The murder of Warrant Officer Faris caused great turmoil in the Austin military.
The incident ended with the perpetrator being shot dead.
Major Renvel also had a hard time cleaning up after this incident.
After all, Private Second Class Rove was almost executed on false charges.
If this truth came to light, there was a danger of spreading distrust among the soldiers.
"You made a false report, and that was the cause of the wrongful arrest."
"Yes, Major."
So a notice was issued stating that: Private Second Class Rove had been arrested while protecting his friend."
The military claimed that the mistaken arrest was the fault of Rove and that they had conducted a proper investigation.
At the same time,
"Rove had the intention of protecting his friend, but he had no intention of opposing the military. The charge of perjury will be temporarily waived until the end of the war."
Major Renvel essentially let Rove off the hook.
Behind this ruling, there was actually a behind the scenes agreement.
Major Renvel called him out and said:
"You were thoroughly interrogated and made a false confession on the spot, correct?"
"Eh? No. I was taken to the execution ground almost without any say—"
"That's just what we're going to go with. If you protected your friend even after undergoing harsh interrogation, I will lighten your sentence in recognition of your friendship."
He said this with a very kind expression, gently patting the boy's shoulder as he whispered.
"You are a very remarkable person. There are very few people who would be able to protect their friends and accept their execution."
"Y-Yes, thank you."
"I apologize for Lieutenant Verdi's hasty decision to arrest you. I heard about what happened at the execution grounds. I really respect your courage and I would like to help you."
After having Verdi apologize, Major Renvel kindly offered tea and sweets to Private Second Class Rove and spoke to him.
Hearing these words, Rove believed Major Renvel(?), and started testifying that he had confessed to the crime to protect his friend.
"Uncle, we're just making him help us cover up our incompetence."
"I'm sure that boy is happy that his sentence has been lightened. It's a win-win situation."
It is unclear whether Rove truly believed in Major Renvel, or whether he decided it was better to follow his orders.
Because of this agreement, there was no spread of distrust among the soldiers.
As expected, having survived power struggles in the military for many years, Major Renvel turns out to be very cunning.
***
After burying the young soldier who had been shot, the Austin Army immediately resumed their march.
With winter coming early and Warrant Officer Faris' investigation taking up a lot of time, we were quite behind schedule.
"It's really cold. Even in winter, can't we get some warmer days?"
"Maybe the closer we get to the Sabbath the colder it gets."
"I can't take this anymore."
If we could have at least one warm day, we could advance quickly, but there was no sign of the snow letting up.
When I lived in Noel, there were occasional warm and sunny days even in winter.
It was not a climate where snow continued to fall day after day without end.
This extreme cold is likely due to abnormal weather patterns, but the general coldness of this area must also be a contributing factor.
"Hey. Someone finally froze to death last night."
"That's not funny at all."
The extreme cold of this region can be seen from the fact that the majority of patients each day suffered from frostbite.
Last night, a soldier with a cold went on a reconnaissance mission without resting and collapsed, dying in the process.
When someone in poor health loses consciousness in such an extremely cold environment, the danger of frostbite leading to death is very real.
In response to this, we in the medical platoon requested Major Renvel that, "Anyone in poor health must be given rest, no exceptions."
"More people are catching the cold. Won't the march slow down even more?"
"Major Renvel is trying to somehow speed up our advance."
"People will freeze to death if we speed up our march anymore."
At this time, a cold similar to influenza was spreading around in Austin's Army.
Of course, there was no special medication for the flu in Austin at the time.
And with the army's sanitation conditions not being as good as modern Japan's, the spread of infection was devastating.
"We are also running low on antibiotics."
"Don't prescribe them for people with the cold. We have to preserve our supply."
Epidemics are a very terrifying thing.
For small children, simply contracting the disease can be life-threatening. Even adults can easily die from it if they're in poor health.
"It'll be a while before we get a refill of antibiotics…"
"They're highly in demand in the country as well. There was already a shortage to begin with."
In this world, it was believed that "antibiotics are effective against colds."
In modern Japan, we know antibiotics are useless for a simple cold, but…
Even if I were to say something like that, it wouldn't be convincing at all.
They may come to that conclusion eventually, but for now I was prescribing antibiotics in accordance with the medical knowledge of the era.
"Let's limit the use of antibiotics to those with serious illnesses."
"I guess that's the only option."
"Let's tell the infantry to stay as clean as possible. Also, any trash with mucus or blood on it should be buried in a hole."
Thus, the medical platoon found itself battling not only physical injuries but also against illness.
If pneumonia were to spread through the army, it could cause significant casualties.
Stopping these outbreaks was also the responsibility of the medical platoon.
From this day onwards, we struggled with soldiers suffering from high fevers, coughs, and runny noses.
***
One month passed as we advanced through the snow.
We were still progressing at a slow pace, as expected.
"No enemy tracks here. Looks like there's no enemy presence around this area."
"Hasn't the enemy already fled far away?"
During this time, the Sabbatian Army was nowhere to be seen.
For the medical platoon, our biggest enemies at the moment were the cold and the spreading illness.
"If there are no enemy sightings, we move forward!"
The infantry had made it a daily routine to collect dry branches for warmth while on reconnaissance.
The snow that had accumulated on the plains wasn't melting, and a bitter, cutting wind was blowing incessantly.
Fortunately, the colds appeared to be mild, and no one developed pneumonia.
However, although the symptoms were mild, it was highly contagious. The disease spread to such an extent that almost everyone in the military caught it at some point.
"Little Boss, your nose is running again."
"Oh, excuse me."
Like many others, I had a fever for about three days. Fortunately, it went away on its own.
Though I still had a cough and a runny nose, I expected them to subside soon.
"Feels like there's less snow lately."
"Will winter end sooner because it started early?"
"No way. It's still too early."
A month had passed, and just as the illness appeared to be subsiding, the Austin Army received some good news.
It was…
"Ah, a message from Verdi. …According to the Military Meteorological Department, there is a high possibility that the weather will be unusually warm this week."
"Oh, that's good news."
"Because of that, we're going to increase our pace starting today and try to make up for the delays. In other words, it's like the marathon is starting up again."
"…That's not exactly the most welcome news."
Despite it being winter, the forecast said that this week would be relatively warm.
It was like a bolt from the blue. A mild spring arrived in the middle of winter.
Seizing this opportunity, Major Renvel eagerly issued orders for a forced march.
"If we can speed things up by just one week, it will make a huge difference in the state of the battle. Let's do our best."
"Got it, Little Boss."
Although there was still snow on the ground, the warmth of the sun made marching much easier.
For the next week, we returned to our previous pace of advance.
While the weather is still warm, we want to advance to the Tar River, which had been a key point in the Western Front.
This became our immediate objective.
The Tar River had originally marked the border between the Sabbath and Austin.
The East-West War began on the border of this river.
I have many memories of the brave soldiers on the Western Front, including Platoon Leader Garback, fighting hard every day to secure this river.
At present, it is believed that the Sabbatian forces have probably retreated to the Tar River.
They are likely securing their supply lines there and making plans to engage with our Austin forces.
Our initial plan was to surround the Sabbatian forces with our own forces and the Southern Army, driving them North.
It may be impossible now that winter has arrived, but we would like to at least establish a front line along the Tar River.
That was Major Renvel's goal.
***
"Hah, hah…"
"Run, rookies!"
By this time, there were fewer rookies who would collapse just from being made to run.
About three months has passed since we had set out from the capital, and the new recruits were beginning to build some stamina.
We believe that the Southern Army is still advancing northward. We continued marching mindlessly toward the rendezvous point.
This winter has been one of the coldest in decades, but the weather turned strangely warm for this one week.
It truly is a miraculous moment, as if we had borrowed spring in advance for just a week.
We would never have reached the Tar River in winter without this miracle.
Major Renvel did not give up on his "Battle of the North" strategy and urged his subordinates to continue the forced march.
The people of Austin had no other way to survive. We marched forward with determination to carry out the decisive battle no matter what losses we suffered.
As if in response to Major Renvel's wishes as we marched to the death to protect Austin, the fog gradually cleared.
The dreaded fog that had obscured our visibility ever since the beginning of winter had vanished like dew for just one week.
This made the scouts' job easier and increased our pace even further.
If we kept going at this rate, we might be able to reach the Tar River.
Once we can join up with the Southern Army, we will finally face off in a decisive battle with the Sabbatian Army.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that Austin, who had once been forced to unconditionally surrender, had obtained through one miracle after another.
Not wanting to miss this warm week that could be called a gift from God, Major Renvel and his troops kept running—
***
───It's the third day since the start of the marathon.
We were in despair.
"The enemy…"
We could see it clearly in the clear weather.
Having crossed a small mountain, we finally reached the plain where the Western Front had been established.
There, we saw a colossal army advancing towards the Tar River, an army so vast it made counting pointless.
It was the Sabbatian Army, at least ten times the size of our Central Army.
"…Isn't it reckless to fight against that many?"
This was a much larger force than the one that ambushed us last month.
Like a swarm of ants crawling on the ground, the Sabbatian Army moved to block our path.
And yet, we saw no sign of Austin's Southern Army nearby.
"…Little Boss, how many enemies are there?"
"I'm sorry, I don't know. I need to contact higher-ups."
Were the Southern forces already defeated?
Our desperate forced march had been in vain.
From now on, do we have no choice but to be trampled by the violent Sabbatian soldiers before us?
Such negative thoughts flooded my mind.
"Lieutenant Verdi ordered that we continue advancing until new orders arrive."
"W-Wait, you mean we should march straight into that massive army?"
"If those are our orders, then we must follow them."
It seems Verdi still had no information about the situation before us.
Maybe the Southern Army was just delayed in joining us, and we might soon spot them if we pressed on a little further.
If so, then continuing the march made sense.
Well, facing those vast numbers of enemies is our duty as soldiers.
"…Even I'm feeling queasy seeing such a massive enemy force covering the plains."
"Calm down, Arunoma. Surely, we won't have to fight them."
"I hope you're right."
The sight of the immense enemy force clearly visible now that the mist had cleared was enough to demoralize us.
The number of enemies must easily exceed tens of thousands, blocking our way.
Facing such a force with only a few thousand of us is surely futile.
"Chief Medic Touri, a message. Please share this with your unit."
"Y-Yes, Lieutenant."
Even I, a medic not directly involved in the fighting, was gripped by despair.
"…"
The next statement that came from Verdi hit me even harder.
"Listen calmly, everyone. We have received reports of a retreat."
"A retreat?"
Even Major Renvel had been trying to communicate with various fronts in an effort to grasp the situation.
He finally made contact with the Southern Army, which was approaching the rendezvous point.
The information from the Southern Army was as follows:
"The enemy Sabbatian Army in front of us, easily numbering in the tens of thousands…"
"…"
"…Has been defeated by the Southern Army's offensive and is currently retreating northward in a panic."
"What…?"
The unbelievable report was that tens of thousands of enemies in front of us were in the midst of fleeing in a panic, heading north as fast as they could.
After entering winter, even the Southern Army had been unable to launch an offensive and had been locked in a standoff with Sabbatians across trenches.
However, a genius strategist from the Southern Army, Captain Bern Valou, used this "miraculous week" to launch a surprise attack, devastating the Sabbath forces.
"The Central Army have been requested to join the pursuit. From here on, we won't conduct reconnaissance, but will march swiftly to surprise the Sabbatian soldiers."
"W-Wait! What are you saying, Little Boss?"
"I can't believe it either, but it seems—"
Thus, Austin's final desperate strategy, the "Battle of the North" strategy, which had been on the verge of failing, was now—
"We've managed to join forces in the best possible way."
Continuing just as originally planned, albeit in an unexpected turn of events.
And so, in the following spring…
Austin and the Sabbath will face off in a final showdown with their fates on the line.
***
Looking back at the Battle of the North after the war, it becomes clear that Austin's participants included an incredible roster of individuals.
From the unparalleled strategist Bern to the hero Renvel, it was a gathering of brilliant commanders.
Not only were there top-ranking veteran officers who had supported Austin since the outset of the East-West War, but also the next generation of great heroes who were, at the time, still unknown but would go on to become pillars of Austin.
The presence of such esteemed officers in this battle was like an all-star lineup for the Austin Army in the East-West War.
At the helm of this miraculous gathering of extraordinary talents was the monster, Bern Valou, whose name would soon make his name known across the land.
And unbeknownst to me, I would soon encounter that monster.
End of Arc 3