Raymond Mark: Season 1

Chapter 15 - War of the Past

PART 1: 17 YEARS AGO IN KOYAKU

The view of a destroyed village was scary. The weather was filled with thunder and lightning. The ground and houses were in bad shape. The fights in the war did that. There were a few people gathered in line at a small stall. Drizzling started but no one had time or energy to move.

The people in line had dirty and ragged clothes. They were soldiers. After fighting on the frontlines, they were here to get food rations. Some were tired and some were angry. The stall owner faced a lot of problems in keeping things under control.

He took out the bread from boxes and handed one to each warrior in the line. Two soldiers took that and made frustrated faces. The bread was a little wet from the drizzle.

"Hey!" yelled the soldier at the stall owner, "these loaves of bread are wet! Why are you giving these to us?"

"Yeah, change them!" the other soldier said. He even grabbed the stall owner's neck.

The stall owner was frightened. It was not his choice to give wet bread to the soldiers who fought on the frontlines. He was not angry at them for their behaviour too. On the contrary, he understood their frustration. He had no shed to protect the bread from getting wet. The government had a shortage of grains, there was no way the food could be wasted with war at their hands.

Koyaku was not a stable nation by any means. They had the least agricultural land amongst all 3 nations. They always had a shortage of food.

"Is this supposed to be our food?" the soldier yelled.

"Take it if you want or else leave," said a voice from behind. It was Jade. Dark Master Jade. He was in his twenties. His clothes were ragged and dirty too. He was also a soldier. The other two soldiers were suddenly frightened after looking at him.

"Let's leave!" one of the soldiers said.

Both of them took their wet bread and left. Jade was the last one in the line. He received his bread from the stall owner.

"Thank you," said the stall owner.

Jade took a bit out of his wet bread. Everyone knew him. He was famous. The true son of the current Ruler of Koyaku. He was pretty strong on the field too. The stall owner started small-talk,

"So, I hear you take on 10 people at a time on the battlefield, that might be the reason they're scared of you so much."

"I hate war," Jade said. He touched his sword at his waist. "A war only has innocent blood soaking the ground. I fight because I have no choice but to obey the Ruler."

"I too hope this ends soon," said the stall owner.

Jade looked around, his eyes got on a little girl. She hardly seemed 3 years old. She had ragged clothes and dirt was everywhere on her skin with some bruises and injuries. This girl's eyes were on the stall with bread.

Jade stretched his hand on the counter and took a loaf of bread. The stall owner tried to stop him,

"Hey! I know you're strong, but the rules strictly say one bread to each warrior. We are low on supplies!"

"There were many casualties today," Jade said, "many won't come back, many loaves of bread will go to waste. Besides, Complain to the Ruler if you want, I'm taking this bread, no matter what."

Seeing the stall owner silent, Jade started walking towards the girl. Jade stretched his arm towards the little girl to give her the bread. She quickly took it and finished it in no time. She must be starving for god knows how much time. Jade handed her his own bread as well.