The Return of Lilietta - Chapter 26

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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 26

That autonomous squad was quite large in scale. The total personnel numbered in the dozens, with 7 Pascal’s Children among them.

There was even a rare healer. A 19-year-old girl with peculiar speech habits, Sera Pascal.

“Your hair is dried rose-colored. Your eyes are like cherry candy. You’re a little red fox! Huh? Why does this one only have one eye? A one-eyed eagle!”

She tended to their wounds that had festered from wandering the ruins without proper treatment.

They also met a Pascal’s Child with the unusual ability to handle summoned creatures. An 18-year-old quiet boy, Ys Pascal.

“Hello, juniors. Do you happen to have any seeds you picked up in the ruins? Want to trade with my stuff? I just happen to have an empty pot…”

The group easily became friends with the existing Pascal’s Children. Moreover, the people in this autonomous squad seemed accustomed to Pascal’s Children.

Rita thought they would be able to get along well here.

It was a vain dream.

Strange signs began to appear when missions were being distributed.

“You guys are skilled, so this kind of work won’t be difficult for you, right?”

“This should be easy for Pascals.”

The level of missions given to regular squad members and the level of missions given to Pascal’s Children were different.

“I bought food supplies! It was nice visiting the city after a long time, but phew, it was so heavy I nearly died.”

“The city? Even if Pascals go to the city, it’s hard for them to trade properly. They’d be lucky not to get scammed. We’ll handle the trading, so you guys do what you’re good at.”

“What, you only caught this many magical beasts? And you got injured too? That’s kind of disappointing. We successfully completed all our trading goals!”

“Sorry, but we’ll have to reduce your allocation this month. You didn’t meet the mission targets. This is our squad’s rule, so there’s nothing we can do.”

“The supply procurement was a great success, so we should get a bonus. This is also our share. You guys should have done better.”

“Our squad members each do what they’re better at and get distributed according to how much they work. Fair, right?”

It wasn’t fair.

The 7 members, plus Rita, Gid, and Oli who had newly joined, a total of 10 Pascals, were given dangerous and difficult missions. Magical beast subjugation, new area reconnaissance, securing movement routes, ruin searches, mandatory defense duties, tracking wanted criminals, etc.

The other squad members’ missions were relatively safe and simple. Selling loot and purchasing supplies in the ‘city’ inside the Last Line of Defense, maintaining campsites, repairing items, exchanging with other autonomous squads, meal preparation and cleaning, etc.

The missions given to Pascals were generally excessive, making it difficult to achieve the goals. In comparison, the other squad members’ missions often easily exceeded their targets.

So Pascal’s Children always received insufficient supplies, while the others had plenty.

“You’re injured and short on medicine? Can’t be helped, we’ll share our portion. But we’ll put it down as a debt, okay?”

They received missions with no risk of injury and lent their surplus medicine to the Pascals who got injured every time. And in return for that, they took away even more supplies.

“You need to catch at least one named magical beast this month. Autonomous squads need to show that level of performance for Command to provide support. You don’t want to go back to starving and scrounging through ruins again, do you? Try harder.”

“You guys can do it, right? Because you’re Pascals.”

All the performance reported to Command as an autonomous squad was created by Pascal’s Children. However, it was the other squad members who enjoyed the rewards.

“Try harder. That’s how you get more.”

“You guys didn’t meet your targets. We did. So this is natural.”

Two months after joining. Gid spoke up.

“This isn’t natural. Right, Rita?”

Rita nodded.

“These people don’t want to do any difficult or dangerous work at all. They dump everything on us just because we’re strong and take more supplies for themselves. They’re only kind on the surface, but in reality… they’re worse than our previous squad members.”

They decided to leave this autonomous squad. Together with the other Pascal’s Children who were essentially being worked like slaves here.

“But… if we leave here, where are we going to go?”

“Other squads are worse. There are places that don’t even treat Pascals as human, but at least here they give us supplies according to how much we work. They do pay wages.”

“Where else can we at least have the option to refuse missions instead of starving a bit? I almost died in my previous squad.”

“There are even Pascals over 18 here. They say Pascal’s Children all die quickly so it’s hard to live past 18. This place is at least livable.”

“If we don’t have somewhere to belong, we’ll have to wander those polluted ruins. You guys have tried it too, so you know, but that’s… too hard.”

“It’s not like we can live inside the Last Line of Defense either. This is the best we can get.”

The oldest, Sera Pascal, was only 19 years old.

Average age 15. Weapons who knew nothing but fighting magical beasts. Pascal’s Children with such a high mortality rate that it was hard to live past 18.

Orphans with no right to live inside the Last Line of Defense. Children all too easy for adults to coax and tame.

The Pascal’s Children who had spent years in this squad and become accustomed to being overworked were passive about escaping. Only Sera and Is responded to the proposal to leave.

“It’s annoying that I can’t treat people even when there’s medicine because there are no supplies to borrow! Little fox and one-eyed eagle, if I follow you guys, at least you won’t prevent me from using available medicine, right? Right? Huh?”

“I barely got water and fertilizer for my pots, but they took it away saying it was communal distribution, and the flowers I had carefully sprouted died. They said pots were a luxury. Yeah, I know, but still, I… want to grow flowers. If I go with you guys, would that be possible?”

Rita, who had been discussing where to go with them, suddenly said.

“If we stay together by ourselves, anything is possible. As long as we don’t let what we earn get stolen, we’ll have enough supplies.”

“So, instead of looking for where to go, we directly create a place for us to be.”

Gid picked up her idea.

“Yeah, that’s it, Rita. We can just stay together by ourselves.”

“Let’s create a new autonomous squad. One composed only of us, only of Pascal’s Children.”

Oli pointed out the reality of that dreamlike goal.

“Creating an autonomous squad is free, but getting officially recognized by Command will be a pain in the ass, right? Especially for Pascals like us who are all minors with no birth records. Damn, they’ll definitely tell us to bring an adult with citizenship as a guarantor.”

“Plus, we have a record of shooting that squad leader bastard and deserting! An unrecognized autonomous squad is the same as a gang of raiders! Everyone can’t escape this shitty bedbug den for a reason!”

Even with the realistic criticism, Gid wasn’t flustered.

“I gained something while staying here.”

What he pulled out was a small notebook.

“Contact information for city businesses that trade with autonomous squads. Some of these are illegal black market dealers too.”

“A business directory? The squad leader would have hidden this with his life, how did you get it? Even black market dealers? Don’t tell me you…”

“Guarantee from an adult with citizenship? We can buy it. Money to buy that? We can earn it by selling magical beast byproducts. Desertion record? You already know, Command doesn’t care who belongs to autonomous squads. They only judge squads by their performance.”

The children gaped at the plan that was rapidly becoming reality. Gid rolled his remaining eye and suggested.

“Now then, everyone think about it. What kind of place would be good for the autonomous squad we create.”

Among the children who were struggling just to follow his plan, only Rita, who had been imagining the future since the topic was first brought up, immediately answered.

“I’d like it to be a place that becomes a landmark for Pascal’s Children like us who wander the ruins or drift around with nowhere to go. Like a lighthouse in the mist.”

The blueprint for the autonomous squad called Beacon was drawn that way.

The process of breaking away from the autonomous squad ‘Faire’ was not smooth.

The squad members had no reason to welcome the escape of the slaves they had been using well. The tamed Pascal’s Children were passive about change.

After conflict and persuasion, an escape plan was finally established.

However, just before executing the plan, one of the Pascal’s Children who had agreed to join them betrayed them and reported them to the squad leader.

“Our squad gives harsh punishment to traitors just as we reward dedicated squad members. That’s fair, isn’t it?”

While Rita and Gid were out on subjugation, the children who remained behind were tortured. Oli, Sera, and Is didn’t say a word until the end, but another child spilled all the plans.

Those kids all became hostages.

“You guys make your oath again. That you’ll devote yourselves to do your best for the autonomous squad Faire. Then we’ll forgive you.”

Re-oathing was something that was rarely done because of all the side effects and dangers. If done wrong, instead of becoming an Oathbinder again, they could become crippled during the process of nullifying the existing oath.

The Captain of the Faire squad demanded re-oathing from Rita and Gid while holding the throat of the battered Oli.

Gid gritted his teeth. Rita saw the eye signal from Sera, who was tied up next to Oli. She whispered to Gid.

“I’ll pretend to nullify my oath and detonate my Od, so you rescue them.”

“What? Detonate what?”

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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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