Epilogue: Internship in the Hero’s Company (part 1)

It was already four in the evening. The winter-sun had begun its descend, illuminating the sky above with a bright orange-to-purple gradation. In the land below, the remaining Regalion’s snow was still reflecting its pure white glow, as if denying the sunset to consume it.

That evening, the news about the appearance of a demon inside the city finally reached Voran’s ears. Inside the command center, Voran lost his temper. That kind of news should have been brought directly to him without any delays.

Nevertheless, his subordinates bringing the news weren’t in the wrong either. They tried to verify the news first before giving Voran a mere rumor so as not to waste his time. After all, there was no particular procedure regarding that in their manual.

Charles spoke to one of his subordinates with an intimidating voice,

“Do you understand that, Major? When you hear this kind of news again later, just bring it directly to me! I don’t care if it is just a rumor, just bring it.”

“Y-yes, General.”

“Good. We have been late to act for several hours now because of you. One of my elite platoons’ commanders might be as well as dead by now.”

The Major stayed silent. He couldn’t find anything to say to Voran.

“If you have nothing more to say, just go.”

Voran dismissed him in a harsh way. The Major silently obeyed Voran and left the command center.

***

On the later evening, after the dinner, Amalia’s group began their search for a middle or high-ranking officer to bring her garrison’s evacuation issue. Somehow, Kyle had stuck with the three of them since the afternoon.

“So, Lord Kyle, can we go to the office of the officer who would help us evacuate your father-in-law now?”

Amalia happily teased Kyle. Hearing those words, both Kyle and Rita’s faces went deep red.

“I-I-I will guide you now, Lieutenant Ray.”

“Hahahaa, can you stop teasing them, Lieutenant? Lord Kyle and Big Sis look like they are about to die because of embarrassment.”

“So, Vaska. What about you? Lord Kyle and Rita said that you like someone. Hmmm, what’s her name again? Oh, Lumi!”

It was Amalia’s tenth or so time bringing that topic after hearing a story about Vaska wanting to be alone with Lumi from Kyle and Rita. Every time Amalia brought that up, Vaska could clearly see Amalia’s sinister grin beneath her white mask.

As for Amalia, she had colored her hair grayish-silver again but she hadn’t burned her face. It was fortunate that she brought a spare mask after Rita had destroyed one earlier.

“Yes, I really like her. I like her beautiful face, her calm and soothing voices, her shy personality, her amazing body, and most of all, her kindness that even rivaled the Goddess. I really, really love her.”

Bored with Amalia’s constant teasing, Vaska braced himself to tease her.

“What’s her favorite food?” Amalia asked Vaska with a sharp voice.

“Mmmm...”

Vaska tried to look for an excuse because he didn’t know what Lumi’s favorite food was. He tried to play it as if he knew the answer,

“Snow rabbit stew.”

“Her favorite book?”

“The idiots’ ship.”

“Her favorite color?”

“Yellow.”

“Her favorite clothes?”

“Bikini.”

THUD...

Vaska suddenly fell forward. Amalia, Rita, and Kyle stopped in their tracks and looked at Vaska with worried expressions. Moreover, every person in that corridor also stopped and looked at him. Vaska quickly stood up and covered his face with his hands in embarrassment.

‘Amalia, you bastard!’

After the group began moving again, Vaska glared at Amalia. She quietly tackled him the moment she knew that he was lying earlier. After all, Vaska had said that Lumi was the shy type but he suddenly talked about her wearing a bikini. Amalia opened her mask partially and quickly stuck her tongue before she put her mask back on.

The more they walked, the more the number of the soldiers around them was. It seemed that Kyle brought the three of them to the castle’s barrack. Several people noticed Kyle and greeted him on their way. After several minutes walking, they eventually arrived at the front of a door with two guards standing beside it. Kyle spoke to one of them while he took out his identifier,

“I am Kyle from the Hero’s Company. May I request an audience with General Voran?”

‘WHAT?!’

Vaska and Amalia were utterly stunned. Never in their wildest dream that they would meet their nemesis that soon. Moreover, there was a high chance that Amalia should open her mask in front of a too-high-ranking officer. Amalia hadn’t disguised her face as Ray yet so she had to look for anything as an excuse.

“Please wait here, Sir Kyle. I will bring your request to the General.”

“Thank you.”

One of the guards left his post and entered the room. Amalia’s group, now with Kyle already included, stayed in front of the door while talking about some random things. Moments later, the guard informed them that Voran was available and Amalia’s group entered the command center.

It was Vaska and Amalia’s first time entering a command post after several years. There were lots of people inside. The vibes from the scattered paper, officers shouting commands, and the weak scent of alcohol brought their memories back.

“Sorry to bother you this late, General.”

“You know that I cannot just shove you aside, don’t you? I don’t want to make an enemy out of Lord Rondine anyway.”

Rondine was another higher-up inside the High Command of the alliance and the direct commander of the Hero’s Company. So, Voran couldn’t openly refuse an audience with Kyle, a member of the Hero’s Company.

“Thank you for your accommodation, then. I will personally inform Lord Rondine about your cooperation.”

“Hahahaa, seems like your skill is not only in artificing, Sir Kyle.”

Voran continued by addressing his other guests,

“But it’s quite unusual for you to bring some guests here. Shall we take a seat first?”

“Thank you, General.”

Voran guided Amalia’s group to sit in his personal room in the command center. Then they took their respective seats with Voran and one of his aides positioned themselves on their opposite sides. His room’s butler also served them tea.

“So, what business do we have here, Sir Kyle? And you haven’t introduced me to your group either.”

Voran finally opened the serious topic.

“Oh, sorry. My bad, General.”

Then, Kyle introduced Amalia’s group to Voran starting from Rita,

“This la-la-lady is Ri-Rita. She is my, my girlfriend.”

Kyle nervously introduced Rita as his girlfriend to Voran while continuously casting his eyes downward upon doing so. Voran looked at Rita with a curiosity but he said nothing yet,

“And this man is her little brother, Vaska. The last one is that masked gentleman there. He is Lieutenant Ray, Rita’s commander.”

Voran’s interest suddenly shifted from Rita to Amalia. He observed Amalia with the eyes of a predator as if trying to gauge what lays beneath that white mask. It was Amalia who took the initiative,

“Sorry for my mask, General. I will gladly leave the room if you find this disturbing.”

Amalia greeted Voran with a light bow.

‘This man is far better than Kyle at playing with words. I cannot let my guard down, dammit.’ That was Voran’s first impression of Amalia.

“No need, Lieutenant. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“The pleasure is mine, General.”

Then Voran addressed Kyle with a smile,

“So, Sir Kyle. Shall we really get into the business now?”

“O-okay, General. Actually, I am just helping my girl-girlfr-girlfriend here. His father is currently evacuating inside one of the city garrisons, Lieutenant Ray’s supply garrison. Their supply cannot last for long. So, my-my girlfriend and her commander walked here to seek your assistance.”

Hearing Kyle’s request, Voran frowned. His defensive line around the castle had just stabilized and thus, he could not spare any personnel for an evacuation sortie yet. His soldiers, too, were exhausted from two days fierce of fighting. Moreover, there was a threat of Azura, the demon that suddenly appeared in the city.

But Kyle was the Hero’s Company member. He couldn’t reject his request easily. Thus, Voran tried to get some information first from Amalia, the supply garrison’s commander,

“Okay, I understand where this conversation is going. So, Lieutenant Ray, how long will your supply last?”

“With around thirty people, including the civilians, inside, it will be twelve days at most, General. But my best estimation is only for around one week if the evacuees get some stress.”

“Another question and sorry that it may sound rude. Is it really impossible for your garrison to evacuate everyone here by yourself?”

“If it is only the soldiers then we still have a chance, General. Unfortunately, only four of my men survived and there were more than thirty evacuees there. Moreover, the demon army is still constantly dropping those spiders from the sky, making any later evacuation effort more difficult.”

‘Damn! Why does your girlfriend’s garrison survive, Kyle? I prefer ten other garrisons surviving instead of this one.’

Voran was in a dilemma. If it was another garrison that had no connection with the Hero’s Company then he could just refuse the evacuation request.

“This is just hypothetically speaking. What is your plan if I don’t issue an evacuation order, Lieutenant?”

‘So, Voran is still not sure whether he can clear the spiders infesting this city in two weeks, huh?’

“This is also hypothetically speaking, General. Maybe I will go back to them tomorrow morning and weed half of the evacuees myself to make the others survive longer.”

‘What a dangerous man he is. I wish that I had an aide that could think like this man, dammit.’

Rita reflexively moved her body after hearing Amalia’s plan. Fortunately, Vaska was faster to prevent her from doing anything. As for Kyle, his eyes never left Voran. Kyle noticed that Voran was both in fear and awe as he was conversing with Amalia.

“Are you sure that your rank is still a lieutenant? It feels like I am talking to another general here.”

“I wish to be promoted too, General. I have been stuck in this rank for two years after my graduation from the academy.”

Both of them fell silent. Then, it was Vaska’s turn to play his cards. From Voran’s interaction with Amalia, Vaska knew that Voran was a calculating-type commander. If Voran could not make a decision because of a balanced stake, then Vaska just had to tip the balance.

“So-sorry for interrupting, General, Lieutenant. May, may I suggest something? I don’t know whether it will help though.”

Voran and Amalia suddenly looked at him and abruptly stopped their mind chess. Voran permitted Vaska to speak,

“Sir Kyle’s girlfriend’s little brother, right?”

“Yes, General.”

“What kind of interesting suggestions do you have?”

Voran intently looked at Vaska while Vaska faked his nervousness. Then, Vaska took out a folded paper from his pocket.

“I, I haven’t talked about this to everyone, including to my big sister. But actually, I have Master Spledorf’s recommendation letter for joining the Hero’s Company along with my big sister.”

‘So, how would you respond to this, Voran?’

Everyone in the room was completely shocked. Kyle and Rita wore disbelief expressions while Voran was left speechless with his eyes wide open. Amalia could only chuckle at such a scene. Without waiting for Voran’s words, Vaska gave him the letter. Voran frowned upon verifying its credibility himself.

‘KYLE! How dare you bring these two monsters into my room!’

With Vaska’s letter, Voran refusing Kyle’s request had the same meaning as he was trying to undermine both Rondine and Spledorf at the same time. Before Voran could recover from his shock, Vaska talked about his idea,

“Master Spledorf has acknowledged my ability to perform magic barriers, General. And on our way here, me, my big sister, and Lieutenant Ray had killed some giant spiders without any scratches. And maybe you already know well about this, but evacuation requires quantity over quality and therefore even I cannot protect those thirty or some people.”

Vaska sealed the last line of Voran’s excuse,

“What about this, General? I will personally defend any part of the castle that you want in exchange for you re-allocating the defenders of that area for evacuation. Not a bad idea I said.”

Voran had no chance to disagree with Vaska’s suggestion. By doing exactly what Vaska had suggested, Voran would be able to maintain his good reputation from Rondine and Spledorf while his defensive plan could still work, or even better.