That's My Story
Selena's words continued from her brother as she spoke.
The Luzens War had been a fierce battle between the Empire and the radical elf faction. Young people were always the ones sacrificed for the greed of the old. The Empire won in the end, but the process was filled with blood and wounds. Her brother was one of those who had shed blood and received wounds.
He almost didn't make it back. The war notice could have arrived at any moment. His family could have cried over his corpse or even without one. Luckily, the heavens helped. The gods sent a savior.
His brave appearance made the enemies panic and surrender. The savior appeared as a mere soldier and rescued his comrades.
“That’s how my brother was able to escape that place,” Selena said, fiddling with the coffee cup in front of her.
“He’s really grateful. If not for that person, my brother and hundreds of imperial soldiers might have lost their lives. As my brother said, the savior sent by the gods is definitely real.”
“Eh, yeah… It could be.”
Karl asked in a slightly hesitant voice.
“Um, Selena. That soldier. Did you not see who he was properly?”
“Eh? Yeah. Everyone was in such a bad state at the time that they couldn’t even wash. Thanks to that, everyone’s appearance was so miserable that it was impossible to tell who was who. It was the same for that soldier, so my brother didn’t know exactly who he was.”
“I see. So that was it.”
Ho-rook—
Karl took a sip of the coffee in front of him with a slightly hesitant look.
After that, he seemed to be feeling a bit uneasy without knowing why.
Selena, sitting right in front of him, couldn’t have missed it.
Up until now, he had listened well to her story, but this time his reaction was strange. It felt like he was forcing himself to listen to something uncomfortable.
Is he feeling burdened?
Ah, right. It could be. Thinking about it, Karl was also a common imperial soldier, same as that soldier.
It would be uncomfortable for him to have his own story told in front of him as if he were the same soldier. He might feel ashamed because he didn’t do anything, but the person did such a thing.
With that thought, Selena felt sorry again for what she had done.
She hadn’t done the same as that soldier, but Karl was also in the same battlefield. He had fought with courage under the same fear, just like him. Even though it was a different person, he was the same imperial hero as him.
“It’s okay, Karl.”
“Eh?”
“You fought just as hard as that person. For the Empire.”
“Eh, yeah… That’s right?”
“So you’re just as great as that soldier who saved my brother.”
With an encouraging smile and even adding ‘Aja!’ Selena cheered him on.
Thanks to that, Karl’s hesitant expression improved a bit.
Not because of me, but some of it was because I provided the cause. So, doing this is only natural.
How difficult it must have been for a noble son to enlist as a soldier. Even experiencing war. So, he was just feeling sorry and doing this. No other emotions.
Thinking that, Selena encouraged Karl with a “You can do it!”
“…”
Meanwhile,
gulp—
Karl gulped down the remaining coffee.
No matter how many times I hear it… it’s my story?
*
Yeah, it seems right. No matter how I think, it feels like that.
That soldier who saved Selena’s brother. The crazy guy who rescued hundreds of squad members together.
That’s me?!
During the Luzens War, I had made a fuss saying I would save my missing squad members. Because they were quite friendly despite the shitty military life and war. I wanted to yell at those guys instead of seeing their corpses. Of course, other comrades or superiors had scolded me, saying it was crazy.
“Are you going crazy because you want to die? You’ve been trapped in the elf’s encirclement for a while now.”
Unfortunately, those guys died. They are not people of this world. So give up!
But at the time, I didn’t listen to what they said at all. And I dragged my body and entered the place full of terrifying elves.
…Wow, thinking about it now, there really wasn’t a crazy guy like that?
Even though elves were weak in front lines, they were ghosts in encirclement and annihilation. Especially in small unit battles without large forces, they always had the advantage. Once trapped in an encirclement, it was natural that you couldn’t return alive. But how did it happen? Was the luck really that dirty?
I never encountered the elf guys and met my squad members. And I still remember the first conversation with those bastards.
“Y-You crazy bastard! Where the hell did you come from?!”
“Elf bastards?! I came to save you guys, but why the hell?!”
“You crawled in like a corpse! Are you going crazy because you want to die?!”
Clearly, we were all crazy. What if the elves heard the noise? Maybe I didn’t get caught and skinned alive?
But the luck goddess helped me again. Even though the forest was noisy, I didn’t engage in combat with even one elf. Thanks to that, my comrades and I walked out of the forest, supporting each other.
…Then, I met isolated people like my squad members.
At first, I thought they were just a few. But, damn it, that wasn’t it. A few became dozens. Dozens became hundreds. More than one company. They were also isolated people who missed the retreat like my comrades. They couldn’t fight, couldn’t escape, and surrender was out of the question.
To those isolated soldiers, I did crazy things again.
“Let’s go together! We can retreat to the main force now!”
“I came here to meet my comrades, so there were no enemies!”
“Whether we die here or on the way, it’s the same. Since we’re going to die, it’s better to die a little closer to home!”
Crazy bastard. Really crazy. What if the enemies really ambushed? At least, with the base built, we could have held out a couple of times. If the allies sent reinforcements, survival and rescue would be higher. But at the time, I was not in my right mind due to excessive adrenaline. And the soldiers there, even officers, were similar. That intense desire to escape this hell. Survival instinct.
I was lucky.
Yeah, I was lucky. Really unbelievably, dramatically lucky. While hundreds retreated from the base, there was no ambush. Without a single person left behind, we walked, supporting each other. So we successfully joined the allied main force.
At the time, too dazed, I took only my squad members back to our unit.
“You crazy bastard! Orders! Orders! If you’re not listening to orders, why are you in the army!”
“Kyaaak! Squad leader! Bones, bones!”
“Bones? You bastard?! If you were caught by the elves, your scalp would have been peeled!”
And immediately, the squad leader scolded me like crazy. Why didn’t you listen to orders? Of course, the next moment I returned alive. With my squad members, saying thank you.
Anyway, that’s how it is. This is roughly the story of that day. With the merit of saving several squad members, I, who was a first-class soldier at the time, was promoted to sergeant. One of the reasons I received the staff sergeant rank before discharge.
“Karl? Karl!”
“Eh, eh?”
“Are you listening to my story?”
“Eh, eh. Of course. I’m listening. Thank you. For saying that.”
At that moment, I considered telling Selena. That the soldier was probably me. The person who saved your brother. Ironically, that happened.
…No. It’s fine. Don’t say it. What’s the point of saying it. It wasn’t particularly a happy moment.
Movies, games, dramas. All the things I saw in my previous life memories. There were moments when I thought, “I wish I could be like those war heroes!” Thinking that if I received compliments from others and puffed out my chest, it would be good. But when I actually experienced it, it was a time I wanted to forget. It was not a proud thing to say, but a bitter memory I wanted to forget. It was hell there. A shitty hell where someone had to die.
*
Imperial War Ministry Office, inside the Minister’s office.
“This is definitely true, right?”
“Yes, Your Excellency. I have gathered as many testimonies as possible from those who were there at the time. If we hear the stories of the commanders and officers of each unit, the probability is over 97%.”
“Even if there’s a 3% chance it’s not, that probability is quite high.”
While muttering that, the War Minister looked at the documents again.
“…Good. As is, submit it to the Imperial Palace and wait for His Majesty’s words.”
- Karl Adelheit -