Chapter 129
Chapter 129
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 129
Chapter Title: The 13th Legion (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Centurion Bravos even assigned a young soldier to attend to me.
It seemed he'd taken quite a liking to me.
But there was a reason for all of it.
"This new one seems to have some potential, at least."
"The last ones were just kids, trying to boss everyone around with their chins in the air."
"The Centurion's got a strong stomach, bowing and scraping to brats like that."
"Come on. You think he enjoys it? You have to bend the knee even if you hate it, just to avoid trouble later."
Hearing the soldiers muttering outside the door, I frowned.
It seemed the little brats who came before me had caused quite a scene.
I had expected as much.
Squires learned how to hold a sword before they learned how to live in the world.
Brainwashed with talk of honor, dignity, and chivalry, even the good-natured ones were bound to go astray somewhere.
And these weren't just any squires, but promising talents admitted to the Cradle. How exceptionally arrogant must they have been?
To them, a common soldier and a centurion were probably one and the same.
It wasn't surprising, considering they were taught to divide the world into two categories: knights and non-knights.
"Maybe they'll learn something once they get their heads smashed in."
But unfortunately, the brats' heads were unlikely to be smashed in anytime soon.
Even in Squad 3, known as the loser squad, every single member had caught the attention of the stars.
Living in their own self-importance and looking down on others wasn't anything strange for them.
The knights who were supposed to guide them were even worse, not better.
Knight Lüngsen was a prime example.
He had landed right in the middle of an allied camp without permission, and rather than asking for understanding, he had left in a hurry without so much as greeting the person in charge.
I knew.
The kindness Knight Lüngsen showed me was only because I was a cadet of the Cradle, a future knight.
"This is why they had people coming at them from all sides, trying to stick a knife in them later."
I didn't like the arrogance of the knights, nor the insolence of the squires who mirrored them, but what could I do?
It wasn't something I could change.
"Hoo."
I unpacked my belongings.
I leaned Baegya against the side of the bed and placed Barisada on the old nightstand.
The Faceless Witch to you...
The Faceless Witch, not missing the chance, sent me a thought, but I casually ignored it.
It was a good thing I had a unique constitution.
That curse she cast, the nine-layered veil or whatever, was meant to block the stars' gazes.
For an ordinary squire, it was a malicious curse that would have shattered their life's goal.
Of course, for me, with the Vow already out of the question one way or another, it wasn't that big of a deal.
"Still, it’s infuriating."
I idly nudged Barisada with Baegya before lying down on the field cot.
The bed, stuffed with straw and covered in cheap fabric, was nothing compared to the ones at the Cradle.
And yet, I felt more comfortable than ever.
Was it because I was free from the gravity of the Cradle that weighed down my body, or was it because my body, used to being knocked around, actually found such a crude object comfortable?
It seemed to be the latter.
The distinct musty smell and the metallic tang of a military barracks.
"Look at this bastard's sloppy uniform. You're still a rookie. Have you lost your mind?"
"Squad, dress your ranks!"
"Why is time dragging so much? Why won't my leave come?!"
"All clear on my watch!"
"What's for chow today? Ugh. I'm not eating!"
The loud noises coming from beyond the thin tent flap.
"Ah, this is nice."
All of it was so very welcome.
Even the terrible meal of hard bread and watery soup brought by the boy soldier assigned to me tasted delicious.
"Yes. This is the taste. This texture that feels like it could break my teeth. This unidentifiable musty smell."
After devouring the hard bread and watery soup as if they were the world's finest delicacies, I lay down on the bed again.
As food entered my empty, purged stomach, an unexpected wave of drowsiness washed over me.
My original plan was to gather information about the front lines, but it seemed I would have to postpone that for later.
"Wake me if the Centurion calls."
I gave the boy soldier a casual instruction and lay down to sleep.
"Gasp!"
I awoke again from a nightmare I hadn't had in a while.
Zzz.
And fell back asleep.
"Esquire!"
Then, I opened my eyes to the sound of someone calling my name.
"The Centurion is looking for you."
The boy soldier from the day before was looking at me.
"Why...?"
Still groggy with sleep, my eyes caught the boy soldier's deathly pale complexion.
His eyes were trembling with an unplaceable anxiety.
"Move it!"
"Load everything you can carry!"
The camp was in an uproar.
*Thump.*
I shot up as if spring-loaded and quickly gathered my gear.
I slung Baegya and my shield over my back.
"Lead the way."
Then, I urged the boy soldier, who had been blankly watching me pack, and headed for the centurion's tent.
"Esquire Yan."
His slick attitude from the day before, calling me friend and brother, was nowhere to be seen.
"I'll give you a soldier. You are to go to the fortress."
His tone was as stiff as his rigid expression, so I cut to the chase.
"Is it an enemy attack?"
A flicker of interest appeared in Centurion Bravos's eyes.
He seemed surprised that I wasn't particularly agitated despite seeing the chaotic state of the camp.
"Not at this very moment, but it's almost certain."
Centurion Bravos briefly explained the situation.
A portion of the enemy's forces had bypassed the fortress and penetrated deep inside our lines.
"It's not that unusual, since they prefer guerrilla warfare to all-out battles."
By now, the forces in other camps would either be preparing to engage according to protocol or getting ready to pull out.
"Our century will engage the enemy after we rendezvous with the centuries from the rear."
"You're not defending the camp?"
From what little I'd seen, the camp's defenses were by no means weak.
There was a sturdy, albeit not very high, wooden palisade, and the soldiers' morale and training were worthy of the Imperial Army's name.
"Even though we're a century, our total strength is just over sixty men. Of those, only forty are combat troops, and if you count only those who can pull their own weight in a fight, it's not even over twenty. Fighting demi-humans with such a force would be suicide."
His words made sense.
Typically, the combat exchange ratio between demi-humans and human armies was one to three.
And that was for the most docile types of demi-humans.
The 13th Front, moreover, bordered some of the most belligerent ones.
To face an enemy of similar size, they would need at least five times the manpower.
The situation was serious enough to warrant abandoning the camp.
But Bravos, the man in charge, though his face was stern, showed no signs of great agitation.
"The Esquire wouldn't know. On the fronts bordering the demi-humans, these kinds of guerrilla attacks are frequent. Among ourselves, we call these skirmishes."
If they hit us once, we'd go in next.
If we hit them once, they'd come in next.
"Don't worry about being attacked on the way to the fortress. They don't touch children or non-combatants, you see."
Now, there was even a rule about not touching non-combatants.
"Leave the camp with the soldier who was attending to you. If you wrap your weapons in thick cloth, you shouldn't have any problems even if you run into demi-humans. As long as the Esquire doesn't attack them first."
Kill or be killed.
It was so different from the wars I knew, where you could only choose one of the two, that I found it fascinating.
On the other hand, I thought this might be why the Cradle sent the Silver Eagles cadets here.
It was a pretty plausible choice.
"The road to Alias Fortress isn't too rough, so if you walk diligently, you should reach it in two days at the latest."
I nodded absently before freezing.
"Alias Fortress, you say?"
"Is there a problem?"
There is a problem.
A very big one.
Alias Fortress.
The ever-expanding Empire.
The battlefield where the Empire's momentum was completely broken.
The fortress recorded as the most disastrous defeat in Imperial history.
That was Alias Fortress.
"Damn it."
A curse escaped my lips.
They only spoke of the 13th Front and numbers, so I hadn't realized.
Knight Lüngsen, who had been so forthcoming with information about the Cradle, hadn't told me about the most important detail—my destination. I felt a renewed sense of resentment toward him.
No, I already knew it wasn't his fault.
This wasn't anyone's fault.
‘Not exactly~~~ If you insist on clinging to the mortal world, it's not entirely impossible~~~ But things get messy~~~ They just keep getting messier~~~ Everything you do gets tangled up~~~’
It was my damn fate.
Of all the countless fronts and fortresses.
To be assigned to the very fortress that was destined to fall.
I never imagined things could get this twisted.
It was enough to drive me mad.
"Esquire?"
Centurion Bravos looked at me with a puzzled expression.
"Just a moment."
I asked for his patience and stood there, lost in thought.
I wrung out the memories from my past life.
How Alias Fortress fell.
And when it fell.
As I searched my memory, a few stories came to mind.
The Mercenary King Yanick always used to say it.
It wasn't the assassination of the crown prince that changed the Empire's history.
The moment the expansion-driven Empire shifted to a defensive stance, the great Empire was already doomed to fall.
The starting point of it all was Alias Fortress.
The problem was when and how the fortress fell.
Fortunately, among the things the Mercenary King Yanick, who could never keep what he knew to himself, had said, there was a story about that as well.
A year and a few months before the crown prince's assassination.
A war that started from the usual local provocations escalated into an all-out war.
The demi-humans formed an alliance against the Empire.
The fortress fell to the newly formed demi-human alliance.
All of that took about half a year.
"Ah?"
This is the starting point.
"Hahaha."
It was so absurd that I could only laugh.
"Esquire, we don't have time for this. You must leave the camp before it's too late."
I answered Centurion Bravos's words internally.
*No. It's already too late.*
"Could you deliver a letter to the fortress for me?"
"What?"
"I will remain with the century."
At my sudden declaration, Centurion Bravos was aghast and tried to dissuade me.
He seemed worried that a precious cadet from the Cradle might meet an unfortunate end by getting caught up in a draining local skirmish.
Of course, I was not a precious person, nor did I have any intention of meeting an unfortunate end in a local skirmish, so.
"I will stay with the century."
Naturally, I didn't listen to Centurion Bravos's dissuasion.
What accelerated the Empire's collapse was ultimately Alias Fortress, but what brought about the fall of Alias Fortress were the battles fought outside it.
The small-scale local skirmishes in the beginning.
'If I had been there, and if I'd had just one century under my command.'
The voice of the Mercenary King Yanick echoed in my head.
'I guarantee you, Alias Fortress would not have fallen.'
Back then, I couldn't stand the sight of him acting so smug, it was truly sickening.
'Now, listen to this.'
But now, I didn't feel that way anymore.