Re:START/If {Book 1.0}
Chapter 44 : Mutual-Evit 4 of 10 “Fate” (Part 02)

Highland forests of spruce trees in the Rockfield territory. On a blind morning before the sun had completely risen, a group of people in camouflage robes gathered on the vast grounds and set up a headquarters with tents.

Among them is a bandit group left after a plan to exterminate the Mylta city government and escape the purge of the remnants of the Rockfield city government.

They managed to survive and escape to the border of the Rockfield plateau not because of their own strength, but was assisted by a Special Squad of the kingdom of Moloia who was in charge of spying from within the country of his neighbor, Felixia.  The surviving bandits numbered around 20 people, while the Moloia Special Squad numbered no more than 20 people consisting of complete technicians to medical experts.

Some of the bandits were seen full of bandages and wounds, a sign of them escaping desperately from the pursuit of Rockfield troops. The Special Squad that housed the bandits was the secret service of the mixed Moloia royal faction. Have the same main mission, but different end goals.

The new Special Forces infiltrated into Felixia earlier that year were led by a Second Lieutenant from the Special Unit of Technology Development and Research, Cornelisa Di’in. A brown haired woman long horse backband. The woman with a violet cornea was the officer who had shot Odo in the head at the pier, a sniper whose ability was well known among the Moloia military.

Di’in sat near one of the campfires that had just been rekindled at the temporary headquarters of his squad. Tying the cloth on the ground, the woman rolled up her blouse arm and began preparing a Springfield-style long-barreled rifle with an M84-type shot. The weapon maintenance he did painstakingly, cleaning dust and small pebbles with cotton on each component of the rifle. Prepare ammunition, calculate and remember the amount well.

Almost the same as what the Second Lieutenant did, his subordinates who were from the same Faction did the same and did the treatment of their weapons. Special Squad members from the Technology Development and Research Faction were only five, the rest were from the other three Factions.

Having their own activities, the members of the squads who came from other factions were also seen busy preparing their weapons. With clearly visible differences, the weapons used in’in can be said to be more modern. Members of the other factions use only the most advanced weapons in the form of Red9 pistols with 9mm ammunition and combined with stock to increase accuracy, the rest are just shotguns that have undergone slight modifications to speed up recharging and power breakdown.

Unlike all the members of the Special Squad, the bandits who were mostly injured were just sitting around in the corner of the temporary headquarters. They do not understand the mindset of the Moloia people. But in the agreement formed as a result of good lead because it has been saved, the bandits are required to participate in the sabotage plan. If anyone refuses, immediate execution on the spot becomes another option.

Of course, the bandits initially rejected it because of the haughty nature of those who did not want to interfere with political matters. But after more than 30 of their comrades were slaughtered with the combination of the Special Squad's rifles, the remaining ones became obedient and could not rebel.

One of Di’in's subordinates reported, “Lettan, the preparation is complete. We can start this 784-01 Special Mission!”

“Hmm, we'll start it. Tell the others to clean up our gear and tents.

“Ready!”

Mission 784 was a group of missions assigned to the mixed squad to conduct spying and sabotage on Felixia. There are two types of sabotage, namely the reduction of military power and disrupt the political activities of Felixia are fragile.

Immediately speeding up preparations, Di’in reassembled his weapon and inserted a megazen input full of ammunition. Pulling the safety and putting the bullet into the sleeve, he ganged up the Springfield rifle and walked towards the bandits. Behind the female Lieutenant, subordinates from the same faction followed while carrying a Beretta 38a submachine gun with 9mm ammunition.

Staring low at the bandits, Di’in loudly reigning, “Give your representatives! I want to talk!”

The bandits saw each other. Some look daunted and some put on indifferent faces, but no one came forward as a representative. Di’in rang his tongue, felt annoyed and raised his hand as a sign for his subordinates.

The two Sarge behind Di’in directly pointed a submachine gun, completely intending to shoot. The bandits were aware, they were serious and were not being gnawed or anything like that. Given their comrades who were trying to resist and perish were being showered with hot lead, the bandits blamed each other and pushed.

“Damn, you go forward there ..!”

“You only! Why am I ..?!”

“Bangsat ..., forward there ...!”

“Tch! You s—!”

Dor!!

The sound of gunfire bounces in the middle of the forest early in the morning, making the birds fly. It was not a warning shot, precisely aimed at the head of one of the bandits and killed him. The randomly shot bandit collapsed, blood from the hole in his forehead making his comrades tremble. The number of bandits became 19 from the start when they rescued 67 more.

The bandits did have the option of escaping rather than waiting to be shot. However there were some of their comrades who did that and also ended up being strafed with hot lead, the supervision of the Special Squad was really treating the bandits as captives which was absolutely no problem to kill.

One of the bandits advanced forward trembling, then said, “I  ... Kolt Luis, the leader of the remnants of this bandit. What do you want to talk about?”

Kolt Luis, a 41-year-old man, has brown hair and a bluish cornea. He had a high posture and was not very burly, an expert in dagger weapons and water magic.

Di’in without further ado, point his rifle and command, “From now on you and your men must follow the plan according to the agreement. We will attack the Klista settlement this afternoon!”

“Ke-Clista?” The bandit panicked, stepped forward and trembled asking, “Why did you guys attack the tribe? Are they not also considered holy in Moloia?”

“Be quiet!” bentak Lieutenant. It made Kolt tremble and step back. At gunpoint, the Second Lieutenant once again confirmed, “Remember this bandit, you can live because of us! We are willing to take on criminals like you on one condition, obey us! Then we'll give Moloia residents a sign on the one you survived!”

“It's not worth it! You killed a lot—!!”

Dor's!

Di’in pulled the trigger. The shot bullet grazed the bandit leader's cheek, then hit the fellow behind him. The head of the bandit that was hit was destroyed, the skull bone was broken along with the contents of the brain scattered about his colleagues. The body with its shattered head collapsed to the ground, followed by the silence of the bandits who were trembling and began to feel their lives like cattle.

Pulling the lever, Di’in took out the empty bullet casing and refilled it. Pointing his rifle towards the bandit leader, he warned, “Then, would you die here right now? You know, bandits .... You guys have no choice. Blame it on your destiny, you trash!”

“This .. too. Don't you have any pity?!”

“Huh?! Bandits demand compassion? So ridiculous!” Di’in stared low and lowered his weapon, immediately turned around and gave the other subordinates a sign to prepare to herd the bandits. Slightly turned his head, he confirmed, “Seru want to come or not. But ... If you don't come, we'll make sure you guys stay here in the shape of a corpse. Understand?”

They can only tremble. The men who had always lived haughtily and oppressed others felt their position change. This time they realized what the villagers they had slaughtered felt, in helplessness and fear mixed with hatred.

Without being able to fight back at all, the bandits could only obediently walk up to the plan at gunpoint in the back ready to shoot them at any time.

««»»

The sun began to rise, the light entered through the leaves of the spruce tree and exposed the face of the young man's black hair. Opening his eyes from his sleep on the cloth near the wood of the campfire that had become charcoal, he immediately got up and sat down with a flat gaze. At first glance his cornea turned green, alalasizing and reloading some of the functions of the body that were turned off.

Taking a deep breath and returning full consciousness, Odo glanced at Vil and Canna sleeping next to him. The two women were still sound, there was no sign of waking up. Observing their extremely neat sleeping manner, the young man briefly compared Nanra to the two of them.

“Huh, I don't think it's worth comparing to that barbarian girl. The pretentious educated and the native educated are indeed different.”

“Hmm, roughly who do you mean?”

Odo was not surprised to hear that voice. Looking up, he saw Nanra who had been awake and looked neat. The girl's white hair was slightly wet, wearing the same clothes as yesterday. Odo already knew that the white hair girl had woken up and deliberately said that to insinuate him.

“Bathing out? Is there a river near here?”

“Nothing, I don't shower. This ... use only dew on the foliage to wet the face and mouth.”

“Ho’oh, so, anyway. You apparently know how to shower without having to look for a river or spring, yes.”

“Hmm, I know from the information you gave me, loh.”

Odo got up, stretched out both hands and jumped up and down to stretch his stiff body. Finished slightly heating up, the young man stared flatly at Nanra and said, “By the way, are you okay? Your condition prime? Maybe, today there will be a bloodbath.”

“Per—?! You mean, you're gonna kill people, Odo?”

Nanra stared flatly. The girl understood that following the young man's plan would indeed be like this, not everything he would do was right. However, in his mind he felt that something could be justified and kept him standing near Odo.

“Kasarnya, at least your grammar. Sounds like I like killing. Just so you know, all this time I never killed because I wanted to, but had to.”

“It ... doesn't make any difference, does it?” Nanra turned her gaze away from Odo, staring at the trees dimly as light entered through the leaves. The atmosphere of silence was felt, the wind blew lightly and entered through between the clothes of the two of them. Looking back at the young man, Nanra said, “Whatever the pretext, we will still kill and do evil.”

“Not really. It's just .. This feels weird. Why can't my body stop shaking? Why is my body hot from the inside? Me ...”

“Now, maybe you can't wait?”

“Tolerant? You usually say fear or worry, right? Why even say it—?”

“That spilled my blood,” cut Odo.

Nanra momentarily fell silent getting a sharp glare from him. He understands what he means. Before Nanra could argue or reason, Odo again said, “That is not you. Anyway, can you kill people? Fighting monsters alone can't be anything. Just so you know, killing dozens of monsters is easier than killing one farmer.”

“Hah? Not logical .... Why is it that symmetry?”

“Killing that fellow is heavier. Humans, intelligent and sentient beings have always been like that. When slaughtering livestock and eating their meat they will not feel guilty and consider it natural. But when killing a fellow and doing such a thing, they would say cannibal or inhumane.”

“Of course  .... That's ...”

“That's what?”

“Not .... You're right, Odo.”

“Hah, stop. Let's put the tent down first, let's wake up if they just leave.”

“Odo! by the way ... Why are you sleeping outside?”

“Eng, it's your fault.”

“Eh?”

Vil has been awake since their conversation began. Hearing the footsteps of the two people move away, the Great Spirit slowly opened his eyes with a look of flat eyes. What Odo said was indeed very precise, intelligent beings are always like that. They tend to be closer to each other and consider the race other than them to be different.

It's natural according to him. Just as he considers humans to be nothing more than short-lived creatures. Other than Mavis, Vil had never thought of any other creature in the Real World, but that was only before he got closer to the young man in black hair.

Vil quietly said, “What ... You also consider me nothing more than an animal or a plant? Because our race is different and I am a Great Spirit ..”

.

.

.

.

Finished tidying up the tent and tidying up the items, Odo stuffed all of them into the Dimensional Bracelet. Some cookware like a pot filled with leftover cooking last night he did not enter, it would be their breakfast before leaving.

Sitting near a re-lit campfire, Odo arranged stones and wood to put down the pot and heat up the leftover cooking. Vil sat on the other side with Canna, staring flat at the black-haired young man sitting next to Nanra.

Sensing a jealous look, Odo merely put on a flat expression while stirring the soup and preparing the bread taken from the Storage Dimension. The atmosphere that feels heavy makes silence, morning breeze and exposure to sunlight as if it does not melt the atmosphere.

Staring flat at Vil, Odo asked, “Why stare so cynically? You too Canna, why follow?”

Vil ketus replied, “Nothing, kok.”

“Hmm, nothing ,” connect Canna.

It was not only Odo who was aware of the strange attitude of the two of them, Nanra who usually did not care about such a thing until she was sensitive and asked, “What ..

The question was like dousing fire with kerosene, making the two men's hatred even more burning. Turning quickly to give Nanra a hostile look, the two of them did not reply. The white-haired girl immediately stood up, goosebumps in fear and immediately approached Odo to hide behind him.

“O-Odo .... Them ...”

“Why are you two?” ask Odo in wonder.

““Nothing!”” Vil and Canna said compactly.

Odo could only smile stiffly without being able to do anything to the atmosphere between them. Sighing lightly, the young man in black hair stopped stirring the soup and slightly turned his gaze into the forest.

His cornea briefly turned green, analyzing the information and performing calculations quickly. Closing his eyes and re-opening them, Odo came to the conclusion along with his cornea which turned blue again.

“They are also around this place, yes.”

Nanra, Vil, and Canna who heard that were astonished. The sentence came out at a very inopportune moment. None of them dared to ask about it, curiosity remained a curiosity until it disappeared from the mind.

Odo immediately got up, looked up at the sky to check on something. His face was immediately startled as if realizing something, making the three of them panic at his expression. Nanra got up, held onto Odo's shirt sleeve and asked, “What's wrong? Why put on a face like that?”

“Why ..., Odo? Is there something?” ask Vil.

Canna immediately took out her magic wand and woke up, activated the Magic Core and lightly smashed the tip of the wand onto the ground surface to spread the life-detecting magic within a range of over two kilometers. Sonar-like waves radiate in the form of a wand vibration, spreading out and giving it information about the number of living things detected. Feeling nothing but the lives of the animals, plants, and some monsters, it only added to Canna's anxiety.

“Nothing strange .... What's wrong, Mr Odo?” Canna asked.

Odo stopped looking up, grinning widely with a devilish expression that had just discovered something interesting. It made the three of them tremble, slightly afraid of the young man they were relying on.

“Ah, sorry ...”

Odo realized he was scaring them. Immediately discarding the expression, he put on a friendly face and said, “I just got interesting info. These, these vibrations and scents, are no longer wrong to have them. In a forest like this no one carries this much gunpowder other than them.”

“Odo, what are you saying? The scent? Gunpowder? I don't smell like that,” said Nanra.

“Ah, of course you didn't kiss her. I also didn't kiss her directly.”

The three of them were shocked, the words were very contradictory. Vil increasingly felt that there was something strange about Odo's special abilities, Canna began to understand that the power that the young man with black hair was really owned by the Demon King.

Unlike Canna and Vil, Nanra clasped Odo's right hand. Although the gloves were in the way, the young man in black hair could feel Nanra trembling. Staring lightly at him, Odo explained, “No need to worry, this is one of my strengths. I can borrow the perception of an animal that I can ever attach my power to.”

Staring at Vil and Canna, Odo again said, “You must have seen me touch an animal and let it go, ‘kan? That's one of my power-activation procedures.”

“Continue what do you mean interesting? Why ... to the point of attacking like that?” ask Vil

“Ah, the. Hmm, it seems like the Moloia people are in this forest. I have another alternative if the bandits we're looking for don't meet.”

The words jolted making Nanra, Canna, and Vil wide. They trembled and did not understand why Odo could confidently say such a thing. They knew that young man was not the type of person who liked to make such useless lies or joke around. Swallowing saliva in the mouth heavily, they reluctantly have to believe his words.

Smiling lightly as if there was no problem, Odo pointed his index finger at the front of his mouth and said, “Talm down, this will probably be easier than looking here and there. Well, although bloodshed can't be prevented, but I think this is the best option.”

After that, the young man in black hair explained what he had known through one of the senses of the beast he had cultivated his strength. The three of them could only be silent, without being able to support every sentence that came out of Odo's mouth that sounded very convincing.

Indeed Odo often use the word ‘may’ when talking, but the plan does not sound dubious at all and instead the thing he mentioned is the most reasonable and most likely to happen.

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Note:

Additional later seems to follow