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Chapter 6

Chapter 6

From Selena’s mouth comes the story of her brother’s life.

The War of Luzerne. A fierce battle that erupted between the Empire and radical Elven factions.

In the greed of the elders, it’s always the youth who are sacrificed.

The outcome was the Empire’s victory, but the process was filled with blood and wounds.

Her brother was among the bloodied and bruised.

He almost didn’t make it back. A death notice could easily have arrived. His family could have wept before his body. Or maybe even without that.

He was fortunate. The heavens intervened. The gods sent a savior.

The enemies were so frightened by his bravery that they broke their own encirclement.

The savior appeared as an ordinary soldier and rescued the members of the unit.

“…And that’s how my brother was able to escape from there.”

Selena continued as she fiddled with her coffee cup in front of her.

“I’m really grateful. If it weren’t for that person, not only my brother but hundreds of Empire’s soldiers would have lost their lives. As my brother said, the savior sent by the gods was undoubtedly real.”

“Uh, yeah… That could be true.”

Karl answered in a slightly uneasy tone.

“Selena, that soldier. Did your brother not get a good look at who it was?”

“Uh, yeah. At that time, everyone suffered so much that they couldn’t even wash properly. Thanks to that, everyone’s faces were so grimy that they couldn’t even recognize who was who. That soldier was no different, so my brother didn’t know exactly who he was.”

“I see. I see.”

Sip-

With a still slightly uneasy demeanor, Karl took a sip of the coffee in front of him.

Even after that, he seemed slightly uncomfortable for some reason.

It’s impossible for Selena, who sat directly in front of him, not to notice.

Karl had always listened attentively to her stories until now, but this time, his reaction felt odd.

It was as if he was making an effort to listen to something he didn’t want to hear.

‘Could he be feeling burdened?’

Ah, right. That could be it. Come to think of it, Karl was also just a regular Empire’s soldier like that soldier.

It could be uncomfortable for him to have someone exactly like him highlighted in front of him.

Even though he hadn’t done anything, that person had done such things; he might feel ashamed.

With that thought, Selena once again felt sorry for her mistake.

He may not have done the same things as the soldier, but he was on the same battlefield as him.

With that same fear in his heart, he mustered the courage and fought just the same.

He may not be the same man, he’s an equally great hero of the Empire.

“It’s okay, Karl.”

“Huh?”

“You fought just as hard as that person did. For the Empire.”

“Uh, uh… did I?”

“So, you’re as remarkable a person as the soldier who saved my brother.”

With a cheering smile, Selena added, “You got this!” to encourage him.

That brightened Karl’s expression, even if only slightly.

‘He says it wasn’t because of me, but I’m sure I had something to do with it, so it’s only fair that I do this for him.’

How hard it must have been for a noble scion to enlist as a soldier, and even go to war.

“…”

Meanwhile,

Gulp—

Karl pushed the last of his coffee down his throat and thought to himself.

‘No matter how you look at it… this is my story, isn’t it?’

***

Yes. That seems right. No matter how much I think about it, that seems to be the case.

That soldier who rescued Selena’s brother. The lunatic who claimed to rescue hundreds of his fellow soldiers.

‘That’s me, isn’t it?!’

During the War of Luzerne, there was a time when I rambled about rescuing my missing squad members.

In the midst of the fucking military life and even during the war, we had grown quite close.

I didn’t want to look at their bodies, I wanted to curse at the ones that were still alive.

Of course, other colleagues and superiors told me I was crazy and tried to stop me.

They asked if I wanted to get killed, and said it had been a long time since we were trapped by those damn pointy-eared bastards.

Unfortunately, those bastards are dead. They are not of this world, so give up!

But at that time, I didn’t even listen to their words.

And then, dragging my body, I went into a place full of fierce enemies.

Fuck. Looking back now, I’m glad they weren’t crazy like me.

The sneaky bastards showed weakness in the frontal assault, but they were ghosts in encirclement and annihilation.

Especially in small-scale unit battles without deploying large forces, they always had the upper hand.

Once caught in their encirclement, it was a given that you could never come back alive.

But somehow, I got really, really lucky.

I had never once crossed paths with those damned pointy eared bastards, but now I had run into my squadrand.

And I still remember the damn conversation I had with those bastards for the first time.

“You, you crazy fucker! Do you know where this is?!”

“You fucker?! I came all the way here to save you, so what’s with the attitude?!”

“You crawled in here like you own the place! Are you out of your damn mind, wanting to get caught?!”

It’s clear we were all crazy. What were we going to do if they heard us and came over?

Maybe we would have suffered the dreadful fate of having their scalps peeled off while being held captive?

But the goddess of luck was in my favor this time.

Despite making a racket to draw them out, we didn’t engage with even a single elf.

Thanks to that, my comrades and I sought to escape the forest, supporting each other.

‘…Then we came across another group of isolated individuals, just like my squadrand.’

At first, I thought there were only a few of them. But damn it, that wasn’t the case.

From a few, they multiplied to dozens. And from dozens, they grew to hundreds. They were more than a single company in size.

Like my comrades, they were isolated individuals who missed the withdrawal period and got stuck in enemy territory.

They couldn’t fight anymore, they couldn’t flee, and surrendering was even more impossible for them.

To those isolated soldiers, I ended up doing another crazy thing.

“Let’s go together! We can retreat to our main base right now!”

“The enemy hasn’t been here until the moment I met my comrades!”

“Whether we die here or die on the way, it’s the same, isn’t it? Since we’re going to die anyway, wouldn’t it be better to get a little closer to our homeland and die?!”

Crazy bastard. Truly a crazy bastard. What were we going to do if the enemy really ambushed us?

At least the frontline was somewhat fortified, so we could have withstood it once or twice.

If our allies sent reinforcements, there would have been a higher chance of survival and rescue.

But at that time, I was not in my right mind due to excessive adrenaline secretion. And neither were the soldiers there. Even the officers were in a similar situation to me.

The intense desire to escape from that hell. It was the instinct for survival.

‘We were lucky.’

Yeah. We were lucky. Ridiculously, Infinitely lucky.

Not once did the enemy attack while hundreds of us were seriously considering retreat.

Without a single casualty, we supported each other and kept moving forward.

And so, we successfully rejoined our allied main force.

At the time, I was too disoriented, so I took my squad members back to our unit.

“You crazy bastard! Orders, orders! Why did you join the army if you’re not going to follow orders!”

“Aaargh! Sergeant! My bone, my bone!”

“Bone? You son of a bitch?! If you got caught by those ear freaks, your scalp would’ve been peeled off!”

And then I got chewed out by the sergeant for not following orders and doing that shit.

Of course, I came back alive right after. Thanking the squad members for bringing me back.

Anyway, that’s what happened. That’s pretty much the story of that day.

For saving some of my squadmates, I was promoted from private to corporal.

It also became one of the reasons why I was promoted to sergeant before discharge.

“Karl? Karl!”

“Uh, yeah?”

“Are you listening to me?”

“Uh, yeah. Of course. I’m listening. Thanks. For saying that.”

For a moment, I thought about telling Selena. That soldier, it seems like it might be me.

The person who saved your brother. It’s funny how it turned out that way.

…No. Never mind. Let’s not. What’s the point of saying it? It wasn’t exactly a joyful moment.

Movies, games, dramas. Various things from memories of my past life.

There were moments when I watched war heroes from there and thought, I wish I could be like that!

Receiving praise from others and shrugging it off as if it were nothing.

But when I actually experienced it, it was a time I’d rather forget.

It wasn’t something to boast about, it was just a bitter memory I wanted to forget.

It was hell. A fucking hell where someone had to die for sure.

***

Inside the Minister’s office at the Imperial War Fortress.

“Is this certain?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. We have gathered the testimonies of those present at the time to the best of our ability. Additionally, considering the accounts of unit commanders and officers, the probability is almost 97 percent.”

“Even a 3 percent chance of it being otherwise is significant.”

Murmuring thus, the Minister of War once again examined the documents.

“…Very well. Proceed with this and submit it to the Royal Court. Await His Majesty’s decision.”

– Recipient of the Imperial Order of Honor –

– Karl Adelheit –