Ningyō no Ohimesama (The Doll Princess)

The Aftermath

{MIHO'S POV}
We won. It's a surreal thought, yet here we are. Aoi-kun and I march side by side past the still-kneeling sword squadron, using the same path that Nobu did when the squadron parted to let him through.

General Takeshi greets us at the gates. I shudder when I see all 600 of his troops lined up in rows behind him, fresh-faced and able to squish me into Miho-paste to brush their teeth for dinner.

But my worry is proven unnecessary when they all salute, following the lead of Takeshi himself.

"My prince, I am in awe of your achievements on this fateful battlefield. Allow me and my men to be at the forefront of your campaign from now on, as atonement for not helping you here today." Takeshi bows his head, seeming upset with himself since he refused to aid the son of his king.

"Raise your head." Aoi-kun commands. Takeshi obliges, and Aoi nods at him. "As I grew up, I saw your loyalty to my father. I vow to live up to his name and become a emperor worthy of the title. With that being said, this victory is not mine alone."

Aoi-kun gestures to me, and Takeshi looks in my direction with candid curiosity. Aoi-kun opens his mouth to introduce me, but I reach out and squeeze his arm. I can... I can do this.

"Miho... Commander." I nod in greeting, purposely leaving out my last name.

Aoi-kun stares at me, open-mouthed. Then he grins. "That's right. Miho is my sword, Commander of this army and our revolution. My victory here today is mostly because of her."

It sounds grander when Aoi-kun says it.

The Cinder militia whistles and raises their spears, cheering my name. If I could, I'd blush straight up to the roots of my strawberry pink hair.

First order of business is a death count and bringing the wounded to the medical ward.

48 of the men and women from Cinder are still alive. The sword squadron suffered much worse damage, their numbers being cut nearly in half.

I'm a lot more tired from my confrontation with Nobu than I first realized. Now that I'm out of imminent danger, my body's fight-or-flight response is revving down and I'm beginning to feel the consequences of pushing it way too hard.

Never did I ever imagine I'd be in a situation quite like this though.

"Ah! Aaah!" I cry as Aoi-kun pins me to one of the infirmary beds. I try to wriggle away, but he won't let me. Aoi-kun's red eyes draw me in. His merciless hand comes toward me again.

"No, please!" I beg, but he doesn't stop. "It... hurts! Aoi-kun! No! Aaah!"

"Miho," Aoi-kun says, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I know the antiseptic stings, but can you please stop acting like I'm torturing you?"

I stare at him, face as apathetic as ever. Aoi-kun sighs. He presses the antiseptic swab in his hand to another of the shallower cuts on my arm.

I tense as the wound-cleaning alcohol burns against broken skin for the fiftieth time.

The doctor looked at my wounds and said they probably won't scar. She left me in Aoi-kun's care before rushing off to treat more serious injuries.

I'm finally allowed to leave the medical ward after being almost entirely mummified, curtesy of Aoi-kun. He takes me to a meeting room with an oval table. A map of Zoral is spread out over it. General Takeshi is already waiting for us.

Aoi-kun sits at the head of the table, with me seated on his right and Takeshi to his left.

It's time to decide what to do next. Aoi-kun gestures for Takeshi to begin. Takeshi stands and points at Fort Cypress on the parchment paper.

"Nobu sent word to Citadel immediately upon receiving Aoi-sama's letter. Kenji-sama responded right away with great anger. It seems that he is putting his conquest of our neighboring countries aside until he squashes this insurrection. He's already deployed a lot of troops in our direction."

Nobu grabs several chess pieces and moves them around. Most of the parchment is outlined red, but the area around Fort Cypress is blue. This is the land under Fort Cypress's protection, therefore it now belongs to Aoi-kun. There's a pin indicating Cinder.

"That's the situation." Takeshi salutes and seats himself. Aoi-kun looks at me.

I point to Fort Sycamore. "Next target... need secure foothold... not enough... manpower."

Aoi-kun nods. "We'll secure our position along the entire eastern border by taking control of all three fortresses. Then Uncle will take me seriously. We also need to arm the front lines. I think we should make militias in the other towns like we did with Cinder. They can defend themselves and we can focus the fortress's power wherever it's needed."

"I have no complaints with that." Takeshi smiles.

That concludes the first meeting of Aoi-kun and his advisers. The next few weeks are spent with us traveling to all of the five towns and three cities that were under the protection of Fort Cypress.

The intention is to see whether or not they'll be loyal to Aoi-kun or the current emperor. All of the town leaders decide to follow Aoi-kun after meeting us. It seems Kenji isn't very well-liked by the citizens.

Some troops are stationed at each town, where they're going to train the townsfolk using the same methods I did with Cinder.

Due to this, my reputation as the "Spartan Drill Sergeant" is growing. Luckily, every children in Zoral has combat training as part of their regular school curriculum, so the citizens learn fast.

Finally, the time has come to attack Fort Sycamore. Neither Aoi-kun nor General Takeshi know how the two generals stationed at the second largest fortress—Hajime and Tora—will respond.

"They're both good people. I don't think they would approve of Kenji-sama, especially with the rumors that he murdered Sei-heika going around." Takeshi says. The three of us ride on horses, followed by the 700-ish troops of Fort Cypress.

We left a few to defend our home fortress, but it's highly unlikely that Kenji would be able to march through our territory and take it back by force. Besides, Fort Sycamore has 650 knights, so we might only barely have an advantage in numbers. This could be a difficult battle ahead of us.

When we get close, Fort Sycamore's gate remains shut. Takeshi stays back with the troops while I jump from my horse to Aoi-kun's. We ride together.

My eyes rove the walls, searching for hidden archers. Aoi-kun is wearing armor, but I'll still slice any arrows out of the air, lest they find a chink in the metal. This is my duty as Aoi-kun's sword.

If it comes down to a fight, Aoi-kun and I can hold our ground until Takeshi and the knights reach us. Since the fort guards aren't rallying to meet us on the battlefield, maybe we can talk things out.

As it turns out, we don't actually need to do much talking. When our horse gets close, the gate slowly opens and two men walk out.

They approach us. I tighten my grip on my rapier as Aoi-kun and I dismount. We walk towards the two people, side by side. Both parties approach the other until we're face to face, five feet apart.

Then, simultaneously, both men kneel.

"I'm General Hajime." The one on the right speaks first, head low.

"I'm General Tora." The one on the left introduces himself, although something about his baritone voice catches my attention.

They harmonize together, "Fort Sycamore chooses to willing join Aoi-sama's revolution."