I am the Monarch Chapter 74: Danger inside the danger (5)

“Mmm.”

Io looked at Pens's report and fell into his thoughts.

Pens and Oren.

Even if the locations were different, it was just too different.

On top of that, they were sure that it was the top option and not the 2nd or 3rd in reserve.

There was a high possibility for one of these to be the enemy's trap.

No, perhaps both of them could be it.

Then, Oren mumbled with a blunt voice.

“Our organization is made up through the support of the Phillip's family and has steadily expanded its force. There are more than 300 active members. It's a tolerably small squad.”

His eyes moved to Pens.

“We started gathering and analyzing information in the eastern region the moment war started. There are high possibilities for the storage we found, to be the real one.”

Pens didn't show any reaction.

'We gathered and analyzed information even before war started.'

He wanted to say that but he couldn't.

It was better to hide Chris's agency the more they could and not expose it, while thinking of the future.

But Aaron wasn't planning to just endure it and let it pass.

“It seems like this young friend is ignoring our information squad.”

He continued saying with quite a displeased voice and expression.

“Just looking at the staff number, our side certainly has less. However, he had already found several supply lines of Istel kingdom. On top of that, we grasped their surprise attack beforehand and annihilated them by counterattacking. It's a squad that already has its history.”

At those words, Oren shut his mouth.

Even if he was receiving the support of the Phillip's family, he was still a commoner.

He couldn't say anything back at Aaron yet.

Only, there was a displeasing look in his eyes and pride about his organization mixed in it.

Then, Roan's voice was heard.

“Anyways, we are in a situation that we have to check the two places.”

At those words everyone nodded.

Roan looked at Oren and continued saying.

“We decided to check if the information you brought us was true or not, so how about you go check if our information is real or not?”
“We?”

Oren had a confused expression at the unexpected proposal.

Io, who was listening, hit his knees.

“That would be good.”

If the concerned parties checked it themselves, they would be convinced more easily.

Aaron and Oren, who pondered for a moment, nodded at the same time.

“Certainly, if we check it with our own eyes, there wouldn't be useless trouble.”

There wouldn't be saying such as stealing away the merits, or upturning the truth.

They had to block fighting between themselves in front of a big battle.

“Then. Go and check the truth with your own eyes.”

These were Io's order.

Aaron, Roan, Oren and Pens bowed at the same time.

“Yes. We understand.”

It was a short reply, but with strength.

The four people were composed and confident, just like one person.

Roan left Io's tent and grabbed Pens' shoulders.

“Mister Pens.”

Pens slightly turned his head and looked at Roan.

Roan looked at Pens' eyes fixedly and continued saying.

“I believe in the information you, Chris's agency, and the information squad has brought me.”
“Ah……”

Pens let out a low exclamation.

Roan looked at him and smiled faintly.

“Let's show everyone which information agency is the real one and the best.”

He was confident.

But it wasn't because he remembered things related to the storage.

When he first came running to him bringing the paper with the location written in it.

The expression from back then.

'An expression filled with confidence.'

Pens was overly careful and meticulous.

Because of that, his words and actions were heavy, and the expression of his face was consistent.

But that him was smiling brightly.

'If I don't believe in my people, who will?'

Roan trusted Pens.

The Pens that smiled more brightly than anyone.

*****

The next day, the small scaled squad left Lancephil's territory.

As they had the role of just checking the location of the storage, the number of the soldiers was quite low.

As they picked the nimblest soldiers and the ones with the best stamina among the 12 squads, that number amounted only to 40.

And the one leading them was none other than Roan.

He was sent off by Aaron and moved towards Istel kingdom.

Roan divided the 40 people again in groups of 5 and only moved when the sun had set or at dawn.

The reason he split the already small squad.

It wasn't only to dodge the eyes of the enemy.

'If the location of the storage is true, we have to secure a road to approach them secretly while evading their eyes.

Roan wasn't thinking of only checking the location and returning.

He was thinking beyond that.

Because of that, the movement speed was really slow.

However, Roan didn't rush and that was the same for the soldiers.

They obeyed Roan's orders.

And after nine days passed like that, they could arrive at the storage located in a deep place in the enemy territory.

It was a storage located between mountains.

'They are located in a normal location.'

It wasn't that far from the front lines and was a comfortable location to come and go.

On top of that, the main road was well extended from east to west.

It was the optimal place to store their supplies.

On top of that, different from the last time, there were quite a lot of guards in it.

It had an amazing number of tents, sacks, and soldiers.

'Is this the real location?'

Roan sent the soldiers to the sides of the hill for now and ordered them to check the storage thoroughly.

At the same time, he climbed to the peak of the mountain.

'Fortunately, there's nothing covering my sight.'

As he climbed to the peak of the mountain, he could see the entire storage in his eyes.

If you were a normal person, you'd only be able to see its shape.

But Roan was different.

He had Kalian's tear with him.

'It's quite a solid camp.'

Roan concentrated his sight on several places of the storage.

And every time he did so, the place he looked at seemed as big as if it was in front of him.

Quite some time passed by.

But he didn't discover anything wrong.

'The abilities of the organization are quite gre…….'

When he thought up to that point, one scene caught his eye.

A middle aged soldier, who was circling the surroundings as if he was patrolling, approached a young soldier.

At first glance, it was a really natural scene.

However, the problem was the thing the young soldier was holding.

'Report?'

It was a pile of documents made with mixed old paper and rough leather.

It obviously was a report.

Although he couldn't see the exact contents, what was filling the side were letters.

'A normal soldier can read?'

When Roan revealed that he knew how to read and write, Aaron, Gale, Mendel, etc. were really surprised.

That's how much strange it was for a normal soldier, and a normal soldier at that, that had to battle while putting their life on the line, to know how to read.

The middle aged man swept through the papers for a moment and then, made a handsign towards the soldiers.

The guys that were circling the surroundings started to gather one by one.

And then, they started to read the report in turns.

'All the soldiers know how to read?'

At this point in time, it was almost impossible for more than tens of soldiers to know how to read.

'Something's not right.'

The ones that knew how to read and fight.

At this point in time, only knights knew how to do it.

'If they really are knights……'

He had a method to check it.

Roan inserted mana into Kalian's tear.

At that moment, the world was dyed in a golden colour.

“Ah….”

Roan let out a low exclamation.

The golden stream was filling the camp, the mana.

And the mana of that place moved really roughly compared to other places.

On top of that.

'Mana flows in the bodies of the patrol guards.'

They certainly weren't normal soldiers.

'They were the knights of Istel.'

And quite skilled ones on top of that.

Their number surpassed 500.

'It's a force that amounts to more than two knight squads.'

Even if the storage was important, there was no reason to dispatch 500 knights at the rear like this.

On top of that, it was even weird for the knights, who had strong pride, to be wearing the armors of normal soldiers.

'It's a trap.'

The thought filled his head.

As there were thousands of normal soldiers protecting the outside of the camp, at first glance it seemed a real storage. But there were hidden knights at the center.

'If it wasn't for Kalian's tear, it would have been dangerous.'

A sigh of relief flowed.

'I'll have to use Kalian's tear more earnestly from now on.'

He wasn't using it much because of the pain it inflicted him until now.

'But after that day, much of that pain has disappeared.'

The moment he escaped the fake storage.

After the chill exploded out of his body, it became easy for him to handle mana.

It was a feeling that the explosive and rough mana became calm.

And maybe it was because of that, that when he inserted mana to the tear, the pain wasn't that severe.

'Although I couldn't find the cause in the end, it became easier to learn the Flamdor mana technique.'

But of course, the speed of accumulating mana was still slow.

Roan wrote out the deployment of the soldiers in the storage and climbed down the mountain.

Soon, the soldiers were all gathered up.

The results of asking their opinions was that most of them couldn't find strange points.

They just replied that the feeling it gave wasn't good.

But Pens was certainly different.

“Looking at the location of the camp, the deployment, and the number of soldiers it seems like a real storage. But……”

He seemed to hesitate for a moment and then, continued saying.

“Looking at the armors, weapons, movements, and military discipline, they are an excessively powerful force. Although it's true that the location of the storage is important, taking into account that the front line is in a deadlock, it doesn't make sense that they are leaving this strong force in the rear.”

At those words Roan faintly smiled and nodded.

Although Pens couldn't grasp the flow of mana as he didn't have Kalian's tear, but instead, made the same conclusion after looking at the equipment and the faces.

“Yes, I also think like that. They don't look like soldiers protecting the storage.”

Roan replied in a low voice.

“They have an attacking posture that seems like they may be attacked at any moment.”

He took in a deep breath.

His sight moved to below the storage.

“Even so, this place…….”

He smiled bitterly towards Pens.

“Seems like a trap.”

Oren and his agency would probably also have analyzed and checked the storage thoroughly.

'Even I was about to get tricked.'

Roan looked at Pens.

'But Pens found weird points even without Kalian's tear.'

He was amazed at his abilities.

'Why wasn't someone like this known in my past life?'

The most famous people in the agency were Chris and Oren.

He didn't have any memories about Pens.

And Roan also didn't know until now.

That his role was quite big in making Pens bloom an ability he hadn't even thought about in this life.

*****

Roan, Pens, and the soldiers safely returned to the camp of Lancephil.

And Oren and the others also did.

Aaron, Roan, Pens, and Oren found Io's tent once again.

'It's been decided.'

Io could know the results even without asking.

Aaron, who was smiling faintly, and the stiff expression of Oren.

But even so, he couldn't make a decision beforehand.

“Has the truth and fake been revealed?”

At those words Aaron hid his expression and bowed.

“Unfortunately, it was shown that the location Oren's agency found was a trap.”

He gave the information Roan gathered, analyzed, and organized to Io.

Io looked at the pile of papers and asked Oren.

“How was your side?”

At those words Oren smacked his lips for a moment and then replied with a low voice.

“The results of our agency having checked on the storage the 7th corps found……”

He let out a short sigh and continued saying.

“We speculate that it's the real deal.”

At those words, Aaron's expression became even brighter.

On the other hand, the expressions of Roan and Pens didn't have any change.

Io checked the pile of paper Oren gave him thoroughly and then nodded.

“You all have done well. Because of that, we could separate the storages between fake and real.”

He looked at the knights, mages, and the captains that were seated at his side and continued saying.

“The opportunity to finally end this war has come.”

They exchanged opinions and talked about tactics and strategies about how to attack the supply storage.

“Whew.”

Io let out a long sigh with a relieved expression.

“Then, each commander is to prepare to depart.”
“Yes!”

At the order, everyone replied in one voice.

Only then could Aaron, Roan, Pens, and Oren get out of the tent.

Even before they could take some steps, Oren blocked Pens.

“Mister Pens.”

He spoke in a blunt expression and voice.

However, his eyes were shining strongly.

He extended his right hand.

“This time, we……”

Oren hesitated for a moment and then continued saying.

“No, I lost. I realized that I still lack a lot.”

Pens grabbed the hand Oren extended.

“As I paid too much attention on the number of the soldiers, the location, the formation, and the composition, we were neglectful in observing the people.”

Roan, who was listening at the sides, was slightly surprised.

'Oren also realized his mistake.'

Certainly, someone that was born with it was born with it.

Oren looked at Pens' eyes fixedly.

“Next time, I won't lose.”

At those words, Pens who was absentminded, said with a casual expression.

“It's fine if you win the next time.”

At the unexpected words, Oren frowned.

'Is he feeling sympathy for me?'

When he thought like that.

Pens continued saying.

“I just hope for our allies to win.”

He spoke one heavy sentence.

Oren's face stiffened.

He looked at Pens's expression for a moment and after letting go of the hand, he started to walk away.

Aaron looked at Oren's back, who was getting further away, and mumbled in a low voice.

“He took one, no, two blows by Pens.”

At those words, Pens just laughed.

Roan hit Pens's shoulders and smiled.

“The location of the storage you and the information agency found with difficulty…..”

He put strength in his voice.

“I will pay you back with victory.”

At those words, Pens replied shortly.

“Yes. That's enough for me.”

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< Danger inside the danger (5) > End

Translator's note: Regular chapter

Translator : Subak

Proofreader: st8_lupe.

Chapter end