Chapter 07
I already knew the monsters that appeared in the original work without needing to memorize them, but there was a lot of new monster knowledge I had to learn.
“If it’s a Grade-3 monster… it’s the common, run-of-the-mill type.”
Monsters were ranked from Grade 1 to Grade 4.
Grade 2 is dangerous, Grade 3 is ordinary, and Grade 4 is the kind of bug even ordinary imperial citizens — not just demi-humans — could catch.
“So the monsters we face will usually be Grade 2 or Grade 3.”
Grade 1 were the kind that even several well-trained demi-humans together wouldn’t beat — monsters you’d likely never see in a lifetime.
“How to fight skeletons.”
Plato fixed me with a sharp look and began asking questions.
“Target the joints of the bones, and in the end separate the head from the torso completely.”
“Habitat of gasts.”
“They live in underground places or caves where sunlight doesn’t reach.”
“How to deal with them?”
“They die in the light, so lure them into bright places; if that’s impossible, light a fire. Of course, you can always cut them all down with your swords.”
I remembered…
I could picture the scene in the original where Dalin, the heroine, went to deal with gasts but ended up unable to do anything and in danger, and Aquila saved her.
Because Aquila used fire-attribute aura, he could kill all those gasts at once, and seeing that, Dalin cried, thinking herself useless.
“If you know you’re useless, then train.”
But in the original Dalin didn’t go train after realizing her limits — instead she embraced Aquila in an underground space where light didn’t reach.
“Wah, Aquila-nim… I don’t understand why I can’t change anything….”
“No, you don’t need to try so hard. You don’t have to suffer. I’ll protect your body so not even a fingertip gets hurt. I swear on my name.”
After that came a long romantic description of how they hugged passionately for a while. Thinking about it still makes me mad.
“The original was supposed to be a romance fantasy, so why am I stuck in a military story?”
And Aquila in that original is a problem, too. He knows that because Dalin doesn’t work, the other unit members suffer — and yet he goes on about protecting her…what the hell.
“All right, you pass.”
While I stewed, recalling the original and letting my anger simmer, Plato seemed satisfied with my answer; he nodded and then started asking the recruit next to him, Kal, questions.
And unfortunately, Kal couldn’t answer right away….
“Hey! Ogre! Ogre! You still haven’t memorized the monsters’ names? You know you’ll be sent into real combat in a week — if you want to die, you should’ve said so now! We’ll kill you ourselves before the monsters do!”
I offered my condolences as I watched Plato launch a kick straight at Kal.
“Just hold on for seven years, eleven months, eight days….”
“Plato-nim! Big problem!”
At that moment our senior Ishina came running in a panic. I turned my head toward her for an instant, then quickly returned to my spot before Plato noticed.
“What’s wrong?”
“A Grade-3 monster ghoul has appeared in the village just below the mountain! We have to go on emergency dispatch now, so April-nim ordered everyone to quickly pack up and get ready to go…!”
“A ghoul?”
Plato’s expression darkened.
“Understood. Ishina, you go back first. I’ll explain the situation to the others and then pack up and go.”
“I understand.”
“Emergency dispatch?”
A Grade-3 ghoul isn’t an especially dangerous monster for demi-humans. We, being green recruits, would have a hard time, but Ishina, who’s three months ahead of us, could handle a ghoul on her own without trouble.
“So there’s no need to be this tense just because a ghoul showed up…”
If a ghoul had come down into the village that’d be a problem, but ghouls aren’t very fast — people could evacuate in time. We’d just move quickly and deal with the ghoul.
“Recruits, listen up and steel yourselves.”
Plato looked at us with a stern face.
“Sarubia, do you remember the traits of a Grade-3 ghoul?”
“Yes. They look somewhat human but aren’t fully human. They stand on two legs but are hunched forward and look unstable; they’re extremely hideous, make guttural noises, live in underground places or graveyards, and rarely come out into the light…”
As I answered Plato, I realized something and stopped mid-sentence.
Seeing this, Plato slowly nodded as if confirming whatever I’d noticed.
“That’s right, ghouls don’t usually come down into the village. Also, there’s no community cemetery in this village — they bury people on the mountain — so there’s really no reason for a ghoul to appear here.”
A bad feeling crept over me.
“The fact that a ghoul that used to live in a shady forest graveyard came down into the village means…”
Damn. I had the sense that something similar had happened in the original novel.
“It means a monster far stronger than a ghoul has appeared in the mountain.”
It probably wasn’t a Grade-2. Monsters generally kept to their territories and lived their lives in a sort of uneasy balance.
So this meant…
“A Grade-1 monster has appeared on the mountain. We’re going to exterminate it.”
“…Is this possibly a dead flag?”
“Sarubia, are you ready? Yuri! Help her pack her stuff!”
“Understood.”
The cramped barracks were strewn with belongings, and April, flipping through her notebook and packing, looked very busy.
Yuri, the tall senior with black hair tied back, came over to help April since she was busy. Normally Yuri didn’t like me at all and wouldn’t speak to me first; now, forced by orders, she helped me with a cold demeanor.
“Recruits, you learned how to pack your kit, right? Pack it in front of me, quickly.”
“Yes, understood.”
“Wait, that’s bulky — shouldn’t you put that at the bottom first?”
“Ah, sorry…!”
“Hey, why’d you put that there?”
‘Do they even know my name?’ I grumbled inwardly at Yuri’s coldness. It always felt like the seniors here didn’t consider me human.
Anyway, once I’d packed everything the way Yuri wanted, I dashed to the parade ground and lined up with the other recruits.
“Is everyone ready?”
Our platoon leader stood on the platform with a stiff expression.
“Ghouls were spotted in the village. Gamma Squadron is handling them, and Alpha Squadron — us — will go deal with the Grade-1 monster in the mountain. We need to kill the Grade-1 before it descends on the village. Beta Squadron has been warned and will meet us soon. We’ve requested support from other companies as well.”
Even Plato, Leon, and Louise — the seniors who always seemed so capable to me — all looked tense.
“We are the Border Defense Force. We follow the nation’s orders, so officially our mission is to exterminate the Grade-1 monster.”
What the platoon leader said next made my whole body go rigid.
“But our goal is survival.”
I rolled my eyes surreptitiously to look at my immediate senior, Ishina, without being noticed.
In the month since enlistment I’d grown attached to my seven fellow recruits to some extent — even Aquila, with whom I hadn’t exchanged a proper word.
If my comrades were wiped out… I couldn’t even imagine what Ishina would feel like.
If it were me, I’d go insane. Ishina is the original male lead type, though, so maybe his mental fortitude is something else. Is this the trendy “kind on the surface, mastermind behind the scenes” thing?
‘More importantly, I need to survive,’ I thought.
“We cannot retreat before a Grade-1 monster. If we retreat, the villagers are finished. We must fight with our lives on the line.”
Someone swallowed hard.
“But that doesn’t mean you should give up your lives. Cling to life with everything you’ve got. I don’t want to lose a single squad member. That’s all.”
When the platoon leader finished, a solemn, resolute atmosphere settled over the soldiers lined on the parade ground.
My heart began pounding hard too.
Before enlistment, I’d cursed each day of my life under the orphanage director’s scorn.
After enlistment, I’d suffered through brutal training and been yelled at by seniors for the slightest mistake, cursing the identity of this world.
But even amid those terrible days, I’d never experienced tension like this.
“All right — move out!”
I followed the marching line with my awkward, broken gait. The heavy pack on my back at least kept me anchored in reality.
Looking around, I saw others walking as awkwardly as I was. Kal, especially, was visibly terrified — his arms and legs were all over the place.
Damn — seeing my comrades so nervous only made me more nervous. A vicious cycle….
“Tsk, what a mess….”
April’s voice cut through the cold silence. Her blond hair shone more brightly than usual as she looked us over with a disdainful air.
“Why are you all so tense?”
The other seniors snapped into action.
“Think carefully whether the monsters are scarier or we are.”
“Ha — you’d better not bolt when you see a monster later. Remember, if a monster appears in front of you, we’re directly behind you.”
“Don’t worry. If you don’t make mistakes, you won’t die. Of course, if you screw up, we’ll kill you ourselves before the monsters do.”
‘Wow, tension just evaporated!’
Hearing the seniors tearing into us like that made the fear of monsters ebb.
‘Yeah — what’s scarier than those people?’
Facing those humans might be worse than facing monsters. If a monster pisses you off, you can kill it — you can’t stage a mutiny against these people….
Considering that failure on the monster hunt would trigger hellish scoldings starting with April, a fierce will to somehow succeed flared up inside me.
‘I’ll do it. I will definitely do it.’
Humans built pyramids — surely we could slay a Grade-1 monster.
“Elliot, what are we going to do about this?”
April, walking at the head of the column, whispered in a low voice to their commanding officer Elliot so the recruits wouldn’t hear.
Elliot, always bored with everything, was one of the most experienced in the unit and someone April trusted.
“What can you do? Kill the Grade-1 monster and come back.”
“The recruits have been enlisted for less than a month. This isn’t the right time to send them into real combat. There’s no way they can handle a Grade-1.”
“Then what? Should we tell them to stay guarding the camp like cowards and leave it at that? You know we have to follow orders from above.”
“Just recently, the 89th batch lost five people to a Grade-2 monster.”
“Which is why you pushed the recruits so hard this time. If you’d been that intense for another day, they might have all deserted. April, you’re brutal.”
April flicked their lips and finally said what was on their mind.
“…Even so, you know someone’s going to die anyway.”
