Chapter 51

Early May, Nolan Village.

After witnessing the battlefield where Rodi had fought the wolf cavalry, Sodelor came to Nolan Village, waiting for the missing captain to return. His appearance surprised Rug, Karte, and the others, but Sodelor only said he needed to speak with Rodi in person, so they didn't press further and let him wait.

The former second lieutenant, Soding, in the first few days after seeing Rug and the others return, foolishly tried to order them to kill more beasts to earn more merit, as if it were as routine as farmers going out to plant and harvest crops. Naturally, the consequence of such a stupid order was that he was beaten up by Rug and a group of scouts.

Once subordinates develop arrogance, incompetent superiors are always the first to suffer.

The brutal beating even startled Sodelor. After all, Soding's position was similar to his own, and he couldn't imagine being beaten by his subordinates. However, he couldn't really intervene, so he simply dragged the unconscious Soding to a shady spot, bandaged him up a bit, and considered it a duty done.

Then he discovered, whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, that Soding had been beaten into a state of idiocy.

After waking up, Soding could do little more than smile foolishly and eat and sleep. At this point, Rug, Karte, and the others naturally acted as if it was none of their business. Sodelor, without a word, paid out of his own pocket to treat these scouts to a good meal, drank with them heartily, and eventually became brothers with them, claiming he had seen nothing...

Thus, Sodelor, who had always been on the periphery of the group, gradually integrated into the small circle in Nolan Village.

After drinking a lot, the soldiers naturally had to have some competitions. When the best swordsman, Rug, was easily defeated by the opponent, they gradually realized that this unknown second lieutenant might not be a simple character.

Rug and Karte admired his sword skills, and Sodelor was meticulous in his actions and words. This made their time together pass quickly. On May 7th, 588th year of the Elon calendar, Sodelor finally waited for the person he was expecting.

Rodi's figure appeared at the entrance of Nolan Village in the evening.

In the sunset, when he walked into the village wearing leather armor and a black cloak, the villagers who had intended to wave in greeting hesitated and didn't dare to speak—his sharp and fierce appearance in the hunter's outfit made him look far from the "little scout" he used to be. The six packhorses loaded with goods behind him made people think he was a wealthy and powerful traveling merchant.

Rodi didn't care about this. He just wore his hood, led the horses to the scouts' mess hall, and then walked in boldly.

"I tell you, if I hadn't dodged quickly, that bastard would have smashed my head with one blow—"

"Karte! Stop boasting, with your skills, a beast would have to be ten meters away to almost hit you!"

"Give me some respect, will you? I wasn't finished! Back then, our equipment was poor, my sword was dull, and my leather armor was torn. If a beast touched me, I would have died, so of course I had to stay far away, right?"

At this moment, the scouts inside were loudly drinking and chatting. Karte, who was boasting about how he had killed beasts, was gesturing exaggeratedly with his mug of ale. However, when his gaze swept to the door, his movements froze as if he had been electrocuted.

His eyebrows knitted together, he raised his mug and pointed forward, opening his mouth but unable to speak for a long time—sensing something was wrong, the other scouts stopped their actions and turned around, only to reveal expressions of shock as if they had seen an alien.

"Tsk tsk tsk, a few days without seeing me, and no one recognizes me anymore?"

Rodi pulled off his hood, grinned, and without waiting for a response from his comrades, loudly announced: "No need for small talk, I have an announcement to make!"

"Bang!"

Almost instantly, all the scouts stood up straight as if on reflex, the sound of their boots clacking against the floor echoing in the room, leaving Sodelor, who was still sitting, stunned.

After being in Nolan Village for so long, these scouts, apart from occasionally showing arrogance, seemed no different from his subordinates in Finks Village. But at this moment, in the few seconds after Rodi's appearance, he realized... these scouts standing at attention seemed suddenly so unfamiliar.

Absolute discipline, obedience, and respect—this was something Sodelor had never seen before.

"Cough, no need to be so formal, but... to make it easier for you to kill beasts and to give us some self-defense... ta-da, I've bought a batch of new equipment for all of you!"

"Clang!"

Rodi threw the heavy package he was carrying to the ground and casually opened it, revealing a dozen sheathed longswords inside.

"Everyone gets one!"

Rodi's words were like a hammer, leaving the soldiers almost breathless.

To the average person, his words sounded like a dream. A captain buying equipment for the soldiers? Had he eaten too much?

Even the cheapest swords and armor were not affordable for ordinary people. How could Rodi, a scout who only received a military salary, afford all this?

Sodelor stared at the packages with wide eyes, his throat dry, and even forgot his initial intention to greet Rodi.

Rug raised an eyebrow, took a longsword from the package, and examined the sharp blade in the candlelight, momentarily speechless: "Rodi... did you raid the Condon Fortress?"

He was knowledgeable and could see that the quality of these weapons was excellent, comparable to or even surpassing the standard-issue equipment of the regular soldiers at Condon Fortress.

"Don't ask stupid questions, everyone gets one, and there's more outside. Go try them out! Whoever grabs recklessly gets a kick in the ass!"

Rodi didn't answer Rug's question but shouted at the approaching soldiers—his words were immediately met with enthusiastic responses. The soldiers rushed to grab the equipment and then charged outside with excited shouts. Only Rug, Karte, and Sodelor remained.

"Don't worry, the equipment is legitimate, but Soding doesn't get any—by the way, where is Soding?"

"Um, that... cough, I'll explain to you later. Second Lieutenant Sodelor has been waiting for many days, why don't you talk to him first?"

The atmosphere was now relaxed, and Karte, no longer as serious as before, winked at Rug and then walked outside with him, leaving Sodelor with a somewhat complex expression.

Looking at the second lieutenant, Rodi opened the conversation in a seemingly natural manner—

"I'm surprised to see you here."

He took off his cloak, revealing his black leather armor, and his tone was filled with genuine surprise—honestly, facing this legion commander from his memories, his current feelings were somewhat conflicted.

Their encounter in Finks Village was a coincidence, but meeting him here was clearly not. Rodi's mind raced, trying to figure out why Sodelor was here... but he found himself at a loss.

Sodelor thought for a moment and decided to be straightforward: "To be honest, I saw the scene of your battle with the beasts. Ten dead wolf cavalry, incredible archery skills... Rug and the others have already proven that you have such abilities."

"So?"

Rodi narrowed his eyes, immediately deducing what Sodelor's knowledge might imply—seeing the battlefield, he might have indirectly deduced that Rodi was saving Sally. According to the rules, anyone who knew this information had to be eliminated!

But standing before him was the legion commander Sodelor from his memories. Rodi knew that this powerful general, who fought against the corrupt nobles of the kingdom, had once despised traitors like Francis the most.

And the one who had ordered the execution of Francis was this young second lieutenant standing before him!

Thinking about it, it seemed there should be no conflict between them.

"So, I think I understand what happened to the Luciferon family," the much taller Sodelor looked at him, his tone becoming quite respectful, "I admire your choice, to stand up and actually prevent the incident from happening—something I thought about but could never do. I assume Miss Sally is safe?"

Communication in this era was not advanced, and no one in Nolan Village knew that Sally had become a "candidate priestess." However, this made Rodi even more impressed by Sodelor's keen insight...

This guy is a freaking genius, he should change his name to Holmes.

Hiding his shock, Rodi took a deep breath and said, "Miss Sally is naturally safe, but I want to understand why you're here. Even if Finks Village is gone, your position shouldn't have anything to do with Nolan Village, right?"

Hearing this, Sodelor showed a hint of hesitation before finally saying, "You can kill so many beasts and ensure Miss Sally's safety... I think perhaps the strongest knights under these border lords are not as powerful as you. So, the reason I'm here is to—learn."

Learn?

Rodi's eyebrows shot up to his hairline, and all the responses he had prepared were completely thrown off by Sodelor's words. His mind was truly stunned at this moment—this strong figure, who would later break the 60th level, was standing before him... saying he wanted to learn from him?

Did he take the wrong medicine, or am I still asleep?

But Rodi's thoughts quickly adjusted—while Sodelor was stronger than the scouts, he was still just a low-level second lieutenant. His strength was not much to speak of, and he would probably struggle against two beasts.

And what about himself? Wearing a set of top-tier level 4 purple equipment, his attributes had skyrocketed, making him invincible in the beginner village of Kalen and the small beast villages, a complete BUG in his level. In short, he was just two words: awesome!

With such a contrast, the opportunity for a future legendary legion commander to want to learn from him—what should he do?

Page break for AD start

Page break for AD end