Chapter 128: The additional personnel
“Hey, what’s going on? I can hear voices all the way outside.”
“Oh, it’s the Chie… No, it’s Tigar and Zald. Good to see you.”
“Yeah. But more importantly, can you fill us in on what the commotion is about?” I asked.
Our tents were set up around a small central square. This space was used as a cooking area for preparing the provided rations, and essentially, it was where we gathered to share our meals. It was also one of the few spots we used for casual conversations and resting.
The square had taken on an odd atmosphere. To put it plainly, children were quarreling, and as I observed this, my confusion escalated. The reason being that the ones in the midst of the argument were Leo and Lappy, but what raised my puzzlement even more was the presence of two unfamiliar boys and a girl slouched behind Leo.
One of the boys clutched his stomach while crouched down, and the other seemed flustered. Meanwhile, the girl sat on the ground, trembling visibly.
On the opposite side of Leo and Lappy, Kelf, who was gently smiling, comforted the crying Lawqum. However, Lawqum’s cries were inaudible to us. Kelf was probably using spiritual magic to muffle or shield the sound. Quite skillful.
“Leo, step aside. I’ll kill him.” Lappy said.
“Ugh! W-Wait, no!”
Just as usual, Lappy had a monotone voice but uttered cruel things while emitting a thick murderous intent, as she targeted a young boy who cowered behind Leo. Despite not transforming into her demon form, Lappy was moving at full speed. However, Leo matched that speed, effectively responding and stepping in between them, taking the blow meant for the boy.
Hmmm… Judging from the situation, it seemed the fallen child had somehow provoked Lappy’s anger. And the scenario unfolded with Leo desperately holding back Lappy, who aimed to deliver the finishing blow.
Lappy wasn’t the type of girl to resort to violence without reason. There had to be some kind of reason behind her actions. However, I couldn’t afford to let Lappy indulge in impulsive acts like murder within the fortress. I quickly crossed my arms, extended my tail, hooked my stinger onto Lappy’s collar, and lifted her up.
“Hey, big brother. Put me down.”
“Oh, big brother! You saved me!”
As she was suspended in the air, Lappy fluttered her arms and legs in protest, while Leo sat down on the spot, clearly exhausted. Leo possessed considerable fighting power, particularly excelling in swordsmanship. But when it came to unarmed combat, Lappy ranked among the top three in the special operations unit. Even I would have a hard time fighting her without my tail. It must have been quite a challenge for Leo to just shield against her attacks. Well done, Leo.
I lifted the still-fluttering Lappy onto my shoulder. Gradually, her struggling ceased, though her cheeks remained puffed out. Finally, she had settled down. Phew, things were finally calming down.
“So, what happened?”
“Sorry about this mess, we didn’t even realize how it escalated…”
“It was right when the adults were looking away.”
Gora, absentmindedly scratching his bald head, and Farl, cradling her bow as she attended to it, shared their account. I wanted to hear from those who weren’t directly involved, but… was it really true that nobody other than the children had seen what happened?
“I was watching.”
“Asumi?”
At that moment, someone raised their hand. The person possessed goat-like horns and a tail, a cat’s eyes, and limbs. The blue-skinned person’s name was Asumi Ishakram—yes, the former white-armored soldier we had fiercely fought against during the infiltration mission before I managed to capture her as a prisoner of war with my poisonous stinger. She was no longer a captive; she had become a member of the spec ops and had long been turned into a demon.
Asumi provided valuable information as a prisoner, which indeed proved helpful in the recapture of Carnela Port. However, due to the recklessness of the Republican Army in the final phase of the war, Carnela Port ended up in ruins.
As for Asumi herself, she bore no responsibility for the incident. However, there was someone consumed by rage over the outcome of the recapture mission. That someone was the Emperor himself. The anger he felt for having his hard-won territory reduced to ruins was directed toward the surviving Khan people, who had become captives at Carnela Port.
The enraged emperor ordered that the prisoners be turned into demons and made them fight for the Republican Army until their last breaths. While those possessing advanced Republican technology and knowledge were exempted, she, who was once a white-armored soldier, was also turned into a demon.
In the process of creating demons using the Khan people, Karelvo decided to undertake experiments that had previously been avoided. This experiment involved the creation of demons using ‘more than two living beings’.
Synthetic beasts using three or more different types of materials weren’t particularly unusual. However, until now, the creation of demons has always involved a single human and one other creature. The concept of making demons using more than two distinct creatures had remained unexplored.
Orvo seemed to have not ventured into this experimentation yet, but it appeared that consistently supplying stable specimens was likely close to impossible, as he had anticipated. Understanding this challenge, Karelvo became determined to achieve success. He employed all the captive Khan people, who numbered in the hundreds and tested various combinations of conditions and living beings.
However, this experiment yielded results far from success. Out of the hundreds of Khan people who served as the experiment’s subjects, almost all of them went mad, resembling those demons that had a beast soul. Only about fifty remained stable without succumbing to madness, but even these individuals, save for one, experienced a significant decline in intelligence, reducing them to an animalistic level.
The sole exception who retained their high human-level intelligence happened to be none other than Asumi. According to Mika’s speculation, this might have been due to fortunate compatibility with the other materials used in the synthesis. One could not figure out whether she was lucky or unlucky.
While Karelvo’s demons were savage, they retained enough intelligence to understand language. This allowed them to comprehend complex commands, although they still had a tendency to go berserk. However, the demons created in this experiment had gentle personalities, yet their lack of comprehension of language made it difficult for them to fulfill even simple instructions. As a result, they carried the stigma of failure and joined our ranks, becoming members of the Special Operations unit alongside us.
Since they were synthesized from more than two living beings, Asumi and the others possessed formidable fighting power. However, their inability to handle intricate commands made them unsuitable for infiltration missions. While we embarked on such missions, they engaged in menial tasks within the fortress and trained alongside the coalition army’s demons.
“What happened?”
“When Lappy was putting Lawqum to sleep in the square, just then, Julius, who was lying there, screamed at the top of his lungs and scared the baby. Startled, Lawqum burst into tears, resulting in a furious Lappy.”
“Can’t believe that happened. Well, I understand the anger… though trying to kill him might have been a bit much.”
“Hmm…”
With a bemused sigh, Asumi recounted the truth. That boy’s name was apparently Julius. For some reason, Julius intentionally made Lawqum, whom Lappy was looking after, cry. Enraged by this, Lappy attempted to kill Julius. That seemed to be the sequence of events.
I could understand how she felt, but attempting murder was a step too far. She seemed to be aware of having gotten carried away, but Lappy pouted and turned away when I tried to reason with her. It looked like she had no intention of apologizing to Julius. She continued to swing her legs while perched on my shoulder.
“So, are those three over there… part of the newcomers?” Tigar said
“Exactly, Tigar. To be precise, those three over there are the newcomers.”
“Huh? What’s the difference?”
“In other words, those three are the only ones who’ve been brought in as replenishment. Isn’t that right?” Zald asked.
Zald received a firm nod from Asumi, affirming his question. These three were the entirety of the additional personnel sent from the royal capital. I had initially expected a larger group, but considering that “practice” wouldn’t be churned out in the dozens or twenties, this number made sense.
And out of the two anticipated scenarios, luck appeared to favor the outcome I preferred regarding their arrival. In other words, they had come here for the reason I hoped for: they were judged to have a limited potential contribution to the combat force. Even as demons synthesized with other creatures, regular children wouldn’t pose much of a threat to the armored soldiers.
While we discussed such matters, the boy named Julius, who had been crouched down, rose to his feet. His eyes were faintly moist with tears. He was clutching his abdomen and appeared to be coughing painfully. It seemed Lappy had struck the pit of his stomach. How ruthless.
With Lappy still perched on my shoulder, I approached the three children. The boy who had been fidgeting and the girl who had been sitting both froze up and Julius, though trembling, stared at me and Lappy with a defiant look. To display resistance rather than fear, even though he was almost killed… He was a boy with a lot of guts. I think he could become strong with the right training.
“So, you three are the additional personnel, right? What are your names?”
“Cough, cough… If you’re asking someone’s name, you should introduce yourself first, old man.”
“… Should I kill him after all?”
Julius retorted with those words while glaring at us, putting on a show of bravado. Lappy stopped swaying her legs and squinted her round eyes. The other boy and girl who witnessed this seemed to tremble, perhaps due to fear.
Julius’ face was also contorted in fear. However, he wouldn’t avert his gaze from us. While Lappy appeared to be displeased, Tigar and Zald behind us seemed impressed. I shared the same sentiment.
“Settle down, Lappy. I’m the leader of this Special Operations unit. I don’t have a name. You can call me ‘Commander’, ‘Boss’, or ‘Chief’. Now, I’ve answered your question. It’s your turn.”
“Huh! No name? That’s a lie!”
“Wait, Julius!”
The absence of a name is true. Maybe I could have just come up with a random name and gone by that, but I didn’t feel it was necessary. Because it didn’t cause any inconvenience to anyone, I didn’t see the need.
In my role as the leader of the Special Operations unit, being addressed as such is enough to signify that it’s me. Plus, I couldn’t bring myself to have my teammates or myself create a name for that purpose, so I remain nameless.
“S, sorry! Mr. Commander! Um, I-I’m Ariel!”
“I-I’m Bolts…”
“And this one’s Julius! Come on, introduce yourself properly!”
“Hmph!”
Ariel, the girl who lowered her head meekly and introduced herself with a barely audible voice; Bolts, the shy boy who timidly stated his name; and Julius, the bold and defiant boy. These three seemed to be our new companions. Welcome, all three of you. Welcome to hell.
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