Thank You, Bad Guy

Morin slowly pulled out his bayonet. The lieutenant colonel commanding the battalion, who had just been celebrating his survival, crumpled limply to the floor, disbelief still frozen on his face.

He wiped the sticky blood from the bayonet on Juan's relatively clean uniform, then slid it back into its sheath.

From the strike to cleaning the blade, every movement was smooth and natural, without the slightest hesitation.

Throughout it all, Morin felt little discomfort.

Perhaps his target had been such scum that he felt no guilt whatsoever, only the calm that came after taking out the trash.

"We picked up something very valuable on this trip. Not a bad haul."

Morin turned to Corporal Baumann, his voice perfectly steady, nothing like that of someone who had just killed a man.

"But now we need to figure out how to get back."

The two of them returned to the empty room next door.

The three girls they had rescued were still huddled together. When they saw the men enter, they instinctively shrank back, lingering terror in their eyes.

Morin completely understood their fear. They looked quite young, after all. Something would have been wrong if an experience like this hadn't frightened them...

Fortunately, Morin and his men had acted quickly. The officers hadn't had time to inflict anything worse, and the girls had only suffered a terrible fright.

Morin slowed his steps and crouched a few paces away from them, trying to make his voice sound as kind as possible.

"Don't be afraid. We've dealt with the bad men. No one's going to hurt you anymore."

The three girls fell silent for a moment after hearing his words. Then one of them, a little braver than the others, raised her head and asked timidly, "Are you... with the National Army?"

Morin shook his head.

The girl seemed taken aback, then gathered her courage to ask another question:

"Then are you with those Inter... International Brigades the grown-ups talk about, who came from somewhere else to help?"

Morin shook his head again.

The girl hesitated. She looked at Morin's unfamiliar uniform, then at Corporal Baumann, who stood behind him as silent as an iron tower.

Finally, she asked in a barely audible voice, "Then... are you a good man?"

The question caught Morin off guard.

Then he smiled and asked, "What do you think?"

The three girls exchanged glances and all nodded slightly.

The girl who had spoken first said softly, "You look scary... but I think you're good men."

"No."

Morin kept shaking his head, though his smile remained. "Actually, I'm not much of a good man either..."

That answer left the girls completely bewildered. They couldn't understand why this man had saved them but refused to admit he was a good person.

Corporal Baumann and the others were baffled too, because they hadn't understood the conversation at all...

Only Baumann had picked out words like "good man" and "bad man."

"Then... why did you save us?"

"Because I can't stand seeing things like this happen," Morin said solemnly. "And I have to live up to the Red Scarf and Party Emblem I once wore."

The unfamiliar terms coming out of Morin's mouth only confused the three girls further.

Yet somehow, his strange answer and exaggerated solemnity eased their fear, and their taut nerves gradually relaxed.

"All right. Listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you."

Morin dropped his playful expression and said seriously:

"What you need to do now is quietly go straight back to your families! Then find a way to leave this city with them, or find somewhere safe to hide!"

He paused, his tone growing firmer. "Those bastards are dead, but I expect their friends will come looking for trouble soon... Staying here will only put you in greater danger. Understand?"

The girls nodded, though they seemed only half to understand.

Morin stood, went to the window, and carefully lifted a corner of the curtain to look outside.

The civilians who had been driven back at gunpoint had long since dispersed, and the Royal Army soldiers had returned to their posts.

They gathered in twos and threes, smoking, chatting, playing cards, and eating without paying. No one was watching the two-story building anymore.

Once he had confirmed it was safe, Morin turned and held out his hand to the four soldiers other than Baumann.

"Two grenades each. Hand them over."

Though somewhat puzzled, the soldiers immediately removed the spherical grenades secured in carrying clips on their belts and handed all eight to Morin.

Under everyone's curious gaze, Morin got to work.

He found some sewing thread in the room and pulled a few thin wires from the broken furniture, then carefully hid the grenades beneath the two bodies in the stairwell and the middle room.

Using the thread and wire, he deftly connected the grenades' pull rings to the stair railing and even to the bodies themselves.

"Sir, what are you..." Corporal Baumann came over, his face full of confusion.

Morin didn't look up. "Leaving a little surprise for whoever comes next."

With everything in place, Morin and his men took the three shaken girls out through the back door of the two-story building without a sound.

With the "full-map vision" provided by the System Map, they easily avoided the sight lines of every Royal Army soldier nearby, winding through several alleys to bring the girls to a relatively safe neighborhood.

"All right," Morin said. "There aren't any Royal Army soldiers around here. Do you all know how to get home?"

The three girls nodded at his question.

"Good. Remember what I told you. Hurry home, then go somewhere safe with your families," Morin reminded them.

The girls bowed to them gratefully, then supported one another as they walked toward the other end of the alley.

The braver girl turned back to look at Morin, a hint of a smile finally appearing on her face.

"Thank you, bad man!"

Morin watched their retreating figures in silence, then waved his hand and led his squad stealthily toward the edge of the city.

"Sir, why did she thank a 'bad man'? Or did I mishear her?"

As they were about to leave the city, Corporal Baumann finally couldn't hold back his question.

"Well, to the civilians of the Kingdom of Aragon, foreign troops like us are technically invaders too..." Morin said.

Corporal Baumann froze for a moment, clearly not expecting that answer.

After a while, he asked hesitantly:

"But didn't we come to fight in this country to 'break Britannia's energy monopoly and let every nation share in the advances of industrial technology'?"

"Yes, you're right. Perhaps that really is the case."

Morin nodded, then smiled at Corporal Baumann's conflicted expression and reached out to pat his shoulder.

"Oh, why think so much about it? As a soldier, your duty is to obey your superiors and carry out your missions. Don't get caught up in all that..."

After clearing up Corporal Baumann's doubts, the group quickened their pace. Yet a complicated look had entered Morin's eyes as well.

A typical imperialist nation, intervening militarily in another country and meddling in its internal affairs for its own national interests...

Morin naturally found it hard to see much "justice" in a military operation like this. It was ultimately nothing more than a contest between powerful men.

Of course, to a considerable extent, this was also a case of one's position determining one's views.

All Morin could do now was lead his men and find a way to survive this war.

Thanks to the Royal Army's virtually nonexistent roadblocks and security measures, their withdrawal went remarkably smoothly. Before long, they had made it back to the foot of the hill where their bicycles were hidden, without any real mishap.

After wheeling the bicycles out of the bushes, Morin did not immediately order them to leave.

"Baumann, come back up with me for another look."

The two quietly climbed to the hilltop again. Morin raised his binoculars for one last sweep of the distant enemy positions, checking for any new activity.

This time, Morin's gaze once again settled on the high ground where the Magic Crystal Cannons were deployed.

There seemed to be a few more people up there than before.

His six-power binoculars only let him make out that they were senior Royal Army officers and several people in plain robes whose bearing was distinctly different.

Yet the System Map in his field of vision suddenly began flashing wildly, and a series of highlighted icons and messages popped up.

[Key targets detected...]

[Commander of the Aragonese Army's 24th Infantry Division: General José Sanjurjo]

[Holy Britannian Empire's Highland Mage Corps: Senior Mentor—Eldritch]

[Holy Britannian Empire's Highland Mage Corps: Mage apprentices x3]

[Staff officers attached directly to the 24th Infantry Division x4]

For an instant, Morin's heart skipped a beat.

A few more people? This was an entire imperial banquet served up before him!