Do Your Own Revolution

#050

“Congratulations on graduating, Eugene. Graduating without a proper ceremony… I don’t know what to say.”

“I understand. You must have gone through something similar, Senior.”

The cadet insignia was removed from the uniform, replaced by a second lieutenant’s rank insignia.

The person who pinned the rank insignia on my chest was Senior Feilun, who had been my direct superior for the past two years.

Looking at how he got his first lieutenant rank insignia within a year of commissioning, his accomplishments on the frontline must have been terrifying.

“Slaughtering over thousands of monsters and clearing out six monster nests… bringing you in was definitely the right choice.”

“It’s not like I did it alone.”

After saying that, I looked at the other graduates standing beside me.

Guille, Ortega, Matt.

The three non-nobles I had personally selected and trained.

And next to them was…

“It was an honor to be on the same battlefield as a direct descendant of Nachtval!”

“Haha, the honor was mine too, Kyle.”

Kyle, who followed me to the frontline saying ‘I’ll go wherever my friend goes!’, and stuck right next to him was… who was it again?

“It’s Julian! Julian Anderson! You should at least remember my name after spending two years together!”

“Ah, right. Julian. Of course I remembered.”

Julian growled as he turned his head towards me.

What’s this? After rolling together for two years, has he reached the level of reading minds now?

“It was an honor to fight together. Let’s meet again later.”

“Thank you!”

“Thank you.”

While I was thinking about this, Senior Feilun gave second lieutenant rank insignias to the others as well, shaking hands and creating something of a graduation atmosphere.

He was the one who had called us from our rear training, so this was his way of repaying us in his own way.

‘I’m planning to take those three with me anyway… but with those two, this is where it ends.’

Kyle, waving Feilun’s hand with a bright smile.

And Julian, frozen stiff at the fact of facing a direct descendant of magic nobles.

The two were definitely good friends, but they weren’t people who could continue together.

Despite appearances, Kyle was the heir to the Raikard County. He couldn’t stay on the frontline forever.

‘I had to deal with Duke Buckenheim alongside Keiren, and that guy will be busy with his heir training and whatnot.’

Kyle would probably soon follow his family’s wishes and take the elite course.

Being allowed to eat dirt on the frontline was only permitted while in cadet status.

Leaving student status meant returning to one’s original position.

“How’s your rival these days?”

Nothing changed just because I got a second lieutenant’s rank insignia.

The only difference was that I could now openly smoke cigarettes that I used to smoke in secret from the instructors.

As I spoke while putting a supplied cigarette in my mouth, Feilun opened his mouth with a smirk.

“I heard he went back home to command the Knight Order. There’s trouble with rebels everywhere these days.”

Good.

I got one more piece of information about ‘that bastard’.

Nodding my head, I looked at the headline of the Imperial newspaper in my hand.

[Baron Lexil Found Beheaded in His Residence! Red Wings Symbol Found at Scene!]

[Massive Noble Attacks by Rebels! Westraine’s Instigation?!]

[Count Sutherland: “We’ve deployed Knight Orders on a large scale with other houses. Rebels within the territory will soon be suppressed.”]

“It’s quite noisy over there.”

“More than just a bit noisy. Several nobles have actually been killed.”

The monster mutation incident from two years ago.

The noble faction, led by magic nobles, declared this major incident as ‘heinous terrorism by rebels’.

[Look at the tragic death of Supreme Leader Vark! This is how nobles breed us!]

[People of Kalhyram, rise up! Take the heads of these heinous nobles with your own hands…!]

Of course, the Revolutionary Army was refuting this through their revolutionary newspaper while simultaneously attacking nobles.

The death of their spiritual leader Maximilien.

The depleted air fleet and numerous mages from the battle with Elcidore.

Despite these enormous losses, the Revolutionary Army’s influence wasn’t diminishing but rather growing increasingly stronger.

“Senior, aren’t you going back home?”

“You mean kill rebels for the family? No thanks. I’d rather roll around with monsters here.”

Feilun frowned and waved his hand at my question.

I couldn’t understand why a noble, especially a direct descendant of the Nachtval Duke family, would hate nobles this much.

In the game, Feilun was just an early boss, and his role wasn’t that significant.

“By the way, I never expected the rebels to escalate things this far.”

“I feel the same way.”

I could only make assumptions about his circumstances and change the subject.

Hearing my words, Feilun agreed with a sigh.

“The Revolutionary Army’s airships hiding in the clouds, the mages descending from them, and simultaneous uprisings on the ground…”

“Must be nothing short of a nightmare for the nobles.”

They even recalled Knight Orders from the frontline to suppress the rebels, that says it all.

In a situation where neighboring nobles were being killed, they couldn’t keep their most important forces deployed externally.

The Imperial Army, directly commanded by the Emperor, was filling the gaps left by the Knight Orders on the eastern front.

The task of monster subjugation, which had been handled by magic nobles and Knight Orders, was now falling to the Emperor and Imperial Army.

‘With the possibility of war with Westraine, it’s nearly impossible for the Imperial Army to fill the Knight Order’s vacancy. However…’

The Magic Corps on the eastern front, which had already taken over the Knight Order’s burden, was in a state close to annihilation.

Looking at the Magic Corps maintaining trenches in a half-dead state, I slowly lit up my eyes.

Preparations to fill the vacancy were already underway.

***

“Hey, you idiots! Who told you to write reports like this?!”

After finishing my conversation with Feilun, I headed to the field hospital.

Shouts that triggered workplace PTSD just by hearing them shook the entire ward.

“Imprint status, magical power load, rejection symptoms after using magic bullets! These are the things you need to record! You submit this as a post-imprint progress report, asking for more powerful firepower? Requesting additional magic bullet supplies? Are you joking right now?!”

The owner of the shouts was Doctor Otto Klautz, dispatched to the frontline at Keiren’s request.

He was examining the magic imprints implanted in the three non-nobles who followed me.

“We’re fine! As you can see, no side effects! We’re super strong!”

“As non-nobles who received three-stroke magic imprints, we can’t really complain.”

“It’s not about complaining, it’s about reporting! This is so the soldiers you’ll command can use proper magic imprints!”

Saying that, Otto prodded the imprint implanted in Guille’s arm with the tip of his pen.

What was implanted in the three of them was [The Burning King’s Standard Bearer], the magic imprint for the special magical power unit that I had completed in the first phase.

It was a magic imprint created with magic bullet usage in mind from the start, destined to become the standard imprint for the future Special Magical Power Unit.

And that was the biggest reason I brought these three to the frontline.

These three received this imprint instead of the magic imprint provided by the Magic Corps, and were currently test-operating it in actual combat.

“About side effects… there is a burning sensation in the arm after use. It lasts longer when using magic bullets.”

“It gets worse with consecutive use! Once I put a cup of water on the magic imprint, and it started boiling!”

“Yes, that! That’s what you need to write in your reports!”

Finally getting proper reports, Otto started quickly writing down the symptoms on his chart.

“We’ve caught the overload phenomenon, but inversely, the magic imprint overheats. Need to think about cooling measures when using magic bullets consecutively…”

Although they had suddenly become lab rats, there was no sign of reluctance from the three.

This wasn’t because they had sworn loyalty to me, but because of the deal I had made with them.

‘Really, Eugene? Three strokes?’

‘Not just three strokes. When your magical power grows in the future, I can prepare even higher-level imprints.’

At the end of our second year, right before being deployed to the frontline.

When I called the three together and said that, their eyes immediately lit up.

The common magic imprint issued to Magic Corps soldiers was one stroke. The imprint supplied to Magic Corps officers was two strokes.

Three-stroke or higher magic imprints were a realm not allowed for non-nobles.

When offered that, they, as magical power awakeners, couldn’t help but go crazy.

‘So in return, you want us to join the unit you and Lieutenant General Keiren are creating.’

‘The magic imprint is a tempting offer, but… it’s difficult.’

Of course, there was the downside of giving up the stable path given to Magic Corps officers.

The three brought this up and tried to negotiate with me.

‘Salary. Double that of Imperial Army officers of the same rank.’

‘Just say the word, Captain.’

‘We’ll follow you until death.’

‘From today on, we are Captain Eugene’s faithful subordinates.’

And that’s how I was able to get three excellent test subjects… no, excellent subordinates.

The daddy bonus Keiren gave me was more powerful than imagined.

‘This has opened the floodgates.’

The Revolutionary Army ignited in their fight against magic nobles, and the magic nobles trying to block the Revolutionary Army.

Because of this, Knight Orders were gradually withdrawing from the frontline, creating an extreme shortage of mages on the front.

It had become the perfect situation to deploy the ‘Special Magical Power Unit’ that Keiren and I had been preparing for years.

‘If the Special Magical Power Unit is deployed in time and can fill the vacancy left by the Knight Orders…’

We could reduce the Knight Orders’ presence on the eastern front where monster warfare was the main focus, and increase the Imperial Army’s proportion.

If that happens, we could divert the monster defense funds that were going to magic nobles to the Imperial Army, which would be enough reason to squeeze their funding.

‘We can’t touch places like Gloucester who’s pioneering the northeastern region or Korhonen in the northern frozen zone… but that’s enough for now.’

Who knew pointing to magic nobles as the shadowy culprits behind Vark’s death would work this well.

As expected, letting them handle the revolution without me was the right answer.

“By the way, this magic imprint has quite a fierce name.”

While I was thinking about this, Ortega, looking at the imprint implanted in his arm, spoke.

“[The Burning King’s Standard Bearer]. I get that we’re the standard bearers, but who is this ‘Burning King’?”

“Didn’t they say the Emperor created this imprint? Wouldn’t it refer to His Majesty?”

“His Majesty… burning?”

“Huh?”

“Watch your words, Ortega. One wrong move and you’re heading to the northern prison?”

“No, no, that’s not what I meant…!”

“Hahaha!”

Having found their victim, the witch hunt by the other two had Ortega sweating and scrambling to explain himself.

But come to think of it, it’s really like that.

The Burning King.

I wonder who it refers to?