n

n

nThe orange light of the distant volcano illuminated the silhouette of the corpse hanging from the spear, giving the image a dark feeling.

nThe soldiers could deal with a strict officer, but they couldn’t deal with one that killed people without a good reason.

nThe officer slowly lowered his spear, the corpse of the Scumbag flopping to the ground like a sack of meat.

nThen, the officer turned to the watching soldiers.

n“This is a mission coming from Duke Whirlwind himself,” the officer explained. “Traitors are especially devastating in such a remote location, and we have our ways to weed them out.”

n“This traitor,” the officer said as his spear pointed to the corpse, “has fallen into one of our traps and reported incorrect information. Remember that we are not the only soldiers here.”

nA communication crystal appeared in the officer’s hands. “We corroborate the different reports, which gives us a very clear picture of the surroundings. There is no reason to lie to us if you are loyal. After all, you get nothing out of it.”

nThe soldiers looked at the corpse with complex emotions.

nA traitor?

nSome of the Rookies almost couldn’t believe it, while most of the Bootlickers only narrowed their eyes at the corpse.

nThe Scumbags weren’t present right now, but if they were, they would only sneer.

n“As long as you don’t try to sabotage this mission, nothing will happen to you,” the officer explained. “That is all.”

nThe soldiers didn’t feel at ease, but they weren’t angry enough to stage a revolution.

nEven more, most of them thought that the officer had done the right thing. Traitors needed to die!

nBut some of them still felt very uneasy.

nHad the Scumbag truly been a traitor?

nSadly, there was nothing they could do. There was no way for them to check if the officer had told the truth.

nIn the military, the soldiers were expected to blindly trust their superiors, after all.

nTheir superiors were under far more scrutiny than themselves, which made it far less likely for them to be traitors.

nAnd just like that, this incident passed over.

nHalf a day later, the wall had been assembled, but many of the stones still had to be fused together.

nThe Scumbags and Rookies that had been responsible for building the wall were transferred to their other teams, joining them in their mission of clearing the surroundings.

nAnd that was how it continued for the next week.

nOver the next week, the surroundings had been cleaned of all the beasts in a radius of five kilometers.

nThere had been several more Mid General Stage beasts, which the Numbers killed.

nBy now, the four groups had fully taken form.

nThe Scumbags, the Bootlickers, the Rookies, and the Numbers.

nHowever, not all of the groups were separate all the time.

nThe Bootlickers and Rookies talked a lot with each other since they had similar ideals, essentially creating the majority of the entire unit.

nThere were only 28 soldiers left, excluding the officer.

nThree Numbers.

nSeven Scumbags.

nSix Rookies.

nTwelve Bootlickers.

nWith 18 people, the Rookies and Bootlickers made up the majority.

nOver the last week, two men had become the unofficial leaders of these two groups, and they talked to the officer about the redistribution of forces.

nThe officer agreed and didn’t separate them into immediate and further surroundings anymore, giving them the freedom to handle it.

nThe officer had also acknowledged the leader of the Bootlickers as the leader of these two groups.

nOn this day, the Bootlickers and Rookies fused into one group, the Idealists.

nShang watched all of this from the side.

n‘Interesting. Was this the officer’s plan all along?’ he thought.

n‘In the very beginning, he said that he would make us into one unit, but as soon as we arrived, he systematically split us apart, contradicting his earlier statement.’

n‘And now, suddenly, over half the people have formed a single group with a leader. It’s essentially the first step of creating one unit.’

n‘Did he plan for this to happen?’ Shang thought.

n‘It sounds very complicated and, frankly, too convoluted and smart.’

n‘But, I mean, the blue uniforms in the academy have to learn a ton of stuff about people. Maybe this is actually part of their lessons?’

nShang couldn’t be sure.

nAfter another week, the outpost got its first visitor.

nA soldier arrived at the outpost with a letter.

nBut wait, why was there someone delivering a letter when the officer had a Communication Crystal?

nWell, Communication Crystals transmitted their signals with Mana, and if there were a sufficiently powerful Mage, they could intercept the signals.

nBecause of that, the most important information was delivered via letter, delivered by one of the most trustworthy people.

nThe officer read through the letter and nodded.

nThe visitor left, and the officer called some of the soldiers over. By now, the soldiers didn’t need to work the entire day. Nearly all the beasts had been cleared in the surroundings, and they only had to maintain the current state.

n“Go to the warehouse and get these things,” the officer ordered.

nThe officer told them what they had to get, and the soldiers left to get these things.

nMost of the buildings had been made into warehouses where they stored all the dead beasts and the valuable ore they found.

nAfter half an hour, several parts of different beasts had been put in front of the officer.

nThe officer looked at all the materials and nodded.

n“You four will deliver these things to the town you saw two weeks ago,” the officer ordered four of the Idealists. “I prepared one more of each material, but the town won’t mind. The more we help, the better.”

nThe soldiers didn’t show it, but they realized why the officer had prepared more materials.

nJust like the Idealists wanted to impress the officer, the officer wanted to impress his superior.

n“Now, get moving!” the officer ordered.

nThe four people gathered the things. Luckily, one of them had a Space Ring, making it easier on them.

nAnd then they left to deliver the wares.

nFor the next couple of hours, nothing of note happened.

nBut then, someone came to the outpost.

nIt was only one person, and the soldiers recognized him.

nIt was one of the four that had been sent to deliver the wares.

nThe others asked the soldier what had happened.

nThe soldier seemed absentminded.

n“Quite smart,” the officer said with a smirk to the soldier.

n“Seems like you either didn’t fall for it, or you are actually loyal.”

nAt these words, the soldier regained life and looked at his officer in shock.

n“You did this?” he asked in shock.

nThe officer only smirked. “I lied,” he said. “I prepared just the amount necessary, but I said there was more. I wanted to see if someone wanted to earn some money on the side.”

nThe soldier looked to the ground with a white face.

nThe officer left the soldiers alone, and the soldiers quickly asked their comrade what had happened.

nApparently, while the group had been traveling to the town, two of them had suggested pocketing some of the wares. After all, there was more than necessary, and since this information wasn’t transmitted via Communication Crystal, the town wouldn’t know that more had been sent.

nAs long as they left some of the extra stuff in there, nobody would notice.

nOne of the others hesitated but eventually caved in.

nAfter that, the three people peer pressured the last one into joining them.

nIn the end, the last one caved in.

nEveryone pocketed a bit of the resources.

nWhen they had arrived at the town, the fourth person, the one that didn’t want to join, stealthily put his own portion on top of the delivery.

nHe didn’t want to be seen as a traitor by his three friends, but he also didn’t want to betray his home.

nHis friends would think that he was in this together with them, but in truth, he had taken nothing.

nBut when the soldiers inspected the goods, everyone was immediately apprehended and searched.

nThe three stolen portions were found, and the soldiers immediately killed the three thieves.

nSince the soldiers didn’t find anything on the fourth person, they let him go.

nThree of the Idealists had died today due to their own greed.

nWhen the other soldiers heard it, they felt a mix of nervousness and relief.

nThey felt nervousness because there had already been four traitors.

nBut they also felt relief since that meant that there were four fewer traitors.

nHow many traitors could one group of about 30 soldiers have?

nAlthough, there were no longer 30 soldiers.

nFive people had died in the last two weeks.

nNow, there were only 25 left.

n‘Five dead people in two weeks?’ Shang thought with narrowed eyes.

n‘Something isn’t right. I can accept the first two deaths, but there is something fishy about this newest development.’

nShang looked at the shaken soldier.

n