Chapter 23: Free Clothes on the First Day

"You’re being appointed as a Soldier."

Zishan blinked.

Maela looked toward the commander.

<anno data-annotation-id="378c3a0d-6876-65b8-7889-84f7c51e41b2" data-title="For several seconds, Zishan said nothing as he tried to recall the military rank ladder Ollie had explained earlier while they were sorting supplies. Recruit came first, followed by Soldier, then Senior Soldier, Corporal, Sergeant, and the higher officer ranks after that.">For several seconds, Zishan said nothing as he tried to recall the military rank ladder Ollie had explained earlier while they were sorting supplies. Recruit came first, followed by Soldier, then Senior Soldier, Corporal, Sergeant, and the higher officer ranks after that.¹</anno>

Then, it took quite a while before it registered in his brain.

"Wait." He pointed at the commander. "Soldier?"

Commander Holtz nodded.

"As in the rank after Recruit?"

The commander nodded once more.

Zishan’s eyes widened. "I SKIPPED RECRUIT?!"

Several wounded soldiers looked over from nearby cots.

Commander Holtz remained completely unaffected by the volume. "Under normal circumstances, you would not qualify. Soldiers are expected to have reached at least Level 25."

Zishan’s excitement immediately became confusion. He pointed at himself again. "I’m Level 20."

"I’m aware."

"Then, aren’t you breaking your own rules?"

"Wartime field appointments allow exceptions when sufficient combat capability has been demonstrated. Your Level is below the normal requirement, but your assessment showed that your actual combat capability does not correspond cleanly with that Level."

Zishan slowly nodded as the explanation entered his head.

Then, he smiled. "So you’re saying I’m built different."

Maela covered part of her face.

Commander Holtz stared at him strangely.

Zishan’s smile weakened. "That’s basically what you said."

"No," the commander quickly answered, fearing that the boy’s ego would inflate because of that.

"It sounded like it."

Commander Holtz ignored him and continued explaining the appointment. Zishan would technically enter active military service as a Soldier rather than remain an auxiliary. His primary assignment would still make use of the things he had already demonstrated. He would assist the forward support formations, help protect healers and supply personnel when necessary, participate in casualty retrieval, and reinforce threatened positions if the fighting reached the support lines.

He was not being thrown directly into the main assault formations.

At least, not yet.

Zishan raised his chin with one finger supporting it from below. "So basically, I help people, fight anything that gets too close, and try not to die."

"That is an extremely simplified description," Commander Holtz said, giving him a brief look. "I’m beginning to think you understand more than you usually let on."

"But accurate?"

The commander remained silent for a moment and then replied, "Mostly."

Zishan nodded without saying another thing. However, there was another detail that he considered far more important if not the most important.

"Do Soldiers get paid more than auxiliaries?" he asked.

Maela turned away. ’This kid... well, he’s not wrong to ask...’

Healers were usually peaceful beings, but Maela, since meeting the kid, she had been worried and stressed with him almost all the time.

Meanwhile, Commander Holtz’s expression barely changed, although something in his eyes suggested that he was reconsidering every decision that had led to this conversation.

"Yes," he replied eventually.

Zishan immediately sat straighter. "Commander, I have always respected the military structure of the Kingdom of Olmost."

"You called me nuts less than an hour ago."

"People change, Commander! You shouldn’t judge someone by who they were yesterday, but by who they are today!" he righteously replied.

Commander Holtz’s gaze turned strange as he looked at the boy. Then, he stopped entertaining the conversation and handed him the appointment document along with a small military identification plate that had already been updated with his new classification.

A soldier accompanying the commander stepped forward and placed a neatly folded military uniform beside Zishan. On top of it was a small metal badge bearing the insignia of a Soldier in the Kingdom of Olmost.

Zishan inspected everything with considerably more respect than he had shown anything else that day. His attention eventually settled on the identification plate.

Soldier.

He had skipped the lowest military rank entirely!

And he even got new clothes!

"WAHAHAHA! LOOK AT THIS! I GOT PROMOTED AND RECEIVED FREE CLOTHES ON MY FIRST DAY!"

Maela glanced at his damaged clothing before looking at the new uniform. At least, he wouldn’t be walking around in those torn clothes anymore.

Commander Holtz instructed him to change into his new uniform and attach his rank badge before joining the next transport group.

Zishan happily gathered his belongings, already imagining how much more impressive he would look in his new uniform.

’Hehehe. I’m officially a Soldier now!’

[The Dumb Host has discovered another inappropriate reason to celebrate. Congratulations, Dumb Host! You seem to be getting dumber and dumber.]

’Jealous, Dumb System?’ Zishan sounded smug.

[Impossible.]

Before Zishan could continue arguing, the commander explained to him that a transport group would be leaving for the eastern position shortly. Zishan would travel with them and report to the Corporal currently overseeing the forward support section he had been assigned to.

That sounded considerably less exciting.

"Wait. You’re assigning someone to supervise me?" Zishan asked, looking at Commander Holtz suspiciously. "What am I, a child? Do I need a babysitter now?"

"He’s your superior officer, Walker boy. Follow his orders."

"THAT’S JUST A BABYSITTER WITH EXTRA AUTHORITY!"

Commander Holtz walked away before Zishan could find another reason to complain. The boy was insufferable. He spoke every thought that came into his head, or so the commander thought.

Maela finished the last of his treatment and gave him several instructions, but Zishan only partially listened. He was still offended that Commander Holtz apparently thought he needed a fucking babysitter. Well, when he actually took time to think about it, wasn’t it normal for the military people to have hierarchy?

’Well, that somehow gives me relief. Perhaps I’m not the only Soldier-Rank person under that Corporal. That’s not too bad, unless the Corporal himself is an asshole... I hope that’s not the case...’

Less than half an hour later, he was sitting inside a military transport wagon moving toward the eastern battlefield. They were actually very fast with it. The day hadn’t even finished yet.

The difference became obvious the farther they traveled.

The rear areas had been damaged, but people still moved with some sense of order. Supply wagons traveled between stations. Healers worked beneath reinforced tents. Soldiers had enough time to argue, rest, or stare at Zishan whenever he did something strange.

The eastern battlefield felt different.

Smoke covered sections of the horizon. Defensive trenches crossed the land in several layers, while wooden and stone fortifications had been reinforced with metal plates and glowing barriers. Groups of wounded soldiers were being moved west while replacements traveled in the opposite direction. Magic flashed in the distance often enough that Zishan eventually stopped reacting to every explosion.

The transport entered one of the larger military camps behind the active battlefront.

Zishan climbed down and looked around. "So this is where I’m supposed to work now."

[Correct.]

He glanced at the smoke rising beyond the fortifications. "This place better give me a ridiculous amount of EXP."

[The Dumb Host has been present for approximately six seconds.]

He ignored the System as his eyes wandered around the place.

A soldier waiting near the receiving area walked toward them.

He initially paid no attention to him. He was too busy looking at the fortifications, the groups of soldiers moving between tents, and the enormous defensive structure farther east.

Then, the man came closer.

Zishan looked at his face.

The man looked at Zishan.

"..."

"..."

Zishan slowly narrowed his eyes.

He remembered him.

When he was saved from the battlefield, this had been one of the soldiers who looked personally offended when Zishan acted nonchalant in front of Commander Holtz and the one he called a lapdog. In fact, the man’s expression at the time had suggested that Zishan insulting the commander was somehow a greater crime than anything happening on the actual battlefield.

The soldier’s expression now became noticeably worse. "Walker."

Zishan pointed at him. "Oh! You’re that guy!"

The man’s jaw tightened.

A soldier beside them straightened immediately. "Corporal Tagum."

Zishan’s finger slowly lowered. ’Corporal?’

He glanced toward the transport behind him, almost expecting Commander Holtz to be there. Unfortunately, the commander had stayed behind, leaving him with the very man who had practically wanted to kill him for insulting his superior earlier.

He looked at Corporal Tagum again, and the realization finally hit him. Commander Holtz had personally assigned him to this man’s unit!

’...That bastard! He did this on purpose!’

[The System assumes the Dumb Host is referring to Commander Holtz.]

’WHO ELSE?!’

"Did you just say something?" Corporal Tagum asked, his expression darkening.

Zishan immediately put on his most innocent smile. "No, Corporal! Nothing at all!"

Tagum continued staring at him suspiciously, but Zishan refused to give him another reason to complain. Meanwhile, he could almost imagine Commander Holtz sitting comfortably inside his command tent, reading his reports with that annoyingly composed expression of his. The bastard was probably smiling right now!

’Old people really take pleasure in abusing their authority.’

<annotations style="display: none;">Recruit → Soldier → Senior Soldier → Corporal → Sergeant → Lieutenant → Captain → Major → Commander → Colonel → General → High General → Crown Marshal</annotations>