Every morning when Leo went to the city defense battalion, he would find Brad Baker already there. Brad was more diligent than the first ray of dawn, arriving at the riding grounds long before anyone else. He would always be sitting straight-backed on his horse, waiting for Leo.
"Leo! Get excited! We have horses of our own now! If you can't get enthusiastic about riding, what can you get enthusiastic about? How are we supposed to complete the city defense battalion's assignment?"
Leo would always answer helplessly, "I don't know what we're going to rely on to finish the assignment, but it definitely won't be your pretty black horse."
The two of them had already been with the city defense battalion for several days, but they had made no progress at all on the task assigned to them. As usual, they rode toward Toronia Square.
Leo frowned the entire way, constantly thinking. Brad, meanwhile, carried no burden at all and let his horse walk slowly through the streets. The crisp clop of hooves always filled him with pleasure.
Sitting on horseback meant being away from the ground, away from its dust, its sewage, its mud, and its horse manure. It also meant being closer to the enthusiastic young women sitting on the second-floor balconies.
The roads here were narrow. Two carriages side by side already made things cramped, so Brad was not far from the women on those balconies. From time to time, he raised his riding crop and greeted different girls with a smile, putting his charms on display.
Most of the girls did not recognize Brad's shoulder boards and had no idea what rank he held. But Brad had pinned his mage badge to his chest. It bore a five-pointed star representing the five schools of Superstring Magic. A distinguished young mage naturally drew plenty of attention from the women.
Leo was always worried that some glamorous young wife would open a second-floor window, accidentally hit Brad with a stick, and then Brad would be beaten to death by her husband's younger brother.
The two rode all the way to Toronia Square. From far away, they could see a flock of crows circling above the gallows. Crows were a symbol of death.
Every day, the city defense battalion hung three criminals there. It was still early, and soldiers from the city defense battalion were taking down yesterday's corpses and replacing them with new criminals. These prisoners were either arsonists responsible for the fires in Blackport City or spies of the West Empire.
For the first three days, the Count had personally presided over the hangings. Leo could still remember Toronia Square then, packed shoulder to shoulder with people. Amid the crowd's thunderous cheers, ropes hauled the criminals up by their necks. The more they struggled, the more excited the spectators became. It was as if only by cheering at the tops of their lungs could they take revenge on the criminals who had stolen their property and taken the lives of their loved ones.
From the fourth day onward, the Count stopped presiding personally, and Major General Stuart took his place. The spectacle remained just as grand. Today was already the seventh day.
Leo and Brad's assignment was to fill the criminal quota for one of those days. In other words, they had to find three criminals and put them on the gallows. As representatives of the 4th Infantry Battalion, they had to help the city defense battalion complete one day's quota.
The crows were unbearably noisy. The crows here were huge, some as long as a man's arm, and their cries were harsh and ugly. They had guarded the dead on the gallows all night, only to have the city defense battalion's men take the bodies away in the morning.
At last, Brad grew a little serious. He frowned. "What are we supposed to do? The city defense battalion is responsible for the first ten days, and the Police Bureau is responsible for the next ten. We only have three days left. Where are we supposed to find three criminals?"
Leo glanced at him. "You could ask one of the young ladies you just met whether she has any persistent suitors who annoy her. In other words, your rivals in love. We can send your rivals to the gallows."
Brad replied seriously, "What? I don't need that! I don't need dirty tricks like that to defeat my rivals! I, Brad Baker, will conquer those beautiful young ladies with nothing but my charm!"
Then Brad said thoughtfully, "Leo, I heard the Police Bureau already has the criminals for the next ten days prepared. Where did they get so many prisoners?"
Leo said, "You know, the Police Bureau has a lot of people, which means they have a lot of rivals in love. Grab a few rivals and the quota is filled. At a time like this, who's still checking whether the men being hanged were actually the arsonists from a few days ago?"
Leo turned his horse away from Toronia Square, and Brad followed. Brad had no ideas of his own. Whatever Leo did, he did too.
Leo rode silently toward the southern part of the city. For once, even Brad's enthusiasm for showing off his big black horse had faded considerably.
The southern district had been the first place to catch fire. Leo and Brad had come here on the very first day after receiving their assignment. At the time, the fire had only just been extinguished, and the south of the city was at its most miserable.
The smell of roasted meat drifted through the air. If one then saw the hard, blackened human shapes in the ruins, so charred that they were difficult to recognize, it was almost impossible not to vomit. Along the road, people sat on the ground and sobbed at the wreckage.
The southern district was the slum of Blackport City. The houses here were all wooden. There were no brick walls and no raised firebreak gables to stop the flames, so the fire had been even more destructive.
Another four or five days had passed, and things were a little better now. But only because people had cried themselves out and there was no crying left.
Leo kept heading toward where he remembered Steve Doug's home to be. Aunt Regina Doug, Steve Doug's wife, had gone to the north of the city yesterday to find Leo's mother.
The apartment the East family had been renting had also burned down, but Leo's family could simply rent another place. According to Aunt Regina Doug, however, her family had run into difficulties and had no choice but to ask the East family for help. Leo had come this time specifically to see Uncle Doug and his family.
Uncle Doug's house had already burned to the ground and was completely unrecognizable. Leo frowned as he looked at the ruins. Uncle Doug's family had to be having an extremely difficult time now.
Black Harbor had been devastated. Uncle Doug's family had already lost its source of income, and now they did not even have a home to live in.
At that moment, a young man at the street corner called out to Leo. "Leo! Over here!"
Leo turned. It was Neil Doug, Steve Doug's eldest son. Neil was one year younger than Leo, sixteen this year. The two of them had grown up together and had been each other's closest childhood companions.
Leo had no younger brother. He had once treated the Doug family's two sons, Neil and Carl, like his own little brothers. But after Leo turned fifteen, his fate changed completely. He went to the Military Academy and came home only a few times a year, and he and Neil gradually drifted apart.
When Neil saw Leo sitting on the tall brown horse, his gaze briefly became evasive. Leo immediately swung down from the saddle, though he could not help sighing inwardly.
One boot landed in the filthy mud of the slum, but Leo did not mind. Brad hurriedly dismounted as well and greeted Neil with his usual easy familiarity.
Leading their horses, the three walked side by side toward the wooden house the Doug family had newly rented.
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