People in high positions are satisfied just by giving orders and lounging around, or so thought a certain kingdom’s soldier.
This is probably because he works diligently every day.
The fires of war are approaching, but being someone who has only experienced bandit suppression, he might possess enough sense of justice to earnestly wish for the war to end quickly.
Today too, he continued to gaze ahead on the road beneath the dimly overcast sky.
“Haa.”
However, even with his serious nature, anxiety and dissatisfaction mingled, causing him to let out a deep sigh.
The majority of the soldiers on lookout duty were filled with similar feelings.
“Hey, I’m hungry.”
“Supplies are coming today, so we’ll be able to eat our fill then.”
This was a certain fort tasked with monitoring the Demon Lord’s Army.
There, on the watchtower, the soldiers grumbled about such things.
“Damn it, we’re freezing out here in this cold sky, while the higher-ups are probably sleeping soundly in warm rooms! On top of that, they’re feasting on large chunks of meat we can’t eat, guzzling wine, and are probably wrapped in wonderfully soft beds feeling amazing.”
The wind that whistled through was cold, as if to chill the earth warmed by the sun, mercilessly draining the soldiers’ body heat.
They wore thick mufflers, but even so, the cold metal armor seeped into their bodies.
This made them even more resentful of their superiors, especially those in positions like the fort captain, who dismissed their lookout duty as a simple job that anyone could do, and did not appreciate the soldiers’ work.
“We get just one potato and a bowl of soup with scraps of vegetables. They’re cutting back too much, even if supplies are delayed.”
While the soldier thought his colleague’s complaint might get him in trouble if the company commander heard it, the company commander was also asleep, so he didn’t reprimand him. Instead, he nodded in great agreement.
It was only recently that they had started to complain like this.
When the war first began, these soldiers were spirited, eager to kill the demons. But now, they spent their days ignoring their hunger with water, grumbling all the while.
“We soldiers are still better off, you know? Apparently, people left in the villages sometimes don’t even get to eat. In that respect, we’re fortunate just to get a meal.”
“…”
“What’s wrong? Worried about people back home?”
“That’s right. What about it?”
Feeling they couldn’t muster any strength like this, the soldiers continued to stare towards the horizon.
Towards the direction of a dungeon, far beyond their sight from here.
Unlike the city ruled by some corrupt lord, the soldiers in this place were well-trained and, despite grumbling, maintained their concentration.
“No, I also left my family behind in my hometown. I hope they can eat well with my salary.”
“Me too. I have a sister. She’s healthy, but she’s too strong-willed, so I’m worried no one will want to marry her.”
“If you want, I can take her.”
“Don’t mess with me. Who would give her to someone like you with a drinking problem?”
If they didn’t talk to distract themselves like this, their hunger would overwhelm them.
He managed to lighten the mood with a grin, masking the situation.
“…Hey, do you think that rumor is true?”
“Which rumor?”
If such a pretense could quell their hunger, it would be good, but the bodies of soldiers, whose work was fundamentally physical labor, never stopped craving sustenance.
Suppressing the rumbling of their stomachs, one of the soldiers looked for a topic to distract his companion.
The fact that he asked “which rumor” confirmed that they both knew about more than one, and the soldier hesitated for a moment on which to choose.
“Let’s go with the medicine one.”
“That’s not a casual topic to choose with ‘then.’ Our unit managed to avoid it somehow, but I heard a friend’s unit took it and went crazy?”
“It’s a ‘tomorrow’s misfortune’ kind of thing. The battalion commander is somehow refusing it, but I heard the higher-ups are considering introducing it. I don’t like the sound of it. Even the rumors say that if you drink it, you won’t be able to think straight.”
The other rumor would make them emotional if they started talking about it, so the choice made by elimination was also not a good one.
A secret medicine that was rumored among the soldiers. It seemed to be a divine medicine distributed by Tris’s priest, which greatly enhanced physical abilities.
The rumor was that it had side effects, like making one’s head go foolish.
“It’s like, they keep saying ‘for the gods’ and fight the demons, right?”
“Yeah. Another scary story is hearing that someone who hadn’t taken it got worried and, in the flow of that conversation, started talking about being an enemy of the gods and attacked them.”
“Ugh, I wouldn’t want to rely on someone like that on my back.”
“Relax, those kinds of people are usually sent to the front lines and never come back.”
“That’s no comfort at all.”
A shiver ran down his spine, sending a wave of coldness through him. It succeeded in diverting his attention from his hunger, but as a consequence, he displayed a grimace.
“Seriously, that’s a terrible story.”
“If we could say it’s just part of war, that would be one thing, but this is something else. What are the higher-ups thinking, wanting to use it so casually? Is it just about themselves?”
“It’s us, the ones at the bottom, who suffer.”
He reminisced about the days when they spoke of valor and rewards, but the words that came out were all gloomy.
“Let’s stop, let’s stop. If we keep talking about dark stuff like this, I’ll feel sick even if I’m not hungry.”
Sensing this, his fellow soldier waved his hand, trying to change the subject.
“Then, tell me something cheerful.”
“The divisional commander brought in a prostitute with a nice backside.”
“That’s going to make us sadder!”
“You’re right. So, what do you want to do when we have peace?”
“Peace? When will that ever come?”
After a slight slip, the safe question that followed struck the soldier at that moment as too unrealistic.
“It’s not like we’re going to be at war forever. Eventually, the Hero will defeat the Demon Lord and bring peace. History proves it. No matter what, we win in the end. If we can survive until then, we’ll be counted among the heroes. So, isn’t it okay to think about how to spend the money we’ll get in the future?”
Whether this soldier’s thinking was realistic or his companion’s was fanciful, there was no need to pursue it.
Yes, this was just casual conversation.
There was no deep meaning, no noble wish.
“…That’s right. First, I want to drink ale. Not the diluted ale from a cheap bar, but something a bit more expensive with a rich flavor.”
“Oh, nice. I’d want to add some sausages to that.”
“I want a whole roasted bird. Roasted with herbs would be perfect.”
They vaguely thought about what they wanted to do, ignoring the complaints of their hunger.
“Hey, hey, talking about that will just make me hungrier.”
“Shut up, you’re the one who brought it up.”
At that moment, the soldiers were thinking about what they wanted to do.
They would cherish the words exchanged now, to have them as a topic of future casual conversation.
“Then, I want a woman. A woman from a high-class establishment. You know, with a big bust and a tightly cinched waist.”
“You won’t be able to get a woman like that.”
“It’s fine! I’m sure I’ll be rich by then.”
A silly conversation between two men.
They could imprint the memory of enjoyment in their hearts.
The soldier thought: Ah, that was fun back then.
And he vaguely understood that it was a memory of the past.
Because his companion, who was talking happily about women with his shoulder touching his, was now:
“Die!! Enemies of God, all die!!”
Wielding his spear with a face contorted by madness, his companion, now with blood splattered on his cheeks, was slaughtering monsters. The soldier, lying on the ground, tried to stem the blood flowing from his stomach with his hands, and watched his companion, who, instead of flinching from a gigantic bear-like monster that would normally cause one to flee, thrust his spear without fear.
“Die! Die! Die! Die! Dieeeee!!”
Ah, he thought, my friend is gone. He wasn’t that brave.
He was a coward who resisted fear with all his might and focused on surviving desperately.
“Hahahaha!! Ah! God!! Please behold!! I shall slay your enemies for you!!”
He was a man who laughed often, but not like this, not in a mad fit. Not someone who acted as if he felt no pain when his right arm was probably broken.
He used to cry out loudly if he got even a slight injury.
But his companion, who was somehow endearing despite it all.
After defeating a monster, that companion, moving his battered body, lunged at the next monster, leaving the injured soldier behind and running off.
“Ah.”
His body gradually grew cold, which served as a catalyst for regaining his sanity.
He tried to call out for immediate help, but his voice wouldn’t come out properly. It was weak, like the buzzing of a mosquito. When he tried to force words out, his stomach threatened to erupt blood.
Without any concern for the dying companion, and leaving the other survivors around him unattended, his companion ran off into the depths of the dungeon, searching for enemies.
The soldier, whose thoughts had recently been consumed by madness, just like his friend who was changing so rapidly, now objectively realized his own impending death and, giving up, laid down the hand he had raised.
Why did it become like this? the soldier wondered with a hazy mind, but his memories were fragmented, and he could only recall snippets.
However, there was one thing he could be sure of: he went mad after drinking that medicine.
That much, he was sure of.
“I don’t want to die.”
And that was precisely why, with so many regrets, the soldier shed tears.
Forced to drink it by his superior’s orders, he was not allowed to spit it out. He and his companion had pretended to drink it in secret, but that didn’t last long.
As his colleagues became increasingly erratic, the time they could remain sane was short.
When it was discovered they hadn’t drunk it, their limbs were restrained, they were forced to drink it, and before he knew it, he was lying here, on the brink of death.
“Live, and see my sister get married…”
He no longer had strength in his fingertips. Even if he struggled to live to achieve his lingering desires, the soldier had no special powers.
The world before his eyes gradually turned black.
Ah, Sun God.
Why is the world so dark?
Where has the usual blue sky gone?
It’s cold.
Where has your warm sunlight gone?
It’s painful.
I fought for you, so why must I die?
It’s regrettable.
Why must I die?
Ah, God.
Why, why, why?
“Damn it.”
The soldier’s end, filled with questions about death, concluded with a curse directed at a god who offered no salvation.
His empty eyes, like those of a soul that had departed, reflected nothing more.
The corpse lying in the dungeon would eventually be absorbed by it.
Not even a corpse would remain.
Does a battlefield, with such a tragic end and no witnesses, have any meaning?
The soldiers, their minds burned with devotion to god, continued their march without so much as comforting their fallen comrades.
However, even this army of expendable soldiers advanced at a ponderous pace.
Ironically, the dungeon, modified to prevent its conquest by the Hero, wreaked its fury on the soldiers, showcasing its capabilities to the fullest.
They thought they had somehow reached the middle layers, and that their comrades would handle the rest.
But reality was harsh.
The area the soldiers had reached was merely the early stages for Lunaria.
Unaware of this, the soldiers did not know that the nightmare was just beginning.
Another side End
A word for today:
One must create something from harm to be rewarded.
Thank you for your continued feedback and corrections of typos.
If you find it interesting, please leave comments, ratings, and bookmarks.
Currently, we are serializing another work:
Pandora Pandemic Panic – Pandora’s Box Has Been Opened Again, but We’re Fighting Back with Bases and Various Other Things!!
Please check that one out as well!!
