Chapter 75

"Ugh...!"

The training yard of the Lorenz mansion.

With the nobles' gathering disguised as a funeral, the place was empty-only Dandel and Irene remained.

"You surpassed me in strength and stamina ages ago-so why...!"

"Well, I haven't been slacking either."

Irene had drawn her mana to the limit and charged at Dandel, but the result was poor.

He caught the fist she swung, flipped her over, swept her remaining leg, and shattered her balance.

"Unlike those monsters, I'm just an ordinary guy. To survive I have to use every trick I've got."

Dandel's fighting style, which dismantled every attack with minimal motion, was completely different from anyone else's.

It wasn't a brawl of traded punches but a counter that used the enemy's own force.

The stronger the incoming power, the more devastating the return became.

"I'm the Lieutenant of the 87th, after all-if I lose to the Rookie, who knows what the kids will do to me."

"You mean that training?"

"Yeah. I still feel like I'm going to die."

While Irene was assigned to Loren territory, Dandel had been put in charge of her training.

Unlike Yaan's regimen of getting beaten until you learned, Dandel's method-constant feedback during and after every fight-drove people insane in its own way.

'And you're the one who designed that training...'

The 87th Independent Company had lacked any system at first; Dandel's efforts were largely why they now had one.

No matter how skilled in combat you might be, talent for teaching is something else entirely.

He had observed, recorded, systematized, and refined the Penal Corps' mock battles-battles they had carved into their bodies and lives.

His powers of observation were the main reason a mere second lieutenant like Dandel had survived on the Kerdan frontier.

"All right. Break time. Let's rest a moment."

Saying so, Dandel tossed Irene a towel.

Both had stripped down to black shirts and uniform trousers.

Soon the one who had summoned them here arrived with the sound of footsteps.

"Company commander, you've arrived."

"Yes. How's the training?"

"Excellent. She's the fastest learner in the company. She's breaking every record."

"Results in the training ground?"

"Total defeat."

"Then she's still far from ready. Pull her back to rear support."

"Aye."

"W-wait a moment!"

Irene ran to Yaan and shouted.

"They told me hand-to-hand is almost useless in a firefight!"

"Right. That's true."

Yaan gave a brief nod to Irene's words.

Whether from disgust at combat drills unrelated to real battle, desperation showed on Irene's face.

"And my marksmanship is the highest in the unit."

"I've seen the reports. So?"

Yaan's tone was calm, but Irene's body shook with tension she couldn't stop.

"I-I can do it!"

"What?"

Yet, as if she had found courage, Irene shouted at Yaan.

"Good grief..."

Hearing that, Dandel let out an exasperated curse, but Irene had no time to notice.

Realizing she had misspoken, Irene hurriedly corrected herself.

"I mean, I can do it, sir!"

"I'm not correcting your speech."

Yaan chewed over what Irene had said and fell into thought.

"Lieutenant."

"Aye."

At Yaan's single word, Dandel stepped forward.

"What do you think?"

He could not settle for guesswork or hunches. Assessing and recruiting talent was his job, but evaluating their achievements belonged to Lieutenant Dandel.

"No. Too dangerous."

"B-but I-!"

As she tried to protest, a sharp pain on her forehead made Irene flinch and step back.

"There. You just died."

The source of the pain was the back of the pen Dandel held. Irene's eyes widened as she finally realized.

"Wh-when..."

"Anyone slated for the infiltration unit sees that and dodges."

Yaan spoke to Irene.

"Irene. Ever seen actual combat?"

"N-no, sir."

"Then you die. No exceptions."

Hearing that, Irene tilted her head in puzzlement.

Maybe a raw recruit would have, but the Irene of now was on another level.

Reflexes, marksmanship, stamina-she outclassed every company member in everything needed for real battle.

Then why?

"You look like you don't get it."

"Should I explain?"

"It won't work if I do it."

After saying that, Dandel adjusted his glasses, and Yaan sighed as though grumbling.

"Fine. Guess I'm perfect for the villain role."

Rising, Yaan approached Irene.

"I'm going to hit you. It's going to hurt like hell. So fight back with everything you've got."

"Y-yes, sir!"

"Signal when you're ready, then I'll come in."

Irene nodded, stood opposite Yaan, and steadied her breathing.

"Hoo..."

Ready at last, face set, Irene charged Yaan.

"Hyaah!"

And in that instant-

Crack-!

Impact. A tremendous shock, as if struck by a cannon, slammed into Irene's body.

"Guh!?"

But she had already read Yaan's motion. Gathering mana at the predicted point of impact, she launched a counter.

Or rather, tried to.

"Wha-!?"

Who had Dandel learned that technique from?

The moment the question was answered was the worst possible for Irene.

Still in her counter stance, losing balance, she staggered-and Yaan swept her shin and slammed her to the ground.

"I have to get up...!"

Thinking that, she tried to rise and looked up-

Crack!

A blow struck her head.

Yaan's hands, clasped together, crashed down on Irene's skull.

Then once more.

Crack!

One more time.

Crack!

Each time Yaan's full-force blow came down on her head, the mana gathered in her arms to block it grew fainter.

"Focus!"

"Ugh!?"

Her consciousness blurred. What let her come to her senses was Yaan's shouting as he struck her.

"Let the mana in your arms go and you'll be crippled! Gather it! Hold on!"

"Y-yes!"

Even as she screamed that and rallied her mind, Yaan's blows kept coming.

His fists, blocked by the mana shields wrapped around both her arms, burst and sprayed blood.

"Ugh, ugh!"

She couldn't think at all.

Blood flying from Yaan's fists, the killing intent he exhaled-

Overwhelmed by it, Irene had already lost her will to fight and could only gather mana in desperation to block the fists that kept hammering down.

Crack-!

The final blow.

As it ended, Yaan rose to his feet.

"Good. That's enough."

"Hah...! Hah...!"

While Yaan flicked the blood from his hands after declaring the end, Dandel, checking her condition, pulled Irene up.

"Coming back to your senses?"

"Ah, ah...!"

Seeing Irene still in a daze, Yaan sighed and tapped her shoulder.

Soon, Irene caught her breath and stared at Yaan, who had just been sparring with her.

"All right. Look. Look at the state your body and mine are in."

Saying that, Yaan spread both arms and showed his hands.

Both fists were torn and blood dripped from them.

In contrast, Irene, who had wrapped her entire body in mana shields, was spotless, without a single scratch.

"The one who rushed in to kill you got hurt, and you didn't. My stamina loss is overwhelming compared to yours. Yet can you say you just beat me?"

"...."

Irene couldn't answer a word.

"Even in a controlled one-on-one fight, the moment it turns into a slaughterhouse, the mood changes. Before we talk about skill or strength, if your will is broken, you're useless."

She could have resisted.

She could have gathered mana and slipped past Yaan's fists, or even lifted him with sheer force.

If she had simply willed it, Irene could have defeated her company commander before her eyes with ease.

But Irene couldn't do it.

The moment their eyes met, she could do nothing.

"Where we're sent is the battlefield. A battlefield where shells you can't predict come flying, where the person next to you turns into mincemeat, where a single stone shard tears out your guts."

Yaan's words, like a verdict, drove into Irene as she blamed herself.

"You can't decide to go or not just by your will. Experience real combat in the rear. See allies die, kill enemies, get used to it. Only after that do you step forward."

"...Understood."

She offered no further argument. At Yaan's explanation, Irene quietly nodded.

She couldn't help but accept it.

"Good work."

Wiping the blood roughly with the towel Dandel offered, Yaan patted Irene's shoulder a couple of times.

"Take a moment to pull yourself together. I'll bring you something to drink."

After briefly comforting her, Dandel also followed Yaan outside.

Left alone, Irene was replaying the fight in the training yard when Yaan lit a cigarette outside.

Flick-!

"Now you can afford expensive cigarettes, can't you?"

Chuckling at Dandel's voice as he approached, Yaan tilted his head back with the cigarette between his lips.

"Waste of money."

"Coming from someone who never uses them?"

"Let them use it or not."

After saying that and exhaling smoke, Yaan looked up at the sky and opened his mouth.

"Mission's come down. Location: central front. Our company goes in first and returns last."

"Well, that's the usual mission."

"No. This time's different. Twenty percent of the soldiers will die."

Hearing that, Dandel stopped speaking and looked at Yaan.

"Company commander. If the casualty rate is twenty percent, the unit gets reorganized."

"That's the standard for regular divisions. We're the Penal Corps. If they tell us to go, we go. They said they'll replenish us."

"Whose operation order is it?"

"The second prince. Gard."

A grinding sound came from Dandel.

"Hah, sounds like there's quite a story."

"My parents were purged by the second prince's faction."

"I heard Count Klaus supports the second prince."

"Family feud. The current head won, we lost. Thanks to that, after entering the main house with my younger siblings..."

"You were dragged into the Penal Corps as an officer."

"In place of the main house's eldest son."

Puff-

This story-he'd heard it somewhere before.

Recalling Ilak Fenton's head blown off in the Kelt Holy See and Irene's face watching it, Yaan let out a short laugh.

"...Did something amusing come to mind?"

"No. It's laughable. Telling a fifteen-year-old to go to the front and get used to killing."

"Haha, war is a sworn enemy."

At Dandel's remark, Yaan silently looked up at the sky and exhaled smoke.

'I'll end the war! Then we can all live in peace!'

Remembering her words, once spoken with a carefree smile without even knowing what it meant, Yaan could only give a bitter smile.

"Yeah. War is a sworn enemy."