139. Cracked Dam (4)
How dare these kids who have never experienced a war dare to discuss who deserves to be a hero?
In the first place, a ‘hero’ is not determined by the presence or absence of a warrior’s fragments. A hero may not seem like much, but it is a truly special title.
A person who runs into a burning house and saves people is a hero, and a person who shouts to evacuate because there is a fire is also a hero. A person who shows kindness to a child on the side of the road becomes that child’s hero, and upright parents also become heroes to their children.
Something that is both easy and difficult to obtain is the title of ‘hero’, but isn’t it natural that someone who covets it without even knowing it doesn’t have the qualifications to be a hero?
Moreover, the Murderous Knights were saved by Deon Hart during the Eight Years’ War.
There are many people who are guided by that small hand at the crossroads of life and death. Even if the Empire does not recognize him, they recognize him as a hero, but when they show Deonhardt in front of their eyes by not recognizing him as a hero… isn’t the reaction of crazy dogs obvious?
“Are you jealous?”
“…what?”
“Hey guys. “These bastards are jealous of our Marquis!”
“These guys? Our Marquis? You don’t even know the topic? dare?”
I will secretly stab you during the war.
In the chaos, at least one person might be killed by our allies.
Above all, Deon Hardt, whom I first met during the Eight Years’ War, was too young.
No matter how small the age difference between him and the Knights Templar is, they go from being an older brother and a younger brother to being like an average uncle and nephew, so how could there not be affection for the other?
Some of them have a really large age gap, and the difference is on the level of father and son, and their leader is a monster when it comes to combat and psychological warfare, but in the end, he is a child who is not good at everything else, so in the process of taking care of him secretly, knowingly or unknowingly, he naturally comes to think that he is ‘my baby’. I had no choice but to get stuck.
‘In the end, I failed to put underwear on…’
Did you say that if underwear gets wet with blood and sticks to it, it will interfere with movement?
It became such a habit that I ended up not wearing underwear even after the war was over.
‘The war ruined everything.’
Tsk. After regaining his appetite, Milan grinned as he walked towards the ‘hero candidates’.
“Marquis Arthur is not of such a low standard that you guys would dare to be jealous. You should look at stairs you can climb, but what if you’re looking at the sky? “Why don’t you just give up cleanly?”
“…under!”
Of course, I know that the hero’s fragments are not something to be trifled with. If you fight them head on, you will lose out of a hundred.
Still, I can’t just sit there and watch my baby being ignored, right? In particular, our captain hates being ignored more than anything due to his fighting style.
“In a place where there is no fragment of a hero!”
“On the topic of the nameless knights!”
“The name of the knights has nothing to do with combat power?!”
“We fight well even without the hero’s fragments!”
“…If you fight properly, you will lose!”
“Jujureutmun rat-eye jujuwe-.”
“you!”
I giggled as I saw the guy grabbing me by the collar, then looked at me with a straight face and pulled out my sword. As they have been working together for a long time, the other guys also take their own positions and raise the tension.
While the hero candidates were shocked, Milan twirled the wrist holding the sword a few times, then put his chin on his shoulder and smiled crookedly.
“Let’s fight? “We can’t see anything, but you can’t, right?”
“….”
They are not murderers… but the Lofty Knights are directly under Deon Hardt.
They went through hardships and hardships on the battlefield for 8 years, and the bond they shared even afterward is not going anywhere, so even if they curse, they will overlook most accidents, but the ‘nameless knights’ in front of them are under the direct control of the emperor.
There was no need to go through hardships and hardships with the emperor, and the emperor would not be swayed by his affections, so if an accident occurred, it would have been the same.
“Ah, since you are a hero candidate, you don’t want to die.”
Because the emperor cherishes talented people.
“In return, there will be some disadvantages.”
“All we have to do is get criticized.”
“The captain will probably hit you a bit.”
“Oh right. “That was it.”
As we stood there making useless small talk like that, for a moment I asked,
“What are you guys doing?”
“Ah, Marquis!”
Deon Hart has arrived.
Milan immediately smiled, put away his sword, and turned around. A white hood can be seen with the top slightly folded, as if the hood had been lifted for a moment.
What should we do if our captain still can’t organize his outerwear like this?
“It’s no big deal!”
I slowly reached out my hand to clean up that part and smiled as if nothing had happened.
***
And there was a battle. A battle to stop the Demon King’s army advancing toward the empire.
─No, it wasn’t blocking, it was ‘annihilation’.
It is said that the devil used his brain a little. They pretended to push through the shortest border and then entered the human world through another border.
The ‘border line’ is a passage connecting the demon world and the human world. Just as it is not possible to see every corner of a house from the outside just because the door is open, it is impossible to infer movements with the naked eye from a distance, so it is difficult to notice what is happening in the human world in the demon world and the movements of the demon world in the human world without going through a spy.
Still, the emperor, who had a rough idea of the devil’s thoughts by combining various circumstances, sent troops fairly quickly, but it was not enough to drive out those who had already arrived. On the contrary, they were pushed to a very dangerous position and all the major troops were almost gathered together.
The second hero, Stigma Primiro, and the third hero, Deon Hart.
In addition, there are hero candidates who can provide great power against demons.
‘It’s very luxurious.’
I understand the ‘annihilation’ order not to send even a single person alive.
This combination would be quite possible.
‘The compatibility wasn’t good, though.’
Cletor, a member of the Murderous Demon Knights, recalled the clash with the hero candidates that had occurred in the morning, sighed and retrieved the weapon that cut into the demon’s stomach.
Since the Marquis Primiro and his knights were responsible for blocking the retreat route and killing those who were running away, the murderous knights inevitably had to kill the enemies along with the hero candidates.
He growled right before the battle started, but will he become calm after the battle begins?
“you! “You almost died!”
“Oh my gosh, why is it going that way? sorry-.”
“This crazy bastard…!”
The blind weapon strangely aims only at the back of the hero candidates’ heads. Perhaps out of pride in being on the same side, those who failed to defend themselves only received minor injuries to their arms and legs and did not injure any vital parts…
“Do it in moderation!”
There is nothing good about fighting between allies with the enemy right in front of you. As expected, I could hear the angry shouts of leader Lien Reiner.
Normally, I would have tried to stop him before the leader stepped forward, but this time, Cleter pretended not to notice and just ignored me. I looked down on the Marquis, but I have to do this.
‘Well… I can’t even think of looking at you funny anymore.’
I rolled my eyes and looked at a corner of the battlefield.
A place where the smell of blood is stronger than anywhere else. A lump of red meat, presumed to be a demon, was rolling on the floor, and in a place filled with fear, there was their leader, smiling broadly.
‘You’re tough, our Marquis.’
The conscious mind thought so, but the unconscious expressed rejection.
Even though I know that relying on drugs is not a good thing, I keep wondering if I should have taken drugs like other people.
It was difficult to see the devastation committed by Deon Hardt with a clear mind.
‘I didn’t use medicine because I was dealing with a demon…’
Wouldn’t it be better to do it now?
Since this war was not against humans but against demons, there was a divide within the knights between those who practiced medicine and those who did not.
Those who decided to turn to medicine because they could not deal with human-like demons with their sanity, and those who decided to treat them on the same level as monsters since they are demons that are different from humans in at least one part.
Cleter chose the latter because he did not want to abandon ‘reason’.
‘I failed to consider the Marquis’ actions…!’
Regardless of feeling rejected, my eyes keep going in that direction.
This feels similar to not being able to take your eyes off a wild animal you accidentally encounter.
The unrealistic and unreasonable feeling that if I looked away even for a moment, that beast would bite the back of my neck, caught my attention.
Even I, who have watched him closely for a long time, feel this way, but what about the hero candidates I met for the first time today?
‘I was scared.’
Their frightened gaze is fixed on Deon Hart. Her eyes were confused and were trembling.
Even the guys who were good at fighting suddenly found Deon Hart in their sights and couldn’t easily take their eyes off him, as if their gazes were tied together. It was a dangerous act to look away during battle, but since this applied equally to demons, the damage was less than expected.
Cleter indifferently looked away from the hero candidates and adjusted his grip on his weapon.
‘…Should I also take medicine next time?’
Annoying hero candidates are not even considered.
Although not as good as Deonhardt, he gained time and recovered his stamina by brutally killing demons in his own way, and took up his weapon again to end this damn battle quickly.
Even if you are someone who has not mastered even the most basic sword techniques, you will develop some knack after spending several years on the battlefield.
Cleter: The Murderous Knights no longer recklessly and cruelly kill their opponents.
Deonhart alone is enough to create an atmosphere, so at the start of the battle, he only acts cruelly to suppress the momentum, leaving that field to the captain and focusing on ending the battle quickly by killing as many enemies as possible. The cruel hand was a tactic used to buy time when stamina was low.
This is not a rational way of thinking and acting, but an instinctive behavior that occurs even while under the influence of drugs.
Should I be happy or bitter?
‘For now… let’s think positively.’
Cleter stopped thinking and moved.
***
Of course, the battle did not end with just one fight.
The Demon Lord sending support, the unchanging ‘annihilation’ order.
Is it fortunate that they did not send a corps commander? Stigma Primiro was able to observe Deon Hart in his own way through these several battles.
Deon Hardt, he observed, was quite anxious.
‘Maybe it’s because it’s a war zone.’
I can’t explain it exactly, but it feels like water is slowly overflowing from a cracked dam. Even if a single small stone falls, a wave occurs and the water overflows, making it impossible to take your eyes off the water.
It looked dangerous just by looking at it, but it was an area that no one else could compensate for. Stigma wondered for a moment with a bit of regret whether other people had not noticed, but then turned his gaze elsewhere.
“Keep your back straight. Straighten your shoulders and lift your chin appropriately. Walk straight and without shaking. “When talking to someone, you must make eye contact and speak elegantly.”
Advice as a ‘senior’.
Although I didn’t realize it, he called me ‘senior’ and I also acknowledged him as ‘junior’, so as a senior, I guess I should give him some help.
Deonhardt’s fighting style is the complete opposite of Stigma. So, he can’t or shouldn’t touch this area, and the only advice he can give is ‘how to go somewhere and not be ignored’.
In noble language, wouldn’t it be ‘the attitude of an aristocrat’?
“If your subordinates ignore you, others will also ignore you. So, be a respected boss. It doesn’t matter which way. Whether it is respect due to fear or respect due to affection. “You just have to show others that you are respected.”
Among the information obtained while observing Deon Hardt was about his immediate order, the Knights of Lofty.
At first I thought they were ignoring Deonhardt. But when I watched closely, I saw it.
“Youngjae, you are already loved so much, so all you have to do is train him into the knighthood. “How should I express ‘respect’ for the boss I love?”
Their blind love for Deonhardt.
