Reine stayed on guard, waiting in case the Knight was just causing a distraction to ambush them.
"Sir?" Argol's voice was hesitant. He was leaning on his sword, chest heaving. "Second-in-Command sir, are you okay? You're, uh... you're bleeding from your ears."
Reine wiped his ears. He couldn't feel the pain because of the adrenaline rush, but it seemed like the constant use of mana had put more pressure on his body than he realized.
"It's part of my power," Reine said while wiping his sweat, exhausted. "I'm just cooling down my body with it. Don't worry."
Argol looked at him weirded out. "Cooling down with blood coming out of your ears?? I don't know about that, sir. That sounds inefficient..."
"SOLDIER, ARE YOU QUESTIONING MY POWERS RIGHT NOW?!" Reine shouted with a firm voice, looking away from Argol with an evil smile. This is fun, he thought.
"NO, SIR! I AM SORRY, SIR!" Argol replied.
"Besides, it's high-level Aether Science. A mere soldier in the lowest ranking wouldn't understand."
Argol, with his damaged ego, started crying inside as they headed back to support the others. They saw they had already won the war. Seeing the battlefield, Reine thought, That damn Knight. He was really strong. Had he not come, we would've won without ever having to regress back in time.
As they neared their outpost, they saw the veteran from earlier.
"Vangalf," the old man said in a grumpy, disgusted voice. "The Commander wants you in his office. NOW."
Reine walked right past the man, intentionally clipping his shoulder. "If you want to know why, check the official report. Oh, wait—you don't have the security clearance for my rank, do you?"
The veteran's face turned purple, but Argol gave him a stern look. "Show some respect!" Argol hissed. "He's a specialist!"
Reine almost let the evil smile slip. Argol is surprisingly good at this, he thought.
The old man screamed, "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? Besides, what were you doing that far ahead? Were you trying to get promoted for being brave? Hah! You attention-seeker. All you nobles are the same, I'm surprised your eve—"
"HEY, DO YOU WANT TO DIE?!" Argol shouted furiously, drawing his sword toward the old man's neck. The veteran froze. Argol looked back at Reine to ask if he wanted him to kill him on the spot. "SIR, SHOUL—HUH?"
Reine was already walking toward the Commander's office, leaving as soon as the old man had opened his mouth. Argol hurriedly ran to catch up.
Before reaching the office, Reine dipped his head into a barrel of water to calm down the ringing in his ears. I finally did it, Reine thought. But why did he leave like that? He could've easily cut me down. At least this time I have Argol. He's dumb, but reliable.
"Sir?" Argol was standing there, holding a piece of hard dry bread. "You must be hungry from the fight, sir," he said, biting a piece of his own. "Besides that... I noticed your stealth uniform and it has a recruit's serial number. Uh... 00-V-4?"
Reine snatched the bread, chewing the flavorless dry brick. He squinted at Argol, protecting the bread in his hands like a rat trying to protect its cheese. Argol looked at him weirded out. "Sir... I'm not gonna take it..."
"Vanguard Vortex Level 4," Reine said with a mouthful of crumbs. "It's a classification, soldier. Not a serial number."
"Vortex Level 4?" Argol put a finger on his chin, nodding seriously. "What even is a Vortex? Never heard of it."
"Well, if you knew what a Vortex was, you wouldn't be here talking to me," Reine said with an over-exaggeratedly serious face.
Argol didn't even understand what Reine meant, so he just nodded, trying to process it. As they entered the tent, the slow Argol finally realized. "Wait... wait... WHAT—?!"
"SILENCE!" the Commander yelled.
Argol stopped talking, looking like a man who didn't have a soul anymore.
"You two, sit down," ordered the Commander.
They both sat—Reine with a poker face, while Argol looked unconscious with the face of a man with no soul.
"What an interesting pair," the Commander mumbled with curiosity