Second Life as a Soldier

“I hear good things about your mission,” said Lieutenant Ceciro as I sat across his desk.

His office felt exactly the same, a faint smell of herbs and chemical solutions mixed with the smell of old books.

“I am surprised you already know about it,” I said.

“Captain Dunvale reported about your mission to Captain Darrow, while Sergeant Cole reported to the Vanguard lieutenant in Stonegate, and then the quartermaster of the fort informed the quartermaster of Fort Darrow about your eggs contribution. As your direct supervisor, all those reports were transferred to me.” I was surprised that information about me had already reached him before I arrived, even about the eggs.

I wondered how.

“Was this through runic communication?”

“Yes, all important leaders have runic devices available, but that is only at the captain level. Forts also have special birds trained to carry information.”

That made sense. Communication in towns usually happens through merchant caravans, but if the army relied on such slow methods of communication, forts would be wiped out before requests for reinforcements were received.

“So how many elemental crystals or mana crystals can I get?” I asked with enthusiasm, changing the topic completely.

I thought I could get mana crystals at Fort Dunvale, but when I took the eggs to the quartermaster in Fort Darrow, he informed me I could only get mana crystals at the base I reported to.

“Why do you sound so excited about mana crystals? Are you running low? At a sergeant’s salary, you should have enough mana crystals,” the lieutenant asked, raising his eyebrow.

“No, I am good with mana crystals, but the Tier-1s of my squad are nearing their class trials, so they could use some extra mana crystals.”

“Hmm, Tier-1s I do not see any problem with, but do you plan to provide extra crystals to your Tier-2s as well?” this time he narrowed his eyes at me.

“Sir,” I exhaled heavily, trying to collect my thoughts. The lieutenant had directly pointed to the dilemma I was having. “Around Tier-2 progress, I have so many thoughts that I am having a hard time putting them into words.”

“Well, start putting them into words, or you can leave,” the lieutenant ordered, irritation clearly visible in his tone at my behavior and way of speaking. Two to three months in the wild, I had almost forgotten that I was talking to a noble who hates breaks in decorum and rules, and who could create more pressure than a beast just through his hardened gaze.

I straightened up immediately.

“Sorry, Sir,” I began, choosing my words carefully

”My first thought is that I want them to progress, as I have mentioned before, but providing them mana crystals could accelerate their leveling process, and this is where my thoughts start to jumble up.”

I paused.

”On one hand, their performance was great in this mission. They followed orders without flinching, even when the targets were dangerous and could have easily killed us, for which they need to be rewarded the same as Tier-1s. On the other hand, I can see even more clearly now that they are not soldiers. They followed orders because they like fighting, and for the first time in a long time they are getting the freedom to kill, and following my orders makes them effective in killing. If they all reach Tier-3, they could create problems for others,”

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I poured my thoughts out without pausing, which only increased the lieutenant’s irritation from the look on his face.

“You knew they would never be soldiers from the start, and they never will be. What did you think when you started giving them freedom?” Then his expression changed, some understanding dawning on him. “But from your statement, it looks like you are not worried about leading them—you are worried about others leading them.”

The lieutenant leaned forward slightly, searching my face for something.

“It’s not that you are worried about them being assigned to another squad, but that you don’t want them to. Why?”

Wow, was the lieutenant reading my mind? I thought

“Yes, Lieutenant, I know they are not soldiers, but something tells me it will be hard to find people with such distinct skills yet so good at fighting. Barry, one of the weakest among them, might not be able to kill as effectively as others, but he is hard to kill and was able to go toe-to-toe against a Tier-2 barbarian with elemental affinity. More importantly, these diverse sets of skills allow me to make a good squad and help me with class progress, so while for others they could be nightmares—”

“Losing them to another squad would be a loss for you,” the lieutenant said, completing my sentence.

“You know this is a selfish request… coming from an officer,” the lieutenant continued.

Looking down at the floor, I nodded.

“But I like it.” The lieutenant’s tone did a complete 180-degree turn. “They are expendable anyway, so if they are helping a top sergeant, I don’t see an issue. As a lieutenant, I can request your current squad to be assigned under you permanently. Sergeants can request their squads or some members of their squads to be part of a permanent unit. Usually, full squad requests are not approved because captains and lieutenants don’t want to lose so many trained soldiers to just one sergeant, but in your case, I don’t see any problem.”

“You know what making a permanent unit means, right? They will be almost like your personal unit, which will be there with you for your whole life or theirs,” the lieutenant said.

“Yes, Sir,” I nodded.

Then the lieutenant looked at me and continued, “Why the sudden change? Taking them as a permanent unit would bring you more problems than you can think of. Just doing so is a declaration that I consider you a lieutenant candidate. Even if we ignore the political consequences, the army itself will start paying much closer attention to you. Just having criminals will increase the difficulty of assignments, even after you become a lieutenant.”

I was already aware of the limitations of having criminals as your permanent unit. This being an army, they made sure that during the time they serve, they are assigned tasks with higher mortality rates, and even if someday the kingdom feels that they have served, soldiers will never consider them their equals.

“Sir, during the expedition I felt like I have found a purpose for my squad. In our first encounter with barbarians, we lost one of the Vanguard privates. He was Tier-2, with far better elemental affinity than my squad, and yet my squad survived, even the Tier-1s, and they did not just survive, they enjoyed those fights, so I want to put them in those situations. This way, they will be a help to the kingdom instead of doing harm to it.”

Letting my words settle in,

“but there is more. I feel like the Tier-2s of my squad are angry at the world, making them lethal, while the Tier-1s have the greed to prove themselves, which during my two years in the army has shown me is uncommon among people with low-level elemental affinity.”

This was my observation since my awakening. Even my friends Eric and Henry hardly had any interest in their progress, and I have seen new recruits in Fort Darrow who loved to fight, losing their zeal over time.

The limitations of having low elemental affinity were hard to overcome, especially when you see soldiers from scout units or elite infantry squads with 35–45% elemental affinity progress faster than you and have more combat power even at the same level.

But that was not true for my squad.

Rokan and Daren were starved for a place to belong, so they always gave their 100 percent. The rest were never lazy, but Brakk getting a combat class had ignited a fire among Oren and Silas. For army recruits, getting a combat class was nothing special; for my squad, it was a dream.

“So I want to use their anger and greed to see what people like me can do… what we can achieve.”

“Why all the talk about having second thoughts on whether to allow them to progress to Tier-3 or not? You could have just said you want them in your squad,” the lieutenant said.

I smiled at the lieutenant’s question.

“This brings me to another thing I wanted to talk about. While I don’t think my levels and cultivation should be a problem in controlling them, during the expedition we had some close combat calls, during which I realized I am lagging in brute force, and I have been highly reliant on my shield and spear, which even my squadmates have noticed. Increasing my combat power could increase my influence over the squad as well.”

For the first time since the meeting started, the lieutenant smiled. “I’ve been waiting for you to say that.”