On the Road, Obstacles Are Inevitable (Part 3)

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After the quick victory, it was time to examine the 'lucky' survivors.

Most of the earth mages presented a horrible sight. Bodies torn apart, with giblets scattered everywhere. Even for such battle-hardened soldiers, it was an unpleasant sight. I myself felt something incomprehensible, looking at the bloody pieces left after the fleeting battle. The benefit of muted emotions allows me to think rationally at any moment, or almost any moment. It's a good thing Azula didn't take her friends. They shouldn't have to see such horrors of war. However, there was no time to examine myself and my feelings, I stood back and watched the work of the soldiers and Zula's further actions from the side.

The princess gave out orders, the subordinates immediately began to fulfil them. The battlefield was immediately inspected for survivors or hidden enemies. Fortunately, no new enemies were found in the area. The soldiers could concentrate all their efforts, solely to contain the breakfast that was bursting forth. Picking up the bodies piece by piece and then burning them was a great challenge for some of the soldiers. It was a good thing I couldn't smell much, if the whispering soldiers were to be believed: it stank.

Among the defeated mages, there were a few lucky ones who kept their arms and legs. They had only suffered concussion and concussion. Of course, there were some less fortunate people who managed to survive with a severed arm or leg, but such wounded people were easier to kill. A mercy strike with a fiery dagger to the heart. In such cases, a man's body only shakes a little in convulsions and then goes quiet. Forever.

Humanity and the value of life, such ideas are simply not common in this era. And to waste valuable medicines on a wounded enemy... not the mentality of the people of the Fire Nation. Absolutely not. And I agree with them on that. Most of the survivors were simply living corpses, because even with medicine, it was impossible to save them. Even if Azula and I had used fire healing, there was nothing we could have done. Only prolonging their suffering for nothing. Although, with such wounds, none of the people were conscious and I doubt they felt any pain.

Having finished sending to the spirit world all seriously wounded opponents, namely those who had lost limbs and would soon die of blood loss themselves. The soldiers gathered a few of the concussed earth mages and began their interrogation. While at this time, off to the side, other fire soldiers were burning a large pile of corpses. For most of the soldiers, the sight of burning bodies was something that was still commonplace. Unlike the aftermath of a very large explosion in the enemy ranks. Amazing double standard.

There was no torture, per se. They simply weren't necessary. Bringing people to their senses was already a difficult task, and having managed it, the soldiers faced other problems.

Slap! Slap! Slap!

- Wake up, you mole and shrew! - After a few slaps, the soldier began trying to make conversation with the prisoner.

- Boo. Ahem. The body didn't answer, it was emptying its stomach, choking on its own vomit.

- Come to your senses, now! Or I'll fry your legs to a crisp," but the threatening stares were useless. The captive didn't even realise what was happening, he couldn't even sit up straight, preferring to lie in the mud.

- Erm... Boooo. Hrmpfch. Boooo...

The concussed survivors could barely string words together in a sentence. This was compounded by the fact that they were now all deaf. They were constantly vomiting and the soldiers couldn't even stand on their feet. Clear signs of concussion. The shockwave didn't leave anyone unharmed. Azula's subordinates simply couldn't establish any dialogue with them.

- Boo!

- Bastard! You shit on my boots! - cried out the unhappy interrogator when the threats failed.

- Ha-ha-ha-ha... - at this time, the unfortunate soldier was being laughed at by his fellow soldiers, laughing quietly into their hands.

The princess looked at all this idiocy and took everything into her own urchin mittens, subtly mocking the soldiers for their stupidity and lack of creative thinking. Unbeknownst to the others, she asked for a little help from me. I saw no point in refusing. I had to help her heal the soldiers of the earth kingdom. The girl was good at fire healing. We didn't even try to cure them completely. Although... we probably could have, some of them.

So I just patched them up so that we could get in touch and talk, and then Azula started to act, and she acted in a very hypocritical manner. Instead of torture, she decided to do what she does best - lie!

- What? Where am I? What's going on? Have we gone? - the man who was barely conscious spoke in a slurred tongue.

- Thank heavens you're alive. - Azula immediately began to improvise, perfectly playing the role of a good-hearted girl, ally of the sick man and hater of all fire people.

The princess lied. Lied a lot, qualitatively and convincingly, using all her genius and acting skills. She had no equal in this business. At least, I've never known her equal in both my lives.

The prisoners never fully recovered, so they did not realise what was happening, to whom and what they were saying. The unfortunate ones even had vision problems. On top of that, everyone had slight memory lapses. One of them had even lost his memory, and his life wasn't very long when he found out.

Zula did her usual thing. With cunning and sweet words she forced each captive to overcome their deplorable state of health and give everything they needed and more. The tactics chosen by the girl worked perfectly. Until the very end, the captives had no idea who they were talking to and who they were giving information to.

However, even so scanty information had to be collected piece by piece. It was a pity I couldn't get inside them and gut their memories properly, so much time was spent on interrogation. Alas, that could only work with people who had the blood of the Fire Nation in their veins. The rest of them I would kill almost instantly with my attempted transmigration. It would be impossible to learn anything in such a case. Nevertheless, it was an immoral success. The condition of the survivors made it impossible for them to lie, and they could barely think, responding on reflexes. When Azula realised this, the interrogation became even more like a hypnosis session.

Alas, all the officers were dead, and there wasn't much point in questioning the rank and file. The princess even began to regret a little that she had ordered Berkrut to destroy the enemy. It could have been done with the Guards, perhaps with losses, but then she would have gained more valuable prisoners. Even so, we learnt a great deal.

The squad was sent for Azula's head on the orders of a subordinate of one of the five generals, Ba Sing Se. His name, like the general's, told me nothing. As I suspected, the earth mages had learnt quite a few details about the princess from spies. What kind of spies the common soldiers didn't know. I think the officers of the squad didn't know about them either, but that didn't reassure Azula in the slightest. The very fact that the perfect princess had missed spies in her inspection made the girl almost blaze with the blue flames of her anger. The trivial information about hiding places, hidden warehouses and a couple of hidden bases behind the front lines rather acted as a consolation prize for the losing side. We were unable to learn anything of particular value from the soldiers.

Soon the interrogation with sightseeing was over, the wounded prisoners were finished and burned, paying small honours to the dead for the repose of their souls. Such a thing was logical, considering that the existence of mystics and spirits in this world was not a myth, rather a true fact documented in history. However, the princess paid no attention to this.

Azula, as if nothing had happened, went back to her friends while the soldiers carried out the order to clear the way to continue the journey. I followed her. There was nothing special for me to do anymore, I could relax and rest a bit while enjoying the surroundings.

- Azula!

As soon as the princess appeared next to the rest of the squad, she was instantly grabbed into an insanely tight hug - Tai Li!

- I'm so glad you're safe and sound! Was the fight difficult? Were there a lot of enemies? Are there any wounded among us? Do they need help? Well, don't be silent!!! - the acrobat immediately began to flood her friend with questions, clutching her friend tighter. Azula didn't try to break free from them, graciously standing still and letting the acrobat do whatever she wanted.

- Ahem. Easy," the princess clapped the girl on the shoulder, hinting for her to stop the hugging session.

- I'm sorry, I was a little overexcited," Lee pulled away, embarrassed.

- Your worries are unnecessary. We won without any losses. Berkut performed well in the battle. Too good. But enough about that. Did you have any incidents here while I was away? - The princess inquired, examining the rhinos with the soldiers who were busy guarding them. The girl's gaze quickly found Mei, who was bored sitting on her rhino komodo.

- No. Everything was quiet, but what was that rumbling noise? It was like lightning striking somewhere very close by. Oh, was that explosion magic? Yes?

- That's right. We can talk on the way, but now... - Azula takes more air in her chest, and addresses everyone, - saddle the rhinos! Rest is over! Let's go on our way!

The squad set off again.

In the next few days we did not encounter any more ambushes or enemies. I went back to my routine, minding my own business.

(***)

A week later.

Locked in the living room left by the girls, I sat at the table, working hard with a brush. Beautiful letters appeared lightly on the blank parchment, forming into words, sentences, text... with a slight movement of my hand.

What I was doing now was trying to recreate the technology of radio communication from memory, transferring it to parchment. It was a bit more complicated than I had hoped, but I understood the general meaning perfectly well. I tried to put it on paper with all the necessary drawings. There were some more books on the table nearby. In one of them I had already written down everything I knew about electricity and the principles of its work and usefulness.

I thought of it first, realising that fire mages can generate this electricity in huge quantities. Azula was releasing hundreds of lightning bolts into the sky in a single training session, which is not a weak figure. This is roughly how the Fire Nation uses a steam engine. One fire mage can keep the engine running without any fuel for hours to a day, depending on the mage's stamina. But since the mages are few and solid warriors, the use of coal is more appropriate.

Other books contained more petty knowledge. In some of them I wrote and drew the principle of operation of a writing pen, a light bulb, a simple clock and many other small things. Surprisingly, despite the level of technology, the Fire Nation is still orientated by the sun, and there are only solar clocks. I think mages played a role in this. After all, even a poorly trained fire mage can safely navigate by the sun, feeling its light and warmth.

The girls went to the city, Azula finished her inspection a day ago, they decided to rest a bit this day. I decided to get to work, I will visit the library, it's only a matter of time. And if everything goes according to the best scenario, my knowledge can be very useful for this world and the Fire Nation in particular, and if the worst... in any case, I will have to pay for the library visit. Quarrelling with a great spirit of knowledge is not something I want to do anytime soon.

Perhaps Wang Shi Tong will limit himself to Azula's poems, which I also decided to write down, supplemented by those poems I knew personally, or perhaps he will demand something more. In any case, I'd better transfer my knowledge into books, as my memory is good but not perfect. As for keeping my secrets. Knowing a completely different language, perfectly encrypts all the literature that was created by my hand. I didn't worry about anyone seeing my secret knowledge. I was writing in my own language, not the local hieroglyphics. And it gave me a strange thought.

There are four peoples in the world: the tribe of water, fire, earth and air, the last of which is now considered extinct. But in fact there are a bit more, there are also desert people, swamp people and other savages. One thing they have in common is that they have all spoken the same language for over ten thousand years. How was that possible? The language must have changed! But no one was in a hurry to give me answers.

Hour after hour I spent time in the room all alone, continuing to work in silence. Azula gave in to Tai Li's entreaties, deciding to take a little rest and walk around the city in the company of her friends. We finished with the inspection yesterday. The next morning, we will be travelling further and the girls decided to rest a little. I refused the offer of a walk, preferring to finish my book.

It would continue like that, the girls promised to return by evening and I didn't expect them to appear soon. However...

- Stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp," I suddenly heard a loud stomp. Someone was coming up the stairs and was in a hurry.

I heard someone hurriedly inserting the key into the lock, turning it, and then opening the door. Heavy breathing and quiet sobs accompanied all the actions of the unknown person. Driven by the interest of who decided to run to the princess's chambers, I moved towards the front door putting aside my brush and inkwell.

- Yoaru! Thank Agni you're here! - I caught the running girl in my arms. - Azula! Azulu. Her... Flip-flip. Her..." the sight of a crying Tai Li instantly made me focus. Her words instilled a sense of fear in my heart that I had forgotten.

- Tai Li, what happened to her? Calm down and speak clearly," I answered the girl in an icy voice, feeling in my gut that something very bad had happened.

- The princess has been poisoned! Uva-uuu-va-va..." the acrobat answered me, immediately starting to sob on my chest.

What...?