Chapter 123 - Was Your Mother a Ghoul?

What kind of stunt was this?

The two armies faced each other on a field of fine, clattering gravel, backed by a river on the left and a mountain and forest on the right.

It was within arrow range. In fact, some archers from both sides were already sizing each other up.

Through the pale tension, they should have been charging through a rain of arrows to thrust spears into each other's throats, or swinging swords.

Or, if not that, swinging maces to smash heads open, helmets and all.

But the start... what should this be called?

'A provocation?'

"Oh man, what are you gonna do, dying before you even get to use your dicks?"

Three bastards stepped forward and shouted, their voices booming. Their pronunciation was clear too.

It looked to be a distance of over three hundred paces, yet their curses pierced right into the ears.

Just how loud were their voices?

It seemed like a trivial stunt, but...

'This is working?'

It was working. Morale was already rock-bottom, and it was frustrating to have to just stand there and watch them pull a stunt like that.

But what if they just let arrows fly and charged right in?

A drop in morale when there wasn't a huge difference in numbers between the two armies meant it was a lost fight from the start.

Therefore.

'It is right to just watch.'

Would just watching give them an answer?

It felt like they either needed to use exceptional tactics or shake things up with a small group of elites.

No matter how bad his eye for the flow of battle was, he knew they had to do something right now.

Still, Encrid was more relaxed than the others.

Because, at the very least, he didn't feel like he would die here.

Whether he had minor injuries or not.

Whether his squadmates were by his side or not.

It was just intuition. Looking at it that way, he really had grown by leaps and bounds.

To think he was observing something like the flow of battle at a time when, in the past, he would have been racking his brain just trying to survive.

'Have I gotten too comfortable?'

It felt like a useless thought. At the very least, it wasn't a problem for Encrid to worry about right now.

If he were in a position leading an entire unit, or if the lives of subordinates depended on it, such worries would be natural.

Encrid was currently at the point where he wondered if he was really the one leading the lunatic platoon.

All that happened was that they followed him of their own accord.

So for now, he had to handle the urgent matters first.

"Andrew, don't lose your temper."

Encrid raised a hand and blocked Andrew's chest.

"Huh?"

"Being a virgin isn't anything to be ashamed of."

By saying it again, he comforted Andrew's wounded pride.

How had Andrew been before?

They had met while doing a mission together as the Recon Squad, and the loud-voiced enemy had used the exact same words he used to provoke him then.

He had to steady Andrew's mind so he wouldn't get worked up.

"... I feel like you're mocking me."

Andrew muttered. The corners of his eyes drooped.

He wasn't. It was a misunderstanding. Encrid spoke again.

"Hold it in for now. The chance to vent your anger will come."

Was the new Battalion Commander named Marcus? Unless a regimental commander or someone related to a knight order arrived, he would still hold command over the unit.

Unless that guy Marcus had a head full of flowers, they wouldn't just take a beating like this.

"Pour all the anger you're feeling right now into the battle."

"I'm not angry, and I didn't even think that had anything to do with me."

"I told you, not right now. Hold it in."

Encrid pacified Andrew, who was putting up a front. He was proactive about it.

He even patted his shoulder and pushed him back. Andrew weakly took a step back.

"Ahem."

Henri, who had been listening nearby, let out a dry cough.

Mac showed a troubled expression.

As for the rest of the squadmates...

"Pfft."

Rem started giggling first. Even the expressionless Jaxon glanced at Andrew and showed a faint smile.

"Brother, it is okay. Take refuge in God."

Audin outright suggested he become a monk.

Ragna threw a passing glance at Andrew and nodded.

"It's fine. There's still a chance."

What chance? No, I told you, it's not because I lack the ability!

"Why are you guys doing this to me?"

Andrew really didn't have any thoughts about it. In fact, he had completely forgotten the words Encrid used when provoking him.

If it hadn't been brought up like this, he might never have remembered it for the rest of his life.

He had to train his sword.

He had to save his house.

Anything else was a luxury to him. He was a laborer faithfully filling out his life.

But why tease him with something like this?

"They said it's fine, you punk."

Rem lightly tapped Andrew's shoulder with his fist.

Andrew felt wronged, and a nonexistent anger surged up.

Naturally, that anger was directed toward the front.

If he exploded in anger here, he wouldn't live to see tomorrow's sunrise. His instincts redirected the target of his wrath.

'Because of those crazy ghoul-like bastards.'

The bastards yelling about dicks were the problem. He wanted to rip those enemy soldiers' mouths open.

Curses were exchanged after that as well.

A few guys from the allied side stepped up, but they somehow felt outmatched.

To think they were having a shouting match.

It felt like a ridiculous thing to do, but the enemy's strategy and intentions were quite clear.

They meant to drop morale down to rock-bottom.

Seeing the allied forces' mood souring quite a bit over just a few words like that made it certain.

However.

A warm atmosphere hovered around Encrid.

Even if it seemed like an insignificant change when looking at the battlefield as a whole.

"Well, um, I'll introduce you to a nice salon when we get back to the city."

"Don't lose your virginity in the red-light district."

"For the first time, an experienced older woman is good. I know an aunt of mine; how about her?"

The heavy teasing of the surrounding soldiers began to be heard.

"Will you all shut up?"

Andrew fiercely glared in all directions.

Thanks to his sacrifice, the mood shifted on this side at least. The best way to deal with an opponent cursing was to ignore them.

"You have quite the knack for it."

It was a comment from Krais, who had read Encrid's intentions.

It was a moment when a shift in mood was needed. Naturally, everything started from small things.

Krais was currently thinking about what he would do if he were the commander.

Normally, he would have been at the rear base idling away the time wondering when the fighting would end, but instead he was standing on the battlefield.

Naturally, he had begun to think of ways to survive, meaning the things necessary to fight a winning battle.

The first among them: changing the atmosphere.

Encrid had started that.

"Knack? I did it because I was genuinely worried. There was an order not to step out and fight first."

It was definitely a joke.

Did he do all of this on purpose? No, that didn't seem to be it. It seemed more like an action taken on sense and instinct.

'An odd man, either way.'

This was also part of Encrid's charm. Even while living fiercely, he never forgot such jokes and never tolerated a gloomy atmosphere.

Andrew's face was bright red from being teased, but...

The mood shifted, centered around the lunatic Independent Platoon.

What are you going to do? Let's just fight.

Well, that kind of feeling, that kind of spirit began to exude.

Since it was a platoon gathered with people of such a nature to begin with, Rem, perhaps feeling his body itching to move, opened his mouth.

"But how long are we just going to watch?"

It would be refreshing if they just had an all-out fight.

Both armies remained full of tension without starting.

It was a situation where they were just holding their ground with their bowstrings drawn taut and arrows nocked.

Those with sensitive nerves couldn't even sleep properly, and some were even throwing up.

Understandably so.

To think this atmosphere had lasted for days already.

Rem and the others were also slowly getting annoyed.

The fortunate thing was that the three new additions—Andrew, Mac, and Henri—had good complexions.

They stood guard duty together.

They had grown close after sticking together through the bullying from Rem and the other squadmates.

Though Henri took a step back and hung out on the periphery.

To begin with, enduring Rem and the other squadmates was no ordinary feat.

Because of that, they weren't swept up in the pervasive sense of defeat spreading throughout the allied forces.

They were so busy being tormented and standing guard, did they even have the time to think about anything else?

"You want to try running your mouth?"

Krais asked out of nowhere.

The allied forces' stance was clear. They were waiting for the enemy to attack.

Krais used that to make a suggestion to Encrid.

Encrid was recognized by all the squadmates, including Rem with his foul tongue. His ideas and words were enough to turn the enemy's stomach inside out.

"I don't really have anything to say."

Whether he had a silver tongue or not, what could he say in this atmosphere?

Encrid was being sincere. Still, Krais suggested again.

"Still, just for a change of pace."

Should he try?

It didn't seem like a particularly difficult task.

The enemy and the allies were fighting with tongues instead of swords and spears.

Encrid quietly moved. The Independent Platoon didn't have a designated spot anyway.

As they moved, a path naturally opened up.

A few soldiers with familiar faces asked where he was going as he passed by.

Encrid answered those who asked in a calm tone.

"To chip in a word."

Until then, he didn't think much of it.

The enemy was busy making a fuss about dicks and loudly blabbering about what the queen's male prostitutes could do.

He stood at the front like that, and Vengeance was there.

"At the front as soon as you return from the rear base?"

"Our unit has maintained its combat strength the best."

It looked like a platoon that had completely transitioned to spearmen, dropping the archers that had been partially mixed in.

Was this the 3rd Platoon of the 2nd Company? In that case, Encrid had positioned himself at the front of the 2nd Company.

He looked at Vengeance once and then at the enemy standing far away. He felt like he knew what to say.

Encrid took a few more steps forward entirely.

Rem, Ragna, and Jaxon stuck close by his side.

Despite being at a distance where they were not only within arrow range but could turn into porcupines if the enemy decided to shoot, Encrid was bold.

If they were going to fight with words anyway.

If dropping morale was the problem.

How about showing some audacity?

"Hey, come on out!"

Stepping forward, he shouted. It was a provocation aimed at the opponent. We stepped forward like this, so what are you gonna do? It was a daring question as well.

How had the fights been going until now?

After the shouting matches, a challenge for a duel between lower-grade soldiers.

Had they said they took the initiative through fights between non-commanders?

Then, shouldn't it be fine to do something similar here?

'I guess I'll do it.'

Krais didn't follow him but instead passed along a few words, which sounded reasonable to Encrid's ears.

"You can take down about five in a row, right? That should do it."

The point was this.

If Encrid stepped up to a soldier-grade duel, he would just crush them outright, ignoring any complaints about a commander stepping in.

'Overwhelmingly.'

To show the difference in skill by killing the opponent and killing them again.

To force the enemy to bring out a commander and then break them.

Looking at Krais's big eyes, it seemed he had something in mind.

A scheme to do something by boosting morale.

Encrid trusted Krais's brains and trusted his tricks, so he stepped out onto the battlefield just like that.

At the provocative advance.

The allied forces began to murmur.

"What is it?"

"Ah, it's the lunatic Platoon Commander."

"Encrid?"

"The Spellbreaker?"

It was a face familiar to those in the know—meaning, someone well-known within the unit. Above all, he had recently proven that he wasn't lacking in skill either.

The entire allied force felt a strange sensation.

Even Vengeance felt like something was about to happen when he saw Encrid step forward.

The reason? Unknown.

The atmosphere of the battlefield was like a sharpened blade.

Until now, it had felt like that blade was pointed toward the allied side.

But now, they felt that the wind was starting to blow in a different direction.

Krais thought his goal would work out.

'Then well, they'll manage somehow.'

He felt like he also roughly knew what the allied commander was waiting for.

He had guessed his combat style upon hearing the rumors about this Battalion Commander named Marcus.

He was surely preparing something.

Krais decided to help kick things off just a little bit. If he was barking up the wrong tree, he could just quietly step back, and that would be that.

In any case, he racked his brain to minimize losses and maximize gains.

As Encrid stepped forward and shook up the atmosphere, one of the loudmouths from the enemy forces stepped forward as well.

"I came out, you bastard."

Encrid had stepped out thinking there wasn't much to tease the opponent about, but hadn't he brushed past Vengeance on his way?

Why did Vengeance hate him again?

To cut a long story short, wasn't it because of his face?

"What are you, why did you come out with a ghoul's head attached to your neck?"

A nonchalant remark; the shouted words flowed along the wind and echoed faintly.

It reached the ears of both allies and enemies.

It wasn't anything special.

However, at a distance where they could vaguely make out each other's facial features...

The enemy soldier, the ghoul head, looked at Encrid's face.

'Fuck?'

He was handsome.

It was the kind of face that just made irritation surge up for no reason.

"What?"

"Was your mother a ghoul?"

Encrid suspected that the enemy soldier's mother might perhaps be of a different species.

Deeming it a reasonable suspicion, he pointed his finger at the enemy's face.

"What, you motherfucker?"

The enemy soldier immediately spat out his rage. It was a miracle created by exchanging just two sentences.

Hearing that, Audin couldn't help but marvel.

'Words that even God would punish.'

Rem burst out laughing, going *Pfft*.

Were the others any different?

Andrew, who had stubbornly followed from behind even when Mac told him not to go, finally brightened up his expression.

Right, what could he possibly say with a face like that.

Weren't his features far too free-spirited?

An upturned nose that looked like it would catch rainwater in its nostrils if it rained.

Why were his eyes shaped like that?

His eyes were so small that you couldn't even make out the color of his pupils unless you looked closely.

And why were there so many boils on his face?

He was entirely likely to be mistaken for a ghoul.

"Hahahaha!"

Andrew burst into an incredibly bright laugh.

"Fuck, let's see if your hands are as sharp as your tongue."

The enemy soldier fell for the provocation.

It was a sequence that started with tongues and led to spears, swords, and blood.