I watched over the villagers and directed the medics toward those who had been injured in the attack.
As the captain of Division 13, I was fully responsible for my men and the mission I had been assigned.
A soldier approached me and spoke.
“Excuse me, I have a message for the captain of Division 13.” “That’s me.
What is it?” “The captain of Division 12 wishes to speak with you directly.” “Where is she now?” “The captain is at the training grounds.” “I see.
Thank you.
I’ll go see her.” The soldier left after delivering his message.
I never expected the captain of Division 12 to be here.
Had she been transferred here as reinforcements because the news of the Blight invasion had caused quite a stir throughout the kingdom?
All the soldiers defending this fortress belonged to Division 12, but the captain of Division 12 did not stay here permanently.
Some of her troops were stationed elsewhere, and she was often deployed wherever conflicts occurred.
Only a small portion of her forces were stationed here.
I also had troops stationed in other places, but usually, each division was assigned to a specific region to make troop deployment easier.
Perhaps the kingdom was trying to balance its forces because there were problems in other regions as well, leaving some divisions understaffed.
“I should go see her now.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen her.” Leaving the villagers and my soldiers behind, I walked toward the training grounds.
This fortress was quite large.
It could accommodate twelve thousand soldiers, or even more if the situation demanded it.
When there was no threat or special need, however, there might only be a few hundred people stationed inside.
The sheer number of soldiers here indicated that they were preparing for something bad to happen.
As I walked, I noticed a small garden that stood in stark contrast to the old fortress surrounding it.
As far as I remembered, the captain of Division 12 was fond of plants and gardens.
She had even created a small garden for herself.
I also spotted the man I had been wary of—Val.
He was sitting on a garden bench inside the small garden.
“What is he doing?” Val sat upright with his eyes closed and his head slightly lowered.
I felt the wind pass through my body from behind and move toward the garden.
The leaves were carried by the wind, but instead of simply blowing away, they began swirling around the garden as if a small tornado had formed there.
The leaves circled around Val, and the longer the wind blew, the stronger it became.
“What is happening?” I was utterly confused.
Why was the wind swirling around Val as its center?
Not long afterward, Val opened his eyes, and the wind suddenly stopped, causing the leaves it had carried to gently fall back to the ground.
There were so many questions about him that I still didn’t have answers to.
For now, I would leave him alone.
He wouldn’t be able to escape or do anything suspicious with so many soldiers stationed here.
I was about to ignore him, but then I remembered something.
If I recalled correctly, Val had been imprisoned in the prison owned by the Lotusiana family.
Didn’t that mean there was a possibility that he was a criminal?
I excluded Marc and Sera from my suspicions.
Marc had already explained why he had been imprisoned, while Sera most likely had some sort of family problem that had resulted in her imprisonment.
I walked toward Val, but I didn’t expect him to look at me first.
“Valerius, I heard that you’ve been imprisoned before.
I just want to make sure you’re not a dangerous criminal.” Val stared at me without saying anything.
“…I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He’s hiding something.
I grabbed the collar of his cloak and pulled him to his feet.
Even though I had done so, he remained calm, his expression completely blank.
“You’d better tell me the truth and stop hiding things from me.
I hate liars, especially criminals.” His expression remained calm.
His dead-looking gaze showed no sign of lying—or perhaps he was simply good at hiding it.
“No.
I don’t know anything.” I hesitated for a moment, but I couldn’t simply accuse someone without clear evidence.
I released his cloak and took a few steps back.
I didn’t know why I had acted like that.
Was I so afraid of him that I had acted impulsively?
I stared at him.
Half of his face was hidden beneath the hood of his cloak.
Now that I thought about it, I had never really paid much attention to his face.
If I remembered correctly, he had long black hair and red eyes.
As for the shape of his face, I couldn’t really remember.
“I want to see your face.
Please take it off.” I wanted to see him clearly to make sure he wasn’t on any wanted posters, as well as to memorize his face in case he turned out to be involved in some criminal case.
“Why?” “Just take it off.” I reached for his hood, but he stopped my hand.
His grip was surprisingly strong.
Strong enough that I was certain he was physically trained.
“Let me see your face.” I tried to force the hood off, using some of my strength, but he was still able to match me.
I continued trying to pull it off and increased my strength considerably.
Crash.
But the sudden force sent both of us backward.
Val ended up sitting against the bench while my body leaned forward.
We were incredibly close, and I could clearly feel his breath.
One of my hands landed on the armrest beside his head, while the other landed on the opposite side.
His face was completely exposed.
Our eyes met.
His red eyes were beautiful when seen from this close.
We were so close that I couldn’t seem to notice anything around me anymore.
Only then did I realize how handsome he was.
He didn’t look like someone from this country at all.
My heartbeat suddenly became faster.
I didn’t know why.
What was happening?
Why was this happening?!
“Fu fu fu.
No wonder you haven’t come to see me yet.
I never thought I’d see a woman as tough and strong-willed as you getting this close to a handsome man.
Not bad.” I turned toward the voice.
A woman with shoulder-length brown hair and bright brown eyes stood there.
She covered her mouth with one hand, but I could tell she was smiling.
She was the captain of Division 12, Captain Meila.
She was older than me.
“M-Meila?!” I looked back at Val.
“T-This isn’t what you think!” “I see.
But that doesn’t explain what you were doing.” “Excuse me, could you let me go?” Val pleaded.
I immediately stood up and took several steps backward.
“I-It’s true!
I was only asking him a few questions.” I tried to explain the situation to Meila so there wouldn’t be any unnecessary misunderstanding.
But for some reason, my heart was still beating rapidly.
I couldn’t control it, and I felt strangely unsettled.
“I see.
Don’t worry.
I understand.” Meila approached me and casually draped an arm around my shoulders.
“Your face is red.” “Meila!” Meila laughed softly, keeping her arm around my shoulders.
Then she looked toward Val.
“My name is Meila, captain of Division 12.
Nice to meet you.” “I’m Valerius.
Just call me Val.” “Val, please take care of Arturia from now on.
I entrust her to you.” “MEILAAA!!” Val didn’t answer.
Meila simply laughed.