Thom smirked at the girl that came unannounced to help him and dashed forward with sword in hand, bolting through the broken gate. Suu followed him from behind, crossing towards a courtyard, where they were met by two massive men swinging down their axes at them.

"Hyaaagh!"

The axe graced past Thom's back, but he managed to pounce forward. He turned around while rotating the grip of the sword in his hand, managing to slash down and cut the man's arm. Before he started to wail out in pain, Thom jumped on as his whole body spun, and decapitated the man with a clean whack from his sword.

As Thom landed again and looked up, he found three men running against him with scimitars on their hands, one coming from the front, and the other two on the sides. Without time to react, he simply pushed forward as well, meeting them in the center point.

Two of them struck Thom from his flanks, but instead of the meaty and wet sound of a blade piercing through flesh, they only received the terrifying realization that their arms were far too weak to pierce the man's skin. Thom pushed forward while cleaving down on a man's head, and pierced another one's heart with his second blow.

"Yeargh!"

Thom didn't notice the fourth man jumping from one of the inner balconies, who pierced his back with a fine blade during the landing.

"Agh!" He yelled while turning with a vicious look on his eyes, grabbing the man by the collar, taking his arm back enough to point the end of the black-blade towards the center of the bandit's forehead.

"Eek!"

He pierced his sword trough the bandits' forehead while hearing a terrified scream coming from the man's mouth, and threw the corpse to the ground. Before Thom could scoff in contempt, he received yet another blow on his neck. Another reminder of not losing focus on a battle.

"Thom, look back!"

Thom turned around about to kill yet another man, when he noticed the bandit had already retreated far away from the spot. Instead, a mass of crossbowmen, the ones that they had missed before, plus some more, were standing on the inner walls, the balconies, and the scaffolds of the massive courtyard.

"Open fire!" A corpulent man in front of them yelled with a booming voice.

A mass of bolts escaped the strings of the crossbows, heading for the black-haired swordsmen. Thom and Suu tried to advance through the hold while covering their faces, each of them taking one of the outer staircases to the second floor of the fort. This second floor could only be called such because it had a ground, but it didn't possess any walls, and the ceiling was the floor of the third story, which led to more towers and higher floors.

"Don't let those monsters get any closer!" The man in the front berated, and they all quickly reloaded and fired on the two soldiers heading their way.

The storm of bolts rained down on Thom again, but it didn't stop his advance trough the group of bandits that tried to chip away at his body. He pushed out all the air inside his lungs, pushing forward despite the pain spreading through his whole body and the blood dripping down.

"Haaaaaaaa!"

His blade quickly stabbed at the abdomens and necks of three bandits, but a rapid barrage of bolts rained down on him once more, forcing him to take a step back.

「Learning successful. [Copper Skin] has been upgraded to [Copper Skin II]. physical defense augmented by an extra 200%.」

He charged towards the bandits again and saw Suu do the same from the other side. They each time got closer to the man in the center, who swiftly pulled from his belt a pair of broad scimitars.

"Eagh!"

"Uckh!"

Thom slashed from left to right as he advanced, cutting several times in the same spot, feeling his hands get damaged from the friction of the grip, and his arms get sore from the constant slashes, cleaves, and stockades.

「Learning successful. The active skill [Quick Slash] has been acquired. Upon activation, the user will be able to wield a sword 200% faster than usual. Repeated use puts exhaustion on the body.」

Excellent!

By the time Thom had chipped away at the line of bandits and their blood laid staining the floor and their weapons around it, the massive man had already prepared his attack. When Thom's blade cut the last man on the line, he was faced with a pair of blades slashing down against his face.

Clank!

Although he managed to stop the man's first sword, the second one slashed at his shoulder, and cut away the bag's strap before burying into his flesh.

"No!" Thom's eyes turned bloodshot. He ignored the newly opened wound on his shoulder to parry the bandits' sword away, and tried to fetch the bag that had been separated from him, uncaring for his own life.

"Foolish kid, do you think someone like you could face me and go unscathed?!"

"Uchk!"

Thom's face twisted as the man's boot landed against his side, and he was sent flying against a wall with a meaty cracking sound that reverberated through the stone. His bones could not withstand as much punishment as his skin could, and he tested it once again.

My ribs are broken! He thought, desperately holding his abdomen with both hands.

"Hrriahaha!"

The man walked towards Thom with a tetric smile, about to follow with a stab to Thom's chest, when a blood-covered woman jumped on his back and stabbed him on the shoulder.

"B-Bitch! What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" The man tried to grab Suu's head, but she dodged out of the way and bore the sword even deeper.

"Shut up!"

Suu yelled into the man's ear while she twisted the blade and wretched up the man's flesh. The bandit screamed in pain while throwing his arms around the place, until he finally got a hold of the girl's neck, and threw her down the balcony onto the courtyard, giving his back to Thom.

It was a half-second decision, he stood up with as much haste as he could, picking back his sword with a ragged breath, and activating his skill:

"[Quick Slash]!"

Thom's hands moved extremely quick as the blade of the sword traced arcs and lines on the bandit's back, and then, pulling the sword towards his own chest, he thrust the sword in a straight trajectory.

"Uck!"

The man opened his eyes in surprise as he felt the skin on his back tear away, and then, a blade going trough his gut and ripping his stomach away.

"Bleargh!"

The man puked a mouthful of blood while bending forward, and Thom smiled victorious as if thinking the man had finally been defeated. However, before he could make a victorious war-cry, he heard a loud cracking noise coming from somewhere, followed by his head crashing against a wall again. Blood splattered on his face as it started to drip on the stone, the wall, and his tattered, disheveled clothes.

Then, by the way he couldn't move his neck, or his arms, he figured that loud crack had been his dislocated jaw after having been smashed by the man's hand, and he had received a serious concussion.

"Huff... Huff... Huff..." The man brandished his swords as he tumbled towards Thom, with gritted teeth and overbearing anger painted on his eyes, like a dot of black paint between a fully red canvas. Thom struggled to let his voice out, or move his body, but only small twitches extended across his limbs. Tears of frustration started to appear at the edges of his eyes, which the bandit licked his lips as a reply to.

Move... Move! Damn, damn...!

"I appreciate the effort, kid." The man smirked. "I'll pay for this loss by selling this sword!" He pointed to his abdomen, where Thom's black blade was, and then, raised his swords up high.

Sh*t... What the hell were the others doing?

He tried to smirk, but his lips wouldn't move. The man in front of him eclipsed the stars up high, and then, everything went dark.

Splurt!

The bandit's eyes opened wide.

Splurt splurt splurt splurt splurt splurt splurt!

A barrage of wet sounds. The bandit twitched and moved forward, being pushed by the dozens of arrows that landed on his back, neverending, one after the other, piercing his lungs, his skull, his neck, his legs, and then, his throat.

"..."

The man fell silent. He tilted slightly forward, letting go of the swords on his hands, and falling down with a heavy thump.

"Woo!"

Thom heard Erina cheer as she raised her arm in the distance. Beside her, the twelve members of his squadron were holding their bows with wounds all over their bodies.

"The lieutenant's not dead!" She laughed, and waved her arm at Thom from afar as if waving him hello.

The tired young man closed his eyes with a sigh, and went to sleep.

•••

"Here, I sewed it up for ya."

Suu handed Thom his bag, making him cry out in relief as he put it over his shoulder. He said a soft "Thank you." And she smiled in return.

It was the morning of the day after. The squadron had managed to recover from the fort a good amount of stolen resources, as well as a chest full of silver coins and some gold. Their loot included several crates of wheat, beans, wool, seeds of all kinds, and even some unused combat equipment that would serve the army well.

They had stayed at the village momentarily, but they planned to return a day after the event, at dawn. They were lent a few rooms after Suu had asked for them, and everybody had awakened about noon.

They gathered at the main plaza of the village like they had done before. Everyone was laughing and talking about their expedition the night before, and some of the guys in Erina's squadron had even started to flirt with the locals. He didn't pay much attention to this since the villagers didn't seem hindered by this in the slightest.

Thom smiled in front of the blond sergeant from before. The man had a nervous look in his face as he looked at the lieutenant which he had severely disrespected before, the same man who the past night had brought to his post the head of certain terrifying bandit. Thom put on his most dignified face and opened his mouth with a smile.

"Sergeant, I hope we've learned a valuable lesson from this little mishap." Thom lifted his eyebrows and closed his eyes with arms behind his back.

"Yes... Lieutenant, sir." He kept his back straight and his head firm as he answered.

"Very well. I understand you didn't take action on the bandit group before, seeing how they were numerous, well-armed, and skillful to say the least. I will not file a report for your actions, and I will take it as you being intimidated by the lot of them and being restrained. Is that okay by you?"

The guards looked to one another with bothered and preoccupied looks, awaiting for their sergeant's response. Thom caught on this, but he wasn't going to make a fuss about it. The one he was planning to mortify was the man in front of him.

"Yes... Sir. We would be very grateful if you did." The man lifted his lips and frowned slowly as he answered. Had it been another person instead of Thom, he would have been hit on the face for such expression.

"Very well. We'll be staying here a while longer and we'll return to Pontya at tomorrow's dawn. We'll be taking two carriages to transport the goods and be requiring the villagers to lend us four horses. I understand this is a lot to ask, but don't worry, we'll be returning them a day after. Can you ask the village's chieftain about this for me, sergeant?"

The man saluted to Thom and turned around to leave. His platoon followed suit after saluting to him, and they all left in perfect order.

Suu patted Thom's shoulder, and he turned around with a smile.

"How was it?" He asked.

"I say you were born for this. I never expected it from you." Suu responded with an impish smile. "I even felt seduced into joining the army by such magnifique display!"

"Is that so? Very well. Then, the day you join the army, I shall appoint you as one of my section, corporal Suu." He closed his eyes and waved his index finger like a mockery of a wise and knowledgable person.

"I like the sound of that very much, my lieutenant!"

"Hmph." Thom smiled and opened his eyes, changing his tone of voice. "Are you coming with me, then?"

"That would be very nice, actually. I have nowhere else to go, and if I become a soldier in a nearby city I can still watch over this place regularly. Hey, if they pay more than 1/10ths of what you grow with your own effort, I'm in."

"Oh, believe me. You'll get a lot more than just food for a month. Did you know that eating three times a day isn't that hard?"

"Is that right?" She opened her eyes as if she was taken aback.

Erina barged in the middle of their conversation, and rested her arm on Thom's shoulder with a smirk.

"Dude, you're trying to enroll her by using a lieutenant's wage. 20 silvers per month, isn't it? As a corporal I only get paid 5 silvers, you two."

"How much is a loaf of bread again? Wait, how much is a silver? Actually, I'm extremely confused." Suu was showered by information she did not know and was filled with curiosity.

"A copper for the bread?" Thom thought to have heard. "Oh, and one silver is a hundred. A hundred copper, I mean."

"What?!" Suu opened her eyes, and started doing calculations in her head. She had always been way better at mathematics than what Thom had ever hoped to be. "So I could buy 500 bread pieces! And if I ate two breads a day... Man, I could eat for half a year with that!" Her excitement was extremely clear, and Thom shared the sentiment.

"Right?! I couldn't believe it either! Like, I ate pork the other day!"

"Holy sh*t I want to try it!"

"Pfft!"

Erina started laughing at their ridiculous comedic number, and both of them felt incredibly embarrassed as they fake-coughed to end the conversation.

At dawn, the crates had started to be loaded on the carriages. It didn't take much longer for everything to be ready. Erina and Suu were sharing a same horse, Thom had figured the corporal had taking a liking to his childhood friend and it didn't make much sense to keep them away from each other. Suu even thanked him for the gesture.

The trip was uneventful and they were let inside with ease after checking the contents of the crates. They went straight for the headquarters, and when Thom filed his report to Valta, she was as impressed as Miel after reading it.

Miel pulled back his hair, and asked for the woman's opinion as he traced his finger on the sheet.

"Can you believe this is all true, Valta? These little soldiers of ours raided fort Kollin successfully, killed a wanted criminal with a price of 5 gold over his head— together with his almost forty bandits— retrieved enough weapons and armor to arm a whole section and enough food to feed the core battalion for a month..."

Miel took a sip from his wine, and kept reading.

"Where was I? Ah, yes. Fred the hillside village from extortion and two other minor settlements that were being terrorized by the criminal group, and also came back with an amount of gold equal to 30 gold pieces. Enough to buy a f*cking house without loans. All of this in three days, with one squadron, taking no casualties, and listing only 96 arrows and one day worth of rations for fifteen people."

Valta nodded after the general finished his explanation. The man tasted a bit more of his wine, and licked his lips slowly while he pondered over something.

"This information was confirmed by all of the soldiers. Including Erina. And if my eyes are not betraying me, it's listed that our latest acquisition, lieutenant Thom Clawgold, or Arburson as his undercover surname, is responsible for... 16 deaths. And an unknown girl that looks almost exactly the same as him is responsible for another 14. Hmm..."

Valta passed him another sheet, and Miel took it and read it out loud.

"Suu Clawgold. 21 years old, 5'6", 120 pounds. Possesses crude skills with the sword, but compensates with the seemingly indestructible skin she possesses. Her defensive abilities are on par with Lieutenant Thom's, with the difference that not even bludgeoning weapons seemed to take effect on her, compared to Thom Clawgold's torture chamber results. The woman is not able to speak Kuulkiam, but seems to speak the same language as the lieutenant."

Miel simply skimmed past the rest of the sheet, and then placed it back on the table.

"She has filed an entry request." Valta placed yet another paper on the table.

"Hmph."

Miel scoffed and grabbed a seal from his side. He stamped it without much thought, and served himself yet more wine from the bottle.

"Two indestructible exiles from the Clawgold clan willing to do whatever you order them for a bit of gold. This could either be a massive plant from the clan, or yet another opportunity for us to gain some favor from the crown."

"I think it's fine." Valta stood up, and took the papers she had handed her general before. She turned and walked towards the door, but Miel's voice called before she could leave. As she turned around, she saw him extending his arm while holding the glass.

"Cheers. For a future where we get to enjoy the peace of anarchy."

She nodded, and walked out of the room.