Surviving on the Northern Front with Gukbap

Father (2)

*

I still hadn't decided.

How much I should confide in the battalion commander.

Of course, I knew it was better to decide quickly.

But between training with Jeros and dealing with Plerine, I'd been overwhelmed,

and the more I thought, the more complicated it got.

'Schutmann, Jeros, and the outsider who created the minor Demon Realm and the spirit stone quarry.'

Tangled up in all this, all I had was suspicion, no evidence.

And an even bigger problem was that if I told the truth, I might be jeopardizing my own position.

'I dealt with the minor Demon Realm on my own accord and saw Legion, but kept silent all this time.'

And then, as soon as that lunatic Jeros disappeared, I was summoned.

I didn't know why, but this was a time to be cautious and keep my cards close.

Thinking all this, I forced myself to face the battalion commander with a calm facade.

He was puffing on a pipe.

"You're here, then."

I already had a bad feeling.

He called me 'you' instead of 'Ian'.

"I swear by the steel."

"Sit down."

I kept scanning his face through the smoky haze,

"Where did Jeros go?"

The ambush in his question snapped my mind awake.

That damn old man.

To spring on me like this.

But this answer was easy.

"I don't know."

And I really didn't.

"......"

At my calm reply, the battalion commander narrowed his eyes and spoke.

"I heard you and Jeros went to the training grounds as soon as you returned yesterday."

I almost swallowed dry, but managed to hold it in.

I had told no one—not even Ralph—about Jeros's swordsmanship lessons. How did he know?

'So the special operations unit was tailing us, then.'

Someone was watching either me or Jeros,

and reporting to the commander.

There was no point denying it here.

"That's right. Jeros took me to the training grounds for some swordsmanship lessons."

"Hmm. I see. What did he teach this time?"

"It was just sparring, not a lesson."

"I see. Ho ho. And then?"

"I left first and returned to the shop because something urgent came up."

The battalion commander flicked the pipe's ash as he looked at me,

his eyes sharp.

'Has his suspicion of Jeros reached me now?'

I tensed again,

then grimaced at the next words.

"That was the last anyone saw Jeros."

"... What? What do you mean?"

"Just that—Jeros vanished after that. He didn't even leave the training ground."

I was on edge.

According to him, I was the last person to see Jeros.

"Let me ask again. Where did Jeros go? And what was he doing all this time in Granfen's security force?"

Even though I understood why he was interrogating me,

my answer was the same.

"I don't know. There's no way a newcomer—an outsider who's been in Granfen less than a year—would know what Jeros was up to."

Only after I spoke did I wonder if I'd gone too far,

but thankfully, the battalion commander didn't get angry.

"An outsider not even a year in, you say. Ho ho. That's true."

Half-relieved, I focused on reading the man's thoughts.

'It's rare for the battalion commander to show emotions like this.'

A memory from the march suddenly flashed through my mind.

Back when he climbed a tree to see the entrance to the spirit stone quarry and looked so shocked.

'He was clearly flustered then, too.'

As if he had come across something totally unexpected.

And now, with these emotions on display again—

'Jeros disappearing from the village was unexpected for him, too.'

Why was the commander so sure Jeros wouldn't disappear?

"Then, what was it that you said you'd tell me at the spirit stone quarry two days ago?"

Here it was at last.

I still hadn't decided what to say.

'But if I stall here too, he'll be very suspicious.'

Chances were, the special ops team would start tailing me.

I had to avoid that.

So what could I afford to tell the commander right now?

After a brief moment of thought, I spoke.

"Commander, at the departure ceremony you called Jeros, 'Jeros Dagnes'."

"That's right. I heard he was from the Dagnes Orphanage in Kaisrad."

I took a short breath.

Sorry, Jeros.

"As far as I know, Jeros's real last name is 'Silver'."

"Silver... what?"

One of the commander's eyebrows twitched violently.

"You're saying Jeros's last name is Silver?"

"Yes."

Did 'Silver' mean anything special?

Not that I remembered.

Ah, right. I never cared for the little nuances of this world's setting.

"Are you certain?"

"Completely."

My system doesn't lie.

But seeing the commander's reaction, apparently 'Silver' as a surname meant something.

Just as I was about to ask what it was,

"Hmm. I see. So that's it."

The commander's brow knitted so tightly I couldn't ask.

He seemed to be working his brain full speed on the information I'd given him,

so much so that sweat beaded on his shining crown.

"Alright. This is valuable information. Well done."

"Thank you."

"But let me ask..."

"?"

"Why are you only telling me this important information now?"

I couldn't say "Because I still can't trust you completely—".

"I didn't know it was important. I've always known Jeros's last name as Silver. It was only at the departure ceremony that I learned he'd been hiding his surname."

"I see. Whew. Understood. Let me think for a bit—wait here."

Soon after, the commander placed his thumb and forefinger on his brow and rubbed,

as if trying to organize a mountain of information.

"You, what I'm about to tell you now—only Lantz and Legion know."

His words sent chills down my spine, right up my neck and back.

"Pardon? Lantz and... who?"

"Legion, I said."

*

The sudden information left my mind reeling.

Is the old man's own headache contagious or what?

'Wait—Legion is alive?!'

I wanted to be happy, but couldn't show it.

Officially, I didn't have any ties to Legion.

"I'll say it again—don't tell anyone. Not even Ralph."

Brought out of my thoughts, I nodded.

"Understood. No matter what, I won't breathe a word. Please continue."

So what was it the commander was about to tell me?

"I received a secret pigeon a week ago. Astonishingly, it was sent by Legion—whom we believed dead. But what was written after that was even more unbelievable."

"......"

"She said Jeros entered the beastkin's village. Boldly, through the front gate—with no disguise at all."

Steeling myself against the shock, I asked,

"Are you sure that message was really from Legion? What about the chance it's a fake?"

"No way. It was written in code known only to Legion and myself."

So, at least that meant Legion was definitely alive.

"That's why you thought Jeros was a spy for Heroni?"

"Exactly."

The information I had collided violently in my head.

'Jeros, you bastard. Just what are you?'

I replayed moments I'd shared with Jeros.

A guy who talked to me even when no one else paid me any attention.

A guy crazy for money, who even picked fights with superiors.

'How could anyone suspect a guy like that of being, say, a squire or a spy for the enemy!'

In the end, my last memory with him was sparring at the training ground—hmm?

'The commander said Jeros vanished inside the training ground, right?'

And even managed to slip past special operations' surveillance.

Thinking this far, a new suspicion struck me.

"One moment, commander. Doesn't this seem odd?"

"What does?"

"If you only got evidence of Jeros being a spy a week ago, what about before that?"

"Nothing. But maybe that just means we missed it. Everyone knows Jeros would disappear during leave."

"So you mean, Jeros has been acting as a spy in Granfen for two years without being caught, and was exposed for the first time just a week ago?"

"I had assumed so... Huh?!"

Sharp as ever, the commander's eyes shot open as he caught on to my implication,

and I pressed on without pause.

"Jeros even managed to vanish from inside the training ground, evading special ops tailers. And yet, you say he was only caught just recently. Isn't that strange?"

The commander closed his eyes tightly and rubbed his temples.

"Are you saying Jeros left the evidence on purpose?"

"Yes."

"Hmm. I thought Legion would have managed to tail Jeros, but if it's a Jeros who can evade surveillance and disappear from the training ground... Hrm."

Groaning, the commander opened his eyes and said,

"Could you call Lantz for me?"

"Understood."

Was my interview over just like that?

With that in mind, I gave a military salute and turned to leave,

"Oh, right. Ian."

This time, the commander addressed me as 'Ian' again, not 'you'.

"What about what you promised earlier? Does cooking outside the shop still not produce the effect?"

The commander's eyes were filled with anticipation,

and I grinned as I answered.

"From the experiments yesterday, it works even if the food is made outside the shop."

After eating stone bread on the battlefield, I learned the truth.

No matter how tough things get, you have to eat a proper meal.

"Ho ho. Excellent! Then we'll select cooks to work with you at the frontline."