‘Ok, Ethan, this is where the Lieutenant orders us to split up. Take your team and go to the right and I will lead to the left. Try to maintain a low profile and only engage Lavan soldiers if they see you.’ Ego nodded at Ethan before turning around and starting to walk.

‘Right guys, you heard the sarge. I know nobody here has killed a person, but it is the job; that is why we are here, and we will accomplish this mission for the goddess.’ Ethan started to walk to the right.

One behind another with a good distance, the uniform they are wearing is a mix of greens in all of the vestiments with random patterns. It was Edmund’s idea to use it because of the territory of the duchy, which has a lot of green in it, with forests, valleys, and open fields.

Only the sound of nature was heard by them as their steps came one after the other, on the lookout at all times. All of them were nervous, not because of the monsters, goblins, or orks, but because of the possibility of encountering Lavan soldiers and having to kill them.

‘If Lavan soldiers keep dying, that is not going to be suspicious, sir?’ Oran looked around with his rifle up.

‘I think because of the amount of monsters they pushed into us and how we pushed the majority back at them, they will put the blame on the monsters.’ Ethan looked back for a moment.

‘What he said makes sense, brother; that is why trade caravans passing through the duchy have such a heavy guard.’ Samal spit to the side.

After some time walking, Ethan noticed at the distance that there were forms waving around. He put his right arm up and took the knee. Everyone behind him did the same and started to look around with caution. He opened one of his pouches and took a wooden spyglass, extended it, and used it to look at what was going on in the distance.

‘Those things are really useful; the duchess got them from Velvent, right? Their “navi” uses.’ Oran made a gesture of quotation marks with his hands while grinning to Samal.

‘Stop joking; take this seriously, Oran, Samal rolled his eyes.

‘Hey, what is going on?’ Calb threw a rock at Asher.

'Hell, would I know? Shut up.’ Asher looked behind him, putting his index finger in front of his lips.

What Ethan saw was a group of ten Lavan soldiers fighting a bunch of goblins and orcs. How they even got to this side of the border was a good question, but he thought that alone was the reason this cleaning up needed to exist. He made a signal with his left hand to continue with the low profile and follow him as he changed direction to the left of the fight that was going on.

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He didn’t want the Lavan soldiers going more into the duchy territory; that could be a problem on its own. As they walked to get into position, he pressed his radio.

‘Blue, this is red; we have contact: ten Lavan soldiers and some monsters.’ Ethan talked closer to his radio.

‘Red, this is blue; continue observation.’ Egor’s voice came from the radio.

The fight was almost over when Ethan’s team came to their position, given the distance they were The corporal could see that no Lavan soldier had died and that there was only one goblin alive. The formation the soldiers were using was tight and didn’t give much space for the goblin to counterattack; it was all over after a spear pierced the small monster's chest.

‘That got to hurt.’ Caleb spoke to himself.

‘Indeed.’ Asher nodded in agreement as he watched.

‘Sir, I’m not saying you are wrong or anything, but if they come this way, what do we do?’ Oran looked at Ethan.

‘Why would they come this way, soldier? This is the duchy terrority.’ The corporal looked at Oran with a serious look.

'Yes, brother, why would they come this way?’ Samal patted Oran's shoulder.

‘Ho… I understand; I’m sorry.’ Oran nodded to his brother.

As Ethan’s team continued to observe the Lavan soldiers, the ten were looking for traces of something, walking in different directions but not too far. At the end, they returned to where the monsters were and started to do something to the goblins and orcks that were in the ground. With the spyglass, Ethan could see that they were cutting their left ear.

‘We almost forgot about the proof that we killed these bests.’ A tall soldier spoke while looking around.

‘Yes, but we came to find those children, no?’ Another soldier spoke while cutting one ear of an ork.

‘I’m not going to risk my head for no children; the job we are doing is dangerous enough.’ The tall soldier said it with an angry tone.

‘There is a Chatzi village close to this area; I saw it on the map yesterday back in the fort.’ Another soldier without a helmet and leather armor spoke.

‘I’m not going to risk my life for your disturbing fantasies with some Chatzi woman.’ The tall soldier nodded his head negatively.

‘The leader is not coming; how about you guys? Is really close to here.’ He looked around.

They looked at one another, trying to decide if it made sense. Some felt like the job was getting more and more dangerous and the reward was the same; maybe they could get something more from this village he was talking about.

The soldier in leather noticed that they kind of agreed to go with him and started to walk in the direction he thought the village was, which for him wasn’t about women at all; it was more likely the village was abandoned or destroyed by monsters at that point.

‘Just follow me, lads; we can pick some loot in the village and we can even find some more goblins; it is part of our job to kill them after all.’

He had only walked less than twenty steps; they were desorganized, relaxed, talking to one another, and laughing; even the tall soldier joined in, more for fear of being alone than anything else.

But as the soldier with leather armor looked back to say something, he heard a sound no one had ever heard before, and five bodies were suddenly on the ground. There was no reaction from him other than looking to the front again, and by that time, he heard the same sound and felt a deep pain in his chest; darkness was clouding his vision. At the same time, he looked down and felt with his hands a hole in his chest.

At the same time, the tall soldier on the back was hit on his leg, making him fall in an instant and scream in pain, but his eyes captured all of his comrades laying on the ground lifeless before laying with his back on the ground and trying to see how his leg was.

The pain was so great that the passage of time was lost to him, and with that, the world itself. The last thing he saw was someone coming to his side, and as he extended his hand toward the person, it was a Chatzi, and that was the last thing he saw before darkness swallowed his existence.