novelA Ruthless Reality
| ← Ch.64 | Ch.66 → |
Next morning.
The young soldier finished breakfast then arranged his equipment, and moved to the front of the building. Perfectly armed combat homunculi were aligning themselves into formation, while Katamimi was in front of them, confirming whether everything was in order, and commanded,
＜Salute!＞
Following Katamimi's order, the combat homunculi raised their arms in unison for a uniform crisp salute. He gave a response, and then the young soldier explained to them the day's operational strategy.
「Well them, I will be in your care from hereon. 」
He closed with that remark and shook hands with each homunculus.
The homunculi were confused by the young soldier's outstretched hands at first, but when he reached further to grab their hands and moved them up and down, they answered in kind. And so the eleven-man squad, him included, marched out the garrison for their reconnaissance mission.
?????
For the first few hours after they left the garrison they were walking in the woods. With the young soldier in the center, the squad rushed through the forest in a formation led by Katamimi, who was already accustomed to the terrain.
A few more hours later, the squad reached the edges of the forest, and their field of view opened at once. There the front lines spread.
「So that's the front line...」
The young soldier muttered to himself, while activating a clairvoyance spell.
Trenches meandered through the battlefield like a river, occasionally being blasted by small explosions. Thereupon a combat homunculus would aim their wand, counter-attacking with their own attack spells.
(As expected, it's mostly homunculi which are manning the trenches. There are a couple of human soldiers, but it seems like they are only in charge of communications. They're all staying in a thick defensive structure covered in barrier magic.
It seems that almost all the battles are fought by combat homunculi. )
The young soldier kept surveying the area with a bitter face.
Katamimi spoke to him,
＜Captain's main mission seems to be logistical support. ＞
Then she pointed to the back of the front lines and began to explain.
＜Logistical support missions require you to cast recovery magic on human soldiers at field hospitals built behind the trenches.
In addition, many combat homunculi are injured or killed daily on the front lines. For the bodies of such homunculi who can no longer fight, it is also an important task to collect them at the rear depot. When a certain number of homunculi have accumulated there, they will be incarcerated with fire magic. ＞
And when he saw the place where Katamimi gestered to with a clairvoyance spell, he was astonished.
「Wait a minute Katamimi!
There's still a homunculus in motion at that depot!」
Between the corpses of homunculi whose heads were blown off or their torso torn, there was a homunculus soldier who had lost one arm and was desperately trying to stop the clear fluid flowing from the base of her arm.
No, that wasn't all.
Another homunculus was flailing around on a pile of corpses despite losing both eyes.
A homunculus with bent legs who was unable to walk properly tried to splint her bones.
A human soldier holding a wand approached the mountain of so-called "corpses." And the soldier, without any hesitation, cast a fire spell and aimed it towards them.
The moment the young soldier saw that, he tried to run towards the fire. But Katamimi restricted him.
「Release me! I have to get over there!! If I don't get there in time they'll-」
Katamimi responded to his cry with her same indifferent voice.
＜For today, Captain's mission is reconnaissance. Logistical support is not your current duty. ＞
The young soldier struggled with all his might but he could escape the restraints of the battle-built homunculus body. In time, he regained his composure, but couldn't stop shedding tears while looking at the burning depot.
(Why... why would they do such a terrible thing?
Did those homunculi commit some unforgivable wrong?
Those girls aren't just weapons... In the past, didn't humans and homunculi walk together as friends?
Yet... why...
Why would they allow such a thing...
This world... how cruel...)
His eyes shed tears while within his pupils reflected the flames of the burning depot.
From those eyes his sadness gradually gave way to determination.
?????
Night.
The young soldier was reading the picture book in his room.
There it depicted a homunculus girl and a female scholar supporting each other as friends through life and death.
The image of what he saw in his morning mission surfaced.
The bodies of yet living homunculi collapsing in the burning flames. The figure of the apathetic soldier who was simply smoking a cigarette while watching the carnage.
(...Can this fantasy really become reality?
Will humanity continue to oppress and rule over the homunculi?
He didn't even care to listen to the girls' screams... He didn't even try to understand their pain...
Will humanity just continue down that path?
Will such things just be forgiven?)
「...At least I... I cannot forgive that... 」
He clasped his hands and solidified his will.
He returned the picture book to the bedside and picked up the order on his desk.
There at the beginning, as Katamimi expected, was a sentence,
「Start logistical support mission from tomorrow onwards. 」
The young soldier read his order over and over until he formulated a plan.
?????
Next morning.
The young soldier gathered the injured and incapacitated combat homunculi and the homunculus corpses in the rear depot, as stated in the order.
However, he did not follow in the footsteps of the previous logistical support team.
「Keep the moving homunculi waiting beside the depot! Confirm the condition of their injuries! Gather all the severely injured homunculi in one place! I will cast recovery magic!
Do not further damage the homunculus corpses! Their bodily fluids and magic stones are still salvageable! From eyeballs to limbs! Gather them and secure them to the injured homunculi's bodies! I will join them together with recovery magic!」
The young soldier directed his small squad of ten combat homunculi while he ran around the depot.
Following his instructions, his squad collected the corpses and injured homunculi from the front lines, dissected the corpses at the depot, and sorted the parts that were still usable.
Occasionally, dying combat homunculi with limbs blown to bits were brought to the depot. The young soldier hurriedly rushed to these homunculi to transfuse bodily fluids and used recovery magic to join limbs recovered from the corpses.
The corpses of the homunculi, whose bodies have been torn apart, with their magic stones and usable parts stripped off, formed a mountain at the depot. This time, there were no living homunculi within the pile.
He approached the mountain of corpses with a wand and cast a fire spell.
And when the corpses caught fire, he quietly put his hands together.
Frontline battles are fierce, with most combat homunculus corpses being brought to depots. However, a small number of those brought had survived despite being on the edge of death. The young soldier ran around trying to heal these homunculi with recovery magic.
?????
A veteran soldier who was fighting on the front lines rushed to that depot like a crazed demon and punched the young soldier in his face.
The veteran yelled at the youth who was rolling on the ground
「The hell are you doing!? Use your precious mana for humans! Don't waste it on homunculi! Stop this fiasco right now! You can take care of them all with a single shot of fire magic!」
The young soldier, with a fist imprinted on his face and bleeding from his mouth, stood up and tried to lunge at the veteran. However, Katamimi, who felt his abnormal atmosphere, pushed him down on the spot.
「The fuck do you think you are!?
Look properly at your superiors!!」
The young soldier yelled back at the veteran soldier,
「To hell with your injuries!! What kind of action could you possibly see, hiding in those rear trenches!? What are you saying with that damned uniform!! There's not a speck of dirt!! Why don't you tell me that again after you risk your life fighting like the homunculi do?!」
While spitting blood from his mouth, the young soldier turned his gaze, now filled with killing intent, toward the veteran. The veteran soldier saw his expression and grew furious,
「What did you say!? The fucks with that attitude!? You shitty brat!!!」
He yelled, and tried to kick the face of the young soldier who was held down by Katamimi. However, Katamimi, laying down on top of the boy, shifted his body and caught the foot of the veteran while staying in the same position.
「Hey!! Don't interfere with this brat's discipline, homunculus! Get out of here now!!」
But Katamimi did not move. Furious at her for refusing to obey his orders, the veteran tried to pull out the wand at his waist.
It was then,
「Wait!! What are you doing!?」
The platoon leader rushed in from afar. With a keen eye, he glared at the young soldier who was held down by Katamimi and the veteran who was about to take out the wand from his waist.
「What in the world happened!? Explain!!」
The young soldier tried to open his mouth to appeal to the platoon leader, but his mouth was blocked by Katamimi.
「Muu!! Muu!!」
He could only make out vague sounds with his mouth completely sealed.
Meanwhile, the veteran began to explain the situation to the platoon leader. The platoon leader heard from the veteran and thought a little,
「I see. I understand the situation.
That is a... a common phenomenon among virgin recruits. 」
The platoon leader approached the young soldier who was lying down and crouched to meet his eyes.
「Sometimes, there are people like you...
One who uses a homunculus to "become a man, " and then falls in love with said homunculus.
Is that what you feel? Did you want to be a knight in shining armor and save your princess?
But in reality? They aren't humans.
They're like dolls. It's not some deep philosophical conundrum.
Well from now on your military life will only grow longer, so you must understand that. You talked back to your superior, so when we get back to the garrison, you will stay in the storehouse until tomorrow morning.
So cool your head a little, yeah?」
At that point, the platoon leader stood up and returned to the front lines, still soothing the red-faced veteran.
Shortly after, Katamimi released the young soldier after the two were completely out of sight. But he didn't stand up. He was more frustrated than he had ever been before, he clenched the soil in his hands and clenched his teeth in his jaws.
The combat homunculi around him were watching.
Come evening, a logistical replacement appeared.
The young soldier returned to the garrison with his squad of homunculi.
A gendarme was waiting at the entrance of the garrison. As soon as the young soldier arrived, the gendarme caught him and escorted him to the storehouse.
| ← Ch. 64 | Ch. 66 → |