This is a Youjo Senki Fan Fiction Only.
You think that after I blew up a hospital, fused their artillery units into things they could not use as anything other than a paperweight, that these idiots would get the message, invade the Fatherland and you signed your own death warrant, and I would be very happy to carry out the said execution.
Two weeks and we had not a single moment of rest, we had been constantly been deployed, I am not kidding here, the only time we are not fighting is either when we need our computational orbs replaced, eating, or sleeping. In these last two weeks I think I filled a moderate size graveyard, and if someone was doing a business out of a potential funeral, I deserve a cut on the fortune this idiot would be making.
I have the sick feeling that this is all Being X's fault. As such, I decided to continue what I did in the previous missions before he decided to talk to me and my friend. I decided after 50 confirmed kills to my name, that to hell with it, I was going to sing to take care of the boredom, this was worse than shooting fish in a barrel.
I decided to get even on Being X by singing what I think is his least favorite song, a song by Voltaire titled when you are evil. Viktoriya had this look of utter pity in her eyes as I looked at her as I picked off one enemy after another. I guess she feels pity for the idiots that I was killing, well she certainly is a person that should not be here at all, she is too kind-hearted, it is liable to get her killed.
I guess I should not be so hard on her, someone had to feel pity for the idiots I was sent to deal with, and by that I mean to end their lives. Tanya finally decided to fly right next to me as I shot another artillery spell at a bunch of idiots in a trench, it causes the earth around the trench to shift and they ended up buried alive.
"Karl could you please change the song you are singing, I get that you like it and all, but you are butchering that song, you are singing of tempo and off key. Why not sing something easy like Paint it black?" I could not help but to shake my head as I shot another bunch of idiots.
"Everyone is a critique. I just hope that Being X is listening to my lyrics, I swear that bastard is doing this to us, I want to take a bath damn it, but if he expects me to pray to him to ask him to let us take a bath and show mercy, well he can go ahead and drink a pig's urine as wine, that is not happening, and after this the longer we fight like this the less likely it is I will develop any faith or gratitude towards that thing!"
She touched my shoulder and I could feel her sympathy with the way she was patting me on my shoulder, "I get you, buddy, you have easy fights, I know it's boring, but at least we are doing our duty for our beloved Fatherland, you can at least be happy about that. Look if that thing could understand human thoughts, we wouldn't be in this mess, to begin with, you are sort of preaching to the choir here."
I began to throw my rifle away and decided to use my magic and get a new one, I swear that after ten shots my rifle is liable to blow up, and as I let it go and it hits the ground that is exactly what my old rifle did, some idiot enemy thought that they could claim it, he and three of his friends got caught in the blast.
"I sure hope these weapons are cheap to make because at the rate I am burning through them, it would make me worry about running out of replacements." I began to take aim and sure enough like ants they began to move in rather easy ways to predict, could be lack of intelligence or mere panic.
"What is the problem with your rifle Karl? Most of us are fine with our Mondragon, but you seem to be burning through them almost like you are doing it on purpose." Now I felt insulted by this remark, and it was even worse when it was coming from the least expected place, Victoriya, of all people, the lamb that was right next to me decided to tell me this as I shot an enemy mage out of the air.
"Is like being asked to carve out a statue from a block of rock, and then being told use the tools provided, and the tools are made of wood. I will manage to make the statue as they ordered me but since the tools can't handle the job, I will end up breaking a lot of chisels and hammers by the time I am done. It is not what you might call cost effective."
Tanya for some reason began to laugh as I finished saying that, "So you are frustrated by the wasteful expenditure that could have been avoided, by say providing you with a chisel and hammer made of stronger material, say metal. So tell me what would you change about your defective tool to make it more cost-effective for you?"
I took a look at my rifle and sure enough, it was about to blow up yet again, I threw it away like the other ones and got a new one before I placed it in a way that it was easier for them to see. "Large Caliber could contain my magic a lot better, and I could load magic better since I could take care of a task with a single shot rather than several. Sturdier Barrel to handle the extra power and weight of a larger size bullet, and a way to stabilize myself so that I can focus on enemies at longer distances."
"The negative is that this would lower my rate of fire, but with the aide of the men under my command acting as shields in case the enemy managed to come into range, I believe I could take care of our objectives in a more speedy and efficient manner."
Tanya saw what I managed to do with my usual rifle and began to laugh, and I mean to laugh so loud that even though the noise of battle I and the people around us could hear her. That is not as easy or quiet as you might think, explosions, shots flying towards us, people screaming from all around the area, laughter should not be something that is easy to hear, but we could hear hers.
"So Karl, what exactly would make you happier having?" I looked at my rifle and I looked at her, I touched the barrel and I could already feel the damage of the stress my spells were causing. I decided to shoot my last artillery spell with that rifle and sure enough, it flew five feet to the left of the intended target.
I tossed the rifle as it began to emit fumes and sure enough, thanks to me augmenting my muscles with magic, I managed to get the rifle into an enemy pillbox before it blew up. "Well, it is not like we can simply ask for it, and get it simply because we asked, the top brass has to consider more than the desires of a low-rank officer like me. But since you asked, I would say a sniper rifle, something that can damage a tank, a good sight wouldn't hurt, but my monocle can be good enough."
She looked at me and began nodding her head, "I see, I see you want to get the enemies before they can even spot us, not a bad idea, I think I can put together a proposal to make it clear that giving you the rifle I think you could use, would save the Empire money is the long run, if only to stop having to replace your rifle every ten shots or so."
As the enemy was destroyed we were given some time to return to our encampment, eat, rest and recuperate. My meal was not the first thing on my mind, it was trying to get a new observational gem before my current one explodes. This is a little better than my rifle, but it is still too fragile for me to actually cut loose and fight with my all.
I know that some of the men with my comment that I am a monster, but let's face it, they never been able to see me fight at my max, these people saw me pretty much using only half of my power and that was diluted beyond anything I could accept as actual effort. I got my jewel and decided that I should skip the meal in favor of a bath and an early night.
As I was ready to go to sleep, I felt someone grab me and begin to pull me out from where I was resting, and for a second I thought it would be Tanya, but no it was Victoriya of all people, she was pulling me up and if I didn't let her, she was liable to pull my arm off. What gives this woman the right to do this to me?
"We got an early reconnaissance mission tomorrow, and I need to adjust my gem. For your sake, you better have a damn good reason why you decided to interfere with my sleep. So ladies mind telling me what is so important that you needed to pull me like this?"
Victoriya knew I was not kidding, and for some reason, I knew Tanya was not far away from where she was standing, "Oh, come on Karl, is this the way to thank us for preparing a little snack and be worried about you going to bed without eating anything? I know from our childhood how grumpy you get when you are hungry."
For a second I looked at the piece of food, and for a second I wanted to throw it out of my tent, and be left to do what I know must be done. For a second the notion of throwing in pieces and letting animals take it, even came to my mind, but that would be disrespectful, and ungrateful, I am many things but never that.
I ate the piece of food with a little water and I thanked them both for the kind gesture, as soon as I did, both of them began to smile, Tanya was smiling like she had own and Victoriya was smiling a smile I do not believe I ever saw on her face before, almost cutesy, almost shy, not the sort that you expect from a person who had seen the hell that is combat.
Indeed, I began to feel better and my magic seems to feel like it was restored somewhat, I began to look at the gem that I been working on since we got back to the camp, and I began to think if there were ways to make this thing handle my power better, if I didn't do something, I might as well stop calling it an observation gem, and call it a bomb that I strap to my chest each time I fight.
The design could not be more Germanic even if I tried to ignore the emblem on it, since fixing this thing was beyond my ability, especially with my lack of tools and knowledge on its construction, I began to do something to take my mind off things, to draw, I simply would return after each time I went on patrol and began to draw ideas I been having, for rifles, for ways to make the gem more sturdy, even on the gear we used to fly around with, I kept doing this for an entire two months, and it did help to release some of my stress.
Combat near the Rhine was something that had no end, it felt like you were stuck in hell and this place was your eternal punishment, I saw dozens if not hundreds of young men die, and the fighting gained us not a single mile, but in contrast, we did not lose any ground either. If I had to describe it I would say it was a tug a war between two groups.
We advance a few hundred feet, and the next day we lose the same amount, we were stuck, and I hated to see my countrymen die for what some might think it is nothing. I know that was not the case, we were defending the Fatherland, but it is hard not to lose hope when facing something like this.
My fifth month and one quiet afternoon while doing some paperwork regarding resupply orders, I am not going to lie, I didn't like the paper at all, consider it at most time a waste of time since our supply line know what we need and what we use the most by now, so I was not in the best of mood when these two idiots came to talk to me.
Now you are wondering why do I consider the two men idiots, well they were men that are under my command in the squad I lead, so they tend to be more back up than anything else, I tend to try to keep the enemy as far away from my squad as possible, you would think that having me would pretty much guarantee to raise the chances they might actually survive, well these two men were not happy about it.
These two men could not be more the stereotype even if they tried, which they didn't have to, both men were blonde, blue eyes and both were complaining about the same thing, I kid you not, they were both complainings about the lack of action, that is right these two men were complaining that I didn't put their lives at risk needlessly.
"Sir, we would like a transfer to a more combat oriented squad, maybe even get a position to work with Lieutenant Degurechaff, we are not racking enough of a body count working in your squad, sir." I am not happy to hear this but I decided to let them know that this was not done without considering all strategic options.
"Gentleman, while yes, you don't have as you said the chance to kill as many enemies with me as you would in another unit, I also like to think that I am doing my best to keep our countrymen alive, I get the feeling that you would rather do something reckless, dying without a need to only helps the enemy and weakens the defense of our Fatherland."
His friend looked at me with such utter look of disgust it was impossible for him to hide, "Sir, if I may, I will never understand why a coward like you would be made officer instead of us, me and my friend didn't sign up to take the path of least resistance and quite frankly we signed up to fight and die for the Fatherland unlike you, we only came to talk with you because we must respect the chain of command."
His friend smiled, and began to nod his head, "Indeed, we are tired of babysitting, we want to actually get into the real action, so excuse us but we must wait for our commanding officer to arrive."
Tanya walked over to my desk and asked me for the finished paperwork which of course I had done, and Victoriya had actually finished helping me review last night like I said the paperwork I needed to do was not something that I considered essential."
Without turning around she pretended to clear her throat, "Hans and Gunther, you don't need to waste my time with your little reason to ask for a transfer from the unit my childhood friend leads, I will remind you both that Karl and I hold the same rank, but seeing that you hate to work in his unit so much, I decided to authorize your transfer to another post. You two may leave and rest assured that you will be informed of your new post."
As they both left, I could feel that they were quite pleased with themselves, as soon as we were alone, Tanya looked at me, "So Karl where do you suggest we send these two? I am asking since we will need to replace them in your unit." I gave it a little thought and realized what they wanted was actually fairly easy to grant.
"I hear they believe they signed up to fight and die for the Fatherland, well I think we can grant that wish rather easily, my suggestion is that they are placed in a pillbox, that should make them feel like they have fulfilled their purpose in being here." Tanya smiled that easy to understand the smile, the smile I seen a few hundred times since we came to fight in the Rhine Theater. My friend was not that difficult for me to understand.
"I agree, they want to fight and die for the Fatherland, a pillbox in the rear defense line of our encampment should do fine for that purpose. Now the only problem is trying to resupply our observation gem stockpile, and more rifles, I swear Karl you burn through both gems and rifles at an incredible rate, I hope that my request for your new sniper rifle comes through anytime soon."