Chapter 5: Silent Tears
The man, his brow slightly furrowed, pushed aside the tightly closed tent flap and stepped inside.
The tent was empty.
“…Tsk.”
After clicking his tongue, he stood there for a moment in thought before turning back outside.
Sasha was gone.
No matter how much he searched around the tent, the child was nowhere to be seen.
Just as the thought crossed his mind that there were far too many filthy bastards in the camp for a child to be wandering around alone, he noticed something on the ground as he stepped out—something he had failed to see earlier.
Scrubbed-out drawings and bloodstains.
The man brushed his hand lightly over the bloodstain, then abruptly turned and strode toward the cluster of tents in the distance. His destination was the place where Aizen was staying.
“Lieutenant Aizen. Assemble everyone.”
As he flung open the tent door and spoke, Aizen, who had been lying on the bed, shot upright.
“What? All of a sudden—… Understood, Major.”
Though wearing a confused expression, Aizen responded politely after seeing the unusual look on the man’s face.
Wiiiiing.
An alarm echoed through the camp. It was the device used for emergency summons.
The soldiers filed out in perfect order. Once gathered, there were quite a lot of them.
The man slowly scanned the ranks of soldiers standing at attention.
Then his gaze stopped.
“Sergeant Hermann. Your hand looked perfectly fine during morning training. Where exactly did you injure it?”
“…I—I was injured during combat!”
“Injured during combat? In the midst of such urgency, someone must have bitten your hand.”
A clear bite mark was left on the back of Hermann’s hand.
Repeating Hermann’s words slowly, the man began walking forward.
When he stopped right in front of Hermann, he suddenly kicked him in the stomach with his long leg.
“Ghk!”
Struck by the sudden blow, Hermann doubled over and collapsed onto the dirt.
“Stand up.”
At the simple command, Hermann staggered back to his feet as if convulsing.
“Then how do you explain those bloodshot eyes?”
“…Kh—That’s not—it’s not that—!”
The man drew the revolver he always kept in his holster.
The entire infantry company was horrified by his action, though they tried hard to conceal their expressions.
Aizen was no different.
The mad butcher you couldn’t stop once he snapped.
That was another nickname the Major carried.
The man smirked faintly, scratching his forehead with the tip of the finger holding the gun—then the smile vanished in an instant.
Click.
Casually cocking the revolver, he pressed the muzzle against Hermann’s temple.
“If one piece of trash disappears during a war… what difference would it make?”
At the emotionless voice, Hermann’s heavy body began trembling violently.
Crushed by pressure and fear, he was slowly collapsing.
“I—I was wrong! P-please—just once—spare me, Major! Th-that brat seduced me first! I had no choice—!”
“How a dog in heat like you ended up in my unit… I truly have no idea.”
Bang—!
The first shot was a blank.
The Major reloaded and pressed the gun against Hermann’s forehead again.
Hermann dropped to his knees, his face instantly drenched with tears and snot.
“Where did he go?”
“Th-that kid—he ran down the hill over there! I really didn’t do anything! N-no, I couldn’t do anything! Please believe me!”
The Major glanced at Aizen and jerked his chin toward Hermann.
Hermann’s fate was sealed—he would soon become a bullet shield on the battlefield.
Anyone who displeased the Major always ended up like that.
And his chin gesture meant to tie him up so he couldn’t run.
Watching the Major’s back as he walked away, Aizen shook his head.
Then he kicked Hermann in the shoulder once more as the man knelt there begging.
“You insane bastard. Tie him up.”
Nearby soldiers stepped forward with rope.
Hermann, his limbs shaking uncontrollably, tried to crawl backward on the ground to escape them.
“Gaaah!”
His scream of agony echoed around the camp.
The man slowly descended the path below the hill.
If the child had run off blindly, he couldn’t have gone very far.
The surroundings were dim.
The man looked around carefully before bending his knees, lowering himself to the child’s eye level.
Then he began searching the area again, little by little.
Under the second military truck, he spotted something small.
He stood up and walked forward.
Then he knocked on the truck door twice.
“Come out.”
His voice was lower than usual.
A child who had been lying prone beneath the truck slowly crawled out and looked up at him.
The child’s body was covered in dust.
Already wearing clothes that didn’t quite fit, the child began brushing the dirt off with small hands.
Then he hesitantly stood in front of the man.
Gripping the hem of the oversized shirt that hung down to his knees, the child nervously watched the man’s reaction.
An awkward smile accompanied it.
Meanwhile, the man could clearly see the large bluish bruise on the boy’s pale face and the corner of his mouth, split open and still bleeding.
“……”
“With a face like that, what are you smiling for?”
The man raised one eyebrow as he spoke.
The child’s awkward smile faded, his eyes widening as if forcing back tears.
He didn’t want to show himself crying.
But that wasn’t something a child should do.
The battlefield of life Sasha would face ahead would be even more ruthless than this.
Enduring everything from childhood was not a good habit.
“So what I mean is…”
He had no idea how to comfort a child.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, he saw Sasha flinch and bow his head deeply like someone who had committed a crime.
After thinking for a long time, the man bent his knees and lowered himself to meet the child’s gaze.
“I’m sorry. That this happened to you. It’s my fault.”
“Don’t hold it in. You can cry.”
At those words, Sasha looked up in surprise.
His wide eyes quickly filled with tears, and soon they began falling one by one.
The child made no sound.
No—he couldn’t.
It was such sorrowful tears that it made the observer’s chest ache.
“…Let’s go.”
Since he was young, Sasha had always been a child who smiled more than he cried.
Even the sight of falling leaves could make him burst into laughter.
So he didn’t want to cry.
At least not in front of this man.
He didn’t want his pity.
He wanted to leave only a good impression of himself—something better than who he really was.
Because this man was Sasha’s only lifeline.
But for him to apologize for something that wasn’t even his fault—and then say it was okay to cry—
That was truly unfair.
Sasha stared at the large hand extended toward him.
Even though the situation was completely different from the horrifying man earlier, his body had already learned fear. It froze, unable to take the hand.
Noticing this, the Major slowly withdrew his hand.
Then he quietly watched Sasha, who was still silently shedding tears.
“Do you know what Sasha means?”
At his question, Sasha stared at his feet for a moment before shaking his head.
Although he had learned many common languages, he didn’t know this one.
It must be Salvator’s native word.
“It means companion.”
“From the moment you received that name… you became my companion.”
The name had suddenly come to the man’s mind when he saw the child.
In truth, it had been the name of the grandmother of the Grenfell family’s beloved dog.
The animal had lived fifteen years and was surely long dead by now.
Yet the man shamelessly told the child the meaning of the name.
Perhaps it was due to the same impulse and pity as the day he had told the child to live in place of his family.
And seeing the child trembling and crying with drooping shoulders, he simply couldn’t leave him like this.
“……”
The child silently mouthed the name Sasha.
Watching him, the man curled his lips slightly in a faint smile.
The child’s tearful face brightened in an instant.
“I want my companion… to be happy.”
The fog in the child’s eyes cleared.
His tear-filled eyes curved softly, becoming even more beautiful.
After hesitating for a moment, Sasha was the first to extend his hand.
The man gladly took the small, soft hand.
The moment their warmth touched, Sasha felt as though the walls he had built deep inside his heart began to crumble, little by little.
The child walked hand in hand with the man.
The rhythmic sound of the man’s military boots striking the ground was like a gentle melody.
Each time Sasha hurried to keep up with his long strides, it felt as if a spring breeze from somewhere long past blew softly by.
It was a wind far too warm and tender to belong on a desolate battlefield.
On the hill, the few remaining great trees bowed their heads and rustled their leaves gently toward the child and the man.
