I Obtained the Final Boss' Power

Chapter 13 : Big Bro Is the Commander? (1)

Big Bro Is the Commander? (1)

The egg retrieval expedition itself ended successfully. No matter how the process went, the main goal was achieved.

The only thing that must not be lost during the expedition was the egg to be retrieved.

Losing anything else didn't matter at all.

It didn't matter if a soldier lost a limb or lost their life. As long as it was for the mission, those things could be discarded at any time.

Because of that, although only one person survived, nobody said anything.

It was the same even though not only soldiers but also officers lost their lives.

They just didn't get tortured by means of a spell.

In fact, even the treatment of officers wasn't much different from that of soldiers.

Still, it was true that being an officer gave you a better position than just a soldier.

Officers seemed to have the possibility to leave this place.

In fact, Kelton was given the opportunity to leave, recognized for his achievements in surviving the expedition.

'He could have gotten out. But only for exactly 20 days.'

Unfortunately, Kelton's desire to be released permanently could not come true.

At best, they would give leave, not a discharge.

Maybe that's why he ended up committing suicide.

'Still, compared to the soldiers, that's a better deal.'

For soldiers, it was much harder to get such a long leave. It was at the level of needing to steal the rewards of other soldiers.

Just like Louis did.

Next to the parade ground of the fortress, there were many stumps created by felled trees.

Apparently, the original trees were so huge they made perfect tables, and so they were often used as shelters.

If you compared it to the normal world, you could say it was like the smoking area inside a unit.

Louis was sitting in front of one of the stumps, using an empty box that should have been discarded as a chair.

"Come on, don't be shy, eat as much as you want."

He placed a box on top of the stump he was using as a table.

Inside the box, it was packed full of bread and cookies.

"What are you doing just staring blankly? If you don't eat quickly, I'll eat it all myself!"

Sitting around with Louis were other boys and girls.

One of them picked up a piece of bread with a dazed expression and spoke.

"Really... we can eat this?"

One boy asked Louis cautiously.

The rest of them, too, were all checking Louis's mood together.

Louis almost sighed, but he understood why they reacted this way.

They too had been dragged into the 7th Legion and underwent a month of harsh training.

"How is it?"

As the kids belatedly grabbed pieces of bread and started eating, Louis asked.

The kids' eyes welled up with tears as they hurriedly chewed, stuffing the bread into their mouths.

The bread was nothing special—just something from a small village store.

Even so, this food, affordable for any commoner, brought them to tears.

It was clear just how starved they'd been, given the frenzy with which they devoured the food.

'Honestly, it makes sense for them to lose control.'

No matter where you go, the life of a trainee is meant to be tough.

Harsh discipline is necessary to get soldiers accustomed to things.

If you don't get your act together, you can't survive in the military.

But that's only with the minimal human rights you'd expect from a regular military.

The 7th Legion was different. Here, in a place that bred suicidal soldiers, the very training threatened your life as a recruit.

If a soldier even showed the slightest bit of defiance, it was routine to beat them to death as an example.

The training itself was at a difficulty level where blood was shed constantly—it was far from normal.

'What was the most memorable thing?'

Among the most notable were the survival training and the real combat training.

The common point between the two was that a mage who could use magic directly participated.

First, in survival training, the trainees were warped to a preset location.

The goal was to survive in an area teeming with monsters and make their own way back to the fortress.

Of course, even though it was a place inhabited by lower-ranked monsters that suited the level of the trainees, it was still extremely difficult.

They even gave directions, but there were plenty of soldiers who never came back.

'Real combat training. That wasn't easy, either.'

That was where soldiers formed teams to face a powerful enemy.

The enemy was a spirit summoned by a mage, whose attack pattern was almost the same as a monster's.

The mortality rate was lower than survival training, but if you failed to take down the spirit, you weren't given meals or any free time.

In fact, the spirit kept threatening the lives of the team until it was defeated.

Practically, if you failed the training, you could not survive.

At this point, it wasn't much different from those infamous squid games.

'And the food they gave us was barely more than a mouse's paw.'

Leftover apples or fruit peels, bread long expired, meat that stank—they never gave you a meal you could call proper food.

Things got only a little better after finishing trainee life.

Even then, nothing they could eat now—bread and cookies—would come close in quality.

"Young master, thank you so much! Do you know how long it's been since we had bread like this?"

"I'll never forget your kindness as long as I live."

Moved by the taste of the bread and cookies, they cried tears of joy.

Even though there wasn't anything like cream inside, compared to the food they'd gotten at the fortress so far, this was a special meal.

"But young master, are you really okay with this?"

"With what?"

"These are rewards you earned, aren't they? Is it fine sharing them with us?"

In truth, even simple bread like this couldn't be brought in by soldiers.

The only things they could get were the weapons and scant rations supplied by the Legion.

The bread they were eating now was a reward Louis had received for succeeding in the recent expedition.

It was a special mission, and since he survived as the only one, he received quite a lot.

So much, in fact, that he still had plenty of rewards left even after this.

"If you got a bunch of rewards, you could save them for later, right? And yet you're giving them away now?"

"Especially to us?"

Because of them, Louis couldn't enjoy the rewards he'd earned.

Thinking this way, they began eating the bread more slowly.

"Um... sorry."

One girl even stopped eating, putting her bread down with a blank expression.

Seeing her hesitate to eat, Louis looked frustrated.

"You're not going to eat just because of that?"

"'Just because of that'? Young master, you suffered as much as us, always going hungry."

"And unlike us, you almost died on that expedition. How can we steal the results you worked so hard for?"

He understood how they felt. It was a basic sense of decency all humans should have. But in this place, such humanity meant nothing.

"Then shut up and eat. You all understand by now just how hellish this place is."

Surely they'd felt it in their bones during training.

In this bottom-tier world, beyond even the word cruelty, you have to know what kind of attitude is needed to survive.

The only reason they hesitated to act immediately was that a bit of innocence remained.

They had to learn reality, starting now.

"If a jewel rolled onto the ground in front of you, what would you do?"

"I'd... obviously find the owner and return it."

"Yeah, you'd return it. But if the owner of the jewel is a high-ranking noble, you might get your limbs cut off for stealing."

If you return it, you might get a reward.

Whether you return it or take it by force, these are the two choices a human faces.

"But do you know what you have to do first to return it? You have to pick the jewel up off the ground. Does it even matter whether you give it back or not if it isn't in your hand to start with?"

Returning or taking things—both require you to have them in your hands.

But there's no such thing as a right to make that decision in this place.

"What am I trying to say? Right now, you don't even have hands to hold that jewel. In other words, you have no choice. Since the minute you were dragged into this damned unit, have you had a single chance to choose anything?"

Normal people would be given choices, but there were none for these kids at the moment.

The only choice they had was to become monster feed.

If they had strength, they could make their own options. But not even the average soldier here had that kind of strength.

"If you want a choice, there's only one thing you can do for now."

Louis grabbed a piece of bread and spoke resolutely.

"Eat. You can only make choices as long as you're alive."

After hearing Louis, they paused in thought, then started eating bread again.

Their consciences stung, but the simple fact was they wouldn't get another chance to eat like this.

"Especially you—this must have been the hardest for you."

Louis spoke to the girl who had put her bread down.

Was her name Rio? She was almost violated one night after being dragged off by one of Odun's teammates.

On top of all the training, she'd gone through something like that.

She had suffered the most, so it was only right for her to eat the most.

"... Thank you, young master."

Rio chewed the bread, feeling grateful to Louis for giving her this chance.

"But guys, how long are you going to keep calling me young master?"

Louis, who was about to take another bite of bread, looked at the others.

"I'm not a noble anymore."

Louis's status was no longer that of the lord's child.

****

After emptying the box of food, Louis was summoned.

He was called to the commander's office, the command post of the 5th Fortress, Paruzan.

Two knights accompanied Louis.

They didn't look as strong as Odun or Kelton, but perhaps because they were official knights, they could use spells.

"Big bros, how many years have you worked here?"

"Shut up."

"Come on, big bros~...."

Thud!-

"I said shut up, didn't I?"

The knight punched Louis in the face for speaking in such a cheeky tone.

It didn't really hurt, but Louis felt deeply frustrated.

Normally, wouldn't they try to use a torture spell in situations like this?

"Big Bro, have a conversation with me. Please? Do you have a girlfriend?"

"What?"

"Do you, or don't you? Puhuhu! Honestly, judging by your looks, I doubt it."

At Louis's snickering remark, the knight flushed red and pale.

"Are you done talking?"

Judging by the outright murderous intent, it seemed he really didn't have one.

Seeing that, Louis felt a sense of satisfaction and grinned.

"Don't worry. Being single isn't a crime. So just live like that forever."

"You little...!!"

The moment the knight raised his arm to use a spell,

Louis, feeling delighted that a supporter had appeared, prepared to act as if he were in pain.

"Calm down. It'll only get you in trouble."

Suddenly, the other knight grabbed his fellow's arm to stop the torture.

Louis stared blankly at the abruptly interrupted spell.

"He's a guy summoned directly by the commander. If you smash him up for no reason and mess up the major's schedule, are you taking responsibility?"

"... Tsk."

Hearing his colleague, the knight glared daggers at Louis.

"Know how lucky you are."

A soldier summoned directly by the commander couldn't be touched, apparently.

The reason Louis was called in the first place was because he was the only survivor of the expedition.

'They're bound to have a lot of questions about what I went through there.'

In the end, support was out of the question.

Some luck. Grumbling inwardly, Louis arrived in front of the commander's office.

As the knights knocked twice, a voice from inside told them to enter.

The two stepped inside immediately and saluted the commander.

"Salute! We've brought the soldier you requested, sir!"

The commander of Paruzan Fortress No.5, Kelian. He looked at Louis, who had been dragged in by the knights.

"You're the one who returned alive with Kelton?"

Kelian was seeing Louis's face for the first time.

A week had passed since the expedition ended, but back then Louis was still a trainee.

After returning from the expedition, Louis had been dragged off to more training right away, while Kelton was away briefly, handling the transport of the recovered egg.

Because their paths diverged, the two only met now.

"What are you doing! Greet the commander!"

A knight shouted loudly, and hit Louis on the head with his fist. Louis looked at Kelian, sitting firm, and said,

"Big Bro, are you the commander?"