"Ash Harth…" Rowan called slowly, as if trying to commit the name to memory. "Did you accomplish this on your own?"
"Ah—yes, sir." Ashen nodded awkwardly.
Morikawa let out a faint smirk at that but didn't bother to interject.
Rowan looked deeply into his eyes, and Ashen kept eye contact. He really did do it on his own, after all. Well, technically, if you didn't count his future knowledge.
"…This is really impressive work.. To tell you the truth, we were already aware of the tailed foxes' movements."
Rowan let the words sink in as he intently watched Ashen's "relief" and continued.
"But our information came from hundreds of professionals who took months to gather evidence from clues and connect the dots."
Ashen felt the red pupils focused intently on him, and it was making him uncomfortable by the second. The constant smirk on Morikawa's face didn't make things better either.
"So that's why I said that this," he waved the worn notebook in his hand, "…is really, really impressive."
'Fuck, did I overdo it…?' he silently cursed himself, but this was his only chance, so he didn't dare risk it and went all out.
Now, it seemed things were going to blow up in his face.
He tried to salvage, not willing to give up. "Sir… I know this may sound strange, or even suspicious… but this—investigating, spying, observing, and connecting clues—has always been a talent of mine…"
Seeing them letting him continue with the charade, he kept pushing, hoping something would stick. "…Even though my passion has always been to fight alongside you, sirs, on the frontlines and make a name for myself valiantly protecting our race, I couldn't help my habit of always recording and observing anything remotely suspicious…"
Ashen lowered his head, looking somewhat ashamed. "This notebook was mostly from my daily observations, and I just added the recent developments and organized the information… I was just hoping to help. If I overstepped, I'm willing to take punishment."
The piercing gaze softened, and the pressure disappeared as if it were a mirage.
"Soldier Harth, you misunderstood. I'm not doubting you or this," he pointed to the gathered evidence in the notebook. "It's just, seeing a talent of your caliber in this area, I was astonished, and it took me a bit of time to process it."
Ashen bowed his head and thanked the general. "Thank you, general! I will strive harder to dedicate my talents to the Pride army and humankind!"
Both general and adjutant nodded at the image of the excited youth being recognized by his idols.
'Did they buy it?' Ashen stole a glance at their expressions, but Morikawa's faint smile and Rowan's unreadable face made the possibility of his performance being believed a long shot.
Thankfully, they didn't need to fully believe his nonsense for him to get what he wanted.
"Well said. Since that's the case, I have a task for you to accomplish. This task will require your unique talents, but it will be very dangerous. A single mistake will guarantee a fate worse than death. Do you accept?"
Ashen didn't hesitate, nor did he care how suspicious it would make him, and instantly accepted. "I accept, sir! No matter the task, I'll do my best to accomplish it as long as it's for the protection of humanity!"
Whoosh—
He finished with the Iron Oath salute and waited.
"Excellent." Rowan nodded, pleased, then promptly explained the details.
"With your observant nature, you must already know where all these deserters are heading, right?"
"…The demi-human camps," Ashen answered, face bitter at the betrayal of his comrades.
"That's right, but don't look so down. This is the Pride army. Its soldiers have been trained by me and have accompanied me in every fight, no matter how despairing or hopeless the odds were. Those foxes' tricks will never work."
"…A group, no matter the circumstances, will have its own rotten apples, however. Unfortunately."
Shun Morikawa interjected for the first time, tone sarcastic. "We should be thankful—they're helping us clean house, after all."
Rowan allowed a faint smile. "That's right. Those who fall to mere temptation have no place amongst us anyway. That's why you shouldn't overly concern yourself with this, Harth."
Ashen only nodded.
"…It doesn't mean we can't take advantage of it, regardless. Since they started accepting humans, a new path opened for us… Infiltration."
The moment Ashen heard the words, his heartbeat spiked as he fought to keep a straight expression.
"To tell you the truth, this task was initially going to be given to many others, and we'd already started drafting candidates based on existing records and talents."
Rowan looked at him intently. "…You were among the candidates. That's why I don't doubt your expertise or your allegiance, Harth. I was just… surprised by the degree of your skill."
"It's an honor to be praised by you, general. I hope to live up to your expectations!" Ashen continued to play the admiring soldier.
It was the easiest and most commonly seen trait among the camp soldiers, anyhow, so sticking to it would be harmless.
"I also hope so, because I'm going to put all my expectations on you."
"Yes, sir?" Ashen was about to agree, but his affirmation turned into questioning.
"You're the only one who will be going, Harth." Rowan declared.
"Huh?" Ashen had a stunned expression before he caught himself. "…But sir, is that really alright?"
Even Shun Morikawa, by his side, looked curious.
"It is the optimal solution, considering your current skills. Sending more men will be redundant since you'll catch every piece of information before they do anyway. On the contrary, if they're caught, which I'm sure will happen sooner or later, it will only make the demi-humans wary and even risk exposing you after they tighten their guard."
'Well, that makes sense,' Ashen thought carefully and agreed with the general's approach. 'The scope of the investigation is narrow enough for only one person to catch everything if they're competent enough, anyway.'
"Sir! I'll bet my life on this task! Rest assured!"
"Very well then." Rowan merely nodded, then pulled aside a ledger and took out a strange, yellowed parchment, putting it on the desk.
"The method of communication will be this," Rowan explained. "This parchment was extracted from a ruin. We have two of them. Writing on one and burning it afterward will send the content to the other."
Ashen nodded, but the implications weren't lost on him.
"…And as you might have guessed, you'll only have one chance to send back intelligence, so use it wisely." Rowan pushed the parchment toward him, and Ashen accepted it.
"Yes, sir."
"You will be sent tonight, so be prepared in the meantime. Lastly, a warning…"
Rowan's voice suddenly lowered, and his brows furrowed. "There is a certain deserter who is different from the others. Unlike the rest, he used to be one of my best men. He was iron-willed, disciplined, and always strived to protect the weak…"
"…" Ashen listened intently, suddenly curious where this was going.
"Everything changed after he went on a certain mission to the inner parts of the Narkal territories. He went with a party of the most competent men in humanity and was the only one who came back alive."
Rowan's eyes became half-lidded, looking more as if he was talking to himself than his audience.
"…After that, he completely changed. The stalwart man was no more, and in his place came to be a gloomy, cynical, almost mad man."
Rowan's tone turned somewhat bitter. "I sent him on leave, thinking that maybe visiting his family would make things better… It did not, and this time, he came back a husk of his former self, almost corpse-like."
He put his elbows on the desk, interlocked his fingers, and rested his chin on them. "…Later, he started getting better, and I thought he was recovering, but his desertion overruled that notion."
Eyes suddenly fixing on Ashen, "What I'm warning you about, though, is something else… A unique ability he was born with."
His voice sharpened. "This ability allows him to glimpse into the nature of others, their power, and even… predict their future actions."
Ashen's face took on a grim countenance. He knew that having such an absurd ability would be deadly even in the era of the system, where skills were abundant, let alone now, where a human had to train for months to fire a single fireball.
"The man used to call this wondrous ability… Astrologer."
Ashen's face instantly paled. 'Fuck.'
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Watching the retreating back of the intriguing soldier, Rowan leaned back into his seat, thoughts unknown.
Eventually, he turned to his right-hand man, and only friend. "Shun, what do you think of him?"
Morikawa, who had also been lost in his own thoughts, snapped back to reality. "…Well, he's obviously suspicious and is hiding things… But he didn't have the stench of a betrayer. Weird fellow."
Rowan nodded. "We're on the same page then. As long as he's useful, let him keep his secrets. Right now, it's the least of our concerns."
Morikawa shot him a side glance. "Are you sure about sending him alone, though? We could always flood their camp with infiltrators, and they wouldn't know how to deal with it, even if they knew. The only viable option would be to kill every human there, which is actually not a bad outcome for us."
"…You even gave him that parchment. What a waste," he muttered.
Rowan resolutely shook his head. "You know that our position is worsening with every battle. No matter how we try to outmaneuver them, the demi-humans beat us with their racial gifts, while the Narkals beat us with their endless numbers."
His fists clenched. "We have to take every risk… every chance, to turn things around, even if it's unlikely."
"That's why I'm willing to put all my chips on one man and hope for a miracle. That's why I'm willing to employ someone who clearly has his own agenda, as long as they're useful. Everything for that slim chance where we prevail."
"…Well, you're the brains and I'm the brawn, so if you think this is the way, then I'll trust you."
Rowan's voice steeled. "This is the only way I could think of. If he doesn't succeed, at least that means I've saved the lives of the dozen soldiers that were meant to be sent alongside him."
"Man, that's harsh. I wonder how that admiring look will change if he hears you say that." Morikawa's words were meant to be admonishing, but the unconcerned tone he used clearly showed he couldn't care less either way.
Rowan, however, still answered seriously. "It's not only him. If it's for the right price, I'll also sacrifice myself, you, and even this whole army."
Morikawa simply smirked. "Well, I hope this so-called price would be damn worth it then."