WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ The Little Prince in the Ossuary

Chapter 93

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Night by the Lake (11)

When he returned to the office, someone was dying.

A soldier without legs was gasping for breath.

"Lieutenant-nim. Can you not save me?"

Gyeoul took his hand.

"I'm sorry, Page."

The soldier, Stan Page, was the weapons squad's machine gunner. Near the end of the battle, a mortar shell had torn off everything below his knees. Several fragments were lodged in him as well. The medic said there was nothing to be done and prepared a lethal dose of morphine. Gyeoul took it. That was the commander's role.

Page sobbed.

"It's strange."

"What is?"

"I thought if I stayed with Lieutenant-nim, I wouldn't die."

"..."

"I'm cold. It hurts."

The soldier lay closest to the fire. Across from him were the pregnant woman and the medic. The woman sobbed along with him. Not because she was in pain. Lying down, she looked at him and cried silently. The medic turned her face forward.

Jeffrey asked,

"Hey, Page. Anything you want to leave behind... any last words?"

"I don't want to die."

His pale lips trembled. His unfocused eyes were already looking far away.

Gyeoul injected the morphine. One dose, then another. The soldier's face loosened. Strength left his hand.

"Uuh... khh..."

Over several minutes, his breaths became longer and gentler. Slower and slower, fainter and fainter, until they disappeared completely. It looked like he had simply fallen asleep.

They had only one body bag. The second dead man had only been covered with the raincoat he was wearing. Now they laid a third body beside him. His comrades bowed their heads in brief silence. They held back their tears. A few civilians prayed too. Once they returned to base, there would be time enough to grieve.

Gunfire still cracked outside the window. Every so often, a blast thundered. But the intervals were getting longer. Faintly, there seemed to be screams and shrieks mixed in. It would not last much longer.

Gyeoul called the medic into a quiet corner.

"White. How is the pregnant woman?"

"Labor started right after the firefight began. I think she's at the stage where the cervix is opening."

"How much longer?"

"Honestly, I don't know."

The medic had been expressionless the whole time, but once no one was around, heavy fatigue showed on his face. He almost rubbed his face, then stopped himself. Those hands had been washed in boiled water and disinfected. He clenched his fists, shut his eyes, then let out a breath and continued.

"I'm not a military doctor. I completed all the training at Sam Houston, but none of it included obstetrics. Pulling bullets and delivering babies are totally different fields..."

Fort Sam Houston was where the U.S. Army Medical School was located. Even after completing the medic program there, the training level was still emergency care, Paramedic level. Gyeoul nodded.

"I see. I understand."

"When it comes to delivery support, all I know is scraps I picked up in the medical regiment. Even so, I have to act like I know everything. I'm the only one they trust."

"..."

"God damn it. I'm scared I'll ruin everything. Every time they ask what to do now, or if she'll be okay, I feel dizzy. I'd rather wrestle mutants."

He went silent for a moment. Gyeoul waited without speaking. Sometimes, all someone needed was for someone to listen.

After steadying his rough breathing, White spoke again.

"The mother's condition is very bad. Her temperature is 38 degrees Celsius. I gave her antibiotics despite the risk, but no effect yet. She seems to have severe muscle loss, probably from not eating properly for a long time. I'm not sure her uterus will contract properly. I can't even guess what malnutrition and infection have done to the fetus. This will most likely be a difficult birth. For both mother and child... the odds are poor. In an emergency, I'm not confident about doing an incision surgery. And even if I do, she probably won't survive the bleeding."

At that moment, a suppressed groan came from the woman as she endured the pain. Her husband kept massaging her. How many hours had it been? Every movement looked drained of strength. Still, he did not stop. He was desperate.

The medic was struggling with words he did not want to say. The rule was to give up on those with no hope, just as they had done by letting Stan Page die peacefully.

Gyeoul looked into his eyes, read his thoughts, and eased his burden.

"Do your best, as far as you can go. Don't worry about the result. We can't give up. Those are civilians over there. We're soldiers."

"...Hoo, understood. God help us."

"Oh, White."

Gyeoul stopped the medic as he turned to leave.

"A mutant group will approach soon. Even if I lure them elsewhere, this place can't have any light. Can you continue with night vision on?"

The medic's face twisted with despair. Even so, he nodded.

"I'll try. But if we kill the fire now, what about the indoor temperature?"

"We'll gather ration heating packs and heat water."

Gyeoul immediately gave orders to the platoon. They pulled out cabinet drawers, filled them with water, and loaded heating packs into them. From three days of rations for thirty-one men, they got around three hundred heating packs.

Each pack stayed near boiling for over twenty minutes. Add water again and it still heated up, lower than before but still hot enough. If they divided it properly, it would be enough to hold out until morning.

As the soldiers estimated how much to use, Gyeoul said,

"Don't hold back right now. Once we raise the temperature, keeping it steady won't be hard."

"Understood."

They also shut every river-facing window they had left open to vent smoke. Once the glass fogged with steam, even enhanced ones with good night vision would have trouble peeking into a dark building.

Jeffrey walked up to Gyeoul. He listened outside for a moment, then spoke.

"Captain Harris might already be dead... Hah, he deserved it. So what now? Kill the lights and stay quiet until those half-dead things pass by?"

"No. Staying quiet will be hard. We have a pregnant woman too. The river is loud and the weather's bad, but if even one of those things has sharp hearing, we're in danger. I'm going out to lure them. If they have a clear target right in front of them, they won't focus on small noises. They'll make plenty of noise themselves too."

"Lure them? That's insanely dangerous."

"It's not. I plan to drag them around from across the river."

"Ah."

The upper Salinas River here was about ten meters wide. With the current made even rougher by the dam floodgate release, it was too wide for mutants to cross easily. Depending on enhancement grade, some might still jump it.

'Even then, maybe one or two.'

He could handle that much. If it was a Ghoul, he'd blow its head off before it landed. Treating it as no major concern, Gyeoul spoke.

"Tell the soldiers outside to rig a few lines. We'll cross soon."

"Lines... right, easier than before. How many are you taking this time?"

"One squad. Prepare them yourself, Jeffrey."

"No, that's not the issue, but again just one squad? Mutants could show up on that side too... why not take more? I heard you almost got buried alive on the way here."

Gyeoul tilted his head.

"Elliot told you? ...Then you know. That accident had nothing to do with force size."

"I'm just saying, in case."

"Do as I said. It'll be fine. Most of all, protecting civilians comes first."

"Then how about I go out instead? They keep mocking me as a platoon leader who just eats and loafs around."

"I don't trust you, so no."

"Come on, why are you doing this to me."

He grumbled at the half-joking answer, but Jeffrey stopped stalling. He used the radio to issue orders to the outer security troops, passed along the situation, and stepped away to prepare the departure team.

Before moving out, they still needed to confirm the route plan and fallback rendezvous point in case returning became impossible.

Now it was time to face the civilians. They still did not know the full situation, only guessed at it. They were about to spend a long time in darkness, so the less anxiety, the better. Panic attacks would be a problem. That was Gyeoul's role too.

"So, Lieutenant-nim, you're going to lure them yourself?"

The old man who had joined the sheriff in the raid asked after hearing the explanation. Gyeoul nodded.

"Yes. Right now Captain Harris is fighting a mutant group beyond the eastern ridge. From the sound of it, it's almost over. The terrain here is bad. To the west is the upper Salinas River, to the north is the dam, and to the east is the lake."

"So you're saying there's a high chance the mutants will wander here. Is there any chance Captain Harris won?"

This time it was the sheriff, Kathleen. Gyeoul nodded again.

"There were too many mutants. Captain Harris had no chance. If the survivors from that fight peel off south, we'd be lucky, but that's hard to expect. That's why we need a lure."

Among the people gathered a short distance from the sheriff, one hand went up. A bearded man in very loose clothes.

"Then we just wait here?"

"Yes, that's right."

"You're not planning to abandon us?"

"Of course not. I'm taking only a small group. The rest of the troops will stay with you. I hope you'll trust me."

The boy formed a gentle smile. Even for people pushed to their limits, the smile of a famous boy officer was persuasive. Still, another voice came, an unwelcome question.

"There are no mutants right now, so can't we cross the river and run? I mean anywhere safer!"

"Ma'am, it's very cold outside. Many people here don't look like they can move right away."

"We're fine!"

She said it loudly. The scope of "we" was obvious. A few people looked displeased but stayed silent.

Gyeoul did not look toward those who seemed hurt. He only asked quietly,

"Please lower your voice. There could be stragglers nearby."

"Ah, sorry."

She did not look sorry. He could feel her anxiety. It was different from hardened selfishness.

Anger flickered in the sheriff and the old man near her. Kathleen slipped her finger into the trigger guard. Her eyes stayed on the boy officer. She seemed unaware of what she was doing.

'I can't tell people to die just because they aren't graceful.'

How much blame could someone bear for cannibalism on the brink of starvation?

In the boy's view, it was rare for a person's sin to be entirely that person's own responsibility.

The intermittent gunfire outside stopped. The direction caught by 「Combat Sense」 overlapped with the map in 「Memorization」. Gyeoul estimated the remaining time. The margin of error was large, but it was still usable.

"We don't have time for a long explanation. For now, please follow my decision. If you don't trust me, I can't protect you either. I ask for your cooperation."

"But Lieutenant-nim! It's unfair for many people to take risks for one person!"

"Any further protest interferes with mission execution. Restrain yourself, ma'am. You'll endanger everyone."

When Gyeoul's tone changed, the woman clamped her mouth shut. Tears welled in her eyes. She hugged a palm-sized booklet to her chest and closed her eyes.

"We're putting out the fire. If mutants see light, we're in trouble. It will be dark for a long time, but please stay calm and hold on. I'll keep you alive."

Cold water was poured over the burning firewood. Shhhhhh! Thick steam burst up. The smell of charcoal filled the room.

They placed six infrared lights around the pregnant woman. When they tried to set more, medic White refused. Night vision goggles strained the eyes. If it got too bright, caring for her became harder.

Corporal Liberman brought a map to the boy officer.

"I discussed it with the platoon leader and drafted a route and rendezvous plan. What do you think?"

"Hm... It's good. Let's go with this."

There was nothing to fix, so Gyeoul accepted it as is. He copied it onto his own map. Swish, swish, swish. With 「Map Navigation」 correction, it was done in no time. Then Jeffrey approached.

"Elliot squad took heavy losses, so we're sending Hernandez squad instead. Seven men. Just in case, we handed them one rocket launcher and one machine gun from the weapons squad. Doesn't look like we'll need them here anyway."

"Good. Depending on the mutant group size, we might wipe them out using terrain. Where is everyone now?"

"Preparing for river crossing. We just need you."

Before departure, a few people came out to see him off. Jeffrey and Liberman wished him luck. Among the civilians, the sheriff and the old man followed him to the door. Two soldiers stood behind them, ready for any emergency. Gyeoul tried to send the pair back inside.

"Why are you standing in the rain on purpose?"

The old man looked at the bloodstains still on Gyeoul's face and spoke.

"Lieutenant-nim. I have to say this."

"What is it...?"

"Thank you for your dedication. Truly. And... I'm sorry that someone your age has to fight like this."

It had been a long time since he had heard words like that, not since the Silver Star ceremony. Back then it had been in a journal, so in a way, this felt like the first real one. Gyeoul asked,

"May I ask your name?"

"Chapman. Douglas Chapman."

"Thank you for your support, Mr. Chapman."

Gyeoul shook the old man's hand.

The sheriff gave a salute instead of a handshake. She still looked exhausted, but her movement held rare strength and discipline. Gyeoul returned the salute and said to her,

"Don't hate people too much. Keep going like that and you'll end up hating the whole world. That's from experience, so don't brush it off."

Kathleen looked deeply flustered. Gyeoul smiled.

"Go back inside."

Then he signaled the soldiers with his eyes.

The door shut, and the lock clicked. He turned his head and saw lightning, and beyond the black ridgeline, white flashes, heralds of plague.

Gyeoul headed toward the soldiers waiting for him. Dawn was beginning to deepen.

============================ Author's Afterword ============================

#Additional Notice About Publication

There have been a lot of questions. I'll answer them all at once here.

-Is Noblesse serialization stopping? : No. I already promised, didn't I? I got the editor-in-chief's understanding from the contract stage.

-Then won't problems come up? : There will be various difficulties, but it can't be helped...

-Will it also be released on platforms like RidiBookX? : Yes. There will just be a timing gap.

-When is the paper book coming out? : There is no fixed schedule for print publication yet. It will likely take quite a while.

-How many volumes worth has been serialized so far? : About 4 volumes.

-Will there be many revisions? : For now, I plan to revise episode 1. A lot of readers said it's hard to read... And scenes marked adults-only will also be revised. Other than that, I want to fix places where punctuation was used differently from my intent, plus minor expressions.

-Will there be events like signed books or photo postcards from the author? : Uh, well... there is truly nothing decided about the print format. And... do you really want something with the author's signature on it? Planning to use it for some kind of spell...?

#Childlike Innocence and Anger

Reading the comments from the last episode hurt a little. Some readers were angry.

In online spaces, everyone seems to get angry too easily.

I think requests to shorten the afterword and lengthen the main text are completely valid. In the end, you just want to read a little more of the novel. No need to get angry.

More than anything, when readers get angry, I take it as a sign that the author's supply of childlike innocence is running low. People full of childlike innocence don't get angry easily, you know. They keep smiling, bide their time again and again, then thoroughly ruin the other side. That's what childlike innocence is.

Everyone! You keep taking all my childlike innocence until I hit rock bottom, so where exactly are you spending it all?

The author's life force is drying up again today...

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