The soldier landed hard on his ass.
He scrambled to his feet, grimacing.
"Hey, you little brat, are you looking to die?" he snapped.
Then he kicked the boy in the shoulder.
He put plenty of strength into the kick, and there was a hint of pent-up anger behind it, but the boy didn't topple over. He clung fiercely to the corpse, bracing the blow with his not-so-broad shoulders. Instead of knocking the boy down, the soldier was thrown off balance by the force and grew even more humiliated.
The soldier spat, rolled up his sleeves, and prepared to teach the boy a lesson. The commotion caught the attention of an officer. The young man sat on a low stool, steadying his ragged breathing and suppressing the needle-like pain that throbbed deep in his head. The officer feared the disturbance might upset him.
He strode over with his blade in hand and barked, "What are you doing?"
The soldier's tailbone hurt badly. Seeing the officer approach, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and endure it, forcing a fawning smile onto his face. He pointed at the boy, whose eyes were bloodshot and brimming with murderous fury, and complained, "This troublemaker was trying to rebel! Just now, he even—"
The officer raised a hand, signaling for the soldier to shut up.
The soldier awkwardly fell silent.
The officer crouched and glanced at the corpse in the boy's arms. It was covered in blood, with several deep gashes across its chest that went all the way to the bone. Then he looked at the boy's face and roughly guessed the relationship between him and the dead man. "Do you know what place this is?"
He pointed to the ground beneath his feet.
The boy's breathing grew heavier. His gaze,