In the wide drill grounds.

The lined up soldiers in an organized way.

In the middle of them, he saw the 13th division where Tane and Pierce were.

‘This nervousness……’

Even if it was a simple monster subjugation, before any battle, nervousness roamed.

Roan liked this nervousness.

‘This makes you feel alive.’

However, there was an existence that broke this nervousness.

“So last year, when I was in Loren’s province……..”

Mason, that talked about his tales without stop.

Although Roan put a face that he didn’t want to keep listening to him, it was useless.

“That time, I evaded the spear the orc threw at me……..”

Then a group appeared on the platform of the drill grounds.

“……I… will…… Ahem.”

Mason’s mouth closed.

‘I think that I would be able to live now.’

A smile appeared in Roan’s face.

The ones that climbed on top of the knee high platform was the commander of the rose troops, Gale and his adjutants.

Dosen was also there.

Sit.

Quietly and instantly sitting.

Gale stood on top of the platform and looked at the soldiers that were lined up.

“Our rose troop will leave this Ellin’s fortress, and pass through Ale village to reach Pedian’s plain.”

“Yes!”

A loud replying noise.

A smile appeared in Gale’s mouth.

‘If it’s this much, we can be called the best of the 7th corps.’

He was quite proud of the soldiers of rose troop that had went through a lot of things with him in the past 5 years.

It was just like a parent looking at his child.

“Everybody, don’t die.”

Words that seemed to be casually thrown.

With that, the commander’s speech ended.

‘Right. Squad commander Gale was the kind of person that appreciated his soldiers.’

He threw himself when the goblins attacked them to at least try to save one more person.

Later, when the rescuing soldiers arrived, the corpse that had suffered the most mincing in his body was Gale’s.

‘That kind of commander needs to live long.’

Roan’s eyes shined sharply.

Stomp. Stomp. Stomp.

Gale and his aides started to move towards the field.

Roan and the other guides followed Mason and stood in the front.

Stomp. Stomp. Stomp.

The steps of the army marching could be heard noisily.

“Where did I leave it back then? Right. In that battle, I……”

He started again.

Mason talked without resting having forgotten the role of guide.

‘Why is it me?’

There were many other guides.

But why did it have to be him?

As he turned his head, he realized the reason.

The other guides were walking far away from him.

‘He was a famous bastard.’

They knew the incredible talking ability Mason had.

Only that the newcomer Roan didn’t know of it, and fell in their trap.

Roan, that couldn’t hold it anymore opened his mouth cautiously.

“Don’t we have to check the surroundings in case monsters appear?”

“After that, I grabbed his wrist and then his legs, huh? What? Monster?”

Mason, that was even spitting while talking, put on an absurd face.

He patted Roan’s back and shook his head.

“Look. Newcomer. There’s no need to worry this much. This zone is the safest one. It’s a place where no monsters appear.”

“But……..”

“Ha. You are much more of a coward than how you look.”

Mason shook his head while clicking his tongue.

Eyes as if he was looking down on him.

However, Roan preferred those eyes.

Because in that moment, he stopped moving his mouth.

At that time, they saw the peak of the mountain that was in front of them.

‘Rose gorge. No, Ale gorge.’

A small gorge you had to pass through if you wanted to reach Ale village.

The original name was Ale gorge, but after the rose squad got annihilated, it started to be called as rose gorge with that kind of meaning.

‘The day that they change the name won’t come.’

Roan gripped his spear strongly while gulping dry saliva.

Step. Step. Step.

The guides feet were near the gorge.

‘Now’s the time.’

Roan called out to Mason.

“Sir Mason.”

“Huh?”

“The form of this gorge doesn’t seem normal. Shouldn’t we investigate beforehand?”

“Gorge? Investigate?”

Mason frowned and looked at Ale’s gorge.

And then he shook his head and clicked his tongue.

“You are really a coward. This is a safe zone. There are no things such as monsters.”

“But isn’t there a maybe?”

“No, there’s absolutely not. This is one of the safest places in Rinse kingdom.”

Mason was confident.

He thought that there would be no one that knew the region of Ale better than him, as much as his confidence.

‘I am a native here.’

He turned his head and looked back at the other guides.

“Hey. This newcomer here says that we need to investigate the gorge. What do you think?”

Most of the faces of the guides became distorted.

“What? Investigate? What dog shit are you talking about?”

“You really are a beginner. Beginner.”

“If you don’t know a thing, just stay still.”

Pouring criticism.

However, Roan’s face didn’t change in the slightest and had a serious face.

“However, all of our troop has to pass through that narrow gorge. If there are monsters hiding, we will get a huge blow.”

“Ha, really!”

In the end, Mason shouted.

He pointed at Roan’s face with his index finger to the point he almost poked him.

“Don’t say useless things. There’s no way that will happen.”

However, Roan wasn’t the type to back down right now.

Because he knew really well what was going to happen .

“They also say that you have to hit a stone bridge and then cross it. If maybe, there are monsters waiting for us ……”

“Stop.”

Mason raised his hand and stopped him.

His face was bright red.

Gulp.

Roan gulped down dry saliva.

The reason Roan could talk back like this was because he didn’t directly belong to him.

Actions he could never do to Tane or Pete.

Mason glared at him as if he wanted to devour him, and in the end said with an annoyed voice.

“If you want to investigate that much, go alone.”

“Can I?”

It was a grave offense to leave his rank.

Mason nodded.

“Go. I don’t think that there won’t be anything bad by doing something in vain.”

Words as if he was mocking him.

However, Roan’s face became brighter.

“Then, I will be going.”

After he nodded, he started to move.

Running.

Legs that couldn’t be seen.

Roan left the ranks and ran through the gorge’s peak. Gale that was leading the front squad, noticed him.

“Who’s the soldier that left the ranks and is running to the gorge?”

Dosen looked and then, frowned.

“It seems like a soldier in charge of guiding. I will go and check.”

“Mmm.”

Gale nodded with a disturbed expression.

Because of an unauthorized solitary action, he could make the entire squad fall in danger.

Dosen looked at Gale and grabbed the reins.

Rattle. Rattle.

The steps of the horse became faster.

“Mason!”

Dosen found Mason.

Mason, that was looking at Roan running to the gorge, bent his head.

“Yes. Aide Dosen.”

“What’s that bastard? Why did he leave the ranks as he pleased?”

Firing words.

Mason put a bitter smile and scratched the back of his head.

“I wonder, that guy said that there could be monsters hiding in ambush in that gorge, so he said that he needed to investigate.”

“In the gorge? That bastard, doesn’t he know that it’s a safe zone?”

“He knows. But even so, he says that maybe…….”

Mason shook his head.

Dosen was following with his sight the back of Roen that couldn’t even be seen while frowning.

“Damn. Anyways, he was spotted by commander Gale. Maybe later you and that guy will have problems.”

“Ah! I find it unfair! That guy kept insisting stubbornly……”

“Shut up. You are the responsible one. You have to get punished because you couldn’t properly control your guys.”

After Dosen fired those words, he turned back his head.

Whine.

He heard the burbling of the horse and thought that it was making fun of him.

Mason looked at Dosen’s back that was getting farther away and then frowned.

“Damn. What is this because of a crazy newcomer bastard.”

After he spit, he looked back at the Ale gorge.

“But where did that bastard go to?”

He thought that now, he would have to kick him in the crotch once.

Roan, that didn’t know that Mason was thinking like this, was approaching the entrance.

Shock.

The sharp senses he accumulated in the past 20 years were telling him that it was dangerous.

‘Danger.’

A threatening aura could be felt all around the gorge.

Roan gulped dry saliva and grabbed his spear.

‘The only thing I need right now is acting.’

He didn’t need to get deeper while facing danger.

He needed to return in a moderate amount of time as if he had investigated the gorge and come back startled.

‘If I just say that there are goblins in the gorge, the end.’

A smile appeared in Roan’s face.

He leaned in a big tree trunk.

A sky without clouds.

“Right. The weather was this good.”

He remembered his past memories.

The day when they got attacked by the goblins.

The sky that day was deep blue.

“Just like we have gone in an excursi……..”

He gulped back the words he was mumbling.

Shock.

His back was pulling.

The hair in his skin raised, and dried sweat flowed through his back.

‘There’s something.’

Inside the forest that didn’t have anything until now.

However, he felt a frightening presence.

The noise he heard at that time.

Chwee.

Roan’s face froze in an instant.

‘Goblin!’

It was certainly the cry of a goblin.

Chwee.

The noise came closer.

< First battle (1) > End

Translator’s note: Thanks for reading and for your support!

Translator : Subak