The Rural Officer Who Was Once a General

Part 1, Chapter 1

The impregnable fortress of the southern part of the continent, Impregnable.

A fortress the size of a small city, it was the strongest strategic point guarding the eastern side of the Southern Empire.

Even the demons of myth could not scale its walls, and even an army of a million could not breach it. This fortress, the pride of the Southern Empire, had long stood as an impregnable citadel that no monstrous stronghold on the continent dared challenge.

A hundred years ago, an allied force of hundreds of thousands from nations that sought to check the Empire’s power collapsed before Impregnable, which was defended by a mere twenty thousand conscripts. Even the army of the foreign king, numbering nearly a million, failed to ravage this fortress and was held at bay.

Unless through underhanded means such as bribing imperial subjects, there was no record in its centuries-long history of it ever being conquered.

And yet, this grand fortress was now completely surrounded by enemy forces.

“…How miserable.”

The Southern Empire’s Grand General, Terbier, clicked his tongue.

“To think we’d be this powerless.”

Terbier’s eyes took in the enemy soldiers.

Tens of thousands of troops surrounded them, their gazes filled with greed and bloodlust.

The enemies besieging Impregnable fell into two groups—

Those blinded by gold, and those steeped in blood.

Savages devoid of any trace of civility, mercenaries who gladly accepted their gold, and wandering knights.

“Wouldn’t you agree?”

Terbier turned to look at a shriveled corpse.

Though its body was gaunt and skeletal, its attire was strikingly noble.

Extravagant ornaments befitting royalty, a blue silk robe so rare that only a few were made in a year, and an ancient treasured sword comparable to the national treasures of other kingdoms.

Perhaps his garb was even more splendid than that of a king from some small nation tucked away in a remote corner of the continent.

Of course, this corpse had not always been so emaciated.

He had once been the Lord of Impregnable, one of the wealthiest men on the continent, and a robust figure of healthy stature.

But his vast fortune had done nothing to bring food past the thousands of barbarian warriors.

The only thing his wealth had influenced was the greed in the eyes of those who worshipped gold—but unfortunately, not in the way the lord had hoped.

Their gazes had only grown more filled with hunger and savagery.

Rather than accepting payments in portions, the mercenaries and wandering knights sought to plunder the lord’s wealth for themselves.

In just a month, the true weakness of this grand fortress had been laid bare to all.

Its defenses were strong, but the land was poor, making farming difficult. The climate was harsh, and its wells dried up quickly.

Its strategic highland position, which once made it excellent for defense, had now become an advantage for the besieging barbarians.

Neither knights nor seasoned veterans could break through the vast numbers entrenched in the highlands. Even messenger pigeons were intercepted by enemy hawks, leaving them uncertain whether reinforcements were even aware of their plight.

‘How did they ever stop a million soldiers? I should have never believed those rotten bards.’

That so-called foreign king was practically a mythical figure whose very existence was in question.

Terbier, his limbs trembling, realized anew how legends were grossly exaggerated.

Of course, he could not say for certain that his trembling was solely due to anger.

His own body was nearly as skeletal as the corpse beside him, and each day was a struggle against hunger and dizziness.

“Goddammit, it’s been too long!”

He, who had been responsible for the eastern front of the Southern Continent, had been trapped here for about three months, and now, enemy forces as numerous as the barbarians surrounding this place had already entered the Empire.

It was obvious what would happen to the Empire.

He should have stopped them.

As the Grand General of the Empire, he should have held back those barbarians from within the strongest fortress.

“Cough!”

Terbier’s body lost balance and collapsed.

He had discarded his armor and ornaments long ago to lighten his load, but now, he could no longer support his own body.

“Cough!”

From Terbier, whose posture had collapsed, a mouthful of blood spilled, staining the leather rug beneath him a deep red.

“Ugh….”

Exactly one month and two days since the food and water had completely run out, Terbier instinctively felt his life slipping away.

“I can’t die….”

Despite his dying condition, Terbier gritted his teeth.

‘This can’t be happening!’

He had eaten the corpse of a subordinate who had died from an arrow.

He had killed and chewed on his warhorse, which had been a gift from the Emperor.

He had drunk his own urine and even roasted dirt to eat.

By now, all the bark from the trees inside the fortress had been stripped away, and none of the survivors hesitated to consume human flesh or urine.

Why had he managed to survive, why had he clung to life in such a disgusting manner?

To break through the besieging barbarian army! To deliver the sword of justice to these insolent invaders of the Southern Empire!

“That should have been the case….”

People called him the Grand General of the Hundred.

It meant that he was one of the most outstanding hundred generals across the entire continent.

Whenever he returned from the battlefield, a new title was always added to his name.

At the age of ninety, still commanding on the battlefield, they called him the Century Veteran (百年老將).

Having slain over a thousand opponents in single combat, they called him the Thousand-Man Slayer (千人斬).

Having won seven battles, they called him the Seven Warlord General (七覇將).

His martial prowess was considered one of the ten best in the continent, known as the Ten Fingers (十指).

Even his titles alone filled a parchment, and his deeds were sung about by hundreds of bards for their entire lives.

And yet, all of that had been revealed to be mere empty fame in the face of these barbarians.

“Am I going to die here…?”

What would be written about him in the future?

A coward who starved to death in a siege?

An old man who lost to the barbarians after his teeth had all fallen out?

Perhaps his name would never be spoken or written again.

“Goddammit…”

Now, his body was growing cold to the point where even such uncomfortable thoughts were hard to maintain.

Earlier, he had felt death approaching, but now, he could feel life itself being erased.

“……!”

Terbier’s heart gave one final, intense beat, and that was the last resistance of his body.

His stiffened body gradually slackened and sprawled out on the floor.

In the damp room on the highest floor of Impregnable, only two emaciated corpses remained, the last warmth of life having long since faded away.

***

The five senses, which had slowly faded, returned and felt like they came back much quicker than expected.

Terbier wavered between consciousness and unconsciousness, feeling each sense return one by one.

Wheeze.

As consciousness returned, the faint sound of insects chirping softly lingered in his ears.

‘I’m not dead yet—’

His consciousness flickered, and his senses dulled for a moment, only to return again.

The next sense to come back was smell.

The scent of humid summer greeted his nose.

After that, as consciousness flickered again, the sense of touch returned.

He felt something soft at his fingertips.

Next was taste.

He felt a bitter taste in his mouth.

‘What is this—’

Finally, his sight returned.

Only then did Terbier realize what he was touching with his hands and what he had in his mouth.

It was a cat, with yellow and white fur.

His hand was on the cat’s back, and his mouth was holding its tail.

“Ptooey!”

Terbier hurriedly pushed the cat away, standing up and spitting out the fur from his mouth.

“What, what is this?”

The moment he stood up, Terbier felt a sense of discomfort.

The place he was standing in was not the vast Impregnable made of marble and steel, but a small wooden room.

A room that looked even smaller than the bed he used to sleep in.

The room had only a tiny, crude bed that barely fit a third of his body, and an even smaller table.

“At least it was comfortable to sleep in…”

Terbier began massaging his stiff body.

“Hm?”

Suddenly, Terbier was struck by a strange feeling.

"Wha-what is this!"

It was hard to describe all the changes his body had undergone, but to put it simply, his body had become much more muscular.

Of course, compared to the Terbier who had entered Impregnable, it was a body that could barely be called a novice.

However, his current body was just a little above the average level of an ordinary soldier, but it was impossible to believe this was the body of someone who had been starving for a month.

“You brat! If you’re going to pick something up and eat it, don’t scream your head off at the crack of dawn!”

The small door slammed open, and a hunched old man stuck his body out.

“Ugh!”

The door hit Terbier’s little toe hard.

“Ah, come on, a man complaining about something like that..."

The old man walked toward Terbier.

“Huh?”

Terbier stared at the old man, surprised.

The difference in height between the two wasn’t as great as he expected, considering that he himself was nearly 2 meters tall and the old man was hunched.

“What’s wrong? Is something on my face?”

‘Now that I think about it, who the hell is this guy?’

Among the survivors in Impregnable, there was no one else as old as this.

Naturally, no one else would be using informal language with him.

‘This damn place is different from that hellhole of a castle.’

Terbier cautiously opened his mouth.

“Old man, if it’s not too much trouble, may I ask you something?”

Thwack!

The old man’s kick struck Terbier’s shin.

“Ugh!”

It was just an old man’s kick, but surprisingly, it hit with considerable force.

“Are you out of your mind? You’re joining the army today, and you’ve lost your senses? Go wash up quickly and have breakfast!”

The old man kicked Terbier’s backside, and he hesitated before heading to the bathroom the old man pointed to.

“A wooden bathtub, huh?”

Terbier, who had gone days without a wash on the battlefield, didn’t have too many complaints, but the bathtub was too small.

It clearly wouldn’t be able to accommodate his body.

However, he decided to follow the old man’s instructions and stood in front of the bathtub.

“Huh?”

As he looked at his face and upper body reflected in the still water, it was completely different from the Terbier he knew.

His face was more slender, and his build was comparatively small. He had muscles, but the shape of them wasn’t the same as the ones he had felt earlier.

No, his body had changed after what had happened, but his face was way too young, and his hair color was even different.

Gone were his white hair and gray eyes that had earned him the title of ‘White General.’ In their place, platinum-colored hair and violet eyes proudly adorned his face.

Huff.

In the midst of this confusion, as he submerged himself in the bath, a headache began to throb.

Then, a flood of fragmented memories filled his mind, slowly aligning themselves to reveal the truth.

***

After having breakfast, Terbier put on the leather armor and the arming sword the old man had provided and stepped outside.

‘I have received all the memories.’

Terbier furrowed his brow.

As soon as he entered the bath, a flood of memories overwhelmed him—not his own, but those of the original owner of this body, Fade.

‘It seems my soul has entered this young man’s body.’

If you add up Fade's memories, it was now forty years after his death, and the location was the Hecate Empire at the southwestern tip of the continent.

Originally, it was an empire that stood shoulder to shoulder with the Southern Empire, but now, forty years later, it had been completely pushed to the west due to the invasions of the barbarians.

In particular, the southern land had been devoured by newly-formed nations, causing great humiliation.

And as for the Southern Empire…

“Did they say it was destroyed?”

After the barbarians took the major cities and the capital, and the emperor died, the power brokers split, forming several kingdoms and duchies.

Though most of those nations eventually succumbed to the barbarians as well.

“Damn it all…”

Waking up to hear the news that his nation had fallen was beyond words.

His mind was still reeling, nearly breaking the bathtub in his confusion.

It was a good thing that this body was weaker than Terbier’s.

Otherwise, he would’ve gotten another beating from that old man—Fade’s grandfather.

“But there’s nothing I can do right now.”

At this moment, his mission—whether it be serving the heir of the emperor or seeking revenge against the barbarians—seemed impossible.

No, right now, the real problem was simply living as Fade.

The original owner of this body, Fade, was a commoner who had just been assigned to his first post in the army.

What’s worse, this village wasn’t even on the frontlines, in a strategic location, or one of the major cities—it was just a small rural village.

***

Part 2

Was the name of this place called 'Aide'?

Even he, who prided himself on his knowledge of geography, had never heard of this place before.

"In other words, does that mean a low-ranking officer from the rural areas...?"

No matter how dark the future seemed, it couldn’t possibly be this dark.

To restore the empire or take revenge on the barbarians, he would need to be a duke or a general, but with no backing and no opportunities to earn military merit, a low-ranking officer like this couldn’t do anything.

“No, I have to do it.”

The honor of becoming a general wasn’t something I gained easily.

If you think about it positively, it was rather fortunate that he hadn't ended up in the body of a slave, and he should be thankful for that.

With that thought in mind, Terbior, no, Fade walked toward the barracks.