After the guy dressed as an officer finished speaking, the young man finally reacted.

"snort!"

After a cold snorting, the young man turned his grasped wrist.

The young man used extremely exquisite techniques to break free from the officer's control over him.

"Um?"

The officer raised his eyebrows and then said in a deep voice:

"You are using fighting skills in the army!"

"Are you guy... also a person in the army?"

The young man did not answer the officer's question.

Instead, he quickly grabbed the sword that had just been untied from the officer who had just been placed at his feet, and then quickly took a few steps back and distanced himself from the officer.

While setting a distance from the officer, the sword in the sheath was pulled out.

The officer slowly stood up while looking at the young man's sword-holding posture.

"...... Sure enough." The officer whispered, "Your sword-holding posture... is indeed a person in the army."

"Shut up!" the young man shouted, "I am no longer a soldier now! I am just an ordinary farmer walking on the way home!"

"Hurry up and hand over all the valuable things you have on you! As long as you hand over all the valuable things you have on you, I promise you--you will never hurt your life."

"I won't give you anything," the officer replied in a calm tone, "and it won't hurt you, after all, I still have an important mission."

"Then... don't blame me...!" The young man slowly clenched the long sword in his hand...

......

......

In the evening of that day—

"Come on, eat something casually."

The officer threw a freshly baked chicken leg at the young man.

But the young man did not take off the chicken leg that was on his leg.

Instead, he continued to stare at the officer with a hostile gaze.

"Don't be dissatisfied."

The officer said in a calm tone without any emotional color.

"You slashed at me with the determination to kill me."

"And I subdued you with my bare hands and made you my captive--Isn't that both fair and reasonable?"

"So----if you dare to draw your sword at someone, you must be prepared to accept any consequences."

Speaking of this, the officer paused.

In order to further convince the young man to eat well, the officer thought about the wording for a while and then spoke:

"We are lucky enough to hunt pheasants in such wilderness."

"Eat it well with a grateful heart. I missed this meal and wanted to eat chicken again, but I don't know when I got it."

"snort!"

After the young man made a "hum" sound with his nose, he used his hands tied together with his hemp rope, grabbed the chicken leg that was thrown on his legs, and began to eat it very much.

After the young man started to eat chicken legs, the officer also tore off the other chicken leg of the roasted pheasant and started to chew silently.

While gnawing on the chicken legs, the officer whispered:

"My name is Roche. Roche de Sanchez. Young man, where are you?"

"Don't call me a young man!" said the young man in an unhappy tone, "You are not an old man, it's strange to call me a young man!"

"My name is Barrister! Barrister Brunner!"

"Are you a soldier?" Roche asked, "Which unit was previously affiliated with?"

“…Northern Border Army, 3rd Army.”

As soon as Barrister finished speaking, Rochena was chewing on the chicken legs and stopped.

After a while, the movement resumed.

"You are originally from the Northern Border Army..."

After learning that the young man was previously affiliated with the Northern Frontier Army, Roche instantly understood everything.

I understand why this young man has become a soldier who has become a thief who lives by stealing money from a comatose man on the roadside...

Barrister looked at the expression on Roche's face and sneered a few times:

"It seems--you understand my difficulties."

"I already...don't want to be a soldier anymore."

"I don't have the courage to be a soldier again."

"I say, Mr. Officer, do you know what happened on the northern border after the Britannian Empire launched a full-scale attack on us?"

“We are constantly surrounded, annihilated, and slaughtered.”

"Our Northern Border Army's 3rd Army is known as the strongest unit of the Northern Border Army - but so what?"

"It's not the same vulnerable, it's about to collapse at one touch!"

"I can see it very clearly!"

"At the beginning of the battle, I, an ordinary infantryman, stood at the forefront of the military formation!"

"So I can see clearly - how our army's formation was easily torn apart by the Britannian army!"

"In just less than half a day, the 3rd Army of the Northern Border Army was wiped out!"

"And I disguised myself as a dead body and hid in the pile of corpses, and then I escaped..."

"The other legions of the Northern Border Army are like the 3rd Army under my jurisdiction. They are either completely annihilated or defeated to the point where they do not even have the ability to fight again..."

"In less than half a month, the Britannian army annihilated the entire northern border army..."

"Occupy the entire north of our country..."

"It is impossible for us to defeat the Britannian army and defeat this 'superpower' in the north!"

Tears containing various emotions began to roll out from Barrister's eyes.

"I don't have the courage to confront the Britannian army anymore."

"I don't want to be a soldier anymore."

"I just want to go home now...become an ordinary farmer..."

"Whatever you want to scold me..."

"It's okay to scold me for deserters, it's okay to scold me for cowards..."

"Or draw the sword directly and punish me as 'deserter'...."

"Anyway, it's in your hands now, so you can do whatever you want..."

After saying that, the young man seemed to have accepted his fate and buried his head low.

But the sharp sword he imagined to chop at his head did not come.

There was no sharp insult.

There was only one sigh.

“……Raise your head.”

Hearing Roche's words, Barrister slowly raised his head after hesitating for a while.

After raising his head, he saw Roche's expressionless face.

Although Roche had no expression on his face.

But... I don't know if it was Barrister's illusion, but he always felt that Roche had a faint bitterness on his face.

"I won't scold you, nor will I punish you for being 'deserious'."

"I understand you very much."

"After all, the gap between our country and the Britannian Empire is so great that it only makes people want to be far away from the Britannian Army, but it is just human nature."

Speaking of this, Roche picked up a long branch at his feet and fiddled with the bonfire in front of him.

"and......"

A bitter smile appeared on Roche's face.

"I might have indirectly led to the sinners who were defeated by the Britannian army..."

"You have told me your story just now."
Chapter completed!