Chapter 44: A Half-Blood Prince’s War.

“f*ck, even so, he’s only half a royal family member.”

There was someone who dared to utter words he shouldn’t have, enraged by treatment worse than mercenaries. Rassett couldn’t bring himself to say the same but didn’t stop him either. He inwardly agreed with him.

One month after the new Commander-in-Chief took office, the land that had turned to mud dried up completely.

It was time for the endemic diseases prevalent during the rainy season to subside, and the miracle of salt-sugar water was a trick by the King’s Brother timed well.

No matter how much the mercenaries praised the King’s Brother, Chief Medical Officer Miles judged so. Rassett also listened more to the medical officer’s opinion. Other officers were all on Miles’s side, needless to say.

When the period of tacit ceasefire passed and battle broke out, mercenaries dressed up in those hideous clothes they called uniforms and stepped onto the sacred battlefield.

The cultured officers of Henia couldn’t bear the sight. The King’s Brother just distributed clothing; he never said a word about it being combat uniforms.

It was actually a transparent trick, but since there was no clear order, the officers also had something to say. No, the justification was with the officers.

However, the officers who enforced red coats met bad ends. An officer who went to the battlefield wearing a red coat was eliminated by the enemy first.

Work flooded the Judge Advocate General.

Trials to determine whether the deaths of company-grade officers, who were unit commanders, were really by the enemy or by insubordinate mercenaries were held several times a day.

Some units were imprisoned collectively, and some units welcomed new commanders and went back to the battlefield.

And the commanders stepping onto the front line gradually started wearing camouflage clothes as combat uniforms.

They realized that red coats become too conspicuous targets in the dense jungle after the rainy season.

In stark contrast to the fact that observing unit members wearing camouflage clothes required time and careful examination, unlike the Petan army’s vivid blue uniforms on the other side of the front line which were visible at a glance.

Meanwhile, friendly officers wearing red coats contrasted with the jungle’s green, appearing much more vivid than even Petan’s blue uniforms.

Officers in red coats encouraging unit members while brandishing long swords often lost their lives to enemy bullets before even fighting properly. Units that lost their commanders like that became even less conspicuous and achieved dazzling military results, though.

“Do you not know the honor a Henian soldier must possess!”

A general who disapproved of company-grade officers going to the battlefield wearing camouflage clothes gathered the young ones and lamented the lack of spirit among the youth these days, the disappearance of fighting spirit, and the loss of tradition.

Did the young ones get influenced by him and repent their mistakes? Not at all. Young officers were outraged by the attitude of the general who only knew how to talk in the safe rear.

War brought about many changes. Some took time to be accepted like camouflage clothes, but in contrast, some were supplied instantly.

The most representative item of the latter was the magic short message transmitter. The short message transmitter, replacing letters with simple symbols, made a distinguished contribution to allowing generals to stick in the rear.

For company-grade officers who had to go into battle at the forefront, the condescending acts of generals stuck in the rear could only be displeasing.

Moreover, if that general was already like a kite with a cut string, it goes without saying.

He put on a loyalty show thinking he would extend his lifeline, but Rassett knew he was already a discard card to Spes Umbra.

Spes Umbra. He was an arrogant high-ranking noble but also a general who went to the front line himself to examine the battlefield.

Even if it was just a trick to increase approval ratings, it was a meaningful act. Since he was much more trustworthy than generals stuck in the rear whose faces were unknown.

Moreover, even that Spes Umbra took off his red coat when patrolling the front.

Since he was someone without even such basic information, Rassett also decided to stop paying attention to that person.

The increase in people discharged from field hospitals with limbs intact was also one of the distinct changes.

Whether washing hands before and after medical acts, which infuriated Miles, really had an effect, or whether salt-sugar water was really effective in alleviating endemic disease symptoms, Rassett couldn’t know.

He couldn’t know even more because Colonel Miles, the chief medical officer who claimed until recently that it was just lucky timing, shut his mouth.

But the factual relationship wasn’t very important. He just needed to know the fact that the number of people discharged from field hospitals and returning to their units increased several times compared to before.

In short, combat-available personnel were replenished in large numbers. Without separate recruitment procedures.

Whether the camouflage combat uniforms were effective or the increased numbers were effective, no one knew.

Analyzing the cause was the job of Spes Umbra’s staff, and they would be desperate to erase the King’s Brother’s influence.

Anyway, Henia came to completely recover the mine for the first time since the war began.

“Long live His Majesty the King!”

The sight of Henia’s national flag and royal flag fluttering together at the collapsed entrance of the mine was quite spectacular.

Mercenaries and officers shouting the same words with one mind was also a sight worth seeing. To Rassett, it felt like a first-time occurrence.

“Now we must drive those damn Petan bastards out of the New Continent completely!”

It was unknown who said those words first. Actually, it didn’t matter who said it. For Henia, they had to extract the price from Petan for making the mine, which was originally theirs, closed for two years.

Petan also couldn’t give up the mine just because they were pushed back once. It was something even Rassett, lacking political insight, could understand. It was a situation where no one could speak of ending the war.

“Now it begins.”

Right, they had just returned to the starting point. Rassett, nodding unconsciously, flinched realizing the person who said those words was the King’s Brother.

The King’s Brother looked forward without even giving a glance to his adjutant’s tense appearance.

Was he looking at the people enthusiastic about the long-awaited, practically first victory news? Or was he gauging the bloody battles to come?

Unable to read the King’s Brother’s thoughts, Rassett felt a chill down his spine.

****

Aaaah!

The field hospital, which had been quiet for a while, was filled again with the screams of those hovering between life and death.

“Bring more disinfected bandages! Quickly! What are you doing! Press! Harder!”

Chief Medical Officer Miles shouting while soaked in blood splattered from patients looked like a devil, or a sublime seeker.

The sight of him washing off the blood splattered on his body after barely finishing patient treatment was extremely unfamiliar to Rassett.

“Why did you come?”

Miles, discovering the King’s Brother belatedly, asked frowning. Rassett could bet his promotion that Miles didn’t even see him. Honestly, he didn’t seem sane either.

“Things needed.”

At the King’s Brother’s short words, Miles opened his mouth immediately.

“We need more doctors, more cotton cloth, more water, more firewood, more alcohol.”

It was an answer not sane either. Because it meant a director of the authoritative Royal Medical Society not only followed the prescription of the King’s Brother, a greenhorn honorary member, but actively accepted it.

“I cannot bring doctors as I please, but the rest will arrive soon.”

Rassett had no choice but to be surprised once again.

The words the King’s Brother said while nodding indifferently meant he invested massive money again. It took considerable time to send news to Henia, prepare goods there, and send them to the New Continent.

But saying they would arrive soon meant ships loaded with goods departed from Henia immediately after the King’s Brother was appointed here.

Did he anticipate a situation like this in advance? But can the transport fleet arrive here safely on time? The Petan bastards would interfere using any means.

Could the mercenaries’ words that the King’s Brother turned all Petan bastards into water ghosts in the sea be true?

Is the safety of maritime transport really secured? But why is support from the home country still insufficient?

Rassett had doubts. Both people and goods were created only by the King’s Brother’s means.

“Understood.”

Apart from Rassett’s complicated mind, the wails of those injured in battle were still heard inside the field hospital.

Miles, who washed his hands meticulously even while exchanging questions and answers with the King’s Brother, turned his body and returned to the patient immediately upon hearing the King’s Brother’s confirmation.

Even if he accepted the King’s Brother’s prescription, Miles was still Miles. Seeing his appearance showing not an ounce of respect for his superior, Rassett thought it was rather fortunate.

Aaaaaah!

Screams were ceaseless.

Rassett flinched. Although mercenaries’ lives weren’t precious, the fact itself that the number of patients suddenly increased had to be concerning. It was evidence that the battle was intensifying again.

****

“At this rate, those bastards might set foot in the mine again!”

A general’s roar resonated. Rassett tasted the sensation of being strangled while standing behind the King’s Brother sitting at the head table with the title of Commander-in-Chief.

There was only one person with three stars. Lieutenant General Tre. The very officer who gathered company-grade officers who had to go into battle and scolded them for weak mentality.

Rassett recalled personal information clumsily. He used to collect information on high-ranking generals through various channels.

Of course, it wasn’t easy and he only knew superficial news, but he was confident he could recognize faces even if encountered suddenly.

But standing in a place where all those high-ranking generals gathered, his brain seemed to malfunction due to tension.

The King’s Brother was leaning his body against the back of the chair with a calm posture. He seemed oblivious to the fact that even battles he wasn’t involved in were his responsibility.