Chapter 31 : Merits awards (5)
The 7th corps arrived at Ipen’s castle, located at the eastern parts of Rinse kingdom, after 10 days of marching.
The lord of Ipen’s castle and the commander of the 7th corps, baron Aaron Tate, started to do a merits award for the troops before they left to their respective headquarters.
The turn of rose troop was quite near the end, so they made camp and rested.
The time where generals and commanders obviously lie down but also normal soldiers rest while completely lying down.
But Roan used that time to train on his spear skills.
‘I have to master the things I remember the fastest possible.’
The Pierce spearmanship, which he mastered and learnt for the past 20 years while roaming the battlefield.
And even excluding that, he remembered quite many spear skills, combat skills, etc.
‘I have to train and keep training until my body moves on its own.’
Ever since Roan returned to the past, he had pushed himself to the limits.
Because of that, his strength, stamina, movements, and of course, spear skills got so good it became noticeable to the eyes.
‘Pierce’s help was also big.’
Roan threw away his personal time and kept training on Pierce’s spear stances.
‘Because of that he could grind and polish his senses to be more sensitive.’
Although his skills wasn’t as good as before he died, but even so, it was quite close.
‘Even so, it’s still lacking.’
The moment he gets satisfied he would stagnate.
Roan whipped himself in case he got lazy.
He focused on training his spear skills on an empty ground on the corner of the camp as usual.
Blow.
His hair blows because of the west wind.
Pabat!
His spear dances while cutting through the wind.
Spear skills that don’t have any unnecessary movements.
His spear skills that were for practical use slowly started to become softer.
‘Huh?’
Then, he felt a presence approaching him.
“Whew.”
He breathed out slowly and stopped his spear.
At the same time, a big builded man appeared.
A really familiar face.
It was vice squad commander Austin.
“Sir adjutant Roan.”
Quite excited words.
“What happened?”
As Roan smiled faintly and asked back, Austin raised his thumb.
“Our turn finally came.”
He smiled so brightly to the point his teeth showed and continued saying.
“It’s finally sir adjutant Roan’s turn for the merits awards.”
“Ah….”
Roan let out a low exclamation.
‘Has it been 4 days since we arrived at Ipen’s castle?’
Meanwhile, quite a lot of troops finished their merits awards and returned to their own headquarters.
‘My turn finally came.’
He had already decided on what he wanted.
‘I have to get inside Brent’s library.’
It won’t be hard.
The current Brent’s library was nothing but a name.
Although the nobles were allowed to get in, it had been quite a while that even they hadn’t got in.
‘It’s a situation where they shouldn’t deny my proposal to sightsee the library.’
But of course, this was Roan’s thoughts.
“Sir adjutant Roan.”
Austin asked once more time to the absent minded Roan.
Only then did Roan nod late.
“Right. Should we go?”
Roan slowly moved his feet.
As he crossed the camp and arrived at the troop commander’s tent that was in the middle of the camp, Gale was already outside waiting for him.
“Your turn finally came. You waited long, right?”
“That’s not true.”
Roan slightly bent down.
Gale took a step and continued saying.
“If it’s the commander of the army corps, you will be able to ask him anything. Then, tell him honestly, without being aware of him.”
He kept explaining Roan about Aaron’s temperament, and the methods about the merits award while moving towards Ipen’s castle.
‘So he likes direct things rather than hitting around the bush.’
Roan put a smile.
These little bits of informations become a great strength later on.
Meanwhile, Gale and Roan passed through the castle’s door and arrived at the headquarters of the army corps.
“Sir!”
The soldiers that were guarding the entrance, noticed Gale and saluted.
Gale nodded lightly and moved his feet.
He was really excited about what price would Roan get on the merits awards.
“It’s troop commander Gale from rose troops, and class 5 adjutant Roan.”
As soon as they informed to the assembly, the huge door opened.
‘It’s big.’
The scale of the assembly was quite big.
The ceiling was high and the space was wide.
Wooden chairs, that had long backrest, were aligned to the sides and on a slightly higher platform on the center, a huge table was placed.
‘Corps commander Aaron Tate.’
Beyond the table, they could see Aaron.
He was in the middle of looking at the many gathered documents.
Gale stood in front of the table and saluted.
“It’s troop commander Gale, from rose troop.”
Roan also bent down, following him.
“It’s class 5 adjutant Roan, from rose troop.”
Only then did Aaron, that was busy with the documents, raise his head.
The 6 middle aged men that were seated next to him put interesting expressions.
‘So that guy is Roan.’
‘He is called the ghost of the battlefield.’
‘The guy with the biggest merits in our 7th corps.’
The middle aged men were staff officers that served Aaron.
Although their ranks was that of staff officer, it could be said that they were one rank higher than Gale.
‘So troop commander Richard of the special troop wants him huh?’
‘Then it really means that he’s a fine guy.’
‘Should I bring him to our side?’
The eyes of the staff all check of Roan’s body.
And Roan also didn’t not notice their sights and interest.
‘I will do what I have to.’
Right now, he had to get in Brent’s castle, and after that he would get a vacation and go to Potter’s region.
There were no plans at all about moving to another troop or serving another troop commander.
“Mendel. Read the merits report.”
At Aaron’s words, a middle aged man that was next to him and looked modest took out a thick piece of paper and extended it.
“I will start from when he discovered the goblin army waiting in ambush at Ale gorge.”
Mendel started to read the merits Roan achieved minutely from when he returned to the past. Just like the inundation tactic, and what he did on Pedian’s plain.
Just by saying that there were more than ten monster commanders he had slain, everybody sighed in amazement.
On top of that, at the word of having rescued the allied troops that were about to get annihilated, everybody put surprised expressions.
‘Didn’t they say that he had just finished his training?’
‘For an 18 year old guy to render this kind of merits!’
‘He rendered even more merits than what I have heard.’
The staff got astounded and looked at Roan.
On the other hand, Aaron’s expression was still calm.
He opened his eyes sharply and looked at Roan’s body in detail.
‘He wouldn’t be hiding his identity, right?’
Aaron got up and moved next to Roan.
Mendel got surprised for a moment, but he didn’t stop reading the report.
Swish.
Aaron grabbed Roan’s wrist.
‘Huh?’
Roan hurriedly lowered his head and frowned.
‘What is it?’
He couldn’t understand the sudden actions.
And then, a weird feeling entered from the wrist.
Just as if he was tickled with a cold feather.
It was a feeling that Roan also knew about.
‘It’s mana.’
He had also been through this quite few times because of Pierce, in his past life.
And now, Aaron was pouring his mana inside of Roan.
Actions to check if Roan had mastered some kind of mana or not.
‘Is he dubious about me?’
Roan bit his lower lips.
There was no need to unnecessarily buy suspicion.
He softened his stiff expression and lent him his wrist.
“Whew.”
After a moment, Aaron spat a long breath and returned to his place.
A difficult smile was on his face, which you wouldn’t be able to discover if you didn’t see his mouth in detail.
‘He had never learnt mana. Then…….’
It meant that he had slain the monster commanders with simple spear skills.
‘He slayed an orc troop commander with spear skills that don’t contain mana?’
An honestly difficult merit to believe.
‘Was he lucky? Or were his spear skills that outstanding?’
Whatever side it was, it was clear that it was a big strength.
‘If he was lucky, so be it. If his spear skills are excellent, then there is a need for that.’
Soon, happiness could be seen on Aaron’s face.
“WIth this, I will finish the report.”
Meanwhile, the report about Roan’s merits had finished.
“Amazing.”
A really amazed voice.
“It’s a really amazing merit.”
“There’s no flaw in it.”
“It’s outstanding.”
Even the staff officers that were listening to it, raised their thumbs.
“I was lucky.”
Roan lowered his head.
A not excessive humility.
He didn’t want to hide the merits.
Aaron stared at Roan’s face as if he was going to pierce it, and then asked bluntly.
“As the merit is this big, the reward must also be big. Is there something you want?”
It came.
Gale slightly bent down and gave him eye signs.
‘If there’s anything you want, say it honestly.’
He remembered the advice Gale told him when they were coming to the headquarters.
Roan slightly bent down and looked at Aaron.
“There is one thing I want.”
“Oh.”
Aaron let out a slight exclamation.
He was thinking maybe, but he hadn’t expected that he really had something he wanted.
He continued saying with an interesting expression.
“It’s good because your character is fresh. Right, tell me. If it’s not excessive, I will listen to you.”
Roan breathed in.
An instinctive choice.
A really short silence made Aaron restless.
Roan smiled faintly and laughed while replying with a low voice but with strength.
“I want to see Brent’s library.”
Boom.
At that instant, Aaron’s face get clearly contorted.
Not only him, the faces of the staff and even Gale’s got nicely contorted.
‘Brent library?’
‘He only wants to see Brent’s library for his reward?’
‘Isn’t he out of his mind?’
They all seemed prostrated.
Aaron got ahold of himself late and forced a laugh.
“Ho! So you want to see Brent’s library? Is that really the only thing you want?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
Roan slightly bent down.
He understood how Gale, the staff and Aaron were thinking.
‘They shouldn’t be able to understand as to why I want to go and see an old library that nobody visits.’
Even Roan, if it wasn’t for that object, he wouldn’t even have looked at it.
And then, a bald man that was seated next to Aaron frowned and said.
“But wanting to see Brent library means……..”
He dimmed the last part and put an expression as if it was hard to believe.
“Do maybe you know how to read?”
At those words, it was obvious for Aaron, but even Gale put a really surprised expression.
‘He knows about letters?’
‘He knows how to read?’
Something they hadn’t thought about.
‘Right. If it’s the guy that developed that appalling strategy and tactic, he may be able to write and read.’
Everybody looked at Roan with expressions saying maybe.
Roan smiled faintly and replied shortly.
“Yes. I’m able to read and write.”
“Oh!”
Aaron let out a loud exclamation.
‘For a guy that was only a normal soldier until just now knows how to read and write, huh.’
Knowing words was an outstanding ability.
Excluding the staff officers of the 7th corps, the troops commanders and some adjutants, nobody knew about words.
There was no one among normal soldiers that knew how to read and write.
And actually, even in Roan’s case, he could barely get the chance to learn after his mid thirties.
Because as he became squad commander from the 1st spearmen squad, he became in need to know how to do so.
‘Well, it’s also partly because of Pierce.’
To read the letters Pierce sent him at times, he need to learn the words.
‘If I learnt a bit earlier, the path to success should have opened much faster.’
And that was also one of the regrets in his choices.
Anyways, the Roan right now knew how to read and write at the age of 18.
‘The more I know about him, the more I want him.’
‘If I can only bring him below me, I will be able to use him well.’
The eyes of the staff officers start to shine with a conspicuous color.
Rolar felt that he heard noises of his body’s worth rising.
Gale bit his lower lip.
‘Whatever I do, I have to hold him to stay with me. I can’t get this competent person to be stolen by another person.’
Regret came flowing late.
‘It shouldn’t have been 5 class, but I should have at least made him class 3 adjutant.’
But it wasn’t late yet.
‘I will have to reward him once again.’
Gale’s eyes shone and emitted light.
Then, Aaron’s voice was heard.
“If you know how to read and write, somewhere like Brent’s library is quite a charming place. Although it is worn out and old, it’s still one of the best libraries in the western parts of Rinse kingdom. But……”
The last part of his sentence blurs.
A weird expression shows on his face.
“Because Brent library hasn’t been taken care of well, it’s no different to ruins. Rather than sight seeing that worn out library, what about receiving another reward?”
He lightly clapped his hands.
At the back side of the assembly, one soldier appeared with a cool spear and two fist sized leather bags.
“It’s a spear I bought when I went to the capital of Miller. It was made by one of the blacksmith that’s on the top three of Rinse kingdom, by making tests over and over. I will give you this and silver coins. How is it?”
A gently asking voice.
Roan looked at the spear and the two leather bags.
‘It’s certainly a good spear. And there are plenty of silver coins. But……….’
He had the travias spear with him, which he couldn’t use yet, and if he got determined on it, he would be able to earn a much higher amount of money.
There was only one thing he needed the most right now.
It was permission to get in Brent library.
‘It’s taking a risk.’
Roan lowered his head.
“There’s nothing I desire aside of seeing Brent library.”
A polite yet firm way of talking.
At that moment, Mendel frowned.
“How conceited. You dare to our corps commander………”
“It’s fine.”
Aaron shook his hand and smiled faintly.
‘How funny. Does it mean that a good spear and two bags of silver is lacking?’
He interlocked his fingers and rested his chin on it.
“Fine. Then I will raise your rank to class 3 adjutant. And if you want, I will also give you a small house near rose troop’s headquarters.”
Exceptional manners and conditions.
‘Even so, will you still keep insisting that you want to see Brent library?’
An expression as if he was dying to know what kind of answer he will give.
Aaron’s corner of eyes and mouth busily raise up and down.
‘Is he testing me?’
Roan slightly turned up his head and looked at Aaron’s two eyes.
He remembered the words Gale had said.
‘The corps commander doesn’t like dressing things up, and likes direct things.’
Then, the direct action was the best.
Roan lowered his head again and replied.
“I have already received many rewards at the merits awards. I received a prize and I also became an adjutant. The spear and prize you have told me about, give that to the ordinary soldiers that risked their lives at the front. It’s because of them that the battle at Ale gorge, inundation tactic at Prely river, and the subjugation of Pedian’s plain turned out to be a victory.”
“Oh.”
Aaron, the staff and Gale all let out exclamations.
‘Good.’
‘He has the qualities of a good commander.’
‘Excellent.’
A satisfied expression.
Roan looked at Aaron’s face for a moment and bent his head.
“There’s nothing aside seeing Brent library that I desire.”
“Mmm.”
A low exclamation flowed from Aaron’s mouth.
“So you say that you will deny the promotion, house, the spear bought from the kingdom and the silver coin bags, right?”
“Yes.”
Roan was still with his head lowered.
Aaron just looked at him and shook his head.
“Brent library is a place that is only possible to enter by nobles…….”
He dimmed the last part of the sentence and clapped his hands.
Clap!
A light sound.
“Fine. If that’s your wish, I can only listen to it.”
At that instant a bright smile appeared from Roan, that was bending his head.
‘It’s done.’
He hid his expression and replied with a voice filled with strength.
“Thank you.”
He got the thing he wanted.
At least until now, everything was happening as he wanted.
< Merits awards (5) > End
Translator’s note:
Thanks for reading!
Translator : Subak