Chapter 140: The Cracking Dam

How can he receive this level of affection from his subordinates? This goes far beyond the typical superior-subordinate relationship. How can a junior with such a ruthless streak garner this much affection…?

Swallowing his questions, Stigma continued.

“You tend to use foul language during battles. While it might be strange to use refined speech on a brutal battlefield, vulgar words diminish your dignity. Try to refrain from them. And it’s best to restrain your thoughts as well.”

“Even the thoughts in my head…”

“Thoughts become words. The words you frequently utter become habits. Curses, in particular, are easily ingrained. And how easy is it to break a habit? It’s better to address it beforehand.”

“……”

He flicked the lips of the mumbling youth with his index and middle finger.

“I’m saying this for your own good, Junior.”

***

That’s when it started. Stigma’s habit of flicking my lips.

Whenever I cursed, he’d say it was a ‘bad habit’ and flick my lips with his finger. It hurt enough to make me shut my mouth.

What am I supposed to do when it’s already a habit? Shi… dang it.

“Didn’t you just think of a curse?”

“N-no, I didn’t.”

“Your eyes looked like they were cursing.”

He’s a psychic!

He scanned me, checking the truth of his words, while inspecting his weapon. His senses were sharp and heightened before a battle, and his gaze seemed to pinpoint every spot it landed on.

His gaze started at my eyes, moved down to my lips, and then swept over my entire face before settling back on my eyes.

“Hmm… Shall I give you one more piece of advice before the battle begins?”

“Yes…?”

What else is he going to say?

“You seem accustomed to using hand signals, but for clearer communication, it’s better to use words along with them. Who would be paying attention to your hand signals in the chaos of battle? At least if you speak, they’ll focus their attention on you.”

Ah, well… there’s someone who focuses intently on my hand signals, so it should be fine.

But now that I don’t need to hide my coughing up blood, speaking might be better… Habits are truly frightening. I find myself gesturing without even realizing it.

Anyway, since some point, Stigma started giving me advice like this whenever he had the chance. Is it a senior’s duty? It seems like it, and the advice is quite useful, so I listen… but the conclusion is always strange.

[All of this is irrelevant if you are overwhelmingly powerful.]

It always comes back to power being supreme.

Dignity? Aura? Refinement? Manners? If your power is overwhelming, none of that matters, apparently….

[However, you have superiors, and you don’t possess the fragment of the Hero’s power, so we can’t consider your power ‘overwhelming.’ And more importantly, wouldn’t it be much easier if the opponent reads the situation and submits before you even need to display your power?]

…Hmm, I’m worried about Stigma’s character.

But he’s nice to me, so it doesn’t matter, right? While pondering if anyone overheard and is now worried about my character too, I checked the dagger sheaths Dan had strapped to my body.

Both thighs, both sides of my waist, and my lower back, totaling six! …But she added one to each ankle, bringing the total to eight.

‘Six weren’t enough…’

I might have been out of my mind during the battles, so I don’t remember, but I can’t be completely unaware of the aftermath.

Every time I regain consciousness, my hands are empty. Or I might be holding only one dagger.

‘…Come to think of it, Stigma was smiling back then.’

Which battle was it? When the fighting ended and I came to my senses covered in blood, the Hero candidates were eyeing me strangely, flinching and looking away whenever our eyes met. Meanwhile, Stigma was laughing, saying I was indeed his junior. He was laughing so heartily I initially didn’t recognize him.

What on earth happened?

“Junior, if things go well, this battle here might be the last one.”

“……?”

“The Demon King seems to have realized the futility of sending inept troops here. News has arrived that they’ve redirected their forces elsewhere.”

“Ah…!”

“Though it’s a mystery why they aren’t sending legion commanders.”

They’re only realizing it now. Their news travels slowly. Well, the news has been completely cut off, so they wouldn’t know the situation here.

The battles here have been nothing but ambushes.

It started with an ambush that resulted in total annihilation. Then, they stealthily approached the border, and when the Demon King, sensing the lack of communication, sent more troops, we ambushed and annihilated them at the pass. In other words, the demons had no chance to report back to the Demon King.

But by now, the Demon King must know. Once this battle is over, there might not be any fighting for a while.

‘Freedom…!’

I loathed the battles where I had to face death every time and dreaded their arrival, but this time, I didn’t hate the approaching time.

***

Correction. I did hate it. I wished battle times would never come.

In a space filled with the stench of blood and screams, I blankly stared at my blood-soaked hands.

‘Why… am I regaining consciousness now?’

The war isn’t over yet, is it? It’s still in full swing. Shouldn’t I be more out of it?

I lifted my gaze. In the distance, the once elegant figure was gone, replaced by Stigma, a beast tearing through the enemies.

‘I’ve thought before that he was a predator in disguise, like a black panther…’

I’m seeing his true colors now.

Amidst all that, he looked pristine, a stark contrast to me covered in blood. It was astonishing.

Belatedly, I lowered my gaze. An unidentifiable lump of flesh entered my vision… Huh?

‘What is this…’

Judging by the size… a person? No, our opponents in this war are demons, so it must be a demon.

Why is this under my feet?

Why?

“—Ugh.”

It’s gruesome. I’ve been covered in blood when I regained consciousness many times, so that’s fine, but I’ve never seen a corpse like this.

…Never?

Nausea surged, and blood gushed out. My vision blurred, and I raised my hand to rub my eyes, only to see it covered in blood, and I lowered it again.

A blood-soaked hand, holding a dagger, and before me, a horribly mangled corpse.

‘Ah, ahh.’

—My mind went blank.

‘I…’

I blinked. My vision cleared, and I felt liquid trickling down my cheek.

‘I didn’t do this.’

Alcohol, no, drugs. I need drugs….

Knowing I wasn’t using them anymore, I desperately searched my pockets, which were probably empty.

Anyone can see that my current state is abnormal. An enemy wouldn’t miss this opportunity.

As expected, an enemy moved.

“Die, you monster!”

A demon calling a human a monster. How ironic.

Thanks to that, I snapped out of it. I stared blankly at the spear aimed at my heart, then smiled faintly.

It’s a close call, but I can dodge it. However, I reflexively stopped my body from moving.

‘If I dodge, what’s next?’

The attack trajectory is clean, not something a regular soldier would do. It must be a high-ranking demon who approached me while I was out of it. I don’t have the confidence to kill this demon in my current state.

‘Fight in this condition?’

I’ll die for sure.

Should I dodge first, then keep dodging the demon’s subsequent attacks, slowly depleting my stamina while waiting for an opening that might never come, or should I just grit my teeth and take a hit to take his life?

‘…Taking down a commander should earn me some credit.’

I panicked and vomited blood during the battle. I won’t escape interrogation afterward. I need to take down at least one commander to make it worthwhile.

Besides, I want to rest right now.

I twisted my body. Instead of my vital points, I offered another area. The spear pierced my shoulder, causing a searing pain.

‘It hurts more than I expected… Ah, I really need a fix….’

The demon, having missed, clicked his tongue and pulled back his spear. But I was faster.

Thunk.

As the spearhead dug deeper into my shoulder, it finally pierced through and came out my back. Despite the excruciating pain, I didn’t stop and took a step forward.

Because I knew that stopping here would mean my death.

“What the—!”

“Die, you bastard.”

That’s the price for my shoulder!

I plunged the dagger in my hand into his vitals.

….

And then I got scolded.

Perhaps sensing the danger after the commander’s death, the other commanders gathered their troops and retreated. Just as I sighed in relief, I was swarmed by my frantic subordinates.

“Captain, no, Marquis! Your shoulder! The spear! Oh no, what do we do?!”

“He even vomited blood!”

“I saw it earlier, it was practically a self-inflicted wound! Are you crazy?! What are we going to do about this shoulder?! You’re responsible!”

Anyone would think your shoulder got wrecked….

I watched them fuss about, not even daring to touch me, and quietly opened my mouth.

“Could you… call a medic first?”

I think I’m going to die….

I’ve lost too much blood already, and I didn’t have much to begin with.

My face must have been alarmingly pale, as they frantically started searching for a medic.

“M-medic! Meeedic!”

“Cut the shaft! Not too close, just enough so it doesn’t get in the way when we carry the Marquis!”

“Oh no, our captain’s dying! Look how pale he is!”

“He’s not dying! Don’t say such unlucky things! But why is his face so pale? It’s unsettling!”

“Marquis, can you hear us? Don’t lose consciousness! How many of us are there?”

How am I supposed to know with so many people moving around in front of me? Please go away, it’s making me dizzy….

With clumsy first aid, I was carried back to the barracks by my overzealous subordinates.

“Goodness! Is all this your blood?!”

“Of course not! What do you take him for?! This is obviously someone else’s blood!”

……

“Where are you going? We need to treat our Cap… Marquis.”

That damn reckless mouth….

The medic was hesitant to approach because of those fools’ unnecessary chatter, but thankfully, I received proper treatment.

As I sat down to receive treatment after the spear was removed, I inadvertently met someone’s gaze. A fiercely sharp gaze that seemed to have been watching me the entire time.

“My lord, the casualties of our knight order in this battle…”

“If any of them died against those insignificant demons, they were merely weaklings who didn’t belong. The same goes for the injured. My knight order has no need for the weak.”

Stigma pushed away his subordinate and approached me.

His usual elegant and graceful gait left large strides in its wake. It was definitely his usual walk, but why did I feel the ferocity of the beast I saw on the battlefield earlier?

He was instantly in front of me, his gaze fixed on the wound being treated. He smoothed back his hair as if suppressing his emotions, then squeezed his eyes shut before opening them.

“Junior…”

……

“You need to cherish your body more.”

I already cherish my body enough.

But because a commander died, the battle ended quickly. Since the order is ‘annihilation,’ we’ll have to fight another battle soo—?!

I didn’t think of that, damn it.

“You should look at people’s faces when you talk to them.”

He flicked my forehead and finally met my gaze.

“This decision was foolish. You know that too, don’t you, Junior?”

“Yes, well….”

I had forgotten the ‘annihilation’ order.

I killed a commander, but I was also injured, so I couldn’t completely break the enemy’s momentum. Moreover, because of my injury, our allies had to watch them retreat.

‘Of course, they won’t return to the Demon Realm, so there’s still a chance.’

They will contact the Demon King from their military camp, reporting the presence of the Empire’s second and third Heroes and Hero candidates. Hearing this, the Demon King, knowing that their current forces are inadequate, will never issue a retreat order.

‘After facing Deon Hart once, some of them might realize that he and the Commander of the 0th Legion are the same person.’

To prepare for any eventuality, the Demon King will choose to abandon them, even if it’s a waste.

The Emperor must have considered this when issuing the ‘annihilation’ order….

‘Huh?’

Why am I thinking about this…….