Chapter 120 - They must be doing well.

'I think I can move on to the next step, too.'

"Fwheet-fwhee-fwhoo."

Rem walked while whistling.

'If he makes up his mind and pushes.'

It was because he really liked the look of the returned Platoon Commander. He was excited at the thought of going back and pestering Encrid.

Could he even advance to the next stage of the heart of a beast?

To think he was excited even though he was planning to hand over a secret technique he wouldn't teach a mainlander even if they brought a mountain of gold coins.

'He's strange, very strange.'

Encrid was a truly strange human. He didn't particularly do much. And yet, he wasn't hateable. Not hateable at all.

For the most part, he made you want to take care of him.

Was it because of how he honestly and steadfastly swung his sword every day?

Or was it because of his personality, silently taking on odd jobs without a single complaint?

If asked to pinpoint a reason, it was hard to answer. Though those things certainly counted as reasons.

'I just like him.'

As you live your life, you are bound to meet people like that. Someone you just happen to like for no particular reason.

'I never thought I'd feel this way about a mainlander, though.'

Rem stopped walking and called out to Audin, who was blocking his path.

"Hey, big guy. You pray every day, but can't you use holy power or whatever? Can't you do something about the Platoon Commander's wrist?"

"Shall I rip your mouth open, Brother?"

"Huh? You want me to adjust your eye level with my axes?"

Encrid wasn't here. Audin turned his head and locked eyes with Rem.

A cold tension filled the air between the two, until Ragna dragged his feet and *WHOOSH—*, casually passed right between them.

"... Brother, is it really okay to cut across here just because it's bothersome to walk around?"

"Crazy bastard."

The tension deflated because Ragna had cut between them.

This wasn't the first time they squabbled. Everyone else saw it but tended to just leave them be.

Jaxon walked alone, off to one side.

If you took your eyes off Ragna for even a second, he'd arbitrarily veer off diagonally instead of going straight.

It was impossible to tell what was wrong with his sense of direction.

No, his sense of direction actually wasn't the problem.

It was closer to him just walking however he wanted because aiming properly was bothersome.

They were all doing whatever they pleased, but in their own ways, including Rem, they were each thinking of Encrid, their Platoon Commander.

'I should train him to keep his sword close to his body.'

The same went for Ragna. Even though he was in a state of lost motivation with the Platoon Commander out of his sight.

He was steadily piling up a list in his head of what he needed to do when they met again.

Audin was no different.

'Now that the muscle restructuring is done.'

Was it time to touch upon the joints now?

Muscles and joints, and if he changed his posture after that, his body type would change. He could train the lacking areas.

'If I bend and bend him again, whittle and whittle him down again.'

There was a secret method to forge a body that wouldn't collapse from joint locks or strikes.

However, if he went that far, it seemed Brother Platoon Commander's body wouldn't survive it.

'I will do it one step at a time, Lord.'

Audin concluded his thoughts with a prayer.

Was Jaxon any different?

'It'd be nice to fix his gait a bit.'

Even if it wasn't a completely silent step like an assassin's.

A noisy gait inevitably accompanied unnecessary movements.

'Maximum efficiency with minimal movement.'

Jaxon looked for useful ones while recalling the training he had done.

It wasn't swordsmanship.

'But it should help.'

Jaxon was extremely observant. He knew that the things he taught were becoming flesh and blood for Encrid.

At the end of these thoughts, an occasional question merely arose.

'Must I go that far?'

There was no absolute need to teach him anything.

Unless he asked first, maybe.

Let's leave him be until then. Jaxon made up his mind.

Of course, regardless of his resolve, if the barbarian, the religious fanatic, and the lazybones got fired up about teaching him, he might get swept up in the flow himself, but he intended to restrain himself as much as possible.

Being lumped into the same category as them was an unpleasant thing in itself.

To an outside observer, they were all cut from the same cloth.

One guy picked fights while blowing an irritating whistle.

Another guy walked around aimlessly with a vacant stare, swinging his limbs loosely.

The big soldier kept muttering to himself, constantly seeking the Lord.

The last one was walking alone, deeply engrossed in his own thoughts, keeping his distance as if he wasn't part of their group.

Was this a normal military unit?

Of course not. They were already oddballs back when they were the troublemaker squad.

Once their organization was changed to an Independent Platoon, their nature became far too obvious.

It was hard to call them disciplined soldiers. Even their marching was erratic. They had been placed under the 4th Company Commander, but instead of marching with the company troops, they tagged along separately on the side.

It was ridiculous enough that they were called an Independent Platoon with fewer than ten people.

Not that there was a single soldier who would pick a fight with them, though.

'Leave them be.'

'If we mess with them, we're the only ones who will suffer.'

'You only mess with them if you want your balls busted.'

Everyone knew from multiple past experiences. They were lunatics who had gone beyond being mere troublemakers.

They were a unit whose skills were just as crazy.

They were walking along like that.

The distance from the rear base to the forward operating base was half a day on foot.

That was if a troop moved.

If they moved individually instead of marching, they could get there faster.

Since they were troops who had set out at dawn and needed to march straight into battle, they were properly regulating their marching speed.

Even so, the distance wasn't long enough to warrant a break in the middle.

Because if they moved diligently, they could arrive before lunch.

In other words, unless there was a particular problem, there was no reason for anyone to halt the entire march.

"Halt."

The soldier at the front said after seeing a signal from ahead.

The march came to a halt.

It happened because the Fairy Company Commander raised her fist at the front of the unit.

"What's the matter?"

Rayon, the 3rd Company Commander, asked from the side. It was the 3rd and 4th Companies joining back together after falling to the rear.

"Over there, it's strange."

The Fairy Company Commander said.

What could it be?

Rayon frowned. He couldn't see anything.

The place the Fairy Company Commander pointed at was the riverbank. The Penn-Hanil River, the lifeline of Naurilia and the water source for all the neighboring kingdoms.

"They're hiding."

There were several rocks near the riverbank large enough for a person to hide behind, and ghouls occasionally popped out from there.

If they went a little further, the Tehom Forest would appear on the right, and there were quite a few monsters there too, but...

But right now, this place was a battlefield; most monsters and beasts had long been wiped out.

It was also rare for a monster or beast to attack upon seeing an army.

So, if there were bastards lying in wait...

'Enemies.'

The Fairy Company Commander's intuition was spot on.

"Fuck, there's that Fairy bitch."

Someone poked his head out from behind a rock and spoke. It was a man with short hair and a thick jaw.

He wore a helmet that covered his forehead and head but left his ears exposed—the attire of an Aspen soldier.

The distance was more than close enough for an arrow to reach; the bastard had only half his body exposed from the rock.

The Fairy Company Commander cast her gaze behind the man.

Her sharp eyes spotted a speedboat boasted by Aspen, floating on the riverbank.

It was a long boat that could hold about eight people at most. It had fixed oars hidden underwater, and once someone grabbed them and started rowing, it became a speedboat that cut through the water at a terrifying pace.

It seemed they had it ready to ride and escape if things went wrong.

If they took to the river, there was no way to chase them from this side.

'That boat is considerably fast.'

It was too sloppy to be called an ambush.

Their numbers also appeared to be barely around ten.

'It's a provocation.'

Rayon, the 3rd Company Commander, followed a similar thought process as the Fairy Company Commander, reaching a conclusion before speaking.

"They're trying all sorts of tricks."

"Lowering morale is the basis of warfare, after all."

While the two were talking, one of the enemy soldiers pulled his body out from behind the rock.

"I am Rowell, a soldier of the Principality of Aspen. Is there anyone here to fight me! Let's duel fair and square!"

It was a tactic they had fallen for time and time again.

Not army against army, but a request for a duel.

A provocation to fight, initiated not by a knight but by a common soldier.

"A commander stepping up to fight a single soldier? Don't you think that's cheap? Or is it that you don't have anyone who knows how to fight?"

The bastard named Rowell added with a snicker.

Should she just shoot an arrow and plant it in his skull?

Even as she thought this, the Fairy Company Commander did not act rashly.

At first, they sent out a soldier and were defeated.

Next, they sent a Platoon Commander, but they were still defeated.

The enemy soldier's individual skills were overwhelmingly superior.

Even so, for a Company Commander-level officer to step up and fight meant losing face.

Should she call it a strategy that struck at a peculiar gap?

'Didn't they say Aspen had some genius strategist?'

That strategy itself didn't noticeably reduce the number of soldiers. However, morale plummeted endlessly.

If the enemy soldiers fight that well, why don't we have anyone like that on our side?

'If I step up...'

If a Company Commander stepped up, the opponent would run their mouth.

In reality, they hadn't lost every single duel.

It was said that the 2nd Company Commander, Palto, had gotten furiously angry and smashed the head of a soldier stepping forward like that with his mace.

But even after killing them like that, morale still dropped.

"Interfering in a fight between soldiers, you should be ashamed of yourselves!"

Because they riled up the battlefield with that kind of garbage talk.

Even the allied forces, who were fine at first, were getting pushed back on the battlefield day after day, and after getting crushed in duels, their morale was gradually hitting rock bottom.

The difference in individual soldier skill and training was this huge, yet the numbers were similar.

It made everyone feel like the outcome was decided without even fighting.

That must be why they kept repeating such stunts.

She wanted to kill them, but these bastards were thoroughly prepared to run away.

What if they ignored the duel request and pushed forward with their troops?

It might have worked if they had done so from the beginning. But doing it now would only lower morale again.

So should they just let it be?

That would truly be opening the gates of purgatory with her own hands.

"What, they came all the way out here?"

Just as she was wondering what to do, a soldier swaggered up from behind.

He didn't maintain formation or line up. A soldier so free-spirited you'd wonder if he was really part of the marching unit.

It was Rem of the Independent Platoon.

"Care to try killing that one?"

The Fairy Company Commander asked, just in case.

Hadn't the soldier named Big-eyes given her a piece of advice before they left?

"They'll at least listen to you for today. So go ahead and work them hard. The atmosphere is grim anyway."

If it didn't work, oh well; if it did, great.

That was her mindset.

"Let's do it."

Rem nodded with hearty enthusiasm. He seemed to be in a remarkably good mood.

"Hey, what did you say your name was?"

"What? You came out to fight?"

Rem strode out leisurely on his own, and Ragna followed him absentmindedly until Audin grabbed his forearm.

"Huh?"

"Brother, they are the enemy."

"Ah, right."

Jaxon had somehow already planted his ass on a smooth rock to the side, turning into a spectator.

None of them showed even the slightest sense of danger.

The same went for the Fairy Company Commander.

And a faint sense of anticipation grew in the eyes of the allied soldiers.

Who was Rem?

A lunatic. When he was an ally, he was a son of a bitch, but to the enemy, he could be the biggest fucking prick in the world.

The anticipation blossomed into a feverish heat.

The thick-jawed soldier who had poked his head out next to the rock gave a small snort of laughter and stepped forward.

"Seems there was no one else to step up, sending a mere barbarian. You aren't going to lure me out and shoot arrows, are you?"

Dumbass.

Jaxon thought so as he looked at the opponent.

It wasn't a distance that could be reached by swinging an axe, but it was also plenty of distance for that crazy barbarian.

WHOOSH.

Rem threw his axe the moment the opponent poked his head out.

It was a hand movement like the wind.

To the eyes of ordinary soldiers, it wasn't even visible how Rem's hand had moved.

It just looked as though he had suddenly shaken his arm up and down, but it was so fast that it merely left an afterimage.

The afterimage made it look as if wings had formed around Rem's right hand.

FLUTTER— SWOOSH!

The sound of his sleeve fluttering in the wind, followed by the sound of something flying, was heard.

The axe flew with a *whirl* and lodged itself in the forehead of the enemy soldier named Rowell.

THWACK!

With a crisp thud, the bastard's feet lifted off the ground.

The bastard flew. He flew for a brief moment even without wings, crashing back-first onto the ground.

THUD— CRUNCH.

The gravel pushed by the bastard's back ground together and scattered to the sides.

"Gurgle."

The collapsed bastard died with his skull split open. The axe was lodged right between his eyebrows, and his eyes weren't even closed.

It must have been a death he hadn't imagined even in his wildest dreams.

Meanwhile, Rem grabbed an axe in his left hand and broke into a run.

TAP, TAP.

He kicked off the ground a few times, closing the distance, and slipped right behind the rock.

THWACK!

Along with the noise, blood spurted out in one direction from behind the rock, on the opposite side of where Rem had entered.

THWACK!

Rem immediately slipped behind the next rock.

This time, with a heavy thud, an enemy soldier's head was chopped off and rolled across the ground.

And next.

"Aaagh!"

One of the enemy soldiers sprang out from the back and sprinted toward the river, but Rem chased him down, grabbed him by the back of the head, and smashed his face into the ground.

SLAM!

"Urghhh."

Was it a groan or a scream?

Rem smashed the enemy soldier's face into the ground a few more times.

The way he slammed it with the exact same rhythm and force made him look like a craftsman repeatedly molding something.

Of course, the only thing Rem was molding was death, not boots or farming tools.

SLAM, SLAM, SLAM.

He slammed it three or four more times, confirmed the man was dead, and then stood up.

Once four of them had died, the enemy soldiers fled without looking back.

They sprinted toward their prepared boat, threw themselves into it, and began rowing with all their might.

Rem did not pursue them.

The allied forces didn't waste arrows pointlessly either.

"Dumb fucks."

Instead, he showed them his thumb slipped between his index and middle fingers.

He flashed the universally known hand gesture for an insult across the continent.

It was an insult that implied, 'Does your mother perhaps sell her body for sex?'

Even after seeing that, the enemy soldiers were too busy fleeing for their lives.

"Shall we go?"

Rem returned after retrieving the axe embedded in the skull and spoke.

The Fairy Company Commander gave a wry smile, but...

As a result, the morale of the allied forces did not go up.

Overwhelming skill? That was all well and good, but.

'Oof.'

'I wouldn't want to die like that.'

'Why do that to his face?'

It was because of his method of killing and his usual track record of misdeeds.

"I'm gonna grind your face off, you hear?"

The soldiers had seen such threats roll off Rem's tongue at the drop of a hat.

Watching him put it into practice firsthand gave everyone the chills.

With Rem stepping up, it effectively resulted in the morale of both the allied forces and the enemy dropping simultaneously.

"Let's move out again."

It was after they roughly cleaned up and disposed of the bodies. The Company Commander ordered the march to resume.

* * *

'They must be doing well, right?'

Encrid was busy tending to his body in the rear.

He had no fatal injuries. Still, there were many wounds that would easily get infected if left untreated.

He couldn't join them right away.

Infantry support troops were scheduled to arrive later, so he was planning to join them and head over then.

He would probably be able to set out in about two to four days.

'I'm sure they'll do just fine on their own.'

He worried about his platoon members for a brief moment before stopping.

It was enough for Encrid to just take care of himself.

Were his platoon members the type to go out somewhere and die easily?

They were more likely to kill others.

If they stepped up and fought, the plummeted morale of the allied forces would surely rise a bit.

'As long as they actually fight, that is.'

His platoon members were stepping up and fighting quite a bit.

However, the situation was turning out differently than Encrid's expectations.

Because the morale of both friend and foe was dropping simultaneously.