Ch.214Episode 11 – All Quiet on the Northern Front.

# A group of students in academy uniforms appeared at the military base.

At first glance, there’s nothing particularly strange about this.

The Department of Defense in this area maintains relationships with various academies, and some academies periodically send students to their sister military units. There are even occasional dispatches from the magic department.

However, this is the northern region of the Kiyen Empire where conflicts are occurring, and this isn’t just any military base—it’s an area where elite units defending the Rift are stationed.

In other words, this is an area that even ordinary soldiers cannot easily access.

So who on earth are these students in academy uniforms?

“…No matter how I look at it, those are definitely academy uniforms.”

“Isn’t an academy similar to a high school?”

“That’s right. If we’re being precise, it’s more like a combination of middle and high school…”

“But why are students here?”

That’s exactly what I’m wondering.

Camilla and I crouched in a crevice between rocks, observing below. The rugged mountain terrain with numerous rock faces provided plenty of hiding spots.

Camilla, with both hands on the rock and just her eyes peeking out, muttered:

“Something unusual seems to be happening. I think we should investigate?”

“…Wouldn’t most people suggest running away in situations like this? Your priorities seem backward.”

Anyway.

Camilla’s words aren’t entirely wrong.

Something suspicious is indeed happening, and it does need investigation. The only difference is that the person who should be investigating isn’t Camilla, a civilian, but me, an intelligence officer.

“We should look into this. Let’s go down.”

“What? Don’t we need to keep watching from here?”

“That’s not necessary.”

Through my binoculars, I gazed at the purple-haired woman occasionally visible through the mist.

“Intelligence officers don’t do legwork, you know.”

## Episode 11 – All Quiet on the Northern Front

We headed straight down the mountain path.

However, we needed to take a slight detour to avoid leaving footprints in the accumulated snow.

We stepped on moss-covered rocks and crossed gravel beds along the waterways. I led Camilla downward, erasing our traces as much as possible.

After taking the long way around, we arrived at a military base near the Rift.

“Is this the right place?”

“I saw them moving this way. If they didn’t slip away somewhere, they should definitely be here.”

Fortunately, that assumption was correct.

As soon as we entered the military base with Senior Lyudmila leading the way for identification and translation purposes, we encountered Francesca.

“Administrator!”

“Ah, Officer.”

Francesca was pacing along the road inside the military base. Of course, it wasn’t a paved road but a dirt one, where melted snow had turned into muddy slush, yet not a speck of dust clung to Francesca’s shoes.

After briefly surveying the surroundings, I approached Francesca and whispered quietly:

“You mentioned earlier that you were escorting someone. Were those the kids in uniforms?”

“So you knew.”

Francesca’s eyes narrowed. The mischievous smile playing on her lips was an added bonus.

“Spying on others is a bad habit… but since it’s you, Officer, I’ll let it slide. Yes, I was just escorting academy students.”

Another correct guess.

I asked Senior Lyudmila and the soldiers to give us some space, saying we needed to talk.

Of course, they wouldn’t let a foreign military officer wander freely around a base protecting critical facilities, so Senior Lyudmila and the soldiers moved just far enough away that they couldn’t hear our conversation.

Once the uninvited guests had stepped back, Camilla trotted over to join the conversation.

I relayed what I’d just heard to her, and after understanding the situation, Camilla posed a question to Francesca.

“Students are here? But this is an important facility, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Hard to believe, but it’s true, Hero.”

“What on earth are they here for?”

“Well…”

Francesca let out a thoughtful hum. She closed her eyes and tilted her head slightly, pondering for a moment.

But the silence didn’t last long.

“It would be too lengthy and complicated to explain fully… but to summarize, I can tell you they’re here to work.”

“Work?”

Francesca nodded.

Without losing her smile, she gestured toward a building and said to us:

“Rather than me explaining, it would be better for you to see for yourselves. Follow me.”

*

The place Francesca guided us to was a barracks within the base. She explained that she had escorted the students here, and this would be where they would stay from now on.

This wasn’t a decision she had made.

“I didn’t do this because I wanted to. But since the base commander made an official request, I decided to help.”

Francesca continued speaking with a calm expression.

“As you know, the Rift is one of the most important facilities in the Empire. Although I volunteered to help with matters here, the Military Government Command didn’t disclose information about the Rift. I could only get proper explanations after arriving here.”

“It’s more secretive than I thought.”

“It can’t be helped. Anyway, following the base commander’s request, I’ve been assigned several duties including guarding the Rift and repairing facilities. And one of those duties is…”

“Supervising the students?”

The corners of Francesca’s mouth curled up slightly.

“‘Supervising’ sounds too grand… let’s just call it guiding them.”

Francesca, who had been leading the way, flung the door open forcefully.

A corridor stretched out before us.

The barracks, designed to accommodate large numbers of people, extended in a straight line, and naturally the interior corridor also had a linear structure, with people lined up on both sides along the corridor.

It was a scene commonly found in training centers, but ironically, this wasn’t a training center, and the people standing in the corridor weren’t wearing military uniforms but colorful academy uniforms.

The sight reminded me of students on a retreat.

However, what was absurd was that this place was managed by the Empire’s Department of Defense.

“What the…”

“These are the children who will eat, sleep, and work here from now on. To be precise, they’re workers.”

Francesca’s eyes scanned the academy students standing in the corridor.

Fidgeting bodies, restless arms and legs, tense shoulders, and stiff expressions—all signs of extreme nervousness.

The Administrative Officer of the Magic Tower Secretariat and alchemist began speaking while looking at students much younger than herself.

“These are students recruited from academies in the north. They’re mainly composed of magic department students, but I heard there are also children who dreamed of becoming knights or those who were honing technical skills from other departments.”

“…So.”

I pointed at the students.

“They’re going to be soldiers now?”

I looked over the students lined up in the corridor. Some children looked like they had just become adults, either due to rapid growth or having been held back a year, but some truly looked like actual students.

What kind of work could they possibly do with such young ones?

Camilla seemed to share my thoughts as she stared blankly at the children.

But Francesca seemed to think differently. She shook her head.

“Not soldiers, but workers. From now on, these children will be responsible for chores like cleaning the cafeteria, preparing meals, doing laundry, and other miscellaneous tasks. And some of them will enter the Rift.”

“…The Rift?”

Why is the Rift suddenly being mentioned here?

Just as I was wondering about this, Francesca spoke first.

“I don’t know much either, but… according to the base’s explanation, there’s a severe shortage of laborers. They’re bringing in these children because they’ve lost too much manpower and are struggling to meet the demand for mana stones.”

“There’s a shortage of workers?”

“Yes.”

Francesca nodded. Leaning slightly against the wall, she crossed her arms and began explaining in a murmuring voice.

“Originally, the northern Rift had many skilled workers. They were technically proficient and highly capable. According to a survey of the mana stone market conducted by the Secretariat’s Economic Management Department, that was the case. But that’s ancient history now.”

“Why?”

“Because this is in the middle of a war zone.”

The northern Rifts had shown excellent performance until conflicts broke out.

They consistently mined high-quality mana stones sufficient to satisfy the domestic market of the vast Empire, and even exported some quantities, earning substantial foreign currency.

Companies involved in magic-related businesses would do anything to get a piece of the Rift action, and many people competed fiercely for the opportunity to work at the Rift, attracted by high salaries and the government’s northern settlement support policies.

However, the situation changed when the demon race pushed southward.

“I hear there’s a severe shortage of people willing to work at the Rift. With martial law declared, there’s no way to come north, and in wartime, who would leave their families behind to climb up to this rugged mountain valley to work… Even the skilled workers who were here have largely disappeared due to industrial accidents or attacks.”

“Does that make any sense? With so many people starving… if you offered rations, wouldn’t plenty of people come?”

“That’s logical thinking.”

Francesca nodded. With a slightly sardonic smile, she continued:

“But even renowned scholars can’t predict human psychology, can they? When even economics PhDs regularly lose money on stocks, how can we understand the minds of people struggling to survive in isolation?”

Wiping away her mocking smile and returning to a calm expression, Francesca shrugged her shoulders as if to say it was out of her hands.

“Besides, you shouldn’t be asking me about this, but the Military Government Command. What power do I have to orchestrate something like this?”

“You’re right. I didn’t mean to interrogate you.”

“I understand.”

After taking a small deep breath, I slowly looked around.

The students who had been standing inside the barracks were now crouched in the corridor, busily scribbling something, and soldiers in military uniforms were collecting papers handed to them by the students. Judging by the gloomy expressions on both sides, neither group seemed to be doing this willingly.

“Anyway… once they’ve decided to normalize the Rift operations, the military’s position is that they need people to work there immediately, whether they’re elderly or students. At least until they can gather workers from other regions, they want to mine mana stones as efficiently as possible. You can guess the reason, can’t you?”

“…Roughly.”

The reason the Military Government Command is pushing even students into the Rift to accelerate mana stone mining is probably due to the offensive planned for March.

Given that the Empire’s Department of Defense has announced its intention to launch an offensive by March to reclaim territories occupied by the demon race, the Military Government Command likely had no other choice. So they’re resorting to this kind of measure.

“…”

As I was looking around the barracks with a complicated expression, Camilla, who had been quietly listening beside me, suddenly interjected:

“But why specifically students? Whether it’s strength, knowledge, or know-how, wouldn’t it be more efficient to gather able-bodied adults as workers rather than young students?”

“In normal cases, Camilla would be right. But for the Rift, bringing academy students makes more sense than random people.”

“…Why?”

“Only people with high mana compatibility can enter the Rift.”

I began explaining about the Rift to Camilla, who was giving me a puzzled look.

“The Rift is formed when underground spaces filled with mana are exposed to the outside. It’s like a magma chamber erupting to the surface, if we compare it to a volcano.”

“Hmm…”

“But think about it. Would high-concentration mana that has been accumulating underground for a thousand years become safe just because it’s been exposed to the outside for a few decades?”

The Rift is a place where mana that has accumulated underground for thousands of years is concentrated. It’s like a spirit bomb that has been gathering energy for thousands of years—would it really change much after releasing mana to the outside for just a few hundred or dozens of years?

“Newly formed Rifts maintain an extremely unstable state. Explosions can change the terrain, and the released mana alters the ecosystem. Even Rifts that have entered a stabilization phase after their half-life are still dangerous.”

“I don’t quite understand…”

“Think of it like a nuclear accident. Just because it’s been 30 years since the Chernobyl disaster doesn’t mean people can go in and live there, right? They might be able to tour it, but that’s about it.”

“Ah, now I understand.”

“Of course, the northern Rift isn’t as dangerous as Chernobyl… but it’s not a place ordinary people should approach closely. Though it only becomes dangerous when you get very close.”

That’s why magicians are needed.

Magicians with high mana compatibility or knights who can strengthen their bodies with mana are safe even when exposed to powerful mana. The same applies to the Rift.

Excellent magicians and knights can safely enter the center of the Rift, at least for a short time. Following the industrial accident prevention guidelines set by the Magic Department, they can enter the Rift and retrieve mana stones as long as they strictly adhere to appropriate rest and work hours.

The problem is that it’s difficult to find personnel who meet these conditions.

Of course, ordinary people can enter the Rift if they wear protective gear, but…

“With difficulties even transporting military supplies, they can’t easily bring in protective gear. The road conditions are quite poor.”

“That’s why I personally refurbished the railway, isn’t it? I plan to repair all the roads by the end of January, so by then, those children won’t need to be here anymore.”

End of January. Since it’s December now, that means they’ll have to work at the Rift for about a month.

The Rift is a nationally important facility, and aside from the inherent dangers of the Rift itself, it’s a high-value target that could be attacked by the demon race at any time. However, this is a relatively rear area, far from the Naroda Mountains, which is the front line.

I can’t say it’s not dangerous at all, but it’s not a place where they absolutely cannot stay, well, something like that.

“Sigh…”

Still, Francesca’s words aren’t entirely wrong.

Something concerning is indeed happening, and it does need investigation. The only difference is that the person who should be investigating isn’t Camilla, a civilian, but me, an intelligence officer.

Various options swirled in my mind, but I soon dismissed them with a shake of my head.

This was something I couldn’t do anything about even if I worried, so I decided to just turn off my concern. Worrying unnecessarily would only give me a headache.

Looking around the crowded barracks, I addressed Francesca:

“Anyway, I hope nothing goes wrong. Will you continue to escort the children from now on?”

“Well, the base will handle most of it, so I don’t think I’ll need to pay much attention. Still, I should refurbish the facilities where the children will stay. Once the fog lifts, I’ll bring people in, so it should be done quickly.”

“I see. Please take care of it…”

“By the way.”

Camilla, who had been scratching her cheek with her finger, suddenly spoke up.

“You mentioned earlier that many skilled workers died from industrial accidents and combat, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct, Hero.”

“Then that means there have been multiple battles here. How could they possibly reach a place with tanks…”

“Ah, that?”

Francesca tilted her head slightly.

“I don’t know the exact details, but I heard that demons have reached this place before. It was a small force, but they couldn’t be stopped in advance, resulting in significant damage. Since then, I understand that security has been strengthened by stationing division-level forces below the mountains.”

“That’s a relief then. There shouldn’t be any other problems, right?”

“Other problems… there is one thing that comes to mind.”

“What is it?”

Francesca blurted out:

“Monsters.”

*

Francesca’s explanation was brief and concise.

“I heard there are monsters near the Rift. More precisely, monsters living in the mountains surrounding the basin where the Rift was formed.”

Camilla looked at Francesca with incredulous eyes. I was equally baffled and couldn’t keep my mouth shut.

“There are monsters in the mountains? What kind of nonsense is that? With so many soldiers stationed in the north.”

Monsters are typically found everywhere.

While they don’t roam freely like in uninhabited areas, monsters inhabiting within national borders is common in any country. Even in the Kingdom of Abas, monsters are occasionally discovered in rear areas, making the 9 o’clock news.

Of course, most are minor monsters causing slight damage like crop or livestock losses, and they’re periodically eliminated by adventurers hired for outsourcing, or if nests or colonies are found, the military is brought in to burn them out, preventing major damage.

This isn’t due to administrative gaps or government incompetence.

How could one possibly prevent every small monster from crossing borders? Large monsters might be a different story.

Just as spiders occasionally appear in homes every few months, monsters appearing in rear areas is a minor, occasional happening.

But that’s something that happens in regions that aren’t particularly monitored.

In areas with important facilities like the Rift, such incidents absolutely should not occur. Yet suddenly there are monsters?

“Doesn’t this make no sense? If the Imperial Army had decided to eliminate them, they would have eradicated monsters long ago.”

“…”

“In fact, the Rift has existed for over a hundred years, so I can’t understand why they haven’t been eliminated…”

Francesca interrupted me. She retorted with a slightly curt tone:

“How would I know that, Officer? I’m neither a soldier nor a biologist.”

“…Well, that’s true.”

“Whether they migrated from somewhere or whether overlooked ones have reproduced. Since the monsters were reportedly sighted less than a week ago, there hasn’t been time for elimination. And no major problems have occurred yet.”

“…”

“But sufficient precautions have been taken, so there shouldn’t be any issues. No matter how formidable monsters might be, they’re still just monsters. Could they withstand the soldiers stationed below the mountains if they pushed up?”

Right. The Imperial Army isn’t stupid; surely they can handle a few monsters. If it were truly serious, they would have called in magicians or taken other measures.

I stuck my hands in my pockets and turned to leave. I had seen enough of the situation here and needed to organize my report for later.

As I was about to leave the barracks with Camilla and Francesca:

“Company Commander! Company Commander!”

“…?”

Suddenly, a soldier rushed in, frantically looking for the company commander.

This alone wasn’t unusual, but the soldier’s voice was very urgent, and his face had turned pale.

I watched with indifferent eyes as the soldier grabbed the company commander and whispered something.

“What’s wrong? Aren’t we going?”

“…No, let’s wait a moment.”

“What’s the matter?”

“I have a bad feeling about this.”

It was hard to express in words, but you know that feeling you get? Like today things will either go really well or terribly wrong.

This situation felt exactly like that.

I had a bad feeling.

“Something always goes wrong at times like this…”

As I muttered to myself, I could feel Camilla and Francesca’s suspicious gazes on the back of my head.

But I kept my eyes fixed on the Imperial Army company commander receiving the soldier’s report.

Sure enough, the company commander’s expression darkened rapidly.

With a grim face, the commander gave instructions to the soldier, and the same soldier who had rushed into the barracks earlier now ran out at full speed.

Then the company commander called over officers from among the soldiers who had been collecting papers and began whispering to them.

At this point, I sensed that something had happened.

“…Camilla, Francesca. Let’s get out of here right now. And stay somewhere safe.”

“What? Why so suddenly…?”

“Don’t ask questions, just head to the deepest part of the base, whether it’s a bunker or headquarters…”

-Bang!

At that moment, my head whipped around. It was an instinctive movement.

As my gaze turned toward the direction of the gunshot, Camilla and Francesca, who had been looking at me with puzzled expressions, turned pale.

The students were startled by the sudden loud noise but merely looked at each other, unable to easily identify the source of the sound. In contrast, the soldiers’ expressions hardened, as if they had sensed something.

Camilla’s lips moved. With a slight delay, her voice emerged, tinged with anxiety:

“Just now…”

“It sounded like a gunshot…”

“Did we hear wrong?”

But the world, as it always does, betrayed our hopes.

-Ratatatatata! Ratatatatata!

A series of intense sounds followed. Unmistakable gunfire.

The familiar sound of rapid-fire bursts. Instinctively, I recognized it as the distinctive firing sound of the Imperial Army’s standard rifle.

Suddenly, my hand went into my inner pocket.

I felt the curve of the cold trigger under my fingertips.

In the barracks that had fallen into a chilling silence, a weak murmur echoed:

“…This is why I should have taken a desk job.”