I Became an Officer in Another World in Just 5 Minutes - Chapter 249

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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Episode 249
Fire
“Other fields aren’t significantly different either.”
“Is that so? In any case, if you do that, you won’t receive credit for your achievements. Are you fine with that?”
I tapped the calculator briefly at Eden’s question, then nodded.
“Well, I don’t particularly mind.”
Being dragged off to the Research Lab would be worse than not receiving credit.
And even if I did receive recognition, what would it matter?
‘They’d just let me peek into the second-tier warehouse once, then shut me up and ship me off to some grueling posting.’
Does that happen for just a day or two?
There’s no point in even looking.
“So you’re saying achievements like this are now as routine as breathing?”
“That’s not entirely wrong, is it?”
“Bad luck.”
A brief silence fell before Eden lifted his head and gazed up at the cave ceiling.
“I didn’t die again this time. Quite a tenacious life.”
“Isn’t that a good thing? Everyone else is desperate to live longer.”
“Living long, you say. For someone like me, burdened by each passing day, that’s a horrifying notion.”
Eden wore an exhausted expression.
There was no way to know why he was like that.
‘He seems to have quite a story.’
Well, everyone already suspected that Eden carried a difficult past.
Someone without any baggage wouldn’t be so tangled up in so many ways.
“What else could be burdensome? People with far harder lives than you, Chief Inspector, manage to survive.”
“Yes, that’s true. This world is one where even those who have it harder than me manage to live on.”
An awkward silence followed.
I was about to sigh when I opened my mouth instead.
“How exactly do you know about circuits? That’s not ordinary knowledge.”
He said Manostones were simple enough to manage.
That’s absolutely absurd.
“Are you that curious?”
“Yes.”
“If you tell me how you detonated the Manastone, I’ll tell you as well.”
“Just say you don’t want to answer.”
“That seems like reasonable terms for a deal, yet your reaction is strange.”
Eden shook his head.
After exchanging a few more trivial words, we left the cave and moved on as evening fell.
* * *
“What exactly did you do?! Why did you press the switch?!”
Robin grabbed Lieutenant Fedor by the collar, his voice sharp with irritation.
“N-No, sir. Why would I press the switch?”
Lieutenant Fedor shook his head, his voice trembling with indignation.
“Right, it wasn’t intentional.”
“I’ve thought about it many times, but I’ve been managing it so that it couldn’t be pressed even by accident. I swear it.”
Robin furrowed his brow at Lieutenant Fedor’s conviction.
With the situation like this, only one possibility remained.
“Was it a fake? No, that doesn’t make sense either.”
If there had been a real switch elsewhere, Paran Oclo and that unnamed man wouldn’t have risked their lives climbing beneath the Iron Bridge.
There was definitely something in between.
Robin’s mind couldn’t grasp its nature.
“Damn it!”
No matter how hard he racked his brain, no answer emerged.
The successive failures had driven Robin’s stress to its limit.
“I apologize. I should have been more careful.”
“Enough. The situation is already over.”
As Lieutenant Fedor continued bowing his head in apology.
Seto Count approached from behind.
“Commander-in-Chief.”
Just as Robin struggled to find the right words.
Seto Count spoke first.
“This matter is deeply disappointing. A little more caution would have sufficed.”
Seto Count favored talented individuals who delivered results.
Not people who only failed.
“My apologies.”
“My apologies.”
Robin and Lieutenant Fedor lowered their heads without any excuses.
“If we return like this, not only I but you as well won’t be facing a pleasant situation.”
The accumulated losses from repeated failures seemed impossible to recover.
But that didn’t mean we could give up and return here.
“The only last chance to save our necks is Geshud Castle.”
At the word “chance,” Robin’s eyes widened and he lifted his head.
“We will succeed… no matter what.”
“Please do. I don’t wish to be disappointed further.”
Seto Count spoke as if making a request, then turned away.
“In 30 minutes, we break from the main column and join the forces heading to Geshud Castle. Prepare immediately.”
“Yes, sir!!”
To seize the last chance given to them.
Robin and the Reconnaissance Command moved with greater urgency than ever before.
* * *
“Are you saying we should file a false report, sir?”
“Well, if I’m being direct about it, that’s how it would be.”
Captain Alpen shook his head at Eden’s words.
“That’s impossible… What did I do well enough to deserve this?”
“It’s not because you did well that I’m asking for a false report. There are circumstances I can’t discuss, so just comply.”
Even though Captain Alpen was emotionally struggling right now.
Eden showed no concern whatsoever.
‘Ugh, seriously. What’s wrong with this person.’
His capacity for empathy had sunk below ground level and buried itself in the basement.
“Ha… haha, Captain Alpen. It’s just… I’m in a difficult position. I’d really appreciate your help.”
If I left things as they were, Captain Alpen seemed like he’d be driven to his mental breaking point.
So I stepped forward and made my request in a gentle voice.
“Then you won’t receive any credit for the bridge explosion. Are you sure about that?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“I see.”
Captain Alpen pondered for a moment, then nodded.
“You cleaned up my mistake, so I should at least grant you this favor. Still, it’s some consolation. I’ll repay a tiny fraction of the debt before I discharge.”
“Pardon?”
Captain Alpen spoke of discharge with an expression of slight resignation.
What on earth was he talking about?
“You’re thinking of discharging?”
This was the first Eden had heard of it as well.
“Yes. I simply… don’t feel I deserve to be here.”
“Hmm, think it through carefully before you decide.”
He spoke as if to say: if you really want to leave, then go.
Something felt off about this.
‘Wait, is discharge really that easy?’
The words “then I could too” nearly reached the tip of my tongue.
But I’m not the kind of person who lacks that much social awareness.
“If Captain Alpen isn’t qualified, then who is? This was simply an accident.”
“I appreciate the words, but no matter how I think about it, everything is my fault.”
My attempt at consolation had no effect.
“Life is inherently full of regrets…”
“You don’t need to say anything more.”
“Yes… rest now.”
Sensing he needed time alone, I left Captain Alpen behind and headed toward the cleanup site in full operation.
“One! Two! Three!”
“Hurry over here too!”
“Those with minor injuries, bear with it for now!”
Countless wounded scattered across the scene.
In this location without a Medical Barracks, ambulance carriages were doing the heavy lifting.
‘If we gather enough of these, it becomes a medical barracks.’
Thanks to that, soldiers who would have otherwise gone untreated were having their lives saved through emergency care.
“Seems like a useful thing.”
Eden approached with a cigarette in his mouth, speaking as he observed the ambulance carriage.
“It’s an invention of the century.”
“Isn’t it a bit uncouth to say such things yourself?”
“What can I do when it’s the truth?”
The ambulance carriage—in modern times, the ambulance—has saved the lives of well over hundreds of thousands of people.
“Looking at this now, it seems we need to operate at least three times as many as we currently have.”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Even in an overwhelmingly favorable battle of sixty thousand against thirty thousand, this is what we see.
If forces of similar strength fought each other, how many more casualties would there be?
If the command post has any sense, they’ll order an increase in our allocation.
“Sigh, it’s horrifying.”
Eden exhaled thick cigarette smoke, his expression darkening.
“Yes, truly horrifying.”
Beyond the visible landscape, are the Adits Empire soldiers lying dead there truly evil?
I don’t think so.
They too had families and were ordinary citizens living within their society’s communities.
‘The ones who actually started the war are still alive.’
Narrowly speaking, Seto Count.
Broadly speaking, their Emperor.
And this isn’t a story that applies only to the Adits Imperial Army.
‘The Crown Prince at least takes action, but the Emperor and Princess Rene remain in the Capital.’
And that’s not all.
The great nobles who hold actual power are also all in the Capital, with only their young sons on the battlefield.
“I truly don’t understand what meaning their deaths have.”
“That’s always how war is. Overthinking it only gives you a headache.”
A voice completely exhausted.
Even though the rain had stopped and the sun had risen, everything felt damp and oppressive.
* * *
【3 Croissants】
5 Silver
-> 6 Silver
–> 7 Silver
—> 8 Silver
(Due to material price increases from the war, prices will be raised to 9 Silver starting tomorrow. We appreciate your understanding.)
“What, you raised prices two weeks ago and now you’re raising them again?!”
A citizen who had checked the notice posted at the bakery raised their voice.
At that sound, the Restaurant Owner inside the store emerged with an exhausted expression.
“Wheat prices have skyrocketed due to the ongoing war between the Two Empires, so there’s simply nothing we can do about it.”
“But wheat prices shouldn’t be that—”
“I’m not lying. There’s no profit left compared to when we sold it for five silver.”
The prolonged war had driven prices to astronomical heights.
The kingdoms surrounding the conflict zones suffered the greatest damage as a result.
“This has gone far enough. We need to take action. What is this madness?”
Queen Ellen Adrian of the Adrian Kingdom raised her voice, having endured in silence for as long as she could.
“Over the past year alone, wheat prices—our staple commodity—have more than doubled, and magical devices and Manastones remain completely unavailable for import.”
One might think magical devices could simply be abandoned if unused.
But that’s only because people are familiar with convenience-oriented magical devices.
Magical devices are essential for operating factories, agriculture, and all manner of industry.
“Are we simply to wait until the war ends at this rate?”
—Ahem.
—This is… sigh.
The kings on the other end of the communication channel knew Ellen’s words held truth.
They were simply afraid of drawing unwanted attention.
“We’ve remained passive long enough. But has there been any significant change in territorial control? At this rate, it could take another ten, twenty years.”
One year had already proven unbearable—ten years? Twenty?
Only the Kingdom of Osiris, which profited from selling enemy ships, could endure such a timeline.
And they did not belong to the alliance.
—I concur. The Loton Kingdom believes this situation cannot continue as it stands.
King Kalis Loton of the Loton Kingdom, the most militarily powerful of the five kingdoms in the Kingdom Alliance, cast his vote in favor.
—Hmm, it is rather severe.
—People are starving to death. This cannot be allowed to continue. I agree.
—We share the same sentiment.
With the two highest-ranking kingdoms aligned in purpose,
the remaining three kingdoms naturally followed suit.
—So then, do you have a method in mind?
King Kalis Loton’s voice carried an icy edge.
Ellen opened her mouth as though she had been waiting for this very moment.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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