How to Survive on the Armored Front

Chapter 24

"The bleeding looked severe, so I treated it. I had no intention of ignoring the village's traditions."

The morning after spending an entire day exploring the ruin. What awaited Rana upon her return to the village was the furious scolding of an old elf who claimed to be her grandma.

'I sent you to look after the guest, and you come back hiding the saint's mark!? Have you lost your mind, girl!'

When the old elf tried to strike Rana's cheek, Yaan blocked her and spoke; the old elf broke into an awkward sweat.

"I-it was done by the guest-how could it be any fault of hers? This old one failed to see the situation clearly."

Saying so, the old elf touched Yaan's arm. He truly did not like it, yet when he pictured Rana left to handle the aftermath alone, he could not bring himself to shake her off.

'You're truly mad. Feeling affection for an elf.'

He could not deny it.

The moment he saw the countless wounds on her arm, his body had moved before his mind; there was no excuse he could offer.

"Thanks to you, the job went smoothly. I'll pay respects to the village separately later."

"No, it was only what I should have done!"

He forced himself through such awkward pleasantries so that Rana would bear no lingering resentment, yet a prickle of guilt remained in one corner of his heart-he could not help it.

"Rana."

"Yeah! Rana's here!"

Before leaving the village, Yaan called Rana and handed her the snack he had just given her, saying,

"I left something behind at the ruin we visited together. I'll come back to fetch it-please help me then."

Hearing that, Rana leapt with joy.

"Yeah! Got it! Come back soon, okay!?"

Waving goodbye to him and Ren as they departed, Rana called out.

Watching her for a moment, Yaan soon turned his back and walked toward headquarters.

"That wasn't like you."

"I know."

On the way back, it was Ren-unexpectedly-who spoke first.

"I'd judged you to be more of a mechanical human."

"That was probably the right call."

"What you did yesterday was quite human."

"That was..."

Even now he did not know why he had done it. More precisely, he did not know why he had thought of her then.

More than ten years spent on battlefields. He had assumed both her face and his thirst for revenge would fade beneath the weight of time.

But they had not.

Peel back one layer of those years and the old thirst for revenge and the wounds, the memories-all waited exactly as they had been.

It had been that way when he aimed a gun at Randel's head, and again yesterday when he spent time with Rana.

"More importantly, that weapon in the ruin."

"E-14. Large-caliber anti-armor sniper rifle for armored units."

"Right, that one. Can we make its rounds separately?"

Changing the subject, he asked for details about the weapon they had found.

"We can, but it needs specialized equipment and rare materials. Even then, with current Imperial tech we'd only get about forty percent of the original power."

"Wouldn't that still be enough against enemy colossi?"

"Fair point."

Perhaps it was a miracle the weapon itself had survived. Thinking so, Yaan quickened his steps toward the garrison.

Perhaps yesterday's ruin exploration had been good rehabilitation; compared to before, his body felt remarkably good.

"Second Lieutenant, welcome back!"

"What?"

The rain that had started yesterday morning was still falling even now as he reached the unit.

As he entered the garrison gates, Penal Corps soldiers saluted him, and Yaan asked, puzzled.

"Commander said to report to him the moment you returned."

"Right. I'll go at once."

After saying so, Yaan entered the unit.

"Second Lieutenant, welcome back."

"Loyalty. I'll count on you from now on!"

Voices called out to him from every direction, and Yaan's expression grew stranger by the moment.

Second Lieutenant-what were they talking about?

"Enter."

Even the sentries outside Klaus's quarters called him Second Lieutenant; Yaan was at a loss for words. Yet at the voice from inside the tent he set his face and stepped in.

Within the tent, Cain and Klaus were studying a map of the ruins and talking.

"Corporal Yaan Verkut. Returned from night patrol."

"Hm. Well done. Second Lieutenant."

What? Was the Knight Commander joining in some joke at his expense?

Seeing his baffled look, Klaus laughed in amusement.

"As discussed, Prince Klaus's independent company was formed yesterday."

"Ah."

Hearing that, Yaan recalled what Prince Klaus had said on his first visit.

He had expected it after reinforcements arrived, but not this quickly.

"And at its core will be you, your colossus, and Glaepnir."

Saying so, Cain approached Yaan.

"Corporal Yaan Verkut. In recognition of your achievements in the last battle and ten years of service in the Penal Corps, yet due to charges including the killing of a superior, your rank is restored to Second Lieutenant as originally intended, and you are transferred to the 87th Independent Company, Penal Corps. Any objections?"

"None. Second Lieutenant Yaan Verkut. I accept the order."

From noncom to officer. From ordinary soldier to Penal Corps. The words were formal, but he had no real complaint.

As an ordinary soldier the restrictions would only have grown heavier.

'If I'd been in the Penal Corps from the start I'd have considered blowing that ruin door.'

Thinking so, Yaan scanned the roster Cain handed him.

It had been five years since he last served as an officer, but in the Penal Corps he had been doing the same work anyway.

Then his expression shifted as he read the names.

"Everyone except Second Lieutenant Dandel Klaus is from...the Penal Corps?"

"That's how it is. Don't worry about their treatment. Their skills are proven; no one will discriminate against them for being Penal Corps."

Even as Prince Klaus spoke, Yaan's face did not relax. He looked over the independent company's authority, mission, and deployment zone, then said quietly,

"Escort in name only... In truth we'll be assigned to Your Highness's personal missions, or ones of equal importance."

A small number of colossi, firepower secondary to mobility, and names of people whose faces and fighting styles he knew-that was Yaan's conclusion.

"This unit is optimized for covert mobility-assassination of key figures, sabotage of facilities-more than for escort."

"Exactly. Second Lieutenant Yaan."

Saying so, Prince Klaus rested his chin on his hand.

"From now on I'll be covering the gaps left by my focus on the central front, moving from one battleground to the next. That means every soldier I have, and my personal knights, must be committed to the front."

Klaus gave a bitter smile.

Hold the front, break through surveillance and interference, strike the enemy command in the rear-whatever the rhetoric, the conclusion was the same.

He would be given the most dangerous missions, with the lowest odds of success.

"While I hold the line, you will wage guerrilla war against high-value targets to disrupt the rear. I'll ask no questions of methods. The mission must succeed."

Ask no questions of methods.

Prince Klaus understood the weight of those words. That was why every combatant except the nominal regular officer came from the Penal Corps.

"Under the supervision of Cain Lorenz, Second Lieutenant Yaan Verkut, I appoint you commander of the 87th Independent Company."

At Prince Klaus's declaration, Yaan quietly saluted him.

"Second Lieutenant Yaan Verkut. I accept Your Highness's command."

The prince looked satisfied. As Yaan lowered his hand he stepped forward and opened his mouth.

"However, one-no, may I ask a few more favors?"

***

"Loyalty! Second Lieutenant Dandel Klaus, reporting as deputy company commander!"

The abrupt reversal of rank should have been awkward, yet Second Lieutenant Dandel stood at attention and saluted Yaan without the slightest discomfort.

"Counting on you. Second Lieutenant."

No longer needing formal speech, Yaan dropped the honorifics at once. He gripped and shook the hand Dandel offered. Dandel was all smiles; Yaan's expression hardly changed.

"Still, I'm glad. Now I don't have to speak formally to the Second Lieutenant."

"Isn't it the other way around?"

"What are you saying, sir? You have no idea how terrified I was having to address you as Second Lieutenant."

Now that he was the superior, he acted even more casual. Despite being a regular officer, his attitude was like someone looking at Penal Corps members.

'He only picked up the weird stuff from those bastards.'

Yaan let out a sigh of relief at the fact that this clumsy officer had now gained enough backbone to lead Penal Corps members.

"Even if I'm the company commander, I've got no knowledge about troop management or command. I only know how to go out and fight."

Moreover, since he was now piloting a colossus, commanding infantry was also out of the question.

There would be no room to direct infantry while engaged in a colossus battle.

"Filling the company commander's vacancy is the deputy company commander's role. Please don't worry."

So saying, Yaan and Dandel walked side by side.

Soon after arriving at the maintenance yard, they were greeted by about fifty Penal Corps members.

"A company with this headcount? Unbelievable."

"Our size is squad-level, but our authority is company-level."

"To be exact, our supply level is company-grade!"

"What we stuff our faces with is battalion-grade-ain't that great!?"

"You lot planning to empty the Imperial Army's food stores?"

Hahahaha!!

Yaan wasn't sure whether to be glad or sorry as he watched Dandel, who had blended in so well that even the Penal Corps guys cracked jokes at him.

In the midst of it, he spotted Ren leading some mechanics in a corner.

"Hey. Ren."

When he called her briefly, Ren, dressed in maintenance overalls, approached him.

"You're here."

"What are you doing here?"

Instead of the excavation team's outfit, she wore the maintenance overalls of the mechanics. Tools stuck everywhere had clearly seen long use.

"Maintenance squad leader. Chief technician of the 13th Prince's personal dig team."

"...You?"

Maintenance squad leader-this woman?

With a frame that looked too weak even to lift a hammer, the grizzled mechanics would grumble if they heard she was the squad leader.

Yaan stared at her with a strange expression, and the words from Ren's lips made his face even stranger.

"I used to work at the Alfraian Army maintenance yard."

"For how long?"

"Seventy years."

Just how old is this woman?

While he was thinking that, he saw some mechanics shouting to Ren.

"Squad leader! Where should we put the joint parts?"

"Warehouse Two, Section Three."

"Got it!"

Watching the brisk mechanics, Yaan felt even weirder.

"You sure tamed them well."

"I knocked down anyone who messed with me. They started listening real quick."

"Ah."

Recalling the scene where she had overpowered him with sheer strength, Yaan nodded in understanding.

"Parts here can't be used for Glaepnir anyway. Is there any point in having mechanics?"

"Two colossi assigned here for deployment."

"So the company-level support was real."

Two colossi meant support beyond company level. He could now guess what this unit was for.

"Company commander."

"Yeah."

Answering Dandel's call, Yaan looked back at the troops.

Every one of them looked familiar.

Over more than ten years, they had been replaced when killed, replenished when dead, and had survived until now.

Tens of thousands of humans had been thrown into this Penal Corps, and tens of thousands had died bearing its brand.

"This is our unit's emblem."

A crude seal made from a cut shell casing was placed in his hand. A hunting dog biting a human arm bone. On the dog's collar was written the unit name Greyhounds in the Empire's common tongue.

On the shoulders of the uniforms, the Penal Corps brand was engraved anew.

Once the seal was attached beneath it, the troops standing at ease began to snap to attention one by one.

"Unit-Attention!"

At Dandel's command, Penal Corps members and maintenance troops in the yard all snapped to attention facing Yaan.

"Salute the company commander!"

There was no slogan.

A small company of fewer than a hundred in total.

Dandel, watching Yaan as he looked at them for a moment, spoke.

"Give them a few words of encouragement, sir."

Hearing that, Yaan waved his hand loosely at the troops. At ease. Something like that.

Fss-

What Yaan took out in front of the company wasn't words but a cigarette.

"Thank you for allowing us to attend such an honorable gathering long live the Empire long live His Imperial Majesty long live long live."

"Pfft!"

Unable to breathe, Yaan rattled off the flowery speech of the former commander who used to drill the troops for a proper salute. Several Penal Corps members burst out laughing.

Not caring, Yaan lit the cheap cigarette supplied to the Penal Corps and took a drag.

Puff-

"It's all bullshit."

After exhaling smoke once, Yaan quietly looked over his company.

"I don't really know what our superiors think."

Opening with that, Yaan addressed the company arrayed before him.

"Wherever we're attached, wherever we go, to those above we're basically expendables and tools."

A fancy way of saying vanguard.

Meat shields to die in place of valuable humans. Mayflies in the trenches.

How long could these men stay alive?

Thinking that, Yaan took another deep drag on his cigarette and exhaled.

"Gold coins. Food. Liquor. I wheedled it all out of His Highness. If it's not enough, I'll raid the next company or the one after that and bring it, so eat your fill, fight, and die as you please. Got it?"

There was no reply.

But on the faces of the Penal Corps members hearing those words, there were broad grins.

Seeing that, Yaan ground out the finished cigarette on the ground and said while turning to leave.

"...Try to come back alive if you can. It'd be a waste."

The moment he finished, cheers erupted among the company members.

A tiny independent company of fewer than a hundred, including the mechanics. Yet the cheers they let out in the maintenance yard thundered across the entire front-line base.