Chapter 144 : Misunderstanding (2)
Misunderstanding (2)
A lot had happened since I left Granfen,
but there was neither a need nor a way to tell everything that happened.
I just laid out the essentials, sticking strictly to what Legion and Lantz already knew.
The longer the story grew, the more serious Devanne's expression became.
"To think you fought against the squire dispatched by the Sovereign... I suppose it's a relief you survived at all."
Unlike the good mood in the unit, built on the prospect of a victorious homecoming,
a thorny path awaited on the hidden side of Granfen.
"My word. So the battalion commander and Hank were in that kind of relationship... I had some suspicion, but this exceeded all my expectations. The soldiers still don't know, do they?"
"They do not. However, since some soldiers saw Schutmann committing the massacre, I covered it up by saying he was Heroni's spy. I haven't revealed the true mastermind."
"... I see. If they did, they wouldn't have welcomed their company commander with such smiling faces, damn it."
Devanne seemed shocked at the prospect of facing the Sovereign and the White Fang in the future.
He furrowed his brow in silence for a while, then finally asked Legion,
"How did Heroni respond after that?"
Devanne's sudden question to Legion, not to me, made my lips twitch,
but then I remembered—I was a platoon leader, not a company commander, so I decided to keep quiet.
"The Nest of the Red Rooster is effectively finished, and now there's a political scramble to devour the nest from within. The beastkin king Arundel seems to have pulled out as well. So the special ops soldiers are gradually withdrawing."
"Haa. That's a relief, at least. We won't have to worry about the beastkin or Heroni for the time being."
Their conversation, which didn't match the facts, left a bitter taste in my mouth.
But there was no way I could say, 'Actually, instead of Heroni, the Magic Tower has become our new homework!'
If they found out about that, I couldn't imagine the faces they'd make.
So a thought sprang up:
'How fortunate that Devanne doesn't remember the incident at the spirit stone quarry.'
It was something I discovered while listening to Devanne and Lantz talk.
I still didn't know if Plerine was the mage who raided the spirit stone quarry,
but Devanne said he couldn't remember how he'd been gravely wounded and fallen into a coma.
He said he had no memory since the dark days of the 13th month—a week before the spirit stone quarry raid.
'Well. Plerine lost literally everything, including her own name, so compared to her, Devanne's memory loss is trivial.'
Once again, I breathed a sigh of relief inwardly,
while my mind was busy running the numbers.
Even putting aside the odds of Devanne regaining his memory in the future—
'The timing was really lucky for Devanne to wake up and run into Plerine.'
Plerine, after realizing I'd cast an enchanted spell on Nash, must have been extremely flustered.
That wasn't part of our scenario at all.
Plan A had always been for me to win against Schutmann and return alive,
and Plan B was for Plerine to come rescue me if I got captured alive.
So, when I used the plasma sword against Schutmann, I'd envisioned Plerine swooping down to the frontline garrison.
But if that had happened, there would have been no way to hide that Plerine was a mage,
and my own circumstance would have grown endlessly more complicated.
'Even imagining it gives me goosebumps.'
But! Astonishingly, Plerine sent Devanne instead of coming herself.
She was shocked enough to cry after running into Devanne,
but perhaps she didn't realize he didn't remember her.
'What a clever girl.'
It seemed my excellent employee had followed my instructions: 'Unless Plan B triggers, stay and defend Granfen village!'
I could hardly stop a satisfied smile from spreading across my lips.
'There's no other reason Plerine wouldn't have come.'
Doing these calculations, I glanced subtly at Lantz.
He was the only other person who might have seen the plasma sword I used against Schutmann.
Ralph and the old man were already dead,
and Legion had fallen before that, so she couldn't have seen it.
'Did Lantz see it or not, I wonder?'
By the time I drew the plasma sword and swung it at Schutmann, Lantz was already down on the ground.
It had been such a hectic scene, I didn't know exactly when he'd lost consciousness,
but since he'd never asked to this point, I was leaning toward that he hadn't seen it.
'Of course, it's possible he noticed and is just letting it slide, so I shouldn't let my guard down.'
He'd been by the battalion commander's side, perhaps making him adept at hiding what he really thought.
Just as I wrapped up my thoughts and calculations—
Flap.
Suddenly, the tent was violently thrown open and a man appeared.
"!!"
Everyone's eyes grew wide in surprise at his entrance.
I'm pretty sure my own face was similar.
'Hank?!'
Hank recovered his senses much sooner than I'd expected,
and Lantz, who had been nearby, jumped to his feet and rushed over.
"You're awake, Hank!"
But even as Hank staggered on unsteady legs, he refused Lantz's help.
Even after the battalion commander's death, he was still showing his inferiority complex toward Lantz.
Annoyance instantly surged up inside me, overwhelming any sense of relief that he'd woken up.
'What a piece of work.'
And so, the atmosphere instantly became frosty,
but no one could reprimand Hank for it.
He'd regained consciousness, but was plainly in no condition anyone would call normal.
Stagger, stagger.
"Kgh."
Finally, Hank lost his balance and was about to collapse again,
so Lantz, standing close by, hurried to support him.
Despite this, Hank raised his head and glared at Devanne before speaking.
"You're a little late."
A low voice tinged with cold fury.
It wasn't hard to guess why he spoke like that.
Hadn't I thought the same thing as soon as I saw Devanne?
'If only Devanne had been a little faster.'
Maybe someone's sacrifice could've been avoided.
In Hank's case, that 'someone' might have been his father.
So neither Lantz, Legion nor I could snap at him.
Devanne slowly stood up and,
"I was late..."
He bent at the waist as he spoke to Hank.
"I'm sorry."
Devanne, whose voice had always sounded raw and cracked, perhaps because his vocal organs had been burned,
now spoke far more clearly than before.
"I won't be late again."
"..."
It was as if time had stopped—Devanne remained bent as before.
He was genuinely seeking Hank's forgiveness.
But—
"... Shit!"
The brat Hank shouted a curse and stormed off.
Lantz stared absentmindedly at the spot Hank vacated.
"I'm sorry, company commander."
Lantz apologized in a tone tinged with self-mockery,
but Devanne remained hunched over silently.
After confirming this, Lantz ran out of the tent, calling loudly for Hank.
'Haah. This is a mess.'
No matter how I thought about it, it made no sense for the battalion commander to die in Hank's place.
As I reaffirmed this, Legion's voice rang out.
"That's enough. Rest, Devanne."
But Devanne replied, still bent at the waist.
"I'll stay this way until Company Commander Hank forgives me."
"Whether Hank forgives you or not isn't the point and you know it! So give it a rest."
"..."
"That's an order, Devanne. Stop and rest."
At last, Devanne slowly lifted his upper body and head.
His face was still covered all over with bandages,
but somehow, I felt like I could see his expression.
He looked extremely,
sorrowful.
'He's regretting it.'
I'd meant to think it was lucky he'd slept through it all,
but all I saw on his face was regret and sadness.
'First impression score: plus ten thousand.'
Devanne, that bastard—maybe he's actually a good guy.
*
We assembled the soldiers at the end of a short meeting.
Announcing the new developments was Legion's job.
After all, aside from the battalion commander, our senior-most NCO was the Special Investigator.
'One good thing about quitting as battalion commander is that I don't have to do this stuff.'
For an introvert with an I MBTI type like me, public speaking was torture.
"Our unit has both good news and bad news."
Legion began with an opening line that instantly reminded me of the old man.
"I'm sure many of you already know. Company Commander Devanne has regained consciousness and returned to the front, and Company Commander Hank has awakened as well. Therefore—"
"..."
"We're postponing our return to the village by two days. Third Company Commander Devanne! Please step up."
All the soldiers' faces instantly turned sour,
as if questioning, 'Where's the good news in that?'
Sure enough—
"Long time no see. Hmm. It really has been a while."
After climbing the platform, Company Commander Devanne greeted everyone and swept his gaze over each member.
Every Third Company soldier's posture stiffened with tension.
They were clearly terrified of Devanne,
and his next words revealed why.
"I am disappointed in all of you."
Oh, shit.
Could Devanne be a Korean outsider?
"Looks like Company Commander Ralph—since he focused on his own training, he must have neglected you all?"
"That's not true!"
Starting by pinning people into a logical corner...
Even if he's nice to his fellow officers, he seems incredibly harsh to his soldiers.
"Everyone, strip to the waist!"
Ah, I'm suddenly relapsing into PTSD.
Looks like I'm not the only one desperate to have Ralph back—
"What are you doing, Platoon Leader Ian! Why are you just standing there staring into space!!"
Devanne's stentorian voice jolted me back to awareness.
'That's right. The cooking platoon was part of Third Company.'
Come to think of it, I think I heard Ruth and Ricky behind me whispering, "Platoon leader!!!"
"This won't do, not at all. Time to really shape you all up. After jackets, everyone, strip your trousers too!"
Damn it.
Should've just stayed the battalion commander.
*
At last!
The long-awaited day of the return to base arrived.
The soldiers, up since dawn, rushed to strike down the tents and pack up.
But—
'Damn. They're moving so fast they're almost invisible.'
It was a whole different story from when we arrived at the front and set up the garrison.
That's right—modern or medieval, soldiers were the same everywhere.
'They all just really, really want to go home!'
Watching them, I finally started to realize I'd really be going home.
Going home meant I'd get to see everyone.
There was Naba and Harper and all my employees,
and the shop that let me survive in this world.
And more than anything, what I missed most of all—
'I'll finally get to sleep in a bed and not on a bumpy stone floor!'
Marching along, I savored the feeling of being discharged from the service for a second time in my life.
The soldiers were no doubt exhausted to the bone,
and yet every single one of them was smiling and chattering excitedly.
'... Except for Third Company.'
Since Devanne's return, the atmosphere in Third Company had changed.
Even though it was mainly a utility company, made up of the supply and reconnaissance platoons rather than combat troops,
Devanne treated it as a combat company.
Even chatting had to be done furtively.
'So that's why Ralph got along with everyone.'
Of course, they couldn't treat me as poorly as they did the day Devanne returned.
Because—
'That night I wiped the floor with him in a sparring match.'
This body, now of the 4th-rank, had already surpassed even First Company Commander Lantz in fighting strength.
There's no way I could lose to Devanne, who lost out to Lantz!
But after losing, Devanne said this:
― Hah, haha?! My body just hasn't fully recovered yet. Just, just wait a bit.
In that moment—when he shamelessly dodged responsibility for his clear defeat—I understood why,
even after being outranked by Lantz and Hank, no one could speak informally to Devanne.
Because Devanne was—
'A stickler for rank and hierarchy.'
Regardless of his upright nature, his willingness to risk his life to save his subordinates, or his sincere regret and apologies for failing to fight by their side—
he was an old-school stickler.
'A real old-school type!'
I resolved to keep my distance from Devanne as much as possible, and with growing anticipation,
continued the march toward the day we'd arrive at Granfen village.
After all, as soon as I arrived, I planned to cast off my soldier status for good.
And so,
after a week that went by fast but somehow felt endless, I made it.
To the land that had become my hometown on the continent of Belkhazium—
'Granfen!'
We lined up in the square,
and as soon as Legion's brief speech and dismissal order were finished, I yelled as I dashed off:
"Ricky! Take care of things here!"
Without looking back, I ran. It was finally time.
To see my shop, my employees.
Bang!
I burst through the door of Happiness Gukbap,
and instantly grimaced in dismay.
"What's that smell...?"