Not long after announcing his intention to leave the military in the Corps Commander’s office, Kyle immediately began preparing for his discharge.
His first destination was the counseling office for prospective discharge personnel.
It was bothersome, but it was a mandatory administrative procedure. Kyle quietly knocked on the office door.
The officer inside looked flustered when a completely unexpected visitor entered.
“Lieutenant Colonel Kyle.”
“Yes.”
“Are you truly planning to leave the military?”
The officer looked as though he could not believe it.
Until very recently, Kyle had been doing everything he could to survive in the army.
There was one obvious reason the officer might suspect.
“If this is because of the nun….”
“She is one of the reasons.”
Kyle answered honestly.
“Would it not be better to use the leave you have accumulated and take some time to sort out your feelings? You are dealing with many complicated emotions. If you impulsively leave the military now, you may regret it later.”
Kyle stared silently at him.
“I am not sure… I doubt remaining here any longer will change how I am treated. More importantly, I suspect they will continue assigning me increasingly difficult missions.”
The counselor fell silent at Kyle’s pointed remark.
There was no one in the unit who did not know what kind of work he performed.
‘The Cleaner.’
Kyle had earned that nickname because he cleaned up other people’s filth.
「Central Army Special Corps Unit 06」
On the surface, it appeared to be an impressive unit.
It was indeed a special unit established within the Central Army to deploy personnel to dangerous regions throughout the country. However, from the moment of its creation, it had been a place where those who had fallen from power and other troublesome individuals were gathered.
Unit 6, led by Kyle, was even worse.
It was a disposal team used to resolve problems caused by the higher-ups.
Kyle had been forced to wade through every kind of filth imaginable.
That was why he answered without the slightest hesitation.
“I hear you have received plenty of petitions complaining that an incompetent man is occupying this position.”
“That is….”
The counselor trailed off. Kyle gave him a bitter smile.
“This is already the eighth time I have been offered an honorable discharge.”
“….”
“I no longer want to be a burden to my subordinates.”
The counselor realized that there was no persuading him.
Kyle quietly handed his discharge application to the silent man.
When the counselor hesitated, Kyle merely smiled at him without saying a word.
Why did his smile look so frightening today?
The commander of a unit mocked as the city’s cleanup crew.
An incompetent officer who had stubbornly clung to his position despite countless disgraces.
Every one of those descriptions had been directed at the man before him.
However, the counselor knew.
He knew just how frightening Kyle truly was.
The Cleaner had erased the nobles’ filth for years, gathering an enormous amount of information in the process.
Anyone in the military knew that if they carelessly provoked these cleaners, the information they possessed could easily become a weapon.
‘Sign it. Otherwise, my blade will be pointed at you next.’
Faced with a gaze that seemed to carry such a threat, the counselor finally signed Kyle’s discharge application.
Kyle completed in moments what would normally have required a week of counseling, then immediately moved on to the remaining administrative procedures.
His relentless progress toward discharge soon made everyone in the unit aware of what was happening.
The problem was the role that Kyle and Unit 6 had been carrying.
Because of that, every other unit was thrown into a state of emergency.
“The Cleaner is leaving the military? Then what happens to all that shit?”
“We will probably have to divide it among ourselves.”
“Ah, we’re fucked.”
Everyone quietly sighed upon hearing that Kyle was leaving.
They were already irritated about having been pushed out of the centers of power. Now they would be forced to wade through filth as well.
There was no reason for them not to be furious.
“Still, the unit itself will remain. Would that not be enough?”
Several officers clicked their tongues at another officer’s question.
“It will not function properly.”
“Why not?”
The officer, who had only recently transferred in from elsewhere, tilted his head in confusion.
“The only reason the remaining personnel in Unit 6 have continued enduring this place is Lieutenant Colonel Kyle.”
The officer still seemed unable to understand, but the others did not bother explaining.
Discussing how they would deal with the situation ahead was far more urgent than educating him.
While the officers worried about where all the shit dumped on Unit 6 would splatter next, the Corps Commander was tearing at his hair.
The subordinate he had only ever thought of exploiting had suddenly announced his discharge.
It was enough to drive him insane.
At first, he had assumed it was merely a threat.
After returning home, a single thought continued circling through his mind.
‘If only it had been a bluff!’
‘Let me try to appease him. I should use this opportunity to recommend him for promotion to colonel.’
The Corps Commander had devised a plan to persuade Kyle with that thought in mind.
However, the next day, he received a report that Kyle had already submitted his discharge application.
Only then did it finally sink in.
‘That bastard truly intends to leave!’
Then the person the Corps Commander least wanted to see arrived at his office.
“Loyalty!”
“…What is it?”
Kyle had come first thing the next morning. He presented a formal copy of his discharge application.
“Lieutenant Colonel Kyle Ripley. I have come to formally report the submission of my discharge application and discuss the official handover procedure.”
“….”
The Corps Commander finally confirmed that yesterday’s declaration had not been a bluff intended to avoid the latest assignment.
First, he had to coax Kyle into reconsidering.
If Kyle left like this, the Corps Commander’s own plan to finish his military career peacefully would be ruined.
“Hah… If the work has become too difficult, use the leave you have accumulated and think it over calmly.”
“I will arrange the schedule for my remaining leave after submitting my discharge application.”
“Should you not at least become a colonel first? You need that rank if you want your name to carry any weight elsewhere. A lieutenant colonel will not be welcomed anywhere.”
“I have no intention of remaining in the military.”
Kyle had no intention of accepting military-related assignments even as a reservist.
The only reason he had gone out of his way to complete twenty years of service was so that he would no longer have to remain in this fucking country.
The Corps Commander frowned at Kyle’s sharp, unwavering answer and finally brought out his hidden weapon.
“I placed your name near the top of the next promotion list. This time, I will make it happen no matter what it takes.”
Kyle had already been deceived by those words more than once.
When Kyle merely looked unimpressed, the Corps Commander hurriedly continued.
“I mean it this time. Even if I have to stake my position on it, I will ensure that you are promoted.”
Kyle scoffed inwardly.
Could a man whose own future looked so bleak truly possess the power to secure Kyle’s promotion?
The Corps Commander would be fortunate if he avoided being reprimanded by his superiors.
“I apologize.”
Seeing that Kyle had firmly made up his mind, the Corps Commander’s expression twisted.
“How can you announce something like this so suddenly? Huh? You should have discussed it with me at least a month in advance….”
“This is the honorable discharge application you personally handed me one month ago.”
The Corps Commander let out a deep sigh as Kyle produced the document that had originally been offered as a half-hearted threat and returned it to him.
Whenever the higher-ups pressured him to delay or block Kyle’s promotion, the Corps Commander had presented the honorable discharge application as a threat.
Now, that card had returned as a dagger pointed at his own heart.
When the Corps Commander finally fell silent, Kyle quietly saluted and withdrew.
“Hah… We’re seriously fucked.”
To an outsider, it might have seemed absurd for him to panic so much over the discharge of a single lieutenant colonel.
However, the Cleaner knew far more than most people realized.
Kyle was also connected to a great many influential figures.
This was not an issue that would end with the departure of one lieutenant colonel.
“If he was dissatisfied, he should have shown it…. Why did he have to do this so suddenly…?”
The Corps Commander’s head already throbbed at the thought of how severely his superiors would berate him.
Kyle, on the other hand, looked relieved.
Immediately after completing his final report, Kyle returned to Unit 6 and assembled all personnel.
“You have probably all heard by now, but I submitted my discharge application. Someone will arrive to take over my duties in the near future, so keep that in mind.”
The unit members began murmuring among themselves.
In contrast, several of them merely exchanged knowing looks, as though what they had long expected had finally happened.
Kyle dismissed the formation.
As the soldiers dispersed while talking among themselves, several people approached him.
“So you are finally leaving the military?”
“Yes. You have all suffered greatly because of me.”
The unit members smiled bitterly.
The three who could be considered the core of Unit 6 were an unusual group.
One had features that immediately revealed his immigrant origins.
Another possessed such unusual skin and such a massive build that it was difficult to believe he belonged to the same human race.
The last had come from the rare and highly valued ranks of mages.
It was difficult to imagine how three people like them had ever gathered in one place.
They smiled as they spoke to Kyle.
“We would never have been promoted this far without you, Commander.”
“That is true.”
“Who else would ever employ people like us?”
Kyle smiled bitterly as he looked at the subordinates who had followed him all the way from the front lines to this place.
He had taken them in because they were pitiful.
Together, they had crossed countless battlefields and endured every kind of filth until they arrived here.
They had remained shackled because of him and endured everything until now.
That was why Kyle felt deeply sorry that he could only give them their freedom now.
“What will all of you do from here?”
“Leave the military, of course.”
At the immigrant man’s answer, the other two nodded as though it were only natural.
Most of the soldiers who had followed them here would probably leave alongside Kyle.
“We should let those bastards suffer for once.”
“I am curious who will be forced to take over this pile of garbage.”
Kyle smiled faintly at his subordinates’ words.
He was also curious how the army would deal with all the filth they had been forced to carry until now.
Perhaps the higher-ups would torment them until the very end.
If they did, Kyle intended to show them exactly why one should never provoke a soldier nearing the end of his service.
With that, all official procedures regarding Kyle’s discharge application within the Special Corps were completed, and the news was immediately delivered to the higher command.
“Kyle Ripley is leaving…the military?”
“Yes.”
The man’s eyes trembled as he muttered, clearly unable to believe the report.
“There were no signs that he contacted anyone elsewhere. Why would he suddenly do this?”
Kyle was a person of interest.
They had assumed he would stubbornly remain in the military while gathering his own faction.
Yet now, he intended to leave?
Something about it smelled suspicious.
However….
“There was no sign of any contact with outside forces whatsoever.”
“Are you certain?”
“Yes.”
The Central Army Commander frowned at the confident answer given by the woman before him.
Petra was a spy they had planted beside Kyle after he was demoted and transferred into the Central Army Special Corps.
Kyle had been considered such a dangerous person of interest that they had secretly removed Petra from an elite career track and placed her at his side.
“Why has that bastard Silvio not reported this?”
“It appears he was attempting to persuade him. He will have failed, so we should hear from him soon.”
Werner let out a long sigh at her answer.
The empire was currently suffering from friction with foreign nations, but its internal affairs were equally troublesome.
They had placed Kyle in the Special Corps to keep the person of interest nearby and under surveillance. They had then forced every conceivable burden upon him to prevent his promotion.
If he were promoted to colonel and gained independent operational authority, the situation might spiral beyond their control.
That was why they had fought desperately to keep him confined to the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Then why had they not simply dismissed him?
They had once possessed the perfect opportunity to do so.
However, the crazy bastard had taken responsibility for a scandal involving the children of high-ranking officials.
Naturally, those officials had pressured the military not to remove him.
The same thing had happened repeatedly afterward.
Others called Kyle a Cleaner, but by willingly covering himself in disgrace, he had made one influential figure after another indebted to him.
Now, it was difficult even to determine how far his connections extended.
His disciples were another problem.
If they mishandled the situation, Kyle might use them to expose everything he knew.
As a result, they could neither promote him nor force him out of the military.
That awkward situation had continued for years.
Yet now, he was applying for discharge of his own accord.
They had blocked his promotion for so long that his feelings toward them had to be hostile, at the very least.
“We’re fucked….”