Chapter 63

The Promise (6)

“By a monster…?”

Plato stared at the bloodstains and asked in a trembling voice.

“Were they… already attacked?”

But both the Commander and I immediately shook our heads.

The Commander also seemed to have recognized what the bloodstains meant, so I waited for him to explain. Instead, he merely looked at me as though telling me to do it.

I let out a quiet sigh.

“This wasn’t done by a monster.”

Plato flinched and asked,

“If it wasn’t a monster, then what are these bloodstains?”

“You probably wouldn’t know. You’ve never shot a person before.”

“Pardon?”

Plato tilted his head, apparently unable to understand what I meant at first.

A moment later, realization dawned on him, and he stared at the bloodstains in horror.

“Then you’re saying those are…”

“Yeah. Those aren’t traces left by a monster. They’re traces of one person shooting another.”

“A person, not a monster…”

Plato looked back and forth between the Commander and me.

“Your Excellency seems to agree as well. How did the two of you recognize that?”

“Look carefully.”

I pointed at the bloodstains with the barrel of the gun in my hand.

“The blood spread out like mist. Smaller droplets mean the blood scattered at high speed after the victim was struck. Droplets that fine indicate a firearm. Monsters wouldn’t shoot people with guns, so this was one person shooting another.”

Once I finished explaining, the Commander nodded as though confirming that I was right.

Plato’s mouth fell slightly open.

“No… I can understand how His Excellency would know, but how do you know, Lord Haydam? You’ve never shot anyone either.”

“I haven’t shot anyone, but I’ve seen plenty of people get shot.”

“Ah…”

Plato seemed to remember that I had been present when Lieutenant General Bartom  was executed by firing squad.

I had been splattered with the blood of someone who had been shot, and I had even been struck by a bullet fired by that Unicorn Zone bastard.

Of course I could recognize blood spatter caused by a gunshot.

Besides, I had also seen it frequently in crime dramas before possessing this body.

The Commander showed no sign of doubt, probably assuming I had witnessed plenty of such things before my regression.

“Were they attacked by another zone?”

The moment he heard that one person had shot another, Plato’s first thought was that another zone had ambushed them.

The Unicorn Zone player had crossed my mind as well, but we had traveled north while pursuing the monsters.

The Cola Zone was the northernmost of all the zones.

There was no reason for people from another zone to come all the way around and attack us from the north.

There was even a crevasse zone beyond this point.

Moreover, judging by the pattern of the bloodstains, it looked as though shots had been exchanged once and no further combat had followed.

“If it had been an ambush, there would be blood everywhere in a much more chaotic pattern. This was between people who knew each other.”

Plato looked at me in disbelief.

“Then you’re saying they shot soldiers from their own zone?”

“That’s what it looks like.”

“That can’t be…”

Plato stared blankly at the bloodstains scattered across the snow.

Then, scraping together every last bit of hope, he said,

“Could it have been an accidental discharge? They seem to have taken the body with them.”

“The amount of blood isn’t that large, so whoever was shot is probably still alive.”

“It was not an accident.”

This time, the Commander spoke.

“The blood trails lead in different directions… It appears Team Two exchanged fire and then split up.”

When we crouched and examined the snow more closely, details that had been difficult to see through the blizzard came into view.

Just as the Commander said, the blood trails extended in different directions.

We also found military boot prints that had not yet been completely covered by snow.

There were no prints that appeared to belong to soldiers from another zone.

The footprints and blood trails led away from one another.

As though the injured parties had bled while retreating in opposite directions.

“If it had been an accident, they would have had no reason to head in different directions… There is clearly something wrong with Team Two.”

Good thing we came looking for them.

Had we not followed, these traces would have been buried by the snow and disappeared.

Even if the newly commissioned officers never returned, everyone would have assumed they had simply been killed by monsters.

The leader of Team Two had specifically selected Lucas and Bones.

That meant he had been plotting something from the beginning.

Something other than a promotion.

“Damn it…”

Lucas muttered a curse under his breath as he walked while supporting the bleeding Bones.

Bones gave a faint laugh when he heard him.

“So you do know how to swear.”

“You think this is the time to laugh?”

Lucas and Bones had been selected by Team Two’s leader and sent out with the search party.

It had been one of the veteran soldiers who first realized their leader was guiding them in a strange direction.

“Team Leader, I don’t think this is the right way. Isn’t that Team Three over there?”

When the soldier pointed out that they seemed to have taken the wrong route, the team leader replied,

“I’m carrying out separate orders.”

Since the team leader had been one of the Commander’s men, the others had been uncertain but followed him anyway.

However, when the return signal was fired and he still refused to turn back, the team members finally realized something was wrong and protested.

The team leader instead shouted at them.

“Did none of you learn anything from watching Lord Haydam? If you’re men, you should be thinking about returning after earning merit!”

He had intended to pursue the monsters from the very beginning.

He told anyone who wanted to return that they were free to leave.

Naturally, Lucas, Bones, and several others insisted that they should turn back immediately.

But more than half the team declared that they were men too and wanted to return after earning merit, creating an atmosphere in which everyone was pressured to continue the search a little longer.

By then, the suspicious Bones had already sensed that something was wrong.

He moved close to Lucas and whispered,

“Lucas.”

“Why are you whispering?”

“Be careful. We’re surrounded.”

“Surrounded?”

Lucas flinched and looked around, but all he could see were members of their own team.

“It’s only our teammates.”

“I’m talking about them.”

“What do you mean?”

“Look carefully. They’re walking around us.”

At Bones’s warning, Lucas looked around again under the pretense of scanning for monsters.

The formation was definitely unusual for a group searching for monsters.

They were far too conscious of Lucas and Bones as they moved.

By then, Lucas also realized something was seriously wrong.

The team members who had argued that they should return were walking behind them without much thought.

But those who had insisted on continuing the search were carrying their weapons with the barrels pointed toward Lucas and Bones.

What was happening?

Just as the confused Lucas was about to question the team leader—

“Stop.”

The team leader, who had been walking at the front, raised his gun and turned around.

Bones immediately chambered a round and aimed at him.

The team leader, who had been about to shoot Bones, hesitated in surprise at Bones’s swift reaction.

At that moment, a bullet came flying toward Bones from the side.

The first shot grazed Bones’s arm.

The team member cursed and raised his gun again, this time aiming for Bones’s head, but Lucas shot the man’s arm first.

The bullet passed just above Bones’s head.

Even while enduring the burning pain that ran down from his elbow and suppressing a scream, Bones refused to let go of his weapon.

He pulled the trigger.

The team leader was struck in the shoulder and thrown backward.

When another team member aimed at Bones, Lucas stepped in front of him.

Then several others moved in front of Lucas and formed a human wall.

They were the team members who had argued that they should return after seeing the recall signal.

“Why are you shooting a newly commissioned officer?!”

Apparently, they had never been told anything by the team leader.

Aside from Lucas and Bones, Team Two had been reorganized by the Commander and Meursault, so some of its members were not the team leader’s subordinates.

While the others worked to stop the bleeding from his shoulder, the Team Two leader swept his gaze over the faces of those blocking him.

He seemed to recognize one of them and spoke.

“You became an officer with Lieutenant General Max’s sponsorship too, didn’t you?”

The team leader barely managed to rise while his shoulder was being treated and spoke in a mocking tone.

“Lieutenant General Max told me something. He said the little puppy he used to dote on had started running around thinking it was a wolf, so it was time to boil it and eat it.”

At those words, everyone present turned toward Bones.

There was no one there who didn’t know that Bones was an ardent follower of Lieutenant General Max.

Bones and the soldiers shielding him stared back in disbelief.

“Say something that makes sense. Bones only just graduated from the military academy. What could he possibly have done for Lieutenant General Max himself to order his death?”

“You’ve all heard about the rebellion at the graduation ceremony, haven’t you?”

This subjugation campaign consisted of only a small elite force, most of them graduates of the military academy.

Among the senior officers, it was already well known that the graduating junior officers had demanded the abolition of the recommendation system and the introduction of entrance examinations.

Even so—

“You’re saying he ordered a young officer’s death over something like that? You expect us to believe that?”

“It wasn’t ‘something like that.’ Lower your weapons and step aside if you don’t want to die too.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Even if Lieutenant General Max truly gave that order, we still can’t do that.”

In the end, Team Two split into two groups, each aiming their weapons at the other.

One of the senior officers glanced at Lucas, who was supporting Bones.

“Lucas. Take Bones and run.”

“But…”

“No buts! Run until your feet bleed and join another team.”

Lucas clenched his teeth and began running while supporting Bones, whose face was growing deathly pale.

After running for some time, Lucas had to admit that they were lost in the snowfield.

An endless expanse of snow stretched before them.

But even more painful than realizing they had lost their way was the sound of gunfire that echoed from far behind during their escape.

How many of those people were still alive?

“Damn it.”

Lucas cursed like Bones would have.

Bones, who had been letting out pained groans, gave a weak chuckle and pushed Lucas away.

“Hey… stop wasting your strength and get lost.”

“Get lost?”

“Leave me here and go. It’ll be easier to find your way without me.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. You’ll die.”

“That’s what I’m telling you to do. Let me die.”

“Bones!”

Lucas shouted, but Bones yelled even louder.

“Lieutenant General Max wants me dead!”

Lucas fell silent.

He still couldn’t believe that Lieutenant General Max had ordered soldiers to kill Bones.

Max was famous for treating both his adopted sons and ordinary soldiers without formality.

Even though Lucas was sponsored by another officer, he had always regarded Max as a man worthy of respect.

And yet, because a newly commissioned officer had refused to obey him, he had ordered that boy to be dragged far away and killed?

“He… He wants it. Father wants me dead… Then… letting myself die is the only way I can repay everything he’s done for me…!”

“Is that really what you have to say when senior officers sacrificed themselves to save you?”

Lucas flared up at Bones’s continued talk of repaying Max’s kindness and released the arm supporting him.

Bones collapsed facedown onto the snow and began sobbing.

“How… How could Father do this to me?! Earning Father’s approval was everything to me! I became an officer for Father!”

“Bones…”

Normally, Bones always called him “Lieutenant General Max.”

Even though he thought of Max as his father, he acted as though something terrible would happen if he ever called him that.

Only at a moment like this did the word father finally slip from his lips.

Lucas knew that Bones had sincerely regarded Max as his father, so he couldn’t bring himself to say anything more.

If the officer who had sponsored Lucas had arranged his murder, Lucas would probably be lying on the ground and wailing too.

Still facedown in the snow, Bones sobbed and muttered,

“Just leave me here to die… Even if I go back, there’s nothing left for me anymore…”

Lucas understood Bones’s despair, but he couldn’t simply abandon him as easily as Bones suggested.

Rumble…

An unknown tremor shook the ground.

Lucas lost his balance and collapsed beside Bones.

As though answering Bones’s despair, the earth continued to quake.

The tremors finally stopped.

Then a long shadow fell over Lucas.

“Uh…”

Overcome by a sense of dread, Lucas slowly raised his head.

A gigantic monster was looking down at them.

“What…”

The moment he saw it, Lucas lost the ability to speak.

Compared to this creature, the large-class monsters they had fought that morning seemed like nothing.

Its awe-inspiring bulk was like an enormous cliff standing directly before them.

Covered from head to toe in white fur, the monster stared down at them with its mouth smeared in blood.

Lucas barely managed to call Bones’s name.

“Bo… Bones… Get… up…”

The monster watched him mutter in a voice no louder than an ant’s.

Then the corners of its mouth curled upward into a disturbing smile.

“Bones! Get up, you bastard!”

Lucas snapped back to his senses, raised his weapon, and backed away.

But Bones remained sprawled on the ground with a resigned expression.

“Get a grip, Bones! Are you really going to die in a place like this?!”

He shouted, though he doubted his voice was truly reaching Bones in his current state.

Even if Lucas abandoned Bones and fled, could he really survive?

He knew that running now was unlikely to save his life.

Even so, Lucas chose to aim his trembling gun at the monster rather than flee.

And then—

“Get down.”

A familiar voice came from beyond the monster.

A thunderous blast rang out.

The monster’s abdomen burst apart, and through the gaping hole, Lucas could see what stood behind it.

Haydam was there, holding a thick firearm whose recoil no child should have been capable of enduring.