Chapter 819: The Ones Who Remember

A good amount of time passed inside the carriage.

The city had disappeared behind them long ago, and the busy roads filled with merchants had gradually been replaced by quieter stretches of land. Trafalgar spent most of the journey looking through the window, Cynthia beside him and Rhosyn sitting across from them.

What appeared ahead eventually stopped looking like countryside.

It looked like a military base.

Trafalgar's expression grew more serious as the carriage continued toward it. Even from this distance, he could make out walls, watchtowers, and groups of soldiers moving between structures built farther into the territory.

Darian had removed himself from Valttair's control.

He had also escaped the pressure House Sylvanel once held over the Thal'zar.

Those were good things as far as Trafalgar was concerned, but they also meant Darian had far fewer reasons to remain afraid of him. Caelum believed the meeting was safe, and logically Trafalgar agreed with him.

Still, walking willingly into another Great Family's military territory wasn't something he intended to do carelessly.

'Maybe I'm overthinking it.'

That was entirely possible.

It didn't help his expression.

Cynthia noticed after watching him for a moment. "Something eating at you?"

Trafalgar turned from the window and found her studying him. He straightened slightly, letting some of the tension leave his shoulders before she started thinking there was an actual problem.

"Nothing important. I'm just thinking about a few things."

"That's usually when you look the most worried."

"I'm sitting in a carriage. There's only so much entertainment available."

Cynthia gave him a look that made it obvious she didn't believe that was the whole answer, but she let it go. Rhosyn had noticed his mood as well, though she seemed perfectly happy to leave him inside his own head until he decided there was something worth saying.

Trafalgar looked forward instead.

The Beastkin guide had moved from the driver's seat when they'd switched horses at a checkpoint. Another Thal'zar man was handling the carriage now, while the guide sat opposite them as comfortably as if transporting members of another Great Family through a military zone was an ordinary afternoon.

Trafalgar nodded toward the window. "Looks like Darian has been doing well on the military side too. There are a lot more soldiers than I remember."

The man's wolf ears shifted slightly as he followed Trafalgar's attention.

"There are. After the war, a lot of people didn't want us to ever end up in the same position again. Lord Darian understood that quickly, and when he started rebuilding, people were willing to follow him."

"You included?"

"Especially me."

That answer carried more weight than Trafalgar expected.

The Beastkin rested one arm against his knee before continuing. "Although, if I'm being honest, you're part of the reason I'm still here too."

Trafalgar looked at him properly this time.

"Me?"

The guide smiled faintly. "I thought you might not remember."

"Should I?"

"Probably not. We didn't exactly have time to introduce ourselves."

Trafalgar searched the man's face again but found nothing familiar. "Then you're going to have to help me."

"I was a prisoner during the war."

That narrowed things down considerably.

The man continued before Trafalgar could ask. "When the Void Creatures started pouring out and everything went to hell, you were the one who decided keeping prisoners and enemies separated was pointless. You had us fight together instead."

Trafalgar remembered.

Not the man specifically, but the situation.

There had been far too many people, too much blood, and too little time to remember every face from those days. Back then, surviving the next hour had mattered considerably more than learning the names of the prisoners fighting beside them.

"You were one of them."

"I was." The guide nodded. "One out of many, so I don't expect you to remember me. But I remember you."

His tone remained easy, though the gratitude underneath it was obvious.

"I got home after that. Saw my wife again. My children too. You didn't make that decision because of me personally, and I'm sure you weren't thinking about whether one random Beastkin prisoner had a family waiting somewhere."

"No," Trafalgar admitted. "I wasn't."

"I know." The man didn't appear offended. "That's why I wanted to tell you. Sometimes what you do matters to people you've never thought about. I'm here because Lord Darian gave me something worth staying for, but I'm alive because of a decision you made."

Trafalgar was quiet for a moment.

He'd made countless decisions during the war because there hadn't been time to do anything else. Move these people. Abandon that position. Save whoever could still be saved. Kill whatever was in front of them before it killed someone first.

Most of those choices had blurred together afterward.

Apparently they hadn't blurred for everyone else.

"Then I'm glad you made it home."

The guide smiled. "So am I."

Cynthia had gone quiet beside Trafalgar. Even Rhosyn's attention had shifted fully toward the man, though neither interrupted him.

His gaze moved toward the road outside. "There are others who remember things like that too. Don't misunderstand me, plenty of people still hate the Morgains. The Sylvanels even more. There are old grudges here, and after what happened, I'd be surprised if there weren't."

"That's fair."

"But people aren't all going to remember the same part of a war."

Trafalgar nodded slightly. "I wouldn't expect them to."

The guide gave him an approving look. "That's probably for the best. Darian never tried forcing anyone to forget what happened either. He focused more on giving people a reason to care about what comes next."

"Seems to be working."

"It is." The Beastkin leaned back against the seat. "People have homes again. Work. Families who aren't wondering whether another Great Family is going to decide our territory belongs to them next year. That buys a lot of loyalty."

Cynthia looked through the window. "More useful than speeches."

"Much more."

The carriage continued in silence for a while after that, though it wasn't an uncomfortable one.

The road itself began to change as they travelled farther. Ordinary packed earth gave way to broad slabs of dark stone, each fitted tightly enough that the carriage barely shook as the wheels crossed them. Patrols became more common as well.

Nobody stopped them.

The guards recognized the carriage long before it reached them and simply moved aside.

Trafalgar noticed watch posts hidden among the surrounding hills, mana signatures appearing and disappearing as they passed. Darian hadn't simply built a large military base and placed a wall around it.

The entire approach was protected.

Rhosyn seemed to notice the same thing.

"They've been watching us for a while," she said.

The guide glanced at her. "Since before you saw the first tower."

Rhosyn's eyes moved briefly toward the hills. "Better."

The Beastkin laughed softly. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"It was."

That seemed to please him considerably more than Trafalgar expected.

Eventually they reached the outer walls.

Up close, calling them large didn't really cover it.

Black stone rose high above the road, thick enough that the upper walkways looked like roads of their own. Broad towers broke the wall at regular intervals, each fitted with mana formations Trafalgar could feel even without actively searching for them.

Soldiers watched from above.

Several carried heavy weapons built for bodies far stronger than a normal human's, while others stood beside fixed magical emplacements worked directly into the towers.

The carriage slowed.

Ahead of them, enormous metal gates began to open.

Trafalgar leaned closer to the window as the gap widened and the first part of the fortress became visible beyond it.

Barracks. Training fields. Warehouses.

Soldiers moving in numbers he certainly didn't remember seeing here before.

This wasn't the Thal'zar castle.

The castle represented the family, its history, its nobles and traditions.

This place had been built for something much simpler.

War.