The Weight of Command
The hostile voice plunged the atmosphere into dead silence. The razor-sharp tone left the Second Subjugation Unit and the Fourth Search Unit with no choice but to hold their tongues. The situation was strange. Jungwoo and the Fourth Search Unit had rushed here as emergency reinforcements, purely to offer aid. There was no reason for them to be met with such open hostility from fellow soldiers they had come to help.
The bewilderment wasn’t limited to Jungwoo’s side. Even the soldiers of the Second Subjugation Unit—his own subordinates—looked equally stunned by their commander’s attitude.
No. This isn’t…
The hostility wasn’t directed at the Fourth Search Unit as a whole. It was aimed solely at one man: Garan.
In the midst of that awkward silence, Garan was the first to speak.
“I determined that you and your unit were in danger and came to assist.”
“…What did you say?”
The man’s eyebrows twitched. His expression made it clear he had not expected that answer at all.
“For now, let’s move to a different location. It would be unwise to engage in another battle with orcs right h—”
“Do not give me orders.”
He brutally cut off Garan’s courteous suggestion. Then he turned to his subordinates and said, “We’re returning.”
As he began walking away to lead the retreat, the expressions on the faces of the subjugation unit soldiers grew uniformly grim. Part of it was exhaustion—they had been forced to keep moving and fighting without properly treating their wounds. But the emotion etched on their faces was closer to irritation and rage than mere fatigue. It seemed they harbored considerable resentment toward their superior’s orders and behavior.
“You all look exhausted. Lean on me.”
Garan and the senior members of the search unit helped support the injured soldiers from the subjugation unit.
“Just hold on a little longer. We’ll be able to treat those wounds soon.”
“Th-thank… you…”
The soldiers who received Garan’s support and encouragement expressed their gratitude. Their voices trembled slightly. It was as if the unfair treatment they had endured had finally received some measure of comfort; their expressions softened.
“You son of a bitch!”
“Huk!?”
The moment they linked up with the rest of the search unit that had been following behind, Baren exploded in fury. He had spotted a familiar face among the search unit personnel—one of his own soldiers from the Second Subjugation Unit. The very man who had deserted the battlefield during the fight against the orc horde.
The deserter flinched violently at Baren’s roar, which shook the forest like a tremor. Baren strode forward with his entire body radiating rage and grabbed the man by the collar.
“How dare you! How dare you abandon the battlefield on your own!”
“I-I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”
The deserter begged desperately, clasping his hands together. When they had first found him fleeing alone, he had been trembling in pure terror.
“I-I was scared! It was too scary! Really…!”
Despite the repeated apologies, Baren showed no intention of forgiving him. That was only natural. Desertion in battle was a grave crime punishable under military law. It wasn’t as if the other soldiers hadn’t been afraid—they simply hadn’t run. In truth, none of the subjugation unit soldiers looked upon the deserter with any kindness.
“Calm down for now.”
Ironically, the one who could mediate between Baren and the deserter in this situation was not someone from the subjugation unit, but Garan.
“I told you not to give me orders!”
Baren’s fury showed no signs of subsiding. Still, Garan patiently tried to persuade him.
“Treating the soldiers comes first. Their conditions are terrible. Besides, if you keep raising your voice like that, we have no idea what kind of monsters might be drawn here.”
Every word was correct. Grinding his teeth, Baren swallowed his anger and shoved the deserter away as if throwing him aside.
“Tsk…”
Baren turned his back and put distance between himself and both units. He showed no intention of issuing any further commands. Garan let out a small sigh and took charge of the soldiers.
“Hayun. I’ll leave it to you.”
“Yes.”
Seo Hayun immediately began assessing the wounded. She had the injured soldiers lie down in the center of the defensive perimeter formed by the guards and started treating their injuries.
“The wounds have been treated. Fortunately, none of them were fatal.”
The subjugation unit soldiers received Seo Hayun’s healing. Since their injuries hadn’t been life-threatening, their conditions improved rapidly.
“This is incredible…”
The soldiers were awestruck as their fatigue-clouded minds and pain receded at an astonishing speed. They had believed they would be hunted down and killed by the orcs without any chance of escape, yet they had experienced a miraculous reversal of fortune.
“My body is still a bit tired… but at this rate, there shouldn’t be any problem moving.”
While she couldn’t completely erase the accumulated exhaustion, the expressions of the subjugation unit soldiers were remarkably bright. Some even looked relieved simply to be alive.
“Thank you!”
“Thank you so much!”
They bowed repeatedly to Seo Hayun, who had healed them, expressing their gratitude over and over. Their gestures were so fervent that Seo Hayun herself grew flustered.
“N-no, it’s nothing. I’m truly glad you’re all safe.”
Seo Hayun waved her hands with an awkward smile.
“…Truly remarkable.”
Unlike his subordinates’ reactions, Baren—the squad leader of the Second Subjugation Unit—quietly marveled to himself.
“Is this fate?”
“…Pardon?”
One of the soldiers who overheard Baren’s murmur asked nervously. He had vaguely guessed what his superior meant. And that anxiety soon became reality.
“We’re going back.”
It did not mean they were returning to base. If that were the case, he would have said ‘We’re withdrawing.’ The subjugation unit soldiers who understood what he truly meant turned pale.
“…What did you just say?”
Garan asked with a hardened face. It seemed he, too, had understood Baren’s intention.
“Approximately eleven kilometers from here, there is an orc horde. We will subjugate them.”
Baren answered with the arrogant tone of someone stating the obvious. Once again, silence blanketed the forest.
In that silence, only one person could speak to Baren.
“Have you lost your mind?”
“I have not.”
Garan tried to persuade the man who answered so confidently.
“This is reckless.”
“I can do it.”
Neither squad leader yielded an inch.
“You already failed once, didn’t you?”
“No. If it weren’t for that bastard, we wouldn’t have failed.”
Baren pointed at the soldier who had deserted the battlefield.
“That coward suddenly ran away and our formation collapsed. If not for that, my unit would not have been defeated.”
Then he looked at Seo Hayun and Jungwoo.
“You. And you.”
Baren pointed directly at Jungwoo and Seo Hayun.
“Follow me. You’re quite strong. With that level of combat ability, I can put you on the front line. And if we have a priestess like you, we can try again.”
He issued the command as if it were the most natural thing in the world. It carried the same casual authority he would use when speaking to soldiers already under his command.
Seo Hayun merely glanced at Jungwoo, too flustered to respond. Before Jungwoo could say anything, Garan stepped in front of him.
“I cannot permit that!”
At the same time Jungwoo quickly pulled Seo Hayun behind him, Garan blocked Baren’s path.
“She is a soldier under my command. You have no right to take her as you please.”
Baren frowned. A chilling tension swirled between them, as if a fight might break out at any moment.
Once again, silence fell. And once again, it was Baren who broke it.
“Are you unaware of how serious the situation is? These are orcs. Orcs have appeared.”
“…I am aware. It is a mid-tier monster that has reappeared for the first time in nearly two years.”
Garan nodded with a heavy expression. The faces of the other soldiers mirrored his gravity. Danger Level 6. Among mid-tier monsters, they were considered relatively weak, but the mere appearance of a mid-tier monster was a problem in itself. The fact that monsters that had not been seen for nearly two years were beginning to appear again was an omen that something was happening in the western region.
“They must be subjugated immediately.”
“No. We must return to base.”
Faced with this critical truth, the two squad leaders’ opinions clashed. Baren of the subjugation unit insisted on immediately hunting down the orc horde. Garan of the search unit insisted they must return to base with the wounded.
“In that last battle, you already suffered nearly half casualties.”
Garan quickly assessed the visible size of the subjugation unit and the extent of their injuries. Not only had their numbers been drastically reduced, but the surviving soldiers had suffered severe wounds and exhaustion.
“Going back into battle would be suicide.”
“No. We can win.”
Even so, Baren stubbornly clung to his position.
“Once fear takes hold, the fight is already over. I must redeem my failure.”
“Redeeming your failure is nothing but your own greed! You cannot sacrifice the lives of the soldiers here for it!”
Garan took a step forward. At that moment, the air between the two men grew taut. If things went wrong, their conflict might escalate into physical violence. The anxious soldiers could only watch nervously, unable to intervene.
Jungwoo listened to the increasingly heated argument between the two squad leaders while keeping watch on their surroundings. He was worried that the noise might attract more monsters. Then, his eyes fell on the corpse of one of the orcs they had slain. More precisely, on something tied to its waist.
Why do the orcs here in the west have what the kobolds in the northwest carried?
“…Squad Leader.”
Jungwoo called out to Garan cautiously. Garan, who had been facing off against Baren, turned his head at the low voice.
“What is it?”
“These things are carrying this.”
Jungwoo pulled the object free from the orc’s waist and held it out to Garan. The moment Garan saw it, his eyes shook once more.
“Why is this…?”
“Huh?”
The senior members of the search unit also looked shocked, recognizing the item.
“Damn it, why is this showing up here?”
It was a bone spear—the same type of weapon the kobold horde had used in the northwest. The way the bone had been sharpened at the tip, the grip, the length—everything was strikingly similar to the monster weapons they had seen before.
A mid-tier monster reappearing after two years. Traces of intelligence that included the concept of weapons.
Garan had to make an immediate decision.
“We return to base at once. We must report this to the Captain.”
“Yes.”
Kalant immediately obeyed his superior’s command. As the soldiers helped the wounded and prepared to return to base in orderly fashion, Garan spoke to Baren, who had been confronting him.
“If you want to go, go alone. Do not drag the soldiers into a slaughter.”
“…Tsk.”
Baren could not refute Garan’s words. Seeing him reluctantly withdraw, the soldiers of the Second Subjugation Unit who had been watching from a distance let out small, quiet sighs of relief.