“Hyung!”
“Oppa!”
Sniffing voices.
Kids that were around 10 years old.
5 little kids were grabbing Roan’s leg and cried.
“Save our mom.”
“Boohooo.”
Sad cries cover the sound of the wind.
Roan patted the heads of the children awkwardly.
“What happened?”
At the considerate voice, at least the biggest girl looked at Roan.
“Some bad guys came to our village. They, they took away mom and dad. Boohoo.”
The girl couldn’t hold it anymore and started to cry.
Roan patted her head and frowned.
‘Bad guys?’
He searched in his memories.
But there was no particular case.
‘Originally, the rose troop gets annihilated and doesn’t pass through here.’
It meant that it was completely unrelated to him.
Roan looked at the crying girl and asked gently.
“What’s your name?”
“Sob. Sob. Lia.”
“It’s a nice name. Lia. Lia, are you the oldest here?”
Lia wiped off her tears with both of her hands and nodded.
Roan pointed towards the rose troop camp that was far away.
“If you go there, there will be a lot of tough uncles. Will you go there and tell them what happened in your village?”
“Then, those uncles will save our mom and dad?”
From deep within her eyes could be seen a light of hope.
Roan couldn’t ignore that hope.
“Well. Of course.”
Only then did the crying children stop crying.
Roan started to walk towards the camp in the front, while guiding the children.
“Roan!”
Before he could get in the camp, a scary yell was heard.
It was Dosen.
‘This bastard dares to come after idling there?’
He was outside because he was thinking that perhaps…
He was planning on punishing him if he was idling without him knowing.
However, he couldn’t discover Roan nearby at all.
‘Right. You got well caught.’
Deserters have the punishment of having to live hiding for life.
He thought that he wouldn’t be so stupid as to fulfil that punishment, and that he would be hiding somewhere.
What kind of punishment should he give, it was at that moment when he was thinking that when he saw Roan coming into the camp.
“Just where have you bee…… Huh?”
He was about to yell at him when he saw the children lined up behind him.
Dosen frowned and looked at Roan.
“What are those kids?”
“It’s……”
Roan explained everything that happened in a calm way.
Dosen’s face contorted.
“Someone attacked the village and took away their parents?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
Roan nodded with his face having darkened.
‘He wouldn’t be making up an excuse, right?’
It was Dosen that didn’t feel good towards him.
If he resorted to violence in vain, only the children would be at a loss.
Dosen that was thinking for a while, hit Roan’s shoulder.
“Good. Take the kids and go to commander Gale.”
“Yes?”
Roan asked with a surprised expression.
Dosen’s eyes twitched.
“It means that innocent villagers are in danger. So we have to rescue them.”
“Ri, right.”
Roan laughed awkwardly and nodded.
Dosen said as if he was just spilling it.
“You thought that I was going to resort to violence?”
Roan didn’t talk back.
Dosen looked at the children that were about to cry at any moment and continued saying.
“It’s true that I don’t like you. But i’m also a soldier of Rinse kingdom. And it’s my duty to protect the people of the kingdom.”
Roan just nodded instead of replying.
Dosen smiled at the kids once and went towards the camp.
“Kids. Let’s go.”
Roan took Lia and the other children and followed his back.
When they got in the camp, commander Gale approached them with a well disposed smile.
“Oh dear. These little kids are having it really hard.”
He sat Lia and the children and patted their heads.
They being seated just like chicks was really cute.
Gale ordered the soldiers to bring hot milk and bread.
“Eat slowly.”
A gentle voice.
The kids were looking at their surroundings, and then grabbed the bread.
Munch.
The children that eat a big bite as if they were really hungry.
Gale just looked at them.
Lia, that finished her bread, drank some milk and looked at Gale.
“Is uncle the leader here?”
“Right. Uncle is the leader.”
Gale nodded along a bright laugh.
Lia returned the cup and asked with a begging expression.
Then, are you going to save mom and dad?”
“Yes. Of course.”
Gale nodded and carefully continued to say.
“However, you have to tell me what happened in the village. Can you tell me?”
At his words, Lia nodded.
“We were playing hide and seek in the woods when about 20 dangerous and big uncles appeared. And suddenly…….”
Tears appear in her big eyes.
Gale wiped off her tears with a handkerchief and carefully asked.
“Did those uncles kill the townspeople?”
Lia nodded.
“The chief, uncle James and uncle Michael all died.”
Thick tears drop.
‘These small things went through such a thing.’
Gale thought that in regret but still asked a question.
“Then what happened?”
“The big uncles tied the people with a rope and took them. And we were still hidden in the bushes when that happened.”
Gale nodded with an admirable expression.
“You did well. Really well. Uncle will ask you two more things. First, what’s the village Lia lived in?”
“Hotton village.”
“Hotton village…….”
Gale frowned.
‘It’s not familiar.’
A village he had never heard of.
Then, that meant that it was a really small village.
“Then, the last question. Where did the bad uncles go with the villages people?”
Lia thought for a while and answered with a confident voice.
“To the east, they went to the east Trum village. They certainly went that way.”
“Mmm.”
Also an unfamiliar place.
It had a high possibility that it was as small as Hotton village.
‘Then, even Trum village may be in danger.’
Gale frowned and stood up.
“What do you think?”
Dosen, that was listening next to them, replied in a voice so low as to the children couldn’t hear it.
“Aren’t they thieves or slave merchants?”
“There is a high possibility.”
Gale nodded and grabbed Dosen’s shoulder.
“Adjutant Dosen.”
“Yes.”
“I will leave this to you. First, find some soldiers that know about Hotton village and Trum village, and take 5 cavalry men and chase them.
“Yes. Understood.”
Dosen slightly bent his head.
At that time, Roan that was observing the situation, slightly raised his right hand.
“Commander Gale.”
Gale looked at him as if what happened.
And Dosen was the same.
Roan looked at the two of them and continued to say.
“I know about Trum village.”
At that moment, Gale and Dosen put on surprised expressions.
“You know about Trum village?”
Roan slowly nodded.
‘Trum village. I can’t not know about it.’
A bitter smile appeared on his face.
‘Because there’s the travias spear.’
The travias spear that was going to be discovered in 17 years from now on.
‘Even if that wasn’t the case, I was planning to go there after the subjugation of the monsters ended and i’m heading to the Potter region.’
However, he was unfamiliar about Hotton village.
On top of that, there was no case he remembered aside from the travias’s spear one.
Then, he heard Gale’s voice.
“Good. Then Roan, you will take the role of guide.”
A situation that every minute was precious.
It was much faster to take Roan rather than asking all of the soldiers.
Dosen approached Roan and grabbed his shoulders.
“Do you know how to ride a horse?”
“Yes. I know.”
“Good.”
Dosen nodded with a surprised expression.
There weren’t many normal soldiers that knew how to ride a horse.
However Roan, that dreamt of becoming a great commander, slowly learnt cavalry.
‘I also rode the horse for 10 years.’
He couldn’t say that he rode it outstandingly, but he was on a level he didn’t fall back.
“Then, we will be going.”
Dosen bent towards Gale got out of the camp.
Roan quickly followed his back.
‘It’s something that I haven’t experienced in my past life.’
Chills ran down his spine.
A completely different feeling compared to when he confronted the goblins in Ale gorge.
On top of that, the opponents weren’t monsters, but humans.
Roan gritted his teeth and gripped his spear.
‘Let’s hope that this choice is followed by good results.’
End
Translator’s note: Thanks for reading!