The Recapture of Elbarphiel Lake
At the heart of the main base on the Northeastern 4th Defense Line.
Inside a gray tent, a large operations table dominated the center, a map of the 4th Defense Line centered on Elbarphiel Lake spread across its surface.
Beside it, next to a tactical board, stood a man holding the latest reports submitted by the officers.
Major Leorn Valtroon stared expressionlessly down at the report in his hands.
“……?”
His expression faltered for an instant.
His eyebrows twitched, and his thinly pressed lips parted slightly.
“They succeeded?”
His voice was low, yet unmistakable surprise ran through it.
The reckless operation led by that young sergeant, Arteon.
An operation in which a mere thirty men had blocked the advance of hundreds of Kar tribesmen—and it had succeeded.
“……Hah.”
Honestly, he had expected them to be wiped out, or at best to retreat without any real achievement.
He had already been planning his next move on that assumption.
And yet they had succeeded.
Leorn tossed the report onto the table and looked outside.
Before long, the corners of his mouth were slowly curling upward.
“Good…… very good.”
How they had pulled it off did not matter in the slightest.
What mattered to him right now was simply that the operation had succeeded.
Once he had sorted his thoughts, Leorn called out toward the entrance.
“Is there an administrative clerk here!”
“For the Steel Heart!”
A soldier rushed into the tent at Leorn’s call and snapped a sharp salute.
Leorn addressed him at once.
“The recent forward-area defense operation on the 4th Defense Line was conducted under my approval. Make certain that is clearly noted in the official report.”
“Ah—yes, sir!”
At the soldier’s reply, Leorn turned his gaze back to the map on the table.
If they could just hold this position securely from here on…
Five more months……
If the next five months passed without major incident, his next promotion was as good as guaranteed.
Leorn smiled with quiet satisfaction, already picturing the change in rank insignia on his shoulders.
But then—
“Battalion Commander, Captain Hadel of the 1st Company reporting.”
“……?”
At the voice from outside the tent, Leorn turned his head.
“Enter.”
“For the Steel Heart! I have a report to make.”
Hadel stepped inside, his expression thoroughly serious as he faced Leorn.
Leorn took his seat and looked at him.
“What is it?”
“It concerns the recent operation. The damage inflicted on the Kar Tribe through this victory is far greater than anticipated. The greatest gain is that a Kar commander bearing four feather tattoos has been severely wounded.”
“I already read that in the report. Get to the point.”
Hadel nodded and continued.
“I judge the present situation to be an opportunity for us. I request that we form a reconnaissance unit to assess the damage more precisely, and based on that…… launch an operation to retake Elbarphiel Lake.”
“……?”
Leorn’s pupils wavered slightly.
“An operation to retake Elbarphiel Lake?”
“Yes, sir.”
Not long ago they had attempted to retake the lake and suffered catastrophic losses.
The wounded soldiers had yet to recover, and they still lacked the numbers to push that far.
“……And you believe it is possible?”
“I believe forming a reconnaissance unit first to thoroughly assess the situation should take priority. However, if the Kar Tribe’s losses match what has been reported……”
Hadel pictured the battlefield in his mind.
Even so, a full frontal engagement would still carry considerable risk for their own side.
But if they could exploit the terrain as they had this time and strike the enemy by surprise……
“I believe there is a sufficient chance of success.”
At Hadel’s words, Leorn turned his head and gazed out at the hazy sky beyond the tent.
If a commander with four tattoos is badly wounded……
There would surely be some disruption in the formation of the forces holding the lake.
If they succeeded, the road ahead for him would open into a smooth, unbroken path.
No one needed to be told how enormous it would be for the Northeastern 4th Defense Line to seize Elbarphiel Lake.
But……
If things went wrong, the consequences could be irreversible.
Just as the Kar Tribe had dared to push all the way to the forward positions of the 4th Defense Line this time.
A thin smile stretched across Leorn’s lips.
That hardly mattered.
If it failed, he could simply dump the responsibility on the 1st Company Commander afterward and prepare for whatever came next.
Leorn looked at Hadel.
“Are you confident? If you fail, you are prepared to take responsibility as you did last time, I trust?”
“……”
Hadel fell silent.
He knew it already, yet every time he faced a situation like this, the strength drained from him.
But……
If they could seize this chance, take Elbarphiel Lake, and establish a proper base there……
We can reduce the sacrifices of the soldiers who keep dying as mere consumables.
For a cause like that, a risk of this size was nothing.
Hadel answered with a resolute expression.
“I am prepared.”
“Good. I approve the operation. Form the reconnaissance unit at once.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you.”
Hadel turned and left the battalion commander’s tent without delay.
Anger still simmered inside him, yet—
“……Huu.”
He recalled his conversation with Arteon and began considering the situation that lay ahead.
“Platoon Leader!”
“Platoon Leader, are you all right?”
The platoon members poured into the infirmary where Arteon was resting.
The bastards—how had they heard the news so quickly?
Arteon, who had been sitting, pressed a finger to his lips as they crowded in.
“Keep it down. There are wounded men resting here.”
Thanks to the company commander’s consideration, an entire infirmary room had been set aside for those who had taken part in the operation.
There had been no critically wounded, yet the fighting had been fiercer than expected during the harassing actions against the Kar warriors.
Arteon’s own left arm was badly swollen.
“Have you all been training properly?”
Arteon asked once they had stepped outside the infirmary.
One of the platoon members answered in a grumbling tone.
“Come on—after nearly dying on that operation, the first thing you ask is about training?”
“So you slacked off, then?”
Arteon’s expression hardened.
Grein, standing in front, shook his head.
“We kept training without missing a day even while you were gone, Platoon Leader.”
At Grein’s words the others looked on with confident faces.
Arteon allowed a faint smile.
“Skip even a day or two and you can lose everything you’ve built up. Do not miss a single day. Keep refining yourselves every day.”
“More importantly…… what happened? Did the Kar Tribe really pull back?”
Word that the special unit led by Arteon had succeeded in the operation and returned had already spread throughout the base.
Yet more than half still doubted it.
That a mere thirty-one men had stopped the advance of hundreds of Kar tribesmen simply did not sound possible.
Arteon spoke to Grein with an unconcerned expression.
“Keep focusing on training and maintain your condition. We’ll be advancing before long.”
“……Advancing?”
“Are the Kar Tribe attacking again?”
Arteon shook his head at their questions.
By now…… they should have met.
The previous night Hadel had come to see him, and they had talked at length.
The look in Hadel’s eyes had been completely different from before.
Before the operation it had been nothing but distrust and disregard.
It means I’ve earned at least a little of his trust.
Now it was closer to the way he looked at any ordinary officer.
And the more they spoke, the clearer it became.
How desperately Hadel wanted to end this northern war.
How he felt about the soldiers dying here one after another.
Arteon turned his gaze toward the direction of Hadel’s tent.
Something he had never been able to see before……
Something visible only now that he possessed this level of strength.
The North is not yet rotten.
There were still those who sought to protect it, still fighting side by side.
And if they were here……
“We can end this war.”
Arteon murmured quietly.
In the past, after more than ten years of fighting, he had been betrayed by the superior he had followed like a dog and lost his life.
But this time was different.
There were people who shared the same goal, and they still held key positions in the North, commanding the soldiers.
Of course, trash like Leorn still remains.
Those could be cut out later.
Arteon decided to focus on what needed to be done now.
If Hadel managed to get the operation to retake Elbarphiel Lake approved……
“There is far too much to prepare.”
He looked at Grein.
“Now that you’ve confirmed I’m fine, go back. If things are still the same when I return to the platoon, I’ll discipline every last one of you.”
“……What?!”
“W-what do you mean by that, sir?”
Arteon spoke to the flustered platoon members.
“Change a little every single day. And prepare for tomorrow. Before long we may have to fight……”
A great war that could change the entire North.
At Arteon’s suddenly serious expression, every one of them swallowed hard without realizing it.
And then—
“Sergeant Arteon!”
Hadel’s adjutant, Bolgren, approached.
“Have a seat.”
The atmosphere was far more serious than usual.
Arteon entered the tent and sat across from Hadel at his invitation.
A single document lay on the table.
Hadel, who had been watching Arteon in silence, tapped the paper lightly with his finger and spoke in a low voice.
“The operation has been approved. Of course, the responsibility if we fail will be heavy, but……”
Despite the somber mood, Hadel’s eyes remained steady and calm.
As if failure was not even a consideration.
Then, as though confirming something, he asked Arteon,
“Are you truly confident we can succeed?”
Arteon steadied his breath for a moment, then nodded.
“Under the present circumstances, there is a real possibility. The enemy is short on reserve forces, and their commander is wounded.”
The Kar Tribe fought with even greater ferocity when led by a powerful commander’s martial strength.
If the leader at the front was strong, their power rose without limit.
But conversely, once they begin to crumble without a strong commander……
They could collapse helplessly—that was another characteristic of the Kar Tribe.
Moreover……
“They have already pushed down as far as the southern part of Elbarphiel Lake. Additional supply will not be easy for them.”
In contrast, while their own side had suffered heavy losses in manpower, supply was not a problem.
If they made proper use of the current situation……
“We can drive the Kar Tribe out of this place completely.”
At Arteon’s words Hadel crossed his arms and nodded.
“If we can fully occupy the southern part of Elbarphiel Lake…… our supply route will come back to life. We can also restore the balance of the forward positions on the 4th Defense Line.”
At present the initiative over Elbarphiel Lake had fallen completely into Kar hands.
That was why they had been able to cross the lake and push south.
But Arteon quietly shook his head at Hadel’s words.
“The objective of this operation is not the southern part of Elbarphiel Lake, Company Commander.”
Fine creases formed on Hadel’s brow.
“……What did you say?”
Arteon rose slowly from his seat and walked over to the map of the northern front hanging on the inner wall of the tent.
He stopped in front of it and raised his right hand, pointing straight ahead with his finger.
The center of Elbarphiel Lake.
The moment his fingertip touched the heart of that blue mass, a silence longer than words filled the tent.
“Our goal is…… to take the entirety of Elbarphiel Lake and drive the Kar Tribe out of this place completely.”
Hadel remained seated, staring at Arteon’s back.
The boy’s voice did not waver in the slightest, as firm as if he had already seen the outcome.
“……The entire lake.”
Hadel murmured as if to himself, yet his eyes were changing rapidly.
No longer looking at a mere gambler, but at a strategist designing something achievable.
He rose slowly from his chair and stepped up beside Arteon.
After fixing his gaze on the map for a moment, he spoke quietly.
“If that…… is truly possible, the entire course of the northern front will change.”
Without turning his head, Arteon answered.
“We will change it.”
A voice firm and filled with certainty.
At those words Hadel simply stared in silence at Elbarphiel Lake marked on the map.