Four Split Personalities

"Yes!"

Aziva Lawrence, along with others, loudly responded to the command. He quickly left the group with other scouts, paid respects to the haggard-looking Sin Knight, then turned and dashed into the dense woods, leaving behind nearly a hundred corpses and the increasingly thick scent of blood on the clearing.

The last time he looked back, Aziva saw the well-mannered middle-aged housekeeper stepping out of the crowd, supporting the young noble who was about to collapse, and stuffing two warm Alchemy Potions into his hands.

[Truly like two different people...]

Recalling the very successful encounter... or rather, the annihilation battle not long ago, where Sin Knight’s command was nearly artistic, and the simple yet extremely sharp swordplay, Aziva shook his head with a complex expression, quickly entered Stealth mode, and silently moved swiftly through the woods. His bright brown eyes continuously scanned the surroundings, striving not to miss any trace.

[Stay alert, do not be deceived by the tranquil illusion; rebels could very likely be hiding nearby.]

This was the warning issued by Sin Knight an hour ago when they first entered these woods. Although everyone felt it was unlikely, some even thought this person, who was nearly stepping into the upper echelon of nobility, was being overly cautious, but the orders given by Duke forced them to be serious about this young man. Thankfully, his demeanor remained courteous and didn’t take advantage of his temporary command position by acting recklessly, slightly reducing the displeasure among the troops.

And so, thirty minutes after this troop entered the so-called ’suspected defense zone,’ the Sin Knight, after listening to the scouts’ reports and seemingly perceiving something, ordered everyone to halt. He personally disrupted the scouts who were always grouped in threes, split them into over twenty pairs, and bewilderingly dispersed these teams across various areas unrelated to their march’s destination to perform aimless reconnaissance, leaving everyone both puzzled and annoyed.

The reason was simple, if their troop of five hundred failed to complete the mission within the expected time without encountering any incident, and delayed reaching the designated point, they would be held accountable. Even though Sin Knight, as the commander, would theoretically share the blame, everyone was aware of his strong connections, not just his close relationship with Duke Galos but also seeming favoritism from Lord Arthur. Thus, if he wished, a simple deflection could throw the blame onto others—a situation that didn’t even need consideration.

It’s not that the men were prejudiced from the start against command parachuted in from nobility; after all, these men were ’veterans’ operating under a mature system, finding immediate sincere submissiveness to such a high-ranking newcomer would be odd.

As for the contribution of Sin Knight during the battle at Banther City that everyone had heard about, contributions, in most cases, are linked to status. In terms of status, Sin Knight was the third key figure during Banther City battle after Galahad and Galos, even suffering severe injuries afterward. By rights, even without any significant accomplishments, he should have received some honorary benefits, let alone being one of Duke Galos’s affiliates.

However, Aziva did not see it this way, not because he had sharp judgment in assessing people, able to discern at a glance that this Sin Knight was an extraordinary talent capable of standing against the world, but rather he had received a vague and secretive order before departure.

Keep a close watch on Sin Knight, continuously observe his moves and performances, and based on the above, follow his commands as much as possible.

In this private troop under Duke Fossai, besides Aziva, nineteen others received the exact same order, while the remaining four hundred and eighty were only told to ’follow Sin Knight’s orders’.

Aziva did not dare to neglect, because the person who informed him of this was Duke Fossai himself, to whom he had sworn loyalty ten years ago.

Due to the ambiguous nature of the order, Aziva dared not inquire further, hence he was unclear about the Duke’s exact intentions.

But perhaps due to the unique intuition of a qualified Scout, Aziva seemingly sensed a hint of caution from the Duke’s tone.

As is well known, mediocrity does not need to be guarded against, especially not by superiors.

Thus from the beginning, Aziva did not preemptively assume, like others, that this person was being impractical. Instead, he objectively viewed the arrangements made by Sin Knight and analyzed them during implementation...

Yet before he could decipher anything concrete, the reality proved the seemingly sickly young man was not being unduly paranoid. Numerous ’abnormalities’ that were hidden but still left traces were precisely identified by the scattered scout teams, and immediately reported back.

Out of the twenty teams dispatched by Sin Knight, eighteen found something in their assigned search areas, sixteen of which were completely unrelated to the main troop’s intended route.

[How did he manage it?!]

As everyone was pondering this question, Sin Knight once again gathered the dispersed scouts and led the five hundred men to continue their journey as if oblivious to everything.