He explained, while clenching both fists tightly at his sides.
"He didn’t die the moment he swallowed it."
Garron continued.
"He died slowly."
His voice became colder.
"He would’ve struggled to breathe. He would’ve coughed. He would’ve convulsed. He would’ve shown signs that something was terribly wrong for a considerable amount of time."
Silence swallowed the camp.
"WE HAD TIME TO SAVE HIM!"
Garron roared.
"A full hour... perhaps even longer... if one of you had simply done the job I assigned you and woken me before it was too late."
He said, as the fury within his eyes made neither child dare utter a single excuse.
"So don’t stand there thinking this was unavoidable or just unfortunate."
Garron concluded, as disappointment gradually replaced his anger.
"This child’s death rests upon your negligence."
As those words settled over the clearing, every child instinctively looked toward the two young guards, as although neither of them had intended for anyone to die, the crushing weight of Garron’s accusation left both standing frozen in place while tears slowly began forming in their eyes.
"There’s no point in you crying now. Because actions come with consequences.
If I were you, I would not waste precious water in your body over tears, because you’re not going to get any water over the next twenty four hours."
Garron declared, as he pressed the two pouches full of the dead child’s blood into the hands of the two children.
"This is the blood of the deceased. And if I’m not wrong it should still contain some of the poison that killed him.
Ideally it should be harmless enough when ingested over a long period of time.
So if you space it out well and sip it one sip at a time throughout the day, you should make it to the night without dying.
However, that’s not a guarantee."
Garron began, as piss began to roll down the thigh of one of the kids who had been handed the pouch, while the other began to quake above his knees.
"The two of you will finish these pouches through today’s march.
Because unless you do, I’ll personally break your kneecaps and leave you to die in the wilderness.
And when I say finish, I mean you must swallow each and every last drop, because if you spit out even a single drop, I’ll still break your kneecaps and leave you for dead."
Garron warned, as his cruel punishment made the stomachs of all onlookers twist just thinking about it.
"Let’s hope the nights watch tonight do a better job at saving your lives than you did yesterday.
Because if not, you’re going to pass away in your sleep, just like him."
Garron concluded, as it was only then that the children truly began to understand the kind of man their instructor was.
Whenever someone was injured during training, exhausted themselves beyond their limits, or accidentally hurt themselves while marching, Garron was always the first to step forward with medicine and treatment, as despite his harsh methods, he never hesitated to help those who had genuinely fallen victim to misfortune.
However, when somebody neglected their responsibilities or disappointed him through carelessness, he could become far more terrifying than even the slave masters they had left behind.
As after watching the two children spend the entire day drinking from the canteens Garron had handed them, vomiting repeatedly before eventually collapsing that night and barely surviving after Garron treated them, every child in the camp came to understand just how seriously he regarded the duties he assigned.
From that day onward, nobody ever dared treat the night’s watch, or any other responsibility Garron entrusted to them, with the slightest hint of carelessness, because they all understood that failure would not simply earn them a scolding, but the full wrath of their instructor.