163 – People out of sight (1)
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.
“I see you, His Majesty 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, just proceed as planned. I know that it won’t be good for an outsider’s private opinion to get in.”
“Then, I will announce the general 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 a thousand people arrived here in a week. I heard that the 4th unit was greatly defeated during the last wave. Are you going to expand the front line further?”
Waves were a term referring to demonic beasts descending.
“Maintaining the front line is the role of conscripts, not selected troops anyway.
“Anyway, extending the wire is against it.”
“How about selecting people who can even radiate sword energy among those who were conscripted?”
“Among those who responded to this summons, there are those who can skillfully use magic and radiate sword energy, but if they do it wrong, they will lose future resources.”
“Simply using that number of people to maintain the front lines… isn’t it a waste to make fun of them?
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, wouldn’t it be better to select the best resources in advance and train them in each battalion?”
“That’s a clever idea!”
“Rather than increasing the number of wires, it is more important to increase the power that can be used immediately. Arm!”
‘…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 won’t work.”
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 is none other than His Majesty’s judgment that he issued the summons and supplemented the personnel. His Majesty’s intention was to use them as auxiliary troops, not to send them here to replace them at the front. oh!”
“…Then there’s nothing we can do about it.”
“Hmm. I didn’t mean to go against His Majesty’s intentions.”
The old men who were wondering how to train the new chicks immediately gave up as soon as the word ‘Eomyeong’ came out.
The heated debate had entered a lull, but someone came in from an unexpected place.
“Aren’t there other people besides those who responded to the summons?”
“What do you mean?”
“Not the young people who just turned 20 and came here. The scum who wouldn’t be happy even if they were killed right away.”
trash,
There was no one who could not understand the annihilation without any explanation.
“However, they are also those whom Your Majesty has assigned to the Crown Prince’s subordinates. Isn’t it the same as violating the royal order?”
“From what I heard, Your Majesty said you would leave all authority over the prisoners to Your 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.
“True… It’s true, but I want to hear why the conclusion was reached this way, Captain Eugen.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Captain Yugen, who leads the 3rd Battalion, answered confidently.
“I would like to ask for your understanding in advance, Your Majesty. Although I may make rude remarks, I ask for your generous forgiveness.”
“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 their gait, I saw some people who had probably mastered footwork or swordsmanship. And the most important thing was that I didn’t see anyone among them who had 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 rampage across the wide battlefield without 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.”
“…”
“Isn’t it possible that disobedient hands and feet could strangle Your Highness?”
“That won’t happen at all. I myself am familiar with magic and martial arts to some extent, 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 listen to my opinion? I just follow your will.”
‘What is that bastard? Why are you suddenly turning your arrows at me?
Though thinking so, Shiron decided to humble himself for the time being and avoid an unnecessary battle of nerves.
A plan to use the prisoners to secure Wimyeong Island and solidify Victor’s position. It was because he felt the need to refrain from excessively prominent behavior in order to execute him without difficulty.
Unfortunately, however, it seems that Eugen had no intention of letting go of Shiron.
“I heard that you were executed arbitrarily, so it is. Is that really Your Highness’ intention?”
“…Isn’t it okay to kill an son of b*tch who doesn’t listen to you?”
“You’ve been in trouble since the beginning.”
“There is no need for friction. I killed them because I was in a bad mood. Just as you said, there were some rough guys out there. I killed them to subdue them.”
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 now. There is still time left for the adjustment 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?”
“Isn’t the treatment of criminals purely your authority? Even nominally, your title is crown prince, so why are you picking on areas that Igor, the person in charge, didn’t touch?”
When Siron spoke in displeasure, Viktor touched his lips.
From noble mtl dot com
“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 to pretend that everything was okay, as he was happy that Siron had feelings for him.
“That said, I think Your Highness needed to push your argument a little 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, what Eugen said was a clear violation of authority. If he wanted to get His Highness’s intention, he could have spoken more calmly…”
“…I don’t intend to deny that there was an unpleasant system of control, but it’s also not something 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. But 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 we take the prisoners as is. There is a story I want to tell based on that.”
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 using the authority of the crown prince.”
He points east of the mountain range and beyond, to an incompletely explored area with low-resolution maps.
[Blast Dragon’s Nest]
It was an unexplored area, but Shiron knew exactly what was there.
“As I said at the meeting, the front line will be stretched someday. But why is it necessary to push him from this side?”
Malleus focused on him and opened his mouth.
“Wouldn’t it be nice if we took over the ends of the wires and pierced them… That’s what I think.”
Saying that, Shiron threw her eyes at Viktor.
“Anyway, if the knights made up of points 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? You must be busy guarding and pioneering.”
“If we take charge of the end of the front line, the supply problem will be solved. From then on, all we have to do is swing our swords and move forward.”
“…The construction necessary to maintain the front lines can be left 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 general decision has been made, let’s have dinner.”
Victor playfully patted his solar plexus and smiled softly.
“Shiron. 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.