Chapter 140: Among them, part 4
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Translator: Denryuu; Editor: Ryunakama
And that’s how I started my second day of service — not as a recruit, but as an instructor. To tell you the truth, I had been looking forward to being treated like a recruit as I rarely had the opportunity to do so, and found it a great shame that it had lasted no more than a day.
When I arrived at the same plain as the previous day, the majority of the city’s troops, save for the sentries, had already assembled. The term ‘city’ may be a bit of a misnomer — it was more a village, and thus had slightly too many troops for a settlement of its scale.
The soldiers started talking among themselves as soon as they noticed my arrival.
「Is that the guy who beat up Daz?」
「From what I’ve heard, he moves too fast for you to notice!」
「Seriously…」
「Huh? That feller literally enlisted as part of my batch yesterday…」
「Really? Just yesterday?」
「That’s just preposterous!」
Their chatter was unbecoming of soldiers, of course, and the person in charge of training the troops promptly hushed them.
「Silence! This is Henri Everton, your ad-hoc platoon commander! He will be whipping y’all into shape from today onwards!」
When did I rank up…?
「Platoon commander…!?」
「On his second day?」
「I can’t believe it…」
「That has to be a world record, I swear…」
I feel you guys, I really do. If only I had been able to experience the recruit life a little more. The person who had hushed the others should be around the rank of a company commander.
「Sensei, if you will…」
The company commander saluted and gave me the stage.
「Sensei…?」, muttered the soldiers, erupting into little bursts of conversation again.
「That’s Henri Everton to you」, I said firmly. 「You can expect the days to come to be the worst days of your entire life. But if you wish to discard your dignity as a man and bail now, I will not stop you. For all who train under me, I want you to pledge your allegiance to the ceaseless quest for excellence — as a soldier, as a man, and as a human being!」
I raised my voice to the appropriate volume for a speech, even though it was out of character for me. I had actually modeled my speech after Elvi (who was good at giving pep talks).
Anyway, my speech incited a change in the troops’ attitude. They clicked their heels in unison and straightened their backs. Instead of the dead-inside gaze I had been expecting, I could see fiery passion in their eyes.
The wonders a good pep-talk can do, I thought. They may not be the lazy loafers here for money that I had chalked them up to be earlier. In fact, those who expressed that they were enlisting just for a stipend had probably been weeded out by the interview.
Training was difficult, as I had promised.
To begin with, I felt that they weren’t ready to train with weapons yet, so I had them run up and down a mountain without any proper paths for a week. Contrary to my expectations, not a single person called it quits. Even Elvi and Almeria, the dynamic duo of the Heroes’ Party, had complained since day one.
Once they had gotten used to the rigorous training schedule, I started teaching them hand-to-hand combat techniques. Their desire to improve and outdo themselves was completely different from the adventurers I typically interacted with at the guild. I repeatedly spurred them on while partaking in the same training activities that I made them do.
And because of that…
「Sensei! Please comment on my form!」
「Sensei! I know it’s a huge request, but could you possibly spar with me –」
「Sensei! How do I confess to the girl I like –」
…I became like a sage to them.
A month after I stepped up to the role of instructor, I received a new assignment that was neither training nor guard duty.
「We have goods to escort」, said the company commander in the meeting room of the barracks (the place in which most of the troops, including myself, stayed) on the outskirts of the village.
There were three people in that meeting room aside from him — two other platoon commanders and myself.
「Most of the goods are rations. We’ll receive them and see that they get to the right place.」
It was similar to the goods escorting quests I often assigned at the guild.
「Rations? Are we short of those?」, I asked.
The company commander shook his head.
「Nay. Not in the least. It’s probably to stock up in case of a famine or something. A lot of the rations are non-perishables like dried meat and dried yams.」
I continued listening to the briefing, and gleaned that transporting rations to a designated depot was a regular task for these soldiers. However, I found it a little strange that the goods weren’t being delivered to our doorstep. It’s common practice for goods to be transported directly to the depot — shouldn’t there be an agreement of sorts, especially if it happens regularly?
「The storage area is a warehouse beside these barracks. If time permits, please go have a look-see.」
True to its name, the briefing was brief, and ended once it was decided that another platoon commander would be in charge of this task. I accepted the company commander’s offer to let me have a look at the warehouse. Although I live here now, I had never been inside it. It should contain nothing more than rations, and we have plenty of those outside anyway.
I greeted the soldier on guard duty outside the warehouse and entered with the company commander’s permission. There was a sizable number of large boxes stacked up inside. On each box was written where the rations had come from. About half of them came from villages renowned for their food products while others were of unremarkable origin.
「If it’s a weapons store, you could just say so, you know?」, I said to myself.
I opened one of the boxes to find an array of swords arranged in neat rows.
「As I expected.」
Another box contained spears, and yet another contained bows complete with their strings. The amount of weapons being stored here dwarfed the already suspiciously large number of troops we had.
And these were being brought in on the regular…
This batch of rations must have weapons mixed inside as well. As would the next batch and the batches to come, presumably.
「Sneaky, aren’t we? Steadily making preparations for the big day…」
I glanced at a corner cast in the boxes’ shadow.
「Oi.」
What, you think I wouldn’t notice? I guess he hadn’t expected someone like me to strut into the warehouse unannounced.
「I know you’re there. Come out.」
A man appeared from behind a stack of boxes.
「As expected of Sensei…」
「You enlisted on the same day as I did, didn’t you? Care to explain what you’re doing here?」
Knowing that there was no point in bluffing, he replied reluctantly.
「I was just doing a stocktake.」
「And who asked you to do that?」
「Indulge my curiosity first, if you will. What brings you to this village, Sensei?」
「I have no reason to answer that.」
Hold on. Is it possible that another person had infiltrated the ranks to gather information like me…?
「There’s a person who fears that a storm is about to hit our kingdom… that’s who asked me to come here.」
「And that person is… King Randolph?」
「…」
Bulls-eye. The king has a sharp eye when it comes to things like this.
「Good」, I continued. 「That makes things easier for us. Just tell him that I said not to make any rash decisions.」
「Who on earth are you…?」
「If you refer to me as ‘he who seeks a normal life’, he’ll probably get it.」
The spy inquired no more after that. He must have been well-trained — the less extra information you know, the better. Even when captured, you can’t spill information you don’t have.
With a curt nod, he activated some sort of skill and disappeared into the wall.
「I see that King Randolph has gotten wind of the suspicious movement of goods」, I said to nobody in particular, looking up at the towering stacks of boxes containing both rations and weapons.
Let’s start by emptying this warehouse, then.
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