As soon as the merits awards ended, Roan immediately prepared for the withdrawal of the troop.
He would be returning in several days.
There was excitement on the faces of the troop members.
But of course, even between them, Roan didn’t slack on his training.
And especially including the basic squad training and spear training, he also started another training to make better use of Kalian’s tear.
Pat!
Roan quickly ran past a bulky rocky zone.
Even though there were big and small rocks, Roan’s feet didn’t have any trace of hesitation on stepping over them.
As smooth as flowing water.
However Roan, that was running over the rocks, felt stifled.
‘It’s slow. Slow.’
Because of Kalian’s tear, his sight-related abilities improved explosively.
Even if he saw the same scene, he could grasp a lot more information than before.
While he was running over the rocks without stopping, he could clearly see the angle of how the rock was tilted, and how big it was.
Tadat!
Roan chose a point to land his feet with the sight information as the background and then flew his body.
And a small problem appeared right here.
He had already finished grasping the information for the other point, but his body still hadn’t reached the first point.
In simple words, his body couldn’t follow his sight at all.
‘In this situation, what’s the meaning of knowing where the spear will come from and where the arrow will fly from?’
Because he couldn’t dodge it.
‘In the end it’s training, training, and more training.’
He had to build more strength and stamina than he had now, move a bit faster, and make his body lighter.
And it was the same for his spear skills and combat abilities.
‘So what if I can see the weak points of my enemy? I have to be able to stab my spear into that point.’
He needed a lot more effort than before.
Tat!
Roan once again ran around the rocky zone.
Then, a familiar face appeared above one rock.
“Sir adjutant! Sir adjutant Roan!”
A white and soft look.
It was Glenn.
Roan stopped running and looked at Glenn.
At that instant, he saw the face of him that was far away as if it was right in front of his face.
“It’s the withdrawal. The withdrawal has started!”
An excited voice.
The withdrawal for rose troop had finally started.
‘Is it finally withdrawing.’
Until Beno castle, where the troop headquarters was located, was 2 days of distance.
After two days, the monster subjugation tactic in Pedian’s plain will truly end.
‘The end of war is always a happy thing.’
A faint smile appears on his face.
However, his smile turned to a bitter one.
‘No, it’s not the end of war, but is it resting?’
After one more year, the subjugation of Pedian’s plain will start again.
Not only that, but more monsters will appear.
On top of that, they were in a situation that the other kingdoms and empires could attack anytime.
War could never end.
‘How long will this break last?’
He didn’t expect in a big way.
Because the first time he grabbed the spear, he decided to live on the battlefield and die there.
“Even so, I want to live a long life in this life.”
At least, he wanted to get over 38.
Roan smiled faintly and shook his hand towards Glenn.
“I will go quickly!”
“Yes! Understood!”
Glenn yelled back and disappeared below the rock.
‘Does he like it that much……..’
Roan slowly moved his feet and burst out in laughter.
It was because of Glenn’s face, was delighted like a child.
Then a memory he had forgotten, no, a memory he tried to forget passed through his head.
‘Ah! His hometown was near Beno castle.’
Glenn’s hometown wasDio village, which was near Beno castle.
Be was born and raised there.
‘Meaning that…….’
She, from his memories, also grew up in that place.
A faint light shines on his face.
He felt a chill, but it wasn’t a displeasing feeling.
Only that he felt so nervous he couldn’t hide it.
*****
At the entrance of the opened Beno castle’s door.
The moment Roan got inside the castle, he opened his two eyes roundly and got surprised.
“Waaaaaa! Hurray rose troop!”
“Congratulations on returning safely!”
“Rose! Rose!”
Yells that hit the ears.
The people flocked over and an overwhelming crowd was lined up on the streets.
‘This much cheering…….’
He had roamed the battlefield for 20 years.
And during that time, he gained a lot of experiences in returning to a village or a castle, where there was the headquarters.
But the cheering he got at those times weren’t comparable to this.
‘When we won the war against Byron kingdom and returned victorious?’
Back then, they also received an amazing cheering.
However, that was when the fate of the country was on the line, and they returned victorious from the battle.
It wasn’t like returning from a monster subjugation.
When Roan looked at the people with a bewildered expression.
Among the crowd, cute girls appeared holding one blossom of rose each.
Gale and the adjutants got down from the horses as if they were waiting for it and slightly bent down.
The girls put the roses on the oxidized armours with shy expressions.
“Thank you.”
“Thanks.”
Gentle greetings.
“We are happy because you returned safely.”
The replies of the girls were also pretty and cute.
Then, a really small girl walked towards Roan.
She had come running after seeing his rank badge.
“I’m happy because you returned safely.”
The shy voice of the girl.
Roan hesitated for a moment and slightly bent down.
The girl moved her little hands and put the rose on one side of the armour.
“Thank you.”
Roan smiled faintly and stroke her head.
“Hee.”
The girl smiled brightly and then disappeared between the crowd.
Even during that, the troop members busily moved their feet.
“Waaa!”
“Rose! Rose!”
The cheers of the people continued.
Roan slightly turned his head and looked at the troop members.
Everyone were happily shaking their hands with an accustomed attitude.
‘It seems like they aren’t surprised of this cheer.’
It meant that the relationship between the troop and the commoners was good.
‘He’s a better commander than what I have thought.’
He had also felt that Gale was a good commander on his past life.
The look of him staying at Ale gorge at the ambush of the goblins to save even one more person.
‘He should have taken good care of the commoners as his troop members.’
So that would be the reason they received this kind of cheering.
He saw the headquarters far away.
Roan smiled faintly and placed his hand on his left chest.
His heart that was excited because of the cheers of the people, got even more excited.
Inside his chest there was the small piece of paper Gale had given him before arriving at Beno castle.
‘The squad members would like it.’
The corner of his mouth kept rising.
I want to quickly go back to the headquarters and show them the piece of paper.
‘They will make a fuss.’
He was certain of it.
Because there was no object like this yellow piece of paper that made him feel more flustered for the past 20 years.
Before he knew of it, the entrance of the headquarters was right in front of his eyes.
Now, it was the turn for the festival.
*****
“Is, is it true?!”
“Really! Is it really a vacation?”
“And it’s not 2 nights and 3 days, nor 3 nights and 4 days, but 4 nights and 5 days?!”
Expected reactions.
No, fiercer reactions than what he had expected.
Roan smirked and shook the piece of paper.
The piece of paper he had on his chest.
The piece of paper Gale gave to Roan before reaching Beno castle was a vacation permit.
And it wasn’t a normal one either.
‘To give the entire squad a vacation.’
It was a vacation permit not only for him, but for the entire squad.
“So pack your things already.”
After he finished saying those things, the squad members scarily packed their things.
Scenes of forcefully putting the things they grabbed into the bag.
And among them, there was also Austin that used to show a dignified and orderly attitude.
‘In the face of vacations, their dignity doesn’t have any use.’
Roan smiled faintly and just looked at the squad members.
It was Roan that lived like an ordinary spearman for more than 10 years on his past life.
He knew really well how big of a gift and happiness this vacations were for the normal soldiers.
The members of the 12th squad packed their things in an instant.
“It seems to be faster than when you prepare for battle?”
Roan put on an ill natured expression.
“Ahem.”
The squad members laughed awkwardly and coughed.
And then Austin, that was nearby him, asked carefully.
“Sir adjutant. You aren’t going to pack your things?”
Roan nodded with a calm expression.
“My hometown is in the mountainsides of Grain, so a vacation of 4 nights and 5 days is meaningless. I’m just planning on resting on the headquarters.”
“Ah……..”
Austin and the other squad members let out a low exclamation.
“Then, I will return earlier.”
Austin’s words.
Continued by the words of each and everyone of the squad.
“I will also return earlier.”
“Me too.”
“I will also come.”
When Roan was about to shake his hands while smiling brightly.
Austin clapped.
Clap.
“Then, how about dining together during this opportunity? Let’s drink some beer before we return back to the troop.”
As soon as he ended speaking, the squad members cheered.
“Oh! That’s good!”
“Good!”
The cheering sounds filled the room.
Austin shrugged his shoulders and looked at Roan.
An expression asking ‘What are you going to do if everyone wants it this much?’
Roan smirked and nodded.
“Even so, I was planning on drinking together with the squad members. If everyone is fine with it, let’s gather the day before we return to the troop and drink.”
“Yes! Understood!”
Everyone replied loudly.
‘They are having so much fun.’
Looking at how they are liking it this much, he felt gratified.
Clap.
Roan clapped and pushed the backs of the squad members.
“Well! Now return back to your hometowns! Go and rest well!”
The squad members got pushed as if they were being chased out of the room.
Then they saluted while holding their bags.
“Then, we will be going.”
Excited voices.
Roan laughed faintly and shook his hand.
“Go.”
A short greeting.
Austin and the squad members moved their feet towards the entrance of the HQ.
Roan just stood still for a long while and just looked at their backs.
‘They are good guys.’
Guys he wanted to be with until the end.
A smile appears on Roan’s mouth.
And then, a familiar voice was heard.
“Sir adjutant Roan.”
“Huh?”
Roan turned his head and looked at the owner of the voice.
“Pierce. Why didn’t you leave?”
The owner of the voice was Pierce.
He laughed awkwardly and shook his head.
“My hometown is also far. I am just planning on resting at HQ.”
“Ah. You said that your hometown was in the middle regions, right?”
“Yes. I’m from Blei village from the Billington region.”
“It’s far.”
“Yes. It is.”
Roan and Pierce looked at each other and smiled bitterly.
Even after receiving vacations, they didn’t have anywhere to go.
Then, Pierce carefully asked after hesitating for a bit.
“Should we have some drinks?”
*****
It was a strange feeling.
Roan took one gulp on the warm beer.
‘Have I drank with Pierce before……….’
He searched his memories.
‘Ah! It was only once.’
After Pierce became a duke.
The day before he left to the feudal estate, he returned to the squad’s headquarters and looked for him.
‘He brought a really expensive wine.’
On that day, Pierce just shared the bottle of wine without saying anything and left.
Roan also didn’t say a word and just emptied the wine.
‘Was that our last encounter….’
But of course, they saw each other from far away.
However, the difference between the places they were standing was as big as the distance there was between them.
Pierce was on a high platform, and Roan was on the lowest place.
‘It must have been a sort of consideration.’
He purposefully distanced himself.
And he hadn’t even said that he was a duke, a supreme commander or a noble with his own mouth.
Perhaps that could have been some sort of consideration from Pierce.
When he was immersed on the old memories.
“Sir adjutant Roan?”
Pierce’s voice was heard.
“What are you thinking that much?”
“Ah, nothing. Only that the past months feel like it passed byas if they were crazy days.”
“It passed by without even knowing what happened and how.”
Pierce smiled faintly and lifted the cup of beer.
Gulp. Gulp.
He emptied the cup in an instant and looked at Roan fixedly.
“Sir adjutant.”
Roan just looked at his eyes instead of replying.
Pierce’s words continued.
“You know my character really well, right? That i’m shy and timid and don’t even have boldness. I don’t like standing in front of others and i’m sloppy regarding human relationships.”
Roan was about to unconsciously nod but stopped.
Pierce scratched the table with his finger.
Scratch. Scratch.
The scratching of the wood was heard.
“I have regretted a lot during the training times. Should I just return to my hometown and live off farming? I thought that a lot.”
Tak.
His finger stopped.
Pierce looked at Roan’s eyes fixedly.
A hot eyesight.
“But now, looking at sir adjutant, I felt a lot of things.”
Roan waited for the next words.
“Amazing tactics, outstanding strategies, amazing spear skills……. Of course I felt all of these things to be amazing, but there is another thing in which I felt even more amazed.”
He puts strength on his voice.
“Effort.”
Pierce took in a deep breath.
“Sir adjutant didn’t even miss one day of squad training, troop training, and individual training. And that’s not all.”
Fire appears on his eyes.
“You put effort on trying to understand the squad members and to comprehend them. You nursed Land all night because he hurt his shoulder, and you searched for a stomach ache medicine all around the troop because of Keep. And……..”
Pierce started to talk about the things Roan did for the soldiers of the 12th squad without anyone noticing.
Roan smiled faintly.
“I just did the things an adjutant has to do.”
At those words Pierce shook his head.
“No. There’s only you that goes to this lengths.”
A firm and determined voice and expression.
“Sir adjutant. You will really become an excellent commander. You will become a great general who will shake Rinse kingdom, no, the whole continent.”
Roan smiled brightly and nodded.
“If I become a great general, you will become the greatest spearman on the continent.”
“Me?”
“Right. If it’s your talent, you can do it plentily.”
Roan looked at Pierce’s eyes fixedly.
Eyes without even a trace of hesitation.
‘These eyes……..?’
Pierce felt that his heart beat roughly.
‘It’s the sight he gave me at Int’s forest battle.’
Back then Pierce was really afraid while facing the ogres.
And Roan just threw a short sentence for that Pierce.
‘It’s the same eyes.’
Eyes that didn’t doubt that he would really be able to become the best spearman on the continent.
Pierce bit his lower lip.
He looked at Roan’s eyes fixedly.
“If…….”
His voice trembles.
“If I get to become the best spearman on the continent, then use me as your adjutant.”
At those words Roan smirked and shook his head.
“I can’t do that?”
“Yes? You, you can’t?”
Pierce asked back with a perplexed expression.
Roan slowly nodded.
“Of course. I can’t use the best spearman on the continent as only an adjutant. At least, you will have to become a general.”
“Ah……”
Pierce let out a sigh of relief.
And then, looked at Roan’s eyes fixedly.
“Don’t forget that promise.”
“Of course.”
Roan smirked and nodded.
And then, he thought of one thing.
‘If Pierce…….’
The corner of his mouth slightly rises.
“Pierce.”
“Yes?”
Pierce put down the cup he was holding.
Roan asked with a voice so low as if he was whispering.
“Should I teach you a spear skill?”
“A spear skill?”
“Yes. There’s one that really fits you.”
Pierce smiled brightly and nodded.
“Teach me!”
And then, asked with a careful voice.
“But what’s the name of it?”
At those words, Roan laughed a bit awkwardly and replied.
“Roan’s spearmanship.”
Roan’s spearmanship.
Actually, there was no way that existed.
‘Even so, I can’t say that it’s called Pierce’s spearmanship.’
Roan was planning on teaching Pierce Pierce’s spearmanship.
Originally, a spearmanship Pierce would make himself 8 years from now on.
‘If Pierce gets it 8 years earlier, what kind of monster like thing will be born…….’
It can become approach a perfected spearmanship.
‘If I get to raise a force………’
The new Pierce’s spearmanship, no, Roan’s spearmanship will be of great help.
Then, Pierce’s ill-tempered voice was heard.
“Yes? That’s a name that doesn’t make me want to learn it that much.”
< Relation (2) > End
Translator’s note: Thanks for reading!
Translator : Subak