Chapter 43 - I was wrong
Translator: Yonnee
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Ciel soared to higher altitudes, checking to see where the Closch guards were running. For a moment, he admired just how naturally organized they were as they broke off into squads.
They looked like a guerilla unit that he had seen in Korea in the past. He had been mystified how it's possible to subjugate monsters with only a small number of people, but this strategy was well used.
Even so, it's the kind of strategy that would only be made if each and every member's individual skills were excellent. And since they were divided into squads, they could use a wide range of methods to attack the monsters that were running right at them.
They looked to be scattered on the field, but they moved tactically and systematically according to the baron's command.
"Incredible."
Ciel only learned about this strategy only when he was living in Korea. It's unlikely that there's another place in the empire where monsters were subjugated in this way.
"First and third units, attack from the sides! Fourth and second units, drive them in from the rear and the vanguard!"
"Leave it to me! These only look like third-class monsters!"
"I've never seen this kind of monster before! There's a lot of them, but they're weak."
"Come on, don't show any openings-just kill them quickly!"
"D'ya think they're worth any money? There's not much of them left!"
Some monster drops were considered to be quite valuable. However, the monsters they're facing now exploded at a single strike of a sword, and no loot drops were left behind.
As he was watching from above, Ciel slowly descended. He couldn't see very well because of the rising dust.
"Duke!"
At that time, the baron was the first to notice him. However, Ciel couldn't think about answering him right then because the monsters looked familiar.
"Everyone, fall back!"
This was what he shouted instead of answering.
They were all surprised to hear the duke's sudden yell, but they did not fall back because the command didn't come from their captain, the baron.
It made them seem inflexible, but this was only natural enough.
They all knew exactly who they're immediate superior was, regardless of how he was a duke above the baron.
Ciel observed the monster at a glance. This type of monster was common in Korea-a small monster that was nothing short of bait. The mother tended to lie in the wait for anyone who'd kill the small ones.
The parent monster was a second-class monster. After using its own offspring as bait, it would suck in their food forcefully through its big mouth.
And the monster itself was enormous. Ciel had personally seen one of those eat hundreds of people at once.
Still, despite causing such great casualties, it's only a second-class monster because of how slow it was.
Its speed was the worst due to the combination of its enormous body and the fact that it had to move underground. If anyone had enough power, it could nonetheless be easily defeated. Well, relatively easy for a second-class monster at least.
The mother seemed to have felt them pause. It soon popped out of the ground with its mouth open in a hurry.
Whoooosh-!
Ciel wasted no time in using his abilities against the monster, which was trying to swallow the soil, the bait monsters, and the guards all at once.
Using the wind, he lifted the guards away from there. And, using fire, he promptly launched a lava-like fireball into the monster's mouth.
GRAAAAAH-!
While pushing the fireball deeper into the writhing monster's mouth, Ciel looked around to see if the members of the garrison had escaped safely.
And after confirming that they did, Ciel used both fire and wind together and created a small vortex of fire around the area.
The monster, which refused to come out as if it was rooted to the ground, was finally brought out. Another reason the monster was second-class was because it would lay eggs as it was dying.
The eggs would suck all the nutrients from the mother right away and immediately burrow into the ground.
Ciel needed to burn all the eggs, and he needed to properly eradicate this monster.
With the blistering wind rising from the ground, the howling sound it made was grotesquely hair-raising.
For a moment, an illusion flashed across his eyes, as if he had gone back to the past. This was a sensation that he was feeling for the first time in a long while.
Just like this, whenever he'd use so much of his power, his wife would be there beside him, and as if she'd been waiting, she would draw so close to him and kiss him...
He desperately wished for her to wait at home because he would always be deployed to such dangerous places full of enemies, but Seohyun was adamant about following him wherever he went.
She would look up at him with such loyal eyes, with even more faith than perhaps a reliable hound that would give up her own life to save his. So, several times, he could not resist her pleas to take her with him to his missions.
It's evident in her eyes that she wanted to protect him in her own way, but how could she when she had the constitution of a normal human being?
But... In the end, it was the look in her eyes-so full of affection-that made it possible for him to stand on his own two feet in that strange, foreign land.
In a different world where he trusted and knew no one at all, Seohyun, who he met by chance, was the one and only person he came to trust and rely on.
However, a person to depend on would inevitably turn into a weakness. And even more so because she was the only one.
It was due to this that he deliberately didn't express his feelings to her. Rather, he even went as far as taking it out on her whenever such feelings were shown at all.
Though he resolutely kept his distance from her like that... Before he knew it, Seohyun was there at his side, looking up at him.
He maintained that distance in an attempt not to make her his weakness, yet, with how lovely she was, her very existence brought him such solace.
He was the one who made the first move, and he was the one who asked her for her hand in marriage.
