Chapter 38: You Are My Commanding Officer

To the Honorable Viscount Frederick Ka Guderian of Kampnavia:

As your opponent, I must admit that your forces are the most valiant army I have ever seen. No army would want to face such an enemy. Having an opponent like you is my misfortune, but also my honor. Your youth, wisdom, and courage have left a deep impression on me. Though I am your opponent, please accept my blessings and respect, and I hope that on a future battlefield, I will have the honor of competing with you once more.

May the God of War, Vesta, forever walk with the young brave!

Respectfully, Uthers de Rivera

“What does this mean?” After listening to the letter that Duke Rivera had left on the dock, Dakla asked in a dull, simple-minded way.

“What he means is, he lost but he isn’t convinced at all. He wants another battle.” Riley explained for his friend.

“What do you think?” Rodrick handed the letter to Fred, who was lying on the sickbed.

“An honest nobleman, a brave warrior, a stubborn old man. Just like his textbook way of commanding troops, this letter that carries an ancient noble air is utterly meaningless. He treats war as his own private affair.” Fred casually tossed the letter aside.

“Fred, are you feeling better?” Kelsey flashed through the door with a big bouquet of flowers in her arms.

“Good morning, our heroine. I don’t have anything serious anymore. It’s just that the wound still hurts a little.”

“I… I’ve come to say goodbye.” Kelsey put the flowers into the vase by the bed. “You know, once war breaks out, there’s really no place for us.”

“So soon? Can’t you stay a few more days?”

“No, I’m afraid that if I wait any longer, the river won’t be navigable anymore.”

“Then where do you plan to go? Do you need me to help you get a navigation permit or something? You’re thieves.”

“I’ve thought about it. From now on, I can’t keep being a thief on the Morning Light River anymore.”

“It’s good that you’ve come around. What’s so good about being a thief? It’s dangerous and hard, you can’t even find a proper place to stay, and at every port you have to worry about the city guard. It’s better to do something legitimate.” I expressed my support.

“You’re absolutely right. Being a thief is too hard, and getting rich isn’t easy either. So, I’ve decided to sail east down the river, to the Comet Sea, and become a pirate!” Kelsey raised her head high and said excitedly, “Kelsey the Red Scarf Pirate Queen. Not bad, right?”

“Pfft…” Fred spat out the medicinal soup he had just taken in one mouthful all over the bed.

“What? Not good?” Kelsey pouted with murderous intent flashing in her eyes.

“Mm, a resounding name. Very impressive.” Seeing Red Flame, who had dark circles around his eyes and a blackened eye socket, desperately signaling us with his glances, how could we dare to advise the bandit lady to “turn over a new leaf” or “abandon evil for good”? We could only keep praising her endlessly.

“The ideas I come up with are always good ones.” Kelsey dragged Red Flame toward the door. “I’m going to go see the children. You have to help me take good care of them. I’ll come back often. If anything happens to them, see if I don’t…”

Watching that fierce female bandit walk away into the distance, we let out a long sigh and resumed our conversation. Young soldiers can always quickly find something to talk about. Right as we were tracing our history back to the day we first met…

“What are you all doing here? Patients need rest. Please leave.” Millia had appeared behind us at some point.

“Millia, why are you here? Didn’t you go to…”

“Yes, I went to the temple for today’s prayer ceremony, but the chief priest of the temple was sick, so the ceremony was cancelled. Why? Have you gentlemen figured out that I wouldn’t be here, and come to disturb my patient?”

“No, no, no, no. I just thought you were too busy, so I came to help take care of Fred for you.” I hurriedly grabbed a cloth and wiped it across Fred’s face. “He’s a little weak and sweating quite a bit.”

“Jeff…” Fred called my name with a pained expression.

“What’s wrong? Is something uncomfortable again?” I pretended to lean over Fred with great concern.

“My face is uncomfortable!” Fred pointed helplessly at the cloth in my hand and said, “That’s the rag used to wipe the floor…”

“Oh, sorry, sorry. I was originally going to wipe the floor for the beautiful and lovely Miss Millia anyway. The moment you came in, I forgot.” I quickly took the cloth away from Fred’s face.

“Is that so? Then please be so kind as to wipe down the floor, the walls, the ceiling, and the furniture in this entire room. Be gentle in your movements, and you must not disturb the patient’s rest. What do you say?” The last time a basin of hot water, together with the brass basin itself, was dumped right on top of my head, Millia’s voice had sounded exactly like this.

A chill ran down my spine: Can I object?

“Then, what are you gentlemen here for?” Millia turned to Riley and the others.

“We…” My comrades hesitated, not daring to speak, afraid that this noble and holy lady would drag them into being free laborers.

“We’re here to supervise Jeff’s work.” Riley tugged at Dakla’s sleeve, stepped forward, and said loudly.

“Oh, right, we’re supervising the work.” Dakla seized the opportunity and pointed at me, saying, “Jeff, there’s a stain here. That place isn’t clean either. And over there too. Don’t be lazy, work hard…”

I turned my head and gave them a murderous glare.

“And you two?” Millia gave a slight nod, as if accepting Riley’s explanation.

“We… we’re here to inspect Jeff’s work. We thought he had already finished, but it turns out he… moves so slowly.” Who said Roll was an honest man?

“That’s right. We’ll be going now. Jeff, when you’re done, notify us so we can come inspect.” Rodrick already had one foot out the door.

I felt like I could eat someone whole.

By the time Millia closed the door behind her, Fred finally couldn’t hold it in anymore and burst out laughing, covering his face with the blanket.

“Keep laughing, keep laughing!” I threw away the rag, jumped onto the bed, and started punching and kicking the thick blanket over Fred.

“Stop hitting me, I’m a patient! Ow, someone’s being killed!…” After days of hard fighting, my friend finally showed his completely natural, joyful smile. When he laughed, he was completely different from his usual steady, mountain-like image. He was as pure and adorable as a baby, and as warm as sunshine.

After we had laughed and fooled around enough, a thought suddenly struck me. I said seriously to Fred, “Fred, there’s something I have to remind you.”

“What is it?” Seeing that my attitude had turned solemn, Fred also put away his smile.

“What are you going to do about Captain Carlson? After all, he’s still our commanding officer. You’re the lord of this city now, but we all know we stole this city. When you gave him orders directly on the battlefield, was that…”

My friend fell into deep thought and didn’t speak for a long while. Clearly, before this, he had never thought about this problem. After thinking for a long time, he asked me, “What do you think I should do?”

“Talk to him honestly,” I answered. No matter how this matter was ultimately resolved, hearing Carlson’s thoughts would never be a wrong choice.

“Talk to him? It’s hard to bring up, that kind of thing. But I’ll try. You’re right. This can’t be put off.” Fred fell back onto the bed. “Jeff, I want to know, how do you want this matter resolved?”

“First, I want to know: do you want to be the lord of this city?”

“…I do!” Fred stared at the ceiling with both eyes. “I don’t just want to be the lord of this city. I want to rise to a higher position and become someone even greater. This was Tommy’s wish, and it’s my wish too. Will you help me, Jeff?”

“I will, Fred. You’re the most outstanding person I’ve ever met. You’re the best soldier, the best commander, the best speaker, and even the best liar. We’ll all help you!” I stood up and walked toward the door. “Go talk to Carlson. Get him to acknowledge you too. And then…” I grabbed the door handle and stopped with my back to him. “Become our leader.”

“Bang!” I closed the door behind me, leaving only Fred lost in thought.

…

The next morning, at the dock, we waved goodbye to Kelsey, the good girl who was about to become a pirate. It wasn’t just us soldiers who had once fought side by side with her who were reluctant to part with her, but also the many citizens who had witnessed her heroic bearing as she rode triumphantly back into the city. The bold Elf Ranger did not travel with her. To use Red Flame’s own words:

“A Ranger will never stray far from the land and freedom he defends. Only in the firm embrace of Mother Earth can a Ranger find the true meaning of existence.”

But long before we heard that statement, Kelsey had already secretly told us the real truth: our brave elf friend couldn’t swim.

For us, who had grown accustomed to Red Flame’s unpredictable temperament, this could no longer bring us much surprise. So when he shamelessly said those fine-sounding words, we honestly exposed him. That made him extremely embarrassed.

Even though Red Flame was a cheerful and unrestrained Elf Ranger, when the Golden Rose sailed away from the dock, I could still feel that something about him had drifted away into the distance along with the pink scarf fluttering in the wind.

When the crowd finally dispersed, and Rodrick and the others left the dock in twos and threes to return to their posts, Fred called out to Carlson:

“Sir, may I have a word with you?”

Carlson was puzzled by this sudden invitation, but he still hesitantly accepted.

I knew what he wanted to do and turned to leave. Fred grabbed hold of me:

“You can’t leave, my friend. I need you here.”

“Sir, I want to have this city,” Fred said seriously to Carlson.

“You already have this city,” Carlson said with a yawn, still putting on that sleepy, listless look. But I clearly saw a trace of shock flash through his eyes.

“No, sir. Without your permission, I can never truly have this city. You are my commanding officer.”

“Then what do you want?” Since the words were out in the open, Carlson also put away his lazy demeanor.

“I want you, sir. Although you are still my commanding officer right now, I hope to earn your loyalty.” Hoping to earn the loyalty of one’s commanding officer — anyone who heard such words would find them laughable. But at this moment, on this dock with only three people present, no one could laugh.

“Why do you fight? Honor? Profit? Or perhaps just for fun?” Carlson’s tone turned aggressive. “You have your own city now. What do you want to do in the future?”

“I don’t know, sir. I don’t know.” Fred didn’t yield an inch, staring straight into Carlson’s questioning eyes. “I had a friend before. He told me that if he could ever hold a high position, he would protect more poor people. I don’t know if I can do it that well, but I think if it came to war, I would be willing to do my best to protect. At the very least, I want to try to protect my friends, protect my soldiers. I hope I can fulfill my duty.”

Upon hearing these words, Carlson’s gaze suddenly became distant and gentle. He suddenly lowered his voice and said:

“Your duty, is it… Alright. Before that, I think… I want to tell you all a story about duty.”

“Seven years ago, there was a large-scale bandit suppression operation on the southeastern side of Delanmaya. They were called bandits, but in truth, they were just a group of hardy hunters struggling to survive. They had been forced to take up robbery on the roads to get by. As time passed, they actually made a name for themselves and gathered nearly a thousand people.”

“Count Wagner commanded this suppression operation. After nearly three months of searching, tracking, and small-scale skirmishes, the army found the bandits’ lair. Fewer than five hundred people were holding a strategically important mountain stronghold, facing off against nearly three thousand regular soldiers.”

“Before the battle began, Count Wagner received a letter from the bandit leader. He expressed his willingness to surrender, hoping his men could receive a fair trial and that those followers who had committed no crimes could be allowed to go home.”

“It was a fair surrender. Everything should have ended that way, without bloodshed. But Count Wagner refused, for the sake of his military achievements and glory. His adjutant pleaded with him repeatedly to accept the surrender. It would not have harmed his reputation or his supplies in the slightest. Even before the arrow carrying the letter of refusal was shot out, the adjutant was still praying that that once-in-a-century rationality would appear in him. But in the end, nothing could be reversed.”

“A battle that should never have happened began. Soldiers charged at opponents they sympathized with because of orders, and the mob had to resist the soldiers’ attacks in order to survive. When the battle ended, more than two thousand soldiers and all of the mob died meaningless deaths. Their lives and their blood washed Count Wagner’s family crest even cleaner. Perhaps those mob members really all deserved to die, even so. But no one ever asked about the more than a thousand fallen soldiers and the countless disabled wounded. They could have avoided all of that.” As Carlson spoke, tears streamed down his face.

“You were that adjutant?” Fred asked tentatively.

“Not anymore. I’m just Infantry Squad Leader Carlson now. Ever since that battle, I’m no longer Baron Carstian von Dawson.”

“I’m not a naive person. I know that any war will have deaths, and those who die first are always the soldiers. I also know that when necessary, one should abandon a portion of one’s soldiers to pursue a greater goal. But that doesn’t mean those in high positions have the full right to dispose of their lives as they please. When it’s not necessary, every soldier’s life is precious and cannot be easily sacrificed. So many good young men — brave, kind, loyal, obedient — they died in vain because I wasn’t firm enough in holding to my duty. They died right in front of my eyes. You don’t know what that feels like. It’s like… like piercing your own flesh with your own bones.”

“I don’t care whether the enemy deserves to die or whether the achievements are illustrious. An officer’s duty is not just to lead his soldiers to victory, but also to protect their lives whenever possible. To me, that is a soldier’s duty.”

“You have the most outstanding talent I have ever seen, Fred. You have the ability to pluck every honor in this world. But I failed in my duty. Can you do it?” Carlson looked at Fred with a questioning gaze.

Many of the mysteries surrounding Carlson were suddenly all solved: why a man of forty had drifted in the position of infantry squad leader for seven years; why the first thing he taught us was how to stay alive on the battlefield; why he was “The Back” Carlson; and even why he always maintained a certain mysterious understanding with Fred — probably the kind of noble, wordless understanding that only true nobles possess; and why he was the only one who had chosen a very ugly-looking horse as his mount — a true old soldier’s knowledge and understanding of horses was simply not something that we young new recruits could compare with.

This was a true officer. A good officer who strictly kept to his duty and cherished the lives of his subordinates.

Fred raised the Ink Shadow war blade and cut his own left arm. Lifting the blade, he solemnly swore: “I, Fred Guderian, in the name of blood and weapons, swear to cherish every soldier, never to sacrifice anyone’s life in vain, and never to place honor and profit above the lives of my soldiers. I humbly request Baron Carstian von Dawson and my friend Jeffritz Gid to bear witness for me.” He then asked Carlson once more, “Follow me, Captain. You can help me save the lives of more young soldiers.”

Carlson got what he had hoped for. He knelt on one knee before Fred and pledged his loyalty to my young friend.

When the two men stood face to face once more, Fred raised a hand to stop Carlson’s movement first. He stood the war blade upright against his chest and, for the last time, gave Carlson a solemn military salute as a subordinate to a superior. He said slowly, “This is the last time I will salute you this way. Thank you, Commander.”

Carlson returned the salute with the same gesture, equally solemn. He said in a low voice to Fred, “This is the first time I salute you. Thank you, Commander.”

A cool breeze blew in from the water, tousling my hair and plucking at my feelings as well. The bright morning sunlight sprinkled down gently from overhead, spreading a warm halo over the two men in front of me.

What could be more moving than two soldiers saluting each other in the morning breeze?