Since the 6th year academy was located near the frontlines, it did not take long for Iron and the Ghost, who were riding on a drake, to cross the huge ramparts that protected the frontlines. Cold wind blew strongly as the white and frozen scenery greeted Iron from across the walls. Even though he had prepared thicker clothes to battle the cold, the bitter wind still penetrated through the thick leather of his clothes.

“Huh? Aren’t we going too fast?” 

Iron couldn’t help but blurt out when he saw the Ghost increase the speed of their flight. Then, after a while, he couldn’t help but look suspiciously at the man beside him. He finally realized that they were passing through most of the guard posts in the Winter Mountains.

But the Ghost just smirked as he continued to guide the drake forward.

“These are the guard posts of the Vanguard Corps. The place we’re going to is under the jurisdiction of Command.” 

“Is it far from here?” 

“That’s right. It’s located in the heart of the Winter Mountains, not at the entrance.” 

“Ah…” 

Iron’s expression couldn’t help but distort. Based on the words of the Ghost beside him, he could infer that he was going to a far more dangerous place than what he had initially thought of.

“But it’s a place where people live so you don’t have to be afraid.”

“Is… Is that so?”

“Of course. The soldiers can endure it. So, there’s nothing that the executives can’t endure. Right?”

Iron thought that everything would be alright since the Ghost had told him that there was nothing that he should be afraid of. But that thought did not last long. 

The bitter wind blew stronger together with the cold energy. It was as if the Winter Mountains were showing its prestige to him. Even the snow that piled up high was stirred by the wind as it slapped Iron on the face.

“Ah! There’s one thing that I should tell you.”

“What is it?”

“We’re a little different compared to the other Search and Reconnaissance Unit.”

“Yes?”

The man smiled when he saw Iron asking him dumbly.

“We’re a special search unit under the direct control of Command. That’s the real name of the place where you’re going.”

“Ah…”

Iron vaguely felt the risk increasing drastically as soon as the word ‘special’ came out of the Ghost’s mouth.

He ran away from Leonhardt Family to escape from danger but it seemed like he was being driven to a more dangerous place. He did not feel that it was that dangerous here when he was still in the academy. But right now, he felt like he was forcefully being pushed to an extremely dangerous environment.

“You said that there were soldiers earlier…”

“There are. They’re all elite soldiers but…”

“If they’re elite soldiers then…”

“They’re guys who are slated to become executives.”

Iron stared blankly at the Ghost after hearing his words.

“Ah…”

“Perhaps you’ll have a hard time managing them since their pride is through the roof.”

The Ghost gave him a sneak peek of what had happened in most elite units. Perhaps it was because he had seen this happen quite a few times so he was willing to disclose this fact to his young junior. Usually, soldiers from elite units ignored the ensigns when they came. They would even ignore weak commissioned officers as if they were nothing.

Of course, most of the people who came to such units would raise objections. After all, they were still wet behind their ears and they had been criticized for no reason at all. The soldiers who had gained jjambap would even pull their ranks and order them around. However, most of their objections were ignored. The military was a place where those who looked weak would be eaten. If they couldn’t tame their unit, then the military would not care for a weak leader like them.

“Ugh…”

“Are you alright?”

“I can endure it.”

“You better get used to this as soon as possible. It’s fine even if you operate your mana. It’s better for your body to get used to this quickly.”

“I understand.”

Iron immediately operated his mana. The cold slowly went away for a bit and his trembling lips started to settle down. However, the strong wind continued to blow on his face until they arrived at the place that was said to be the headquarters of the special search unit under the direct control of Command.

“Loyalty!”

“Good work.”

The Ghost took Iron inside after lightly greeting the guard outside. 

“Loyalty. This is Lintel Verner. I have brought Lieutenant Iron under the orders of the Search Unit Captain.”

“Good work. Lieutenant Iron should stay behind, you can now leave.”

Lintel Verner saluted the captain before turning around to leave. After the door was closed, the captain asked Iron to sit on a chair. 

“Nice to meet you. I’m the Search Unit’s Captain, Carl Gustav.”

“I’m Lieutenant Iron Carter.”

“Alright. It was hard on your way here, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Carl Gustav smiled at Iron’s reddened cheeks. He poured some tea for him to warm him up. 

“Have a sip first and we’ll talk.”

“Thank you.”

The tea melted away the cold that settled in his body. Iron could feel his body warming up with just a single sip. Then, the captain handed over the mission letter to him.

“This…”

“Wondering why I have it?”

“Not at all.”

Carl Gustav spoke in a murmur while looking at the rigid Iron. 

“It’s because I’m a Ghost. I’m Captain Ghost who oversees all of the Ghosts.”

“Ah! It’s an honor to meet you.”

“I’m the one who’s honored. I even get the chance to see the youngest Ghost like this. Well, generally this should be impossible but it seems like your opinions and ideas were proven to have great significance… I don’t have any complaints.”

Even though Ghosts only accepted those at the 5th Stage and above, Carl Gustav told him that he had no complaints with Iron’s addition to their group. That was to say that he willingly allowed the addition of a young man with only peak 3rd Stage strength, someone who was yet to reach the 4th Stage, to join them without any dissatisfaction.

“It must be tough for you since your first mission site is in such a rough place but that’s because they could see how important you are so don’t think too much about it.”

“No, not at all.”

“Haha~ Did I make the mood too somber? Ahem, ahem! Well, there’s nothing I can do about it now. We better talk about your mission first. You have received your mission from Lintel Verner, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Then, this will be easy.”

Carl Gustav took a sip of his tea before looking at Iron and continuing his words.

“The Command has conducted an investigation based on your opinions about the monster wave. The results of the investigations came out not too long ago.”

Iron gulped as he stared at Carl Gustav. 

“Based on the results, the probability exceeds 70%…”

“70%…”

“The level is not certain yet but…”

“10 years. Something will definitely come out within that time frame.”

“That’s right. That was what happened in the past so it’s probably the same this time too. So the Northeast Command decided to accept your ideas.”

Iron couldn’t help but tilt his head in confusion when he heard Carl Gustav’s words. He truly couldn’t understand what he meant by those words.

“The Northeast Independence plan as well as the Fortification Plan in preparation for the monster wave that you mentioned before. They have to review and revise the finer details but the Command had already decided to actively pursue it.”

“Ah…”

“It’s still a secret so they can’t give you a medal or a promotion but… the Commander had personally decided to give this to you.” 

Iron’s pupils started to tremble when he saw a long box being placed in front of him. He instinctively knew that a sword was inside of it.

“It’s a sword that’s made out of 50% mythril. They wanted to make it into a complete mythril sword but the purity of the metal was too low so they decided to turn it into an alloy. As replacement, they decided to add a bit of adamantium in it. The sword itself is better than mine.” 

“This… This sword…” 

Iron’s eyes continued to shake as he stared at the incredibly crazy sword in front of him. A winter hawk was engraved at the connecting point between the hilt and the blade while a small x mark was engraved right below it. 

“The x is a letter symbolizing our Ghost. It means we exist everywhere and nowhere.” 

“Ah…” 

“In the future, a pattern will be engraved on your sword depending on the unit where you will be deployed to. Well… Due to the nature of our missions, you will only be given difficult missions so you probably won’t be able to be deployed to many places like the others…” 

Iron was listening to Carl Gustav’s words. But it seemed like his mind was flying. He was just staring blankly at the sword that was bestowed upon him.

“Can I really get a sword like this?” 

“You’re a Ghost too, you know. Well… adding the adamantium is because we’re grateful to you for telling us about the monster wave. Take it as our good will and don’t be too burdened.” 

“Thank you.” 

Carl Gustav spoke again and briefly restrained the excited Iron who reached out for the sword.

“This sword is strictly for Ghosts only. It means that you should only use this sword when it’s really necessary.” 

Iron tilted his head in confusion. He looked like he was urging Gustav to explain what he meant. Gustav just smiled as he handed over a bracelet to him.

“This…” 

“Inject your mana and place a drop of your blood into this. In your sword too.” 

The moment Iron dropped his blood and injected his mana into the sword, the bracelet and the sword began to react. Then, the sword went inside the bracelet.

“Your trigger word is ‘steel’. There’s also a Ghost-only armor inside so if you say your trigger word, the armor will be automatically equipped on your body together with your sword. This is the sword that you will be using on the outside.” 

Iron stared at the other sword that Gustav handed over to him. 

“It’s a sword with 10% mythril. This is the sword that you will get as a commissioned officer after graduating and being assigned to your unit. I didn’t put any magic in it since I heard that you want to achieve steel.” 

“Thank you.” 

One could receive a magic sword but once the sword had been imbued with magic, its durability would suffer and there would be problems with mana conductivity. So, for Iron, who was targeting the steel sword, they did not add any magic to prevent those problems from happening.

When Iron looked at the sword that he would be using as a front, it seemed like it also had a winter hawk engraved on it.

“Congratulations. This officially completes your transfer to the Special Search Unit.” 

Gustav stood up for a handshake as he congratulated Iron. 

“Once again, it’s nice to meet you.” 

Iron hurriedly stood up from his seat and shook Gustav’s thick hands while bowing his head in thanks.

“Thank you.” 

“Haha! Then, shall I explain where you’re going now? Can you see that over there?” 

“Yes.” 

“Alright. That’s the 4th Outpost. That’s the place that you’re in charge of. There are a total of eight outposts connected together. You’re in charge of one sector. You have to report on the monsters’ territorial wars and activities in a certain radius from the center of your outpost. Of course, this is your job as the search squadron’s leader. Your job as a Ghost is to investigate this place.” 

Iron asked quietly when he saw where Gustav was pointing at. 

“Is that where the divine beast was?” 

“That’s right. But it’s gone now. I don’t know if it’s dead or asleep somewhere. The problem is that it’s getting a lot colder in this place.” 

“What kind of divine beast was it?” 

“Phoenix.” 

“Yes?” 

Iron’s eyes widened when he heard an unexpected answer. 

“In the past, this place used to be a volcano. Although it’s a dormant volcano the Phoenix was still often found inside it since there was still lava deep inside. Thanks to that, the monsters in the Winter Mountains dare not act carelessly. At least not in the area where the Phoenix was usually found.” 

“When did it disappear?” 

“It’s been a few years. However, ever since the start of the monsters’ large-scale movements in the Northeast, the situation in the Winter Mountains also started to become serious. Because of that, the Commander thinks that this place is also influenced by the monster wave.” 

Hearing Gustav’s words, Iron’s face turned solemn. Now, he understood the reason why the Command had assigned him to this place.

***

Notes

[Outpost] 소초 – a facility where small number of personnels are dispatched in units like GOP (Guard Outpost) and are stationed there for quick response. They are commonly confused with watchtowers. 

[Regarding Volcanoes] – Volcanoes can be classified as active, dormant or extinct. They’re active if they have recently erupted. Dormant if they haven’t erupted lately but there’s still a large chance that they will erupt in the future. Extinct if they’re never likely to erupt in the future. It will only be classified as extinct if it did not have any eruption for more than 10,000 years. Any less than that without any eruption will make the volcano fall under the dormant classification.