< Territoriality (Part 1) >
Ramphil nodded as he understood the pain that Leona was going through.
I know. When I first came to the fortress, I was in the nurses room because of dehydration.
As Ramphil spoke, both Leona and Zin looked at Ramphil. You werent born in the fortress? Leona asked.
No, I was born outside the fortress. I dont remember but it might have been a Point.
Hmm… Wargrave rarely accepts outsiders. Thats news to me, Zin murmured.
Wargrave consisted of soldiers, but everyone had different roles. Similar to other military organizations, Wargrave had many combat soldiers, but there were also non-combat personnel as well.
Children were born from parents in Wargrave, and they became soldiers.
It was very common for someone to be born into a Wargrave fortress, and live their entire life in the fortress. As Zin questioned him, Ramphil replied as if it was trivial.
The place that I was born and raised was raided by the Reavers, and I became a prisoner. About two years later, the Reavers were wiped out by the Wargrave, and I was taken into the fortress to be raised as a soldier.
Ramphil explained his life story in a monotone. He was preparing breakfast by cooking the C-rations, Leona asked more questions while eating her portion of the breakfast.
Prisoners? What do the Reavers do with prisoners?
Reavers have as many nasty hobbies as the number of Reavers. They usually put their prisoners into death matches, and such.
You are correct.
Zin was surprised when Ramphil confirmed about what the Reavers did to the prisoners. Wait a sec, so you are saying that you survived the death matches?
When Zin thought about Ramphils age, it meant that he went through the death matches at Leonas age, and survived for two years. Ramphil wondered why that was a big deal and looked at Zin, who was so astonished.
Leona was also astonished. She had no confidence that shed be able to fight against adults without any weapons.
Theres a reason the Wargrave took him as a soldier.
Ramphil was now able to understand why Wargrave, a reclusive group, took Ramphil, a refugee, and trained him as a soldier.
A fighter was born to be a fighter. Leona kept on looking at Ramphil, as she was curious how he won through the death matches. Ramphil started to talk slowly.
People die when they are struck on the vital spots. Ramphil spoke as if he was revealing a big secret, but that was all he said.
I know that too.
I dont have much else to say. I struck people on the vital spots, and they died.
Ah I see
It was a very simple answer, yet a very scary one. A kid who was in his teenage years was able to survive the death matches by striking an adults vital points and killing them instantly. And he did it for two years. Leona was disappointed with his explanation and sighed.
I think Ramphil is less interesting than you, mister.
sounds like you are talking smack?
As Zin replied bluntly, Leona laughed out loud and said, What, mister, are you thinking that you are an interesting person ow
Leona tried laughing at Zin, and then she touched her stomach as she felt some pain. H, Hold on
Leona stood up, and started walking slowly towards the bushes. Zin smiled and started to mock Leona who was walking away, I dont know if I am interesting or not, but you are really not interesting at all.
Shut up! Owwww!
Leona ran into the bushes. It appeared that Leona would need a couple of days to get used to fatty food.
Zin was getting even more curious about Ramphil. He was amused that he was originally a prisoner of the Reavers. It seemed like Ramphil had a complex life story, similar to Leona.
Excuse me for asking this question, but did you get hurt by the Reavers?
Why do you ask?
Most of the people who survive the nasty hobbies of the Reavers go crazy.
Most of the people who survived as prisoners of Reavers went insane. They was because of sorcery, drugs, or pain from traumatic accidents. There could be reasons why Ramphil thought and acted in a weird manner. It was possible that Ramphil was hurt by the Reavers.
Hmm I dont know Ramphil answered as he was not sure. I cant remember.
Ramphils answer sounded unnatural. After thinking for a while, Ramphil started to talk again slowly. I mean to be exact I know something happened, but I have no memory of it.
is that so.
Something had happened to Ramphil, but he forgot what. It was possible that the Reavers did something to Ramphil, or Ramphil had suffered a traumatic event.
Ramphil tried to think about the forgotten memories on his own. Ramphil struggled to remember his past, but he was not able to do so.
He had some memory where he was taken to the arena and then released. He remembered the fighting scene, but he couldnt remember what the Reavers had done to him.
Shouldnt have asked him in the first place. Zin regretted asking Ramphil the question, as he was worried that he might get mad, but it was too late.
If you cant remember, theres no point of trying to remember it then. With that, Ramphil didnt think about it anymore.
—–
Ramphil was the last person to join the threesome, but he was the one who did the most work. He drove the armored vehicle, prepared the meals, set up camp, and scouted the surroundings.
He had to do all these by himself because Zin and Leona had to hold on tight to the seats, as they did not want to fall off the vehicle.
Without asking for any help, Ramphil volunteered to set up the camp and prepare the meals. He didnt complain at all, nor ask for any help.
He didnt mind all the work, and he was the type of person who would rather do the work himself.
The team had to make pit stops frequently as Leona got motion sickness, but they were travelling at a much faster pace then before.
Leona was nauseated from her motion sickness and stomach aches, and Zin had to feed her water. She started to feel better after the second day of the trip on the armored vehicle.
They were able to arrive near the city of Harbin four days later than scheduled. However, they were able to shorten the trip duration as they did not have to stop by villages to replenish food and supplies.
After approaching the city, they slowed down. That day, they drove into the city late in the night. The team agreed to rest the night, drive through the ruins and head to the Harbin fortress the next morning.
They figured that it would not be wise to attract any monsters with the armored vehicle. They parked the vehicle near the boundary of the city, got out and checked the area.
It looks different around here.
Not all ruins were the same, and Leona was amused to see buildings that were in good condition.
Zin went inside the old building next to where the vehicle was parked. He went up the building, and checked the surroundings. Ramphil checked the safety of the buildings, and then set up a camp. Leona looked and asked Ramphil who was taking out the food for the day.
Can I have the C-rations menu?
Sure.
Yesss! Leona especially liked the C-rations that contained meatballs. There was no point in saving the C-rations, as there was tons of food.
After looking around, Zin became serious. I see white bones around here.
Isnt it okay?
Hmm, looking at the flies flying around the bones, it suggests that a person wasnt killed too long ago. Thats a problem.
Ramphil was taking out the food, opening the C-ration packages, and separating the chip dust. Zin was sitting down, and getting ready to go to sleep. He acted normal while talking about the corpses. Leona became uncomfortable.
It may be the ruin of a village that was destroyed recently? she asked him.
Well it looks like it, but I cant tell. Its hard to figure out the cause of the death because there are only bones left. Its possible that the corpse hunters and the rats ate the flesh after dying.
If the monsters attacked the village, they were not interested in meat. And if the Reavers attacked, they were probably not interested in cannibalizing.
Well, they could have cut out all the meat.
why would they do such crazy things? Leona wondered.
Dont try to understand how crazies act. Anyways, I saw five skeletons total. I didnt see any gunshot wounds on the skeleton.
I need to think about this for a bit. Leona thought how weird Zin and Ramphil were. In any case, the meals were prepared as usual, and Zin laid couple of blankets down to get ready to sleep.
Zin made decisions as a hunter would, and Ramphil acted similarly to Zin. There were five corpses, and there was a possibility that either human or monsters killed them.
—
After eating dinner, Zin left the camp to check out the corpses. Ramphil and Leona waited in the camp and chatted.
Ramphil, you are a Wargrave soldier, so it should be no problem to enter the fortress, but can I and Zin enter the fortress? Leona was excited to visit a Wargrave fortress, but she was worried at the same time.
Its temporary, but I am an executor. I have the power to do so.
What does an executor do? Is that a high rank position?
Executors travel to different fortresses, and they resolve issues in the fortresses. Executors can only be appointed by the generals, and in my case, Ive been appointed to the role by a Warlord
Sorry, I dont understand anything that you are saying.
Ramphil did not know how to use the laymans term, and Leona did not understand the vocabulary that Ramphil was using.
So, the executors are very powerful?
Executors are normally people who were treated with the Gigaframe procedure. But I am not.
Ramphil was appointed as the executor temporarily in a rush, and had only been treated with the megaframe procedure.
Leona nodded and realized that she would have to guess what Ramphil was saying.
Executor. It was a one of roles of Wargrave soldiers, but it a very popular one. Kids who grew up in Wargrave dreamt of becoming an executor. An executor was regarded as a problem solver, and a role that the kids admired and aspired to become.
Books that were used to educate the Wargrave kids contained many stories about the executors.
If kids were asked to pick their favorite role between a Warlord and an executor, kids would always choose the executor.
Many soldiers who aspired to become executors had to give up their dreams as they got older and became ordinary soldiers. The elites of the elites became executors. They were smart and knowledgeable in many areas, such as strategy, military planning, and combat skills. Only such talented people were given the chance to become executors. The talented people were then put in competition to become an executor.
The role of the executor was something that everybody dreamt of, but only a few were able to gain the job.
Ramphil did not care much about anything, and he was not interested in the role at all. He did not show much excitement when he was given the chance to participate in the executor curriculum by Ramzier. And when he was denied the chance to become an executor because of his status as an alien, he wasnt disappointed at all.
However, since then, his comrades had started to despise him.
His comrades who given up on the hope of becoming an executor hated Ramphil, who was given such an opportunity. Ramphil did not have the personality to be liked by his comrades, and it didnt take long for his comrades to start hating him.
And, Ramphil didnt care about it at all.
Ramphil had been living without much goal or meaning. As a temporary executor, he was simply following the orders that were given to him. A temporary executor was different from a regular executor, but he had to accomplish many missions and was given the power to do so.
Ramphil did not like nor hate his position.
After listening to Ramphil for a while, Leona summarized her thoughts. So you are a Wargrave version of hunter.
Yes, sort of.
Wargrave people had many fantasies about the executor role, but there was no better way to describe the role to someone in the wilderness.
The two continued to talk, and Ramphil talked with Leona for a long time without knowing why he was talking to her.
When Zin finally came back to the camp, Leona was askin Ramphil why he would space out when he was resting.
Well, I dont think about anything.
How can you not think about anything?
I dont remember anything because Im not thinking anything.
Thats so weird I always think about something. But nothing important though.
You two are just talking about nothing meaningful, Zin sighed as he came back to the camp, and Leona and Ramphil looked at him. Zin sat down, and summarized what he had learned.
The killers were Reavers. I found junkwagon tire marks near the site. All the corpses were missing a specific area of the body. Im pretty sure that Reavers who are interested in collecting body parts did this.
When you say missing body parts, what you referring to?
Left elbow and beyond. All corpses were missing that body part.
Human bones usually got crushed when attacked by monsters, but the five corpses were missing the exact same body parts. And there were junkwagon tire marks nearby.
Reavers who collect left hands Ramphil tried to recall something, but couldnt.
Bastards, I can see them eating people but why are they so crazy about specific body parts?
Leona was disgusted at the senseless actions of the Reavers.