Second Life as a Soldier

As Oren and I were chatting, I saw Blake coming toward me with a serious expression.

“Sergeant Edward, the Captain is calling you,” Blake said.

I frowned and stood up. I was concerned about what the Captain would want from me.

My squad was not important enough for a Tier-4 captain’s attention—the captain who had just knocked out another Tier-4 in less than 30 seconds.

Deep down, I was scared. I knew Tier-4s were powerful; I had seen the destruction they caused after the grand beast tide, but seeing it up close and feeling their mana was something else.

Tier-3s were still something close to humans; their powers were something I could understand, and if I was lucky enough, I could even defend against them. But Tier-4s—it was impossible to consider them human. One could create a small hill, and another could destroy that hill with one punch.

Seeing all this was overwhelming.

As we started making our way to the command building, I turned to Blake and asked,

“Do you know why the Captain is calling me?”

As he looked at me, he looked almost sad. “Sorry, Sergeant,” he sighed, then patted my shoulder. “Because one of your squad members disrespected a Tier-4 senior lieutenant, the Captain is angry.”

My eyes widened, and my heartbeat quickened. “You’re kidding me, right?” I asked.

That was the most absurd thing I had ever heard. Here we were, fighting one of his treacherous subordinates, and he was angry because my subordinate told that traitor to fuck off.

Somehow, Blake looked even sadder. “I wish I was. If you remember, Sergeant Cole was respectful to the senior lieutenant. It was for a reason. In the army and the kingdom, Tier-4s hold a special place. Traitor or not, most captains will not tolerate someone from a death squad mouthing off to a Tier-4 individual.”

“You are not joking!” I asked, still surprised. What the fuck is going on?

“Sorry, Sergeant,” he apologized once again.

“What will he do?” I asked.

“He will probably punish Varric or maybe the whole squad,” he replied.

“Like hell he will!” now I was losing my temper. “He can talk to my lieutenant. I am not letting him punish my subordinate without any reason. I am not his direct subordinate.”

“You know that will only get you in more trouble. I would advise you to take whatever punishment he gives,” Blake patted my back and pointed at the door of the command building.

In all this conversation, I did not even realize when I had walked up the hill.

I stood there, staring at the door.

Shaking my head, trying to shake out thoughts of getting punished, I made my way inside, leaving Blake behind with the other vanguard privates.

While I talked big with Blake, the image of the Captain destroying that hill was playing in my mind. It was not something I could easily forget, and that man wanted to punish me and my squad. I have not been in such an unfair situation in my whole life. I was hating everything—the army, the world, and society.

I walked up the stairs and approached the Captain’s office, where one of the soldiers standing outside knocked on the door and let me in.

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Inside, I could see Sergeant Cole standing, and the Captain sitting on an almost throne-like chair in his captain’s uniform, which was similar to the silver armor I saw Captain Darrow wear.

My anxiety increased just by looking at the burn marks on his armor, but I still saluted the Captain without even thinking. By now, saluting a superior had become second nature to me.

“At ease, Sergeant,” the Captain said, looking at me up and down. “Sergeant Cole was telling me you made a great contribution to the mission, and not just you, but your whole squad, so I wanted to meet you.”

Listening to the Captain’s words, a sigh of relief came out of me involuntarily.

Seeing this, the Captain asked, “You alright, Sergeant?”

“Y–yes,” I stammered as I replied, taking a deep breath, trying to cover up my reaction. I continued, “Sorry, I was overwhelmed. This was my first time speaking to someone at your position,” while I said that, internally I was thinking of ways to kill Blake.

“Nothing to worry about. You and your squad were ready to face a Tier-4. I don’t think talking to one is any harder,” the Captain said with a smile.

I chuckled and said, “Thanks, sir, but I was almost equally afraid at that time.”

“This is my first time hearing any good things about a death squad. I also hear you treat them differently. Most of the time, a sergeant’s hands are full trying to control their squad to do anything else. Can you tell me why you treat them differently?” the Captain asked. Just listening to this, I was surprised. He was not ordering me; there was no judgment in his eyes, just mild curiosity.

So I replied honestly.

“Sir, I served in the same squad with half of my squadmates before I became their sergeant. I knew they could fight and that they loved to fight, so I knew how they worked. Instead of fighting with me, I let them take their anger out on beasts, and for this mission, barbarians.”

He nodded.

“Well, we will see if it works in the long run, when they start tiering up,” this time I could feel judgment in his voice. “Great work, Sergeants. I will pass good words about your work on this mission to your respective superiors. Do you have any questions?” he asked, but in a dismissing tone.

“Yeah, like a thousand of them,” I thought. Given the Captain’s tone, I thought it was best not to ask any questions, so Sergeant Cole and I shook our heads and took our leave.

As soon as we walked out of the room, I turned to Sergeant Cole and said, “Sergeant, I am going to kill Blake.”

He raised an eyebrow as I continued, “That bastard scared me to death.” Thinking for a second, some sort of understanding appeared on Sergeant Cole’s face, clear signs this was not the first time his squad had pulled a prank like this.

“Do not worry, Captain Dunvale is a good leader. He has had feasts with us multiple times. Even if you had reacted worse than you did, he would not have taken offense,” the sergeant said, doing nothing to ease my anger.

To make matters worse, once we were out of the command building, Blake commented, “Hey, Sergeant, I hope the punishment was not too harsh,” while the rest of the vanguard were smiling ear to ear.

Making my way close to Blake, looking into his eyes, I said, “Blake, just know there will come a day—I don’t know when, I don’t know how—but I will make you regret what you did today.” I tried to remain serious all the way, but because of the atmosphere, I started smiling mid-sentence.

That smile turned into laughter from one side, then to the sergeant and everyone else, even me.

After a minute of good laughter, I turned to Sergeant Cole.

“Sergeant Cole, the Captain said he had to keep the lieutenant alive. Why can he not kill him? Do you know what will happen to the senior lieutenant?” I asked.

“As the Captain said, Tier-4s are a great asset to the army and the kingdom. Every combatant is necessary for the kingdom, and a Tier-4 even more so. He will most probably be kept in a prison specially designed for high-level individuals. If or when the kingdom needs him, they will use him,” the sergeant said.

I nodded and then asked, “And how do they control them? Mana oath?”

“Normal mana oaths do not work at Tier-4. The individual will have to take the oath willingly. From what I heard, those oaths are more binding, and the universe itself enforces them. So it is almost impossible to force an oath on a Tier-4. Usually, they are not allowed the freedom your squad has. Instead of controlling them, they are thrown into life-or-death situations, like inside the center of a high-tier beast nest.”

Wow, I would rather die than be caught if I were given this type of situation. The army was basically using them as a one-time-use weapon.

“Edward, tomorrow we should also discuss boundaries for your trip back to Fort Darrow with Sergeant Darric. Now, with the Captain’s approval of your squad, I believe Darric will have no problem giving you full control,” the sergeant said.

I nodded, looking down the hill at Fort Dunvale and into barbarian territory. I felt relieved to be leaving this place.

In some ways, I preferred Fort Darrow over Fort Dunvale. Fighting beasts was a lot easier than fighting humans. But more importantly, I had a list of things I needed Lieutenant Cicero’s guidance on.

I was ready to leave this place, and I couldn’t wait to do so.