Chapter 16

The third today.

Grip strength training and combat review were done as usual.

Encrid did not waste time.

It was another ordinary day; nothing happened during the day.

On the surface, that is.

‘I just didn’t notice.’

Today was different from usual.

Krang skipped breakfast and only returned after lunch.

The medic in the infirmary was absent for a long time.

Normally, this soldier’s job was to always guard the infirmary.

Everything else was the same.

There were still a few patients in the other infirmaries around.

Encrid sat in front of the infirmary, observing the soldiers coming and going.

Since this was the rear, the combat troops were fewer compared to the front lines.

One of the wheels on a handcart broke, causing the cart to tip over.

Groans from the patients could be heard here and there.

Thanks to the strong wind, there was a soldier complaining.

All things considered, it wasn’t a state of high alert.

‘Still, it’s not like we would miss a few assassins.’

The objective remained unchanged.

To cause a commotion when facing the assassin, and that would be the end. He steeled his resolve. He spent the rest of the day as usual.

“Isn’t that boring?”

Krang asked his usual question.

“When we get back, we’ll see about that, you bastards.”

There was Vengeance’s meaningless muttering.

Night had deepened.

Encrid lay down, then got up and sat half-perched on his bunk.

He sat and reviewed the information he knew.

The time the assassin would come was:

‘After the third guard change.’

The weapons used were poison needles and blades.

The suspect appeared to be of a female or childlike physique.

The main suspect was the newly appointed company commander.

The likely target was Krang.

This was all he knew.

It was enough.

They weren’t after him, and all he had to do was cause a commotion.

Watching the changing of the guard, Encrid got up.

“Haah, going to pee?”

A yawning guard asked.

“No, I just can’t sleep.”

“Aren’t you rejoining the main unit tomorrow?”

The guard smiled slightly. He was a soldier with freckles, droopy eyes, and a gentle demeanor.

Encrid, being a squad leader, was of higher rank than a regular soldier.

“Yes.”

“Are you too nervous to sleep?”

“No, the moon is too bright.”

At Encrid’s words, the freckled soldier looked up.

It was a dark night.

The clouds tightly covered the moonlight in the night sky.

Although a distant star sparkled brightly, the darkness was so thick that one couldn’t see an inch ahead without a torch.

“The moon?”

“Just joking.”

Encrid said, glancing at the guard in the neighboring tent.

No matter how strictly discipline was enforced, soldiers like that always appeared.

He saw a guard dozing off, leaning against a tent pole.

“Haha.”

The freckled soldier let out a stiff laugh.

“Actually, it’s the torches that are too bright for me to sleep.”

“You’re sensitive.”

“I’ve always been like that since I was a kid.”

It wasn’t just idle talk.

Encrid was more sensitive than most people.

He could hear well, smell well, and distinguish tastes well.

His senses were sharp.

‘Yet I was caught off guard twice already.’

The opponent was quite skilled in stealth.

Of course, if an assassin wasn’t confident in stealth and infiltration, what would they be confident in?

It’s dark. Looking at the stars in the night sky and the burning torches, Encrid exchanged a few more trivial words.

Talk about where their hometowns were, and how they ended up in the army.

The freckled soldier shared his story without hesitation.

Encrid didn’t listen closely.

While talking, he was constantly on alert for what was happening behind him.

He kept touching his neck.

‘Since it hit the neck, the poison took effect immediately.’

Had it hit the forearm instead of the neck, there would have been enough time to react.

Preparation.

If he was awake, he would at least have enough time to scream….

“Laura said she was waiting for me…”

The freckled soldier was in the middle of talking about his girlfriend back home.

At that moment, there was a sudden ‘thud’ as something pierced through the freckled soldier’s neck.

‘A blade!’

A blade as long as a finger emerged from his neck.

There was no sudden gush of blood.

Before pulling out that blade, it effectively acted as a tool to stem the bleeding.

The freckled soldier staggered sideways and silently collapsed, his mouth covered.

Ping—a sound, and something flew towards Encrid.

All of these actions occurred in a single breath.

Encrid reacted too. He reflexively covered his neck with his hand. A poisoned needle pricked the back of his hand.

Now it was time to scream.

There’s an assassin here!

We’re under attack!

Or at least.

Aaaaaah!

Even such a meaningless scream would have sufficed.

But then.

Thud.

Something covered his mouth.

No sound, no warning.

Encrid felt someone grabbing and twisting his neck.

Crack.

Afterwards, he felt a hot pain in the back of his neck as a blade was thrust in.

Having been stabbed so many times, he could now roughly gauge the depth and severity of the wound.

This was a fatal wound.

Encrid collapsed to the ground with the blade still in him.

Warm blood flowed from his neck down to his chest.

The assassin did not deliver a final blow.

Encrid had no strength left to check the situation around him.

‘Krang? The Platoon Leader Vengeance?’

As he gushed out blood, the very essence of life, Encrid checked the two sprawled before him.

One was the freckled soldier.

He was dead with his neck pierced. Blood poured out, soaking the tent floor.

‘What was his name again?’

He had talked about so many things but hadn’t listened attentively to any of it.

Inside the tent entrance, he also saw the Platoon leader Vengeance.

He too lay sprawled, eyes wide open, as if strangled.

But Krang was nowhere to be seen.

Using his last bit of strength, Encrid lifted his head to look inside the tent.

As he moved, the blade embedded in him shifted, causing excruciating pain.

“Grrh.”

A groan escaped involuntarily. Despite the pain, he steadfastly raised himself and looked.

He saw a slender woman.

Behind the torn tent, blocking the way, there was the fairy woman.

‘So it was you.’

It was the newly appointed company commander.

No matter how unobservant he was, he couldn’t have missed this.

“Already taken out…”

Another voice mixed in.

That was the end of his memory.

“Cyprus! Cyprus!”

Today began again.

‘Damn it.’

A dry, hollow laugh escaped involuntarily.

The opponent was an assassin.

Regardless of having the Heart of the Beast, Valen’s Mercenary Sword Style, or whatever, there was nothing he could do.

First, he had to face and fight them to do anything at all.

But they stabbed him in the neck and launched poison needles without a single word.

With a sudden kick, he threw off the blanket and got up.

“Have you gone crazy this early in the morning?”

The Platoon leader Vengeance asked, half-covered by the blanket that had flown onto his head.

“Oh, no.”

That wasn’t the important part.

“Alright then, wanna die? This is mutiny, isn’t it?”

Ignoring the limping Vengeance, Encrid walked outside.

“Hey! Are you running away? You bastard! If you get caught, you’re dead!”

Behind Vengeance’s shouting.

“Why is it so noisy this early in the morning?”

Came Krang’s voice as he woke up.

The same day repeating again.

‘Let’s see how you do this time, assassin.’

Encrid prepared for the fourth night.

This time, he also brought several daggers.

He persuaded the freckled soldier to come into the tent with him.

“Isn’t everyone who needs protecting here?”

It was an easy sell. The naive country boy was completely taken in by Encrid’s words.

He brought one of the torches inside and placed it upright.

The inside of the tent became much brighter.

‘So, assassins, can you work in such a well-lit place?’

It was possible.

He didn’t know when they had sneaked in.

He didn’t know how they got close.

An assassin dropped with a thud from above the tent.

The shadow that fell plunged poisoned needles into the necks of both the freckled soldier and Encrid.

Just before dying, Encrid saw the tent being sliced open with a swish.

A white blade.

A dark figure beyond it.

Thanks to the torch he had brought inside, the light illuminated the face of the attacker.

It was the newly appointed company commander.

“Cyprus! Cyprus!”

The fifth day dawned.

“Alright.”

Even knowing it, he was caught. It was the fourth time.

Determination set in.

He tried again in a similar manner, but this time, he focused with all his might.

The result wasn’t much different.

The beds in this tent were elevated off the ground.

A black shadow emerged from underneath, throwing short arrows. These were thrown arrow weapons.

The arrow tips were poisoned.

It was a deadly poison.

The pain was of a different magnitude than being stabbed by a knife.

It felt like ants were gnawing on his heart.

His breath was cut off, unable to continue breathing.

Thus, he died without being able to do anything.

The sixth day was similar.

There were occasional minor changes.

Just before dying, he heard the group of assassins saying something.

“You, ho…”

“You are…”

“This is a warn…”

“Fairness…”

Of course, hearing that didn’t change anything.

He couldn’t understand what they were saying anyway.

At best, it was just a few words.

No matter how much he tried to piece it together, he couldn’t find an answer.

With determination, Encrid tried various methods.

Not giving up was a strength, but in this situation, it could be a weakness.

The old saying that stupidity leads to suffering holds true.

Endless attempts aren’t always the solution.

Fortunately, Encrid wasn’t a fool.

Twenty attempts and failures.

‘Even screaming is pointless.’

It showed just how skilled the assassin was.

Once, he tried shouting about an attack before the assassin could do anything.

The soldiers from the surrounding tents gathered where Encrid was.

He even saw Krang rubbing his eyes as he woke up.

Roughly, it was after the third guard had arrived. It could be considered a preemptive strike attempted with the right timing.

“Attack? Where?”

As a result, he just got kicked in the shin by the neighboring platoon leader.

If he shouted first, nothing happened?

Would that mean the day just passed by?

In that case, getting kicked in the shin was nothing.

After the commotion ended, Encrid roughly excused it as a bad dream.

“How did you know?”

For the first time, Encrid heard the assassin’s voice.

It was a man’s voice, mixed with a metallic rasp.

And then he died.

A blade lodged in his neck.

If he tried that, he would have tried other things too.

“Platoon leader Vengeance. Are you perhaps mad at me?”

“What the hell?”

“It’s not me, it’s Krang, right? Isn’t it because Krang keeps talking nonsense?”

Encrid tried to lighten the mood and give a warning.

“There will be an assassin tonight.”

“…Go completely mad, you crazy bastard.”

Vengeance didn’t believe him.

“Got a secret birth story? Why would an assassin come?”

Krang didn’t believe him either.

They were people with a lack of faith.

It was a failure.

He tried various things, but the cause of failure was similar.

‘Insufficient skill.’

It could be summed up with one reason.

The assassin was too skilled.

He needed to find a way.

The Heart of the Beast, Valen’s Mercenary Sword Style.

They were not helpful now.

‘Bring Rem in the middle of the night?’

Couldn’t that be the way?

If it were Rem or another squad member, they wouldn’t be taken down so easily.

‘As long as it’s not Big Eyes.’

He wouldn’t be caught.

But how to bring Rem?

There was no way.

He was just a squad leader and they were just soldiers.

Regardless of skill, their ranks were like that.

If he talked to the squad leader responsible for the duty squad?

‘He would surely listen.’

What excuse would he use?

There are things that can and cannot be done.

It was impossible to bring a squad member.

So what other way was there?

There was one.

Repeat the same today.

Encrid knows when and where to find Big Eyes.

‘Should I ask for advice?’

All his squad members are incredibly talented.

‘You can listen to opinions even if you don’t bring them.’

It’s better than enduring it with an obsession.

Encrid decided to meet Big Eyes.

“Where are you going?”

Vengeance platoon leader asked from behind.

Krang also left early in the morning.

Enkrid figured Vengeance asked because he was also leaving.

Encrid answered with a question and laughed.

“Are you lonely?”

“What, you?”

“Or not.”

“Hey, you, this, fuck.”

Ignoring him, he walked out.

“If I get out, you’ll see!”

Inside the tent, Platoon leader Vengeance shouted. Encrid cocked his ear.

Finding Big Eyes wasn’t difficult.

Although his expression was quite bad.

What was important was Big Eyes’s expression.

This side has repeated the day 20 times without even seeing the opponent’s face.

“Big Eyes.”

Big Eyes, who was walking fast, turned his head at the call.

He furrowed his brow, then spotted Encrid.

“Squad Leader? Are you okay now?”

“Can we talk for a moment?”

“Ah, I’m a bit busy. If you need someone to talk to, Jaxon is over there.”

Big Eyes seemed genuinely busy, raising his thumb and pointing backward, then casually continued walking.

There was no chance to catch him. Anyway, Big Eyes wasn’t the target; Encrid was going to call another squad member.

Encrid headed towards the tent indicated by Big Eyes.

It was a small tent between the maintenance tents.

It wasn’t a large tent, but a small one.

A maintenance tent that isn’t much used in supply items.

It was a place where defective goods were gathered, so people didn’t come and go often.

“Squad Leader?”

Jaxon was there.

Red hair with a red-eyed brownish tint.

A squad member showing an average smile.

And according to Rem’s evaluation.

The last man to come.

He said he enjoyed poking holes and taking care of them rather than confronting his opponent.

He also said,

Scratch.

Encrid scratched his head with his finger and asked.

It seems to have come at a difficult time.

“Do you have time?”

Jaxon nodded nonchalantly.

Behind him, a woman with tangled yellow hair poked her face out of the tent and quickly went inside.

“I’m done with my business.”

Jaxon stood up, putting on a shirt with all the buttons open over his shoulders.

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