The morning dawned.
Stepping outside the tent, I trod on a soggy mound of mud.
The soldiers, looking sharp and alert, were guarding the perimeter and tidying up the campsite, while we were set to depart straight for the capital without delay.
During the subsequent three-day journey, fortunately, there were no additional ambushes. I suspected we must have wiped out all the tauroses in this area with our lightning fire.
“Please be careful going in, everyone.”
“I expect to see all of you as better soldiers next time we meet.”
To my farewell, Alter added a cold remark. He still hadn’t forgiven the squad members for their absurd mistakes.
At the entrance to the capital, I transferred to a VIP carriage and entered the towering fortress.
Having spent nearly two weeks sleeping on the ground, I hadn’t had a proper rest. All I wanted upon arriving at the castle was to wash the dirt and mud off my body and collapse onto a bed to recover from my exhaustion.
“They are waiting for your report.”
Before I could clean myself off, a servant waiting at the castle gates told me this.
…It seemed that I would have to put off merging with the bed for later.
The representatives of each race were awaiting my report.
“Can’t it wait until later?”
“…All four lords are waiting for Mr. Bin’s report.”
As a 3-to-4-star ranked officer, I had the responsibility to directly report to the leaders of each race.
And duties that you can push back are not called duties.
“His Majesty the Emperor is especially looking forward to it. The food supply issue due to the dragon settling in the granary district hasn’t been resolved yet.”
Accompanied by Alter and Lir, I followed the servant towards the conference room.
I don’t know how, but small chairs were placed at regular intervals along the long corridor. It appeared they’d been installed during my two-week absence on the expedition.
Thanks to this, I could take short breaks by sitting on the chairs whenever I felt exhausted walking the kingdom’s long and arduous hallway.
I didn’t want to be touched by their considerate arrangement.
Repeating sitting down and standing up several times, we finally reached the meeting room.
Following the servant’s instructions, Alter and Lir stayed outside the door while I entered alone.
“Oh, you’ve arrived.”
The leaders of the races seated around the round table looked at me with mixed expressions.
The emperor greeted me with a happy smile, the grand chief frowned upon my thin and dirty appearance with concern, the dwarf king, half drunk, raised his torso from the table to glance up at me, and the elf queen looked down on me with her characteristic haughty stare.
“Report. What happened with the dragon?”
“It’s dead.”
To the elf queen’s question, I gave a short answer. My fatigue from the expedition made my tone unintentionally sharper than intended, causing her to slightly crinkle her brow in irritation.
“Anything else? Were there no other issues?”
“At Enker High Plain, we encountered a high-ranking marauder.”
“…What?”
My scattered report left everyone in the room startled.
The sudden shift from “the dragon is dead” to “we encountered a high-ranking marauder” had them all questioning if their ears had deceived them.
How would I explain what I’d experienced since I’ve never reported anything like this to anyone before?
How could I possibly summarize the content of the operation like other generals, neatly following the 5 Ws and 1 H?
Unfortunately, the only thing I, the middle school-dropout wannabe composer, know how to do is to mess around with MIDI or instruments.
Fight your way through with guts! You’re the parachute they chose!
“Huh… Is this some sort of funny story to celebrate dealing with the dragon?”
Since the story was so out of the blue, the leaders of the races momentarily wondered if I was making a joke.
“…There’s nothing I can do, so listen carefully. Here’s what happened…”
I started telling everything I had experienced from start to finish in a disorganized manner. If you can’t summarize the events and just spew out whatever comes to mind, then the listeners will sort it out in their own heads.
…And once again, let me reiterate, you’re the ones who chose this parachute.
“Now that you’ve explained it, I can finally understand the situation. Meeting a high-ranking marauder so suddenly…”
After about twenty minutes of a lengthy explanation, we reached the point when we encountered the high-ranking marauder in the story.
“You went with only one platoon and faced a high-ranking marauder. The majority must’ve perished. It’s fortunate that you returned alive. What about Alter? Did he die?”
The grand chief slightly bowed his head as if mourning the fallen soldiers.
“No, there were no casualties.”
“…What?”
The grand chief raised his bowed head and asked, clearly confused by my words.
Watching the leaders of each race continue to widen their eyes in reaction to my statements, I suddenly thought that maybe I was naturally gifted at telling stories.
Isn’t an unexpected twist supposed to be a tool to captivate the audience? I think I once heard that in a video titled ‘How to Capture People’s Attention with Your Words.’
I don’t know why ‘an unexpected twist’ is necessary in a military report, but…
“Despite becoming complacent during our camp, we managed to finish the expedition with zero injured and zero casualties.”
“You said you faced a high-ranking marauder, right? How could there be no casualties, not even injuries?”
The king of dwarves, who had been leaning on the table with half-drunk eyes, looked at me with surprise and asked.
“For some reason, there were no variants around him. Thanks to that, it seemed the opponent was also hesitant to fight me directly.”
“…True, it makes sense if he was alone. Considering it was you and also Alter Heinzel on the expedition, even for a high-ranking marauder it would’ve been burdensome.”
“Good fortune, or should I say it was terrible luck to encounter a high-ranking marauder in the first place…”
Chief, what ridiculous question is that?
Of course, it was bad luck.
It was extremely bad luck.
“No variants, you say? Then shouldn’t you and Heinzel have been able to kill the high-ranking marauder together? Why did you let him go?”
The queen of elves, who had been quietly listening to my report, asked curiously.
Considering the notion they had of me as a ‘genius mage who survived against a grand marshal without learning any magic’, it wasn’t surprising for her to have such doubts.
“The location wasn’t suitable. Both Alter Heinzel and I are storm mages, and if we had fought there, most of the wheat nearby would have caught fire and been destroyed within moments.”
“Reasonable.”
The emperor nodded in agreement after hearing my explanation quietly.
“Indeed, the goal of your expedition was to kill the dragon at Enker High Plain, the largest granary of the continent, and bring back the food supply. Not engaging in battle there was a prudent judgment, I believe.”
The grand chief also nodded, defending my judgment, agreeing it wasn’t wrong.
“…Why not just change the location? Although not as capable as grand marshal, killing a high-ranking marauder would’ve been a great help to humanity.”
The elf queen looked displeased, regretting that we let the high-ranking marauder slip away.
Some are satisfied that anyone even returned alive, while others are questioning why the high-ranking marauder was not killed.
What exactly do you want from me?
“Of course, I didn’t let him go without a reason.”
I pulled out the bracelet made from the ‘Devil’s Contract’ from inside my robe pocket. This bracelet had naturally fallen off my wrist after exactly 72 hours since the deal.
“That’s…”
They all leaned forward with curious expressions.
“In exchange for letting him go, I demanded the withdrawal of all marauders and variants from the Achilipthus forest area.”
“Ho…”
The elf queen finally smiled faintly and looked at me.
“A genius is undoubtedly different.”
…Clearly, it’s meant as praise, but somehow due to her tone or attitude, it doesn’t feel entirely good.
“The Achilipthus forest region is a vital military area connecting the ‘Bale Land,’ where the sword saint and his party are fiercely battling, and the capital. Because it has many hiding places and the terrain is so rugged, we’ve been unable to carry out a recapture operation on the region…”
“Brilliant choice! Ha, I always said our Lord Sword Saint has an eye for people!”
“Your voice is too loud, dwarf. Besides, it seems like it’s time to praise this young one and not the sword saint.”
“Hehe, did I say that our promising Lord didn’t do well anywhere? Let’s praise the sword saint and our genius promising Lord; both deserve it! I don’t understand why you have so many complaints!”
I shook my head while looking at the emperor, unable to understand why the queen of elves and the king of dwarves were sitting next to each other.
Don’t these two need to be kept as far apart as possible?
“Ho-ho…”
The emperor only smiled wryly as if feeling rather embarrassed.
“Anyway, the Achilipthus forest area is now a no-man’s land. As soon as I’m ready, I intend to lead the soldiers to establish a forward base there.”
In the Achilipthus forest, a lightning-element spirit sleeps. If I awaken this spirit and communicate with it, I can receive a special reward that cannot be obtained in the usual way, and that reward is something that is essential for my strange mage build. To maintain these leaders’ misconception of me as a ‘once-in-a-lifetime genius,’ I need to keep leveling up my abilities.
“Are you going to command this personally?”
The grand chief asked me, his tone somewhat concerned.
Even if you have remarkable achievements and exceptional magical talent, it is understandable to feel uneasy delegating a mission of this scale.
It is natural.
Although I was acknowledged by the Sword Saint, becoming one of his party members and immediately gaining the rank of general, I obviously lacked the corresponding leadership skills.
I lack ability as a commander.
And this is something I deeply realized during this expedition when Alter yelled warningly at soldiers who made mistakes while I remained silent.
“Of course not. Since I have no military experience, it would be wise to attach a good commander to me.”
The most crucial aspect for a parachutist is to understand one’s own limitations.
It would be a wiser decision to advance with a reliable adjutant rather than arrogantly attempting to lead.
“I’ll quickly devise a plan, set a departure date, and attach a reliable adjutant. That’s settled.”
“Thank you.”
With that, I ended the conversation, bid farewell to the leaders of each race, and left the meeting room.
Just before leaving, the remaining leaders gathered their counselors, spread out maps, and were fully immersed in a military conference.
“Haa.”
As soon as the huge door closed, I couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh of relief.
Though I didn’t outwardly show it, during the entire time I was reporting, I was worrying if I would make some kind of mistake.
“Are you that tired?”
Alter and Lir, who had been waiting outside the meeting room, asked with a worried look.
I had no strength to reply, just nodding my head while sighing continuously.
“Shall I carry you?”
Realizing how poor my condition was, the middle-aged servant carefully asked.
Even if it’s true, it feels a bit strange to be carried by an older man when I’m not even twenty and he’s over sixty.
“Sure.”
It felt good.
It felt very good, actually.
“…Are you serious?”
Lir nervously whispered, but I didn’t care, leaving my body in the care of the middle-aged servant.
“Since I weigh less than Lady Lir…”
It was earnest.
Lir may not know, but every time I shower, I can’t help but notice that my body looks like a skeleton covered by a thin layer of skin when I see it in the mirror.
Compared to the elf with a decent physique, I am in a state that could be considered a mockery!
“T, t…”
Lir blinked in disbelief, muttered something, then tightly closed her mouth and pulled her muddy hat brim down while lowering her head.
“Good night.”
While being carried by the middle-aged servant, I said goodbye to Alter and Lir.
If I don’t have to walk there myself, I can finally taste the true power of privilege.
‘Now I’ve made it.’
Less than two weeks after becoming a member of the Sword Saint’s party, I finally tasted the bittersweet flavor of power.
