Chương 165: Chapter 162 - After the Mission*

"Sergeant Edward, did you intentionally hide the information about the village head's activities from the other sergeants to prove them wrong?" asked one of the intelligence officers, who had especially arrived from Stonegate. We were sitting in a dark room with a small mana plate in front of the officer. We had just arrived at the fort today, and I was dragged into this interrogation. It had taken us more than one month to arrive at Fort Darrow.

While I told everyone we would be moving to Fort Darrow, on the second day of the journey we washed ourselves in a creek to avoid the possibility of our scent being detected, and then we divided into two groups. The injured privates were given a carriage driven by one horse. This would allow them to travel quickly to Fort Darrow, while we kept four horses to tie up the prisoners and made our way to Fort Dunvale. Fort Dunvale was the closest fort to the northern frontier.

The only reason I kept mentioning Fort Darrow in the village was in hopes that if a Tier-4 arrived at the village, he would think the whole squad was going to Fort Darrow. It did put the injured soldiers at risk, but they were willing to take it, especially Aaron and Colin, who saw it as the only way to survive getting executed. We arrived at Fort Dunvale on day 7. The first thing we did was inform Captain Dunvale about the things we had discovered during the mission and submit the evidence we had collected.

The captain was shocked by the presence of a Blood Chief. Upon hearing that, the whole command building of the fort sprang into action. Once all the evidence was analyzed and the prisoners were interrogated, and the captain was one hundred percent sure of the existence of the Blood Chief. He informed Stonegate about it. We spent the next 20 days at the fort waiting, waiting for things to calm down and for the Captain to declare the route from Fort Dunvale to Fort Darrow safe.

On the 20th day, we were allowed to leave for Fort Darrow, but we were not alone. We were escorted by two Vanguard squads. When we arrived at the fort, we were greeted by Captain Darrow himself, alongside a few officers from the intelligence department, and that was the first time I had seen the Captain lose his temper. Thankfully, his anger was not pointed at me but at Rowan. I was afraid he would kill Rowan on the spot.

Surprisingly, a lot of his anger came from the fact that Rowan ignored the Captain's order and doubted the leader he had chosen. Sadly, Rowan did not come directly under the Captain, so Rowan's and Aaron's cases would be analyzed by people from Stonegate, leading to me being interrogated by officers from Stonegate for the last 2 days. As for Colin, I learned that he was court-martialed the day he arrived and sent to Stonegate as a civilian.

"No. As I said before, we were ambushed by mercenaries. All I knew about the village head was that he hated Halvar," I said. They had asked me these types of questions many times, each one trying to prove that in some way, I willingly misled Rowan for some sort of revenge.

"This Halvar, he is a barbarian, isn't he? Why did you not kill him? We heard you even made him acting village head, while you had no issue killing the village head's family members. Do you sympathize with barbarians?" the officer asked. This time, I felt more than the usual pull from his compulsion skill.

"Why should I have killed him? Are you suggesting the army should kill innocent citizens of Avalon just because they are a little different?" I asked simply and shrugged off his skill. My Intelligence had been above 100 for some time now. Now, if they wanted to compel me to answer, they would need at least a captain-level individual. The royal army followed strict rules made by the princess Aurora herself.

Just hinting that the royal army should kill civilians without investigation could get this officer into trouble.

"N-no, I just mean, how were you so sure that Halvar was innocent, so much so that you assigned him to your squad?" I sighed. I was getting tired of trying to prove my innocence and these answering the same nonsensical questions.

"I talked to him, and I did not know he was innocent. If you have forgotten, my squad is a death squad. That is where we assign criminals," I replied. The officer looked at me with a raised eyebrow, irritation visible on his face. Probably the ineffectiveness of his skill was affecting him, or my last replies were not what he had expected. He looked down at the file he was carrying and started turning the pages, trying to find something.

Once he found it, he tapped the page twice and said,"Hmmm, now that you have mentioned that your squad is a death squad, even so, Barry and Silas were allowed to do sensitive work as spies. Why? This Barry is a thief and killer, one of the worst criminals in this fort. What were your intentions in choosing him for this task?" Before I could say anything, one door to the right opened abruptly, and Captain Darrow barged into the room.

Following that, the door to the left also opened with almost the same intensity, revealing someone I had previously met. It was the intelligence captain who had interrogated me at Stonegate, Captain Cassian Varro. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"What is the meaning of this, Darrow?" Captain Cassian asked.

"I was about to ask the same thing. I am done with your interrogator trying to find fault in my sergeant," the captain said. Both their mana clashed inside the small room, making it hard to even breathe.

"My sergeant was the one who delivered vital information, and he has contributed a lot to the security of Avalon. I will not let him be treated like someone at fault. I thought you were better than this, Cassian," Captain Darrow continued.

"What do you want me to do? You know interrogation is common when such allegations are brought against fellow sergeants," Captain Cassian replied.

"Yes, but I also know what your officer is trying to do. That fucking..." Captain Darrow took a deep breath, stopping himself mid-sentence. Then, without giving Captain Cassian a chance to reply, Captain Darrow looked at me and said, "Sergeant Edward, you are dismissed."

"What..."

"If you have any more questions, ask me," Captain Darrow cut Captain Cassian off, standing firmly opposite him. I stood up and made my way out through the door Captain Darrow had entered. I was relieved and happy that Captain Darrow had come. I was not afraid that I would get blamed, but I was afraid that I would slip up or that the officer would make me look incompetent in an effort to justify Rowan's actions. Letting out a sigh of relief, I made my way out.

I found a quiet place and sat down, trying to control my nerves. Even after making so much progress and spending almost a year in the wild fighting, experiencing Tier-4 mana so close was still unnerving. Once my nerves were under control, I opened my status screen. +22000 XP 12000 XP: Leading the mission and uncovering a threat against Avalon 8000 XP: Battle 2000 XP: Patrol and night watch Name: Edward Class: Battlefield Coordinator Rank: Initiate (T2) Level: 37 / 50 EXP: 1000 / 11, 100 Elemental Affinity: 0.

1% Wind Mana Cultivation: Tier 2 (57/100) Mana Nodes: 4 / 7 Physical Attributes Constitution: 74. 4 → 77. 4 Strength: 57. 9 → 60. 9 Agility: 55. 2 → 57. 2 Spiritual Attributes Intelligence: 100. 2 → 107. 6 Wisdom: 84. 1 → 89. 5 Willpower: 81. 1 → 85. 2 HP: 774 / 774 HP Regen: 195.

5 per day MP: 3184 / 3312 MP Regen: 320 per hour Class Skills [Operational Cognition (A)] – Level 40 → 42 [Unbroken Stride (UC)] – Level 45 → 50* [Flowing Spear Style (UC)] – Level 50* [Perceptive Instinct (UC)] – Level 44 → 50* [Vital Restoration (UC)] – Level 41 → 50* General Skills [Battlefield Command (UC)] – Level 36 → 40 [Triage Ward (UC)] – Level 40 → 50* [Rune Analysis (UC)] – Level 42 → 50* [Fortification Planner (UC)] – Level 20 → 30 [Logistics Routecraft (UC)] – Level 30 → 40 [Mana Manipulation (A)] – Level 15 → 20 [Mana Reinforcement (UC)] – Level 50* The past four months on the mission were eye-opening.

While we had only two battles during that span, it was my first experience leading this many people, especially the trip back from Frontier Village, which pushed my planning and logistics skills to the extreme. Covering a 12-day journey to Fort Dunvale in 7 days was not an easy task. It required close monitoring of everyone's mana levels and resources while optimizing the route in such a way that we passed through resource nodes and avoided dangerous beasts.

Hence the increase of 10 levels in [Fortification Planner (UC)] and [Logistics Routecraft (UC)]. My breakthrough in rune and core research also helped my skill [Rune Analysis (UC)] reach its uncommon-tier. If there was one disappointment on my status screen, it was that even after a year of trying to develop my new style that would combine spear skill with mana shield and mana arc spell, I had yet to receive an upgrade for that.

I started to suspect that the reason was not my lack of spear skill or my control over mana, but that if or when I created that skill, it would be higher than advanced tier. By the time I was done checking my status, one of the privates from the captain's office approached me. Saluting me, he said,"Sergeant, the captain has requested your presence." I nodded, and we made our way to the captain's office. As I entered the captain's office, Captain Darrow nodded and gestured at the chair in front of him.

"Sergeant Edward, take a seat." I was surprised why the captain was asking me to sit. I was also a little afraid that he had some bad news for me, or worst of all, that the officer from Stonegate wanted to interrogate me again.

"You have nothing to worry about, Sergeant," the captain said, reading my expression.

"I have sent the officer from Stonegate away. Don't take it personally. It is just hard for these officers from Stonegate to believe that someone from our fort is better at dealing with civilians than their sergeants."

"Thank you, sir. Also, thank you for supporting me today," I said.

"You have nothing to be thankful for. It is my job. Moreover, up until now, I was not able to praise you for what you have done on this mission. But now that we are done with all the formalities, let me tell you, you have done the fort proud and the Darrow Battalion proud. For that, I am rewarding you with 20 mana crystals and a sword made by a top-tier craftsman of my house.

I know you are more proficient with a spear, but as an officer on track to become a lieutenant, you should at least carry a sword with you," Captain said, passing me a beautifully crafted sword, made of steel with quality almost the same as my spear.

"Thank you, sir," I said, accepting the sword. I loved my spear and did not plan on using a sword, but a beautiful sword was a symbol of power and position. Getting one was an honor and proof of my worth in the army.

"That is not it. It has been almost two years since you joined the army. Normally, you would be eligible for one month off, but with all the recent developments, all holidays are canceled. Thankfully, because of your contribution, I was able to get you two months off on the condition that you will travel with your permanent unit, stay at Velkar Town, and if an invasion happens, you will support Fort Dunvale."

"If you agree to these conditions, you can take two months off from now," the captain said.

"Will it be okay if I think about it?" I asked.

"Sure."

"Umm..." I hesitated a little before asking my question.

"Captain, do we know the result of the investigation in Rowan's case?"

"Yes, I will announce it tomorrow alongside your achievement, but Rowan was demoted and fined one year of his salary. As for Sergeant Aaron, he was also fined 10 crystals," Captain replied.