Chapter 304: Stake (2)

In the east, on Finnomia's Kalkanama Isthmus.

The sniper Ivan Shcherbakov had narrowed down the enemy sniper's field of fire based on the places where his fellow soldiers had been killed.

Where they had fallen, the angles of the incoming bullets. Those details pointed to a snowfield below a ridge.

Ivan had been lying on the opposite ridge since before dawn, overlooking that spot.

“...”

Before long, as the sky slowly began to brighten, a squad moved out below him.

They were soldiers sent out as bait.

The enemy would shoot them, and that would leave a trace. Snow flying up, light reflecting off a scope, or a muzzle flash.

Crunch. Crunch.

The soldiers below climbed the mountain. The enemy was probably watching them too.

They thought they were the hunter, but they were only prey. Today, they would learn that.

Just as a smile spread across Ivan's lips...

!

A bullet flew in from somewhere and pierced a soldier.

By now, their response to sniper fire was calm.

The remaining soldiers dropped into the snow where they stood. They didn't approach their fallen comrade. No one raised their head.

“...?”

But Ivan Shcherbakov was puzzled.

There had clearly been a shot. A soldier had fallen. Yet there was no trace.

No powdery snow kicked up by the muzzle blast, no mist from someone's breath, no reflection from a scope...

At that moment, the clouds parted.

Sunlight shone down.

A tiny shimmer settled over Ivan's scope.

The lens faintly reflected the light for less than 0.5 seconds.

!

A bullet flew in from somewhere and passed through Ivan's scope. Beyond it, the bullet destroyed his eye, brain, and skull.

Ivan's head went limp, his body still prone.

Ivan Shcherbakov, sniper of the Lobrus Ninth Army.

Killed by a gunshot through the head.

* * *

Chomp. Chomp.

In the west, there was a special platoon called Keinos. It was said to be a joint force from Prozen and Hailand... but it was hardly even a military force.

It was a volunteer corps outside any formal chain of command.

They had permission to use state radio and communications systems, but they took orders from no one.

They simply did what they wanted.

Chomp. Chomp.

Keinos's platoon commander, Eppen Kondo, chewed gum as they glared at someone.

Chomp. Chomp...

Those kneeling before Eppen Kondo were all Imperial prisoners of war. More precisely, one junior Imperial Guard officer and the survivors of that officer's platoon.

“Listen carefully. Keinos's first rule!”

They paced in front of the prisoners, tapping their shoulder with their machete, tap, tap.

They spoke to the Imperial bastards in their own language.

“Kill Imperial bastards.”

The Imperial Guard officer glared at Eppen Kondo. None of the remaining soldiers raised their heads.

“The second rule!”

The machete stopped.

“Follow the first rule.”

The soldiers standing behind Eppen Kondo chuckled, as though they had heard it hundreds of times already.

“And the third and final rule!”

They turned the machete and pointed it at the prisoners.

“Make them sign an Oath Document. Just the way that knight of yours likes to do things.”

The terms were exactly the same as that knight's.

An Oath Document. A signature.

“That's right! Exactly the same as that knight of yours!”

They shouted, then snickered.

Of course, killing was an unavoidable part of combat. To take prisoners, they had to kill at least half the platoon first.

“Listen carefully. Right now, the Empire has started a war across the continent and killed countless people. Innocent civilians are being thrown into Camps just because they're Izenheim, or Mer, or Kenshi...”

They were locked away, robbed of their property, and forced to work. Husbands and wives were forcibly separated. Parents and children lost one another.

How many of them were dying in this bitter cold?

Countless people, surely.

“So swear.”

Appen held out an Oath Document to the junior officer.

“‘All races are equal. Aran and subspecies are no different.’”

The pledge was written on the back of the family register those bastards were so proud of.

“‘Rather, it is the Aran who betray humanity and behave as subhumans.’”

They would tear it in half, give one half to the prisoners, and keep the other.

“‘I will willingly face the judgment of history.’”

They would gladly release any Imperial soldier who signed this document. Just as the knight named Maximilian had done.

Well, the prisoners might be executed back home or by the Imperial Guard for holding dangerous ideas, but Appen had no intention of worrying about that.

“Swear.”

“...”

The Imperial Guard officer stared steadily at Appen and asked a question in return.

“...Are you Izenheim?”

“Well, would you look at that. You're still asking that in a situation like this?”

The other members of Keinos laughed in disbelief. The officer curled their lip and spat.

Ptui!

“...Filthy bastards.”

Without taking their eyes off Appen, the officer continued.

“Parasites sucking the blood of civilization. You lot must know it too. Everyone hates the Izenheim. Prozen, Hailand, even those bastards in the east... They just don't say it out loud.”

The officer was probably right.

Everyone on the continent hated the Izenheim. The same went for all minority races, including the Mer and the Dromon. The word “subspecies” hadn't appeared for no reason.

The continent quietly discriminated against us. They despised us behind our backs while pretending to be gentlemen to our faces.

The Empire had simply shouted that hatred on their behalf. It built Camps and threw the subspecies inside, treating them like livestock.

“...I know.”

Appen gave a small laugh and picked up a stake.

“Now you'll help ease that hatred.”

The Empire's countless war crimes would bring the Izenheim a new kind of freedom.

“Watch closely. This is how anyone who refuses to swear dies.”

Appen seized the officer's hair with one hand.

Crunch!

They drove the stake into the officer's temple.

* * *

We arrived at the western border. The runways had frozen over, so we had traveled by highway. Using a road I had built myself felt strange.

Afterward, we searched the area around the Frontline Imperial Guard's 12th Reconnaissance Platoon, the latest unit to lose contact.

“...Here.”

Bodies pierced with stakes lay buried in the snow. Some had been stabbed through the temples. Others had stakes driven straight through the tops of their heads.

“Let's not get too close.”

Tiana took a step back.

“If they'd do something like this, they've probably planted mines too.”

I circled the area and found a torn piece of paper.

“...”

It was an Oath Document.

[Oath Document]

All races are equal. Aran and subspecies are no different.

Rather, it is the Aran who betray humanity and behave as subhumans.

I will willingly face the judgment of history.

Below it were the Imperial Guards' signatures and fingerprints.

“They swore.”

I handed Tiana the paper.

Once she had read it, she passed it to Leon. He stared at the Oath Document too.

His gaze turned cold. Deep contempt and anger filled his golden eyes.

“But they killed them anyway.”

They had killed them despite their pledge.

Before anger or any other emotion could rise, I felt that I finally understood their purpose.

They wanted to break the rules of war. By trading war crimes back and forth, they would provoke the Empire into lumping the Izenheim and the other subspecies together and killing them all. That would wash away the continent's age-old hatred of subspecies.

Once the Empire had broken down morality, prejudice, and discrimination, all that would remain would be a sense of unity against the great evil of the Empire.

Within that unity, everyone would finally be on the same side. The Izenheim would achieve their goal.

“...I'll take care of them.”

I took a step toward the bodies. Tiana flinched and reached out.

“Hey, wait!”

“I'll be fine.”

I wrapped mana around my body. What was Ebenholtz mana, in the end? Order, perfect cleanliness, and stillness, both inside and outside the body.

So when I spread mana beneath my feet, the ground accepted me as something no different from a natural object. The snow wasn't pressed down, and no pressure passed through it.

That way, I retrieved all the victims' dog tags and returned.

“They were young. Most were nineteen, twenty, or twenty-one.”

Tiana took the dog tags.

“The enemy's probably made up of superhumans too.”

Mist escaped her lips each time she spoke. It was already well below minus twenty degrees.

And it was getting colder by the moment.

“...Ugh, I'm going to die at this rate.”

Today's bitter cold was especially difficult for even knights to endure.

“Have I ever been this cold in my life...?”

Leon adjusted his clothes and gave a hollow laugh.

“Let's keep going.”

I moved on while studying the map. The three of us headed into the area where the enemy had been active. Our only travel credentials were regular army identification cards. Nothing marked us as knights.

“This reminds me of Empire Point. Didn't we go on a march like this back then?”

Leon muttered. Tiana nodded with a small smile.

“We did. Was it the Erken Fields? It was damn cold.”

...To be honest, back then, I had ridden the instructor's horse.

I had slipped onto it when the others weren't around, then gotten off with a third of the journey left...

“Ahem.”

For some reason, the memory made my conscience prick.

Anyway, this mountain path was covered in snow. Calling it pure white wasn't enough.

The trees, rocks, and paths were buried under the same color, blurring the boundary between earth and sky. Whenever the wind swept through, snow rose like dust over the ridges before settling again.

Crunch. Crunch.

We walked side by side.

I looked at Tiana beside me.

Her father was an Imperial Guard colonel.

He had originally served in the regular army, but ambition had led him to the Imperial Guard. Before my regression, he had climbed quite high.

But some “effort” of his had offended Sebastian, and Ebenholtz had quietly crushed Tiana's family.

Whooooosh.

Before we knew it, the sun had set.

The mana stone watch read 4:30 p.m.

“The sun's already down. Oh, should we adjust our watches? Isn't the west a little behind?”

I shook my head at Leon's question.

“No need. Operational time has been standardized to central Imperial time since just after the war began.”

“...Oh, really? Who did that?”

“I did.”

Before my regression, failing to account for time differences had caused confusion. So, right after the war began, I had standardized operational time under my own name.

“Aha.”

Leon gave a small laugh.

“A cave over there. Let's go rest for a bit. We're going to freeze to death at this rate.”

Tiana pointed to a cave. We went inside and immediately lit a fire. Then we took our cooking and eating gear out of our packs.

“Who waaaants coffee?”

Leon brought in snow and boiled water.

I prepared to cook.

Tiana studied the map and compass, considering our search route.

Bubble, bubble.

Water bubbled as a brief silence settled over us.

I looked at Leon.

“Leon.”

“Hm?”

Leon tilted his head as he mixed coffee into the boiling water.

“So, how are things between you and your brother?”

“...?”

His face said, “Where did that come from?”

I supposed I had brought it up too suddenly. It wasn't as though I had any experience with this kind of everyday conversation.

“Well, you know...”

Leon poured the coffee into tin cups and handed them out.

“We see each other at the order sometimes, but we don't say much. It's awkward too.”

Leon and Julian were brothers. The least brotherly brothers on the continent.

“Hey, hey.”

Tiana suddenly held out her hand, asking for coffee too.

And so we drank coffee, ate...

Whoooooosh.

The swirling blizzard forced us to take a break.

I looked at Tiana, who sat huddled against the cave wall.

“...”

She noticed my gaze but said nothing for a long while.

“Yeah. I came to help my father.”

She shrugged as she admitted it.

“My father's on this front. Which division of the Frontline Imperial Guard was it...? Anyway, he's a commander. Apparently, he volunteered for the west as soon as he returned.”

She wrapped both hands around her tin cup.

“I don't know whether he got promoted because his daughter's a knight, or whether he handed over all the spending money I gave him.”

She chuckled. I found it puzzling that Tiana looked happy, even proud, as she spoke of her father benefiting from her position.

“You came all the way here just to help your father?”

“Well...”

Tiana raised her eyebrows.

The bond someone could share with their father.

I found it hard to understand, and I didn't want to understand it. But perhaps I could think of him as someone like my mother was to me.

“Still, we all saw that Oath Document. We've found people we have a duty to punish as knights.”

“Hmmm. A knight abusing her authority for her family.”

Leon sipped his coffee and muttered as though joking. Tiana frowned.

“Why shouldn't I? I'm not trying to benefit from my father. I just want to help him a little.”

“I've never helped my father before.”

I answered casually.

Tiana's eyes narrowed to slits.

“Max, honestly, you've benefited a lot from your father.”

“...”

That was true too. I couldn't deny it.

All my success owed something to Sebastian's authority, talent, and loyalty.

If Sebastian hadn't been the Emperor's loyal subject, I would have been purged before I could build the life I had now.

“If Sebastian were my father too...”

Tiana thought about it for a moment, then stopped.

I chuckled.

“Can't imagine it, can you? It probably wouldn't be all that nice.”

“...You're right.”

Tiana smiled too and went back to her coffee.

“Looking at it that way, you're pretty amazing too, Max. If Sebastian were my father, I think I'd have suffocated to death.”

“...”

In fact, I had.

That had happened, and then I had come back.

“Ugh... A war's raging, and here we are, talking about such trivial things.”

Tiana muttered with a sigh.

Yet somehow, this meaningless, intimate conversation made me feel good.

“Max. Leon. Let's split up to search starting tomorrow. Having three knights move together is such a waste, isn't it?”

“Sure. But keep in regular contact.”

I handed Leon and Tiana mana stone communicators. They improved by the day, and now allowed uninterrupted communication even in mountain ranges.

“...It's been a while. How about a game of cards?”

As though he had been waiting for this moment, Leon took a deck from inside his clothes.

“Nou. You remember?”

“Sounds good. It's been ages.”

Tiana grinned, and I rolled up my sleeves too.

I felt a little excited.

“Let's do it.”

It was a game we had often played at Empire Point. You played cards of the same color or number, and the first person to empty their hand won. When you had one card left, you had to shout “Nou.” If you forgot, you drew two more cards.

“The loser gets a flick on the forehead.”

The rules were that simple, but the deck included a few cards that blocked other players' turns. With three players, one person always ended up being targeted by the other two.

“Nou! Nou! Nou! Nou!”

After we had shouted it dozens of times, Leon alone had received countless flicks. He rubbed his swollen forehead as he prepared for camp.

We lay side by side inside the tent.

“Technology really has come a long way. It's so warm.”

Tiana wriggled like a caterpillar inside her sleeping bag as she spoke.

“It has.”

With the campfire at our feet, I watched the firelight flicker across the ceiling.

I thought about our future.

“...Those inferior bastards drove stakes into the tops of their heads. Those young Aran.”

Leon suddenly muttered.

I answered.

“Don't get too angry.”

“...Max, aren't you angry?”

“No.”

Leon turned his head toward me.

“Instead, remember their stakes. Then pay them back later.”

There was something I wanted to tell them, my fellow cadets.

Something I had to tell them.

“As for me, Leon. Tiana.”

My purpose as a person.

Perhaps the very reason I had regressed and returned.

“I'm going to erase the Izenheim race from this world.”

I would use every means at my disposal to cleanse our continent, leaving not even a trace of them behind.

“Every last one...”

I would exterminate them, and clean it all away.