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.

to some degree. I will surely be investigated by the higher-ups after

SHING!

Crystal. "Might as

at

expression wasn't visible

Shang's suspicions had lessened a bit. He still suspected the officer

was why he had

this was just an elaborate

would take place. It would have been possible that

unveiled everything. He wanted to give the officer a

listened as the officer reported everything, leaving

heard the officer's superior blowing up in anger, but not at

the Communication Crystal. "You found a tunnel and didn't report it?! You put

thorough tongue-lashing, the

officer only

a tunnel with access to only my resources

berating the officer

It was thoroughly humiliating.

will be put under investigation!" the superior shouted through the

was

I'll give you one week to get everything in order for your

wait near the tunnel until

then, the

only looked helplessly

breath. Only now

He still had some

like it was the right decision to give the officer a chance

mood to

didn't have to

20 minutes later, the new guards of the tunnel

people in luxurious

felt Mana swirl around

What was a Circle?