novelraw Chapter 100
Chapter 100
Chapter 100
"C, company commander... nim?"
Irene, who had been forcing mana out of her body while bound to Duunkel's Frame, finally collapsed from exhaustion inside the colossus, unable to withstand the overload.
Yaan had greeted the two knights who salvaged her unconscious colossus, but they only sighed heavily and headed for Central Hall.
"Are you awake?"
Dandel spoke to Irene, took her hand, and pulled her out of the cockpit.
Perhaps still not free from the lingering sensation of piloting the colossus, Irene swayed for a moment before finally steadying herself and standing upright.
"First activation and a battle on top of that-your body must be wrecked. The mana required to move a colossus is beyond imagination."
As Prince Veric said that and approached Irene, Yaan stepped in to block him.
His face was stiff, as if looking at an enemy.
"The Liberation Army's Duunkel called Your Highness a 'traitor'. Why?"
"Rather than that, worry about your commander. How crucial the first activation is for a knight..."
"You know better than anyone that that can't be brushed aside, Your Highness."
Veric fell silent at Yaan's reply. Meeting Yaan's gaze with a heavy expression, Veric opened his mouth as if to say something, then tightly shut his eyes.
"Don't be swayed by the enemy's silver tongue."
"Are you calling it bluster? For mere bluster, it-"
"Lieutenant Yaan."
Veric's voice cut off Yaan's further questioning.
It was as hard and cold as the look Yaan gave Veric.
"You and your soldiers must be exhausted from the sudden combat. I'll grant you about this much leave-use it to recover."
Hearing that, Yaan clenched his teeth inwardly.
It was silent pressure, implying there was nothing more to say.
The man before him was a prince of the Empire; as a mere knight, Yaan could not press further.
"As ordered, I will return."
Yaan offered a salute laced with a sigh, then turned and approached Irene, who was still unsteady.
"Ah, company commander... nim..."
"Thanks to you, I'm alive. But how did the colossus move?"
"A man named Duunkel aimed a gun at the company commander... and when I saw that, suddenly..."
Irene tried to continue, but soon lost consciousness and collapsed into Dandel's arms.
"She's only fainted. There's no injury to her body."
"Then that's enough. Carry her to her room."
"Aye."
At Dandel's faint smile and gesture, the soldiers who had been waiting emerged and began carrying Irene to the quarters.
"I'll take my leave as well. Regarding the next schedule..."
"Lieutenant."
"Pardon?"
Dandel flinched when Yaan suddenly addressed him by rank-a first-and looked toward him.
"This battle ended without casualties thanks to your deployment plan."
"...!"
It had been Dandel who revised Yaan's plan-originally meant to bring only the minimum-to deploy the entire company.
Hearing that, Dandel pressed his lower lip and clenched his fist tight.
"Same for every battle so far. It wasn't half the unit dying because of you-it was half surviving because of you."
"That's not true. I...!"
"Force yourself to think that way and endure. Otherwise you'll break."
If Irene's flaw as a member of the 87th Independent Company was being too honest with her emotions, Dandel's flaw was hiding his too deeply.
Watching Dandel struggle for words, Yaan continued.
"Back when we first formed this unit, you said it-your role was to fill the void left by someone who only knew how to fight."
Dandel gave a bitter smile, recalling the crude review held in a shabby warehouse on the Kerdan frontier.
"Come to think of it, I did say that."
Now his real expression was finally showing.
Thinking that, Yaan clapped Dandel's shoulder a couple of times.
"If you said that, then do your role. If you break down here, I'll kill you myself."
It was a murderous threat that sent chills down the spine, yet Dandel nodded with a face that looked relieved.
"I will engrave those words in my heart."
"No need to go that far."
After confirming Dandel's expression, Yaan gestured for him to return. It was permission to go back.
***
"No additional intel?"
The next morning. 87th Independent Company quarters.
In the company garrison, situated a short distance from the regular barracks, Yaan sipped his coffee and tilted his head at the report from the operatives planted in Runes.
"Word seems to have spread about us repelling the colossus in the last battle. Half the people the Liberation Army suspected haven't even stepped outside."
"Duunkel's failure to kill the commander must have been quite a shock. Some civilians are also shaken."
The battle had taken place in Runes, the Liberation Army's stronghold. News of the fight between Yaan and Duunkel had spread, and the rebels were growing cautious.
"Any contact with those connected to the Liberation Army?"
"None. Right now they're even minimizing contact with ordinary citizens."
"Well, after all this mess because of one traitor, it's no wonder they're being careful."
Yaan rubbed his neck, recalling the moment the bullet struck Zurk's chest.
"Still, deploying colossi forward while the rail network isn't complete is a rash decision."
"It'll create a hole in the middle of the supply line-easy prey for the Liberation Army."
When it came to combat tactics on the ground, Yaan had no peer, but he lacked strategic foresight; he nodded at Dandel and Ren's explanation.
"So plugging that gap will be our company's main mission going forward."
After saying that, Yaan slumped into one of the cafeteria chairs, and the soldiers exhaled in relief.
Only after the briefing ended could they finally focus on the meal and the chessboards before them.
"Talking shop during meals-such backward organizational culture."
"Right? And we're supposed to be on leave."
"Shut up."
At Ren's remark and the soldiers' grumbling, Yaan set down his coffee and clicked his tongue.
"The garrison scouts the Liberation Army's movements and reports; meanwhile we're stuck in this barracks on so-called leave."
He had tried to speak with Prince Veric several times, but each attempt ended with the prince being absent and a polite dismissal.
The blatant refusal to talk and the entire company being grounded frustrated Yaan, but the soldiers' combat fatigue had peaked, so he had no choice but to accept the order and sit in the cafeteria.
"Checkmate."
As Ren, who had been glancing at Yaan, moved pieces across the five chessboards before her the moment the meeting ended, Dandel's despairing voice rang out.
"...Maintenance squad leader, that's twenty-five straight wins."
"Whoa~! Are you serious?! How can you not lose even once?"
"And she's playing five people at the same time? How is that even humanly possible?"
'Because she's not human.'
Yaan swallowed those words and watched Ren sweep silver coins from the soldiers' pockets.
The coins she had taken already amounted to twenty-five.
A full month's pay for the other soldiers.
"She's pocketing a month's salary during a strategy conference."
"I'm using it as my leave fund for today."
"Ah, I see."
'Come to think of it, whether at parties or in quarters, she always has something in her mouth.'
While he was thinking that, the soldiers who had finished eating dispersed for their own rest, and Ren's hand appeared before the idle Yaan.
"What is it?"
"Leave. Escort."
After staring for a moment at Ren's expressionless face, Yaan took her hand with a bewildered look.
"Fine. With that excuse, I can at least tour downtown Runes."
***
Though the sun had already set after a hard day's labor, the night streets of Runes-the colony's final stronghold-were as bright as midday.
"And so I shoved cow dung right into that farm owner's face!"
"Hahaha! That's a load of crap! I can't believe you'd actually do that with your personality!"
"You thieves! Stop right there-!"
"Hey, bring us more beer over here!"
Though they are Colonists oppressed like slaves, they still have their everyday lives.
Despite earning only a handful of sand compared to the Imperials working in the colony, the night market that opened at midnight was full of vitality.
Unlike the daytime market mostly occupied by Imperials, the Rubran night market held every five days was mostly filled with Colonist laborers.
"Since most produced goods flow to the Empire, Colonist cuisine generally uses by-products."
Intestines, gullets, lungs, spleens, even testicles....
Most of those who came to the night market for sightseeing from the Imperial residential district in the center of the city turn back in disgust at these unfamiliar ingredients.
"Even so, you can only taste this at a market of this size."
Sitting at a street stall in one corner of the night market, Yaan ordered a variety of dishes at Rana's recommendation and looked around.
Shabby clothes, the dusty laughter of those who had just finished work, mixed with the smell of food.
The boisterous atmosphere of the night market and the people's vitality felt like they were flowing into him.
"You look more at ease than when you were at the garrison."
"Is that how it seems?"
"Yeah. Even more than when you were at the ballroom."
"Anywhere would be more comfortable than there."
Saying that, Yaan took the food the server brought.
"Th-that.... T-tasty...."
"Pardon?"
"Ee-eek?!"
The server, trembling and unable to even look at his face, handed Yaan the food and then fled for dear life.
"What was that about?"
"The battle at the harbor district. It's all the talk."
"What are they saying?"
"That the crazy dog of the Imperial Army tried to shoot all the citizens dead, calling them accomplices of the Liberation Army."
Hearing Rana's words, Yaan shrugged as if it were no big deal.
Sitting in the middle of this night market full of Colonists, Yaan wore the black uniform of the 87th Independent Company.
"Im-Imperial Army? What on earth are you doing here...!"
"That uniform! I saw it at the harbor district!"
"Shh! Don't make eye contact!"
Thanks to Nill's voice recognition function, Yaan could hear the murmuring voices of the Colonists from all around.
If an uninvited guest like himself had come to a festival only for Colonists, it was natural they'd be uneasy.
"It's a rare vacation."
"I'm here on business."
Saying that, Yaan bit into the skewered offal in front of him.
The smoky flavor and special spices combined to create a delicacy rarely tasted.
"You barbarians of the colony! Get out of my sight at once~!"
"Go eat an egg and drop dead, Prince Veric the bastard!"
"What the-? You bastard~!"
"Puhahaha!"
"Wahaha!"
The eyes focused on Yaan shifted elsewhere after those people appeared in the center of the market.
Ridiculous clothes made from baked earth masks and patched-up discarded Imperial Army uniforms.
Every time the jesters in gaudy costumes performed, the laughter of those gathered at the night market never ceased.
The masked play mocking Prince Veric, who had withdrawn his troops due to the citizens' protest, was becoming more and more outrageous.
"To put on such a performance while claiming to be an Imperial prince-if the knights of the Central Hall saw it, it'd be a death sentence."
"The night market isn't monitored by the Central Hall. By the prince's order."
"So he knows and lets it pass."
Was he kind, or just a pushover?
Recalling Prince Veric's face as he looked at the Colonists blocking his way, Yaan let out a small sigh.
As an Imperial soldier, he should punish such behavior that insults the royalty, but watching the jesters, Yaan had no such intention at all.
"Hey. You there."
"Huh. Me?"
Without even turning around at the low voice calling from behind, Yaan answered.
Setting down the skewer he'd been eating and raising his head, two men with dark faces were looking at him.
"Are you Yan Verkut of the Imperial Army 87th Independent Company?"
"And are you Liberation Army lackeys?"
Just as the two men were about to lunge at Yaan with that sneer-
"What do you think you're doing right now?"
A voice.
Recalling Duunkel's voice he'd heard at the harbor, Yaan narrowed his eyes at the owner of the voice.
"Ah?! C-Commander...!"
"We, uh...."
Even they seemed unable to understand why Duunkel was here, and they awkwardly cleared out.
"If you're civilians thinking of causing trouble in this crowded night market, go back immediately."
At the low voice, the two men's expressions hardened and they hurriedly bowed their heads.
"W-we apologize."
Duunkel soothed his subordinates with a gesture that it was fine, but Yaan could see the sharp coldness in Duunkel's gaze.
"Internal division? A faction?"
While thinking that, Duunkel walked up to the stall where Yaan sat and immediately sat down beside him, loudly calling the server to order various dishes.
"What are you playing at?"
At Yaan's quiet question, Duunkel snorted and turned to him, opening his mouth.
"Since we've met like this, let's share a meal. Lieutenant Yan Verkut."
Continued in the next episode