In the southern Central Continent, on the Red Sand Plains along the border between the Kadera Kingdom and its neighbor, civil war had raged for ten years, and neither army ever hesitated to execute "spies."
This was a living hell, the end of life, a meat grinder from the depths of hell!
Corpses and blood were this place's only distinguishing features!
Philip and Hilda were locked in a prison wagon nailed together from rough wooden slats. Its wheels let out a piercing groan with every turn.
Outside the wagon, crimson sand and dust filled the sky, and a marching column stretched beyond sight. This was the Kadera Kingdom's "Gray Rat Legion," a mercenary force notorious for its cruelty.
Philip's formal noble attire was already in tatters, and his face was smeared with blood, but his back remained straight.
His eyes were open, his sharp gaze sweeping over everything around him. Despite his dire circumstances, he had not lost his composure.
Philip's left hand gripped Hilda's tightly. The House Boreas ring on his right ring finger had already been roughly stripped off by the soldiers.
He moved closer to Hilda inside the prison wagon and whispered into her ear.
"Hilda, listen to me. If they interrogate us later, pretend to faint. Don't say anything. I'll handle it."
Hilda's red hair was disheveled, and a bruise from a blow marked her face. Her eyes, identical to Eris's, burned with fury, like a lioness's!
Her left hand was clenched tightly, her nails almost digging into her flesh. They had been teleported here in the blink of an eye, then arrested as spies. Barring anything unexpected, death awaited them.
Yet she was not worried about her own safety. Instead, she kept talking about Eris and the others.
"Philip... what about Eris? What about Rudeus