Chapter 116 : Chapter 116
Chapter 116. Akal Corridor
Drops of blood clinging to the end of a gaunt tree branch dripped down.
“Captain! Where are you?”
A voice searching for someone.
The blood-stained tree branch trembled at the sound.
“Captain! Where are you?”
A stout man, Viktor Yakonovich, looked around.
A building collapsing, unable to withstand the flames of war.
An old house with broken walls.
Windows, doors. A cathedral with every possible entrance for a person blown open.
A damaged and abandoned carriage.
And a well with a broken roof, heavily stained with blood.
He was now wandering through a village that had been, quite literally, razed to the ground.
“Ugh, it’s so sticky.”
Viktor walked awkwardly, trying not to step on the sticky blood.
But he couldn’t avoid all of the blood that flowed chaotically like a spider's web.
“This, this. Ugh, I just changed my shoes not long ago.”
He wiped his blood-stained feet on the back of a corpse and scanned the rooftops.
“Ah, there.”
The place Viktor had spotted was a house with smoke rising from the chimney.
“What is she eating now.”
He shook his head and walked towards the place he had found.
Creak.
“Ugh, you were here?”
Viktor, who had opened the door and entered, found a woman.
She was Captain Tolino de Ploto.
Tolino, sitting in a chair, turned her head to look at Viktor.
“What? Am I not allowed to be here?”
“Where is it not allowed? It’s what the Captain does.”
“Then why?”
“We need to move, so I was looking for you.”
Tolino averted her gaze from Viktor as if uninterested.
Then she looked at the two in front of her and popped peanuts into her mouth.
“P-please save me.”
“Please save us. We haven’t done anything.”
A mother was hugging her son and begging for her life.
Tolino casually tossed a peanut in front of them.
Viktor shook his head, thinking, ‘Ugh, she’s at it again.’
“Shell it without breaking the peanut.”
“Pardon?”
When the mother’s eyes widened as she asked again, Tolino clicked her tongue as if annoyed.
“Hey, kid. You do it.”
“No! No! I-I’ll do it. I’ll do it, so p-please save me.”
“Really? Shell it.”
The mother put her son down and grabbed the peanut.
At that moment, the mother’s face contorted.
Because the peanut inside the shell was crushed.
“Please save me. Please, we haven’t done anything wrong.”
“I know. No one in the village did anything wrong. No. There was one. On the way in, there was a guy who called himself a knight. And there were a few here too, right?”
The mother began to cry her heart out.
At that moment, drops of blood fell from the ceiling.
Tolino looked up at the ceiling with an annoyed expression.
Five male corpses were hanging from the ridge beam.
“I hung them up to drain the blood cleanly, but it’s not draining well.”
At Tolino’s words, Viktor shrugged.
It meant that it didn’t matter anyway.
“Corpses have to be clean to look good. That’s what makes it art. Isn’t that right?”
The mother, whose eyes met Tolino’s, bowed her head and rubbed her hands together, begging.
A playful look crossed Tolino’s face.
“In that case. Can you strangle him to death?”
“Pardon? W-who……”
“Who do you think?”
Tolino’s gaze turned to the child.
The mother shielded Tolino's view with her whole body.
“How boring.”
Tolino stood up from her seat.
“Clean this up. Keep the child alive. He's for the altar.”
“Ah, is that why? Because of the fresh heart?”
“Tenebris says he is hungry, so as a believer, I must do my best. Isn’t that right?”
“That is correct. Then I will do so.”
“And tell them to collect those and load them up. We'll have a use for them later.”
“Those?”
Viktor looked where Tolino was pointing.
It was the corpses hanging on the ridge beam.
“Are you planning to use them this time?”
“If necessary. So take them.”
“I understand.”
Tolino put a cigarette in her mouth and went outside.
From inside the house, cries of ‘Save me! Please! Please!’ echoed.
The child cried sorrowfully, with all his might.
And Tolino smoked her cigarette with a serene expression, as if listening to beautiful music.
***
Perignon was smiling awkwardly at me.
“Why this time?”
“My instincts are telling me that I should be with Your Highness.”
“Go and tell your instincts. That they're wrong.”
“No, sir. I have much to learn by going with Your Highness.”
I looked at Perignon silently.
He was a strange person.
Once one became a battalion commander, their thinking became fixed.
Because they believed they had achieved something, it wasn’t easy to change.
But he was saying he had much to learn from someone the age of his son.
‘He’s not ordinary.’
They said he was a respected and honored knight.
I thought I understood why.
“Shouldn’t you be with the main force? That’s the core, more so than where I’m going.”
“Commander Chris is leading directly, so it will be fine.”
Since Chris was confident in his vast knowledge, that seemed likely.
He had actually shown it, too.
And he had contemplated the situation a lot.
“Is Captain Perignon in command this time as well?”
“If Your Highness permits it, I will do so.”
I nodded.
Even if Perignon followed me, it wasn’t the same for the soldiers.
Although I had shown something in the duel, I hadn't proven my leadership skills.
Even though I had eliminated the enemy's leader in front of 100 people, the soldiers here didn’t know.
Furthermore, entrusting one’s life to a teenage boy was not an easy choice.
So it was better for Perignon to do it.
The level of trust was different.
“So, are there nine knights this time?”
Among those who were with me before, Saint-Sard was out.
Instead, a large number of academy idiots came in.
“Maxim! We’re all ready!”
Speak of the devil, our idiots came rushing in.
But their clothes…….
“Can you even move?”
Perignon asked before I could.
Adellian looked back and forth between Piontek and Odekerkh.
Then she checked her own clothes.
“I can walk.”
She could walk, sure, just walk.
They were wearing so many layers of winter clothing that if they fell while walking, you could probably just roll them.
And if snow clumped on them, you could make a snowman.
“Can you draw your sword?”
“I do not use a sword.”
Egbaldo, whose brain was also muscle, said proudly.
Even though he had hidden away the bulging muscles he showed at every opportunity.
“You don't look like you can even throw a punch in that state.”
“No. I can……”
Thud.
What punch.
Even walking looked difficult.
“Captain Perignon. Do something about their clothes.”
“It would be best to resolve this quickly. We can’t die because of those guys.”
My head was aching even before we set off.
The location, and it wasn’t a one-on-one but a battle where hundreds were entangled and fighting.
Not a duel but a life-and-death battle, where if you don’t kill, you die.
“Argh! It’s cold!”
Is it really okay to take them?
***
“Uuuuugh! It's cooold.”
As expected, I brought them for nothing.
“Endure it.”
Piontek, with a runny nose, looked at me.
“It's toooo…… cooold.”
“That’s why the commander cast a spell on you. To make it less cold.”
“Still coooold.”
Even though his face was wrapped in a fur hat, his mouth seemed to have frozen.
It wasn't just Piontek.
Adellian, Odekerkh, and Egbaldo were all the same.
“It’s bearable.”
Only the smallest, Bartea, tilted his head as if it were strange.
Hearing this, Odekerkh constantly let out white breaths as if water was boiling.
“You, you’re the strange one.”
“No, I’m not. It’s really bearable. Look. It’s just us, everyone else is fine.”
As Bartea said, apart from the academy idiots, no one was suffering from the cold.
“Th-those people are, are ad-adapted, that’s why.”
“Then you’ll have to adapt too.”
When we reached the Akal Corridor, they would have to do it whether they liked it or not.
If they couldn't, they would have to go see the other world.
“W-words are one thing. B-but……”
“You have to, if you want to live.”
“……I-I understand.”
Odekerkh continued walking with his head down.
It seemed he was quite upset by my coldness.
I had heard that he was very disappointed when I went on the reconnaissance of the Billien River without them.
Even after that, it seemed he felt a certain sense of distance.
We had experienced various things while moving together, but then suddenly we didn't.
‘He could be upset. Yes, he could. He’s still a kid.’
His body was similar to an adult's, but his heart was still young.
“I, I have, um…… a-a question……”
Ah, so he wasn’t upset.
“What is it?”
“Wh-why didn’t, didn't Michelle c-come with us?”
“Chris said he needed her.”
“W-why?”
“Because her eyes are good.”
While I was fighting Uresra’s advance party, Chris had directly commanded the academy students' northern survival training.
It seemed he had confirmed Michelle's eyes at that time.
‘In the north, there will be no one with better eyes than Michelle.’
He said she was even better than Saint-Sard, who was said to see far because of his good eyes, so it must be true.
I also knew that Michelle had good eyes.
“Wh-what does having g-good eyes have to do with g-going to the river?”
“Because we need to see far. Before the enemy.”
We had to spot the enemy before they landed.
That way, we could attack without giving them time to respond.
That was the point Chris was hoping for.
Attack before the opponent moves to reduce their numbers.
If the remaining troops attempt to land, quickly dispatch them to minimize our own casualties.
“Do you think it’s possible?”
At Rodrigo’s question, I shrugged.
I didn't know if it was possible or not.
But we had to make it possible.
That was our job, after all.
Piiik!
Piik!
The cry of a signal arrow was heard.
Since there were two, it meant the situation was peaceful, but caution was needed.
Perignon raised his hand to signal everyone to stop.
“Your Highness, how about we rest for a while?”
I turned around and looked at the soldiers.
White breaths bloomed from all over.
They had been walking nonstop for three hours.
And it wasn't on flat ground.
They were climbing Mount Ramus to get a full view of the Akal Corridor.
‘Though it was three hours, the fatigue would be like more than five hours.’
If they collapsed here, they wouldn't be able to do their part when it really mattered.
“Let’s rest for just 10 minutes.”
“A good decision.”
Perignon raised his hand to catch the soldiers’ attention.
Then he announced that they would rest for 10 minutes, and that they should just sit without making loud noises.
“Aigo, I’m tired.”
The soldiers sat down with a groan.
They loosened the straps of their clothes, which had been tied tightly to keep the wind out, giving their skin freedom.
They did the same with their shoes, loosening the laces so their feet could rest.
“You guys do the same.”
The academy idiots shook their heads, saying it was cold.
“I’m not just saying it. Do it if you want to live.”
It was something they absolutely had to do for their muscles to shake off fatigue and do their job.
“Circulate your Mana Circles too.”
It wouldn’t be as good as a Mana Heart, but if mana circulated, it would help improve their physical condition.
“How does Your Highness know all that?”
Perignon, who was listening from the side, had a curious expression.
It was a matter of course, as no one in this world had more battlefield experience than me, but…….
“I read it in a book.”
If I said that, I would look like a crazy person.
“I’m really curious what kind of book that is. This is something you can’t know without experience.”
“Maybe he wrote it after experiencing it.”
Because I wrote it myself in my head.
Rustle.
In the midst of the completely relaxed tension, a foreign feeling was felt from beyond the forest.