Beginning from the foothills of the Grand Arfatra Mountains, countless military boot footprints marked the ground.

Including PFC Kanna Temari who was at the front of the ranks, the imperial army marched forward, while continuing to increase the number of prints. They formed long continuous rows on the narrow mountain road, if there were someone who could observe the current situation from above, I’m afraid they wouldn’t be able to differentiate them from ants’ march.

“Huff…huff…huff…”

In a situation where the burden on the lower body continuously increased, Kanna desperately tried to maintain her breathing to a certain rhythm.

Having to march uphill while carrying heavy baggage, for Kanna who has long graduated from being a recruit this felt like an overly demanding task. They haven’t even reached a fifth of the itinerary, moreover this was not something that would end with some easy relaxing when they reached the top. Their orders were to reach the top and crush the enemy.

–Defeating the enemy, shooting at human beings… Murdering lives.

Once she started thinking about it like that, adding to the physical weights, made Kanna really want to throw away the air gun strapped to her shoulder. Since she was at it, the backpack and uniform too… throw away everything beside her partner Tabb.

“Halt! Halt! Start the general break!”

The soldiers exhaled in relief after hearing the superior’s roar. They began to sit down from the row that finished the roll call and while they should be allowed to have conversation, not many voices were heard. Probably because everyone thought that if they were to waste energy here, their current actions may later result in a fatal injury.

“Air gunners, let your partners swallow the bullets first! Rapeseeds will be distributed to the incineration troops, you too let your spirits eat that!”

Expecting to encounter enemy soldiers, the superior ordered to a.s.sume an offensive formation while climbing up the mountain. Being an air gunner unit, Kanna took out ball-shaped bullets from her pocket and fed it to Tabb’s mouth. The bullet swallowed by the partner will automatically move to the air tunnel in the spirit’s body, furthermore the spirit itself will become a safety device, therefore there’s no need to worry about misfire.

While feeding the second bullet to Tabb, Kanna secretly observed her surroundings. The incineration troops got the rapeseeds containing large amount of oil, they made their partner eat those oil-rich tiny black particles, when the fire spirits spit out the residues, their body were already supplemented with fuel.

“…the war is getting closer.”

Seeing this spectacle, an emotion different from pure fatigue surfaced in Kanna’s chest. That is the fear of forgetting the atrocity of killing each other when you are just looking at your feet when marching forward.

“…this is not what I had wished for.”

Till the moment she stepped onto the escort wagon, her highness Chamille didn’t stop complaining to the members of the order of knights.

The carriage ferrying the n.o.bles fleeing the flames of war left to the south, the guard duty for the journey was left in charge to a battalion. While the uneasiness still remained due the previous instance of betrayal from personal guards, however considering the geographical characteristics of the northern region, there shouldn’t be many with enough backbone to revolt against the royalties — this optimism was fairly rational.

“So they left… honestly I am relieved. Although the princess said otherwise, but since the war has already begun, a n.o.ble such as the princess shouldn’t keep staying on the frontlines.”

Among the members of order of knights who came to see her off, no one objected to Haro’s thought.

The fort they were moving to was in close proximity to the Grand Arfatra Mountains, which was where the Shinaak tribe lived. If the enemy were to obtain info regarding the princess’ presence, the chances of her being targeted would be really high.

“…. let’s first not talk about the escort operation itself…moving to the new post in the base on the southern tip of the northern region itself is….”

A skeptical expression emerged on Matthew’s face, it was because Lieutenant General Safida did not let her Highness the Princess go back to Central, instead he just evacuated her to the southern part of the northern region. While she would be far from the battlefield thus the risk was not high, however for it should have been a ‘Conclusion reached taking the safety of the royalty as first priority’, there is no doubt this choice would come hard to understand to others.

“From the princess’ current standpoint, returning to Central isn’t necessarily the safest… but even if we were not to consider this, we should still think that behind this matter of not wanting to return the princess is the desire of forestalling interference from the Lieutenant Generals in central.”

Torway shared his thoughts–Even if he were to command as Lieutenant General, it still wouldn’t shut the mouth of a royalty. There was intelligence in the northern base that would be really bad if it was gotten a hold of by the princess who returned to Central, thus she was to be left in the northern region. Having this kind of thoughts was a very natural reaction, Yatori too nodded in agreement.

“The responsibility of safeguarding the local security on all four sides of the Empire is totally left respectively to the Eastern, Western, Southern and Northern garrison. Thus Lieutenant General Safida’s particularly fervent involvement in the Shinaak Tribe’s armed rebellion was also inevitable in such case…. Having said that, since he mobilized the troops to this extent on such big scale, he should have first reported to central and asked for instructions.”

“I can hardly believe he would have honestly followed those steps. Since just the day after the incident, he already informed the whole army to marshal a punitive force to subjugate the Shinaak tribe, this totally shows how Lieutenant General is grandstanding.”

Ikta didn’t hide his unhappy mood. Because he was not joking like he usually would have, it made Matthew feel extremely alarmed.

“…. Bu… But, no matter how the war will evolve, in the end we still would be maintain our current standby status right? Even if coming to this new post in the northern region was to let us acc.u.mulate practical experience, but this kind of situation was not expected. Even Lieutenant General Safida wouldn’t send the precious High Grade Military Officer cadets to the dangerous frontlines right?”

“This is a very legitimate claim, my buddy Matthew… but it’s really sad, the so called common sense is only meaningful to those who understands common sense, right now we can only pray Lieutenant General is one of these people.”

“…That’s true, especially now that Major Taekk has pa.s.sed away.”

Although they spoke those words, both Ikta and Yatori showed no sign of expectation. Even Torway who always smoothed things over is now sticking to a heavy silence.

While thinking he should make mental preparations as soon as possible, Matthew looked over to the peak of the Grand Arfatra Mountains surrounded by thick clouds. Five seconds after him, Haro too reached the same conclusion.

That evening, after learning that a certain cargo coming from central was delivered here, Ikta called Torway over to the outdoor shooting training field after midnight.

He set a row of targets tens of meters away from the firing position, at night it looked like dark figure standing side by side. Hard to believe legends were also circulating among the soldiers here because of these sinister atmospheres.

“What’s the matter Ikkun. Is there something here…?”

Ikta didn’t answer Torway’s question, he just kept quietly walking forward, shortly after, they arrived at the corner of the shooting ground, there he uncovered the drapes hiding a certain object with substantial longitudinal width.

The thing that appeared from under the cloth was a gun rack with the attached lock, and the air guns that hang there. The total number was around forty, every single of them shone with the light of new metals, making people understand at first glance they were brand new goods manufactured not long ago.

“Yours– this one is good, take and try it.”

Ikta opened the lock on the gun rack and urged Torway’s action. He picked up one of those and in an instant, his experience as air gunner already told him something felt wrong.

“…. This gun is extremely heavy…? It clearly has the same length of my usual air gun but the weigh is double…”

“I already obtained permission from superiors, starting from tomorrow use this in trainings… honestly I originally intended to replace all air gunners commanded by the order of knights, which mean including mine and Matthew’s troops’ equipment with these, but at the current stage, just making them send this many experimental works was the most I could ask for. Although ma.s.s production should soon start.”

“Experimental work…? Then, Ikkun, in other words this is…”

“Basically I only had the soldiers test-fire them, the result was not bad. With your skills, you should be able to quickly understand the differences of these from the old air guns. Although the basic usage is the same, the maintaining process had changed a little, in that regard I will find some time to teach you in dept. Also, although the numbers are limited, try to let everybody shoot some of these new kind of ammunition.”

The youth while finishing speaking, took out an acorn shaped bullets stored in the cotton stuffed crate. He did not elaborate further to the confused Torway, instead he proceeded with more instructions:

“In short, you have to get used to this while we can. After all we don’t know for how many more days we will remain training here, and don’t know for how long we will be able to stay out of the war which already begun… However, as long as you can get familiar with this equipment, in perilous moments your troops will become our trump cards.”

After this summary came to an end, Ikta put back the air gun and covered the gun rack with cloth, he then left the training grounds.

…The next morning Torway, who used these air guns in actuality, felt indescribable surprise.

The third day after the march, at past ten in the morning. The battle began on the frontline at an elevation of 2000 meters.

The enemy built a fort to block the mountain road and was waiting.

The Shinaak tribe was hiding in the fortress made of wood and mud-bricks, once they sighted the empire troops, they immediately launched a full attack.

“What are you people afraid of! Advance! I said Advance!”

In a situation where arrows and bullets were falling down like rain, Kanna and others were forced into a desperate battle. The imperial army’s strategy was very simple, just breaking through frontally through a human wave attack.

“This is definitely impossible–”

Kanna murmured with trembling voice three minutes after the fighting begun…. No matter the era, it was always the soldiers on the frontline who would first find out the mistakes a superior make when estimating the lives cost. This time Kanna was also included in those people.

A fist sized sh.e.l.l came flying sending the male soldiers around Kanna flying. A piece of flesh is missing from the leg directly hit by the artillery revealing the broken bones, but it did not possess the power to grant immediate death to those hit. This was in fact a very cruel tactic. The battlefield was filled with panicked and painful cries from companions who were unable to move because of injuries.

“Do not flinch! That would be falling for the enemy’s strategy! Act like soldiers and bravely challenge the enemy!”

Even commanders were inciting soldiers like this, but the loss the imperial army suffered of course wasn’t due to a lack of morale. To the eyes of Kanna, who was pushed to the frontline, the true reason could be said to be understood at a glance.

“I said this was impossible……! Don’t they see how many wind mortars the enemy has set up on the ramp?!”

Just looking up, in front of them was a whole row of cannon muzzles. The consecutive sh.e.l.ls shot from the muzzle sent the soldiers flying, extreme impacts had them bounce and roll off the slopes. In dangerous situations a single sh.e.l.l could hit four to five people.

Just as Kanna had seen through, Shinaak tribe warriors’ use of wind mortars had reached almost maximum efficiency. Short range, insufficient power, difficult handling– these shortcoming were well known, but there was in fact a unique method of utilizing them that makes up all of these.

That was to line them up on high places and after setting the muzzle beforehand, engage the enemy who wants to climb up the slope. That alone would make the mortars perfect. First by relying on the aid gravity gives, it can increase its firing range, the power would of course increase too; then setting the muzzle to an angle that’s is parallel to the slope, it makes ‘Aiming and firing at the enemy’ so easy that it’s surprising.

When firing on flat grounds, normally the sh.e.l.ls had to be fired at an upward oblique angle, and hit the enemy after travelling a curved arc. Thus you could archieve the longest firing range, but on the other side it was also extremely hard to hit the enemy with accuracy. The reason was because in that situation the soldiers had to at same time aim horizontally at the enemy and also calculate the vertical angle.

However, if you were meeting the enemy’s a.s.sault from a slope, this would suddenly become easy. Because if you had aligned the muzzle parallel to the angle of the slope, considering how the enemy could only have attacked, crawling up the slope, then there would have been no need to re-adjust the angle. Furthermore, the sh.e.l.ls could in one shot get rid of all enemies in a line.

As a further step if you could prepare wind mortars in enough numbers to fill longitudinally the mountain road that formed the slope, then the groundwork would be perfect. The defending side did not even need to aim, they just had to keep firing in order to defeat the majority of the enemy, as for the few who managed to slip thorough, the air guns and crossbows would do the job.

Kanna’s current situation was really similar to this theory. Even if they wanted to use the huge difference in numbers to overwhelm the enemy, but short story, the enemy’s current sh.e.l.ling was too intense, of course there wouldn’t be many brave enough to dare a frontal a.s.sault rushing up this slope of death.

On the other hand, after considering the fortress made by wood and mud-brick should be susceptible to fires, the incendiary corps tried to shoot burning arrows toward the enemy’s field.

However, the shooting range of the crossbows was shorter than the enemy’s air guns and wind mortars, which meant in order to make this plan work they had to run into the hail of bullets, few were also the heroes who would be able to pull this off. The hearts of the soldiers on the front were filled with fear, and this fear would in a blink of eye transmit to the rear.

“We have to bring out the wind mortars too! If we have wind mortars supporting the infantry, then we would be fighting under the same circ.u.mstances!”

This was shouted by the commander who had lost his patience, but of course this order was also a mistake. With the current situation, unless they fix the issue of the two side being at different alt.i.tude, the conditions would definitely not be the same. The initial decision to force a frontal a.s.sault to break through had already signed the imperial army would fight an unfavorable battle.

However, albeit thinking it as a mistake, orders were orders, and soldiers had to obey. Granted that Kanna wasn’t part of artillery units, but using wind mortars required multiple wind spirits, which is why together with the comrades in the same squad she had the duty to bring her partner Tabb to the artillery platform.

“We need to go, follow me and don’t fall behind!”

“…Uuh… okay! Let’s go! Private Yazan, you too get up!”

Kanna finally suppressed the fear in her heart, grabbed the hand of the only junior who was her squad and rushed out from behind the rock. The air gunner a year younger than her reluctantly followed, but maybe because he was too scared and was running with a staggering pace, in the mere ten meters they ran, he almost fell three times.

“Get your act together! Okay, now put your partner in this battery! Do you still remember how to do it?”

“Ah…ah…ah…”

” I understand… your brain went blank huh… anyway copy my actions!”

Kanna while taking care of the junior who was fundamentally useless, put the wind spirit Tabb in the connection port of the wind mortar. She aligned the air tunnel in Tabb’s body to the nozzle and tightly wrapped the fixing belt. However, when she was just about to extend her hand to do the job for Private Yazan who was being slow, suddenly a chill ran back her spine– with the corner of her eye she saw the enemy’s muzzle was aimed right at them.

“This is bad…! Squad leader! This place is also being targeted!”

Kanna, while speaking, loosened the fixing equipment with actions as if to break the belt and picked Tabb up. She then ran to cover while dragging Private Yazan– although he was being too slow fixing the wind spirit, in this case it became a stroke of luck.

A second later, the sh.e.l.l that came flying hit the mortar barrel, shattering the wind mortar. However, Kanna and the companions from the same squad managed to take cover behind a rock in the nick of time.

Hu~ the earlier breathless Kanna started inhaling again, right then the squad leader spoke to her:

“PFC Kanna, it’s all thanks to you noticing the earlier attack that we managed to avoid the same fate as that worn-out mortar.”

“Ha…Haha…you’re welcome… it would be a great help if the enemy’s wind mortar was a little more worn-out….”

Although Kanna’s answer held no particular meaning, what was amazing was, from then on the enemy’s sh.e.l.ling began to decline. The sh.e.l.ling density fell, air gun shootings also became sporadic, finally the battlefield became completely silent.

The commander was left in wonder as he couldn’t figure out the reason the enemy would loosen up on attacks in such moment, but after thinking for a short while he found a plausible reason and made a heartfelt cheer.

“Great, those guys ran out of ammunitions! You guys, quickly charge!”

The soldiers advanced forward taking the superior’s worlds with a grain of salt but in the end they truly did not encounter resistance. Or it should be said the fortress was left empty, there were totally no living being left inside.

The enemy must have considered the moment they exhausted ammunitions was the right time to close the curtains on the battle so decided to retreat. The commander, not resigning as he didn’t get the chance to retaliate the same treatment they were subjected to, fiercely smacked his lips– these barbarians sure are quick in running away.

“Send out the pursuing units! The enemy should still be nearby!”

Right after the battle, without even getting the time to catch a breath, the pursuing units received a new order to sortie…. however, the enemies were scattered in all directions because of the advantage in geographical knowledge unique to local residents they had which made the soldier’s effort end in vain, in the end the pursuing concluded with the scenario of them not capturing any of the fugitives.

“They make ire me so much…! …. Forget it, after all we obtained victory in the first battle! This is what matters!”

Compared to the enemy who virtually got almost no losses at all, the imperial army suffered one hundred twenty-four casualties, the number of injured was ten times greater. They had no enemy prisoner, and of course got no information regarding the enemy camp.

When the military commander in charge considered this a ‘Victory’, they already had one foot in the grave. But at that time only few were aware of this fact.

Three weeks after the punitive army against the Shinaak tribe left for the Grand Arfatra Mountains, perhaps it could be said to be expected? The order for the High Grade Military Officer cadets like Ikta to standby was cancelled. Instead they were tasked to do resupplying missions and transport materials back and forth from the base to the foothill of the mountain.

“Although I had already expected so, but the extent of this lack of planning is just way too much.”

Ikta complained while directing the soldiers who were pulling the cart. What was piled up like a mountain on the cart was not food nor ammunition but huge amounts of clothing.

“They actually told us to bring overcoats and gloves as soon as possible. Do you understand? The funny part is they are saying as soon as possible at this point. It can’t be the Lieutenant General didn’t know it was really cold on the mountains, what do you think, Suuya?”

“I don’t know how to respond to that question even if you were to ask me that… I can’t just can’t bear the thought of how our comrades on the frontline are suffering the cold.”

“Suuya your kindness rivals that of the virgin Mary. When you will be feeling cold I will warm you up with my body warmth.”

“In that situation please make a fire– well we have arrived.”

Suuya while dealing with the frivolous superior, told the troops they had reached the destination. At the foothill of the Grand Arfatra Mountains was established an supply relay station in addition to the multiple soldier camps, there was even a huge tent erected for the commander. After noticing the delivery of the goods, soldiers immediately came to check on the contents.

“Yeah, the third illumination training platoon has now arrived. The content of the cargo are large amounts of coats and gloves.”

“You have worked hard Warrant Officer. I will immediately confirm the contents.”

Ikta left alone the soldier who neatly started the checking and started to look around his surroundings. He immediately noticed something was out of place– The number of units waiting around because their superior was absent was incredibly high.

The feeling of something being out of place turned in an instant into nasty premonitions, making him feel like it would be best if he left as soon as possible– after reasoning this, Ikta turned to leave but the soldier who finished the checking hurriedly stopped him.

“I am terribly sorry, there is another matter….”

“…Isn’t the checking already over?”

“It’s not that, please go in that tent. The superior has called for you.”

Seeing the direction the soldier was pointing to, Ikta’s face clearly pulled down– the nasty premonition came true. Having said that, he couldn’t find any reason to escape and could only give up. Ikta shrugged and left the platoon, Suuya too nervously watched him leaving.

“Excuse me… Hn… Whoa…”

Just lifting the cloth covering the tent’s entrance made Ikta speak those words. The reason, inside the tent he though could only fit four to five people, right now was crammed with more than ten officers sitting side by side. Furthermore, they were all faces he knows, the other three members of order of knights, excluding Haro, were also present.

“You are Warrant Officer Ikta Sorlok right? Sit down over there.”

Hearing the order from someone wearing a Lieutenant cla.s.s badge, Ikta sat down after reaching the corner of the tent. Confirming all seats were now occupied, the male officer begun to talk about the topic.

“I am late in presentation; I am Lieutenant Amuuse Surkatta. I will be taking responsibility for managing your troops instead of Lieutenant Sazaruf who was dispatched the frontlines. Therefore, the order I am about to give is one from your direct superior, you have to remember this well.”

Since Lieutenant Sazaruf who was the instructor guiding the cadets was enlisted in the first wave of the punitive army and sent to the frontlines, Ikta and others who were sent from Central were left in a pending standby position, it was finally decided they would go under this Lieutenant Surkatta.

“Although you were already tasked to transport materials from the base, the next order is to transport materials from here to the next relay station. First take a look at the map previously distributed.”

The maps were distributed earlier and the only one who got the map now was Ikta alone. The youth after taking a look at the supply line shallowly cutting into the Grand Arfatra Mountains, gently sighted.

“The road to destination is as shown on the map. The goods you will be tasked to transport includes food, ammunition and clothing– They were the things you transported here so there’s no need to go too much into details. Do you have any questions?”

The bucktoothed Cosala from the group a.s.signed from Central raised his hand.

“That… it means, we too will be sent to the frontline?”

The confirming to the question came in a reproaching tone, but this was a sentiment shared between most of the High Grade Military Officer cadets.

–All these people are elite cadets! Shouldn’t you treat them with more care? Coming to the northern region was just a simple midway stage, to think they got us involved in such troublesome dispute!

Even without clearly stating so, their expressions showed that. Lieutenant Surkatta coughed once.

“…. It’s too exaggerated to say frontlines. The next relay point is just some place closer to the battlefield than here, the route to there is also guaranteed to be secured. The possibility of encountering enemy during the travel is presumably fairy low, but of course you still have to be careful.”

Lieutenant Surkatta finished answering with this and asked whether there were more questions. This time it was Yatori who raised her hand.

“Lieutenant, I don’t see medics division in here, may I ask where they went?”

This question was sprung from Haro’s absence. The Lieutenant answered this promptly too:

“They were sent to destination before you because we wanted to set up a field hospital as soon as possible.”

Yatori after nodding lowered her hand, however commotion spread among the others. Because from Lieutenant Surkatta’s words emerged the reality that injured unceasingly increased on the frontline. The atmosphere in the tent became heavier.

“Are there more questions? …if there aren’t I will now organize the transporting units into troops, it obliviously is my job to integrate the units of all present and unify into a central command. Good, as instructed go outside and mobilize the troops.”

The young officers asked to leave all harbored bitter expressions and their footsteps were especially heavy.

“…They actually pushed us out so quickly. Really, the frontline looks pretty miserable.”

Ikta whispered while slowly walking at the rearmost of the group.

Under almost the same circ.u.mstances of the first battle, for two more time Kanna fought the Shinaak tribe hiding in fortresses. Wherein the second battle they made the detachment split into two and attack on two fronts which resulted in ending without taking serious losses; However, they once again fell into the predicament of fighting uphill with a hail of bullets during the third battle.

“…Huff…. huff…. huff…. huff….”

Kanna dragged along her exhausted body that finally made it past the breakthrough which lasted half a day, in order to further advance in the invasion, they continued mountaineering. It was impossible to recover the stamina with just one hour of general resting, adding in the worsening weather, the soldier’s morale fell sharply.

–I did not expect my body was so tenacious.

Remaining unscathed after three battles, Kanna herself was taken aback. Maybe she was born to be on the battlefield? The fear in her heart that made her shrink during the first battle, was already half gone by the second, when the third battle came, she even understood how to not easily die.

“Well Yazan, you have to more consciously adjust your breathing. Inhale twice and exhale once, inhale~inhale~exhale~ this way. Because if you keep gasping for air you will feel even more tired.”

“Ye-Yes… I’m really sorry, Lance Corporal Kanna….”

The recruit, Private Yazan, managed to keep his life thanks to the many helps from her. Although Kanna inadvertently seemed to have become the one responsible for the care of Yazan, she herself was not bothered by it. After all she couldn’t just throw away this junior who was seemingly helpless, then the idea of simply take care of him from the beginning felt easier.

“You don’t need to apologize. While you indeed are dragging me down, however I also know you are truly putting all your efforts.”

Besides that, the reason to caring for another diverted Kanna from her thoughts. While fighting, people would naturally be terrified, even during the period they were marching people would be pestered by anxiety attacks. Maybe I won’t survive next time, maybe the enemy will jump out from behind the rock over there, and so on…

Being called ‘Lance corporal’ she was unaccustomed to, made Kanna recall the comrades in her squad who left the march because of the wounds they suffered. She worried about whether him, who had been shot in the abdomen, would be eligible to go get treatment in the rear.

On the other hand, precisely because that person left, the sentence ‘the one to take over my position will be Kanna Temari’ made Kanna a nominal Lance corporal. The thought of him naming herself to take over, increase her sense of responsibility even more.

“Halt! …. Spotted a fortress ahead!”

The soldiers in front warned. Hearing the word fortress, Kanna, who thought they had to fight for another time an enemy hiding inside, felt very frustrated, however the report of the scout who had gone to investigate betrayed her expectation.

“The presence of enemies could not be confirmed! There is n.o.body inside!”

The commander pondered for a moment by putting his hand on his chin which was pitch black because of the unshaven beard.

“We are at high ground, the position is good too… Very well let’s make use of this fort! The two platoon behind, follow me!”

Kanna and others who were called, after going to the observation point found there truly was an abandoned fortress. In the particularly prominent rocks in the surrounding seems to be dug trenches, it even had the s.p.a.ce to station more than one hundred soldiers.

“Here is the most suitable place to engage the enemy… good, let’s set up camp in here. But we can’t station the whole company here. Two platoons of air gunners, one platoon of illumination, and one platoon of medics should be enough.”

By the orders of the commander, the troops in front of the army started to be a.s.signed to the camp. The unit Kanna was in was also included, to tell the truth it made Kanna sigh in relief. Because this way she didn’t have to climb anymore.

“But, there seems….”

After observing the surrounding scenery from the scouting post, Kanna felt in her heart was an uneasiness she couldn’t grasp the gist of. Why was that? She thought. Here the field of view was great, almost 360°, regardless of which side the enemy would attack, they would be spotted immediately. And to be in a defensive position, the advantages of high ground was so oblivious it doesn’t even need to be explained.

“I will lead the remaining troops and continue marching. Without further instructions, you have to defend this fort with your lives!”

“”””””Yes,Sir！””””””

Kanna and others replied to the order with a conditioned like reflex response…however at this time, whether it was the one who gave the order nor those who received the order, n.o.body understood… the true intentions of the enemy who abandoned the fortress knowingly that it would be taken. And more importantly they didn’t understand the limitless burden an order like ‘with your lives’ carried.

Ikta and team departed from the foothill of the mountain toward the next supply relay station. However, after reaching there with the carriage, they found another development waiting for them.

“Oya~ the old transport troops were all dispatched. So sorry to ask this but can you transport this to the next relay station deeper in?”

“I heard the next front is lacking in blankets, we are really busy with our tasks to you guys deliver it in our stead.”

“These are the required supply of bullets and rapeseeds. Don’t show an aloof att.i.tude because you guys are elites, you should just all work!”

Just like that they suffered the same fate each time they delivered the goods. Lieutenant Surkatta’s order for the cadets to transport goods set the perfect precedent, the others thought ‘Well, if it’s like that then we too should make use of them’ and started dictating them around.

Even the right to command the cadets had transferred from Lieutenant Surkatta to the other commanders. Among the officers in the northern region, many hated the High Grade Military Officer cadets, therefore the ‘guest’ treatment they had before changed in a blink of eye, they fell down to the position of people doing ch.o.r.es.

“…So friends, this is how we got dragged into the mountain step by step by doing the delivery task forced upon us to and fro…. Although I don’t know where has the frontline been pushed to, but the area around here cannot be called rear anymore.”

Ikta murmured while biting on the thin toasted bread which was the staple food.

The time was now dusk of the evening. In the camp amid the valley you could see the wounded sent back from the frontline, as well as the medics taking care of them who were hurriedly running left and right.

Although this development to him was still within the range of estimation, however the past him, who was still at the rear, was dragged into this quagmire with speeds faster than antic.i.p.ated… The civil war had obliviously been going on for more than a month and half, yet no clear result came, which only made the soldiers’ anxiety and uneasiness grow further.

“Even with no achievements they should still prepare some countermeasure, like to exaggerate the reports of victories to maintain the morale… Don’t tell me Lieutenant General Safida couldn’t even take into account such small matter?”

While what Ikta said were only in words, if that really happened then it too would become something to be worried about, as he was thinking about is, he walked toward a tent with a basket in hand containing bread, tea and fruits. After closing in to the light leaking from fissure of the cloth covering the tent, one could hear the faint groan of injured coming from inside.

When he was just about to go in and greet, the curtain got lifted and a woman walked out. It was Haro with her medical ap.r.o.n deeply stained with the wounded’s blood. Once she saw Ikta, she took off the ap.r.o.n and revealed a stiff smile on her ashen face.

“Good evening, Ikta-san…. don’t tell me, that’s my dinner?”

“That’s right. Eating in the headquarters while hearing the higher-ups talk acrimony is unbearable, so I slipped out using the excuse delivering food to you. Let’s eat together, Haro.”

While talking Ikta lifted his hand and showed the basket. Haro softly smiled seemingly embarra.s.sed.

“Sure… but, look at my appearance, won’t this affect appet.i.te…?”

Haro asked while indicating to the uniform which still had traces of blood everywhere although she removed the ap.r.o.n. Just this was sufficient to figure out the reason of her poor complexion. As member of the medics’ division, Haro was exposed the harsh reality of the battlefield before anyone else in the order of knights.

However, Ikta totally did not care for such thing and with no change in expression, shrugged.

“It’s unfortunate that tonight’s menu does not includes tomatoes.”

“…Haha, is that so? Then let’s eat together.”

The two found an appropriate spot beneath the shade of a tree and sat there. Under the low light of Kusu’s Lantern which created shadows, Ikta and Haro begun eating the simple foods and started a conversation.

“The field hospital’s business seems to be booming, the soldiers sent from the frontline are only growing.”

“Yeah, I’m rushing off my feet. Furthermore, the inventory of bandages, splints and disinfectants are already bottoming out.”

“I thought so. Although we have been refilling them day and night, honestly we do not have enough manpower. Like even now Yatori is still making the horses run around, borrowing some of light spirits from my troops as light source to shine on the road.”

Ikta said so with a disapproving tone. Haro who was sipping her tea while talking, suddenly stiffened her face.

“……Ikta-san. After finishing dinner, I intend do a report to the higher-ups.”

“Yes, we need to propose to reduce this front’s field, while also send a part of injured back to the rear at once right?”

Ikta finished her sentence. Haro only blankly stared at him.

“You definitely need to propose that. I wanted to tell them that before coming, but then I though your words as a medic would be more persuasive so I restrained myself. The least we have to do is move the field hospital more into the rear…. specifically, it needs to be re-set at lower alt.i.tude.”

“…. Ikta-san, when did you notice it…?”

“I already expected this since Lieutenant General Safida announced we would invade into the Grand Arfatra Mountains, furthermore I just had to in the fact that lately many soldiers were sent back with no trauma at all… Although I warned them of the dangers before this started, however it seems even having talked so much nothing reached the top bra.s.s’ ears.”

Haro looked at Ikta who was unhappily scratching his head and felt once again she got a glimpse of this youth’s unfathomable strength.

In this kind of busy life that simply made people disoriented, how could he notice such tremendous amount of details in areas outside of his duties? Haro totally couldn’t comprehend how broad his perspective was.

Right then, sounds of hoofs stomping the ground came from behind. Noticing the sound Ikta lifted Kusu and its lamp on his head to send out signals, which made the incineration division’s leader at the front leave the troops and rode there on horse.

“I have just come back, were you two eating?”

“You have worked hard, Yatori. Your portion is in the basket as well, come back to eat after you leave the horse….”

“You guys sure looks to be enjoying yourselves.”

Ikta’s sentence was interrupted, with fatigued faces, Matthew and Torway walked there from the direction of the headquarters. Wherein the youth with a few extra pounds with embittered look, stared at the three.

“Especially you, Ikta! Don’t run away from the Captain’s nagging alone, put yourself in our shoes whom got told off with your portion as well!”

“That’s so regrettable, Matthew, I thought I could understand your feelings better than anyone else. Are we not best friends?”

“Did you know? Each time you speak of best friends, the meaning it represents diminish. Now the its value should be so light it could make balloons afloat huh?”

“The dinner earlier truly was bad for our stomach…. let’s drink tea together to clear our mouths.”

Everybody approved of Torway’s idea. However, just when Yatori was about to go leave the horse, panicked screams from the soldiers stationed at the front of the camp reverberated through the base. The person running at the forefront shouted with a sharp voice:

“Ene…Enemy attack! Someone, come help engage! Please!”

The field became noisy in an instant. Before their voices could be buried by the growing chaos, Ikta promptly shouted to the tent their troops were resting.

“Platoon Ikta! Platoon Matthew! Platoon Torway! Take up your arms and a.s.sume formation in front of the tents! Fast!”

The soldiers who have heard of the orders rushed out of the tent one after another, like the rollcall they previously had, they a.s.sumed formation in front of the tent. The three columns formed by the soldiers’ reflex condition were lead to their respective leaders following the light signals Ikta sent by waving Kusu around, and ran to the sides of the three. At the same time, Yatori too called over her cavalry unit.

“Yatorishino’s cavalry platoon will standby in situ! Wait for my instructions!”

Ikta handled the situation relying on the a.n.a.lytical skill he was born with, Yatori and Torway too started moving almost at the same time, Matthew and Haro were a breath later in keeping up. As reaction speed goes, their troops could be said to be exceptional.

“–Captain! Enemy attack, please give instructions!”

After rushing into the tent, Yatori immediately tried to get the orders from the superior inside. The fourth instructor who got the power to command them– Captain Nikafuma ran out of the tent and stared with livid face the front of the camp where reports of enemy attack were coming.

“How is this possible, hasn’t this area long been under our control… enemies… where are the enemies?”

“This is a night raid Captain, I’m afraid the enemy is attacking without using lights and it would be really difficult to identify them with naked eye.”

“Is… is that so… that makes sense… at the front of the camp are stationed the guarding troops, if we leave it to them…”

The field was set to be in a rectangular formation, the length from left to right was short side whist the long one was from front to rear; in order not to block the line of sight from front to rear, the tents were longitudinally aligned. In addition to that, the front also had a s.p.a.ce left for engaging battle, in such situation they had to pull up a defensive line and meet the enemy there.

“Then our troops will wait armed behind the engaging point. This way we could guard the sides from enemy a.s.saults, and at the same time be ready to support in case the front was to collapse, how does this sound?”

Ikta gave up on the competences of Captain Nikafuma and had made a specific proposal.

“Ugh…yeah, right, that’s good. No matter what don’t let them get close to the headquarters and the field hospital.”

“About that, what should we do regarding the field hospital? We have to take into consideration all scenarios…”

“That…that’s right, we must have them be prepared to quickly evacuate at given order…. You are Warrant Officer Haroma right? Good, go immediately to the field hospital and tell that to the person in charge.”

After nodding, Haro started to run. The others too looked like they didn’t have any more business with the Captain and returned to their troops. Next, they moved the soldiers as instructed, a.s.sumed battle formation behind the battlefield at the front of the camp and formed a second line of defense.

“I… I say, Ikta… although you said that earlier but is it really the best for us not to join the forces in fight? Isn’t it basic knowledge to converge forces?”

“It’s really chaotic at the front, if we were to merge our forces because we are in a hurry, then our troops would be affected too. Right now calmly overlooking the situation from behind is the smartest choice. Also if we were to join with allied forces, the command would be transferred to their captain as well.”

As they were more and more forced into dangerous situations, Ikta’s desire to keep the decisional and acting right and responsibility to himself increased as well. Matthew thought that was the key difference that separate him from normal people… Because generally in such situation you would want to push responsibilities onto someone else.

“Then Ikta, our temporary supreme commander is decided to be you huh?”

“It seems so. Although you too were an option, but if possible a cavalry such as yourself would want to be in charge of offensives right? Which is why you would be more suitable for that than me who prefers to move as little as possible.”

“Heck, I even displayed such hope on my face? I should also try to be more low profile.”

Seeing the two who were boldly smiling and joking around, with such talent in maintaining calmness right before facing enemies, made Matthew stare at them feeling incredulous. Even Torway felt like that.

As screams and roars coming from afar reached his ears, his hands gripping the air gun started to tremble. His emotions could not keep up with the rapid change of going from normality to war. Just the thought of how he was about to shoot at enemies made him unable to stop his feet. Although this was not the first time he has killed, the feeling of doing something irreparable had not changed.

Without waiting for them to be prepared, the battle moved to the next stage. In Ikta’s field of view a large amount of silhouettes seemed to be running back disorderly from the front. He widened his eyes in the darkness trying to identify them– those are not enemies but allies. Was their rear attacked when they returned from the supply mission? If so, then enemies should still be following from behind.

“Not good, the formation has scattered. From the look of it the enemies and allies from the back will mix in together”

Yatori, seeing the same scenery, commented. The next moment, Ikta turned and shouted to his troops.

“…. All infantry troops, equip bayonets!”

While they followed the order, on the face of the soldiers emerged a ‘has it finally come?’ face.

Air guns were fitted with bayonets while crossbows were embedded with short spears making preparation for a bayonet charge complete.

“Warrant Officer Torway, Warrant Officer Matthew, without orders the troops are not allowed to load ammo! In order to avoid hitting the retreating allied troops, it is forbidden to fire for now!”

In this case ‘ammo’ was a military slang, it indicated all types of long range projectiles–which mean it included crossbow arrows and wind mortar sh.e.l.ls. Although the air gunners paled up when their ‘advantage of distance’ was taken away, however they trusted their commanders would not leave this adverse matter alone.

“Illumination division of platoon Ikta, prepare for light strike! Set your partners on the cross bow and after coordinating with the orders fire the high beam at maximum brightness! After that start an all-out a.s.sault, aim for those few idiot units that rushed too much to the front and separated from group! Absolutely avoid hitting friendly units because you are too nervous!”

Ikta paused there for a moment and finally gave instructions to Yatori who was on the horse:

“Yatorishino’s cavalry platoon will maintain the position and take care of those who slips through the net! However, after the battle starts you will calculate the right timing and give orders to charge in and take care of the enemy in one fell swoop. After that deploy guerrilla tactics at the discretion of platoon leaders…That’s all!”

After finishing giving orders, Ikta once again faced the enemy while at the same time installed the short spear and Kusu on his crossbow. After adding the spirit’s weight made beam equipment lose efficiency in melee combat, however especially in night battles, the advantage of illuminating any direction at will is greater than everything. All troops were ready, the next was waiting for an opportunity. At that moment– Matthew throttled close to Ikta and while keeping his head down asked a question:

“…Ikta, I know it is shameful, but can I ask a question?”

“Matthew, my best friend, you can ask me whatever you want.”

Then the youth with slightly plump body swallowed the worthless feeling of asking such a question and opened his mouth:

“…What do I have to do to be able to keep being calm like you…?”

While Matthew was speaking, he had his thumb firmly pressed into the center of his palm, and was trying to get his body to stop trembling. A short distance away, the figure of Torway nervously pacing back and forth could also be seen.

Ikta, after seeing the condition of the two, stretched his arm around the neck of the slightly plump youth and with a low volume whispered into his ear:

“…. Let me tell you a story Matthew. Long, long ago, there were two generals.”

“…..?”

“One was a brave general, he always fought off enemies with a smile; the other was cowardly, he never fought a disadvantageous battle. At a certain banquet the cowardly general asked the courageous one: ‘What do I have to do to not fear war?’ hearing this question the brave general with no sarcasm, sincerely asked back: ‘I on the other hand really want you to tell how to be like you, how can you maintain calmness even in those h.e.l.lish situations?.’ the cowardly general could not answer– during the following war the courageous general fell to a nameless soldier.”

“………….”

“Directly facing your own cowardice, while also trying to improve. This time you are already calm enough, Matthew– You do not need to worry, you will stop trembling the moment the battle starts.”

Ikta convincingly a.s.serted so and patted on his shoulder– Matthew just silently nodded, perhaps he became relatively calmer, he then turned back to his own troops.

After moving away his gaze from the friend’s back, Ikta once again focused on the front. The soldiers fleeing pa.s.sed from their sides–

These were people from the army. However, just as Yatori has said, amid the battlefield it must already be in a state of chaotic mixture between allies and foes.

The soldiers who charged to the front of the camp in high spirit to fight the enemy got surprised and scared, they could not elaborate a decision to engage close quarter and ended up watching from the sidelines. Looking at that it would have been better if they just let them go through instead of staying in the middle like a sieve.

In other words, right now–being in front of the field hospital which was filled to the brim and the headquarters, the remaining defense was only their own units.

“…. Platoon Ikta, aim at the front with your partners.”

A particularly large group of people rushed to them. They could see enemies raising the Kukri blade reflecting the moonlight among people wearing military outfits. The youth forcefully sucked air into his lungs–and then…

“–Irradiate!”

Following the order dozens of light spirits released their high beam at maximum output. The darkness was dispersed by the yellow light, the people whose vision was blinded by the intense brightness naturally raised their hands to cover their eyes and stood in place. Grasping this golden opportunity where no matter allies or foes all were equally defenseless….

“Charge!”

The unleashed soldiers released a violent roar and fiercely struck at the immobile prey.

The short spears’ tip penetrated chests, the sharp edge of bayonets cut into necks. Three soldiers forming a group each cut down an enemy, then stepping on the dead enemies’ body they moved on to the next target.

Although the greatest advantage comes for a few seconds the light was cast, however as long as they were fighting in light, the effect of blurred vision will last for many minutes, taking advantage of this short time frame to take care of the enemy was a must. To archieve maximum efficiency, they had to form three man groups and push forward. The soldiers, while giving a pat on the shoulder of the friendly units running back, slashed the back of the enemies who happened to be nearby. This battle could not be called a fight anymore, it was a straight forward ma.s.sacre, there was no room for mercy.

“Lights off! …We managed to get through the first wave! Torway, Matthew reset and group back here!”

Ikta remained indifferent and with merciless words kept directing the effective killing. Of course he too partic.i.p.ated in battle, utilizing the time he used to ascertain the status of the battle, he dealt a fatal blow to the Shinaak warrior groaning at his feet by piercing through his eye socket with the short spear.

“P-Platoon Matthew, two lightly wounded, no damage to the main unit!”

“Platoon Torway, three lightly wounded, will not affect the operation!”

After the report of the two Platoon leader Ikta nodded while getting rid of the blood on his short spear.

“Good, well done… Our fleeing troops seems to have gotten behind us, you are now allowed to fire. I am afraid the next wave will be the enemy’s main unit, they may not fall for the same trick again, do not expect to be able to attack while they are under of inhibited vision.”

Thus Ikta had his subordinates a.s.sume formation for a light strike, Matthew and Torway too had their men fed bullets into their air guns.

However, when they had just put some distance, the enemy suddenly fired shots. The bullets swept at their sides making a chill run back at both of their spines.

The light strike of the illumination division also had its risks. The enemy was not a.s.suming line formation that could make up the accuracy with firing density, furthermore they were in total darkness and shooting randomly which was why in this case they wouldn’t just be hit by stray bullets. However, it would be another story after the light strike revealed the position of the troops. The enemy bullets would be concentrating in the direction source of the light and it would be impossible for the soldiers to fend it off.

“I will leave the front to you two– Suuya! We will use cross illumination! I will count on you for the left wing!”

“Yes, Sir!”

After separating into two groups, platoon Ikta ran left and right and a.s.sumed position behind the trees used as covers– The light strike did not necessarily have to be frontal, there were also uses such as aiming from a safe zone and striking with both sides.

“Irradiate!”

The beams from left and right exposed the figures of Shinaak warriors in a corner of the night. They obliviously fired back at the light sources, but Ikta and others already have taken cover behind the trees. Although the effect of hampering the vision was low, but under these circ.u.mstances it was not an issue. Because….

“”Fire!””

Matthew and Torway’s air gunner units, who were embattled right in front of the enemy, already grasped their position from Ikta’s earlier beams and proceeded to attack. Facing the uniform shooting from a rock solid formation, the enemies at the front collapsed one after another.

“Good, it’s time to clear things up– Go Yatori!”

Ikta started flashing the high beam to the rear to send signals, receiving the instruction the Yatorishino Igsem cavalry platoon charged forward as if they could hardly wait. They were separated into two groups and rendezvoused after pa.s.sing to the left and right of platoon Matthew and platoon Torway rearranging into neat columns in the short distance.

“Ready your swords! We first break through the middle to cut off the enemy then turn back and wipe them out!”

They too had a good grasp of the enemy’s position after the earlier cross illumination. To the enemy who had already suffered a major blow from the shootings of air gunners, the appearance of charging cavalry was the embodiment of despair.

The cavalry’s great speeds and ma.s.sive blows mercilessly ravaged them. The charging horses crushed bones, the short spears in the riders’ hand pierced torsos one after another.

Once there is an opportunity for cavalry units to get close, the enemy wouldn’t have any mean to stop their charge. By the stormy charge they were separated into two halves, their fate afterward was subjected to a pincer attack by the air guns shooting from the front and the cavalry from the back.

“Yeah, this is over.”

Ikta watching the scenery which was mostly settled up said so without showing emotions. Soon after once he saw the enemy could no longer form organized resistance, he joined up with the half team left previously in Suuya’s care and moved next to Torway and Matthew’s units and joined in shooting.

In the end, of the more than one hundred twenty people the enemy had, seven tenths died, two tenths escaped and the remaining one tenths were captured alive and became prisoners of war. Of the units commanded by Ikta who were at about the same numbers, although eight were wounded, however their injuries were all light.

Killing a hundred enemies while only getting eight injured. Even one were to consider in the factor of luck, but still this destructive power was way too abnormal. The black haired youth who produced such result barely mentioned his victory, but facing the soldiers looking at him with eyes full of expectation and reverence he casually said these words once:

“It was easier than expected right? If we get nasty jobs, we just have to get the knack of how to handle it.”

After the whole platoon was accommodated in the high ground base, Kanna spent several days is guarding shifts and transmitting orders, when she was free she also had to take care of Private Yazan whose physical condition quickly deteriorated to one that often made him feel unwell.

Of course they kept being vigilant but this time around the actual battles temporarily did not occur, her emotions were also left a bit of margin. Perhaps it was because of this– Kanna remembered the incredible youth she had only met twice before the war broke out.

“…I wonder how is that guy doing”

Kanna muttered so while she had the junior sit down at a corner of the camp while she wiped his face with her wet handkerchief. Probably because he heard her words, Private Yazan turned his pale face toward Kanna.

“…. Who are you referring to?”

“Huh? Ah… oh…. It’s just a person I know… He is a weird guy too, at our first meeting he suddenly started to call me his junior apprentice.”

A smile was brought back to her face when she recalled those memories. Private Yazan who stared blankly at Kanna’s actions, opened his mouth and asked:

“…. Lance Corporal Kanna, is there anyone you are interested in?”

This sudden question made Kanna stiffen, Private Yazan reflecting on his words shook his head.

“I apologize, that question was too abrupt. My brain feels groggy…but that… how to say….”

“….. How to say?”

“Because I feel like Lance Corporal Kanna you would be a great mother, compared to the army you are more suited to be in a family environment.”

Hearing this unexpected evaluation, Kanna turned her back to her junior in order to hide her