Chapter 150

“Wh-why are you here, Sivar······? No, before that, what did you just say······”

Kara, clearly traumatized, was rambling. She was desperately trying to grasp the situation.

If someone had been in the military or had a similar experience, they’d have no choice but to react to those words.

Kara was probably confused about how I knew such things.

Of course, since I had gone through that myself, I took a deep dive into the matter.

“Wait a minute. No way?”

Realizing the situation belatedly, Kara hurried out of the tent.

I just stood there, letting her go. There was nothing I could do at this point.

Kara was thoroughly searching the castle, but there was nothing in sight.

Not just the other tents, but even the guards who had been snoozing atop the castle wall were all evacuated.

“Did you do this?”

“Yeah.”

“Still, it was way too quiet, right? I knew you were coming and lit all the fires.”

Kara asked with a tone of disbelief, clearly struggling to accept how easily the castle had fallen.

To be honest, I had anticipated some ruckus when sneaking in. But the workers were so careless that everything went smoothly.

“Were they sleeping?”

“Sleeping? Who? The guards on the wall?”

“Yeah, slumped against the wall.”

“Ugh. Those bastards······ I warned them not to sleep like that······!”

As soon as Kara realized the sentry had dozed off, she rubbed her face in frustration.

It’s frustrating to know that a loser soldier exists anywhere, leaving one feeling helpless.

But the job was already done, and the castle had completely fallen. All that was left was Kara alone.

“Sigh······ so what now?”

“Huh?”

“What are you going to do with me? To be honest, fighting you is like throwing eggs at a rock, right? If you’re gonna eliminate me, just do it cleanly. Let’s save some energy while we’re at it.”

It seemed she’d already ruled out the option of fighting me from the start, and fleeing was no option either.

Normally, it would be best to eliminate her, but a fun idea suddenly came to me.

There was no need to fight Kara, and I thought of a rather peaceful method.

“Let’s go together.”

“What?”

“Let’s go together.”

“Together? To your base?”

Nodding to her question, I noticed the puzzled expression on Kara’s face.

After a moment, she thought deeply and asked cautiously, “What if I run away from here?”

“I’ll catch you.”

“······Hmm. Hmm.”

As I boldly replied that I’d catch her, Kara hesitated and cleared her throat.

Then she glanced at me and asked in a somewhat incredulous tone, “Wait, are you trying to say you want to be with me?”

“······?”

That wasn’t the case; I was just having fun thinking about it. I kept my mouth shut.

With misunderstandings like that, it’s only natural, especially since just yesterday morning something similar had happened.

I even eliminated other students while leaving Kara alone, and went so far as to take them away.

There are plenty of things to misunderstand. Well, it’s half-true, so I didn’t bother to clarify.

“Alright then. Let’s go together. I suppose I’ll need to see what you’re thinking. Anyway, whatever we do, we’ll be suppressed by force.”

Fortunately, Kara didn’t seem to doubt it too much and readily agreed. If I was lying and she ran, I’d have caught her right then.

We then opened the castle gate and began returning to the occupied area together.

If we returned to the occupied area, they would soon come to seize the castle. My job was done.

“Sigh. If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve stood guard myself. But hey, I’m not a soldier, so I guess they wouldn’t have had any experience with this.”

“······”

“Sivar, do you stand guard?”

“Yeah.”

Rather than standing guard, I’m usually always alert. Since I gained the Wilderness Instinct, I hardly ever sleep deeply.

Moreover, when I do sleep, it’s more like passing out. My ears are always open, and any noise wakes me up instantly.

“Was that part of the contract? That you have to stand guard?”

“I’m the one who does it. I don’t need sleep.”

“Really? That’s interesting.”

Even in the dark dawn, Kara and I returned to the occupied area without any issues.

I have relatively good night vision, and Kara has excellent senses, so she could roughly distinguish objects in the dark.

Thud—

“Oof.”

“Careful.”

But checking my feet was challenging. I quickly caught Kara as she stumbled.

“Thanks. It’s pitch dark and I can’t see a thing. There’s hardly any moonlight tonight.”

“Hold my hand.”

“What?”

“Hold my hand. I’ll help you.”

“Uh······ okay.”

Kara, despite feeling hesitant, took my hand. Her hand was rough and calloused, a testament to her being a seasoned warrior.

My hand was pretty tough too, but Kara’s was tougher. She must have held weapons her whole life.

“By the way, have we ever held hands before?”

“Don’t know?”

“It’s not exactly soft, is it?”

“It’s fine.”

It seemed like Kara was concerned about that, but she had no intention of comparing.

On the contrary, I found her hand even more appealing. It felt like she’d worked desperately and struggled to survive.

Rize once told me that a person’s hand indicates their character, much like their eyes. Now that I’ve touched hers, I think I understand.

“Your hands are really tough, Sivar. Lots of scars, especially.”

“Yeah.”

“Didn’t it hurt?”

“It hurt a lot. Very much so.”

As soon as I fell into the forest, Porori hit me with Cheolsan-go, and a wolf bit my left arm.

At that time, I was left-handed, which made things quite unfortunate for a while. After that, I went through various hardships.

Though I have many scars all over my body, I can assure you that it’s nothing compared to my hands. I got hurt a lot.

“We’re almost there.”

“You’ve been doing a decent job standing guard. I’m jealous.”

As we chatted about this and that, we unknowingly returned to the occupied area.

Fortunately, the sentry for our team seemed to be doing their job right, as they jumped in surprise when they saw us.

They went in to report our arrival, and shortly after, personnel from the command center came out.

“Yawn······ huh? Sivar? And next to you is······”

“Kara?”

Grace yawned elegantly, and Luna appeared with sleepy eyes. They expressed surprise at seeing Kara next to me.

Without hesitation, I moved behind Kara and embraced her in a sort of back hug.

“What, what are you doing? All of a sudden······”

Lifting her off the ground, Kara was totally flustered. Given her height, her feet barely left the ground.

I glanced at startled Kara and then looked at Grace and Luna. They seemed bewildered, perhaps just waking up.

“I brought her.”

“What?”

“······What?”

At my claim of bringing Kara, both she and Grace raised their eyebrows in confusion.

It seemed I needed to explain in more detail. I spoke calmly while still holding Kara.

“She’s a prisoner. Kara’s our prisoner now.”

“······Wait a second, Sivar? What do you mean? I’m a prisoner?”

“······”

Kara hurriedly asked when I mentioned capturing her. Grace’s eyes widened, clearly in shock.

After all, it’s absurd to have the prisoner walk in on her own. But this was my high-level strategy(?).

Since supplies were running low, I needed to finish the test early.

“Kara.”

“Uh, yeah?”

“You’ve been kidnapped.”

“······?”

Kara was taken aback.

******

When was the last time I experienced something so ridiculous? There were too many instances to count, but I think I’ll remember this one distinctly.

Kara, the princess of Tartar and a fierce warrior in tribal warfare, had absurdly become a prisoner, essentially tricked.

She had never been captured even during tribal unification wars. It’s not just due to Hector’s overwhelming strength, but also because many had resolved things with words.

“Ah, come on! What kind of situation is this?”

“Right? The more I see Sivar, the sharper his mind seems.”

Luna agreed with Kara’s incredulous statement. For reference, Kara was currently tied up with ropes.

Though Luna was keeping watch nearby, it didn’t hold much significance. Kara had already completely given up.

The fact that the sentry had fallen asleep was practically the same as losing. Confirming that Kara had been taken prisoner was like sealing the deal.

“In a good light, it’s clever; in a bad light, it’s cunning. They say it was Sivar’s unilateral decision to capture her?”

“Yeah. Originally, Sivar was supposed to take down the castle’s defenders alone, and we were to sneak in.”

Luna couldn’t hide her amazement. Even though they followed the plan meticulously, they ended up with an even greater prize.

Sivar understood the system of the final exam better than anyone. Normally, if you fell unconscious, you would be evacuated on the spot.

But if you could capture someone as a prisoner, there wouldn’t be an evacuation, and the opposition would suffer tremendous loss of manpower.

Besides, the captured individual just happened to be the commander and held half the team’s power—Kara.

From the opposing team’s perspective, losing their commander resulted in a significant gap in strength.

“This isn’t the end. Sivar suggested to Grace that we should use Kara as a hostage to negotiate.”

“What? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“He proposed that we contract with the other side just like he did with us. If they fulfill our demands, Kara returns just like that.”

“Wow······ I’m just amazed at this point.”

Kara looked genuinely impressed with her mouth agape. Even though she hadn’t received any formal training, that he even considered such a prisoner exchange was something else.

He brought together the characteristics of prisoners, contracts, and siege warfare in one clever move. All of it was Sivar’s brilliant idea.

‘No matter how you look at it, that’s impressive.’

Luna turned to look at Sivar, who was enjoying a meal coming out from the supply depot.

Other students were trapped within the frame of the ‘exam,’ unable to conceive such ideas. They were all focused solely on the test.

Moreover, capturing Kara as a prisoner would require a tremendous sacrifice. In other words, it was something only Sivar could achieve.

“Sigh. The test is essentially over. We lost the castle too easily, and if negotiations fail too, it doesn’t mean anything.”

“Anyway, didn’t you care about the test?”

“That’s true, but it feels off. Everything got tangled because of those sleepy sentries.”

“Mm. That’s also valid. Thanks to that, everyone realized just how crucial sentries are.”

What Sivar did during the predawn hours became a significant lesson.

Just one failure in vigilance could lead to losing a war.

While mistakes made by soldiers in operations might be forgiven, mistakes made by guards are unforgivable.

Of course, since it was Sivar who infiltrated, the outcome would have been similar, but at least Kara would not have been captured.

Creeeak—

While Kara and Luna were chatting about various things, the firmly closed castle gate began to slowly open.

Soon, figures from the opposing team appeared beyond the gate. They could be viewed as some sort of envoy.

Leading the group was Antonio, flanked by two guards.

“You’re here. Do you know what the negotiation is about?”

“Not sure. I heard that Grace and Sivar are leading it.”

“Grace is one thing, but Sivar too? Can I watch a bit?”

“Sure thing.”

Luna helped Kara to her feet. Everything was fine, but they couldn’t untie her.

Well, it wasn’t much of a binding; her wrists were bound by a simple rope. Kara wasn’t really thinking about escaping anyway.

“You’ve arrived. Shall we arrange a place to talk?”

“Let’s do that.”

Antonio, who came as an envoy, stole a glance at Kara, the prisoner.

The exam, which had already become a real mess due to the careless sentries, transcended into chaos. He intuitively sensed that this exam was essentially over.

Even so, he wanted to at least secure some personal scores. Their team’s overall results were in shambles, but he aimed for personal success.

“No way. Are you kidding me? You want supplies? We’re also almost out of food here!”

But upon seeing the negotiation details, he couldn’t help but get angry.

The main aspect of their demands was to ask for supplies. Up to that point, it was reasonable.

“But asking for half of our supplies for four days? Isn’t that just telling us to give up?”

They were asking for half of their supplies for four days, effectively daring them to throw the match.

There was already a severe shortage of water because all containers filled with water had burst during Sivar’s human cannonball incident.

Antonio’s frustration was palpable, but Grace didn’t back down. Instead, she maintained a relaxed demeanor and continued the negotiation.

“The hostage, I mean, Kara, has quite a bit of value. What can you all do without her?”

“Ugh······”

Antonio felt dizzy for a moment. Grace’s statement had no flaw in it.

Without Kara, they couldn’t even pull off a frontal assault, and coming up with a plan would be quite challenging.

The gap in experience from real battles was considerable. There was a reason every team had prioritized Kara as their commander.

“······Fine. But four days is hard for us too······”

“Four days.”

Antonio hadn’t even finished speaking when Sivar jumped in.

It was a ridiculously simple statement, but the message contained was anything but straightforward.

“······Hey. Asking for half of our supplies for four days means a whopping two days·····”

“Four days.”

“Are you kidding me? Do you think I eat that much·····!”

“Four days. I don’t like being hungry.”

Sivar kept repeating “four days.” Antonio’s face began to redden gradually.

I don’t want to starve. So if you’re not giving us supplies for four days, I’ll wipe you all out.

In a negotiation that felt like a deadlock, Antonio’s choices were quite limited.

“I’m not doing it! Just don’t! Let’s see who wins!”

He immediately flipped the table. It was clear that he couldn’t take it anymore.

Grace had expected this reaction, so she smiled. Coupled with her sharp gaze, it gave off a somewhat intimidating vibe.

“Alright then, the negotiations are over. Sivar?”

“Yeah.”

Once the negotiations fell through, the result was already set in stone.

“Supplies will be out in one hour. You should go to the opposing area and grab it at that time.”

“Got it.”

“Hey, you guys are just······”

The final exam, unlike the midterm exam, concluded early.

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