Chapter 18
Chapter 18
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 18: After the Battle
Hamelon after the battle was like a city that had held its breath and exhaled all at once.
Laughter overflowed in every street, and shops competed to open their doors.
When those wearing uniforms entered, coins on the counter were pushed away, and instead, glasses were filled.
Merchants were offering what they had for free in gratitude for protecting them.
Children wove flowers picked from the fields to make necklaces or clumsy crowns, and giggled hanging them on the necks of passing soldiers.
"Here! Today is free!"
"Mister, flowers here! Thank you!"
Soldiers laughed awkwardly accepting them.
Noise of the battlefield still remained in their ears, and their bodies were heavy, but the fact that they came back alive at least for today was covering everything.
Inside the taverns was especially noisy.
Soldiers sat packed at every table, and there was no gap for glasses to empty.
Someone was sitting leaning back on a chair with legs stretched out, and someone was chattering mimicking battle scenes with hand and foot gestures.
"You really should have seen the foreign tribe bastards getting sucked into the depression zone, kh—"
"I thought they were hit by poison needles or something seeing them drop like flies in the grassy area."
A soldier tilting his glass nodded.
"Did you see when the water rushed into the moat? The front line just disappeared."
Laughter burst briefly at those describing war scenes with exaggerated gestures, but soon those nodding increased.
In that laughter, relief was mixed more than excitement, and sincere praise for the Engineering Unit was contained.
Topic of conversation, subject, and end.
Everyone was talking about what the Engineering Unit had accomplished.
At that time, one soldier sitting in the corner put down his glass and spoke.
"But you know."
"Hm?"
"That Engineering Unit Senior Adjutant. Did they say Iden."
"Ah."
At one name, surrounding gazes gathered naturally.
"Is the rumor true that he emptied even his private funds to repair the defense line?"
"I also heard from an Engineering Unit guy earlier. Said he used almost all the reward money received from the Wintel family."
"Crazy... could have done anything with that money."
Someone clicked his tongue with an expression of disbelief, and someone drank alcohol silently.
Another soldier spoke low.
"So if the rumor is true, us laughing like this today wasn't just luck."
At those words, no one refuted.
Everyone knew that the protagonist of this victory was the Engineering Unit even if asked a hundred times, and without their hard work, they would be drinking farewell drinks for the departed instead of refreshing celebratory drinks by now.
"And did you see? The Engineering Unit Senior Adjutant blocking the collapsed castle wall gap alone?"
Someone threw a topic.
Those who saw that scene competed to open their mouths.
As if they witnessed a super-giant dragon.
"Saw it, saw it! Picking the foreign tribe bastards apart like fish bones with summoned beasts!"
"Kya— I almost peed seeing that really? There was a quite huge guy among summoned beasts too, almost Ogre level!"
"Ah— right! If it's Iden... that, what was it, 'Summoner of the Dark Night', right? The one who defeated the Northern Barbarian Chief single-handedly!"
Once started, the story about Iden continued biting tail after tail.
From the time he was a rookie in the Blue Wolf Corps to the alias Summoner of the Dark Night, and earning the Wintel family's reward after defeating the Northern Barbarian Chief single-handedly.
His biography, which wouldn't have come out as a side dish, started to be mentioned through this war.
Beyond the Summoner of the Dark Night.
As a hero of victory.
His name was spreading from the small city at the entrance of the Northern Territory to the Capital Castle Helon, and to the western border city.
Same time.
In the banquet hall of the Main Castle, Lord Valewin and Commander Gelmion were having a meeting.
The banquet hall was excessively flashy despite being right after the war, and also peaceful.
As if in a different world.
Gold decorations wrapped walls and pillars, and a large chandelier shed subtle light.
It was a space where not a single grain of the battlefield's blood smell or metal smell could permeate.
In this space, war felt like a distant story.
Lord Valewin was sitting leaning on a wide chair.
An expensive crystal glass was held in his hand, and inside the glass was high-quality wine counted even in the North.
Opposite him, Commander Gelmion stood.
He took off his armor, but his posture was still a soldier's.
"Now, Commander."
Valewin said lifting his glass.
"Let's make a toast. Since we ended the war without great sacrifice."
Gelmion also lifted his glass with two hands.
The sound of glasses clinking rang in the banquet hall, but it was somewhat hollow.
Gelmion spoke calmly.
"Hamelon's damage is minimal. Casualties were also much fewer than expected."
Valewin nodded as if satisfied.
"As expected. This is border city Hamelon. A place where barbaric things cannot easily covet."
He tilted his glass leisurely.
Top-quality alcohol calms the surprised stomach inside.
Even though he contributed nothing to the war situation, bluff and arrogance were thickly stuck in the hand tilting the glass.
"I told you there was no need to make a fuss."
Gelmion chose words for a moment, then opened his mouth as if reporting.
"The war situation was already decided outside the outer castle. Traps and snares installed by the Engineering Unit neutralized the Northern Alliance Tribes' advance. The vanguard troops were annihilated there, and subsequent charges lost meaning."
Valewin raised his eyebrows as if interesting.
"Hmm. Is that so?"
Gelmion didn't miss that gap.
A very subtle smile brushed his lips.
It was the insidious smile of a treacherous subject capturing an opportunity.
"Didn't I tell you. That the Engineering Unit doesn't need much budget."
Valewin's gaze headed to him.
At that gaze, Gelmion's greasy lips began to move more boldly.
"The Engineering Unit are guys who break even fine things and rebuild if budget remains."
He added putting down the glass.
"So didn't I tell you. It's better to reduce that budget and fill Hamelon's storehouse instead."
A brief silence flowed in the banquet hall.
Valewin thought for a moment, then soon burst into laughter.
"Hahaha! As expected of the Commander."
He lifted the glass again.
"Anyway, resultantly it all went well."
"Isn't it all because the Lord's virtue is high."
Gelmion bowed his head.
Expression was polite, but inside was completely different.
The status of the Engineering Unit became excessively high due to this battle.
Of course, if it were his position, he would have dismissed the female Engineering Captain, who was an eyesore, by shaking off even a small dust regardless of status, but he was aiming for an opportunity because he couldn't do that.
Erwin.
Because that girl was the Lord's daughter.
Therefore, he thought this battle was a golden opportunity, but it failed splendidly.
Then there was only one method.
Rather than confronting, standing above her pretending to bow.
Rather taking care of self-interest leaning on his subordinate's achievement.
Gelmion calculated inwardly lifting his glass.
Without knowing that the approaching storm hadn't even started yet.
**
The day after the war ended.
Erwin was sitting in the office.
Instead of Senior Adjutant Iden who collapsed from exhaustion, she instructed Melissa to grasp the Engineering Unit's damage and repair status, and organized reports were placed on the desk.
But her gaze wasn't reaching anywhere.
Light coming through the window cast long shadows on the floor, and the office was exceptionally quiet.
Since hearing the report that Iden collapsed, she lifted and put down the pen several times.
What she had to do was clear.
She knew she had to do it unconditionally for the city, for the people, and even for him.
But the weight of that work felt greater than usual.
Erwin inhaled quietly.
And placed the pen nib on the white paper and wrote name and identity.
The handwriting was neat like a soldier, but it took time until writing the next sentence.
After rewriting several times, she began to transfer the promise to letters.
It was a short letter.
However, it wasn't light content.
It was content for a great cause, and content containing the weight of the promise with him.
Also.
It was a reward for the trust and faith he showed.
Although it would be a terribly insufficient reward compared to what he did for her, what he did for the Engineering Unit, and furthermore what he did for this city.
Putting the Official Wintel Recommendation Letter received from Iden along with the letter, she folded the envelope, then sealed it stamping the Vermir family seal.
This letter, sent not as Hamelon's Engineering Captain but as Erwin Vermir of the Vermir Count family.
And requested by him on that day he unfolded delusion flushed with intoxication.
Was to be sent to the capital of the Northern Territory, Helon.
Erwin, calling Melissa and handing it over, leaned back on the chair again.
The air in the office seemed a little different.
The war ended, but not everything ended.
Perhaps because her war was just beginning.
She was someone who would no longer leave the Engineering Unit neglected helplessly nor let the Engineering Captain's seat be tied to numbers.
Even for herself.
Even for her junior.
Erwin swept back her blonde hair behind her ear and looked at the night bird sitting on the window frame chirping.
Baby bird with blue feathers.
Soon, Erwin, recalling the man with blue-grey hair, closes her eyes and recalls the imprinted scene.
It was the figure of the man fighting against the enemy army alone fluttering that blue-grey hair.
And not far away...
A man who opened his eyes in four days was preparing to face the next phase.
When I opened my eyes, the world followed a little late.
Familiar ceiling was seen first, and familiar warmth was felt.
Crackle, crackle.
Fire in the fireplace is ringing a affectionate sound filling the room.
As I inhaled, deep inside my chest throbbed stiffly.
I tried to move my fingers, but they didn't move well as thought.
It felt like consciousness itself, not muscles, hadn't escaped from sleep yet.
'...How long did I sleep.'
No.
To be precise, it would be correct to wonder how long I was collapsed.
I tried to raise my body but gave up.
It felt like fatigue like armor, not a blanket, was covering my whole body.
I closed my eyes again.
And recalled.
Castle wall gap, Ogre, summoning circle. Along with the sensation of pulling up mana, the extreme relaxation felt at the last moment.
Although it was a war that ended in just half a day, the engraved memories were still vividly recalling.
I lived 1 year for that victory.
Reducing sleep, reducing meals, I thought only of war without a break to catch breath.
Calculating defense lines, arranging traps, retracing troop movement lines dozens of times in my head, I studied the habits and patterns of Northern foreign tribes.
It was day after day driving spirit to the limit rather than body, and since I drove even the physical body to the limit as Summoner of the Dark Night at the end, fainting would be natural.
'No.'
Waking up like this is a fortunate thing, and something to be grateful for.
I opened my eyes again.
Feeling-wise, seems I was unconscious for at least two to three days... since there is no smartphone or clock here to tell the current time, I could only guess.
Anyway, it was a quite refreshing feeling.
Like feeling I enjoyed a deep sleep after a long time.
It was sleep close to fainting, and there wasn't even a single dream.
Just, a deep sleep where everything was turned off.
Edom Rivan.
Feeling of sleeping and waking up 'without regret' for the first time since being possessed as a pathetic villain begging for twisted love.
The sunlight shining through the window is also fresh beyond measure.
Stretching, I raised my upper body with difficulty.
Pouring and drinking a cup of water placed next to me, I left the bed.
No, I tried to leave.
Thud.
I ended up falling on my butt on the floor like a deflating balloon doll on legs not yet fully awake, but.
'....'
At that time, the door opened and someone entered.
On the tray held modestly, newly drawn water was placed, and on the angular uniform and military cap, the mark symbolizing the Engineering Unit is clearly stamped.
And under that military cap, a woman with golden short hair cut like a knife.
As soon as I see her, current sensation informs me that everything visible is reality, not a dream.
"......."
Erwin looks down at me and smiles.
I also look up at her and smile.
Hamelon did not collapse, and the people were safe.
I achieved what I planned as Engineering Unit Senior Adjutant.
Now, it was time to move for the next plan.
Hamelon's pus.
It was time to squeeze it out and recover the investment money.