Chapter 60
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Translator: Wjin
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: The Summons from the Capital (2)
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What in the world... is really going on here?
I was in a daze, but there was no one around to explain the situation clearly. Even Captain Michel Robron, the personnel officer, could only say it was a unilateral 'official document' from the higher-ups.
It seemed that Lieutenant Colonel Rockheart Cromwell, the battalion commander, knew the details to some extent... but he had no intention of telling me anything specific.
He simply informed me with a stiff smile to prepare for the transfer starting tomorrow. For someone who was coldly brushing me off, his expression didn't look all that bad, though.
In any case, there was no farewell party or get-together. It felt like I was a cow being led to the slaughterhouse overnight.
"Everyone won't be going together. You'll be transported in three separate batches. You'll be in the first group, Second Class Lumia and Sergeant Claude will go the next day, and finally, Corporal Roxana and Corporal Bell will go on the last day."
"Why is the transfer being done like this? Are they from a different unit...?"
"No, the unit is the same. The details will have to be asked in person once you arrive at the location."
The battalion commander hinted at something more and stood up from his seat, extending his hand to me.
"You've truly worked hard for our battalion. You kept the promise you made when you first transferred here."
"Th... Thank you, sir."
I was still completely dumbfounded.
I couldn't understand why Rockheart was reacting this way. I was the only one who was originally scheduled for transfer, as my rank was completely out of whack.
In a way, it was equivalent to an entire platoon being wiped out from the battalion's roster, yet the battalion commander Rockheart's reaction was far too calm.
Wasn't this a clear infringement on the battalion commander's personnel authority?
And in cases like this, usually...
'Just who did this order come from?'
It had to be at least someone on the level of Soni Chepelin or Victor Zelensky. Even those two couldn't be so high-handed as to infringe upon the discretion of a proper Magic Battalion Commander.
In fact, hadn't Colonel Soni tried to pull a stunt like that before, only to get a taste of his own medicine from me?
Moreover, if it were just me, it might be one thing, but for the entire platoon to be moved meant they had determined that the entire personnel of the 5th Platoon was necessary.
That implies that the unit they're moving to has the leeway to reorganize an entire platoon...
The two candidates that came to mind right now were...
The Central Education and Technical Research Department, newly established with Colonel Victor Zelensky, who had been the evaluator during the last platoon evaluation, and the Central Special Response Brigade, where Colonel Soni Chepelin, the Grand Archmage, had been appointed as the Brigade Commander.
Both had Colonels as their decision-makers and shared the characteristic of being newly established or reorganized units that were chronically short on personnel.
'Even if the unit being formed is one of those two, the person who actually issued the personnel order is likely even higher up...'
I ran my brain at full capacity.
Could it be a direct order from the Ukran Duchy Army Command...? Or maybe it was from the Corps one level below that.
To be honest, it's absurd for Grand Duke Orlando Russ himself to specifically select an entire platoon.
Well, in the end, I no longer had any say in the matter.
Since the official personnel order had already been issued, it was impossible to refuse the personnel authority to their face like last time.
And just when I had finally gotten the platoon back on track, they're telling me to move the entire platoon... What an unfortunate fate, indeed.
As a soldier, when you're told to bark, you bark. What else can you do? The cigarette tasted especially bitter today.
Of course, whether it's Soni Chepelin or Victor Zelensky, it's like riding the wave of a promising Colonel career line...
But for some reason, this personnel order didn't feel full of that kind of dream and hope.
"Still, I should say my goodbyes before I go."
I threw the finished cigarette onto the ground and stepped inside the main building.
"Haa... What should I do with this. Do I have to leave it all behind?"
"We'll just have to buy new ones, that's all."
Bell Mayer walked up behind Lumia, who was packing her things, and said.
She had already finished packing, and for some reason, she looked relieved. Since she didn't have much to take besides her clothes and parrot accessories, she was able to finish up quickly.
In stark contrast to Bell, Lumia Blue was thinking of taking even the various accessories and decorations that adorned her room.
"I wish I had more time... I should have sold them. If I just leave them here, will anyone even notice?"
"The Battalion Commander would be happy, you know."
"Oh, Bell, you...!"
Bell Mayer joked with a light chuckle. Lumia had no choice but to pick up only the things she absolutely had to take with her, her hands trembling.
It was only the first day since receiving the shocking news from the platoon leader.
That fact alone was enough to throw her into confusion. To be told she was being transferred starting tomorrow—it was sudden, far too sudden.
"Still, you must be happy, Lumia? You won't be separated from the platoon leader."
"Hmm, that's definitely a good thing."
"It's a good thing you never confessed. I bet you would have been too embarrassed to even lift your head."
"Guh...!"
She hit the bullseye.
Indeed, if things were going to turn out this way, it was a stroke of divine luck that the confession that day had been glossed over.
'The platoon leader must be busy too. He would have obviously rejected me.'
It was 100 percent. The one thing Lumia had felt while spending time with Enok Levandel was that he was a person who clearly distinguished between work and personal matters.
It was the same even when he was conducting training for the evaluation. While he was friendly with them on a daily basis, he became extremely strict when it came to actual combat scenarios involving magic.
Still, thanks to that, even Lumia, who had trauma regarding the use of magic, was able to participate in the training more easily.
Part of it was probably because there were no other people within the magic's range, but in any case, Enok's attitude subconsciously put her at ease.
He controlled the unit members more skillfully than even Lieutenant Arendt Schultz, to the point where she momentarily forgot that Enok Levandel was a newly commissioned officer who had only been in the military for a month.
"By the way, are Sergeant Claude and Roxana packing up properly?"
"Yeah, Roxana is adjusting her schedule with the external military doctor right now. Claude... that guy seems to have no luggage to pack at all."
He was a sergeant who had lived a life like a layabout. Lumia could easily picture him throwing his bundle into a corner of his room and snoring away.
"Is the military doctor going with us too?"
"Yeah, it looks like it has to be that way. Roxana is a special case, after all."
Mind-heart disease.
It was both the greatest blessing and the worst curse for a mage. It drastically increased the efficiency and total amount of mana, but at the same time, it weakened the body's organs, and if one couldn't control their mana well, it would lead directly to death.
Roxana was trying to overcome it in her own way, but that was probably only because the dedicated military doctor was taking good care of her.
Even if it was the capital, Kiev, it was questionable whether there was a doctor there who specialized in treating Mind-heart disease. That's why the military doctor had to go with them.
"It's so ironic. I thought that day would be my last time going to the capital. Now I'll be living there for good."
"That's right. We're capital people now too."
"Puhuhu, you really do like the capital, don't you, Lumia? Well... I don't say I can't understand that feeling."
The two people, who had different pasts, had finally arrived at the same destination: the 5th Platoon, 2nd Company, 3rd Battalion. They had been treated as trash and despised, thinking they would be buried here for life, but now a warm ray of sunlight was pouring down on their future.
"It's a... all thanks to the platoon leader."
"Yeah, it's all thanks to Platoon Leader Enok."
The two locked eyes and burst out laughing.
"Well, I guess this is the end of it too."
I murmured as I looked at the main building standing tall at the entrance of the battalion. My first unit, where I had lived ever since possessing this body.
The start was insignificant, and I was looked down upon in many ways. Still, for my first unit, I thought it wasn't so bad.
Lieutenant Arendt Schultz and Captain Michel Robron. To be honest, I couldn't say they were good officers, but they weren't terrible seniors either.
Moreover, even though I had risen up at a terrifying speed for a new second lieutenant, which could have easily made them resent me... The other platoon leaders also saw me off with genuine regret.
Even if a part of that was because the number of rivals they had to compete with had decreased by one...
'At some point, I must have earned their favor.'
It had always been like this. Even if I didn't pay attention to the glances that ignored me at first, if I just worked hard, the evaluation would eventually change.
Whether it was reality or this place, the way the military worked was frighteningly the same.
"Take care, Enok!"
"Let's meet again sometime!!"
They were fellow officers who had even come to see me off. I faced them squarely, gave them a final salute, and boarded the waiting carriage.
Why the platoon members were being moved separately, and why the unit I had personally asked the personnel officer to investigate turned out to be a reserve force that hadn't even been formed yet, remained a mystery.
But I'd find out all about it once I got there.
As I boarded the carriage, I was startled to see a person in a robe who was already sitting inside.
"...? Who are you?"
The person in the robe didn't answer. As the carriage door clicked shut and it began to move, he carefully threw off his robe.
Fiery red eyes that seemed to blaze. The 'golden hair' that was much brighter than my own was the hair of a man who was deeply etched into my memory.
"It's been a while since we've had a secret meeting like this."
I was so startled by his lightly bursting into laughter as if he found it amusing that I shot up from my seat.
"G-Glory to the Fatherland!!!"
"If you make such a fuss, there's no point in my disguise. Have a seat."
Said Orlando Russ III, the Grand Duke of the Ukran Duchy.