9th Grade Civil Servant In Another World Chapter 191 - That Summer (3)

“Gasp!”

Ian rolled his body and got up, running quickly. Behind him, the first lieutenant’s footsteps grew closer then farther, echoing back and forth.

Bang! Bang!

First Lieutenant Fisher’s pistol kept spitting fire. His mind reeled dizzyingly. Even as everything spun before his eyes, he somehow managed to gauge direction and kept running.

“Why are you doing this!”

Ian cried out, but the first lieutenant didn’t answer.

“Huff, huff…”

He couldn’t even tell where he was. Just a jungle filled with grotesquely shaped trees everywhere. Ian pressed his body against the gap between large trees.

“Second Lieutenant Keller!”

First Lieutenant Fisher’s heavy footsteps could be heard stomping around.

“I made a mistake. Let’s talk this over!”

The first lieutenant’s panting voice rumbled with fear and excitement. Ian clenched his sweat-soaked fists tightly.

Gradually his breathing calmed, and when First Lieutenant Fisher also seemed to stop moving and went quiet.

“Are you here?”

“Aaaah!!”

An unpleasant breath was felt very close by, and Ian involuntarily let out a scream.

Bang!

A bullet embedded itself where he had just moved away from. Ian began running again without looking back.

“Second Lieutenant Keller! Come here!”

“Why! Why! Why did you kill everyone! Why did you run away!!”

“Stop being self-righteous, Second Lieutenant Keller!! Do you think you would have been any different?!”

“You are!”

His eyes felt like they were turning inside out with boiling rage. Even knowing he shouldn’t, he stopped running and shouted.

“You’re trash unfit to be a soldier!”

“I just! I just wanted to live…!”

First Lieutenant Fisher, who had been chasing him, couldn’t overcome his momentum and collided with him. The two who crashed into each other violently began sliding down a gentle slope and rolling on the dirt ground.

“You traitor!!!”

Ian grabbed his collar and punched his cheek. The first lieutenant also reached out to strangle Ian’s throat.

They fought while screaming at each other, grappling back and forth. It was a dogfight unbecoming of soldiers—throwing dirt in eyes, biting hands, stomping on groins.

“Just die!! Die!!!”

Beyond the screaming first lieutenant’s voice, the splashing sound of waves. Ian used all his strength to push the first lieutenant away and ran.

Sand crunched under his feet. After passing through the pathless jungle, a seashore with dawn gradually breaking spread out before his eyes.

“Elizabeth!”

At Ian’s shout, the dragon who had been pretending to sleep with closed eyes spread her wings. She wrapped Ian’s body with her long tail and soared into the sky.

“Sonya! Catch that bastard! Catch him!”

First Lieutenant Fisher wiped the blood flowing from his nose and mouth while riding Sonya in pursuit.

“Give up even now!”

“Don’t be ridiculous…!”

“You can’t beat me!”

The sky was Ian’s home. He had been flying the skies on Elizabeth since he was very young.

Even if that weren’t the case, he was confident he could fight better than that First Lieutenant Fisher.

Ratatatatang!

The machine gun spat fire in sync with Elizabeth’s dazzling flight. Though it was just threatening fire with off angles, the first lieutenant seemed to have his vision narrowed by fear and was busy just dodging.

Ian deliberately turned his back to the east. He shouted toward the first lieutenant who was squinting and grimacing against the backlighting.

“Please! First Lieutenant! Promise even now that we’ll go to headquarters together and turn ourselves in!”

“Die!!”

The first lieutenant didn’t even pretend to listen to his persuasion. Instead, he pulled out a mortar and aimed it this way. Ian felt his blood turn ice cold.

He had known all along that he was originally a cowardly and base human.

Cruel enough to be selected for the top-secret mission to surprise attack Cortana and erase an entire city, a fanatical Supreme Leader devotee without parallel brutality.

But abandoning his squadron and fleeing wasn’t enough—now pointing cannons at his subordinate?

He never could have imagined such trash existed.

“I’ll have to kill him.”

Ian muttered while looking down at his pale, bloodless hands.

“Down!”

He pulled the reins and shouted. As Elizabeth dove sharply, Sonya followed down as well.

Now the sun had almost fully revealed itself. Elizabeth descended onto the sea that sparkled pink reflecting the sky’s color, creating waves.

‘One, two, three.’

Measuring the distance.

“Now!”

On signal, Elizabeth sprang up. Ian leaped and landed on Sonya’s back.

He could see First Lieutenant Fisher, body frozen stiff with panic. Ian placed his hand on the side of the cockpit cover.

They had poured all existing technology into this and even cast protective magic on it, but that was all. If you pressed the emergency rescue button from outside, it would open immediately.

“Aaaaaaah!”

The first lieutenant screamed with terror-filled eyes. Ian’s dagger plunged deep into his throat.

“Gugh!”

Bright red blood.

“Hah!”

With the sound of breath escaping, it splattered stickily across Ian’s face with a gurgle.

***

“Screeeeech!”

Second Lieutenant Ian Keller lay in the sea full of First Lieutenant Maximilian Fisher’s blood. While listening to Sonya’s terrible wailing.

The sun, now high in the sky, cast warm light, and fish swarmed in the bloody water, thrashing about.

Why had things turned out this way.

No matter how many times he looked back, he couldn’t understand.

Was it simply because First Lieutenant Fisher was a coward? Or perhaps Ian himself bore some small fault.

“War is… terrible.”

Ian muttered meaningless words again and looked up at Sonya with empty eyes.

The dragon’s crying sounded like a requiem for her master.

Sonya didn’t attack Ian. Instead, following his commands, she flew carrying First Lieutenant Fisher’s corpse while connected by reins to Elizabeth.

When Ian arrived, headquarters was in complete uproar.

“You, you’re alive?”

Even the usually calm Battalion Commander Captain Tim Belf was stunned enough to ask such a foolish question.

“I’m alive. Who spread false rumors that I was dead?”

Captain Belf hurriedly looked around the chaotic headquarters scene and whispered.

“First, clean off that blood. Put the dragons in the pen, and when you’re ready, come to the battalion commander’s office.”

Ian was served precious coffee in the battalion commander’s office. Supplies had become quite poor lately.

“You.”

After Ian had completely confessed everything he had experienced, Captain Belf quietly opened his mouth.

“That story just now must be taken to your grave. You must never mention it to anyone.”

“Why on earth.”

Ian’s hand holding the coffee cup was trembling slightly.

“I don’t understand why First Lieutenant Fisher tried to kill me.”

“You already know. He was just a stupid coward.”

The story Captain Belf roughly told him wasn’t much different from Ian’s expectations.

After Ian volunteered as bait and departed, First Lieutenant Fisher deserted from the battlefield claiming he would help him. And when he learned that the squadron had been annihilated, he tricked Ian into waiting on the uninhabited island and returned to headquarters.

Officer desertion, fleeing before the enemy, abandoning military duties during operations.

At best it would be dishonorable discharge, at worst execution. Either way, his life was essentially over, and First Lieutenant Fisher’s choice was simple.

“Second Lieutenant Ian Keller volunteered as bait and broke through the encirclement. More than ten enemy soldiers chased after him, so I left the squadron members to handle the rear and went to help Second Lieutenant Keller. We shot down the enemies, but in the meantime the squadron members…

And even Second Lieutenant Keller fell into the sea while fighting enemies and was lost. I wanted to at least recover his body, but my dragon suddenly began going wild. Probably unable to overcome fear as the enemy pursuit continued. It’s all my fault! Please punish me!”

Immediately blaming his own dragon, Sonya.

In a situation where they had already suffered major losses, they couldn’t just punish pilots indiscriminately. So innocent Sonya nearly faced disposal, but barely saved her life.

Because First Lieutenant Fisher pleaded with Captain Belf to take on one last night reconnaissance mission.

He wanted to recover his subordinates’ bodies. He said he wanted to atone that way.

“We’ll cover this up at the air force level. Sonya’s false charges have been cleared, so we’ll send her back to the homeland, and you… what do you want?”

“Why is that.”

Ian asked Captain Belf, who looked anxious, in a sunken voice.

“Why aren’t you putting me before a military tribunal? I killed a superior officer. It’s clearly insubordination.”

“It was self-defense.”

“That’s just my one-sided claim. Shouldn’t it be verified?”

“Second Lieutenant Keller!!”

Captain Belf slammed his desk as if frustrated.

“Can’t you understand this simple thing? We’re in crisis right now! Anyway, you’re the only survivor of the 27th Squadron, and the air force as a whole has suffered major losses! In such circumstances, what would we gain by publicizing conflicts between comrades! Shut your mouth and choose between a medal of honor and medical discharge!!”

So Ian chose discharge.

***

“I received no punishment.”

Ian’s face, muttering, was so rough and gaunt that Oscar doubted whether he was the same person as the friend he had known.

“No one knows what happened. Not a single newspaper article ran, and no one asked me what had occurred.”

He let out a dry, hollow laugh.

“Lucas was right. Our military is rotten. The war seems to be heading toward an end. But you know.”

Ian’s dazed eyes turned toward Oscar. He sat frozen like a statue, crushed by the unbearably heavy story.

“I felt I had to tell you. Since I… killed your family. Whatever punishment you decide on, I’ll accept it.”

“…”

Oscar looked at him with a deathly pale face and opened his mouth.

“That person wasn’t my family.”

Oscar’s voice was just as dry and parched as Ian’s.

“Someone who massacres civilians and betrays comrades, who tries to frame an innocent dragon for execution—that kind of demon hasn’t been family for a long time. You did well, Ian. You didn’t commit murder. You just, you just…”

Oscar muttered quietly.

“You protected yourself.”

The broken young man, Ian, smiled while looking at his friend who comforted him.

“Your brother, no—First Lieutenant Fisher’s remains…”

“The family will handle it properly.”

Oscar cut him off decisively.

“More importantly Ian, do you know what happened to Sonya? If she was repatriated domestically, she would definitely have been sent to my second brother—did you hear anything?”

“Ah, right.”

Ian sighed.

“I had two reasons for finding you. One was to apologize for my wrongdoing, and the other was to tell you about Sonya. Your second brother doesn’t seem to want to keep Sonya. There’s going to be a secret auction.”

Ian pulled an ornately decorated invitation from his pocket and held it out.

“It’s tomorrow. I was going to give up if I couldn’t find you by today, Oscar.”

Oscar’s expression showed despair as he looked down at the invitation.

“Auction… and a secret one at that. Ian, about how much do dragons cost?”

“It depends on the type, but Silver Dragons like Sonya typically…”

He grimaced slightly.

“Roughly around 100 million pelts. Though there aren’t many trading records to begin with.”

“100 million pelts.”

Oscar fell deep in thought. His gaze landed on the playing cards placed in a corner of the tavern hall.

“I guess only gambling would work.”

But how?

Even if it were possible to win 100 million pelts in one night, how could he find such a big game right now?

“Should I just rob a bank instead?”

“Stop thinking dangerous thoughts!”

Ian, alarmed, stopped Oscar.

“I was thinking while coming here, Oscar.”

He hesitantly opened his mouth.

“How about I participate in the auction?”

“What?”

“You said I wasn’t at fault, but I do bear responsibility for Sonya’s suffering. I’ll bring Sonya to our house. Come visit anytime.”

Complex emotions flickered in Oscar’s eyes.

He should stop him.

No matter how much it was for a friend, he couldn’t let him throw away 100 million pelts in one night. But if he missed this opportunity, Sonya would…

“Friend.”

Ian placed his hand on his shoulder.

“Please let me atone. I’m tired of having nightmares every night. I keep waking up startled by the sound of Sonya’s crying.”

At his weary smile, Oscar’s heart broke.

***

It was a bright, pleasant day transitioning from summer to autumn.

Oscar in modest clothing and Erika with her face hidden under a wide-brimmed hat stepped out of a carriage and stood before a beautiful mansion.

He had never asked about Ian’s family background. If someone owned a dragon, he had simply assumed they must be from quite a high-ranking noble family. But he hadn’t known they lived in District 3 of Lüdelheim, and in such a massive mansion at that.

“Impressive.”

Erika spoke briefly and pressed the doorbell. Her tone was gentle, as if considerate of the tense Oscar.

Shortly after, the gate opened and the two followed Ian’s guidance toward the rear garden.

“There’s something I should tell you.”

Ian whispered anxiously.

“Sonya’s condition isn’t that good. She seems to know her master tried to kill her. So she’s been quite shocked…”

However, Oscar couldn’t hear any sound in his ears.

The desolate rear garden overgrown with weeds, the Silver Dragon lying quietly still by the pond. The moment he saw that creature with scales that shimmered silver, nothing else mattered.

Oscar’s steps gradually quickened, then he finally began running.

Sonya, whom he was seeing again after a full ten years, was just as beautiful and wondrous as before.

“Sonya!”

Hearing his voice, Sonya startled and raised her body, then awkwardly moved her wings and backed away.

“Sonya, you…”

“Well, apparently the shock made it so she can’t fly.”

Ian, who had approached belatedly, added. Sonya shook her head while looking at Oscar with large blue eyes.

“Hey! You fool!”

Oscar approached Sonya angrily, striding forward.

“Did you think I would abandon you? I’m not scum like Maximilian!”

The moment his hand touched her scales, Sonya, who had been flinching, closed her eyes.

“Screeeeech!”

“Don’t cry, Sonya.”

Even as he said that, Oscar’s large eyes were brimming with tears.

“You’ve come home well, Sonya. My friend.”

“Kyuuuuuu…”

Sonya wrapped Oscar in her wings.

The oldest memory he could recall.

Flying through the heavens with his father on Sonya’s back—that memory more thrilling and ecstatic than anything else in the world.

That memory had brought Oscar to this very place.

But Sonya, it doesn’t matter. Even if you can never fly the skies again, I will protect you.