Chapter 9 : Glory of Victory 2
by fnovelpia
Boom!!!!!
A bomb dropped again.
Earlier it was the residential area, this time it’s near the training grounds.
“Damn it…!!!”
I cursed and ran like crazy.
That training ground was the one Kyle, Kriha, and Jenny were supposed to use today.
Even as I ran like mad, the bombing continued.
“Gaaahhh…!”
“S-Sergeant…! My arm…!”
“Hurry!! Take cover now!!!”
“To where!? Where the hell should we go!?”
“You idiot!! The bunker, get down to the basement!!!”
The soldiers grabbed each other by the collars in panic.
It wasn’t a fight.
It was a desperate attempt to bring panicked comrades back to their senses.
“Evacuate quickly!”
I said that to a soldier who was helping others move.
“Ma’am! That area is dangerous!”
“…Shut up and evacuate…! That’s an order!”
I ignored the soldier’s shout and jumped into the wreckage.
I couldn’t see my closest subordinates anywhere.
“…Where are you, where did you go!”
I yelled and started digging through the rubble.
I couldn’t see anything.
I know a soldier shouldn’t grow attached to personal matters.
In those endless ideological lessons, we were taught that in wartime, all soldiers are expendable.
There’s no point in getting attached to something disposable.
But humans don’t just stop doing something because they’re told not to.
In fact, being told not to makes us want to do it even more.
I saw subordinates I grew attached to die.
Some I had to kill with my own hands.
I truly… didn’t want to let them go.
I didn’t want to part with any of the soldiers who had fought beside me until now.
“…!!”
I see a hand.
A familiar hand, wearing a wedding ring.
I frantically dug around where the hand had emerged.
The stones were slippery with blood, but I didn’t care.
My breath fogged in the cold air.
After clearing all the debris, one arm was sticking out.
Judging by the officer rank, it was clearly a man’s.
“…Kyle…….”
It was Kyle’s arm.
The familiar ring was his.
I looked around—Kriha and Jenny were nowhere in sight.
“Kyle…? Is Kyle… dead?”
I mumbled as I stared at the cold, lifeless arm.
My pupils began to tremble.
“…Ugh…!!”
I felt like throwing up.
Even while looking at that arm, I was thinking, “At least it’s not me.”
Disgusting.
Absolutely disgusting.
‘It wasn’t even a bomb meant for him..! What the hell do I mean, “at least it’s not me”…!!’
I had to find Kyle.
Clenching my nausea, I stood up.
My face was wet—I didn’t know whether it was tears or rain.
“…Kyle…….”
As I muttered that—
“…Reporting…sir.”
“…?!”
Kyle appeared behind me.
Soaked in rain, breathing heavily, Kyle approached me.
His arm was gone from the elbow down.
“…Please, give it back.”
Because I was holding it in my hand.
With trembling fingers, I handed Kyle his arm.
“Ghh… Where’s the medical magic team?”
Kyle, having stopped the bleeding with a pained expression, asked with his usual stoic face.
But I couldn’t answer.
“…Hah…hah…”
“Sir…?”
“…Berman… I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”
“……”
PTSD slowly crept in.
Even though I confirmed Kyle was alive, I still couldn’t believe it.
“Kyle… You’re alive, right? Captain Kyle, you’re really alive? Are you sure…?”
I asked, staring blankly at Kyle.
Then Kyle came closer.
I was scared—what if he said this was just a dream?
But instead, Kyle crouched down and grabbed my shoulders.
“Sir, your loyal subordinate is here, alive. Please—your orders.”
With those words, he pulled his dog tag from around his neck and showed it to me.
Only then did I take a deep breath and manage to regain some composure.
“…I’m sorry…”
“Did you have that dream again?”
“Yeah… Where are Captain Kriha and Jenny?”
“They all evacuated safely, leaving me behind.”
“…I see.”
The drizzling rain soaked the brim of my cap, which had slipped out from under my hood.
Raindrops thudded rhythmically against my raincoat.
‘…Calm down.’
‘Calm down, Valentine.’
!…….!
‘Yes, it’s that smell I remember from just a while ago.’
A familiar scent.
The smell of blood, of soil, of something fiercely burning.
The pungent smell of gunpowder that stings the nose.
“Ffffuuuuuuu…”
“Phaaaaah……”
Smelling it, my head cleared—as if by magic.
“Captain Kyle, from now on, you are to quickly receive suture surgery from the magic medics and lead the company to evacuate under the bunker.”
“Captain Kriha, pass the same message to Captain Jenny and get her treated as well.”
Kyle nodded at my words.
“What about you, Major?”
“I’ll go find my superior.”
With that, I gripped my black blade.
I have to find Erik, that old man.
Special forces? I’ll join them as much as they want.
[Join the Special Forces and be part of the story of Glory of Victory 2!]
[Current Recruitment Status]
[1/5]
I frowned as I looked at that message in the status window.
“……”
As the rain drizzled down, Erik stood blankly, waiting for someone.
“…What am I even worrying about?”
Outside, the bombardment continued relentlessly.
The magic troops and artillery managed to shoot down a few, but the entire area had become a war-torn wasteland.
It wasn’t a place he particularly cared about, as the unit would soon be disbanded.
“Valentine… I never thought I’d worry about a vampire.”
Erik spat on the ground, his coat pockets stuffed and an umbrella in his hand.
He felt disgusted.
The realization that he was keeping alive the very race he’d spent most of his life hating.
He hated himself for feeling sympathy for such a vile, grotesque species.
He had thought he’d never be swayed, no matter what such creatures showed him.
“…Please… save me… I’m… running out of blood…”
He couldn’t reject the plea as she clung to him.
“…Is this really the time to be saying such things?”
When he was scolded like that, he felt ashamed.
If you stripped away the vampire label, what would remain?
“Can I truly separate the vampire from the Major…?”
Erik was confused.
His counterpart was a vampire.
A creature that had survived by feasting on the blood of fallen comrades without hesitation.
Yet at the same time, she was the idol of the fallen, a hero of the Empire, a master of the battlefield, the Blood Swordmaster.
Those titles always followed her.
Amidst that contradiction, Erik could not hide his confusion.
“What are you doing here?”
“…!”
“I’ve been looking for you for a while.”
Lowering the hood of her raincoat, the vampire wrung out her soaked hair.
Watching her, Erik steadied his thoughts.
“…As expected, she’s unpleasant.”
As always, Valentine was an unpleasant woman.
Her hypocrisy made him sick.
“…Where have you been?”
“To save…”
“How can I trust that? You’re a vampire, are you not? Speak.”
“…Yes, I am.”
“……”
“I apologize.”
Valentine bowed her head without resistance.
Erik spat beside her in response.
“Having you as my adjutant still disgusts me.”
With that, he walked past her.
As he did, Valentine called out.
“…Once more…!! Once more, I will dedicate my life to the Empire.”
A response to Erik’s question during the first bombardment.
Erik turned back to see Valentine saluting.
“I expect it. That the life of a vampire like you will end as soon as possible.”
Hearing this, Valentine responded with a blank expression.
“Don’t get your hopes up… I’ll survive… disgracefully, even more disgracefully than you can imagine.”
Hearing this, Erik wordlessly placed a cigarette between his lips.
As he stepped into the bunker, the familiar, musty smell hit his nose.
[Recruit members for your special unit!]
A status window he’d seen nothing of for the past five years floated before him.
He hung his wet raincoat on the drying rack and stared at the message.
“They’re clearly talking about our guys.”
[2/5]
Kyle, Kriha, Jenny.
Just three more slots to fill.
It didn’t seem like Erik had any particular plans to bring anyone else along.
I lay down on the bed and stared at the ceiling.
“…Haah.”
To think the opening of part 2 would be this grand.
I realized that all the talk of a ‘holy war’ wasn’t just empty words.
‘First, I should gather my people.’
With that thought, I got up, grabbed my black blade, and headed into the hallway.
I gathered Kriha, Kyle, and Jenny in one place.
“Everyone is here, Major.”
Kyle, now with his arm reattached, said that.
“Kyle, Kriha, Jenny.”
I called out their names, and the three subordinates looked at me.
I stared at them with a blank expression.
“I intend to take you all into a new special forces unit.”
It would be harsh.
They would face every kind of dirty, difficult task on the frontlines.
“…It will be tough, so I fully understand if you refuse.”
I sighed once and continued.
“Raise your hands if you’re willing to join this new unit with me.”
Then, one by one:
“Of course, I’ll follow you anywhere, Major!”
“How could we let you go alone, Major?”
“My nickname is the Mad Dog of the Major! How can a dog live without its master?”
Hearing their responses, I let out a small chuckle.
“How admirable.”
[Join the special forces and be part of the story of Glory of Victory 2!]
[Current Recruitment Status]
[5/5]
[Mission Complete!!]
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