A dozen soldiers from Osnabrock emerged from the forest, their faces twisted into fierce, lecherous grins like starved hyenas that had gone without food for ten days or half a month spotting fresh meat.
“This forest isn’t one you can pass through… This is the resting place His Grace Duke Wilson selected for himself by His Majesty!”
The jester cackled with a hey-hey, beckoning his companions with a hooked finger to take down Ye Tang and her group.
“The Angels, please stay right here! Once His Grace the Duke slumbers eternally here, we’ll send you on your way to join him!!”
Ye Tang had only her white garment and no weapons on hand.
If she were alone, she could have used the white garment to strangle one or two soldiers, then make an example of them before seizing the jester as a hostage to escape. But behind her were Claudia, Gloria, Cinderella, Emily and Kim, as well as May and Emma.
She alone could not protect so many people.
“Madam! Get down!”
No sooner said than done— the moment Ye Tang heard the shout, her body reacted. She spun around and lunged forward, tackling the still-dazed Cinderella and the others, as well as Kim and Emily who knelt on the ground, legs too weak to stand.
Claudia’s reaction was only a second slower than Ye Tang’s. A bit farther from Ye Tang, she too lunged forward, shielding her younger sister Gloria beneath her.
Gunshots rang out one after another. When the gunfire ceased, the jester and the squad he led lay in rivers of blood, none still alive.
A burly, hulking man slung his smoothbore musket back over his shoulder. Ye Tang, clambering up from the ground, stared at him in astonishment.
“Ted…?”
The newcomer was none other than the big black thug from the old “employment agency,” Ted.
“Yes, Madam.”
Ted doffed his hat and saluted Ye Tang. “We were ordered by Duke Wilson himself to come rendezvous with you.”
“This is truly… beyond my expectations. I never imagined I’d see you here.”
Ye Tang laughed as Ted helped her to her feet. Ted’s epaulets showed he was now a lieutenant.
“After being conscripted, I never thought I’d have the chance to see you again either, Madam.”
Ted laughed too. He unbuttoned his uniform and pulled a letter from the inner pocket at his chest, handing it to Ye Tang.
It was a handwritten letter from Duke Wilson. Ted and his men were indeed dispatched by Duke Wilson.
Ye Tang skimmed the letter in a single pass and did not share its contents with the others.
The letter stated that the struggle between the Crown Prince and the Second Prince had finally settled, with the Crown Prince eking out a narrow, pyrrhic victory. However, the nobles did not support the Crown Prince, for he had slain many powerful nobles during his feud with the Second Prince and thus lost their trust.
Gaining trust did not matter; it was enough if they had no choice but to support him—that was the mindset with which the Crown Prince now turned against Duke Wilson.
Ye Tang had already heard these details once from Hope and Fian. Duke Wilson’s letter glossed over them in a few vague words.
It was clear Duke Wilson no longer had the energy to explain further.
Duke Wilson had already suffered severe wounds in the war, and now with this assassination attempt, his injuries were dire. He had resisted Tartafu’s armies for so long that the army’s doctors were down to less than one in ten. The doctors in Tarafa Port had long fled the city. For Duke Wilson to be saved, he either needed to leave Tarafa Port or await a miracle—
As a supporter of the Hedelin Medical Team, Duke Wilson had faithfully implemented the epidemic prevention protocols Ye Tang devised. This was why the Hedelin Medical Team, always rushing to the front lines of plagues, had yet to reach Duke Wilson’s side.
But after the plague in Millerum was brought under control, the only two cities in Osnabrock without the footprint of Hedelin’s Angels were Tarafa Port and Capital Vitril. The route from Millerum to Capital Vitril passed through Tarafa Port, so the Hedelin Medical Team’s next destination was inevitably Tarafa Port.
The sea route to Tarafa Port was held by Tartafu’s armies. Duke Wilson guessed the Crown Prince would tamper with the land route from Millerum to Tarafa Port, so he sent Ted—who had prior ties to Ye Tang—to bring men and rendezvous with Ye Tang and the others.
The sea route was blocked, and detours might let Duke Wilson die waiting. Only one path lay ahead for Ye Tang.
A path riddled with landmines.
“Ted, can you escort Dia and the others back to Millerum?”
Even if alone, Ye Tang had to head to Tarafa Port. But she could not let the others follow her to their deaths.
“Mother, what are you saying!?”
Cinderella reacted faster than her sisters. Like a koala clinging to a tree trunk, she hugged Ye Tang’s arm tightly, afraid that in the next second Ted and his soldiers would obey Ye Tang and come drag her away.
“Regrettably, Madam, even at your request, I cannot do that.”
Ted shook his head. “It’s not that I don’t want to—it’s impossible… The Crown Prince sent more than one unit of troops. That earlier explosion already gave away your position. If we don’t cross this forest tonight and reach Tarafa Port by noon tomorrow, we’ll face a pincer attack.”
“I see…”
Ye Tang sighed, a rare occurrence for her.
Cinderella breathed a sigh of relief, only to tense up again at once. “So that means we’re setting off right now?”
“Exactly.”
Ted waved his hand, and soldiers immediately untied the horses, leading them into the forest.
Boom!!
Another massive boom rang out as yet another landmine detonated.
“Let’s go.”
Not all of Ted’s men traveled fully with Ye Tang and the others. A few veterans approached Cinderella and the rest with smiles, saluting them. “It’s an honor to meet Hedelin’s Angels.” Then, after doffing their hats in respect, they headed off in a different direction from Ye Tang’s group.
“Hedelin’s Angels! May the gods bless you!”
A young soldier flushed red as he dashed past Claudia and the others. Before Claudia could nod to him, the boy vanished into the forest in a burst of speed.
Half an hour after Ted led Ye Tang’s group deeper into the forest, a massive boom echoed from the direction the young soldier had taken. Claudia finally realized why that boy had left the group to take point.
Five minutes later, explosions rang out from a completely different direction. Gloria could not hold back her tears any longer at the sight of the veterans’ faces in her mind; she wept alongside Cinderella, Emily, and Kim.
The young soldier ahead had used his body to clear mines for the Hedelin Medical Team. Since explosions would reveal the team’s position, the veterans scattered to various directions, detonating landmines now and then to create confusion.
“Hedelin’s Angels, safe travels to you.”
“You truly gave my wife so much courage. Her letters to me were full of stories about you.”
“On behalf of my family in Bastia, thank you, Angels.”
“My fiancée said after meeting Hedelin’s Angels, she wants to become a doctor too. She said even if she can’t be a doctor, she can be a nurse. I promised her I’d support her through medical school no matter what. I won’t go back on my word.”
“Please, save Duke Wilson. Please, save the people of Vitlil.”
“Angels, thank you for bringing us hope amid the plague.”
“The war is nearly over… Thank you, Hedelin’s Angels. This is all thanks to you.”
The soldiers peeled off one by one. Sometimes alone, sometimes two or three together. The group of fewer than twenty gradually dispersed into the dark forest. And each boom signaled the fall of a life.
Claudia’s tears had run dry, leaving two muddy streaks winding down her face.
The sky had turned fish-belly white at some point, and a faint light glimmered ahead in the forest. Ted suddenly halted, signaling the ladies behind him—who had long since gone numb to the ache in their feet—to stop.
A squad of seven or eight lay ahead. They had ceased advancing because a slight bump protruded from the ground ahead. A landmine.
A closer look revealed not just one landmine ahead. There was likely a minefield trench, packed full of them.
“Where the hell are the men Duke Wilson sent? Explosions everywhere—how do we figure out where those guys went?”
“Who knows… The other units haven’t fired signal flares either. Probably didn’t find anything.”
The soldiers chatted idly, oblivious to the several pairs of human eyes that had appeared in the forest.
Only two soldiers remained guarding Ye Tang’s group now. One was Ted, intimately familiar with the terrain and directions from his courier work. The other was a local youth from Tarafa Port.
The youth was little more than filler. The uniform jacket he wore wasn’t even proper issue—just something he’d stripped off a corpse and thrown on.
The jacket was still too big for him.
“Hey, little child.”
Ted did not know this kid who had slipped into his squad under cover of night. But that did not stop him from issuing orders to the boy as a superior officer.
“L-Lieutenant…”
The youth was terribly nervous, convinced he would be sent to trigger that minefield trench.
With the scale of that trench, forget a squad of seven or eight—even a hundred men could be blown sky-high. The chance was only once; if spotted by the enemy without promptly detonating the mines, whether the eight of the Hedelin Medical Team or Ted and this youth, all would be riddled with bullets.
To speed their movement, the Hedelin Medical Team had dumped their supplies at the forest’s edge. Ordinary thrown objects lacked the weight to trigger landmines. To pass, another fresh life had to be offered.
“Little child,”
Ted clapped the youth on the shoulder, nearly knocking him over. His useless demeanor worried Ted a bit. But Ted still handed the boy the heavy task.
“Protect Hedelin’s Angels. Make sure to get the Angels safely to Tarafa Port, got it?”
The youth stared blankly. So did Cinderella and the others.
Even Ye Tang took a moment to process it.
Ted charged out.
Spotted by the enemy, he took multiple bullets yet barreled ferociously toward the minefield like a black bear.
Boom!!!
The biggest explosion yet thundered. The shockwave from the blast nearly hurled Ye Tang and the others lurking in the forest off their feet.
Amid the light and flames, Ted grinned wide, mouth agape in an “Ooooh ooooh ooooh——!!!”
He seemed to stand once more on the riverbank, where a mother with two daughters performed CPR on a child.
That mother, to revive the near-dead boy, pinched his chin and gave him mouth-to-mouth.
Back then, Ted had felt shocked, thinking it was because an “upper-class” person was saving a “lower-class” one.
Later, Ted realized the true shock was not that “upper-class” folk had humanity, but that as a parent, that mother had taught her child something invaluable.
Not CPR or mouth-to-mouth.
A heart of compassion.
He, who had always worked as a thug in the past, only thought about feeding the big mouths back home. He had never considered what he could leave behind for his children as a father, nor did he know what he, as an adult, could teach a group of children.
—How could someone like him, who only possessed a body full of violence, dare to aspire to those noble and beautiful things born from the spirit?
But now, everything was different.
Ted knew what he could leave for the children waiting for him at home.
Of course, he meant things besides the pension payment.
Sincerity, decisiveness, courage, and the desire to protect something precious. He wrote all of these in the letter. His soul would arrive alongside the letter at his children’s side. Perhaps his children could inherit one or several of these from him. Who knew?
He led by example and died without regrets.