The Orc Extermination Squad totaled about ten thousand people, and among them, the Yasad Mercenary Troop numbered only two thousand.
Among her group, only Eliza belonged to the Yasad Mercenary Troop.
Bash, Gipel, and Ren had volunteered after seeing the recruitment notice, aiming to gain experience and earn travel expenses.
“I’m following too.”
Bash, who had been thinking with his head bowed, also followed Eliza.
“Then…”
“Me too…”
Gipel and Ren spoke at the same time, then looked at each other and let out awkward laughs.
“Hey, can’t you stop?”
Gipel called out to stop Eliza and Bash, who were walking ahead.
“I’m pathetic for believing such disloyal humans were my comrades.”
“…”
“Still, since you guys can’t even tell shit from piss without me, I should at least take care of you, right?”
Approaching them, Gipel lightly punched Bash’s shoulder and joked.
“It’s fine for now, but don’t do this when we go outside later.
People might misunderstand.”
“Why?”
“Think about your size and mine.
Wouldn’t others say you’re a rude nephew talking back to his uncle?”
As Bash said, there was a height difference of more than two heads.
Their builds differed just as much, so he wasn’t wrong at all.
However, his words were the joke Gipel, who had a complex about his small body, hated hearing the most.
“What?
This punk.”
“Serves you right.”
Seeing Gipel stretch both hands forward as if he were about to launch a fireball right then and there, Bash stuck his tongue out and quickly ran away.
“You!
Can’t you stop right there?”
“Sheesh, when will they ever grow up?”
“They do that because they’re close.”
As Eliza clicked her tongue while watching the two, Ren approached her side and added a word.
“Thank you.”
“What’s there to thank me for?
We’re comrades.”
Eliza and Ren looked at each other and smiled.
Not long after, they discovered Salk collapsed next to Vank.
Startled, Bash hurriedly approached, laid him flat, and pressed an ear to his chest.
Fortunately, his heart was beating.
“Strange… is he sleeping?”
“Let’s move him to a safe place for now.”
The group hurriedly moved Salk.
Awakened by the cold chill, Salk regained his senses and opened his eyes.
A red moon.
Given the dark surroundings and twinkling stars, it was definitely night, so it had to be the moon, but its appearance and the light it emitted were no different from the sun.
The only difference was that it gave off a cold light rather than a hot one.
“Damn it.”
A curse slipped out of Salk’s mouth on its own.
Staring at the moon, he was reminded of how he had been dropped into an unfamiliar world by Katrisian and had had a bout with a pig.