Chapter 3: Fires that Still Burn

On our way to our destination, about which I knew next to nothing, Chopper seemed completely oblivious to the fact that I was his companion. I knew Lady had intended for me to get the ropes of our work with this mission but I began to wonder if that would be possible. Sure enough, we travelled by foot. We took some shady routes to get there and sometimes, I wasn't even sure if we were going the right way.

On the seventh night of our journey, Chopper sat me down around a campfire and said it was about time he explained the gist of the whole ordeal. It appears he had finally deemed me worthy enough to do so.

"To the south of Mercae, is the country of Ildia, a small strip of land separating this continent from the next over. Now, we dare not leave our continent...for now anyway. As for Ildia, that country is dealing with the remnants of the history. I assume you at least know about the War of Giants?"

"Yes! I-"

"Good, 'cause if you didn't, I wouldn't have considered you real. When the three big continents went to war for an unknown amount of time, it was a wonder the world came out unscathed. Ildia is one of those countries which were trodden upon from all sides, even the one that it fought for. Her kings were murdered one after the other, the land had no law, no morals. Things became what certain groups of people desired them to be. Ildia aided no one when the war ended. It was already in chaos with its internal strife. That was probably for the good. Because, no one knows why the war even happened."

By now, he had started to skin the rabbit we caught earlier.

"Seraph, there's a little city on the border of Ildia, it is still in conflict with the neighboring lands. According to what Lady said, our target is supposed to be in that city."

"Chopper-san, who is this target that you speak of? He-"

"Seraph...that man once belonged to the inner circle of Bardock. For reason unknown, the great late General grew distant and that man left to seek glory of his own. And he did find it for sure. But that's not who he was. He belonged to a small village, his father was a farmer, his mother sold pelts in town. His brother drowned in a well at the age of four. He moved to the capital at 15 when he enrolled in the military. He wasn't sent to the battlegrounds until his early twenties. He was a mere soldier, you hear? A mere soldier!"

"Uh...Chopper-"

"How then can a nobody like him become a close friend of the dictator himself? Well in his village that he'd left behind, came a plague when he was nine. He caught it, along with his mother and father. His parents died by committing suicide, he recovered his health. More than half of that village succumbed to death. And that one brat not only survived, he enrolled in the goddamn military. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir"

"They say there was a religious order that rid the village of that plague, I'd like to know more but the people in that village are careless folks. They don't even realize that a man like him actually stemmed from their own village."

"Then all this information, you gathered on your own?"

"I figured it on my own. The clues are always there, even after 40 years. They are always there, in the fires and in people's brain. You just have to look."

"And what about his frequent disappearances?"

"This is what they say, he comes back stronger every time. All this is just too convenient a story. Now Seraph, what was the one thing that Lady said to you in particular before we left?"

If he hadn't reminded me, I wouldn't have remembered at all but indeed Lady did say something to me, something that was important.

"Keep watching Chopper all the time", I remembered.

"When the time is right, Seraph, you will have to think of whatever it is that she told you. It would be key for you to survive this thing and to solve everything. We'll set out in the morning. Soon as we enter Ildia, we'll travel with a caravan. In three days, they'll get us to border, to Halen."

Chopper didn't eat that night, I don't think that speaking of this story was too much to his liking. I didn't understand why but he served the whole rabbit to me and went to sleep. He had the habit of sleeping far away from the fire. I slowly ate my dinner, thinking of all he'd told me. Soon I was tired and fell asleep. I'm sure though, that as I closed my eyes, I saw a burning Ildia in that fire. But I couldn't open my sleepy eyes.