Omniscient First-Person’s Viewpoint 220

Superintendent Nicholas came to the camp with only his closest aide. He ran, ignoring the fact that this was a dangerous forest, and he had broken branches and leaves attached to his clothes and hair. He looked like an exemplary educator who put the safety of his students first.

In reality, though, it was completely different.

'Children who have been spoiled. few numbers left. The carcass of a dead animal over there. Is it success… I want to. Something is strange.'

Seeing the miserable camp, Nicholas hurriedly approached the most healthy-looking trainee. The identity of the girl in the place where I should be… It was Shiati, an aspiring former combat officer.

“Shiati trainee. Let me briefly report what happened.”

As I said, I think Nicholas was really surprised when he came. Shiati, who was standing idly, gave a formal salute to Nicholas, then lowered his gaze to the ground and murmured.

“… I set up a camp here because of drifting. By the way, there was a pheromone bait hidden under this camp. It was probably a trap the hunters made to catch the beast. Let it open… Furious beasts have overtaken us.”

I can't make the smoke worse. I'm glad I said that I was just looking at the ground and murmuring. At least I can pretend I don't have the energy to answer.

'Are you aware of the existence of baits? Originally, they should have been swept away by the beast without knowing why. no, more than that. It's not time yet, so why is the bait already working? then?'

Nicholas looked around. The camp full of bloodstains was full of traces of death. In particular, the bloodstains sprinkled on the trees and the pits that were roughly covered with something seemed to tell the story of what had just happened.

Enough blood was splattered as he planned, but… I didn't see anything really important.

'Why can't I see Huey's face? no way.'

Fearful that all of this might be in vain, Nicholas immediately urged Shiati.

“Huey. Where is the Huey trainee?”

Nicholas' attitude towards me without a word, starting from the gata. This alone made it clear. For whom this graduation practice was prepared, and who prepared it.

Shiati, who was in charge of acting, lost her composure. Her anger had bleached her hair white, and she, forgot my advice, glared at Nicholas.

“… Why are you calling him first? How many students have disappeared now, and some are buried beneath this one! Why are you calling Huey first?!”

It was an unexpectedly violent response. If Nicholas felt uncomfortable with that attitude, he would be in a little trouble.

However, Nicholas, too, was psychologically driven by the anxiety that his whole plan might be in vain.

“Isn’t it natural? Huey is… !”

Still, he had enough discernment not to mention the taboo, so Nicholas barely regained his composure and kept his word.

“He is a talented person who is sure to enter the military academy as the top grader, and he is a leader in graduation practice. What's wrong with finding him for a smooth report?”

“Ha, yes. It doesn't matter how many we die… !”

“Chiati trainee! I am sorry for your trainee's experience, but your trainee is currently disobeying my order to report. Do not test my patience.”

At Nicholas' scream, Shiati bit her lip, lowered her head again, and began to speak the lines she had prepared in advance.

“Huey… They sacrificed themselves for us.”

“… Well?”

Nicholas is a designer. He prepared the stage, wrote the screenplay, and drew the ending of the story by randomly choosing the roles.

However, no matter how meticulously planned, from the moment the curtain rises, he is only one spectator. Nicholas wants the play to come true, but sometimes the play betrays the designer's expectations and shows something that goes beyond the script.

Shiati pulled out a line that had been prearranged for him as he ran up to the stage.

“While we were responding to the sudden beast attack, Huey was the first to realize that this was happening because of a pheromone bait. While investigating this camp, he found a bait somewhere, hugged the box and ran towards the river, screaming. The beasts that attacked us… Everyone follows Huey. We stayed and pursued the survivors.”

“What… ?! Huey himself was the bait?”

“That's right.”

Shiati put her arms behind her back, as if trying to hide her disastrous expression, and bowed her head. Meanwhile, Nicholas could not accept the unexpected situation and shook his hand.

The play was out of his hands. Reality betrayed his expectations. Nicholas felt a terrible defeat as he had high expectations.

The method Nicholas chose to face the failure that usually comes.

was in denial.

“Nonsense! Huey is not like that. A man as clever as Huey cannot sacrifice for you!”

“… yes?”

“Historia and Rankart. You can't simply excel if you want to be top between the two! I should even think about making them on my side and using them. A position that can only be reached by acting cleverly while gaining popularity! Huey did it. He can't just sacrifice for the sake of you!”

Nicholas looked around with bloodshot eyes. The children who still survived did not dare to make eye contact with the fear they had grown accustomed to. It was because the momentum emitted by General Nicholas was so terrifying.

Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas. Hameln is only part of what he is in charge of. He is a general superintendent who oversees elementary and secondary schools in the southwestern region.

It is no coincidence that Historia and Rancart entered Hameln at the same time. It was made because Chancellor Nicholas brought together the two of them, who had been outstanding since elementary school, here.

Even in the upper ranks, he has an outstanding ability to judge a student to be able to accurately evaluate a student only if he has the ability of Nicholas.

Their position, ability, and accumulated experience are different. Even if all the children here go to the Higher Military Academy, no one will ever reach Nicholas's toes.

At Nicholas' ferocious momentum, the children bowed their heads in exasperation. Nicholas' angry voice descended above him.

“You should have sacrificed! If anyone is going to die! You should have died instead! Why are you surviving!”

This is the general who came to me after barely enduring a life crisis. Some kids wanted to believe it was all a terrible nightmare. In fact, I hoped that the military would not abandon them, that there might be some misunderstanding.

However, the words Nicholas uttered trampled on any hope.

“So you tried to kill us all! Hugh, for that one guy?!”

Shiati raised her head in repulsion, but what she saw in her eyes was Nicholas's eerie smile.

“… oh oh Right. you… That's what you've learned about this test.”

A face that looks like it's half immersed in madness. As the terrified Shiati faltered and retreated, Nicholas twisted his lips and head curiously, glancing through the roughly buried pit.

“How did you find out? Did you find a rock while digging a grave for the dead?”

“No, I think I’ll tell you… ?”

“You haven't asked yet what you know, Shiati trainee. If you want to deceive someone, try to erase what you know from your mind… .”

Then he beckoned to the lieutenant who followed. The lieutenant pursed his lips and followed Nicholas.

“of course. I will no longer use those teachings, though.”

A cold murderous intent turned towards Shiati and the other children. The children huddled behind Shiati like a frightened chick. Although the number was over thirty, it did not seem like their dominance.

“Secric.”

“yes. Commander-in-Chief.”

“I will ask them all. Help me.”

Sreung. A lieutenant named Sekrik pulled out his sword. The sword used to give instructions to the children changed the direction of the blade and pointed at the children.

After reading the murderous intent emanating from the blade, Shiati exclaimed.

“What is this… ! You're going to kill us all, Commander!”

“You were destined to die anyway. It just got a little cumbersome.”

Nicholas also drew a long sword and answered coolly. A dark qigong that started from the handle of the sword engulfed the blade like a flame and rose. To execute an unscheduled survivor.

The children gradually retreated, but behind this is the river. To escape to the other side, he had to either jump into a river or cross over Nicholas.

Both are near impossible.

“Run away. If only there was a place for that in this army.”

Nicholas and his lieutenant followed the children who were backing away. Each step was filled with unwavering murderous intent. He walked like that.

stepped on the trap

“It’s a surprise, Commander-in-Chief!”

Just before the weight was put on those feet, I kicked off the collapsed tent and got up. Surprised by the sudden appearance, Nicholas could not respond to the trap.

Shortly thereafter, a hidden noose grabbed his ankle. A snare trap that made it possible to knock down even a bighorn deer caught him… .

If anything else, he was a human with a weapon in his hand.

“Suck!”

The long sword moved so swiftly that it did not fit its length. The noose that was at ankle height was cut off in an instant. The remaining sword strikes were engraved on the ground for a long time.

But the trap doesn't end with one.

“Surprise Two.”

That noose is connected to something else. At the same time as the rope was broken, a long log that had been hanging unintentionally fell, aiming for the back of Nicholas's head. Whoops, a heavy sound was heard.

However, it was too slow an attack for him who had learned qigong.

“A trivial number.”

Gather. A large log was cut in one blow. With this, the chain of traps was broken.

If I had avoided it sideways or down, I would have gone through Surprise 3, 4, 5 in turn. I'm just going to cut it off. Even if it rots, it's a colonel.

“Well, anyway. I did one thing.”

Pick, Whirlik. I drew my dagger His lieutenant, called Sekric, spewed blood from his side.

“Cuckoo!”

“now. Please lie down for a moment.”

Not as nimble as Nicholas, the lieutenant was dragged by the noose and slid right in front of me. Instinctively I protected myself, but I squeezed his defenses and put a dagger in his side.

Even if the pore is weak, the pore is qigong. The blade was lodged between his clavicles. The blood that flows from the dagger seeps through the soil… He headed somewhere.

“You, you, hey… !”

“Shh. form of my body. Stay still. If you die, it means that the blood doesn't come out well.”

Leaving behind the lieutenant who was not yet dead but slowly approaching him, I raised my dagger and greeted Nicholas.

“Hello, General Nicholas?”

“why. how. no.”

swish, swish. His gaze turned to me, Shiati, and the trap beneath his feet. For a brief moment, he grasped something in my smile and touched his face with a trembling voice.

“… That's right, Huey. did you all know And have you made a foolish choice? !”

“Isn’t that a stupid choice? It’s kind of weird.”

“You just have to stand still! The taboo was committed by me, and you only have to pretend you don't know and take the death of the losers! I carried everything on my back… ! How could you resist that?!”

how to give up like this.

When I signaled, the children who had been hiding at the bottom of the river came up in unison. That number was a whopping one hundred and forty people. Each holding a spear with a dagger tied to a branch that had been improvised, trembling with anger and fear, joined this side.

“I gave up in this way.”

children who grew up quickly. Most of them are looking at Nicholas with hatred. Nicholas mumbled stupidly.

“Almost all… You saved me.”

“Almost all of them have been saved. Seventeen of her precious lives died. It is a huge loss for me as well.”

Nicholas seemed to disagree with my opinion.

“Seventeen! not long enough long time! Your energy hasn't increased at all!”

“Please praise me. Even though his energy has not increased much, it is enough to simply soak a bighorn deer and one lieutenant.”

I smiled and turned the blade round and round. The color of the blood on it was not so different from that shed by children who had been hit by their horns and claws as they died.

Is it the effect of gluttony? Perhaps because of the direct stabbing, something seems to seep into my body. Dark and polluted turbid energy flows through the bio-terminal into the blood vessel gap.

That energy is insignificant in absolute terms… In the first place, with the energy and magical power of the tip of a hair, the size was clearly felt.

but.

“Hey. Not bad. Were you embarrassed that you just prepared something like this? I'd rather smoke a magic weed. It has a taste.”

Nicholas did not understand the sequence of circumstances. I couldn't understand the script that was out of order, nor the existence of me who came out of it.

he asked with a bewildered expression.

“Why, Huey?”

“Why, Nicholas?”

“You are weak. With that qigong, with that magical power, you can never go higher than a certain level. You are excellent at handling the given abilities, but your innate little energy and magical powers will be the shackles that bind you forever! I was trying to break your shackles!”

Surprisingly, even now, when I betrayed his trust and stabbed the lieutenant… He was genuinely appealing to me. As if it was a waste for a talented person like me to make a foolish choice.

“To deal with someone, you need a minimum qualification. That is majesty and strength. No matter how good you are, if you lack strength… nothing can be achieved If it was you, you would have understood your limitations more than anyone else!”

“Of course, I understand. Commander-in-Chief. How would you not know?”

Nicholas was sincere. Even as a general instructor, he cannot commit taboos with such a light heart. After observing my abilities for three years, he realized what I was lacking in, and he desperately wants me to become a greater person. For me, for the military.

But, that's… . No matter how much you do for the country. Essentially, it's just a wish for others. It can be said that it is extra money, which is generously given after building up all of it.

An ordinary person would be grateful for such extra money, but I am a mind reader. Don't move with a broken heart.

“By the way, Nicholas. You just wrapped your mind, so… In fact, your sincerity only comes out when you are sitting in a safe state, with a warm back and full stomach, right? Isn’t your heart so light and rude?”

In a way, that makes sense.

I read thoughts. My mind has no unit to measure its size, but as a mind reader, I used to compare the size and depth of emotions in moderation.

As a result, of course. The heart of Nicholas outside the stage was lighter than the afterglow of a single dead child.

But this isn't something that can be explained. 🥺

Nicholas, who did not understand even half of what I said, exclaimed proudly.

“This was a test for you too! How to sacrifice soldiers for a grand victory! I risked my work, but you misjudged because of your personal approval!”

“okay? Then, I will raise a major victory problem. Is there a way to make sure only the headmaster raises a problem?”

I walked slowly. The rustling of vines and tree roots was heard. The terrain has changed so much from the original because people have been wandering around the past few days. A place full of broken branches, trodden ground, digging here and there, and traps made of rope.

Odds are enough.

“Die for me instead of the tasteless children, Nicholas. Offer your blood for me, so the military will not be destroyed… .”

I mean, at least get up on stage fairly. Please move me with your heart.

“As much as one of you.”