"Grisha, you're spacing out here again."
"Don't call me Grisha. Call me Grigori. I'm already an adult."
"Alright, Grisha~"
The boy turned around angrily and ran into the bushes, leaving the laughing children behind.
Those children had formed a little group of their own and even conducted daily patrols in earnest, saying they would join the resistance when they grew up.
They made it sound nice, but hadn't they failed to save Lady Nora too? Grisha lashed the ground with a branch.
Lady Nora...
Whenever Grisha thought of the figure who had stood before them, his heart twisted painfully.
Lady Nora had died while covering their retreat.
Back then, the noble lords of the Northern Territory had sent many cavalrymen to sweep the area. Though the resistance called itself an army, most of them were ordinary people fleeing disaster. They had been hiding in the woods all along. This time, they had finally scraped together a group to trade for food in town, but somehow, they had been discovered.
Lady Nora had told them to run, then charged alone at the cavalrymen with a flail in hand.
Grisha had wanted to help her, but the moment he saw the cavalrymen's curved blades, his heart had begun pounding wildly. His mind had been filled with nothing but fear. By the time he came back to himself, he was already collapsed in the camp with everyone else, gasping for breath.
Thinking of this, Grisha slapped himself hard. After standing there blankly for a while, he sat down on the ground and began to sob.
He would never see Lady Nora again.
Nora had been a very stern person. She would scold him, make him stand as punishment when he did something wrong, and give him roasted chestnuts.
Everyone in the resistance deeply