WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ How the Child of Prophecy Survives ◈
Chapter 13: A Fierce Squirrel Crouching in the Grass
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Until that morning, the first-year cadets had been in fairly good spirits. Military studies was scheduled for their morning class, and they were worried about how Senior Instructor Captain Thomas Koller would treat them, but their concerns were still within normal bounds.
“Arm yourselves immediately and assemble outside the academy gate. Anyone who’s late will be counted as dead.”
But when Thomas opened the classroom door, walked in, and said those words, the cadets realized at once that something was wrong.
Counted as dead? What did he mean by that? Did the phrase have some other meaning they didn’t know about?
But Thomas turned and left as soon as he finished speaking, and the sight of his retreating back was far too frightening for them to sit around considering such questions.
“Damn it!”
The shout came from a noble faction cadet who usually behaved with great dignity. Perhaps the sight of Ernst and several military faction cadets kicking back their chairs and rushing for the door the instant Thomas finished speaking had brought the cadet to their senses. Or perhaps they had lost their mind. Either way, the words slipped out.
“You bastard!”
Robert cried pitifully at Ernst’s back as his friend abandoned him and ran. But waiting for Robert wouldn’t improve the situation, so Ernst ignored him and ran as hard as he could.
In fact, reaching their room first and opening the door would help Robert too, so ignoring him was best for both of them.
Of course, the reason Ernst hadn’t pulled Robert to his feet before starting to run was the criticism and insults the two boys had exchanged while reaffirming their friendship last night.
“Check that you haven’t forgotten anything! Pass it on!”
“Check that you haven’t forgotten anything!”
Ferdinand was the first cadet to reach the dormitory. He had enough time to spare that he could warn the other cadets while packing his own gear. He even finished arming himself and packing before anyone else, gathered his military faction cadets in the corridor, and led every last one of them to the gate at a run, all in step.
Thus, the first cadet to reach the gate was Ernst, who had started running alongside Ferdinand but had left the dormitory without waiting for anyone else.
Fully armed, Ernst was unpacking his gear in front of the Valt car waiting outside the gate. Ahead of him, Captain Thomas Koller and the upperclassmen serving as training assistants watched the approaching cadets with fierce eyes.
“Unpack your gear!”
A training assistant barked the order, and the military faction cadets under Ferdinand’s command began unpacking, their bodies tense.
Robert was the next cadet to arrive. He had benefited from Ernst being first to run to the dormitory and first to leave it.
Ernst had run ahead and opened their room. Then, while gathering his own gear in a flash, he had carefully told Robert everything he needed to pack. He had even explained how to put on the breastplate and helmet that Robert had never worn before.
Robert was still a little sulky about being abandoned, but since Ernst had helped him, he decided to be generous and forgive him.
After him, the noble faction cadets and the nonhereditary nobles came rushing up and began unpacking as ordered.
“Instructor, time’s up.”
“Good. Pull out the latecomers.”
“Yes, sir.”
One of the training assistants spoke after checking the hourglass, which had run out of sand. Thomas gave his order in a cold voice.
The four cadets who arrived after that were seized by the upperclassmen serving as training assistants and dragged off to one side.
“You will be counted as dead.”
“C-Counted as d-dead? What does that...?”
“You fell behind, so you’re dead and won’t be taking part in the training.”
The cadets couldn’t help tensing at those words.
Thomas had excluded four cadets before the actual training had even begun. From the way things were going, he seemed to consider this first training session very important. Being excluded was an ominous sign for their future military studies grades.
“Where’s your waterskin?”
“Ah.”
“You won’t receive any water during today’s training.”
Meanwhile, the training assistants were inspecting the first-years’ packs and pointing out every mistake.
Ernst glanced around, taking in the situation. Soon, he realized that Thomas wasn’t giving demerit points to the cadets excluded for being late or those who had packed their gear incorrectly.
Likewise, Thomas hadn’t given merit points to Ernst, who had arrived first with all his equipment properly packed and his weapons and armor ready. The same went for Ferdinand, who had done an excellent job leading every last military faction cadet to the gate.
Once the inspection was over, the cadets packed everything up again and put their packs on their backs. Only then did Thomas explain the day’s training.
“We will now conduct a mock battle.”
The cadets looked up at Thomas in shock. Regardless of their reactions, he continued saying what he had to say.
“The training will take place in the forest outside Grimman. You’ll be divided into three units to fight one another. I’ll explain the details when we get there. Get in the vehicles immediately.”
Thomas strode off and climbed into a car. Under the training assistants’ direction, the first-years boarded a large transport truck.
“It’s not as if we’re livestock...”
Some cadets were unhappy about riding in the back of the truck. It felt like being loaded onto a cart and carried away like pigs or chickens. They were going to become officers. Naturally, they had expected to sit in the soft seats of luxurious Valt cars. Riding in the back of a transport truck had never even crossed their minds.
But they were about to experience something else they had never imagined. After leaving Grimman, the truck stopped in an open field, and a training assistant spoke.
“From here, you’ll follow us at a run.”
“Pardon?”
“Pardon? Was that directed at me?”
“N-No, sir!”
“Anyone who falls behind will be counted as dead.”
Once again, Ernst and the military faction cadets led by Ferdinand were the first to start running. Fortunately, this time Robert quickly jumped down from the truck after Ernst and ran beside him.
“This is absurd! Making us run like lowly commoners!”
Several cadets from high-ranking noble families protested fiercely.
But Wilfried, the Duke of Rabid’s fourth son and the highest-ranking noble among the first-years, had started running after Ernst and Ferdinand as soon as he got off the truck. He understood his position and knew that complaining wouldn’t improve anything, so he was focusing on adapting to the situation.
If even Wilfried was running, what excuse did the others have to hold out? In the end, they all gritted their teeth and began to run.
“Hey, hey. Aren’t we going to be late at this rate? We should run a little faster.”
Running beside Ernst, Robert couldn’t decide whether to abandon his friend, who was slowly falling behind, or stay with him.
The military faction cadets had already passed Ernst and pulled far ahead. The nonhereditary nobles were following them, and even some noble faction cadets were overtaking him.
Ernst remained perfectly calm.
“It’s quite a way from here to the forest. And despite appearances, Instructor Koller seems like someone who makes reasonable decisions. He gave us plenty of time to assemble at the gate too.”
“You’re saying we won’t be late even if we jog this slowly? You’re sure?”
“Probably.”
“Damn it. I suppose you’re right.”
After some thought, Robert settled into Ernst’s pace. He was worried that they might arrive late by jogging so slowly when the forest was right there in front of them, but at times like this, listening to Ernst was the right choice.
And that decision saved him. Ernst had already visited the mountains and forests around Grimman with his father more times than he could count. His judgment was correct.
“Hah! Hah...!”
The forest had looked close, yet no matter how long they ran, it refused to come any nearer. The green spring fields and the green forest beyond them played havoc with the inexperienced cadets’ sense of distance. The forest was much farther away than it appeared. And although the fields looked flat at first glance, the cadets were constantly running up and down gentle slopes.
The noble faction cadets gradually fell back until they were behind Ernst and Robert. The nonhereditary nobles did the same. Even some military faction cadets fell behind.
Ferdinand still had plenty of stamina, but he slowed down when the military faction cadets began struggling to keep up. He glanced back. Thanks to his height, he spotted Ernst and Robert running close behind his cadets. To his surprise, Wilfried was there too.
“Hello, Wilfried.”
“Huff, huff...”
“Listen, about yesterday. I wanted to apologize.”
“Huff, hah...”
“I didn’t do it on purpose...”
“Shh. Ernst, shut up.”
Ernst was running beside Wilfried and trying to apologize, but in Robert’s eyes, and indeed in anyone’s eyes, it wasn’t a very good idea. Wilfried was doing everything he could to keep up. He had no breath to spare for answering Ernst’s repeated attempts at conversation. More importantly, he simply didn’t want to talk to Ernst.
At Robert’s breathless words, Ernst fell silent. Even then, he kept glancing at Wilfried as if he wanted to say something.
“Well, you should be fine if you slow down a little. We’re running quite fast right now.”
“Ernst, please, shut up, and just, keep, running.”
Robert struggled to scold Ernst, who kept getting on Wilfried’s nerves and making the tension worse.
To fourteen-year-old Wilfried Rabid, who was forcing himself onward despite reaching his physical limits, Ernst’s words were deeply hurtful to his pride. In other words, Robert was right yet again.
Ernst muttered a small complaint. Then he finally closed his mouth and ran in silence.
‘How can he be so relaxed?’
Wilfried felt as if he were boiling inside at the sight of Ernst’s calm face. Even after running quite a long distance, Ernst’s breathing remained steady.
Running had been the very first training Hires had given Ernst when he was just ten years old. Since then, he had undergone all kinds of training, constantly pushing past his physical limits.
“Ugh...”
But the side effects Ernst had developed from taking his “tonic” began troubling him before he reached those limits. When he frowned and let out a quiet groan from his headache, a little peace returned to Wilfried’s angry heart.
‘Taking pleasure in someone else’s suffering... How did I end up like this?’
A small dose of self-loathing came as an unwanted bonus, but still.
In the end, Ferdinand led the military faction cadets to Thomas and the training assistants waiting at the forest entrance before anyone else.
“Take out your waterskins.”
The training assistants gave the cadets water brought in the transport truck. Those without waterskins received none.
“That’s all the water you’ll get for today’s training. Make it last.”
“Yes, sir.”
The cadets who had already gulped down their water fell into despair at the training assistant’s words. Regardless, Ferdinand simply answered in a calm voice. He took only a single mouthful of water and held it in his mouth to moisten it. He hadn’t been tired in the first place.
“Get some rest.”
The training assistants gave the early arrivals time to rest. But the cadets hesitated. There were no chairs nearby.
“Whew.”
Ernst was the first to sit down on the grass. Without a care, he lowered himself to the ground and rested his pack on it to ease the weight on his shoulders. Then he lifted off his helmet, wiped the sweat from inside, and put it back on. All the while, he kept his gun across his knees so it wouldn’t touch the ground.
“Hey, are you allowed to do that?”
“Are you going to wander around looking for a chair while bullets rain down on the battlefield?”
“Ah, well. A fair point, Professor Ernst.”
Robert accepted Ernst’s perfectly reasonable argument and dropped down beside him.
“Let’s sit down and rest too.”
Seeing them, Ferdinand took the lead by sitting on the ground. The military faction cadets followed.
“...”
Exhausted, Wilfried kept hesitating. He repeatedly started to lower himself, only to stop again, until at last he carefully sat on the ground too.
Wilfried found the situation truly bewildering and, at the same time, humiliating. He had never sat on the ground in his entire life.
“Rest your pack on the ground to take some of the weight off.”
“...All right.”
Wilfried hesitated at Ernst’s advice, then answered quietly and did as he suggested. With less weight pressing down on his shoulders, he felt much more comfortable.
It hurt his pride, and he didn’t like it, but Wilfried had to admit that there was a great deal he could learn from Ernst. Simply staying beside him and following his example would be a huge help.
Just look at Robert, who benefited from that more than anyone. Robert would be able to graduate safely from the academy simply by doing what Ernst told him. No, he wouldn’t merely graduate. He would probably earn decent grades too.
The remaining cadets arrived one by one. When they saw the others sitting on the ground, especially Wilfried, they sat down without hesitation. Some even lay down. A few vomited.
In any case, surprisingly, not a single cadet was “counted as dead” this time. Some had arrived late, but not one had given up. Everyone reached the forest during the generous rest period they had been given.
There were some first-years who were perfectly fine even now, though not because they had excellent stamina like Ferdinand or Ernst. The cadets counted as dead at the academy gate had enjoyed a comfortable ride to the forest in the truck. They were simply sitting around, doing nothing.
But their minds were far from comfortable. They felt pathetic and useless, cut off from their struggling classmates. They were also afraid of missing out on this valuable experience.
After giving them plenty of rest, Thomas stepped in front of the cadets again.
“Stay seated and listen.”
“Yes, sir.”
Ferdinand had jumped to his feet, so Thomas raised a hand slightly as he spoke. Ferdinand sat back down. Looking over the military faction cadets resting in formation under Ferdinand’s command, Thomas gave a small nod.
“We’ll divide into three platoons for this exercise. Originally, each would have had twenty cadets, but we already have four dead. Two platoons will have nineteen members, and one will have eighteen.”
The faces of the “dead” turned pale.
“In the mock battle, two platoons will form one side and fight the remaining platoon. You win by wiping out the enemy or capturing their flag. If neither side wins before time runs out, the battle will end in a draw.”
Questions appeared on the cadets’ faces. Two platoons against one? Would that even be a fight?
“The purpose of this mock battle is to show you empty-headed fools how actual battles between the Empire and the Allied Nations are fought.”
Thomas kindly explained the background to the cadets. He held out his hand, and a training assistant quickly placed a wooden crossbow in it.
“The Imperial Army will load by drawing the crossbow string back by hand.”
Thomas easily pulled the string back by hand and secured it at full draw. Since this was a training weapon, the tension in the string was only at the level of a toy. Even so, its effective range would not be particularly short.
“The Allied Forces will load by winding this pulley.”
Then Thomas released the string he had secured and began winding the pulley on the side of the crossbow.
Rrrrrr...
Thomas wound the pulley for a long time. A truly long time, long enough for every cadet to stare blankly at him and then fully grasp the situation.
It took Thomas about twenty seconds to load the crossbow using the pulley. That was how long a trained soldier needed to load a gunpowder firearm. Even then, the string had not been drawn back all the way. Naturally, the force behind it was pathetically weak.
In other words, Thomas had designed this mock battle to let the cadets experience a fight between the Empire, armed with Valt guns, and the Allied Nations, armed with gunpowder firearms.
He had even accounted for the Allied Forces outnumbering the Imperial Army two to one and for the battle taking place in a forest.
“I will now announce the platoon leaders who will command each unit.”
Thomas handed the crossbow back to the training assistant and spoke calmly.
“Ferdinand Hartmann. Step forward.”
“Yes, Instructor.”
Ferdinand sprang to his feet and answered loudly.
No one objected to Ferdinand becoming a platoon leader. It was only natural.
But a little tension passed through the military faction cadets. There were well over twenty of them. Some would have to join another platoon.
“Next, Wilfried Rabid.”
“Yes, Instructor.”
Thomas announced the next platoon leader. Wilfried also jumped up from the unfamiliar ground, answered, and stepped forward.
Once again, everyone nodded. Wilfried was a duke’s son and the central figure of the first-year noble faction.
But when Thomas spoke the next name, most of the cadets couldn’t believe their ears.
“Ernst Krieger.”
“...Yes, Instructor.”
That included Ernst himself. He answered a beat later than the other two cadets had, then stood.
There were two cadets who did not belong to that “most”: the other platoon leaders, Ferdinand Hartmann and Wilfried Rabid. They didn’t understand Ernst perfectly, but they had some idea of what he was like. Rather than discontent, they felt tension rising until they could barely breathe.
They would have to fight a mock battle in a forest against a boy who had used nothing but branches and vines to set a trap in a dormitory room and leave an upperclassman a broken wreck, all because someone had messed up his room a little. The other cadets, who failed to recognize that danger, weren’t qualified to lead a platoon.
Put another way, Senior Instructor Captain Thomas Koller had probably appointed Ferdinand and Wilfried not simply because they were central figures in their factions, but because he had recognized their powers of insight.
“What are you doing? Get up here.”
“Yes, sir.”
Thomas frowned slightly at Ernst’s failure to hurry forward. Ernst answered loudly and ran up.
“...”
Ernst felt rather uncomfortable under the cadets’ distrustful and envious gazes.
Compared with Ferdinand, Brigadier General Hartmann’s eldest grandson, and Wilfried, a duke’s fourth son, Ernst certainly seemed lacking. It was only natural that some cadets would be unhappy about having to follow his orders.
“Platoon leaders, form your units.”
With that, Thomas stepped back. He left the organization of the platoons entirely to the cadet leaders, and the result was painfully predictable.
The military faction flocked to Ferdinand, while the noble faction crowded around Wilfried. The nonhereditary nobles also split up according to the factions they had attached themselves to.
Ferdinand chose his platoon members purely on ability. Wilfried made his selections while considering a variety of complicated political factors.
“Professor Ernst, I believe I can say this with considerable confidence this time.”
“...”
“The man you need is standing right here. Yes, who besides Robert Zimmermann would choose such a difficult path just to help you?”
“Then join another platoon. If they’ll take you.”
“Oh dear. You seem quite upset, Professor Ernst. But don’t worry too much. I, Robert Zimmermann, am not the sort of man who abandons a friend for personal gain, unlike certain people.”
The only person who came to Ernst’s side was Robert, who wore a cheeky grin as he teased him.
Listening to Robert’s sarcasm, Ernst briefly considered his tactics. Honestly, he didn’t know about Wilfried, but Ferdinand seemed likely to be a very difficult opponent. No, who could say? Perhaps Wilfried had an eye for tactics too.
Still, at least in this first mock battle, Ernst should have the advantage.
While training under Hires, Ernst had assumed that cadets entering the Imperial Military Academy would have learned more than he had. But now that he was here, there were hardly any new cadets worth paying attention to.
Could they even make their way through that thick forest without getting lost?
Of course, Ernst had never commanded troops in battle either. In that sense, his ability to command troops wasn’t even worth assessing.
But at the very least, Ernst would not get lost in the forest.
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