Chapter 16
- Corporal Yaan!
While the soldiers were intoxicated with the joy of victory, Cain's Silver Knight approached the Glaepnir that Yaan was piloting.
Creating a bridge between the Glaepnir and the Silver Knight's cockpit with his hand, Cain opened his cockpit and came out to greet Yaan.
"Corporal Yaan! I'm glad you're safe! What happened to the enemy colossi! Do you know anything?"
Saying this, Cain approached the Glaepnir's cockpit.
Soon, as if answering him, the Glaepnir's cockpit door opened, and Yaan, dressed in a black uniform, slowly stepped out.
"The enemy colossus unit has been wiped out. We destroyed seven out of ten, and confirmed the rest retreating to their main defensive line."
Yaan's face, saying this, was soaked with exhaustion.
Four colossi had sortied as the vanguard.
With that number, they fought ten Elf Kingdom colossi and destroyed seven!
An almost monumental achievement, comparable to his own!
"You've done a great thing. Really, you've done something incredible!"
Even as Cain rejoiced as if it were his own deed, Yaan's expression showed no change.
He merely looked back at the headquarters, hollowly, at the fact that the war he had served in for ten years had ended.
"Hey! Look at those damn elves carefully! They'll come back!"
"Just wait a bit, I tell you! Typical Penal Corps...!"
"What, punk? You wanna re-enlist in my unit, huh? You bastard?"
"Crazy talk!"
The ordinary soldiers and Penal Corps members who had fought together began to mingle like old friends.
The Elf Kingdom's lines, turned to a wasteland. Yet soon, seeing the enormous amount of loot pouring out of the supply and armory, the soldiers' eyes went wide.
"Huh, they didn't even dispose of this much material?"
"They never thought they'd lose."
"Well, same goes for us, though."
The soldiers spoke as they examined the weapons coming out of the place, one by one.
Everything was top-grade goods, in a different league from what was supplied to them.
"You bastards! Hands off! I said hands off!"
Someone appeared, throwing a damper on the good mood.
The Penal Corps company commander, now the front-line commander, wearing a coat puffed up as if it would burst.
"By authority of command, I am taking charge of all these materials! Touch them and you're all executed by firing squad! Got it!?"
"...."
"That son of a..."
Seeing the soldiers quietly glaring at him, the commander's brows twisted into a reverse crescent as he exploded.
"Did you bastards all take drugs together? You think your lives change just because you got lucky and survived!? Open your eyes, you bastards!!"
The commander who had just moments ago ordered his subordinates to hang their comrades by the neck.
As he drove the soldiers away, eyes gleaming with greed, the soldiers watching him lost their expressions one by one.
"Hehehehe! If I just skim off these supplies properly, I can loaf around for life after discharge...!"
"Commander."
"What! You bastards still don't know your place...!"
The commander, turning around, couldn't finish his sentence. Reading the mood, his face hardened stiffly.
The soldiers who had called him showed not even anger.
A mechanical gaze.
Anxiety welled up. This was something...
"H-hey. Wait, listen to me..."
Bang-!
The soldiers' answer was a gunshot.
"Huh?"
"...Ha. It's finally over."
Cain, puzzled by the sudden gunshot. Leaving behind Yaan's muttering, whose meaning he didn't grasp, he walked toward where the shot had rung out.
"What happened?"
Soldiers gathered in one place.
Soldiers with expressionless faces quietly reported to Cain.
"There was a loaded gun among the looted materials. It was my oversight for not checking."
The speaker was a Penal Corps member with the rank of sergeant.
Cain looked at him, then shifted his gaze to a corner.
Two fleshy legs could be seen being dragged somewhere.
"...I see. I'm glad it was nothing serious."
Saying this, Cain turned and walked toward where the colossi were.
"Ah, right. I forgot to mention,"
Cain opened his mouth again.
For a moment, tension ran among the soldiers.
"Move the trash to the front trenches. Burn them with the goblin corpses and there'll be no trace."
After saying this, Cain walked off, trudging.
The soldiers, blankly watching him, nodded and began moving busily.
"You've come."
"Yes. It seems... there's a problem."
Yaan, smoking a cigarette in front of the colossus, asked, and Cain replied.
Even at a moment to be happy, his expression was dark.
"Is something the matter?"
"Just, I feel I've changed a lot too. Never thought the day would come when the Silver Knight of legend would condone the killing of a superior..."
Having seen the commander's end, Cain spoke as if lamenting.
"I have no intention to blame or punish them. It was the Empire that abandoned them first."
"He was a man who deserved to die even before that."
Where Cain's complex gaze fell.
The corpse of a young Penal Corps member, holding a rifle, dead.
In one hand, he gripped a Bible with a prayer written on it.
The miserable end of the innocent youth, dragged into the Penal Corps and forced to kill his comrades.
"I've realized clearly on this front. This war should have ended long ago. We can't keep wasting the blood of young soldiers."
"I understand it's not a war that ends easily."
"It's difficult. But it's a war that someone must end. Even at the cost of my life."
Saying this, Cain turned to look at Yaan. His deeply sunken eyes had changed noticeably since he first came here.
"Yaan Verkut. I have something to ask you."
"Please go ahead."
Yaan answered without a moment's hesitation.
Looking at him, Cain slowly opened his mouth.
"You said before, that you don't fight for the Empire."
"I retract that. It was an impertinent remark."
"No, that's not what I mean. As I said, I brought it up to ask a question."
After saying this, Cain took a breath and spoke again.
"To have you fight for me, what do you think I should give you?"
"...."
For a moment, Yaan's movements stopped.
A rare look of confusion. But composing himself, he slowly opened his mouth.
"Not for the Empire, but for you, Commander?"
"Exactly. I need someone who will fight for me, not for the Empire."
There was no one to hear.
The looted supplies, provided without limit by Cain's order.
Liquor, food, meat... With these, a feast was underway, and no one was listening to their conversation.
"If anything is possible, then there is one thing I want."
"Speak it."
"Make me a knight."
Yaan's expression was coldly set as he spoke.
Cain stared at him with deep eyes.
Cain, forming a faint smile, quietly extended his hand to Yaan.
"I grant it. By the name of Cain Lorenz."
A short declaration. Yet the weight carried by those words was anything but small.
As if grasping the meaning, Yaan gripped Cain's hand and answered with force.
"I accept. I stake my life on it."
The two looked at each other for a moment.
It was the moment the Empire's greatest knight and the Empire's worst soldier clasped hands.
"Disperse for now, we'll meet separately later. We'll need a place to discuss the specifics."
"Understood. Then."
After saying that, the two released their hands.
"Corporal Yaan!"
Calling Yaan, who was walking toward Glaepnir, Cain asked in a low voice.
"Come to think of it, what happened to the others? Sir Randel?"
"Ah, Sir Randel is..."
Yaan trailed off.
Then, seeing the expression Yaan wore next, Cain let out a bitter laugh.
'There's no way I would harm Sir Knight, is there?'
The same expression he had worn when he had once said that.
Wearing a mass-produced face as if stamped from a mold, Yaan gave a slight smile and spoke to Cain.
"Sir Randel Belkuth, I regret to say, perished in battle."
***
"Ugh, ugh! Damn it...! Is anyone there? Anyone!"
The cockpit of the colossus, crumpled and mangled.
Two hours after being engulfed in darkness, Randel realized the other colossuses had vanished completely.
It was because no sound could be heard except distant explosions.
"Damn it, those elves. If I just get out of here...!"
Shouting, Randel searched every corner of the cockpit.
It was no use. If things continued like this, he would starve to death inside the colossus without moving a muscle.
"Damn it, if I'd known this would happen, I wouldn't have messed with that Penal Corps guy...!"
As the jealousy and rage faded, regret for his actions washed over him belatedly.
If he had just let it go, nothing would have happened. After all, that guy was just a knight in the Penal Corps. There was no reason to feel intimidated or jealous!
Thinking that, he clutched his head.
Thud.
Thud.
Footsteps.
Footsteps any knight would recognize as belonging to a colossus.
"Eek! E-Elf Kingdom?"
Randel trembled in terror. The approaching footsteps of the colossus nearly drove him mad.
Thud!
The footsteps stopped right in front of him.
Gulp. As he swallowed, there was a moment of complete silence.
"D-Damn it... damn it!"
Cursing, Randel fumbled at his waist.
Gone. The pistol that should always be there was nowhere to be seen. Of all times!
In that moment of despair, his colossus shook violently.
Boom!
It was certain. Someone had grabbed his colossus.
Then came a chilling sound.
Screeech! Screeech!
The grating sound of metal being crushed made Randel cringe. The cockpit was already smeared with the filth he had spilled in terror.
"Ah, aah! Don't come! Don't eat me! Aaaaah!"
Screaming, he thrashed wildly, and a scattering of light flooded his face.
"Sir Knight? Are you alive?"
Hearing the familiar voice, Randel's eyes snapped open.
It was Yaan looking down at him through the exit.
Corporal Yaan Verkut of the Penal Corps.
"Y-You...! No, how did you...!"
"I got lucky and survived. I came just in case, and you're alive."
Yaan's face, as he spoke, was too calm for someone looking at the one who had trapped him.
Seeing not a trace of resentment in his expression, Randel almost forgot what he had done to Yaan.
But looking at his face again, Randel clung to him like a drowning man to a straw.
"I-I'm sorry! I was blinded by greed, I trapped you. And I took four colossuses... oh...!"
Randel looked truly miserable. He had spent so long in the dark, going over his actions, trembling with regret.
"It's fine. In the end, I survived and even gained something, so let's say no more about it."
Yaan's words, spoken as if nothing mattered.
Yet to Randel, that single line felt like salvation.
It felt as if his sins were being washed away.
'To think I tried to trap a man like this, blinded by greed!'
Thinking that, Randel raised his voice.
"Thank you. Thank you so much! I will definitely repay this favor! I know the Commander favors you, no! The Belkuth family will support you! I guarantee your future!"
Randel's eyes shone with joy as he spoke.
Yaan looked at him with a faint smile. Then, he extended his hand to Randel.
"I swear it! Once we return to the homeland, I'll give you every possible support...!"
Randel froze as he reached for Yaan's outstretched hand.
"H-Hey, Corporal Yaan...?"
In Yaan's hand was a pistol.
A small pistol, small enough to fit in one hand.
Not a human weapon, but one issued to Elf Kingdom officers.
"Forget the support, I came during a busy time because I have a few questions. So if you want to go as painlessly as possible, you'd better answer properly. Randel Belkuth."
In an instant, his polite tone dropped to casual speech.
Frightened by the bizarre change, Randel nodded silently.
The questions turned to pressing, the pressing to interrogation.
"Yanika. The name of the commoner maid who was taken into the Belkuth family twenty years ago. Do you remember anything?"
"Y-Yanika...?"
Faced with the pistol, he had to dredge up memories that weren't there.
Randel frantically searched his mind under Yaan's icy gaze.
As if remembering something, he spoke hurriedly.
"I-I remember! She was the autistic girl who caught the head's eye and became a maid! B-But about ten years ago the head..."
Randel's words cut off.
He belatedly realized what he had just said.
"Ah, aah...!"
"Keep talking. What did your head do to Yanika?"
Randel's face turned pale as he trembled.
Having belatedly recalled the incident, his face drained of color, turning white as paper.
"Y-You...?"
"You're not dying for your own wickedness. You're dying because of the family you chose to enter."
With those words, Yaan slowly pulled the trigger. The muzzle was aimed squarely at Randel's forehead.
"No, no! I, I can't die here...!"
Bang-!
His words went no further.
After gazing for a moment at Randel's corpse slumped powerlessly in the cockpit, Yaan quietly turned away.
"Now one left."
Muttering that quietly to himself, Yaan boarded Glaepnir and began racing toward the Elf Kingdom front lines.