WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Asakusa
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Veteran of the Northern Front ◈
Chapter 48: Choosing a Path
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About three weeks after arriving at the Left Army’s fortress with the soldiers,
“Ubel, we should be going.”
“Already?”
“Orders came down from central command. All punitive forces are to return.”
Before leaving the fortress, Jeg came to say goodbye.
Perhaps we had grown close.
For some reason, hearing that he was leaving made me feel a little regretful.
I was not the only one who felt that way.
“Haha, we’ll see each other again soon enough, so hold back even if you miss me.”
“Like hell I’ll miss you.”
Having fought the barbarians together and spent a fair amount of time at the fortress, we had grown close enough to trade jokes naturally.
“Still stiff to the end. Anyway, take care of yourself, and I’ll see you again at the awards ceremony. I’ll invite you to my estate then and treat you properly.”
“Fine. I’ll look forward to it.”
“Then I’ll be off.”
With a cheerful smile, he returned to the capital with the punitive force.
Even after Jeg left, I remained at the fortress.
I had nowhere urgent to go, and my injuries were severe, so I decided to recuperate.
And so,
as I enjoyed the peace that had finally returned after so long,
time passed like flowing water, and before I knew it, two months had gone by since the war ended.
“...I thought this before, but your recovery is remarkably fast, my lord.”
Carbin, who had hurried over from Camilla Fortress after hearing both of the victory and my injuries, looked at me in amazement.
“The other two will need at least another ten days before their bandages can come off, yet you are already back on your feet...”
“I was born sturdy.”
I was not sure whether it was right to dismiss injuries that should have required three months to heal as mere toughness when I had recovered from them in about two months, but I knew nothing about it myself, so I could only brush it off.
“Anyway, it is fortunate that you recovered quickly. Your wounds have closed and your internal injuries have healed, so if you rest well for just a few more days, you should be able to move as you did before.”
Just as I smiled in satisfaction at hearing that I could move again,
Jackson came rushing over.
“C-Captain!”
“What is it?”
When I asked why he was making such a fuss, he answered with a pale face.
“Someone came from the Imperial Palace. They brought an imperial edict and said you are to come out and receive it...”
“What?”
An envoy? An imperial edict?
Did I hear that right?
“What is this all of a sudden...”
As I stood there blankly for a moment,
my subordinates, Jackson included, urged me on.
“This is not the time to stand around! Please get ready, quickly!”
“Uh, right.”
Before I knew it, they had dragged me before the imperial envoy.
The envoy, who had a stern face and a pointed goatee, looked me up and down.
“Ahem. Are you Ubel Graum?”
“I am...”
“I shall deliver His Majesty’s decree. As a subject of the Empire, show proper respect.”
I had no idea what was going on, but,
‘For now, I should do as I’m told.’
I knelt on one knee and lowered my head.
This was the etiquette nobles followed when receiving an imperial decree in the Empire.
Commoners and slaves had no such separate etiquette. Most reportedly pressed their foreheads to the ground in full prostration.
Once I was ready to receive the decree, the envoy began to speak.
“Speaking on behalf of His Majesty Emperor Billian de Helion, the supreme sun of the Helion Empire, the imperial envoy declares this. You, Ubel Graum, have contributed to the security of the Empire in Our stead...”
The decree began with countless flourishes.
Just as I began wondering what the envoy was trying to say by dragging it out so long,
“...therefore, you are recognized as the foremost contributor to this war and granted the title of count, along with the office of margrave. Ubel Graum, arrive in the capital in time to attend the awards ceremony.”
The sudden news left me unable to hide my shock.
‘Not only am I being made a count, I’m being made a margrave?’
A margrave was a lord who guarded the borders against foreign invasion and held military authority over the nearby troops.
In other words, they were practically warlords.
A margrave could wield greater military power than other lords, so even the imperial family rarely granted the office.
‘And they’re giving that to me?’
Honestly, I was thrilled.
No, thrilled was not enough.
I was happy enough to do a somersault on the spot.
Still, I could not help being suspicious.
‘Even if I am the foremost contributor, this is excessive.’
Being made a count would have been one thing, but the office of margrave was far too great a reward.
‘What happened at the Imperial Palace?’
I tried sounding out the envoy to understand the situation, but the envoy seemed to be in a great hurry and left without giving me much of a reply.
‘That bastard...’
In that case,
I had no choice but to go there myself and find out.
“I need to go to the Imperial Palace.”
“Are you going alone?”
“No. I’m taking Max and Dihelm.”
If I ended up in a troublesome situation, I needed one or two people at my side.
Besides,
‘They should see a bit of the world, too.’
I wanted to take Marcus and Peiron as well, but neither had fully recovered from their injuries. The others, Jackson included, could not leave their posts because they had to command the soldiers.
“...That is how it is. You two are coming to the capital with me.”
“Yes. We will prepare at once.”
Perhaps they had heard the envoy’s news.
Neither asked any questions and readily agreed to come.
The next day,
I borrowed a carriage and horses from Berun and was about to leave for the Imperial Palace with the two of them when an unexpected guest arrived.
“Ho ho. Have you been well?”
“C-Commander?”
Schultz had come to see us.
On the road to the Imperial Palace.
While Dihelm and Max sat on the driver’s bench guiding the horses, I sat across from Schultz inside the carriage.
Seeing him gave me much to think about.
‘I heard a few days ago that he had been relieved of his post as Northern Commander, but...’
Who would have imagined that he would come to see me so quietly?
I looked at him and carefully spoke.
“Why did you come alone? What about your aides...?”
“Ho ho. Why would aides follow a dismissed old man who is no longer anything of note?”
That was nonsense.
Though his recent record had been poor, Schultz was still a hero here in the north.
The merits he had built in his youth would not disappear so easily.
‘Whew...’
When he fell silent, an awkward quiet settled over us.
There were many things I wanted to ask. Why had the imperial envoy suddenly come? Why had he come to find me?
But there was something I had to ask first.
“Did you have a hand in this?”
“The envoy? Both yes and no. Considering what you accomplished in this war, is it not only natural that you receive a reward?”
“...I was already meant to be rewarded, but the fact that I received the excessive office of margrave was your doing.”
“The Right Army has completely collapsed. The north lacks the strength to spare, and the central government will not restore the front. Given that, appointing a margrave to the Ermil region, close to the Right Army, to reinforce the front is the best option for now.”
He was not wrong.
Still, Schultz’s influence must have been the reason I had been appointed.
‘Now I more or less understand the situation.’
I put together the circumstances I had confirmed so far with the knowledge I already had.
According to my memories, after the Great Invasion, the Emperor Faction would use its victory in the war and the awards ceremony as justification to seize control of central politics.
Duke Borgia, faced with their counterattack, would use a trick to prevent them from gaining power and overturn the board.
Rather than using the old system that broadly divided merits into first, second, and third class, Duke Borgia would rank them in far greater detail. By doing so, the duke would subtly assign low rankings to Emperor Faction figures while raising members of the Northern Army, who could not exert influence in the capital.
‘If they objected to the result, they could be framed as disregarding the Northern Army’s achievements, so the Emperor Faction could not easily voice their dissatisfaction.’
Duke Borgia would install suitable figureheads and use the Northern Army as a shield to crush the Emperor Faction.
It seemed like a perfect plan,
but it had one weakness.
That was if the Northern Army objected first.
If they gave up their own achievements with a willingness to sacrifice themselves and supported the Emperor Faction, the duke’s plan would inevitably crack.
‘Duke Borgia must have known that, too.’
And then Schultz had entered the picture.
“Did you propose a deal?”
“...”
Schultz was the only person capable of commanding the Northern Army. In exchange for the office of margrave, he had proposed a deal that the Northern Army would not involve itself in this awards ceremony, and Duke Borgia had accepted it.
After remaining silent at my question, he finally answered in a low voice.
“I have failed.”
The eyes of the man who had devoted his life to the north were full of deep regret.
“From the Frostfire Subjugation Campaign to this war, I may have earned some merit in my youth and devoted myself to the north, but what use is any of that if the end is not good?”
“You did your best, Commander.”
Who could have expected the barbarians to unite and invade without warning?
‘I knew the future, so that is one thing, but...’
For the people of the Empire, it would have been impossible to imagine.
Schultz shook his head at my consolation.
“Even so, it does not change the fact that I am a failure and a defeated man.”
“If you had made the deal in exchange for remaining commander instead...”
He shook his head again.
“Even then, nothing would change. It would only make an ugly old man uglier.”
“How could you...”
“But even so...”
A faint light entered his eyes.
“I love the north.”
The land was cold enough to chill one’s bones,
and the winter wind clawed at one’s cheeks,
but he seemed to find all of it dear.
“Because I love this land, I wanted to lend my final strength to the one who could care for the north better than anyone else.”
“You mean me?”
“Yes.”
It was an honest confession.
Faced with his sincerity, I had no choice but to speak sincerely as well.
“Commander, I apologize for saying this, but I am not from the north.”
“I know.”
“Protecting the north is only fulfilling my duty as a member of the Northern Army. Beyond that, I have no particular sense of mission.”
“That is enough.”
“There are probably commanders better than me.”
A faint smile formed on his lips.
It was a smile filled with something beyond simple goodwill, something like trust.
“Yes, perhaps there are. But...”
Tap!
His hand patted my shoulder.
“I have decided to place my faith in you.”
“Why do you trust me that much...?”
“If you are the man I have come to know, you will do better than this old man.”
The moment he finished speaking, Schultz rose from his seat.
“Stop the carriage.”
A fork in the road lay ahead.
Schultz pointed down the left path.
“The capital is this way.”
Then his hand turned toward the right.
“The road I must take is this way.”
“...”
“So I will walk from here.”
With Schultz’s gesture, our paths diverged.
Stepping down from the stage where he had spent his life should have been bitter, yet the old man before me instead looked relieved.
“I will accompany you to your destination.”
When I said I would see him all the way there, he firmly waved his hand.
“I cannot take more of a busy young man’s time. Accompanying me this far is enough. Besides... for some reason, I feel like walking today.”
“Commander...”
“The weather is truly fine.”
The road Schultz headed down was old and uneven, surrounded by thick weeds, yet his expression was bright, like that of a man finally returning home after a long time away.
“Ubel.”
“Yes.”
“It is not for an old man who is about to leave to say this, but let me offer one final piece of advice out of concern.”
“I will listen.”
“Be careful when you enter the capital.”
“...”
“It is another battlefield, different from the front. A careless gesture or word can tighten around your neck. So be cautious. And then be cautious again.”
I nodded at his advice.
“Yes. I will remember it.”
“Ho ho. Well, you will know how to conduct yourself. This old man should be going now. If you are ever bored, come visit the Duchy of Konrad. It may not be grand, but I will make sure you lack for nothing.”
With those brief words of farewell, Schultz turned his back.
Watching him leave, I called out in the most solemn and serious voice I could muster.
“Salute to the Commander!”
“Loyalty!”
As I saluted him, Max quickly climbed down from the driver’s bench and gave the same salute.
There were no crowds and no grand banquet, only a modest farewell.
This was the best I could do for him.
At my salute, Schultz glanced back and smiled with satisfaction before walking on again.
The hero who had protected the north for so many years left behind all his glory.
‘Thank you for everything.’
I held my salute until Schultz disappeared completely from sight. Once he was gone, I let out a short breath and climbed back into the carriage.
“Whew. Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
Perhaps realizing I was not in a good mood, Max tried to lighten the atmosphere.
“It is fortunate that this road is flat. Since it leads to the capital, it seems to be well maintained.”
“It does.”
Was it only my imagination?
Compared to the road Schultz had taken earlier, this one was certainly smooth and clean, but the farther we went, the heavier my shoulders felt.
‘A road...’
The veteran who had spent his entire life looking only toward the north had finally reached the end and stepped off his path.
No, it was probably not only him.
Berun, Pellon, and many others were finding their own paths and moving forward.
‘Then what about me?’
When I first fell into this world, I was desperate only to survive and seize whatever immediate gains I could.
But now that I had gained not merely survival, but the strength to move forward on my own,
I had to make a decision.
What would I live for from now on?
And how would I face the turbulent times to come?
‘For the future of the Huran Tribe, for survival, struggle is my mission. Even if the time comes to return to nature’s embrace, I will never stop!’
Kantulan had fought for the survival of the tribe.
‘I love the north.’
Schultz had lived for his homeland and country.
‘Then what should I do...?’
As that thought reached me, I suddenly noticed Max.
“Max.”
“Yes?”
“What do you live for... No, why do you remain in the Imperial Army?”
At my question, Max scratched his head and answered.
“Well, I’m not especially good at anything, and while serving under you is hard, Captain, it is still rewarding... Ah! Of course, I’m only still here because you are my captain. If someone else were my superior, I would have left the army without looking back.”
He did not stop there.
“Didn’t you say something like that before, Captain? If you are not confident that you can do something alone, trust and follow someone else. I’m not smart, and I do not have any particular talent, so I thought it would be best to follow you... Ahem. Anyway, that is how it is.”
“Right. Thank you for answering.”
He had rambled incoherently, half like someone embarrassed,
but hearing Max made my thoughts feel a little clearer.
‘I had forgotten my own words.’
I had not been able to find a clear answer as to whether I should be a loyal hound or a wolf.
Thanks to him, I was able to make up my mind.
‘A warlord... Yes. To hell with it, I’ll give it a try.’
Even if the road was covered in thorns,
one only lived once.
I decided to walk forward on my own feet.
The request Schultz had left me.
The faith of those who had followed while looking at my back.
My shoulders felt unusually heavy,
but strangely, my heart felt light.
To rise above these turbulent times.
That was my goal in this life.
‘To achieve that...’
I had to enter the capital, filled with venomous snakes and old foxes, and safely make it through this awards ceremony.
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