9th Grade Civil Servant In Another World Chapter 79 - Another World Army Officer (4)

“Is anyone out there?”

Daniel was choking in surprise when Fa-Shahin opened the tent flap.

“Hartmann?”

“Cough! I’m sorry. I was just taking a walk! I had no intention of eavesdropping.”

The atmosphere instantly turned ice-cold.

No matter how cold the desert night was, it was cold enough to feel on one’s skin.

But that was only momentary, as Fael followed him out with a smile and patted his back.

“Daniel, let’s talk together. You have the right to hear this story too.”

And he half-forcibly dragged him inside.

“Let me wet your throat.”

A neat tea table was set up in what served as the living room.

“Would you like a cup of tea?”

“Thank you. But… should I really be intruding on a family conversation?”

“Stop pretending you don’t know. Didn’t you already hear everything?”

Daniel, holding the warm teacup in his hands, was momentarily speechless. He lowered his eyes to hide his trembling pupils, but Fael and Fa-Shahin seemed to have noticed.

“Hartmann, I’m sorry, but I need to confirm something. Is it true that Elhar has taken on business for a young man named Lucas Redan? And that he’s also acting together with him to bring down Schufaben’s Supreme Leader?”

Daniel frowned briefly, then worked even harder to manage his expression after hearing Fael’s translation.

‘What are you thinking, Fael?’

Even if they were family, to leak the secrets of the White Raven Order and Bletter like this.

Fael wasn’t a stupid person, so he must have done this with some intention, but what could it be?

Daniel swallowed a sip of tea and nodded heavily.

“Both are correct. I am Lucas’s friend and colleague, and I’m only nominally in charge of the business to avoid government surveillance—the real power is Fael’s, or rather, Elhar’s.”

“I see…”

Fa-Shahin had a grim expression.

He looked at Fael’s calm face and let out a sigh.

“Is this what you consider protecting the tribe?”

“Yes.”

“Did you also kick away the chieftain’s position and leave to do this kind of work?”

Fael looked at his father with a gentle smile.

“No. Back then I was young and immature. I was simply sick of everything. I thought I could accomplish great things out there, somewhere other than the familiar Great Desert.

So I crossed over to Schufaben and gathered the oppressed kinsmen. The reason I chose Schufaben was simply because it was the most discriminatory country on the continent. Back then, I only thought about bringing down Kruger somehow. I believed discrimination would lessen if I did that. My thinking changed a bit… after I met Lucas Redan.”

He turned his gaze to Daniel.

Daniel, who had been getting dizzy from the insane sweetness of the date tea, involuntarily flinched when he met those brilliant blue eyes.

“He was a fascinating person. He truly wanted to kill Kruger. He said that one day Kruger would push the continent into hell, that both humans and elves would be consumed by the flames of war. It was a belief without logic or anything else, but I could feel myself gradually being drawn to those words.”

The eerie sapphire eyes glittered in the firelight.

Suddenly, Daniel thought that perhaps the person who valued and trusted Lucas Redan most highly wasn’t himself or Erika, but Fael.

‘Could they have something in common? Both of them have rather unusual mental worlds…’

Fa-Shahin also seemed to sense his son’s abnormal gaze and made a displeased expression.

“Truly foolish.”

“The foolish ones are those who can’t read the flow of change. Now is different from a thousand years ago. It’s different from a hundred years ago, and from ten years ago too. If you still believe you can live peacefully like stagnant water forever, in the end everyone will be swept away and disappear in the waves.”

“So you coldly cast him out? Your younger brother Namir.”

For a moment, Fael flinched as if struck.

“He was a child who looked up to and followed his older brother more than his parents, but you always pushed that child away. Do you think Namir is also a fool who should be eliminated?”

“…I just wanted to find a better way.”

“You said inheriting the chieftain’s position was trivial. Didn’t you cast out Namir, who pleaded with you, saying it was a tribe that would disappear anyway, power that would disappear anyway?”

“Aren’t you just afraid, Father!”

At that moment, all sounds stopped.

Fael’s shout, the crackling of the fire, Daniel’s nervous clattering as he set down his teacup, their heavy breathing—everything.

Daniel, unable to move his entire body, could only roll his eyes to look at Fael, whose brown skin had turned red.

He sat back down with a surprised expression, having half-risen from his seat. When Fa-Shahin slowly lowered his hand, sounds began to flow again.

‘Was that magic?’

Daniel couldn’t sense the magical power that had filled the tent. He could only guess from the way his body trembled finely.

“What am I afraid of?”

Fa-Shahin asked in a subdued voice after withdrawing his magic.

“Change, and humans. Father, you fear the changes that humans bring. Even if you don’t hate humans like other elves do, you’re afraid they’ll eventually take over this land too, that they’ll swallow the entire continent.”

Fael’s voice was resolute.

“Aren’t you the same?”

“Yes. But I want to ride that change and survive. If I can’t resist change, I’ll at least protect my people. At the very least, I won’t just sit helplessly like you, Father.”

Fael pleaded in a whisper.

“Father, we lost our stepmother to a terrible mistake. We can’t lose Namir too. I want him to be a little less unhappy. Please help me. Don’t you love Namir, not me, Father? I’ll make sure that child isn’t sacrificed, that he can somehow survive—”

“You are also my son!”

Fael stopped speaking in surprise at Fa-Shahin’s firm voice.

“Foolish child, what father would drive his son onto a path of thorns? Yes, I am a chieftain. But do you think I would throw my son into a furnace to save the tribe? With no certain method, would I gamble with my son’s life? It’s true that my heart goes out a bit more to poor Namir, but you are also my son. Don’t forget that.”

Droplets formed on the small old man’s wrinkled face. They flowed down along his sun-weathered and roughened skin.

Fael was staring at his father with a blank expression.

And Daniel, who had been uncomfortably staring only at his teacup, desperately tried to think of something to say.

‘Family affairs are really complicated. On top of that, there are political and cultural issues. Should I even be getting involved in this? Maybe I shouldn’t have followed them all the way to the Great Desert…’

Even though it was a cold night, sweat was beading on his forehead. He was too flustered to think of wiping it.

‘If only Lucas had come instead!’

That would have been better.

Rather than approaching the Supreme Leader only to be relegated to a minor position, he should have thought about properly developing the business with Fael and catching the Supreme Leader’s eye.

But it was something everyone had agreed to, so it couldn’t be helped.

‘Ah, how would Lucas handle a situation like this?’

Daniel, who had been desperately continuing his thoughts, finally set down his teacup and bowed his head deeply.

“Sir, please listen to what I have to say.”

As he hesitantly began to speak, Fa-Shahin looked at him through eyes blurred with tears.

“I’m not presumptuous enough… to presume to… interfere in family matters.

However, sir, I hope you will recognize that Elhar is already an adult, that he has become a great person. He has given hope to countless elves. He has helped us attempt things that the White Raven Order alone could never have accomplished.

I don’t know how to safely protect this great Fa tribe’s village, nor how to reduce discrimination. I only know that Elhar is sincerely working hard. Even with goals that seem absurd at first glance, he’s a friend who seriously makes plans and executes them step by step.

Lucas Redan is the same. They are people who try to actually realize dreams and fantasies. No matter how much others mock them, they don’t give up. That’s why we believe in them and work together with them.

Sir, Elhar is not an immature child. That’s what I wanted to tell you.”

Daniel’s words were slow and clumsy, his vocabulary rough and his pronunciation stumbling. However, he spoke earnestly, even mixing in hand gestures.

It took a very long time to continue word by word, but before long, both men were concentrating on his words.

Fa-Shahin, who had been listening carefully, let out a short chuckle when Daniel finally finished speaking and wiped his sweat. The droplets that had been rolling on his face had long since dried.

“Elhar. Your human friend is much better at persuasion than you. You should watch and learn.”

“Will you help us?”

“I haven’t made up my mind yet. So tell me the plan.”

The sharp atmosphere between father and son had eased somewhat. Daniel listened intently with relief.

***

“A storm is coming!

Blizzards are raging!

Even in the blazing hot midday,

Even in the frost-bitten cold night,

Charge forward!

Charge forward!”

“Louder!”

“A storm is coming!

Blizzards are raging!”

“Good! There, right foot! Left foot!”

Soldiers jogging in formation on the vast parade ground. They sang spirited military songs while breathing in the fresh morning air following their company commander’s calls.

“Very good to see!”

“Battalion Commander!”

The company commander was shocked breathless when I suddenly appeared beside him, matching his pace.

“Don’t be so, gasp, surprised! Aren’t I also a soldier in name! I can at least participate in, ugh, physical training! Keep going!”

The company commander followed orders with a bewildered expression.

According to the company commander’s policy, the soldiers run ten laps around the parade ground every morning.

Damn! The trauma from my previous life is coming back.

This space, which resembles the front lines—no, has even worse natural conditions—is terrible enough, and now morning running!

But this was my choice.

I used my free time to build physical strength and get closer to everyone, so I suggested to my adjutant Alina Himmel that we exercise together. She seems to have taken it as an order though.

As a result, I’m suffering like this!

This is on a completely different level from the morning walks I used to take at the boarding house.

Actually, I’d been somewhat neglecting exercise while running the tavern, and in Rubellia I didn’t have time for it since I was busy having fun with the nobles and the queen.

‘This is the price of laziness!’

I looked at Alina running silently beside me and forced a smile.

“The air is really fresh! It clears the brain! Don’t you think so, Captain Himmel?”

“Yes, it is.”

Even though it’s been a month since she was commissioned, she’s still stiff. Even when she urged me that jogging time was over.

“Huff, gasp, drink plenty! Air and water, huff! never have taxes on them! Haha!”

Her expression became even colder at my lame joke. Even the company commander smiled awkwardly.

“Woof! Woof!”

Colin, who had been following beside me, barked energetically and ran off into the distance.

***

“Ugh! Blurgh!”

My limit was exactly three laps around the parade ground.

When I staggered out of formation and started retching, the soldiers hesitated, but I waved my hand to gesture that they shouldn’t worry.

“Are you alright?”

Alina mechanically patted my back while asking.

“Huff, I’m fine. I should stop jogging here.”

“Understood. Please call me when you’re ready for strength training.”

What have I done!

I regretted it too late, but Alina’s training couldn’t be stopped. This woman would be a huge success if she opened a gym in Korea.

“Ughhhhh…”

After three sets of anaerobic exercises that weren’t as precise as modern Earth’s but were still pretty decent, I returned to my quarters and collapsed face-first on my bed, my entire body aching.

“Colin, I wish you knew how to give massages.”

“Woof!”

Ring ring ring!

The rest didn’t last long. Soon the guard post called.

“Long live the Great Supreme Leader! Battalion Commander, you have a visitor.”

The person escorted to my quarters was Hannah. The way the surrounding soldiers couldn’t focus and kept stealing glances was quite a sight.

“It’s been a while, Hannah!”

“Redan!”

Well, I’d been seeing only fierce soldiers, so I felt affection welling up at Hannah’s civilian clothes too.

After a light embrace, I received a letter from her. And immediately curse words flew out.

“What the hell is this…!”

“Fael says he’s going to make you king.”

The very first sentence was truly shocking.