Second Life as a Soldier

The next fifteen days passed in a whirlwind of activity.

Now, I could finally form an artificial mana core, qualifying me as a Tier-3 rune master, though I had yet to receive official certification. With Velkar Town lacking a rune master with enough authority to grant the promotion, it was going to take some time.

My ability to form cores was not the only thing that contributed to my unofficial promotion. My help in repairing the Aegis Array and Earth-Stability Array core rooms had also contributed a great deal. Both Tier-3 rune masters and even Lady Flavia herself had given letters vouching for my abilities.

The benefits of helping with the core rooms did not end there.

One of the most unexpected and welcome benefits was the number of impromptu lessons I received on fortification from Senior Lieutenant Scaevola. Captain Tellus had put him in charge of the town’s fortifications, and Senior Lieutenant Scaevola visited the core rooms almost daily.

Because of his injuries, he would often rest in the core rooms, and after seeing us work on the cores, he would start explaining how fortifications in towns like this were planned, what role arrays played in them, which arrays should be used depending on the terrain, and how defensive equipment was integrated. Once, he even shared how the kingdom itself was fortified by arranging forts, towns, and cities in a certain pattern.

While his lectures were mostly for Lady Flavia, he did not stop me from listening or even asking questions.

These conversations also made me realize that, because of their increased lifespans, most Tier-4s were reservoirs of knowledge and real-life experience. The amount of knowledge the lieutenant had in his auxiliary department alone was absurd. I could only imagine the depth of his knowledge when it came to his elemental affinity, the thing he had spent most of his life working on.

While the core rooms had been repaired and we had created new cores, the arrays themselves were still not completely restored. The outer regions of the arrays remained damaged, including the nodes present at the watchtowers.

But that task had not been assigned to my squad. Another squad had begun repairing the towers at almost the same time that we started working on the cores.

Earlier today, we completed the work on the core room, and within a day or two, I was supposed to meet with the Captain to receive my next assignment—which, honestly, was a little unusual. Technically, any lieutenant stationed here could decide where I went next, but for some reason, Senior Lieutenant Scaevola had informed me that the Captain himself would make the decision.

I sighed. Instead of thinking about all that, I should focus on training my squad for the coming battles.

So after having starch noodles for dinner, I made my way back to my squad’s camp, where I found Peter and Eleanor in the middle of a heated discussion.

“No, you can talk to him. You are the eldest son of House Roscoe. I am sure he will listen to you,” Eleanor shouted at Peter.

Peter accepted her words calmly and said in the tone of an older brother, “Yes, Eleanor, but I am also just a private. If the Captain granted every private with noble backing a private audience, he would spend his whole day meeting random privates.”

“You do not have the backing of just any noble. You are the son of House Roscoe. If he cannot even listen to you, I am pulling all Roscoe support away. I was already planning to rally my coworkers in the administrative department to stop cooperating with Captain Tellus. I might as well do it now. Let me see if he still refuses to listen to you,” Eleanor continued in the same tone, seemingly unaffected by Peter’s words.

Peter put a hand on Eleanor’s shoulder to calm her down. “Don’t make any rash decisions. Have you talked to Father or Edmund?”

“You know as well as I do that Edmund does not understand how bad this type of situation could become, and Father spends most of his time meditating. He is still not in shape to walk properly. I do not want to force him into doing something that is Captain Tellus’s responsibility.”

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I cleared my throat, making my presence known. “I am sorry. I accidentally overheard your conversation. I will be meeting Captain Tellus by tomorrow. Is this something I can talk to him about?”

“No.”

“Yes.”

Peter and Eleanor spoke at the same time. At Peter’s denial, Eleanor glared at him, while Peter sighed and said, “Don’t involve the Sergeant. I will try to talk to the Captain.”

Before Eleanor could say anything, I jumped in. “It doesn’t matter. If this is something you can share and you both think it is important, then we can both go talk to the Captain.”

While Peter hesitated, Eleanor answered, “Well, I was going to come to you anyway if Peter had not helped me.” She huffed at Peter, then turned to me, but this time, she was completely serious. I had seen this look on her only when we were dealing with the injured townspeople. “You know that the current lieutenant overseeing the defense of the commoner district is creating a hostile situation for the commoners and the people from the slums.”

“How?” I frowned. What Eleanor was telling me, if true, could cause a huge issue. In times like these, the morale of the citizens can directly affect the morale of the soldiers and weaken the army before the battle even starts.

“Several things have affected morale. The first was the forced conscription of healthy men over the age of 16, just a day after we held a mass burial for the people we lost in the flood.

“That was something a lot of people understood. This wind dome is a good reminder of how close the enemy is, and if the enemy breaches the town, many lives will be lost. But then we learned that people from merchant houses were not being conscripted. There are poor families in which all the surviving males are forced to fight, while none of the males from rich families are.”

I clicked my tongue at that. I could understand the reason why. A lot of these merchant houses provided the resources required for war preparation, but in the current situation, angering most of the population over resources that the army could requisition using emergency powers was foolish.

“The next thing they did was stop providing rations to entire households when some people refused to join, rather than withholding them only from those who refused. And it was not just that. When some kind-hearted families tried to hide young boys, the army withheld those families’ rations as well.”

My eyes widened as I listened to this. Without even knowing the name of the lieutenant, I could guess it was someone from a noble house who had no idea how bad things could get if this angry mass started seeing the Royal Army as an enemy instead of a protector.

And worst of all, backing them into a corner could turn things violent very quickly.

“And these are just some of the major things that have happened in the past 15 days. I could sit here and list a hundred minor points of friction that have arisen, from dissatisfaction among the town guards, who think the Royal Army is taking over their jobs, to conscripts feeling that they are being treated unfairly.

“You should come and look at the commoner district. You will see what the conditions are like there.”

I looked at Peter, not sure why he was fighting Eleanor. Her issue was genuine, and the Captain did need to know about this.

Peter shook his head. “She is not wrong, but the problem is that the lieutenant is following military rules and obeying orders. The way he is carrying them out might not be correct, but a private or a sergeant questioning him or complaining to the Captain would be a serious breach of the chain of command.”

I just waved off his concerns. “If others are using their noble status, why shouldn’t we, especially when we are doing something we believe is right? And if there really are any consequences, I hardly believe they would be worse than death at the hands of Frosthallow soldiers.” Then, turning to Eleanor, I said, “Let’s go. I want to look at the commoner district. I want to see the situation with my own eyes before I report it to the Captain.”

Peter, Eleanor, and I walked to the commoner district. From the outer edge alone, the district felt different. These streets were always busy. Even at night, you would hear noise from busy taverns, but now it felt too quiet. Moreover, even though a huge number of people were living in tents after their houses had been destroyed, I could not see anyone walking on the road.

I could sense that almost everyone was inside their houses or tents. As we walked, I sensed two soldiers standing near a garden. Judging by their mana, they seemed to be Tier-2 veterans. They were on high alert, constantly checking their surroundings, with their attention focused on the area where the slums began.

Closer to the slums, four more guards were standing.

“Eleanor, do you know why these guards are standing here?” I asked.

She snorted. “The lieutenant told me they are here for safety, but from what I have seen, they are here to prevent large gatherings. I have seen them disperse any group of more than ten people.”

As soon as she said those words, Peter and I looked at each other.

Both of us knew that violence was no longer a theoretical possibility. It had already happened, and this was the lieutenant’s effort to stop mass protests.

I swallowed hard. “Yeah, we are meeting the Captain tomorrow. If he does not call me, I will request a meeting on my own.”