Chapter 39: 39

13 Unraveling the Thread (2)

The place that Iron had accidentally discovered was in the vicinity of the 8th guard post. It was a place where the stairs, the walls and part of the guard post had already collapsed. It was probably broken due to the movements of some monsters in the area. Even the other guard posts in the vicinity were also in extremely bad conditions.

The vice outpost leader only arrived here recently and he did not have enough time to do repairs. The other executives were also replaced so the guard posts remained in a state of disrepair for quite a long period of time.

However, considering that this was written like this in the work journal, there was a high possibility that the actual condition of the area and the guard post was much worse than what was already described.

“We’ll have to fix all of this but…”

Looking carefully at the words written on the work journal, it seemed like all of the guard posts were left in a mess. The place was already hard to work at since supplies hardly came by but it seemed like it had been neglected to this point because the previous executives did not put in work for repairs at all.

“I should roll them harder in the morning.”

Iron couldn’t help but smile wickedly. He couldn’t wait to roll the sergeant and the corporals hard.

Since the 8th guard post was located in the middle of the mountains, he intended to repair the other guard posts. They were already going to pass by the guard posts on their way to the 8th one so he wanted to repair all those that needed minor repairs.

And since this was a work that couldn’t be finished in just a single day, he would ask them to carry a tent and go up in full military gear. And since this place was dangerous by nature, the others also had to bring their weapons to protect themselves in case a monster appeared.

“I should make it a bit safer this time around.”

Iron began to prepare the documents needed for the guard posts’ maintenance and repair work with a wicked smile still hung on his face.

Iron wrote a report that he would send to his company commander based on the writings in the work journal and Sergeant Sean’s suggestions. He also made sure to add his own opinions in the report. He wrote about the high probability of a problem occuring if things remained as is. He also attached a report about the current monster trends. He did all of this to make sure that the company commander would accept his proposal.

According to his report, signs of the monster wave had appeared in the Northeast. He also wrote that the army had seen the monsters’ abnormal behavior all over the Winter Mountains and eventually brought fear and anxiety to the soldiers. If this continued on their anxiety would get worse and their efficiency would drop. So to relieve the anxiety of the soldiers and to prevent their morale from dropping, he proposed the strengthening of the guard posts. He also made sure to add a report asking for materials for the reinforcement procedures.

“Ugh… So tired.”

Iron was filled with enthusiasm at the thought of beating Sergeant Sean so he worked hard to write the report. He did not even realize the time passing by quickly. By the time he finished the report, it was already midnight. Only then did he realize the fatigue that accumulated in him.

Iron just roughly slept on his chair. After sleeping for a while, he came out rubbing his eyes.

“Is it time to take the trash out?”

Iron couldn’t help but frown when he saw the snow falling down from the sky. However, the frown was immediately replaced by a smile. It looked like he suddenly got a good idea. Then, he rushed straight to the meadow.

“Wake up! Wake up!”

The soldier standing on night duty was shocked to hear Iron’s roar. He immediately rushed forward and saluted.

“Are you getting out of work?”

“Yes.”

“What did you do?”

“It snowed so we helped carry the supplies.”

Whenever it snowed like this, it would be hard for the supply soldiers to carry the supplies up to their outposts so some of the soldiers would go out and help carry them. It seemed like most of the dormitories were empty because of that.

“It seems like the vice outpost leader led the way?”

“Yes.”

“You’ve worked hard.”

Iron stared at the 2nd and 3rd dormitories. They were empty since the soldiers went out to do some work. Then, he stared at the final dormitory.

“This is where Sergeant Sean is?”

“Yes.”

The soldier answered nervously. But Iron just smiled as he nodded slightly before entering the dormitory.

“Wake up!”

The first to react to Iron’s roar were the privates. They jumped up from shock and stood up in salute when they saw Iron. Then, the next to react were the private first classes. They stood up and straightened themselves quickly. They were a bit late but they were still able to wake up quicker than the rest. The problem was the sergeant and the corporals.

“Which bastard…”

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“It’s me.”

“Heok!”

The corporal who was about to spit out some curses realized that Iron was in front of him and stood up quickly.

“The outpost leader came here but there are still punks like you who are sleeping in?”

The corporal started to wake up the others when he realized the dire situation that they were in.

“Sergeant Sean, Sergeant Sean.”

“Ah! Why are you so noisy?!”

“I think you need to wake up quickly.”

“Ah! Why!”

“That…”

Iron saw Sergeant Sean frowning at the words of the corporal. Seeing this, he signaled for the corporal to step back before approaching Sean himself. The corporal hesitated for a moment but he still stepped back. The moment the corporal stepped back, Iron raised his leg and kicked Sean in the stomach.

“Keok! Which bastard…”

“It’s me?”

“Out… Outpost leader?”

“You’re still not getting up?”

Hearing Iron’s cold words, Sergeant Sean’s drowsiness flew out of the window.

“I came here to wake you up, but you’re all still sleeping? Are you crazy?”

“S… Sorry.”

Iron smiled brightly when he saw Sergeant Sean hurriedly bowing his head in apology.

“Perhaps you think I’m easy?”

“No, not at all, sir.”

“You say no, but why are you doing that?”

“Sorry.”

“So you’re sorry? Just that?”

“No, sir.”

“You say no, so how come you’re still like that?”

The soldiers standing in the area stood stiffly as their expressions slowly hardened. They were now sitting on a first class seat and watching Iron’s infinite fussing towards Sergeant Sean.

The person that received his nagging only lowered his head in apology. Iron received some sorry as a bonus so he only grated his ears for about five minutes. After doing that, he turned around and left the dormitory in a refreshing mood.

“Hurry up and come out.”

Iron left those words behind as he exited the dormitory. He stood by the meadow and waited for them to come outside. Not long after, the entire population of the final dormitory was out in the meadows.

“It’s snowing but you’re all still sleeping? Those who went out to bring us supplies might be in danger but you’re still sleeping? Will you continue sleeping?”

“No, sir!”

The people that were still remaining in the outpost answered Iron’s words loudly. All of them looked nervous. Perhaps it was because Iron had been nitpicking on them since earlier.

“You’re not aware of your colleagues? Are you promoting individualism?”

“No, sir.”

“But you’re still here doing nothing? Shouldn’t you run around and clear the snow away? Am I wrong?”

The soldiers gathered outside began to run and grab brooms upon hearing the words of the outpost leader. Of course, Sergeant Sean also ran a little at first. However, his steps gradually slowed down. He looked like he was still a bit sleepy.

On the other hand, the corporals quickly ran and took the brooms from the privates.

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“What are you doing? Sweep!”

Hearing Iron’s orders, the sergeant and corporals began sweeping the snow with their brooms.

“Ah! Are you guys kidding me? When will you even finish that? Are you not going to do things properly?”

Iron glared at the sergeant and the corporals as he grabbed a broom himself and swept the snow to the side.

The soldiers in front of him weren’t people who ate jjambap for nothing. Two of the corporals quickly got the gist of it and swept the snow to the sides. Seeing this, Iron felt happy.

Then, after he finished demonstrating several times, Iron approached Sean with the broom in his hands.

“What are you doing?”

“Yes?”

“Do it.”

“Yes?”

“Do I have to keep on doing this?”

“N… no, sir.”

Sean hastily rushed forward and started doing what Iron was doing before. He was able to skillfully sweep the snow to the sides thanks to years of eating enough jjambap.

When the other soldiers saw the sergeant taking his own initiative and working hard, they also started to move diligently.

“Hey! Why are you doing worse than me? Are you kidding me?!”

“This bastard. Do you think you can do this as a sergeant just because you ate a lot of jjambap?”

“Ha! What are you doing? You’re resting already?”

“Are you b×ing around with your military life? Huh? Do you think the army is a joke?”

However, whenever Sean showed signs of stopping the movements of his broom, Iron opened his mouth and grilled him on the spot. He couldn’t even show any sign of fatigue as he did his best on the job. It seemed like he was bound to do this job from beginning to end.

When the other soldiers saw that Sean was being targeted firmly whenever he tried to slack off, they did not even dare to change with someone else. So, all they could do was continue working hard as they swept the snow.

Realizing that he wouldn’t be able to escape from the work, Sergeant Sean used his mana to sweep the snow like crazy. He was so fast and skillful that he could be compared to a machine. Since mana had strengthened his body he was able to easily sweep the snow like the crazy machine that he was.

The rest of the soldiers also started to utilize their mana as they continued to sweep.

“Heok… heok…”

“Are you tired?”

“No, sir.”

“That’s right. Veterans shouldn’t get easily tired, right? You almost disappointed me there.”

Iron smiled as he nodded his head. He looked at Sean answering him with sweat dripping down his face in satisfaction.

“You said that you’re going to be an executive soon?”

“Yes, sir.”

Iron smiled when Sean answered him with sparkling eyes.

“But do you think this is good enough? You should do better. Your mana efficiency is a mess. It will be hard for you to survive here in the Northeast.”

Sean’s expression stiffened when he heard Iron’s mocking words.

Iron could see that he was clearly offended. He looked like he was asking him if he was good enough to speak to him like that.

“Why? You think I shouldn’t have pointed that out?”

“…No, sir.”

“Look carefully.”

Seeing Sean reluctant to answer him, Iron grabbed the broom and demonstrated it properly.

Iron raised his mana as he started moving the broom in his hands. Just like when he was training the basic swordsmanship, his broom also moved strictly and with discipline. His movements were extremely clean. There were no wasted movements at all. After he finished sweeping, no snow could be seen left on the road. It looked completely different from what Sean did earlier.

They thought that ‘It will be over soon’, but Iron continued to sweep with the broom in his hands. The soldiers that were watching in a daze couldn’t help but jump up in surprise. Then, they brought up their mana and chased Iron.

“Hoo… that’s a good warm up.”

Sergeant Sean’s expression hardened as he watched Iron wipe the sweat off of his face. There was nothing he could say to nitpick on him. Even he could tell that Iron’s movements were perfect. On top of that, his mana efficiency was incomparably high despite the bluish light from the mana covering his body being light and a bit faint.

“The soldiers trusted you and followed you so I was looking forward to your show of skill but it seems like you’re not that big of a deal, huh? You’ll become an executive like this?”

After leaving these words, Iron waved to the soldiers that were carrying the supplies from afar.

“You’ve worked hard even though it’s still early in the morning.”

Iron greeted Jack, who was leading the soldiers carrying the supplies.

“It’s nothing. But… Did you remove all of the snow already?”

“Thanks to the sergeant and the corporals’ hard work, everything ended quickly.”

Iron smiled broadly as he stared at the sergeant.

“It must have been hard on everyone, but please continue working and help with carrying the supplies.”

“Yes!”

The privates and the private first classes, those who haven’t eaten much jjambap, stepped up and helped carry the supply boxes upon hearing Iron’s orders. Meanwhile, the rest of the soldiers together with Sergeant Sean and the corporals worked their way around the outpost with their brooms and cleared the snow under Iron’s cold glare.

“Anyway, I don’t know when this snow will stop.”

Iron’s brows furrowed deeply as the snow continued to pile up.

Even though they had swept the road diligently, snow still continued to cover and pile up on top of it once again.

“There’s nothing we can do about this, right? Let’s stop for now and work on it later once the snow stops falling.”

“Sigh… We can’t do it today since the snow is falling.”

“Yes?”

Iron smiled wickedly when Jack asked him blankly.

“I did my own research yesterday after hearing Sergeant Sean’s suggestion. It seems like the guard posts are in a mess. So I’m thinking of reinforcing and strengthening all of the guard posts.”

“Ah…”

Iron deliberately increased the volume of his words.

He smiled wickedly as he glanced at Sean. He was currently openly informing the soldiers within hearing range that the incoming hell that they would experience all began because of Sergeant Sean’s suggestions.

Sean’s expression immediately distorted when he heard this. He stared down on the ground not daring to look at Iron at all. However, Iron was sure that Sean was cursing him under his breath.

“Well… The guard posts are dangerous so we can’t bring the privates and the private first classes along. Especially in this horrible weather, right?”

“Don’t tell me…”

“So I’m only going to take the sergeant and the corporals. The 8th guard post is in too much of a mess, so I think we’ll have to work there for about two days. We’ll take care of our own meals and accommodations there. But there are a lot of monsters so we have to go in our full military gear.”

Hearing Iron’s words, the corporals’ expressions began to distort one by one. They glanced at the downcast Sergeant Sean as they began to murmur to each other.

‘There is no better stratagem than sowing discord among your adversaries’ group. You will probably spend the rest of your military life being picked on by others.’

Iron smiled as this thought flashed through his head.

***

Notes

[Sowing Discord] – this is the 33rd strategy from the 36 stratagems used in politics, wars, and civil interactions. It came from a CN essay.

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