There are torch stands between the tents. And there is oil in the supply tents. For several days, I had repeated today, training to listen to sounds.
I could find the location of everything around me even with my eyes closed.
“I’ll just be a moment.”
It was a truly simple task. To pinpoint the patrol’s location by sound and secretly retrieve oil from the supply tent. I roughly splashed the oil I brought onto the tent.
What came after was even easier. All I had to do was kick the torch stand and knock it over. Since no one could see me, I made the shadows my friend and crawled on my belly to pull the torch stand, making it fall inwards.
The embers at the end of the torch met the oil and flared up with a whoosh, greeting it loudly as if pleased.
“Quite skillful.”
The company commander said nonchalantly. Is this a compliment? Enkrid thought so as he set fire to the tent.
Naturally, the fire started where the oil had been poured. Enkrid appropriately avoided the flames, smeared some soot on his face, and inhaled a bit of smoke. It was much easier to have a real reaction than to put on a clumsy act.
“Cough!”
Coughing, Enkrid carried the collapsed freckled soldier on his back and exited through the torn part of the tent the company commander had entered. He then circled around the barracks and collapsed in front of the medical tent. This should be enough.
“Fire!”
I had intentionally set the fire to match the timing of the patrol’s arrival. No, I had to. The bastard on night watch in the next tent was a master of sleeping while standing.
He didn't wake up at all. Enkrid thought the assassin had shot that guy with a poisoned dart too. No great preparation was needed up to this point.
It was a simple matter of stealing oil from the supply tent, which I already knew about, and knocking over a torch stand. But Krang and the company commander, who were watching, seemed quite impressed.
“Really, if you’d joined a band of thieves, you’d have become their leader in no time.”
Just before leaving, Krang’s words lingered in his memory. Was that supposed to be a compliment? When he ran a hand through his hair, the curled strands caught on his fingers.
‘I need to cut my hair, too.’
Without a thought of wiping the soot from his face, he lay down on the ground. It wasn't a big fire. It probably wouldn't be a major incident.
Since no one died. He had also thought up a rough excuse regarding the night watch.
‘Ask me tomorrow. Tomorrow.’
Without any exaggeration, he really wanted to just lie there and sleep. It had been a long night. It had been a truly long today.
Beyond a headache, his whole head felt numb. He didn't want to think about anything.
“The survivor?”
“Over there. But, um. It looks like he’s passed out now.”
Enkrid knew they were talking about him, but he ignored them and closed his eyes. Fatigue washed over him.
It probably wasn't the case for the freckled soldier who had been on night watch, but Enkrid felt a one-sided closeness to him.
‘You may not know it.’
Enkrid had conversed with him. He knew his hometown. He knew about the girlfriend he'd left back home.
And he had heard why he had come to the army. It was a today that he didn't have, but that Enkrid did. It was a sense of familiarity born from that.
Besides, neither the fire nor the raid was his fault. So he gave him a suitable excuse. That as soon as the fire started, he had shouted, and tried to save those inside.
And that he had passed out from inhaling the smoke. He was a new recruit who had just finished training. That training probably didn't include drills for a barracks fire.
It was a reason everyone would likely accept without question.
“I did that?”
But since it was something he had no memory of, he asked back, dumbfounded.
“You must have lost your memory.”
The supply company commander let it pass as if it were nothing. Enkrid had wondered if someone might suspect him, but that didn't happen either. It was because he had given such a perfectly fitting excuse.
He thought someone might find it strange, but thankfully, nothing of the sort occurred. The supply company commander just seemed relieved that the supply tent hadn't caught fire. Since that was also part of his plan, you could say the situation turned out just as he intended.
A new, bright morning. Today did not repeat. When Enkrid woke up, he still felt a headache.
But he was still satisfied. In any case, he had passed ‘today’ once more.
“You saved me?”
After washing his face and body and changing out of his smoke-scented clothes, he had grabbed a dagger to roughly trim his hair before heading out. Benzens asked, perched on a box full of supplies.
“I couldn't just let you burn to death right in front of my eyes, could I?”
At Enkrid’s words, Benzens mumbled something. After muttering, he asked.
“……Why?”
Enkrid wondered if this was something that needed a reason. With his head still throbbing, he didn't feel like talking for long.
“Because we're comrades.”
So he said it without much thought. Hearing this, Benzens' expression hardened.
“Tsk.”
Seeing his stiffened face, Enkrid opened his mouth.
“The flower of the battlefield is.”
“……the infantry.”
It was the infantry company's greeting. With those words, Enkrid turned his body. He had just received the order to return.
“Even though I was nothing but mean to you.”
From behind, Benzens’ grumbling voice faintly brushed past his ears. A sound he normally wouldn't have heard, he could now hear.
‘Hearing training.’
Enkrid mulled over the ability he had gained. He also recalled the Elf Company Commander knocking the sword aside last night. And he replayed how he had dodged the lancer's thrusts and the assassin's attacks.
A question arose on its own.
‘Am I still in the same place?’
It wasn't a serious question. He was just curious. How different was the him of yesterday from the him of today?
He suddenly felt like having a go with Rem.
‘First things first.’
Returning to the main barracks and getting some proper rest came first. His head was still throbbing.
“The weather is really nice, though.”
After walking a few steps, Enkrid saw his shadow stretching long to his right. He looked up at the sky and saw a clear, blue canvas. Puffy clouds were scattered across it like pieces of art, the wind was cool, and the sunlight was warm.
It was a very clear day. He felt as if just walking might make his headache disappear.
Krais appeared calm on the outside, but inwardly he was sighing heavily. It had been exactly one week since Enkrid was gone.
‘How on earth did I manage back then?’
Faced with the situation unfolding before him, Krais' mind escaped from reality. Krais recalled the days before Enkrid.
“So, I am the Squad Leader here. So, you must listen to me. So, gather in front of the tent now.”
The Squad Leader who kept repeating ‘so.’ He had shown an overbearing attitude. And he died screaming in his first battle.
“Follow me!”
He seemed to have heard some strange rumor. That the troublemaker squad, though small in number, was top-notch in skill. Did he really think such men would meekly follow him?
He charged in alone and got his head pierced by a spear. When his helmet flew back, Rem had sent it flying with a roundhouse kick.
‘The next Squad Leader.’
“I heard you're good fighters, so shall we have a skill test? Anyone want to take me on?”
He was said to be the son of a noble. He was serving in the army for some crime he had committed. I didn't know the details, but he was supposed to roll around here for a few months before going back.
That noble was brimming with confidence and had no experience.
“Do I have the honor of sparring with the Squad Leader?”
Rem asked, scratching his head.
“Hmm, not you. Right, you, come out. You with the reddish-brown hair.”
He chose Jacksen as his opponent. Rem, just by his appearance, was a ruffian through and through; anyone could see he was a fighter. Calling out Krais would be too shameless.
Jacksen must have seemed the most manageable. Naturally, it was a huge mistake.
“Me, sir?”
“Yes. Come on out. Let’s have a match. Haha, I’ve never lost before.”
“What if someone gets hurt during the spar?”
“A man fears such a thing? We won't make an issue of it!”
The arrogant and insolent noble Squad Leader.
“Aaargh!”
His forearm was broken.
“I thought he would obviously dodge.”
Normally, Jacksen was easygoing, but sometimes he became a considerable lunatic. It was Rem and the other squad members' fault for taunting him while he was just casually sparring with the opponent.
“He should have put his left foot forward there.”
“That's ridiculous, he should have just tripped him.”
“The hand holding the sword is a bit weak. Grip it tighter. If you underestimate your opponent, you’ll be the one getting hurt.”
“Tsk, what a weakling who can't even take down a woman. If it were me, I’d have finished it long ago. Ah, this is boring.”
At those words, Jacksen turned fierce. As a consequence for breaking the noble Squad Leader's arm, the company commander had roared in anger.
“You assaulted a superior officer?”
“He insisted we fight and said he wouldn't make an issue of it.”
“That's right. A man shouldn't go back on his word, or his bits will fall off.”
“He has one mouth, but his words keep changing. Ah, a sinner repents.”
With each squad member adding a word, the company commander couldn't say much more. The truth was the truth. They had fought with the agreement not to make an issue of it.
Naturally, the noble Squad Leader tucked his tail and disappeared. Back in his family's estate, there were surely plenty of swordsmen bought with money who would lose to him, but this was a battlefield. The company commander didn't seem to have any intention of dragging the noble Squad Leader to the battlefield in the first place.
He had just given him the position of Squad Leader in name only.
‘The next Squad Leader was no better, either.’
They were all much the same. The one who was quick to anger had a quiet talk with Rem outside and then quietly requested a transfer without causing any more trouble. Others had also bolted for similar reasons.
The few who managed to stay had only treated the squad with indifference.
“Phew.”
Krais turned his head at the sound of a sigh from behind him.
“Finally.”
Turning his head, Krais recognized the face and muttered with a sense of relief.
“What is this mess?”
It was Enkrid. He was approaching, pressing his right index finger firmly against his temple. Enkrid looked at the two men facing off in front of the fourth squad’s tent.
This was the reality Krais had been escaping from.
“I said that since the Squad Leader is gone, I'm practically the Acting Squad Leader, right? So when I give an order, you follow it. Private Ragna?”
“Do not use my first name. Address me by my surname, and show some respect, you barbarian.”
“Ha, has this picky eater put on a noble’s skin?”
“It is merely unpleasant to have my name spoken by a beast that isn’t fully human.”
“Oh, is that so? Maybe you'll come to your senses after getting torn to shreds by a beast?”
The veins on Rem's hand, who was growling, bulged. He looked ready to split his opponent's head with his axe at any moment. The squad member called Ragna faced him nonchalantly.
He stood with his hands hanging loosely at his sides. That was Ragna's ready stance. Jacksen watched as if it had nothing to do with him.
The remaining squad member quietly offered a prayer and tried to stop them.
“Brother, struggle and violence are evil things.”
“Stay out of it, preacher.”
“Step back. A sword has no eyes.”
Rem and Ragna replied at the same time.
‘The squad is in a fine state.’
To be in this state after only a week. The headache that had faded while walking came back.
“Krais, any medicine left?”
Jacksen said what he wanted to say, regardless of the fight. He nodded at Enkrid and asked Krais.
“None right now. Squad Leader, you're here. I was just about to look for you. A few things have happened.”
Krais shook his head at Jacksen and then spoke to Enkrid.
“Just a moment.”
First, he had to stop those two. If left alone, they looked ready to draw blood for real. It had been like this on the day he arrived too.
Though his opponent back then wasn't Ragna, but the praying squad member.
“There are many things that cannot be solved with struggle and violence.”
This fellow saying such things wasn't normal either.
“Hey!”
Enkrid ignored his throbbing headache and blocked the space between the two. The way to stop their fight was simple. Words were no use.
You had to throw your body in. Enkrid walked between the two of them.
“……Truly, they say the ignorant are brave. You're back?”
Rem muttered.
The veins on the back of his hand twitched and then settled.
“Well, I can't just cut you down together with him. The Squad Leader is, hmm, never mind.”
Rem and Ragna, who had been glaring, stepped back. Even as they retreated, they didn't forget to exchange pleasantries.
“Don’t you die on the battlefield. I have to be the one to kill you,” said Ragna.
“Huh? What was that? You want to die tomorrow? You’re that eager for a taste of Lord Rem’s axe?”
Rem shot back.
“Enough.”
Standing between them, Enkrid shook his head. Why were these two on such bad terms? He didn't know.
They had been like this from the beginning. The two were still glaring at each other. Good grief, to come back and see a fight first thing.
“Anyway, all sorts of things happened while the Squad Leader was away.”
From behind, Krais began to speak again.
“Is that so?”
It was obvious just by looking. When he was in the medical tent, Ragna had said the barracks was a mess, and he was right. He had expected as much.
It was fine. After going through such harsh experiences, the trouble they had caused seemed like nothing. Not taking care of meal duty, so everyone had to fend for themselves.
Getting into a fight with a member of the adjacent squad and breaking the guy's jaw. Ignoring the Platoon Leader's summons.
‘Is it really this much of a mess just because I was gone?’
That thought did cross his mind, but it was really fine. Krais continued to chatter on. And Enkrid learned that this sort of chaos wasn't limited to the troublemaker squad.
“A curse?”
Enkrid asked again, forgetting his throbbing headache.
“Yes, they say the entire camp has been cursed.”
What kind of bullshit is this now? It was nonsense absurd enough to make him forget his headache.