CHAPTER 14: BATTLEFIELD

"I see, so you’re saying that this is the guy who ended up saving Ms. Luna," one of the knights said, glancing at Eunice for confirmation and then looking back at Allen.

Allen currently sat on a wooden log beside the other knights who were patiently waiting for the food to be cooked.

"Yes, he is," Eunice replied. "Well, I’m sure you guys have a lot to talk about. But I have some other things to do, so I’ll be leaving him in your care," she said, a playful smile appearing on her face.

Allen looked at her with a hint of distrust forming on his face. He knew she was eventually going to do this, but he just didn’t want to deal with it.

Honestly, it was a pain.

With that, Eunice wasted no time and was gone within a few seconds, leaving Allen alone with at least two dozen knights.

They came in various shapes and sizes. Some were young and in their twenties while some seemed middle-aged. Some had hair of different colors, including but not limited to green, yellow, and blue, while others had plain black or gray hair. Some had beards covering their faces while some were clean-shaven. There were also a few who only had their mustaches.

"Well, what is your name, young man?" the knight beside him asked.

"Allen," he replied.

"Allen what?"

"Nothing. Just Allen. I don’t use a family name," Allen explained.

"Hmm. Makes sense. Everyone has their own stories after all," the knight said. "Anyway, I’m Dean. Dean Hicks," the knight said, a welcoming smile appearing on his face as he shook hands with Allen.

"This is Jason. That is Zac. Beside him is Michel. Next to Michel is..." He then went on to introduce every single knight that was present around the campfire by pointing his fingers at them.

In total, it took about two minutes to finish listing everyone’s names.

Ah well, there’s no way I’m going to remember all those names, Allen thought to himself.

"Man, I still can’t believe that you were able to save Ms. Luna’s life," Zac said. "I mean, I don’t doubt your abilities when I say this. It’s that she’s someone who rarely needs saving."

"She must have been dragged into an unfair fight by those manipulative bastards," Jason added, his face showing a hint of frustration.

"Well, yeah, it was more or less like that. You’re right," Allen affirmed.

I’d rather avoid saying, "No, I was the one who got her to put her guard down by punching her in the face, which ended up endangering her life in the first place."

It’s clear from one look at these guys that they admire her a lot. If I ended up trashing her image or badmouthing her, then things could progress in a way I’d really want to avoid.

"He’s right! There’s no way she would let her guard down that easily!" several other guards agreed in unison.

Just when Allen thought that he was past this point of discussion, one man’s voice echoed louder and heavier than anyone present there.

"Shut the hell up, you fools!" said Avgron, a man with gray hair and a beard who seemed to be in his mid-forties.

"Have a few days of rest gotten to your heads? Have you idiots forgotten where we are? Have you forgotten who we are?!" he bellowed.

"We are in a fucking battlefield, goddammit!" he said. At this point, everyone had settled down and only listened to Avgron’s voice. "Put your minds out of the gutter and use them for a bit. There is no playing dirty in war. Everything goes. Play the dirtiest you can, because that’s how you win! If you try to be a gentleman and play by the rules, all you’ll get is a severed head and the tears of your family back home."

No one dared to interrupt him. Perhaps he was right. A few moments of peace may have messed with their minds and made them feel that they were fine. But Avgron’s words seemed to have worked and jolted them awake.

"It is a fact that Ms. Luna barely escaped death no matter how unfortunate that may be, and we must thank this young man here for saving our commander’s life rather than undermining his achievements," he said.

"...Right. We apologize for our behavior," Dean said, the others soon following his words.

Allen, however, was left rather confused by all this.

While I agree with his thoughts more or less, there was really no need to create all this drama. Well, that is if his endpoint was to make them apologize to me, he thought. What "undermining his achievement"? I undermined myself because I didn’t want you all to turn hostile toward me.

Allen’s thoughts floated in his mind, yet he could not seem to find a possible reason for the man’s behavior. It might have seemed simple, but for Allen, it was not.

It wasn’t really his fault either. After all, he did not even understand the concept of "gratitude." It was something he had never experienced. To him, it was nothing more than a word to be used when you have to deceive the person in front of you into believing that they can feel safe and let their guard down around you, to make them feel better and welcome. That was all.

Therefore, since he did not want to waste much energy on useless thoughts, he decided to shift his focus to something else.

"Would there really be a difference between you and the enemy you are fighting if you both claw at each other’s throats like dogs without any dignity?" he asked, looking toward Avgron.

Let’s see how you handle this, he thought.

There wasn’t a specific reason behind this action of his. Playing with the ideals of other people was a fantasy he had ended up acquiring somehow, and that’s exactly what he was doing here. He wanted to stir chaos into the old man’s mind right after he had brought his knights back to reality.

Avgron looked at Allen for about half a minute before answering. It wasn’t a stare; it seemed more like he was taking his time to think before speaking.

"Those are some great ideals you speak of," he said. "Unfortunately, wars are not won by ideals and fairness. Let the nobles back home have their ideals when they give their speeches to the public, because that’s where they belong."

After that, he stood up, holding an empty can in his hands.

"I’m going to get some more beer," he said before leaving.

Allen didn’t respond as Avgron walked past him, making his way through the number of knights sitting there.

"It was being fair that brought us to the battlefield for fuck’s sake," Allen heard Avgron mumbling to himself as he left. He said something more, but he couldn’t hear the rest of it.