Leorino was fleeing across the plains in the night.
If he were Ionia, he would have reached the inner fort by now, but the braziers of both the outer fort behind him and the inner fort in front of him still glimmered in the distance.
Some time had already passed since his escape. It was likely that Smirnov and the Gdaniraques had noticed his absence, but it would not be so easy to find him in the dark grasslands.
The darkness was his only ally now.
He moved his legs frantically, hoping to gain as much distance as he could before dawn.
Whenever he found a rock or a thicket where he could hide if he curled up, he would crouch down for a brief respite. Then he would resume his crawl across the cool, dew-dampened grass again.
His pace was frustratingly slow. Nevertheless, Leorino was making progress.
“Hah… Hah…”
There were several huts set up for both rest and surveillance in the buffer zone. But considering the possibility that the huts could already be occupied by enemy soldiers, he could not ask them for help.
“…Hah, hah… Ugh.”
Parts of his body were burning hot and numb, while the rest felt freezing cold. His feet felt heavy because of the two layers of shoes he was wearing. But if he took them off, he would freeze from the bottom up in no time. Even if it wasn’t snowing, people could freeze to death in the cold.
“…Oof.”
He stumbled over something and fell. He had lost count of how many times he had tripped by now. It was too dark to see where he was walking, so there was little he could do to avoid it.
“Move, keep moving…”
Leorino scolded his legs.
He pounded his thighs with his fists to stimulate them, but he had already overworked his legs so much that they would not listen. Leorino’s back shook at his own helplessness. As he lay on the ground, his body grew increasingly colder.
Tears welled up in his eyes as he wondered if this was the end of his escape.
Looking up to the heavens, he saw the dazzlingly beautiful starry sky.
I miss you…
But the flicker of stars was so distant, he could never reach them, no matter how hard he tried.
Leorino’s body stiffened. The sound of several people’s footsteps falling on the grass and voices came closer. He quickly grabbed a handful of dirt and rubbed it all over his face. He pulled down the cloth wrapped around his hair to cover his face as best he could.
“<Hey, you there!>”
They must have noticed him. They called him from afar, their footsteps approaching.
“<Hey!>”
“<What are you doing here? Are you hurt?>”
The men had strong features and bearded faces.
Their language sounded just like what the boy soldier had spoken. They were Gdaniraque soldiers. His stolen overcoat must have made them think he was one of them.
“<You’re scouting, too? If you’re not feeling well, go back.>”
“<You’ll freeze to death if you stay here.>”
He didn’t know what they were saying.
He couldn’t respond.
“<Hey, you listening to me?>”
He stood up with what little strength he had left.
Unable to understand Gdaniraquois, Leorino bowed his head in silence.
“<Hey… Wait. Something’s wrong with him.>”
The man’s tone changed. Leorino was startled.
The soldiers drew their swords one after another. Alongside the sharp metallic sound, the soldiers began shouting something to Leorino.
They wouldn’t be fooled so easily.
Leorino brought his hand to his chest and grabbed his dagger.
But the enemies were soldiers from the mercenary state of Gdaniraque. He was surrounded by men of much larger stature than him, unlike the boy soldier from earlier. And it was three against one. With a single dagger, Leorino wouldn’t stand a chance.
One of the soldiers poked Leorino in the stomach with the tip of his sword, as if checking if he would resist.
Thanks to his thick overcoat, the sword did not pierce Leorino, but his weakened legs could not hold him up any longer, and he fell to the ground again.
Seeing this, the men barked in a foreign language.
Leorino closed his eyes in despair, knowing this was the end. That was when it happened.
In front of him, the enemy soldier’s eyes went wide, and he fell.
The remaining Gdaniraque soldiers collapsed one after another.
What had just happened?
Behind the Gdaniraque soldiers, several men emerged from the grass. Leorino panicked all over again.
But the next moment, he heard a voice that took his breath away.
“Another Gdaniraque soldier spotted!”
Fanorenese.
The Royal Army…!
Leorino could only stare.
The man was clearly a soldier of the Royal Army. He found Leorino lying on the ground and alerted someone behind him. Then, a strikingly large shadow stepped into view.
“Then kill him already. We don’t want him calling for help.”
“Yes, sir.”
Leorino’s eyes widened. He knew that voice.
“…Ebbo?”
His voice was quiet. But the sword-wielding soldier and Ebbo Steiger froze when they heard it.
“Wait, Gehman! Don’t kill him!”
He rushed to stop his subordinate as he was about to bring down his sword upon Leorino.
“…No way.”
“Ebbo…”
Leorino called his name again.
Ebbo quickly pushed his subordinate aside and stood in front of the Gdaniraque soldier. He was a thin young man, covered in mud and blood. His face was almost impossible to make out in the moonlight.
But his voice was unmistakable.
“Ebbo…it’s me, Leorino.”
A mud-stained hand reached for him. Ebbo took the hand in disbelief.
“Captain… Why are you here…?!”
The young man Ebbo Steiger had found was the reincarnation of Ionia Bergund, his former superior in the Special Forces, with whom he had parted in the royal capital.
Why was this young man, who was supposed to be protected better than anyone in the royal capital, out on the front lines like this, all alone?
Ebbo reached out with both hands, trembling with fear, and lifted the young man off the ground. He was thin and light.
In the moonlight, Ebbo wiped his small face, stained with blood, mud, and tears, with the palm of his hand, revealing his delicate, lovely beauty that was in no way suited for the battlefield.
“But how…? God…!”
“Ebbo… Ebbo…!”
Ebbo’s men watched them, dumbfounded. To their great surprise, their superior officer was holding up a man who appeared to be an enemy soldier and weeping.
“Captain Ebbo…wh-who is that?”
“…This is not a Gdaniraque soldier. He is the son of the Margrave of Brungwurt, and the general’s fiancé, Lord Leorino Cassieux.”
The soldiers were shocked. They had never imagined that a young man wearing the uniform of an enemy soldier could be the general’s fiancé, but the young man did indeed speak Fanorenese, and Ebbo treated him with a certain reverence.
“…Wh-why is he here…?”
“We can figure that out later. We must get Lord Leorino to safety as soon as possible… Lord Leorino, I’ll carry you. May I?”
“Yes.”
Ebbo knew about Leorino’s legs. Realizing that he could not stand on his own, he lifted him off the ground.
Leorino could hardly believe his luck.
As soon as the big, strong man picked him up, his body felt as heavy as mud, and he relaxed in Ebbo’s arms.
“Ebbo…I’m sorry. I can’t move my legs anymore… It’s hard for me to walk.”
“It’s all right. I will take you to safety.”
Leorino nodded gratefully. Ebbo instructed his men in a hushed voice.
“Hide the corpses of the enemy soldiers in the tall grass. Cancel the reconnaissance. We’re going back to the inner fortress.”
The men did not fully understand, but they nodded at their superior’s order regardless. They set to work concealing the bodies in the grass.
Ebbo’s heart was still pounding in his chest. They had just found someone who had no business being in the middle of a war zone like this. Of course he was surprised.
He recalled what had just happened. Leorino had been found by enemy soldiers and was about to be attacked. It was a miracle that they were able to save him in the nick of time.
Ebbo and his men had noticed something strange in the outer fortress, so they gathered a small team to scout the area.
As they feared, Gdaniraque soldiers had already entered the buffer zone.
This convinced Ebbo that the enemy must have already seized the outer fortress in the same manner as on that day.
Whenever Ebbo and his men found enemy soldiers, they took them by surprise and disposed of them.