How could he receive that much affection from his subordinates? This went far beyond the walls of superiority.
How could a junior with a cruel hand receive that much affection?
Swallowing his doubts, Stigma continued.
"You often used profanity during the war. It may be normal to use kind words in a rough battlefield, but using vulgar words as you will lowers your reputation, so try to refrain from using them. Try to refrain from thinking them in your head as much as possible."
"Refrain from thinking in my mind..."
"Thoughts become words. Words you say often become habits. Moreover, swearing is a type of habit that can easily become a habit. What kind of habit is easy to change? It would be better to catch it in advance."
"..."
He spoke, flicking his index and middle fingers and tapping the lips of the guy who muttered that it had already become a habit.
"I'm saying this for my junior's benefit."
***
It was from then on. Stigma started to hit me.
Whenever I swear, he says, 'You have a bad habit of swearing,' and snapped his finger to hit my lips, so I have no choice but to keep my mouth shut.
What should I do if it has already become a habit? Shit...
"Did you think of a swear word just now?"
"No."
"It seemed like your eyes were swearing."
Ack!
As he was checking his weapon, he looked at me as if checking for authenticity. Because he was about to go into battle, his keen senses caught every single place his gaze landed.
His gaze scanned my entire face, starting from the eyes to the mouth, and then focused on the eyes again.
"Hmm... I'd like to give you one more piece of advice before the battle begins."
"Yes…?"
What else are you trying to say?
"It seems that hand signals are a habit, but for clearer communication, it would be better to give signals with words. Who would be watching my junior's hand signals in all that chaos? At least you have to raise your voice to get attention."
Oh, that's... I guess it'll be okay because there's people who were paying close attention to my hand signals.
Actually, it would be better to speak out now that I don't have to hide the blood, but... habits are really scary. I was making hand gestures without even realizing it.
Anyway, at some point, Stigma started giving advice like this whenever he got the chance. Duties as a senior? It seems like it, but it's pretty useful advice, so I'm listening to it... but the conclusion is always strange.
'All of this is irrelevant as long as you are overwhelmingly strong.'
They say that your strength before the start is the best.
Elegance? Atmosphere? Culture? Etiquette? If the power you have is overwhelming, you don't need it all...
'But since there is someone else in power above you, and you yourself don't have a warrior's fragment, your power cannot be considered 'overwhelming.' And above all, wouldn't it be much easier if the other person reads the mood and responds before you even show your strength?'
...Well, I'm worried about Stigma's personality.
But since he's nice to me, it doesn't matter, right? I looked at the sheath of the dagger Dan had strapped to my body, thinking that if someone had heard, they would have been worried about his personality as well. A total of six, crossing both thighs, waist and back! ... But he added one more to each ankle, bringing the total to eight.
'Six wouldn't have been enough...'
I can't remember because I was distracted during the war, but I can't be unaware of the aftermath.
Every time I came to my senses, my hands were empty. Or maybe I only held one dagger.
'... And then Stigma laughed.'
How many battles was it? When I came to my senses covered in blood after the battle, the hero candidates who looked at me with strangely negative eyes were startled and averted their gaze every time we made eye contact.
What on earth happened?
"If you do well, junior, this could be the last battle here."
"...?"
"It seems like the Demon King realized that sending clumsy troops here would be useless. There was news that they had diverted their troops to the other side."
"Ah...!"
"I wonder why they don't send a Corps Commander."
It seems he has finally noticed it. The news is so slow. Well, since there was no news for a while, there was no way to know the situation here. The battle here consisted entirely of surprise attacks.
At first, we were wiped out in a surprise attack. They went up to the border and hid there, and when the Demon King felt strange about the lack of news, he sent his troops again, and they were ambushed and annihilated at the corner of the road. In other words, the demons had no time to report to the Demon King.
But at this point, even the Demon King couldn't have known. After this battle, there may not be any battles for a while.
'Freedom...!'
I was hesitant because I hated every battle where I had to overcome the risk of death, but this time I didn't hate the approaching battle time.
***
Correction. I hated it. It would be nice if the battle time didn't come forever.
I looked down at my blood-soaked hands in a daze in a space filled with the smell of blood and screams.
'Why... have I come to your senses now?'
The war isn't over yet? It's in full swing. Isn't it normal to be more alert?
I looked up. In the distance, I could see a graceful person disappearing and turning into a beast, cutting down enemies.
'Before, that person was a beast disguised as elegance... I thought he was like a black leopard...'
But now I see the true value like this.
In the meantime, it was so amazing to see that he looked clean in contrast to me covered in blood.
I belatedly came to my senses and lowered my gaze. A lump of meat whose shape cannot be identified is in sight... Ah?
'What is this...'
Looking at the size... human? No, the opponent in this war is the demon race, so it must be a demon.
Why is this lying at my feet?
Why?
"–Huek."
Horrible. When I came to my senses, my body was often covered in blood and I was fine, but I had never seen a corpse like this before.
... Not even once?
The vomiting spewed out and blood flowed out. My vision became blurry and I raised my hand to rub my eyes, but when I saw that they were soaked in blood, I lowered them again.
A blood-soaked hand, a dagger in that hand, a horrible corpse lying in front of me.
'Ah...'
...
'I...'
I blinked. My vision cleared again and I felt liquid running down my cheek.
'I didn't do it.'
No alcohol, no drugs. I need to take medicine...
Even though I knew I didn't have any more medicine, I searched through my pockets, which were obviously empty.
My current state would be strange to anyone. There was no way an enemy would miss this opportunity.
Sure enough, the enemy moved.
"Die, you monster!"
A demon calling a human a monster.
Thanks to them, I came to my senses. I looked blankly at the spear aimed at my heart and smiled slightly.
It's a close call, but it can be avoided. But I stopped reflexively trying to avoid it.
'If I avoid it, what happens next?'
It's not unusual for the attack path to be clean. Since I couldn't see it when I just came to my senses, it must be a general-level demon that came to me. I don't have the confidence to kill this demon that has reorganized its stance.
'You want me to fight like this?'
Do I dodge it first and dodge the demon's attack again, consuming all my stamina and looking for an opening that might come out at any time, or do I just close my eyes and lose a lot of stamina to take the guy's life?
'... If you have a general, you can show off.'
During the war, I vomited blood and panicked. After it's over, interrogation will be inevitable. I have to catch at least one general to make a profit.
More than anything, I want to rest right away.
I turned around. Instead of avoiding critical points, attack other areas. The blade of the spear dug into my shoulder, causing a burning pain.
'It hurts more than I thought... Oh, I really want medicine...'
The demon clucked his tongue at having missed the mark and gave strength to retrieve the spear. But I was faster.
The blade of the spear, which had been digging deeper and deeper as I moved, pierced my back and completely popped out. Despite the terrible pain, I continued to stride forward without stopping.
Because I know that if I stopped here, I would die.
"What...!"
"Die, you bastard."
I'm getting payback for my shoulder!
I suddenly stabbed the dagger in my hand into a vital spot.
...
And I got scolded.
Tne general died. The moment I sighed, feeling fortunate, I was attacked by crazy dogs.
"Captain, no, Marquis! Your shoulder! Ack! Oh my, what should I do!"
"In the meantime, you also vomited blood!"
"From what I saw earlier, it was like stabbing yourself! Are you crazy! What are you going to do with this shoulder?
"Take responsibility!"
If anyone hears it, they'll think I have a bad shoulder... I couldn't even put my hand on it, and while I was looking at the people in front of me who were frantically trying to fix it, not knowing what to do, I quietly opened my mouth.
"First of all... can't we call the military doctor first?"
I feel like I'm going to die like this...
Even if I don't, I've shed too much blood.
As if my face had turned unnervingly white, they started noisily looking for a military doctor.
"Old military doctor! Military medicine department!"
"Cut off the spear stem first! Don't cut it so close that it doesn't bother the Marquis when he carries it around!"
"Oh my, our captain is dying! Look at how pale his complexion is!"
"He won't die! Don't be so negative! But why is his face so white? Ack!"
"Marquis, can you see us? Don't lose your mind! How many of us do you see?"
How should I know when so many people are walking back and forth right in front of me? I'm going crazy, so please get out of here...
With sloppy first aid measures, I was picked up by the crazy dogs and taken to the barracks.
"Oh my god! Is this all his blood?!"
"No way! What do you think of this person? Of course it's someone else's blood!"
"..."
"Where are you going? We have to treat the Marquis."
That guy...
Fortunately, the treatment proceeded properly, although the military doctor had to avoid the useless behavior of those damn people.
After removing the spear and sitting down to receive treatment, I inadvertently raised my gaze and met someone else's. His eyes were extremely harsh, as if he had been looking in this direction the whole time.
"My lord. The damage to our knights in this battle was..."
"If there are those who died from those insignificant demons, they were probably just weak creatures, so I'm not interested. The same goes for injuries. I don't need weaklings in my knights."
Stigma, who pushed away the approaching subordinate, approached this way.
The elegant and dignified steps that I always talked about left footprints with wide strides. It was clearly his usual gait, but for some reason I could feel the spirit of a rampaging beast I had seen on the battlefield a moment ago...
He came right in front of me in an instant, looked at the affected area being treated, and closed his eyes tightly, stroking his hair as if to drown out his emotions.
"Junior..."
"..."
"You need to respect your own body."
I already value my body enough.
Still, the battle ended quickly because the general died.
Since the order is to kill, we'll have to fight another battle...?! Damn I didn't think of this.
"When you talk to people, you have to look at their faces."
He snapped his fingers and tapped my forehead, then stepped over and made eye contact with me.
"This decision was foolish. You probably know this too, right?"
"Yes, what..."
I had forgotten the 'annihilation' command.
Although I killed the general, I was also injured, so I was unable to clearly break the enemy's momentum. Because of my injury, even my allies had to watch them retreat.
'Of course, they won't return to the Demon World, so there's still a chance.'
I will contact the Demon King at the military camp. There are the second and third heroes and hero candidates of the Empire here. The Demon King who heard this news will never order them to return, since he knows there is no hope with them alone.
'Once they've faced off against Deon Hardt, someone might realize that he and Commander 0 are the same person.'
In case of an unexpected situation, I will choose to throw them away cleanly, even if it is a waste.
The Emperor must have taken that into account and issued the order to 'annihilate'...
'Huh?'
Why do I think like this...