“Alright… Slime, you did really great,” Leon said, kneeling beside the slime as he gently patted its squishy body.
*Pat-Pat*
*Boing-boing*
The slime bounced in response, almost joyfully, as if acknowledging his praise.
Leon narrowed his eyes. “…Wait a minute. Can you understand what I am saying ?”
*Boing-Boing*
The slime jumped twice again.
“Jump once if you understand what I’m saying right now,” Leon tested, his eyebrows raising.
*Boing*
Leon stared at the slime, a mixture of surprise and curiosity in his gaze.
“So… you really can understand human language. What about the others ? The other slimes—can they understand me too? Jump once if yes.”
*Boing*
“Unbelievable… Why didn’t Elis tell me this before ?” Leon muttered, rubbing his chin.
“Okay, we’ll talk more about this later. For now, stay here. You can rest or take a stroll in the forest, but don’t come out. Understood?”
*Boing*
The slime settled down after bouncing once again on the ground like a loyal dog waiting for its owner, its soft body gently jiggling as it relaxed.
“Good…” Leon spoke as he stepped out of the dense forest, his boots crunching softly against the blood-stained grass. What lay before him was no longer a battlefield—it was a graveyard.
Corpses of both humans and elves littered the open fields. Severed limbs and shattered weapons were strewn across the terrain.
The once green grass was now soaked crimson, heavy with the stench of iron and rot. Flies buzzed over bloated bodies. Smoke lingered faintly in the air from earlier spells and fireballs.
‘Fucking hell… I want to puke.’ Leon thought as he immediately pulled out a red cloth from his pocket and covered the lower half of his face with it.
Suddenly, he noticed a soldier who was collecting swords from the dead soldier’s hands.
He was clad in dented iron armor.
“Oi…” Leon shouted.
The soldier immediately turned toward Leon and his brows furrowed.
*Tang-Tang-Tang-Tang-Tang-Tang*
“Who are you?” The soldier asked as he immediately dropped all the swords and pointed one at Leon.
“Who’s your commanding officer?” Leon asked calmly.
“Take down the cloth from your face and show me your ears.” The soldier demanded immediately.
“Here…” Leon replied as he lowered the cloth from his face a little and showed him his ears.
“Phew… This is a warzone, A kid like you shouldn’t be walking around here. Where did you even come from?” the soldier asked with a confused expression as he let out a sigh of relief and lowered his sword.
“I have a delivery of Healing and Mana Potions for the soldiers. I need to see your captain, so I can get paid and deliver them.” Leon spoke with a neutral expression.
“That’s impossible. We just received the word that supply convoy is still far from here.” The soldier replied in a low and disappointed tone as he bent down once again and started picking up the swords.
“Look, can you just take me to your captain ?” Leon asked with a confused expression.
After picking up all the swords, the soldier turned. “Fine. Follow me.”
Leon walked behind him, his boots squelching through the blood soaked battlefield.
“How did you guys lost 300 men in one day ?” Leon asked with a confused expression.
“Southern border was never attacked by the Elves because it’s directly opposite to their kingdom and that’s why, it was the least protected border.
Motherfuckers saw that and did a sneak attack on us.” The soldier replied.
“I thought elves weren’t that good at fighting,” Leon said flatly.
“They don’t even know how to hold a fucking sword,” the guard replied bitterly. “But they sure as hell know how to make enchanted arrows.”
He clenched his fists, his face tight with frustration.
“Last night, they launched a special arrow—one that had over 600 spells woven into it. The moment it hit us, half of our outpost and our men were erased from the face of this land.”
His voice grew quieter, more grim.
“All the mages… even some of the healers died in that attack. We struck back immediately, but the whole field was littered with magical traps. We couldn’t even take ten steps without triggering something deadly.”
He paused, then muttered,
“We lost 675 soldiers in just the last 24 hours. If another attack like that happens now… the southern border will fall.”
As they continued to walked, they reached in front of the outpost.
War tents stood in scattered clusters, like beige scars against the land. The wind tugged at the tattered canvas, making them flap like broken wings.
To the side, soldiers trained with dulled weapons, moving in tight, disciplined formations. The air rang with the sharp clashing of steel and the barking of commands.
Nearby, piles of human corpses lay covered under rough cloth—too many to bury yet.
Healers rushed from tent to tent, their white robes stained red with blood. Their faces were grim, drained by exhaustion, but they continued to tend the endless stream of wounded.
Leon and the guard stopped before a larger tent—its frame sturdier than the others, with two tired-looking spearmen standing watch outside.
“Who is he?” one of them asked, frowning.
“He wants to meet the captain,” the guard replied.
“I’ll inform him. Wait until I call you in,” the guard added, disappearing into the tent.
Leon nodded silently, his eyes drifting across the battlefield camp.
‘So… this is what a real battlefield looks like,’ he thought, his expression remaining neutral.
A moment later, the guard stepped out.
“Okay, kid. Go in.”
Leon entered the tent. Inside, it was sparse—three wooden chairs, a single table between them, and a small chest beneath it. Sitting in one of the chairs was an old man clad in gleaming silver armor, his eyes locked on a map spread across the table.
Leon immediately used his inspection skill.
<Inspect>
[Name: James Joper]
[Class: Swordsman]
[Race: Human]
[HP: 30,000 / 30,000]
[MP: 15,000 / 15,000]
[Description: James is a well-trained knight and the captain of the Eagle’s eye outpost at the southern border of the human kingdom. Deeply religious, he places his faith in God above all else.]
“Take a seat,” the old man said in a heavy voice, not looking up.
“I’m good. Can we get to business?” Leon replied.
James raised a brow as he looked at Leon. “What business?”
“Didn’t that guy tell you?” Leon asked with a confused expression.
“He said you were lost… and wanted to go home.”
Leon blinked, then scowled. ‘What the fuck? That guard… he thought I was lying about the potions ?’
“This is the business,” Leon said, opening his inventory.
With a flick of his wrist, six wooden crates appeared on the ground in front of them.
*THUD*
James’s eyes widened, and he stood up so fast his chair creaked.
“A-Are those… healing and mana potions?” James asked his eyes widened in shock and surprise.
“Yes. I’m here to sell them, and—”
“I’ll buy all of them,” James interrupted, stepping forward and gripping Leon’s shoulders tightly.
“Very good. That’ll be 54 silvers for 300 healing potions and 300 mana potions. And please—let go of my shoulders. You’re squeezing a little too hard,” Leon replied with a neutral tone.
“Fuck 54 silvers… kid, you deserve more than that,” James muttered.
He turned around and opened the small chest that was under the table, then pulled out a coin and tossed it toward Leon.
“Here, catch.”
*Catch*
Leon caught the coin and opened his hand, his eyes widening at the sight of its gleam.
“Woah…”
It was a gold coin, flower like design made on it’s front and a eagle made on it’s back.
“Charles! Delgate! Get in here!” James shouted suddenly.
The two spearmen rushed inside.
“Yes, Captain?” they asked in unison.
“Take the mana potions from these crates and distribute them to the healers. Now!”
“Yes, sir!” They immediately began carrying out the crates.
James turned back to Leon.
“You come with me.”
He grabbed Leon’s arm and led him outside the tent.
“SOLDIERS! MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION!”
James’s voice thundered across the encampment. Every soldier stopped what they were doing and turned toward their captain.
“Yesterday, we suffered heavy losses. Many of our comrades fell. We were close to losing everything—but not hope.
Today, we struck back and lost more brave men. I… I was beginning to lose my faith in God. But then this young man appeared.”
James pointed at Leon.
“He brought with him mana and healing potions—enough to keep us going until reinforcements arrive. He is proof that God has not abandoned us. He is the messenger sent to tell us not to surrender… but to fight!
We will not fall to the elves. We will stand and fight to the very end! Are you with me, SOLDIERS ?!”
[Note: You are under the skill {Motivational Roar}. Strength and Willpower increased by 50%.]
“YES, CAPTAIN!” the soldiers roared in unison, raising their weapons to the sky.
Leon stared at the notification floating in front of him, blinking in surprise.
“Huh…?”