WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ How the Child of Prophecy Survives ◈
Chapter 20: Remember Death
──────
During drill training the next day, Ernst tried to look for the young Valtlacher cadet who had been dragged away the day before. But the boy did not take part in the drills, and the fear on the other Valtlacher cadets’ faces had grown even clearer.
“At least you won’t end up as the standard-bearer. Right?”
Robert said this to Ernst, who had begun looking over the Valtlacher cadets as soon as they reached the training ground.
“I don’t particularly want to, either.”
Ernst answered calmly.
In truth, Ernst wanted to be the standard-bearer so his father could get a good view of him while watching the street parade. But Ernst knew just how terrible his concentration was. He thought it would be impossible, and even if he did become the standard-bearer, there was no telling what awful mistake he might make. It was better not to do it.
During the drills, Ernst paid more attention to his surroundings than he had the day before. He soon realized that the cadets in other years were also watching the first-years quite closely.
Naturally, the person receiving the most attention was Wilfried, the Duke of Rabid’s fourth son. News that the duke’s son had enrolled had caused quite a stir at the academy. There was no one who did not know who this strikingly handsome first-year boy with blond hair and blue eyes was.
‘They’re really staring...’
The first-year receiving the next most attention was none other than Ernst. He could feel people watching him, most of them third- and fourth-year upperclassmen.
Not enough time had passed for interest to fade in the insane first-year cadet who had smashed the Cadet Corps immediately after enrolling.
Ernst did not know it yet, but the training assistants who had supervised the mock combat training had also been talking about the performance of Ernst Krieger, the first-year whom “Mad Bastard” Thomas had picked out as a future training assistant.
Unlike Wilfried, who was a duke’s son, Ernst was drawing attention entirely through his own abilities. Did that not make him even more impressive? Though no one could call smashing the Cadet Corps a good thing, even to be polite.
That afternoon, they attended another military science lecture. Fortunately, Thomas taught an ordinary lesson again that day.
Later, during their free time that evening, Ernst was startled to see other first-year cadets riding off somewhere on horseback.
“Ah, I forgot.”
Enough time had passed since their enrollment that first-year cadets were now allowed to bring their own horses into the academy. Ernst had meant to ask Hires to send Dreck when he wrote his letter. But his poor concentration had made him forget. He had asked for the letter to be sent the previous evening, so it would already have been mailed that morning.
“What did you forget?”
“My horse. I need to ask my father to send him...”
“Oh! Right! I need to ask for my horse too!”
“You can’t even ride.”
“Our Mr. Ernst will teach me, so there’s no need to worry.”
“...”
“...You will teach me, right?”
Ernst said nothing to Robert, who had been making far too many sarcastic remarks lately. He merely gave him a vague smile. Only after Robert swore that he would never dare mock the great Mr. Ernst and would faithfully follow his teachings did Ernst promise to teach him to ride.
“How could you do this to a friend...?”
“How could you make a friend go this far...?”
Ernst and Robert clicked their tongues at each other. Annoyed, they began poking and shoving one another for no real reason. Before long, they were swinging pillows and fiercely attacking each other.
“Aaah! I surrender! I surrender!”
As the battle grew more intense, Ernst, who was superior in both strength and skill, stole Robert’s pillow too and began beating him without taking a single blow in return. In the end, Robert had no choice but to surrender.
“You’re so cruel...”
Robert muttered as though deeply hurt, but Ernst was not worried about him. Even now, the desire for revenge burning in Robert’s eyes had not faded. He was surely planning to wag that tongue again, teasing Ernst and getting him into trouble.
Ignoring Robert’s grumbling, Ernst wondered whether he should write another letter to his father and ask him to send Dreck.
After much thought, Ernst finally decided against sending a letter.
In his last letter, he had said that he was doing well, managing everything properly, and working hard. He did not want his father to discover that he had made such a careless little mistake.
He would casually mention Dreck to his father at the Founding Proclamation Day party, as though he had left it out of the letter on purpose.
* * *
The Krieger home was in Grimman, and a letter sent by a cadet of the Imperial Military Academy would never get mixed in with commoners’ mail. Ernst had therefore expected a quick reply.
But more than five days had passed since he sent the letter, and no reply had come. Ernst was growing anxious.
Had something gone wrong, keeping the letter from arriving? Or had his father left Grimman for a while?
“Ferdinand Hartmann! Step forward!”
“Yes!”
While Ernst was distracted by thoughts of his father’s reply, Ferdinand answered loudly when his name was called and stepped forward. The disciplinary officer in charge of drill training handed Ferdinand the flag of the Imperial Military Academy’s first-year cadets.
“Hartmann, you will represent the first-year cadets on Founding Proclamation Day. I trust you won’t make any mistakes. Still, since I’m entrusting you with this important duty, I will warn you not to make any. You must never lose your nerve and let the flag droop. Hold it high, keep your shoulders straight, and proudly enjoy the honor.”
“Yes, Officer!”
“A round of applause for Hartmann!”
Clap, clap, clap, clap!
Ferdinand had been chosen as the standard-bearer. The cadets applauded him enthusiastically.
Wilfried had the highest standing and was the most handsome first-year cadet. But Ferdinand was the most strongly built and performed the drills most perfectly. Naturally, he should carry the flag.
Knowing this, Wilfried was able to applaud sincerely despite his disappointment.
“...”
Ernst, who had given up on becoming the standard-bearer from the beginning, remained distracted by thoughts of his father’s reply even as he applauded as ordered.
He grew uneasy as he recalled the lonely sight of his father sitting hunched in a dark room, his hands tightly clasped as though in prayer.
* * *
Drill training progressed steadily, and hardly any cadets made mistakes now. They had practiced every morning for fifteen days. It would have been stranger if anyone still could not do it.
However, a few of the Valtlacher cadets from the Special Training Department never managed to keep up with the drills. In the end, they too were removed from training and did not return. As a result, only one Valtlacher cadet who looked younger than Ernst remained.
“Hup! Hup! Hup!”
The girl, who looked somewhere between eleven and thirteen, gritted her teeth and struggled with all her might to keep up with the march.
Having watched the Valtlacher cadets closely, Ernst knew that this small, young girl had never once fallen behind or made a mistake during training.
Her red curls had been cut short, so when she pulled them back and tied them tightly, they looked like a rabbit’s tail. Beneath them, her dull blue eyes and pale face were filled with fierce defiance.
Ernst studied her sharp gaze and stiff expression before putting her out of his mind. He had nothing more to gain by watching.
That evening, once the afternoon training was over and their free time began, Ernst finally received the reply he had been waiting for from his father. Only five days remained until Founding Proclamation Day.
Thrilled to receive the letter, Ernst all but ran back to his room. He hurriedly opened the envelope and began to read.
「Dear Ernst,
I’m relieved to hear that you seem to be doing well.
I’m sorry my reply is late. I had some business to attend to and was away from Grimman for a while. I found your letter when I returned home and am writing this reply to send at once.」
At the sight of his father’s familiar handwriting, Ernst let out a deep sigh of relief. He could not understand why he had been so anxious. Nothing could possibly have happened to Hires.
「I, too, feel as though a great deal of time has passed since you entered the academy.
The house was so quiet and dark without you that it felt a little unfamiliar. I haven’t lit up the entire house the way you did, but having no light was rather inconvenient, so I’ve kept the living room and my room lit.」
Ernst chuckled as he pictured his father lighting candles and lamps with a small sigh. The moment Hires had surrendered to his young son’s stubbornness had been a special one for Ernst. It was the first memory they had made together as father and son.
「Ernst, I would like to tell you to value your friendships, but I’m not certain that this friend of yours, Robert Zimmermann, will be a good influence on you. Since you share a room, you won’t be able to avoid him, but perhaps you could keep a little distance?」
“Pfft, heh...”
“What’s so funny?”
“Oh, something.”
Robert looked Ernst up and down in puzzlement as Ernst laughed like a child who had played a nasty prank. Then he returned to his studies.
Robert now studied on his own without Ernst having to scold him. Whether Robert was a good influence on Ernst remained uncertain, but at least one could confidently say that Ernst was a good influence on Robert.
Ignoring Robert, Ernst smiled and resumed reading. Soon, however, his face froze.
「And I’m sorry, but I won’t be able to attend the Founding Proclamation Day party. Something has suddenly come up, and I must leave Grimman again. I’ve only stopped by the house briefly. I expect this will take quite some time. I probably won’t return to Grimman until several days after Founding Proclamation Day.」
Ernst silently gazed at his father’s handwriting. He could sense a little hesitation and regret in it.
He brushed his fingertips over that hesitation and regret, trying to comfort his own heart, which was filled with sadness, hurt, and disappointment.
If Hires would be away from Grimman on Founding Proclamation Day, he would not even be able to see Ernst in the street parade.
At that thought, all of Ernst’s efforts came to nothing. His young heart lost its bearings and sank completely.
Even so, Ernst tried his best not to show his disappointment as he read the rest of the letter.
「Still, since you’ve already earned three merit points, it seems you may be able to take leave before summer. You only need two more, so I trust it won’t be too difficult for you. Be sure to write to me before you receive permission to go out. If we arrange things in advance, we won’t miss each other as we have this time, will we?」
Leave. That word allowed Ernst to push down his disappointment and find his spirits again. If he earned just two more merit points, he would have five and would be allowed to go out. Then he could see his father in person.
But earning merit points was harder than he had expected. They had handed them out freely during the first History of the Empire lecture, but no one had received any since then. Even then, no cadet had been given points twice.
Ernst would have to work very hard to collect more.
「You must be running low on your tonic by now. I’ll send word, so you should receive more soon.」
Ernst’s “tonic,” his heart medicine, was nearly gone. After taking his medicine the day before, he had been wondering whether he should send another letter asking for more. Hires had known exactly when he would need it.
Ernst smiled a little as he realized that his father was keeping a record of how much medicine he had and calculating when to send more.
「I trust that you will always work hard and do well. Write to me whenever you like. I’ll be waiting.
Hires.」
Reading the letter, Ernst was able to smile again. Then he read the words at the very bottom and pursed his lips in embarrassment.
「P.S. I think you forgot to ask me to send Dreck. I’ll make the arrangements, so Dreck should reach you no later than two days after you receive this letter.」
Hires was by no means such a careless father that he would fail to notice his son had not asked for his horse despite loving riding so much. No, Hires was so thorough that he had probably been waiting for Ernst to ask him to send Dreck. When the letter said nothing about it, he had immediately realized that his son had made a mistake.
Ernst was a little embarrassed that his father had discovered his mistake, and a little pleased that he had noticed.
And so, as Ernst carefully folded the letter and returned it to its envelope, joy appeared on his face, covering his disappointment.
Though he would not be able to show his father the Founding Proclamation Day street parade or invite him to the party, he was satisfied to have received his father’s love.
...No, he was not actually satisfied, but he could hardly throw a tantrum.
“I’ll have my horse in two days at the latest.”
“Oh, really?”
Robert brightened at Ernst’s words.
“Then I can finally learn to ride from our Mr. Ernst!”
In fact, Robert’s horse had arrived some time ago. His wealthy father had sent him an incredibly large, handsome stallion to help him make a good impression on the young noblemen.
The problem was that this stallion was far too large and impressive for Robert, who had never learned to ride and was afraid of horses. On top of that, the horse had a rough temper. Sensing Robert’s fear, the horse grew nervous and refused to let him ride. Ernst had not forced Robert onto its back, either. If something went wrong, the horse might buck and throw him off.
Ernst, however, was confident. He was also an excellent rider and could connect with horses with almost uncanny ease. Thus, while Robert’s horse refused to let its owner ride, it very calmly allowed Ernst onto its back.
“Your name is Verräter. It means traitor.”
Robert had named his handsome stallion Traitor.
Until Ernst’s small, gentle gelding Dreck arrived, Robert’s riding lessons could not even begin. But Dreck would be there soon, so Robert would finally be able to learn.
“Oh, right. So, is your father coming?”
Robert asked the question with a cheerful hum. Ernst shook his head gloomily.
“...No.”
“...Oh, dear. Then we’re both in the same boat. Well, our situations are different, of course. Just like when we first met. There’s even a horse between us again, isn’t there? Ah, now that I think about it, I wonder how that horse we rode here is doing. Well, horses are valuable property. Especially to a coachman who makes a living from fares. I’m sure it’s doing well. Come to think of it, you said your horse’s name was Dreck, right? Why Dreck?”
Robert chattered cheerfully to the downcast Ernst.
“Dreck has a brown coat, but the hair around his feet is dark brown, almost black. As though he’s stepped in mud.”
“Oh, like you running through the woods?”
“I think he’s more like you. You kept slipping and falling until you were a complete mess.”
“That was all the result of my efforts to carry out the orders of our great Company Commander Ernst. Unlike Company Commander Ernst, who got a scolding for disobeying orders!”
“So if I told you to die, would you?”
“If our Mr. Ernst became my superior. Not that that’ll ever happen!”
“I’ll get promoted faster than you.”
“I’m going to retire as soon as I become a second lieutenant. I won’t give you any time to get promoted!”
“Right. You did say that, you coward.”
As Ernst grumbled with a hint of laughter in his voice, Robert’s shoulders shook with chuckles too.
Ernst shook off his low spirits and spent a long while chatting and bickering with Robert before falling asleep as usual.
Footnotes:
Dreck is German for “dirt” or “filth.”
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried