The sour steam of tannin acid mixed with the coppery smell of blood.
No one moved. The Earth People watched from their hiding places in the rocks, stunned. They had survived. Kael and his warriors leaned on their iron spears, chests heaving, the fury of battle beginning to be replaced by exhaustion.
And below, on the path, a score of bronze soldiers, disarmed and surrounded by their moaning wounded comrades, looked up in terror.
Seiko stood at the command post, next to the kneeling Commander and the motionless Acies. He felt the weight of every gaze. The victory was theirs. And now, the judgment too.
Seiko, his mind shifting gears. 'The tactical battle was a success. Now begins the strategic battle that every settlement has to decide to continue existing: politics.'
"Kael," shouted Seiko. His voice, calm and authoritative, broke what heralded the arrival of a great silence.
Kael looked up, his eyes still bloodshot after what happened.
"Secure the prisoners. Bind their hands. Gather all their weapons. And bring their wounded to the forge. Tyla, tend to ours first. Give Rikk water. Then, see what you can do for theirs."
Tyla, pale but steady, nodded and ran toward the wounded Earth People. Three men didn't get up.
"And him?" grunted Kael, pointing with his bloody spear at the kneeling Commander. "Do you want me to tie him up... or execute him?"
The Commander shuddered, but didn't beg. He was a soldier.
"Bring him," said Seiko. "Disarmed, without any weapons. I don't want him to be able to hurt anyone in his state."
Kael grabbed the Commander by the collar of his dented bronze armor (armour) and shoved him toward the main forge clearing. Seiko and Acies descended the path, walking through the remnants of the battle. He looked closely at the Klinklangs.
They were neutralized. The sticky acidic liquid had formed a corrosive crust on their gears, jamming them completely. They screeched faintly, but couldn't move.
"Don't touch them," Seiko ordered a miner who was approaching with a pickaxe. "They are... actually valuable to us."
In the forge clearing, in front of the Wall of Memory where Iris was already standing, Kael threw the Commander to the ground.
"Speak," said Seiko, standing in front of him.
The Commander looked up. His face was stained with soot and fear. He saw Seiko, then Acies at his side, and finally the carved stone wall behind him, where the word ARCEUS judged him.
"What... what are you?" spat the Commander. "A sorcerer? A Mountain Demon?"
"I am a person who sees through problems and creates solutions," replied Seiko. "And this is my home. You carry a banner. Who do you march for?"
"We march for the Great Empire," said the Commander with trembling pride. "We serve the Legion. We saw your smoke. We thought..."
"You thought we were savages? Tech thieves?" asked Seiko.
"It doesn't matter what we thought," said the Commander. "We underestimated your... witchcraft." He gestured toward the acid vats. "You destroyed our beasts. The Descendant of the White Hero entrusted us with those Pokémon... to fight against anyone."
'So they follow the white hero, a descendant of his,' thought Seiko. 'The Hero of Truth, the one who raised his head to Reshiram. What an irony.'
"Your truth served you no good against my knowledge," said Seiko. "Your bronze served no good against my iron."
"Iron?" The Commander stared at him, then at Kael's spear. "So it is true. The old myths. It is the steel of Sinnoh..."
"I am not from Sinnoh," Seiko cut him off. "I am from here. And you attacked my home. You killed my people."
At that moment, Tyla approached. Her eyes were red. "Seiko," she said, her voice breaking. "Our wounded are stable. But... Eria... Mako... and Tor... are dead. Crushed by the first avalanche."
Three dead. Three lives Seiko had known. Three people who had trusted him.
Eria, who had been the first to understand the charcoal pile. Mako, who had helped move the rocks. Tor, the youngest, who had only been there to pass the water vats.
Seiko closed his eyes for a moment. The victory tasted sour. His plan had saved the majority, but not everyone. The price of leadership.
Kael heard the news and a low growl rose from his chest. He put the tip of his iron spear to the Commander's throat.
"Oran. Eria. Mako. Tor," hissed Kael. "Four of ours. One life for each. Starting with you, Commander."
"Kael, no!" shouted Iris.
"It is justice!" roared Kael. "Eye for an eye! Tooth for a tooth! It is the Law of the Mountain!"
"That is no longer the only law here," said Seiko, his voice quiet but cutting like steel.
Kael froze and turned to Seiko. "You oppose justice for our dead?"
"I oppose waste," said Seiko. He crouched in front of the Commander, who was trembling under the tip of Kael's spear.
"Look at them," said Seiko to the Commander, pointing at the gathered people. "We were hundreds. Now we are a fraction less than that. We lost almost a hundredth of our people today. And you have twenty men alive and bound. What do I gain by killing you?"
The Commander stared at him, not understanding.
"What do you know?" asked Seiko. "Do you know how to smelt bronze? Do you know how to train soldiers? Do you know how to read a map? Do you know why your smoke was green? Do your skills possess more worth than the blood you spilled?"
"I... I am a soldier," stammered the Commander. "I obey orders..."
"And now you will obey me," said Seiko.
Kael withdrew the spear, dumbfounded. "What?"
Seiko stood up and addressed Kael and the entire people. "Kael is right. We lost four. And their blood demands a price. But we cannot afford vengeance. We aren't rich enough for that!"
He pointed to the Commander and the prisoners being gathered. "Look at them. They are twenty healthy men. They are twenty pairs of hands. They are twenty workers who can extract ore, stoke the forge, and build our wall. Kael, do you prefer twenty corpses you have to bury, or twenty slaves who will build the houses of Eria and Mako's widows?"
The use of the word 'slaves' silenced Kael. It was a brutal concept considering Seiko comes from the 21st century, where that isn't seen frequently, not on the main continents of course.
Continents like America (both North and South), Europe, and Oceania (largely), are countries where slavery as such almost doesn't exist.
In the middle of the 21st century, slavery continues to exist in Africa, Asia, and some regions of the other continents in Europe, America, and Oceania, the term slavery in that century is associated with the terminology of "debts." The common citizen being a slave to debts, therefore, to the country.
"No... we will not be slaves," said the Commander. "We are soldiers of the Legion..."
"You were a soldier," Seiko corrected him. "Now you are a prisoner. But I offer you a job." He turned toward the Wall of Memory.
"Our God is a Creator. Our pact is of work. We honor (honour) the Creator not with empty prayers, but with the sweat of our brow and the ingenuity of our mind. You," he said to the prisoners, "Spilled blood. Now, you will pay that debt with sweat."
"You and your men will work for me. You will extract twice as much ore as my people. You will build twice as fast. You will eat only after my people have eaten. You will learn our methods. And you will renounce your false Heroes."
"And if we refuse?" said the Commander.
Acies stepped forward, his blades shining.
"Work is worship," said Seiko. "And here, work is redemption. If you refuse to work... you refuse to live. Kael will have his justice, he will do what he wants with you."
The Commander looked at Kael's iron spear, at the steel Pokémon he hadn't been able to defeat, and at the quiet man who had turned berries and rocks into an absolute victory.
He bowed, his forehead touching the dirty earth of the forge.
"We will live," he whispered. "And we will work."
Seiko nodded. "Good. Kael, imprison them in the empty ore caves. Set guards. But give them food and water. Tomorrow, their work begins."
Kael, although visibly unhappy with the lack of blood, understood the logic. He nodded sharply and began barking orders.
Seiko stood alone, looking at the Wall of Memory. Tyla and Iris approached, their faces marked by the pain of their lost friends.
"Did I do the right thing, Iris?" asked Seiko quietly.
Iris looked at the people, who were already starting to tend to the wounded and clear the debris. Then she looked at the prisoners, a workforce that had just doubled their population.
"Kael wanted justice. You chose progress," she said. "Justice looks back. Progress looks forward. I think... I think that is what Seiko would do."
Seiko nodded. He picked up a fallen chisel. He looked at the wall.
"Tyla, rest," he said.
"But, Seiko... the dead..."
"Rest. You have fought. You have worked. I... I will carve their names."
Seiko turned to the Wall of Memory. He placed the iron tooth against the stone, and as the camp began to process its costly victory, a new sound joined the morning wind.
'CHINK... CHINK... CHINK...'
[A/N: I took a few days off for some rest and vacation, so sorry for not updating. I'll be posting more chapters right now. Since I've been away for several days, I'll be uploading 11 chapters in a row this time. But on Patreon, I'll keep the usual 10 chapter advance, just like I originally planned. You're all welcome to check it out. I hope you have a wonderful day, afternoon, or night. patreon.com/Nemryz]