When I shot him a look that basically said, What the hell are you doing,
Lieutenant Kim answered with a light laugh and a sly wink.
‘Creepy, what the—’
While I was dry heaving inside,
Lieutenant Kim spoke with a straight face.
“It’s right to care about civilians, but there’s far too little intel on that area. I’m afraid of sending our soldiers only for something to go wrong.”
“You soldiers are incredibly strong.”
“That’s true. But we’re hardly invincible. Especially in recent battles, many soldiers were injured, and the fatalities were considerable. With those losses not yet recovered, I feel a large-scale operation is premature.”
“Th-that’s...”
“Think about it. If we go there and succeed, good. But if our unit is wiped out? Then you’ll be worrying not only about the cold, but food and monsters as well. From our standpoint, I’m not sure we should make that gamble...... it gives me pause.”
When he spoke as if he had absolutely no intention of moving to retake the plant,
the ones who grew desperate were the leaders of the Awakened who’d caught the drift of the conversation.
“P-please. We’re begging you.”
“We may be Awakened, but we won’t endure the cold that’s coming.”
“Think of it as saving lives, please...”
But—
even with their pleas, Lieutenant Kim didn’t budge.
“Even if you put it that way. The risk is enormous, and the part that benefits our unit is far too small.”
“......Benefit?”
“Yes. Benefit.”
Benefit.
At that word,
a few quick-witted Awakened traded glances.
“T-then.”
“If there were a benefit, could the conversation change?”
“Hm?”
At their words, Lieutenant Kim replied as if intrigued.
“Let’s hear it.”
“Here’s what we propose. The Legion holds the authority over the electricity coming off that island. We only ask you share enough power for us to get through the winter, and that’s enough.”
“Huh. You provided the intel, and from what I hear, only that power-plant employee can actually restore power. Are you fine with us taking that much?”
“O-of course.”
“Given that we likely can’t retake it on our own. That much is only natural.”
The leaders spoke, sweating cold bullets.
“That’s not bad. And?”
“Pardon?”
“......And, as in what else?”
When the Awakened leaders stammered,
Lieutenant Kim kicked his chair back and stood up without mercy.
“Ah. So that was all you meant by benefit. Then let’s end it here. See yourselves out. We won’t be—”
“W-wait!”
They hastily sat him back down.
Then, heads together, they whispered among themselves, troubled.
‘What? Even so, that’s way too generous to offer, isn’t it?’
‘It’s the kind of thing we have to offer. We’re talking about moving that Legion.’
‘It hurts, but...... if we don’t pull this off, at least half of us will die this winter. Thinking about that, it’s cheap.’
‘Ghh.’
‘Better than dying because we pinched pennies. It’s a world where you could die any time.’
A moment later,
apparently having reached a conclusion, one of the Awakened leaders spoke up, sheepish.
“Um...... we’ve amassed quite a lot of points.”
“I see. May I ask why you’re suddenly boasting about points?”
“......It’s not boasting. They’re points we were able to save only because, thanks to you soldiers, we could easily get food and operate in safety. So.”
“So?”
“......We’ll use them to purchase stat potions and offer them to the soldiers......”
“Ho!”
Lieutenant Kim reacted in great surprise—
so big it looked oddly like acting.
“Are you sure? Stat potions are worth a lot.”
“......The stronger the soldiers get, the safer we are. Thinking of it as an investment makes it not that painful. If not for you soldiers’ combat rations, all those points would’ve vanished buying rye bread or whatever.”
“I see. A truly tremendous decision.”
Only then did Lieutenant Kim show a pleased smile.
He clasped each leader’s hand in turn and said:
“I am worried for my soldiers’ safety, but as soldiers we can’t sit by and ignore civilians’ problems.”
“.......”
“Leave the power plant to us!”
“H-ha ha......”
“Thank you, Lieutenant Kim.”
The people forced into handshakes
wore faces full of forced smiles.
****
After the Awakened left,
I looked at Lieutenant Kim with a fed-up expression and said:
“I did wonder why you didn’t say okay when I nodded...”
“Heh-heh. From their pitch, it sounded like we could get a bit more out of it. Let’s say I saw the angle.”
It was ridiculous, but—
‘......Well. He’s always been good at spotting an angle.’
Come to think of it,
that political knack is why I set him up as figurehead in the first place.
I asked, just in case.
“Has anything similar happened till now?”
“Hm? Haha. Not to brag, but I’ve had a fair hand in making sure our members want for nothing.”
Apparently,
this isn’t the first time he’s profited like this.
Thinking that a guy like that used to be my superior is absurd,
but now he’s my subordinate and did something that benefits the unit.
Honestly worth some admiration.
“And to be clear, I only took the shot because the angle presented itself.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“If they didn’t have the means to pay additional compensation, I would’ve ended it at securing authority over the electricity.”
“Huh?”
“Surprised? Isn’t that what you want, Youngjun? For as many people as possible to survive.”
Far too many humans have already died.
The surviving humans are few.
“If we can secure electricity, there’s a lot more room to use the old civilization’s technologies. It’s a winter that’s hard to endure even for Awakened...... but with electricity, the story changes a bit.”
To preserve that small remnant of power,
securing electricity was optimal.
“It’s good to take profit so long as it helps our unit, but if they die off, that’s a loss, too. That’s how you’re thinking, right?”
“......”
“Uh-oh. Did I get that wrong?”
I stared blankly at Lieutenant Kim’s face.
This guy—
Was he always this perceptive...?
‘No way.’
If he were this capable, he wouldn’t have been called deadweight among the officers.
Yet he’s showing this much ability «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» now.
‘Is it the effect of Awakening.’
Lieutenant Kim throws out command buffs in every battle.
He vacuumed up a lot of experience for it; now he’s past level 20 and into [Intermediate Commander] territory.
‘A commander class is born with mental traits like [Charisma], among others.’
As those traits grew with his levels,
they dragged the once-incompetent Lieutenant Kim up to usable.
Seeing him change like that—what to call it.
A touch of sentiment.
“......Come to the kitchen after dinner.”
“I-is that...”
And I had no intention of being stingy with people who do good work.
“I’ll make you a snack.”
“Thank you, Youngjun......!”
Either way,
he was catching what I wanted and doing the job well.
“I’ll be loyal forever!!!”
When I promised a dish [filled with supreme happiness] as a reward,
he outright drooled, thanking me.
‘Some things never change...’
He’s become quite useful,
but the fact he can be buttered up with a single dish—should I be pleased or not.
****
After I’d whipped up a quick snack for Lieutenant Kim,
I went to find our guild’s spirit user,
Jung Sua.
For one reason.
‘If we can secure electricity, it’s not just “not bad” for us.’
No.
It’s far more than “not bad.”
It’s a massive gain.
Especially—
‘In terms of rebuilding civilization...... the effect would be huge.’
No matter what anyone says, the core of past human civilization was electrical energy.
The inputs used to harness it varied, but anyway.
Many people are dead, and anything you could call civilization is wrecked.
But with enough time and effort,
we might restore civilization, if not perfectly.
‘That’s why we built the village at Inje County, too.’
To do that,
we first needed to strike that island with the power plant.
A remote island with zero intel on the inside.
But our unit has “spirit drones.”
Jung Sua’s spirit, Drop.
I meant to ask her to scout the island with it......
“Hm?”
Jung Sua’s back, visible in the distance.
But—
she was talking in lowered voices with a few members.
-......
-......Sister......
-......That happened...... yes, the Savior......
Their voices were so low even I, an Awakened, could barely hear.
“Jung Sua?”
“......!”
Curious what they were talking about, I approached.
The ones speaking with her flinched and looked back at me.
“......?”
“Com— no. Commander?”
“Yeah.”
I didn’t know what that was, but—
the moment they saw my face, fluster was written all over them.
“Um...... did you happen to overhear what we were saying?”
“......No? I didn’t.”
“Th-that’s a relief.”
“......”
A relief, huh.
The way they were blatantly rattled,
and the way they’d been talking so no one could overhear—
Don’t tell me.
‘Were they badmouthing me?’
I felt a bit of moisture at my eyes.
In the past,
back when I was truly just a regular cook soldier, I remembered army life.
‘We trashed the officers...... constantly.’
We griped that the battalion commander who did his job was too strict.
An officer like Lieutenant Kim was basically the common enemy.
Among soldiers, bad talk about officers—
it’s not exactly unusual.
‘And here I am, the target.’
Now I’m the head of this Legion.
In other words, the battalion commander’s seat, in old terms.
It wouldn’t be strange for me to be the subject of grumbling.
But—
I decided to be as generous as possible.
‘I did plenty myself; taking it now is karmic.’
I won’t claim there wasn’t a twinge of sadness.
A snot-nosed young cook calling himself their commander—
of course they might resent it.
If it were a coup plot or something, that’s different,
but as far as I recall, these were among our more zealous members.
“S-so what brings you here, Commander?”
“Ah. There’s a place I’d like scouted.”
As long as they do the job well,
I can tolerate a bit of trash talk.
Jung Sua was obviously trying to change the subject,
and I decided to play along.
A little later.
In the inner keep at the heart of [Vimana],
at its top, Jung Sua set a small cup of water down and gazed into the air.
“It’s real.”
When she spoke, her eyes were shining the color of water.
“The solar panels you mentioned are there. Most of them seem to be functioning.”
“Oh.”
If we can just make use of that solar energy,
it brings us a step closer to restoring the old civilization.
“But......”
As always,
things weren’t going to proceed simply.
“The panels are fine. But at the power plant the panels connect to, I sense something... powerful.”
“Powerful presence. How strong?”
“Strong enough that Drop is reluctant to approach...... I’d put it that way.”
“Hm.”
There’ve been a few times a water spirit was reluctant to approach.
‘Most of those were matters involving military bases.’
Against monsters strong enough to occupy military bases,
spirits are reluctant to approach.
Meaning—
‘Whatever’s there...... we should assume it’s on that level.’
Still,
it’s not like we lack confidence.
Our members have steadily grown,
and now they’ve learned martial arts, reaching a realm far removed from normal humans.
Soldiers who’ve learned the martial arts may be stronger than a single rifle squad.
Back when we fought lizards, that realm seemed impossibly far; now we’ve finally reached it.
As for the military bases—
including our unit at Hwang Junsan that outright prevented the bases from being occupied,
we seized the Ammunition Battalion and the Armored Battalion.
Three locations total secured.
No matter how strong the monster,
with our current strength, we can certainly......
****
Kwarrrrum......!
Kwagang......!!!
I, too, have had times I thought that.
“......What in the world is that.”
From the outside, the island had looked intact.
But when we approached aboard a boat Engineers built for us—
“Getting through that...”
“Not happening, man.”
A giant bolt of lightning wreathed the entire island where the plant sat.
Even soldiers who can tank bullets had no confidence they could withstand it.
An overwhelming torrent of lightning.
