episode_0163

Naturally, there was no fight upon arrival.

My exuberantly outstretched feet shrank from the cold, and the faintly felt magical energy moistened the pores of my entire body.

Since this was an instinct that could not be avoided not only by students but also by prisoners and knights who were forcibly pushed out, an adjustment period was given before entering the battlefield.

About 2 weeks.

While they had time to acclimatize to the harsh environment, the expeditionary force, as they would now be called, were supplied with sanitary equipment and new uniforms and then moved into temporary barracks.

Okay, so far so good.

Familiar surroundings, familiar atmosphere… Luckily, Siron didn’t get upset because they brought back bad memories.

Didn’t he make a rant to Victor when he had nothing to show but divine power and personal force? Although not as good as Malleus, who had already been on several expeditions, Siron did not talk nonsense or do unsightly things like looking around in an unfamiliar environment.

The same was true for the expeditionary force meeting.

‘If you stay still, you’ll get halfway.’

Command barracks.

Siron stared straight ahead with his mouth shut between the men with bushy beards.

“Meeting His Highness the Crown Prince.”

Igor Chiron.

He, who had guarded the western border until a few years ago, took on the lead role in this expedition. Igor bowed his head to Viktor, showing off the epaulettes hanging on his shoulders.

“Don’t worry about me and proceed as planned. I know that it won’t be good for an outsider’s private opinion to enter into it.”

“Then, I will give you a rough outline.”

Under Viktor’s simple instruction, Igor tapped the large map with a stick.

“As the number of personnel has been replenished, we plan to extend the front line to the east.”

“I heard that about 1,000 people arrived here in a week. I heard that the 4th unit suffered a major defeat during the last wave. Are you saying you want to extend more wires?”

Wave was a term referring to descending demonic beasts.

“Maintaining the front line is the role of those who are conscripted, not selected troops. Blocking the waves from the front is the job of selected knights, right?”

“No matter what, I am against increasing the number of wires.”

“How about selecting those who can at least exude sword energy among those conscripted?”

” Among those who responded to this summons, there are those who are good at using magic and can emit sword energy, but if they make a mistake, they will lose future resources.”

“Using those personnel simply to maintain the front line… Isn’t it a waste to make fun of them? I think it would be even more foolish to lose the knights who are running with immediate resources.”

Although it was nominally a headquarters, it was essentially an expeditionary force made up of knights, so noise came out from all over the place.

The same goes for the overt use of the word defeat.

There, in the corner, a man who looks in bad condition is frowning. Even Siron, who had just arrived here, could easily tell that the man was from the 4th Battalion.

However, Siron understood that the expeditionary force could not operate as a completely unified group. In this world, individual force could replace group force.

Just like Hugo did.

In any case, even if you act self-righteously based on your personal judgment, you will not be criticized by others as long as you have a criminal record.

Of course, if you failed, you had to be prepared not only to suffer the loss of battalion members, but also to receive pressure and scathing looks that would make your hair fall out even if you were not directly ridiculed.

“In that case, how about selecting excellent resources in advance and training them in each battalion?”

“That’s a brilliant idea!”

“Rather than increasing the number of wires, it is important to increase the power that can be used immediately. Cancer!”

‘…Are you crazy?’

Siron, who was listening to the following meeting, widened his eyes. At the same time, Igor’s face became as cold as ice.

It may be because they existed as a separate knighthood until a few years ago, but those who just expressed their opinion were directly denying and trying to twist the opinion of Igor, the head of the headquarters.

“That is not possible.”

Igor, who seemed to be barely able to control his senses, took control of his surroundings.

“Although the expeditionary force’s situation is tight, it was none other than His Majesty’s judgment to issue the summons and supplement the personnel. His Majesty’s intention was to use them as auxiliary troops, and he did not send them here to replace them at the front!”

“…Then there is nothing we can do.”

“Keuhum. I didn’t mean to go against His Majesty’s intentions.”

The men who were wondering how to train newborn chicks quickly cringed as soon as the word ‘Eomyeong’ was mentioned.

Just as the heated debate was about to enter a lull, someone came in from an unexpected place.

“Aren’t there others besides those who responded to the summons?”

“What does that mean?”

“Not young people who just turned 20 and came here. These are trash that wouldn’t be cool even if we killed them right away.”

trash,

There was no one who could not understand the derogatory name without any explanation.

“However, they are also those whom His Majesty assigned to His Majesty the Crown Prince. Isn’t it the same to go against the commandments?”

“From what I heard, His Majesty said that he would leave all authority over the prisoners to His Majesty’s discretion… Isn’t that right? Your Majesty.”

“…that.”

Victor couldn’t answer right away, probably because he didn’t know that the arrow would be shot at him. The silence in the headquarters continues for as long as there is no answer.

Thump thump thump. Victor accepted the glare and calmed his pounding heart.

“This is true, but I would like to hear why the conclusion was reached this way. Captain Yugen.”

“Yes. Your Majesty.”

Captain Yugen, who leads the 3rd Battalion, answered confidently.

“I would like to ask for your understanding in advance. Although there may be rude comments, please forgive me with a generous heart.”

“Okay, let me explain. Specifically, how do you plan to use the prisoners?”

“Among the prisoners, there were some who were quite boneless.”

As if putting the prisoners here wasn’t an impromptu idea, a rough outline came out. Captain Eugen said with his golden eyes shining.

“When I looked at his gait, I saw some people who seemed to have mastered footwork or swordsmanship. And the most important thing is that no one among them was found to have abandoned Danjeon.”

“…What does that mean?”

“I did not think it was reasonable to allow a group of criminals, originally composed of wrong-minded people, to run rampant on the wide battlefield without even giving up on fighting.”

In response to Viktor’s question, Eugen stiffened his face and nodded.

“I don’t know your Majesty’s intentions, but I judged it too dangerous to have criminals who did not even abolish Dantian at your hands and feet.”

“…”

“Couldn’t disobedient hands and feet strangle Your Highness?”

“That is unlikely to happen at all. I am also somewhat familiar with magic and martial arts, and I have Sir Malleus and my old friend by my side.”

Viktor shot Eugen a slightly angry look.

“Mere criminals cannot break through two of the best warriors in the empire. What you said is very rude.”

“…I had no intention of ignoring Lord Malleus. But wouldn’t it be better to point out the unsettling factors?”

Eugen looked at the young man next to Malleus with golden eyes. Siron blinked at the glare.

“Shiron Prien.”

“Yes.”

“What do you think?”

“Do you need to hear my opinion? I just follow His Majesty’s wishes.”

‘What is that bastard? Why are you suddenly turning your arrows at me?

That’s what he thought, but Siron decided to humble himself and avoid an unnecessary fight.

A plan to use prisoners to gain fame and solidify Victor’s position. This was because he felt the need to refrain from excessively flamboyant behavior in order to execute it smoothly.

But unfortunately, it seems that Yugen had no intention of letting go of Shiron.

“I heard that you carried out the summary execution on your own. Is that really His Majesty’s intention?”

“…Isn’t it okay to kill a bastard who doesn’t listen?”

“There was friction from the beginning.”

“There is no friction. I killed it because I was in a bad mood. As the Lord said, there are rough guys out there. I suppressed the steamer and killed him.”

Although harsh words were spoken, Shiron was able to laugh off Yugen’s gaze.

“Stop, let’s move this agenda to the next time. Igor.”

Perhaps sensing that the story was going somewhere else, Viktor focused his attention on Igor.

“Yes. Eugen, please take a seat. There is still time left for the adaptation period, so I will postpone the treatment of the prisoners for now.”

Yugen shrugged his shoulders at Igor’s words.

The meeting continued like that for about two more hours.

*

After finishing the meeting, the three gathered in Victor’s private room to discuss future measures. Since it was a place with only the three of them, Siron treated Viktor comfortably.

“Victor, did you ever fight with that guy, Eugen?”

“…What am I doing?”

“Wasn’t the treatment of criminals purely your responsibility? Even nominally, your title is the crown prince, but are you picking on areas that Igor, the general manager, did not touch? ”

When Siron spoke in displeasure, Viktor touched his lips.

“I didn’t think anything of it, and I didn’t feel like I was treated rudely. Well… what happens if you can’t even do that in a place where many opinions are exchanged?”

Although he had frowned at Eugen’s remarks in the conference room, Viktor tried his best to pretend to be okay, happy that Siron had feelings for him.

“That said, I think His Highness needed to push his argument more clearly.”

Malleus crossed his arms and sighed.

‘This never happened when Sir Hugo was around.’

Because he had served in several expeditionary forces, he personally realized that this countermeasures meeting was much more chaotic than the last one.

“First of all, as this friend said, the author’s remarks are a clear violation of authority. If I wanted to get His Majesty’s intention, I could have spoken more calmly…”

“…I have no intention of denying that there were unpleasant checks. But it’s not like I can’t understand.”

Victor chuckled and shook his head.

“I guess it’s so difficult that everyone doesn’t want to consider trivial protocols. However, since there is noise coming from this side as well, I have to take a strong stance to prevent others from overlooking the punishment unit’s treatment.”

“Then let’s say the prisoners take it as is. There is a story I want to tell based on him.”

Siron drew the map he saw at headquarters a moment ago onto a piece of paper on the table.

“Let us strongly push for the expansion of the front to the east with the authority of the crown prince.”

He pointed to the eastern side of the mountain range, beyond it to an unexplored area with low-resolution maps.

[Heat Dragon’s Nest]

Although it was an unexplored area, Siron knew full well what was there.

“As long as we speak up at the meeting, the battle lines will increase at some point. But is there really a need to push him here?”

Malleus focused on him and opened his mouth.

“Wouldn’t it be good if we could take charge of piercing the ends of the wires… I’m thinking so.”

Siron said this and cast his gaze at Victor.

“If knights made up of point organizations block the waves, the achievements will inevitably be biased towards them.”

“So, are you saying that it will play the most prominent role among the tasks that can be accomplished with other personnel? ”

Victor took a deep breath and looked at the ceiling.

Siron was already presenting her with options. It was so reasonable that no major differences of opinion came to mind.

Victor laughed as the future he had imagined came sooner than expected.

“Are you confident? I must be busy with escorting and pioneering…”

“If you take charge of the end of the front line, the supply problem will be solved. From then on, all you have to do is swing your sword and move forward.”

“…I guess we can leave the work needed to maintain the front line to the prisoners. I don’t think it’s a bad opinion.”

Even Malleus agreed with Siron’s opinion, and Victor could not find any reason to object.

“Okay, now that the rough decision has been made, let’s have dinner.”

Victor playfully patted his solar plexus and smiled softly.

“Poetics. What’s on the menu today?”

“…Oat porridge with salted meat and black wheat bread?”

“But there’s meat in it, right? Don’t frown too much.”

Malleus patted Siron’s back as he held the menu.