The Talented Soldiers
The world has talent. It refers to the skill and ability needed to perform certain tasks. Setting aside the dictionary definition, if we consider the socially accepted meaning, it mostly points to innate abilities. Talent is also required to become a soldier. No matter how hard you try, not everyone can become an elite soldier. The world isn't that equal and beautiful, after all. Even if you work hard, only an extremely small fraction of the chosen few can become outstanding soldiers. Some people are simply incapable, no matter how much effort they put in. I've been an officer for a long time, and I've been cold and pragmatic to those without talent. "You don't have talent. You're at your limit here. Trying hard won't lead to any dramatic development. You should retire. But maybe there's talent somewhere else, so look for another job." Every time I said that, my heart felt heavy. So, what about me? Am I the prodigy of an era with shining talent? No, I wasn't. All I had was a bit of skill from diligently learning things so far that I could teach to others. That's why, whenever I see someone with talent, I can't help but look at them with envious eyes.
“…”
And recently, it had been one surprise after another. This time, 1851 recruits joined. Most of them were prodigies of an era with shining talent. They had strong physiques and excellent combat abilities that I couldn't compare to. How could this be? I don't know about science, since I have no knowledge of it. But one thing is certain: this planet has many warriors with exceptional abilities.
“Well, that makes sense.”
After receiving the first soldiers, six months have passed. During these six months, I had to admit defeat. Many soldiers had quickly become elite soldiers at a rapid pace. They easily handled the hellish training I provided as if it were routine, and the training ground became a kind of playground for them.
“The jungle they lived in was probably a harsher environment.”
“…That must be it. What I want to say is this: My soldiers are geniuses. They are at a level where they can be deployed to the frontlines immediately without any issues.”
I smiled meaningfully.
“That means they can be immediately deployed to actual combat?”
“Not all of them. But half of them are.”
“Half of them?”
“951.”
951 out of 1851 passed. A level where they can be deployed immediately. That means we can start actively earning foreign currency.
“How much financial gain can we expect from dispatching 951 of them to the outer planets?”
“Frankly… it's not much.”
“Not much, you say?”
“Because we're just starting out in the mercenary business, and we have no track record. At best, it's about 30,000 ducats per year.”
It's small. Too small. If I see it as a side job, it's not a small amount of money, but it's too little to consider it as the price for the lives of the underprivileged.
“However, if we accept every request that comes our way and quickly succeed in all of them, raising our name as mercenaries, our income will increase significantly.”
“To what extent…?”
“Five times.”
150,000 ducats. That's more than enough.
“However, to properly engage in actual combat, we need equipment. For example, enhancement frame suits or low-angle protection shields.”
“How much does that cost?”
“100,000.”
It's conflicting.
100,000. If it exists or not, it does. Currently, we have about 150,000 ducats. That's quite a fortune.
But if we spend 10,000 from that, our entire assets become 5,000. We don't know what expenses will come in the future, so it's risky to spend such a large sum recklessly.
“Is it worth the risk for dispatching mercenaries?”
According to Edwin's words, our soldiers are elite soldiers with tremendous talent. If we properly equip them, we can quickly recover the principal.
“If you're worried about recovering the principal, there are other methods.”
“Other methods?”
“The usual method that other mercenary groups use a lot is to lend proper equipment to the soldiers and deduct half the salary as the 'price' for the borrowed equipment. Even if we do that, the soldiers won't lack money for the spoils of war or other income they get from the battlefield. It's a strategy where both the soldiers benefit and we benefit too. In this way, we can recover it in just one year.”
Summarizing Edwin's proposal: It's about making the soldiers pay for the equipment cost. In the form of 'debt'.
“That won't do.”
“Why not?”
“We primitive people may not know the terror of debt. If they find out that they have to take on debt the moment they become mercenaries, fewer people will want to become mercenaries.”
“But in other planets, it's a fairly common method…”
“Our planet and other planets are unrelated. On our planet, the equipment cost for mercenaries is borne by the government. And the shortfall is covered by taxes from veteran mercenaries.”
Edwin bowed his head with a look of admiration.
“Indeed, there is something special about you. I am impressed.”
Edwin eventually complied with my orders, and the soldiers' equipment was provided in bulk by the government.
The equipment received by the soldiers was as follows.
Marinuss Corporation's Enhancement Frame Suit. Simply put, it's armor. It greatly enhances the wearer's strength and allows flying for a few seconds. Useful when falling from high places. Much weaker than Power Armor, but at least at that level.
Marinuss Corporation's Combat Armor. If the Enhancement Frame Suit is like plate armor worn by medieval knights, the Combat Armor is like padded armor worn underneath. It's double-layered armor.
Marinuss Corporation's AP-103 Assault Rifle. Although the range is shorter than the Empire's standard firearm, it has overwhelming firepower with a powerful electromagnetic assault rifle.
Combat helicopter Apalus-33 for infantry deployment. It feels like a helicopter that deploys and supports infantry at low altitudes, but most of the cost went into this.
Military gray uniforms produced on the planet. Made by the planet's people themselves.
And various other items such as grenades, flashbangs, signal flares, shields, flamethrowers, submachine guns, pistols, etc. Since there are too many types, I can't explain all, but we purchased these items.
In this way, our mercenaries properly equipped themselves using the 100,000 ducats I provided, and they were waiting to be deployed to the frontlines.
The 5 capital ships we purchased.
Those ships were flying through space.
However, those on the ships were not commodities.
No, perhaps they were commodities. Because they were mercenaries.
Although human, the moment they signed the contract, they became bodies that had to fight for others.
In that sense, mercenaries can also be seen as commodities.
Such mercenaries were flying in the sky.
For a long time, 60 days.
Two months. 60 days was a quite long time.
Moreover, since it was one-way, it was four months for the round trip.
For four months, they lived on the spaceship, trained inside the spaceship, and began to prepare themselves.
“I will definitely perform well and become a knight.”
One mercenary said. Then a buzz of excitement spread around.
“No, I'm the one who will become a knight.”
“No, me! If you have complaints, come at me with your fists!”
“Everyone, calm down. There's no such thing as one knight. We'll all work together to earn glory and become knights together.”
The others nodded in agreement.
“If you become a knight, you'll get countless servants, territories, and a mansion. You can live without working your whole life. Not just me, but my children too.”
“That's right. Everyone came thinking about their families or children.”
“I'm an orphan from nowhere.”
“Sorry.”
After a while of conversation.
The conclusion was one.
First, earn glory. To become a knight.
After sending off the spaceship, 45 days later.
A telegram arrived.
[Pirate ship encounter.]
At that moment, my heart sank.
Was I going to lose all the capital ships I had scraped together and the mercenaries I had carefully nurtured?
Was I going to have to throw away everything I had built up so far and start from scratch?
However, the next telegram was completely different from my expectation.
[Combat victory. 3 ships captured.]
Only nine characters, but the joy contained in those nine characters needed no further words.
Everyone cheered together, and the residents who had sent their families also rejoiced.
The story of that incident was as follows.
PMC training instructor and mercenary captain Edwin led the ship to the planet Atron.
During this, they encountered three pirate ships. The pirate ships easily spotted us and drilled holes in the ships to deploy soldiers, but the well-trained soldiers easily suppressed the pirates.
“Close all hatches! 1st platoon, follow me! 2nd platoon, each cover your assigned points!”
And Edwin led the soldiers to the place where the hole was drilled.
The pirate ship had drilled a hole in our ship with high temperature and connected a deployment gate to infiltrate the soldiers.
The pirates steadily advanced while melting the closed hatches with laser welders.
The pirates' plan was this: Enter the center no matter what, infiltrate the control room first, open all hatches, capture all crew members as slaves to sell, and take all trade goods for themselves. (Of course, what they carried were not trade goods but mercenaries.)
However, there was something the pirates didn't know.
This ship was carrying a lot of elite mercenaries.
When the mercenaries in enhancement frames appeared, the pirates were startled and shouted.
“Shit, shit! Soldiers! Shoot them! Shoot them all to death!”
“Install low-angle protection shields.”
While the pirates fired their guns indiscriminately, according to Edwin's command, the mercenaries installed the shields.
As the shield, a condensed future technology, was installed, neither our bullets nor the enemies' bullets could penetrate; they were just bounced back.
However, the pirates had no real combat experience in such cases, and since the low-angle protection shield was so expensive, they had never seen it before and didn't know how to deal with it.
So, under the mistaken belief that they would eventually break the shield if they kept shooting, they poured all their bullets at the shield.
“Break it! Break the shield! Then it's over!”
However, even though the pirates poured all their bullets, the shield didn't break.
After all, the low-angle protection shield had high output among shields and was designed to bounce bullets at an angle with a spiral structure, making it almost impossible for ordinary rifles to even scratch it, let alone electromagnetic assault rifles.
And when the pirates' bullets ran out.
“Shield recovery.”
“Shield recovery!”
The mercenary recovered the shield.
“Fire!”
As soon as the shield disappeared, the allied mercenaries shot at the pirates.
However, the pirates couldn't respond.
They had already used up all their bullets and were in the middle of reloading.
In this way, we successfully suppressed the pirates without any of our side getting injured.
And they boarded the pirates' deployment gate and boarded the enemy's ship in reverse, capturing three intact pirate ships.
Sihyun, who heard the news, cheered.
“Money!!! Dooooon!!!”
After sending the ship, that ship captured a pirate ship.
And the undamaged pirate ships can be sold expensively.
Probably, we would have earned more than 50,000 ducats.
We recovered the investment in an instant.
Sihyun staggered under the unbearable joy. He was on the verge of passing out.
Hildegard caught Sihyun from the side. With a worried expression, she looked at Sihyun, but seeing Sihyun's face full of happiness, Hildegard frowned.