Greenwood Territory
I froze solid in a situation I'd never encountered before in my life.
Leina was a character I'd created.
Yellow hair, blue eyes, skin white as snow...
A school uniform skirt hiked up above the knee, heavy makeup screaming come play with me—I'd modeled her after those delinquent girls who made robbing their juniors' wallets look like child's play.
The kind who'd spot you on the street, call out "Hey," lock eyes, and hit you with "Got any cash?" before shaking you down. Leina looked exactly like a pretty delinquent...
Is she seriously... peeing herself right now?
I'd figured she'd panic under her own ability's backlash, especially with a Haven captain showing up knowing all her crimes.
But I never imagined she'd literally piss herself.
Stay calm. I'm a Haven captain.
I looked at Leina, shoulders heaving with sobs, and spoke.
"I'll ask once more. Did you summon the demon?"
Leina managed a choked reply, her voice thick with tears.
"S-sob... Y-yes... uh...!"
Footsteps approached from behind.
Villagers, Hanji, Rowen, and the knights came running up, gasping for breath.
"A-Astra! Are you alright?"
Rowen sighed in relief the moment he saw me.
"Yes."
"Did you... fight the demon?"
Rowen's voice dripped with heavy self-reproach.
The helplessness of standing guard and doing nothing, the guilt of retreating on my orders...
His eyes flickered with turmoil. He seemed to think he'd only been a hindrance.
"Rowen, bring that woman. We're heading back to the village."
"As you command."
Only then did Rowen notice the woman collapsed at my feet.
As I turned toward the villagers, I paused and looked back.
"Rowen."
"Yes, Astra."
"You carried out my orders perfectly. Fighting the demon was a breeze because of you."
Rowen froze on the spot.
The self-reproach and helplessness that had filled his eyes shifted to shock and confusion.
Looking up at me, his gaze screamed, Did I really help?
I turned away without another word and walked toward the villagers.
So easy to read.
Rowen was the type who wore every emotion on his face like an open book.
He'd stared at me with question marks in his eyes, then broke into a bright grin moments later. It was oddly amusing.
As I approached the villagers, the village chief and Hanji stepped forward.
"Jin Gang Regiment Captain Astra, at your service."
The chief dropped to his knees the instant he saw me, pressing his forehead to the ground with a grim face.
He figured it out.
No point hiding it anymore.
Even without witnessing my fight, one look at the devastation around us would tell him I wasn't some run-of-the-mill C-rank mercenary.
The area was total ruins.
Jagan's shockwaves had uprooted massive trees, scattering them like toys. The ground was cracked and upheaved like an earthquake had hit, forming jagged new terrain.
"I know what you did. But we'll discuss that back in the village."
I addressed the chief in a cold, authoritative tone, then turned to Hanji.
"Hanji, take the villagers and follow us back."
"Y-yes... Yes, Astra!"
Hanji's voice trembled with tension.
Who could blame him?
In just three days: running into a Haven captain on the road, getting scouted, and now a demon summoned in his village...
I'd be shaking too.
And so we left the ruined forest behind and returned to the village.
The demon's summoning had wrecked most of it, but we found a relatively intact building and headed there.
The chief, Leina, Hanji, Rowen, and I—five of us—entered the space in silence.
I alternated glances between the chief and Leina, then spoke to the chief first.
"Chief, you knew what the Greenwood lord was up to, didn't you?"
"Yes... that's right."
"You knew about the demon summoning too?"
At "demon," sweat beaded on the chief's forehead.
"No... absolutely not! I never dreamed it would be a demon..."
"Even if you didn't know about the demon, that doesn't justify your actions. However..."
If my guess was right...
"Leina."
"Y-yes!"
Leina jumped, startled.
"Want to hear my theory?"
I continued without waiting for her reply.
"Your ability drains life force and manipulates memories. And the first person you drained and tampered with was the chief, right?"
"W-what? I didn't drain any life force—"
"It's... true."
"What?"
The chief's voice shook.
He'd firmly believed no one had drained him, but now he stared at Leina in shocked horror.
"The first time I saw her... it was with the lord..."
I ignored the still-confused chief and fixed Leina with a sharp glare.
"Confess everything you did. I already know it all. Hide even one detail..."
I laced my voice with killing intent.
"And I won't let you off."
Leina's face drained of color.
"In the middle of the night... I snuck into the chief's house."
Her voice trembled; her fingers clenched her skirt tightly.
"On the lord's orders... I drained the chief's life force and manipulated his memories."
"W-what the hell are you saying?"
The blood fled the chief's face.
"To make him obey the lord absolutely... to believe the village would prosper if he followed orders... that's how I twisted his memories..."
"This... can't be..."
The chief staggered.
Realizing every action, every decision he'd made stemmed from Leina's tampering—his face twisted in despair.
"P-please spare me!"
Leina dropped to her knees.
"I... I can be useful to you, Captain! My ability... with it, surely..."
I stared down at her begging on the floor, deep in thought.
From a Korean perspective, Leina's actions were unforgivable crimes. But in Haven? They weren't crimes at all.
The strong exploiting the weak to grow stronger?
No one in Haven batted an eye. It was the natural order.
The strong built power on the weak's sacrifice; the weak were mere stepping stones.
Leina's only misfortune?
Jin Gang Captain me happened to be in her village.
She knew it well—no apologies for the village, just pitching her abilities to save her skin.
Think rationally.
I sorted through the situation calmly in my mind.
Emotions aside, pure logic.
Taking Leina ensures safe travel to the territory. Her ability will be useful long-term. Life drain and memory manipulation—no other character has that combo. Memory manipulation especially is gold.
Executing her here?
Nothing gained.
In this wrecked village, killing her wouldn't lift the heavy mood—it'd just breed more resentment.
And no villagers died anyway.
What solution satisfies the chief, Hanji, and Leina?
I glanced out the window.
Collapsed houses everywhere.
Like a monster wave had swept through—the village barely held its shape.
Under the chief's lead, it was beyond saving.
Why not just send them all to Greenwood Territory?
The idle thought felt surprisingly solid.
Better than scraping by here— a fresh start as compensation.
And the territory gains manpower.
"I'll spare you."
Leina's face lit up; the chief's and Hanji's twisted in suppressed fury.
"Thank you! If you give me a chance, Captain, my ability will—"
"But on one condition."
Leina's expression hardened.
"...A condition?"
I gave a cold smile.
"Yes. If you won't keep it, say so now. I'll end you painlessly."
"N-no! I'd never...!"
Leina shook her head frantically.
"I'll keep any condition. Please... tell me."
I eyed her terror briefly, then turned to Rowen.
"Rowen, bring them."
I didn't specify, but he grasped it instantly, fetching ten black magic stones.
"Th-those are...!"
Leina cried out at the sight of the stones infused with her power.
But she shrank under my icy gaze.
She knew now why the western forest lacked stones for the summoning circle.
"Use those—your infused stones—to restore the villagers' life force."
"Th-that's all?"
Surprise colored her voice, as if she couldn't believe a Haven captain would care about villagers.
"Yes. That's it."
I continued slowly.
"Do exactly as I say, and I'll take you to my territory and put you to good use. I'll even support you to grow stronger."
Leina's eyes sparkled.
"An honor! I'll serve you, Astra."
Then I caught Hanji's twisted expression.
"Hanji, you look displeased."
"N-not at... Sorry, Astra. Hearing you'd spare the one who ruined our village, I just..."
I met his eyes squarely.
"If even one villager had died, I'd have killed her—regardless of you volunteering to follow me first. But no one died."
Leina flinched at my words.
Hanji bowed his head.
"That's... true."
"Instead, I'll relocate the villagers—including the chief—to Greenwood Territory under my name and support them."
"R-really?"
Now the chief spoke, voice quivering.
"Yes. Hanji's to be my subordinate; this much is nothing."
"Th-thank you."
Tears finally spilled from the chief's eyes.
In the end, he'd only wanted the village to prosper—memory tampering had twisted that into this mess.
Who'd dare touch them entering under a captain's name?
His mind was likely painting a hopeful future.
Phew... it all worked out.
Honestly, when that upper demon—Jagan of all things—showed up, I was terrified.
If she hadn't tortured Leina but killed her outright, I'd have bolted too.
Provoking Jagan was pure madness.
Sheer luck from chained circumstances saved me.
No more of this, even if I'm pissed. Never again.
Keep gambling like this without power, and death's inevitable.
I vowed it inwardly.
Until I'm truly strong, no more reckless bullshit.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Read 213 more chapters ahead on NovelDex!
https://noveldex.io/series/im-pretending-to-be-the-strongest-to-survive
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━