The Traitor's First Blood
The rope that had been tightly binding my wrists and torso snapped with a swift slice. Blood rushed back into my fingertips, which had turned a sickly purple, bringing a sharp sting followed by a rush of hot vitality.
“Ugh……”
A low groan escaped me involuntarily. I rolled my stiff shoulders and slowly rose to my feet. My entire body felt heavy and grimy from being shoved face-first into the mud, but it was still better than losing my head.
Standing right in front of me was the executioner who’d been waiting with a massive axe to chop off my neck. He stared down at me with a completely dumbfounded expression. I walked over to him and gave his shoulder a couple of light pats with my still-bound hands.
“You’ve worked hard. Looks like you won’t need to take my head today.”
“Y-yes? Ah, y-yes……”
The executioner nodded in a daze before suddenly flinching and stumbling backward. It made sense. The enemy nation’s legendary grand general—who had just been glaring with fiery eyes, practically daring them to kill him—had suddenly started acting like some friendly neighborhood hyung and patting his shoulder.
And behind Sabre, the Valerian Kingdom’s adjutants and knights had all placed their hands on their sword hilts, glaring at me as if they wanted to kill me on the spot. Their wariness was completely natural.
Of course it is.
The enemy general had suddenly dropped to his knees before the guillotine and declared his surrender. Not only that, he’d sworn to devote his loyalty to glorious Valerian. Anyone would find it suspicious as hell.
This must be a ploy to lower our guard and assassinate General Sabre.
That’s exactly what their eyes were saying. They looked ready to turn me into a human pincushion the moment Sabre gave the order.
And then—
“……Did you hear that? The general just bowed his head to Sabre.”
Not just the people of Valerian.
“You idiot! How could that possibly be a real surrender!”
Behind me, my own subordinates—still bound with ropes and forced to their knees in the mud. The whispered suspicions of Utopia’s special forces soldiers reached my ears.
“The general is clearly deceiving the enemy! He’s waiting for them to drop their guard so he can go for Sabre’s throat—mmph!”
“Hey, you crazy bastard! How can you say that out loud?! Are you trying to ruin the general’s plan?!”
I forced my frozen face into a twitchy smile and tried my best to ignore the whispers.
You absolute morons! I can hear every word! The enemy high command is standing right in front of us and you’re loudly discussing an assassination plot?! What the hell is wrong with you?!
Above all, I had zero intention of doing anything like that. Even if I was now Lassen, I wasn’t insane enough to charge bare-handed at a bear of a man like Sabre. I was just an ordinary citizen who wanted to live.
If I could, I would have turned around right then and explained, “Guys, I really did surrender. We’re riding the Valerian coin from now on,” but……
If I did that, these loyal idiots would probably all bite their tongues and kill themselves……
I couldn’t bring myself to say it, afraid they might actually commit suicide. As the silence stretched on, the stunned Sabre finally opened his heavy lips.
“……I accept your surrender.”
Unlike before, Sabre’s voice trembled slightly.
“For now, collect all of their existing Utopia equipment and replace it with Valerian gear. And Lassen, your subordinates…… will be commanded directly by you, the Holy Spear himself.”
It seemed he still couldn’t quite believe I had actually surrendered. After speaking, Sabre cleared his throat several times, as if embarrassed by his own words.
“Then these prisoners should immediately……”
Just as one of the adjutants stepped forward to drag my men away, I quickly straightened my posture toward Sabre. I placed my right hand over my heart, bowed my head slightly, and stepped my left foot back. It was the formal Valerian Kingdom salute.
“General Sabre.”
The moment I performed the Valerian salute, everyone’s shoulders jerked in shock. Even Sabre widened his eyes, unable to hide his astonishment.
“I would like to personally untie my subordinates.”
I spoke in the most respectful and loyal tone I could manage.
“Could you lend me a small dagger capable of cutting rope?”
The moment the words left my mouth, the adjutants burst in.
“You scoundrel! What kind of trick is this!”
“How dare a surrendered enemy demand a weapon? You’re clearly planning to deceive us and use that blade to harm General Sabre!”
“Cut this bastard’s throat right now!”
Their reaction was completely understandable. Asking for a sword to be handed to an enemy champion who had just surrendered—especially one who had slaughtered more of their comrades than anyone else until moments ago—was nothing short of madness.
I sighed and addressed the adjutants.
“Please don’t misunderstand. If you truly suspect me, I don’t need a weapon. It will take longer, but I will untie the ropes with my bare hands.”
Ignoring the adjutants, I turned toward my bound subordinates. Since I had no weapon, I was genuinely prepared to pick apart the knots with my fingernails if necessary. Either way, these guys were now my only direct subordinates and the comrades who would endure the harsh process of adapting to Valerian life with me. I needed to make them firmly my allies.
When I knelt down and began trying to loosen the mud-caked soldier’s rope with my bare hands, thick tears began to well up in my men’s eyes.
“G-General……! To use your noble hands for the likes of us……”
“To save us, you’ve taken all the dishonor upon yourself alone! We don’t deserve to live! Please, just kill us instead!”
Ah, here we go again.
No, you brainless idiots! I need to survive too! Why would I take on dishonor? I bowed my head because I want to live! And honestly, I only met you guys today! This is our first meeting! I had no sense of duty to save you in the first place!
But I swallowed down the truth that threatened to burst from my lips. Their misunderstanding had reached the level of a clinical condition. I simply maintained a pained expression and continued the act of silently tugging at the rope knots.
At that moment—
“……Step aside.”
Sabre’s heavy voice echoed across the execution ground. The adjutants who had been drawing their swords toward me flinched and froze.
“General! It’s too dangerous! That man is Utopia’s Holy Spear! We cannot predict what he might do the moment he is given a blade!”
“It is an order. Sheathe your swords.”
Sabre sternly dismissed the adjutants and slowly approached me. His massive shadow fell over me. He reached into his coat, pulled out a short dagger, and held it out to me.
It was no ordinary item. The sheath and hilt were adorned with rubies and gold engravings. The knowledge of Lassen that resided in my mind immediately identified the dagger.
It was a family heirloom-level treasure sword, passed down through generations to the head of the Callista family—Sabre’s noble house and one of Valerian’s most prestigious military lineages.
He’s giving this to me?
Handing over the symbol of the Callista family was a high-level political performance that publicly declared complete trust in me, a surrendered enemy. It meant Sabre was staking his own authority and honor to guarantee my life.
What a man. Both of them. Even as a villain, he was definitely on the likable character route.
Sabre placed the dagger in my hand and looked down at me with eyes of unfathomable depth.
“……I still cannot believe it.”
With only those words, Sabre turned sharply on his heel.
Stagger.
The moment his massive frame turned away, it swayed slightly.
……?
I doubted my own eyes. Did Sabre just stumble because his legs gave out?
Wait, I’m the one who surrendered—why are you the one getting shocked and staggering?!
Thinking back, in the original novel Sabre had practically idolized Lassen as a warrior. He had respected and admired his rival with almost fanatical devotion. So for that same rival to suddenly sniffle and beg for his life before the guillotine……
I’m sorry, Sabre. For shattering your fantasy. The Lassen you knew no longer exists.
Using the heirloom blade Sabre had given me, I swiftly sliced through my subordinates’ ropes. The sharp edge cut the rough ropes like paper.
“Alright, everyone stand up. From now on, we are soldiers of Valerian.”
My men rose to their feet, still unable to stop their sobbing.
One of Sabre’s adjutants approached us with a face like he had swallowed shit and assigned us a spot to build our barracks. It was on the very outskirts of the main Valerian army camp.
As we changed into the black armor issued by Valerian and began setting up our tents, my subordinates finally seemed to gradually accept the reality that I had truly surrendered. Their eyes swirled with complicated emotions, but they all seemed to reach the same conclusion.
Our general must have been deeply wounded by Utopia’s betrayal. Now, the only one we can trust and follow is General Lassen!
That was the look in their eyes.
Sure, think whatever you want.
While I gave orders for the barracks construction and moved my body around, I began to sense strange changes occurring within me. Beyond simply remembering the novel’s plot, the tactical knowledge, swordsmanship instincts, horsemanship, and military insight that the original owner of this body—Lassen—had spent his entire life cultivating began flooding into my mind like completed data downloads.
The feeling of calluses against my palm when gripping a sword hilt. The instinct to read wind direction and suspect enemy ambushes. The cold calculations of how to most efficiently shatter an enemy formation.
……This guy was actually way more impressive than I thought?
I threw a light punch and let out a small chuckle. My modern mind might be weak, but the hardware and software engraved in this body belonged to a national hero.
And the next morning, I officially attended the strategy meeting hosted by Sabre in the central barracks of the Valerian camp.
The moment I entered the tent, dozens of gazes pierced into me. They belonged to the knight commanders and corps commanders representing the Valerian Kingdom. Their expressions were twisted as if they had stepped in animal dung.
Contempt. Hostility. Distrust.
Because I had once been the greatly respected Utopia’s Holy Spear, the disgust toward a traitor came back twice as strong.
I guess the higher the expectations, the greater the disappointment……
Even considering my status as a surrendered general, this level of blatant hostility was enough to interfere with actual military operations. Throughout the entire meeting, the atmosphere treated me as if I didn’t exist.
If things continue like this, my position will be precarious even after the war ends. I’ll be lucky if I don’t get assassinated……
The surest way for an outsider to secure their place among these hostile natives was—
Merit.
I had no choice but to prove myself through achievements. Since I had already decided to become a traitor to my country, I needed to become not some half-hearted traitor, but a first-class contributor whose name would go down in history. Only then could I seize control of my future life.
“General Sabre.”
As the meeting was drawing to a close, I stood up and requested permission to speak. Every gaze burned into me like flames. Ignoring them completely, I pointed at the map.
“Please assign me to the vanguard.”
“……What did you say?”
“I will personally tear out Utopia’s throat. Tomorrow morning, I will open the gates of the first fortress for you.”
The inside of the tent filled with mockery and ridicule, but Sabre alone gave a silent nod.
From that day on, I led my special forces unit and began sweeping across the battlefield like a mad dog.
Utopia’s Holy Spear has become Valerian’s Hunting Dog!
Within a single month, rumors about me spread across the entire front line. The tactical knowledge of Lassen that resided within my body was flawless. I knew the weaknesses of the Utopia army better than anyone—their supply routes, the personalities of their commanders, the gaps in their formations.
Under my command and overwhelming martial prowess, Utopia’s defensive lines were swept away like leaves in a storm. Even the Valerian generals who had distrusted me fell silent within a month. The achievements I had piled up were greater than everything they had accomplished over the past year combined.
Though they might curse me as a filthy traitor in their hearts, on the surface they began to watch their step around me and clear a path.
Good. At this pace, I can capture the capital and end the war within six months.
And so, after another day of thoroughly crushing the Utopia forces, I was sitting in my barracks humming a tune and writing up a list of captured spoils when the area outside grew noisy. A prisoner, bound with ropes and struggling wildly, was thrown at my feet.
“Lassen! You filthy traitor bastard! How could you…… How dare you!!”
A young man covered in dirt screamed at me. Though stained with mud, his uniform was clearly of the highest quality.
……Jupiter?
He was the cousin of Juno, the original novel’s female lead, and the eldest son of a collateral branch of the royal family. Because of his status as a minor royal, he had been reluctantly dragged to the front lines as a commander.
Since my main duties had focused on vanguard disruption and rear ambushes, I hadn’t had time to check the identities of every prisoner we captured in the chaos of hit-and-run tactics. From what I heard later, he had been hiding among the prisoners like a rat, looking for a chance to escape, only to be identified during the verification process and dragged before me.
“You betrayed His Majesty and Utopia who trusted you and became Valerian’s dog! You will receive divine punishment, Lassen!”
As Jupiter continued hurling every curse imaginable, the tent flap lifted and Sabre entered along with his adjutants. Sabre’s expression was complicated.
Before he could speak, the adjutant who had distrusted and opposed me until the very end stepped forward with a cold voice.
“General Sabre. We have captured Jupiter of the Utopia Kingdom—the son of Archduke Cronus. This is the perfect opportunity to completely break the enemy’s morale.”
The adjutant’s sharp gaze passed over Jupiter and stabbed directly into me.
“We must show the citizens of Utopia what fate awaits those who resist great Valerian and refuse to surrender.”
I wasn’t stupid enough to miss the meaning behind those words.
“And……”
The adjutant continued with a cruel smile on his lips.
“For it to serve as a proper example, the execution must be carried out personally by General Lassen, who was once Utopia’s Holy Spear.”
It was a loyalty test. The adjutants still suspected me. They wanted me to personally behead a royal of the homeland I once served. It was a vicious scheme to completely burn the bridge behind me and confirm whether I had truly become Valerian’s dog.
Jupiter turned deathly pale, looking back and forth between me and the adjutants. Sabre remained silent, watching to see what I would decide.
A brief silence fell.
I thought to myself:
If I kill a royal with my own hands…… that really means it’s completely over with Utopia, doesn’t it? There will be no way to return, no room left for excuses.
And then I reached my conclusion.
Actually, that’s perfect.
This was a country that was destined to be destroyed anyway. An achievement had rolled right into my lap. I slowly rose from my seat and drew the Callista family heirloom blade that Sabre had given me.
Sring.
Without the slightest hesitation, I walked toward Jupiter, who continued to hurl curses at me.
Schlick.