When night deepened that day, Rohan rose from his cot.
None of the squad members seemed asleep, but no one tried to stop him either.
Rohan quietly lifted the tent flap and stepped outside.
Another tent stood nearby.
One platoon consisted of four squads, and their four tents were arranged in a square.
Two sentries at its center took turns guarding the platoon.
The sentry raised his head at Rohan's presence.
"Why are you out here?"
"For a walk."
"You're Rohan, right? Just as I heard, you don't waste words. You're even prettier than the rumors said."
Most people were offended when the young Rohan spoke casually, but the man did not seem to mind.
The other sentry was nowhere to be seen.
"I hear you go out at the crack of dawn and bring back animals. I wondered when I'd get to see you, and here you are."
"......."
"Your squad members are lucky. They get meat every day."
The man smacked his lips.
After Rohan went out at the same hour to catch meat for several days, rumors seemed to have spread through the unit.
At first the sentries had been strict about him moving at dawn, but now they took it in stride whenever he appeared.
"It really is strange. The animals around here should've been hunted out. Where do you keep finding them?"
"I'm good at hunting."
It was not difficult to find an animal's den if one understood its habits.
"Right. Share some meat if you get the chance. You know, don't you? Leaving the camp at dawn is against regulations."
It was a threat.
It was also true.
Leaving was technically prohibited, but regulations were rarely observed closely during wartime.
Plenty of men left the camp at dawn to satisfy their lust in the red-light district or visit family.
Whatever they did, no one made an issue of it so long as they returned before the daily routine began.
Rohan spoke indifferently.
"Standing sentry duty alone is also punishable under regulations."
The man's gaze went to the empty place beside him.
His senior had probably gone to sleep or slipped away to loaf.
The man smiled sheepishly.
"Ha. Saying that to my senior would earn me a beating. I'm Goto of the Third Squad."
He held out his right hand.
Goto was a large man covered in thick body hair.
Fat and muscle mingled across his body, making him look like a huge, rounded boulder.
Rohan took his hand.
He felt a rough palm as broad as a pot lid.
"Your hands are awfully soft. How does a kid like you...?"
The man kneaded Rohan's hand.
Rohan found it unpleasant but did not pull away.
People who knew their way around a blade habitually checked an opponent's hands first.
"Well, everyone else calls you a murderer and whatnot, but I think differently. I like you."
"Thanks."
"You should be careful. Dave was judged unfit for combat yesterday and left the unit."
That seemed to have deepened the soldiers' hostility toward Rohan.
Rohan shrugged as if he did not care.
"I can go, right?"
"Of course."
Goto edged aside.
"You know, right? Huh? I'm letting you off! I'm Goto of the Third Squad! Our tent is right next door, and smelling meat every morning is killing me!"
He called quietly after the departing Rohan.
"If you keep me out of trouble, I'll share today's game."
Rohan turned and spoke.
Considering it the price of moving freely at night, it was not a bad bargain.
Yes! Goto cheered inwardly.
***
Rohan first headed for the mountain a short distance behind the camp.
Moving as if familiar with the way, he climbed midway up to a place where flowers bloomed in profusion.
He had spent several days in the mountains and completely familiarized himself with the terrain, allowing him to move quickly despite the weak moonlight.
Rohan gathered a handful of purple flowers with drooping heads.
They looked beautiful, but they were monkshood, which contained a deadly poison.
Ingesting a small amount caused paralysis and several days of illness, but an excessive amount could kill someone in roughly five minutes.
He placed the flowers on a broad rock and began crushing them with a stone.
They were soon mashed, releasing a clear poison.
Rohan collected it in a vial he had brought.
Moving a little farther, he found a roe deer hanging from the trap he set the night before.
The upside-down deer thrashed when it sensed a person.
Rohan cut the vital point at its neck in one stroke, killing it without pain.
At that moment, the deer's memories flowed into him.
'There was a wild boar nearby.'
Tracing its memories, he located the den of a wild boar family not far away.
It was his first time seeing them, so they seemed to have settled on the mountainside recently.
They still traveled with their young. He would catch them once the young were old enough to live independently.
Indiscriminate killing only leaves the land barren.
Rohan skinned and butchered the deer, then lit a wood fire.
He cut into the blood vessels in several places and placed the deer over the flames.
He should have drained the blood before roasting it to prevent a gamey smell, but he lacked time and intended to do both at once.
If he started roasting it now, the meat would be properly cooked by morning.
Rohan began descending the mountain again.
On the way down, he stopped by the river.
It was downstream, where the grains of sand carried along the river were fine.
Rohan scooped up a handful and put it in a pouch.
All of it took less than an hour.
***
Rainer, Deputy Platoon Leader of the Fourth Platoon, Fourth Company, emerged from the officers' barracks.
His current identity was that of a Deputy Platoon Leader. But he had a more important one.
Number One of the Black Dawn Knight Order's infiltration cell.
He served as their contact with Noxis and held the crucial role of relaying orders.
He clasped his hands behind his back, surveyed the surroundings, and headed toward the Fourth Platoon's barracks.
One sentry was nodding off.
The other was nowhere in sight.
Rainer frowned.
"Goto. Are you sleepy?"
"H-huh?"
When Rainer called the sleeping soldier's name, Goto jumped to his feet.
Drool even ran from the corner of his mouth.
"Ah, Deputy Platoon Leader. That is..."
"Where is the other one?"
"He said he urgently needed to relieve himself, so just for a moment..."
When Rainer stared at him, Goto's shoulders flinched.
"Anything unusual?"
"No, sir."
Goto answered immediately.
But it was not a satisfying answer for Rainer.
"I hear the smell of meat has been coming from the Fourth Squad's barracks lately. He must be going hunting at dawn."
The remark was aimed at Rohan.
Goto's eyes darted around briefly before he answered firmly.
"I wouldn't know."
"Hmm. Report anything unusual."
The pause in Goto's answer was suspicious, but pressing him further might arouse suspicion in turn.
Rainer's eyes went to the Fourth Squad's barracks.
He wanted to enter at once and check whether Rohan was there, but an ordinary officer would not act that way toward a mere soldier.
All he could do without inviting suspicion was trust the sentry's words.
After leaving the Fourth Platoon, he headed for the notice board.
The night was deep, and no one was nearby.
He expanded his senses and swept the surroundings, but detected no human presence.
Only small animals and birds. Some sort of feline beast.
'The operation will begin soon.'
After checking the surroundings for a long while, he drew the directive he had hidden inside his clothes.
To other eyes it would be trivial nonsense, but in truth the directive named a time and place.
There was a tub of paste beside the notice board, but no brush to apply it.
'Fuck, I told them to leave a brush.'
Nothing in this unit worked properly.
In the end, he plunged a hand into the tub, carefully spread paste on the paper, and affixed it to the notice board.
The notice board was cleared once every three days, and the directive would disappear tomorrow afternoon.
After confirming it was secure, Rainer turned toward his barracks.
After walking a little farther, he reached a path overgrown with trees.
It connected the tents with the camp's living quarters.
He continued moving with his senses expanded but felt no human presence.
'There are a lot of cats tonight. Or are they wildcats?'
Some sentimental soldier seemed to be scattering scraps for them.
That did not matter at all.
If he completed this operation, he could soon return home.
'I just have to pull off this operation.'
He walked with nothing but the operation on his mind.
He had reached about the midpoint of the forest path.
Snap—! A presence suddenly came from above.
It was the sound of a tree branch breaking.
"Who's there?!"
Rainer drew his sword in an instant and looked up.
RUSTLE—! Instead of a person, something made of fine particles poured down from the sky.
His eyes and nose filled with it in an instant.
"Cough, spit!"
Rainer brushed the dust from his face and swung his sword toward the murderous intent he sensed.
CLANG—! The sound of sword against sword rang through the forest.
"Wow. As expected of a Deputy Platoon Leader, your swordsmanship really is on another level."
The troublemaker who had recently joined the unit.
Rohan came into view.
"You're strong."
For some reason, Rohan was smiling.
***
Rohan's heart began to pound.
It was a thrill he had not felt in some time.
A predator. The man before him was unmistakably a predator.
'I'm glad I fought him myself.'
Rohan had personally ambushed the spy to measure his skill.
It had been Rohan's carefully prepared strike, yet the spy had blocked it instantly.
'The Deputy Platoon Leader of the Fourth Platoon.'
He had never had any particular dealings with the man.
All Rohan had heard was that he excelled at the Swift Sword.
Rohan wanted to experience that Swift Sword himself.
"Rohan? You son of a bitch. I've been wanting to kill you anyway."
Rainer seemed to have been gunning for him.
That was only natural after Rohan had exposed and killed a spy.
As if conversation were unnecessary, Rainer swung his sword in an instant.
The movement was far faster than Rohan expected.
Rohan barely raised his sword in time to block.
CLANG! The impact rang from the hand holding his sword all the way to his shoulder.
"Not bad."
Rainer seemed considerably surprised.
He had dismissed Rohan as a novice, but adjusted his grip when Rohan blocked the sword.
He intended to fight properly.
Rainer looked at Rohan and opened his mouth.
"I haven't liked you since you entered this camp... ugh!"
CLANG! Rohan brought down his sword in the middle of Rainer's sentence.
He did not have time to listen to that nonsense.
No one went easy on an enemy on a battlefield.
When Rainer lost his balance, Rohan immediately closed in.
Then he swung with complete focus.
Rohan recalled Creed's lesson.
'The sword's purpose.'
His mother's death.
Leon, the Noxis soldier.
Hans, the spy.
The five Noxis soldiers.
Thinking of all of them.
Reinach.
Toward one single goal.
CLANG—! Sparks flew as sword met sword.
It was Rohan's decisive strike, but Rainer stopped it.
"Ugh."
It seemed to have affected him, however.
Rainer stepped back twice and shook out his hand.
His little finger trembled.
'It works.'
A smile spread across Rohan's lips.
Would he even have been able to cross swords with Rainer if he had not studied swordsmanship the day before?
He considered it an extremely meaningful achievement.
But his opponent was strong.
Rohan knew hoping for anything more would be greedy.
He stopped attacking and took a defensive stance.
Rainer's face twisted deeply.
"You really won't do."
His bearing changed.
If he raised his presence this much, the people in the barracks might notice.
He seemed to intend to deal with Rohan quickly and flee before they arrived.
Rohan instinctively sensed danger.
Rainer seemed to raise his sword.
Rohan stepped backward the moment he saw the movement.
SWISH—!
Before Rainer even seemed to finish lifting his sword, the front of Rohan's tied robe fell open and his chest burned.
Looking down, he saw a long cut across his chest.
It lay where even a little more depth might have reached his heart.
Rohan's eyes widened.
'That's the Swift Sword!'
Rohan had wanted to see it in person.
Seeing it through memories and seeing it in reality were different.
It had looked like a slow strike, so what had happened?
To Rohan's eyes, Rainer had merely seemed to lift his sword.
'I want it.'
Intense curiosity rose in Rohan's mind.
This time, Rainer thrust his sword straight forward.
Having learned about muscles from Creed, Rohan threw himself sideways the instant Rainer's leading foot twitched.
Now that he had experienced it once, he had to move at the slightest sign.
SLASH, SLASH, SLASH! Though Rainer had thrust only once, three cuts appeared in the tree behind Rohan.
"Strange."
Rainer tilted his head.
"You really are insane, just as I heard. Your eyes are full of curiosity rather than fear."
"Just as I heard, the Swift Sword is a truly tempting ability. I want it."
Rohan retorted.
Rainer approached as if he had no intention of talking further.
"Let's end this."
He came toward Rohan with mounting irritation.
A massive tree blocked Rohan's retreat.
No matter where he fled, he could not outrun Rainer.
A drop of sweat ran down Rainer's temple as he approached.
Seeing it, Rohan lowered his defensive stance and stared blankly at him.
To Rainer, it looked as if the coward had given up on life.
Rainer smirked.
"Right. You can't run, you bastard. Die quietly. I'll kill you painlessly..."
Urk! Rainer clutched his throat before he could finish.
"Haaagh!"
Unable to breathe, he twisted his body in bizarre movements.
"You fucker, poison...!"
Like the seasoned soldier he was, Rainer understood the cause instantly.
CLANG— He even flung away the sword in his hand.
He was trying to use mana to expel the poison.
Only then did Rohan dust off his rear and stand.
"It's useless."
"......?"
Rainer glared at him in incomprehension.
"That's monkshood."
Unlike ordinary poisons that blocked the mana circuit, monkshood directly affected the body.
By now, it had already been absorbed, which meant he could not expel it with mana.
"Hah... haah... you, uh, when?"
Rainer panted, apparently unable to breathe.
He seemed to wonder when he had been poisoned.
There was no need to hide it now.
"You need paste to put paper on the notice board."
Rohan searched inside his clothes, produced a brush, and smiled.
Rainer's eyes narrowed as he clutched his heart.
"Fuu...ck."
Rainer bit his lip.
Paste had covered his hand, and when Rohan threw sand, he rubbed his face.
He had thought it was merely to obstruct his vision, but it had been meant to smear poison across his face.
To think a mere fifteen-year-old brat's trick had brought him down so easily.
Thud.
Rainer's body finally collapsed.
He could not muster any strength in his limbs.
It felt as if his heart were being squeezed.
Bright moonlight fell across Rainer's vision as he lay spread-eagled.
A round head appeared beside the enormous moon.
It was Rohan.
Looking up at him, Rainer forced out words that would barely emerge.
"S-spare me... I'll tell you everything... urk!"
"You mean you'll tell me anything if I spare you?"
When Rohan supplied the words he wanted to say, Rainer nodded with difficulty.
"Why does everyone say the same thing when facing death? There's no need."
Rohan squatted before Rainer with an expressionless face.
Even as he died, Rainer felt a chill.
The emotion on Rohan's face as he looked down was neither pity nor guilt.
Greed.
Nothing but unmistakable greed filled his eyes.
Rohan smiled.
"I'll remember the Swift Sword well."