9th Grade Civil Servant In Another World Chapter 83 - Interlude (2)

“Huff, wheeze, h-how many laps is that?!”

“Five laps, sir!”

“Then that’s good enough, ugh!”

I broke away from formation and leaned against a tree on the edge of the parade ground.

“You’ve worked hard.”

Captain Himmel, who had followed me out, stoically handed me water and a towel.

“Heh heh, thanks, Captain. You really are the best aide I’ve ever had! Of course, you’re the only one who’s ever served as my aide! Hahaha!”

As I gulped down water like a hippo and laughed while panting, Alina’s expression subtly crumpled.

She must think I’m bothering people again with my lame jokes.

But I can’t help it when it’s so fun.

Originally this was something I started to try to get even a little reaction out of this stoic captain, but once I actually started doing it, it was too amusing.

Seeing that disgusted expression makes me laugh, so it’s evolved into a twisted hobby.

‘Ah, Professor! And that damn Manager Kim! Is this how you felt?’

I couldn’t stop laughing as I remembered the people from my past life who had made lecture halls and offices so cold.

Is it that once you become the higher-up, you get addicted to this kind of thing?

“Cough! Cough!”

As I coughed and laughed, thoughts of why I was doing this here came swirling through my head.

Wasn’t my original dream to graduate college and go traveling around the world?

I joined a company to save up money first, and instead of traveling, I was thinking I needed to buy a house first, so I worked frantically until one day I ended up in this world.

Far from traveling the world, I’ve fallen into a strange world and am struggling just to survive. How pathetic.

My specialized knowledge is completely useless here.

Ah, being trapped in this military base seems to be making me gradually lose my mind.

‘Will I be able to get out of here alive?’

I looked at the expressionless Captain Himmel.

“…I’ll go do some strength training.”

Cold snowflakes began falling from the sky.

“Tsk, the soldiers are going to have a rough time.”

Snow in the military is just waste falling from the sky.

After finishing three sets of strength exercises that left my limbs trembling, I went to find the officers’ quarters where the majors lived.

“Hey, having another party?”

When I burst open the recreation room door, sure enough I saw the majors lounging around with music playing.

“Long live our Great Supreme Leader! Battalion Commander, you’ve arrived!”

Still, they snappily stood up and saluted, showing they’d gotten used to military life. Well, it’s been three months now.

“Did you exercise again today?”

“Admirable.”

Schwanz and Hoellope came over grinning and offering something like flattery.

“Haha, I can run five laps now!”

“Oh, now that you mention it, you’ve gained a lot of muscle.”

“Well, this isn’t a body that will improve with just this much. Still, I have to keep working at it.”

I passed time with meaningless chatter.

I provided entertainment daily to make the majors lose their minds.

Showering them with all kinds of special treatment, now even rumors were spreading among the regular soldiers in hushed whispers.

‘Does the higher-ups know about this?’

I don’t know if Kruger is still watching me, but if my deductions about his intentions are correct.

That is, if he’s planning to kill me and all the majors and use it as justification for war.

‘If I were Kruger, I would have planted at least one spy.’

One or two among the ten majors. Captain Himmel. The company commander.

Those are about the extent of my suspicions.

Maybe they’re quietly waiting for the right moment.

I lied about receiving secret orders, hoping the spy would see. I made the majors become not just lax but completely crazy.

‘Then there should be some kind of reaction.’

It’s been three months already, but there’s still no change.

‘Should I just keep waiting like this indefinitely?’

December is coming soon.

When 1903 arrives, this body will turn twenty-eight.

Age doesn’t matter, but continuing to wait anxiously and then getting stabbed somewhere and dying is absolutely unacceptable.

“But about that, the perfect death you mentioned—why are you exercising? Since you’re going to die soon anyway…”

“Damier!”

The young major Damier, barely twenty and dragged here, often makes blunders. As he made another slip of the tongue, another major turned pale and covered his mouth.

“It’s fine. You’re right.”

I approached him as he came to his senses in a daze. His freckled, youthful face had gone white.

“Why do I exercise, you ask, Major Damier? Because I want to die in the most magnificent form. That way when His Excellency the Supreme Leader sees my corpse, he’ll think, ‘Ah, this fellow really worked hard during his military service!’ Don’t you think so? Hahaha!”

“I-I see. Truly, you have deep insight, Battalion Commander!”

Damier clumsily played along. I threw a camera that had been sitting in a corner of the recreation room to him.

“Ugh!”

I grinned watching him stagger as it hit his chest and he caught it.

“I’m giving you a special mission, Major. Use that camera to photograph my final moments well. It will be very valuable material. Material proving that I was murdered by the enemy, that is.”

“Yes, yes! Leave it to me!”

Damier got unnecessarily excited and steeled his resolve.

“Good, good, do your best.”

So, whether it’s spies or assassins, when exactly are they coming?

***

Rustle, rustle.

Sand grains scattered by the wind bumped into each other, making faint sounds.

The long procession, no different from any ordinary caravan, continued heading further west, toward where the sun sets.

“It’s hot here even in winter.”

Daniel, riding on a camel, muttered while adjusting the cloth flowing down to his forehead.

“Because there’s no tree shade. The sunlight beats down directly. But when night comes, the air freezes.”

Fa-Elhar answered leisurely and turned his head.

The procession of camels stretched in a long line. The camels were loaded with large baggage packs, small folded tents, and water pouches hanging everywhere.

It might be needless worry, but it would be troublesome if stragglers appeared.

Even if just a little time passed, sandstorms would erase footprints, and to inexperienced eyes, the scenery that all looked the same in every direction would make finding one’s way even more difficult.

Even though everyone had been made to carry compasses from the start, it was better to be careful.

All of Redan Company’s employees were elves or half-elves, but Fael was the only one who had ever lived in the Great Desert, even briefly.

“Could this desert ever return to being a great forest again someday?”

Daniel asked while looking out at the vast sandy land.

“If we elves could unite, form a nation, bring many mages and research… Yes, it might be possible.”

“Certainly, it would be difficult to turn desert into forest without at least putting national-level resources into it. But even so, such a proposal to Lucas. Still surprising.”

“Sorry for startling you.”

“What’s more surprising is that Lucas accepted it. Though the reply did say success couldn’t be guaranteed.”

Fael smiled gently.

“There are times in the world when you must grasp even the most uncertain opportunities. Because opportunities once missed don’t come again. I don’t know if you’ll understand, but to me, Lucas Redan is that kind of opportunity.”

“Hmm, I think well of Lucas too, but I don’t expect him to establish a nation for us…”

“I don’t rate the chances of success highly either. But I must believe and move forward. Whatever the outcome may be.”

“Lucas would probably say we have to accept even this kind of gamble. In that sense, you two seem similar.”

“Of course, that’s why we joined hands.”

Daniel couldn’t help but smile at Fael’s laughter.

“I’m still anxious…”

“Enough chitchat?”

A curt elvish voice came from behind. Turning around, he saw a young man sitting ramrod straight on his camel.

Ah, right. Fael wasn’t the only one born and raised in the Great Desert.

“Namir.”

“I don’t know what secret conversation you’re having in human language, but listening from behind puts me in a bad mood, you know?”

“Then should we speak in elvish? How about it, Daniel?”

“Uh, sure. I was thinking I should practice elvish more anyway.”

When the two tried to appease him, Namir let out a scoff.

“No, forget it. It’s obvious anyway. Using human help to liberate elves, something like that, right? Stop such pointless fantasies and think about arriving before sunset. Jackals come out at night in these parts.”

“Don’t be so impatient.”

“You should be the impatient one. How long are you going to keep clinging around?”

Namir’s way of responding harshly to everything he said. You’d think he’d give up by now, but he keeps needling. Meanwhile, Fael always dealt with him calmly.

Maybe that was the problem, Daniel thought.

‘Rather like when Lucas and Oscar used to fight…’

If they threw a bunch of curses at each other and slapped each other’s cheeks, pouring out their emotions, it might resolve things a little.

Namir’s nitpicking also seemed like he was deliberately picking fights to get some kind of reaction out of his brother.

How long did Fael plan to keep treating Namir so politely, like he was neither family nor friend nor acquaintance?

But Daniel kept his mouth shut today too.

It’s not right to butt into other people’s family affairs.

***

After Fael spent several days explaining and persuading his plans, Fa-Shahin finally agreed to help.

“You’re looking for something valuable in the Great Desert. Something that could bewitch humans. Is that right?”

“That’s correct. If we can find such wealth, it will be of great help when we fight for our rights against humans.”

Fa-Shahin puffed on his water pipe and remained lost in thought for a long time. Daniel sat cross-legged with a familiar feeling and looked at him anxiously.

Honestly, they couldn’t find something like that quickly.

If it was treasure that could captivate humans, the elves who had been masters of the Great Desert for nearly a thousand years couldn’t have failed to discover it.

Fa-Shahin must have had the same thought, as he finally opened his eyes after a long while and spoke in a heavy voice.

“There’s nothing I can tell you about. But that child might think of something.”

“…You mean Namir?”

“Yes. Namir has tremendous interest in this land. He’s so absorbed that he seeks out and reads every book on the subject.”

A father’s touching heart!

He was trying to somehow get the antagonistic brothers to have a conversation.

But it seemed true that he was well-versed in the Great Desert.

“When I was young, I used to go around asking the tribal elders about legends too. But somehow, I feel reluctant.”

Walking out of the palace corridor, Fael sighed with an uncomfortable expression.

“There’s no other way right now.”

Daniel said while watching a gorgeous peacock strolling through the garden.

“Why should I?”

As expected, Namir was uncooperative from the start.

Actually, Daniel was less hurt by this than amazed by the mountain of books filling one room and the maps stuck everywhere, the notebooks and quill pens, the festival of ink.

“Father told you to give us advice. Namir, we’re looking for mana stone mines, but even if not that, we need to obtain something valuable.”

“Now you want to sell off our land’s resources to humans too? How wonderfully diverse in your betrayals, brother.”

“It’s not like that.”

“What do you mean it’s not like that?”

“This, this, is this an acorn?”

Daniel’s voice suddenly interrupted, drawing both their gazes.

“Hey, don’t touch it! That’s a fruit over a thousand years old!”

Crash!

Namir yelled and launched himself to knock Daniel down. The acorn carefully enshrined in a glass tube was safe.

“Really… amazing.”

Even pinned down, Daniel’s eyes shone.

“A, Amazing you say?”

“Materials like these. You’re already like a great scholar. I’m envious.”

When he expressed his admiration in brief elvish, Namir’s expression went blank.

From that day on, Daniel went to Namir’s room every day.

Going there to flip through elvish books or examine rare collectibles.

Namir got annoyed but let him in until he stopped loitering in the hallway, so there was no way to stop him.

Strangely, servants and guards never restrained Daniel at all. Probably Fa-Shahin’s will.

Finally, after five days, Namir threw up both hands.

“Fine! About two weeks’ walk from the village, there’s a place said to be the capital of the old elf kingdom! If you go there, you might find artifacts or whatever. Now stop tormenting me!”

Fael, who had been quietly watching Daniel, finally smiled.

“Father was right. Daniel, you have a talent for persuasion.”

“Hmm, I wasn’t trying to persuade him though.”

When the preparations were complete, Namir declared he would accompany them too.

He said there was almost no chance of finding traces of the kingdom, but if they did find something, he didn’t know what they might do, so he had to keep watch.

“He just thinks of it as a good opportunity to get outside the village. Father was overprotective of Namir and wouldn’t let him go far. Also, if there really are ruins, he’d want to see them himself.”

That’s what Fael said.

Fa-Shahin, who had been reluctant, finally gave in to that passion and granted permission.

So now they were crossing the desert looking for the capital of the elf kingdom instead of mana stone mines.