There were a lot of complex reasons why the Northeast Army Commander, Crimson, brought Iron to this place. It was mainly because of the divine beast but he also wanted him to take a look if there were signs of a monster wave in this place. He also wanted to use whatever Iron would report to find if the suspicious phenomenon currently occurring in the entire Northeast had something or someone behind it. He was looking beyond the monster wave.

“First of all, we’re not sure when this mission will end. But I hope this ends before the monster wave begins but… it’s hard to assume.” 

Iron smiled bitterly when he heard Gustav’s words. He was speaking knowing full well that their situation was dire.

“I’m fully aware that the difficulty of this mission is high. Don’t overdo it and just focus first on getting used to your unit for now. Understand?”

“I understand.”

“Good. Then, finish moving into the special search unit and move right away.”

“Yes! Loyalty.”

Iron gave his salute and went outside. Gustav stared at the door for a while before mumbling to himself. 

“Hoo… Is this the right thing…”

Gustav sighed deeply.

He lamented the fact that he did not have a divine beast or the abilities equipped with someone who made a contract with such a beast. The fact that a new recruit with the power of a divine beast came to them was something that he welcomed. After all, his existence was much more precious than someone who only had spiritual powers. However, it bothered him that they needed to appoint someone so young to such a tough place and even give him a difficult mission.

“If I just look at the report, I think he’ll do well but…”

He was worried for the young outpost leader. He did not know if the extremely proud elite soldiers would receive the boy well.

Gustav had experienced difficult missions as a Ghost but he couldn’t help but feel heavy when this young officer was assigned to a rough spot with a difficult mission. 

***

Iron moved to his post and left behind the captain of Ghost and the special search team unit behind.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Jack Doyle, the vice outpost leader of the 4th Outpost.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Iron Carter. This time, I will be the person in charge of this outpost.”

Iron smiled and shook hands with the vice outpost leader who came and greeted him.

“Are we going to ride the drake to get to the outpost?”

“No. There’s not that much drake so that’s impossible.”

“Then, a gryphon?”

“Haha~ Isn’t that more precious than a drake?”

Jack laughed at Iron’s words before pointing to one side. There he could see a hot-air balloon anchored.

“We’re going to take that to reach the vicinity.”

“Ho…”

“There’s a temporary space near the outpost that’s safe enough for a balloon to land on. Once we land there, we will have to move on foot.”

Since the distance was not that long, they had to use a non-drake flying instrument to move the short distance then walk on foot to cover the remaining distance. However, the balloon was so slow that Iron became bored. He even opened the door just to ease his boredom.

“There must be a lot of dangers.”

“We can’t help it.”

The vice outpost leader smiled bitterly. 

“The 1st corps under the Vanguard Corps had a hard time receiving supplies in this place so they gave up. In the end, this place came under the direct jurisdiction of the Command. That’s why everyone is determined. They’re willing to take risks to some extent.”

“I see.”

Iron nodded. He seemed to understand what Jack was saying. He was certain that it was really hard to send supplies in this place. 

“Then, what happens if the supplies do not arrive at the right time due to the changes in the weather?”

“We endure with dry rations until the supplies arrive. If we’re in a hurry, then we’ll hunt monsters.”

“Ho… You must have a hard time.”

Iron shook his head as he stared at Jack’s bitter smile.

“But since it’s a place where people live, it’s still worth staying at.”

“If that’s the case, then it’s a relief. More than that… Seeing that I’m the one who came to the outpost, you look like you’re not as surprised at all.”

Jack’s bitter smile remained on his face when he realized Iron’s intentions.

“I don’t know about the soldiers, but I’m not a part of that. I don’t have the authority to do that.”

Iron looked at him suspiciously but he couldn’t ask anymore. Jack just smiled bitterly before continuing his words.

“At the very least, it’s not just me. So don’t worry too much.”

“…Is that so?”

Jack nodded at Iron’s question. 

Jack knew that the Northeast Academy was a place that trained murder weapons. It was a place that only created and gathered monsters. From he rumors that he has heard, the graduates this time were all beyond the average level. The two diamonds attached on the shoulder of the young Iron was glaring proof of these rumors.

“We have to move on foot starting at this point.”

“It looks better than I thought.”

Iron looked around and saw the wooden stairs set up in several places. Jack couldn’t help but smile brightly when he heard his words. 

“Our military life… isn’t it just 70% work?”

“Hoo… Work…”

Iron was well aware of what his words meant. After all, he had served in the military during the modern times. Back then, he had to clean things up when it snowed, repair things when they collapsed and even weed the path when the weeds grew. 

“You must be tired.”

“I can’t help it. After all, I’m a soldier.”

Jack smiled bitterly once more when he heard Iron’s words. They couldn’t help it, work was something that was inseparable from soldiers. Especially for them, who were staying in this closed-off place. All available personnel had to be unconditionally put to work.

“The guys in the outpost will be a bit aggressive. Please take this into account before you go in there.”

“Aggressive… They would still do that even if the vice outpost leader is here?”

“Uhm…”

Iron frowned when he saw the vice outpost leader’s expression. It seemed like there was a situation in the outpost.

They quickly arrived at a well-made outpost after the vice outpost leader gave his own warning. Contrary to the almost collapsing building that he imagined in his head, the building itself looked alright. It seemed like the supply of the mana stone was also good since he could feel the warmth from the building.

“The outpost leader has arrived!”

The soldiers began to run at once when the door opened and the vice outpost leader roared. Iron looked at them strangely when the soldiers looked at him in nervousness. He couldn’t help but recall the warning that the vice outpost leader had given him. 

“Not all of them are out yet.”

Shortly after the vice outpost leader’s words, a group consisting of a sergeant and plenty of corporals approached slowly. The moment he saw this group, Iron’s expression turned incredulous.

“We’re sorry. We have a bit of work to do so we came out late.”

The sergeant’s expression as he spoke to the vice outpost leader did not show any bit of remorse. Iron frowned and called out to him.

“Hey.”

“Yes?”

The sergeant asked dumbly at Iron’s cold voice. It seemed like he was thinking about how he should answer a child’s cold voice. 

“Say your full name and your rank. Do it again.”

“Ser… Sergeant Sean Wicks.”

“If you’re late, you have to move quickly and line up. Are you trying to pick a fight with me?”

“I’m sorry. I’ll do it properly.”

Sean quickly lined up in confusion after hearing Iron’s words. Although the new outpost leader was young, there seemed to be something unusual from him. He had eaten a lot of jjambap throughout the years so he could tell that there was something unusual there.

Unaware of the prestige and strength of the person in front of him, Sergeant Sean followed his orders for now. Seeing that the person they were following also lined up, the ill-attitude corporals also began to line up.

They thought that they should just put up with Iron for once since they could just beat him up later. They first had to listen to what the vice outpost leader had to say as to why this kid had come here.

“Nice to see you all. I’m Iron Carter and I came here this time as your outpost leader. I’m embarrassed to have come here straight after my graduation but I believe everything will go well if the soldiers help me properly. It’s cold so I will not say anything more. Let’s end our greeting here. Disperse.”

“Disperse!”

Iron dispersed the soldiers. He signalled to Jack before heading over to the outpost leader’s office. Jack followed Iron with a bitter smile on his face. 

“What happened here?”

Jack smiled bitterly when he heard Iron’s straightforward question.

“It’s because I’m not good enough.”

Jack bowed down as he replied to Iron’s question. However, this was not the answer that Iron wanted so he asked again.

“What’s the reason? How dare a soldier act up in front of his superior? And how come you’re acting like a dog in front of these soldiers?”

Jack fell silent for a while. The answer came out of his mouth with much difficulty. 

“It’s because of the unique characteristics of this place.”

“Unique characteristics?”

Jack nodded his head while Iron’s brows furrowed deeper.

“Yes. Unless you don’t have any backings, the soldiers will ignore you.”

“Ignore… Can’t you report it to the top?”

“The moment you do that, you will be bullied by the entire unit.”

“Bully? How dare a soldier do that?”

Iron looked at him as if he was crazy. All Jack could do was sigh as he explained. 

“The soldiers will receive punishment but… The other soldiers will eventually become hostile to the executives. Once the rumors spread, even the other executives will be given bad attitudes.”

“So you’re scared of that…”

“Everyone had been silent about it. It did not happen for just a day or two… so it hardened and turned into a custom.”

“What a dog shit mess.”

Jack could only bow after hearing Iron’s words.

“Is the sergeant’s skill much better than the vice outpost leader?”

“No. That’s not it. But there’s not much difference between us…” 

Iron frowned when he heard Jack’s words.

“How good is the sergeant?” 

“He’s at the beginning of the 2nd Stage.” 

“The vice outpost leader is also at that level?” 

“That’s right.” 

Jack opened his mouth with a bit of difficulty when he saw that Iron’s expression was asking him for a more detailed explanation.

In fact, Jack’s skills were not that good. He was even younger than the sergeant from before. He had also jumped to the sergeant position quickly. After becoming a sergeant in the shortest amount of time, he came here to take the elite course and became the staff sergeant. But unfortunately, his skills were a bit similar to the sergeant from before. 

Staff sergeant Jack who was 18 years old and Sergeant Sean who was 20 years old. The two had similar skills but Sean was older. So, Sean had a lot of dissatisfaction with this arrangement.

In that time, Sean had eaten a lot of jjambap so he had taken control of the soldiers and tried to naturally get along with the executives of the special search unit. He was also scheduled to become a staff sergeant by next year so he was only waiting for the day when his and Jack’s level were similar to show him who was boss. 

However, the person that he expected to come this time and appoint him as the vice outpost leader was suddenly changed. His plans went wrong and the position was given to Jack. As a result, Sean’s dissatisfaction had reached its peak. Without anyone realizing it, Sean had started to make a big fuss in the outpost to beat Jack. And since things repeated frequently, Jack’s voice had started to weaken in the unit.

“That’s what happened.”

“Crazy shit.”

He was not one of the executives from before but seeing the soldiers acting like this in front of the staff sergeant, all that he could think of were that these bastards were crazy. 

“Is that everything? No matter how dissatisfied he is with this, I don’t think that’s enough for him to do something this big.” 

“I heard rumors that someone is backing him up.” 

“Backing… A higher up? A commissioned officer?” 

“I don’t think it’s a commissioned officer.” 

It would be a problem if his backing was a commissioned officer but if it wasn’t then things would be solved easily. However, even if his backing was a commissioned officer, the problem would be solved once Iron reported to the Search Unit Captain himself as part of Ghost. 

‘First, the problem about the backing is cleared.’ 

The soldiers were also only at the beginning of the 2nd Stage so Iron did not have much problem in terms of skills. 

‘Strength and force is cleared too. The only thing left is the discord between the soldiers and the executives, right?’ 

If the soldier standing at the center of all the other soldiers was wrongly touched, then it could lead to a huge discord between the executives and the soldiers. This was the worst option in such a closed-off place. That’s why justification for his actions was extremely important. 

‘Is this why he told me that it’s going to be hard at first?’ 

Iron finally realized what the warning that Lintel Verner had given him on the drake ride meant. It seemed like he was not just telling him about his difficult military service.

Iron couldn’t help but chew his lips for a moment. 

In fact, a mutiny like this was not something special. It wasn’t something that only happened in this place. The cases in the capital were even worse than this. It was common for soldiers that were affiliated with noble families to confront superiors without any backings. 

‘I didn’t know that it would be like this in the Northeast too… This will be fun.’ 

Iron read the report that the vice outpost leader had handed over to him coldly. He pondered about how he would roll and kill the useless arrogance of his sergeant and corporals.

***

Notes

[Work is inseparable from soldiers] – This is highlighted because the author used the term 군바리. This word is a derogatory slang for soldiers. They would feel offended if others called them this. However, they usually use it as a joke amongst themselves. 

[Regarding Iron’s view on the attitudes of the soldiers] – Basically, military is strict on positions. I think it’s especially strict in KR military. So some soldiers acting all high and mighty against one’s superior warrants punishment, hence why Jaiden thinks they’re crazy. I think seniority only matters if they’re on the same rank.