Chapter 69
Chapter 69
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: Lingering Will
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“Do you know me?”
“Hm?”
“This is the first time I’ve had the pleasure of meeting you, sir.”
“Is that so?”
Maranello studied Kudo intently before speaking.
“You are…”
Kudo, as always, maintained his gentle, slit-eyed smile.
“Oh. It seems I’ve mistaken you for someone else. My apologies.”
“It’s quite alright. There are many who look alike in this world.”
Listening quietly to their exchange, Carlyle sensed a strange undercurrent and frowned.
“Do you two know each other?”
“No, sir.”
“This old man seems to have been mistaken for a moment.”
Kudo and Maranello shook their heads in unison.
“Hmm.”
Carlyle felt something was suspicious, but he didn’t press the matter.
The atmosphere suggested that prying wouldn't yield any meaningful answers.
“Private Carlyle.”
“Yes?”
“Brigade Commander Selena is looking for you.”
“Why.”
“It seems she will be departing soon. Perhaps she wishes to speak with you before she leaves.”
“Speak about what.”
As Carlyle scoffed, Kudo spoke as if he had been waiting.
“Her message was to come at once. She added that it was an order, so if you refuse, you may be court-martialed for insubordination.”
It seemed Selena had anticipated that Carlyle wouldn't come willingly.
“Shall we go?”
“…An order is an order, I guess.”
Carlyle muttered grumpily and rose from his seat.
“I’ll be back.”
“The Young Lady is waiting, so you should hurry along.”
“Be well, Young Master.”
“Nyam nyam. Be back soon. Nyam nyam nyam.”
Maranello, Evangeline, and the hatchling saw Carlyle off.
“Well then, I shall be on my way. It was a pleasure meeting you.”
Kudo gave a slight bow before following Carlyle.
On the way to see Selena.
“You don’t actually know the butler, do you?”
“How could I?”
“Really?”
“How could a mere private like myself possibly know the Grim Reaper of the North? Haha.”
When Carlyle asked just in case, Kudo waved his hands dismissively as if the idea were preposterous.
“Hmm.”
Carlyle eyed Kudo with suspicion, but reading the man's expression was nearly impossible, as his eyes were always slits.
Though on the rare occasion his emotions ran high, a chilling killing intent would flash from between those long slits…
*Knock, knock.*
“Come in.”
Selena was waiting for Carlyle in Helen's office.
“What.”
Carlyle’s annoyed tone made Selena’s face crumple.
“What do you mean, ‘what’?”
“You must have called me for a reason.”
“Well, listen to you.”
Selena glared.
“You dare speak so informally to a general officer? A lowly private like you?”
“Ah, yes. Brigade Commander. You summoned me. Sir.”
“You little…!”
“What, are you going to hit me again?”
Carlyle said, recalling a memory from childhood—or more accurately, a memory of this body's original owner.
“Forget it. Let’s not even talk.”
Selena, perhaps deciding it wasn't right to beat up her younger brother now that he was a grown man, forced herself to calm down.
“Anyway, I'll be leaving soon. The northern front is urgent, so I don't have time to stay long.”
“So?”
“What do you mean, ‘so’? It means take care.”
“…?”
“It would be weird to just leave without saying goodbye. We are siblings, after all.”
“You don’t have to worry about things like that. I’m fine.”
“What…?”
“I mean, since we’re both uncomfortable with each other, there's no need for pointless formalities.”
Carlyle reacted this way because he truly did feel uncomfortable.
Having been an only child in his past life, the idea of acting chummy with the siblings of the body he now possessed felt awkward and unsettling.
“You really… Ugh.”
Selena let out a deep sigh and nodded as if to say she understood.
“Fine, I get it. Go get some rest. I’ll be on my way now.”
“Yeah.”
Carlyle turned away.
He had taken but a couple of steps.
“Uh…”
Standing at the door, Carlyle spoke.
“What is it? Something to say?”
“Thanks.”
“Huh…?”
“For coming to rescue me. Thanks.”
“You litt…”
“I’m leaving.”
Carlyle left the room before Selena could even finish her reply.
“What am I going to do with you…”
Selena shook her head, as if he were hopeless.
A faint smile played on her lips.
* * *
The next morning.
The post-battle cleanup began.
It started with the belated arrival of reinforcements.
*Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!*
As two companies dispatched from the 2nd Army Command entered Bowden Fortress, complaints erupted from the soldiers.
“Those bastards! What took them so long to crawl over here?”
“What, were you waiting for all of us to die first?”
“Ptui!”
The soldiers' sentiment toward the reinforcements was extremely hostile.
How long had Bowden Fortress waited for them?
And how desperately had they prayed for the order to withdraw?
If only they had arrived on time, if only the withdrawal order had been given sooner.
It went without saying that the number of casualties would have been drastically lower.
“What are you looking at, you sons of bitches!”
“Did you come to clean up the corpses?”
It was so bad that some of the more foul-tempered soldiers were openly picking fights and snarling at the reinforcements.
“Why are you giving us shit?”
“Is it our fault your buddies died? Huh?”
“Fuck. It's not like we were out having fun. Damn it all.”
The reinforcing soldiers, being cursed out of nowhere, couldn't help but get angry.
“What are you glaring at?”
“What did you just say?”
In the tense atmosphere where a brawl could break out at any moment, Carlyle let out a snort.
“Heh.”
“Is something amusing?”
“It's funny.”
Carlyle replied to Kudo's question.
“The ones at fault are the idiots in charge, yet the soldiers are fighting amongst themselves.”
“Is it alright for you to curse your uncle-in-law like that?”
“I didn’t say it was him. Besides, people even curse the king behind his back.”
“Haha. That is true.”
Kudo nodded in agreement.
“Well, it’s not the first or second day we’ve had to curse a commander’s incompetence. It’s best to just let it be.”
“I suppose so.”
Carlyle shook his head.
“If a brawl breaks out, I’m just going to watch from a corner.”
“Watching a fight is always the most entertaining, after all.”
However, Carlyle's expectations were not to be realized.
The command's method for quelling the soldiers' discontent was ‘very’ simple.
An hour later.
“Everyone, attention.”
Helen addressed the soldiers of Bowden Fortress, who were gathered on the training grounds.
Despite being wrapped in bandages, she did not cease her duties.
“I have just received an order from Command. In high recognition of our unit's distinguished service, Command has decided to grant us special reward leave.”
“...!”
“This applies to all personnel. Without a single exception, everyone will be granted two weeks of special reward leave.”
“Woooooooooooah!”
A roar erupted from the soldiers.
Helen gave the soldiers a moment to make noise before speaking again.
“In two days, our unit will withdraw from Bowden Fortress. The reinforcements that just arrived will take our place. In other words, in two days, we will all be on special reward leave for two weeks.”
“Yeehaw!”
“Wooooah!”
“Leave! We're getting leeeeave!”
The soldiers cheered as if they had never been angry.
“Of course, additional pay will be distributed, and those who have distinguished themselves will receive medals as well as extra rewards, so take note.”
“Ooooh!”
“Therefore, for the remaining two days, focus your efforts on the post-battle cleanup. Dismissed.”
With that, Helen limped away.
“How long has it been since we got leave!”
“I’m gonna go see my youngest! Haha!”
“I was just thinking about how much I miss my mom.”
Filled with anticipation, the soldiers chattered excitedly amongst themselves.
It seemed the best gift for a soldier was, indeed, leave.
* * *
With withdrawal and reward leave on the horizon, the soldiers of Bowden Fortress began the post-battle cleanup in earnest.
The cleanup was dizzyingly busy.
Within two days, they had a mountain of tasks: recover the bodies of their fallen comrades, repair the broken fortress, and maintain or replace their own equipment.
On top of that, they had to hand over duties regarding Bowden Fortress to the reinforcements, so everyone had no choice but to move quickly.
The reconnaissance team was no exception.
They had to teach the new recon soldiers the basic patrol routes and provide various warnings.
Meanwhile, Maranello and Evangeline did not leave Bowden Fortress.
Since they had come all this way, they intended to return to Decaron with Carlyle when he went on leave.
Civilians(?) were not supposed to stay in a military zone, but no one dared to make an issue of it with the Sigmund Family's chamberlain and legendary knight, Maranello, and the young lady who was to become a vassal of the Sigmunds.
“This is the first time this path has ever looked so safe.”
Carlyle muttered in disbelief as he walked.
He was currently deployed on a mission with the reconnaissance team to recover the bodies of the fallen.
Since this was an area where fierce battles had raged just a day before, remnants of the Butcher Tribe or other threats could still be lurking.
And yet, Carlyle felt safe because Maranello was by his side.
With a man powerful enough to toy with Jarkan using a mere feather duster next to him, he felt ‘absolutely’ no tension, even during a mission.
Besides, wasn't Evangeline, the earth spiritist, with them too?
‘Am I just going to kill time like this until my leave starts?’
Just as Carlyle was thinking this.
“This way.”
Marder took the lead.
“Kreeee!”
Huginn, conducting aerial reconnaissance from the sky, let out a long cry, having apparently found something.
“Ah.”
The recon team members sighed upon arriving at the scene.
There, mixed in with the corpses of barbarian warriors, were the bodies of several fallen soldiers.
“A moment of silence.”
At Begman's command, the recon team members all knelt on one knee before the fallen and bowed their heads.
The moment of silence was the first procedure and ritual performed when recovering the bodies of the dead.
Maranello and Evangeline, though civilians, also bowed their heads in silent tribute.
Paying respect to the fallen was not a choice, but a duty.
As fellow northerners, as people of Decaron…
Carlyle, too, knelt on one knee and bowed his head toward them.
*Ting!*
A notification window appeared before his eyes.
[Notification: A trace left by the deceased has been detected.]
[Notification: A Lingering Will remains somewhere nearby.]
After the moment of silence, Carlyle moved as if possessed.
Where Carlyle stopped, a single small combat boot lay on the ground.
‘This is…’
Carlyle recognized the small boot as Gwen's at a glance.
He remembered that one of her boots had been missing when they recovered her body, and a pang of pain shot through his chest.
Slowly, Carlyle bent down and picked up the boot.
[Notification: Lingering Will discovered.]
[Notification: Reading the trace left by the deceased.]
Gwen's final memories unfolded.