Beneath the subtle silvery lunar rays, a young man sighed as he walked back to his tent.
He thought that after the snack, Ennya would be much easier to talk to.
She still argued that he and Stiff Face were heartless, and that he should stop talking before news of his betrayal makes it to his mother’s ears.
Since they’d drifted to the topic, the two briefly discussed the matter of Hal migrating her mother, Lynn, to Bunroon Town, and the midget was deeply grateful.
However, that matter was different from the matter of her platoon members.
She desperately wanted to know how she was wrong.
It was then that Hal realized she didn’t have nearly as much experience as he in the city, due to her strict master, which meant that she still believed that most people were kind-hearted, just like their neighbors in Poporo.
That aside from little disagreements, everything was good.
It simply didn’t occur to her that a majority would give no crap about someone they weren’t related to.
That the four cowardly underlings were simply glad to be permitted to leave her behind and escape the fight against the fell race.
Once Hal drilled that point to her, she finally gave way, acknowledging her inexperience, though there were still some doubts in her heart.
Ennya firmly believed that she hadn’t experienced being betrayed by her subordinates yet, despite what just happened.
Perhaps only after she paid dearly and witnessed the true, biting, cold darkness of the world would she believe.
Nonetheless, Hal was glad that the discussion was over.
Ennya promised she would toss the matter to the back of her mind for now and focus.
This was enough for him.
If she still felt the same way after the mission, then they could resume the discussion.
For now, he needed Ennya to focus on the battle against the fell race, as Zephyron reminded them over and over that a moment of folly would be enough for the bastards to slaughter them ten times over.
Hal arrived at his tent a minute later and sighed once more—this one in relief.
He took off his military uniform, hung it on the backrest of the chair, and lay on his bed, using both hands as makeshift pillows on top of real pillows.
Hal gazed at the tent ceiling, lost in his thoughts.
’I wonder how Loki, Mom, and Aunty Lynn are doing?’ he wondered.
He could only hope that his companion made it to Bunroon safely and was now being loved by his mother and aunt.
He’ll come retrieve Loki after the mission.
Hal had decided that he would always take the variant Dharmwolf to missions within the empire’s borders but leave him to the care of his mom whenever he would have to fight the Fellkin.
Taking another deep breath, he let go of his thoughts and closed his eyes.
It was time to sleep.
Inevitably, the night deepened, and Hal fell asleep.
What he didn’t know was that his tent covers flapped open in the middle of the night.
Outside, a silhouette stood, holding a pillow.
Hours passed, yet Hal was still none the wiser and peacefully slept on.
Only when the morning horn sounded did he wake up.
Hal groaned, feeling a weight on his arm that had gone slightly numb.
His brows furrowed, and he turned to look.
The next moment, Hal’s eyes widened as he spotted a red-haired midget sleeping peacefully beside him, her eyes closed and her breath gently brushing against his neck.
There was even a bit of drool on his arms.
Ennya, despite the morning horn, had managed to stay adrowse.
It seemed today was one of the rare occasions when she dozed like a log.
"H-Hey! Why are you in my tent, you idiot?!" Hal said in an almost shrieking manner.
Yet, his arms remained in place, seemingly reluctant to disturb the midget’s rest.
It was quite fortunate that his reprimand woke Ennya up.
The midget stretched, her palms pushing Hal’s face upwards.
"Oh? Hal! Good morning!" she greeted, as if her anger had vanished along with the night skies.
"Oh, right...I had a nightmare last night, so I took the liberty of sleeping with you, like when we were kids. Remember?"
"Yeah, but we’re not kids anymore, dumbass! What would your underlings say if they saw you coming out of my tent?! Quick, leave!"
"Huh? What the hell would they dare to say? I’ll sleep where I want to! Anyway, thanks for accommodating me. I’m off to eat, bye!"
Like a momentary blaze, she vanished from his sight, leaving Hal sighing and shaking his head.
"Aihh...that idiot..."
Meanwhile, as Ennya left, a thought flickered through her mind: ’He smelled nice, huh? I guess even stinky Hal takes regular baths now...’
Today marked the beginning of their three boring days of waiting.
The Fire and Chaos Platoons had nothing to do except eat, work out, and watch the camp.
Hal tried asking Zephyron for permission to relax by the pond with the remnants of Ennya’s platoon, using "building synergy" as his excuse, but his request was firmly rejected.
They could only stay in the camp and do whatever they could to pass the time.
Things were too peaceful, boringly peaceful...
On another battlefield, however, things weren’t so easy.
"Fire!!" roared an Imperial Wizard Army Commander at the passing Fell Beast horde, waving his arm forward.
A volley of spells then rained hell on the fell creations, wreaking havoc among their advancing ranks.
A majority of the Imperial Army Wizards were positioned at the elevated mountainsides, making it difficult for the Fell Beasts and the Fellkin Warriors to continue without taking them out.
What the army didn’t expect, however, was the sheer number of the fell creations.
Pierro and Felix had hunted down a lot of Fell Beasts over the past three weeks. Yet, there were still so many...
It seemed that the battle would be far more difficult than they expected.