Chapter 7

Rin leads her forces into Tikany expecting battle but finds the town abandoned by the Mugenese and hollowed by occupation. Survivors emerge hesitantly as Rin reassures them; she asks Kitay to manage rations and sanitation while she revisits old haunts, finding Tutor Feyrik’s home stripped and her childhood erased.

Rin and Souji secure the Mugenese general’s complex as headquarters. Rifling through the office, Rin discovers sketches and a love note, a humanizing glimpse that unsettles her. A meticulous wall calendar underscores how recently the garrison operated. Rin seethes at Vaisra’s calculated abandonment of the south, recognizing how his strategy let atrocities break southern autonomy.

At the whorehouses, Venka bullies traumatized women to eat, then breaks when confronted by Rin. Venka’s fury reveals lingering scars from Golyn Niis; she demands the brothels be burned. A scout reports a burial site, pulling Rin away.

Rin and Kitay reach fresh killing fields and begin exhumations to identify the dead according to southern rites. Guilt mounts as Rin suspects the massacre was a spiteful final act before her army’s arrival. They uncover a still-living boy, whose survival confirms the slaughter’s recent timing.

At dusk, Rin lingers alone to sear the horror into memory, hardening her resolve. She spots movement and chases a child into the forest, finding two girls and a young woman who fled the Mugenese. The children describe a “lady in a hut” who has protected them and refuses to leave because she lost her daughter in the Dragon King’s palace.

Rin recognizes the description as Su Daji. Reeling but determined, she orders the others to safety and demands to be taken to the “lady,” compelled to confront Daji and learn her intent.