"You talk as if you've seen me before. Where did we meet?"

"That couldn't be, sir. I just heard you're someone who likes to joke around, so I simply made a guess."

The old man quietly smiled. Then he replied,

"Tell me. If your guess convinces me, this old man might feel delighted for the first time in a while."

At the old man's words, Konrad silently bowed his head. It was quite different from how he had treated the earlier 'so-called Commander'.

'Is this a kind of test? He's quite spontaneous.'

Of course, this probably wasn't a test that Commander August had initially intended. He just wanted to play a prank on Erich, but Erich immediately saw through his identity, which must have piqued his interest.

'Still, this isn't bad.'

If Erich could answer August's question well, he could make a good start. In fact, this situation was nearly what Erich had intended.

Commander August von Ludenwald. Erich had a deep history with him. In fact, it was August who first recognized Erich's talent—when Erich had struggled to adapt to the Watch and always felt like an outsider—and made him the next commander.

So Erich not only knew August's face well, but he could also easily anticipate his reaction to such pranks.

"I could tell by your hands, sir."

"My hands? What about my hands?"

"A certain wise man once told me that a person's hands tell the story of their life. However, the hands of the man who thrust his face at me, claiming to be the commander, were not the hands of a commander, sir."

"If not the hands of a commander... then what do you think the hands of a commander should be like?"

"The person over there has not wielded a sword in a long time. Once, he must have been famous as a swordsman. On the other hand, I saw the leaves being cut sharply by the commander's scissors, without touching the edges. The hands that held those scissors were the hands only possessed by the most skilled and powerful swordsmen, sir."

"Hoho! So you noticed even all that, huh? Chief of Staff Anton, he says you're an old-timer."

At the commander's words, the eyes of the handsome middle-aged man, called Anton, glinted with intrigue. He rested his hand quietly on his sword and fixed Erich with a steady gaze.

But then, anton relaxed and gave an embarrassed smile.

"He's not wrong, sir Konrad. You've brought in quite a capable person."

"Not at all. He practically rolled in all on his own—I didn't have to do anything."

The tension in the room quickly dissipated. Fortunately, the commander seemed satisfied with Erich's explanation.

But this was not simply because Erich's words were persuasive.

Hands reflect a person's life. You can know everything by looking at their hands. After all, it was none other than August himself who'd once told Erich that.

'Thank goodness the one pretending to be the commander was Uncle Anton.'

With some people, this could have been taken as, 'You're not much of a commander, are you?' But fortunately, the role had fallen to the famously good-natured Chief of Staff Anton.

Thanks to that, Erich could praise the commander as much as decorum allowed—without crossing the line—and still achieve the result he wanted.

All of this was only possible because Erich already recognized the faces in the room.

The personnel of the Watch here, including the commander, were mostly high-ranking officers, except for Konrad. These were the core staff who led the Watch from the headquarters within the Black Citadel.

Erich had known almost all of them before his regression and hardly anything about them was a mystery to him.

Erich quietly studied each of them. Among these, some would survive until Erich became commander, while others would lose their lives before then.

Yet seeing their faces once again stirred strange emotions inside him.

'... Now I truly feel like I'm back.'

Finally, Erich let a small smile linger on his lips. But his thoughts were interrupted as Commander August opened his mouth.

"I've laughed enough; let's end the jokes here. Normally, I'd send you back to the training unit and start you from basic drills, but everyone agreed that would be a waste of time."

"But are you really going to use me when I know nothing about this place?"

"Of course I can't. Instead, I want to put you in charge of a small outpost for a while. What do you think?"

A small outpost. Those words meant Erich would start as the lowest-ranking officer—a post commander.

Of course, Erich guessed that the outpost August had in mind for him was no ordinary one.

"May I ask where the outpost is? Is it at the frontlines, sir?"

"We wouldn't put a new officer in charge of a frontline outpost. There are many outposts within this Great Wall. You'll be assigned to one of them."

"It seems there is a 'small problem' at the outpost I'll be assigned to, isn't there, sir?"

At Erich's response, August glanced sideways at the officers and smiled.

"There is a small problem. I see you've already figured out my intent. I'd like to entrust you with that outpost for a short time—what do you say?"

August's request was one that couldn't be refused. The Watch was not so comfortable a place that you could choose your post.

Most likely, August wanted to see how Erich would handle this 'small problem'.

'A test. Not bad at all.'

There was no reason for the members to obey an officer who hadn't even gone through the training unit. But by solving the problem within the Great Wall, Erich could prove his competence and let this serve as his grand debut.

"Please entrust it to me."

Erich bowed his head quietly. Then August drew a sword from his waist. It was drawn so deftly that the sound of the blade leaving its sheath could not be heard.

Such skill couldn't be attributed to an old, thick-fingered hand.

—Tac.

Erich felt the cold, heavy weight of the blade rest on his shoulder. At the same time, August spoke.

"I, August von Ludenwald, commander of the Watch, hereby appoint Erich von Krupp as the post commander of the Black Serpent Outpost."

'Black Serpent Outpost.'

At that name, a twitch appeared in the corner of Erich's eye. Immediately, a sense of foreboding crawled down his spine.

There was an unspoken rule in the Watch before his regression: never name an outpost after darkness or serpents. The very origin of this curse was the Black Serpent Outpost itself.

***

Through the gap in the wooden door, a bitter wind seeped in and bit at their skin. Joseph shivered and rubbed his arms.

"... Aren't you cold, sir?"

"I am. Just as I expected."

Joseph widened his eyes in surprise. Understandably so—he had thought that Erich, who came from the south, would be shocked by the northern cold.

Even though they had entered the building quite a while ago, a layer of frost clung stubbornly to the shoulders of both Joseph and Erich.

The fireplace blazed, but its heat was far from enough. Joseph, a bit embarrassed, poked at the fire as he continued speaking.

"The Black Serpent Outpost may be uncomfortable, but it's not as sinister as the rumors say, sir."

"What rumors?"

"Ah, it's just that... the men on night watch keep saying they see things at night, sir."

"That's already sinister enough. What do you think, senior Joseph? As the supply unit's deputy, you must drop by here from time to time."

Joseph stroked his chin before answering.

"Well... in fact, things like the men avoiding night shifts or saying they see things—those things happen fairly often. And when you look into it, it's almost always nothing."

At Joseph's words, Erich smirked. Of course, in most cases, that would certainly be true. The problem was that the Black Serpent Outpost had once been shut down entirely because of what happened at this place.

'If I remember right, the Black Serpent Outpost simply vanished one day, without a trace.'

There had been plenty of rumors about desertion and such at the time, but—this was proof that the sinister gossip was more than just idle talk.

But Erich was confident. With his skills and knowledge now, he was certain he could resolve whatever happens at the Black Serpent Outpost.

However, that wasn't the problem at hand.

Erich and Joseph, following the commander's orders, were waiting for a senior team member who would assist Erich. In fact, Erich was more interested in that senior member now.

"By the way, what kind of person is the senior member the commander is assigning as my deputy?"

"Umm...."

Joseph bit his lip, looking a little troubled, then finally opened his mouth as if he'd made up his mind.

"In terms of skill, there's nothing to complain about. Among all the senior members, he's exceptionally skilled. The only thing is..."

"But, nothing good ever comes after that 'only', does it?"

"There's a bit of a personality issue... He's been a member for over twenty years, actually."

Joseph's voice trailed off. But just that was enough for Erich to make an educated guess.

'Twenty years, and still just assigned as a senior member at an outpost? Must be a big problem there.'

Unlike the chief senior members, who only the best could reach, a regular senior member's abilities were defined by where they worked.

Considering most are ranked as outpost—fortress—unit senior, being a senior member at an outpost made him basically the lowest of the seniors.

Yet, with no problem in skills, he'd spent 20 years in that position? Clearly, something was very wrong.

—Bang!

Suddenly, the door crashed open as if it would break off its hinges. There stood a man with a bandit-like beard, glaring at Joseph and Erich with fierce eyes.

"This is fucking bullshit. Who the hell says there's a problem?"

"... Fr, Frederick. It's not like that..."

Joseph avoided Frederick's gaze and shot a sidelong glance at Erich. It was as if to say, 'See? He's basically like this.'

But Erich simply raised a corner of his mouth as he met Frederick's eyes.

Frederick. The perpetual senior member. No one in the Watch didn't know his famously infamous name.

And not in a good way. Because Frederick was known as—

'Frederick the Mutineer.'

He couldn't stand anyone being above him...

Which meant, as a subordinate, he was the absolute worst you could possibly have.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

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