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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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The humid, sticky, and unpleasant summer season was over. During that time, the 8th Assault Magic Infantry Battalion had undergone quite a remarkable change.
Among them, the most representative was the change in the soldiers’ daily attire. A stark contrast to the drab, yellowish-brown combat uniforms, they now wore a bright red uniform that could be seen from afar.
A pair of eagle wings were embroidered on the chest, and they wore octagonal caps. With the word ‘AIRBORNE’ written in capital letters, their presence was nothing short of that of those who had just returned from hell.
Sergeant Rick Hanson felt his chest swell with pride as he looked at his reflection in the mirror. It was an idea conceived by the Deputy Battalion Commander to boost the morale of the personnel and to completely crush the spirit of the new recruits.
As expected of the monster officer who had snatched the position of deputy battalion commander in just a few months, he was indeed a man of extraordinary intellect. Who could possibly walk around with slumped shoulders wearing this uniform?
Even Eric, his fellow administrative soldier who always stuck his neck out like a turtle, was now holding his head high and scribbling with a quill. The administrative man in red. It was the first time he had seen a person change so much just by changing their clothes.
The new recruits who would see them for the first time would probably be at a loss.
As Rick Hanson was basking in his own glory…
“Sergeant Rick? The Company Commander wants to see you.”
“Ah, right.”
At the call of his subordinate, Rick pulled his red cap down and walked out of the barracks with a sharp stride. In front of the barracks where the 1st Company members lived, men dressed in red, just like him, were gathered.
They were the non-commissioned officers and soldiers who would be in charge of the first batch of recruits’ parachute training and combat education.
“All present, including Sergeant Rick Hanson.”
“Alright, we’re the last. The other companies are already having fun pushing the new recruits around in the training ground. Our comrades are arriving soon, so we should get a move on.”
Lieutenant Nikolai Hilbert, Rick Hanson’s immediate superior and commander of the 1st Company, said. He wasn’t wearing red like Rick, but was dressed in black from head to toe.
If they were the training instructors, then Lieutenant Nikolai Hilbert was the training commander. The red uniform, like the sun, was undoubtedly cool, but all black was all black.
The intimidating aura he exuded was no joke. Although he was their company commander and they saw him often, now, from his expression to his posture, he felt like a completely different person.
“Listen up, everyone. Our mission is to make them perfect members of the 8th Assault Magic Infantry Battalion. The moment those new recruits die helplessly in battle, it will be our responsibility. Understand?”
“Yes, sir!!”
“Then, 1st Company, forward march!!”
At Nikolai’s command, the wave of red devils, lined up in two rows, began to slowly move forward.
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“What on earth is there in a backwater town like this?”
“That’s a tavern… and that’s an inn… and that’s a restaurant… and that’s a card game hall…?”
“What, they have everything?”
“But where are the barracks? I don’t see them.”
Stout Village, almost attached to the 8th Assault Magic Infantry Battalion barracks. A group of dozens of soldiers, with tattered bags on their backs, were looking around like meerkats where a pile of carriages had just passed.
They had definitely applied to the Central Army, or to be precise, the Special Operations Brigade, a direct subordinate unit of the Duke. But why were they dropped in this backwater town, with nothing but a small village and fields in sight?
Even when they asked the carriage driver who had transported them here, he just shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t know. There was nothing they could figure out.
“Hey, hey, the girls here are pretty, though. I keep making eye contact with them… She’s trying to seduce me, right? Huh?”
“You idiot, does that look like a seductive gaze to you? She’s looking at you with… pity.”
“You felt that too? Me too.”
But putting aside the fact that they had been dropped in a rural area without any connections, a strange atmosphere filled this village. The more perceptive soldiers sensed that something was wrong… but it was already too late to turn back.
“Where are you from?”
“The Northwest. I heard you could get promoted if you came here.”
“James… Sergeant? You were a non-commissioned officer?”
“Yeah. I’ve been stuck as a sergeant for about 3 years. You can speak comfortably. We’re all going to be living together now─.”
“Wait a minute, what the hell is that?”
At someone’s shout, everyone’s heads turned in unison. A red army was marching down the straight road of the village.
The faces of the boisterous soldiers instantly hardened like stone. The red army advanced quickly and surrounded the soldiers in the blink of an eye. There were about twenty of them.
“Wh-What… who are you guys!”
“From now on, all your answers will be in the formal ‘da-na-kka’ form. Understand?”
“Huh? What are you talking about…”
The soldier who had been acting tough a moment ago glared and approached the man in black at the front.
And.
Thud!
His head was slammed to the ground.
“Guh…!!”
It wasn’t magic. He was a rather big soldier, but he was tripped, spun in the air, and rolled on the ground. And not only that, but with a light flick of a finger, the fallen soldier couldn’t even get up from the ground and could only struggle.
High-level Yellow magic, Ground Statue. A spell that hardened the part of the body touching the ground. The soldier, who had charged fearlessly, was easily subdued.
“M-Mage.”
“Was he a soldier??”
“Greetings, gentlemen. I am the fairy of hell training. The time limit is 24 hours. Good luck.”
“Run, you fucking bastards!!!”
The roars of the men in red uniforms pounded their eardrums, and they, who had fallen into a panic, threw their bags to the ground and began to run frantically into the village.
“You’re an exception. A fool who acts up without even knowing who their opponent is needs more rigorous training.”
Nikolai Hilbert said, looking at the soldier who had been slammed to the ground. A faint devilish smile appeared on his face. The soldier had a premonition that he had finally arrived in hell.
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“Aren’t you going to move faster!!”
“You bastards! My grandmother could run faster than that!!”
“Sir!! I’m sorry!!!”
The 2nd Company was on their tenth lap around the training ground.
“You, you’re an exception! PT 8, 15 reps!”
“Ye-Yes, sir!!”
“How many reps?”
“15 reps!!”
“Your voice is too quiet. Again, PT 8, 20 reps!”
“Yes, sirrr!!!”
The 3rd Company was doing the dreaded PT, lying on the ground.
“Ah… This is called ‘Battlefield Circulation Exercise.’ It’s the Deputy Battalion Commander’s special sauce to turn you into combat machines.”
The 1st Company was getting a taste of all sorts of bizarre physical training, such as running with ammo cans, bear crawls, and tire running.
It didn’t take long for the barracks grounds, which had been quiet for several weeks, to be filled with groans of pain and angry shouts.
The first day of the highly anticipated training. Indeed, the best part of endurance training was being pushed to the limit as soon as you arrived. I was looking down at the training ground in real time from the watchtower near the hangar.
“……Is this, the right way?”
“Of course, Lumia. Didn’t it feel a little different when you tried it yourself, Second Lieutenant?”
“Th-That’s true, but…”
My adjutant, Lumia, added in a worried voice. The so-called Enoch Levandal Special Course. A training course to transform clueless fledglings into elite airborne troops who could glide through the high skies. Anyway, I had been commissioned at the age of twenty-four and had served in the military until I was thirty-two.
I had been to such training centers before and had experienced how such training was conducted. Besides, the curriculum of the Ukrainian training center was utter garbage.
No, even though basic drills were still a part of modern training, teaching even how to shoot a gun with drills was just ridiculous. Ukraine’s military training had not yet escaped the doctrine of the line infantry era.
I didn’t think other countries were much different at this point, but… at least since the Soviet Empire was set as the primary enemy, this outdated doctrine had to be erased from the minds of all soldiers.
Soon, the machine gun would begin to appear across the ocean. At this rate, they would be nothing but living targets.
“Are you doing well?”
“Ah, glory to the Motherland.”
As I saluted, Chief of Staff Joseph lightly returned it and added, “The staff office guys are going crazy. They want to push the kids around too.”
“It’s a shame, but it can’t be helped.”
“So I just told them to be grateful for the instructor uniforms.”
Joseph chuckled. The staff office he led was a support unit. There was nothing more inefficient than having support unit personnel train combat units. If they were so unhappy, they should have come to a combat unit, right?
Besides, I knew that the staff office had been working overtime for days, overhauling all sorts of systems, including the reporting system. If I were to ask them to conduct training on top of that, I would have to report them to the Ministry of Employment and Labor.
Of course, the Ministry of Employment and Labor didn’t exist in this world. Even if I could push them to their limits, why bother? I was the deputy battalion commander, not some slave farm owner.
“Anyway, we’ve condensed it into a tight 2-month course, so we expect to be fully staffed by the time the weather gets really cold.”
Joseph nodded at my words.
“I hope the combat team doesn’t get a mission before then.”
“I agree. I’d prefer it if it were after November…”
Parachute training couldn’t be done in just one or two sessions. The battalion members themselves had jumped up to six times a day, so once their basic stamina was established, we were planning to have the troops jump every day.
“Now that you don’t have to be a mage to jump, that is.”
“The initial batch of tests are all complete, so now we just have to mass-produce them.”
“We can only hope that the technology research department and the armory do a good job.”
“Well, I’m sure they’ll do well. And now it’s time for the new recruits to realize why they’re rolling around.”
I rang the bell installed on the watchtower. The loud metal sound echoed throughout the training ground, and the troops, who were in the middle of training, all turned their heads towards me.
There were no microphones or speakers yet, but there was no need to speak. The airship that had risen behind me took off, and its huge shadow cast over the training ground. Although they were far away, I could see that the new recruits’ faces were all filled with astonishment.
“Lumia, the signal.”
“Yes, sir!”
At my command, Lumia vigorously waved the flag she had stuck in her pocket. The rear door of the airship slowly opened, and the parachute experts I had handpicked jumped into the air without a moment’s hesitation.
Watch carefully, you rookies. This is what you’ll be doing from now on.
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