This Universe Needs Old People - Chapter 75



Only Noblemtl

Apocalypse Needs Old People Episode 075

61. Divorce (1)

“Did you hear what Lieutenant General Max said?”

“Why Lieutenant General Max?”

A barracks for sentries standing guard in the most remote part of the district.

One of the soldiers, returning from leave, began to tell the other soldiers about the story he had heard at the center.

“It’s not like there’s chaos in the central government right now because Lieutenant General Max admitted that he ordered the murder of Lieutenant Bones.”

“Is that really what Lieutenant General Max ordered you to do?”

“I don’t believe it. How could Lieutenant General Max be such a person?”

“Well, I don’t really believe it either, but I guess I can’t ignore it since it was Lieutenant General Max himself who confessed.”

“Even if he said he did it, people around him said it didn’t seem right… … .”

“Honestly, I was suspicious of Bones.”

“me too.”

The incident in which Colonel Sampson’s two teams were killed in a punitive operation was widely known even to ordinary soldiers.

Of course, Colonel Sampson’s testimony that Lieutenant General Max had ordered the murder of Lieutenant Bones was also spread within the district, but since there were so many soldiers who admired Lieutenant General Max’s character, almost no one believed his testimony.

Some said it was suspicious that Ensign Bones survived when the Colonel had planned to kill him, while others asked the new officer if the Colonel and other veteran officers below him would have died just because Ensign Bones had rebelled.

But, unexpectedly, the matter ended with Lieutenant General Max’s confession.

“But rumor has it that there is another real culprit.”

“There’s another real culprit?”

“That’s… Captain Joseph passed away a while ago, right?”

“We all lined up together at the funeral. I never thought he would pass away so sadly while training… … .”

“That’s not just an accident.”

“What if it wasn’t just an accident?”

“scourge.”

“scourge?!”

As the voice grew louder, the soldier who had been telling the story was startled and put a finger to his lips, making a gesture to lower his voice.

“Be quiet! You know the Colonel would be furious if he found out we were all gathered here talking about this!”

“Oh, I see… … But what do you mean by divine punishment? Did you get struck by lightning and die?”

“that’s right.”

“what?”

“It was literally a punishment from heaven. He was struck by lightning and died. He was struck by lightning while he was training and died.”

When the soldier pretended to cut his throat with the blade of his hand, the other soldiers looked at him as if to say, ‘How in the world could such a thing happen?’

“But why is that a punishment from heaven? Wasn’t it just bad luck?”

“What does that have to do with the fact that there is another real culprit?”

“There is talk that it was actually Captain Josef who instigated Colonel Sampson, and so he was punished by heaven.”

“What? Isn’t that too much of a stretch?”

“But the source of that rumor is the officers. There were more than a few soldiers who heard the officers talking like that.”

“Ugh… … .”

Since the executives were talking like that, it was a bit odd to just say that they were just making excuses.

Even emotionally, I felt like Captain Josef was more of a culprit than Lieutenant General Max.

Even without that, I had been inwardly denying that Lieutenant General Max could have done such a thing, so it would have been better if it had been Captain Josef who was the culprit and was punished for it.

As the soldiers, who had become more thoughtful, fell silent, the soldier who had just returned from his mission opened his mouth again and asked meaningfully, as if he still had a lot to say.

“But you guys, don’t you know that?”

“What else is there?”

“Don’t ask me if I know, just tell me, you punk.”

“Do you know the real reason why Heydam is called the Miracle of the Crevasse?”

“I know. I heard he fell into a crevasse and survived.”

“I find it more unbelievable that you shot four large monsters by yourself than that you came back from the crevasse alive.”

In reality, Haydam only killed two, but the officer’s review(?) from the expedition that said, “Out of the five large monsters we hunted in the punitive battle, one was killed by a boy soldier, but Haydam killed two, and the remaining two were easily killed when they were run over by the monsters Haydam killed. It’s thanks to Haydam that we’re alive,” was being distorted among the soldiers as “Haydam killed four.”

“You could say that the crevasse was just luck, but hunting monsters requires skill.”

“No, but I’ve heard that Heydam killed four large monsters, but this is the first time I’ve heard that he killed one with four bullets.”

“Right. So you’re saying you caught them all with one foot? Isn’t that a bit of an exaggeration?”

“That must be true.”

“Are you sure it’s real?”

“You asked me why Heydam was called the Miracle of the Crevasse. Heydam was called a ‘miracle’ not simply because he came back alive.”

“then……?”

As the soldiers leaned closer with curious faces, the returning soldier continued speaking in a sinister voice.

“The reason why Heydam is called the ‘Miracle of the Crevasse’ is because a huge monster was found dead next to Heydam after he was rescued. It was the first giant monster ever discovered in the area.”

“Uh, that… … .”

One of the guards who had been listening to the story about the giant monster pretended to know.

“Are you talking about that hairy giant that came into the area last time?”

“that’s right.”

“Wow, the expedition is over, so I was wondering where you got that from.”

“I heard that the monster was threatening you, so you jumped down the crevasse to lure it away.”

The soldiers who were listening to those words were all surprised.

“What? You’re saying that you didn’t accidentally fall off, but that you jumped off on purpose to save His Majesty?”

“Wait a minute, but you said that monster was dead. Are you saying that Heydam killed the monster while it was still in the crevasse?”

“yes.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“This is crazy… … .”

“But do you know how that monster died?”

Even though what they had heard so far was surprising enough, the soldiers asked with nervous faces as the story did not seem to end yet.

“Oh, how did you die?”

“He died after being hit in the head with a giant icicle.”

“Wow, so you survived because the gourd fell off?”

“They say you didn’t get hurt even though you fell down the crevasse. You’re lucky.”

When all the soldiers seemed to think that it was impossible for Haydam to have caught that huge monster himself, the soldier who had been telling the story shook his head and said,

“This is where it gets really creepy. Those icicles didn’t fall naturally.”

“then?”

“They said it was shot down with a gun.”

“gun?”

“You’re not trying to tell me that Haydam shot it, are you?”

“What, why is Heydam shooting that?”

“You must have done that to drop icicles on his head.”

“No, then what? Heydam shot a goblin to kill that monster, and it fell, and it went straight through its head and killed it?”

“That’s what I said.”

Suddenly, the barracks became quiet.

Because it was such an absurd story.

I could believe it because it really happened that he fell into a crevasse and came back alive.

It was hard to believe that a ten-year-old child could make such a cool-headed judgment and put it into action against a monster hundreds of times larger than himself, and that it was successful.

“Hey, does that make sense? Isn’t that the commander’s residence trying to promote Haydam?”

“I heard that His Majesty was reluctant to send him to the battle to subdue Lord Haydam.”

“No, why?”

“I’m afraid it might be dangerous.”

“What? We go out every year! Are your children the only children?”

“Well, that’s a normal way of thinking. Usually, it’s orphans like us who are sent out to do such dangerous things.”

This time, the atmosphere inside the barracks became very different from before.

“Oh… But did Lord Haydam come to the expedition?”

“I heard that he really wanted to participate. Did you know that Heydam-sama changed this expedition to a small group of elites?”

“Oh, I know. Our colonel grumbled a lot about not being able to go on the expedition.”

“The colonel was dissatisfied with his lack of merit, but honestly, we were relieved. For ordinary soldiers like us, when we go out to wage a punitive war, it’s common for us to stand in the front lines and die or become disabled.”

At least there wasn’t a single soldier here who disagreed with that statement.

This is the most outlying area in the district.

A space where there is always the risk of being attacked by monsters.

This is where orphans who enlisted to survive without any support from any officers are pushed around by the sponsored soldiers and end up working there.

Up until now, they were the soldiers who were most often selected and sent to battle, and who died the most.

“But I heard that there were less than thirty casualties in this punitive expedition. Most of those casualties were officers, not ordinary soldiers like us. The number of dead was only six, excluding the soldiers killed by Colonel Sampson. Have you ever seen so many people come back alive?”

“No… … .”

“But why did Heydam suddenly change it to a small elite group this time?”

“That’s also something special about Haydam.”

The returning soldier spoke in a noisy voice, as if he had gone to the center and brought back a great deal of stories.

“I heard that Mr. Haydam went missing when he was young and has been living in the slums ever since.”

“Missing?!”

“You weren’t raised in the Commander’s Residence?”

“So you suddenly showed up? You never said you had a child.”

“I thought you had been raising me in secret until now.”

“Maybe that’s why they value our lives more than the people in the central region.”

“Come to think of it, Mr. Haydam, didn’t you also hold a charity party every month?”

“That’s right, that’s right.”

“Huh? So, is that the meeting where General Bottom died when Heydam returned? That’s when they started talking about it.”

“I heard that story from the central office again this time. Lieutenant General Bottom was really worth losing.”

“Didn’t you say that Commander Meursault shot you because of his attitude at that time?”

“In fact, he insulted Haydam’s real mother in front of Haydam.”

“what?!”

“crazy…….”

The soldiers who had been instinctively cursing at the mention of the Padlip felt something strange and asked back.

“Uh… your biological mother?”

“Could it be that Haydam is not Daphne’s child?”

“That’s right. It seems he already had a fiancée before marrying Daphne.”

“No, but why are you marrying Daphne… … ?”

“I heard that he had no choice but to marry Lady Daphne because his fiancée suddenly disappeared from the area. I also heard that Lord Haydam might return and divorce him soon.”

“Why, you and Daphne are getting a divorce… … .”

While listening to the story with interest, one soldier felt something was off and asked.

“But who did you hear all this from?”

“Second Lieutenant Lucas.”

“Who is that? A new officer?”

“I heard that you were on Heydam’s team during this expedition. It seems that Ensign Lucas also respects Heydam a lot. When he talks about Heydam, I thought he was in love.”

“Heydam, you’re only ten years old, and you even have respect for me?”

“You still ask my age after hearing this whole story?”

“It’s true that you’re young.”

“That’s why it’s even more amazing. And Lieutenant Lucas must have seen Haydam’s performance in the expedition.”

“Hearing this, I want to see for myself. Is there really something different between them and ordinary people?”

Barracks on the outskirts of the district.

As the soldiers began to fantasize about Haytham.

Haydam, who was different from ordinary people, was forcing his father to get a divorce.