Chapter 113: 112

"Jupiter."

Approaching, Reyna spoke calmly.

"Calm down."

"How can I calm down right now?! Why would the command issue such an order without even properly verifying whether this is a military base or not!"

"The guerrillas of the Camilla Kingdom are ruthless. They could be hiding in any village."

Reyna gave a small nod.

"And we don't have the time to identify whether they are guerrillas or innocent villagers."

"What?"

"The war with the Camilla Kingdom has been going on for half a year now. Winter is approaching. Maintaining the front line is already burdensome for the command... We need to end this quickly."

"So...?"

Jupiter mumbled dejectedly.

"So if there's suspicion of them being guerrillas, without even confirming, indiscriminately... everything gets burnt down?"

Reyna nodded.

"Because it's efficient."

"Efficient?! This is efficient?! Sure, it's efficient! Massacring civilians is damn efficient!"

"Jupiter..."

Reyna let out a deep sigh.

"Do you know how many countries our magic corps have wiped off the map?"

"..."

"How many civilians do you think have died in the process?"

"That, was... only in unavoidable cases..."

"How many of the enemy bases you've burned down over the past 20 years do you think were 'real military bases'?"

Jupiter's body went rigid.

Only now did she realize. The truth about what she had been doing all her life.

Reyna swiped her hair back irritably and complained.

"Why are you freaking out 'now', really! Stop making things so tiring!"

"Gulp."

Jupiter covered her mouth,

"Ugh!"

And vomited.

Tears and snot mixed with bile and poured out chaotically.

'Why.'

Why hadn't she ever doubted all this time?

She simply bombarded magic as ordered. She fried people and burned them, then took her salary.

She was proud of her work. She was proud each time a medal was added to her chest.

She felt joy being able to contribute to the glorious advancement of the empire.

It was all a load of crap.

"You said it earlier. This is war these days. Without gaining single scar from the field, we rain magic from afar. That's our job. It's intelligent, and swift."

Reyna grumbled sourly.

"But this is the reality up close."

"..."

"What you've doing... Has just been turning a blind eye to from afar."

That's when it happened.

Uh-ahhh-

From a distance, the sound of a child crying echoed.

"?!"

Jupiter, who abruptly raised her head, rushed over frantically.

There was a small shrine at the edge of the village. The crying was coming from there.

The entrance to the shrine had been burned down and collapsed.

And beneath the burning tree lay a little girl.

"Just hold on! I'll get you out!"

Jupiter strained to lift the burning tree log. She successfully pulled out the girl.

The left side of the girl's face and her left half were severely burned, her pulse fading.

Jupiter, looking at the unconscious girl's face, carefully embraced her.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's all my fault. I'm so sorry..."

A voice came from within the temple.

"Are... Are you rescuers?"

Startled, Jupiter looked inside, and there were survivors in the temple.

An old priest and children, their bodies covered in blood, were looking at Jupiter with fear in their eyes.

"A divine punishment fell from the sky all of a sudden, we thought we were all going to die..."

"..."

"You came to save us. Thank you, thank you!"

The old priest was trying to lead the children out of the temple. Jupiter hastily raised her hand.

"No! Don't come out!"

"Eh?"

"Don't come out! Please stay hidden!"

But it was too late.

The soldiers following Jupiter had discovered the survivors.

"There are survivors! We have survivors here!"

Reyna, who came a step late, clicked her tongue.

"Despite such heavy magic bombardment, they survived. They are ridiculously lucky."

Reyna then tilted her head.

"Or, is it a bad thing?"

"Reyna, please...!"

Jupiter tried to plead, but Reyna, ignoring her, ordered the soldiers.

"Drag them all out."

"Yes! Drag them out!"

The charging soldiers grabbed the priest and children and hauled them out of the temple.

The priest and children screamed, kneeling on the open ground in front of the temple.

Reyna pulled a fresh pack of cigarettes from her pocket, tore open the wrapper, put a cigarette in her mouth, and slowly lit it.

"Hoo..."

Reyna, exhaling a long puff of smoke, surveyed the entire village.

"Is the search over? Are these all the survivors?"

"Yes. There are no other survivors in the village."

"Are you sure you've checked thoroughly?"

"We're checking if there are any basements in the buildings, but given it's a village on a rocky mountain. There are no other escape routes."

"Alright. That's enough then."

Reyna approached the priest. The old priest was shaking as he clutched the children and prayed.

"You're a priest?"

"Yes, yes I am. Please have mercy. The children are innocent. Please, spare the children at least."

"Depending on your answer, you could live or die. Answer carefully."

Reyna took another drag of her cigarette and asked.

"Where is the army from the Camilla Kingdom, the one you've been hiding in this village?"

"There's not a single soldier in this village... All the young ones were conscripted long ago and never returned. It's the truth. Please, believe us."

"Really?"

"I swear to God, it's the truth."

"I see."

Whoosh-!

The next moment, a wind bullet shot from Reyna's fingertips penetrated the priest's chest.

"Sorry, but your god isn't the same as ours. Can't trust a pledge to a different deity."

The priest, who died instantly, collapsed to the ground, and the children screamed.

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Reyna silently pointed her fingertips at the screaming children.

"Do I really have to do this..."

In an instant, magic gathered at her fingertips and fired.

And Jupiter jumped into the path of the flying magic, hastily gathering magic to create a barrier.

Whoosh-!

"Ugh!"

Blood burst from Jupiter's left eye, hit by the wind bullet. Jupiter gritted her teeth and bore the pain.

Reyna, chewing on her cigarette, muttered,

"Damn it, seriously."

"Please, Reyna."

Jupiter growled with her left face soaked in blood.

"Maybe there were guerillas, and that's why the village was burned. But... these kids are just civilians."

"..."

"Why are you trying to kill them? Have you lost your mind from all the killing?"

"Jupiter."

Reyna, cigarette in hand, pressed her forehead as if she had a headache.

"Who's the commander of this war?"

"What? Well..."

Jupiter replied hesitantly.

"It's His Majesty."

"Yes. His Majesty personally led this battle. And His Majesty is?"

"...Perfect."

"You know well. His Majesty makes no mistakes."

Reyna sighed deeply.

"Command decided that this village was an enemy military base."

"..."

"But what? Turns out it was an innocent village, and the command made a wrong judgement. Are you going to report that civilians were mistaken for the enemy and massacred?"

Only then could Jupiter understand why Reyna tried to kill even the survivors.

"You're going to leave a black mark on His Majesty's leadership by admitting His Majesty made a mistake!"

"Ah..."

"Isn't it more appropriate to burn all the enemy troops here?"

"..."

"So please, stop making things difficult, and step aside quickly. I don't enjoy doing this."

Wind magic gathered again at Reyna's fingertips.

Jupiter, watching her, slowly bowed her head.

The little girl, still cradled in her arms, had burn injuries and was drawing thin breaths.

"...Damn."

Jupiter gritted her teeth. She uttered in a suppressed voice,

"...I will."

"What?"

"I will leave a mark on His Majesty's leadership."

"..."

"I will formally protest to the higher-ups. I will report that the command's judgement was wrong, and the village we burned was inhabited only by civilians."

A cold, blue fury simmered in Jupiter's eyes.

"I will testify that His Majesty's command was flawed."

Reyna, frozen in disbelief, laughed bitterly.

"Crazy bitch."

"Why, are you going to kill me too?"

Jupiter cast a sidelong glance at the soldiers and knights surrounding her.

"If that's the case, you'll have to kill all of the Mage Troop soldiers who witnessed this, as well as the entire Heavy Cavalry Knight Troop. Kill them all."

"..."

"You can't, can you?"

Above all.

The two of them were once inseparable friends.

Jupiter believed that Reyna wouldn't shoot her. And indeed, she didn't.

"..."

Reyna slowly lowered her finger.

Her face had gone cold, hardened like ice.

"Do as you please, Jupiter. Rebel or smear filth on His Majesty, rescue children from the enemy nations you've scared off. Do as you wish."

Reyna turned around, her uniform coat flapping in the wind.

"But you'll soon have to strip off that uniform. You'll have to give up everything you've worked your whole life for."

"..."

"Nothing changes even if you feign innocence now. My foolish friend."

Reyna took one last look at Jupiter before turning her gaze forward and walking away.

"Our time together was miserable, let's not see each other again."

Jupiter watched in a daze as her comrade of 20 years walked away.

Turning back, she saw the survivors, children covered in blood and soot.

They were the new lives she now had to look after.

***

Jupiter officially defected from the command center.

This marked the first civilian massacre officially recorded in Everblack Empire's military history.

This incident remained as the only mistake committed by the Imperial Army Command during the occupation of Camilla Kingdom.

It was a clear blemish on an operation led by the Emperor himself.

After this, the Magic Troops were no longer deployed for guerrilla cleanup operations.

With the halt of the Magic Troops' bombardment, the operation was significantly delayed beyond the Command's expected end of war.

It took several years after the kingdom's occupation to fully eliminate the Camilla Kingdom's guerrilla forces.

It didn't take long for Jupiter to be ousted from the Magic Troops and be relegated to the countryside.

***

A month after the operation.

Jupiter's new post was a small coastal village guard unit on the Eastern Front.

Strictly speaking, there was no Eastern Front in the Empire.

There was only the sea to the east, and no other countries beyond the strait.

The guard unit had less than five subordinates.

It was an obvious demotion. Even her rank had been downgraded.

But it didn't matter.

She had spent all of her lifetime's salary to build a house at the edge of the village where the sea could be seen.

Carpenters flocked and began their busy construction work.

Watching the beams of the house being raised, Jupiter turned around.

"We'll... live here together."

"..."

Children, who had suffered burns all over their bodies, their limbs seared away, gazed blankly up at Jupiter.

In the forefront of these children was a girl whose left half of the body was scarred by burns.

The girl was staring at Jupiter with clear eyes.

Feelings of guilt and the urge to escape warred fiercely within Jupiter.

But, through a strenuous effort, she suppressed her emotions and squatted down to meet the children's gazes.

"It seems I haven't properly introduced myself yet. My name is Jupiter."

With a cheap eyepatch covering her lost left eye and a smile on her face, Jupiter spoke.

"From now on, you can call me Granny."