Surviving on the Northern Front with Gukbap

Chapter 105 : Minimum Requirements for an Ambush

Minimum Requirements for an Ambush

When I was serving my first term in the military,

the battalion commander, a graduate of the Army Academy, had something to say every single day.

"If you can avoid it, avoid it. If you can't, enjoy it."

There just wasn't a more bullshit thing to say.

They chose to serve as officers,

and yet told us conscripts who were dragged in by force to enjoy it.

The juniors hated that saying just as much.

They complained, "How are we supposed to enjoy these damn drills and grunt work?"

As the squad leader at the time, I said this:

― If the higher-ups say to do it, you do it. What choice do you have?

This is the nature of military life that I know all too well.

And so, I couldn't avoid the battalion commander's surprise tent raid,

nor would I be able to enjoy it, so I had no choice but to just get on with it.

"Damn it."

I sat up and spoke.

"Zaiya. Ricky. You're not sleeping, are you?"

There's no way those two didn't hear me if Ruth had already woken up.

Sure enough, before I even finished speaking, the two of them sat up.

Oh, for reference, Zaiya always covers her face with a mask.

"Yes, boss."

"Yes, bo... boss."

I shot a glare at Ricky, who nearly called me platoon leader,

then kicked Ruth awake next to me.

"Keep watch outside until I call you."

Ricky and Zaiya looked confused,

but moments later, they jumped at the sounds from outside the tent.

"Hoho. Seems like it took a while."

The two corporals widened their eyes and looked at me.

Their eyes shone with respect, like, "The battalion commander came here himself!"

but I just let them misunderstand as they liked and waved my hand.

"Are you going to keep him waiting?"

"So, sorry!"

Snapping awake, the two of them grabbed the half-asleep Ruth by the collar and dragged him outside the tent.

"To steel—"

"To steel—."

Their salutes were cut off.

Soon, the battalion commander parted the tent flap and stepped inside.

"Hm. It's even narrower inside than it looked from the outside."

It sounded like no one who'd ever experienced hardship would say, but

I played along naturally, just as instructed beforehand.

The point was to 'act suitably surprised.'

"You get used to it and it's actually quite comfortable. Why don't you spend the night here, sir?"

"Ian, why aren't you saluting? Me telling you not to do it and you just deciding not to are two different things, you know. Want to die? Hoho."

Man, what a shrewd old snake.

I intentionally didn't salute, conscious of Zaiya and Ricky outside. How did he know?

But times like this call for even more boldness.

"If I want to die, will you do me the honor?"

Two kinds of responses came back.

By sound,

"If you truly wish it, I could accommodate. Hohoho."

And telepathically.

「Well done. This sort of natural conversation will suffice.」

My brain struggled with the surround sound, but

it wasn't so bad that I couldn't understand.

'Difficult, but if I focus, it's doable.'

Before the air grew tense, I jumped in conversationally.

"It would be an honor to die at the battalion commander's hands."

At the same time, I quietly brushed off Ruth's blanket beside me.

The battalion commander looked at me, puzzled,

then coughed when he saw my finger movements.

Regardless, I wrote a message in the dirt.

-'Let me put it this way.'

「Hoho. You always exceed my expectations. Impressive.」

The battalion commander's lips curled up in satisfaction.

Mine too, for that matter.

Because,

no matter how well Schutmann hid himself and erased his presence,

'He can't conceal himself in this cramped tent.'

The tent where my squad and I slept was, as the battalion commander said, extremely small.

Just enough for four people to squeeze in together.

Moreover, the tent entrance was so narrow that even one person barely fit.

For the invisible Schutmann to slip in during that tiny break when the flap was lifted?

'If he managed that, I'd just admit defeat and let myself die.'

With that judgment, I responded verbally

while sending the true message through the ground.

And seeing as nothing happened,

Schutmann was clearly not in the tent.

'He can't possibly have x-ray vision, so now I can tell the battalion commander everything!'

My brain flooded with dopamine.

To think that on my very first day out in the field, I'd exchange real information with the battalion commander.

Lucky me.

At first, I'd been stressed about his visit, but

it turned out to be an incredible opportunity!

'With the battalion commander approaching me first, Schutmann probably won't find it suspicious either.'

Finishing these calculations, I noticed the battalion commander's voice lagged, so I added a word.

"Let's stop chatting here. Why are you here, sir?"

At the same time, I quietly erased the writing on the ground

and started a new message.

-'Is this about Schutmann?'

The battalion commander's lips twitched.

Still, his next spoken words came out in a naturally flowing tone.

"I came because I was curious about something."

"What is it?"

And just as I answered, the battalion commander's two voices overlapped.

"Why don't you use proper weapons?"

「Drop your suspicions about Schutmann. He's definitely on our side.」

The unexpected statement nearly made my mind go blank for a second,

but I calmly saw through the battalion commander's lie.

'Is he trying to protect me?'

He had once told me not to trust Schutmann completely.

At the time, his assessment of Schutmann was incomplete,

and he reminded me just in case.

But now, things had changed.

He knew for certain that Schutmann was an enemy.

And if I knew the old man, he had probably picked up on Schutmann's subtle shifts, just as Schutmann had picked up on his.

Schutmann's threat level had spiked.

So he chose to lie, to keep me safe:

to prevent me from being on guard around Schutmann.

'Damn, I'm touched by how much he's looking out for me.'

My heart wavered.

It was oddly moving, how much the old man cared.

And also... I wasn't the only one making wild guesses.

So as I pondered what to say,

the battalion commander spoke again before I could answer.

"You always fight with a kitchen knife. I think if you learned to wield a real sword, you'd quickly get stronger."

He gave a subtle nod,

maybe suggesting we shift to discussing martial arts,

but I didn't care about that.

I made sure not to lose the timing he was offering.

Of course, my fingers worked even faster.

"I just use whatever weapon I'm most familiar with."

-'About Schutmann's secret pigeon. I'm the one who sent that pigeon.'

"You're lazy about learning new things, huh—khem!!"

The battalion commander was so surprised he lost his words mid-sentence.

I covered for his slip with a little joke.

"Isn't it wise to focus on what you're already good at rather than starting at the bottom?"

"Hohoho. True, true. That's one way to look at it."

Thankfully, the battalion commander recovered quickly,

though my respect for him went down just a notch.

'He's meticulous yet has some surprisingly sloppy sides.'

... Hmm. Why do I feel a jolt of self-consciousness thinking this? Ha ha.

Anyway, after that, there were no more awkward pauses between the battalion commander and me.

Honestly, it was basically just me relaying information.

*

This wasn't the time to hold back like before.

So, I spilled everything.

Everything I knew, truly.

'Burt's death. Starting from Jeros and my contract...'

Meeting Schutmann the squire on the way back from Grey Fortress,

Jeros threatening me to delay my business upon reaching Granfen,

Pab challenging me to a duel, then Schutmann showing up and debating what to do with me,

Jeros instructing me to do business after winning the duel,

meeting Legion in the minor Demon Realm.

'Leaving out Ralph and me eating the Fragment of the Firmament here.'

After the spirit stone quarry battle, I asked Jeros about Schutmann, and he said, 'Be careful with him,'

Jeros using the "White Fang" sword technique,

Jeros regularly sending money to the Duchy capital's Dagnes orphanage via the adventurer guild,

And last but not least,

'Schutmann breaking into my house to deliver what was basically a threat.'

As I wrote all this out on the ground, I felt like my index finger print was wearing away.

On the other hand, it was amusing that all the long struggles I went through to survive could be summarized like this.

Of course, the battalion commander's expression changed dramatically as he read my writing.

It seemed like he only knew that White Fang and Schutmann were enemies.

For once, she was wrong.

'Plerine, old man here probably barely understands 20%, let alone 40%.'

Well, she became a 6th-circle mage at a young age.

There's no way someone with white whiskers and a face full of 4th-rank wrinkles could keep up.

'Still, meeting on the first day in the field and passing everything along like this? I guess it's lucky.'

If I hadn't sent that secret pigeon,

none of this would've happened.

"Hohoho. So, you're set on sticking with the kitchen knife 'til the end, eh?"

His voice barely changed, but

I could sense fatigue seeping in.

Probably because too much information hit him all at once.

Sorry, old man.

'But I've got things I want to know too.'

I hoped the battalion commander would tough it out just a bit longer as

I started writing with my finger.

-'At the spirit stone quarry battle, you sent Jeros out first.'

「I did. Back then, I was convinced Jeros was Heroni's agent.」

-'What I want to know is what happened after that. Why did Jeros and Schutmann throw themselves into defending the quarry entrance?'

「I'm curious about that myself. After I sent Jeros, I had Schutmann tail him... Ahem. Never imagined they'd be doing that.」

Ah, so that's why the battalion commander made that face when he saw them at the quarry entrance.

Still,

'It's just weird.'

Schutmann made it very clear to me.

Granfen would be wiped out because of this war.

So why did they both play the key role in turning the spirit stone quarry battle into a great victory?

'It's a straight-up contradiction, damn it.'

It made me want to see Jeros even more.

Not out of longing of that kind.

I want to grab him by the throat, choke slam him, and ground-and-pound.

Top it off by shouting, 'Why the hell did you do that back then?!'

'... Enough pointless thoughts. Back to business.'

After sharing all information, I wrote out my plan.

-'The battalion commander, me, and three company commanders need to join forces for an ambush. That's the only chance we have.'

The response was similar to what Plerine would have said.

「I think the same. But that guy is unusually sharp. Even now it makes me uneasy. Hoho.」

I feel the same, old man.

「So it has to be as stealthy and instantaneous as possible. The more people know, the higher the risk.」

-'So, you mean we wait for the right opportunity?'

「Exactly.」

Ha, damn it.

We've exchanged a lot of words, but the conclusion is about the same.

I guess it'd be strange if some clever solution just popped up after a share-session like this.

-'Then let's wrap up for today.'

「Let's do that. I never thought I'd get such information from you, Ian. You've had a hard time alone all this while. Thank you, truly. Hoho.」

Only after hearing those words did I lift my hand off the dirt.

Apparently, the battalion commander had gathered his thoughts as well.

Stopping the martial arts topic, he got up and said,

"Hohoho. I'll get going now. Have a good night."

He parted the tent,

and the yellow moonlight streamed in.

At that moment, relatively unimportant questions I'd been forgetting popped into my head.

"Oh, battalion commander. There's just one more thing I'd like to ask."

"What is it?"

He asked back, openly tired,

but my thirst for knowledge could not be stopped.

I rounded my thumbs and forefingers and put them to my eyes.

"When you do this, you can see far away, right? What kind of technique is that?"

"...?! How did you...?"

The battalion commander's mouth twitched in disbelief.

I scratched the back of my head and replied,

"I saw you use it on the way to the spirit stone quarry battle last time, so I tried it, and it worked right away."

"... Hohoho. Is that so? That a 3rd-rank could copy that in one try... Hoho."

At last, the battalion commander spoke with a hint of regret.

"That skill is called 'Mana Scope.' It's an advanced mana control skill that not just anyone can do. Seems you should've been a mage, not a martial artist."

Sir, spare me the lines that remind me of Jeros.

"I'm tired, so I'll get going now. Don't forget your promise, Ian. Hohoho."

I tilted my head at his words.

Focused as I was on the finger conversation, I hardly remembered what I said aloud.

Wait, hold on.

He said if I don't reach 4th-rank in this campaign,

'He'd promote me to official Duchy citizen and extend my military service?'

I think the battalion commander did say something like that,

and I think I gave a wishy-washy answer.

'Oh no! What the hell?!'

Damn it.

What fortunes did I expect to find putting my trust in a medieval man?

I watched the battalion commander's shiny crown disappear into the distance and fought back tears,

when his voice echoed in my head.

「Four 4th-rankers aren't enough for this ambush to succeed. By my calculations it'll take at least five, but Legion's participation is uncertain.」

... Ah, that's what he meant.

「You must reach 4th-rank soon. Please. That's the minimum requirement for the ambush.」