Now that I have officially become a soldier of Veldorgrad, all I need to do is earn everyone's trust, from soldiers to sergeants.
But the most important person is Commander Blood.
Not only is she someone everyone at the barracks likes, but she also holds a rank high enough for me to reach Friedrich, my most difficult target.
He is difficult to reach for several reasons. The main one is his extremely high combat ability.
In his last battle, he fought fifteen armed men by himself and came out with nothing more than a bullet grazing his arm. Wearing a long-sleeved uniform makes identifying him through that scar nearly impossible.
Very few people know about that incident. However, since I had to research every single one of my targets, I discovered many things about all of them.
I questioned the few soldiers who survived that day, and they said that from the moment they spotted him on the battlefield, they could already feel a heavy aura coming from him.
It was as if there were something abnormal about him.
Even though they were afraid, they had to try to fight him at all costs. That's why they joined forces to try to defeat him.
They failed.
Of the fifteen soldiers, only three survived, and they told me that his movement speed was superhuman. They even said he was capable of surpassing my own speed.
They never stood a chance.
And if there was anyone capable of rivaling him, that person would be me.
Even though I didn't possess his speed, I was the one who came closest to matching his abilities.
After they told me all of this, I started training even harder.
I spent countless nights awake, training.
My former Colonel was the one who raised me after my father's death. He had been a close friend of my father, and he completely understood why I trained so much.
Once, he told me that my father had asked him to take care of me if anything ever happened to him on the battlefield.
When I came up with my plan to completely infiltrate the enemy army, I had to tell him to give the squadron a reason for my departure from the army.
He said I would destroy the enemy army from within, which was why I was leaving the army and infiltrating theirs.
In a way, he wasn't lying.
After all, once my revenge is complete, I really will have destroyed the entire Veldorgrad army.
All of my targets are considered some of Veldorgrad's best soldiers. If they lose all of them, Veldorgrad's side of the war will be finished.
Tomorrow, the soldiers will be assigned to their respective squads along with their commanders.
I have no idea who my squadmates will be, much less who our commander will be.
Regardless of who it is, their only purpose to me will be to tell me where the enemy is positioned.
Enemies I won't kill because they are my former comrades.
Even though I'm now part of the Veldorgrad army, I can't kill my comrades unless there is absolutely no other choice.
If my "loyalty" to Veldorgrad is ever questioned and the only way to prove it is by killing one of my comrades, then that's what I'll do.
I won't risk my objective because of a former comrade.
My next target for revenge will be Kiril.
I still need to think about how I'll extract information from him, but I already have a few ideas.
The only leverage I have over him is his former farmland, the Kiril Farm.
Even though he's no longer a farmer, he cares deeply about those lands because they were inherited from his late mother, whom he loved dearly.
From what I learned, his father was an alcoholic who would repeatedly strangle him to the point of nearly killing him, always being stopped by his mother, who would strike him over the head with a stick.
Eventually, when Kiril grew older, his father tried to strangle him again, and Kiril fought back, accidentally killing his own father.
After that, he and his mother became farmers together on a farm thousands of kilometers away from where he had originally lived, all so they could escape that dark past.
But I believe that past has returned to haunt Kiril.
And the name of that past is Zephyr Wolfe.
I just thought of the perfect plan.
I'll go to the farm right now and prepare everything.
My plan will be as follows:
I'll plant dynamite in the main house of the farm.
After that, I'll call an old comrade of mine. Kiril's father was somewhat famous, so I'll ask my comrade to dress up as his father, and we'll see what happens afterward.
I'll call my comrade as soon as everything is ready.
He's my best friend and the person I trust the most, so he'll help me.
I won't be able to put the plan into action today, but I'll have everything ready to execute it tomorrow after the squad assignments.
Since Kiril is just an ordinary soldier, there's a good chance I'll see him at tomorrow's formation, and...
Knock, knock.
"Huh? Who is it?"
"Ivan, are you free this afternoon? I need to talk to you for a bit," a somewhat familiar voice replied.
*"That voice... Blood?
What does she want to talk about?
Well... whatever it is, I need to be careful."*
"I'm free. Come in!"
"Actually, I wanted to talk to you somewhere a little more isolated. It's a somewhat confidential matter, and people could easily overhear us here."
*"That's not entirely true.
I made sure to install soundproofing in my room as soon as I arrived here, so no one has heard anything I've said until now.
But what kind of confidential matter does she want to tell me?
And why tell me?"*
"Okay, Blood. Where do you want to go?"
"Er... To-to my ro-room," she said, whispering somewhat embarrassedly.
"What? I didn't quite catch that."
"TO MY ROOM! PLEASE DON'T GET THE WRONG IDEA! I JUST NEED TO TALK TO YOU! IT'S JUST EMBARRASSING FOR A WOMAN TO INVITE A MAN INTO HER ROOM!"
"Calm down, Blood. You don't have to shout. I just didn't understand what you said.
I didn't think anything inappropriate, and besides, you're lucky there isn't anyone nearby right now. I imagine you'd be even more embarrassed if someone had heard that."
"What?! I shouted that loudly?!" Blood said, completely embarrassed.
"You're so red from embarrassment that you look like a pepper, hahaha!
But let's go. I'll follow you."
"Let's go before someone sees us and gets the wrong idea."
*"Damn, Blood's room is completely different from what I imagined.
She has several stuffed bears on her bed.
She's more innocent than she appears."*
"Sit on the bed. I'm just going to get something I want to show you."
"Okay. I'll wait here."
*"I think I'll take this opportunity to plant a few listening devices here.
Who knows? Maybe I'll be able to get some valuable information later.
Huh? What's this?
A diary?
It looks pretty old.
Could it be from when she was a child?
I shouldn't read this, but at the same time, I have a feeling there might be some information that could be useful to me.
I'll take a quick look...
But what?!"*
*"Today, March 13th, a boy came to talk to me.
At first, I thought he was going to bully me like everyone else has since I transferred to this new school.
But instead, he was very kind.
Still, I'm afraid of being manipulated, and maybe he's actually trying to trick me.
So I won't talk to him for now."*
*"Today, the 23rd, I ended up having a breakdown and taking all my anger out on that boy.
I was very afraid of being hurt again, but he said something that made me even more unsure whether I should trust him or not.
He said he would never hurt anyone.
But one thing made me realize that he truly didn't want to hurt me.
He defended me from some other boys.
I think that after this, I can trust at least one person.
Oh, I didn't even write his name here.
His name is Zephyr Wolfe."*
*"It can't be...
I can't believe this.
It must be a coincidence.
This diary can't belong to Blood.
Nadia..."*
"Ivan, what are you doing?"
"Nothing, Blood. I'm just surprised your room looks like this.
It's very different from what I'd expect from you."
"Oh, yeah. I may seem serious, but I'm actually much more cheerful than I let on."
*"I have to hide this discovery.
I don't know if I can trust her.
I'm sorry, Nadia."*
"What did you want to talk to me about?"
"Oh, right. I heard about an incident from a few years ago that might have something to do with what you told me.
I wanted to know if you'd like me to look into it further."
*"What?
But I'm certain there is no Ivan Petrov.
I researched everything thoroughly before assuming this identity.
Could she be talking about that event?
The event where my father was killed?"*
"Blood... How did you find out about this?"
"I heard a soldier talking about it some time ago.
When you told me what happened to you, I thought it might be useful to you if I looked through the records."
*"That's impossible.
I was only six years old when my father died.
Could Nadia not know about the incident and believe it happened recently?"*
"Please, Blood. I'd really appreciate it."
"All right, then. I'll look into that information for you, Ivan."