Co Here (3)
Fear circled in Kadim's mind, accompanied by a great sense of doubt.
Where could such a monster have appeared from?
During his ti in the 7th Legion, except for Silia, he had never been subordinate to anyone.
It had been so long since he had suffered such unreasonable violence.
"I'll do as you wish."
And this was the first ti he had sensed he was about to die.
Kadim had no idea how to handle such an unfamiliar situation.
"I'll do whatever you say for the rest of my life...."
Just please spare my life. At a glance, it might seem textbook, but that was a misconception held by people who had never experienced real fear.
"Then let
make so demands."
Louis spoke firmly.
"Bring my dead squadmates back to life."
"... What?"
"Half of my squadmates died in the mist. You know who's responsible, right?"
Because they entered that mist, more than half the squadmates died.
Louis simply made a demand to Kadim, the one who was the cause.
"So you need to take responsibility."
Among the squadmates who died because of Kadim, there had been soone who might have one day saved the empire as a knight.
Erasing such talent carried heavy responsibility.
"How could I possibly bring back the dead...."
Unless one was a god, it was obviously impossible.
Kadim tried to protest, but Louis stomped on his severed wrist.
"Graaaagh!!"
"Yeah. Of course it's impossible."
Once dead, you can never co back to life.
Even if you had a future as a hero, it made no difference.
A life was as fleeting and precious as the fla of a candle.
"You knew that... so why did you do it?"
"Huuuhhh...."
Kadim could not answer, and just groaned in distress.
Everyone knows life is precious, but many choose not to protect it regardless.
The one thing those people all had in common was that they had never felt fear.
Yet when driven into a corner themselves, there was only one thing they knew how to do.
"I was wrong...! Just once... please, just once...!"
Please forgive . Please spare . Give
a chance.
As Kadim begged like that, Louis asked,
"If I begged you like that, would you have spared ?"
"... What?"
If the roles were reversed, what choice would Kadim have made?
Kadim himself knew the answer to that.
"Well...."
"Answer . Why did you kill our squadmates?"
With the questioning pressing on, Kadim's face turned white.
Then, as Louis was about to press his sword to Kadim's neck—
"I killed them because I was ordered to, you son of a bitch!!"
Bris, having collapsed from a spell nearby, suddenly shouted.
At that bold voice, Louis turned his head.
"Are you an idiot? What's all this fuss about killing or not killing in the 7th Legion!"
Even though the aftereffects of torture lingered, Bris spoke in a rough voice.
"It's perfectly normal! It happens all the ti! And you're making a scene over sothing so trivial? You think we're the only ones here like this?"
Just as Bris said, people who would even sell out their own side for a reward were everywhere here.
"You can't help it in this place. Why? That's just how things are. The 7th Legion exists because people like this exist! We're a necessary evil!"
Judging things by common sense in this 7th Legion, which was like a trash heap, was itself a sin.
In fact, Louis seeking vengeance for dead comrades was the unusual thing.
But—
"So what?"
That didn't concern Louis.
"You're asking to be spared?"
Louis demanded they get to the point.
"You want to be spared because you're a necessary evil. Is that it?"
"W-wait! That's not—"
As Louis slowly approached, Bris felt a great sense of threat.
"Yeah, deaths happen all the ti, just like you said."
Louis's sword swung at a speed invisible to the naked eye.
Slice!—
"You're one of those people, too."
A red line appeared on Bris's thigh, which was promptly severed.
"Aaaghhhh!!"
"No, from the beginning...."
Louis grabbed Bris, who had lost the use of his legs, by the hair and lifted him.
"There are plenty of other necessary evils like you here."
Even without you, that tradition wasn't going anywhere. So rest easy.
Leaving those words behind, Louis flung Bris far away.
Bris, thrown about 10 ters, glared at Louis with hatred and cursing in his eyes.
Thunk!—
Suddenly, spikes shot up from the ground and pierced through Bris's torso.
From underneath, monsters that looked like a mix of hedgehog and caterpillar erged from the earth.
Even as he was skewered, Bris wanted to beg for his life, but his voice wouldn't co out.
Even though he was still conscious, the monsters began to bite him as if they had found a good al.
The stampede wasn't over. There was nothing strange about lingering monsters still appearing.
While the monsters enjoyed their al, Louis approached Kadim once more.
Watching Bris be eaten alive right before his eyes, Kadim again shed pitiful tears.
"Please, just this once! I'll do anything!"
"...."
"I'll protect you! Commander! I've done all sorts of great things until now! If you just count the number of monsters I've hunted, you'll see!"
Frightened out of his wits, Kadim rambled on desperately.
But neither Kelian, Silia, nor even Klein intervened at all.
"If that's your concern, don't worry."
Ruki grabbed Kadim by the throat as he said this.
"I'll take full responsibility for Paruzan Fortress's strength, even for your share."
With that, he threw Kadim toward the monsters nearby.
The monsters' eyes glinted at the sight of this new al.
"N-no...."
Kadim never finished his last words; his throat was bitten first.
After the monsters finished their al, they imdiately pounced on new targets.
But this ti, it was not humans who were eaten, but the monsters themselves.
In a heartbeat, Louis tore them apart, limbs flying and jaws snapping.
The people nearby watched, jaws dropped in shock.
****
"Amazing. Not only did you kill those guys, you even started devouring them yourself."
After dealing with Kadim's squad, Louis was invited into the commander's tent.
Kelian was interested in Louis, but the others wore uneasy expressions.
"By any chance, did you know?"
Kelian asked Silia, who sat beside Louis. After all, Silia was Louis's squad leader.
"I sensed sothing strange, but today was the first ti I was certain."
"Then can you explain what happened in the mist?"
After a brief hesitation, Silia began to explain before Kelian.
The explanation included the entire process of how the mist was cleared.
"You said he defeated a higher-rank monster by himself?"
At the shocking news, Klein was speechless. But there was one thing he understood more clearly because of this.
"Wait a minute, co to think of it, didn't you join the mana core recovery expedition?"
When Louis answered yes, Klein swallowed dryly.
"Then did you encounter a higher-rank monster there?"
"Yes."
"Did you, by any chance, kill it?"
"I did."
This stampede had occurred because a high-ranking monster in that sector had died.
Now the monsters were fighting viciously to take over its territory.
Klein shared his vision with his spirit and figured out which monster had died.
The Elite Lizard. Among the higher-rank monsters, it was notorious and terrifying; so other monsters avoided its sector.
Now that it was dead, a stampede was only to be expected. It may have been a monster, but suppressing the stampede was its role.
"How did you kill that wingless dragon...?"
"It was stronger than I thought. I really thought I'd die that ti."
And yet, the culprit who killed it was right in front of them.
Realizing Louis was more of a monster than any higher-rank monster, Klein took a step back before flaring up.
"Are you crazy? Why would you kill it!"
"Why?"
"Do you even know why this stampede happened?"
Louis had no idea, so he had to listen to the explanation.
Only after hearing them out did Louis understand why Klein was so angry.
"It's because the Elite Lizard died that all this chaos started, right?"
"Yes! If even one of the rampaging monsters gets out into Empire territory, do you know what happens? Rewards and supplies all get cut off!"
If monsters from the demon realm escaped, it ant the 7th Legion hadn't done its job. As punishnt, the Imperial Court would stop its support.
Of course, it felt unfair for all the Legion's fortresses to be treated that way.
Only the fortress in charge of the breached sector faced consequences.
"Hm... so it was my fault after all."
"Yeah, you idiot!"
"Sorry."
"...."
As Louis apologized sheepishly, Klein and Silia both sighed.
On the other hand, Kelian raised the corners of his mouth and said,
"But everyone knows who took down the Gigant Vulture and the Elite Lizard."
At those words, the two who had been sighing opened their eyes wide.
They had just lost their greatest asset—Kadim—but had gained sothing even more formidable.
"Commander, you're unusually calm, aren't you?"
While everyone else was spooked by Louis, Kelian alone seed composed. Almost as if he'd known for a long ti.
In fact, even when Silia had deserted her post without permission, Kelian gave her a chance to explain.
He'd even cald down the other officers who wanted to execute the squadmates on the spot.
"Rember when I called you in for that interview that ti? The ti I beheaded a knight?"
Was that when, as a survivor of the expedition, he was interviewed about rewards?
Louis nodded, saying he rembered.
"When I swung my sword, I saw your eyes following its arc. No ordinary twelve-year-old could do that."
He had suspected from that mont. That was why Kelian understood the current situation so quickly.
"And I figured this situation would co."
Kelian had already considered how to make Louis an asset for the fortress, on his side.
"Say what you want."
What would he ask for? Louis, as if he'd been waiting, replied with a pleased expression.
"Please beco my sponsor."
"Sponsor?"
"And also..."
Louis produced the letter he'd recovered from Kadim and showed it to Kelian.
"What do you think of this?"
The letter sent to Kadim contained an order to kill soone.
One of the targets was none other than Louis.
"I've been interested in whoever wrote this letter for so ti."
Thanks to the handwriting and the signature at the bottom, they imdiately knew who wrote it.
It was also easy to infer what Louis wanted.
"Fine, if that's what you want. But before that, I have a question for you as well."
Kelian thought about more than just Louis.
"I an your squadmates."
Specifically, that Louis hadn't just gathered children his own age for his group.
****
During the stampede, injured soldiers were taken to the fortress for treatnt.
Every military unit has a dical corps—but in the 7th Legion, the corps was more neglectful than others.
"Squad leader. We have a new soldier in the infirmary."
"Just wrap them up with so bandages. Give it so ti and they'll be moving again."
It wasn't sothing a dic should say, but surprisingly, this man was the fortress's dic.
Recomnding a simple wrap with no real knowledge was no different than admitting he knew nothing of dicine.
Of course.
He'd been put in this post just because he'd read a few books or had once done so good first aid.
"Will that really be enough to heal them?"
"Just do what you're told!"
The dic was dissatisfied with his post. Anyone could do first aid with a little training, right?
So how could soone who didn't know the first thing about dicine get this job just for being good at first aid?
But it didn't take long to understand. In a place where only trash was dragged in, how many would have any real dical knowledge?
And even if such people existed—would they volunteer to co here?
Here, soldiers were just at shields anyway. The dic's job was just to patch up those shields as best he could.
Of course, he too could beco one at any mont.
"Squad leader. What about these kids?"
A squadmate gestured to so young recruits admitted hours earlier.
Normally, a quick wrap and so ointnt would have sufficed.
"No. Check these ones more closely. The commander just told us to make sure they look as healthy as possible."
That sudden order made the dic sigh. Of the five, four could be fixed up fairly easily.
"But what about this one?"
But the very last—this girl—her wounds were far too severe. The dic wondered how long she could last.
"My point exactly."
She was still losing blood, with deep gashes all across her body. The bedding had long since turned crimson.
"Squad leader...."
The squadmate spoke in a trembling voice, just as the dic was thinking of giving up.
"The blood...."
Was it another hemorrhage? Sighing, the dic looked at the patient—then recoiled in shock.
"What?"
Blood wasn't just seeping; it was pouring out like tap water. The bed, the floor—everything was red.
But that wasn't all. The wounds that had seed impossible to heal had suddenly closed up on their own.
The gushing blood shot up abruptly, even puncturing the ceiling.
The erupting mound of blood left a bite-mark-like hole in the upper walls of the fortress.
In the spot where the blood had gushed, a girl opened her eyes.
"Where am I?"
Rio muttered as she woke up groggily.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
What's with Rio?
【「(°ヘ°)?】
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