Chapter 49

〈 Episode 49 〉Quest 8 : Call of Duty

[Quest8 begins in 0D 6H.]

Asha had been pondering a problem for days while training.

‘Should I take Lucy with me?’

Fortunately, Lucia was much safer during the last quest because she wasn’t attacked by a Tentacle. But this time, Asha and Lucia had to go on the quest without her father, the Tentacle.

‘Of course, it would be reassuring if Lucy came along, but what if something goes wrong…’

Unlike herself, who could return to the waiting room even if she died, Lucia’s life would be over if she died once. She couldn’t gamble when Lucia’s safety was at stake.

‘I guess it’s better not to take Lucy on the quest.’

Asha decided to do the quest alone. It was only natural that any sane parent wouldn’t want to take their child to the battlefield.

Asha approached Lucia and Justitia, who were always together. Lucia came out of Justitia’s arms and hugged Asha.

“Mom! Is it all over now?”

“Yes. More than that, Lucy… can you stay here with Justitia for a while?”

Lucia looked gloomy at Asha’s words. She spoke as if she knew what Asha was going to say.

“I thought Mom wouldn’t take me. Is it because I’m still too weak?”

Asha shook her head at Lucia’s words.

“No… it’s not about whether Lucy is weak or strong. Mom can’t help but worry even if Lucy gets much stronger. Maybe, a little later, we can get out of here together. Can you wait until then?”

“Okay…”

Lucia nodded quietly. Asha was grateful that Lucia understood her every time, but she felt a little empty because she had expected her daughter to throw a tantrum.

‘I’m thankful, but I also want to see Lucy throw a tantrum… My married cousin would try to kill me if she heard me say this, right?’

Asha tried hard to remember her niece’s face, but she couldn’t. It hadn’t been long since she came here, but she already had a vague memory of her relatives’ faces.

‘Mom… Dad…’

Suddenly, Asha’s eyes welled up with tears as she thought of her parents. Living with Lucia, Asha couldn’t help but realize the love she had received from her parents. However, because it was unclear whether she could return to Earth from here, Asha tried to bury her endless longing.

“Mom, are you crying?”

“N-No. Why would I cry?”

‘I have to be strong…’

Justitia approached Asha, who had become a little depressed.

“Asha, you should prepare to leave soon.”

“Yes. It’s already time. It’s time to give something again.”

Rarely, Justitia hesitated and suggested to Asha.

“Well, um… I think you can wear that armor now. What do you think?”

What she pointed to was the Bikini Armor that had been left in a corner of the room for some time. Asha, who looked at it as if she were looking at a cursed object, said with a reluctant expression.

“Ah, that… I’ll wear it if I have nothing else to wear, but I’m not that desperate yet… You understand how I feel, right, Justitia?”

Justitia quickly nodded at Asha’s words.

“Ah, yes, of course. I don’t want to recommend something that I would be reluctant to wear either.”

The two women gave a sullen look at the Wizard’s Armor. While they were talking, items were summoned to the waiting room again.

“Let’s see… Oh, is this perhaps?”

“It’s quite a full Plate Armor.”

“Wow! I’ve always wanted to try this on after seeing the Orcs wear it all the time!”

As Asha said, a set of Plate Armor was summoned into the room. It was a simple silver armor without decorations, but it was stylish enough with just the excellent shape from the helmet to the instep. Asha said excitedly.

“I’ve never worn something like this before. Justitia, can you help me?”

“I’m not familiar with it either, but I’ll help you as much as I can remember.”

Soon, the two began to struggle to put on the armor. Asha and Justitia had a hard time because of all the straps attached to the armor and the order of wearing it, but they were able to complete it before the time ran out.

[Quest8 begins in 0D 2H.]

“Ugh, I’m all dressed up!”

“It would be quite difficult to wear it alone. My knowledge has increased.”

Asha was surprised at how comfortable it was to wear.

“It’s lighter than I thought! It looked pretty heavy.”

“There’s no point in wearing armor if it’s so heavy that it’s difficult to move. Asha, please be careful.”

Asha told Lucia before leaving.

“Yes. I’ll be back. Lucy, you have to be good even when Mom’s not here. Okay? I’ll be back soon!”

“Yes! You be careful, Mom.”

Asha went straight into the portal.

[Quest8 : Occupation of the designated area]

As soon as Asha was summoned, she looked around.

‘It looks like a barracks… But if I’m wearing this much armor, I’ll be treated pretty well, right?’

“It seems like this time it’s a land grab in the war.”

Just then, a soldier came into the tent where Asha was.

“Squad leader! Dinner is served!”

“Huh? What, dinner? Are you bringing it to me?”

“Yes! Here it is.”

Asha received the meal from the soldier. Inside the steel container she received were bread and sausage, and a thin soup in the cup.

‘No, more than that, squad leader?’

Asha, who roughly grasped the hierarchy by reading the room, was filled with excitement.

“Hey, give me your rank and name.”

“Yes?”

Asha asked back, dragging out the words to the soldier who answered the question with a question.

“Yeeees?”

Seeing Asha’s strangely twisted face, the soldier realized that he had answered his superior’s question with a question and turned pale.

“Hup! Sergeant Zack, sir!”

“Okay. Get out of here.”

“Yes, y-yes…”

The soldier, who had suddenly recited his rank, went out in a daze.

‘I thought it was a knighthood because they gave me armor, but it was a commander. Damn it… I need to know who’s who. I think he’ll think it’s weird that I asked for his rank and name.’

The soldier she had asked just now seemed to be acting as a adjutant as well, as he was familiar with her.

“Ah, whatever. If he doesn’t like it, he can be the squad leader. I doubt another guy will come in and kill me while I’m sleeping.”

Feeling the need to figure out the situation, Asha quickly finished her meal and went out of the tent. Outside, soldiers were sitting together and eating.

Besides the soldiers who seemed to be under her command, hundreds of tents were spread out, with smoke rising from various places. When she came out clanking her armor, the soldiers got up from their meals and saluted.

“Loyalty!”

‘Roughly 80 to 100 people…’

“Ah, eat your meals.”

Asha roughly counted the number of soldiers, waved her hand to sit down the soldiers who were getting up, and plopped down next to a soldier. The young soldier was clearly nervous when she suddenly came next to him.

“So, do you remember how far we have to go?”

“Yes, sir! I know that we have to arrive at the fortress after marching for about 3 days!”

“Okay, what are we going to the fortress for?”

“I, I’m sorry. I don’t know that far…”

‘Ick, I guess the soldiers don’t know all the reasons for moving.’

Asha smiled and patted the soldier’s shoulder.

“That’s great. Everyone, make sure to eat your meals as part of your training. Got it?”

“Yes!”

Listening to the soldiers’ answers, Asha went back into the tent.

As she disappeared, the soldiers whispered to each other again.

“Hey, why is the squad leader like that?”

“Wasn’t she not like this before? But what was she like before…”

The soldier, who felt a sense of incongruity for a moment as he recalled the squad leader’s previous appearance, soon forgot again and began to talk about other things.

After talking with the soldiers, Asha returned to the tent and turned on the system’s map function.

“So… this is the Artua Kingdom based on the location. Is it almost the southern end? Are we going out of the kingdom?”

After measuring the direction here and there, she realized that the marching direction was south. Asha turned pale as she pondered what was in the south.

‘Orcs or Elves! Is the higher-up crazy?’

Asha remembered the characteristics of the different races that she had learned from Justitia. The Orcs, whom she had already experienced, were so powerful that one warrior could easily steam a dozen human soldiers.

Elves were not a problem if only a few humans were fighting, but in a battlefield where dozens or hundreds of people gathered, the Elves’ paranoid ranged attacks were said to be terribly powerful. Both races were far superior to humans.

‘They only learn what they really want for the rest of their lives. All Elves who have lived to a certain extent become masters in their field. But they are terrible in other fields.’

Asha, recalling Justitia’s warning, could easily imagine Elves who had only been digging into bows for decades turning enemies into honeycombs.

“They live for at least 150 to 200 years and only learn one thing to death, those crazy weebs…”

Whether going to the Elves’ territory or the Orcs’ territory, both were landmines. At least the Orcs would only warn and retreat if they didn’t harm their own kind, but the Elves were merciless.

‘Should I desert this quest or something?’

Asha suddenly found her armor, which had felt so reliable when she wore it in the waiting room, to be unreliable.

Of course, the quest was compulsory, so Asha couldn’t desert. Moreover, it was not easy to desert from a large army.

On the second day of the march, the soldiers were wary of Asha, who was sighing deeply, unlike her enthusiastic appearance at the beginning, but they couldn’t bring themselves to ask her and continued marching.

There was no chance of being attacked while this many troops were moving within the kingdom, so Asha was lightly dressed in a simple military uniform. The soldiers were playing a game of chicken, and Sergeant Zack, who was pushed and eventually took the blame, approached Asha.

“Um, squad leader, is something wrong?”

Asha, who was already in a bad mood, was about to snap at the soldier who had approached her without any tact, but she held back when she saw a familiar face.

‘Ugh… right. You’re being dragged along too, so what sin do you have.’

“It’s nothing. But Zack. Do you know what’s on the way we’re going?”

“Weren’t we all going to the fortress?”

“No, I mean, what’s at the fortress?”

Zack, who had been eating for a while, sensed the rising irritation in Asha’s words.

‘I think I’m screwed?’

Zack, who had originally tried to cheer her up or find out the cause of her low spirits, changed direction.

“Ha, haha… What would I know? I’ll trust you, squad leader.”

“You trust me? What do you trust about me?”

‘Is this not it…’

Cold sweat ran down Zack’s back.

“Zack.”

“Yes, yes!”

“The only thing you can trust is yourself. If you don’t have any tact, you just die.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“Go, then.”

As soon as she sent Zack, who was joining the line in a panic, Asha regretted it.

‘Augh… That’s not what I was trying to say… What I said was totally like an old fart.’

She cursed at her own cunningness, which changed as soon as she put on a badge. Asha felt pathetic because she seemed to have only vented her anger on innocent people. Asha couldn’t show her feelings because of the soldiers’ gazes still directed at her, and she walked out.

‘I should apologize later.’

Asha sighed again.