From the distance came rolling thunder—the Kingdom army was still relentlessly attacking the towering wall of ice raised by the authority of the Empress of the Empire.

This wall of ice was clearly even sturdier than the last one. It seemed to contain some other force mixed into it; over its freezing surface lay something like a soft layer of moonlight, and even under the pounding of that destructive torrent, it still stood firm and unmoving.

And yet, in complete contrast to that thunder and upheaval, this camp where so many Imperial soldiers had gathered was extraordinarily quiet.

So quiet, in fact, that it was almost frightening.

It was like a still lake, and Beck stood in the middle of it, feeling his soul gradually soaked cold by the water.

"What does this mean?"

Beck’s voice was frighteningly hoarse. He watched those tall, powerfully built elite soldiers—men whose armor was still smeared with blood even after surviving a battle like that, yet who bore no wounds—step forward one by one to collect a day’s worth of supplies and all kinds of expensive individual weapons.

The compact military repeating crossbows were being cocked and uncocked again and again as those veterans checked every component with practiced ease. Once they confirmed everything was in order, they strapped them onto their forearms. Next came magitech armor protecting the joints, weapons polished until they gleamed, and alchemical bombs—of which even in the fiercest fighting each squad would usually be allotted fewer than three.

Though it was only one day’s worth, anyone could see that what they were being issued was the best weaponry in the fortress, the hardest armor, the sharpest blades.

And in contrast... the soldiers who had been promised they could take whatever remained were, for the most part, wounded. Some had injuries to their hands, some to their legs, some to their eyes, some to half their faces. There were even many who could not stand at all, wrapped head to toe in bandages, silently watching all this unfold.

One-Eye, with his injured leg, stood among them as if he had merged into that group.

"What the hell does this mean?!"

Getting no answer from the silence, Beck practically growled the question again.

"Calm down, young man."

A steady voice echoed beside him. Baron Derik, broad and imposing, had appeared at Beck’s side at some point and was now looking down at him calmly.

"This is merely an ordinary personnel reassignment."

"Personnel reassignment?"

Beck clenched his teeth, feeling his whole body tremble.

"What kind of 'ordinary' personnel reassignment splits the soldiers up like this? The strong and healthy in one group, the old, weak, sick, and wounded in another—what is this supposed to mean? Are they abandoning them?"

"This is not abandonment. Her Majesty the Empress needs to pull the elite troops from inside the fortress to break out and accomplish something important. And since it is a breakout, the basic requirements are naturally mobility, the ability to ride, and the ability to travel long distances."

"A breakout? Then what about the ones left behind?"

"Obviously, they stay and continue resisting."

Derik paused.

"This fortress is already surrounded, and the Kingdom soldiers behind us have also been turned into madmen. So aside from resistance, there is no other choice."

"So in the end, you are abandoning them."

Beck suddenly exploded, roaring with eyes gone red.

He had just come down from the very front lines. He # Nоvеlight # knew better than anyone how precarious the fortress had already become. Defense was hard enough as it was—if all the elite troops were pulled out, how long could the people left behind possibly hold?

In truth, he had never cared that much how long this place could hold, nor did he care who won the war. He was only here to earn enough money to treat his mother’s illness...

But Beck looked at One-Eye. The moment he thought of One-Eye being buried in this cold, lifeless city too, he felt something surging inside him.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this... One-Eye was a real veteran, elite among elites, a real man who could supposedly wipe out dozens of wolf soldiers in one go... How could he stay here, in this miserable place of death?

"Soldier, stand down!"

Noticing the flash of ferocity in Beck’s eyes, Derik barked in a low, angry voice.

"No!"

Beck growled. Maybe it was rage, maybe outrage at the injustice of it, but his head suddenly rang, and in that instant all thought vanished. Acting on instinct alone, he drew his saber and slashed fiercely at Derik in front of him.

Clang!

Derik reacted fast, blocking with the longsword at his waist. But Beck twisted his body, ducking low in one slippery motion like an eel, his saber slipping around Derik’s guard and driving toward his abdomen like a thrusting sword.

"Oh?"

Derik lifted a brow.

"Good swordsmanship. But... too green."

Before the blade could go farther, Derik suddenly raised a leg and struck it aside with a lateral knee blow. Then, following through, he pressed down with a heavy burst of force that slammed Beck straight to the ground.

Beck swung again, only for Derik to pin his wrist beneath one boot.

"Do you know what crime attacking a superior officer is?" Derik asked, looking down at the struggling Beck with a half-smile.

"Hey, hey, what’s going on? What’s going on? Why’d you suddenly start fighting?"

Seeing the sudden turn of events, One-Eye hurried over, pleading with Derik in that odd dialect of his.

"Aw, this kid got so carried away killing on the front lines that his head’s gone fuzzy. He didn’t mean it, Baron. Please go easy on him. Just treat it like he farted and let it—"

"My head’s not fuzzy!"

Beck ground out through clenched teeth.

"I’m just pissed off!"

"What the hell have you got to be pissed off about?!"

One-Eye glared at him with his one remaining eye.

"What, you’re so unbalanced because you only got one day’s worth of dried meat that you got bold enough to attack an officer?"

"That’s not why..."

At last Beck stopped struggling, but his voice had already gone thick with tears.

"One-Eye, they’re abandoning you. They’re leaving you... leaving all these people here to die..."

...

A wind seemed to pass through, turning even the air cold.

One-Eye froze. He stared blankly at the recruit he had personally brought along, this kid who had been trembling with fear on the battlefield not long ago—but now, for such a ridiculous reason, had actually dared draw a blade on his superior and risk being court-martialed?

"You little brat... your guts really have grown a lot."

One-Eye gave a complicated smile and muttered,

"I wouldn’t even dare throw hands with Baron Derik. He hits hard and mean. Hurts like hell."

"And you’re still saying things like that..."

Beck was both furious and desperate.

"They’re sending you to die!"

"Sending me to die?"

One-Eye crouched down.

"Kid, this is a battlefield. Strictly speaking, didn’t we come here to die in the first place? What’s the difference?"

"But... but this is different!"

Beck said, "You’re One-Eye... you’re a veteran who’s served the Empire for more than ten years. How can you die in such a worthless way? Letting some people go first, while you... while you become the one left behind to cover for them?"

"Worthless? How could it possibly be worthless?" One-Eye said. "Just now, no one forced me to choose this. I stayed there of my own accord, because I know this is the right way. It’s a wise decision made by Her Majesty the Empress. It’s better for some people to break out than for everyone to die here together."

"Her Majesty the Empress, Her Majesty the Empress... you’re always talking about Her Majesty the Empress!"

Beck suddenly began struggling again, no longer caring that what he was saying bordered on outright disrespect.

"You don’t even worship the Goddess, so why do you trust the Empress so much? You don’t even have the right to seek an audience with her!"

...

One-Eye fell silent.

"What? Did I hit the mark?" Beck panted, as if he had already drained every last bit of strength from himself, but he still twisted his head and glared hard at Derik, that 'lapdog' of the Empress.

"You little bastard—when you go crazy, you really go all the way..."

At last One-Eye spoke. Shaking his head helplessly, he said:

"Kid, do you know why I joined the army—and stayed in it for over ten years?"

Beck froze. "Why?"

"Because for a very long time, I had no home to return to."

One-Eye looked into the distance and suddenly let out a sigh heavy with complicated feeling.

"My home was in a little town not far from here, just south of the northern plain. Back then, I had a happy family there. Parents who loved me. A beautiful wife... But more than ten years ago, everything changed.

"A local noble took a liking to my family’s vineyard. He tried to buy it cheap, and when he couldn’t, he had men set fire to my home.

"My parents died. My wife, terrified of the noble’s power, divorced me and cut ties. So in a single night, I became completely alone. There wasn’t a single relative left for me anywhere in this world.

"At the time, I stood there alone in front of my home after it had already burned to ruins, and there was nothing I could do... I knew it was just a warning. Against some noble lord sitting high above me, I was nothing.

"So I ran. Cowardly and weak, I ran, joined the army, and stayed for over ten years. In all those ten years, I didn’t even dare go back and look once..."

...

Beck’s mouth slowly fell open. He had never expected that One-Eye—who usually acted like a shameless street thug with no proper bearing at all—had a past like that.

And even less had he expected that One-Eye, the man who always charged at the very front when the killing started... would call himself cowardly and weak.

"If that’s true, then shouldn’t you hate them even more—"

"Of course I hated them. But not long ago, that hatred disappeared."

One-Eye slowly turned his head, and in that moment Beck could clearly see light in his eye.

"You know, don’t you? The very first thing Her Majesty did after ascending the throne was purge a whole batch of nobles. And that man was among them. I heard his whole family... dozens of them, old and young alike, were hanged by Her Majesty beneath the Gate of Traitors in Belrand. When I heard that, I was so excited I couldn’t sleep all night. Only shame the road was too far for me to go see such a beautiful sight myself."

"So that’s why you..."

"Yes—but not entirely. In truth, that’s only one of many reasons I chose to stay here. And the most important one isn’t gratitude after revenge was finally repaid. It’s because..."

One-Eye grinned. In the faint light of dawn, that ugly face of his somehow looked radiant.

"I have a home again."

He took out a deed bearing the royal crest and waved it in front of Beck like a child proudly showing off a toy.

"Her Majesty ordered everything that bastard stole illegally to be returned in full. My home... my vineyard... it’s all mine again. It all belongs to me once more.

"And now, at last, I have the right to go back to my hometown and lay flowers for my parents, and ask them to forgive the cowardly, useless man I used to be."

"So..." Beck murmured without thinking.

"So I’m not staying here like some idiot left behind to die as cannon fodder. And I’m not hot-blooded because of a few pretty words, either. I’m only doing what a normal man ought to do—and what I was too afraid to do more than ten years ago."

One-Eye spoke slowly, one word at a time. Behind him stood the many silent soldiers, the sunrise gradually lifting over the horizon, and under that dawn light, one resolute profile after another.

"Like a lot of the people here, I’m standing in this place so that our homes—so that my land—won’t be trampled underfoot by those Kingdom bastards."