‘Ok, Ethan, this is where the Lieutenant orders us to split up. Take your team to the right, and I will lead you 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 walking.

  ‘Right guys, you heard the sarge. 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 walked to the right.

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

  They heard only the sound of nature as their steps came one after the other, on the lookout. 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 will not 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 blame 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 walking, Ethan noticed that forms were waving around in the distance. He put his right arm up and took the knee. Everyone behind him did the same and looked around with caution. He opened one of his pouches, took a wooden spyglass, extended it, and used it to look at what was happening in the distance.

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

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

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

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

  Ethan saw 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 why this cleaning up needed to exist.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  He signaled with his left hand to continue with the low profile and follow him as he changed direction to the left of the fight. He didn’t want the Lavan soldiers going further into the duchy territory; that could be a problem. 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 their distance, the corporal could see that no Lavan soldier had died and that only one goblin was alive. The soldiers' formation was tight and didn’t give much space for the goblin to counterattack; it was all over after a spear pierced the tiny 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, but what do we do if they come this way?’ Oran looked at Ethan.

  ‘Why would they come this way, soldier? This is the duchy territory.’ 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 looked for traces of something, walking in different directions but not too far. In the end, they returned to where the monsters were and started to do something to the goblins and rocks 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 in 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 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 increasingly 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 agreed to go with him and started to walk in the direction he thought the village was. For him, this wasn’t about women at all; at that point, it was more likely that the village was abandoned or destroyed by monsters.

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

  He had only walked less than twenty steps. They were disorganized but relaxed, talking to one another and laughing. Even the tall soldier joined in, more out of 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. He looked down and felt with his hands a hole in his chest.

  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 lying 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 and the world itself were lost to him. The last thing he saw was someone coming to his side. 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.