Sword God in a World of Magic

The soldiers didn't want to show it, but they subconsciously became wary of their officer.

Everything pointed to the fact that he was a traitor.

Shang could have kept the suspicious information a secret and could have passed it along to the relevant authorities.

Yet, he had unveiled all the suspicious information without censoring it.

He was essentially publicly accusing the officer of being a traitor without saying it directly.

The soldiers became very nervous.

If their officer were truly a traitor…

Then, would he just kill all of them to silence them?!

"They were smart," the officer said.

Shang and the soldiers only looked at him.

"Remember, no plan is complete without a backup plan for when the primary plan backfires," the officer explained. "By sending nine people, their primary plan evidently was to wake the True Path Stage beast."

"But if they fail, their backup plan was to get rid of me," the officer said.

The officer gestured to the corpses.

"They are most likely criminals on death row," he said. "Duke Mithril has a policy that criminals can gain freedom as long as they accomplish a deadly mission. The criminals have to take a poison to which only Duke Mithril's soldiers have an antidote."

"If they flee, they die. If they fail, they die. They can only survive by completing the mission."

"You told me that they threw the Firebombs into the lake without concern for their life," the officer said.

Shang nodded.

"This means near-certain death for them. Normal soldiers don't just throw their lives away like that. Only someone with no way out would consider doing something like this."

"Criminals are not part of Duke Mithril's main force," the officer explained. "The fact that they sent criminals means that they, to a certain extent, have expected this mission to fail."

Shang didn't say anything.

their plan succeeded to some degree. I will surely be investigated by the higher-ups after today, no matter what I do

SHING!

summoned a Communication Crystal. "Might as

soldiers looked at the officer

wasn't visible due

suspicions had lessened a bit. He still suspected the officer of being a traitor,

why he had

was just an

a biased investigation would take place. It would have been

wanted to give the officer a chance to

soldiers listened as the officer reported everything, leaving no

in anger, but not at

the superior shouted through the Communication Crystal. "You found a

tongue-lashing, the superior

officer only gritted his

only my resources would reflect well on my

superior exploded once again, berating the

It was thoroughly humiliating.

will be put under investigation!" the superior shouted

there was

you one week to get everything in order

near the tunnel until

then, the superior hung

officer only looked helplessly to

deep breath. Only now did they truly realize how

Shang's suspicions lowered by a lot. He still had some

right decision to give the officer a

mood to talk, so everyone

didn't have to wait

minutes later, the new guards of the tunnel

were five people in

over and felt Mana

What was a Circle?