Zire was almost the same as that day. No... even messier than that. Sitting still without any movement, he looked like one who had lost every hope in life. This suffocated Commander Iria even more.
When she made her way to him, Zire heard her footsteps and turned his head to her. Then he rose from his seat. "Commander."
"I forbid you to leave the camp but not your tent," she said to him in a pretty firm voice. She briefly looked at the entrance and noticed that Rion was also standing there. His concern for his friend was very evident in his face.
"I apologize for making you worried," Zire said with his head lowered.
"If you're really sorry, then you should compose yourself, Zire," Iria Alewine uttered. "How long will you stay like this?"
Zire didn't say anything but he never lifted his head. He stood still with his gaze on the ground.
"I understand the pain of losing a love one," the Commander said in a much calmer voice. "When my father died, I was a mess too but you know what I did. In less than a week after he died, I shoulder all the responsibilities that he left me and hardened myself so that the Army won't fall apart.
"You're the General of this Army, Zire. Your responsibilities should come first than anything else. That's what I expect from you." Making a deliberate pause, she added, "Don't make me regret trusting you."
Rion who was standing at the entrance of the tent was taken aback by his Commander's words. Feeling confused, he looked at the expression on her face.
Slowly, he started to understand that this was her way of helping Zire to get back on his feet. She knew that Zire feared to disappoint her the most and she was using that to make him get to his sense.
Just as Rion expected, the words took quite a toll on Zire. He quickly lifted his head and looked at the expression on the Commander's face. Then he dropped to his knees.
"Please forgive me, Commander," he pleaded. "I won't disappoint you again. Please give me one more chance."
The Commander narrowed her eyes at Zire and without saying anything, she turned to Rion. "From now on, Zire will look after all the training of the soldiers until further orders," she said in an authoritative voice.
"I will make preparations for that," Rion quickly replied and Iria turned back to Zire.
"You must be on your toes, Zire. I won't tolerate any mistakes." When one thing crossed her mind, she added, "Continue with your training too. That test I promised you is still left undone."
With that said, Iria Alewine immediately left the tent.
Once the Commander was out of his sight, Rion walked towards his friend and helped him up. Then he made him sit on the chair. "You will have to brace yourself, Zire," he calmly said. "Watching over the training of thousands of soldiers without a single mistake is not an easy feat."
"I know," Zire muttered. "Seems like Commander is really disappointed in me this time."
As the youngest among them, Zire tends to be a bit childish at times and he wasn't that smart either. However, his passion was what earned him a spot as a General in the army. Rion was well aware of this. As such, he slightly smiled at his friend.
"Commander wants to help you," he said to Zire. "She knows that it's hard for you to compose yourself by your own will. So, she put pressure on you. That way, you won't give up even if it's hard. You won't want to disappoint her again, right?"
"I'd rather die than let it happen again," Zire said with his voice as low as ever.
"Then do your best," Rion stated. "The test is still around the corner."
Thinking of the test and the tough task ahead of him, Zire nodded. "I will."
*
Rion walked back to the Commander's tent after a few more conversations with Zire.
"Commander, seems like what you did will pay off. Zire just went to the training ground," he told his Commander who was sitting on the chair.
There was no response from the Masked Commander and Rion was surprised by it. She seemed to be thinking of something and... what troubled her to this extent?
"Rion."
Hearing her calling his name made him felt even more strange but he still responded. "Yes, Commander."
"Do you think we will be able to find some clues if we were to investigate my father's assassination case now? It's been three years."
Her strange question made Rion blinked. Investigate? Why so sudden?
"Everyone knows that it's the doing of the Qalagons," he said, dumbfounded. "Why would you want to investigate the obvious?"
Iria Alewine shook her head. "It's not the doing of the Qalagons. There is more."
"What do you mean, Commander?" Rion asked. He didn't understand anything.
"Someone powerful enough to silence everyone, someone influential enough to make the whole world believe that it's the doing of the Qalagons and... " Iria Alewine paused and the thing that crossed her mind made her heart sank. "Someone close enough to my father to know that he will be returning to the capital that day."
"But what about the belongings and symbol of Qalagon found in the area where the assassination took place?" Rion asked. His voice was the proof that he started to waver too.
"Those aren't hard to make," Commander Iria replied. "Maybe the mastermind behind that incident put there deliberately to pinpoint at the Qalagons." Looking up at Rion, the Commander asked, "Think about it, Rion. Whenever I sent you for some secret task in our enemy kingdoms, have you ever brought the symbol of our Jerivia or our Alewine Army?"
At her question, Rion started to understand what his Commander meant. "Only a fool would do that," he firmly said.
"Exactly," the Commander said. "The soldiers who checked the area easily find those things that have the symbol of the Qalagons."
She was too fixated on the army and taking care of the enemies who threatened the security of Jerivia the moment her father passed away. So, Iria Alewine never got the chance to look deeper. She blindly believed in the evidence while in reality, the whole thing was suspicious.
"Something is not right, Commander," Rion said to her.
"It will be hard but look into this matter," Iria Alewine commanded. "Be careful, Rion. Apart from you and me, no one should know about this." She paused and added, "Not even the royal family."
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