Listening to the sound of rain while chatting quietly made them drowsy. Lucilia offered her shoulder to the tired Mannea, and they both nodded off together.

After enduring an uncomfortable position until her neck became stiff, Mannea suggested they rest more comfortably and promptly lay down on the straw mat.

Amused by her straightforwardness, Lucilia also lay down beside her. Though her body shivered from the damp air, she was so exhausted that her eyes closed automatically.

Before falling asleep, Lucilia blew the whistle three short times. Mannea asked with concern:

“Will the whistle sound really reach him? From what I saw earlier, all those assassins were attacking Sir Willar.”

“He’s someone the Baron acknowledges, so he won’t be defeated easily.”

She couldn’t ask for more than to see Ension’s face before the rain stopped.

Pitter-patter, the raindrops grew heavier.

* * *

Aaron’s face, which had shown no trace of emotion while taking the lives of enemy soldiers, suddenly froze with alarm.

The smoke covering the distant sky put his senses on edge.

Lucilia…

She was the first to come to mind.

A sudden fire breaking out meant there was clearly a purpose behind it.

If that purpose involved Lucilia, it would be disastrous.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Ension’s skills, but the problem was not knowing how the situation might change. Though others might not notice, Aaron’s ears could faintly hear the sound of explosions.

“Rombon!”

“Yes, Commander!”

Aaron had already pulled the reins to turn his horse around.

“Smoke is rising from the camp!”

“What? These crazy bastards! How are they managing things?”

Rombon extended his long spear and pierced a Mrangel warrior’s neck. Ignoring the blood spattering from the spear tip, he keenly surveyed the surroundings.

Seeing Aaron’s expression, his face turned pale with worry.

Though defeating the enemy was no easy task, he couldn’t ignore his superior’s concern.

How could he not let him go when he looked like he might die at any moment?

He just needed to summon every ounce of strength and cut down the enemies.

Rombon wiped the blood splattered on his face and confidently shouted:

“General Neil has joined us, so leave this to me and go to your wife quickly!”

By the time Rombon turned his head after simultaneously taking down two enemy soldiers, Aaron’s warhorse was already pounding the ground.

Though he doesn’t express it, he cherishes the Baron’s wife so much.

He’s the only one who doesn’t realize it.

“Blood wind brings spring breeze, and spring breeze brings blood wind.”

As Rombon hummed with a crude melody and disorganized lyrics, enemy lives were extinguished by his hand.

As soon as Aaron showed signs of leaving the battlefield, the Mrangel leader shouted:

“Chase after that man!”

Immediately after the hand signal was given, Mrangel cavalry swarmed.

They broke through Rombon’s defense and pursued Aaron, but one by one they fell to his cold blade.

The most notable figure among them was the leader charging forward like a lit torch. With his small build, he skillfully drove his horse and nocked an arrow to his bowstring.

An incredulous smile appeared on Aaron’s lips.

“Anyone watching would think I’m the one being chased. He’s obsessed with killing me to gain merit.”

Beheading the “Black Fog” would make him the hero of victory, and he would receive a portion of Echorn’s fertile land as a reward.

It seemed his judgment was clouded by the desire to escape his barren homeland.

Saying he was obsessed with killing could be flipped to mean he was obsessed with dying.

In an instant, the flow of air changed.

As quickly as the smile disappeared, the temperature around Aaron rapidly cooled.

Having regained his cold rationality, Aaron predicted the timing.

‘They’ll think I’m fleeing, so they’ll believe they have the upper hand.’

The Mrangel leader’s heart would grow arrogant at the apparent cornering.

Confidence tends to bring carelessness, so he would strike at that opening.

In a split second, Aaron nimbly looked back.

The leader was spurring his horse with his greatsword angled downward, while Rombon asked with his eyes if he should cover Aaron.

When Aaron shook his head, a smile spread across Rombon’s face.

It was unwavering trust.

‘My superior is about to turn into a mad dog. That man won’t even be able to gather his bones.’

If he’s lucky, he might survive, but at the very least, one of his limbs won’t remain intact.

As Rombon sent his boundless trust to Aaron, the enemy leader closed in at a frightening speed.

A cruel smile briefly flashed across Aaron’s lips before disappearing.

As the distance between him and the enemy narrowed, Aaron’s blade grew sharper.

‘Come a little closer.’

‘Just a bit nearer…’

In a formal duel, they might have exchanged several blows.

But since he recklessly approached at close range, there was no choice but to cut his lifeline.

Though the allied forces were shaken by being outnumbered, Aaron’s individual skill hadn’t diminished.

Just as he was straining his hearing to the utmost, he heard the sound of a bowstring releasing an arrow.

Detecting movements keenly even amid thunderous noise was Aaron’s ability. Concealing his presence was another of his talents.

Aaron bent his body almost in half, lying flat on his horse’s back.

As the arrow that had narrowly missed him struck the ground, Aaron released the reins.

He deeply lowered his upper body to cut the enemy soldier’s neck, then snatched the sword that had escaped from his opponent’s grasp. Then, as he straightened up, he drew the dagger at his waist.

What happened next occurred in an instant.

While the double-edged sword he threw with all his might cut through the air, the dagger flew so fast it was almost invisible.

Both blades left Aaron’s hands almost simultaneously.

“General!!”

Blood spurted like a fountain from the neck of the leader who was desperate to capture Aaron.
He might have skillfully avoided the first attack, but he had no way to counter the surprise attack with concealed form.

The leader clutched his split neck, his pupils trembling, before falling from his horse.

As he easily blocked the arrows shot by the rushing Mrangel warriors, Aaron coldly muttered:

“You should have been satisfied when you could press forward with superior numbers.”

As if the situation wasn’t irritating enough with the allied forces being pushed to a disadvantage.

“Bastard, why did you have to interfere? Tsk! If you want to blame something, blame your ambition that hastened your death.”

In trying to claim a corner of Caldman’s land, he became a corpse without even securing a plot.
Once again, he felt the severity of human greed firsthand.

It seemed he wanted not only wealth and glory but also the title of hero, which was impossible.
Well, thanks to that, Aaron was able to take the leader’s head.

He had maintained a certain distance to protect himself as a commander, but the moment his greed grew, his eyes rolled back and he leaped into danger himself.

His downfall was the arrogance of believing the battle was already won.

Frowning at the smell of blood carried by the wind, Aaron stared at the endlessly rising smoke.

Despite monitoring the priest’s movements, it seemed a hole had been created.

He was in no position to mock the Mrangel leader for letting his guard down.

His side had also been careless, with the defense line broken in an unexpected place. Beyond the damaged camp, his heart sank with worry for her.

“Lucilia Artnal…”

The warhorse that had instantly escaped the battlefield galloped at full speed.

* * *

As soon as he confirmed the chaotic state of the camp, he became furious. Aaron clenched his jaw with a savage expression.

Immediately, Coana, the person responsible for camp defense, ran over and knelt down.

The way he promptly confessed his guilt made curses scratch at Aaron’s throat.

“What were you doing to let things get to this state!”

“I have nothing to say.”

Coana kept his head deeply bowed, awaiting his punishment.

But now was not the time to mete out punishment.

Though he was burning with worry for Lucilia, he couldn’t abandon the camp, which was also important.

The best course of action was to handle this quickly and then go search for her.

Calming his anger, Aaron asked in a dry tone:

“How many casualties?”

“We’re still assessing, but according to the report I received just now, there are twenty-three dead and thirty injured.”

“What caused this?”

“Assassins had infiltrated. They stole military uniforms to disguise themselves as our forces, and are believed to have carried explosives.”

Coana immediately stood up and dragged over a corpse.

“This is a volunteer who was staying at the infirmary.”

“So the assassin was a woman. Is she Mrangel?”

“No, she’s Caldman. But since there are no survivors, we couldn’t determine their objective. I apologize.”