Chapter 209
“Damn it!”
A medic harshly cursed and threw down a cloth that had turned red. Biting his lower lip hard, he looked at the blood-covered soldier lying there before quickly turning away. We didn’t even have time to tend to the dead right now.
“Lord Feilun. Please take care of this patient.”
As soon as I finished treating one soldier, the chief medical officer spoke to me.
“I’ll see to it right away.”
I changed my gloves and moved to the next patient.
Screams and groans could be heard everywhere. Among the chaos of medics running urgently and wounded soldiers being brought in, few people could maintain their composure.
‘They said there was just a light skirmish…’
It wasn’t even a clash between main forces. They said there had only been a small-scale battle with both sides checking each other. Yet the medical tent was filled with patients. There must be many more who couldn’t even make it here.
‘I thought I’d experienced this when I went on monster subjugation missions, but this is on a completely different level.’
If the forces of both sides were to clash head-on, I couldn’t imagine what kind of devastation would occur. It would be even worse than this, and I simply couldn’t fathom what kind of hell that would be.
“AAAAARGH!”
Someone’s desperate scream made my hands tremble. I tried my best to stay calm as I continued treating patients.
The medical corps’ war ended around dawn. Half died, and half survived, but of those who survived, another half had injuries that would prevent them from returning to battle.
It had been such a physically and mentally exhausting time that I had no strength left to move, so I sat down on the floor. Blood of unknown origin had soaked into my clothes.
I was supposed to be the troublemaker of the medical corps—a thoughtless noble brat who relied on his status—but I simply couldn’t do that. When I could help but chose not to, it felt like I was killing them myself.
‘Will it be harder for me to leave my post from now on?’
Still, I had to find a way. I was the only one who knew the most crucial puzzle piece that could end this terrible war early.
‘I need to think first.’
The reason why the current situation differs from the book is clear. There’s no one to leak information and set the stage for each side to deal with their nemesis.
‘But even so, it’s strange that a battle took place here.’
Our current position is a “passage.” Our unit’s final destination is Karnan. It would take another month to get there.
Fighting would already be in full swing at the front lines, and if the Kans boss is being vigilant as I instructed, he wouldn’t miss the presence of units slipping to the side, even small ones.
‘If they didn’t come from the direction of Karnan, the timing doesn’t match.’
A map that I had studied so thoroughly I could almost feel it in my hands unfolded in my mind. I carefully considered all the possibilities of how enemy forces could encounter ours.
First, it’s a straight line with no forks, and there are rugged mountain ranges on both sides. A unit composed of those familiar with the mountains might be possible, but for a unit of any size, it would be difficult.
‘There’s no reason to send such forces here anyway.’
Karnan is an impregnable fortress. It’s surrounded by high walls that most siege engines can’t even reach. That’s natural for a city defending the Empire’s border. In other words, it’s not a city that can be conquered by infiltrating a small force to the rear.
It was while I was deep in thought.
“Um, excuse me…”
A man holding a basket full of bloodstained sheets approached me. He hesitated, wavering, and then carefully asked:
“Are you alright?”
“What? What… oh.”
Only then did I realize that I was sitting blankly on the floor of the medical tent. Looking around, I was the only one left.
“I’m fine.”
“Ah, well, if you’re okay, this…”
He rummaged through the basket and pulled out a sheet to hand to me.
What? Why is he giving me this?
“Do you want help with the laundry?”
“What? Oh! N-no, that’s not it. You’re covered in blood, so… but this is kind of dirty too… I’m sorry…”
“Ah.”
I stared at the visibly dirty sheet for a moment before standing up and taking it.
“My clothes are dirtier. Let me have it.”
The innocent-looking man handed me the dirty sheet with a bright smile.
I found a clean part of the sheet and rubbed it vigorously. As if to prove that sitting on a floor pooled with blood was a stupid thing to do no matter how tired I was, the cloth quickly turned red.
“Used it well. Thank you.”
I put the now much dirtier sheet back into the basket of the man who had waited without leaving. He gave another innocent, wide smile. Is he someone who enjoys helping others?
“But why are you alone?”
“Ah, I-I’m a bit s-slow…”
The man, his face turning red, replied shyly. Do they leave people behind for being slow? Both this person and I—we were both abandoned, in a sense. Is that why he approached me?
“You need to move that basket too, right?”
I felt a slight sense of kinship. Memories of being in charge of laundry during the subjugation team also came back, so I picked up the basket without thinking. The startled man stumbled and fell with a thud.
“Waaah!”
“…”
“Oh, wh-what, uh, ah, I-I’m sorry!”
He kept fumbling as he tried to gather the sheets. His voice sounded tearful too. Honestly, his fall was a bit funny, but I thought he might get hurt if I laughed, so I held back and crouched down.
“Here you go.”
I gathered the sheets and handed them to him, but he was so flustered that he acted clumsily again. He didn’t seem used to receiving help from others.
“Why did you volunteer?”
Since it wasn’t yet at the level of forced mobilization, everyone gathered here had volunteered to participate in the war. So this person must have as well. But his personality didn’t seem to match the war.
“Th-they said they’d p-pay a lot…”
“Do you need money?”
“Y-yes. My mother is s-sick. The t-treatment costs are expensive.”
“I see…”
He seemed to embody the saying “an innocent country youth.” With tears welling in his eyes, he revealed his longing for his mother.
It must be the same for this person’s mother too. How desperately must she be hoping for his safe return? It’s not just this man. Those who died in today’s battle must also have people waiting and worrying about their return.
‘How dishonest a person I am.’
It was laughable that I only understood how agonizing that feeling was after experiencing it myself.
On the other hand, I felt a surge of determination to secure the Third Prince safely and end this war as soon as possible.
Before, it was just for the sake of protecting the people I loved. But now, I felt a rising desire for many people to return to the sides of those who love them, as Luwen and I are together.
‘I wasn’t originally such an altruistic person.’
It was fascinating and profound that I was having such thoughts. Perhaps altruism is something you can only have when your heart has room.
“You have a good mother.”
“Yes!”
When I smiled and spoke to him, the man smiled back like a white chrysanthemum blooming in a field and answered energetically.
“I’ve made you late, so I’ll help you. Let’s go together.”
I took the man, who was politely declining, out of the medical tent.
We arrived at the place used as a laundry area. The sound of flowing water was quite pleasant. The basket was bigger and heavier than I expected, and it also blocked my view, so there were moments when I almost fell, but I felt a strange sense of accomplishment after safely reaching our destination.
As we were doing laundry for a while, I heard a rustling sound from behind. It seemed too artificial to be the sound of leaves brushing in the wind, so I turned around with a start.
I was warily watching the swaying bushes when suddenly something shot out. A thin, long black shadow flew as if it would pounce on me.
“Huh?”
It was so swift that I had no time to dodge and could only make a stupid sound, but the unidentified creature stopped right in front of my face.
Hiss- Hiss-!
A small triangular head with small eyes and nostrils flicked its tongue in the air.
“Ahhh!”
Splash!
Startled by the tongue stretching out toward me, I leaned my upper body back and lost balance. It would have been fine if it had stopped there. But as I tried to steady myself on a mossy rock, my hand slipped and I fell into the water with a splash. I truly must have a bad relationship with water. Fortunately, it was shallow.
“A-are you okay?”
The man asked with wide eyes. It was a gaze that seemed to find me strange, as if wondering why I would be so startled by such a thing.
“…That’s a venomous snake. Aren’t you surprised? More importantly, should you be holding it with your bare hands?”
It was a particularly aggressive species that, unlike ordinary snakes that avoid people, had a bad temperament to the point of charging first, as it did just now.
“I-I encounter this kind often. This was probably i-its watering place. It’s its territory, and w-we’re the ones who intruded.”
The man released the snake into the flowing water. I was ready to run straight to the tent for antivenom if it attacked again or bit him, but surprisingly, the snake lapped at the water and then drifted away.
It was such an absurd scene that I wondered if I had misidentified the snake species, but I was glad nothing happened.
As I calmed my startled heart, the man extended his hand to me.
“Come out quickly. Y-you’ll catch a cold.”
Since I couldn’t see the bottom clearly and was afraid of slipping again, I readily accepted the man’s kindness. He was so strong that he lifted me up effortlessly, like Luwen would.
“Thank you.”
“I-it’s nothing.”
I was smiling awkwardly alongside the broadly grinning man when the words he had casually said earlier flashed through my mind.
‘It’s its territory, and w-we’re the ones who intruded.’
The purpose of the small-scale unit.
The distance from here to Karnan.
The place where the Third Prince’s body was found.
‘…!’
It was the moment when three pieces of information merged into one.
‘It wasn’t a reconnaissance unit. They’ve been infiltrating since before the war started. Chasing after the missing Third Prince.’
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
