A clear, white light that felt holy in nature.
“M-Madam?”
Yelena faintly heard a startled Colin’s voice, as if he was speaking from a distance. She stared blankly at the bright white light that shone from her hands. Then, she abruptly made a move.
She knew instinctively what she had to do.
She brought her hands towards Thomas, letting the light flow into him.
“Cough!” Thomas coughed drily. The color slowly returned to his face.
“Thomas!” Colin shouted in disbelief.
“Madam…?”
Thomas struggled to open his eyes.
Yelena stared at Thomas as if she had just witnessed a miracle. He was coughing, and moving, and speaking.
He was, without a doubt, alive.
“Thank good…”
She was mid-sentence when her vision blurred.
“Madam!”
Yelena fainted helplessly.
***
“Let’s conclude our meeting here.”
Kaywhin got up and exited the barrack. After he left, the rest of the men inside the barrack
“As expected, General Mayhard is cool today as well.”
“This punk is stating the obvious.”
“This is a secret, but… honestly, these days, I don’t even think General Mayhard is human. He’s a god.”
“Me too. I think that too.”
The barrack was lively. One of the supplementary soldiers, Dennan Trecis, watched with a sour face.
‘I’ll never get used to their change in attitude.’
Dennan definitely remembered the soldiers’ attitude towards Kaywhin in the beginning.
“An army led by a monster… Man, my luck is garbage.”
“Be quiet. He’ll hear you.”
“So what if he does? I don’t care. Did I say something wrong? We’re going to war, of all things, with…”
A battle front where even the tiniest shred of luck could decide if you live or die. The men who had to put their lives on the line fighting in such a place were troubled by the rumors that followed Kaywhin.
Perhaps that was why they didn’t even try to hide their grievances and discontent with their superior. Sometimes, they even slandered their superior with remarks so severe that they could be considered mutiny, which was punishable by law.
‘That’s what they were like back then.’
Dennan stuck his tongue out. The supplementary soldiers’ change in attitude happened exactly after their first battle with the opposing nation.
“It’s Yareha!”
“The enemy has already sent out Yareha!”
The other nation sent their new commander Yareha, who was the core of their military force, to the first battle. It seemed to be a tactic to knock down the morale of the supplementary soldiers.
It proved to be quite effective. The commander Yareha was the reason the supplementary soldiers were sent to war in the first place. He was already notorious for his military strength not just in the north, but in the kingdom’s capital as well.
“Bwahaha! You weak bastards from the kingdom came here in a bundle! All right, let’s see who dares to face me, Yareha, without any fear!” Yareha shouted noisily, confident in his military power. He drove his horse to the middle of the battlefield.
And that shout became his last words.
Kaywhin kicked his horse, racing from his position in the battlefield. Yareha clashed swords with him merely three times before his head fell to the ground.
“Just now…”
“Duke Mayhard… killed Yareha…”
“Whoaaaa!”
“Wowww!”
The soldier’s morale shot up to the sky. On the other hand, the enemy, who had just lost their powerful commander, fell into chaos, not knowing what to do. The kingdom’s army’s victory was as clear as day.
And after that, the voices of the supplementary soldiers that slandered Kaywhin completely disappeared, replaced by flattery and exaltation.
At some point, even his title changed. Instead of calling him Duke Mayhard or Your Excellency, the soldiers adopted the title “General Mayhard,” to express their serious intent to serve him.
“Hey… Have we ever lost a battle since coming here?”
“No, we haven’t.”
“At this rate, the war will come to an end in a flash.”
“Haa, General Mayhard. I’ll follow you forever. I can’t live without General Mayhard!”
“General Mayhard can live just fine without a bastard as fickle as you though.”
The sarcastic remark halted the boisterous mood.
“…What? What did you just say?”
“It’s true. What did you say when you left the capital? That a monster cursed by the devil was leading the army…”
“That…!”
“The audacity for you to now chirp, ‘General, General.’”
“You bastard. The same goes for you! You agreed with me that time!”
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