woman just watched Iziro and Rein.

As soon as the wheel was replaced, the woman immediately rushed to one of the men who was carefully inspecting the new wagon wheel and whispered something in his ear. The man abruptly turned, looked at Rein, and said:

“Are you a Raedarian? And you too? We don’t need trouble!”

“What are you talking about?” asked Iziro.

“We know about the invasion. We won’t be able to help you with anything if you’re here for that.”

“We don’t need anything,” replied Iziro.

“Let’s go, Izi,” said Rein.

Iziro looked at Rein and grimaced at being called “Izi.” The people quickly gathered and rode the wagon towards the nearest village. Rein extended his hand to Iziro.

“No, thanks,” said Iziro. “I think I’ll walk again.”

“Well, suit yourself,” replied Rein.

After passing a couple of villages, they finally saw a massive mine, more resembling an open-pit quarry. The pale sky and the workers in the mine, seemingly spending their entire days digging ore with pickaxes and hauling these rocks for processing, gave little resemblance to a happy life. However, these people had to do this day by day to earn some money for their survival and their families.

“A big mine,” remarked Iziro.

“Haven’t been here before?” asked Rein. “I can give you a little tour!”

“Yeah… I haven’t been here before,” said Iziro.

“Let’s go! You can’t easily go around this mine anyway. It’s easier to go straight through!”

And so, they descended into the vast pit, dug over the years for ore extraction. As they descended, the local workers dropped their tasks and began staring intently at them.

“Do you see that too?” asked Rein. “Any idea what’s up with them?”

“You’ve been here before! I thought you’d tell me,” replied Iziro.

“Maybe it’s somehow related to the legions advancing on Rinfall.”

“Or maybe they just don’t like us. Either way, it’s too early to turn back. Let’s just keep going calmly. I think if we don’t provoke them, they won’t do anything harmful.”

More workers gathered ahead, and those who remained behind began following Rein and Iziro.

“Not a good sign,” said Iziro.

As they passed halfway through the mine, the workers ahead blocked Reyna and Iziro’s path with a fairly large crowd.

“So, what are you all gathered here for?” Reyna asked loudly.

There was no response, only quiet whispers within the crowd and some laughter.

“Why are you silent?” Reyna shouted at them.

“I think shouting at them is not the best idea,” Iziro said quietly.

“Hey, I’m talking to you!” Reyna shouted again.

“Maybe they are contemplating why two raidarians ended up in the royal mine in the midst of the war between the last kingdoms and the raidarian empire?” a female voice said from the side of the crowd.

Reyna and Iziro began to look around, but it wasn’t clear who exactly said it behind the crowd.

“Get them!” the female voice said again.

Workers armed with spears started emerging from the crowd. There were so many of them that fighting against them would be pure madness, or rather suicide. Reyna immediately calmed down, as the spears poking at the horse frightened it, and it might throw Reyna off. Reyna drew his sword, while Iziro simply sat down, folding his arms and stopped doing anything.

“What are you doing? Don’t you want to help?” Reyna said, waving off the spear bearers. “I can’t handle them alone,” Reyna said, continuing to fend them off.

“Drop your weapons or it will get worse!” the female voice from the crowd said.

“Although, one could think, I can handle them alone,” Reyna thought. Then he plunged the tip of his sword into the ground and raised his hands. Reyna was seized by a slight panic attack from what was happening, but it quickly subsided when Reyna felt as if he had been hit with something heavy on the head.

Reyna woke up already shackled to a low wooden pole driven into the ground, soaked with cold water.

“What?” Reyna said softly.

Reyna was in the same mine, only at the very bottom of its large pit. And Iziro was shackled nearby.

“Well, what? Good morning!” the girl said.

That was a girl who could already be called a woman. She was approximately a little younger than Iziro. Dark hair and a masculine style of clothing suited her well. She was quite well-built, resembling a Raderian warrior to some extent.

“I know that in Raderia, female Raderians are prohibited from holding leadership positions, but I am the leader among these people, and I express their will,” she said.

“In Raderia, women are only prohibited from holding such positions in the military and government. If you have your own business, like mining, it is allowed,” replied Iziro.

“Well… I haven’t been in the empire for long or much. Please forgive me for that,” she said.

“May I ask why we are here and how long we are stuck to these wooden posts?” asked Rain, raising his voice, jerking and trying to break the chains of the shackles from the wooden post.

“You can jerk as much as you want – they are deeply embedded, and everything is securely done,” said the brute standing next to the girl.

“Let him jerk as much as he can,” the girl replied.

“Alright then… Let’s get down to business,” the girl said. “Why are you here? For reconnaissance or something else?”

“Why do we need this?” Rain asked her.

The onlookers literally surrounded them.

“Izi, how are you?” Rain asked. “Did they hit you hard?”

But Iziro remained silent.

“My people were concerned that you came here at this difficult time without any problems. You could conduct reconnaissance or something worse. My task is only to ensure the safety of my people, so I hope you understand me. And I hope you also understand my people. Not answering is your right. But these people chose me not for nothing. I am responsible for every person here. And I will do everything in my power to ensure their safety. And you are diminishing their safety in my eyes. At least until we know anything about you. If you have something to tell, you can tell it to one of those who will pass by you. We hide nothing from anyone. Everything said will be reported to me immediately. You can be sure of that,” she explained.

“And what to say if there’s nothing to say?” Rain said to the departing girl.

“Anything you want!” she shouted, disappearing into the crowd of onlookers.

“And why were you silent?” Rain asked Iziro.

“What could I say? It would hardly help us. You could tell her your story, and I could tell mine, but then they would take advantage of it, and we might never leave here. So the only thing left for us is to wait.”

“Excellent tactic,” sarcastically remarked Rain.

As evening approached, a laborer came and threw something vaguely resembling food in iron bowls. He also brought a trough of water, from which, it seemed, pigs could have drunk at some point.

“Yeah. We need to get out of here,” said Rain. “Do you have any ideas, Izi?”

“Don’t disturb my sleep,” Iziro replied.

Memories from Iziro’s childhood flooded back to him.

“Interesting,” Iziro said out of the blue. “The last time I was called that, I was almost like that kid who helped lift the cart.”

“What was his name?”

“Izi.”

“Well, that’s easier. If you want, I can stop.”

“No, it’s okay… It just brings back memories… This and everything around,” Iziro said, lying on the ground.

Rain leaned against a wooden post, exhaled, and closed his eyes. He woke up in the morning to a strange noise.

“What are these two Raderians doing here?” Rain heard.

Rain woke up and saw something that made his body wake up rapidly. It was a group of five knights from the royal order. The story was repeating itself, but these knights were different from the ones he had seen before.

“Who are you, and what are you doing here?” one of the knights asked.

At that moment, all of Rain’s doubts disappeared. These were definitely different knights if they didn’t recognize him.

“One exile, and the second… He doesn’t look much like a warrior. More like a monk from the southern mountains,” another knight said.

“Bring me your leader!” said the main one among the knights to the people gathering around.

One of the knights dismounted, approached Rain, grabbed him by the hair, and said:

“Well, Raderian, your time has come. Will you tell us something valuable, or will you die like this?”

Rain just looked at him with furious anger in his eyes.

“We should interrogate them properly before that,” said one of the knights.

“They’re unlikely to say anything. It’s better not to torture ourselves and finish with them right away, and then deal with this local troublemaker,” one of the knights said.

Meanwhile, Iziro simply sat on the ground with his hands folded, still in chains, and did nothing.

“And what about this one?” asked one of the knights.

The knight closest to Iziro delivered a strong blow to him. Iziro briefly opened one eye, then closed it again.

“Seems like some sick Raderian. Definitely a mountain monk!” the knight exclaimed.

People around began to gather and surround the knights, just as they did with Rain and Iziro.

“There’s something wrong with these people,” one of the knights whispered, observing the situation.

“Disperse and get back to work!” the main knight shouted loudly. “I command in the name of His Majesty!”

But the crowd continued to gather around the knights. At one point, there were so many of them that the knights had to stand closer to each other, feeling the danger in the disobedience and the workers’ behavior.

“Disperse, or serious punishment awaits you!” the main knight menacingly shouted.

The crowd pushed the knights away from the Raderians chained to the posts and, one could say, absorbed the Raderians into itself.

“Iziro, do you have any ideas on what to do?” Rain asked anxiously. “Izi! Izi! It’s not time to sleep, damn it.”

Rain began to desperately try to break free from the shackles, but the brute spoke the plain truth: “Everything here is done to perfection.”

Meanwhile, the knights drew their swords. One of them approached and killed one of the workers. However, the workers didn’t scatter. Instead, one of them exclaimed, “A-ah,” and everyone began to repeat it in rhythm, raising and lowering their fists. “A-ah, A-ah, A-ah,” the workers chanted, and suddenly spears emerged from the crowd, forcing the knight who had come close to step back. The knights were forced to group even tighter.

“Iziro!” Rain shouted.

Iziro finally opened his eyes, exhaled, and first took one hand, shifting one of the wrist bones to pull his hand out of the shackle. Then he did the same with the other hand.

“Could you have done this seriously all this time?” Rain asked. “What were you waiting for?”

“I thought sleeping under the watchful eyes of the locals would be safer.”

“We could already be halfway to Aeris.”

The workers didn’t care about what was happening with the Raderians. They were dealing with a more serious issue. Two knights attempted to break through the cordon by mounting their horses, but the horses were afraid of the spears, so they didn’t approach the crowd. The knights then began throwing knives at the workers and something resembling miniature versions of them. The deaths of close friends and companions started frightening the workers, and some began to step back. Some of the spearmen started throwing their spears. Despite everyone being extremely serious and martially inclined, some still distanced themselves from their fallen comrades, thus disrupting the powerful blockade. Nevertheless, the crowd still seemed like a genuinely formidable force against so few knights, even though they were highly trained warriors. Especially considering that almost every member of the crowd was armed, whether with a spear, pickaxe, or shovel.

“I can’t do it this way, Iziro,” said Rain. “You need to somehow break my shackles.”

“Too bad they took your Rainian sword,” replied Iziro. “It would have come in handy here.”

Iziro saw a worker running toward the crowd from the other side of the blockade, approached him, and snatched his pickaxe, saying, “Sorry, I’ll return it.”

“Raderians are escaping!” the worker started shouting, but almost no one paid attention to him.

“Tighten the chain as much as you can,” said Iziro. “If I hit a link in the chain accurately and with great force, it might come apart.”

“Yeah, just don’t hit me,” replied Rain.

“Don’t worry. I’ve been pretty accurate all my life, and I haven’t lost that talent yet. A-ah!”

Iziro struck with all his strength at one link in the chain.

“A-ah!”

Then he struck at the second, freeing Rain from the post with the shackles still on him, while the remnants of the chains dangled from his hands.

“We need to help them,” said Iziro.

“They chained us here and made us eat scraps, and now you want to help them?”

“They’re clearly not against us. They have some plan of their own.”

“But not for us either!” Rain replied.

Iziro threw the pickaxe he had taken from the worker back to him, surprising the worker greatly. After that, Iziro walked into the crowd.

Rain was so angry with Iziro that he even shouted something in his direction. Looking at the shovel stuck in the ground, Rain said, “Not a Rainian sword, but it’ll do.” Rain approached the shovel, took it, and followed Iziro.

By this time, many workers had already fallen in the skirmish, and the knights continued to kill them one by one. The crowd had dispersed considerably, and one of the knights managed to enter the crowd with a sword, starting to cut down the workers with tripled force. The other knights continued to kill the workers gradually, throwing knives at them, while the main knight observed, sitting on his horse. When the knight in the crowd swung again, his sword was sharply deflected aside by a palm, and then he was struck in the center of the torso with the base of the palm, causing the knight to fly back and slide a bit on the ground before falling on his back. It was an irate Iziro. Everyone who was present noticed, and even the crowd dispersed from the fallen knight. Everyone was curious about how it would end.

Iziro approached this knight and said, “You shouldn’t be killing anyone here.”

Seeing this, Rain remembered that he had a hard time fighting just one knight, and now there were many of them. However, Iziro simply walked into their midst, passing through the crowd without fear or hesitation. Rain realized that he had seriously underestimated Iziro, especially considering that he supposedly didn’t like fighting much.

The fallen knight, pushing himself up from the ground, quickly stood on his feet and began to swing his sword very fast and gracefully towards Iziro. However, Iziro dodged each knightly strike with the same speed and grace, as if he were smoke drifting in the wind, avoiding every obstacle. When the knight attempted to strike at his legs, Iziro jumped, and upon landing, struck the knight in the same spot, causing him to fly even further, almost reaching his fellow knights, and cough. Everyone was once again extremely surprised, and some were unable to close their mouths, including the main knight who, sitting on his horse, ordered all the knights to defeat Iziro at all costs. He waved his hand, and four knights began to attack Iziro, forcing him to evade as much as possible. However, Rain suddenly entered the fray.

“How’s the assistance?” Rain asked Iziro, blocking one of the sword strikes with his own.

“I thought I’d be alone against all of them,” Iziro replied.

Iziro continued to dodge the attacks of the knights as if nothing had happened, now facing only two of them. Meanwhile, Rein struggled with two knights simultaneously, which proved to be much more challenging for him due to their skills. Although the knights he faced were weaker than the one he had fought before, Rein found it more difficult than Iziro did. Rein defended himself with a shovel, attempting to dodge similar to Iziro, but with less grace, resulting in a few minor wounds from the sword blades.

Although the leader of the knights wore a mask, his displeasure was evident. The knight leader took a small knife from under the strap on his chest, pressed it against his mask, and threw it at Rein. The knife hit him in the shoulder, causing him to lose balance, almost costing him his life.

At this moment, one of the laborers with a spear decided to help Iziro and Rein, ultimately saving Rein. Other workers witnessed this and joined in, converging on the knights and trying to separate them. Iziro, on the other hand, pushed one of his opponents away again, and the group of spear-wielding workers immediately surrounded him. Iziro began assisting Rein without seriously harming the knights. It was amusing, considering these were trained assassins guarding the kingdoms, but Iziro played with them as if mocking.

He took a sword from one, sheathed it in its scabbard, removed the mask from another, created distance, and then threw the mask back at him, making him catch his own mask. However, Rein was not having an easy time. Accustomed to fighting with a Reinian sword and sturdy armor, he now had to battle with a dirty, semi-rusty shovel against an opponent who far surpassed him in speed. Moreover, the mounted knight aimed his lance at him.

Meanwhile, the chief knight finally drew his sword, seemingly prepared to charge on horseback and end this pathetic spectacle. However, unexpectedly, a boy with burning hands emerged from the crowd and unleashed flames upon the knight, causing him to fall off his horse and attempt to extinguish himself in vain. This distraction allowed Rein to take advantage, grabbing the knight by the neck and forcefully slamming his forehead into the knight’s face. Realizing he was finally gaining the upper hand, Rein began to smile.

The boy, like a meteor, flew towards Rein, extinguishing his flaming hands and freezing Rein’s opponent’s feet to the ground, causing the boy’s hands to turn blue. The knight was bewildered by what had happened. In the midst of it all, Rein, without losing his composure, gracefully beheaded the knight with the sharp edge of the shovel.

“Maybe the shovel isn’t so bad after all,” Rein remarked, looking at it after the victory.

Next, the boy looked at Iziro and began to breathe deeply and evenly, causing his hands to return to their normal appearance. After a couple of moments, winds started swirling around him and his hands. The boy directed his hands towards Iziro, and a hurricane-like wind swept towards his two opponents, Iziro himself, and the workers gathered behind them. The two knights closest to the boy were simply blown away – one fell near Iziro, and the other flew into the crowd. Many workers also struggled to stay on their feet. Iziro, however, managed to stand firm by anticipating what would happen and assuming a special stance, kneeling with his side facing the direction of the wind. Once the hurricane subsided, Iziro subdued the knight who fell next to him to prevent any retaliatory actions. The knight who was blown into the crowd surrendered. The other knight, who had been separated by the crowd of spear-wielding workers earlier, had already been killed, as he had killed more workers than anyone else. The girl who led all the local village workers and this mine personally subdued the surrendered knight.

Stepping out of the crowd, she said, “You did well… I didn’t expect… You took care of our guests in my absence.”

“Not bad yourself, but I almost handled it on my own,” Rein said to the boy. “Wait… you’re the kid from that carriage! For your age, you handle elemental magic pretty well. You used almost everything…”

The boy clenched his fists and aimed them as if targeting the ground beneath Rein. As a result, the ground disappeared from under Rein’s feet, and he sank waist-deep into the pit that formed beneath him. When the boy released his fists, the earth enveloped Rein up to his waist.

“Hey, I didn’t do anything to deserve this!” Rein exclaimed in protest.

Ignoring Rein’s complaints, the boy turned his attention to Iziro a few moments later.

“You seem kind, right?” the boy asked Iziro.

“I don’t know… I’d like to be,” Iziro replied.

In response, the boy lowered his hands.

“He can go,” the girl said to Iziro. “Well, if you trust him, I trust him too. Escort him to the evening bonfire,” she told the boy about Iziro.

The girl approached Rein and scrutinized him closely.

“What do you want? You want to have a laugh?” Rein said.

“No, I was just impressed by how you fought. Too good for an ordinary Raiderian warrior,” she replied.

Meanwhile, the boy named Wel waved at Iziro and said, “Let’s go, I’ll show you where we relax. They also serve delicious food there.”

Iziro somewhat discontentedly glanced at Rein and followed the boy.

“You may not be as good as that Raiderian monk, but you fought very skillfully,” Wel remarked.

“Thank you, glad you noticed,” Rein sarcastically replied. “But here I am, fighting for you, almost dying, not even sure if you deserved it, and now I’m plagued with vague doubts about the validity of my decision again.”

Distraught, Rein stared at the ground, unsure of what to do next.

“What do I need to do to earn the right to be unshackled by you, anyway?” he asked.

“And if I set you free, how do I know you won’t attack me or my people, just as retaliation for how we treated you? You’ve shown yourself to be quite a bloodthirsty warrior,” the girl said.

“You mean when I beheaded that knight? He was trying to kill me, by the way. Sorry, but I didn’t like that. Maybe he would have succeeded if it weren’t for your people,” Rein replied.

“And I’m talking about the same thing. You were wronged, so you killed,” she stated.

“Well, what should I do, apologize or something?” Rein asked.

“No, forget it. I understand perfectly. I would have done the same in your place, but I’m not sure I’m ready to let you go just yet.”

Rein shook his head as the girl walked away. This deeply saddened him, and when the girl left, his sorrow turned into temporary anger, which he vented by shouting something into the evening sky.

“Well, fine, I’ll get out on my own then.”

Rein tried with all his might to lift at least one leg, but he could only raise the earth slightly.

“Okay, let’s dig a bit.”

Rein started digging the earth with his hands.

Meanwhile, Iziro was led to a large bonfire at the bottom of the mine. The locals were sitting around the fire, and people were distributing bowls of food to each other. Iziro and Wel sat in the front row, and they were served food that was much better than what they had been given yesterday.

“It’s beautiful here,” Iziro said.

“I like it here too,” the boy replied.

“You’re so skilled in magic – did your parents teach you?” Iziro asked.

“No, my parents died when I was born.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

“It’s okay, I’ve gotten used to it.”

“No, you’re really good for your age. I used to think that you needed to chant spells for such magic, but it seems I was wrong.”

“No! That’s true. I’ve really mastered all this. They say I have talent. I can perform magic with the power of my mind. They say only the strongest mages in history could do that.”

– Isn’t it frightening to possess such power at such a young age? Sometimes it seems to me that magic turns those who wield it into something akin to the gods described in myths and legends of different peoples,” Iziro pondered.

“Not at all! I’ve learned to control it. And I teach myself new things to avoid accidentally harming anyone. I used to have problems with that…” Wel explained.