The Duke's Eldest Son Escaped to the Military

The Duke’s Eldest Son Escaped to the Military (131)

Translator: ChubbyCheeks

45 Rewards and Suspicious Ones from the Center (3)

The Commander smiled bitterly at Iron’s expression. 

“I wanted to give you all of the Ghosts, Sky Renz and Jim Rogers but they would be the key figures for the Northeast’s reconstruction. And there were many people who have died.”

Crimson looked at Iron as he said so. 

“It would take a long time for the Northeast to return back to its original state. That’s why I can’t give you any of the veterans.”

Iron nodded at Crimson in understanding.

Majority of the Northeastern Army had died in this war. It would just be greedy if he wanted to set up a proper brigade in a  situation where their troops were cut by more than half. 

“That’s why we assigned Ariel and those who were close or who have worked with you.”

“Ah…”

Iron nodded. It seemed like he finally understood the reason. 

“Your unit will be 90% rookies. However! I made sure to receive a definite answer from His Majesty that as long as you played an active role and made contributions your unit will be developed and turned into a corps.” 

Crimson patted Iron’s shoulder as he said so.

“So, try to raise them well. With your performance in Lion Castle Fortress and the monster annihilation battles, I’m sure that you’ll do well.” 

“Then, the Ghosts…” 

Sadness briefly flashed in Crimson’s eyes but he immediately smiled as if nothing had happened.

“I have to raise them again. We will recruit new Ghost members as soon as Captain Ghost returns. Of course… you should get out of Ghost now but…” 

It would be too greedy if he wanted him to remain as a Ghost despite receiving a huge position as the Brigadier General and the commander of the Special Mobile Unit. However, he was feeling a bit of regret especially after being together and fighting side by side for a long time. 

His first appointment was with Ghost so he couldn’t hide the disappointment in his expression. Perhaps it was because he had performed many missions as a Ghost.

“Actually, you were already out of Ghost quite a long time ago.”

“Yes?” 

Iron’s eyes widened as he looked at Crimson.

“You have shown great qualities as a commander during the monster annihilation battles. Didn’t you feel that there was something weird when you reunited with the Ghosts in the Northern Forest?” 

“Ah…” 

Iron nodded lightly when he recalled the awkward and stiff expressions of the Ghosts. It seemed like they responded like that since they already knew that Iron would leave their arms in advance. Even if it was already decided, he still felt disappointed that he would get out of Ghost. 

Seeing his reaction, Crimson gave him another gift. 

“But for you, who played and fought hard as a Ghost, I will give you once! Just once! The authority to summon the Ghosts.” 

“Is that even possible?” 

Crimson nodded at Iron’s question. 

“It’s like a privilege that would be given to the original members of the Ghost who played a big role in the war.” 

Crimson took a small card out of his arms as he said so. An X could be seen on the small card.

It was a card with the Ghost’s symbol on it. 

“Keep it well.”

“…Yes.”

Iron carefully kept the card that Crimson had handed over to him. Crimson then shook his hand as if he finally finished his job before asking him.

“You now have your own unit but… shouldn’t you decide on your unit crest? You’ll receive a nickname once you become active but I think you need a pattern…”

“…I’ll think about it.”

“Alright. Take your time. They’re almost all rookies so they’ll need some time before they get useful.”

The sword hanging on Iron’s waist caught his eyes when he patted Iron on his shoulder once again and prepared to leave. Although it was clean after doing maintenance on it, there were still traces of the battles that it fought. Crimson quietly asked after looking at it.

“That sword of yours… is it okay to use?”

“Yes? Ah… Yes! Since you gave me a good sword at first, I can still use it well.”

It was a sword that was made with mythril and adamant, both rare metals. 

When one of the two swords that he was given had broken down, the mythril in that sword was smelted into the remaining sword. This was the sword that saved Iron’s neck and accompanied him in many battlefields. This was a sword that had been fully and perfectly tamed by Iron by tiptoeing the line of life and death across numerous battlefields. The sword itself was emitting subtle steel mana so it could be made into his steel mana sword in an instant. A sword that fits Iron the best than any other sword. And as holy power began to dwell in his body, the sword also began to emit a subtle holy power itself.

“Can you unsheathe it for a moment?” 

Iron gently pulled out his sword at Crimson’s request. 

Crimson smiled when he saw him pulling out the sword silently. He was able to see how hard Iron worked to be able to accomplish something like this. 

“You’ve completely tamed it.” 

The sword was emitting holy energy while being in a state that was completely assimilated with Iron’s mana. And although it was faint, Crimson could feel that the sword was already beginning to contain mana after countless mana resonations through the numerous battles that he had fought.

“I think it’s time for you to slowly think of a proper name to give your sword.”

“A… name?”

“It’s already growing up just like you but if you give it a name and resonate with it properly then I believe it will be a better sword than now.”

Crimson unsheathed his sword as he said so.

“Storm Sword Scar.”

The sword began to tremble at Crimson’s call. 

“It was the name of a hurricane that once came to the Northeastern coast. I gave my sword that name after recalling the hurricane that blew away the coastal city and some of the military units that showed me my own path.”

Crimson spoke about the decades of memories that he had spent. 

“It’s been a while since you have found your path so I think you’re actually already a bit late.”

“Is that so?”

He thought that he still had not grown enough to give his sword a name but he did recall that most of the people who had reached his level had already given their swords a name. 

“You should think about it.”

“Hoo… I see.”

He couldn’t help but sigh at the thought of deciding a name for his sword when he still hadn’t thought about his unit’s crest yet. 

“You should think about it slowly, it’s not that urgent… you should enjoy the rest of the festival with the remaining time.”

Iron smiled bitterly and bowed his head at Crimson after he smiled at him and left his side.

Iron then went out and walked along the road to enjoy the festival that celebrated the end of the Great Northern War. He headed to the place where Lintel currently was.

All of the Ghosts should have gathered here together and celebrated while having a drinking party. However, Lintel was sitting alone and sipping his alcohol quietly.

“You came?”

Lintel tapped the seat next to him when he saw Iron approaching.

“Did you go and see the Commander?”

“…Yes.”

“So, you’ve heard?”

Iron smiled bitterly at Lintel’s words. But Lintel just smiled at Iron. 

“It’s time for you to leave our nest now that you have become mister Brigadier General.”

Lintel laughed playfully as he ruffled Iron’s hair. 

“I’m the only one going out during this important time.”

Lintel grinned at Iron’s words.

“We’re just taking a bit of a break in between. Ghost has always been like this even before you came. There’s nothing new.”

The Ghost was the only unit with the highest mortality rate. After all, they were the unit that was always assigned to the most dangerous of operations. That was also the reason why he was able to see the deaths of plenty of his colleagues even before Iron came. This was the first time since Iron came that many of them had died. However, Lintel wasn’t that surprised since he had already experienced it before.

“Go and do well. If you’re tired, then come back.”

“…Yes.”

Iron bowed lightly as he answered Lintel’s words. 

The two of them shared the remaining alcohol as they enjoyed the festival while saying their goodbyes. 

Just like that, everyone spent the festival having fun and shaking off the sadness of the past so they could stand up and move forward once again.

And the next day…

Iron had started to gather the members of his unit. He gave each of the members of his troops to organize before gathering all of the recruits and rolling them hard first. 

Just like what he did in the North, he wanted to completely form their foundation first before letting them play in actual battles. And since this was his own unit, he created a training plan by fusing the experiences that he had both in his previous life and his current life. 

The knights, rangers and the members of the artillery troops arrived when the recruits were already thinking that hell was better than rolling around under Iron. 

The airship assault troops were delayed since they had to undergo special training before joining them. And the same was true for the drake troops. Unlike other places, the drake unit’s main task was procuring military supplies for them, however, thanks to the nature of the drakes, the need to undergo special training did not change. 

With the exception of those units, the rest of the troops had already arrived. 

Iron just looked at them coldly as he rolled the troops hard on the very first day of their arrival.

“There’s no exception. Do it together.”

This was the first order that Iron had given the troops that had arrived one after the other. There was no feeling of friendship even if they had fought together in the past. 

They had enough experience but their foundation remained poor so he wanted to do everything from the beginning and strengthen their foundations. In the case of the rangers, their recruits were given training that was three times harder than normal. Even the knights were not exempted.

“Why? Are you annoyed by this basic training since you’re all busy training your own swordsmanship?”

Iron smirked as he approached the rookie knight with a cocky expression on his face. 

“If you’re going to twist like that then come at me. You should know that I have only trained in basic swordsmanship, right? If you lose to me, you’ll only train in basic swordsmanship the whole day.”

The rookie knights, who had been indifferent to Iron’s threats, were properly disciplined. Of course it was a bonus for the senior knights to call out these rookie knights and step on them personally. 

When he was finally able to establish the foundation of his troops to some extent after overhauling them completely, Command called for Iron. Iron quickly rushed at their summons. 

“Long time no see.” 

Crimson welcomed Iron with a smile.

Although they were both in Command, it was extremely hard to see Iron since he was extremely busy with his unit. He was personally rolling his soldiers everyday and now he was even rolling the knights and the rangers. 

And because he was busy, it was almost impossible for him to meet with the Commander and the leisurely Ghosts. 

“I’m sorry for calling you when you’re busy but you have to go to Northern Command with me.”

“Did something happen again in the North?” 

Crimson looked at him strangely after seeing the serious look on Iron’s face.

“No monsters or beings of the void appeared.” 

“Then…” 

“Someone came from the Center.” 

Iron’s expression hardened at Crimson’s words.

“Are they asking for support?” 

“I think so too but there’s no dispatch letter from the Center.” 

“…Yes?” 

Iron looked blankly at Crimson’s unexpected answer. However, Crimson just shook his head. It seemed like he did not know the details too.

“I think we’ll have to go to know the details.”

Iron nodded heavily at his answer. 

They were able to use the warp gate immediately thanks to Northern Command keeping it open. So, they did not need to wait too long. Both Crimson and Iron arrived at the Northern Command with serious looks on their faces. They were sure that this matter was extremely urgent.

“It’s been a while since we saw each other. You look good with a star.”

Jayden Wicks turned to look at Iron and welcomed him who had now become a brigadier general. 

Iron immediately noticed who was the reason for their arrival here and looked at them firmly. 

“Nice to meet you. I’m ‘Wood’ one of the members of His Majesty’s secret unit.”

He smiled when he saw Iron tilting his head at his introduction.

“We are known to the people as ‘Shadow’ but…”

Iron’s eyes widened when he heard his words. Crimson and Jayden were not that much surprised. It seemed like they could guess as much. 

When the man saw Iron had calmed down to some extent, he used mana to block the sound around them. 

“I will be straightforward. The elves’ bodies that haven’t disappeared yet… we need them.”

***

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