Chapter 140: A Cracked Dam (5)
Chapter 140: A Cracked Dam (5)
How could he receive that much affection from his subordinates? It was far beyond the wall that separated a superior officer. How could a junior with such brutal methods receive that much love...?
Stigma swallowed his question and continued.
"You used a lot of profanity during the war. Using refined speech on a harsh battlefield would be stranger, but vulgar words lower your dignity, so try to refrain. Even refrain from thinking them as much as you can."
"As far as just thinking them goes...."
"Thoughts soon become words. Words you frequently utter soon become habits. And profanity is the kind that easily becomes a habit, and how easy is it to break a habit? It's better to nip it in the bud early."
"......."
He flicked the lips of the younger man—who was muttering that it had already become a habit—with his index and middle fingers, and spoke.
"I'm saying this for your sake, junior."
***
From then on, that was when Stigma began hitting my mouth.
Whenever I swore, he'd call it a 'speech habit' and flicked his finger against my lips, so I had no choice but to shut my mouth, just from the pain.
'What am I supposed to do about something that's already become a habit? Shi...t.'
"Didn't you just think of a swear word?"
"N...no."
"Your eyes looked like they were swearing."
'He's a ghost!'
He had been inspecting his weapon, and now he looked me over as if to check the truth. His senses, sharpened keenly because of the upcoming battle, caught every place his gaze touched.
His gaze started from my eyes, swept down to the corners of my mouth, over my entire face, and then settled back on my eyes.
"Hmm... Should I give you one more piece of advice before the battle begins?"
"Yes...?"
'What is he going to say now.'
"Your hand signals seem to be a habit; for clearer communication, it would be better to give the signals along with words. In the chaos, who would be watching your hand signals? At least if you raise your voice, they'll turn their eyes to you."
Ah, that... I had someone who closely watched my hand signals, so it would have been fine.
Well, now that I didn't need to hide coughing up blood, using my voice would be better... but habits really were terrifying. I found myself gesturing without realizing it.
Anyway, from some point on, Stigma started offering advice like this whenever he had a moment. A senior's duty? It seemed like that, and since it was pretty useful advice, I listened well... but the conclusion was always strange.
[All of these things are irrelevant if you're overwhelmingly strong.]
'In the end, power is the best.'
'Dignity? Atmosphere? Education? Manners? If your own power is overwhelming, you don't need any of it....'
[But there is another authority above you, junior, and you yourself didn't possess a Hero's Fragment, so your power can't be called 'overwhelming.' And above all, isn't it far more comfortable if your opponent reads the room and grovels before you even have to show your strength?]
......Hmm, 'I'm worried about Stigma's personality.'
But since he treated me well, maybe it didn't matter? With the thought that if someone had heard, they would have worried about my personality too, I examined the dagger sheaths Dan had strapped to my body.
Both thighs, both hips, crossed on the back, total six! ...but then I added one more on each ankle, making it eight altogether.
'Six wasn't enough....'
Even though I blanked out during the war and didn't remember, I couldn't be ignorant of the aftermath.
Every time I came to my senses, my hands were completely empty. Or I'd be holding just a single dagger.
'...Come to think of it, Stigma laughed.'
Which battle had it been? When the battle ended and I came to covered in blood, the hero candidates who had been looking at me with oddly unpleasant eyes flinched and averted their gazes whenever our eyes met, and from one side, Stigma was laughing and saying, "As expected of my junior." He let out such a refreshing laugh that at first I didn't think it was him.
'What on earth happened...?'
"Junior, if we do well, this might be the last battle here."
"......?"
"The Demon King seems to have noticed that sending half-hearted troops here is useless. Word has come that he's redirecting his forces elsewhere."
"Ah...!"
"Though it's a mystery why he doesn't send a Legion Commander."
It seemed he'd finally caught on. News was really slow. Well, since communication had been cleanly cut off until now, there was no way they knew the situation here.
The battles here had always been surprise attacks.
It began with a surprise attack that annihilated them. Then we gradually crept up close to the boundary line and hid; when the Demon King sensed something was off about the severed communication and sent troops again, we ambushed them on the path and annihilated them. In other words, from the demons' perspective, there had been no chance to report to the Demon King.
But by now, the Demon King must know. After this battle, there might be no fighting for a while.
'Freedom...!'
I'd loathed every battle where I had to survive near-death so much that I'd dragged my feet, but this time I didn't hate the approaching time.
***
I take that back. I hated it. I wished that battle time would never come, forever.
In a space filled with the smell of blood and screams, I stared blankly down at my two hands soaked in blood.
'Why... did I come to my senses now?'
The war wasn't over yet? It was in full swing. Shouldn't I be more out of it to be normal?
I raised my gaze. Far away, I saw Stigma, who had shed his elegance and become a single beast, cutting down enemies.
'I'd always thought that man was a wild beast wearing a mask of elegance... like a black panther....'
I was now seeing his true worth like this.
Meanwhile, he looked spotless, in stark contrast to me drenched in blood; it was fascinating.
Belatedly, I came to my senses and lowered my gaze. An unrecognizable mass of flesh was in my view... Huh?
'What the... is this....'
Judging by the size... was it a person? No, the enemy in this war was demons, so it must be a demon.
Why was this lying beneath my feet?
Why?
"—Urk."
It was horrible. I'd come to my senses covered in blood many times, so that was fine, but I'd never seen a corpse like this before.
...Not even once?
Nausea surged, and blood gushed out. My vision blurred, and I raised my hand to rub my eyes, but seeing that it was soaked in blood, I lowered it again.
A hand soaked in blood, the dagger in that hand, the horribly mangled corpse strewn before me.
'Ah, aah.'
──My mind went blank.
'I....'
I blinked. My vision cleared again, and I felt liquid trickling down my cheek.
'It wasn't me.'
Alcohol, no, drugs. I needed to take drugs....
Even though I knew I wasn't taking drugs anymore, I frantically searched my pocket, which I knew would be empty.
Anyone would think my current state was strange. An enemy wouldn't miss this opening.
Sure enough, an enemy moved.
"Die, you monster!"
A demon calling a human a monster, what a sight.
Thanks to that, I came to my senses. I stared blankly at the spear lunging for my heart and gave a faint smile.
It was close, but I could dodge it. But I stopped my body from reflexively dodging.
'If I dodge, what next?'
The clean attack path was anything but ordinary. He hadn't been there when I came to, so he must have been a commander-level demon who approached me in the meantime. I had no confidence I could kill this demon who had regained his stance.
'Fight in this state?'
I'd die a hundred times out of a hundred.
Should I dodge first, then dodge the demon's follow-up attacks while gradually depleting my stamina, waiting for an opening that might never come? Or should I just close my eyes, trade a chunk of my health, and take his life?
'...If I take down a commander, at least I can save face.'
I'd coughed up blood and panicked in the middle of a war. I wouldn't escape interrogation afterward. I needed to kill at least one commander to break even.
More than anything, I wanted to rest right now.
I twisted my body. Instead of avoiding the vital spot, I presented another part. The spearhead dug into my shoulder, causing a burning pain.
'It hurts more than I thought... Ah, I really crave drugs....'
The demon clicked his tongue low at the miss and put strength to retrieve his spear. But I was faster.
Squelch.
Following my movement, the spearhead that had been digging in finally pierced through my back and protruded completely. Apart from the horrible pain, I didn't stop and strode forward.
Because I knew that if I stopped here, I would die.
"What...!"
"Die, you bastard."
'Payback for my shoulder!'
I rammed the dagger in my hand right into his vitals.
.......
And then I got scolded.
Maybe because a commander died and they felt a sense of crisis, another commander rallied their troops and retreated. The moment I breathed a sigh of relief thinking, 'What a relief,' I was pounced on by mad dogs.
"Captain, no, Lord Marquis! Your shoulder! The spear! Oh no, what do we do!"
"You coughed up blood on top of that!"
"Just now, it looked like you practically impaled yourself! Are you insane! What about your shoulder! Take responsibility!"
'If anyone heard, they'd think it was your shoulder that got smashed....'
I watched the guys who didn't dare touch me, fussing frantically in front of me without knowing what to do, then quietly spoke.
"First... could you call a medic?"
'I feel like I might die like this....'
I was already short on blood, and I'd lost way too much.
My face must have been frighteningly pale, because the guys started noisily looking for a medic.
"M-medic! Meeeedic!"
"Cut the shaft first! Don't cut it too short, just enough so it doesn't get in the way when we carry the Marquis!"
"Oh no, our captain's dying! Look at how pale his face is!"
"He's not dying! Don't say such unlucky things! But why is his face so pale? It's unsettling!"
"Lord Marquis, can you see us? You mustn't lose consciousness! How many of us are here?"
'With so many people milling around right in front of me, how am I supposed to know? It's noisy, so please get lost....'
With sloppy first aid, I was lifted by those mad dogs and moved to the barracks.
"Good heavens! Is all this your own blood?!"
"No way! Who do you think he is? Of course it's someone else's blood!"
"......."
"Where are you going? You need to treat our cap— the Marquis."
'That crazy mouth of theirs....'
Because of those bastards' pointless chattering, the medic would sometimes slink away, but luckily the treatment proceeded properly.
After the spear was removed, I sat down and received treatment; my gaze inadvertently rose and met someone else's. A ferocious glare, as if they'd been watching me the whole time.
"My lord. Our knight order's casualties in this battle...."
"If some died to those insignificant demons, they were merely weaklings who only got that far, so I'm not interested. The same goes for injuries. I don't need weaklings in my knight order."
Stigma pushed away the approaching subordinate and walked this way.
His always elegant and dignified stride left footprints with wide steps. It was clearly his usual gait, yet somehow I could feel the spirit of the rampaging beast I'd just seen on the battlefield....
In an instant, he was right in front of me, silently looking at the wound being treated. Then he swept his hair back as if suppressing his emotions, closing his eyes tightly before opening them.
"Junior...."
"......."
"You need to value your own body."
'I'm already valuing my body plenty.'
Still, a commander died, so the battle ended sooner. Since the order was extermination, we'd have to fight another battle, wouldn't weee...?!
'I didn't think of that, damn.'
"When talking to someone, you should look at their face."
He flicked a finger and tapped my forehead, then finally met my eyes.
"Your judgment this time was foolish. You know that, don't you?"
"Well, yeah...."
'I'd forgotten about the 'extermination' order.'
I killed a commander, but I was also injured, so I couldn't decisively break the enemy's morale. Because of my injury, our allies even had to stand by and watch them retreat.
'Of course, they won't return to the Demon Realm, so there's still an opportunity.'
They would contact the Demon King from their encampment. They'd report that the Empire's second and third Heroes and the hero candidates were here. The Demon King, upon hearing this, would know there was no hope with just them, but he would never issue a recall order.
'Because now that they've clashed with Deon Hart, someone might notice that he and the 0th Legion Commander are one and the same.'
To prepare for an unforeseen situation, he would choose to abandon them cleanly, even if it was a waste.
The Emperor probably issued the 'extermination' command with that in mind....
'Huh?'
'Why am I thinking this....'