Chapter 3

Episode 3.

All the operations that took the lives of my men on the way here were strange to say the least.

They weren’t just people who deserved what was happening.

The enemy knew all our operation strategies and planned routes.

It wasn’t hard to think about who it might have been delivered through.

Eileen from either the words of her knights or the prince.

It wouldn’t be so surprising who it was.

“Commander, are you here first?”

They were sorry to have kept me waiting.

I looked at them one by one.

I looked closely at their eyes and faces, wondering if anyone was hiding anything, even pain.

They said with a big smile.

“There is no place for any pain. Sir, we’re ready to go and win.”

“Are we all gathered?”

They looked around, checked, and said everyone except Ren seemed to be here, and he came in even before the words were over.

From then on, they listened so as not to miss a single word from my mouth.

I heard a rumbling sound coming from someone’s stomach.

If it was at other times, the sound would have naturally relieved the mood, but that day was not today.

I haven’t even eaten anything properly in days now.

“It can be complex, so listen carefully. I go this way and go directly into the wild plants. We’ll set fire to the living quarters and let the horses in the stables run away, making it look like a large number of soldiers were on a night attack.”

“You’re thinking about using the Aura Blade.”

If it hadn’t been for me being a Sword Master who could use an Aura Blade, they wouldn’t have believed what I was saying.

If it weren’t for the last injury, we might have had to wait, but under the current circumstances, that was also difficult.

None of my men knew that my injury was actually so severe.

It was a good thing, them not knowing.

“Yes. That’ll drive me this way, so we’re all waiting here. Don’t miss any of them here. That’s the way you put your life on the line to finish them.”

One or two people nodded.

I explained to them the geography of the place they should be guarding.

I stressed that the operation they had to carry out was indeed quite tricky.

If I didn’t, I thought they’d find a loophole in my words.

Fortunately, they seemed to believe what I was saying.

Except for Ren.

“You’re going to do it alone, sir?”

Asked a subordinate who was nearby.

“It’s better to do this alone. It’s not difficult, and there aren’t many of us, so we’re waiting here to gather all our energy. Your job is the most important thing. So don’t miss a single person.”

“Yes, sir. Don’t worry.”

They were determined.

“You’re right. If the general drives you all, then we can do it. If you try to get rid of it yourself, it’ll be hard, so just show me a taste. They are going to be surprised. It’s a surprise. You’ll do that, right?”

I nodded, looked at them, and fleshed out the operation.

Unlike the others, I was worried about Ren, who was staring at my face like a voyeur, but I just pretended not to know.

“I wish each of you good luck. Be sure to survive. Let’s go down to the village tomorrow morning and eat a good meal together. The Bandits would have been a nuisance in this village too, so they might just give us rice.”

“I see.”

The men laughed.

Most of the laughter was forced laughs made out of nervousness.

“Then get ready and start right away.”

“Yes, commander. Take care of yourself, too sir.”

They moved in perfect order and disappeared like the wind.

Only Ren was left behind.

“Why aren’t you going?”

“Do you think you’ll believe that?”

“…What?”

“You’re trying to die alone. Stupidly!”

“What?”

“Why? Are you mad because you’re stupid? Can you get angry?”

I was appalled at the question of whether I could be angry.

In a few hours, I think I’ll be a person who can’t even be angry.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. There’s a lot that needs to be prepared. Get out of the way. You don’t have time for this either. Just think about doing it right. Don’t say anything weird.”

He came a step aside as I was about to pass.

He blocked the way as he couldn’t catch me.

His eyes were bloodshot as he raised his head.

“Ren.”

“It was good to be under your command. I’m afraid to take only that name. I don’t even remember the names of Stiana Izberg’s men, Ren Delmart, or the Knights. If you can write my tombstone, please do so.”

“Why would I write your tombstone? What a fool.”

“Next time, meet a good lord. Sir.” (TLN: OMG I’m crying so hard T^T even Ren knows what’s going on and wishes the best future for his beloved commander.)

“Noisey, if you don’t want to be left alone, go ahead.”

“If I come with you…”

“I don’t think anyone who disobeys my orders should be my subordinate.”

“Commander!”

“You can tell. What will happen if we go like this? Is that what you’re doing?? You really don’t know it’s you that’s making this the hardest for me right now? Does it change when I pretend to not know? Shall we live with such a smile as if nothing happened? Knowing that I couldn’t do anything to help?”

“…”

Tears welled down from his eyes.

His face was fleeting with tears.

“Ren. So do I. It was good that you were my subordinate. I’m Stiana Izberg, the sole commander of Ren Delmart.”

I said, grasping his arm.

“Live. That’s an order.”

“Commander!”

Leaving his cry behind, I went outside and called my words.

I ran my hand through a gray mane.

The guy who didn’t know where he was going or what he was going to go through looked good.

‘I’m sorry.’

I wiped the mane of my horse once and got on its back.

My men first saw me as they ran on horseback.

I smiled and nodded as I saw them looking at me with hot eyes and with their fists on their chests in salute.

Live. Please. You must all try and live.

The moment I tried to get on the horse, I almost screamed at a raging pain.

I managed to swallow the sound by chewing on my lips.

The building with the prince did not open the door in the end even once.

Only the sound of laughter grew louder and hit my ear.

*

The road to the mountain was rough.

It must have been about half a year ago that rumors about bandits began to emerge.

Bandits take money from people by attacking or threatening the merchants passing by.

That was how the bandits of this magnitude managed to live.

But this place was strange.

He refused to give them money and said he would kill them.

When such rumors spread, they would not go there at all, so they would have difficulty operating alive.

Nevertheless, they said there was no compromise, and people passing by there were cruel slaughtering both the merchants and the individuals.

The rumor spread quickly and the number of people and merchants who passed there dropped rapidly.

They were called bandits, but in fact it was more likely that it was a secret organization other than some

bandits.

The royal family didn’t come forward about the matter in person.

There were many battles that were more beneficial than that, so I immersed myself in them.

Eileen proposed to the prince to go on a trip together, and if the route had not been set here, he would not have run into them.

When I ran the horse nonstop, I was sweating all over.

The cold wind scraped the cheek like a blade.

Clouds were creeping up around the moon, which was shining everywhere.

Running nonstop, a fairly large-scale mountain house with prose revealed its grandeur.

As I was holding my breath for a while, the moonlight was briefly obscured by the passing clouds.

It was late at night, but the idea that everyone would be asleep went astray.

There seemed to be twenty men guarding the gate.

They were not off guard.

Hearing that the prince and the royal knights were staying nearby, he seemed to have prepared in advance.

I hid myself in the darkness for a moment and poured the powder I had taken out of my pocket into the wound.

I could probably forget the pain for about an hour and fight through it.

Waiting for the drug to spread, I took a breath for a while and went towards them.

They seemed to have already known I was here.

“I want to talk to your lord.”

“Our lord will have nothing to say about you. Our Lord doesn’t like to see the living humans.” (TLN: lord help me this sentence has me beat I’m sorry…)

The man with a shaggy beard said annoyedly.

I gave them some time to change their meaning.

But when I saw each of them pulling out their own weapons, I also made the final preparations.

A fierce battle seemed inevitable.

“But I must see your lord. If you keep blocking me, I can’t help it.”

There was no need to say anything else.

As I ran, those with swords and spears blocked the road.

“Don’t bring your body to the lord.”

The spear passed by me at an unbelievable speed with a heavy piercing.

I jumped off the horse and swung my sword at the same time.

Surak-. (TLN: SFX sweeping cut noise)

Black split the game in a flash.

That’s how I ended one’s life.

A new model fell to the floor without a chance to scream at the sudden attack.

The blood poured down the floor.

“…!”

The people who gathered wore expressions of disbelief that the victor was decided too quickly.

But I couldn’t wait for them to come to their senses.

Due to my physical inferiority, I will get tired faster than them.

By then, my plan was to make as much noise as possible to draw out their chief and negotiate with him.