Chapter Chapter 20: (1/2)

3. And so the story begins. (4)

#4 Their story: Aruen Rood’s story

Ahhhh. I don’t want to work. I really really don’t want to. But reality is cruel.

“The objective is Instructor Naruan.”

Ah, I don’t want to have anything to do with that human anymore.

To think I have to crawl back to the man who beat the crap out of me so much in primary training.

And worse, he’s an enemy this time. Knowing the instructor there’s no way he’d come peacefully, and if I harmed so much as a hair on his head then that girl Sia would definitely drive a few knives into my stomach without hesitation.

Actually, I don’t know what the male Sia in Internal Affairs, Maren would do either.

The Intelligence Agency is scary but Internal Affairs isn’t a lightweight either.

If they cut down on the budget for arrows just a tiny bit then we’d have only five arrows instead of ten.

I’m scared. The fanatics are scary, the person himself is scary. If he’s carrying around just one of those damned magic weapons then all my will to fight vanishes instantly.

“How much of our troops are we bringing along?”

The damn vice-captain keeps asking me. Even if we look like this we’d at least be more than a match for your average knight order.

All members are capable of using sword ki. If the squad leaders were given the time then some of them could even hit the swordsmaster level, they’re that skilled.

Well, according to the instructor only the ones that can do it would do it. You could say that they could die always at the precipice of becoming a swordsmaster, but if it’s that level of combat potential then that’s already gone beyond the fighting power of a powerful kingdom’s knight order.

A small number of elites. The organization’s blackened knives.

Boss’s swords that exist only to cull the traitors among our allies.

And the leader of that group is me. But still, I hate what I hate. And so.

“Get everyone ready.”

“Everyone?”

The instructor said this.

There’s nothing as powerful in a fight as force of numbers. No matter how useless they are they can still be used as a meat shield so use them if you can.

It’s a time-honoured tradition that humans can be used just about anywhere as long as they listen to instructions, and unless there’s a moron with a pointlessly high title present, take as many people as your logistics team allows.

And so, for a fight against the instructor the right thing to do is to take everyone.

“The enemy is Instructor Naruan.”

“I heard the rumours, but I also heard that he has no mana.”

“But we could never defeat that person that had no mana, not even once.”

“… Not even captain?”

“Yes. Let alone 1:1, even when all seven of us rushed him together we never earned a single victory.”

To be honest I can’t even beat him with pure swordplay alone either, but that gap can be made up with magic.

But the instructor’s magic weapon surpasses all imagination.

To begin with, if you get hit then that’s one out already.

Just as we got used to that another one showed up. And if you get hit by that then that’s not just a simple out.

My body was definitely swimming in the River Styx but my soul remained in the land of the living and accepting the torment.

It doesn’t even make sense. The body says it’s going to die and so it’s going to go die but the soul and consciousness stays in the land of the living and keeps feeling the beating!

It’s not something anyone could possibly imagine without experiencing it.

To add insult to injury even after being hit by that pain your body wakes up the next morning feeling almost refreshed!

I guarantee it. If you would compare it to the demons where the demon god’s apostles are chosen to become the next demon king, not even the demon god’s blessing where a hundred out of a hundred die screaming in pain would get anywhere near the pain of that magic weapon.

At least that thing has the decency to kill you? This thing won’t even let you die.

And so, using all the surveillance options I had available, I confirmed whether the instructor had the bat on him.

The result, in the case of the bat, Rein’s currently in possession of it and is diligently beating the crap out of our juniors.

Hmm. I kinda envy him.

And as for the most important metal bat, the instructor said he left it in his office. Considering he said it’s an educational tool, he doesn’t seem to take it out on assignments.

Just in case I checked another 25 times. This is important after all.

“Going over the mission again. Our job is to capture the instructor alive, and take him to the promised location. Since there is the possibility that the Empire’s forces could attack us after we hand the instructor over, take caution.”

That’s what I’m saying, but I still fear the instructor. I suppose the same went for the rest of our cohort.

Our fear of the metal bat in particular even created the miracle of our entire cohort graduating a year early after all.

Was there ever a time in my life where I felt as powerless, despairing, shivering in fear as I desired death?

Even the instructor-fanatics Sia and Maren, when the metal bat came out, both of them were dead serious in front of the instructor.

No, from the name itself, just what is a bat.(1) No matter how thoroughly I searched through the organization’s information network there was nothing that led me to the word’s origins.

Since I went as far back as the ancient texts, this was a word the instructor invented. Bat… just hearing the name alone strongly reeks of a powerful curse.

As I chewed over my past’s painful memories we’d already arrived in three days.

Ahh, damn it. Time went by filthily quickly. We headed to the promised barony in advance to surround him…

“You are already surrounded!”

“D, damn it! Shit! Destroy all the important information, meet up at the promised place!”

Uh, fuck. It’s burning.

It’s burning really well even from as far away as we are. According to plan we’d infiltrate and capture the instructor secretly, at this rate we’ll be the ones getting captured fighting the empire’s forces.

A direct fight with the empire isn’t possible.

It’s not like we’d lose, but their organizational power is so good when you’re beating one of them up five more spring up to take a crack at you.

And once you beat those five then another multiple of those spring up and you beat them up and you get tired and eventually succumb to sheer numbers.

“Has he been captured by the empire?”

“No. The instructor has no reason to be captured by just those forces. Look around at places that are absent of people, and once you find him, do not approach, but get in contact.”

Please, if things don’t go according to plan I can just say he got away, but if he is found then I need to go capture him…

But these damn subordinates seem to be useful. He said he discovered the instructor hiding in the bushes on a hill while watching the house burn through a telescope.

His eyes were always pretty good and he found hidden things quite well as a result, but now he went and found the instructor as well.

Damn it. I swore to myself that when we got back I’d do my damnest to drop his eyesight.

All the men assembled, and fired arrows from far away as a warning shot.

In return for having no mana he was very sensitive to bloodthirst and presence so arrows were fired so he couldn’t get anywhere far, and just in case I sent forward some weak guys as meat shields to start a conversation.

“Instructor Naruan! This is the organization’s orders. I strongly urge you to come peacefully.”

“What’s the problem?”

Wow that’s totally a third-rate villain line even to my ears. The instructor’s talking with a look on his face that says he really can’t be bothered with all this. It’s not going to work. Let’s try the peaceful route first.

“Instructor.”

“Rood, what brings you all the way here.”