WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Asakusa
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Veteran of the Northern Front ◈
Chapter 13: A New Weapon
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I had expected some sort of reward, given the part my squad members and I had played in the escort mission, but it was far greater than I had imagined.
“I heard it from Pellon. He said that without you, they would have suffered a major disaster. Headquarters has viewed this matter favorably and decided to reduce the terms of service for you and the members of your squad.”
“!!!!!!!!!!”
I opened my mouth wide without realizing it.
“R-Really?”
A reduction in my term of service.
How long had I wanted to hear those words?
I forced my racing heart to calm and listened closely.
“Congratulations. Serve just two more years, and you’ll be free.”
They had cut a full year off my term.
According to Berun, every member of my squad had also received a three-month reduction.
‘They’ll jump for joy when they hear this.’
Less than a year remained until the Great Invasion. If I kept earning merits like this, escaping this place before it began would no longer be a dream.
‘Still, something feels off.’
Exposing the dirty business happening behind the scenes and catching those involved had certainly been a major achievement. But cutting an entire year off my term of service for that alone was an excessive reward.
‘Headquarters isn’t normally this generous.’
Berun gave a faint smile at my suspicious expression.
“You look puzzled.”
“...My apologies.”
“No, it’s understandable. You’ve received a large reward without warning. Let me explain.”
He told me about the Empire’s military situation.
“I don’t know whether you’ve heard the rumors, but there are currently two factions within the Imperial Army.”
I knew well enough.
Wasn’t the conflict between the Upright Faction and the Corrupt Faction a fairly notable event in the game?
But what Berun said next was enough to surprise me.
“The Upright Faction had long been waiting for an opportunity to remove the Corrupt Faction bastards who were eating away at the Imperial Army. This incident gave them the chance they needed.”
“This incident?”
“The commanders who had been working with slave traders all turned out to belong to the Corrupt Faction.”
In short, they had used slave trafficking as a pretext to purge the Corrupt Faction members they had been keeping an eye on.
I already knew from the game’s story that they would be purged, but...
‘...This is far too early.’
As I remembered it, the purge happened roughly three or four months before the Great Invasion began.
‘Did the flow of the story change because of me?’
Let’s think this through slowly.
First, the escort mission.
Even if I had not intervened, it would have succeeded safely.
‘Otherwise, Marcus would never have come to the Northern Front.’
In the original story, Marcus served in the north as a penal soldier until the Great Invasion.
In other words, whether I intervened or not, the escort mission would have ended successfully.
Then why had this variable appeared?
As I pondered in silence, a thought suddenly came to me.
‘...I was the one who first noticed something suspicious and alerted the others.’
Pellon had not noticed anything strange when he took over the carriage.
If I based a theory on that...
‘Pellon would have accepted the carriage without sensing anything amiss, then been attacked by mercenaries on the way back to his unit. The regular soldiers would have fought desperately, barely defeated their enemies, and returned to base.’
But because Genn had handed over the carriage and immediately left, Pellon would not have learned who was involved or how far the connection reached.
‘Now it makes sense.’
Unlike the original story, where they spent time tracking down everyone connected to the slave trade, I had captured Genn and his subordinates. That had brought the incident forward.
‘Wait. Then what happens?’
In the original game, not every member of the Corrupt Faction was purged.
More than thirty percent survived. During the Great Invasion, they fled instead of fighting the barbarians, or even raided civilians themselves.
They fully played their role as vermin rotting the Imperial Army from within. But with the purge happening earlier than before, most of them had been wiped out. The flow of events could change.
‘No, it definitely will.’
Looking at the overall situation, the Great Invasion itself would not simply cease to happen.
‘But they’ll be able to hold off the barbarians more easily.’
Since the story I knew had been thrown off course, I would have to make my plans more carefully from now on.
‘So that’s why the reward was so excessive.’
Ordinarily, headquarters had no reason to care about a mere penal-soldier squad commander.
But what if that penal soldier had provided the pretext to purge an enemy faction?
In terms of my previous life, it was like a career sergeant bringing a ledger of corruption to corps headquarters and enabling its one-star and two-star generals to pull off a coup.
Besides, Berun currently believed I intended to make a career in the military. If he had passed on information about me, it made sense for them to shower me with rewards to this extent.
‘Did they think there was no harm in investing early in someone who would soon be one of them?’
They would probably be horrified if they learned my true intentions.
‘It bothers me that the future’s course has changed, but...’
No matter what, having my name reach headquarters was undeniably good news.
Even a small favor stayed in people’s memories for a long time.
Whenever headquarters heard my name in the future, they would remember this incident.
‘If I earn more merits, at least they won’t be ignored or taken from me. I’ll be able to get out of here faster.’
A small variable had appeared, but my plan to escape the north before the Great Invasion had not changed much.
＊＊＊＊＊
After my private meeting with Berun ended, I returned to the barracks and told my subordinates about the reward.
“A reduced term of service? I-Is that really true?”
“Do you think I’m joking?”
They stared blankly at one another for a moment before erupting into cheers.
“Wooooahhh!!”
“Let’s see, it was cut by three months. I only have to hold on for three more years now!”
“Heh. What’s this? You still have three years left? I’ve got two years and ten months.”
“Tsk, tsk. Three years and two years ten months are practically the same thing.”
“How much time do you have left, Max?”
“Hmph. I’ve only got about a year and eight months left now.”
“Wow... I’m jealous. I still have a long way to go.”
Ren let out a cry of admiration, like a private hearing how little time a sergeant had left.
“Heh, but Marcus, what a shame for you.”
“.......................”
Marcus had not belonged to the unit at the time of the incident, so he received no reward. He merely kept his mouth shut and looked at me and the others with envy in his eyes.
Even Marcus envied a shorter term of service.
“All right, enough messing around. It’s time to train, so get ready.”
“Yes, sir!!”
Perhaps the reward had motivated them. From that day on, the squad members threw themselves into training even more intensely.
“Ren, this isn’t time to rest. Start running again!”
“Y-Yes, sir!”
Since their abilities had improved, I decided it was time to begin the weapon training I had been putting off.
Naturally, Marcus was the instructor. He was better with a spear and sword than most knights, so teaching the others was no trouble for him.
“After thrusting at your opponent with a spear, rotate the shaft with your wrist as you pull it back. It comes out more easily that way.”
“What if it gets caught in the bone and won’t come out?”
“Grip the shaft shorter, ram your shoulder into the opponent, and pull hard.”
“Oho.”
The squad members kept growing as they made up for their lack of weapon skills.
At this rate, they would gain combat power surpassing that of most regular soldiers.
‘They’re all doing well.’
Just as I watched them with a pleased smile...
“Hm?”
A group passed in front of the barracks.
‘What? Aren’t those Pellon’s soldiers? Why do they all look like that?’
Their bodies were covered in dirt and blood.
They looked utterly wretched.
‘Did they get into a fight with barbarians?’
I had no idea what had happened, but they were staggering along with grimy faces while carrying their loads. I felt sorry for them, so I decided to help.
“Sir! It’s been a while, Squad Commander Pellon.”
“Ah, Ubel.”
“Your loads look heavy. Let me help.”
“There’s no need...”
“Haha, don’t stand on ceremony. We all help each other out, don’t we?”
Before he could stop me, I lent a hand. He shook his head as though I was impossible to deal with.
“Hmm. Then I’ll take you up on that.”
“Yes, sir. Is all this spoils of war?”
As I took some of the burdens the soldiers carried, he nodded.
“We went out on a scouting mission this morning, wiped out some cannibals we encountered, and brought these back.”
Cannibals were barbarians who practiced cannibalism, a people the Empire loathed above all others.
‘They fought the cannibals, who were notorious even among barbarians for being vicious. No wonder they look like this.’
It was a miracle no one had died.
Just as I grasped the situation and nodded...
“Uh... uh?”
“Hey, look where you’re going!”
“Damn it... we’re falling!!”
Three soldiers carrying something wrapped in cloth lost their balance and fell to the ground.
“You idiots! Where were your minds? You kept whining about how hard it was all the way here.”
“S-Sorry, sir. But it’s not fair to blame us.”
“That’s right. We weren’t whining. This axe is just too heavy.”
An axe?
The word caught my interest.
“Was that thing wrapped in the cloth an axe?”
“If you’re curious, take a look.”
With his permission, I undid the knot in the cloth and inspected what lay inside.
Rustle.
“This is...”
“It belonged to a young warrior among the cannibals we encountered earlier. They were so strong that they could barely lift that ridiculous thing by themself. We only brought them down with bows and arrows.”
The axe was roughly 1.4 meters long.
Its size alone was imposing, but the blade made up a third of its entire length. It looked so heavy that an ordinary person could never lift it, even if they died and came back to life.
That was not all.
The axe blade was black, as though it had been dipped in ink.
I examined it closely. There was no doubt.
‘This is Black Ice.’
Black Ice was a mineral found only beyond the Elnes Mountains, in the barbarians’ lands. When refined, it gave off a faint chill and took on a translucent black color.
‘In the game, you couldn’t even catch a glimpse of it before trade began with the barbarians. I never thought I’d see it like this.’
It was heavier than ordinary iron, but more than twice as strong. Resistant to both heat and cold, it was one of the game’s most precious minerals.
‘Apparently, some tribes had a custom of making Black Ice weapons for seasoned warriors or those with promising futures.’
The owner of this axe must have been one such promising warrior.
‘Does Pellon not realize this weapon is made of Black Ice?’
Black Ice was not a well-known mineral among Imperials, so it was normal for anyone other than a capable merchant or blacksmith not to recognize it.
‘If I play this right...’
I was not usually the sort to covet things, but this time, I wanted it.
As I considered how to obtain the axe from him, a decent idea came to mind.
“Squad Commander Pellon, what do you plan to do with this axe?”
“It’s too heavy to use as it is, so I plan to melt it down and make other weapons.”
“What??”
Melt down Black Ice?
Are you insane?
Black Ice required a special refining method to work with. Perhaps because of that property, once it had been refined, melting it again would turn it into something worse than scrap iron.
Internally horrified by Pellon’s plan to turn a priceless treasure into garbage, I hurriedly spoke.
“The weapon seems to be in good condition. Wouldn’t it be a waste to melt it down?”
“What does its appearance matter? No one can wield it.”
Good. He took the bait.
“Then what if there were someone who could?”
By now, he seemed to understand what I wanted.
“Hah! Don’t tell me you want this axe?”
“...Haha. It just seems wasteful to melt it down.”
“Hmm. Come to think of it, you used an axe during the escort mission.”
He remembered me handling an axe during the escort mission and gave a meaningful smile.
“No one in my squad uses an axe, and I was planning to melt it down if necessary. If you can lift it by yourself, I’ll hand it over without complaint.”
“Oh, come on, Squad Commander. That’s too harsh.”
“How can anyone lift that alone? Even that barbarian could barely swing it while staggering around.”
“It’s not like you have any use for it. Just give it to Ubel.”
“You’re being stingy.”
The soldiers who had become friendly with me during the escort mission booed Pellon.
“Quiet, you lot!”
Pellon easily dismissed their protests and looked at me.
“Well? Do you want to try?”
“If you recommend it, I’ll give it a try.”
“I’ll acknowledge it if you can just lift it.”
Just lifting it would be enough?
I could not accept that.
‘It’s not like this is a dumbbell.’
I decided to use this chance to test the limits of my immense strength.
With a serious expression, I gripped the axe handle.
Then...
Swoosh.
I raised the axe with both hands.
“W-What...”
“Crazy. You can lift that by yourself?”
Pellon and the soldiers gaped with their eyes wide, apparently never imagining I would actually do it.
But I was not finished.
Hup!
Whoooom!!
The sound of air splitting burst forth with the wind.
The power was terrifying when my immense strength combined with the weight unique to a heavy weapon.
“...I never imagined you could truly lift it. As promised, it’s yours now.”
“Thank you!”
Was I happy about taking someone else’s possession under the pretense of a wager?
Of course I was.
Wasn’t it going to be disposed of anyway?
‘It’s a hundred times better for me to use it than for it to be melted into scrap iron.’
Of course, I intended to repay Pellon properly when an opportunity arose.
‘It’s heavier than my old one, but the grip definitely feels better.’
My first proper weapon.
I wanted to give it a name. What would be good?
‘First, it’s black and it’s an axe.’
I decided.
‘From now on, you are Black Axe.’
Others might have laughed and said my naming sense was terrible, but simple was best. I preferred names like Whitey or Yellowy, names that came to mind the moment you looked at something.
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