The walk to the mountain pass was a hot and humid mess. The stench of hundreds of men packed together on a hot day was comparable to the stench of the city. The trees were close to the side of the road, but few monsters emerged.

With nothing to do but think while marching slowly, back aching, I turn towards my thoughts. I bet Lucanus would be happy to talk to me, but I don’t really care for conversations with him.

I’ve come to understand Lucanus a bit. He is the type of person who relentlessly forces kindness onto others. Only a little extroverted but is willing to carry on a conversation for the sake of the group. He is fairly fragile and sometimes gets nervous or anxious around other guys.

I don’t think Lucanus is the type of guy to join a war effort, even if he is trying to help people. He also shouldn’t be desperate for money, he is a master in recovery magic, and he should be able to get a job at any temple in the country. Well, this is just another mystery I’ve come across.

I’ve learned more about Ozias. I’ve got no clue about his odd behavior towards me, nor that look always on his face. But he seems to keep mistresses at his side at most times, especially at night. He also loves alcohol and expensive food too. He has artistic tastes but isn’t pompous. He seems to lack any ego, letting insults flow in one ear and out the other.

The more I learn about him the more confused I get. Well, that’s something I’ll think through later.

Another interesting person on the base is the noblewoman who is often seen with Ozias. She isn’t one of his women, she is actually the princess of the country. It seems that she was sent here to oversee the war effort and report to the king of her observations.

I don’t think this is a good idea. It would be very easy for something awful to happen to her out here. She could be kidnapped or killed. I couldn’t imagine sending Cassius to the frontlines of a war. Maybe nobility think differently than I do. I was a normal person in my old world after all.

Ah, my old world. I think about it less and less these days. I wonder why? No, I know. It’s simply because my old world no longer holds relevance to me. I have converted most of my scientific knowledge into spell formulas that I cast in my head. I have no use for my economic knowledge. Even the philosophy I studied holds no value.

In my old world, I thought like a coward. I got angry at the world when people hurt me. I got angry at the world because I was weak. I learned the reason in this world, it’s the same reason cowardly villagers don’t hate the soldiers who raid them. It’s the reason that men curse God when another man burns down their village. It’s because I was afraid of the people who hurt me.

The man I am now would not lie down and accept having my head shoved into a toilet, I wouldn’t accept being bullied, and I wouldn’t accept being weak and unathletic. I would become strong, and then destroy the people who hurt me.

I’m no longer that loser incel. Now I’m something more. I am climbing to the peak of humanity; I am strong physically and mentally. I kill the men who seek to hurt me, and if I want a woman, she will surely throw herself at me. Not that I’m interested in women at the moment. I am powerful.

The me I am now could kill the old me in seconds, and I would do it in a heartbeat. I am no longer merciful, no longer sensitive, no longer human.

The mountains are close. I never saw mountains in person, I skipped all my family’s vacations. They are impressive, but that’s it. The snow-capped peaks reach beyond the clouds, the foundations of stone are imposing. The sky is an orange hue, contrasting with the grey rock.

Trees line the base, and a single path probably 25 men wide slowly ascends. We camp just before the base of this range. It is called the “Mons Progenitor”.

“It’s so beautiful,” Lucanus says beside me. “Did you know, it was the Progenitor of Wisdom who forged this mountain range with magic? To delay the Progenitor of Evil’s advance into this land, he formed a grand mountain range as a barrier.”

“That’s a fairy tale, mountain ranges aren’t formed by magic. Besides, there is no way any person could do this.”

I can’t really explain that mountains are formed by colliding tectonic plates. So I just leave it as being impossible.

“He wasn’t just a person Cassius; he was a son of God.”

“That’s impossible as well.”

“How so?”

“There is no God in this twisted world.”

“Even if you don’t believe in him, Cassius. He believes in you.”

“Immerse yourself in your delusions if you wish. Just leave me out of it.”

“Very well, I will respect your wishes.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I go to sleep for the night.

...

When I wake up Domitius grabs me immediately and brings me to a meeting. It is Ozias, Domitius, and I sitting around a table with a map. The map portrays two valleys surrounded by steep elevations.

“Domitius and Cassius, you two are going to lead the auxiliaries on scouting duty. The mountain pass is treacherous if not maneuvered through carefully. But being overly cautious is impossible.”

“Why not?” Domitius asks.

“Logistics.” I chime in. Ozias nods his head immediately and continues speaking,

“If I spend too much time in the mountains, my men will die en masse to either hypothermia or starvation. Packing too heavy will make us sitting ducks. To move quickly while minimizing losses, we will need to be very proactive in finding and eliminating the threats that will be hiding in the shadows of the past.”

This is what auxiliaries are for. Versatile troops that can cover almost any duty if necessary. They pack light enough to move quicker than the rest of the army while hitting hard enough to push people back.

“You two will be responsible for scouting and eliminating targets hiding above the mountain pass. Domitius, you will be responsible for coordinating the scouting efforts. When you find enemies, eliminate them if your men are capable of it. If there are any particularly strong enemies, Cassius will eliminate them.”

“Understood.”

“Yeah, I got it.”

We respond and then move on to the rest of the unit. Domitius hands down his orders and organizes the troops, I just sit back and polish the daggers.

This will only be my second time killing people. Aquila told me it would get easier, but we will find out if that is true later. I have no interest in becoming a mass murderer, I only have one target after all. But if killing them gets me closer to that man, then I will sacrifice what I must.

That morning after eating a large meal from the food stores in a nearby village we left for the mountain pass.

The columns of men were 20 men wide, leaving 600 rows. It was truly a sight to behold. There was no cavalry, humans in this world move faster than horses with ease. There is little advantage.

The heavy infantry was spread out thinly among the furthest left column, Ozias likely wanted to use them as a barrier from arrow and mage attacks from across the pass.

The pass itself was just a shoulder on the right side of the mountain. It steeply dropped off to a river hundreds of meters below. If ranged attacks came from the other side of the valley, then few would be able to do anything about it. Simply enduring would likely be the only option unless you are a superhuman.

At the head of the troops was Ozias, leading from the front. In the back was the princess surrounded by royal guards. The royal guards were the most elite troops from the army that even I would avoid fucking with. Not that they could beat me, but it would be a challenge.

The auxiliaries including me climb the right side of the mountain to and search the area overhead of the pass. For the first few hours, there was no activity, about 4 hours in I heard reports that other scouts were found.

Deaths on both sides occurred scarcely. Nobody wanted to hard commit without more knowledge of enemy positions. Of the 800 auxiliaries only 300 committed to the scouting mission.

With 30 tense minutes passing, we finally got a report that would spur me into action. The commander of the enemy scouts was spotted. This will be the decisive moment of this battle. If I lose their light troops will be able to rain projectiles on the column from above. If I win, then we will march through the path unimpeded.

He stood at the edge of the cliff overlooking the path, it was noon. Shadows were slender and short. I looked down at the path and saw the assault from over the valley began, it was doomed from the start.

The valley was a few hundred meters apart, no normal person would try to jump across and face an entire army alone. Ozias is not normal, he got to the other side of the valley in mere seconds and began massacring the troops.

I now face the commander of their auxiliaries alone. He comes off as a strong veteran of many battles, but I have no reason to fear him. I am strong too.

Ozias taught me something, I’m not suited for relentless aggression. Every success I have has come from careful planning. I pull out my daggers and enter a defensive position. He responded in kind.

The way he twitched his muscles to my every movement and never took attack proved he was a counter-fighter. I test the waters, launching numerous fireballs. He dodged to the left and stayed back to observe more.

I don’t consider myself a counter-fighter, but I would prefer more information as well. It was while we were staring at each other that he spoke up.

“The kingdom is getting desperate, huh? Putting kids on the battlefield.”

Taunting me by mocking the kingdom is pointless. Well, I should jump in soon anyway. I realized from watching him evade that fireball that whatever counterattacks he has in his arsenal are low-level. His movements are dull too, essentially, he is nothing to fear.

I break down the rock at his feet, then I cast wind magic at him. Counterattacks are difficult when off balance. Then after casting all my enhancements on myself, I use wind movement to close the distance. He was not expecting me to move this fast.

The attack he threw back was calm and collected, ideal for this situation. But my physical advantage was overwhelming. I sliced through the tendons of his arms with my daggers in mere moments. A cut through the neck finished him off.

His blood stained my light blue tunic as well as my cloak, but I have had this happen plenty of times before. I also got crimson liquid in my hair. Domitius emerged 30 meters to my right proclaiming we have pushed their scouts back. I joined in the pursuit and killed a few more small fry trying to escape.

With this, we got a quarter through the valley. I used water magic to wash blood off my body, but it could only do so much. After camping for the night, we continued the march. I remained within the mountains and had a few more skirmishes with their light troops, but none of them stood a chance.

The actions of Ozias, Domitius, and I alone changed the course of this battle. Whoever was calling the shots for The Republic was underestimating us. We got through the mountain pass into enemy territory after 5 days of marching through the mountains.

It was freezing at some points, but the exposure was a relatively short period of time, and Ozias equipped his troops with high-quality gear. Casualties due to the weather were minimal, and nobody starved in the mountains.

The aftertaste of killing those men was bad, but I pushed through it. It was definitely much more tolerable this time. I still couldn’t look into the eyes of the men I was killing, but that didn’t really matter as long as I achieved my goals.

With the mountain pass crossed, the invasion is now truly beginning.