Edgar interrupted.
"You speak plausibly, but your attitude is not plausible."
"Attitude?"
"You're being too definitive. Not just reasoning, but as if you know something."
"Is it a problem to be confident in one's own reasoning?"
"In this unknown space, can you be confident in reasoning?"
As Edgar's atmosphere turned chilly, the 8th Squad placed their hands on their respective weapons.
The Royal Knights reacted to this.
In that tense atmosphere.
Dominic's quiet voice broke the tension.
"Five men, one woman. Judging by their attire, the woman is a priestess, and the men are knights or soldiers guarding the priestess."
"What are you-"
"Adding to the reasoning."
As Dominic said that and looked at the 8th Squad, the members removed their hands from their weapons in unison.
A group of ragtag swordsmen guarding a border with no volunteers.
The unit's discipline was stricter than what was known about the Tera Defense Army.
Beyond Edgar's thoughts, Dominic continued.
"Cracked fingernails, broken hair, skin devoid of oil, sunken eye sockets. They haven't eaten for at least three or four days, and judging by the constant twitching of their eyelids or under their eyes, there's a high probability it's been longer than that."
"..."
"The priestess's escort unit was originally estimated to be thirty, but the rest, except for the five in front of us, are dead."
"...!"
"It's presumed they collected what they needed from their belongings and roamed the forest. For at least a month. And it seems they're trying to get food from us with the information they've learned."
While Dominic spoke, Edgar restrained himself from drawing his sword several times.
After hearing the words, one could infer their hunger through their appearance.
It was right that he had taken this part sensitively.
But how did he know they were originally thirty and had been roaming the forest for over a month collecting the belongings of their dead comrades?
Just from their appearance?
"Judging by your sharp reaction to the trivial tracing of their actions, it seems you were attacked by an unidentified group and lost your comrades. Do you suspect us now?"
"Yes. It's suspicious. How did you know we were thirty?"
"Tera Kingdom's unit formations are usually in units of thirty."
"Like you being twenty-two, we might not have been either. Provide evidence."
"Belts."
"What?"
The attire of knights and soldiers was different, but there were also things that were the same for practical reasons.
Among them, the completely identical thing was the belt for hanging scabbards and canteens.
But their canteen holes were all severely stretched left and right.
To the point where the belt leather was cracking.
Long-used belts usually stretch up and down.
Stretching like that left and right meant they had hung several canteens at once.
At least four or more.
"What reason would there be to hang so many canteens? They're the dead comrades' ones. Water is important, after all."
Furthermore, they said they were Royal Knights escorting a priestess.
Priestess escort duty was an honorary duty entrusted by the temple, and there was a high probability that they had taken out new belts for the sake of their external appearance.
"It seems it would have taken at least half a month for new belts to stretch that much. No matter how many canteens you hung."
Besides, they currently only had one canteen each at their waists.
It meant they had discarded all the canteens they had sparingly drunk from, leaving only those for receiving tree sap.
"Lastly, the priestess also had the same belt at her waist. Stretched out exactly the same way."
Through this, it could be inferred that the Royal Knights had been annihilated all at once.
If they had disappeared one by one, the stiff priestess robes wouldn't have frayed only at the waist where the belt was dangling.
"Up to here is the realm of information, and the next is the realm of reasoning, as you said."
If six people were hanging the same number of canteens, the total number would be twenty-four, thirty, or thirty-six.
One of the three.
Among them, the most suitable number for the Tera Kingdom's unit formation was thirty.
Of course, the priestess might have hung one or two fewer canteens, and their unit formation might have been around 33.
It could have been 28.
But what mattered was that they had been wandering for a long time and were hungry.
"Do you need more? Judging by the complete lack of camping gear, I also know that you were escorting the priestess not far from the royal palace."
As Dominic finished speaking, the air changed.
It was because they hadn't known that they could get this close to the information with just their appearance.
Of course, this was also thanks to Dominic's 'memories of the past life.'
If he hadn't met the witch Velicaya and had survived, he would have taken as many of his dead subordinates' canteens as possible.
But even so, Dominic's reasoning was astonishing.
"That's enough, Commander Dominic."
Breaking the silence, the priestess stepped forward.
"I am Hanshuya, serving the goddess Elena."
"An Eastern Continent name."
"That's right, I'm from there. May I share our story for a moment?"
"Good."
As Hanshuya opened her mouth, their story began.
Dominic's guesses were mostly correct.
Hanshuya was a priestess dispatched to investigate the Curtain Crack, commonly known as the Black Moon.
She was only supposed to observe the exterior of the crack not far from the temple, but after encountering an unidentified monster, she was forcibly teleported.
"Did you kill that monster by any chance?"
"The knights attacked, but we couldn't kill it."
"Why?"
"Because it moved like a phantom, and our attacks didn't work."
As expected, it seemed you fell into the forest if you didn't kill that Squirmers.
If you killed it, the security system was activated, and you fell into a plain-like basin.
But was that such a difficult entity to kill?
Then, important information flowed from Hanshuya's mouth.
"We aren't the only ones in this forest. We've encountered several groups besides the 8th Squad."
"What happened to them?"
"I don't know. But every half a month, a witch named Velicaya appears and takes anywhere from thirty to fifty people."
"Takes them every half a month? Does that mean she kidnaps them?"
"That's true, but… Usually, she takes volunteers."
"Volunteers?"
It was an absurd word, but Dominic quickly realized.
"Because of hunger."
"...That's right."
Humans were capable of licking the sulfurous flames of hell if they were starving for a month.
"Why kill precious test subjects! Come here! Do you want to eat with me? What menu..."
At the time, he thought it was an absurd sound, but now he understood.
That was Velicaya's usual habit.
'It's unsettling.'
It was definitely unsettling.
A vast forest.
A forest filled with shadow monsters.
There was a safe zone where monsters didn't attack, and you could get water through the trees.
But you couldn't get food.
Wasn't it like a giant ranch or laboratory?
Then what was the witch's goal?
And what was that giant tower?
"Does the witch take people to the tower?"
"That's right."
"What is that tower?"
"No one knows. But what is certain is that there are those who have entered the tower, but no one has come out."
"Why were you wary of me?"
"The moment we arrived in this forest was exactly the moment the witch appeared."
"And?"
"We were hiding in the forest, and someone attacked us with magic. To push us towards the witch. Because of that, twenty-five people were forcibly taken."
"You said she takes volunteers?"
"There are rounds where there are no volunteers. But the next round was filled with volunteers."
Dominic, thinking for a moment, asked.
"How did you manage to carry canteens when your comrades were suddenly taken away?"
"Before being taken by the witch, all items containing even a little bit of metal were thrown to the ground."
Dominic stared at Hanshuya's eyes.
It was to read the signs of lies in her eyes.
But Hanshuya, misunderstanding Dominic's gaze, sighed and said.
"That witch… is an existence that cannot be defied."
This was something Dominic also agreed with.
He had clearly stabbed her in the neck, but it had healed in an instant.
Even if he was exhausted to the point where he couldn't use mana, he had to consider that she ignored considerable physical force to that extent.
Dominic reviewed the credibility of the information he had heard from the priestess in his head.
The probability that a lie was hidden wasn't 0, but it was reliable enough to believe.
"Jarrot."
"Yes."
"Prepare a meal. Enough for the members and guests to eat their fill."
"Understood."
Hanshuya's expression brightened.
"Let's hear the details while we eat."
A short while later, the meal began, and Hanshuya, who had hurriedly filled her hunger, began to convey information in a slightly softer nuance.
It turned out they had been roaming the forest for much longer than Dominic had thought.
It had already been 48 days.
Then something was strange.
If thirty Royal Knights and a priestess had been missing for nearly two months, that rumor should have reached the border area.
Especially the 8th Squad, which was in charge of special duties.
"Wait. What was the date your mission started?"
"It was the first day when half of the light given by the goddess descended."
That meant June 1st.
The 8th Squad received the mission on June 7th.
Only a 6-day difference.
But here, it was a 47-day difference.
The fact that the flow of time was different meant that this place was a more magical space than he had thought.
"So, do you know a way to get out of here?"
"There's a barrier on the outskirts of the forest. We can break the barrier if we can secure time to focus our minds."
"How much time is needed for the ritual?"
"It will be between one hour at the shortest and two hours at the longest."
"Have you been to the outskirts?"
"Not directly, but I confirmed it with divine magic that expands consciousness."
"Distance?"
"It's a distance that can be reached in two hours if there are no shadow monster attacks."
It wasn't an easy method.
From what he had directly experienced, the 8th Squad couldn't withstand the shadow monsters' attacks for even 30 minutes.
It didn't seem like that time would increase dramatically even if five knights were added.
But the reality was that there wasn't even a sliver of possibility other than this method.
"You said the witch appears every half a month? You encountered her on the first day of entry, and 48 days have passed, so… Did the witch appear 3 days ago?"
"That's right."
"Time is plentiful, but food isn't. I'll let you recover your strength for a day, and we'll start the operation in two days."
Then Edgar interrupted.
"Aren't you going to ask for our opinion? Commander Dominic?"
"If you want to have the right to decide, be self-sufficient. If you want to recover your strength with the 8th Squad's food, listen to orders."
"Orders?"
"Has pride raised its head in the place where hunger has disappeared?"
"It's not pride, but honor. We only listen to the Royal Family's orders."
Hanshuya hurriedly interrupted.
"Stop it, Sir Edgar, Commander Dominic. We need each other."
Edgar, who had been silent at Hanshuya's words, opened his mouth.
"...I'll keep the unit formations separate. We will escort the priestess."
"No, the ones who open the path are bound to take the most damage. Edgar Jarrot, you alone guard the priestess's side. The remaining four will be equally organized."
* * *
The next evening, there was a slight conflict between Dominic and Edgar, but the 8th Squad and the knights didn't think much of it.
Captains leading subordinates in an unknown space were bound to be on edge.
Those besides the two captains quickly mingled and formed a decent relationship.
In particular, the Royal Knights under Edgar felt relieved to meet allies after a long time and to have filled their hungry stomachs.
But that afternoon.
The situation changed as Edgar approached Dominic, who had been patrolling the vicinity of the base camp.
"Dominic."
"What's wrong?"
"I thought your face was somewhat familiar, but I finally remembered."
"..."
"Dominic Diamond. A dropout from the academy and…."
Edgar drew his sword.
"The murderer of my grandfather, Kedrel Diamond."
People were startled at Edgar's words.
"...!"
Among those residing in the Tera Kingdom, there was no one who didn't know the name Kedrell.
A man who collected all the gold in the world with his bare hands and rose to the nobility with that power.
A man who created the kingdom's great waterway.
Dominic was such Kedrel's grandson?
Even the one who killed Kedrel?
In the silent shock that filled the scene, Edgar raised his sword towards Dominic.
"You guys, are you really the Tera Defense Army? Reveal your identities."
Dominic, who had been silently gazing at the sword, opened his mouth.
"I deceived myself."
"What?"
"I thought it didn't matter if you didn't recognize me… But that wasn't the case."
Dominic drew his sword in response.
"Seeing how happy I am."
With an expression that Jarrot, who had been with him for ten years, had never seen.