Chapter 407

Leisure Story of a Blazing Man 2

Hello again! ‘Tis I, Shinonome (Wa ga na wa Shinonome… desu)!

Well, Satania here summarizes my thoughts about that excellently. Enjoy your short trip before running off the ledge, I suppose. Heh.

Editor: ShinonomeResearchLabs

“U-um, but, even though there aren’t any written rank restrictions, it’s implied that such a request should be taken by C-ranks or higher… ”

“Oh, but I am a C-ranker!”

“Eeeeeeehhhhhhh!?”

A collective scream arose once again in the guild.

Well, in a country without hunter training schools, it’s impossible for a regular hunter at the age of ten—in other words, an F-ranker—to rise to C-rank in just a couple years. Certainly, there was a rank-skip system at the time of registration, but it didn’t seem like Mile, who was dressed like a swordsman, could’ve skipped to D, much less C-rank during registration.

If she were a magician, it wouldn’t be impossible for her to have ridiculous talent. However, Mile was equipped like a swordswoman. Her small physique, low muscle mass, off-kilter center of gravity, unbalanced manner of walking, dopey facial expressions, and general aura… they all clearly pointed to her being small fry.1

At most she was E-rank, but absolutely not C-rank. Everyone there could say so with confidence.

To the receptionist who stared at her incredulously, Mile resignedly pulled out a pendant that hung from a chain around her neck from inside her shirt and handed it to the receptionist.

“Here, this… ”

“Eh… Ah, yes… Wait whaaat!?!”

The receptionist’s eyes widened in astonishment.

Yes, in her hands was the girl’s hunter registration card. Rank was designated by the card’s material and an engraved letter on the front. On the back was information such as the owner’s name, occupation, and branch of registration.

“C… She’s a C-rank magician… ”

“She’s not a swordswoman!?”

So, in spite of the collective retort of the guild, the request was successfully processed.

The receptionist and the other hunters had tried to block it, but to prohibit a full-fledged C-rank hunter from taking a request, they would have to solicit the explicit instructions from the guild master, but even then, there had to be a proper cause. If it was done for no apparent reason, the guild staff will get punished. So, when Mile said “it’s my home country… ” no one could say anything anymore.2

Although the baron had nothing to do with her, it was true that Brandel was Mile’s homeland… and it was entirely possible that her request could’ve been denied if she didn’t provide some relation.3

And so, Mile set off.

Crossing the border right there, a normal hunter would take one day on foot. That translated to half a day for Mile…

Kelvin von Barium.

As the fifth son of a baron family in the Brandel Kingdom, he was by no means wealthy. In fact, he was illegitimate.

Well, even though he illegitimate, he wasn’t born as the son of a concubine, but rather, as the son of a maid who his father laid his hands on. He was the “son of a mistress” so to speak.

In this country, the concubines of nobles and royals were officially recognized as wives. Their livelihoods were taken care of by their husband, and their children were recognized as well. However, a mistress was different in that they were technically in a legal grey area,4 so there was no guarantee. If her husband changed his mind and threw her away, that was that.

However, Baron Barium and his wife were virtuous nobles. The maid and her child were welcomed into the family and were brought up together… The Baron couple was actually considerably good-natured, especially the wife.

And so, as part of his upbringing, Kelvin was enrolled at Eckland Academy, where he met his lifelong rival.

…At least that was the case from Kelvin’s perspective.

As far as the other party was concerned, far from being a rival, Kelvin was just an annoying insect.

However, as Kelvin was unilaterally hostile to the person in question, one day, they finally snapped and admonished him sternly about “how to be a noble.” No, rather, he was passionately lectured about “how to be a man,” which was a revelation to Kelvin, as it opened his eyes to his previously nearsighted attitude towards life.5

And so, after graduating from school, instead of joining the national army, where he’d never be able to climb ranks due to being from the less prestigious Eckland Academy, or the Royal Guard, who didn’t so much as associate with anyone not from Ardley Academy, Kelvin enlisted in a noble’s private army.

In a noble’s army, general soldiers and junior officers6 generally consisted of volunteers and draft soldiers from the noble’s territory.

For that reason, it was common practice to train the third son or lower of a low-ranking aristocrat to become a mid-ranking officer. Naturally, the holistic command of the of the lord’s army was left to trusted vassals only. But…

No matter how green7 they are, it’s impossible to put a noble under the command of a commoner. Thus, even if they’re young and immature, they’re treated as an officer from the beginning. However, while even noble children are enlisted as an officer cadet or an officer candidate…

Whether or not they will be recognized as a proper superior by their subordinates, especially the experienced junior officers, is a different story than the initial rank given altogether.

And so, Kelvin was employed as an officer cadet by a Baron whose territory bordered the Albarn Empire.

The baron only hired personnel to take command during dangerous situations, but Kelvin just wanted to acquire knowledge and skills in the field here as a stepping stone for his ambitions. He had no intention of remaining as a low-ranking officer in the army of some tiny barony.

Since the territory of the barony was so small, the commander-in-chief was the baron himself, and his younger brother and third and younger sons of a branch family occupied all the officer positions. So, Kelvin was just hired as an outsider to do dangerous and tedious grunt work. No matter how hard he tried, there was no opportunity for advancement.

As a full-fledged noble would never even apply for such a job, the baron gladly hired Kelvin who had a weak social status as the child of a poor aristocrat and his mistress.

And so, one day…

“The Imperial Army is invading?”

“That’s right! I’m going to ask his Majesty to dispatch the national army immediately.

I’m appointing you as an officer, effective immediately, and you’re in charge of defending the territory until we return with reinforcements.

You’re not permitted to escape! If you do so, it’ll be considered a cowardly—no, a traitorous act, and you’ll be beheaded for it!”

Commanding such, the baron essentially put all the responsibility on Kelvin, an officer cadet of only a couple months, as the baron, his family, and vassals escaped elsewhere.

To prevent the commanding officer from simply deserting, it was necessary to hire a person with a weak social status, but still part of an aristocratic family like Kelvin. If he fled, on the off chance that word about that got out, his family’s name would fall to the ground, and that was a big enough threat to keep him pinned down.8

The reason why Kelvin was suddenly appointed as an officer was likely because it’d sound bad if the baron said “I forced everything onto an officer cadet,” so by promoting Kelvin to an officer, he could change the narrative to say “I left the situation to an officer and went to request reinforcements.”

Kelvin couldn’t bother the Barium family, who had treated him well as the son of a mistress, so he just had to protect the barony the best he could with the other unfortunate soldiers who were drafted from the territory.

Indeed, all of the soldiers, whose friends and family lived in the territory, could not go against the order of their lord.

The only upside was that knowledge of the Imperial Army’s invasion arrived at quite an early stage.

In this era, military movements could not be completely concealed, as one would understand if they paid close attention to things like the recruitment of mercenaries, purchasing of goods, and preparation of transportation.

Since the baron had a territory at the border, it seemed that he had told various hunters, bar owners, etc. in the empire that “if you hear anything, just let me know and I’ll buy the information.” Apparently that system had finally paid off, giving the territory a premeditated warning of the impending invasion.

The advance notice didn’t do them much good though, as their finances hardly allowed them to hire outside help. Nevertheless, a recruitment notice was sent to the nearby Mercenary and Hunters Guild.9

Since the territory was near the border, the notice was extended to a town in the neighboring friendly nation as well.

…Of course, there was no fool who’d fight on the baron’s side in a conflict between a baron and a count, with the opposing side being well-prepared and on the offensive at that. In fact, when the mercenaries saw the baron’s recruitment notice, some of them even joined the invaders.

And thus, all the nobles and senior officers fled, leaving the remnants of the lord’s army—Kelvin, the junior officers, and general soldiers to intercept the enemy at a small unnamed town.

The reason they’re not fighting at the border is to have the enemy stretch their supply lines.

If the enemy enters one’s lands, it will naturally be damaged, but that’s preferable to having one’s army annihilated, leaving the invaders to loot and pillage as they please.

“Commander, looks like we both drew the short straw… ”

“Commander, huh? The title makes it sound like such a big deal… ”

Kelvin gave a bitter smile when a veteran junior officer called him “commander.”

“Yeah, since all the other higher-ups are gone, doesn’t that leave you, the only remaining senior officer, as the commander?”

“ …I guess… ”

It’s just as the old officer said.

Kelvin was the commander since that position belonged to the highest-ranking officer in the field, which was him.

Additionally, because Kelvin, who was already fourteen due to his early birthday, was what would be called Caucasian on Earth, and had been training since he was a child, he had a good physique. As such, he could hold his own in a fight against an adult.

…However, he still had a year before he turned fifteen, the age of adulthood in this world.

Nevertheless, he was recognized as the commander by an officer who was old enough to be his grandfather. It was probably the result of Kelvin gaining a precious treasure—trust of his men—over the past few months, as he was different from the officers whose behaviors were intolerable.

Finally, the Imperial Army entered the baron’s territory. It wasn’t the national army, but the private army of the count whose territory abutted the baron’s across the national border, but that didn’t matter to the defenders who just saw them as “foreign invaders from the Albarn Empire.”

“Alright men, let’s sortie!”

The territory they were defending was only a barony. The town where they had decided to make a stand at didn’t have any citadels or fortifications. Thus, they couldn’t afford to hunker down for a war of attrition as the townspeople would be caught up in the crossfire.

Therefore, they had to leave the town and fight in front of it instead.

Even though annihilation was inevitable, at the very least, if the territorial army fought bravely, even after the town was occupied, it would not be despised as a “town of cowards.” Should the Royal Army recapture it too, the town won’t be considered to have “lay down their arms without a fight.”

…Additionally, as the commander that valiantly set down his life to defend the territory, Kelvin would also bring honor to the Barium family who had treated him so well.

Thinking this, Kelvin bravely set off from the town to intercept the enemy.

However, before that, he had announced to the soldiers:

“Before we set out, men, you have permission to be discharged right now. You can change into plain clothes and disperse throughout the territory as ordinary people, and from then onwards, live happily as commoners… ”

And so, Kelvin led the remainder of the army, which had been reduced by about half, to make a last stand in front of the town.

Author’s Note:

On August 28th, the information on the official anime site was updated!

The new promotional video, along with the TV broadcast schedule (broadcasting station, broadcast date and time, etc.) has been released!

I have a good feeling about the promo video.

I think it conveys the charm of the anime quite well.

…Yes, it’s that kinda anime, you know! (^^)/

But, as expected, that scene couldn’t be put into the promo… (^^ゞ

Translation Notes:

I’m being very liberal here in order to make the sentence sound nice by being parallel.

In case it wasn’t clear, the request Mile is accepting is a mercenary request for a baron in the Brandel Kingdom: Mile’s motherland. She’s currently at a border town that’s part of the Tyrus Kingdom where the Crimson Vow is based.

Raw says「そのような理由を告げるまでもなく、受注を拒否されることはなかったのではあるが」, which has too many negatives for me to pick out which way the author meant the statement, so I just picked one.

Raw says「日陰の存在であり」, which is literally “to be in the shade.”

Technically, the term here is supposed to be “non-commissioned officer,” but I feel like unless you’re a military otaku or something, I felt like the average reader wouldn’t know where on the leadership hierarchy that falls, so I changed it.

I’m using “green” here as a slang term to mean “inexperienced” to represent Japanese term for noobs which is「新米」. Literally “new rice.” Didn’t know that before this. Huh.

Thank you to 4She Game down in the comments for helping make this more accurate.

I dunno:「どうせ駄目だとは思いつつも、形式的に、近隣の街の傭兵ギルドやハンターギルドに人員募集を掛けるくらいの余裕は。」As a general note, the translation quality deteriorates for a couple paragraphs more, accuracy-wise.