The Gray Rat Legion made camp beside a dried-up riverbed. After marching for so long, they needed rest.
They erected a crude wooden execution platform in the center, really nothing more than a raised platform cobbled together from a few planks, with a crossbeam above it and two coarse hemp ropes hanging down.
They decided to execute the two prisoners now!
Philip and Hilda were forced up to the platform, where the soldiers prepared to hang them.
Didn't they say tonight?
Did these barbarians not even know how to keep to a schedule?
Philip was speechless. Executing them was bad enough, but they were even moving it ahead of schedule.
Fucking barbarians!
Philip had no choice but to try to stall them first and see whether he could find a chance to survive.
As he was brought before the platform, he suddenly spoke in fluent Kadra dialect.
"Wait! We're not spies! We're high-ranking nobles from the Asura Kingdom! We're valuable! We can give you intelligence! About the Asura Kingdom's military deployments!"
He had learned it from southern merchants he had hosted back in Roa. Thinking about it now, learning it really had been the right choice!
Philip's words caught the attention of these wild dogs.
The soldiers froze for a moment. The crowd parted to either side, and a mercenary captain with a scar-covered face stepped out, narrowing his eyes as he looked Philip up and down.
"...Asura? That rich country in the north? How can you prove it?"
The scar-faced mercenary stopped the soldiers, giving Philip time to speak.
The Asura Kingdom was one of the world's few great powers, absolutely beyond comparison with a small country like theirs.
Seeing that the man was interested, Philip's heart pounded wildly, but his smile remained composed as he answered calmly.
"We're