...

......

It's been three days since the advancement began.

In the past three days, they've walked through the forests and fields.

Sometimes, there were monsters who blocked their way, but those monsters easily get ridden by the capital's soldiers.

The formation of the army is a little weird too. Even though the villagers were placed in the front line, when monsters attacking, the capital's soldiers came forward and fought them for us.

Zel thought it was to show their prowess, but Aonair and Laoch didn't really get it. Aonair simply thought, (If we didn't fight, then why bother joining the war?), but that question won't be answered by anyone.

Boredom has plaguing the villagers too. Most of them were sighing and complaining.

The higher-up didn't care a single bit about them though. So, they just kept moving on.

Aonair got rid of his boredom by asking Laoch about his skill.

Laoch told him the details about his skill, . works like its name, it's resisting something that deemed as negative for Laoch's body.

For example, if Laoch was poisoned, his body will resist the poison and force the poison out.

But if he was plagued with some illness, he can't force the illness away. Instead, his skill reinforce his constitution to slow down the negative effect of the illness.

Aonair finally understand why Laoch never got caught cold or minor sickness like that.

slowed down those sicknesses and with proper rest, his body returned to normal in the next day.

Even fatigue was categorized as a negative effect. Thus, Laoch won't ever feel a strong fatigue.

Aonair really felt that Laoch's skill was practically cheating, but he feels happy too for him.

Then, since three days has passed, it's only halfway more to reach the nearest Beastmen vicinity.

The closer they are to the Beastmen place, the more nervous the villagers became.

For Aonair himself, the most important is to survive with Laoch. Basically, if the condition got worse, he will not care to give his life for the kingdom.

He will simply run away with Laoch and go back home.

(But what happened, happens.)

Aonair already thought many plans to avoid death, but if nothing occurred, all of that is just a waste of time.

When the sun almost set, the leader of this advancement, Klann, stopped the army.

“Alright, halt! We will set our camp here.”

But his command was interrupted by Zel.

“Wait a minute. Are you sure we're going to camp here? This is an open field. It will risk our lives if monsters came in pack to attack us.”

Aonair looked around. The surrounding was open wide. Even one can't see the forest clearly from this point.

Certainly, if monsters came in big numbers, Aonair wasn't certain they can make it out alive.

Listening to Zel's complaint, Klann didn't budge.

“I said we camp here. I don't want any of you to have a say about my words.”

Zel groaned when he heard the cocky reply of Klann. You could say Klann has the audacity to act selfish in this kind of situation.

In the end, everyone has no choice but to follow his order. They still want to eat tonight, after all.

Aonair and Laoch were building tents, while Zel was no longer to be seen.

“Phew, that's a lot of work.”

“Yeah, but we can rest after this, right?”

They sat on the grass and took a deep breath. After a while, Aonair felt uncomfortable with the silence, so he decided to talk.

“Hey, Laoch, you remember our talk before?”

“About my skill?”

“Yeah. I'm still curious... where did you get all of those informations?”

Aonair knew the details of Laoch's skill from the owner himself. But, as far as he remembered, no one knows about their skills before the revelation.

In the first place, what is the revelation? Aonair only knew a little about it.

How they got revelation in the first place?

But all those questions was answered with a simple word.

“It feels like a bell sound.”

“Bell sound.?”

“Yeah. When I was resting in my bed, a bell sound rang inside my head. Then suddenly, everything about my skill was filling my head and I became able to understand it fully.”

Laoch moves his hand and tried to visualize what he experienced, but Aonair couldn't understand a single thing.

“Well, let just wait until you get your own skill. After that, maybe you will understand what I mean.”

With that, they stood up and prepared to go to the main camp. The sun almost set, so the food must be already finished cooked.

“I wonder what's for the food today...”

“Maybe meat again.”

“Meat is good.”

“Ahaha, true.”

They joke around, but then, a shadow figure came toward them with a clancking sound.

The shadow figure came closer until it speaks to them with a deep voice.

“Good evening, you two.”

“Whoa!”

“Wha! Oh, it's Oscar.”

Laoch was shocked and pulled back a bit, while Aonair noticed him immediately after he turned around.

“What are you doing here, Oscar?”

“I'm just strolling around. By the way, mind to share drinks with me? The dinner will begin soon, but I have a sudden urge to drink right now.”

Oscar smiled wryly while muttered 'I'm an old man now' and gave Aonair one of the cup he was holding.

Laoch who didn't know Oscar just standing there while keeping an eye for him. He felt suspicious, but he's Aonair acquaintance, so he can't do much about it.

Aonair himself felt something amiss with Oscar. The latter sometimes talk to both of them, but he never gave a treat or something like that.

“Weren't you supposed not to give us privilege such as giving things to us villagers?”

Yes, the soldier from the capital were given privileges and received better treatment while the villager were given the bare minimum service.

Of course, the capital soldier were not allowed to give things to the villagers... well, not like they wanted to share with them too.

“We're going to war, ain't we? That's why I thought it's only fair to treat my comrades better.”

“Oh...”

Aonair looked at the drink Oscar brought. It was a dark red-colored water, probably wine.

Aonair was already 17 this year. He's able to drink legally and socially. So there's nothing to stop him from drinking the wine.

The boring foods and drinks from the camp were starting to get tasteless. The wine offering started to get enticing as the time passed.

But in the end... Aonair declined.

“Thank you, but I'm not in the mood for it right now. Maybe tomorrow.”

He let out his best smile to soften the rejection, but Oscar unexpectedly let out a disappointed face.

“Is that so...? That's a real shame. Really real shame.”

He pulled back his hand and sighed.

“Can't push my luck here, can I? Well, let's have a drink sometimes later.... if we still can. I'll see you around, Aonair.”

After saying a rather vague invitation, he bid his farewell toward Aonair.

“That man, he's from the capital, doesn't he?”

“Yes, he's the one who read the king's order from that night.”

“Ah... now you mentioned it, I kind of know him from somewhere. So it was him, huh? He's suspicious.”

Laoch voiced his wariness toward Oscar, partially because he's from the capital.

But Aonair felt something is odd with Oscar too.

(That wine... I feel something strange with it... Is there something wrong with it?)

Aonair thought, but he immediately stopped and walked to the main camp.

“I don't know anything, but I know I'm hungry right now. Let's go, Laoch.”

“Sheesh, you're too carefree. One wrong step and you'll find yourself in trouble, you know?”

Laoch sighed at his friend's carefree personality, but Aonair brushed it with his usual confident smile.

“That's why you're here. Help me when I'm troubled, okay?”

“... The same goes to you.”

Then, they continued walking to the main camp.

...

......