The Legion Commander's Arrival
“The Legion Commander is comingggg!”
Bwooooooooo!
A sentry’s booming shout rang out together with the long, blaring call of the trumpet that announced the Legion Commander’s arrival.
“Form ranks at once!”
“Commander, what about the wounded?”
“Anyone who can still walk—wounded or not—gets out here! The Legion Commander is coming. Who do you think you are, lying around?”
Reorun bellowed the order at the officer’s question. They had won, yes, but every instinct told him this was the moment to make the best possible impression on the Legion Commander.
Thud.
At last Legion Commander Velkain and the force he led entered the camp of the 4th Defense Line. The number of troops with him was not large, yet the dozens of wagons rolling in behind them immediately drew every soldier’s eyes.
And then—
“Legion Commander. You’ve arrived.”
Reorun stepped forward first to greet him.
“…….”
Velkain surveyed the scene in silence. Because of him a great many soldiers stood in formation; among them were men with bandages wrapped around limbs and others whose broken bones had been splinted with rough branches.
He asked quietly, “You brought the wounded out as well?”
“Of course, sir. How could anyone remain lying down when the Legion Commander himself has come?”
Reorun forced the broadest smile he could manage. Velkain’s brow furrowed.
“Have every wounded man rest. This is no way to treat those who won us this war.”
He clicked his tongue and raised his voice toward the ranks.
“All wounded, return to your tents and rest. The rest of you—help your comrades move.”
“Y-yes, sir! Wounded, all of you, go rest!”
Reorun shouted the order in a hurry. The officers looked briefly startled by the sudden change, then quickly began guiding the injured back into the tents.
Watching it all, Arteon found a faint smile touching his lips without his noticing. The Ogre of Benhard. The crushing pressure that rolled off the man was as overwhelming as the nickname promised, yet the way he looked after his soldiers had not changed at all.
Once the camp had settled, Velkain turned his heavy gaze upon the assembled troops. The atmosphere grew still; a few men watched him with tense faces, half-expecting another tongue-lashing.
Velkain swept his eyes slowly across them and spoke.
“You’ve done well.”
Only three words, yet they sank deep into every soldier’s chest. Strength seemed to return to exhausted bodies; something hot and fierce stirred in their hearts.
Velkain continued.
“For more than ten years the waters of Elbarphiel Lake on this northeastern 4th Defense Line have changed hands countless times. Never once have they been wholly ours.”
He himself had spent long years on the northern front. No one understood the lake’s strategic value better.
His voice gained power.
“But now, for the first time, we hold a real chance to make this lake completely our own.”
The words set hearts racing.
“This may be the most important opportunity we will ever see.”
He looked each man in the eye and raised his voice higher.
“Take pride! What you have accomplished will be remembered in the history of the Empire. Because of this victory the Empire will claim wider lands in the north and stand stronger against every foreign invasion!”
In that instant one soldier roared.
“Waaaaaaaaaah!”
The cry spread like wildfire until the entire camp shook with it. Heat surged up from their chests. In that moment they knew the blood and the deaths had not been wasted; their victory had meaning.
“Waaaaaaaaaah!”
Every throat joined the roar.
Velkain lifted a hand. The cheering died as swiftly as it had risen, and silence returned.
He spoke again.
“Tomorrow the rewards of merit will be handed out here. Those who earned victory will receive rewards worthy of it…”
He glanced at Staff Sergeant Claw standing beside him. Claw smiled and nodded. Velkain grinned at the troops.
“For today, eat and drink your fill. Tonight, every last one of you is to drink until your noses are crooked!”
Food and liquor poured from the line of wagons that followed. The soldiers erupted in fresh cheers.
“Wooooooooh!”
Their shouts mixed with the earlier cries of victory and shook the night sky.
Velkain then turned his gaze to Rauben, commander of the 2nd Defense Line.
“You had a hard road getting here.”
Rauben answered calmly. “I only did what needed doing.”
Velkain smiled. “Then… step aside with me a moment.”
“Yes, Legion Commander.”
Reorun, who had been watching from the side, hurried forward. “Legion Commander, allow me to escort you.”
Velkain’s eyes turned cold. “I’ll speak with you later. First I have words for Major Rauben.”
Reorun bit his lip and stepped back. Rauben turned and walked with Velkain toward his own tent. From a distance Reorun watched them go, unease flickering in his eyes.
Grein approached Arteon, who had observed the exchange, and spoke in a low voice.
“Something… feels off about the atmosphere.”
Arteon nodded once. “It was a battle with a great many things happening.”
His gaze drifted to Hadel, who was already preparing the feast among the soldiers.
If that man had not been here…
Arteon remembered the past. Hadel, too, had been one of those who never truly shone in the previous life. Now everything was different.
Perhaps the reason the old war dragged on so long and so hard was because of their little cabal.
He clenched his fist and repeated the thought to himself.
But this time is different.
Much had already changed, and far more would change still. Caught in a current utterly unlike the life he had once lived, Arteon simply tightened his grip.
“Drink up!”
“Waaaaaaaaah!”
Soldiers tore into meat with their bare hands, clashed cups, slapped one another’s shoulders, and roared with laughter.
“Man, how long has it been since we had real meat?”
“The liquor’s damn good too! Tonight I’m drinking myself to death!”
Faces that had been gray with exhaustion now glowed bright. Around a crackling bonfire someone began to sing; others clapped and joined in. For a moment the hellish days they had endured here seemed to vanish completely.
With the food and drink Velkain had provided, the soldiers of the 4th Defense Line enjoyed a carefree feast for the first time in ages. Velkain’s own troops stood the watch, so every man could empty his cup without worry.
“Platoon Leader, you’re not drinking?”
Grein raised his cup. Arteon grinned.
“Forgot I’m underage?”
“……What?”
In the Empire a man was considered adult at eighteen. Arteon was still only sixteen. Grein, who often forgot the age because of Arteon’s developed frame, looked momentarily flustered.
Beside them Miro of the 3rd Squad, face already flushed with drink, shouted, “What does that matter? On a night like this you just knock it back!”
“He’s right! Platoon Leader, you’ve got to enjoy yourself tonight!”
Other soldiers, well into their cups, called out as well. Grein started to scold them, but Arteon lifted a hand and stopped him with a crooked smile.
“Fine. Line up, all of you. I’ll drink every cup you pour me.”
“Ohhh! Every single one?”
“But every time I take a cup, you drink one with me. Anyone scared can sit this out.”
“What are you talking about? Tonight we’ll show the Platoon Leader how terrifying adults can be!”
A thick-tongued voice answered. Another platoon member yelled, “Come on! Fill the cups! Line up!”
“I’m first!”
“I’m next—keep the line straight!”
One by one the soldiers filled their cups and poured for Arteon. He clinked glasses with each of them and drained cup after cup. In no time more than twenty had vanished.
The platoon members’ eyes were already glazing over.
And then—
“Uh… no more… I can’t…”
“Urgh!”
Thud.
Even the last man still standing staggered, cup in hand, and collapsed to the ground.
Grein, watching from the side, could not hide his astonishment.
“……Platoon Leader?”
“Want one yourself?”
Arteon, a faint flush on his cheeks, asked. Grein waved both hands in alarm.
“……I decline. Right now… the entire platoon is wrecked.”
Arteon let out a quiet breath and set his cup down.
“Huu… It’s been a while. Harder than I expected.”
In his previous life Arteon had never lost a drinking contest anywhere. Looking at his platoon members sprawled unconscious on the ground, he muttered the words. Grein frowned in confusion.
“A while? You said this was your first time…”
“Ah, I must be drunk already. Forget I said anything.”
Arteon rose unsteadily. Grein hurried to support him, but Arteon brushed the hand aside with a word that he was fine and walked off toward a quieter place—the same spot where he and Seran had once trained their aura.
“Huu…”
With a deep breath he drew up his mana and burned the alcohol from his body. He would have liked to keep the pleasant buzz a little longer, but he could not afford to pass out himself.
Just then—
“So you slipped away as well?”
“……?”
Arteon turned. Seran was walking toward him. Beneath the moonlight the man’s smile looked both relieved and burdened by some other worry.
“Lord Seran.”
Arteon called to him. Seran came closer and sat on a nearby rock.
“The drinking was getting too loud. I stepped out for a bit of air myself. But… have you been drinking?”
“It just happened that way.”
“Your entire platoon seems to have gone down… impressive.”
“Nothing worth bragging about. It was a good day, so I simply matched the mood.”
“……Sometimes when I talk with you I forget how young you are.”
Seran gave a short laugh, then fell silent and lowered his head. Clearly some frustration weighed on him, yet he could not bring himself to speak of it to Arteon.
Until Arteon said quietly, “If you keep comparing yourself forever, one day that comparison will close around your throat.”
“……What?”
Seran’s eyes widened. He looked up. Arteon continued.
“Comparison can be good fertilizer. It can drive a man to whip himself harder and climb higher. That is why a true rival is so important. But…”
Arteon’s gaze grew still and deep.
“Right now, Lord Seran, what matters most is mastering perfectly what you already possess. If you keep driving yourself while still unstable, comparing yourself endlessly to others, you will end up unable to hold even what you could have had.”
“…….”
He had known it, yet hearing the words from someone else’s mouth—especially Arteon’s—struck like a blade straight into the heart.
Still…
“You’re right. I was too greedy.”
Only a short while ago he had barely been able to handle aura at all. Now he could control it steadily and even knew the path to grow stronger. It was simply that…
Anyone who sees a monster like you up close ends up with the same worries I have.
But some things had to be admitted. He and Arteon were never meant to be compared in the first place.
A sudden lightness filled Seran’s chest. He rose to his feet.
“Then shall you and I share a drink?”
“……What?”
Looking at Seran’s crooked grin, Arteon wore a distinctly troubled expression.