I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 111

“Jupiter.”

Reina, who had approached, calmly spoke.

“Calm down for now.”

“How can I calm down right now?! Why didn’t headquarters properly verify if this was a military base before issuing such an order!”

“The Camilla Kingdom’s guerrillas are vicious. They hide in every village.”

Reina shook her head slightly.

“And we don’t have time to distinguish between guerrillas and innocent villagers.”

“What?”

“It’s already been half a year since the war with the Camilla Kingdom started. Winter is coming soon. Headquarters is already feeling the burden of maintaining the front lines… We need to end this quickly, don’t we?”

“So…?”

Jupiter muttered, dazed.

“So, if they’re suspected of being guerrillas, without even checking, they just indiscriminately… burn everything down?”

Reina nodded.

“Because it’s efficient.”

“Efficient?! Is this efficient?! Yes, it’s efficient! It’s incredibly efficient at massacring civilians!”

“Jupiter…”

Reina sighed deeply.

“Do you know how many countries our magic corps has erased from the map so far?”

“…”

“How many civilians do you think have been swept away and killed in that process?”

“Th, that’s… only in unavoidable cases…”

“Out of all the enemy military bases you’ve burned down in the past 20 years, how many do you think were ‘real military bases’?”

Jupiter’s whole body stiffened.

Only now did she realize the truth of what she had been doing her entire life.

Reina, annoyed, swept her hair back and rebuked her.

“Why are you making a fuss ‘now’ after doing so well all this time, seriously! Don’t make people tired!”

“Ugh.”

Jupiter covered her mouth with her hand, then,

“Uwaaaah!”

She vomited.

Tears and snot mixed with stomach acid poured out in a mess.

‘Why.’

Why hadn’t she even thought to doubt it all this time?

She had just bombarded with magic as ordered. She fried and burned people, then received her pay.

She felt pride in her work. She was proud every time the medals on her chest increased.

She felt joy in being able to contribute to the glorious advance of the Empire.

It was all bullshit.

“You said it earlier. This is what war is like these days. Our job is to pour magic from afar without getting a single scratch on the field. It’s intellectual and gentle.”

Reina muttered bitterly.

“But this is the reality when you look at it up close.”

“…”

“All this time, you’ve just… been looking away from it.”

It was then.

Uwaaah-

The sound of a child crying was heard from afar.

“?!”

Jupiter, startled, quickly raised her head and rushed towards the sound.

In the corner of the village, there was a small shrine. The crying was coming from there.

The entrance of the shrine was burned and collapsed.

And under a burning wooden beam, a young girl was trapped.

“Wait a moment! I’ll get you out!”

Jupiter struggled to lift the burning wooden beam. And she pulled the child out.

The child’s left face and left half of her body were severely burned, and her pulse was fading.

Jupiter looked at the face of the child, who had already lost consciousness, and carefully hugged her in her arms.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, it’s all my fault. I’m sorry…”

At that moment, a voice was heard from inside the shrine.

“A, are you the rescue team?”

Jupiter, surprised, looked inside and saw survivors inside the shrine.

An old priest and children covered in blood were looking at Jupiter with terrified eyes.

“Suddenly, a divine punishment fell from the sky, and we thought we were all going to die…”

“…”

“You came to save us. Thank you, thank you!”

The old priest tried to lead the children out of the shrine. Jupiter quickly raised her hand.

“No! Don’t come out!”

“Yes?”

“Don’t come out! Hide inside, please!”

But, it was too late.

The soldiers who had followed Jupiter found the survivors.

“Survivors! There are survivors here!”

Reina, who had followed a step late, clicked her tongue.

“To survive even after receiving that much magic bombardment, they’re damn lucky.”

Then, Reina tilted her head.

“No, is it bad?”

“Reina, please…!”

Jupiter tried to ask something, but Reina ignored her and ordered the soldiers.

“Drag them all out.”

“Yes sir! Drag them out!”

The soldiers who rushed in grabbed the priest and children and threw them out of the shrine.

The priest and children screamed and knelt in the open space in front of the shrine.

Reina took out a new pack of cigarettes from her pocket, tore open the packaging, put a cigarette in her mouth, and slowly lit a match.

“Hoo…”

Reina, exhaling a long puff of smoke, looked around the entire village.

“Is the search over? Are these all the survivors?”

“Yes, sir. There are no other survivors in the village.”

“Are you sure you searched thoroughly?”

“We are checking if there are basements in the buildings, but this is a village on a rocky mountain. There won’t be any other escape routes.”

“Okay. That’s enough.”

Reina approached the priest. The old priest was trembling, hugging the children and clasping his hands together.

“Are you a priest?”

“Y, yes, I am. Please have mercy. The children are innocent. Please, save at least the children.”

“Depending on how you answer, you might live or die. Answer well.”

Reina, taking another drag of her cigarette, asked.

“Where are the Camilla Kingdom’s troops that you hid in this village?”

“There are no soldiers in this village… All the young people were conscripted long ago, and none of them have returned. It’s true. Please believe me.”

“Really?”

“I swear to God, it’s the truth.”

“I see.”

Thwack-!

The next moment, a wind bullet fired from Reina’s fingertip pierced the center of the priest’s chest.

“Sorry. Our country’s god is different from your country’s god. I can’t believe you even if you swear.”

The priest, who died instantly, collapsed to the ground, and the children screamed.

Reina silently turned her fingertips towards the children.

“Do I have to do this kind of thing…”

In an instant, magic gathered at her fingertips and was fired.

And Jupiter intervened in the path of the flying magic, quickly gathering magic to deploy a barrier.

Thwack-!

“Kuh!”

Blood spurted from Jupiter’s left eye, where the wind bullet had grazed. Jupiter gritted her teeth and endured the pain.

Reina, chewing on her cigarette, muttered.

“Damn it, seriously.”

“Please, Reina.”

Jupiter, her left face covered in blood, growled.

“Burning down the village is one thing, saying there might be guerrillas. But… these kids are really just civilians.”

“…”

“Why are you trying to kill them! Have you gone crazy from killing so many people?”

“Jupiter.”

Reina, holding the cigarette in her hand, pressed her forehead as if she had a headache.

“Who is the commander of this war?”

“What? That’s…”

Jupiter answered hesitantly.

“His Majesty.”

“Right. His Majesty has come to the front lines. And His Majesty is?”

“…Perfect.”

“You know it well. His Majesty doesn’t make any mistakes.”

Reina let out a long sigh.

“The headquarters judged that this village was an enemy military base.”

“…”

“But, what? It turns out it was an innocent village, and the headquarters’ judgment was wrong. Are you going to report that we mistook civilians for the enemy and massacred them?”

Only then did Jupiter understand why Reina was trying to kill even the survivors.

“Are you going to say that His Majesty made a mistake, that you’re going to leave a stain on His Majesty’s command!”

“Ah…”

“If not, wouldn’t it be right to burn all the enemy forces here?”

“…”

“So please, stop making things difficult for everyone and get out of the way. It’s not like I’m doing this because I like it.”

Magic of wind gathered again at Reina’s fingertips.

Jupiter, looking at that, slowly lowered her head.

Still, in her arms, the burned girl was held, breathing faintly.

“…Kuh.”

Jupiter’s teeth were clenched. She let out a suppressed voice.

“…I will leave it.”

“What?”

“I will leave a stain on His Majesty’s command.”

“…”

“I will formally defy the higher-ups. I will report that the headquarters’ judgment was wrong, and that what we burned was a village full of civilians.”

A fierce blue venom flickered in Jupiter’s eyes.

“I will testify that His Majesty’s command was wrong.”

Reina, who had been stunned by the absurdity, laughed in a daze.

“You crazy bitch.”

“Why, are you going to kill me too?”

Jupiter glanced at the soldiers and knights surrounding her.

“Then you’ll have to kill all the magic corps soldiers and the heavy knights who witnessed this.”

“…”

“You can’t do that, can you?”

Above all.

The two were, the best of friends.

Jupiter believed that Reina would not shoot her. And that was true.

“…”

Reina slowly lowered her finger.

Her face had already hardened like ice.

“Do as you please, Jupiter. Defy orders, throw shit at His Majesty, save those enemy kids you failed to fry. Do whatever you want.”

Reina turned around, her uniform coat fluttering.

“But, you’ll have to take off that uniform soon. You’ll have to throw away everything you’ve built up your whole life.”

“…”

“It won’t change anything even if you try to act clean and hypocritical now. You stupid friend.”

Reina, looking back at Jupiter one last time, then turned her gaze forward again and walked away.

“It was shitty being with you, let’s never see each other again.”

Step. Step.

Jupiter stared blankly at the sight of her comrade, with whom she had shared 20 years of ups and downs, walking away.

Turning around while holding the child in her arms, she saw the surviving children covered in blood and soot.

These were the new lives she had to take responsibility for from now on.

***

Jupiter formally defied the headquarters.

This was the first official civilian massacre recorded in the Everblack Empire’s military records.

And this incident remained the only mistake made by the Imperial Army headquarters in the Camilla Kingdom occupation operation.

It became a clear stain on the operation personally commanded by the Emperor.

After this, the Imperial Magic Corps was not deployed in guerrilla clearing operations.

When the Magic Corps’ bombardment stopped, the operation was delayed much longer than the headquarters’ expected war end date.

It took several more years to completely eliminate the Camilla Kingdom’s guerrilla forces, even after occupying the kingdom.

And it didn’t take long for Jupiter to be kicked out of the Magic Corps and demoted to a local position.

***

One month after the operation.

The place where Jupiter was newly assigned was a small coastal village guard in the eastern front.

Strictly speaking, there was no eastern front in the Empire.

There was only the sea to the east, and there were no other countries across the strait.

The guard consisted of less than five subordinates.

It was a clear demotion. Her rank was also lowered.

But it didn’t matter.

She spent all the pay she had saved up her whole life to build a house at the entrance of the village overlooking the sea.

Carpenters flocked and began construction busily.

Looking at the house with the pillars going up, Jupiter turned around.

“We’re… going to live together here.”

“…”

The children, who had been burned all over their bodies and had their arms and legs burned away, looked up at Jupiter with empty eyes.

At the very front of the children stood the girl with burns on her left half of her body.

The girl was staring at Jupiter with clear eyes.

Guilt and the desire to run away mixed violently, messing up Jupiter’s insides.

But Jupiter, who had struggled to overcome it, squatted down in front of the children and met their eyes.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t properly introduced myself. My name is Jupiter.”

With a face wearing a cheap eye patch, having lost her left eye, Jupiter smiled.

“You can call me grandma from now on.”