When had consciousness returned?
When Yan opened his eyes, a splitting headache accompanying him, he realized he was sitting inside a dark cockpit.
"Can't we force it open from the outside?"
"We tried, but with the equipment we have here we couldn't even scratch the armor plates."
"Even if we tried to pry it open with a colossus it would be impossible. What in the world are those plates made of..."
"Hah, it's no different from a dead end."
Researchers and knights who had been mixed in with the excavation team gathered nearby; their conversation reached him. Struggling to collect himself, he checked his physical condition. Quite some time must have passed since he had lost consciousness, for his body felt slightly more energetic than before.
Then he noticed a foreign sensation.
When he reached toward the nape of his neck, where the sharp pain had surged, he found something embedded there.
"A cable? Damn it, what are they sticking into a human body..."
As he thought that and tried to yank it out, the same searing pain he had just felt swept over him again.
"Ugh!?"
He was certain. This was bad.
If he tore this out, he would be at best half-paralyzed.
"Sigh..."
There was nothing he could do.
This was the Creator's technology; rather than touching it recklessly, it seemed wiser to wait for rescue.
"This is insane."
Saying that, he pulled a cigarette from his pocket. From a half-crushed matchbox he took the one intact match and lit the cigarette.
As the smoke of the expensive hand-rolled tobacco scraped through his lungs, he felt somewhat calmer.
'Who would've thought it could actually move.'
Once he got out, there were far too many things he had to find out.
What would happen to this colossus and to himself.
How the battle had ended.
And...
'Ren, that was her name.'
The woman whose every color had drained away, leaving her stark white.
He had to find her first-the one who had shoved him into this colossus.
How someone without mana had managed to move it, how she had known anything about it.
He lacked information.
"I just hope nothing went wrong during the battle."
The moment he muttered that and exhaled the smoke he'd been holding-
[Internal fire alarm system activated. Disengaging. User, please evacuate immediately.]
"What?"
Along with the mechanical voice, the cable plugged into his nape was yanked out in an instant.
Perhaps the only blessing was that he felt no pain.
As the cable came free, the cockpit lowered and the hatch split open above and below.
"It's opening! It's opening!"
"Did you find something?!"
"No, it opened by itself! Hey, are you all ri-...eek!?"
Spotting Yan through the open cockpit door, the researcher cried out in joy-then froze. The brand seared on the shoulder of his uniform had caught the man's eye.
"Penal Corps...!"
At those words, the knights' expressions shifted.
"All knights, battle positions! A Penal Corpsman is in control of the colossus!"
With voices close to screams, the colossi around him leveled their weapons at him in unison.
The Penal Corps, made up of felons.
Letting an unidentified criminal take the Empire's strongest weapon was unthinkably dangerous.
"Corporal Yan Verkut. I need assistance...!"
Yan raised both arms at once to show he had no intention of resisting.
Yet before he could finish, rough hands seized him and dragged him from the cockpit. Flung to the ground, a knight's knee pressed down on his neck.
"Target subdued!"
"Damn it, how did he get inside!?"
Watching the soldiers aim their rifles at him, Yan let out a sigh.
"...Now I'm starting to wish I was back in that earlier fight."
Muttering as if exhausted, Yan raised both arms above his head.
If he so much as twitched a finger, he would be gunned down on the spot.
"Bring the shackles! Hurry!"
"Damn, even in an emergency, a Penal Corpsman in a colossus?"
"We should just kill him here and now...!"
Amid the heated atmosphere, knights on the verge of pulling the trigger on Yan, a clear voice cut across them.
"Enough! Would you kill a man who has no will to fight?"
As that voice rang out, the pressure on Yan's neck eased. The knights, startled, looked toward the speaker.
"Sir Kayne!"
Hearing that name, Yan's gaze lifted.
Blond hair, blue eyes, an air saturated with gunpowder, flawless white skin, and a chiseled face.
The Empire's "Silver Knight," a perfect image of a fairy-tale prince.
"Sir Randell! Release him at once!"
"B-but Knight-Commander! This man is from the Penal Corps! What if he uses the colossus to-"
"He repelled the elven colossus and saved our team. Isn't that enough?"
"However...!"
"It is an order. Release him. Now!"
At his firm command, Randell-the knight who had pinned Yan-straightened up. Eyeing Yan warily, Randell slowly stepped back, glancing at his commander.
Rising and dusting off his clothes, Yan was approached by the silver knight Kayne.
"Forgive my subordinate's rudeness. The situation was rather sudden."
"I understand. Thank you for your help."
Seeing Yan answer without so much as a change in expression infuriated the knights.
"Understand? A Penal Corps mongrel daring to speak to the Knight-Commander-"
"Enough!"
The knight Randell, about to hurl more insults, had no choice but to fall silent at Kayne's barked command.
"I should be the one thanking you. We nearly lost precious excavation team members. Had it not been for you, who knows what might have happened."
Saying so, Kayne personally brushed the dust from Yan's shoulders.
Watching in bewilderment, Yan received a small smile from Kayne, who then turned and issued orders to the others.
"All forces, withdraw! Recover whatever frames we can and destroy the rest!"
"Yes, sir!"
At his order, the knights scattered.
Soon the colossi lifted entire frames from the collapsed cave.
One colossus carried two frames at a time and marched ahead, while two others moved the one Yan had piloted.
- Sir Valk! Listen up! This load is no joke!
- I'm working on it! Damn, what's with this weight...!
The colossus sagged, its arms held, being dragged away.
Unable to bear the weight, its lower body scraped along the ground.
"It's like dragging a beast."
Watching Yan's colossus being hauled off, Kayne murmured.
"Corporal Yan, was it?"
"Yes. Corporal Yan Verkut, Penal Corps."
"Hm, I've seen Penal Corpsmen from time to time, but never one like you. Noble etiquette is ingrained in you."
"..."
A sudden, sharp question.
For a moment, Yan could say nothing.
"Well, I'm sure you have your reasons. I won't pry."
"Thank you."
"And here, the command has issued new orders to the Penal Corps from headquarters."
Saying so, Kayne handed the documents to Yan. Yan took them, read the order, then clicked his tongue inaudibly.
A familiar signature-that of the company commander-met his eyes.
'So he can read, huh. It's a staff order, so it must be full of jargon....'
Kayne watched Yan, who was perusing the papers as if nothing were out of the ordinary, with open curiosity.
Yet Yan paid him no mind, folded the papers, and saluted.
"Order acknowledged. Thank you for delivering it in person."
"No hardship on my part-you're the one... who's had the hardship."
With that, Yan headed for the convoy truck where the soldiers were waiting.
Every one of them bore a brand on the shoulder.
These were the new Penal Corps members who had just arrived.
Kayne watched Yan's retreating figure.
A knight approached him.
"Commander?"
"All the filthy things that happen on a battlefield-they're handled like this. My education was lacking."
"Sir?"
The knight looked puzzled at Kayne's murmur.
Kayne belatedly realized what he'd said and shifted the topic as if it were nothing.
"Any sign of the corpse?"
"Ah-no, sir. It seems the rider escaped. From the seal left on the abandoned colossus, the knight who piloted it was Delranel."
"Delranel... so the Elf Kingdom's royal guard took the field personally."
At the familiar name, Kayne's face darkened.
He'd known information about the ruin had leaked, but to dispatch the royal guard...
"If a royal guard came out, the colossus must be stronger than expected. We'll need stricter security."
"Yes, sir. And according to the testimony of the soldier who survived the battle... it appears the enemy learned our force's size."
The Empire had deployed roughly ten colossi to this front.
Just enough to barely match seven elven colossi.
"At this rate the defensive line will collapse. Contact headquarters and request reinforcements. All available colossi are to stand by for combat."
"Understood."
With that, Kayne surveyed the scene before him.
An elven colossus with its entire arm torn off.
Its head crushed as though squeezed and burst, and the severed arm strewn about.
It looked like a person who'd been mauled by a beast.
"And one more thing."
"Sir?"
The knight, about to leave, turned back to answer.
After a moment's thought, Kayne seemed to reach a decision and spoke.
"Get me the personal details of Corporal Yan who just left. I need to speak to him myself."
***
"You've come back alive again, sir. We admire you, Corporal."
"Admiration's wasted on me."
Inside the convoy truck.
Soldiers exhausted by battle were sprawled in the cargo bay, rumbling through the midnight forest.
Ordered to keep quiet about the colossus, the Penal Corps assumed he'd simply survived like anyone else.
"I-if it's an elf village, we could die, couldn't we?"
"That's why they gave us live rounds, idiot. Fire one in the air as a warning; if they resist, pull the trigger!"
"B-but-"
"But your mom, you little-!"
Thud!
"Ugh?!"
The private who'd objected to the veteran's words doubled over from a punch to the gut, coughing dryly.
"H-hey! What do you think you're doing in front of the corporal, asshole!"
A nearby veteran shouted, but it had no effect.
"Huh? Ah, sorry. Didn't realize you were here."
"What? This brat to his superior-!"
"Enough."
Yan restrained the outraged squad member who'd been openly ignored by the recruits.
The Penal Corps was where every broken soul across the Empire gathered.
Trying to manage the Empire's worst criminals was pointless.
"Disembark!"
At the second lieutenant's shout from the lead truck, the soldiers jumped down and checked their weapons.
Rifles for the enlisted, submachine guns for the NCOs.
"It's called a sweep, but the targets are civilians! Keep casualties to an absolute minimum!"
"Hah, same damn elf-lovers-civilians my ass, fish-head."
"Hey, hey. He'll hear you."
"Let him hear. Fucker who blew everything to hell to save his own skin is preaching-"
Whether the grumbling reached him or not, the young second lieutenant's shoulders hunched.
Nearly everyone here belonged to the Penal Corps-criminals sent in place of execution.
Fresh arrivals after their first deployment, fatigue and resentment at a peak.
The green officer's lofty words couldn't possibly register.
"Um, Corporal Yan...."
"Speak plainly. You outrank me."
"Th-then I will... seeing as we both came back alive from the same battlefield...."
The second lieutenant-now branded a traitor for putting the front at risk-spoke thus.
He'd acted to save his men, but the soldiers who'd witnessed it were already dead, leaving no one to testify.
The Penal Corps arrived at a wild elf settlement not far from the ruin.
High command believed the leak had come from here and ordered retaliation on any pretext.
"We are the Imperial Army! This village is now within our operational area! Evacuate immediately!"
The second lieutenant's voice boomed across the village.
Yet no reply came.
"I repeat! This area will shortly be-"
Crack!
He never finished. A stone flew in from somewhere and struck him down on the spot.
"This is our village! Get lost, humans!"
A voice rang out.
It was the furious cry of a boy.
"Whoa-nice throw."
"Hey, hey. We're cooked. Totally cooked."
"Heh, heh, heh."
The second lieutenant lay unconscious from the sudden blow.
The squad members simply laughed, making no move to help him up.
Yan likewise did nothing, quietly pulling a cigarette from his pocket and putting it to his lips.
"There was no order for a prior warning, Second Lieutenant."
Yan murmured, looking at the fallen officer. With him unconscious, field command now passed to Yan.
"Confirmed enemy group's preemptive attack. Withdraw evacuation order and switch to sweep operation."
Thus Yan looked at the Penal Corps members watching him. Lives unchanged whether they died today or tomorrow. If not cannon fodder, they were used for this.
Dirty work, ugly work, reprisals, war crimes....
The moment they refused, they were the ones who'd die.
These men had no right to refuse.
"Per the commander's order, all persons in the village are deemed enemy troops. Kill every last one. Sweep."
"Swee~p!"
At Yan's order, the sixty soldiers who had disembarked from the convoy trucks scattered through the village with a roar. Soon gunshots began echoing from every corner.
"Let go! Let go, human! This is our home!"
Bang!
"Jans! Father's been shot...!"
"You sons of bitches!"
Bang! Bang!
Were they venting the stress piled up from fighting elves, or avenging the comrades who had gone before?
The Penal Corps members "cleaning" the village pulled their triggers without the slightest guilt.
"Aagh?! This pointy-eared brat's got mana!"
"You little shit!"
Resistance flared here and there, but having mana did not let them beat armed soldiers.
Before long, elves with hands raised and dead elves, along with corpses of several goblins, began being dragged to the village square.
"W-what did we ever do to deserve this! We're tribesmen with no connection to the Elf Kingdom!"
"I'm aware, but the higher-ups don't seem to think that way. It's an order, so please understand."
Yan replied to the old elf pleading in a trembling voice.
His apathetic tone seemed to spark rage instead.
"Understand? UNDERSTAND?! You slaughter all our sons and daughters and ask for understanding?! Where in the world are maniacs like-"
"Kill them."
Bang! Ratatatbang! Bang!
At Yan's command, the elves dragged out-including the village head arguing-were all turned into beehives. Killing more than a hundred tribesmen took less than an hour.
"Our casualties?"
"Five wounded, two dead."
"Burn the bodies with the elves; load the wounded onto the convoy and send them ahead."
The Penal Corps weren't even counted in the casualty statistics; corpses were only dead weight.
While the village was being cleared, the voices of the three soldiers who had mocked the second lieutenant moments ago could be heard from one corner.
"Hey, hey. Gather the women we set aside over there. Let's reward the Second Lieutenant."
"What about our turn?"
"We've got the corporal-that Yan or whatever. That bastard'll take care of it."
Saying so, they could be seen herding toward one side of the house.
"Corporal, those bastards just-"
"I know. I'm disposing of the bodies here."
After saying that, Yan slowly walked toward the house they had entered.
A stench of sweat and heat.
Inside, naked elves covered in wounds lay pinned beneath the new second lieutenant, while the trio tittered at the sight.
"Oh, what do you know. Corporal Yan's here?"
"So... care to join us?"
A sergeant grinned, showing no sign of guilt.
The squad members lifted a limp elf woman as they spoke.
Her bruised arm was bent the wrong way.
'Crazy bastards.'
Yan stepped forward, muttering inwardly.
"How long since you arrived at the front?"
"Sir?"
A corporal asked back, puzzled.
"I said, how long since you were deployed to the line."
"Ah, that... two days now, sir."
"Right. Two days..."
He sighed. They'd been assigned yesterday and thrown into action today.
"Just so you know: in the Penal Corps, touching an officer gets you summarily executed-no trial."
"Sir? Ah, r-really? Wow, fancy that."
Summarily executed.
The corporal hesitated at the word "die," then laughed awkwardly.
"W-we're sorry. Still, he hasn't woken up yet..."
"And I, the senior man here, will carry out that sentence."
There was no time to ask "Sir?"
Bang!
Yan's pistol, drawn straight from the holster, put a bullet between his brows.
Thud!
"...Huh?"
"Kyaaah!!!"
"Corporal, you just shot a friendly-"
The remaining elves screamed, their minds still intact. With the corporal- their anchor-turned to a corpse in an instant, the two soldiers, drunk on lust, snapped back to reality.
They finally remembered who the man before them was.
Yan Verkut. Ten years in the Penal Corps.
Charges: killing superiors and comrades.
"Attention!"
"A-attention!!!"
The two soldiers snapped to rigid attention. It was their first taste of terror since joining the Penal Corps.
Hoo-
A soldier who had run over at the gunshot approached as Yan exhaled smoke.
"Corporal Yan."
"Kill the elves and retrieve the Second Lieutenant. If anyone asks, I'll apologize."
"Understood."
Taking the submachine gun Yan handed over, the soldier-who had survived more than a month-nodded curtly.
"P-please spare us...!"
Tadadang! Tudududang!!
A brief silence after the gunfire.
"It's done."
"Get moving. Escort the Second Lieutenant properly."
"Yes, sir."
Behind the soldiers standing at attention lay the bullet-riddled corpses of elves. After a hellish silence, Yan's mouth opened slowly.
"Shall we do this by the book?"
"N-no, sir!"
"No? Your seniors are all working, and you two were having fun on your own..."
"We-we're sorry!"
"Sorry? What exactly are you sorry for?"
"W-well... to the elves... we..."
"You think I'm scolding you for screwing the pointy-ears?"
Yan took another drag of his cigarette.
The two soldiers trembled in fear of imminent death.
How long the quiet stillness lasted, none could say.
"You two will bury the bodies here and those in the square. If I hear you made a junior do it, you're dead. Got it?"
"Yes! Y-yes, sir!"
"Louder."
"YES, SIRRRR!!!"
Their frantic scream left their bodies drenched in cold sweat.
Yan exhaled smoke once more, flicked away the spent cigarette, and walked out.
"If you understand, get to work. Fuck off."
At those words, they dashed to the square in an instant and began digging holes like madmen with their shovels.
Yan watched them for a moment, then returned to the convoy truck; the second lieutenant was waking up with a groan.
"Ugh... Corporal Yan? What happened-gah!?"
What greeted the second lieutenant upon waking was a pile of corpses of the village residents.
Corpses stacked like a mountain.
"Hey, Corporal Yan! This...!"
Faced with a scene more gruesome than any battlefield, the second lieutenant was struck speechless, and Yan's emotionless voice reached him.
"Extermination mission complete. We have wounded, so we should return; the remaining personnel-"
Does this man have no emotions?
Looking at the expressionless face-something unimaginable on someone who had massacred over a hundred villagers-the terrified second lieutenant forced his mouth open.
"I-I'll lead the withdrawal. Corporal Yan, you... just head back first."
"Thank you. Then I'll be going."
With a salute, Yan finished his report and soon disappeared behind the convoy truck.
As if exhausted, he sank into the passenger seat; the engine started and the vehicle sped toward the lines.