Chapter 14

Chapter 14.

The day after the sparring match ended, the damp fog surrounding the barracks had lifted, but a silence stickier and heavier than the fog pressed down on the squad. The soldiers were scattered sparsely around the open ground in front of the barracks, maintaining their own equipment. Only the creak of leather armor and the rasping sound of spearheads being sharpened on whetstones floated heavily through the damp air.

Den silently focused on his own spearhead. It was the very spear he had dropped onto the dirt floor of the training ground yesterday. He mechanically put strength into the hand holding the whetstone. The scene from yesterday would not leave his mind, like a ghost. Rian, fleeing in terror like a rabbit. And the next moment, Rian parrying the sergeant’s attack with a perfect movement that seemed to have decades of time condensed into it.

The two images collided in his mind and churned up his insides.

‘That movement yesterday...... What the hell was it?’

He had agonized over it all night, but no answer came. The incomprehensible phenomenon had made his pride and effort worthless in an instant. He shook his head and forced the thoughts away. But the more he did, the clearer the sense of powerlessness pressing down on his shoulders became. He consciously refused even to look in Rian’s direction.

Rian was crouched in one corner at the edge of the squad. Silently, he was tightening the straps of his old, worn leather armor one by one. His touch was slow, but calm, without any unnecessary movement. There was no sign of any aftereffect left by yesterday’s intense sparring.

No one around him spoke to him. It was a different kind of distance from the disregard of before. It was as if an invisible wall surrounded him. Whenever the soldiers glanced at him, they quickly withdrew their gazes as if they had seen something ominous. He was perfectly isolated. As if he were not even there.

“Everyone, gather.”

At the low, cracked voice, the soldiers reluctantly rose and gathered before Kairon. Every face was plainly pale from fatigue and lack of nutrition. Kairon clicked his tongue as he looked over their faces one by one.

“The situation is bad.”

He spoke curtly.

“With the remaining rations, we will have trouble lasting even two days.”

At those words, the soldiers’ faces darkened further. Some swallowed dryly with despairing expressions. Hunger was an enemy as frightening as the imperial army, or perhaps even more frightening.

Kairon spread out the map he was holding and laid it on the ground. Then he jabbed one point with a rough finger.

“Here. There is an abandoned village half a day from the unit. A week ago, the imperial bastards passed through it once with their main force and swept it clean.”

He continued.

“They must have already taken everything worth looting, so there is no danger of an ambush. In other words, it should be safe.”

Safe.

Even at that word, the soldiers’ expressions did not brighten in the slightest. Because they knew in their bones that there was no such thing as a safe place on this hellish battlefield.

“We will search the place for any remaining food or useful supplies. Move in teams of two. Everyone fully armed. We depart in five minutes.”

Kairon’s order was firm. It meant no further questions would be permitted.

The squad formed ranks in heavy silence. Rian silently walked at the very rear of the formation, looking at the backs of the comrades walking ahead of him. Behind his back, he felt cold gazes.

***

Under the gray sky, the desolate road stretched on endlessly.

Along the roadside, the scars left by war were strewn like wounds. The remains of houses burned black, a cart abandoned with its axle broken, and on the dark red bloodstains dried onto the ground, flocks of crows had gathered and were cawing noisily.

The squad marched in silence. No one opened his mouth. Only the creaking of armor and the sound of boots stepping on the ground repeated monotonously.

“Do not neglect your surroundings.”

Kairon, walking at the head of the column, warned them quietly.

“What is scarier than a corpse pretending to be dead is a hungry wild beast, and what is more cunning than a wild beast is a starving human.”

At those words, the soldiers tensed and adjusted their grips on the spears in their hands.

Rian did not react outwardly to Kairon’s words. His gaze was not on the road ahead, but on the desolate forest stretching out on both sides of the path. His eyes persistently swept the edge of the woods, like someone searching for something.

‘If it were Uncle Borik...... where would he look first?’

It was not a conscious question. It was a thought that rose in his mind on its own.

His senses had changed slightly from before. The forest, which would have looked merely threatening to an ordinary conscript, looked to him like a book containing countless pieces of information. The position of rocks good for an ambush, broken branches that revealed animal trails, a ridgeline where a sniper could hide.

His eyes lingered for a moment deep in the forest, where the shade was unusually thick. He saw several branches snapped unnaturally. Faint traces that someone had passed through there recently. And beside them, faint marks remained in the dirt that looked different from human footprints, as if they belonged to a beast.

‘Predict danger and find the most efficient route.’

That was a veteran’s vision.

Without Rian himself even realizing it, the experience engraved into his body was slowly changing him in ordinary times as well. Even outside combat, his senses were constantly analyzing the surrounding environment for survival.

After several hours of grueling marching, the entrance to the ruined village finally came into view.

***

The village was as quiet as the dead.

It was like a vast grave. Blackened buildings stood with only their bare frames left, and whenever the wind blew, a bleak sound came from the broken windows. A sign hung half-broken, creak, creak, producing a regular noise that made the silence even more eerie.

Caw, caw......

Only the cries of a few crows sitting on the roofs and looking down at them were proof that life remained in this place.

“Damn it. They burned the whole place down.”

Den spat and muttered.

Kairon stopped the squad with a gesture.

“Spread out and search in teams of two. Focus especially on barns and underground storerooms. If there is any place still intact, something may be left.”

He looked around at the soldiers and warned them.

“If anything happens, signal immediately with a whistle, and never act alone.”

The squad members began pairing off and scattering with practiced ease. As always, Rian remained until the end. No one tried to pair up with him.

At that moment, the youngest and smallest recruit among the squad members hesitantly approached Rian’s side. His name was Thomas. His face, not yet free of downy softness, was full of fear.

Kairon saw this and nodded his head.

“Hey, you take Thomas with you.”

That was how Rian’s team was decided. Thomas reluctantly nodded and glanced at Rian with anxious eyes.

“Sh...... should we start over there?”

Thomas pointed at the nearest building in a trembling voice.

“......”

Instead of answering, Rian moved first. His gaze was not on the building, but on the ground. As if people had stopped passing through long ago, thick dust had piled up on the road. But over it, faint new footprints remained. Boot prints and smaller marks.

“I...... is it really all right here? It feels like a ghost’s going to come out......”

Thomas muttered while looking around.

“......Be quiet.”

Rian spoke low. His voice carried a warning.

Rian entered through the doorway of a collapsed tavern. Inside, broken tables and chairs were scattered in disorder, and the dust on the floor was much thicker than outside. In the air, the musty smell of mold mixed with the acrid smell of ash and stung the nose.

“Wow, this place is completely wrecked.”

Thomas clicked his tongue and hurriedly began searching around the counter for anything that could serve as food. The creak of wooden boards and the sound of bottles breaking rang out noisily.

Rian did not search for food. His gaze was still on the dust on the floor.

‘There are...... footprints in the dust.’

Boot prints heading around the counter. Those were theirs. But aside from those, there were other traces carefully continuing along the wall. They were not boot prints. Old shoe prints, and some of them were...... bare footprints.

He quietly headed toward the back of the tavern, where the fireplace had been.

Ash had piled up thickly. More than a week had passed since the imperial army swept through the village. It would have been normal for the ash to have gone cold long ago. But when Rian reached out his hand, he felt a faint warmth from the deepest part of the ash.

‘Someone...... made a fire here recently.’

A cold sensation crawled up his spine. This place was not safe. Kairon’s judgment had been wrong. The imperial army had left, but someone else was hiding here.

Rian was about to turn quickly to warn Thomas.

“Found it! Rian, come here! It’s canned food! We did it!”

Thomas pulled several rusty cans from a wooden box covered in white dust and shouted with joy as if he had gained the whole world. His innocent face was full of delight.

Rian’s heart dropped to the floor with a thud.

‘Damn it......! It’s a trap!’

Crash!

The moment Thomas cheered, men in ragged clothes burst out like shadows from the dark corners inside the tavern and from piles of debris in the surrounding buildings.

In their hands were rusty knives and sharpened wooden spears. They were not imperial soldiers. Their worn-out, faded uniforms belonged to the familiar soldiers of the Kaien Kingdom. In their eyes, madness born of hunger gleamed like wolves that had found prey.

Rian reflexively adjusted his grip on his spear and took a defensive stance.

But it was already too late.

The man who looked the most cunning among them used the opening while Thomas was distracted by the canned food and slipped behind him in an instant.

“Guh!”

A short scream burst from Thomas’s mouth.

The man’s strong arm wrapped around Thomas’s neck, and the rusty dagger in his other hand was aimed coldly at his throat.

“Don’t move, brats.”

The man who seemed to be the leader, Garik, said with a chuckle. Yellow teeth showed between his cracked lips.

“Or I’ll slit this cute little kid’s throat first.”

On his face hung the vile smile of a man who had abandoned everything in order to survive.

Hearing the commotion, the other squad members and Kairon hurriedly rushed into the tavern. They saw Thomas taken hostage and the deserters surrounding them, then stopped in shock.

“You bastards......!”

Kairon’s face twisted with rage. He shouted in a low voice boiling with anger.

“What are you doing to a fellow soldier of Kaien?!”

Garik snorted at those words.

“Comrades? Ha! Those officer bastards who eat until their bellies burst and bastards like us who clean up shit and get thrown out as meat shields are comrades? Do not make me laugh, Sergeant.”

He continued, pressing the blade closer to Thomas’s neck.

“We just want to survive. Now, why do you all not drop your weapons nicely? Then I might let this kid live.”

Behind Garik, the other deserters aimed their weapons and slowly tightened the encirclement. Their numbers were roughly similar, but with a hostage taken, the situation was overwhelmingly unfavorable.

Thomas was trembling like aspen leaves, terrified. Tears were already welling in his eyes.

“P-please save me......! Sergeant......!”

His pleading voice struck Rian’s ears.

“You cowardly bastard......!”

Unable to overcome his anger, Den tightened his grip on his spear. He looked ready to rush out at any moment. The instant he tried to step forward, Kairon seized his shoulder hard with a hand like steel.

“Calm down! If you move recklessly, only Thomas will die!”

Kairon spoke through his teeth in a whisper.

Den ground his teeth in anger, but at Kairon’s words, he had no choice but to force himself to stop moving.

“Good, good. As expected, the veteran sergeant is smart. Now, hurry up. Stop wasting time and drop your weapons.”

Garik put a little force into the blade pressed to Thomas’s neck.

A faint red line was drawn across the white skin of Thomas’s throat, and a drop of blood ran down.

The squad members’ faces hardened with despair. A confrontation on the verge of exploding. The air sank, heavy as lead. Everything seemed to stop.

Rian stood without moving a muscle. His eyes were fixed only on Garik and the dagger in his hand.

That was the moment.

Fragments of intense emotion rushed into his mind like a vast wave.

The sensations Borik had felt just before he died. The veteran’s sense of responsibility as he tried to throw away his own life to save Den when the imperial noncommissioned officer’s blade had brought him to the brink of death. His piercing anger and regret at failing to protect the greenhorns.

‘I have to protect him.’

That intense will suppressed Rian’s own fear and began to dominate his entire body.

Every emotion that had dwelled in Rian’s eyes evaporated in an instant. Fear, bewilderment, anger. In the space where all of them vanished, an icy, still resolve filled him.

Every sound around him receded. Time seemed to flow slowly.

Garik’s stance entered his eyes. His center of gravity was leaning onto his left foot, and the arm holding the hostage was vulnerable to defense. The angle of the wrist holding the dagger, the shoulder that trembled faintly each time he breathed. Every movement and weakness of his was drawn clearly in Rian’s mind like a blueprint.

All the information was analyzed in an instant, and from among dozens, hundreds of possible moves, the most efficient and lethal route of attack narrowed down to one.

Rian’s gaze changed.

His pupils, which had been trembling anxiously in fear, focused on a single point and became sharp as the tip of a needle.

He was no longer Rian, the frightened conscript.

With the eyes of a cold-blooded predator watching for the single chance to sever its prey’s throat, he waited for Garik’s next move.