The usual night duty.
Two Salamander Guards were sitting at the corner of the broken main outer gate of the castle and with only a meagre amount of food served as dinner due to the tightening of rations, making them rather irritatable because of the hunger. It was not because they did not manage to hunt any monsters, but the King seemed to be angry that they had failed to catch the black and white spotted bear that creates portals.
Sometimes, they felt that their King was unreasonable as the Giant Monsters could be somewhat unpredictable. Not to mention, they were rather ill equipped to fight against the bear. Most, if not all of their ranged items were of limited quantities, had already been used in the recent fight against the frogs.
They have yet to replenish their military supplies before another sortie, and most of the Salamanders who were supposed to craft them were drafted to process the food rations. The rest had to scrap the remains of the defeated Frog Tribe to feed their King or aid the injured they incurred from the hunt of the Portalling Bear.
In addition, their King had reduced the morale of the Salamanders significantly by restricting their food rations while he ate like a true glutton in order to gain the powers from the things he eats.
As the guards at the outer main guards were complaining to each other about the current situation at hand, they heard a scratching sound from a distance, as if it was a piece of metal being dragged along the grey brick path. So, the guards immediately took their weapons out and brought their torches out to better illuminate what was in front of them.
What they found right in front of them was a silhouette of a frog holding on to his broken sword.
“Isn’t that frog the one that got bitten by that portalling bear? He survived and wanted to return to exact revenge on our kind?” One of the Salamander Guards snorted as the other chuckled at his friend’s comments.
“Hey, maybe we should defeat this frog and eat it for supper. It had been a long time since I had a good meal.” The Salamander Guard rubbed his growling tummy.
“Hahah! Maybe get the Butcher to cut the meat up. It would definitely be tastier. At most, we allow him to keep some meat as compensation.” The other commented.
“Are you mad? You remembered how the King’s sense of smell had gotten stronger by the day. If he knows that we kept frog meat from him, he would surely come after us!” The former guard retorted as he continued to keep his eye at the frog.
“So, we should just eat him immediately and dispose of him when we are full? Well, that’s better than nothing.” The Guard shrugged his shoulders and decided to charge in front to attack the quiet frog.
They thought it was too easy. The frog did not move a single step nor made any noise ever since it appeared on their sights. Its stance was also wide open for attacks compared to the last time when the frog made a huge ruckus. The Salamander guard believed it was too good to be true, yet it went for a straight cut through its neck.
*Shinnnnn!*
The frog silhouette was left standing while the Salamander that attempted to cut it down was split into two halves. Blood was spraying from both parts of the body as the guard struggled to have a last look at the monster that killed him.
There was no mistake, it was none other than Gaeru who killed the Salamander with one clean cut. But what happened to the noisy frog who the Salamander Guards thought they knew?
Before the start of the operation, Jin sought out for Kraft and Pei’s assistance. At some point, Jin believed that Gaeru’s anger stemmed deeply from the anguished loss of his tribe and perhaps, the burden he held might possibly cause to him to perform poorly.
Kraft and Pei then agreed to take a peek at the sleeping frog’s memories, only to find out that he made a promise to return to the Frog Tribe when he was competent enough after embarking on a personal journey.
The sword he carried was the first gift to a hunter’s son, and due to an incident which nearly killed his close buddy, Gaeru decided to repent by searching atonement all by himself. It was a mere coincidence that the day he returned was the day he found his tribe in utter ruins.
He could not keep his promise to his buddy nor his family and had been in a state of depression ever since that day. The only thing that mattered to him right now was the revenge against the Salamanders. Though part of him knew that it was a mere excuse and knew that exacting vengeance would not bring him peace, his heart and mind were narrowed by grief.
Knowing this and the fact that he was an essential piece in the upcoming operation, Kraft and Pei had unanimously agreed to tweak his train of thoughts. It was a mild form of psychic driving, turning his guilt into resolution.
However, it’s Kraft that Jin asked for help for and he always needed a little fun factor to be added into the mix. The Devilman had requested one of his foxes, Evon for a little bit of clarity inducing drug to be injected into the unsuspecting frog.
What they did not expect was that Gaeru was indeed a bona fide swordsman when he cut the Salamander Guard into two with his broken blade. At first, Jin thought of increasing Gaeru’s strength by inserting inscription charms into Gaeru’s blade, but the sword automatically rejected the offensive charms by itself, as if the weapon had a will of its own.
The remaining Salamander Guard was horrified by the sudden change of events as it decided to run away to notify the others. However, before it could take another step backwards, the frog dashed ahead of him with just one leap, slashing his head off with another stroke from the blade.
“Masamune, sip their blood into your steel and let them be part of your backbone,” Gaeru whispered to his sword with bloodshot eyes.
