Future Knight [EN]: Chapter 76

23. Scary New Recruits

The 300,000-strong army that had departed from the Eastern Kingdom to subjugate the Green Elves was hurrying to set up camp as evening approached.

As it was a massive allied force, the vast plains where they were stationed were filled with soldiers in various uniforms, resembling a swarm of ants when viewed from afar.

Giant cauldrons for cooking dinner began to bubble and boil everywhere.

The darkened night sky was filled with smoke from the bonfires used to cook for the 300,000 troops.

Exhausted from marching all day, the soldiers removed their heavy armor and lay down in the grass to cool off.

They stood in long lines to receive their dinner rations.

Their appearance was somewhat peaceful, hardly befitting soldiers on their way to war.

As they were having their late dinner, a trumpet sounded from somewhere.

Boo-oooo-oooo-oooo!

Boo-oooo-oooo-oooo-ooo!

“What’s that sound?”

“It’s not our kingdom’s trumpet, so don’t worry about it and just eat your food.”

The soldiers seemed to lack a sense of urgency, as they still had about two weeks to go before reaching the battlefield.

However, they were completely unaware.

That the war had already begun.

The ground began to shake, causing the soldiers to tremble with anxiety.

“W-what’s going on?”

The soldiers who were eating quickly grabbed their discarded armor and weapons. But the monsters that had already emerged from the earth did not even allow them time to escape.

“Kuaaaaaaah!”

The Black Centipedes, which had been lying in ambush underground, surged above ground one after another, and screams erupted from the soldiers everywhere.

“Kuaaaak! Save me!”

“Aaaagh!”

The peaceful allied camp instantly turned into a scene of chaos.

The veteran commander of the allied forces, Daist, rushed out of the headquarters tent in the middle of his meal.

“What in the world is happening? Huh! What, what are those?”

He couldn’t believe the sight before his eyes.

Giant centipedes, which he had never seen or heard of, were slaughtering the soldiers while emitting strange cries.

There were nearly 50 of them, by rough estimate.

Every time a giant centipede swept over the densely packed infantry, dozens to hundreds of soldiers died in a gruesome manner.

“Everyone, stay calm! Immediately deploy the Gigantes!”

“Allied Gigantes, emergency deployment!”

As Daist issued the emergency deployment order for the Gigantes, the latest Teruvian Oberon-type Gigantes [giant war machines], numbering about 50, were the first to tear through space and charge towards the monsters.

Following them, the Gigantes possessed by each allied nation began to appear on the battlefield one after another.

Maris’ Pluto, Baronsia’s Glaucus, and the Silverline Republic’s Marconi also joined Oberon and charged towards the monsters.

However, by the time 100 giant Gigantes had arrived, tens of thousands of casualties had already occurred.

The monsters did not engage in a final battle with the Gigantes and quickly disappeared underground.

“No! Those, those things!”

Daist’s eyes widened at the monsters’ tactical movements.

They were clearly monsters being directed systematically by someone.

“To control such terrifying monsters at will…”

He had heard through communications that the Green Elves and Dark Elves had joined forces. But he had no idea about the nightmare that would begin that night.

The comfortable night’s rest they had enjoyed before was gone after that day.

The allied forces encamped had to go into emergency battle readiness at the slightest tremor in the ground, even in the middle of the night.

It became a common occurrence for comrades who went out to relieve themselves at night to never return, and soldiers had to endure the discomfort of relieving themselves in front of their comrades.

It was not uncommon for soldiers to die suddenly at the hands of Dark Elf assassins while sleeping, and hundreds of soldiers who received water rations died en masse from poisoning. The Dark Elves’ terror continued relentlessly.

The situation was no better during the day.

Soldiers, exhausted from marching, frequently stepped on countless poisoned needles and died foaming at the mouth.

Green Elves hiding in the forest would shower them with poisoned arrows and run away.

The 300,000-strong army that had departed from the Eastern Kingdom was gradually withering away due to the Green Elves’ and Dark Elves’ relentless guerrilla warfare, day and night.

* * *

Kang Chan, who had joined the Kalina Merchant Company, arrived in the Helion Kingdom after only half a month and stared at the miserable devastation of the war.

Corpses were scattered everywhere.

“I’ve returned to the battlefield…”

The horrific devastation of the war was, rather, a familiar sight to him.

Even though the locations and backgrounds of the battles were different, the essence of the battlefield remained the same.

A place where life and death intersect.

A place where you can feel life and death on your skin. That is the battlefield.

Mew Kalina approached Kang Chan, who was silently gazing at the battlefield, and spoke to him.

“Kang Chan-nim, this is the Helion Kingdom from here.”

“It seems so.”

“Where will you go now?”

“As I said, I will go to the battlefield.”

“I have connections with high-ranking officials in this command headquarters. Shall I connect you with them?”

For her, who supplied weapons to the military, that was a very easy task.

She thought to herself that if he were to be assigned to the command headquarters, he would receive super-special treatment and grow into an enormous figure of power.

For him, a Sword Master who was among the fewer than 10 on the entire continent, that level of treatment was only natural.

However, Kang Chan flatly refused her offer.

“It’s alright.”

“Yes?”

“I didn’t come here hoping for such a good position.”

“B-but your skills…”

As Mew Kalina tried to persuade him, Kang Chan cut her off mercilessly.

“I didn’t come here for honor or power.”

“Then…?”

“What I want is only one thing…”

A suffocating silence suddenly filled the carriage.

Suddenly, an immense killing intent erupted from Kang Chan’s body.

Zekeon and Elika knew very well what Kang Chan wanted, so they pretended not to notice and looked away.

“Revenge.”

“…”

Mew Kalina felt goosebumps all over her body at Kang Chan’s murderous words.

She could instinctively tell.

That what he wanted was not a prestigious commander’s position.

That what he wanted was their blood, which would soak their skin and throats as it was delivered by his sword.

She was curious as to what had turned him into such a bloodthirsty wolf, but she couldn’t bring herself to ask and had no choice but to close her mouth.

The carriage quietly arrived at its destination, and the time for farewell inevitably came.

“Will we ever meet again?”

Even at Mew Kalina’s earnest question, Kang Chan shook his head and turned away.

“We probably won’t meet again. Goodbye.”

Mew Kalina couldn’t help but shed tears at his cold departure.

However, for him, she was just a passing acquaintance, so she couldn’t even resent him.

She could only earnestly hope to meet him again in the future.

“Hey! What are you going to do now?”

“I’m going to volunteer.”

“Volunteer?”

Zekeon was appalled at Kang Chan’s words that he would volunteer as a foot soldier, forsaking the easy path directly to the military headquarters.

“You’re going to volunteer as a foot soldier?”

“Yes.”

“Hey, why would you want to be a foot soldier when you could take the easy way out? With your skills, you might not be able to become a commander, but you could at least lead a knight order, right?”

“If I take such a position, I won’t be able to kill them as much as I want.”

Due to the nature of the military, the higher one’s position, the more likely they are to be involved only in tactical operations or to stand back and watch the battle between foot soldiers.

What Kang Chan chose was to be a foot soldier who had to fight entangled with the enemy on the front lines.

That way, he could cut down even one more Green Elf with his own hands.

“Why are you so stubborn? Are you only going to fight small fry? Don’t you know that you can fight stronger enemies if you join a strong knight order?”

Of course, it wasn’t that Kang Chan didn’t know that. But he needed the blood of the Green Elves to quench his thirst right now.

And he had also thought about it a little.

“I have a plan.”

“No, I’m against it!”

Zekeon flatly refused.

For an Ancient Dragon like himself to be incorporated into a human infantry unit was unacceptable.

With his status, he should at least be on equal footing with the king, or at the very least lead a knight order to save face.

“Hey, you kids! Say something! Do you want to be grunts too?”

“I’m fine with anything as long as it’s with Kang Chan-nim.”

“Me too, of course.”

“Eek! You idiots!”

As Zekeon threatened Elika and Loki with terrifying killing intent, Kang Chan placed his hand on Zekeon’s shoulder and said.

“I won’t force you, Zekeon. You can go back if you don’t like it. I don’t want to burden you, my friend.”

Zekeon frowned at Kang Chan, who strangely emphasized the word ‘friend’.

In the end, Zekeon, realizing that he couldn’t overcome Kang Chan’s stubbornness, had no choice but to surrender.

“Alright! I got it! I’ll do it, I’ll do it!”

It was the moment when the first dragon infantryman was born.

“Thank you, you’re truly my friend.”

As Kang Chan subtly put his arm around Zekeon’s shoulder, Zekeon pushed Kang Chan away.

“Get lost! Don’t touch my body!”

“Why are you acting like that when you like it?”

“Don’t talk nonsense, and watch your back on the battlefield.”

As Zekeon smiled wickedly and tapped Kang Chan’s head, Kang Chan smiled brightly for the first time in a while and put Zekeon in a headlock.

“What? Why don’t you try it!”

Elika and Loki grabbed their stomachs and laughed at the sight of Kang Chan and Zekeon playing around, and with that feeling, they headed to the barracks where they were recruiting infantry.

It was good that they volunteered happily, but Kang Chan and his group’s eyes soon turned cold.

It was because of the interviewer’s attitude.

“Three of you have unknown origins, one is an elf, and you all want to be in the same unit?”

“That’s right.”

“I’m sorry, but unless you are nobles or commoners with confirmed nationality or status, it is impossible to enlist as regular infantry. However…”

“However?”

“It is possible to enlist as conscripts…”

“Conscripts?”

Conscripts were the lowest-ranking infantry, forcibly gathered from serfs [peasants bound to the land].

“What? Conscripts?”

Zekeon’s scream echoed through the barracks.

He was already furious about becoming a regular infantryman with his dragon’s face, but now he was being told to be a conscript.

Zekeon was on the verge of collapsing, foaming at the mouth.

This was because conscripts were the lowest class in the military, with nowhere else to go.

Zekeon, who was furious at the interviewer’s words that he should become a conscript who was no different from a slave, was about to rush to Kang Chan to protest, but the interviewer spoke first.

“Also, it is impossible for all of you to be assigned to the same unit.”

“What?”

Zekeon’s face contorted even more at the words that they couldn’t be together.

“Why?”

“Because women are excluded from the infantry combat organization. Only men can apply as combat soldiers. Women must apply for the medical corps, cooks, or supply management.”