Chapter – 59
It was hard to believe, but no one doubted Carlisle.
His appearance was proof enough.
He was so covered in blood that it looked like he had dunked his entire body, from head to toe, in a pool of gore—who would dare to deny it?
To anyone who saw him, he was unmistakably the image of someone who had just been slaughtering…
“I’m going to go wash up. Ugh.”
Carlisle made a disgusted face.
And for good reason.
From his hair to his uniform, he was thoroughly drenched in the enemy’s blood, and with every step he took, red droplets dripped steadily from him.
[Notification: The progress of <The Noble Proof> has reached 90%! (9/10)]
Just one more battle, and he would be free from his lowly private status, but Carlisle paid no attention to such things.
“Private Russell. Fetch Private Carlisle a new uniform.”
“Yes, sir!”
Russell scurried off quickly towards the barracks.
“Private Carlisle.”
“Yes, Captain Helen.”
“You’ve worked hard. As your commander, I salute your achievements.”
“Does that mean I get a reward leave too?”
“Reward leave…?”
“I heard someone say that if you distinguish yourself, they give you reward leave.”
“……”
Helen made a face that said she couldn’t believe it.
Who thinks about reward leave at a time like this…?
“We’ll discuss the reward leave once the situation is settled. This isn’t the time for that conversation.”
“Are you giving it or not?”
“I’ll give it. At least ten days or more.”
“Understood.”
“I grant you rest. So you can reorganize.”
“Yes.”
Only after getting a definite answer about the reward leave from Helen did Carlisle head towards the well.
*Splash!*
Carlisle poured a bucket of water over his head, washing away the blood, causing the baby dragon nestled in his bosom to jump out.
From the baby dragon’s perspective, it had been suddenly doused with water while sleeping, so its surprise was understandable.
“Haaaaaak! What in the world are you doing? And what’s with that look?”
“Huh? You were still here?”
“Whaaat?”
“Didn’t even know you were here.”
Carlisle said indifferently.
“What do you mean, ‘didn’t even know I was here’?”
“Welp… I mean, your owner was going through all that hardship, and you were nowhere to be seen, so I thought you’d run away or something.”
*Splash!*
As Carlisle said that, he poured another bucket of water over his head.
“I was sleeping!”
The baby dragon bristled at Carlisle’s pointed remark.
“How could you sleep at a time like that? While your owner was fighting for his life?”
“What can I do? I’m a newborn, I get sleepy!”
“Excuses.”
“Whaaat? Excuuuses? Haaaaak!”
The baby dragon flapped its wings and swung its front paws at Carlisle.
*Boink!*
“……?”
Carlisle tilted his head.
“Haaaaaak!”
The baby dragon swung its front paws twice more.
*Boink! Boink!*
“……?”
It didn’t hurt; it wasn’t even ticklish.
“Here, use this.”
“Thank you.”
Russell approached and handed Carlisle a new uniform and a towel.
“But, hey…”
“Yes?”
“You… were you that strong? How did you take down so many enemies…?”
“It was only possible because the conditions were right. I’m not usually that strong.”
“R-really?”
“Yes.”
Carlisle wiped the blood off his face with the towel as he spoke.
Meanwhile, the baby dragon’s attacks on Carlisle continued.
*Boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink…*
“What’s with it?”
“I don’t know.”
“It seems angry.”
“Seems so.”
“Shouldn’t you comfort it…?”
“It’ll get spoiled.”
Carlisle replied, wringing the blood out of his hair with the towel.
*Boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink boink…*
“By the way.”
“Yeah?”
“Is it possible to transfer reward leave to someone else?”
“You’d have to ask Captain Helen about that, right? Leave matters are at the commander’s discretion. But why? Do you have someone to give it to?”
“Nothing like that.”
Carlisle changed into the new uniform Russell had brought him as if it were nothing.
*’Come back alive. Then I’ll share a day or two with you.’*
He had been counting down the days to his leave so eagerly…
So much so that Carlisle even considered sharing his reward leave.
“I’m going to rest for a bit, so please call me if anything happens.”
“Y-yeah.”
Carlisle trudged wearily towards the barracks.
*’I should rest even for a moment. Something’s bound to happen soon.’*
Anticipating that the enemies would soon launch a large-scale offensive, he lay down on his bunk and closed his eyes for a while.
***
Meanwhile, Byron, the messenger from Fort Bowden, upon arriving at the Decaron Army’s 2nd Corps headquarters, immediately met with Commander Levesque and delivered Helen’s letter.
The letter reported the detection of a powerful dark mage’s activity, anticipated a large-scale offensive by the Butcher tribe, and requested that reinforcements be sent quickly.
“A dark mage…”
Levesque’s expression turned grave.
The fight with the savages was nothing new, but a dark mage was a different story.
This was a matter for Decaron’s ruler, Grand Duke Guntram, or for the kingdom to handle, not something Levesque could deal with on his own authority.
“As Commander, I order you to relay to Fort Bowden’s commander, Helen, to immediately withdraw with all forces.”
“Y-yes…?”
Byron couldn’t believe his ears.
“Withdraw… you said?”
“Why, is something wrong?”
“I, I dare say… Sir, I believe you may have misread the letter.”
“What do you mean?”
“Captain Helen requested reinforcements, not permission to withdra……”
“You little brat.”
Levesque stood up abruptly and strode over to Byron, grabbing him by the collar.
Levesque, standing 190 cm tall and weighing 120 kg, could lift someone like Byron as if it were nothing.
“Kkh, kkhhk!”
Byron dangled in the air, suffering.
“How dare a mere messenger question the Commander’s orders…”
“Kkhhk!”
“Is that how Captain Helen educates her subordinates?”
“Th-that’s not it… Ggk!”
“If it’s not…”
*Crack!*
Levesque tightened his grip on Byron’s collar.
“Is a mere messenger like you also looking down on me, saying I’m not a real Sigmond, just a son-in-law taken into the family?”
“Gguuuuuk!”
“I’ll let it slide this once. But if you question this Commander’s orders one more time, I’ll break your neck.”
*Thud!*
Byron was thrown roughly to the ground.
“Kguuuuk!”
Byron let out a pained groan.
“I repeat, there are no reinforcements. However, I will permit a withdrawal, so relay that to Captain Helen. Tell her to return to headquarters immediately with all forces. I will personally report the matter of the dark mage to my superiors, so let her know.”
“L-loyalty. Kguuk!”
Clenching his teeth against the pain that felt like his whole body was breaking, Byron forced himself to stand up.
Every minute and second was urgent.
He had to deliver the withdrawal order as quickly as possible.
*’Damn it! A withdrawal order instead of reinforcements? He’s telling us all to die!’*
Byron seethed inwardly as he left the headquarters.
But since Commander Levesque had issued a withdrawal order instead of sending reinforcements, there was nothing a mere messenger could do.
All he could do was deliver the withdrawal order as fast as possible…
*’I hope nothing happens before the order is delivered…’*
Just as Byron was thinking that and heading back to Fort Bowden…
“Hey, you there!”
One of Levesque’s adjutants urgently stopped Byron.
“You’re the messenger from Fort Bowden, correct?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Then wait a moment. There might be an additional order.”
“Could it be that the Commander has decided to send reinforcements after all?”
Byron’s face brightened.
“Sorry, but no.”
“Ah…”
“Still, it doesn’t seem like a bad order for you, so wait a bit. It won’t take long.”
“Understood.”
Byron waited, not knowing what was going on, for the order to come down.
“Private Byron, was it?”
“Ah, yes.”
After waiting for nearly two hours, Levesque’s adjutant returned.
“As of now, you are hereby…………”
“Th-that kind of…”
Upon hearing the order, Byron was so shocked he couldn’t continue speaking.
***
“…Just as I thought.”
Carlisle woke up to the noise coming from outside the barracks.
He had wondered why it was so quiet; it seemed the enemy’s large-scale offensive was imminent.
“Are you sleepy?”
“Zzz…”
Carlisle looked down at the baby dragon curled up in his bosom and muttered incredulously.
It had been furious earlier, but it seemed it had gotten tired and fallen asleep.
“Carlisle! Wake up!”
“I’m up.”
“It’s terrible! Come out! Now!”
“I’m coming.”
Carlisle replied to Russell, who had come to find him, and slowly got up.
*’Having to get up to die.’*
The thought made him snort.
In Carlisle’s judgment, since things had kicked off, death was a foregone conclusion.
The Butcher tribe or the dark mage Crowley must have attacked, and how long could a place like Fort Bowden possibly hold out?
It was utterly obvious that the entire garrison would be wiped out unless reinforcements arrived.
Of course, that didn’t mean he had any intention of just lying down and dying.
Even if he had to die, he planned to make it as difficult as possible for the enemy, to weaken their ranks.
*’Yes, let’s do as you said and take as many with me as I can.’*
Carlisle recalled Grand Duke Guntram’s advice.
– Even if you are afraid, cry on the inside. Even if you want to live, do not beg for your life. If you must die, die honorably, die splendidly. As a member of the proud Sigmond family, die a glorious death that will be remembered for generations to come.
*’Well, it’s a more meaningful death than being run over by a truck. Heh.’*
Thinking that, Carlisle left the barracks.
*Buzz, buzz…*
“Ugh!”
“We’re all going to die! We’re going to die!”
The battle hadn’t even started yet, but the inside of the fort was in complete chaos.
*’It’s already the worst.’*
Morale is the most important thing for soldiers, and if the atmosphere was like this before the fight even began, the outcome was as clear as day.
“What’s going on?”
Carlisle asked the scouts after climbing onto the ramparts.
“See for yourself.”
Begman pointed forward.
“Hmm.”
Carlisle let out a groan as if savoring the sight before him.
“We’re all going to die.”
“Yeah, we’re all going to die.”
Begman agreed with Carlisle’s assessment.
It was an utterly natural conversation.
Before Fort Bowden.
Hundreds of barbarian warriors and undead monsters were lined up in formation.
Which meant that the Butcher tribe and the dark mage Crowley had joined forces.
*’So this is why this region falls into the hands of the savages a few years later.’*
Carlisle realized the hidden backstory of the game’s scenario.
It seemed the dark mage Crowley had been able to grow his power enough to threaten even Decaron because he had colluded with the savages.
“If I’m going to die, I can’t just die without a fight.”
Carlisle took the green brick from his bosom and descended the ramparts.
“Where are you going, Private Carlisle?”
“Got to try something.”
“……?”
“Need to boost the fort’s defenses. If the walls were made of stone, it would’ve been much better… Not that it’ll hold anyway.”
Carlisle answered Helen’s question like that, then borrowed a field shovel used by the combat engineers, dug a hole in the ground right in the center of the fort, and buried the green brick inside.
“Private Carlisle, what in the world are you…”
Helen looked completely bewildered, but thinking he must have his reasons, she let Carlisle do as he pleased.
Meanwhile, the enemies—the barbarian warriors and the undead monsters—began to move simultaneously.
It seemed that before the battle, the commanders, namely Chieftain Zarkan and the dark mage Crowley, had reached some kind of agreement.
“Th-they’re coming!”
As soon as someone shouted, a sound that shook the very earth began to be heard.
*Dudududududu!*
A full seven barbarian warriors were using [Destruction Charge], charging towards Fort Bowden.
*Kwaaaaang!*
The moment the seven human battering rams collided with the palisade walls.
*Paaaaaaang!*
A powerful shockwave erupted from the walls, sending the chargers flying far away.
