A Commander’s Gambit

He didn’t raise his voice, just murmuring quietly, but my breath caught in my throat.

“No! That’s not an imprint…!”

Feeling like I was facing a raging storm head-on, I gasped for air and, a moment too late, shook my head.

“And I didn’t do it like you, I drew blood with my weapon!”

“……”

“It’s true! Valta! We were watching from the side! You didn’t lay a single hair on him!”

At the Sura’s hurried corroboration, the murderous atmosphere finally softened slightly.

‘What. You don’t believe my words, but you believe the Sura’s?’
I, for one, was disgruntled and secretly glared at Karvan’s profile.
He was still glaring fiercely at the Hyena.

“It can be removed, can’t it.”

“…What?”

“Your imprint.”

“Ugh, it’s not an imprint, it’s a stigma! ‘Stigma Theory’!”

‘It’s only a slight difference, but the meaning is completely different!’
As I even clapped my palms to emphasize my point, the man, who was looking at me intently, raised the corner of his mouth.

Seeing the slight twitch in his lips, the poison must have spread quite a bit, but I have no idea why he came here.

“You, your body isn’t well…”

“Just answer me first. Can it be removed?”

“If you keep wandering around! …Yes, it can be removed.”

At his expression, which looked like he would absolutely not return to his bed unless I answered properly, I diligently explained that it wasn’t permanent and had no sexual meaning.

“……”

But his face was still unusually grave, so I hurriedly added the operational plan he hadn’t even asked for.

“I just plundered his ability for a moment to infiltrate.”

“…Infiltrate?”

Since the Hyena tribe was in an alliance with the Nemea-Igra tribe, they wouldn’t be able to detect me, who had plundered the Hyena’s passive skill, and I would be able to pass the watchtowers.

If by any chance I was discovered, the Varg who were waiting nearby were supposed to draw their attention.

“Then, how do you plan to get up to the nest?”

“Ah, that…!”

In ‘Legacyth Chronicle,’ when in a mounted state, the mount and the rider are treated as a single entity, and the passive skill is also shared between the mount and the rider.
I knew this well because the ‘Varg riding bug’ was prevalent because of this.

So, if I approached while on the back of a Varg, they wouldn’t be able to detect us.

“The Varg are good at climbing cliffs because of their excellent vertical mobility, right? And I just happen to have the Hyena tribe’s undetectable ability, so if someone carries me on their back and climbs up to the nest, we won’t be discovered.”

“If we succeed, Shinbi-nim will infiltrate the leadership and retrieve the antidote, and we will wait outside and provide support.”

The man said nothing.
Whether he understood or not.
He was silently lost in his own thoughts, just like when I was explaining the escape plan in the Nemea prison.

“There’s no time to hesitate. And there’s no time for an all-out war.”

Even at my anxious added words, Karvan still didn’t answer.
‘Does he think it’s absurd?’
But since he had handed over the command of the operation to me anyway, the Sura would follow my words.

“Is there anyone who would like to go with me?”

They just looked at each other’s faces and exchanged glances, but no one raised their hand.

Well, I did think, who would volunteer for the ordeal of climbing a towering cliff while carrying me on their back.

If I had my way, I would have liked to go alone, but there was a condition from the Maha that I must be accompanied by at least one Varg.
Of course, it wasn’t because they were worried, but because they were afraid I would run away again.

“Shinbi-nim, I will!”

“Tegen, you can’t. You have to stay and take care of the forest. Alright, then I’ll choose as I please! Hmm, who should I take.”

“…I-if it’s alright with you, I would like to go!”

As I shouted cheerfully to hide my awkwardness, someone stealthily raised their hand, perhaps because they pitied me.
With a very determined face, they even squeezed their eyes shut.

“Valtael, I will also volunteer!”

“Me too!”

Then, as if not to be outdone, hands were raised from all over.
It was clear that they were stepping forward because they were embarrassed for the Valtael.

‘They’re all so nice.’
As my heart warmed up for some reason and I was smiling foolishly, for some reason, the number of volunteers increased.

“I’m fast on my feet! Please take me!”

“No, I’m faster than him…!”

“I’ll go.”

At the man’s expressionless interjection, the hands that had been waving like in a concert hall all disappeared.

I looked at Karvan, who had suddenly interjected, with a dumbfounded expression.

“You can’t even stand properly.”

“To carry out that plan, I’ll have to hold you continuously, and if I’m touching you, there’s no pain. It’s temporary, but I’ll be in an antidote state.”

That was true.
The problem was that it was a bottomless pit, but if I was touching him, his condition would improve.
Even now, as I was holding his hand, his pale complexion had noticeably improved.

“Just stay here. Where is a patient going.”

“…And you, where are you going, in the arms of another male?”

He said, even frowning, with a look as if he had witnessed an affair.
He seemed worried that I would try some tricks on his precious Sura.

‘Then just take a Sura who doesn’t have a mate.’
As I was about to suggest a compromise I had carefully considered, he suddenly lifted his head with an expressionless face and slowly scanned the surroundings.

“V-Valta is right!”

Then, suddenly, the Sura started to nod their heads like crazy and agree.
As if they were an audience who had seen a sketchbook with ‘admiration and affirmation’ written on it, they all responded in unison and encouraged me.

“I believe it is right for Valta to go with you.”

“As a mate, you should of course be together.”

“But still, he’s a patient! He won’t even be able to take care of himself…!”

“He was fine even with pure silver spears stuck all over his body. Even in that state, he’ll be stronger than us.”

‘…So you were all just saying empty words!’
‘Just a moment ago, you were all volunteering and saying you wanted to go with me, and now you’re anxious to pass me over to Karvan.’

Pushed by the Sura’s urging, I reluctantly took a few steps towards the man.

“……”

As I hesitantly approached him, he held out his hand to me as if he had been waiting.
Just like that day of the full moon ceremony.
With the half-moon, which had risen at some point, at his back, with a leisurely and expressionless face.

For some reason, I felt like I was being teased, so I bit my lip hard and glared at Karvan.

“I’ll abandon you if you become a burden.”

“Wasn’t I going to get my own antidote in the first place.”

“…S-still, I’ll abandon you!”

As I was fuming and spitting out whatever came to mind, the man looking down at me chuckled.
I don’t know why he keeps chuckling when he usually has almost no change in expression.

“Do as you please. I will do the same.”

Thinking he was teasing me again, I turned around with a frown, and I heard a somehow satisfied voice.

“…Are you going to abandon me if I become a burden too?”

At his meaningful words, I asked back anxiously, and now he was even laughing with his forehead in his hand.

“Do as your heart desires.”

‘Why, again!’
‘This time, it’s definitely teasing.’
Thinking that, as I looked at him with narrowed eyes, he ruffled my hair and added.

“I plan to do the same from now on.”

Karvan, who had spoken with a voice still tinged with laughter, grabbed me from behind my knees and lifted me up.

…Ack!
For a moment, I screamed at the sudden height, and then the mist that had spread out in a cloud enveloped the surroundings.

The man just walked for a long time, holding me.
With a gray mist wrapped around his whole body.

“…Wouldn’t it be better to just carry me on your back? How are we going to climb that high tower in this state?”

“Can you even be carried on my back properly. With those arms.”

“Ugh, what do you take me for! Hurry up and put me down, and carry me on your back!”

At first, it felt like I was floating in water, so I was anxious and asked him again.

‘Isn’t it better to be on your back so both your arms are free, shouldn’t we start preparing to climb now.’
‘No matter how much I said it, he didn’t even pretend to listen and has just been walking until now.’

“Where are we going? Are we going the right way?”

“You asked me to take you inside the Igra’s nest.”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

I was relieved that he seemed to know the destination properly, but I couldn’t understand how we were moving at all.

Karvan had been walking continuously since a while ago.
It certainly felt like he was walking at a leisurely pace, like a walk, holding me, but strangely, it felt like I was driving on a foggy highway with the top of a sports car open.

I couldn’t see anything because the surroundings were cold and filled with a thick white mist, but the wind was just whistling past my ears.
I can’t see anything!
I bit down on my chattering teeth.

Now my body was slightly tilted downwards, and it even felt like I was going down the stairs.
Shuddering at the strange sensation, I just clutched the man’s neck tightly.

‘Where are we going?’
‘When are we going to climb the Igra’s nest?’
Just as I was thinking that, the wind that was brushing past my ears subsided.

Crunch, crunch.

With the sound of ice fragments being stepped on underfoot, the mist dissipated and my vision cleared.

[…Entering Igdra’s Tower, <Yggdrasil>…]

Finally, with a ding, I doubted my eyes at the hologram that appeared.

‘We’ve already climbed to the top of the tower?’
‘That can’t be.’
‘The Igra’s nest, which I had looked up at from a distance before we left, was toweringly high.’

To exaggerate a bit, it looked as high as the Burj Khalifa, and we’ve climbed that?
How?
Thinking the status window might be wrong, I looked around and then gasped.

The dizzying height below my feet was dizzying.

“…Ack!”

As I screamed without realizing it, the eyes that had been looking straight ahead slowly lowered.
As if to say, ‘What’s wrong?’

I couldn’t even speak and just gasped for breath, hyperventilating, and hugged the man’s neck tightly.

“Wh-what in the…”

I was wondering when and how we had climbed this high tower, but the moment I saw the ice platforms that were being created every time the man stepped into the air, I realized.

This man must have turned into mist while holding me, shot up high into the sky, and then created stairs above the Igra’s city and walked down.