43. Chapter 43
For a week, Walm hadn’t strayed far from the treatment room as an escort, and today was no exception. Most of the seriously wounded had returned to the battlefield, and treatment was focused on the lightly wounded. The Four-Country Alliance had reorganized at a great distance from the layers, and except for a few scouts and spies, there had been no new attacks.
Although it wasn’t publicly announced, Ayane was unusually popular as POW. This was only natural, since she was someone who treated soldiers who were seriously wounded and near death. Moreover, she was a young and beautiful girl. Walm couldn’t do anything more to the fact that the soldiers, feeling lonely, looked at her with love and at him with envy. And some, without saying it out loud, sent a grateful gift. Since the things didn’t look dangerous, Walm gave them to her, but still, he couldn’t get out of amazement.
“Walm-dono, next is a soldier who fell when working on the walls.”
A charming young balding soldier told Walm. He was a soldier named “Moritz” who was part of the escort team and cared deeply about his surroundings. He was originally a personal servant to a staff officer at headquarters, but he had been praised for his loyalty and 《Poison Resistance》 skill, so he had been appointed one of the escorts.
For Walm, to be called with honorifics by Moritz, who had a long military history, it felt itchy but he didn’t dare call Walm normally because he was afraid of a “Knight” who was also a user of 《Demon Fire》.
Walm described Moritz as an amiable and attentive man, and that it was a shame that such a person must be on the battlefield.
“Please bring him inside.”
The soldier being transported on the stretcher had a broken left leg and arm. A stupid person who had accidentally fallen from the stairs of the wall. But, such a thing wasn’t a problem because there was a good healing magician now.
“Uh, urghHH”
In pain, the soldier closed his eyes and clenched his teeth. Maia gave the soldier a wooden gag and a cloth in his hand.
“It will hurt.”
Said Maia and brought the bent leg of the man back into the right position.
The soldiers groaned.
Ayane held her hand over the broken leg and the treatment began.
The soldier’s pain-distorted face, sweating buckets, relaxed. The treatment of his arm was finished faster than that of his foot. As befits a great skill. It took less than 5 minutes to completely heal a simple fracture.
The gag and the cloth were returned. And, the soldier who got off the stretcher thanked Ayane and Maia.
“I’m saved. I can’t believe it’ll heal so quickly.”
The soldier’s hand, which had been held during the treatment, remained tightly closed. Walm, who had watched the healing process for a week, was uncomfortable.
Most people who had just been healed would probably be in a relaxed state. But the man continued to clench his fist. Walm took a step closer and carefully let his eyes roam.
The man noticed Walm’s approach. He laughed in a friendly manner, but Walm couldn’t perceive the kind laughter out of the corner of his eye.
Quickly, the man let his finger slide and pulled something from his hip. Its true identity was some kind of concealed weapon.
” <Burst> !!”
While kicking up the ground, Walm, who was using wind magic, immediately accelerated. He grabbed Ayane’s arm and changed position.
A high-pitched sound echoed through the treatment room. The hidden weapon was flung away from Walm’s iron armor. With Ayane at his back, Walm pulled a longsword from his waist and struck from below, but the man dodged the attack with a deft upper-body movement and leaped away.
“It’s an assassin!!”
Shouted Moritz.
The assassin stuck out his arm, an act that was unfit for the one holding the hidden weapon. Sensing the momentary surge of mana, Walm was ready.
” <Release> “
A rod-shaped projectile (a type of hidden weapon) popped out in the hand and was fired with compressed air. Walm, realizing that the target was Ayane, smashed it with a longsword.
The assassin tried again to reach his hips, but Walm jumped in, pierced his shoulder with a longsword, and pinned him to the wall. Still, he tried to pierce Walm with his free hand. But when Walm put fire into his wound, he cried out and stiffened.
Now, Walm was holding his throat and arms.
“Tie him down. Gag him, don’t let him bite his tongue.”
A little later Moritz and the other escort soldiers rushed in. The assassin was held down, but suddenly his eyes widened, he screamed over the gag and didn’t move.
“Did he just kill himself?”
Walm stared at the assassin, who kept his eyes open and didn’t move. Moritz wrenched his mouth open and began searching with his hands.
“Ah, it’s a poison. I think it was put in the back teeth. It’s extremely poisonous. It’s a strong poison made from “Red Scorpion” mixed with a highly flammable poisonous plant. When I tasted it a long time ago, its exciting taste made me suffer abdominal pain for a week.”
Moritz, who was said to have a resistance to poison, said with an ecstatic expression.
“You’re still alive even after eating that?”
Even other than the offensive skill, “Skills” were something that could bend the logic of the world.
I’ll never put such a thing inside my mouth.
“If you have recovery magic or a strong fire attribute, you can withstand it. Oh, it’s also on the hidden weapon.”
The assassin’s boldness and determination to slide down from a high place just to enter the treatment center sent a cold shiver down Walm’s spine. Turning his gaze back, he saw Ayane standing in the corner of the room with a shocked face. And Maia was standing against the wall.
“Are you both okay?”
Ayane nodded a little at Walm’s question.
“But why… why me…”
“Maybe Liberitoa or Ferrius, decided that if they couldn’t recapture, it would be better to kill you two.”
Craist wasn’t mentioned, but Walm didn’t have to bother to say it to make Ayane understand.
“It’s a lie, right? I, we’re, on the same side… right?”
“Heal those who are heavily wounded, and bring back those who are standing on the brink of death. For any army, this is a dangerous threat. I’m sorry for being rude, but killing you can be considered as indirectly killing enemy soldiers on the battlefield. It’s natural to aim for elimination. Well, it’s the same as farmers who provide food, or ranches where war horses are raised, there is no end to it. In short, it’s a “war”. When you’re branded an enemy, your status and background are irrelevant.”
Hearing Moritz’s opinions, Ayane’s knees gave up and she sat down.
“That’s…”
From such a perspective alone, Ayane thought that Walm should be threatening enough to be on the kill list.
“Let’s stop today’s treatment. I need to ensure safety first. Also, both of you are shaking.”
Walm felt sympathy when he saw the girl, who was being swung around because of her high-level ability, but he understood that he shouldn’t hold it. He must be firm. He mustn’t deviate from the relationship between soldiers and prisoners. After all, it was Walm himself who had taken her away from her companions and brought her to a foreign battlefield where death roamed. To comfort her now, such a hypocritical act, as a human, his dignity couldn’t forgive himself to do that.
TN: I guess, Moritz’s Poison Resistance is more like a passive skill
TN: Join my discord channel if you want.
Thanks for the chapter!
Thank you for the chapter
Feel like a ploy from protagonist’s commander
Thanks for the chapter! Yep, seems like she’s a kill target now. She probably wont go back to the other side.