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Volume 3 Chapter 13-4: Where Did I Go Wrong?

 

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Three days have passed since then.

Those bastards haven’t ceased their attacks. Our food supply has finally run out. We’ve reached our limit even after rationing.

Almost all the injured soldiers have killed themselves. The rebellious soldiers were also killed. There were also quite a few who tried to escape with food. Some managed to escape and others were caught and killed.

After our numbers went down the food situation improved a bit, but the soldiers are already worn-out. Every day they were afraid, couldn’t sleep, and their friends died. They had to carry the goods from the carts so their burden was extreme.

Their hearts and bodies were breaking…many deserted.

We’d run through practically all our fuel…the night was dark once more and the Elves went wild with their attacks. Even then, they refused to deal killing blows to the soldiers.

The big nobles were the first to breakdown and fall. Thank goodness. Now I could pretend the Elves had killed them. It saved me the effort of killing them myself.

We still hadn’t killed a single elf, but our numbers had dwindled by 2,000.

「No response…from the supply base or messengers?」
「How many times will you ask? Neither have been seen.」

We’d sent messages many times…but neither supplies or the messengers had returned.

Well, the soldiers were in the worst condition especially since they no longer had horses. It was suspect if they could even reach the Empire even if there was no sabotage.

Right now we were aiming for the village 20km away from the Supply Base. We would secure supplies there.

It was a village of 100 people with no emergency supplies, they lived off of what they grew. Even if we’d lost soldiers, we still had 3,000 troops. There was no possibility of obtaining enough food.

However, if we couldn’t resupply there, then all that awaited was death. We had already starved for a day.

「Again one of ours was shot?」

I heard the screams of a soldier. The soldiers behind the injured one simply had blank faces as they trampled over the screaming soldier and continued forwards. We no longer had any leeway to save anyone.

We didn’t have the stamina to chase away the elves either. We could only allow them to fire on us as they pleased.

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We finally reached the village.

We hadn’t eaten in two days and we’d run out of water the day before. We were in complete shambles.

「Well well, if it isn’t the Empire’s Soldiers? What brings you here today?」

I sent my adjutant inside the village and he came out with the Village Chief. The elderly man shook as he greeted us. The rest of the soldiers surrounded the village like starving wolves.

「We have left the Empire on an expedition. You have the duty to supply food.」

I no longer had the mindset to bandy about words. I directly stated my desires.

「We ourselves would truly love to offer you food, but even this winter we had people starving. Now that it has passed we have nothing left! Please have mercy!!」

He cried out and knelt on the ground begging for forgiveness.

What a pathetic bastard…even knowing that we risk our lives for the Empire and for this little village he refuses to cooperate.

If they had any sense then they would bring out their food with a smile.

「In short…you’re saying you won’t aid with the Empire’s battle?」
「No I want to! Please! But…we can’t give what we don’t have!!!」
「I see. If you don’t have any food it can’t be helped. If you don’t have any.」

The Chief let out a sigh of relief.

I smiled and slowly walked forward until I reached the village storehouse. Then I suddenly swung my sword and destroyed the door. I ran inside and grabbed a jute bag I found.

「LIAR! You have food right here!」
「That’s the grain for replanting our crops this year! We can’t eat that! That’s the entire future of this village! Even if we cry and starve we can’t use that precious…!」

I beat the screaming Chief to the ground.

「This lying traitor! Liar! Liar!! LIAR!!!」
「AHHH, forgive me! FORGI—」

I hit him over…and over.

He stopped moving, but I continued to hit him.

The soldiers surrounding the village became infected by my maddened cries and started chanting.

「「「LIAR! LIAR! LIAR」」」

The entire village was drowned in our voices.

「Soldiers! This village deceived Imperial Forces and rebelled! Seize all their goods for the Empire! This is a Crusade!」
「「「「UUUOOOOOOOOOOOO!」」」」

As I cried out the soldiers flooded into the village. They swarmed the warehouses and the huts. Stealing food, killing men, and raping women.

We had kept losing and losing. Our rage and hate was smoldering and finally exploded onto the weak. No matter what it was, we needed to release our desires.

This shitty little 100 person village probably only had two days of food.

We would regather our strength today. As long as we had a day’s worth of food we could reach the supply base. Once there we could recover using the supplies.

That’s right…we can kill those cowardly elves!!

「That’s right…win…win..win. We can kill those elves. As long as we reach the base…as long as we reach it.」

That was the hope that supported us. Just a bit further. A little more and we would reach it.

Once we did, the elves would be nothing to fear.

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That day was amazing. We slept together in a huddle, but finally we could sleep under a solid roof. There weren’t enough women, but we passed them around.

As long as it was a woman it didn’t matter if they were old or young.

There were also some well supplied hearths. Finally we could spend a peaceful night with a good fire.

There was also some alcohol. There wasn’t enough for everyone so we distributed it according to rank. I got to have my fill.

This pathetic village didn’t have much, but at least we secured two days of food so we could reach the base.

The elves also stayed quiet and we got a good night’s rest.

「What a beautiful morning.」

But…for some reason I had a foul premonition.

Yes…it was similar to the day all our horses died.

I stepped outside just like that day.

I saw the soldiers rolling around on the ground, squatting, and discharging diarrhea.

「It can’t be!? Poison again??」

Impossible. We hadn’t eaten anything except food from the village. Weren’t they living fine?

Plus, I was alright. What was different between me and them?

「Oi are you okay!?」

I called out to one of the soldiers rolling on the ground.

「It hurts…my stomach…hurts.」

He groaned in cold sweat as he clutched his stomach and moaned.

Other soldiers gathered around. The only safe ones were the higher ranked officers. The only difference between what the officers and the common soldiers had to eat was…

「The water!」

I hurried to the well. Then I peeked inside.

I saw something floating in there. We pulled it up a bit and saw it was a corpse. Most likely someone had thrown it in after our Crusade yesterday.

「Pull it up. Those who are okay help out!」

We worked together and pulled it up.

Then……

「Oeeeeeeeee」

I threw up.

It was the corpse of an Imperial Soldier. It was rotting with festering skin and boils.

This was something that could have rotted in one or two days. No…it didn’t look like it rotted naturally either.

Someone had collected the corpse, planted some kind of disease and let it ferment for a few days. A true mass of ill-will.

If such a thing is sunk in a well, pathogens will continue to increase endlessly.

A chill ran down my spine. This wasn’t something that could have been prepared in a day or two. In that case…they must have predicted we would attack the village and spend the night. It can’t be. This is like they were actually a demon…

The calculations, the cruelty, and the merciless attacks driving us into a corner.

「The safe members! How many are there!?」

I desperately checked.

Half of the people who drank from the well were in serious condition. Rather, I had to be thankful that it was only half. If I let them be, they would die.

But what do I do? Carry them? Impossible. If I did then we wouldn’t reach base within a day. Furthermore, there was a chance of transmitting the disease as well.

I don’t want to kill them. They were true soldiers with spirit and will that had endured all the way here. I couldn’t abandon them.

「….leave a day’s worth of food for them. We’ll send the medical team from the base so persevere.」

It was there that I compromised.

We had to reach the supply base as fast as possible.

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The final 1,500 desperately moved forward.

Our stamina had been recovered somewhat and we had enough food for the day.

We only had a third of our original number left. But as long as I had these true Imperial Soldiers we could still win. As long as we reached the supply base.

The base was our hope. Just a bit further. A bit closer.

We could save those we left behind.

We hadn’t seen the Elves once today.

They may have given up.

We endured with iron will!

We overcame those demons!

「Oi everyone you see it!? The supply base. There’s food and beds!」

As the sun began to set we finally lay eyes upon the supply base. It had been so long…but finally we reached it.

「OUUUUU!」
「Finally…finally.」
「Take that you f***ing Elves!」

The soldiers hugged each other as they cried.

It had been so painful to reach this point.

「Everyone full speed to the base!」

Rank and file…they didn’t matter. We set off running for our paradise.

We were the best!

Just 100 meters…after just a hundred meters we saw a giant pillar of fire erupt.

A huge pillar of fire stretched into the heavens.

The soldiers looked on in confusion but I realized what had happened…I could see that the fire was coming from where the food supplies was meant to be stored.

「Ahhhh….」

I collapsed to my knees as tears fell down my face and a broken voice leaked from my hanging lips.

「AaaaaaaaaaaAAAAHAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH」

It was burning. Our hope was burning. Finally the flames disappeared. And everything was ash.

Finally I asked myself the question I had asked many times before.

Where did I go wrong?

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