#065
“What are you saying? The Colonel… What happened?”
At the Westraine Republic Army base.
In response to the trembling voice, an Armored Infantry soldier who returned from the battlefield held out sothing.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…! All I could bring back were the Battalion Commander’s belongings…!”
“Ah, aah…!”
A half-lted red armor plate and the dog tags that had hung around his neck.
When she saw Klaus’s na engraved on them, Elena, who had been his adjutant, received them with trembling hands.
“No… No…! This can’t be…!”
Her superior, Colonel Klaus dvedev, was not supposed to die like this.
‘The current Westraine is wrong. The remnants from before the revolution are running rampant in this country built by revolution. I want to change such a republic.’
A man who would reform the republic wielding absolute power and save the suffering and exploited people.
He was supposed to be the one who would eliminate the forr nobles sitting in the central party’s high seats and the pigs who colluded with them, creating a true republic…!
‘So Elena, will you follow ?’
She rembered the Colonel asking her that while looking at her.
That hand that held hers and begged her to co along.
That smile that only she had seen from a man who seed as firm as steel.
Tears flowed down her face as she gritted her teeth.
Sadness, anger, resentnt.
Her face, mixed with all of those emotions, had beco sothing that could no longer be called human.
“I’ll kill…!”
She recalled the contents of the battle report.
The imperial dog who stole the Colonel’s future and her own future.
She rembered that detestable na that crushed the hero who would save the republic before he could even bloom his potential.
“Eugene… Lorentz…!”
Blood seeped from her hand that tightly gripped the dog tags.
The other battalion mbers who received the report of the Colonel’s death probably felt the sa way as her.
***
“…What.”
An unfamiliar ceiling.
No, not an unfamiliar ceiling.
Looking carefully, it’s our unit’s barracks tent. Why has my vision beco so blurry?
I got up from my spot feeling a debilitating exhaustion that made my whole body feel like it would break apart.
I had laid down to catch a quick nap after returning, but it seems I fell asleep.
What ti is it now? How long did I sleep?
“Eugene. You were asleep for two days.”
The one who said that was Irene, who was watching
from the side of the bed.
“…Two days?”
“Yes. Two days.”
My mind went blank.
With work piled up like a mountain starting from the battle achievent report, did I sleep for two straight days in the anti?
Ah, this stupid body of mine.
It seems the recoil from using the magic bullet hit
quite hard.
It wasn’t this bad when I was fighting with Claude.
Is it a condition issue?
“You’re pushing yourself too hard, Eugene. I don’t like it when Eugene is having a hard ti.”
“I have to push through even if it’s hard. I don’t even have ti to rest like this…”
I thought I’d be fine after sleeping for a day, but I unexpectedly wasted ti.
I need to manage the wounded, check the supply system, and select new non-commissioned officers.
Just as I was saying that and trying to get up.
Thump.
Irene, with a pouty expression, pressed down on both my shoulders.
“Irene? What are you doing?”
“Don’t get up. You’re still hurt.”
“No, I an, this isn’t the ti to…”
What the hell.
I tried to use my strength to get up several tis, but Irene’s hands holding
down didn’t budge at all.
This is strange? I’m definitely a trained soldier, right?
I can’t overpower her with strength? Really?
“…Why are you suddenly acting like this?”
Finally submitting to Irene’s strength, I relaxed my body and asked.
“We haven’t had ti to et like this lately. I’m bored.”
“Aah…”
Good for you. Having ti to be bored.
I’m dying from being so busy.
Thinking that, I patted Irene’s head.
“Alright. I’ll rest a bit.”
“Hehe!”
Since I’m caught anyway, might as well catch my breath for a mont.
Irene must know my position too, so she’ll probably let
go after we stay stuck together like this for a while.
Thinking that, I asked Irene.
“Co to think of it, where’s Rennie? Wasn’t she with you?”
“Your friend called her, so she’s working over the~re. Sothing about imprint… extraction? Exchange? Sothing like that.”
Hearing Irene’s words, I smiled with satisfaction.
‘Indeed, it was good to bring her.’
The ‘magic bullet’ used by the Revolutionary Army and Special Magical Power Unit is sothing that forcibly injects magical power into imprints by exploding containers filled with magical power.
And the biggest drawback of such magic bullets is that they overload the magic imprint.
Due to the principle of flowing more than the standard amount of magical power in a short ti, excessive use could break the imprint.
‘Although it’s still in the initial stages, we’ve got the basics set up.’
The corrupted seven stroke magic imprint of Elcidore that becos the original for the Special Unit’s magic imprint.
And the refined monster cores being procured from various directions under Keiren’s leadership.
Finally, imprint specialists not affiliated with noble houses like Otto and Rennie.
As a result of gathering all of those, the Special Magical Power Unit was operating as I had initially thought.
Standardization of magic imprints, specification, and mass production.
Maintaining combat power by extracting magic imprints overloaded by magic bullets and replacing them with new ones.
And finally, completing an army of tens of thousands of mages.
“Ah right. But there’s sothing strange.”
“Sothing strange?”
While I was thinking about that, Irene, who was lying with her head on my lap, spoke up.
“So soldier uncles are lurking around Rennie. But those people don’t seem like soldier uncles.”
“They’re soldiers but don’t seem like soldiers?”
Is this what they an when they say you’ll go crazy if you talk with kids for more than three sentences?
While absently responding, Irene nodded and told .
“They sll different from the soldier uncles I usually et. They probably taste different too.”
You distinguish people by sll and taste rather than faces?
You’re scary, Irene.
That thought lasted only a mont before I started interpreting Irene’s words in my own way.
‘A different sll and taste from imperial soldiers… In other words, they’re of a different race?’
Thinking about it that way, the situation Irene was talking about made sense imdiately.
Soone who isn’t imperial is targeting Rennie’s life.
After interpreting it, I said to Irene.
“Then. Can you catch those differently slling uncles next ti you et them?”
“Catch them? Can’t I eat them?”
“No.”
When I said that, Irene thought for a mont before nodding with a bright expression.
“Okay!”
What a good kid.
From her brief hesitation, it seed she was thinking of taking a bite before bringing them, but that’s fine.
As long as they don’t die. As long as they don’t die.
“Eugene. You’re up now? How are you…!”
While I was saying that, Erich appeared, lifting the tent flap.
“Uh…”
sitting on the bed, and Irene lying with her head on my lap.
Looking at that scene, Erich asked
with a blank expression.
“Having a good ti? Should I co back later?”
“Do I have a gun? Should I shoot?”
When I said that, Erich looked at
with a mischievous expression and giggled.
This guy’s jokes are getting worse as ti goes by. And in a bad quality direction too.
Did he learn it from the trio?
They say you beco like those you hang out with, indeed the friends he’s hanging out with are the problem.
“So, did anything happen while I was sleeping?”
However, that was brief.
When I asked that with a changed expression, Erich looked at
with a strange expression and opened his mouth.
“There was. Should I call it good news or bad news.”
“What is it?”
“Major General Beckier is calling for you. Said to co to his tent as soon as you wake up.”
The division commander directly? What’s this about? Does he want to hear the battle achievent report in person?
While I was thinking that, Erich spoke after a brief pause.
“Eugene. They say you’ve beco a battalion commander.”
…Wait. What did you say?
***
“Even from my position having received the direct report… Well, it’s an incomprehensible situation.”
This was the inside story of the incident Major General Beckier spoke of.
The annihilation of the Armored Infantry battalion, the killing of Lieutenant Colonel Klaus, known as the Republic’s Red Bear.
As victory reports ca in succession from other units including the Special Magical Power Unit, the command post, experiencing their first taste of victory, fell into a frenzy of madness.
‘We won! We’ve won-!’
‘We don’t need the Knight Order, Major General! We can drive out Westraine with just the imperial army!’
It was fine to be happy.
But what ca next was the problem.
‘This is not the ti! We must ride this montum and sweep away all of Westraine’s positions!’
‘Their airship fleet is damaged too, so they won’t be able to move out right away!’
‘Major General! Please give permission to advance…!’
The operations officers, intoxicated with victory, insisted on imdiately launching the next offensive.
The fact that the Red Bear was dead and the overwhelming power of the Special Magical Power Unit.
They must have thought that if they pushed forward with this montum, they could push back the entire front line.
‘Absolutely not.’
However, the one who blocked them was Second Lieutenant Guille, the leader of the officer trio.
‘The soldiers’ magic imprints are overloaded, and their magical power is depleted. There are also considerable casualties, making it absolutely impossible to participate in combat.’
‘Magical power depletion? The knights fight well for days on end…’
‘That’s because their magical power is that strong and stable.’
And also because they sacrificed the lives of imperial army soldiers instead, Matt added from the side, making so commanders understand.
‘Indeed, that’s true.’
The Special Unit’s magic imprints have a shorter history and lower precision compared to theirs.
While they can exert explosive power through the shortcut of magic bullets, there’s a price to pay for that.
Even I, with a five stroke imprint, had to lie sick for two days due to the after-effects of using magic bullets.
If even he, a trained mage, is in this state, what would be the extent of the recoil for regular mbers whose magic circuits aren’t even properly developed when they exerted power rivaling knights for a mont?
Moreover, so idiots excessively used magic bullets since it was their first battle, making the situation even more serious.
‘The Special Unit absolutely will not move until the soldiers recover. This is also Company Commander Second Lieutenant Eugene Lorentz’s directive.’
‘Hmm…’
Hearing those words, the operations officers seed to understand to so extent.
They probably thought it was better to believe what a mage was saying.
‘So in exchange for explosive power in an instant, 24-hour continuous operation is impossible.’
‘Then the Special Unit would be the most vulnerable part of the imperial army for several days. Maybe it would be better to establish defensive asures during this period?’
Moreover, since field commanders who fought alongside the Special Unit and so operations officers made such judgnts, it was a very good situation.
Because the Special Magical Power Unit shouldn’t reign over the imperial army, but should cooperate as a mber of the imperial army.
However, the problem erupted from the reserve forces stationed in the rear.
While the front-line units were in a party mood with rewards, dals, promotions, and celebrations, the reserve forces waiting in the rear weren’t included.
Among them, the worst was our battalion commander, Wenkis, who had our company under his command.
‘I heard you’re Lieutenant General Keiren’s son-in-law? Looking forward to working with you!’
‘I anticipated this and pulled so strings in advance. I advised them to station you and your unit safely in the rear…’
This man who moved all his subordinate companies to the rear because he didn’t want to die, and even tried to move
and the Special Unit to the rear.
Of course, I told him to fuck off and went to the front, achieving the feat of taking down the Red Bear.
He should have been content with getting the leftovers since it was an achievent by his subordinate company… but the problem was that this man wasn’t satisfied with that.
He must have thought he should go to the battlefield himself and crush Westraine.
In the end, this bastard led all his subordinate companies in the middle of the night and launched a surprise attack bypassing the Republic army’s position.
Report? He didn’t make one.
Why? Because he’s from a noble family, while Major General Beckier isn’t from a noble background.
This is complete bullshit.
“So, that Battalion Commander Wenkis…”
As I trailed off, Major General Beckier shook his head with a sigh.
Shit.
The imperial army had its own Renya Mutaguchi. ( )[1]TLN: Mutaguchi Renya was a notorious Imperial Japanese Army general during WWII, infamous for his catastrophic leadership in the Burma Campaign where his incompetence and disregard for logistics led to massive casualties.
Should I consider it fortunate that he died on his own before causing trouble for ?
“This is the current situation of the imperial army.”
While I was thinking that, Division Commander Beckier opened his mouth with a disgusted expression.
“Although sowhat decent people are coming out now that Lieutenant General Keiren is improving the constitution, the imperial army before that was truly a rabble.”
No wonder they even had a saying that ‘officers killed the most imperial soldiers.’
I newly realized the greatness of Keiren who commands this western front.
Having to wage war against Westraine with such bastards?
And the Knight Order and Magic Corps running wild as they please on top of that?
Keiren, this man, how the hell was he maintaining this? Is he really insane?
“I entrust the 7th Battalion to you. We’ll gradually reinforce the unit’s strength…”
“One mont, Division Commander. I have a question.”
“What is it?”
After hearing the circumstances.
I, who had been given the position of battalion commander, asked the Major General with a bewildered expression.
“My rank is Second Lieutenant. It’s not a rank that can command a battalion…”
“Major Eugene Lorentz.”
Ah.
As the Division Commander whispered with his noble voice, my captain’s insignia instantly transford into a major’s insignia.
That star above the military cap covering his balding head felt especially brilliant today.
1. TLN: Mutaguchi Renya was a notorious Imperial Japanese Army general during WWII, infamous for his catastrophic leadership in the Burma Campaign where his incompetence and disregard for logistics led to massive casualties. Author's Thoughts
Hi everyone, I've completely translated this novel! For those who love this novel and wanted to binge read until the last chapter, you can go to my Patreon "Shop" page. There, I have a product in which you can read them with discounted price instead of buying them here with normal price. Thank you for the attention! P.S: If you want to buy the chapters in bulk and wanted a custom price, do hit
up on my discord account @_dawn24
Reviews
All reviews (0)