The others who had finished searching rushed over and were montarily stunned by the scene.
But the captain was completely unfazed, instead reloading his weapon while scolding sharply.
"The Lord stated there’d be no civilians in town except us, and to shoot even if we see a dog. Why didn’t you take action?"
"I thought..." The soldier didn’t know what to say for a mont.
"Idiot! What did you think?" The captain scolded, kicking the corpse forward, revealing a Dagger clutched in the hand hidden behind its waist.
"See? You were less than five steps from her. If I’d been a second slower, you’d be dead."
Initially, two hundred elite soldiers had been dispatched into the wilderness, but now there were three hundred. Not everyone had personally experienced that incident, and so were still of weak will, easily swayed by a woman’s presence.
Military discipline was strict, and orders were absolute. Their loyalty was to the Lord; how could it waver over a single woman! And *he* wavered... Disloyal...
The captain’s gaze was sharp as a sword, but he had no intention of continuing the scolding. That wasn’t his job. The outco wasn’t for him to decide. When the ti ca, the military police would inevitably summon the soldier for questioning.
The soldier, too, had been montarily caught off guard, but upon seeing the Dagger, he realized his mistake. Now, feeling the distrustful gazes of his captain and comrades, his face flushed red, and he didn’t know how to defend himself. He had no thoughts of disloyalty whatsoever. His family, tornted by natural and man-made disasters, had been forced to leave their holand. Fleeing and humiliated, they had been saved by the Lord, who provided them with porridge and even avenged them by killing the bully who had oppressed them. Upon returning to Hamlet and learning about the Lord’s recruitnt, he had braced himself for the hardships of military service, as was customary under noble lords. But to his surprise, the conditions under the Lord’s command were exceptionally good. He had been selected only after enduring great hardship, persevering with sheer determination. Although the training camp was exhausting, there was at to eat, they were taught to read, and they even received wages—things he had never dared to dream of before. Moreover, his parents had soon found work, and his younger siblings had been able to attend school with preferential treatnt as military dependents. Everything he had was a gift from the Lord; his very life belonged to the Lord. How could he possibly be disloyal! Yet, the recent incident had left him at a loss for words, his feelings bottled up inside.
"The front door was already broken. So why are there such obvious enemies here?" The captain, too preoccupied to deal with the soldier’s lapse, ordered, "Search! There must be sothing wrong here." He recalled that when he kicked the door earlier, he’d felt it had already been broken once and was rely propped closed.
A broken door ant the front-line troops hadn’t overlooked this place; the army’s procedure dictated it would have been searched. If it had been searched, why hadn’t the front-line troops found these people? Were they neglecting their duty? Impossible. The military regulations were clear, and besides, the various teams were each led by their respective officers.
"Captain, nothing unusual," a soldier reported.
The house wasn’t large. After a quick search, it appeared to be just an ordinary brick and stone dwelling.
Upon hearing this, the captain’s brows furrowed. As their leader, he had to think more critically; otherwise, he’d be gambling with his teammates’ lives.
"Captain, look! There’s sothing here!"
The soldier, still troubled by the earlier incident, couldn’t help but glance at the dead woman. That glance revealed sothing amiss: the blood flowing from her body was seeping straight through the cracks in the floorboards. Because she had died right there, her body had obscured this detail, but now it was all too clear.
The captain quickly dragged the corpse aside and pried up the floorboards with a Short Sword, uncovering a deep, seemingly bottomless tunnel underneath.
"A tunnel! There’s a tunnel here! Those people plan to circle around to our rear!" Suddenly, the captain rembered his squad encountering a team that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere nearby.
A few scattered individuals might have slipped through, but an entire group of Heretics appearing so suddenly couldn’t possibly have evaded the front line’s dragnet search. The only explanation was that they had erged from this house, and these two had clearly been left behind as lookouts for the tunnel entrance.
Realizing the gravity of the situation, the captain broke into a cold sweat. Thank goodness the Lord had arranged for a second-line sweep to secure the area. Otherwise, if those people had used the tunnels to get behind them, the front-line troops would have been caught in a pincer attack. The enemy could have then bypassed the main force and struck at the rear. He couldn’t begin to fathom the consequences...
"Quick! Spread the word! You, notify the rear! You, inform the front line! And you..." The captain swiftly issued orders, then, with a somber expression, said resolutely, "I’ll stay behind."
His n heard him clearly. Trained as they were, they understood the danger. The captain wasn’t staying behind out of laziness.
On the contrary, he was taking on the greatest risk, as enemies could erge from the tunnel at any mont. But soone had to keep watch, to pinpoint the enemy’s position imdiately if they appeared.
"Captain, let stay behind."
"I’m injured and can’t run far. I’ll stay."
"I’ll stay behind!"
Seeing his n volunteer, the captain wasn’t pleased but rather grew angry, scolding them in a stern voice.
"Carry out your orders! There’s no ti to waste here."
There’s definitely more than one tunnel, he realized. We have to notify everyone quickly. Every second of delay puts our comrades in greater danger. His own safety was irrelevant. As their captain, he had to take on the most difficult tasks.
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