How a Two-Life Scoundrel Lives - Chapter 52
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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【Chapter 52】
Rebesk van Sigmund.
Originally, despite being from a fallen lower noble family, he was a self-made man who had gained recognition for his outstanding skills and military abilities.
However, it was an undeniable fact that the secret to his success was his marriage to Medea, a direct bloodline member of House Sigmund.
No matter how exceptional his skills were, as someone from a fallen lower noble family, just how strong could he have been?
If he hadn’t married into House Sigmund and received the Inheritance Sword, could he have become as strong as he is now?
Also, could he have become the commander of the 2nd Army Command Headquarters responsible for the Blood-Soaked Land of Kuberin, a strategic stronghold?
The answer to that question was already clear.
Those who are not Sigmund can ‘never’ defeat a Sigmund.
Why else would one of the absolute laws recognized across the continent concern the Sigmunds?
Even Rebesk was not free from that law.
After all, it was a well-known fact among all Northerners that Medea, Carlisle’s aunt, overwhelmed her husband Rebesk in sparring matches.
Considering that even Rebesk had received the Inheritance Sword and become a powerhouse on a different level from ordinary knights, the superiority of House Sigmund’s bloodline was something that could not be overcome through effort alone.
– Are you going to openly disrespect this uncle-in-law? Calling me someone from a pathetic family background and a son-in-law who married in?
– Are you going to openly disrespect this uncle-in-law? Calling me someone from a pathetic family background and a son-in-law who married in?
Arrogant and insolent to the very end. Fine, I’ll wait just two days. In two days, you’ll pay dearly for all the insolence you’ve committed…
Arrogant and insolent to the very end. Fine, I’ll wait just two days. In two days, you’ll pay dearly for all the insolence you’ve committed…
– You disrespectful bastard! If this isn’t disrespecting your uncle-in-law then…!
– You disrespectful bastard! If this isn’t disrespecting your uncle-in-law then…!
– Fine! Let’s see about that! Whether tears of blood will flow from your eyes or not!
– Fine! Let’s see about that! Whether tears of blood will flow from your eyes or not!
Carlisle squeezed his eyes shut as he recalled his verbal confrontation with Rebesk.
Of course, it was more like Rebesk had unilaterally exploded in rage, unable to overcome his usual inferiority complex…
‘Could this be how he’s getting revenge?’
Perhaps that was the case.
Rebesk was famous for being extremely petty, after all.
“Still, we should retreat.”
Carlisle urged Helen once again.
“Even if we somehow manage to hold off the Butcher Tribe through some miracle, what about that Dark Mage and the undead army?”
“That’s…”
“You know it yourself. Even the Butcher Tribe alone is too much for our forces.”
“Still, there will be no retreat.”
“…?”
“I’ll send another messenger. Since we’ve confirmed the existence of a Dark Mage, I’ll request that they either send reinforcements immediately or grant permission to abandon the fortress and retreat.”
Meanwhile, the face of Byron [Swift-foot], Bowden Fortress’s messenger who was nearby, contorted with dismay.
How long had it been since he returned…
Of course, neither Carlisle nor Helen paid any attention to the messenger Byron’s reaction.
Byron wasn’t the only one being overworked right now.
“Are we all going to die together then?”
“We’ll die even if we retreat.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Do you think only I would die if I disobeyed orders?”
“…!”
“If it were a problem that would end with just me, I would order a retreat right now. Rather than driving my subordinates to their deaths with my own hands, it would be better for me to die instead.”
“…That’s.”
Carlisle was momentarily speechless.
Helen’s calm response conveyed the anguish and burden of someone commanding a unit, hitting him with a heavy realization.
“Private Carlisle.”
“Yes, Sir Helen.”
“Orders from headquarters are absolute. Retreat is beyond my authority, and I’m not the only one who bears that responsibility. Do you understand?”
“I understand.”
Carlisle smiled coldly.
“Then I guess we’ll all die together.”
While he understood Helen’s position, Carlisle couldn’t accept the irrationality of military law, so even if he wanted to speak nicely, he couldn’t bring himself to do so.
“You little bastard, I’ve been going easy on you because you’re cute, but…”
Begman, unable to watch any longer, was about to explode in anger when Helen calmly stopped him.
“Enough. Private Carlisle was just saying what he had to say, wasn’t he?”
“But…”
“Your thoughts aren’t different from Private Carlisle’s either. Neither are mine.”
“Sir Helen…”
“As I said before, soldiers… die when ordered to die. Since the higher-ups have ordered us to die, we have no choice but to die.”
Helen spoke indifferently and stood up as if there was nothing more to say.
‘Her hands…!’
Carlisle thought he saw Helen’s hands trembling slightly as she turned around, but he couldn’t confirm it.
Helen had hurriedly left the office to command the troops…
* * *
Early dawn.
Combat readiness was declared before reveille, and while all forces moved busily, the troops who had been deployed on the dungeon exploration mission were given three hours of rest.
It was consideration from commander Helen, telling them to rest until the mining operation began since they must have been exhausted from carrying out the dungeon exploration mission the night before.
“If we’re told to die, we have to die, I guess. Fuck. If we’re going to die anyway, we should kill at least one more before we go.”
Marder said this and flopped down on his cot, immediately closing his eyes.
“A-are we going to die now? Waaah!”
Russell, the official coward and bed-wetter of the scout unit, trembled in fear again after hearing the news that there would be no retreat, but soon fell asleep, unable to overcome his fatigue.
Begman and Kudo, who seemed accustomed to such situations, went to sleep without much comment.
‘Aren’t they all angry?’
Carlisle couldn’t understand the senior soldiers.
He could accept that they weren’t afraid of death.
After all, Carlisle himself, being experienced(?), wasn’t particularly afraid of death either.
However, he couldn’t understand the generally accepting atmosphere toward unreasonable and irrational orders.
Of course, it wasn’t completely incomprehensible.
Both the headquarters that issued the unreasonable orders and Helen’s decision to faithfully carry them out.
He understood intellectually that military organizations, by their nature, had to be irrational, rigid, and sometimes inhumane.
But when he found himself in a position where he had to accept it, it wasn’t easy to do so.
‘It’s probably a kind of system created for the survival of the majority. The military organization too. It’s a structure where the few, individuals, have no choice but to sacrifice themselves for that purpose.’
As he engaged in somewhat philosophical thoughts, he suddenly thought of his uncle-in-law, Rebesk.
‘If you’re trying to kill me, you’d better pray desperately that I die. If I survive, you won’t be safe…’
As Carlisle burned with hostility and thoughts of revenge toward Rebesk, the baby dragon suddenly poked its head out.
“Butler.”
Perhaps because it wasn’t fully awake, the baby dragon’s voice was drowsy.
“I’m hungry. Give me food.”
“Did you order food?”
“I told you to act like a proper butler. Yaaawn.”
The yawn was so big that dewdrops were about to form in the baby dragon’s eyes.
“How can you eat in this situation?”
“What’s the situation right now?”
“A situation where we’re all going to die.”
“What does that have to do with me?”
The baby dragon replied in an indifferent tone.
“If the person feeding you dies, what will you eat to survive?”
“I’ll just find another servant, I guess.”
“….”
“Give me food. I told you I’m hungry. Don’t make me say it twice.”
“At least earn your keep. What did you do while everyone was fighting? You just slept.”
“Isn’t it enough that you didn’t die?”
“What…?”
“And I haven’t been born long, so when I wake up I’m hungry, and when I eat I get sleepy, you know? Being a newborn is pretty tough too. Can’t you understand that much while taking care of a newborn?”
Carlisle was about to ask what kind of newborn talks so rudely and shamelessly like you, but stopped himself.
‘We’re going to die anyway, so there’s no point arguing with this beast….’
As Carlisle thought this and shook his head, the baby dragon’s eyes flashed viciously.
“What? Beast?”
“…Huh?”
“Did the servant finish talking?!”
“How did you….”
“Haaak!”
The baby dragon growled.
“Kid.”
“Yes?”
“Let’s sleep. I’m sleepy.”
Begman warned in a half-drowsy voice.
“And can’t you keep that dragon thing or whatever quiet? Your muttering is one thing, but it keeps meowing and it’s annoying so I can’t sleep….”
“I’m sorry.”
Carlisle quickly apologized and left the barracks with the baby dragon as if fleeing.
He didn’t want to disturb his comrades’ sleep by brawling with the baby dragon, and if he didn’t feed it, it would surely meow about being hungry for hours, so he just thought he should feed it something to keep it quiet.
‘To feed it something, I’ll need to ask the cooks for help.’
Carlisle’s steps headed toward the kitchen.
“Hey! The soup is burning! Stir it quickly!”
“Over there! Is the bread done baking?”
The kitchen was busy preparing breakfast.
You might ask what’s the point of food in such a life-or-death crisis, but in fact, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say nothing was more important than food in this world.
Even when facing death, you need to eat to have strength to fight before dying, right?
For living beings, consuming food is something that must continue until the very moment the world ends.
“Excuse me.”
Carlisle approached a cook who was preparing meat in a corner of the kitchen.
“Kyaaaak!”
The cook spotted Carlisle and screamed as if dying.
The problem seemed to be that the cook he approached happened to be a woman.
“Please, please don’t assault me! Please!”
“….”
While Carlisle was speechless with bewilderment.
“You perverted bastard!”
“You piece of trash! Do you want to do that at the crack of dawn?”
“I knew it! You’re finally showing your true colors!”
At the unexpected commotion, the cooks grabbed their cooking utensils and swarmed over to surround Carlisle.
“Um. There seems to be some misunderstanding. It’s not like that….”
“Shut up! You perverted bastard!”
Carlisle’s explanation didn’t seem to reach the ears of the already excited cooks.
“You bastard! Caught in the act!”
“Sir Helen will cut off your thing, won’t she?”
The cooks threatened Carlisle with their cooking utensils while gradually closing the distance.
‘Everything I do gets me treated like a sex offender. You should have done your trash behavior in moderation. Ugh.’
Carlisle cursed the original owner of the body, the real Carlisle van Sigmund, while backing away step by step.
‘Should I just beat them all up and then explain?’
As Carlisle seriously considered this, a savior appeared just in time.
“Oh? Big brother!”
Gwen was walking over with buckets in both hands.
* * *
Gwen’s appearance was like a rope from heaven for Carlisle.
“Private Gwen?”
“What are you doing here?”
“What about you, Private Gwen?”
“I came to help with cooking. Hehe.”
Kitchen support.
It meant regular soldiers helping the cooks with their work.
“What about you, big brother?”
“I came here on business but there was a bit of a misunderstanding….”
“A misunderstanding?”
“You know, the usual thing I always get.”
“Ah.”
Gwen nodded as if she understood.
After all, Carlisle and Gwen’s first meeting had also started from such a misunderstanding.
“Oh? Jeanne?”
“Gwen, are you on kitchen duty today?”
“Mm-hmm.”
Fortunately, Jeanne, the cook who had misunderstood Gwen and Carlisle, seemed to know each other well.
“You were really scared, right? But it’s okay. Big broth… I mean, Private Carlisle isn’t that kind of person.”
“Really?”
“He might have been a dirty, vile pervert in the past, but now he’s very polite and kind.”
…Is that what you call a defense?
And when was I ever kind?
Carlisle wanted to protest, but since the situation seemed to be resolving favorably, he decided to just stay quiet.
He didn’t want to beat up the cooks and then get lectured by Helen.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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