Chapter 5: Trouble in the Village

"What's going on?" Ishida asked an elderly man who was limping by on a cane. “Get away from here as quickly as possible! There’s no time to waste!” the man warned him before hurriedly shuffling away. 

This was the first conversation Ishida had had with a person other than Rhina in years. 

Ignoring the warning, he did not head away from the town, for he needed to know what was happening.

“What’s going on? Why is everyone in such a hurry?” he asked as a soldier with a rifle strapped to his back rushed by. 

There was no answer. The soldier, who wore a long white winter coat, continued marching. Following him were many more soldiers. They were all hurrying down the ridge.

“Arise, brothers of Mount Lagoda! Today is the day we shall rise to fight for our independence! To arms! To arms!” the Lagodan Army commander bellowed.

Ishida attempted to count the soldiers, but he eventually gave up at one hundred. This was no small amount. 

Indeed, there had been some military training on the mountain in the past, there was no rational explanation for such a large gathering of troops apart from a coming military conflict; a major one, too.

“Hey, you there!” the commander suddenly called out. 

“Me, sir?” Ishida raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, you! Take this rifle, run back to your house, get whatever you need, and come back here in ten minutes! The enemy is approaching the river. We must stop them before it’s too late!” the commander told Ishida before handing him a long rifle with a bayonet attached to its muzzle.

Ishida reached out his hands and took the rifle, but when the commander let go of it, his hands were unable to bear the sheer weight of the weapon, and he immediately dropped it onto the ground. 

Upon seeing this, the commander rolled his eyes and gave the young man a pistol instead. 

“But sir, I’m not even in the army!” Ishida replied. “More importantly, what in the whole wide world is going on? Has a war just broken out?”

“You see, each year we have to pay a titanic tribute to those Medietans in the capital city, right?” the commander asked impatiently. Ishida nodded.

“Well, this year we decided not to send it. After all, we have been oppressed for such a long time and it is about time we liberate ourselves from those Medietans,” the man explained.

Ishida gulped. “What is going to happen, then?” 

“An army from the capital city is already here to demand our tribute, but we’ll refuse. We’ve been under their rule for a thousand years! It’s about time we’ve fought for our freedom,” the commander promptly answered.

Around that time, the man’s sharp eyes spotted the banner that Ishida was holding. 

“Hmm, that’s a pretty good design. Hand that flag of yours to me, now!” he ordered.

Ishida gave the commander a surprised look. “What are you planning to do with it?” 

“I suppose it will serve well as our new flag. From now on, the Medietan flag shall no longer fly above our land!” The commander grinned as he climbed up a pole, struck the old flag to the ground, and stuck Ishida’s banner in its place.

“Where did you get the weapons to fight them, sir?” Ishida called.

“Why, from the factories, young man,” the commander responded, climbing down the pole. 

“Which one?” Ishida asked. “Yesterday, I came upon an ammunition factory that seemed old on the outside, but its interior was completely new. Are you saying that the ‘abandoned’ ammunition factory has been producing weapons for this day all along?” 

The commander looked suspiciously at Ishida. “So it was you who was in the restricted area that day, eh? Well, the original penalty to that would have been life imprisonment. But if you help us fight this war, I’ll persuade the governor to pardon you. 

“Now, to answer your question: yes, the factories have been operating since the day we planned our revolution. So, you better get going! Go back to your house, wherever it is, grab a few things that can be used as weapons, and come back here as fast as possible!” he barked.

Ishida took the pistol and sprinted back up the mountain. Within minutes, he arrived at his cabin and found that Rhina was awake and searching for him outside.

“Where were you? I woke up and didn’t find anybody,” she asked worriedly. “By the way, the breakfast you made for me was delicious!”

“Sorry for leaving so suddenly; I had to go to work. But you’ll never believe what I just heard! A huge army from the capital city is on its way here!” Ishida hastily explained.

“I came here to warn your people of that! It must be too late now,” Rhina frowned.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll be able to find a peaceful solution for this,” Ishida tried to cheer her up.

But in his mind, he knew that their tiny army would not be able to hold off the Medietans for long. 

He told Rhina about how his people had refused to pay tribute and that they were starting an uprising. 

“I have to go now, we have to stop the Medietan army from crossing the river. That’s what the commander told me,” Ishida suddenly said, reaching his pistol.

Rhina grabbed the pistol and prepared to throw it down a ravine near where they were standing.

“Give it back please,” Ishida said, grabbing onto his friend’s arm.

“No, don’t fight them! You’ll be killed, and your people can’t possibly hope to defeat such a big army! Let’s go down to the river and see if we can negotiate with them,” she pleaded.

Ishida reluctantly agreed and flung the pistol into the air. He watched as it disappeared behind some trees.

“Alright, let’s go,” he finally said. 

They ran down the mountain with great difficulty, as the snow was starting to melt and made the ground very slippery.

“There!” Ishida said, pointing to the forests beyond the river. “That’s the army from the capital city!” 

What Ishida saw was a massive army coming out of the forest, consisting of tens of thousands of soldiers and hundreds of tanks in countless rows. 

The army was heading straight for the river at the foot of Mount Lagoda. The sound of roaring engines filled the air as the tanks rolled forward and the soldiers marched behind them. 

A while later, when they were about to reach the foot of the mountain, gunshots rang through the air. Indistinct shouting and the sound of gunfire followed. 

Then came the explosions, which rocked the ground beneath them and flung whopping amounts of dirt into the sky, which were soon thrown back down by gravity. 

“Look, over there! They’re crossing the river!” Ishida shouted.

His friend did not respond. Ishida could hear her soft weeping, but he chose to ignore her. 

He watched as the Medietan tanks plunged into the river. Some floated while others were too heavy and began to sink. The tank crews rushed out of their tanks to avoid drowning. 

Later, the tanks that were floating on the surface began to fire at the defenses on the foot of Mount Lagoda. 

All of a sudden, one of the concrete bunkers occupied by the Lagodans was struck by a shell and blew up. The explosion shook the ground violently. 

All at once, the Lagodan armies descended into a tumult. Many soldiers retreated, and those who didn’t fell into disorganization and were unable to concentrate fire. 

Ishida could hear one particular voice above the sound of gunfire and explosions. It sounded rather familiar to him. It was the commander who had given Ishida his pistol.

“Stand down and defend the area! DO NOT let the Medietans cross the river! Fire at will!” the commander ordered his soldiers. 

A large enemy tank, made of copper and painted camouflage green, made it to the river bank and began shooting at the Lagodan army.

Before long, it ran into a land mine and blew up, leaving scraps of burning metal on the sand. Very few Medietan tanks made it safely ashore, and most of the Lagodan remained at their defenses. 

Then came the Medietan infantry. Tens of thousands of soldiers charged headlong into the river and waded across with great difficulty. Many soldiers were machine-gunned before they could reach the river bank. 

But despite the Lagodans’ effort to prevent the enemy from crossing, thousands of Medietans soldiers made it to the other side of the river. 

They assaulted the defenses and began dislodging their opponents with grenades and flamethrowers. 

Soon, the entire Lagodan army was in full retreat.

“Not a step back! Whoever retreats shall be executed,” the Lagodan commander yelled desperately, grabbing a soldier by his collar.

His orders were ignored and no one stayed behind. Soon enough, enemy soldiers began firing at the commander, who too ran for his life. 

Ishida watched in horror as the Medietan forces captured the river bank and headed uphill.

“Let’s get out of here before they come!” Ishida urged, rushing up the hill.

Rhina followed him. “Where are you going?” 

“To the town, maybe. We can hide there when they come.”

The Medietan soldiers stopped marching and raised their guns. 

“Shoulder arms!” someone shouted. “Load your guns!”

Then came the orders, “Aim!” and “Fire!” 

Ishida and Rhina were being fired at by the whole Medietan army, as they were mistaken to be Lagodan soldiers. 

Ishida jumped into a bush and motioned for Rhina to do the same. 

“Cease fire! Battalion, march!”

“The soldiers are heading to the town!” Ishida whispered to Rhina. “Look at how slowly they’re moving; their backpacks and guns are weighing them down. I bet we can run twice as fast as they can. This is a perfect opportunity to get away!”

“Wait! Don’t we need to warn the villagers that the soldiers are coming?” Rhina asked.

Ishida stopped in his tracks and stared at his friend. “Why should we? Those villagers treat me like the scum of society. They don’t deserve to be warned. And besides, the villagers will be warned by the commander and his soldiers when they get there.”

“Ishida…”

Rhina could not believe what she had just heard. She wondered why the villagers disliked Ishida even though he was such a nice person.