Chapter 41 What is a Soldier?
They stood there motionless, but the Hun next to Levi became interested in me. He rode out from the crowd and came in front of me, grinning, and after saying a bunch of incomprehensible words, he drew the scimitar from his waist.
The civilians around me retreated one after another, looking at the shining scimitar in the Hun's hand with extremely fearful eyes.
"Luka, stop making trouble and come back soon!"
Andrew waved at me in the crowd, "Come back soon, you are just courting death! Luca, come back soon!"
As Andrew's constant urging faded away in my ears, I looked at the girl who had fainted on the roadside. Her blood had formed a small pool. Her mother was holding her, crying and shouting.
"She is still a child, she is pregnant! My child, open your eyes and look at your mother, look at me, look at me"
The girl still had her eyes closed, motionless. The mother's desperate cries moved everyone. Some people even covered their faces and cried in the crowd, but everyone looked helpless.
“Andrew, what if this girl is your relative?”
I pointed at the fainted girl and asked Andrew, "If she was your sister, or your girl, would you still be so indifferent?"
"Luka, that's not what I meant."
"What's the point? Andrew, soldier of the 7th Gemina Legion, warrior of the Roman Empire! Didn't you take an oath to surround the subjects of the Empire?"
Andrew lowered his head. He was speechless after being scolded by me. Now he was in a dilemma on the side of the road, not knowing what to do.
"I! Orius Luca!" I turned around suddenly and pointed my sword at the Hun on horseback in front of me, "I demand that you apologize to this girl and return the things you stole from her!"
Well, I know that this is as ridiculous as a lamb yelling at a group of hungry wolves to let go of the mutton in their mouths, but the arrow has been shot and there is no turning back. I saw the cavalrymen behind the Hun riding their horses forward and lined up in a row, with sharp lances pointing down, the tips of the lances pointing directly at me. They stopped where they were, quietly waiting for the order from the Hun holding the saber, and then moved forward together.
Looking at the Hun cavalry with spears, I seemed to be back to the moment of yesterday's siege. The face of the Burgundian boy appeared in front of me again. He might have been burned to ashes by the fire. And his behavior at that time was so similar to mine now, trembling, not knowing whether it was because of anger or fear. I can't explain it clearly, maybe I shouldn't have stepped into this mess just now, but in general, I'm just angry, and now I don't regret what I just said! "Wait a minute!"
Just as the row of Hun cavalry were about to charge with their lances, a shout stopped them. I looked in the direction of the voice and saw that it was that bastard Levi. He rode up to the Hun and whispered something to him. The Hun smiled and nodded. It seemed that he had asked for the consent of his Hun master. Under the command of the Hun, the cavalrymen who were with him put away their lances and rode back. The Hun nodded to Levi, who understood and dismounted and walked in front of me.
"Orius Luca." Levi said slowly: "Who ordered you to come and provoke?"
"provocative?"
This word seemed very ridiculous to me. I laughed out loud. "For a silver ring, your soldiers beat the girl like this. As the leader, didn't you say anything? And you, you led the Huns into the city to plunder the people's property. Have you ever considered that you are a Roman soldier?"
"I have considered it," Levi looked at me expressionlessly and said slowly, "Of course I have considered it, otherwise I wouldn't be standing here."
"So you're just going to leave without looking back? Are you just going to watch the people of the Empire you swore to protect being beaten to death by you?"
"I have no choice." Levi shook his head.
"Then what are you doing here? Oh, I see, you are here to teach me a lesson for your master, right?" I said, holding my sword and walking forward, facing Livi with my head held high. Looking at this Roman traitor who bullies the weak and fears the strong, I really can't say how to describe myself now. I feel that facing him, I can hold my chest high and be as confident as a man!
"What is and what is not?"
Levi drew his sword and pointed it at me, saying, "I know you are angry about this, but there is nothing I can do. These are just trivial things that you see every day. Since you are so angry, I will try to shut you up!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Levi leaned over and in an instant he pounced towards me like a whirlwind.
I cursed inwardly and hastily drew my sword to fight back.
"Bang!"
The collision of the two swords made my palms numb. I thought this guy was just a dog wagging its tail behind Aetius and was lazy and good at doing nothing. But now I find out that I was wrong. Although this guy's heavy blow made me feel so painful, he felt as if he was not hurt at all.
"This is just a warm-up exercise for you, little buddy. Are you sure you want to continue?"
Livi weighed the iron sword in his hand, and was eager to try. The Hun masters behind him applauded and cheered for him. This is not surprising. Romans fighting Romans, isn't this what they want to see? But Livi enjoyed it, and his actions made me feel helpless. Since he was willing to be a traitor to the Romans, then as a Roman, I have reason to get rid of this pest for Rome!
"What's wrong?" Seeing that I was hesitant, Levi stood up and pointed his sword at me, saying sarcastically, "What's wrong, you righteous guy? Just a trivial show of power has worn away your spirit?"
"Shut up! You traitor to the Romans! You are not worthy to be a Roman soldier!"
"Oh my God, Luca, what are you talking about!" Andrew spoke up. His surprised expression seemed to be frightened by my rude words. He quickly said to me, "Luca, let go, you've done enough!"
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"Me?" Levi pointed at himself and looked at me, his eyes full of mockery. "You said I'm not worthy of being a soldier, then are you worthy? A mercenary!"
"You bastard!"
I never thought that this guy would be so shameless to pretend to be a grandson of the Huns in front of so many people. I really couldn't stand it! I roared, raised the Spada iron sword in my hand, and rushed towards the Roman traitor!
“That’s not enough!”
Levi shouted and dodged my sword. The first strike missed, and I was unwilling to give up, so I raised my sword and slashed in the direction he dodged.
"when!"
The swords collided again, with such a great force that sparks flew from the blades. The traitor was too anxious in blocking and was knocked back several steps.
"Wow, you bastard!"
The traitor breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that this was not an easy task. "It seems that you are going to play with me for real, right?"
"No! I just teach you how to be a qualified Roman soldier?"
"Ha, Roman soldiers!" Livi smiled, fiddling with the iron sword in his hand. After two rounds of slashing, his sword was fine. I looked at my Spada iron sword, which had been chopped into many cracks.
"No matter how bad it is, it's not your turn as a mercenary to criticize me."
(End of this chapter)