Within the safety of the fortress town…240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT1rW4fJPsS
The walls were far from the street which the foreigners were being led through. They were greeted by another side that they had not known to have existed within the Danner. Its townsfolk may have been wary, but some made the effort to befriend them, asking where they hailed from and why they had come. As the children stared at the century, their mothers marketed their wares. Passing by each road, the pavements seemed much used from the footfall of its citizens and wandering merchants, horses and carts walked and wheeled through the fortress town bustling with traders, travellers, soldiers and their families, and even entire villages. Whether they were there to sell, to buy, to gather, or were simply passing by, all happened to flow from and towards the eastern and southern gates. Every corner of the town appeared to be in a state of blissful innocence.
Journeying down a main avenue, they saw that most soldiers were off duty, unneeded to guard the already safe streets. Parts of the century soon found themselves parting ways in discovering new alleys and markets despite having no coin, but the sight of trades happening and unfamiliar wares being displayed was enough to satisfy them, judging by the smiles that befell their faces. They admired what the town had to offer, like one party whose soldiers were gaping at the residence they were to be treated to for the night.
It was a townhouse on a main street, mediaeval in fashion, yet all the more enticing in that they would be able to experience a night as burghers. Although the town was lively, its noise gradually diminished in the evening due to a curfew. However, having a roof over their heads was the only thing they cared for. They sensed the warmth emanating from within the house, where some privacy and quiet waited on them. They received much more than they had expected, as they initially thought their only option was to stay in barracks. Instead, the generous lord had granted them far greater accommodations.
The lancers, corporals, sergeants, and lieutenant-elect all turned around and humbly thanked the man who had denied their kind gestures. He had his aide open the door to one of the many homes that were gifted to him, and before long, the squad charged inside without etiquette, especially those who had never experienced being treated as guests of a nobleman. Rantzau’s smile widened as he witnessed happiness envelop those who had only known despair and ruin. Julien had even insisted on bringing Arnau and Siegfried, even though they belonged in the military district, but the mayor never questioned him, despite their breach of military code.
As they filed in, the last to enter was Arminius, who placed a foot through the doorway and was ready to retire for the night when he was stopped by the noble calling his name.
“Gjælassengetisk, Reichner, was it?” Rantzau remembered his name, separating him from his companions for a moment of his time.
The lieutenant-elect halted on the doorstep and turned around, curious as to what Rantzau wished to say to him. He exited the house and stepped onto the porch again, giving him his undivided attention.
His eyes were clouded with hesitancy, as if he had to build up the courage to ask the boy. “For how long have you been… acquainted?” He searched for a word that would not reveal too much nor would it be too cryptic to understand.
It was broad enough for the lieutenant to be able to discern, but he seemed alerted by the mayor’s sudden question. He withdrew from the door, and closed it. Retreating away from the house, Arminius stepped off the porch onto the path of the front yard, unsurprised, knowing that whatever he had hidden from his comrades was known to the mayor, who patiently waited for his answer.
“Three years.” Arminius replied.
Rubbing his chin in thought, the mayor began to recall his memories from that time. “Three years since the…” Rantzau slurred when he became enlightened. “I see.” He mumbled.
The lord glanced up at a window on the second floor. Behind its glass, there was a spy, wondering what had kept his friend. It was Julien watching their discussion take place, and though he could not hear them, he could imagine what they were conversing about. When someone else entered his room and called for him, he responded in an instant, as if nothing had occurred to him, and drew his curtains, hiding the mayor and the lieutenant away.
When the corporal’s figure disappeared, Rantzau turned to Arminius. “I was asked by an elder,” He recalled being told something he had previously dismissed as merely an old saying. “Eb hending kannej tragleben das rede, inger wird kan hen mœjliket fœjrer de himmjælne? (If man cannot survive the earth, then how can he hope to lead the heavens?)” He repeated it in Zhermanner but the young lieutenant did not doubt he had heard of it before.
As if he were throwing a childish tantrum, the lieutenant averted his eyes in disdain. “And he has suffered for it.” Arminius dared speak of it in front of the lord. “What kind of—”
“I suggest you mind your tonfallne, Reichner.” Rantzau light-heartedly berated him, but a laugh seemed to have almost escaped out of him. “I am still a servant of his.” The nobleman could not believe that the boy had the gall to speak of the man in question in such a manner, yet he was amused by his lack of leniency.
Falling silent, Arminius sighed, as if all of his questions that he had longed to know for the past three years had been answered. Every doubt he had ever had about the Carlstadt was cleansed within a few minutes. Admittedly, he had not expected it to be so simple an answer, but it was as the mayor suggested. Nothing else could be said that had not already been said.
“Nevertheless, you are not wrong to think so.” He expressed his feelings about the matter. “I would expect no less from a Regen.” The mayor praised him with a haunting name.
He was the second man to utter the name: Regen. But it was the first time Arminius froze upon hearing it. It could not have been a simple coincidence for two men of opposing backgrounds to have known it. One question lingered in his head: how had this name spread so far? He knew nothing of it except for the stories that his father had told him ever since his memories began five years ago. It was becoming more evident that the boy’s unsureness was growing, that he did not understand who he was, but he was no more perplexed than the man standing before him.
The mayor had noticed that the lieutenant’s expression had changed to confusion, and he could not fathom why the lieutenant would react this way. The name he used to address the boy appeared to be unknown to Reichner.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJE2dNoeE1s
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