WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Asakusa
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◈ Veteran of the Northern Front ◈
Chapter 2: Punishment Trooper Ubel Graum (1)
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Penal soldiers.
In the game, they were treated as expendable goods or arrow fodder.
‘Judging by the soldiers’ attitudes, reality doesn’t seem any different.’
I had no idea how I ended up in this situation, but...
‘Get a grip.’
As long as I kept my head straight, I could overcome any hardship.
Wasn’t that what the military had taught me?
More than anything, I decided to focus on the situation right in front of me.
“Don’t get any useless ideas.”
“You there! Move it, move it.”
As I was led along with the other penal soldiers through a frigid wind that felt well below minus ten degrees Celsius...
“Wait.”
The man who had given that speech earlier pointed at me.
It had been too dark to notice while I was locked in the wagon, but a name tag reading [Ubel Graum] hung around my neck.
‘Is that this body’s name? Ubel Graum... I’ve definitely heard it somewhere before.’
Having a surname meant the original owner of this body had been a noble.
The name felt vaguely familiar, but no matter how hard I searched my memory, nothing came to mind.
While I was lost in thought...
“He has somewhere he needs to stop first. Escort him separately.”
“Yes, sir.”
Following the man’s order, I was separated from the other penal soldiers.
Just as I began wondering where they were taking me, we arrived at a barracks made from thick canvas.
“Sir Berun, this is Pellon. As ordered, I have brought Ubel Graum.”
“Send him in.”
“Yes. Go inside.”
Once permission was given, the man called Pellon shoved me into the barracks.
As I stepped inside without quite realizing it...
A man who looked to be in his late twenties greeted me.
“Welcome. I am Berun Colter, your superior from this point onward.”
I quietly studied the man who introduced himself as Berun Colter. Since I did not remember him, he was probably a minor character in the game.
“There is no need to be nervous. I called you here separately to inform you of your assignment.”
His voice was gentle.
“I received your personal details through the documents. You are from the Graum family?”
Ah! I remembered.
The Graum family was a small baronial house in the eastern Empire. In the game, players who enjoyed hard difficulty often chose it as their starting faction.
‘The setting said the baron who ruled the territory died, and the eldest son was driven from the family by his stepmother and younger half-sibling’s schemes. So that must be this guy.’
Ubel Graum.
Once I understood my current identity, I let out a deep sigh inwardly.
Now that I knew the details, the grimness of my situation felt all the more real.
Unconcerned, Berun continued.
“It says you were sentenced for murdering innocent residents of your territory.”
It was all a false accusation, but I had no way to prove it.
“Hm. It is extremely rare for a noble to become a penal soldier... I do not know the circumstances, but now that you have been sentenced and become one, you must serve here on the Northern Front for the next three years.”
In other words, shut up and serve as arrow fodder.
“Still, considering your noble birth, we have decided to grant you the position of squad commander. Do not be too discouraged.”
“...A squad commander?”
They were giving me the position of squad commander as soon as I arrived.
‘Is this the power of a class-based society?’
Even though we were all criminals, they could not treat a noble and a commoner equally?
Whatever the reason, this was a measure I could only welcome with open arms.
“Thank you.”
“There is no need to thank me. It is more beneficial for the unit as well to have an educated noble serve as a squad commander.”
Apparently finished with his message, he dismissed me.
“You may leave now. Pellon, the squad commander outside, will show you the ten-person squad you will be leading.”
“Yes.”
I recalled the soldiers who had escorted me earlier saluting their superior with a fist over their chest, so I saluted Berun in the same manner.
“Then I will take my leave.”
“Oh?”
Berun gave me a strange look, but I did not think much of it and left.
Outside, Pellon jerked his head and spoke in a curt voice.
“Follow me.”
“Yes.”
On the way, he stopped by the supply unit and handed me a uniform and shoulder insignia.
“Wear this on your shoulder. It signifies a squad commander, so do not lose it.”
“I will remember that.”
The insignia bore the dragon emblem representing the Empire. It differed slightly from Pellon’s, likely to distinguish penal soldiers from regular soldiers.
Once I had finished getting ready, I looked into a glass mirror sitting in the corner of the supply unit.
‘Is this what I look like now?’
I had been considered large in my previous life as well, but this body was on another level.
I looked well over one hundred eighty centimeters tall.
A sturdy frame, solid muscles covering my body.
I had a monstrous physique that would make even a UFC heavyweight take a step back.
“Stop dawdling and get out here.”
“Yes.”
When I finished preparing and stepped outside at Pellon’s urging, the waiting soldiers flinched in surprise.
I was already huge, and now I was dressed in uniform.
It would have been stranger if I did not seem intimidating.
“Ahem!”
Pellon cleared his throat, snapping the soldiers back to their senses.
“Let us go.”
“Y-Yes, sir!”
“This way...”
The regular soldiers were somewhat more subdued than before.
As I followed them, Pellon explained the chain of command, the unit’s organization, and other matters I would need to understand during my service.
“...Therefore, Sir Berun, whom you met earlier, is the overall commander of our hundred-person unit. If anything happens, report to him first. Understood?”
“Yes.”
Around the time I had grasped the basic information, a shabby barracks came into view.
“This is where you will be staying from now on. My guidance ends here, so handle things yourself.”
Handle things myself?
What was that supposed to mean?
Before I could ask, Pellon left with the soldiers.
‘What the hell?’
I was bewildered, but since it was cold, I decided to go inside first.
Rustle-
“Like I was saying...”
As I opened the entrance flap and stepped in, the men chatting around the fire turned their eyes toward me.
They seemed startled by the sudden arrival of such a large man.
“Huh?”
“W-Who are you?”
“Wait, that insignia...”
I considered what to do in response to the soldiers, then decided to fall back on my military experience and handle it by the book.
“Ahem! Nice to meet you. I am Ubel Graum, newly appointed as your squad commander.”
First impressions were important when meeting people, so I made a point of greeting them politely first.
But the soldiers’ reactions were not normal.
“What? A squad commander?”
“So you’re that noble lord they said was coming.”
“Tch! A guy who just transferred in gets to be a squad commander...”
Hostile gazes.
They acted as though they could not accept me.
While everyone glared at me, the man who seemed to hold the most influence among the soldiers sauntered forward.
“You there, noble lord. You may have been a noble outside, but here, you’re no more or less a meat shield like the rest of us.”
“I was formally granted the position of squad commander.”
“Ha! You just got here and know jack shit, but you expect us to respect you because you’re a squad commander? Do you think we’re idiots?”
So, to summarize what they were saying...
“You cannot recognize someone who became a commander simply because they are a noble, despite having no experience or ability. Is that it?”
“You understand words well enough.”
Their reaction was understandable.
I would have been annoyed too if a newly assigned second lieutenant who knew nothing started ordering me around.
However...
That only applied to rookies.
It did not apply to me.
“I had a lot to ask anyway, so this works out nicely.”
Judging by their attitude, I needed to establish the chain of command before we got acquainted.
Crack!
As I loosened my fists, I spoke casually.
“One person. First come, first served.”
“What?”
“The first one to put his head down, I’ll go easy on him.”
“What the hell did this bastard just say?”
“Hey, there’s no such thing as insulting a noble here. Nobody will say anything if we beat you up.”
“He got dragged here as a penal soldier and lost his mind.”
“Heh. You need to get beaten all night like a fresh recruit before you... Urk!”
There was no reason to listen any longer. I swiftly closed the distance and drove a fist into the right upper abdomen of the man who had been sneering.
A liver shot, a strike well known in combat sports.
“Gaaah...”
Seeing him collapse to the floor and drool, the impact had clearly gotten through.
“Martin!”
“W-What...?”
Everyone stared in shock as their comrade was taken down by a single punch.
“Y-You bastard!”
“No one put their head down?”
I said I would let one of them off.
Kids these days really do not listen when people talk.
“You brought this on yourselves.”
“What are you talking about, you son of a bitch!”
“Hey, get him!”
Apparently deciding this had gone beyond words, they all rushed at me.
Normally, I would have used the surrounding terrain to deal with them one at a time, but my instincts told me something.
‘With this body...’
I could beat them all down.
Thud!
Lowering my stance, I charged at the man in front.
I slipped my right foot between his legs, reached out and hooked behind both knees while driving into him with my shoulder.
“Argh!”
The man slid backward and fell flat on his back.
It was one of the grappling techniques taught in special forces martial arts.
Normally, I would have moved into a joint lock to restrain him, but...
‘Hm, this should be enough...’
I had a rough idea of my strength now.
“Hey, catch him.”
“Huh?”
I grabbed the man by both legs and hurled him with all my strength at the soldiers rushing in behind him.
At first, I had not been accustomed to this body.
Now, though, I had a general feel for it.
‘In terms of raw strength alone, it is more than twice what I had in my past life, and more than three times that of an average adult man.’
It was insane strength that far surpassed an ordinary person.
My combined big three total in my previous life had been around 580 kilograms. With this body, I could probably easily exceed 1,000.
‘I need to control my strength. I could kill someone by mistake.’
I organized my thoughts and focused on what was before me again.
“Argh! Get off me, you bastard!”
“Move already!”
The man I had thrown like a bowling ball was tangled up with the other soldiers, and I did not miss the opening.
“This... Urk!”
I struck one soldier, who was caught in the mess and unable to move, in the throat before driving a fist into his solar plexus. I also planted a spinning back elbow into the temple of the bald man standing blankly nearby.
Crack!
“M-Marco...”
So the bald man’s name was Marco.
‘He still looks young, yet he is already...’
I gave him a brief moment of silence, then dealt with the remaining men one by one.
Perhaps because none of them had ever learned proper fighting, I only had to target their weak points with moderate force. Before long, all of them were groaning on the floor.
Only one man remained.
The man who had been running his mouth first.
“Y-You fucking bastard!”
Realizing he could not beat me barehanded, he grabbed a spear propped up in the barracks and pointed it at me.
“If you don’t want to get beaten twice as badly, put that down while I’m asking nicely.”
“Sh-Shut up, you bastard!”
He glared at me with fear and rage mixed in his eyes.
“You suddenly show up and start acting like a commander! Do you think I’ve only seen nobles like you once or twice?!”
I knew from the game that people had a poor image of nobles, but...
“So what?”
“What...?”
Who was he trying to play the victim in front of?
If anything, I was the one who wanted to complain about being victimized.
At least that guy had committed a crime and ended up here.
What had I done to deserve this?
“Ah, thinking about it is pissing me off again.”
“You crazy bastard... Die!”
The man let out a scream that might have been a battle cry and thrust his spear.
But...
Thud!
“What are you doing?”
The spear that had seemed ready to pierce my chest was caught in my hand with absurd ease.
I did not stop there. Using my monstrous strength, I gripped the spear shaft with one hand and lifted the man at the other end into the air.
Since he was holding onto the spear, he ended up dangling from its shaft.
“Uh...”
Had his brain short-circuited at the impossible sight of someone lifting a person with one hand?
The man wore a stupid expression, and I slammed him onto the floor before rolling my neck.
Crack!
“All right, now you need to get beaten, right?”
“I-If I put my head down now...”
I smiled.
“It’s already too late.”
A little while later, squeals like those of a slaughtered pig rang out through the barracks.
And on my first day of assignment, I became the lunatic who beat up his soldiers.
＊＊＊＊＊
The situation only ended after the regular soldiers came rushing in.
“Ah, I am sorry for causing a disturbance.”
When I quickly apologized, Pellon and the regular soldiers shook their heads with slightly sickened expressions.
“Ahem. It is your ten-person squad, so I will not say anything, but be careful next time.”
“Yes, sir!”
“...Then we will be going.”
After the regular soldiers left, only my squad members and I remained inside the barracks.
A heavy silence settled over us.
They watched me cautiously with bruised, bluish faces.
I gave them a bright smile.
“Hey.”
“Y-Yes??”
“What are you doing?”
“W-What do you mean...?”
Had these bastards not been beaten enough?
“You should be putting your heads down again.”
“....................”
“What are you doing? Want to make it first come, first served again?”
“No!”
The squad members recoiled in horror.
Before five seconds had passed, they hurriedly put their hands behind their backs and pressed their heads to the ground.
Now this was starting to look like military discipline.
I approached the man who had acted up with a spear and been beaten twice as badly, then asked him.
“Hey, you. What is your name?”
“M-Max. My name is Max.”
“All right, Max. I have a lot I’m curious about, so answer a few questions.”
I had figured out that I had possessed a body in the game, and that I had become Ubel Graum, but I had yet to confirm the important details. I needed more information.
“First, what year is it now?”
“Yes?”
“What year is it in the Imperial Calendar?”
[Song of the Empire] had events that occurred each year in chronological order, so strategies varied wildly depending on which era you began the game in.
‘The North is still intact, so this seems to be the early part of the game’s story, but...’
Knowing the exact year was the most important thing, because I needed it to decide what to do going forward.
“I don’t know why you’re asking, but it’s the last month of Imperial Calendar 386.”
“What...?”
Imperial Calendar 386?
And it was already the last month?
‘Fuck, I was hoping there would be a little more time.’
Hearing Max’s answer, I could not help sighing.
Because one year from now, the Northern Front was scheduled to be turned into a wasteland by a barbarian invasion.
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