WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Asakusa

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◈ Veteran of the Northern Front ◈

Chapter 14: Operation Frostfire (1)

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With a new weapon in hand, I wanted to test just how different it would be.

“Won’t any barbarians invade somewhere?”

I had said it half-jokingly, but perhaps I had jinxed it.

The number of barbarian raids suddenly increased like mad.

“Commander, they’re attacking again today!”

“Haah...”

I really was insane.

Why did I have to say something so stupid?

The barbarians attacked every time we went on outpost duty. I had already lost track of how many times it had happened this week alone.

“Everyone, prepare for battle!”

The one consolation was that, thanks to our steady training and combat experience, my men no longer fell behind when facing the barbarians.

“Stab them all to death!”

“Because of you bastards, we can’t get a single day of rest!”

The number of barbarians in each raid varied.

Sometimes there were around fifteen of them.

Other times, more than thirty came charging in.

There were seventeen of them this time.

A number we could handle without reinforcements.

“Everyone, hold the shield wall and draw their attention.”

“Yes!”

“Marcus, you’re coming with me to scatter the enemy.”

“Leave it to me.”

Was it because Marcus was a mana user?

Without hesitation, Marcus threw himself forward and swiftly took down the enemies one after another with his distinctive speed.

Then, one barbarian lunged at my back.

“Die, Imperial!”

“Yeah, nice to meet you too.”

Thinking he might start hurling curses if I answered again, I pretended not to understand and brought Black Axe down on him.

Crunch! Thud!

The blow was so powerful that his head and the axe handle shattered together.

‘It’s terrifying every time I see it.’

This was the result of a brutish man wielding a brutish weapon.

‘More importantly...’

I bit my lip slightly as I looked down at the dead barbarian.

‘He’s unnaturally thin.’

The others were not much different.

If the barbarians were growing thin, it meant their food situation was poor, which in turn meant...

‘The Great Invasion is coming sooner than expected.’

There had been no large-scale battle or warning signs that came before the Great Invasion, so there was still some room to breathe.

But the moment even one warning sign appeared, the Great Invasion would arrive in the blink of an eye.

‘This isn’t good.’

Just four days ago, my service term had been reduced by another month in recognition of our repeated extermination of barbarians without a single casualty.

‘If things continued this way, I’d been privately relieved, thinking that escaping wouldn’t be difficult.’

But feeling the Great Invasion drawing closer made me anxious without realizing it.

As I stood there with a grim expression, lost in thought...

Urk!

“Sir Ubel, they’ve all been dealt with.”

The battle was over.

Once every enemy had fallen, the men sat down on the blood-red snow and caught their breath.

“Pant, pant... Fuck, did they all eat something bad together? What the hell is wrong with these bastards?”

“Whew, seriously.”

At Marco and Jackson’s muttering, Max warned them.

“Hey, watch what you say in front of the others. Say the wrong thing and someone might pull a knife.”

“We know that much.”

“We’re just frustrated. That’s all.”

Thanks to Marcus, me, and the results of our usual training, our ten-person squad had yet to suffer a casualty.

But the other penal soldiers in the unit were dying off in the truest sense.

‘Even taking into account how difficult it is for penal soldiers to face barbarians, the losses are far too severe.’

It had only been three weeks since the barbarian raids became frequent, yet twenty percent of the penal soldiers in the hundred-man unit had already died.

‘Our achievements have drawn more attention because of it, leading to a reduction in our service term, but...’

It did not feel good.

Even if we were not close, people I recognized had returned as corpses overnight.

‘What’s even more despairing is that this is nothing.’

As time passed, the barbarians’ offensive would only grow fiercer.

The North had already begun sinking into a mire.

A deep and clinging mire called the barbarians.

‘Northern Command will come up with some kind of measure, but...’

I knew well that their measure would become a blunder instead.

‘If “that incident” happened in a situation like this...’

I did not even want to imagine it.

I shook my head to drive away the bleak thoughts and called to my men.

“Have you finished cleaning up?”

“Yes. We gathered the weapons separately and piled the bodies to one side.”

“Good work. It’ll be time for the shift change soon, so brief the next watch and return. Once you reach the unit, go inside and rest first.”

“Yes? Then what will you do, Commander?”

“I need to report to Sir Berun.”

Naturally, unusual events during a shift had to be reported.

‘But I’ve been making the same report every day for nearly two weeks. This is getting tiresome too.’

Still, what could I do?

If they told me to do it, I had to do it.

A little later, when the shift changed and my men returned to the barracks, I went to find Berun to make my report.

“This is Ubel. May I come in?”

“Come in.”

“Sir!”

Berun returned my salute and asked what I needed.

“Hmm, it seems you have just returned from duty. What is it?”

“There was a barbarian raid during our shift, so I came to report it.”

“There was an attack today as well?”

“Yes. There were too many enemy bodies for us to handle alone, so we gathered them at one of the outposts for now.”

Berun had been suffering from the barbarians lately just as much as everyone else. He rubbed his face and sighed.

“Any casualties?”

“None.”

“...Good work. I will report this matter to Northern Command. You have repelled eight raids without a single casualty despite the barbarians’ recent rampage. The higher-ups will be very pleased.”

If the higher-ups were pleased, there was a good chance of another reward. That was welcome news for me.

I forced down the twitching corners of my lips and listened to him.

“Is there anything else unusual to report?”

“Well...”

I considered for a moment whether I should report the barbarians’ condition, then decided to mention it.

“The barbarians who attacked this time were unusually thin.”

“Thin?”

“Yes, as though they had gone hungry for several days.”

“Hmm, is that so? I will record that as well and report it to the higher-ups.”

Unlike me, who had grown deeply concerned, Berun showed no particular reaction.

That was understandable.

Since he did not know a Great Invasion was coming, the barbarians’ nutritional state would not have seemed important to him.

‘I know this is the normal reaction, but...’

I could not help finding him calm, even complacent.

‘I need to stay alert, at least.’

Personally, I hoped nothing would happen.

‘But there is always the possibility. I should consider a Plan B in case I cannot leave the front before the Great Invasion.’

A commander always had to prepare for the worst. In case something happened, I decided to make another plan that did not involve escaping the front.

＊＊＊＊＊

Meanwhile, as the barbarian raids became frequent over the past few weeks, Northern Command urgently convened a meeting.

The Northern Army’s leadership had gathered around a large round table inside headquarters.

The middle-aged figure seated at the head of the table, Schultz Konrad, commander-in-chief of the Northern Front, spoke in a low voice.

“I hear the units have suffered considerable losses from the barbarians’ recent rampage. Is there a measure to address this?”

As Schultz opened the discussion, the staff officers seated around the table offered their opinions one after another.

“We have sent a proposal to the capital suggesting that this year’s ban on trade with the barbarians be enforced earlier than last year.”

“They survive on Imperial charity. If trade is cut off, they will be forced to back down.”

The commanders frowned at their arguments.

“Will that really be enough?”

“Barbarians are vermin with no benefit in keeping alive. If we cut off their livelihood, they will only grow more vicious and come at us harder.”

“Correct.”

“There is no reason to go easy on them.”

Every high-ranking officer at the meeting called for hard-line measures against the barbarians.

Ironically, this was the aftermath of the purge that had begun because of Ubel.

For generations, the Upright Faction had called for a firm response to the barbarians, while the Corrupt Faction had argued for conciliation or moderation, maintaining the balance in the North.

Of course, the Corrupt Faction did not hold that position because they believed barbarians were fellow human beings who deserved a helping hand.

From their perspective, men who had bought their positions with money, fighting only put themselves at risk. And when the capital decided to offer concessions to the barbarians, goods naturally flowed through the units, making them easy to embezzle.

However, most members of the Corrupt Faction had now been driven out.

Eighty heads had rolled, from ten-person squad commanders and hundred-man commanders to personnel at headquarters, while around fifty others had left military service.

Who could oppose the Upright Faction’s arguments now?

They were like a runaway locomotive, like a colt with its reins cut loose.

“How about we use this opportunity to properly deal with the barbarians?”

“Deal with them?”

“Yes. We should teach them a lesson so they never dare covet Imperial territory again.”

Then, a thousand-man commander seated near the end of the table cautiously raised a hand. Schultz gestured with a tilt of the chin.

“If you have another opinion, speak freely.”

“...Yes, thank you. There is no question that subjugating the barbarians is the right course, but one matter concerns me.”

“What concerns you?”

“The Northern Army’s officer corps is currently depleted.”

The gap in command created by the purge.

At its mention, everyone let out low groans.

“Hmm...”

“It is certainly a problem we cannot deny.”

“It would be difficult to mobilize the North’s full strength.”

“That is correct. At most, we can deploy between one and three thousand troops.”

Schultz nodded at the staff officers’ assessment.

‘It is a pity that we lack talented people.’

The extermination of the barbarians was the desire of every Northerner.

Schultz had been born in the North and served on the Northern Front for thirty years. Throughout that time, Schultz had tried to erase the barbarians from this land, but various circumstances had prevented the goal from being achieved.

Then, after purging the Corrupt Faction, an opportunity had finally come.

‘And yet I cannot fulfill that dream because there are not enough capable people.’

It felt as though heaven itself was cruel.

As Schultz sighed to himself, an idea suddenly occurred.

‘...If there are no capable people, I need only find them.’

Looking through the reports that had come in, Schultz asked the chief of staff.

“Chief of Staff, which unit has eliminated the most barbarians recently?”

“The Third Penal Soldier Unit, Berun Colter’s hundred-man unit. According to the reports, a penal-soldier ten-person squad commander under him, Ubel Graum, has eliminated the most barbarians in recent days.”

“Berun. If it is that man’s unit, it is entirely possible.”

There were simple reasons why Schultz remembered Berun, a mere hundred-man commander.

First, Berun was a diligent and sincere commander, worthy of being an example to others.

Second, his unit had provided the opportunity to purge the Corrupt Faction.

Finally, though it had now fallen into decline, the Colter family had originally been a distant cadet branch of the Konrad family.

“A penal-soldier ten-person squad commander named Ubel... The name sounds familiar.”

“He was the one who uncovered the slave trafficking case some time ago...”

“Ah, that fellow.”

Schultz remembered reducing Ubel’s service term in recognition of his achievements not long ago.

“Could I see that Ubel’s records again?”

“Yes. Please wait a moment.”

The staff officer found Ubel’s personal records among the countless documents and handed them to Schultz.

As Schultz read through the document, he let out a low sound.

“Hmm.”

“What is it?”

“This one has real potential.”

For a mere penal soldier, his military achievements were remarkable.

‘He has not even been in the North for two months, yet he has already fought the barbarians several times and eliminated every enemy without a single casualty...’

Had the person submitting the reports been anyone other than Berun, Schultz would have suspected them of being false or exaggerated.

‘But Berun would never submit a false report. So it is all true.’

Could an ordinary penal-soldier ten-person squad commander really accomplish such things?

Even people treated as elites after graduating from the Imperial Academy and completing the Imperial Army training center often fumbled and made mistakes in their first posting.

‘Yet this man was a penal soldier. Aside from being of noble birth, there is nothing else particularly notable about him.’

Was it because of the unusual disposition that had earned him the name of the North’s eccentric?

Schultz became deeply interested in Ubel’s record.

‘It would not be bad to test him.’

Schultz decided to use this opportunity to give the soldiers experience and uncover capable talent in the process.

“The barbarians are running rampant, so we will dispatch a subjugation force of two thousand-man units to break their momentum and prevent further raids.”

“Which units will you mobilize?”

At the staff officers’ question, Schultz opened his mouth with a meaningful smile.

“Send Gilbert’s thousand-man unit from the Left Army and Kruger’s thousand-man unit from the Right Army.”

The Northern Front was broadly divided into the Central Army, Left Army, Right Army, and Rear Army.

The Central and Rear Armies had ten thousand soldiers, while the Left and Right Armies each had five thousand.

Except for the Central Army, each army had a defense commander who commanded five thousand-man units.

Among them, Gilbert’s thousand-man unit of the Left Army was famous for having many penal soldiers, and the Third Penal Soldier Unit that Ubel belonged to was one of its subordinate units.

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