Chapter 32

‘No, I shouldn’t get too excited.’

Get a hold of yourself. This is a grim, post-apocalyptic world where people are struggling to survive.

But…

Schloitz is still alive and there are Opats as well. Maybe it would be not too bad this time. And maybe I can be of some help?

…I thought, but then I remembered the scenes from the novel where knights were dying one after another as they wielded 80 Holy Swords at a time.

‘I need to be careful to survive.’

Rafael and I were heading to the central mansion where Commander-in-Chief Schloiz’s office was located. Unlike yesterday, it was very crowded. I wondered what was going on… but Rafael’s eyebrows were furrowing deeper, and his eyes were gradually widening.

“It seems that the January Corps has returned.”

“The January Corps? Ah.”

The divisions in the military were named after the months, and among them, the January Corps was known for having the most intense missions. That’s why it was directly under the Commander-in-Chief’s command and usually handled dangerous missions like exploring monster strongholds. It seemed that they had just returned from such a mission.

By the way, Rafael was also a direct subordinate of the Schloitz. He must have some kind of relationship with the January Corps, either professionally or personally, right?

I glanced at him briefly, but Rafael just continued to walk calmly with his characteristic smile. On the other side, people who had noticed Rafael were smiling warmly at him.

“Sir Rafael?.”

“Yes, Commander Vlandea.”

“Aren’t you going to greet them?”

“I can’t. I’m currently on a mission.”

“…A mission?”

“I’m currently assisting Commander Vlandea. Personal greetings can wait.”

I blinked. It was then.

“Rafael Clovis.”

The man strode toward us and spoke to Rafael. My eyes almost grew wider than Rafael’s for a moment.

‘Is that… him?’

The thought crossed my mind, and I couldn’t help but speak up.

“It’s okay to greet him, Sir Rafael.”

“Thank you.”

Rafael smiled and turned his attention to the man who had come up to him.

“Dios!”

‘Wow, it really is him.’

My attention was immediately drawn to the man with bronze-colored hair. In the original story, if there was someone in Enricor’s group who could be called an eccentric, it would be this rugged-looking man, Dios, who was also Schloitz’s subordinate.

In fact, in the original story, he even appeared as the Second-in-Command, but the current Second-in-Command was someone else entirely.

‘Actually, what’s even stranger is Rafael. I’ve never seen this character in the original story, not even once.’

In other words…

I had never seen Rafael in the original story at the point where I am now. This meant that…

I couldn’t help but feel a bit uneasy as the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.

If he had been an ordinary knight, I would have thought he had left the service, but…. Rafael Clovis was the third in command.

In the Kingdom of La Zac, the Commander-in-Chief wields a great deal of power, but the Third in Command, the direct subordinate of the Commander-in-Chief, is not a position that can be given up easily. Moreover, the Clovis family was a noble family, but a lowly one.

To put it bluntly, they weren’t even an outstanding enough family to give up the position of third-in-command.

‘There should be at least seven families like that.

I could only think of one reason for Raphael’s absence.

I realized that Rafael was already dead at the beginning of the original story, when the main character, Luri, joins the military.

Once I realized that, I felt a little sad.

Of course, my speculation could be wrong. Maybe he suddenly got passionate about something and decided to throw everything away and leave the military. But… looking at Rafael’s enthusiasm, the chances of that seemed extremely low.

One thing was certain; I would have to wait and see.

I didn’t have much time to think about it. Dios turned his gaze toward me. With his steel-like eyes, he opened his mouth..

“Who is this?”

“Oh, this is Lady Vlandea Lefevre. She’s the First-in-Command, so you should address her as Commander. And this is Dios Ezell, the Fourth-in-Command.”

Rafael introduced us, and Dios’s icy eyes turned even colder.

“So Lefevre is reaching its influence all the way to the military now”

With that, he gave a curt nod as a greeting and quickly left.

“…”

It was barely a greeting, more like a perfunctory nod. It was just enough not to appear outright rude.

“That guy!”

While I stood there quietly, Rafael raised his voice. He seemed to be at a loss for what to do.

“I’m sorry. That’s just his personality….

“It’s okay.”

“Don’t worry about that comment.”

“I’m not, after all, without me, Opats wouldn’t be of any use, right?”

“Yeah, that’s true. That guy worries about everything unnecessarily…”

Listening to Rafael’s awkward voice, I shifted my gaze. In fact, even in the original work, Dios and Enricor didn’t get along.

‘He suffered because of the high-ranking noble families who wanted to divide the military, if I recall correctly.’

Now that I had stepped in as a substitute for Enricor, it was natural for Dios to dislike me.

***

A few days later.

I was skeptical when I heard that new Opats had arrived.

“Did Enricor really decide to shave his head for him to produce a significant amount of Opats immediately?”

I wondered if he get scolded by my mother.

In the meantime, I received a new military uniform.

“The military uniforms arrived this morning. Sorry for the delay,” Rafael said.

“It’s fine. We had to change personnel in a hurry.”

“Yeah.”

Rafael chuckled and asked if he could come in. I gave him permission.

He placed two boxes on the table and gestured for me to open them. I opened the neatly tied boxes.

Inside each box, there were red and black military uniforms. I picked up the black one.

“Commander Vlandea, you can choose either one, but the new knights tend to prefer the red one.”

“I think black looks fine.”

“Oh…”

Rafael scratched his head.

I understood. Even in the original work, most characters, including the protagonists, wore red military uniforms. It was because the design was more modern. The black uniform had a slightly more traditional design.

Of course, there was a somewhat superstitious reason why red uniforms were overwhelmingly favored.

There were too many people who died wearing black uniforms in the military’s history.

In contrast, the red uniforms, which had only been introduced recently, had fewer casualties. But the image of death quickly attached itself to those wearing black.

“Only the Commander-in-Chief, besides the old knights, wears black, right?”

“Well, that’s right. The Commander-in-Chief has been wearing it since a long time ago, so it’s just more comfortable for him. I also wear it because it’s more comfortable”

In other words, there weren’t many people in the military who had survived as long as Schloitz.

That didn’t mean they were wiped out. There were many nobles who had fulfilled their family duties and returned home, but the power of the army was considerable. It was not the same as the royal family, so while there were a few nobles who chose to remain in the army, most of them died young.

‘Well, Schloitz… wore this uniform when he died in the end.’

Anyway, I chose the black uniform for personal reasons. Since I was going to wear it, I wanted it to be similar to Schloitz’s uniform.

Rafael, who had been staring at me, finally spoke.

“I suppose you’re showing your support for the Commander-in-Chief”

When I didn’t respond and just stared at Rafael, he had a bewildered expression. Rafael stuttered as he continued.

“I’m sorry, Commander, Actually…”

“Actually?”

“I heard that the former Commander-in-Chief’s cousin is King Madros. That’s why there are still some internal divisions or remnants within the military. Oh! Of course, it’s not in a state of confusion at all.”

“I know it’s not.”

“And Commander-in-Chief Schloitz…”

“Lord Procyon will sort it out soon.”

“You also think so?.”

“Of course.”

I hadn’t really seen much of the old Commander-in-Chief in the story, as the whole army was pretty much loyal to Schloitz. In other words, it wasn’t that significant.

In my opinion, it wasn’t strange that I, who had read about it in the original work, was not worried at all, but Rafael seemed different.

‘Could he have gone somewhere else because he couldn’t trust Schloitz? Or worse, was he killed?’

I looked intently at Rafael. He blinked and tilted his head. His pink hair swayed slightly.

‘I hope it’s not something like that.’

***

Schloitz stared at the densely packed trees.

His head and shoulders were wet from the rain, and the smell of blood filled the air. It was a sign of his recent battle with the monsters. Schloitz used a handkerchief offered by a knight to wipe the blood off his cheek.

“General Schloitz.”

Dios approached with icy eyes. Unlike usual, Dios seemed quite surprised.

“What was that just now?”

“It’s a new armor.”

“Armor, you say…”

“It’s from Lefevre, not the military’s. If you want details, ask Rafael when we return.”

“…Is this why Lady Vlandea came?”

Schloitz raised an eyebrow.

“Didn’t Rafael give you the proper title?”

“…I heard it.”

“If you know it, address her correctly. She’s the First-in-Command, so she’s higher than you.”

“…”

“If you don’t want to, let me know in advance. I’ll prepare disciplinary measures.”

“I’m sorry General, I will correct it.”