Earth’s Doom Starts with… Me?

"Ah... I know this is for the mission, but I can't help but feel a slight disgust..." Dmitri frowned as he smothered his palm with the blood from the minotaur's severed arm.

"Can't help it. The minotaurs have a strong sense of smell, but their eyesight is pretty bad. This blood might save our lives if they think we're one of them." Jeanne casually said while she applied the blood on her armor and her weapon.

"Sorry, Wolf, but bear with this for a bit..." Dmitri crouched down in front of Wolf and helped him apply the blood.

"Yes." Wolf stood there patiently, and not even a tiny bit of horror was visible on his face.

Jeanne silently observed the little boy, and felt her chest tighten a bit. She wondered what kind of life the boy had gone through to made him unfazed by this.

"We should be able to last roughly half a day until the smell starts to fade. Soldiers! we rest here for now! Eat your fill and then we will continue!" Owen commanded, and the rest of them started to disperse and look for a comfortable spot to eat and rest.

Wolf walked over to Owen and pulled the hem of his shirt that was sticking out of his armor, "mister, the birds. Food, too."

"Huh?" Owen raised one of his eyebrows in confusion.

"Ah, he's trying to say that the birds also want some food, they're getting hungry. Haha!" Dmitri came over and ruffled the boy's hair.

"Right. Go feed the birds, Dmitri. They're a crucial part of our plan." Owen replied and walked away.

"Eh? Me?"

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It was around midnight when the group reached the outskirts of the minotaur kingdom. They had filled up their stomach, but now they were faced with two choices; to invade without proper sleep, or to wait until dawn and hunt another minotaur that might or might not come in hordes.

"Should we just risk it?" General Enzo said as he observed the minotaur's kingdom using a binocular.

"Maybe. The blood's smell won't last long. It's best to invade while it's still there." General Emilio replied while sitting on his horse.

"But our soldiers are weary from the trip..." Jeanne chipped in, frowning.

"Then do you suggest we wait and sleep while we rely on our luck to find a new minotaur to kill? What if we're unlucky and a horde of them come instead?" General Emilio turned to face her.

"No, but the outcome will be equally as bad if we're too weary and get surrounded by them inside the maze." Jeanne explained.

"Silence, you three." Owen interjected as his horse clopped to the front.

"General Owen..." Jeanne's worried frown still hadn't gone away.

"That is true, general Emilio. We don't rely on luck here." Owen stared at him with a stern look.

"But, general Owen--"

"But, I also won't allow my soldiers to fight without proper preparations. Sure, sometimes fighting without preparations is unavoidable, but not this time." Owen cut her off.

"Then, what do you propose?" General Enzo asked.

"Both of you, come with me. We will look for a new minotaur and get its blood. General Jeanne, you stay with them here and keep a lookout." He replied.

"And how are we going to find a minotaur?" General Emilio inquired.

"I've found a horde over there to the south, probably around 5 of them." Owen held up his binocular for them to see, indicating that he had been scouting the area even before they started arguing.

"Obviously you're not going to have us 3 fight them head-on, right? Spill your plan." General Emilio said with a straight face.

"That's true. You and me, we will be the bait. I have my golems with me, so we should be able to lure them without dying," Owen said to general Emilio, "we will lure them back into the forest we passed earlier."

"I see. You want to split them up using the trees." General Emilio brought his hand to his chin while he nodded.

"Correct. And general Enzo will keep his distance and kill the farthest one from the group using his gun. Once it's down, we will use my golems to distract them while we sneak out through the forest and regroup outside." Owen concluded his explanation.

"Not what I would choose, but I'll follow my orders." General Enzo said as he clicked his gun, prompting the acid to swirl, getting it ready to be fired.

"...That sounds good. Thank you, Owen." Jeanne thanked Owen before turning her horse around and galloped back to the soldiers who were waiting anxiously behind them.

"Good. Now, shall we start?" Owen looked at the twin generals, who answered his question with a simple nod.

They parted ways, and Jeanne immediately relayed the plan to the soldiers. Murmurs of relief started to fill the air as the soldiers made themselves as comfortable as they could. They were just glad that they were given the chance to rest.

Some of them simply leaned against the tree, and that alone earned them a satisfied sigh, and off they went to sleep. Some of them gathered to light up a small fire with their magic to warm their shivering bodies, even though some of them wouldn't stop shivering even with the heat from the fire.

"It's okay, we will invade them fast, and then get out of here alive, alright?" One soldier said to the other soldier who was shaking near the campfire.

"I-I know... It's just-- it's scary, you know? To go out there and not knowing what will happen every time?" He answered while he hugged his trembling legs, "you don't know if you will die, or if your friend will die..."

"...I know. We've lost a lot of comrades." The other looked down in pain.

"I wonder if they've said goodbye to their families before they die?" He looked at the flickering campfire, "and I wonder if they've attended their children's football game?"

The first soldier stayed silent while he, too, stared at the beautiful but fickle fire in front of them.

"I regret not eating my wife's breakfast today. Even though she had prepared it for me since dawn..." He sighed.

"That's why we have to come back alive, alright? After this, you should go to your son's football matches more often, and you should always eat what your wife cooks for you!" His friend punched him lightly on his shoulder, trying to cheer him up a bit.

"...Thanks, man. You should spend more time with your father, too. Your father was sick, right?" He smiled.

"Yep. I'll buy him his favourite flower after this."

Both of them shared a laugh in the midst of chaos around them. It was brief, and it was not much, but to them, that short conversation reminded them of their reason to fight.

"Big bro, why no fight?" Wolf tugged at Dmitri's shirt as they were warming up around the campfire.

"Oh, right. Wolf, you've never been on a raid, haven't you?" Dmitri asked.

"Yes. Wolf never, but Wolf fights." He answered while chewing on his gummy bears.

"Alright, big bro will tell you a story, okay?" Dmitri covered the boy with a blanket and patted his head gently.

"A bedtime story? Mom used to tell Wolf bedtime stories." He snuggled closer to the older man.

"Um... Well, not really," Dmitri scratched his cheek in nervousness, "you see, Wolf. In raids, or wars, I guess. Fighting is actually only a small part of it."

"Uh-huh." The boy listened intently.

"Stuff like planning, supplies, and other things behind the curtain may make or break the war." He continued.

Dmitri hugged the little boy closer, "and that's why we have to be patient sometimes, and endure the cold, the hunger, the diseases... And the sadness. Sometimes, the winning side is not the strongest one, but the most stubborn one. The one who's most stubborn to live."