Act XI: The Wills of Both Sides

The temporary hall was lit by flickering, dim candlelight, casting deep shadows on the wood grain.

The secluded corner was silent, the air thick with an eerie chill.

Those present weren't accustomed to bright flames, but as long as the pale-faced, eyepatch-wearing middle-aged man at the head of the table didn't speak, no one else dared to act rashly.

Sophie might have recognized this man if she were here, as his appearance had changed very little over the past decade. This was 'One-Eyed' Tagus, the deputy of 'Black Baron' Instaron, a vampire baron. He was a member of the Manlein family, a fourteenth-generation vampire, and among the younger generation. However, his experience in Madara's army far surpassed that of the greenhorn Instaron.

But it didn't matter; this was just the beginning of their collaboration—

Tagus watched as Skeleton soldiers carried stacks of documents from the archives. After a pause, he turned to the Wight beside him and asked, "Tell me, what did Rosco want to report by keeping you here?"

"Respected General Tagus, my master discovered a scout at that manor," the Wight replied in a dry voice, bowing its head.

"And so?" He glanced at it, then shifted his gaze back to the unfolded tactical map.

"He escaped."

A few dismissive snickers echoed around the room.

The vampire general looked up, and the subtle sounds immediately died down. He paused before speaking, "I understand. Rosco did well. But I want him to do better, to not be distracted by these trivial matters— I want him to reach Beledor Forest before noon."

The Wight nodded respectfully and retreated.

But as soon as it left, discordant voices arose in the conference room. This time, it was a tall Skeleton, clad in old brass armor, with dim yellow flames flickering in its eye sockets, exuding an air of indignation:

"Lord Tagus, perhaps the humans have already discovered our intentions. That scout—"

It opened its mouth, but its voice failed to emerge from its leaky jawbone. It had seen Tagus staring at it with his only remaining eye, a gaze that made it instinctively shut up.

A low chuckle rippled through the room, the mockery within it causing the flames in its eyes to flash with annoyance.

"Cabes."

"Here!" the tall Skeleton replied immediately, puffing out its chest.

"You will take this place," Tagus said, pointing to a village on the map.

"Before sunrise," he added, pointing to the roof, "I want to see the results—"

"Yes, Lord Tagus."

"Vesa, Eberton."

"Here!" they replied in unison.

"You will attack Webin and blockade Dagger Riverbank."

"Yes, Lord Tagus."

"Raven's Beak."

"Here!"

"You get two squads. Search and clear this area."

"Yes!"

Tagus looked up, coldly sweeping his gaze over everyone. "You are all nobles of the darkness. We expect you to execute my every command with elegance and speed, without a single flaw. Ridenburg, this is our next target."

He stood up, placing his pale hand on his left shoulder, and recited, "Madara will triumph—"

All the undead stood tall, responding in a deep voice, "Madara will triumph—"

Tagus lowered his head, his gaze returning to the map. He first saw Red Pine Forest south of Bucci, then moved up to Green Village, Beledor Forest, and then Ridenburg— continuing upward, Sharpstone River Valley.

A human scout? He let out a cold smile.

And at the same moment, as the full moon shone upon the pine forest canopy.

There were no wolf howls in the mountains of Song, but a wind rose in the black pine forest. The cold wind, like light smoke, passed through the branches of the trees, chilling to the bone, making one's back prickle with cold. The young people of Bucci had never spent a night outdoors. The misty darkness of the forest always made them somewhat suspicious, as if every shadow hid a terrifying monster.

But a voice brought them peace—

"Hold this position."

"Yes, like that."

"Water—"

"Get me bandages."

"Press down."

Finally finished, Sophie wiped the sweat from her brow and let out a long sigh.

He saw a faint green "+2" float up from the young man's body, and only then did he relax.

After the First Aid skill reached beginner level (level 0), the bandaging recovery effect naturally improved. This was no different from the game, but every detail that matched Sophie's memory brought him much comfort.

He meticulously guided Macmi and Nibeto through the process: how to clean the wound, prevent infection, stop bleeding, bandage, and what details and techniques to pay attention to. Of course, he himself lacked the stamina to perform the actions; his own weakness was only slightly better than that of the unconscious Josen.

When Nibeto completed the final step under his guidance, Sophie looked up and found everyone staring at him, dumbfounded.

Professional.

This was the only word that came to their minds.

Even Little Finis turned back and said seriously to Freya behind him, "Big sis, compared to your skills, yours are pretty amateur—"

As for Freya, she stood at the edge of the crowd, her expression as calm as water.

So it was true, he was just making excuses to get close to me, the shameless scoundrel! she concluded in her heart. She then worriedly glanced at Romane, only to see her happily counting the spoils on the ground with a smug look.

That little brat.

But heaven was her witness, only Sophie knew that all his knowledge came from the skill 'Battlefield First Aid.' Only when he recalled this skill in his memory list did this knowledge appear one by one. In the young man's memory, most of the basic battlefield first aid knowledge came from the first three sections of the book "Gerson's Holy Cross," which mainly described bandaging techniques. Sophie happened to know Gerson in the game, who was currently the High Priest of Brags.

The contents of this book were as if he had witnessed them firsthand, as if he had studied them hundreds of times. The feeling of being able to handle it with ease was like using a cheat to learn first aid.

Unfortunately, using cheats also came at a price—

Meanwhile.

Sophie quickly learned that in fact, the third detachment of Bucci's militia had a total of ten members, including Freya. He was more familiar with Macmi, Esen, Ike, and Little Finis.

Then there were Nibeto and Vlad, who didn't talk much. These two brothers' family had migrated from the Bura region and inherited the taciturn nature of the locals, preferring action over words.

After them was Josen, but he was unconscious and had little chance of waking up.

Then there was the merchant lady who loved to dream, and the girl who was with her. Sophie later learned that she was the daughter of the town's baker, but her demeanor was somewhat introverted and shy, unlike the other two ladies who were more outgoing.

This girl was named Betha, gentle and kind, and at least a good-hearted girl.

These were all the people Sophie needed to interact with. They all seemed like excellent young people, but Sophie knew they were just newbies among newbies, completely unaware of what they were about to face.

So, after thinking for a moment, he asked, "What are your plans?"

The smiles on everyone's faces disappeared the next moment, replaced by silence.

"We're going to Ridenburg," Esen suggested after a pause.

"That's right, Captain Maden and the others will definitely go there too," Ike seconded.

As expected, but Sophie shook his head.

He looked up at these young people, seeing silence, unease, and helplessness about tomorrow on their faces. Even Freya looked slightly better, but the knuckles on her sword hilt, white from gripping it, betrayed her true feelings.

Only Romane answered matter-of-factly, "I'm going with Brando."

This answer made Sophie both amused and exasperated. However, the merchant lady's straightforwardness was likable. The young man paused and said, "Alright, there's one thing I agree with you on— the most important thing for us right now is to leave here."

"So, there are things you disagree with, right?" Freya asked.

Sophie nodded. "Does anyone have a map?"

Everyone looked at each other. Who would have such a thing? Although they were militia, in most cases, the militia also followed the command of the local guard. To put it bluntly, they were just reserves.

Sophie also realized his slip-up. Carrying a map without the authorization of the Eluin Temple would be treated as a spy. He always put himself in the role of a traveler, forgetting that he was now a part of this world.

And here, there were no more players.

"The guard probably has one..." Macmi stammered from the back of the crowd.

Sophie shook his head, thinking, Isn't that stating the obvious? He sighed and turned to the merchant lady beside him, "Romane, give me a sword."

"Okay, Brando."

Sophie took the sword and drew two lines on the soft ground.

"This is the Wei River, and this is the Yu Song River."

He pointed at the two rivers with his sword tip a few times: "This is Bucci, this is Green Village, and this is Webin."

He simply sketched a rough outline, which once again amazed the young people. After all, in this era, not many people understood this world as well as he did—

"Isn't that the Three Towns?" Betha couldn't help but cover her mouth.

"It's amazing, so this is where we are," Ike looked at Sophie with a hint of admiration.

"So Bucci is here?"

"Brando, how do you know?" everyone asked in a flurry of questions. After all, they were young and couldn't suppress their excitement.

Sophie, however, shook his head.

If I don't even recognize the Three Towns starting village, I might as well go find a piece of tofu and smash myself to death. Of course, he couldn't answer like that. He deliberately retorted, "Didn't you learn it? Tactical maps?"

Tactical maps? What were those?

Everyone was bewildered. By Martha above, do the Brags militia even have to learn this?

They all felt a sense of blind reverence for a moment.

However, their protagonist chuckled inwardly. This was something that even ordinary junior non-commissioned officers in the regular army wouldn't know. It was strange for the militia to learn it. But of course, he wouldn't expose himself. He pointed at the confluence of the two rivers:

"This is Ridenburg."

"Ah, is this Ridenburg?" Romane asked curiously.

"What's wrong?" Sophie clearly heard stifled laughter from around him. He couldn't help but look up and ask.

"It's like this, Big Brother Brando. Romane used to admire the merchants of Ridenburg so much when she was little. She pestered me every day about wanting to be a merchant. One time, she ran away, claiming she was going to Ridenburg to do big business, and then—" Little Finis not only immediately betrayed her but also left them in suspense.

The people around couldn't help but chuckle.

"And then?" Sophie asked.

"Haha, she got lost in the forest on the way, and Uncle Sil had to go find her," Little Finis said with a laugh.

"Th-that's not true," Romane's eyebrows shot up.

Sophie glanced at the future businesswoman and couldn't help but think that she clearly hadn't learned her lesson.

"Alright, let's get back to the main topic. Why do you want to go to Ridenburg?" He composed himself and continued asking.

"The army is there."

"Captain Maden and the others will definitely go there."

"My uncle too." Everyone started talking at once again, but their meaning was the same: they all had relatives, and although they had been separated for a while, they might be going to Ridenburg, so why not go to Ridenburg?

This answer left Sophie speechless. It was normal; who would abandon their own family? But he also knew that those who escaped from Bucci would most likely be caught by Madara's army. And going to Ridenburg now would only be walking into a trap.

Sophie knew very well that at this time, they had to advance parallel to the 'Death God' Cabes unit, then enter Beledor Forest one step behind it, and cross the Dagger Riverbank before Eberton and Vesa could encircle them. From there, they would enter the Deer Hunting Forest, skirt Instaron's main force, arrive at Anzek, and inform the local garrison of Instaron's plan to advance on the Gusta Unit's flank.

Only in this way could they survive, and Eluin would not suffer such a devastating defeat as in history.

But how could he say it?

Never mind, it was the old rule: take it one step at a time. He rubbed his slightly heavy forehead and changed his tune, "Alright, we can head towards Ridenburg first and decide what to do next based on the situation."

Then he looked up and met Freya's worried gaze. The girl clearly didn't quite believe his words.

"Mr. Brando?"

"It's nothing, just a judgment. Perhaps the situation will change." He smiled at the girl. But even as he said it, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Reality was cruel, and he, with his still weak strength, had no choice. Of course, if he had the chance, he would definitely try.

A shut-in, so naive.

He couldn't help but mock himself—