A large church bell tower stood in the middle of a small village called Casnier. The soldiers who had been disappointed by the ridiculously poor condition of the village they had arrived at after a long march became a little more pious. They were a group of soldiers who were touring Ramrock following a quirky brigadier general.
As they are the ones who support the superiors, who are generals, most of them are single-minded. Among them, Bruno is a field-grade officer who has served as a brigadier general for a long time and has even been acknowledged by the current president, Belgrier. Bruno has one special skill: he whines as if he is not whining.
“I can’t live like this.”
And the brigadier general, who is his superior, also has a special talent: telling jokes as if they were not jokes.
“Then die.”
Bruno rode his horse, expressionless, watching the commotion in front of the village.
“It seems like they’ve already found it on the other side. Then there’s no point in coming here without letting me know in advance.”
“Are you changing the subject because you don’t want to die?”
“I was just saying. There are so many eyes watching, so why do you have to bother me like this?”
Bruno looked at the thirty or so soldiers lined up behind him. They were all soldiers whose rank and career were considered gangsters, and behind them were veteran soldiers who had been recognized for their outstanding achievements. Bruno was already getting the cold shoulder for having risen to fame at such a young age, and it was not good to see him being ignored by his superiors.
“I didn’t know it would be this open.”
The brigadier muttered in a somewhat listless voice. They were on a tour around the country to see the abuses committed by soldiers, and sometimes they would visit a city like this, earlier than scheduled and without notice. This was a remote village, hardly worthy of being called a town.
“I heard a civilian died here a while ago.”
Bruno quickly read the thoughts of his superior, who was mumbling to himself, and shouted.
“You weren’t shot?”
“I heard that only those who incited trouble were shot, and the rest are in custody. I will find out the details first.”
“There are too many people in this town who eat among themselves.”
“I will look into it carefully so as not to disappoint you.”
“Yes, I believe you.”
Bruno smirked and quickly controlled his expression. It was his quick wit that earned him the confidence of the brigadier general for so long, and even a commendation from Belgrier Hamilton. Some of the bold soldiers looked at Bruno as if they were very displeased. Bruno coughed belatedly and quietly said. He has a favor to ask.
“Hmm, hmm, Lieutenant General. Are you really going back to this village after all?”
“Here we go again.”
“But didn’t you see the communication that the captain sent? Apparently...”
It had been nearly two months since they had begun their tour of Ramrock. He had just been promoted from colonel to brigadier general. At first, he had been secretive, but now his reputation had spread so widely that no one did not know him. His political enemies within the military were trying to take advantage of this opportunity. In such a situation, it was not good to be away from headquarters for a long time. This was what most of the brigadier general's close associates and the soldiers who had joined this march agreed to.
'The problem is that the purpose isn't simply to inspect the military.'
Bruno's voice became lower.
“...Just leave the search to your subordinates.”
“Then, wasn’t it true that the news you brought for half a year was ‘in vain?’ Incompetent people don’t deserve to eat. If you think about the food you ate today, you should work more passionately instead of saying such weak words.”
Bruno was speechless at that sharp remark. Bruno glanced at the soldiers on horseback behind him and let out a silent sigh at the disappointment in their eyes.
He has a feeling that Casnier will not be the final destination. They are known to the outside world as having the goal of monitoring the behavior of soldiers, but they also have other purposes. It is difficult to tell the outside world about this purpose, so not many people know about it, and he thinks even half of the people in this group know about it.
The story was quite complicated, and it was not a good idea to keep muttering under the guise of advice to the brigadier general's decision, so Bruno nodded. Inwardly, he began to think that way. He seemed to have gotten even nastier since he got up from the brink of death. Nevertheless, he was loyal.
“If that’s what you want, sir, what I ate today was shit...!”
Taang!
This happened before he could even finish his ambitious line, “... I will burn this body before I even get out!” When he reached the village’s vicinity, he could see the pale faces of the soldiers standing guard at the entrance on both sides of the castle.
Bang! ...Taang!
Not far away, a gunshot began to ring out, out of place at this moment. The march of the group, led by the brigadier general, stopped. A soldier standing at the rear poked his head out, wondering if they would fire a salute for them.
The brigadier general tilted his head and stared in the direction where the gunshots had rang out.
'Scream?'
It was so quiet that he couldn't hear it, but it sounded like a scream, but it didn't sound like one...
“Shall we go and check?”
Bruno, as always, was the tongue in the mouth, pinpointing his superior's concerns. But this time, his efforts didn't seem to be very successful.
And after a long silence, two feet again.
Taang! ...Taang!
The brigadier general smiled wryly.
“Military police, follow me.”
“Stop it!”
Of the three gunshots, the first to ring out was Ben's rifle, barely a hair's breadth away.
The distance was far away, but the function of the blank bullet was to amplify noise rather than kill. To those who were nervous, it sounded as loud as a cannon. At that moment, Aaron dodged his head, and the soldier's bullet missed. Likewise, Aaron's bullet that was aimed at the soldier's chest also missed the soldier.
“Dad!”
Without even thinking about wiping away the tears that were flowing incessantly, Leila ran to Ben. Ben, who had passed Leila and walked quickly, loaded his rifle once more and fired into the air.
Bang! Crunch. Bang!
At a distance of about twenty steps, Ben stopped and quietly surveyed the situation with his eyes. Two Ramrock soldiers were dead, their faces unrecognizable. One soldier had fallen down as if dead, though he showed no signs of injury. Aaron was covered in blood, and another soldier aimed his gun at him again.
“Oh, shit, I’m startled.”
The surprised Ramrock soldier gave the three men a look of extreme annoyance, but soon realized that the gun he was carrying was only loaded with blank bullets and laughed at him.
“Casnier, are there really this many fearless idiots in this rural area?”
Aaron gritted his teeth and shouted.
“Mr. Ben, run away with Leila!”
“Shut up, you troublemaker! Are you out of your mind! What the hell were you thinking when you did something like this!”
Leila cried and begged Ben. 'Daddy, Daddy... Please save him. Daddy.' Even though she knew that her father would have no choice, she did it like that. Even if it was a blank bullet, the fact that the gun was pointed at him always created tension because of the 'one in a million' situation, and Ramrock's soldier, trapped in a two-on-one situation, ground his teeth.
“Do you really want to die? Wouldn’t it be better for your health if you just took your children and ran away?”
Ben clenched his teeth. He had to run away anyway. Either with Leila or with Aaron. But if he had to run anyway.
“Then give me that guy too, he’s my son too!”
He was used to the sound of gunfire. He was an artilleryman. He clearly knew that even a blank bullet from an old, low-performance rifle could cause injury within ten meters. That must be why the soldier's expression became distorted as Ben slowly approached.
It had already come to this. It was the moment when Ben had made up his mind. An arm shot out from behind Aaron and grabbed him.
“Aaron!”
Aaron glared at the person holding him tightly out of the corner of his eye. It was the same person who had strangled him earlier and knocked him unconscious.
“Hey, you piece of shit, boss, what the hell is going on? This.”
He took back the gun that had been taken from Aaron as if he was tearing it off and aimed it at Aaron’s temple, and looked around at Ben and his comrades. Not only were his lips trembling and blue, but his eyes were trembling incessantly, showing that he had not yet fully recovered his senses. The soldier called the captain, turned his gun towards Ben with a look of victory.
“Hey, that guy, he’s a Dublin soldier. Kill him.”
Ben met Aaron's eyes with a desperate expression. Aaron calmly lowered his eyes. Leila sat down and sobbed.
It was all over.
“What? This crazy, Dublin kid, how dare you...!”
The sound of a gun being reloaded again.
Leila pushed away her fear, thinking about the fact that Aaron and her father were in trouble because of her. If Aaron and her father died, she would die too. She would rather die than live as a citizen of a country protected by such cruel people. She sobbed as she thought about this, and soon even her tears stopped flowing. When the gunshots she had expected to hear stopped, Leila slowly turned her head.
The heads of the four men who had been in a fierce standoff turned toward the city as if they had made a promise. Slowly, slowly. Soldiers on horseback were approaching from afar. It was terrifying to see just two of them, but when she saw more than six or seven soldiers on horseback, it all seemed like a dream.
But as she was staring blankly for a while, she heard two soldiers swearing with a look of frustration on their faces.
“Military police? Shit, why are the military police here!”
Leila finally recognized the armbands of the soldiers who had arrived late. Leila staggered toward them as if they were her last hope.
“Leila!”
Aaron screamed in surprise, but it didn't stop.
“That guy, shit! Hey! Not over there...!”
She knew that gunshots were ringing out behind her, but she wasn't afraid at all.
As they are the ones who support the superiors, who are generals, most of them are single-minded. Among them, Bruno is a field-grade officer who has served as a brigadier general for a long time and has even been acknowledged by the current president, Belgrier. Bruno has one special skill: he whines as if he is not whining.
“I can’t live like this.”
And the brigadier general, who is his superior, also has a special talent: telling jokes as if they were not jokes.
“Then die.”
Bruno rode his horse, expressionless, watching the commotion in front of the village.
“It seems like they’ve already found it on the other side. Then there’s no point in coming here without letting me know in advance.”
“Are you changing the subject because you don’t want to die?”
“I was just saying. There are so many eyes watching, so why do you have to bother me like this?”
Bruno looked at the thirty or so soldiers lined up behind him. They were all soldiers whose rank and career were considered gangsters, and behind them were veteran soldiers who had been recognized for their outstanding achievements. Bruno was already getting the cold shoulder for having risen to fame at such a young age, and it was not good to see him being ignored by his superiors.
“I didn’t know it would be this open.”
The brigadier muttered in a somewhat listless voice. They were on a tour around the country to see the abuses committed by soldiers, and sometimes they would visit a city like this, earlier than scheduled and without notice. This was a remote village, hardly worthy of being called a town.
“I heard a civilian died here a while ago.”
Bruno quickly read the thoughts of his superior, who was mumbling to himself, and shouted.
“You weren’t shot?”
“I heard that only those who incited trouble were shot, and the rest are in custody. I will find out the details first.”
“There are too many people in this town who eat among themselves.”
“I will look into it carefully so as not to disappoint you.”
“Yes, I believe you.”
Bruno smirked and quickly controlled his expression. It was his quick wit that earned him the confidence of the brigadier general for so long, and even a commendation from Belgrier Hamilton. Some of the bold soldiers looked at Bruno as if they were very displeased. Bruno coughed belatedly and quietly said. He has a favor to ask.
“Hmm, hmm, Lieutenant General. Are you really going back to this village after all?”
“Here we go again.”
“But didn’t you see the communication that the captain sent? Apparently...”
It had been nearly two months since they had begun their tour of Ramrock. He had just been promoted from colonel to brigadier general. At first, he had been secretive, but now his reputation had spread so widely that no one did not know him. His political enemies within the military were trying to take advantage of this opportunity. In such a situation, it was not good to be away from headquarters for a long time. This was what most of the brigadier general's close associates and the soldiers who had joined this march agreed to.
'The problem is that the purpose isn't simply to inspect the military.'
Bruno's voice became lower.
“...Just leave the search to your subordinates.”
“Then, wasn’t it true that the news you brought for half a year was ‘in vain?’ Incompetent people don’t deserve to eat. If you think about the food you ate today, you should work more passionately instead of saying such weak words.”
Bruno was speechless at that sharp remark. Bruno glanced at the soldiers on horseback behind him and let out a silent sigh at the disappointment in their eyes.
He has a feeling that Casnier will not be the final destination. They are known to the outside world as having the goal of monitoring the behavior of soldiers, but they also have other purposes. It is difficult to tell the outside world about this purpose, so not many people know about it, and he thinks even half of the people in this group know about it.
The story was quite complicated, and it was not a good idea to keep muttering under the guise of advice to the brigadier general's decision, so Bruno nodded. Inwardly, he began to think that way. He seemed to have gotten even nastier since he got up from the brink of death. Nevertheless, he was loyal.
“If that’s what you want, sir, what I ate today was shit...!”
Taang!
This happened before he could even finish his ambitious line, “... I will burn this body before I even get out!” When he reached the village’s vicinity, he could see the pale faces of the soldiers standing guard at the entrance on both sides of the castle.
Bang! ...Taang!
Not far away, a gunshot began to ring out, out of place at this moment. The march of the group, led by the brigadier general, stopped. A soldier standing at the rear poked his head out, wondering if they would fire a salute for them.
The brigadier general tilted his head and stared in the direction where the gunshots had rang out.
'Scream?'
It was so quiet that he couldn't hear it, but it sounded like a scream, but it didn't sound like one...
“Shall we go and check?”
Bruno, as always, was the tongue in the mouth, pinpointing his superior's concerns. But this time, his efforts didn't seem to be very successful.
And after a long silence, two feet again.
Taang! ...Taang!
The brigadier general smiled wryly.
“Military police, follow me.”
***
“Stop it!”
Of the three gunshots, the first to ring out was Ben's rifle, barely a hair's breadth away.
The distance was far away, but the function of the blank bullet was to amplify noise rather than kill. To those who were nervous, it sounded as loud as a cannon. At that moment, Aaron dodged his head, and the soldier's bullet missed. Likewise, Aaron's bullet that was aimed at the soldier's chest also missed the soldier.
“Dad!”
Without even thinking about wiping away the tears that were flowing incessantly, Leila ran to Ben. Ben, who had passed Leila and walked quickly, loaded his rifle once more and fired into the air.
Bang! Crunch. Bang!
At a distance of about twenty steps, Ben stopped and quietly surveyed the situation with his eyes. Two Ramrock soldiers were dead, their faces unrecognizable. One soldier had fallen down as if dead, though he showed no signs of injury. Aaron was covered in blood, and another soldier aimed his gun at him again.
“Oh, shit, I’m startled.”
The surprised Ramrock soldier gave the three men a look of extreme annoyance, but soon realized that the gun he was carrying was only loaded with blank bullets and laughed at him.
“Casnier, are there really this many fearless idiots in this rural area?”
Aaron gritted his teeth and shouted.
“Mr. Ben, run away with Leila!”
“Shut up, you troublemaker! Are you out of your mind! What the hell were you thinking when you did something like this!”
Leila cried and begged Ben. 'Daddy, Daddy... Please save him. Daddy.' Even though she knew that her father would have no choice, she did it like that. Even if it was a blank bullet, the fact that the gun was pointed at him always created tension because of the 'one in a million' situation, and Ramrock's soldier, trapped in a two-on-one situation, ground his teeth.
“Do you really want to die? Wouldn’t it be better for your health if you just took your children and ran away?”
Ben clenched his teeth. He had to run away anyway. Either with Leila or with Aaron. But if he had to run anyway.
“Then give me that guy too, he’s my son too!”
He was used to the sound of gunfire. He was an artilleryman. He clearly knew that even a blank bullet from an old, low-performance rifle could cause injury within ten meters. That must be why the soldier's expression became distorted as Ben slowly approached.
It had already come to this. It was the moment when Ben had made up his mind. An arm shot out from behind Aaron and grabbed him.
“Aaron!”
Aaron glared at the person holding him tightly out of the corner of his eye. It was the same person who had strangled him earlier and knocked him unconscious.
“Hey, you piece of shit, boss, what the hell is going on? This.”
He took back the gun that had been taken from Aaron as if he was tearing it off and aimed it at Aaron’s temple, and looked around at Ben and his comrades. Not only were his lips trembling and blue, but his eyes were trembling incessantly, showing that he had not yet fully recovered his senses. The soldier called the captain, turned his gun towards Ben with a look of victory.
“Hey, that guy, he’s a Dublin soldier. Kill him.”
Ben met Aaron's eyes with a desperate expression. Aaron calmly lowered his eyes. Leila sat down and sobbed.
It was all over.
“What? This crazy, Dublin kid, how dare you...!”
The sound of a gun being reloaded again.
Leila pushed away her fear, thinking about the fact that Aaron and her father were in trouble because of her. If Aaron and her father died, she would die too. She would rather die than live as a citizen of a country protected by such cruel people. She sobbed as she thought about this, and soon even her tears stopped flowing. When the gunshots she had expected to hear stopped, Leila slowly turned her head.
The heads of the four men who had been in a fierce standoff turned toward the city as if they had made a promise. Slowly, slowly. Soldiers on horseback were approaching from afar. It was terrifying to see just two of them, but when she saw more than six or seven soldiers on horseback, it all seemed like a dream.
But as she was staring blankly for a while, she heard two soldiers swearing with a look of frustration on their faces.
“Military police? Shit, why are the military police here!”
Leila finally recognized the armbands of the soldiers who had arrived late. Leila staggered toward them as if they were her last hope.
“Leila!”
Aaron screamed in surprise, but it didn't stop.
“That guy, shit! Hey! Not over there...!”
She knew that gunshots were ringing out behind her, but she wasn't afraid at all.
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