Chapter 164 - Encountering Ron

Episode 157 - Encountering Ron

Everyone recognized the voice of the person who spoke and turned to her. Not a single person here was surprised by the rudeness of her words or tone, not to mention her not reporting to Instructor T.E before speaking. 

The reason why she didn't report to him like Comrade Comp is that she held the same rank as Instructor T.E.

This is not a cliche plot the author of this novel threw in because even Eugene wanted to faint on the spot when she found out about her rank in the military. 

There are 8 ranks in the military; recruit, private, sergeant, lieutenant, captain, colonel, general, and commander. She had completed her training as a recruit and basically skipped over three ranks, making her one of the few captains in the military. The reason why she skipped three ranks is due to herself being a paladin, and the equal of a paladin in the military is a captain. However, due to her age and insufficient experience, she has been demoted to lieutenant for now. 

Eugene had protested this 'lieutenant' title of hers and wanted to become a private instead, however got denied because of one of the rules in the military. This rule was created to protect the military, and it states that anyone who is captain or ranked higher will be stripped of all military titles and achievements, as well as discharged from the military if they are demoted two ranks. Don't even bring up the possibility of demoting to private when she can't even go down to sergeant.

Hence, as of current, she was a Lieutenant, someone with a rank equivalent to Instructor T.E. It was a sad situation and an embarrassing situation for those whose title is lieutenant considering how young she was, but what could she do?

Instructor T.E motioned for Eugene to continue speaking. 

Eugene turned to the map with her lips slightly curved, "He has a big weakness and it is his sense of direction. That is one reason why he will never be able to surpass the Duke and Duchess of Graeme's." Not to mention, this was good news to them considering how confusing their terrain was. 

Instructor T.E furrowed his eyebrows and nodded slowly as if he was trying to register what Eugene said to his mind. 

Eugene glanced at Comp who was looking in her direction and began speaking, "For this operation to succeed, he must be the first one ousted at all cost. The longer he is in-game, the less chance we will have at winning." 

The room was stifling in silence when suddenly Instructor T.E clapped his hands loudly to get everyone's attention. He glanced slowly at everyone in the room as if examining their condition and began to explain, 

"In this training simulation, our operation is to recover all 4 flags from the enemy's bases whilst protecting our own four flags. Vise versa, the enemy's objective is the same as ours." He pointed to the map at where the enemies flag would be located and continued speaking, 

"Our tactic will be simple. Two people guard each spot. We will not be putting power at our bases, but rather focus on retrieving the flags." He pointed to the four spots on the map that was roughly 2 km away from each other. 

After explaining, he began to divide the 20 men participating in this simulation training. There was no hesitation in his decision as he divided people into the defending team. He turned to the rest of the soldiers who will be in charge of recovering or attacking and located them into groups.

"Four, Tea, Comp you are in Team R1. Dea, Arie, Aren, in Team R2." He allocated the members of Team R3 before turning to Eugene and Con, "Last but not least, Eugene and Con. You two will team up and get rid of Paladin Ron. After disabling Paladin Ron, you two are to split up and assist recovery team one or recovery team two." 

"YES SIR!" 

Instructor T.E glanced at his watch and said, "There is one minute left." His eyes left the watch, walked to the opening of the tent, and pulled it open for the soldiers who squinted from the sudden light. 

"You never know what Paladin Ron is planning. If things don't go according to expectations, Aernest from team defense 2 must go on an individual operation to scout the situation. After that, report to Argen from team defense 1." 

"Yes sir!" Though everyone felt unsettled by Instructor T.E's words, they saluted him.

Who would have guessed that Instructor T.E's words would come true so quickly, not even an hour later?

In the not-so-dense forest, a young man was yelling repeatedly to the only female in the military how hurt he was. His face was planted deep into the ground, however, that didn't stop him from mustering up his strength to twist his face to the side to speak. 

After struggling some more, the man quietened down which made the young girl roll her eyes. The young girl loosened the grip on the young man's upper body and the young man immediately huffed up and down, trying to recover the breath he lost from the girl's relentless actions.

The sound of him trying to breathe in and out was so loud that the young girl couldn't help but roll her eyes at him. After recovering a bit, the young man complained, 

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU THREW TWO BIG MEN OVER YOUR SHOULDERS THIS EASILY!" His voice was incredibly loud as he complained, "What martial arts have you been practicing huh? It's very different from the ones taught in the military and the ones we are used t-OO! AHHH! OUCH, IT HURTS! STOPP!"

Ron's rambling frustrated Eugene hence she locked his shoulders in place once more. Why were her martial arts different from the ones from the military? Because she mixed in her former family's martial arts and unified them. Simply speaking, the combined martial arts made her know the ins and outs of a person's body. And once you know how a human body operates, throwing 2 or 5 men over your shoulders is nothing. 

"CALM DOWN! CALM DOWN! CALM DOWN! I AM HURT!! OUCH-!!" Ron's voice could be heard far and wide, begging Eugene for mercy. 

Eugene reluctantly loosened her grip and raised a brow at the 15-year-old teen, "You're hurt?"

Ron was in so much pain that tears began pooling in his eyes. He nodded with his big tears and cried, "Yess! Yesh! I forfeit! I forfeit okay?" 

Eugene studied Ron's face very carefully and discerned that he was not lying. She loosened her grip on him immediately and freed him from her evil clutches. 

"How'd you get hurt?" Her tone when asking Ron was sarcastic. Ron who heard the tone knew what Eugene was referring to and shook his head!

"I didn't jump over a 3-meter wall to escape from the academy again okay? I already learned my lesson, besides!"

Eugene nodded, her actions conveyed that she understands, however her face was still filled with sarcasm. 

"I'm older than you! Speak to me with respect!" When he finished, he pouted to which Eugene rolled her eyes again. 

Ron knew that no matter how much he argued with Eugene, it was pointless because he already lost the moment she looked at him. He mumbled in annoyance as he turned away, "Even if I'm just an ex, you should be nice to your ex-fiance. Hmph. At this rate, you'll never be able to get married. Hmph!"

Eugene froze at Ron's unexpected jab, her expression slowly turning into one of disgust. 'What crazy bull crap is this man sprouting again?'

Ron glanced at Eugene with his chin raised, "What? Do you perhaps not remember my parents asking your parents for your hand? Huh?" He nodded and continued, "Hence, technically I am your ex-fiance."

Eugene continued to stare at him with disgust all over her face. It took a while before she replied to his out-of-date memory. 

"That occurred when I was yet to reach 3-months-old. Have you gone mad?" 

If there was a time their parents discussed marriage, it was before the incident at the Imperial Palace happened. It happened when the Empress or the Emperor pitted her or Euria with the Crown Prince, and Adele or Irvin Graeme pitting the leftover child with their son, Ron. 

Ron didn't expect Eugene to remember this incident and gasped, "You… you remember that?... At three months old?" His voice was no longer high and sarcastic, as he spoke with his true gut voice. 

Eugene crunched her face, "How do 'you' know about this matter?" She emphasized the word 'You' and continued, "You weren't even there." 

Ron made an 'oh' face and replied, "My mother told me. Besides, she has been urging me to court you for all these years." He confessed, his voice reverting to that of sarcasm again.

"...."

Ron shivered as he was faced with the blank state of Eugene. He quickly shook his and explained, "Of course! Of course! I'm not craz-! I mean… I'm not crazy enough to court a child… eh eh.." Ron turned the other way and didn't dare look at Eugene's face.