Red Beach Outpost had started to change over the past few months. As it was no longer the primary military front for the central coast anymore since Saltfort was retaken. However, the infrastructure and supply lines that once served the outpost were reused to ship supplies to the Saltfort. As such, Red Beach Outpost slowly started to grow rather than shrink. Tents were replaced with crude and simple houses, and civilians began to arrive to sell goods to the soldiers. Over the course of several months, it became a small village. Nigel moved out of his tent and into a house, and his tent was gifted to me.
Every other day, I would train with Kona and Nigel when we were not on a mission. Thankfully, those only came once a month, and none were quite as intense as the night ship. It seems Nigel realised we bit off more than we could chew with that one, and had instead started us off with easier jobs, such as destroying supply boats and spying from afar to gather information. However, no job was as impactful as the night ship attack.
Through that job, we learned a lot about the enemy. We knew that their ships were designed differently from ours, with a type of rope that came from the bottom and somehow connected to the sea floor to anchor the boats in place. How this was achieved was still unknown to us, but more importantly, we learned that the enemy somehow obtained guns.
In our own country, we had cannons and smaller hand cannons, and recently started working on matchlock rifles, but the gun we took from that ship was different. Henri called it a flintlock design and said that he had only ever heard of it but never seen one himself. It was something only the northern empire had, so how did the enemy have it? Were they being supplied by them, was it stolen, or did they happen to invent it themselves? The latter being highly unlikely as their level of technology was only a bit behind our own.
We went on only a few missions, as Henri was more focused on reverse engineering the pistol to figure out how it works, and my training took priority. The twins were spending time building houses along with the other bored soldiers, and Josephine Baker spent most of her time trying to seduce Nigel, but otherwise, she helped Henri. Considering how she behaves, she's incredibly intelligent and able to hold a conversation with Henri about the mechanisms of the gun.
My status as a war slave changed as I had worked off my life debt, but I was not free to go. I was deemed 'too useful' by the higher-ups back at Vilta. Of course, I was upset, but that was until my first pay came in. I was considered a special forces soldier and was paid well, and with merchants coming to the outpost, I could spend the money on things like fruits, meat and sweets.
As time passed, I heard whispers around the outpost of something happening in the coming weeks, but whenever I asked someone about it, they would feign ignorance. I didn't know of any upcoming events or holidays. But before I knew it, that day had arrived.
I noticed it in the early morning: a large wagon entered the camp, and the other members of Nigel's squad were doing something with it.
The day went by quickly, Kona kept me busy with training, but Nigel was nowhere to be found for our usual sword training lesson. So Kona trained me in hand-to-hand combat instead, teaching me how I could knock down a larger opponent. Even though I was weaker and smaller, it worked, and I managed to pin Kona to the ground successfully.
"Not bad, you're getting good at this whole fighting thing."
I extended a hand to help her up.
"Hopefully I won't need to fight again."
"Still upset about the ship? You saved my life on that boat more than once. I was careless and sloppy… could you do it again if you had to?"
I thought about it for a moment. The shock of it all had long passed. When I woke up the next day, wrapped in Kona's arms, I thought I would be a different person. But I wasn't, I didn't change, I was still me. Though if it did happen again, if I were put in a situation like that again, I don't think I would even have much of a choice. I nodded.
Kona smiled and ruffled my hair.
"Glad to hear it, but hopefully next time I can save you and return the favour. Now, let's teach you how to escape a grapple."
We trained till sunset.
On my way back to my tent, I noticed a faint smell in the air. Something sweet was coming from somewhere nearby. It was coming from my own tent. It smelled like something I've had before a while ago. What was it?
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"
As I entered my tent, I was surrounded by Nigel, Henri, Josephine and the twins. Kona entered behind me and placed her hands on my shoulder. Nigel stood, holding a cake.
I suspected something was going on, but never this. After all, I had completely forgotten. Today was my fifteenth birthday. It seems the year just flew by.
We celebrated into the night. We ate cake, and I drank mead for the first time. I found the taste to be quite sweet. Josephine and Kona drank wine, and Nigel didn't drink anything since he was still too young. It was a unique age, fifteen. It was the age one was considered an adult. When Nigel turned fourteen, there was no celebration since in the army, birthdays weren't celebrated. But the fifteenth birthday, that was the most important one, even in times of war, it was to be celebrated properly.
Everyone cheered when I downed my first mug of mead. It was a tradition that the first drink was what marked your change from boyhood to manhood.
"Mayhaps our little weapon might become a man in both senses soon" Josephine jested and chuckled with a half-empty glass of wine in hand.
Nigel gave me a glance and a half smirk, glancing between me and Kona. Embarrassed, I blushed and looked away. Clearly, he thought we had already slept together when that never actually happened. At most, when she was drunk one night, she used me as a hugging pillow the night after the ship raid. Though I didn't try and deny his misunderstanding either.
The others noticed the glance and the embarrassed reaction. An awkward silence fell as everyone looked around at each other to see if everyone else understood what was going on. After a brief moment of silence, everyone in the room burst out into laughter, aside from Kona and myself.
As the night went on, a part of me wanted everyone to leave so I could use the bathtub in my tent in peace. After all, I spent all day training in hand-to-hand combat and was dirty from being tossed on the ground so much.
I watched from afar as Nigel, Henri, and Josephine spoke to each other. Mostly speaking about business and the advancement of experimental weapons that Henri was in charge of. The twins were sitting at the table, not talking to each other at all. Well, they've lived their whole lives together and are almost the same person, so I suppose they don't have much to talk about, or perhaps they've passed the need for speech to communicate. Then there was Kona, standing on the other side of the tent near the bathtub I very much wanted to use without everyone else present.
I wandered over to my bed and went to sit on it, remembered that I was still dirty, so I instead sat on the nightstand next to my bed. By the time I had turned around, Kona was standing in front of me, with the two twins behind her, pushing her towards me as she held two tankards of mead. She stumbled forward and handed one out to me while she looked to the ground. Mine was empty, so I put it down behind me and took the one she was holding out.
The twins were walking back to the table, looking back at me over their shoulders, grinding and giving a thumbs up. Nigel, Henri, and Josephine were looking over at me from the other side of the tent. It was painfully obvious what was going on, but I wasn't entirely against the idea, but at the same time, I didn't really want to do anything about it. It's not that I didn't find Kona attractive; it was something else entirely. I suppose if I had to say why, it was because I was scared, but I couldn't really explain why beyond that. But I mean, I wouldn't be against trying.
As I drank more of the sweet drink, Nigel stood up.
"I know this isn't the best time to say this, but it's something that needs to be said, and we're all here and in the same place, so I figured this might be the only time to say it. Next month, we'll be attacking the supply camp of Goto on an island just off the eastern main island. This is an official announcement. We are still early in the planning stages, but we will be dispatching a scout force next week."
A silence fell upon the tent, and Nigel sat back down. Everyone was looking at him. We all knew what that meant. Some of us have to leave soon, and nobody knows who. Safe to say at least Josephine would be going, but who else? Everyone thought the same thought, 'Is it me?'.
After a moment of silence, the sounds of idle chatter slowly faded back in. Kona turned back to me.
"I think one of us might be going on that. As the backup option, if something goes wrong, you know."
"Well, if it's on an island, maybe you might have to sail. You are the best sailor out of all of us."
She nodded and took a swig of her drink. Gulping down mouthful after mouthful until it was empty. Moving the tankard with a satisfied sigh. I held out my half-drunk tankard, and with a smile, she took it and downed it quickly, once again sighing in delight upon finishing the drink.
"You know, we could go together. You, me, and Josephine."
I smiled at the idea, letting out a soft chuckle.
"I don't think the two of us are the best at stealth."
The night slowly began to fade as the others trickled outside and went to their own tents or houses. Josephine stood by as Kona left the tent. As soon as it was just Josephine and me in the tent, she approached me.
"Shinya, a question for you."
She marched up to me fiercely, like she was upset about something. I took a half step back out of instinct, it felt like the few times my mother was upset at me about something.
"Have you and Kona had sex?"
"HUH!? N-no! No, no, we haven't."
She stepped closer and placed her hand on my cheek, her face hovering closer to mine.
"Does that mean you're available?"
My body froze up as her face inched closer to mine. I could feel the heat coming from her body warming my face. Just as her face was about to eclipse mine, she stopped. She was pulled back by Kona, who was holding onto her shoulder.
Kona towered over her. A hand on her shoulder as she leaned down to Josephine's ear.
"I don't think he answered you. It would be a poor idea to try and force yourself on someone, you know."
Kona's grip tightened, and Josephine winced. She swatted away Kona's hand as she stepped away, leaving the tent.
"Well?"
Kona turned back to me, looking down as if expecting me to say something.
"Are you available?"
"Huh?"
Her face reddened slightly as she looked down at the ground. She scratched the back of her head.
"Are you?"
"Yeah?"
She took a half step towards me, leaning down to meet my gaze, eye-to-eye. Her hand came up and gently held my chin.
"Could I… change that?"
I couldn't really speak, and my face became red as I froze on the spot. After a moment of silence, I managed to nod slightly. With slight hesitation, she leaned in closer and kissed me on the lips softly. Even though we had been more intimate than this before, with her hugging me while being nearly naked for a night, this felt much more intense.
After a moment of stillness, she moved her head to the side and whispered in my ear.
"We're still dirty from training… want to… take a bath?"
The water was warm that night, she was warmer. She was gentler and softer than she had ever been before; it was something special.
The next morning felt like a waking dream, a good dream. I lay in bed with her for what felt like hours before getting up.
When I left the then I saw Nigel waiting outside a short distance away. When he saw me, he waved and walked over.
"Morning. So about last night."
Slightly embarrassed that he wanted to talk about 'that', I couldn't help but look away with a flushed expression.
"Last night?"
"Yeah. So I was thinking that I could send just you and Josephine on the scout mission to Goto. Does that sound alright with you?"
"Oh, um, yeah, I guess that's okay. But what about piloting the ship? Kona is the best sailor we have; shouldn't she come along as well?"
"No, we actually have a Metonym turncoat that will be accompanying the two of you. I figured you would be a good pick since you're a half breed. He speaks Imperial as well as Nishigo."
"A metonym? On our side?"
"I wouldn't believe it either, but hey, we've got you here. So it's not that far of a stretch."
Nigel chuckled, patted my shoulder and walked off.
A full blood metonym, on our side of the war? How was that even possible? Why was I assigned to this? Can I ask him questions? What should I ask him? I had so many questions about the language and about my father, I wanted to one day ask a Metonym, but now that I have that opportunity, I don't have any of the material. At the very least, I would like to ask him about my name.