Our next stop was the village of Gaipan, transformed into a fortified outpost guarding the only bridge in the surrounding region that connected the northwestern territories to the central north of the Earth Kingdom.
Here, the effects of "occupation" were already far more noticeable. The Fire Nation settlers and the local inhabitants might have coexisted within the same settlement, but they regarded one another with considerable distrust. And, in my opinion, there were far too many soldiers patrolling the streets for this supposedly "harmonious" way of life.
We, too, were met with cautious neutrality. The village was governed by a military commandant rather than a mayor or village elder, which also spoke to the lingering tension.
We were admitted to see him without delay or questions asked. A letter of authority bearing the seal of the Fire Lord still opened doors without fail, especially in a relatively small settlement, even one as heavily fortified as this.
"Herald, it is a great honor to welcome you to our humble village. I am Major Ariton, the officer responsible for these Fire Nation holdings."
The major was a short-haired man with utterly unremarkable features. No scars, no memorable marks, his hair only just touched by premature gray. Overall, he was the sort of completely ordinary person you forgot about three minutes after the conversation ended.
"Сommodore Chan."
In response to the officer's deep bow, I limited myself to a middling one. I outranked him both in station and birth; the fact that he was older did not make us equals. And there was no point in establishing more familiar relations with this soldier. He wasn't the mayor of Yu Dao, so polite neutrality would suffice.
"May I ask what I owe the honor of your visit to?"
"It's no secret. I've been tasked with conducting an inspection of the colonies, and my route happened to pass nearby."
"I see. Would you like to review the reports?" the soldier asked.
"I think that would be useful. I'd also like to hear your personal opinion regarding the overall situation." I took a seat at the table that had been prepared for me. "I assume you'll have enough time to brief me on local affairs while the documents are being gathered."
"As you wish, Herald."
And so the officer began his account.
Naturally, his story and the official reports would not be my only sources of information. Suki had already sent a pair of girls to the local market to "restock supplies," while Petty Officer Ramis—the same man I remembered from friendly sparring matches back on Kyoshi Island—had taken a few of the sharper lads with him to "wet their throats after the journey" at the local tavern. At this rate, he'd probably make commander soon enough. The twenty-seven-year-old was a genuinely clever man and clearly capable of more than leading five slackers.
The rest remained behind to unhitch the lizards and pressure the servants into arranging feed and lodging for them… though they could still slip a few questions into the conversation while they worked.
Ariton told me quite a few interesting things.
The village had become an outpost some twenty years ago, back when the front lines had passed close to these lands and the crossing over the strait had been considered a strategic objective. That was when the walls had been built and the families of the conquering soldiers resettled into the captured village.
But much had changed since then. The front had moved far to the south, the northern territories had become sparsely populated, and the crossing had gone from being a strategic asset to little more than part of a modest, lightly traveled trade route—enough to keep the village alive and slowly developing, but nowhere near prosperous enough to become a second Yu Dao.
Since the locals gained little real benefit from having troops stationed on their land, they weren't exactly thrilled by our presence either. Still, our people hadn't driven relations entirely into the ground. There had been no purges, no harassment of the populace unless someone actively caused trouble, and the soldiers even hunted down bandits in the surrounding area. Overall, the situation amounted to a wary, uneasy neutrality—we had never become "their own," but neither were we the monstrous villains people farther east made us out to be.
The only thing souring life for both the native Earth Kingdom residents and our settlers alike were the "partisans." Or rather, a gang of bandits drunk on their own supposed invincibility and impunity. They attacked Fire Nation patrols, but they were equally happy to rob ordinary merchants as well. Naturally, all of it came wrapped in patriotic speeches about freedom and independence.
These "freedom fighters" were apparently so dim-witted that they left living witnesses behind after their "operations." A pair of wounded soldiers from one patrol had managed to hide among the corpses of their comrades before later making their way back to friendly lines. It had never occurred to the partisans to check the bodies lying on the ground. As for merchants, these freedom fighters generally didn't kill them at all—merely stripped them bare "in the name of liberty."
What unpleasantly surprised me was that Ariton had failed to wipe out this gang for several years now, despite the fact that there were barely a couple dozen of them, and they'd grown brazen enough to raid the outskirts of the village itself!
...Yeah. I had suspected that remote garrisons weren't exactly staffed by military geniuses, but this was excessive even by those standards.
Fine. I'd decide later what to do with this unfortunate commandant—whether to demote him or merely issue a reprimand. That would depend on just how professional this gang actually was. Maybe they were all ninja-type fighters on the level of the Kyoshi Warriors, just severely lacking in experience?
(End of Chapter)
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