Elves, Gganfs, and Returning Students
The only act of cowardice in war is one thing alone. Abandoning your allies and fleeing.
Everything else is not cowardice, but tactics and strategy. The one being attacked is the fool.
More than that, aiming for vital points doesn't even count as cowardice.
Instead, it's merciful. Sending them off with one shot, how nice would that be.
The Gganfs, those Luzens bastards, were extremely cruel.
Peeling the skin off captured Imperial soldiers was their daily routine.
Compared to those, I could be called an angel of mercy itself.
“Kya! Kuek!”
A guy bleeding non-stop from his armpit, gasping for breath.
Clutching his bloody crotch with foam, fallen over.
He'd die soon. Or perhaps he already died from shock.
Whatever it was, I didn't torture him like the Gganfs for hours.
My comrades' deaths were cleaner. A merciful end for terrorists who aren't even soldiers.
“Ha, ha-sahim!”
Megi's shout, and the Gganf I was fighting immediately dropped to the ground.
Whether it looked bad or not, it didn't matter. Better than getting shot in the back by our own bullets.
“Ugh!”
Hm. This time, 3 points. First shot hit the chest, lucky shot.
But since I grabbed one of his arms, it made things much easier for me.
Originally, due to the compartment structure, they were forced to come out and do 1:1 combat.
If this was just an open field, they would have been trampled by the numbers.
No matter how great a fighter, there's no business in a gang fight.
In that sense, the narrowness of the train was a blessing to me.
“Uwaaaaa!”
The Gganf struggling, but movements showed he was inexperienced.
In such a narrow place, big movements would be disadvantageous to him.
What were these guys thinking sending such guys?
Uduk!―
“Ah, aak! Aaaak!”
First, I twisted his arm and then twisted his neck to stop him from screaming.
Clean. Much cleaner than the deaths I remembered from war.
I could have shown the Gganfs a more painful death.
But I didn't. It would only worsen my PTSD.
And I had to do something with Megi right away.
“Megi Lieutenant.”
“Ha, ha.”
“Megi Lieutenant. Snap out of it. It's not over yet.”
“Yes, yes. Ha-sahim.”
His face was deathly pale, probably because it was his first time shooting at a living target.
He was a newly promoted lieutenant, so even if he had long military experience, it was only about 1.5 years.
Most junior officers had participated in the Luzens war, but he didn't seem to be among them.
So, the soul leaving his body when he fired a gun once made sense.
“Take a deep breath.”
“Ha, haa. Haa.”
“Good. Do you see those Gganf guns over there? Pick them up as much as possible.”
“Eh, yes?”
“Reloading takes time. Instead of that, pick up several guns, shoot one, discard it, shoot another. Since it's not our Empire's ammunition, we won't have to write reports. Hurry.”
Then Megi said “Yes!” and eagerly picked up the elves' pistols.
I thought he would be shocked seeing the corpses, but surprisingly, he was calm.
Probably because he hadn't fully accepted the situation yet.
“By now, they might have noticed something's wrong. If they take hostages and confront us, just point the gun at them and threaten. The attention should be pulled towards Megi as much as possible.”
“Understood. Ah, ha-sahim. This.”
Megi handed me one of the elves' pistols.
“You don't need one, do you?”
“...”
Damn. I couldn't admit here that my marksmanship was terrible.
In the end, I forced myself to take it but just stuck it in my waistband roughly.
Immediately after, Megi and I opened the compartment door and entered.
“Hey! How did you secure the engine room...”
“What are you doing, lieutenant! Gganf! No hostages! Shoot them!”
“Yes, yes!”
Bang!―
Hit again. Even precisely in the forehead.
Was Megi lucky or was he actually a genius marksman?
Either way, good for me. A reliable backup is truly a guardian angel.
“Shit, sword. I don't know if you're ally or enemy. You bastard.”
“After going through so much trouble pretending to protect, you do this?!”
“Which bastard shot and almost hit my own bullet next to me?!”
The past where I almost shot an ally while protecting came to mind, but I pushed it back.
“What, what! You guys!”
What else? Coincidentally, an officer and a returning student on the train. Gganfs.
“Guk!”
If he was a skilled soldier, he would have hidden behind the seat quickly.
In war, hiding isn't just saving your own life, but drawing out the enemy's futile attack and finding a counterattack opportunity. Very important.
But he didn't do that. Like an idiot, he turned his gun on me.
He couldn't even aim properly, posture messed up, even with one hand.
My sword had already been taken from me long ago.
“Aaaak!”
When the sword stabbed into his chest, the terrorist Gganf screamed and flailed.
He didn't know what pain was, didn't know how to counter. In short, an idiot.
Quickly kicked him over and cut his throat with the sword.
“Hi, hiiik!”
“Everyone! Stay calm! I am Megi Lieutenant of the Imperial Army! Everyone stay in your seats! If you move, it's more dangerous!”
The passengers entrusted to Megi. The army officer in uniform would be better than me.
Well, next compartment. Trying to open the door, suddenly instinct grabbed my hand.
The sense that had saved me several times in war. It was shouting to think.
No guarantee of continued luck.
The Gganfs so far were inexperienced rookies without proper experience.
So, would the remaining ones all be the same? The answer is, of course, 'I don't know.' And in our world, 'I don't know' is the same as 'no'.
I forcefully lifted the fallen Gganf corpse. Damn, it's disgustingly heavy.
Then, opening the compartment door and pushing the corpse out, gunshots immediately followed.
Bang! Bang!―
As expected, from now on, there are some who know how to shoot.
Of course, I forgot that shooting would take time to reload.
“E, eik!”
I kicked the chest of the guy who tried to reload first.
If he was wearing military boots, it would have broken several ribs, but since it was just regular shoes, it only prevented him from breathing for a moment.
“Kuek!”
As expected, finished with the sword. And instead of shooting the pistol he was holding, I threw it.
By the way, throwing a gun is not improvisation, it's a tactic originally in the Imperial Army manual.
This gun is quite heavy, so once it hits, it can temporarily block the opponent's movement.
Look. The guy who got hit by the pistol was flailing. Looks like he had never seen someone throw a gun.
“You, you fucking human!”
Shoot, hide, reload, attack, if momentum good, dodge and cower, if bad, push.
This is the basic rule of the battlefield. No veteran or famous general breaks it.
In that sense, he should have retreated. Not chewing and reloading.
Wajik!―
Blood, saliva, and a few beans of corn came out.
Normally, I would have finished him off, but I didn't this time.
I turned his body and pushed it into the next compartment.
Bang! Ta-bang!―
“Kuk!”
As expected. Those who commit evil acts don't distinguish between allies and enemies.
“J, jenjang! Kushu!”
When you realize you shot your own, your brain freezes instantly.
I had done it a few times in the past, so I understood a hundred times.
It was fortunate that I didn't kill him, but those guys really killed.
“Keuak!”
“Eok!”
The clothes I was wearing were stained red with the Gganfs' blood.
The screaming passengers were left to Megi, and we continued moving.
I couldn't stop. If I gave them time, they would figure out the situation.
Push forward relentlessly. Keep pushing until the end. And finish it.
They wanted to occupy the engine room. There was a big shock earlier.
That means these terrorists started from the end of the train.
Now, this compartment is the last. If I clean this up, the situation ends.
Dalk!―
I stepped aside and carefully opened the door. No bullets flying.
So, are they holding hostages? That would be tiring.
“There? I know you're hiding. Come out?”
A complete woman's voice. Anyway, the Gganf bastards, regardless of gender, are crazy.
I hid the gun as much as possible behind me. And with both arms raised, I approached.
If they really had hostages, I had to induce maximum caution. Then....
“...Huh?”
“Mommy. What? Humans? Nice to meet you.”
What appeared in sight was a perverted elf wearing some bizarre thing, whether clothes or not.
And behind him, two Gganf corpses that had become stiff and cold.
...Ah. It seems not one. But a half corpse, but twitching, so alive.
*
Good luck. I quickly caught the tail.
Elroise, who caught the Luzens terrorists, entered the mission.
Or rather, she was about to enter.
What's this? What is this human?
Looking at the appearance, it seemed like he had handled the whole situation alone.
Stained clothes, sharp sword, and ominous momentum.
“First of all. Don't misunderstand and listen. I am...”
“Heigens side elf?”
“...Eh? What? Ah, you?”
Good. No need to explain.
“Perhaps Imperial Army?”
“I was Imperial Army. Currently, academy returning student.”
“...Returning student? Do returning students carry such things these days?”
When Elroise pointed at the sword, the returning student cleared his throat.
“A gift from a friend.”
“Strange friend. Anyway, this way the story goes faster. I belong to the extermination unit...”
At that moment, suddenly the returning student pulled out a pistol from his waist.
Too sudden an action, even Elroise couldn't react in time.
Was it acting? Was he a spy of the Luzens bastards?
The idiot who was fooled by his handsome looks and relaxed....
Taang! Tang!―
“...Wait a minute. Two gunshots?”
Only after throwing her body sideways could she understand the situation.
The corpse I had kept alive to extract information pulled out a pistol and aimed at me.
And just before firing the bullet, the returning student fired.
The bullet that should have been embedded in his body.
It was crushed in the air by another bullet and rolling on the compartment floor.
“What kind of...”
Marksmanship close to magic. Blocking bullet with bullet.
I had never seen this before. Never heard of it.
Elroise staring blankly at the self-proclaimed returning student thought.
This man was definitely a sharp shooter of the Imperial Army.
Otherwise, it was impossible to explain this situation.
Maybe, it could be that man who stole my meal.
Elroise smiled hypnotically and licked her lips with her tongue.
Meanwhile.
“Wow. This is right. What did I do?”
Karl was doubting his own marksmanship.