“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please spare me! It was Sergeant Chomo who put the poison in! He incited us to do it!”
“Poison? Is there poison in this wine? Surely not.”
Hazen feigns an expression as if he’s just learned of this for the first time.
“I don’t want you to misunderstand. Sergeant Chomo tried to attack his superior, so I punished him in accordance with military regulations. Rebellion is a capital offense, you see. If I were to acknowledge that there’s poison in this wine, I’d have to execute you all…in accordance with military regulations, of course.”
“…Hic, hic, hic.”
Sergeant Zerega moans, drooling.
“I’ll ask again. Is there poison in this wine?”
The young man with blood-stained black hair quietly inquires.
“There is…none.”
“I see. That’s good.”
Hazen gives an innocent smile. Seeing this expression, Sergeant Baz, who had answered, feels like he’s cheated death.
“So you can drink it, right?”
“…Huh?”
Everyone looks at him in disbelief. What on earth is this man saying? There’s no way they can drink it. After all, it had poison in it.
But…
“It’s the wine poured by your superior officer, with no poison in it. There’s no reason you can’t drink it, is there?”
“…!”
He’s trying to make them drink it. The poisoned wine they themselves had prepared, he’s trying to make them drink it and commit suicide.
“Hic…hic…hic…”
Sergeant Dickett’s body oozes all kinds of bodily fluids.
“I have a family! Please, have mercy!”
“Unfortunately, the fun socializing comes after the toast. That’s common sense, isn’t it?”
“Hic, nooo! Please, have mercy!”
“You have a family, don’t you? If, by chance, you were to suffer an accidental death by drinking this wine, it would be considered a martyrdom under imperial military regulations. I also intend to provide generous compensation to the families of my fallen subordinates.”
“……”
“But if you say you can’t drink this wine, that means you’ve laced it with poison against me. That would be an act of rebellion. Of course, your family would receive no compensation, and you’d immediately share the same fate as this former Sergeant Chomo.”
Hazen picks up the head, smiling cheerfully and carefree.
“…Will you really treat it as a martyrdom?”
“Yes, of course.”
“……”
Sergeant Baz recalls his wife and children back home. He’s going to die. But if at least some money can be left for his family as a survivor’s pension, he tightly shuts his eyes and regrets his past actions. This year, he became a sergeant, unable to disobey Sergeant Chomo’s orders and simply following whatever he was told. And now, the consequences have come.
“Well, shall we have a toast? Drink it all down in one go, please.”
“……Huh?”
Everyone trembled as they held up their cups.
“Cheers!”
Sergeant Bazz, Samua, and Zerega tilted their cups back and drank it all, but Sergeant Dicket’s hand shook as he didn’t move his cup.
“Please! Help me! I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die, I don’t want to–“
Before he could make his third plea for his life, Sergeant Dicket’s head suddenly flew off, rolling to the ground.
“You are unfit to be a soldier. You want to kill others, but you don’t even have the resolve to die.”
Hazen spat those words at the headless body kneeling on the ground. Then, he poured the same wine into the cups of the three struggling men and brought it to his own lips.
“Don’t worry. This is just regular wine.”
“Wha…what??”
The three sergeants looked at him with amazed expressions.
“It was a simple trick. Didn’t you notice? While you were focused on my cup, I switched the position of the poisoned wine. You need to sharpen your insight more.”
Hazen picked up the bottle of poisoned wine and laughed.
” …… “
“……Well?”
“Yes, sir!”
Their voices all perfectly synchronized.
“Pass this on to the lower ranks. I follow military rules and regulations strictly. I show no mercy to those who go against them. Tomorrow, you will all firmly hammer home the importance of this with the heads of those two.”
“Y-yes, sir!”
The three immediately stood up and saluted rigidly.
“Very good. Now, I’ll step out to clean myself, so feel free to enjoy the delicious food and wine in the meantime.”
Hazen said as he left the room.
*
That night, Hazen was dreaming. Of his former self, before obtaining his new body. His emaciated figure, barely able to support itself, was visible in the water. That’s when he realized.
This was footage of his final moments before death.
A body that had existed for 200 years on another continent.
“So this is the end of the one hailed as the greatest mage in history. How pitiful.”
He heard the familiar voice of his former disciple. Lying there was himself, clutching his heart and writhing in agony, struggling to reach for his medicine during the seizure.
An undignified death. But it didn’t matter. That was the nature of aging. Everyone grows old and dies. That is the way of all things.
However, Hazen had been conducting an experiment.
One that risked his very life and soul.
The result didn’t matter.
Whether it was his destined fate to die.
Or whether.
God or demon would smile upon him.
And in the end.
The demon smiled.
Hazen awoke in his youthful body.
It happened 3 years ago.
*
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
At 5 am, the sunlight roused Hazen. He went straight to the washstand, thoroughly brushed his teeth, splashed cold water on his face, and quickly changed clothes. In less than 5 minutes, his preparations were complete, and he headed to the dining hall.
He went to the kitchen and gave instructions to the cooks: distribute the food equally regardless of rank, allow two helpings, and only three cups of alcohol at night. Proper nutrition is the foundation of training. They also need sufficient quantity for the soldiers’ leisure time.
The cooks, although apprehensive, nodded in understanding, having already heard about the previous day’s events.
At 7 am, Hazen arrived at the training ground to find everyone already lined up, their faces tense. They no longer seemed to have any desire to rebel after the previous day’s incident.
“Well, let’s begin the training.”
Hazen gave instructions calmly. First, he had them run just as they had the day before.
“The most important thing in battle is movement speed. Excess fat. We must shed this first.”
“…Yes, sir,”
Sergeant Zerega said through gritted teeth as Hazen gripped the flesh on his sides.
Unlike the previous day, everyone finished within an hour.
“Good. Let’s do it again.”
“…Yes, sir!”
They repeated the exercise without complaint. Another hour passed, and a few people collapsed. Hazen had them run additional laps.
“The rest of you will do squats, crunches, and back exercises. Work in pairs and push each other’s bodies to the limit. Faster movement can mean the difference between life and death.”
“Yes, sir!”
The responses came without hesitation. They were originally front-line soldiers. They likely had an innate understanding that obeying the strongest would help them survive.
After the morning training, it was lunchtime. The menu was a steamed dish made with the fish called Abito. Almost everyone eagerly dug in, their eyes shining. But there were a few who struggled to eat, probably due to the intensity of the training. Hazen gave them a longer break and waited until their appetites returned.
“Eating is the foundation of physical conditioning. Even in emergencies where you can’t eat for days, you must force yourself to eat. “
” Yes! “
“The amount you receive won’t change, even if I give you extra rest time. Your training will just be pushed back.”
“Understood, sir.”
In the afternoon, they began sword training, practicing in pairs in a mock combat scenario, switching partners every 5 minutes. Among them, one stood out, skillfully deflecting the blows with a soft touch.
“Sergeant Bazz”
“Yes!”
“Are you good at swordsmanship?”
“Yes!”
“Then, take the role of the instructor. Choose two other skilled ones and have them teach as well.”
“Yes!”
Sergeant Bazz called out excitedly. After that, he had one person wear heavy armor, and they conducted joint attack training in a group of three. Here too, Sergeant Bazz and the privates he had chosen, Private Salima and Private Abanda, took on the instructor roles.
As the day drew to a close, the signal for the end of training was given. Immediately, everyone collapsed. Apparently, they had pushed themselves to the limit.
“Good work. In 30 minutes, it’s time for a meal. Take a 15-minute break and head to the dining hall immediately. You can have up to two servings and up to three cups of alcohol.”
“Eh? Does that apply to anyone?”
A new recruit asked with a surprised expression.
“This month, the 8th platoon is not on guard duty. However, drinking too much is at your own risk. Also, I won’t allow any reduction in training intensity due to poor physical condition. Everyone will do the same intense training.”
“…Yes!”
The new recruit replied in a bright voice. The sergeant looked at him with somewhat complex expressions. Probably, Sergeant Chomo and the others had been hogging the alcohol.
Hazen left the training ground and returned to his room. While reading in the free time, the meal was brought. He quickly ate one serving and had two more servings brought, which he gave to Lei Fa. She had concentrated muscle strength, so she needed more than double the energy.
After the meal, he called out Corporal Edal. He had the highest administrative capabilities in the platoon. Edal had been instructed to summarize the time and location of the engagement with the Diode Duchy and the time and location of the Kumin tribe attack. Hazen quickly reviewed the materials he had prepared and closed them.
“Good materials. No problems. Please continue to prepare this for tomorrow as well.”
“Eh, you’ve already read through it?”
“More or less. I’m good at speed reading. You should try training it too. If you can read a page in a second, it will save you a lot of time in life.”
“…Haha.”
Corporal Edal let out a wry smile. Hazen tilted his head, wondering if he had said something strange.
“By the way, can you also do an analysis? Please predict the areas where the Kumin tribe will appear.”
“Understood.”
“If you feel that the compensation for this is not paid, let me know. I’ll consider it and take appropriate action.”
“But…this is also a part of my duties.”
“Duties have associated compensation. The constant training, guard duty, and combat operations that everyone does are just part of their paid work. This is extra work, so you should receive compensation for it.”
Hazen persuaded the hesitant Corporal Edal. Hazen disliked the method of vaguely dangling the prospect of promotion and manipulating people at will. If he considered only their abilities and achievements in utilizing his subordinates, there would likely be fewer dissatisfied individuals.
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