Conscription 1

My first impression after taking the portal back to the underground Noark fortress was how quiet it was.

“……”

“……”

Aside from the rough breathing of my allies, who had just come through a tense situation, the surroundings were eerily silent.

Not a single royal army soldier, who was supposed to be occupying the fortress square, was in sight.

Before taking the portal, Sven Parav, our human fate tracker, had caused such a ruckus that I’d secretly worried something might be waiting for us on the other side.

“Ah… Ugh… Ah……”

By the way, this guy is still at it.

“Pull yourself together, Sven Parav.”

I walked up to him and spoke, but his body kept trembling and showed no signs of improving.

As I was wondering what to do while watching him…

“…Are you okay? Mr. Parab, please try to pull yourself together. Okay?”

Lilith Marone, the military mage who joined our clan after the Ice Rock Expedition, approached him and gently held his hand.

“I don’t know what scared you, but you’ll be okay. Don’t be afraid. I’ll protect you.”

It seemed pointless to me.

Tha-that’s not going to make him snap out of—.

“A-ah… M-M-M-Ms. Marrone?”

Huh?

“M-M-M-Ms. Marrone? C-Could you please let go of my hand for now……”

…That worked?

What was the difference between me and her?

“A-Ah! I’m sorry! You looked cold so I thought—”

“N-No! You don’t need to apologize! I-I’m the one who’s sorry…!”

Marrone quickly pulled her hand back and an awkward silence formed between them.

“….”

“….”

What’s with these two? Are they like Rotmiller and Shabin Emur—secretly flirting or something?

‘Hmm… Looking at Marrone, that doesn’t seem to be the case……’

I’m not sure.

Relationships between men and women are complicated anyway, and honestly, their situation doesn’t matter.

What matters is that the guy finally regained his senses. That’s all.

“Parav, if you’ve come to your senses, stand up. Don’t keep lying there looking pathetic.” I barked, grabbing him by the shoulder and forcing him to his feet.

“Huh? Ah! Yes…!”

Okay, seems like we can have a conversation now.

“Is that intuition of yours still the same?”

“Yes……”

Sigh… So that means something really is going to happen soon…

“…Got it. If something changes, tell me immediately. Things are going to get hectic, so you stay in the back, get yourself together, and follow slowly.”

“…I’m sorry.”

I ended my conversation with Parab and called for Amelia and Versyl.

“Do you know why there’s no one around? Last I heard, the royal army was occupying this place.”

“They were. It was a hassle trying to activate the magic circle and get out without being noticed.”

“I also have no idea why the royal army pulled out. Nothing comes to mind.”

Hmm… so no clues.

I’d even prepared excuses in case we ran into them on our return.

At least that won’t be necessary now.

However, not knowing why they withdrew left me feeling uneasy.

“Jandel, What’s the plan now?”

At Amelia’s question, I thought for a moment.

As always, there were two choices.

Stay here in the underground fortress and hide in silence.

Or head up to the city to find out what’s going on.

Obviously, I had already made my decision.

“…We go back to the city.”

Closing our eyes won’t change anything.

No matter how scared you are, you must force yourself to open your eyes and look ahead.

That way, you can know at least one thing.

What it is that you should fear.

Of course, hiding in a basement with your eyes and ears shut can be a strategy, but this decision should only be made after you have understood the situation. Not when you’re simply scared and hiding.

“Which district are we heading to?”

“For now, we’ll head towards District 7, observe the situation, and then decide.”

With that, we left the silent underground city and climbed up into the sewers, which smarked the boundary between Noark and Raphdonia.

Our formation was not meant for moving quickly. It was a defensive formation we used whenever we entered a new part of the labyrinth or traveled through an area we knew was extremely dangerous.

“……”

“……”

They didn’t say anything, but most of the clan members had questionable looks on their faces.

‘Why are we acting this cautiously?’

Honestly, it was a fair question.

From their point of view, all they had done was step outside the city walls for a moment and then come back. Even though I was giving orders because I was sure something dangerous was happening, I was probably the one who looked strange to them.

 

Still, thanks to the trust we’d built, they seemed to assume I had reasons I couldn’t explain yet.

As we followed Amelia, who was leading us through the sewers, the floor and ceiling shook as if there had been an earthquake.

The vibration was faint, but it was enough to make the already wary members tense up.

“That came from very far away.”

“…Is something really happening above the city?”

If they had been skeptical at first, the members all now had serious expressions on their faces. And it didn’t take long for that feeling to intensify.

“…Blood?”

Red blood was visible on the sewage water in the sewer.

We followed it a little further and, of course…

“…A corpse.”

Bodies were scattered carelessly in the sewer.

It didn’t seem like they had been dead for very long.

Identifying them wasn’t difficult.

Perhaps the killers had been in a rush and only took the most valuable equipment, because much of the victims’ gear was still left behind.

“…It’s a royal army soldier.”

A Royal Army soldier had died.

Even if the sewers were not a place people visited often, a soldier had still died within Raphdonia’s territory.

“There’s no chance they were robbed by vagrants… right?”

Impossible.

No vagrant would dare attack the royal army inside the city’s sewers.

Therefore…

“Emily, keep guiding. We need to get to the surface quickly.”

We moved past the soldiers’ bodies and quickened our pace. We saw several more corpses of the royal army before reaching the exit leading outside.

However, we did not feel another tremor like the one that had shaken the entire sewer system earlier.

Hmm, just what in the world is going on?

“……It’s unexpectedly quiet, isn’t it?”

Upon reaching the sewer exit, we didn’t rashly go out but observed the outside from inside the tunnel. Our view was restricted by the angle, but the street straight ahead was very quiet.

Of course, that didn’t mean we could let our guard down.

Even considering that the sewer entrance was on the outskirts, it was strange for the streets to be completely empty.

Especially in broad daylight.

“……What will you do?”

“For now, we’ll wait here. Moving this many people will immediately draw attention. Emily, take a few people and scout—”

“No need. This kind of thing is easier alone.”

“It could still be dangerous—”

“It’s safer to be alone. If the situation is dangerous enough to be detected, having a few more people won’t change anything.”

Hmm, that did not change the fact that I was still uneasy. But since she was the expert, I figured I should trust her.

“Alright. Be careful. I’m not expecting much—don’t take any risks.”

“…I’ll be back.”

Amelia organized herself for a moment before slipping out through the sewer entrance. She moved so quietly and stealthily that I lost sight of her almost immediately.

Although it bothered me that she did not respond when I asked her not to overdo it, I chose to trust her and got on with what I needed to do while waiting.

We had to use our time efficiently.

“The message-stone linked to our clan house isn’t responding.”

“That is to be expected. When I examined it, it looked like a barrier was covering the entire city and blocking all mana signals. I cannot reach the remote video recording crystal in my research lab either.”

“No wonder! I could feel the mana dispersing mid-cast…”

“Ah! I heard the military has magic tools that can do that. But I thought they only used them during wartime…Huh. Something really must have happened to the city.”

“Just what could have happened during the two months we were outside?”

While Amelia was out, we organized whatever information we could figure out on our own.

And just like that, time passed.

Screeeech.

Amelia opened the sewer grate and returned.

Her expression looked somewhat tired, but there were no signs of injury or combat on her clothes.

Still, just in case.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“…No, don’t worry.”

 

At my question, Amelia chuckled and shared the information she had gathered while outside with us.

“I couldn’t get close to the city walls because soldiers are deployed all over and are constantly using detection-type magic tools and abilities. However, one thing is certain: the incident occurred on the Bifron side, which is occupied by the Noark forces.”

“Bifron…?”

“You’ll see when we go out, but the barrier that was covering Bifron is gone.”

“So… a war is really going on.”

“Most likely. Especially since something like this was sitting in our clan house letterbox.”

Amelia pulled out a letter she had found in the clan house we had been using as our base. From the seal, it was clear that it was from the palace, and Amelia had already opened it.

“This is…”

As you would expect with an official royal document, the preface was unnecessarily long.

But to summarize it briefly……

“It’s a mobilization order.”

“Yes. And judging by the phrasing, it isn’t just us. Every clan in the city has been mobilized.”

“There’s actually a law within the city code that allows the government to forcibly conscript explorers and combat-capable individuals during wartime.”

Well, that made sense.

What country would fight a war using only regular soldiers?

Kaislan, who had once served in the army, sighed with a grim look. “But it seems the situation is really severe. Even about a year ago, when the Noark people invaded, no mobilization order was issued…”

“Why was that?”

“Because issuing a mobilization order ultimately undermines the royal family’s authority. Their power must remain absolute. Spreading a mobilization order can be interpreted as an admission that they need help.”

Is that so

“In simple terms, if it were something the royal family could handle on their own, they would never have issued a mobilization order?”

“That is what I think… assuming I am correct.”

Kaislan’s confirmation made my head spin. Still, that did not mean I could just sit there thinking with my hand on my chin.

“But honestly, things have gotten pretty complicated… Uh… Ms. Raines? Did you happen to find any document in the letterbox that was addressed not to the clan, but to the captain?”

“I did not… but what do you mean by troublesome?”

“Well, our captain is a titled noble. When a mobilization order is issued, all titled nobles are transferred to the ‘Military Command.”

“The Military Command…?”

“Hmm, it’s a bit complicated, so I’m not quite sure how to explain it…”

Kaislan frowned for a moment, then slowly organized his thoughts before explaining as simply as possible.

“Once we return to the city, our captain will be assigned to the Military Command and will have to wait in the Imperial Capital.”

“What about the Anabada Clan?”

“We will carry out missions assigned from above. And with very high probability, we’ll be deployed to the most dangerous frontlines. Just us — without our captain.”

Simply put, if we wanted to return to the city right now, we needed to choose someone to fill the vacant vice-captain position.

Continue reading more chapters at henprogressive.com

Please join here, I need supporters to help me continue translating Surviving game as a barbarian and Lee Gwak
If it doesn’t work support me here buymeacoffee.com/hennoveltranslations. There are advanced chapters for supporters as well.