The officers' expressions began to distort as they heard the shouts that were like a warning. Leila sobbed and hurriedly made an excuse.
“My dad was an artilleryman! He was yelling because he had hearing problems!”
Only then did the officers' expressions soften. One of them, a former artillery officer, even nodded.
“You must have had a hard time.”
Regardless, Ben's eyes were completely focused on the brigadier general.
“What on earth are you thinking! I’m jealous because you’re from Dubliners...!”
“I have no intention of mocking or harming you.”
A hard voice, different from the one handed to him, rang above his head. Suddenly, very suddenly, Aaron realized that he had heard this voice before. His spine went cold, and his body froze. When Aaron did not move for a while, the man muttered, “What a pity.” He took a few steps away and shot the back of the soldier’s head, who had lost the strength in his legs and was unable to run away.
Taang!
The soldier who had been running alive in one room fell down dead. It was a great feat.
Aaron looked down at his trembling fists, his neck stiff. It was really strange.
Leila, who had tearfully pleaded for help, adding a bit of exaggeration and sincerity to what had almost happened to her and the atrocities of the Ramrock soldiers; Ben, who had prepared to die here and now to save Leila and Aaron; and Aaron, who had accepted that death was the only way out, were all unable to accept this situation.
Aaron's hands, which were holding his knees, began to tremble.
“There was never any permission from the higher-ups to kill anyone who was a Dubliner.”
He can't understand the man who suddenly appeared and shot two of their own soldiers dead.
No, Aaron had a vague sense of it. That confident voice sometimes visited him like a ghost in the dead of night.
“If that Dublin soldier had said, ‘If it’s Ramrock, you can kill him,’ I would be dead already.”
Aaron looked up and saw a man in a dignified uniform. He was someone he didn’t know. Everything about him was unfamiliar. But there was one thing. Something familiar. When the man turned to look at him, Aaron’s face twisted involuntarily as if he was snorting. How could he forget those intense gray eyes? The man approached him with a slow pace, took off his gloves, and held out his hand.
“Isn’t that so? I’ve been looking for you for a long time, Sir Claude Biscov.”
He was the guy from Trobia.
“...Save me.”
In a word, the enemy officer who turned a fugitive into a deserter. The main character in capture of Potsell, the capital city, was the most shameful event in Dublin's history. A soldier of the Hamilton family, Ramrock's new military unit. The man he saved.
“...Mr. Nick Hamilton.”
Ben's eyes, which had been looking at the two people with great tension, opened wide as if they were pumpkins.
“Madame Lambrand was beautiful. She saved this old man from his tedious life. It is foolish to expect beauty to last forever. No beauty is ever there. Time is like a boat that carries people and never stops. So remember, my child. When you meet a beautiful person, if that person saved you, you must never forget them. Be grateful. It is a miracle to meet a great person who can change the world. Be grateful for the miracle and strive to be that beautiful person to someone else.”
Aaron was suddenly lost in a memory that came to mind.
What was he thinking at that time?
He thought his grandfather was being shameful and making excuses because he had an affair with Madame Lambrand and was caught by his stern grandmother and got divorced. His grandfather spoke very seriously, but he didn't believe him because everyone in Eastern Rock said that his grandfather was a dark-hearted serpent.
Although he didn't believe it, it seems that the idea of saving people was deeply engraved in his heart. So he left astronomy, which his parents strongly opposed, and became a doctor. He thought that he could not touch someone's heart like that star, but if he could save someone, wouldn't that in itself be meaningful?
But even his medical training life did not go as planned. His parents were the representative figures of those who made a living from luxury and show off in Eastern Rock. Aaron was repeatedly rejected by hospitals targeting the middle class, and institutions that were supposed to help the poor often had their applications withdrawn. The cause was his parents.
His parents considered the profession of a doctor to be an honorary position simply to show off his intelligence. They did not want their son to be mixed up with the petty bourgeoisie.
However, Aaron understood the meaning but could not truly accept it. In the end, he became angry and gave up his life as a doctor and volunteered for the military. Since volunteering was accepted by the state, even his parents, who had connections with high-ranking officials, could not take back his application. There was chaos at home, but Aaron proudly entered the military. At that time, it was a choice that could be made because no one could have imagined that there would be a war.
But, as expected, war broke out between Dublin and Ramrock within a year. Dublin, with the sea on its left and Ramrock on its right, was complacent even when Ramrock's puppet government headquarters were first attacked. "What's the big deal?" they thought. They didn't even know that their oppressed military was receiving fire support from other countries.
When Ramrock began to gain momentum and cross the border into Dublin, a state of emergency was declared in Dublin. He, too, was a soldier and was ordered to be dispatched. While everyone else was in disarray, his parents never lost control.
“You will be transferred to the military unit where your uncle is. Follow along. It will be difficult to be discharged now without losing a limb.”
“I don’t like it. Why are you doing it on your own...!”
“If the higher-ups are being rude, then you have to do it, right?”
Even though it was the military, he was angry that it was his parents, who were civilians, who had instructed him on the irrationality and unfairness. He requested a transfer to an artillery officer, not a medical officer.
Of course, it was not accepted.
No one could have predicted this level of damage until the Trobia War began. Enemies rushed in from all sides in the middle of the night, and bullets were already being fired at people who couldn't even tell who they were shooting at. Many people were turned into pieces of meat by the falling shells that drew a parabolic curve. The cover, shattered by the shell, was not a defensive device, but a weapon.
Beneath the sand that flowed out of the torn sandbags, making a spurting sound, were the corpses of the dead. Sometimes, even the living.
He had a friend in the artillery battalion who was killed. He was from Western Rocks, just across the street from Eastern Rocks, and like him, he had joined the army to rebel and become fascinated with firearms. He says friend because their relationship was clearly based on a bond of trust that was more than just comradeship.
“Aaron, how did we end up on a battlefield?”
“Stupidly rebelling.”
Such jokes were commonplace.
“Yes, it really is. It’s not like we have a shortage of food, and we don’t have much to gain from Ramrock. It’s just pride that the capital council spends a huge amount of money on military expenses. I really don’t understand why they do this.”
“Why don’t you retire and throw away an arm or a leg? That’s better than dying.”
“Then you’re not popular, you punk. This scar on your face is enough to make you look like an attractive retired soldier.”
His friend was a quirky guy who thought about the fundamentals of war. But he was also quirky, so Aaron always enjoyed talking to him. It was the only time he could relax on the battlefield, and it was really precious.
“Aaron...”
Friends were consumed by fear at the escalation of the recurring war.
“We're going to lose.”
“I won’t support you. Don’t think like that. That will only increase your anxiety. And there’s nothing you can do about it.”
“Isn’t it a defeat just because so many people died in this meaningless war?”
He remained silent in the face of his friend, who was absorbed in self-deprecation.
And then one night, when the Trobia War was coming to an end, and hr didn't know it was the end.
The position, including the artillery battalion his friend was in, was ambushed. It was the commander who leaked their secret location.
They realized that they could not defeat Ramrock's soldiers through a frontal assault. It was on the fifth day after the Trobia battle that the soldiers realized that even a retreat was not an option. The superiors began to plan a way to survive. And they devised a plan. It was a desperate measure to divert the enemy's attention by providing bait and having the main force retreat.
The units that high-ranking children belong to are the first priority, the rescue of precious engineers is the second priority, the medical soldiers who require a huge amount of capital to raise are the third priority, and the cannons and firearms that are not even human are the zero priority. The rest are not even included in the list of rescue targets.
'All the signalmen are dead.'
“My dad was an artilleryman! He was yelling because he had hearing problems!”
Only then did the officers' expressions soften. One of them, a former artillery officer, even nodded.
“You must have had a hard time.”
Regardless, Ben's eyes were completely focused on the brigadier general.
“What on earth are you thinking! I’m jealous because you’re from Dubliners...!”
“I have no intention of mocking or harming you.”
A hard voice, different from the one handed to him, rang above his head. Suddenly, very suddenly, Aaron realized that he had heard this voice before. His spine went cold, and his body froze. When Aaron did not move for a while, the man muttered, “What a pity.” He took a few steps away and shot the back of the soldier’s head, who had lost the strength in his legs and was unable to run away.
Taang!
The soldier who had been running alive in one room fell down dead. It was a great feat.
Aaron looked down at his trembling fists, his neck stiff. It was really strange.
Leila, who had tearfully pleaded for help, adding a bit of exaggeration and sincerity to what had almost happened to her and the atrocities of the Ramrock soldiers; Ben, who had prepared to die here and now to save Leila and Aaron; and Aaron, who had accepted that death was the only way out, were all unable to accept this situation.
Aaron's hands, which were holding his knees, began to tremble.
“There was never any permission from the higher-ups to kill anyone who was a Dubliner.”
He can't understand the man who suddenly appeared and shot two of their own soldiers dead.
No, Aaron had a vague sense of it. That confident voice sometimes visited him like a ghost in the dead of night.
“If that Dublin soldier had said, ‘If it’s Ramrock, you can kill him,’ I would be dead already.”
Aaron looked up and saw a man in a dignified uniform. He was someone he didn’t know. Everything about him was unfamiliar. But there was one thing. Something familiar. When the man turned to look at him, Aaron’s face twisted involuntarily as if he was snorting. How could he forget those intense gray eyes? The man approached him with a slow pace, took off his gloves, and held out his hand.
“Isn’t that so? I’ve been looking for you for a long time, Sir Claude Biscov.”
He was the guy from Trobia.
“...Save me.”
In a word, the enemy officer who turned a fugitive into a deserter. The main character in capture of Potsell, the capital city, was the most shameful event in Dublin's history. A soldier of the Hamilton family, Ramrock's new military unit. The man he saved.
“...Mr. Nick Hamilton.”
Ben's eyes, which had been looking at the two people with great tension, opened wide as if they were pumpkins.
***
“Madame Lambrand was beautiful. She saved this old man from his tedious life. It is foolish to expect beauty to last forever. No beauty is ever there. Time is like a boat that carries people and never stops. So remember, my child. When you meet a beautiful person, if that person saved you, you must never forget them. Be grateful. It is a miracle to meet a great person who can change the world. Be grateful for the miracle and strive to be that beautiful person to someone else.”
Aaron was suddenly lost in a memory that came to mind.
What was he thinking at that time?
He thought his grandfather was being shameful and making excuses because he had an affair with Madame Lambrand and was caught by his stern grandmother and got divorced. His grandfather spoke very seriously, but he didn't believe him because everyone in Eastern Rock said that his grandfather was a dark-hearted serpent.
Although he didn't believe it, it seems that the idea of saving people was deeply engraved in his heart. So he left astronomy, which his parents strongly opposed, and became a doctor. He thought that he could not touch someone's heart like that star, but if he could save someone, wouldn't that in itself be meaningful?
But even his medical training life did not go as planned. His parents were the representative figures of those who made a living from luxury and show off in Eastern Rock. Aaron was repeatedly rejected by hospitals targeting the middle class, and institutions that were supposed to help the poor often had their applications withdrawn. The cause was his parents.
His parents considered the profession of a doctor to be an honorary position simply to show off his intelligence. They did not want their son to be mixed up with the petty bourgeoisie.
However, Aaron understood the meaning but could not truly accept it. In the end, he became angry and gave up his life as a doctor and volunteered for the military. Since volunteering was accepted by the state, even his parents, who had connections with high-ranking officials, could not take back his application. There was chaos at home, but Aaron proudly entered the military. At that time, it was a choice that could be made because no one could have imagined that there would be a war.
But, as expected, war broke out between Dublin and Ramrock within a year. Dublin, with the sea on its left and Ramrock on its right, was complacent even when Ramrock's puppet government headquarters were first attacked. "What's the big deal?" they thought. They didn't even know that their oppressed military was receiving fire support from other countries.
When Ramrock began to gain momentum and cross the border into Dublin, a state of emergency was declared in Dublin. He, too, was a soldier and was ordered to be dispatched. While everyone else was in disarray, his parents never lost control.
“You will be transferred to the military unit where your uncle is. Follow along. It will be difficult to be discharged now without losing a limb.”
“I don’t like it. Why are you doing it on your own...!”
“If the higher-ups are being rude, then you have to do it, right?”
Even though it was the military, he was angry that it was his parents, who were civilians, who had instructed him on the irrationality and unfairness. He requested a transfer to an artillery officer, not a medical officer.
Of course, it was not accepted.
***
No one could have predicted this level of damage until the Trobia War began. Enemies rushed in from all sides in the middle of the night, and bullets were already being fired at people who couldn't even tell who they were shooting at. Many people were turned into pieces of meat by the falling shells that drew a parabolic curve. The cover, shattered by the shell, was not a defensive device, but a weapon.
Beneath the sand that flowed out of the torn sandbags, making a spurting sound, were the corpses of the dead. Sometimes, even the living.
He had a friend in the artillery battalion who was killed. He was from Western Rocks, just across the street from Eastern Rocks, and like him, he had joined the army to rebel and become fascinated with firearms. He says friend because their relationship was clearly based on a bond of trust that was more than just comradeship.
“Aaron, how did we end up on a battlefield?”
“Stupidly rebelling.”
Such jokes were commonplace.
“Yes, it really is. It’s not like we have a shortage of food, and we don’t have much to gain from Ramrock. It’s just pride that the capital council spends a huge amount of money on military expenses. I really don’t understand why they do this.”
“Why don’t you retire and throw away an arm or a leg? That’s better than dying.”
“Then you’re not popular, you punk. This scar on your face is enough to make you look like an attractive retired soldier.”
His friend was a quirky guy who thought about the fundamentals of war. But he was also quirky, so Aaron always enjoyed talking to him. It was the only time he could relax on the battlefield, and it was really precious.
“Aaron...”
Friends were consumed by fear at the escalation of the recurring war.
“We're going to lose.”
“I won’t support you. Don’t think like that. That will only increase your anxiety. And there’s nothing you can do about it.”
“Isn’t it a defeat just because so many people died in this meaningless war?”
He remained silent in the face of his friend, who was absorbed in self-deprecation.
And then one night, when the Trobia War was coming to an end, and hr didn't know it was the end.
The position, including the artillery battalion his friend was in, was ambushed. It was the commander who leaked their secret location.
They realized that they could not defeat Ramrock's soldiers through a frontal assault. It was on the fifth day after the Trobia battle that the soldiers realized that even a retreat was not an option. The superiors began to plan a way to survive. And they devised a plan. It was a desperate measure to divert the enemy's attention by providing bait and having the main force retreat.
The units that high-ranking children belong to are the first priority, the rescue of precious engineers is the second priority, the medical soldiers who require a huge amount of capital to raise are the third priority, and the cannons and firearms that are not even human are the zero priority. The rest are not even included in the list of rescue targets.
'All the signalmen are dead.'
It was his friend, a member of the artillery battalion, who asked for help with that statement. The commander assaulted his own soldiers who were begging for help, in an incomprehensible anger that a low-level artilleryman was blocking his way. The feelings of the soldiers who had no choice but to come to the commander, even though they knew that the commander had pushed them into the swamp, were not even within the scope of sympathy in the first place.
He stopped it.
“The people you have just abandoned are your own people! Soldiers are also citizens!”
“Get back. You can retreat once. Return to the line and wait in the billows!”
“If all the conscripts retreat, then the other side...!”
“Everyone will die. Everyone is making that calculation.”
“What on earth are we fighting for?”
“Idiot, no one thinks about what they’re fighting for. They’re just trying to step on Ramrock’s idiots because they’re messing around.”
“Uncle!”
“So the more stupid soldiers there are, the better. You go back to Billo...”
When faced with the threat of defeat, soldiers are gripped by a fear that feels like they are on the edge of a cliff. It would be impossible to remain sane while watching their comrades die and going mad every day. With a face that had been hit and sunken, his friend cried out, "They're all crazy. They're all crazy." Then he stabbed the commander who had turned around. Before his last breath, the commander aimed his gun at his friend's chest with angry eyes. His friend, who could have avoided it, did not and fell to the ground.
In the blink of an eye, it became a sea of blood.
He watched every sight as if observing time passing slowly.
“...Claude, there’s something clearly wrong with Dublin. The war didn’t change people. They were just stagnant, rotten waters from the start.”
“Aaron, don’t say anything. There’s still a chance...”
“I envy those guys! I envy them! Those guys have a purpose. Even though they’re killing and dying like this, at least they have a purpose called belief. But what about us? We, without any thought, like puppets, kill when told to kill, die when told to die. What is this? What on earth do we have to fight for?”
“Please, I beg you, shut up. Please. Don’t make it harder for you.”
“This is hell... It may be a temple to them, but to us it’s just hell. Claude.”
The soldiers who ran up dragged him out. Aaron's dog tag was caught in his fingers as if it were being ripped off. He held it tightly and hid it, and looked at it. Murder of a superior officer. The friend was torn apart by the hail of bullets fired by his own army.
Claude ran away.
He stopped it.
“The people you have just abandoned are your own people! Soldiers are also citizens!”
“Get back. You can retreat once. Return to the line and wait in the billows!”
“If all the conscripts retreat, then the other side...!”
“Everyone will die. Everyone is making that calculation.”
“What on earth are we fighting for?”
“Idiot, no one thinks about what they’re fighting for. They’re just trying to step on Ramrock’s idiots because they’re messing around.”
“Uncle!”
“So the more stupid soldiers there are, the better. You go back to Billo...”
When faced with the threat of defeat, soldiers are gripped by a fear that feels like they are on the edge of a cliff. It would be impossible to remain sane while watching their comrades die and going mad every day. With a face that had been hit and sunken, his friend cried out, "They're all crazy. They're all crazy." Then he stabbed the commander who had turned around. Before his last breath, the commander aimed his gun at his friend's chest with angry eyes. His friend, who could have avoided it, did not and fell to the ground.
In the blink of an eye, it became a sea of blood.
He watched every sight as if observing time passing slowly.
“...Claude, there’s something clearly wrong with Dublin. The war didn’t change people. They were just stagnant, rotten waters from the start.”
“Aaron, don’t say anything. There’s still a chance...”
“I envy those guys! I envy them! Those guys have a purpose. Even though they’re killing and dying like this, at least they have a purpose called belief. But what about us? We, without any thought, like puppets, kill when told to kill, die when told to die. What is this? What on earth do we have to fight for?”
“Please, I beg you, shut up. Please. Don’t make it harder for you.”
“This is hell... It may be a temple to them, but to us it’s just hell. Claude.”
The soldiers who ran up dragged him out. Aaron's dog tag was caught in his fingers as if it were being ripped off. He held it tightly and hid it, and looked at it. Murder of a superior officer. The friend was torn apart by the hail of bullets fired by his own army.
Claude ran away.
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