Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: Orders to Saleron
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Whick!
Using his right foot as a pivot, the guy's body spun rapidly, and in an instant, his center of gravity dropped low.
Dropping into a near-ground-level stance, Isaac struck Kyle's ankle with the wooden sword in his left hand.
Crack!
“Gah!”
Even with the protective gear on, the pain felt like his bone was shattering, and Kyle let out a scream.
But that wasn't the end of it.
Isaac, who had been right in front of him just a moment ago, had vanished.
“W-What?!”
“Kyle! Behind you!”
“What?!”
At someone's shout, Kyle hurriedly turned, but Isaac's thrust came first.
Thud!
“Guh!”
Isaac's wooden sword jabbed into Kyle's solar plexus, bending his body into a ㄱ shape.
Clack!
When Isaac pressed the wooden sword against Kyle's throat, the guy collapsed to the ground and looked up at him.
“Haa... I lost, you bastard.”
“Good work, hehe.”
The fierce fighting spirit from moments ago was gone, replaced by a simple, innocent smile.
Kyle grimaced, rubbing his stabbed abdomen at that expression.
“Damn... Thought it went right through.”
“You okay?”
“No. What the hell did you do? Why'd you get so strong all of a sudden?”
Kyle grabbed the hand Isaac offered and stood up.
At Kyle's question, Isaac glanced toward Rian.
Rian gave Isaac a thumbs-up as he watched.
‘You're a genius, Isaac.’
Once the squad members' proper training began, Rian had told Isaac to ditch the spear first.
‘The guy has insane creativity in combat, but standard unit spear techniques just didn't suit him.’
It wasn't that unit spear techniques were bad.
There were people who rose to general using the spear arts taught in the unit.
But everyone has their own fitting style, and for Isaac, the standard ones were disastrously mismatched.
So Rian gave Isaac two wooden swords.
And told him to fight freely.
‘He got famous for dual-wielding in the first place.’
So, with a bit of hope, he looked into dual-sword styles.
Hoping it might help the guy. But when they first sparred with two swords, he realized it was a huge mistake.
‘A genius is a genius.’
No other words needed.
He'd become a completely different person.
“What kind of magic did you pull off?”
Even Brandt, who had sparred with Rian, had seen Isaac's change with his own eyes.
The guy had been average not long ago.
“Magic, huh...”
Was it magic if it was magic?
Rian chuckled softly at Brandt's question and gathered the squad members.
With the recent increase in training volume, they had grown incomparably stronger than before.
Feeling themselves improving made their enthusiasm for training naturally heat up.
‘But knowing when to hold back is a skill too.’
Pushing too hard could lead to injury.
“That's it for today. And rest properly when you're resting. If you overdo it out of greed, you might not keep up during training.”
“Yes.”
“My whole body aches. Think I need a break. Ow...”
Kyle, who had sparred with Isaac, groaned.
For a guy who rarely complained of being tired, this showed how intense it had been.
Rian stifled a laugh at Kyle's words and headed straight to Raymond's private training room.
‘Doing the mana circulation doubles as rest... Killing two birds with one stone.’
Unlike usual, Rian sat cross-legged on the floor and circulated the Child's Mana Circulation Method.
As he closed his eyes and breathed slowly, mana entered his body and began to cycle through it.
“Hooo...”
Rian had undergone many changes lately.
The amount of mana cycling through his body was at least twice what it had been when he first started the Child's Mana Circulation Method.
Of course, it wasn't enough to use aura yet, but the mana circulation greatly accelerated his physical recovery.
When Rian finished his mana circulation training and left the company commander's private training room, an administrative soldier came running toward him.
“Squad Leader 6, you're here?”
“What's up?”
“The platoon leader says to gather all the squad leaders!”
“Got it. Be right there.”
Rian headed straight to the platoon leader Tyler's office.
Even though he'd hurried, by the time Rian arrived, all the other squad leaders were already there.
Seeing Rian drenched in sweat, Tyler asked,
“Oh, Rian. In the middle of training?”
“Just finished.”
“Heard 6th Squad's been working hard lately? Good to see.”
“Thank you!”
Tyler nodded at Rian's response, then addressed the squad leaders.
“I called you all because the company has received deployment orders.”
“Deployment orders?”
“Is it war?”
Sudden deployment orders.
Well, not entirely sudden.
It was the first since the supply operation after the Pellon Gorge battle.
But at the word "deployment," Rian's expression hardened slightly.
‘Deployment at this timing...’
Winter was approaching, and the barbarians were rampaging more, but the situation now was different from other times.
It was when the current king's health declined, and the three princes began vying for the throne in a power struggle.
So even if it was just a war to hold back the barbarians, depending on which side your superiors backed, it could send you to your death.
‘Eagle Company is already a unit that's been wiped out in the last battle. Who knows what'll happen in this state...’
Rian couldn't gauge Eagle Company's movements, so he couldn't predict rashly.
But beyond that, he was a squad leader.
Now wasn't the time to think politics; he needed to climb as high as possible before the great chaos hit.
Rian asked Tyler,
“Where's Eagle Company headed, Platoon Leader?”
“We're going to Saleron.”
“Saleron?”
“Isn't Saleron the place where the walls got smashed last year by the barbarians?”
“Ah...”
As soon as Tyler finished, sighs erupted from the other squad leaders.
And understandably so, since Saleron was infamous in the north for its defensive weaknesses.
Built on open plains, the fortress required vigilance on all sides.
Moreover, it was small, and years of patchwork repairs left the walls low.
‘Problems exposed every year, but no proper fixes.’
Heading there was proof that someone higher up in Eagle Company was losing the power struggle.
“When do we depart?”
“In three days. Have everything ready by then.”
“Yes.”
Rian answered calmly.
Once decided, complaining wouldn't change it.
Plus, while Saleron was defensively weak, it wasn't all bad.
‘There's plenty of talk about Saleron.’
Problem-plagued places bred rumors, and rumors meant information.
And in Rian's time, there had been several victories from Saleron.
‘I need to watch the situation.’
But suddenly,
“Huh?”
“What's wrong?”
“Oh, nothing.”
Rian shook his head at Tyler's question.
It was such a sudden thought that a gasp escaped involuntarily.
“Then head back, inform your squads, and prepare well.”
“Yes!”
The squad leaders replied loudly and headed to their squad barracks.
On the way back, Rian remembered.
‘Saleron... that was definitely where...’
Giaf's bracelet.
The place where it was first discovered.
* * *
Giaf's bracelet became famous when the master assassin Giaf appeared.
The bracelet itself wasn't some absurd artifact.
[Instant Acceleration]
When infused with mana, it briefly accelerated movement.
Seemed minor at first glance, but it earned Giaf the title of master assassin from the shadows.
‘It's all about how you use it.’
After his death, various records found in his lair included notes on the bracelet.
That's when the nameless bracelet got named Giaf's bracelet.
“It's perfect for me.”
Though he used bows for long-range sniping, Rian employed them more aggressively.
‘The idea that bows are weak in close combat is just prejudice.’
Of course, there were many limitations. But with Giaf's bracelet, those weaknesses could be offset.
“Let's see it as a good opportunity.”
It might seem like being thrown into a death trap.
But the fiercer the battlefield, the greater the gains.
“Hoo... Nothing's ever easy.”
Rian sighed softly as he headed to the squad.
The squad members, informed of the situation by Rian, all wore grave expressions.
“To Saleron?”
“My god! Saleron?”
The squad's reaction was no different.
Saleron was infamous among soldiers.
But Rian nodded with a composed face.
“Deployment in three days. Everyone, write letters home and prepare what you need.”
“Haa, how long are we staying? At Saleron?”
“No idea exactly.”
They sighed softly at Rian's words.
“But the whole 6th Legion's going, right?”
“Probably. Saleron's no joke! Barbarians come in hordes of 2-3 thousand. Real full-scale war.”
“Even with the fortress, it does nothing. Heard fighting while protecting the people there actually puts us at a disadvantage.”
“Haa... They say even if you win there, half die...”
Worries mounted before departure. Rian spoke to them.
“Everyone, listen up.”
At Rian's suddenly serious expression, the squad's eyes fixed on him.
Rian looked at each of his ten squad members and said,
“Danger means just as much reward for those who return alive.”
Rian met each one's gaze.
“I... plan to rack up huge merits at Saleron and form my own unit. A special forces unit.”
“A special unit?”
“Yeah. And once it's formed, I'll appoint all of you as 500-Man Commanders.”
A special unit of 5,000 soldiers.
Above even legion commanders—a true ‘general.’
And among generals, the greatest grand general.
The squad members looked stunned at Rian's words.
It sounded impossibly ambitious.
How could a commoner soldier become a general?
There weren't even cases of commoners reaching company commander.
“I'll follow you, Squad Leader.”
“Me too.”
Isaac was first, pressing his right fist to his left chest. Brandt followed.
Somehow, inexplicable but they felt Rian could reach that lofty position.
“E-Eh! Me too!”
“Me as well!”
Kyle's shout was followed by the rest yelling their loyalty to Rian.
500-Man Commander.
Surpassing company commander, on par with battalion commander.
Rian grinned at them.
“Our goal at Saleron isn't just survival.”
They swallowed hard at Rian's words. Then he continued,
“We will win.”
On a battlefield ripe with glorious merits, they would seize everything.
Rian's eyes sparkled brighter than ever.