Chapter 62 – Promise (5)

===================

Translated by Seoulbound

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

===================

Did this guy Plato just ask if it was true that his father had kidnapped my friend?

“Lord Haydam?”

As I was dumbfounded, Plato called my name with a worried face.

“I asked because I thought you also knew about it, Lord Haydam… is it perhaps something you do not know?”

After a slight delay, I snapped out of it and answered.

“No… of course I know about it. But I did not expect you to ask that.”

I furrowed my brows and asked.

“But how do you know? There is no way Anton told you…”

“My father said he heard about the graduation speech from you, Lord Haydam. Since the person who did not even come to my graduation that day had met with you separately, I thought it was strange and looked into it in my own way.”

Did he really go around running background checks on his own father?

“I chose my adjutant well.”

Plato smiled slightly sheepishly and continued speaking.

“So… if it is true that my father committed a discourtesy, I wish to formally apologize.”

I wondered why he was asking so many detailed questions, but the conclusion was to apologize?

In the first place, Anton kidnapping CornerHoney was not Plato’s fault, and he was a second lieutenant while CornerHoney was a private, yet he actually thought of apologizing.

On the other hand, the moment CornerHoney heard that I would make Plato my adjutant, he was busy arguing with me, making for quite a contrast.

“It is commendable, but as a result, that fellow was the one who committed a discourtesy, so I think you do not need to apologize.”

“Is… that so?”

“By the way, were you not kicked out of the house even after doing that?”

“I am currently staying in the officers’ dormitory.”

He had been kicked out.

“He didn’t say much when I only said I would take the entrance exam instead of using the recommendation system, but as soon as the exam creator was announced as you, Lord Haydam, I was kicked out.”

“Oh dear.”

At that moment, I noticed the team members who had been walking ahead stopping in one place and murmuring.

“It seems they found something ahead.”

Hurryingly running forward, I saw the commander and Meursault, who had arrived first, talking with serious expressions.

“What is going on?”

As I approached and asked, Meursault answered.

“It is because of a crevasse.”

Simply put, a crevasse was a crack that formed in the ground.

The game’s explanation was that after the ice age arrived in this world and most of the ground became composed of glaciers, the glaciers split apart, resulting in the existence of endlessly deep holes.

“According to the map, the area ahead is a crevasse zone… but the snow around here has not melted yet, so the crevasses are covered by snow and cannot be seen.”

Crevasses varied in size; while the majority were large holes that could be verified with the naked eye, there were also those of ambiguous sizes that became indistinguishable from the ground once snow piled up.

However, even if the hole was of such an ambiguous size, the majority were large enough for an adult to fall through.

In fact, if it were not snowing, we could have collapsed the areas that looked bluish under the accumulated snow and passed through safely, but with the snow continuing to fall now, it was difficult to distinguish the color of the ground with the naked eye.

Because of this, the subjugation battle was usually carried out in spring when all the snow had melted, but since we had gone far out searching while chasing the monsters, we seemed to have arrived at an area where the snow had not fully melted.

“It will be difficult to continue the search.”

Team 1 had followed the footprints left by the fleeing monsters.

However, even those bastards who were fleeing in haste had moved while erasing their footprints with their tails halfway through, and.

As the remaining footprints were covered by the snow that had started falling a while ago, we could no longer follow their traces.

While continuing the search based on the direction of the last discovered footprint, we had run into the crevasse zone.

The invisible, snow-covered cracks ahead were wide enough for an adult to fall into, but they were sections that a large-class monster could cross without any trouble.

If they had fled beyond this, the path to pursue them was distant.

If we went around this terrain, we could reach the other side, but if they returned through here in the meantime, a hole would be pierced in our search net.

Since our team’s goal was not to catch and kill the four escaped bastards but rather to monitor them so they could not launch a surprise attack while the wounded soldiers returned, the commander seemed inclined to end the search at this point.

In fact, if I had not felt a strange sense of incongruity from the monsters, I would have already chosen to head back long ago.

For now, there was no problem securing visibility, but if the snow began to fall harder, it would not just be a problem with the signal flare; it would also be difficult to orient ourselves toward the zone.

We were already too far away from the zone.

“Let’s head back.”

Ultimately, the commander decided to return and shot up a signal flare announcing the retreat.

Thus, we returned to the agreed-upon middle assembly point.

Unexpectedly, a problem arose there.

“Team 2 is not returning?”

Among the teams that had split and scattered into five, Teams 1, 3, 4, and 5 had all returned to the middle point, but Team 2 was not returning.

The leader of Team 2 was a colonel from the pro-Hayden line, and he was also the bastard who had personally chosen to take Lucas and Bones from my Team 10.

Meursault continued the report with a frozen face.

“They say Team 3 saw Team 2 heading toward the opposite side.”

“They saw Team 2? Were the search areas of Team 2 and Team 3 not quite far apart from each other?”

“At that time, they thought Team 2 had taken the wrong path and that their search areas overlapped, but seeing that they have not returned yet, it seems…”

Hearing only up to that point, it was obvious what had happened.

‘He was blinded by promotion.’

The reason the colonel of Team 2 made such an unreasonable move was probably because a promotion was riding on this subjugation battle.

With Anton of the pro-Daphne faction announcing his retirement, rumors were circulating within the military that Josef of the pro-Hayden faction would also decide to retire soon.

If two general-level positions became vacant, the people below them would naturally expect promotions.

It seemed the colonel of Team 2 wanted to establish achievements in this subjugation battle and absolutely become a general.

The commander was trying hard to maintain a calm expression, but blue veins stood out on his neck due to anger.

“…We are in a situation where we have to form a search team for the monster search team.”

“I am sorry.”

“It is not something you should be sorry for.”

Meursault lowered his head deeply with a face showing he had no excuse.

In my opinion, even if the colonel of Team 2 returned safely, he would probably not be able to live with his limbs intact.

Of course, I also had no intention of leaving alone that bastard who went off on independent action carrying two of my cute new officers.

In the meantime, the snowfall was getting heavier and heavier.

The commander silently stared in the direction Team 2 had probably headed for a long time before heavily opening his mouth.

“We cannot put the rest in danger because of one foolish fellow. We are heading back.”

For the commander, he had made the most rational decision.

However, if we went back like this, those bastards would definitely all die.

In the first place, if Team 2 had chased after the monsters, they would have gone toward the crack where we gave up our search earlier.

The reason we discovered the crevasse zone was that the snowfall had not been heavy until then.

It did not seem like guys composed of only a colonel and new officers could notice crevasses in a situation where the snow was fluttering like this.

“We cannot do that.”

While I was staying quiet, some crazy bastard dared to boldly contradict the commander’s instructions face-to-face, and when I looked, it was indeed Plato.

Perhaps taking the fact that the commander and Meursault stared at him, dumbfounded by the cheeky new officer’s rebellion, as a signal that he could continue speaking, Plato added with a serious face.

“There are also new officers in Team 2. The new officers would have had no choice but to follow the words of their superior to deviate from the path to search for monsters. Just as you said, because of one foolish person, officers who have just been commissioned might die in vain. Someone must chase after them and let them know that there are crevasses. If you permit it, I will go.”

‘He’s truly consistent.’

Under normal circumstances, I would have cut ties with Plato at this moment, but since I also had more than one or two uncomfortable things to worry about if we just returned like this.

‘If we return now, we might never know what on earth those monsters saw that made them run away.’

The subjugation battle was something that took place only once a year, in spring.

The large-class monsters that fled now would not come near the zone until next spring, and perhaps they might die and disappear in this snowy field before next spring.

‘And it is also a waste of the early education I gave them…’

No matter how much I had shown them a harsh taste through training simulations, guarding against and appropriately dealing with a child met right in actual combat was not something just anyone could do.

In that respect, Lucas and Bones were too much of a waste to be consumed like this.

‘Alright. I’m going to find them.’

Having made that decision, I reached out my arm to make Plato step back a pace, and then stepped forward.

No, I was about to step forward.

“Do not step forward, Haydam.”

No sooner had I taken a step to defend Plato than a restraint came directly from the commander, as if he knew I would step forward.

“I have overlooked your reckless actions several times until now, but now is not the time for you to step forward. Your foolhardiness does not always bring good results.”

It was something he could fully say to me as a father and a superior.

However, I could not back down here either.

Because hearing the word ‘foolhardiness’ brought to mind the faces of those bastards who clapped while looking at me during the graduation speech.

“Father.”

I looked straight at the commander and said.

“You are not going to call the courage those new officers showed in the graduation speech foolhardiness, are you?”

“……”

Plato held his superiors in contempt, but Lucas or Bones would have had no choice but to do as their superior proposed.

Those bastards were only just beginning to break out of their shells, so if we left them to die in vain like this, who would seriously accept the claim to enroll all children of the zone in the military academy to foster talent?

“And I was not trying to say we should go find Team 2.”

“Then?”

“The crack we saw earlier. I will go exactly up to there, mark it as a dangerous zone, and return.”

The commander stared at me with a face temporarily lost for words before speaking.

“You intend to go yourself.”

“Because other people wouldn’t want to risk their lives for one foolish person either.”

“Does a young child like you really need to go just to mark a danger zone?”

“It is not as if I am an adult when beating up monsters and a child when doing dangerous work, is it?”

The commander stared intently at me with an inscrutable gaze.

“How are you so reckless and arrogant… Sometimes, I really wonder if you are indeed my child.”

How sharp of him.

“Meursault.”

The commander said, still without taking his eyes off me.

“Lead the rest and return first.”

“Yes?”

This time, Meursault began to be startled.

“What do you mean by that? Surely you aren’t planning to stay behind as well, Your Excellency?”

“Even you do not think these two fellas will really just mark the danger and quietly return, do you?”

While trying hard to hide my startled expression, I locked eyes with Plato.

Judging by his expression, that guy did not plan on returning obediently either.

At that moment, feeling a gaze, I lifted my head to see CornerHoney looking at me anxiously.

Fearing that he might raise his hand and say he would follow at any moment, I shook my head at him.

If CornerHoney also left the returning group, the returning side might become in greater danger than us.

With the commander and me deviating, CornerHoney, who was one of the forces capable of catching large-class monsters, had to be left with the returning team.

Following my gaze, the commander briefly glanced at CornerHoney, quickly withdrew it, and said.

“If you have decided, let us set out. If we delay any longer, both we and you will become lost in this blizzard.”

And.

Before we even reached the cracks, we discovered bloodstains soaking the pure white snow red.

Perhaps thinking it was the monsters’ doing, Plato began to guard the surroundings, but.

I recognized it at a glance the moment I saw it.

This.

It was not the monsters’ doing.