The Wandering Samurai and his Beloved General (BL)

Haruki's left arm trembled with pain. Normally, even a seasoned soldier would have screamed at this point, but his expression remained composed, holding an air of nonchalance.

The clerics quickly split into two groups, frantically tending to the injured. Each side was soon surrounded by their own acquaintances, leaving no one to notice the instructor's movements. His gaze flickered with disappointment as he glanced toward Xuzhan, and he began to turn away—only to be stopped by the calm yet commanding presence of the general.

"What happened here?" Lanling's tone was measured, but it carried enough weight to make the instructor release a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

"A mock fight between soldiers got out of hand, nothing more," the instructor replied, waving his hand dismissively as though the entire ordeal were merely childish roughhousing.

"Oh? Since when did my friend become a soldier? Why was I not informed?" Lanling asked, his voice still calm, though his eyes suddenly turned a piercing white. A bolt of lightning struck the ground behind the instructor with a deafening crack, scattering dirt and debris across the field. The instructor froze in fear, the force of the strike leaving him rooted in place.

Realizing he had angered the general, the instructor scrambled to salvage the situation. "General, it is unwise to express bias within the army—"

"Instructor Chao," Lanling interrupted, his tone as sharp as the lightning he wielded. "I will naturally be biased when it comes to my friend. If you disapprove of my behavior, you're welcome to return to the Ministry of Personnel. Perhaps you'll find the other generals more accommodating of your opinions."

The instructor's eyes widened in disbelief, unable to comprehend how the situation had escalated to him being dismissed. "P-Please wait, General, there seems to be a misunderstanding—"

Lanling, however, had already turned away, heading toward Haruki. Desperate, the instructor hurried after him. "I wasn't the one who injured your friend! Surely your anger is misplaced," he said, trying to explain himself.

Lanling stopped abruptly and turned, his still gaze now alight with a flash of fury that froze the instructor and nearby soldiers in place. "You allowed the danger to escalate, fully aware of the lethality of Xuzhan's elemental sword. Tell me, if Haruki hadn't dodged in time, where would I direct my anger then?" His voice was sharp, each word cutting deeper than the previous. "Instructor Chao, you should be grateful I am not demanding your life."

The weight of Lanling's words crushed any further protests. Exhausted with the exchange, Lanling raised his hand, gesturing toward a pair of soldiers. Without needing further instruction, they stepped forward and began dragging the instructor away.

Meanwhile, Haruki's wounds, though originally severe and gruesome, had faded significantly under the clerics' care. The dark red gashes softened to pale marks, and the charred fabric of his clothing loosened and separated cleanly from his skin.

As a shadow fell over him, Haruki sensed an unmistakable familiarity. He immediately looked up, and the moment his eyes met Lanling's, a warm smile bloomed across his face.

"Gene—Lanling! You're here~" Haruki's abrupt change in address caught everyone off guard. The soldiers warily glanced at the general, unsure of what kind of reaction to expect. To their surprise, Lanling simply nodded and focused his gaze on Haruki's wounds.

For a moment, some of the soldiers thought they saw sadness in the general's usually impassive eyes, but they quickly dismissed it as a delusion. Lanling's calm, composed demeanor remained unchanged—only he knew what emotions, if any, stirred beneath the surface.

"Apologies," Lanling said, crouching down to examine Haruki's injuries more closely. "I shouldn't have left you alone after announcing our friendship. You got caught in one of my problems."

Haruki blinked, confused. What kind of problem had he been caught in? Wasn't he the one who caused the trouble? He vaguely recalled how his taunt had fueled Xuzhan's outburst.

"I think I asked for it," Haruki admitted. "I did tell Xuzhan to his face that I was better than him." He suspected Xuzhan had interpreted far more than the implicit meaning of his words. The man probably thought Haruki was mocking him for relying on an elemental sword while Haruki himself could wield the wind freely. What a misunderstanding!

Lanling's gaze remained steady. "He certainly has a weak mental fortitude. That kind of weakness will get him—and the people around him—killed."

Straightening up, Lanling turned to face Xuzhan. The soldiers instinctively parted to clear his line of sight, revealing Xuzhan's sullen, unwilling expression.

"Did you hear what I said?" Lanling asked coolly.

Xuzhan jolted, reluctantly meeting the general's eyes.

"You love to eavesdrop, so you must have heard it," Lanling added matter-of-factly, his calm tone making Xuzhan's face burn red with shame. "Don't make me send you back to your father. You know the rules. For losing control of your elemental weapon, you will spend a week in the wilderness. And for injuring a civilian, your merits will be stripped, and you'll start over again."

Xuzhan wobbled to his feet with the help of his friends, his mouth opening as though to protest. But no words came. After a moment of hesitation, he bowed his head obediently. "Yes, General."

He couldn't find a single thing to complain about. The punishments were neither too harsh nor too lenient—they were perfectly fair. Furthermore, Haruki was really just another civilian!

When he really thought about it, Xuzhan realized that if the general had been harsher, he could have been sent back to the capital without a word, just like Instructor Chao!

The incident was resolved quickly, and when Lanling asked if Haruki was satisfied with the arrangement, Haruki didn't have much of an opinion. When he mentioned that he had been part of the problem, Lanling shook his head, dismissing the idea.

Back at Lanling's tent, the general took out a small bottle containing a pearlescent green liquid and handed it to Haruki.

"Instructor Chao had made Xuzhan drink this potion beforehand. Take a sniff," Lanling instructed. "But be careful, it's very invasive."

Haruki unscrewed the cap and hovered it near his nose. The sweet citrus scent hit him almost immediately, and his mind went blank. Suddenly, a surge of suppressed rage welled up within him, as if all the injustices he had experienced that day came rushing to the forefront. His thoughts formed a vivid collage of unfairness under authority, and of the weak being bullied by the strong.

He shook his head rapidly, trying to dispel the intense feelings, and looked at Lanling in shock.

"Instructor Chao was sent by one of the generals to keep an eye on me," Lanling explained, his tone calm. "Since he had trouble influencing me, he targeted you instead. I've troubled you."