Makai Hongi

○ Corps Commander Dyle

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The night after the second training ended.

Halm the Crystal Dragon visited Corps Commander Dyle in his tent.
Dyle immediately invited him in.

Of course, they had not planned to discuss anything.
However, there was almost a need for both of them to talk about the events of the day.

Dyle prepared a chair and put his favorite wine on the table.
And then he began to talk.

“It just isn’t right.
It should not have been possible to beat it.
I had adjusted it myself in order to ensure that it couldn’t be beaten.”
After all, Dyle had seen many new soldiers go through basic training.

And while they weren’t always the exact same difficulty, they were never so easy as to be beatable.
And this time had been no different.

Halm accepted a cup and drank it gratefully.
And after a deep sigh, he nodded slowly.

“I could tell, just by watching.
I don’t think that you are at fault, Corps Commander.
And it was clear to me that they hadn’t had any information leaked to them.
Though, I was quite surprised when he was able to decipher the map at a glance.”

“He did that!? But it’s a state secret… Someone from another country shouldn’t know how… Anyone over a Commander would have opportunities to see them, but this information should not have spread to any other countries.”

Dyle reacted very strongly to Halm’s last words.
That map was special.
And so he had kept it safe, without losing it even once.

Yes, there were many who knew of maps that had contour lines.
However, they didn’t really know how to read a map.
It just looked like a complicated mess, and they would give up.

In the first place, these maps had been invented out of necessity.
Leaders needed something like them in order to make plans.
They were useless to those who just obeyed orders.

“I understand that you’re surprised, but it’s the truth.
He understood it at a glance, and was able to read your intentions.”

“…”
“It’s true.”

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It wasn’t as if Dyle thought that Halm was lying.
However, he still had difficulty believing it all.

For this training, there had been a checkpoint between the start and the goal.
There was a gentle path that stretched onto the checkpoint.
Most people would want to just walk straight along it.

However, once you reached the cliffs, the path split into two.
And judging by the way that the cliffs spread out, the right side would get narrower gradually, and so most people would go down that side.
It was along the road, so it would seem safer.

Of course, it was just as the cliff ended and you were relieved that you could go around to the other side, that the ambush would come from behind.
That was the plan.
That was the first attack.

When Dyle had first heard that they all passed through the checkpoint safely, he assumed that they had taken the left path.
However, if that was the case, they had arrived much too early.

If you took the left path, the cliff would continue on the right sight for quite some time.
You wouldn’t be able to get onto the right path without taking a long route around.
They wouldn’t reach the checkpoint until late in the evening, if not night.

So, what if they took the right turn?
If they went along the road, then the rock walls would block their view ahead.

This rock wall continued on and on.
And there was one bypath along the way, which he could hide soldiers.
But they would never know it.

Besides, there was grass between the path and the rock walls, and it was unlikely that they would go out of their way to check to see if there were any gaps.
An ambush was all but an established fact.

“When I heard about it later, I assumed that they just happened to come out behind the waiting soldiers by accident…”
Perhaps they had gotten lost, and found themselves behind the soldiers.
It wasn’t very likely, but it was still possible.

“Not only did they move away from the road from the beginning, but they kept the non-combat personnel back before the attack, and they definitely knew that soldiers were waiting for them.”

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If you were able to read the map, it was obvious that there was a space there that was unnatural.
There was a bypath in the back.

“So, he really did decipher the map at a glance… How horrifying.”
Dyle himself had only been taught how to read maps after he was promoted to Corps Commander.

At first, those ‘wiggly lines’ had been so very aggravating to him.
It just seemed to make things more difficult.

Of course, he got used to it after five and then ten years passed.
Though, it could also be said that it took him that long to finally get comfortable.

For someone who had no knowledge of it beforehand to be able to understand it… What kind of brain did he have?

“Even General Miralda said that she couldn’t think of Golan as being an ordinary Ogre.”
Halm muttered as he remembered a past conversation.

It was during a meeting with Golan’s country.
Golan had accompanied their General.

When Halm had heard this, he laughed at the idea of a country that was so weak they would allow an Ogre to attend a meeting.
However, he now felt incredibly foolish for thinking that.

“I was only watching among the non-combat personnel.
And was astonished by how exceptional he was.”

He understood and controlled his wild Ogres perfectly.
He made quick and precise decisions.
Halm said that Golan reminded him of an old General.

Indeed, the reason that they had been able to reach the goal so quickly, was because Golan had always made the right decision.

“But the last trial.
I still don’t understand how he was able to pass it.”

There was one attack before reaching the checkpoint.
Not only was it an ambush from behind, but these soldiers would still overwhelm them if they fought with their full force.

It should have been a total defeat.
At best, they would have had to run.
Obviously, that would mean abandoning the non-combat personnel and failing their training.
In fact, up until now, eighty percent of past trainees had failed at that point.

And yet Golan and his men had cleared it by being the ones to ambush the soldiers.

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However, the second attack would not be so easy.
After all, he had prepared something much worse.

Dyle was incredibly curious as to how they had passed it.
And so Halm told him what he had seen and heard.

“First, he sent out scouts.
At that point, the ambush from the front had failed.
And so Golan knew how many were waiting for them.
And he understood that he would have to send all of his men in order to win.”

Dyle nodded.
Yes, he placed them there for that very purpose.
You had to send out twenty Ogres to even hope to have a chance.
And so it would still not mean a definite victory.
That being said, there would still be a pincer attack, which would force him to split up his men.

“But Golan went to stop them by himself…is such a thing possible?”

“Well, it was, wasn’t it?”
“But how?”

Dyle did not know any of the details.
Besides, he had other trainees he needed to watch.
And he had his own subordinates.
He could not pay too much attention to Golan and the Ogres.

“To put it simply, he crushed their eyes.
I didn’t realize that was an option when stopping them.”
Halm said darkly.

Black Running Turtles were so large and had high defense ability.
And while Golan had all the amazing physicality of the Ogres, he was still shorter, and he was wielding a wooden club.

Regardless, it seemed that Golan had targeted their eyes in order to make up for his disadvantages.

Compared to the other weapons that had been prepared, clubs were big and heavy.
If Golan raised the club in the air, it would finally reach the faces of the Black Running Turtles.

“He only targeted the eyes?”

“Yes.
If you attacked them with a wooden spear, and they closed their eyelids, you would do no damage.
However, if an Ogre attacked them with a wooden club, it would do damage whether their eyes were closed or not.”

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Black Running Turtles fought by ramming or crushing with their feet.
And so when their face was targeted—it was hard for them to stop it.

They were good at standing up on their hind legs and crushing the enemy with their feet.
However, this time they would be on a slope.
Standing on their hindlegs would be terrible for their balance.

Not only that, but as Golan moved so swiftly, it was hard for them to target him, and they were ultimately led around by the nose.

“The Black Running Turtles could be stopped with such methods?”
“It was really only possible because of where they stood.
After all, no one can stop them once they start running.
However, they were on a slope…”

Indeed, Dyle’s positioning of the Black Running Turtles in an area where they wouldn’t be able to fight at their best could be seen as a grave error.
However, it also felt like too much to blame him for it.

Regardless, Golan had won.

“So, that’s how they got through the last obstacle.”

The other Ogres had fought the Mezukis and won.
“The victory came quickly, because Golan wasn’t the only Ogre there with unusual strength.”

Said Halm who had been watching from a distance.

“A group of Ogres that are stronger than Mizukis, eh? What is going on…”
“…Who knows? But more importantly, what will you prepare for their next training?”

Dyle was only more mystified after hearing the details about what had happened.
And upon hearing those words, he grew a little pale.

“Prepare for the next… I haven’t even started.”
I didn’t prepare anything because I didn’t expect you to pass… He might have to say that to Golan tomorrow.

“Well, I will be leaving now.”
Halm said with a calm expression.
As if Dyle’s problems had nothing to do with him.

Still, he didn’t forget to say, ‘that was very good wine,’ before taking his leave.