A month flew by quickly and as planned, the Elite Troop had carried out their siege plans on the towns that were marked out by the siege planning committee.  

Fires raged on, wails of suffering ensued, and battle cries sounded. Riding atop her sturdy reign, Seulgi knew all these were the unmistakable sounds of war, real war. There was no gallantry in laying siege to such a lightly guarded town, there was no cheers from civilians heralding your presence, and worse, there was no sense of hope for these abandoned people. This was war.

Gritting her teeth, Captain Seulgi, who was leading this siege took stock of how much time she had wasted into investing these unnecessary sentiments into a town that would soon be devastated by her men, and instead channelled her energy to motivating her men to work faster and with hardened hearts.

Countless of times, she caught the look of discomfort from her band of brothers and thoroughly regretted not having prepare them for such cruelty earlier. Yet, a good leader could make do with whatever situation she was thrown at and Seulgi decided to lead by example.

“Our focus is to destroy the land. If the people submit to us then we spare their lives, if not, we will have no choice but to kill these people of Wei’Ya.” Seulgi declared and the men in her immediate surroundings had obtained a steeled look in their eyes as they nodded in acknowledgement.

This was war, they told themselves and they set about their tasks.

The Strategist had been observing the siege from afar. Her face a mask of stone, as she witnessed town after town becoming wrapped in conflagrations of fire. Her stoic expression was a huge contrast to the inner turmoil she was experiencing. She heard the approaching hooves from the Fourth Prince’s steed but did not turn to meet his eyes. The Princess had returned back to the Palace to commit to her duties. Joohyun sighed, she truly craved for the presence of her best friend at the time to soothe her unsettled heart.  

“I visited that town when I was younger, you know?” The Fourth Prince remarked coolly as he pointed to the town that was near thorough destruction.

Joohyun closed her eyes as she let those memories flood her mind and a small, bitter smile emerged on her face unwittingly.

“I know, I was there too.” Joohyun replied, her voice sounding more distant that she had expected it to be, a sense of regret in them.

“Ah… yes, you were… My memory about our childhood times have become so bad recently. All that fills my mind now are scenes of battles. Now that I think harder about it… did you sprain your ankle then?” Sehun asked.

The Strategist nodded. “I did and the town doctor took really good care of me.” Joohyun shut her eyes as she zeroed her memory in on that incident when she had injured herself as a child and had been well taken care of by the kind villagers and the doctor.

Now she was destroying that town. Internally, Joohyun was screaming for the Elite Troops to stop but what was shown on her face was something else entirely. She felt like a bad person and was beginning to doubt her own plans. Has she not gone through such emotions before? Why was she still feeling so uncertain? Her mind then recalled the words that Seulgi had said to her under the tree.

“By making this country a safe place for you and me to live in.”

“Typical chivalrous sayings from a young, handsome Captain.”

“They will not remain as just sayings after I have carried out your plans the next month.”

It was then that the Strategist fully realise that those were not mere honeyed words from the Captain but also words which conveyed the Captain’s complete trust in her. That, became so much more meaningful to her and thanks to it, the Strategist was able to dispel her uncertainties about her plans. Do well and return safely, to me.

**

Seulgi received the water skin that was offered by her Lieutenant and took a long swig from it. The two were soon joined by their usual band of brothers, each with blood and soot smeared across their faces, and with the lingering smell of iron of blood and smoke from the blaze on them. The Captain regarded each of them and saw just how much they seemed to have matured with the taste of their first mission. Good. At least we are all still breathing.

The five of them continued sitting in silence until an urgent cry came for them.

“Help! Captain Seulgi and Lieutenants! Captain Suho and the Lieutenants are trapped!” A soldier, who wore the Indigo of Captain Suho’s company pleaded.

Asides from the soot that stained his skin, there were also scratches and blisters alike, blemishing it. The sight of this panicked and injured soldier unsettled Seulgi’s heart but before she managed to ask, Jongin had spoken first.

“What?! What happened?!”

“Where are the other soldiers in your company to help?” Chanyeol asked, much more calmly than Jongin.

The soldier then looked down as if he were ashamed before he confessed. “Without any commands and orders… we dare not do anything. The men are all scattered.”

“You cannot be serious, and what are we? The Elite Troop?” Chanyeol interceded.

“I am sorry… but the soldiers… they require orders.”

Making haste, Seulgi then held up her hand for her Lieutenants to let her deal with the matters. “Tell me what happened along the way and we will see how we can help.”

It turned out that due to a series of poor instructions, Captain Suho, his two Lieutenants and his men were in a compound when fire was set to it. Fanned by the winds, the blaze was spread quickly they were all stuck in the large compound. The soldiers in his company had been scrambling to put the fire out but because the efforts were so scattered, there was not much progress.

The party’s breaths hitched as they came upon the said compound. The fire had gotten bigger and the compound was nearly engulfed by vicious orange flames, making it almost unbearable for anyone to proceed forth. What was worse was the thick black smog that spewed out from the inferno, stinging and constricting their chests. The party had wasted much time into getting to the trapped soldiers’ aid, there was no more time to be wasted and Seulgi needed to act quickly. Seulgi had heard of how fires should have been put out before and immediately organised the men to the task. She truly prayed that they were not too late in their efforts.

“Indigo! Organise yourselves up into groups of fives! Get whatever shovels you can find! Pile dirt on the fieriest fires! Crimson, you guys will find the nearest water source and report back to me once you have found them.” Seulgi commanded and she looked at her Lieutenants, relieved to find that they had already organised themselves to supervise the rescue work.

“News for the Lieutenant Colonel!” A messenger came riding at lightning speed towards to the group who have been observing the burning of towns from afar.

The Strategist suddenly had an ominous feeling about the news the messenger carried and beckoned her steed over to where the Lieutenant Colonel was. True to her senses, Joohyun’s heart sank when she heard the dire news that the messenger had brought them.  

“The Captains of Indigo and Crimson have been met with misfortunes, we are unclear of their statuses now. The last that was heard of them being trapped in the conflagration.”

Joohyun thought she must have heard wrongly. The Captains of Indigo and Crimson… Her Captain, her Seulgi. It did not make sense. How could the two Captains be trapped at the same time when they were in separate towns. The Strategist never felt her head spinning so wildly before as she absorbed the news.

“Where are they?!” Joohyun asked, she knew that she must have sounded overly agitated but she could not care.  

Taken aback by the sudden interruption and as if surprised that there was a female within the military troop, the messenger then glanced at the Lieutenant Colonel and obtained a quick nod of approval from him.

“The Strategist has the rights to know everything within the army, especially with regards to the Elite Troop.”

Under normal circumstances, the Strategist would hav