Chương 159: Chapter 156 - Consequences

"And all of you agreed to this decision?" I said, letting out my mana as if I were ready to fight. I was already prepared to lose my position, but that did not mean I would make it easy for them to take it away from me. Victor and Caleb looked away, unable to meet my eyes. Aaron also looked down, as if afraid I would point something out to him. But Colin and Rowan stood their ground. More surprisingly, instead of Rowan, Colin spoke up.

"Yes, we do, and there is nothing you can do about it." Listening to Colin, I wanted to break his jaw. Looking at him like this, I could not believe I had once considered him a friend. But he was right. I could not do anything about it. It was an army rule. Basically, in the absence of superior officers, if commanding personnel of equal rank lost confidence in the operational lead, a new operational lead could be assigned by majority agreement.

This rule was usually used in active combat situations, but it could still be applied here.

"And who is going to be the new combat leader?" I asked.

"I will be the leader," Rowan replied.

"As I should have been from the start." The confidence in Rowan's voice surprised me. Here I was, someone who had proven himself in front of all the soldiers on the journey here, and even I had never shown this type of confidence. I still hesitated to say I was fit to lead. In complete contradiction to that, Rowan, whose strategies I had proven wrong multiple times, was standing here demanding my position.

"I won't mind following Rowan, but let me know what led all of you to this decision. What makes Rowan more qualified to lead the combat unit?" I asked, without even addressing him as a sergeant.

"I am—""I am not asking you. I am asking the others," I said, stopping Rowan mid-sentence. Disrespecting him would only create more difficulties for me, but I was going to have to watch my back around him anyway. I might as well let him know what I thought of him. Rowan's face turned red. Colin waited for the other sergeants to speak, and thankfully for him, Aaron spoke up.

"Please, Sergeant Edward, don't take this as something aimed at you. You are young and still have a lot to learn. We are still one unit. We just think you are a little too young to lead, especially given the political situation in the village. We already know most villagers and barbarians are against each other. Here, decisions require someone who knows how to make hard choices. Sergeant Rowan has experience with these types of decisions. He can help us all.

"Sergeant Rowan has already established a good relationship with the village and even got us a little extra support from the village head yesterday. This will allow us to complete our work quickly." I did not believe Aaron's words. After Rowan, the person who benefited the most from this leadership issue was Aaron. Obviously, he would come up with some way to convince himself I was not fit to lead. But his last statement surprised me.

I had not been aware that Rowan had already started dealing with the village head. I sighed and looked at Aaron, then at Caleb and Victor.

"I have seen the political decisions he makes," I scoffed.

"Decisions focused more on short-term solutions than finding the root cause. I hope you don't come to regret it." If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Without waiting for their reply, I pushed my way through the sergeants. Just as I was about to leave, I stopped and turned back.

"I will follow military orders from Rowan, but do not forget that Halvar is part of my squad now. An attack on him will be considered treason," I said. Then I made my way to the assigned house. As soon as I entered the hall, I looked at Peter and asked, "Any news on Barry?"

"Yes. Last night, he crossed paths with me and informed me that he had stayed the first few days at a tavern. He is trying to find a way to make friends with the Draknir," Peter replied.

"See if you can visit the tavern he is staying at today. I no longer want him focused on the Draknir. Tell him to focus on the village head. See if he can show a little of his combat power and join the village head's guards. I need to know what type of communication the village head and Rowan are having," I ordered Peter.

"Do you suspect Sergeant Rowan was involved in the fire yesterday?" Peter asked.

"Not until today, but I just learned he has already established a good relationship with the village head and has already received some benefits from it," I replied.

"What type of benefits?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary, just extra manpower. In a random village, this would be the responsibility of the construction leader, but recent events have me worried. It could be that the village head and Rowan planned yesterday's events just to remove me, or that Rowan was already planning something, and the fire gave him the perfect opportunity," I said. I did not think Rowan would collude with the village head. It was borderline treason, and for all his arrogance, I did not think he would go that far.

But it did not hurt to be more cautious. Also, I already had someone who knew about the Draknir. Letting Barry collect information about them would just be redundant now, so the best place to put him would be close to the village head.

"I will get it done," Peter replied.

"Peter, can you also bring Halvar to me?" Peter nodded and left the house to bring Halvar. Meanwhile, I arranged gear for him. These were a standard-issue army shield, spear, and armor, nothing compared to the quality of my squad's gear. And I was not about to hand rune gear to someone who was going to be just a temporary member of the squad. Once Peter brought Halvar in, I asked Peter to leave us alone.

"Soldier, I don't know what you want from me, but just kill me here. Those kids are still young and quick to anger, but without them, the Draknir children will starve," Halvar said in a pleading tone, almost like the last desperate attempt of someone trying to save his people. His words relieved some of the frustration I felt about my decision.

"No, I am not killing you." A look of horror appeared on his face, probably because he thought I would make it a public spectacle.

"Neither are we killing you in public," I said. It took Halvar a second to register my words. When he did, a little tension left his shoulders, but it looked like he was waiting for me to mention my demands.

"You will be joining my squad. Here are your badge, shield, armor, and spear. My squad is the death squad of the Royal Army, where criminals are placed. You will be joining it now," I said, pointing to the badge and gear lying on the ground.

"Why? What have I done to you?" he asked, horror returning to his face, as if joining the Royal Army was just as bad as dying. Then, suddenly, the look in his eyes changed into something I had seen far too many times in beasts. His eyes resembled those of a wounded animal preparing for one final attack. At first, I thought he would attack me, but when his gaze moved to the spear on the ground, I knew what he was going for.

I released my mana, forcing him back, then extended my hand and caught his shoulder before he could move.

"Before you do anything stupid, listen to me. If you die, their next targets will be the young men who were fighting yesterday. And to save you, I have lost my position as leader as well. Now I will have to follow someone else's orders, even if those orders are to kill young Draknir." Halvar stopped struggling and looked at me in surprise. Ignoring his expression, I continued.

"I know you do not want to be in the Royal Army, and I do not want you in my squad either. But the only way we can both get what we want is by finding out who started the fire. I have my own plans in place to find the people responsible, but you know this village and its people far better than any of us."

"Why are you doing this? What do you want? I thought you wanted to kill me," Halvar asked in disbelief.

"Nothing. I want nothing from you. The only reason I said those words yesterday was to find out whether you were responsible for the fire or not."

"That still does not explain why you lost your position for me."

"It has nothing to do with you. I have my own reasons. The only things I want from you are help navigating this village and help finding out who was responsible for the fire. That's it." Halvar nodded.

"Here, wear this badge all the time. I want you to go talk to your people. Explain your situation to them, ask them to avoid causing any trouble for some time, and see if you can find out whether anyone saw what happened. I think they will respond to you better than they would to any of us."

"Yes, sir," Halvar said. Then, almost inaudibly, he mumbled, "Thank you."