Ment
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On April 19, the Bruttian rebels were gathered in the city square, where the imperial mage Shogo volunteered to execute them using the “Gravity” spell. Out of respect for the former general, Engressa Roselit executed Realgar Muscari personally and away from prying eyes, minimizing the latter's suffering. On this day, Private Berwang also took his own life: he could not cope with the cruelty of which he had been forced to become a witness and participant, and shot himself in the head.
It was a mistake... Sinful human nature had spun this wheel of hatred and mutual misunderstanding, leading to the only possible outcome. But... But...
A decision had to be made.
Xenomia reached for the strap of her weapon, intending to drop it to the ground and walk with a firm step into the ranks of those being executed. And suddenly she froze in that pose.
Teacher Muscari understood everything. He understood that he was not an executioner and would not shoot civilians. He understood that the command had made a mistake. But he also understood that for him, failing to carry out an order... without consequences... was impossible. For disobeying the order, for saving lives, he paid with the only thing he could — his life. Why? Because he loved Reime. Because he wanted the living to draw conclusions and become better. Because he was loyal to the crown until the very end. Would he want Mia to throw herself into the line of fire now because of him? For Berwang to shoot himself like that? No. This was the final lesson from the world's best teacher, and it meant "do what duty commands, and come what may. If necessary — bear the consequences for it, but do it." In a way, even the executioners, and even Shogo, were also performing their duty, caught in a trap set all around by human imperfection. Although Mia could not have been in their place.
Stupid. Stupid to think that high-ranking officials or Her Majesty must be listened to because they never make mistakes. They make mistakes, everyone makes mistakes, and that is precisely why we serve them. To become better together. So that the mistakes of the past fade into the past. Although it will not be painless, this pain can only be overcome together.
At that moment Mia wept bitterly, but in her small hands clutching the assault rifle, a certain special strength suddenly appeared that should not have been there; it seemed for a moment that the wooden grip would crack. The first chapter of Camelian philosophy had been mastered.
***
After the war ended, Xenomia asks Her Majesty to create a new boarding school for orphaned children and all those in need of help, as there were many such people. Additionally, instead of marinating children together with each other and their teachers in their grief, and raising "lost souls" like Berwang, Eli, or Reila, with a specific and painful outlook on life, Xenomia proposed something completely new. This school was to gather the best teachers and become an elite educational institution where non-socially problematic children could also enter after passing a competition. Normal children would be able to learn compassion and love for those who have fallen into misfortune, and orphans would not see the entire world outside the school as hostile toward them. Although, of course, this would require very serious attention and diligence from the teachers.
When Mia finished writing, she patted Alik on the head, who sat nearby and watched with interest. He and his mother had been quite frightened recently, as Dreyerian troops had marched in dangerous proximity to their home during the last war. If not for the Reime army and the 606th Battalion with Mia arriving to the rescue, it is unknown if Alons would have ever seen his sister again. But all the greater was the joy of reunion.
With eyes filled with genuine admiration for a true hero, he asked:
-- Mia, can... I enter there too?
-- Well, I can't ask Her Majesty to accept you without a competition, right? -- the girl smiled, warmly and confidently, as if she had never been a shaking and tearful girl worrying about not succeeding in anything. Then she tugged Alik's hair once more. -- So do your best!
In the next room, Thalia's sobs could be heard; she once again could not contain her emotions over the fact that her daughter had become a hero of Reime. She had gone through the war, returned alive, and her battalion had literally led the formidable Chancellor Larian, bound and defeated, into Reime. Xenomia herself had then delivered the final blow — with a syringe, of course, so that the chancellor would not die from battle wounds, which became a small family joke.
-- I hope to take a small part in this myself, Alik. It would be nice... Not to teach, of course... But it seems I am being accepted into Hegon. And that means I will look for future students myself.
-- Mia... You are so cool.
Goosebumps unexpectedly ran down the girl's spine, and as if in slow motion, she saw the inkwell tip over and flood the letter with a thick mass. Xenomia sighed and rested her forehead on the table.
-- Well, now I have to write it all over again...
***
And then — work in Hegon, among people providing material and moral assistance to victims. Searching for those very orphans, encouraging them and placing them in good hands... Mia tried to collaborate with idols and other artists to organize charity concerts (fortunately, the group "Tulpan" had come up with the same idea themselves). Xenomia herself would periodically appear on stage and say warm and encouraging words to people that everything would be alright. In such moments, it was hard to recognize the timid girl; she had truly learned to be inspiring, if only rarely and a little bit, but precisely when it was needed most.
At the end of the war, Xenomia realized that she had been using her bracelet incorrectly. This was especially clear against the backdrop of the internal work she had done studying the ideas of Daikyo, but Mia also began to understand some things from Enclessian books that she hadn't noticed before. Together with the mystery of how an artifact like a bracelet that kills its owner or brings terrible pain could be used by Nerissas for many generations, a certain picture emerged.
Until Xenomia's generation, no Neriss had put on the bracelet without being ready for it. Not because the bracelet itself is dangerous, but because... it truly emphasizes and amplifies what you have inside. If everything is alright inside you, you become stronger, but if not... then your internal disharmony and the evil within you are amplified along with everything else, but since it brings only pain to your soul, it ultimately expresses itself sensorially as pain. Something like... that. In short, you can put this thing on, but only when you know exactly what you are doing.
Be that as it may, Mia learned a lot and continued to learn until now, reinforcing some of her skills with others and seriously contending for the title of one of the best, while also working and helping people... However...
***
Xenomia walked through the forest and thought a lot. About her fallen friends whom she could not save. About Teacher Muscari, who was executed. About Kamiya Yuki, who unexpectedly turned out to be a rebel, despite seeming too great an opponent of violence for such a thing. In general, this war, these events happening in the country, affect people — everyone — differently. Some blend into the general rhythm, find their place and happiness, while others...
There are surprisingly many of these people. They cannot get used to the emerging new order. Cannot get used to the fact that some people dear to them are no longer in this world. Cannot get used to the fact that they were conquered by another country. Cannot get used to strict frameworks and the Code. That while they may do good things, they are entirely replaceable cogs in this large system. If they are lost, a hand with a screwdriver will simply screw someone else into their place and nothing much will change. Cannot get used to the fact... that they returned from the war, and no longer need to fight and shed their blood, even though that is exactly what they do best.
-- What is this? -- through the trees Xenomia saw some wooden hut.
"Strange, if it's a village, it wasn't on the map... I'll have to report to Hegon so they can check for people."
When the girl decided to approach a bit closer, a wind blew and a huge branch fell, hitting her painfully on the back of the head.
-- Who's here? -- a man's voice was heard, and several people in military uniforms stepped out toward Xenomia.
-- Bah, how did you get here, girl? -- one of them asked Xenomia, who clearly didn't make the impression of a soldier in her walking suit. Mia rubbed the bruised spot on her head and didn't really want to pay attention to these weirdos. Somewhere on the edge of her consciousness: "they must be from the old army of Hem... settled somewhere in the hinterlands and avoided pursuit? Among those who are planning to raise another rebellion?", and then... well, whatever, what difference does it make. Just unlucky once again. Without combat gear and with only a pistol in her pocket, while these people had gone through the war, just like Xenomia herself, and were armed with assault rifles.
-- Why are you silent, tired of living? -- a second one approached and took Mia by the chin. -- Want to have some fun? You're so cute, I like it.
-- Leave her, listen. She's too quiet. Maybe she's sick with something. Come on, let's take her to our people.
It really turned out to be a village in the forest. Its population consisted mainly of such soldiers, but here and there faces of women and children could be seen in the windows, interested in what was happening... and, it seemed, frightened by something.
-- Please leave, we have nothing left! -- an old woman on the street rasped. -- The war is over and you don't belong here!
-- Shut up already! -- someone pointed an assault rifle at her.
-- Don't tell me to shut up. You'll kill me? Great, my old mouth won't take the last poppy seed from the young. But better kill yourself!
"Apparently, again, as then with Teacher Muscari, I must stand and watch indifferently as the sins of some lead to the sins of others and I can do nothing. Typical looting, right? I can do nothing. I cannot make people truly happy. I cannot return what they have lost... I cannot root out that which distances them from other people."
One of the escort soldiers approached their leader, who was chewing a dry blade of grass against the wall. The latter looked closely at Xenomia and nodded. Apparently, this meant approval for a bullet to the forehead — just to be safe. Although, perhaps conversely, they saw no threat and decided to do nothing...
A stone flew toward the leader but missed. Then another one — and hit his leg. A small boy was throwing them with a combat look, while his mother was already running after him. A nod from the calm man with the blade of grass — and the mother was roughly pushed into the mud, and the boy was grabbed by the shoulder and had a pistol shoved in his mouth.
A minute ago indifferent, Xenomia suddenly raised her hand with her pistol toward the soldier and shouted:
-- Stop!
The fighters looked at her with surprise and pointed their weapons now at the girl.
-- Knew something was wrong with her!
-- Drop the pistol!
Tears flowed from Mia's eyes and her knees shook... How familiar this is... She slowly lowered the pistol to the ground.
-- I must thank you. I think I got confused and forgot something important.
Mia's bracelet gave her its warmth.
"Anyone can do what lies within their power. Change the world as much as conditions allow."
Having laid down her weapon, the girl straightened up. Her eyes changed sharply; from extinguished and almost lifeless, they ignited.
"I never wanted to live like this. Real life is when everything is almost lost. A small mistake — and you didn't become a hero for someone."
Most of the soldiers noted with surprise that they could not move. To their foreheads... some pieces of paper had stuck? One soldier was being stared right in the eye by a smiling one-eyed fellow.
The remaining ones opened fire, as they noticed some movement — but too late; it was surprisingly... too fast.
"Did everything I could — lost. Did more than you can, to leave such weirdos with nothing, who decided to bully and kill other weirdos... Overcame myself..."
Xenomia's gentle fist slammed into the nose of the rebel leader, sending the latter crashing through a window pane with his head.
"And that is when I won. This is what I always wanted to do — conquer myself!"
***
The day when Xenomia, covered in her own blood, returned from the Hem forest and reported the missed village and a bunch of bound Hem soldiers to Hegon (none of them were as injured as Mia had been, as far as could be seen) becomes the beginning of something new. In Hegon, a "crisis response" squad is developed, more focused on the combat aspect than the others, though not forgetting the main virtues of Hegon.
Xenomia left humanitarian aid to other people for now.
Alons Neriss successfully entered the new school. With his sister in Reime, they see each other quite often.