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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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Clatter, clatter, clatter.
Every time the wheels turned, my pelvis twisted. This was my first time riding in a carriage, and I never knew there could be a vehicle with a worse ride than a 5-ton truck.
I had naively expected some fantasy-like romance.
The passenger compartment was covered with cloth, blocking the view outside, and being tossed around with various supplies felt exactly like being treated as cargo.
‘This is too much…’
Our entire platoon consisted of only three people, including the platoon leader.
There was nothing we could do, as we were assigned to the leftover carriage after the other platoons were divided. Lumia and Belle seemed used to this treatment, showing no reaction.
As I was pointlessly passing the time during the journey, Lumia spoke to me.
“Second Lieutenant Enoch Levandal.”
“Yes.”
“Um… did you really use Fireball last time?”
“Of course. I just told Officer Debra that as well.”
Lumia’s violet eyes wavered slightly at my confident reply.
“Was it always like that when you used Fireball? I heard you have to be able to use all five basic elemental magic spells to graduate from the academy. How did you pass the officer exam?”
Was there such a setting? In Hearts of General, regardless of which faction you chose, you always started as a ‘Second Lieutenant’ five years before the war.
I couldn’t possibly remember the officer training curriculum of an academy that didn’t even exist in the game’s settings.
So I gave a slightly cold reply. It was better to draw a clear line in situations like this.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you that.”
“Ah.”
Lumia’s lips parted slightly. She hesitated for a moment, then lowered her head and apologized.
“I’m sorry, Second Lieutenant. That was a presumptuous question…”
“I understand your curiosity, but those weren’t exactly good memories. Isn’t it the same for Sergeant Lumia?”
Everyone had memories they didn’t want to talk about. It was the same for Lumia, sitting in front of me.
“…I spoke out of turn.”
I had once toured the unit and conducted individual interviews with each platoon member. Interviewing platoon members was a platoon leader’s main duty, after all.
Of course, excluding the freeloading man who hated interviews and the lady who wouldn’t be surprising to hear had died in her sleep.
So, it was just Lumia and Belle. Even those interviews were just cross-checking the information on their profile documents. Still, I had a general understanding of Lumia and Belle.
Lumia Blyue. Unexpectedly, she had been a promising mage sergeant before coming to this unit.
‘Her stats were quite good for a platoon member assigned at the beginning. It meant she was capable.’
The problem started with a certain ‘incident’ she experienced shortly after being transferred to this battalion.
Sergeant Lumia, could you tell me about this incident?
I’m sorry, Second Lieutenant.
Lumia drew a clear line. She always treated me with a kind and gentle attitude, despite her cold demeanor. But at that moment, her voice was the coldest I had ever heard. As if warning me not to cross the line.
‘Something definitely happened, but I have no idea what.’
Since she kept her mouth shut, I decided not to pry any further. An incident serious enough to ruin someone who had received an overwhelmingly positive evaluation in her performance review.
Lumia’s penalties, combat aversion and mental and physical weakness, were likely side effects of that experience.
However, since it had become a trauma that affected her daily life, forcing her to recall that memory wasn’t a good choice.
‘Persistently questioning her would only lead to unnecessary conflict.’
I had to endure for a year, whether I liked it or not. It wasn’t worth losing the little trust I had built with her over something like this.
Of course, Lumia hadn’t changed her attitude after that. She probably knew that I was being considerate to some extent.
“Well, I kind of expected it from the beginning,”
Belle said, stretching as she had been quietly listening to our conversation.
“Expected what?”
“You, Second Lieutenant. All the people who were in charge of our platoon so far were either strange or demoted.”
“…Sergeant Belle!?”
“Isn’t it true?”
Lumia immediately scolded her, but Belle just shrugged.
“But you’re better off, Second Lieutenant. The last one kept blaming us for everything, even though he was demoted because of his own mistakes.”
“Are you talking about the previous Platoon Leader?”
“Him, and…”
Belle wiggled her feet and held up four fingers.
“All four of them couldn’t last long, could they? Our platoon is surprisingly effective. Perfect for making demoted officers miserable and forcing them to retire.”
Although she said it casually, I could sense the sincerity in her words. Self-deprecation stemming from the thought that nothing would change no matter how hard she struggled.
“I like you, Second Lieutenant. I hope you stay with us for a long time.”
“What are you…!!”
“Did I say something too presumptuous?”
Belle Meyer’s gaze locked onto mine. Even though the carriage shook violently, her head remained fixed on me.
“No, I’m rather grateful. At least Sergeant Belle said she liked me, so you won’t stab me in the back.”
Once again, I had no intention of staying in this crappy platoon forever.
However, interacting with the platoon members was a different matter. Even now, I needed merits, and to achieve those merits, I needed to cooperate with my platoon members.
Even with my maxed-out stats, I was still just a mage officer.
I could handle ten bandits without any problems, but… twenty would be difficult. Thirty? I would have to run without looking back. And if even one incompetent mage was mixed in? Forget running, I would have to worry about my own life.
Hearts of General wasn’t designed for one-man armies. If that was my goal, I would have played an AOS or RPG, not a hardcore strategy simulation game.
War. Thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of troops clashing, pushing and pulling at the border lines.
Capturing and recapturing capitals, continuing offensives, setting up defenses, engaging in delaying tactics, and ruthlessly sacrificing hundreds of soldiers as bait to achieve strategic objectives—that was the main goal of the game.
A one-man show was impossible. The premise itself was set up that way.
And in the midst of all this, I had become a half-baked mage officer who couldn’t even use magic properly.
To utilize my overpowered maxed-out stats, I needed subordinates who would at least follow my orders. Even if they were considered ‘useless.’
“Just trust and follow me. I don’t care what kind of past you have.”
“Second Lieutenant…”
“Aren’t we ‘comrades’ in the same boat?”
The moment I said those words, I felt a warmth rising from my chest.
‘Awesome!! So cool!!’
Even I thought it was a cool line. Though it essentially meant,
“Follow my orders.”
How you phrased things changed how people perceived them.
But Belle Meyer herself remained silent. An awkward silence fell over the carriage.
“…”
“…”
Hmm, was it too much? I just wanted us to work together, but did my meaning not get across?
“Um, Sergeant Belle Meyer, what I meant…”
Just as I was about to add something,
Clatter, clatter, clatter, screech!
The carriage shook a couple of times and then stopped. I turned my head towards the driver’s seat and saw a long stretch of fences.
“Thank you for your patience in the supply carriage! We’re here!”
The young soldier acting as the driver said in a cheerful voice.
The 18th Infantry Regiment of the 8th Division, Northern Corps.
After three hours of travel, we arrived at the border patrol unit stationed in the northeast of the Ukraine Principality.
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“Activate.”
As Belle Meyer waved her hand, the tent fabric rose high into the air. It was already her fourth year in the military.
Having participated in numerous operations, setting up a field tent was easier than using basic elemental magic.
After setting up the tent perfectly in a matter of seconds, Belle crawled inside and started organizing her bedding.
“Night Dewdrop.”
With a light incantation, a magic circle imbued with blue mana unfolded, showering tiny water droplets.
It was a spell that simply liquefied moisture in the air and scattered it on the ground like dew.
Even though it was a spell that didn’t even qualify as basic water elemental magic, it was incredibly useful for clearing the dry dust that filled the air.
“Your skin gets damaged if you’re covered in dust.”
She was a soldier, but she was also a woman. While getting dirt on herself was unavoidable, it was natural to want to avoid it as much as possible.
“Ah! You’ve already set it up?”
Just then, Lumia entered the tent. While they addressed each other formally in the presence of the Second Lieutenant, they usually called each other casually like this.
Belle was two years older, but they held the same rank.
“Lumia, what… do you think?”
“About what?”
“About our Second Lieutenant.”
It was a question loaded with meaning. Lumia thought for a moment before answering,
“He’s different.”
“Right?”
“But maybe that’s because he just came from the academy… we’ve never had a Platoon Leader come straight from the academy before.”
“I guess that’s why…”
To be honest, she didn’t trust him. No, she still didn’t trust him. Most officers were like that.
Company Commander Ardent was an exemplary officer who could be trusted and followed as a subordinate, but he was intentionally neglecting the 5th Platoon. He saw them as people who would leave soon.
Since their platoon was known as the trash can and the graveyard of officers in the entire battalion…
There was no reason for him to improve their situation. He only took measures to prevent them from causing trouble.
“I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“We don’t know his capabilities yet. He might just be all talk.”
She didn’t want to get hurt anymore. She hated being betrayed after giving her trust. She’d rather they just looked at her with disdain and disappeared.
Lumia and Belle felt the same.
They were past the stage of expressing their anger at others. It had been that way ever since they realized that nothing would change, no matter what they did.
Useless platoon members of a useless platoon. They would just live like that and be discharged without anyone noticing.
The bright future they had briefly dreamed of as mages when they first enlisted would fade away without ever blossoming.
In the hearts of these two soldiers, whose only hope and goal was to leave unnoticed…
A warm sunlight, somewhat different from before, began to shine.
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