Chapter 76
76. Chapter 76
Residents of the Dalimarx territory, including Kopetsk city, were obliged to participate in group military training once a month. As the result, group operations remained at a higher level than Walm had envisioned.
“It’s more decent than I expected.”
A group of 100 people moved forward with a drum and the commander’s shout. They turned around and pushed their spears all at once. Based on the formation, this group could be counted as one unit.
It was good enough for a war-unaware soldier who had just been summoned. After all, they would be soon or later painted with human vomit and gastric juice. It reminded Walm of his first battle, a sour and bitter memory. He didn’t think of anything when he first stabbed an enemy soldier. Just that, not long after, the feeling of twisting people’s viscera through his spear, which resulted in the death of the enemy soldiers, rushed back to his mind and never left since then.
“Prepare the fireeee!”
Walm, who was on the sidelines, was shouted for work. Walm manipulated his mana, concentrated it on his palm, and embodied the fireball.
“Don’t hit the people”
Another regular soldier put pressure on Walm.
“I won’t”
“Ready, Shoot!!”
In response to the commander’s words, the fireball landed next to a small group. Of course, Walm had no intention of hitting. If he did that, it would be the start of his lonely battle with the people here.
By raising the “fireworks”, it was the start of the next training, the battle virgins’ eyes were nailed to Walm. To diminish their fear of magic, he was told to launch fireworks and entertain the group.
The blast that hit the eardrum and the hot air that rushed to the skin deprived the soldiers of their concentration. There was nothing wrong with their reaction, but due to the disorder of their legs and spear tip, the accompanying regular soldiers sent a fierce scolding and fist.
Since he would be operating separately from the infantry as a magic user, it wasn’t necessary for him to participate in that play. Walm was truly relieved. In his eyes, this was just like an amusement park, only fun. And Walm, was one of the welcoming employees.
Distracted by the blue flame, a young soldier, wasn’t an exaggeration to say that he was still a boy, stumbled. The regular soldier grabbed his chest and raised him up, then slapped him from the left and right.
“If you fall on the battlefield, you’re only waiting for death. Do you want to be crushed by hundreds of soles and have a pathetic death!? If you fail, the people around you will die! If you want to die, die alone!!! Keep your concentration!!”
“I-I’m very sorry!”
The young soldier with a swollen face raised his voice and returned to the formation. Walm once again shot a fireball at the location closest to the young soldiers.
The ground was dug up, the soil fell apart from the sky, and hot air fueled the group. The young soldier clenched his teeth and endured without falling. Rather, other soldiers who let their guard down thinking that the fireball wouldn’t land in close proximity were falling down one by one.
“It’s like bowling.”
The regular soldier spread his anger as the blood rushed to his brain.
The regular soldier looked as if he was about to die of indignation before the battle with the Meisenav family.
Seeing it, Walm murmured.
“Poor you”
The regular soldier was so desperate. The more the people collapsed in the training, the more they put their own lives at stake. Still, Walm didn’t feel sorry for the people who continued to train in a rush.
In a training, even if you failed at something, you would only be scolded harshly, but if you made a mistake on the battlefield, it might lead to your death. As an honor of the regular soldier desperately trying to attach claws and sharp horns to the flock of sheep, Walm offered to entertain him by shooting more blue fireworks without hesitation.
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Kuwen, was born as the fourth son of a farmer. He had been living together with his parents for 15 years.
The parents’ house was a typical farmer, and if they filled their stomachs and paid taxes, they wouldn’t have any extra money left. His clothes and shoes were his older brothers’ clothes, but of course, those clothes were used while engaging in farm work, so they would deteriorate over time faster and were almost worn out completely due to repeated repairs.
Even if he had such complains, he was grateful to his parents for raising him and his brothers for taking care of him. Still. Kuwen wasn’t satisfied with the status quo in the family.
As time went by, the land of his parents would be inherited by the eldest son and the second son. It was just a tradition. Kuwen didn’t mean to complain there either.
There were few roads left for Kuwen as the fourth son. One would be to stay at the parents’ house as support. But, his brothers wouldn’t be unmarried for the rest of their lives. If they got a daughter-in-law and a child, Kuwen’s shoulders would become even narrower. He wouldn’t have any saying in the family.
The other would be the option to join a pioneer group that kept trying to open up the land of the Demon Territory and transform it into an area where people could live. To be clear, it would be a path of penance. Surviving the competition for survival with sporadic monsters, cutting trees, digging roots, and removing weeds and pebbles. Such would continue endlessly.
Even if he did that, it might not end with him having a successful life. There was no guarantee that the land would grow well, and although the size might be small, the cost of stationing adventurers and regular soldiers, and the funds for reclamation were debts to the former lord and must be repaid.
A powerful monster could destroy the pioneer team. His third brother had repeatedly told Kuwen about his hardships. The thing that gave hope to the troubled Kuwen was the war between the Dalimarx family and the Meizenav family.
A war. Of course, there would be a time when you must take someone’s life and someone might do the same to you. Still, this was the only way to break through the status quo. People with similar circumstances in the village and Kuwen responded to the draft. Given a copper plate instead of a promissory note, Kuwen was already a member of the military force, and the excuse of being a farmer wouldn’t work anymore.
Prewar trainings began abruptly. Kuwen was fortunate to line up with his friend of the same village, Kalim. In the village, Kalim was known as a my-pace and sloppy person. The hair was always left as it was without making it neat, before going out of the house.
Kuwen kept his pace. He was confident in his strength due to his experience in farming, but his arm holding the spear was screaming. Still, it wasn’t something he couldn’t do.
“We’ll somehow get used to this.”
Kuwen proudly said. His brown-haired friend agreed.
“Yeah”
After that, he managed to change direction and pushed the spear with a shout. The spear cut through the sky and a wind noise remained in his ears. It was overwhelming. He had trained to swing a spear with more than a dozen people in a village, but a hundred people? Of course, it felt different.
Kuwen felt that his existence had become slightly powerful. He was in a good mood and tried to step out of his foot, but suddenly the ground exploded. The roaring sound shook the eardrum and the hot air stimulated the skin.
Kuwen couldn’t understand what happened.
The regular soldier leading the group raised his voice.
“Concentrate, don’t disturb the line!”
Kuwen realized that even the pillars of fire rising high were part of the training. He didn’t think that the training would be to this extent, but as his concentrated thoughts become distracted, he started to think more extra things.
Kuwen’s field of vision was reversed as his foot caught in a small dent. When he found out he had fallen, He heard Kalim speak unusually fast.
“Kuwen, stand up.”
His heart started to beat like a storm. Calming the confused brain, he picked up a training spear. The instructor approached fast from a gap in the group before he got up and completely grabbed his chest.
“Bastard, what are you doing?!”
When he noticed, a pain ran on both cheeks. Kuwen was unable to return from the crucible of turmoil, but the shout of the regular soldier was like a villain, ran through his eardrum and broke his leftover concentration.
“If you fall on the battlefield, you’re only waiting for death. Do you want to be crushed by hundreds of soles and have a pathetic death!? If you fail, the people around you will die! If you want to die, die alone!!! Keep your concentration!!”
“I-I’m very sorry!”
Even the heated atmosphere in the surrounding, felt cold.
“Are you OK?”
Worrying as a friend, Kuwen was asked.
Kuwen clenched his teeth and showed his determination.
“I won’t fail anymore”
Once again, the ground was scooped out by an explosion, and the soil that had been blown up in the sky poured down. It wasn’t something to be proud of, but he might have been underestimating the training too much.
Feeling the heat on his skin, Kuwen, who had regained his concentration, was shocked again. It was the same fireball as the first time, but it landed closer than before.
This time, four or five friends fell in a row. The angry regular soldier rushed and kindly gave his fist to them.
Kuwen turned his eyes to the magic-user who had scattered the blue flames. The armor on his body wasn’t those from the Archipelago. Kuwen glared at the former Highserk soldiers who recently had been talked about.
Despite the distance, Kuwen had a line of sight with the magic-user. He had golden eyes, or supposedly so, but it felt strangely dark and muddy.
Feeling a chill run through his spine, Kuwen looked away from the man. The man shot fireballs one after another and kept landing around the group. The optimistic atmosphere had now disappeared.
Then several people made mistakes, and each time the fist of a regular soldier had its fun and the number of people with swelled faces increased. Then the training ended with a sense of tension. Throw the now free limbs to the ground and opened the mouth asking for water like a dog.
Even training made his body run out of energy. Wondering what would happen in the real battle, Kuwen trembled.
“Let’s do our best”
The carefree friend said as usual. Thinking that he couldn’t show a weak behavior to Kalim, Kuwen replied with a tightened stomach.
“Yeah”