Episode 27.

Night fell over the valley. An outpost was formed, and the tents were raised. The paramedics and nurses who arrived moved about quite organizedly, I must say. There were a great number of wounded to attend to, many of them lying on blankets stained with their own blood, covered in bandages all over their bodies, constantly complaining of the torment they had to endure.

Although suffering and agony from the pain were palpable in the atmosphere, they were encapsulated by the heavy calm brought by the night sky and the campfires warming us on the cold, harsh night. Weary soldiers quickly found solace by the fireside, enjoying pleasant conversation and a good (though simple) dinner among comrades, a well-deserved rest after a hard-fought battle.

As I continued to supervise and tally the number of wounded we had, I came across a certain young girl of heavy and grouchy character, serving as a nurse in the camp. At first, I didn't recognize her, as it had been a long time since I had seen her, and I even thought we would never cross paths again. But as soon as our eyes met, I realized it was her.

Roef: 『 Hey, what are you doing here? 』

Veronica: 『 But what kind of greeting is that? Couldn't you be a bit more respectful? Honestly, you haven't changed at all. 』

Roef: 『 I thought you had stayed at the Cleric Siar's refuge. 』

Veronica: 『 I didn't like being there. The nuns were nothing but a nuisance and never allowed us to play. They always told us that we had to learn to behave like adults because sooner or later we would have to get married and have children. 』

Roef: 『 And isn't that true? 』

Veronica: 『 Of course not!! I don't need to get married or have to take care of anyone! 』

Roef: 『 That's what you say, but here you are, having to take care of and tend to the wounded, aren't you? 』

Veronica: 『 Th-This is different!... It's true that I no longer want to be a child. I want to have enough strength to fend for myself, and I know that I must mature even more for that... That's why I offered to help Dr. Martel, to learn as much as possible from him and become a true adult as soon as possible. 』

I don't think that's how one becomes an adult, much less so quickly or at such a young age. But if that's what she wants, she'll manage on her own then. I didn't have time to worry about a girl who thought like that.

Jean: 『 Hey, Roef! So you're here, huh?! What are you still doing on duty? You should come with everyone and celebrate our great victory. 』

As smug as ever. Jean looked so carefree, thinking we were in just a mere celebration. He was toasting and joking along with the other soldiers, with quite a lot of excitement, as if the battle of a few hours ago had never happened and the wounded we had beside us didn't exist. I detest this side of him when he ends up getting drunk; he becomes more annoying than usual.

Jean: 『 Oh? But if it isn't little Veronica! It's been a while since we've seen each other! Tell me, what brings you here? 』

Veronica: 『 Hmph! I don't have to explain it to you. You're too foolish to understand. 』

Whenever these two end up meeting, peace and tranquility disappear. Veronica, who tries to be as composed and proper as possible, detests Jean for his lax and mocking attitude. She always argues with him and scolds him endlessly, but Jean pays little attention and irritates her even more with his irreverent comments.

Jean: 『 Oh, come on! Don't say that! It wounds me to think that someone as pretty as you would hurt my feelings like that. 』

Veronica: 『 P - Pretty? What are you say- ?! 』

Jean: 『 Hey, why don't you come with me! Let's go! 』

Veronica: 『 Wha?-Ahhh!! W-Wait!! 』

Jean took Veronica's hand and with a sudden pull, dragged her to the bonfire where several of the recruits were amid drunken revelry, all dancing and jumping to the tune of an old violin played by one of the veterans.

They spun and twirled as they sang the old cheerful songs of triumph, the past glories of ancient legends that we never quite got to know, but which left us their tales. At least it seemed they were having fun, even Veronica, who followed Jean's bouncing steps and emitted a tender laugh, infected by the soldiers' laughter.

Cmdr. Rask: 『 Well, it seems you're having a good time. 』

Roef: 『 Commander! 』

Behind me, Commander Rask appeared without warning, the one who has led every major battle during the course of this war and has commanded our battalion: The Recovery Front. It was a tremendous responsibility to lead the group tasked with liberating the towns from the invading occupation of Tesotl, and of course, it couldn't be entrusted to anyone other than the king's right-hand man. To think we graduated only two years apart, it's incredible to think we're nearly the same age and he already holds such a high rank.

Cmdr. Rask: 『 I've seen how the hill and the mine turned out. It was a tough battle, no doubt. After all that, it doesn't surprise me that you're celebrating. 』

Roef: 『 Sir, I didn't— 』

Laurent: 『 Who would have thought! I didn't think you were so liberal as to throw a party, Roef 』

It had been almost a month since we last saw each other, and this idiot was already starting with his antics. Laurent was a classmate at the academy, both from the same generation. He's an idiot, but he's pretty good at what he does, a specialist in handling long and heavy weapons. That said, he has a knack for annoying me in everything I do, and to top it off, I always end up paired with him. I still don't understand how we ended up in the same squad over and over again. I can't seem to shake him off, it's extremely tiring.

Roef: 『 And who would have thought you'd be capable of coming back in one piece. I'm surprised they didn't have to save your ass this time, as always. 』

Laurent: 『 Ha! As if I needed help. Compared to you, I'm an unstoppable warrior. In fact, I'm so good that I'm surely destined to stop this war and eliminate evil from this world. 』

Roef: 『 Too bad you can't eliminate your idiocy. 』

Laurent: 『 What did you just say?!! 』

Hector: 『 He, he; no doubt you missed each other. 』

On the other hand, Hector was much more to my liking, a much more reasonable person, very cordial and responsible. He always follows orders and performs all tasks correctly. He was the only "normal" being in this team full of loonies and misfits, starting with one in particular...

Cmdr. Rask: 『 Hey, Roef. What in blazes is Jean doing? 』

Ever since Jean joined the group, things have taken a considerable turn for the worse. He's someone very mysterious, doesn't seem to be very intelligent, so to speak, seems like he's always in the clouds, but the talent he has on the battlefield is undeniable, so good that it's almost scary. But he's a complete mystery, we know he comes from the continent of Euralia and from a noble family, but there's no sense in why he's in this war; he doesn't fight for his nation or for issues of any commercial alliance or anything like that, they just put him here with us without any explanation as to why; he just says "he's here to have fun."

Hector: 『 Um, isn't that the girl we met in Ascord? 』

Roef: 『 Yes, she volunteered as a nurse for Dr. Martel and we came across her. Jean ended up dragging her to dance with him and well... there you have it. 』

Hector: 『 I see. But... for a girl to be on a battlefield... 』

Cmdr. Rask: 『 It seems we've run short of medical personnel. Well, if she volunteered herself, there's nothing to be done. Besides, it's not our problem. Our job is to go out there and fight and end this war by any means necessary... whatever the cost... 』

The commander was right; we only had to focus on ending the enemy to stop this war between nations. As soldiers, our only duty was to fight for the kingdom and the king, nothing more.

Cmdr. Rask: 『 Gather around, everyone. We have matters to discuss. 』

Hector: 『 Yes, sir! 』

Roef: 『 HEY, JEAN!! They're calling us!! Hurry! 』

Jean: 『 OH, COME ON!! DON'T RUIN THE FUN! 』

Roef: 『 QUICKLY!! 』

Jean let out a sort of sigh and complaint at the same time. He let go of Veronica's hand and, as if playing, apologized like a "knight," saying she should excuse him, as he had to attend the commander's call, but that he would dance with her again some other time. Honestly, those words didn't show much credibility and precisely the little girl was not satisfied; she wanted him to truly keep his word.

Veronica: 『 P-Promise me you'll dance with me again! I-I'm only saying this because it's impolite to leave a lady like this! 』

Jean: 『 Of course! I promise we'll meet again very soon... Until then. 』

Jean finally walked away from Veronica and the lively group of soldiers who danced around the blazing bonfire, leaving the girl alone with a sad expression.

We entered a tent a bit away from the firelight, where the laughter and songs could hardly be heard anymore. There wasn't much in that place, just a simple oil lamp hanging from a narrow rope, illuminating a worn and cracked square table where Laurent, Hector, and the Commander's travel bags were also placed, indicating they had just arrived at the camp.

Rask began the meeting by taking out a piece of folded parchment from his pocket, with many creases that he smoothed out as he spread the paper on the table. This revealed a large map full of crossed-out lines and marked points.

He pointed to the place where we were currently: Rezok, that small mining village in the Northeast region of the kingdom, in the largest mineral and gemstone extraction area in the entire continent of Axal.

In essence, we had already cleared the entire border of the invaders from Tesotl, the Northern kingdom, who came seeking to seize the area and all the mineral wealth, as they have no mines in their inhospitable and icy territory.

Even so, it was quite surprising how quickly we managed to defeat the other invading groups in the other villages. Supposedly, their army is one of the most powerful. The initial battles had indeed been very long-lasting, lasting for months even, but gradually, as we advanced and liberated the villages from occupation, it seemed that the difficulty decreased, their troops windled more and more, and the fights now were shorter.

Furthermore, in the nearly two years we've been at war, it has been noted that they have extracted very few catalysts for each area we cleared; sometimes we found the mines intact for some reason. It was too strange, an absolute nonsense. If the reason they came directly here was to plunder our resources, then why weren't they doing it?

There has been no attempt at reconquest or to retake the mines, nor any other movement towards the interior of the kingdom. It was as if they had suddenly disappeared.

Cmdr. Rask: 『 As you may know, gentlemen, we only need to liberate two more enemy outposts: Losalt and Solist, the two largest mana wells in the region, at the foot of Mount Arok. And I'll tell you straight away, perhaps this will be tougher than what happened in Ascord and Almak. 』

As soon as the Commander mentioned Ascord and Almak, only bad memories came to mind of how disastrous that operation was, a huge risk we had to take to ensure the victory of that painful battle, a victory of which I don't feel proud at all and don't want to repeat. If indeed the next could be worse than that hellish experience from a year ago, this time nothing would guarantee that we would win or even come out alive.

Cmdr. Rask: 『 During the reconnaissance mission, 'Spectrus alpha' found what is the largest occupying force of all. I wouldn't lie if I said their numbers are up to ten times more than ours. 』

Roef: 『 Ten times?! Where did they get so many men?! I thought we were evenly matched in numbers by now! 』

Cmdr. Rask: 『 It was a surprise to us too; they've practically set up a military city at the entrance to the mega-cavern of the mountain. We don't know if they've been biding their time to attack at some given moment. Either way, we can't afford to wait to find out. We'll have to reclaim the area. 』

Roef: 『 But how on earth are we going to do it?! We have less than a thousand soldiers left here. We won't be able to face them like this! 』

Cmdr. Rask: 『 I know, that's why I've requested reinforcements from the capital. But considering that we're also running out of resources and our reputation with the people has declined, it will take at least two or three months at minimum to match their numbers. 』

Two months of waiting?! If we take so long to attack, we'd likely have a massive army of 10,000 men crossing the territory to ravage all the villages and the kingdom's capital. We couldn't afford to waste so much time and give them the initiative.

We needed to come up with an immediate action plan, with a good strategy, but with a very limited number of available pieces. Being realistic, it was something very unlikely to achieve. Sending our few units to the front like this would only result in us being crushed decisively and losing all the territory on the border once again. It would cost us the war entirely.

We all fell silent for a brief moment as we thought about how to solve this dilemma. I started to get a headache from the stress and lack of ideas; it was true that I was also beginning to tire and the situation was getting to me. My head throbbed with internal desperation until Jean suddenly spoke, without taking his eyes off the map, studying it carefully as if searching for something that troubled him.

Jean: 『 You know, there's something that catches my attention here. 』

Laurent: 『 What, really? 』

Jean: 『 Aye, you'll see... I've noticed something odd here in the region, or rather in all the northern lands, and it is that... 』

Cmdr. Rask: 『 'and it is that' (?) 』

It seemed that Jean's analytical prowess had captured something in the end, an important detail that could be vital and give us an answer to our problem. We all remained expectant at his dramatic pause, and the slow movement of his lips only made us more tense, until he finally finished his sentence.

Jean: 『 ... All have strange names! 』

Laurent: 『 ... Eh? 』

Jean: 『 It's just that all the places we've passed through have odd names, sometimes I even struggle to pronounce them. Don't you find it strange? 』

We were astonished by Jean's irrelevant comment and reacted with utter disappointment. Truly, I know not what we expected from him if we already knew his immature behavior.

Laurent: 『 *Sigh*! Really, Jean? I see you remain the same 'Beyarno' as when you arrived. The names are so because they were named by the founding tribes. 』

Jean: 『 Founding tribes? 』

Roef: 『 The pioneering civilizations of the continent, Jean. It's believed they were small villages scattered everywhere, each with its own language and customs. 』

Jean: 『 Oooh, I see. But now almost everyone on the continent speaks the same language, don't they? What happened to them? 』

Laurent: 『 They perished. Many of the kingdoms of Euralia took it upon themselves to destroy and enslave the peoples of the continent during the colonization era. That's why we also have very diverse names and surnames; we're mestizo descendants of the colonizers and the pioneers of Axal, you could say a mix of everything. 』

Roef: 『 Wow, I'm surprised a fool like you knows history. 』

Laurent: 『 I also know how to shut your mouth. Would you like me to show you? 』

Cmdr. Rask: 『 Alright, that's enough chatter. I want you all to listen carefully. 』

The Commander began explaining his proposal as he usually did. Now that I think about it, most of the plans executed in combat were his doing. Few times did we come up with better strategies than him, even though he allows us to propose and suggest changes on some occasions. It was logical for the leader of the team and the recovery troops to make the important decisions.

Cmdr. Rask: 『 We'll make things a bit more difficult for them. We're going straight for their last rations. 』

Roef: 『 So we're going to starve them? 』

It turns out that a large part of the occupying forces isn't doing so well, to say the least. According to the report, the enemy is experiencing physical exhaustion due to the scarcity of food in winter; water and food supplies had started to run considerably low, and they had nowhere else to plunder now that the villages and towns they invaded were destroyed.

Furthermore, it's worth mentioning the symptoms of stress and anxiety among some of their soldiers, all of which are the result of exploitation and overexertion by their high command. Perhaps some of this was to be expected.

It was true, then, the military training of the forces of Tesotl involved some of the cruelest practices one could imagine. They were deprived of water and food for days, possibly even weeks. There were espionage reports detailing how cadets had to endure torturous punishments ranging from being submerged in freezing water wells, almost in a state of freezing, to being part of human hunts like naked animals. That's how savage they are in that nation.

Clearly, they were also going through a difficult situation, much worse than ours, even. However, what mattered was that they were vulnerable, and we had a good opportunity to weaken them even further.

Cmdr. Rask: 『 Indeed. This vast outpost is also a food distribution point. It's from here that all the support and war resources for the attack groups we've faced come and go. If we wait two months for a possible attack, what we five can do for now is weaken the enemy. 』

Hector: 『 But, sir, no matter how little food they have, I don't think we alone can steal all their supplies in a single trip. 』

Cmdr. Rask: 『 Don't worry, Hector, it won't be necessary. 』

Roef: 『 Sir? 』

Cmdr. Rask: 『 We won't steal their food... We're going to destroy it. 』