114: A Voice from the Sea

A Voice from the Sea

Before going with Marsha, Kai asked them to find an area where they could use their full prowess. Although the plan was carefully laid out, he might not be able to assist them in the battle.1

The reserve position, which was not far behind the middle army, allowed him to observe the entire battlefield with his own hand. Considering his role in this battle was a strategist instead of a fighter or commander, Michelle and Tasha had no qualms and let him go. On the other hand, Evan and Sanae were busy discussing their positioning since they would have the most brutal fight.

After instructing each of them on what they would need to do, he walked outside the base and found Marsha right in front of the exit.

Marsha was looking at the sky when Kai exited the base. This base would soon become chaotic, and many soldiers would die. Hearing the clicking sound of the door, she turned around and smiled. "Have you finished your business?"

"Yes." He looked at Marsha and took the opportunity to ask, "Where will we go first?"'

The question made her chuckle as she pointed her finger at him. "Though you might not have the authority, you can be considered as the boss in this battle just like your original mission. In other words, I will be your subordinate in this battle, so you can choose where you want to go. Or are you bothered by Sarah's response?"

"No. I mean, I'm just a student, while you are elites."

"You're off the mark there." She raised her palm, making a stop sign. "What differentiates you from an elite like me?"

Kai looked down, pondering for a moment before shaking his head. "I don't know."

"Experience." She crossed her arms, ready to give a little lecture. "This is the biggest misconception students have. We elites actually don't have anything special other than our experience. Just like a normal school, they cram all the knowledge into you and throw you out after you graduate.

"Whether it's a normal job or a soldier job, it's all the same. You apply everything you learned in school, learn what you can or can't do, and get experience. After several years of doing such a job, there's no doubt that you'll be skilled in doing that particular job and so on.

"It's not like we're stronger than you in terms of magic power and talent. In fact, we're the same. It's just because we've been fighting for so many years that we can use our powers more skillfully, know when to act, where to strike, and how to attack, that differentiate us elites from normal people.

"Remember when General Sanders called you a good strategist in tabletop battle, but not the actual battlefield? You possess too little experience on the battlefield. How can you know that the soldiers will follow your orders to the death? How can you know that the soldiers won't run in the face of death? Even General Sanders didn't know at first, but with the experience he gradually gained, he could predict it more accurately than you."

"So don't be complacent about what you have and learn everything you can so that eventually, you'll also become an elite like us." She felt that she had already talked for too long and decided to end it with advice.

Kai looked down, pondering her words for one minute before smiling at her. "Thank you."

"Sure. So, where are we going, little strategist?"

"The right army, middle army, left army, and then the reserve army."

"Sure." She nodded, clapped her hand, and made a green magic circle, boosting them to the air.

Kai was startled, not expecting that the wind could carry him. This never happened when he was with Sanae, so he thought that it was not possible.

"It took me a few years to master my magic control for me to carry another person like this, which is another example of how useful experience is."

Kai nodded. He didn't know why, but he suddenly thought of General Jack. If he were here, he would surely say, 'As expected of an old hag, you really love to boast about your age (experience),' and get thrown away once again.

As if she had an instinct in that sensitive topic, she turned to him and said with a serious expression. "One more piece of advice, don't be like that guy, Jack, who has no courtesy. Be a man that can be polite and respect others, okay?"

"..." Kai chuckled and nodded.

She then clapped her hands to produce a forward movement at the speed of a normal person's running speed.

It only took them a few minutes before they could see a huge wheat field with an army camp in the center. They didn't land per Kai's request as his purpose was to observe the terrain, though they decided to walk around the camp for a few minutes because of Marsha's urging. Her reason was to get him accustomed to the people on the battlefield and know the atmosphere around them, whether it was anxiety or full of fighting spirit.

The soldiers were pretty energetic. Kai knew the reasons were that the female soldiers idolized her and the male soldiers were feasting their eyes on her appearance. It could be said that the most popular person in this base was her, and some people called her the mother of the base as she often took care of them. Unfortunately, Kai never cared about such things and just let her do her own thing.

Noticing the bored look on Kai's face, she shook her head helplessly and walked toward him. The curious gazes from the soldiers made Kai walk even further.

"Sorry, we'll talk again tonight. Do your job first, and shall someone not finish their work, you know what will happen."

Something beyond his imagination happened as soon as the soldiers heard her order. Despite her not commanding them in a strict tone, all the soldiers present instantly straightened their backs and saluted. "Yes, Ma'am!"

Then, they dismissed themselves and began working on their jobs. Kai couldn't comprehend what just happened and stared at Marsha for a few seconds.

"You should join me earlier. They are good boys and girls."

He carefully examined the soldiers and shook his head. "It's impossible. Even if you told them all that, I'm still a student. If they know that their lives are in the hands of a random student, they'll cause a ruckus. This must be the reason why General Sanders chose not to appoint me as an official."

"Sigh..." She clapped her hand and carried him again to the sky without replying to his statement.

They continued their journey to the middle army. Though their discipline was not comparable to those in the right army, the soldiers looked very powerful. According to Marsha, they were Jack's personal soldiers, the muscle-brained type soldiers. In fact, most of the fighters in this base were under Jack. It was only because they were stationed under Marsha or Sarah that they slowly thought of things other than fighting.

Jack assured Kai that they would surely position themselves in the best spot after looking at how the magical beasts marched. Idiotic as he may, Jack was by no means a fool. Even Marsha acknowledged his eyes on the battlefield.

Kai felt relieved knowing his sister and Michelle were in the right hands. As long as he was not a fool that only knew how to charge, it was fine.

After talking to Michelle and Tasha for a few minutes, Kai continued to the left army and met Sarah. Unfortunately, she didn't say anything to him and only focused on her own job. She ignored even Sanae and Evan as she said, "You do you, I do me."

In the end, Marsha could only apologize for her attitude. Sarah had conveyed her intention clearly, telling them that she would only talk to the strong. Though Kai showed his strategical prowess, she had yet to see his other abilities.

He decided to ignore her and began checking the actual terrain himself. The hill was steep and would be deadly to magical beasts if used correctly.

Marsha agreed with him and told Sarah about it, since although she ignored them, she couldn't ignore Marsha.

Then, he finally went to the last army, the reserve, which was commanded by General Sanders himself.

"Oh, you're finally here." Sanders put down the matter on hand and walked to him before signaling Marsha to go back to her army.

"Do you need something from me, General?"

"How is our terrain? What feeling do you have after observing my soldiers?"

"The terrain can be used to destroy the magical beasts if we can utilize it properly. As for the soldiers... I only know that their fighting spirit is high." Kai crossed his arms and used his hand to support his chin.

"It's good enough for now. From what my old man said, you don't want to serve the army for too long, right?"

"Yes," he answered, embarrassed.

"Haha... you don't need to feel that way. The number of people like you is more than you think since we have no obligation to fight. I just want you to promise me not to rest your weapon even if you're not in the front lines anymore. We never know when our civilization will be overturned once again."

"Yes."

"Good. Well then, I'll explain the situation around the base firy. Firstly, our soldiers..." The commander continued explaining to him the general situation before noticing Kai's abnormal expression. "Kai? Kai Carter?"

At this moment, Kai heard something he never expected to hear.

"Lkhfkdit."

"Shkla ktha muoa."

"Theoi."

Kai froze upon hearing this conversation, and his muscles tensed abruptly. One of them had a frequency of a dolphin's sound while the other one had a frequency close to a human's voice. Those two voices came from their north, and most importantly, it was coming from above the sea.

"Kh." He knew nothing about this language. He even wondered whether that "conversation" was in a human language or not.

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