Beatrice was coming this way, holding a wooden cup in one hand and a platter of dried dried jerky in the other.

Her face hardened when she saw Selina as she approached after seeing only me.

You said you came before me?- I heard a muttering voice.

“What happened?”

“Looks like you haven’t eaten anything.”

Contrary to what she said indifferently, her earlobes turned red.

It may look red in the reflection of a campfire.

“thanks. I will eat well.”

I took a plate from her and put the well-roasted jerky into my mouth.

Salty doesn’t taste bad.

It’s delicious, but… .

‘Even if I eat a little bit, it’s a problem.’

After eating about two, I quickly lost my appetite.

It’s delicious at first, but if you keep eating this for several months, you will get tired of it.

“… .”

I returned the plate to her and continued to mumble, unable to swallow the jerky in my mouth.

I looked at the soldiers.

They sang military songs or laughed and chatted with their arms on each other’s shoulders.

He has to go to war tomorrow, but he doesn’t seem to care about that at all.

It seemed that he wanted to enjoy this moment as much as he did now.

My cheeks tingled as I looked at them, so I turned around to see Selina staring at me.

Beatrice was concentrating on eating the grilled beef jerky, as if it were so delicious.

“Why is that?”

“I think you’re okay.”

What is this?

Do you think I’m okay?

“In what ways?”

“You participated in the war, but you look so unconcerned.”

It looks calm… That’s not wrong.

Actually, I’m not that excited.

It is said that the first person who participated in a war suffers from the aftereffects of killing a person.

To be honest, it’s not that I didn’t kill people, and I’ve experienced situations worse than this in the North.

When I think of the time when I had to wield cotton for several months in a situation where I couldn’t sleep, rest properly, or eat properly.

‘Now, it’s nothing special.’

It’s safe to say it’s a children’s joke.

She must know what I was like in the North, and she must be really curious to ask.

Unlike me who immediately joined the war, Selina and Beatrice did not participate.

Since she has never killed anyone, she must be worried because it is her first war.

Moreover, if the war is against barbarians who are not strange to die at any time.

“I am used to situations like this. Even the North… .”

“ah… Yes.”

She understood even without speaking to the end.

And there was no word for a while.

Looking down at her blankly staring at the soldiers, her shoulders were trembling slightly.

He came to help in the war, but he must be afraid because the situation is right in front of his nose.

‘I did too… Was I scared too?’

I don’t remember very well.

When was the first time I killed anonymously?

Was it at the Academy, North?

Honestly, at that time, I think I swung the sword without hesitation because I thought I might die.

And the fear of being swallowed by Ahar’s personality was greater than the aftereffects of killing a person.

To be honest, I don’t remember what happened at the time.

Because it wasn’t that important.

“… .”

But she is different from me.

He hadn’t been through such fierce battles like me, and he had no experience of killing himself either.

Although he has been trained as a knight, it can be difficult in real life.

Because dealing with humans is different from dealing with monsters.

What should I do to comfort you?

Will my consolation help her?

I thought about it and thought about it, and suddenly I realized that this kind of worry was meaningless.

No matter what I say, it’s useless if it doesn’t touch her.

“You will do well.”

“… ?”

she looks up at me

He turned his head away from her, looked at the soldiers, and opened his mouth.

“Even if you fall behind, your colleagues will support you. That appearance may not be very reliable, but when the time comes, there are no more reliable people than them.”

Actually it was.

It’s been a while, but I was able to see their battle.

When an ally is attacked by a barbarian, he quickly pulls him out and fills the hole.

Even if it was only for a short time because they focused on me, they would have won in the end even if it wasn’t for me.

Not just soldiers. A few of the knights who came along came out, but not all of them.

Besides, the Rangers hadn’t shown all of our strength yet.

So there is no need to be very nervous.

‘Above all, if it seems dangerous, I’ll step out.’

Even if it’s not me, there is Bane. He won’t let his daughter die.

I stared down at her.

Seeing me keep my mouth shut without talking, she tilts her head.

As she tilted her head, her silver hair cascaded down with a rustling sound.

Her figure reflected in the moonlight was so beautiful that it was safe to say that the goddess of beauty had come down.

There’s even an innocent face.

‘This is why men can’t stop confessing.’

Even my heart was beating loudly at the moment.

It was when I was staring blankly at her without realizing it.

“What about Raymond?”

“… ?”

“Won’t Raymond help?”

I would never have thought that her eyes staring at me would be so burdensome.

I turned my head away from her gaze.

“… .”

Didn’t answer.

As if that was enough, she didn’t ask me more.

I looked up at the sky.

A starry sky that did not match the war illuminated me.

***

morning dawns

The soldiers were diligently moving before sunrise.

The scene of the small banquet that had previously been held had already been cleaned up.

“Since no one has returned alive, they probably don’t know how things work yet. We must aim for that vigilance. Their base is here.”

Inside the command barracks.

The commanders gathered around the Marquis of Easton and had a meeting.

Even before the afterglow of the first victory wore off, they were preparing for the next battle.

“… And this is where their supplies are. The elves and Sir Raymond personally saw and confirmed it, so it must be certain.”

A map of the South was placed on a long table with horses carved out of wood and stone.

Dozens of small horses meant barbarians, horses made of weaving leaves meant elves, and black horses meant easton.

Easton’s horses were of various kinds.

Round stones representing soldiers, pieces of wood resembling horses representing knights, pieces of wood in the shape of a bow representing rangers, and so on… .

Such words were placed all over the map.

“If not, there could be thousands, maybe even 10,000 in their headquarters. But that doesn’t mean their house is empty. There are hundreds of savages there too. It must be difficult in many ways to rob an empty house.”

What are these ants- one of the commanders blurted out.

It was a word that came out without me knowing, but thanks to that word, the stiff atmosphere was able to loosen up a little.

“hahahaha. right. They are little ants, nothing different from that.”

I had a moment to curse at the savages who turned into bugs in an instant.

If there were fewer of them, it wouldn’t have been this hard.

Their monstrous bodies and goblin-like fertility make them difficult to deal with.

“We hit their supply lines. In the raid, Sir Bane, Raymond, and five Rangers are drawn from each unit. Can you please?”

Marquis Easton looked up and looked at Bane.

‘Can you treat me well?’ is what he said to us.

I didn’t answer much, and I felt Bane nod from the side.

“You just have to do it like you do now. Just like now… .”

“And the soldiers… .”

The meeting ended just as the sun rose.

Bane spoke to me as I left the barracks.

“Are you tired?”

“it’s okay. I’m used to not sleeping.”

When the soldiers ate and slept, I went on reconnaissance with Bane.

Speed and secrecy were essential, so Arjuna and I took a ranger with a bright night road to look around their camp with the elves.

‘It was to the point where I laughed out loud.’

I thought I was looking at a crowded swarm of ants.

Their main base is not only large, but also huge in number.

For a moment, I wondered if I could win without even realizing it.

It can be seen that it is 10 times that of Easton, which has only 1,000 people.

It means that each person has to deal with 10 people, but if you exclude children and the elderly, there are about 5,600 people.

Each person must deal with more than 20 people.

Yes, if it was simply that, it was difficult, but not impossible.

‘Half of them are users, 100 of them are intermediate level or higher, and about 10 of them are top level… .’

It was great power.

Even considering that they had one master and this one had two, their power was amazing.

To begin with, their bodies are like monsters, and it gives me goosebumps to think that they even use auras.

When I told the Marquis of Easton, his face hardened.

And they knew that this war would really be their end and their last fight.

That amount of power is a burden to the savages, no, they can be seen as everything.

The victory or defeat of this war determines the loser of the South.

“You definitely adapt quickly.”

“If you don’t adapt, you will be weeded out.”

“It’s not like that. This mission… Can you do it well?”

“What’s the problem with Lord Bane?”

Bane laughs.

Even if you pretend not to, I think you liked what I said.

“Still, don’t relax. You don’t know when, where, or what variables will strike in a war.”

He nodded.

I know that I have to be careful again and again.

“It may be my imagination, but you look a little lighter.”

Having said that, he left.

Do I look light? I?

I don’t want to die, struggling so hard?

Before I could ask what that meant, he was gone.

What does it mean? Do you think I look light?

It didn’t sound like a joke.

It was neither the situation nor the atmosphere to make jokes.

What on earth did he see in me that he said it was light?

Doubt deepens.

At noon.

The time when the sun rises in mid-heaven.

While the soldiers were periodically roaming around the castle, I was running through the forest.

‘Because it takes about two hours to reach the supply depot. The sun will set when it is time to arrive and carry out the operation.’

With Ranger at the head, Vane runs on the left and Arjuna runs on the right.

Is it because Arjuna, who received the blessing of the World Tree, is with him?

The forest took care of itself and opened the way and erased the traces we had passed.

The forest was helping us to the extent that even a veteran hunter couldn’t find it.

Perhaps thanks to that, I was able to reach my destination faster than I thought.

“her… It’s not a joke.”

“I’m not even here… Even if I can’t, there will be more than two hundred.”

Bane clicked his tongue as he scanned the piles of animal carcasses.

The staple food of savages is meat. And the animal carcasses in front of them were so large that it was safe to say that they had caught all the animals in this area.

“If you light it, it will catch on well.”

“Sure.”

If they all burn up, the savages will have nothing to eat right away.

It is unlikely that there will be enough animals left to feed them all to hunt.

As I looked around, I froze as I saw something I hadn’t seen before.