Chapter 35: Please Observe the Situation Quietly

“Big Brother, I wanted to share my snacks with Little Peach and the others, but Penny—and Sister Frey too—stopped me. Is that… is that wrong? When you have something good, shouldn’t you share it with your friends?”

Little George seemed to find Yulian very much to his liking, and had taken to treating him as his “kindred-spirited big brother.”

“Well… actually, your sister and Miss Frederica are right.”

“Why?”

“That’s a rather complicated matter to explain. I’m not sure you have the background knowledge to understand it yet. If you want to understand your sisters, you’ll have to study hard and read more books.”

Yulian did not brush him off with the usual “You’ll understand when you’re older.” Instead, he explained seriously, “Just remember this: if you share your snacks with them now, you’ll actually be harming them.”

“R-really?”

The little boy’s large eyes dimmed again.

“I know Little Peach and the others are starving. But don’t worry. Once today is over, they’ll definitely have enough food and warm clothes. Do you trust Big Brother? Hmm? Do you trust the promise of Yulian, an officer of the Community Army?”

The boy listened earnestly. Only when Yulian reached his final words did his eyes brighten once more. He bit his lip and nodded vigorously.

“Oh, right. You mentioned a Big Brother Asher. I’d quite like to meet him. Why don’t you ask him to come over? Tell him I have a bottle of fragrant wine here and invite him to have a drink.”

The boy blinked, then asked excitedly, “Are you going to discuss how we can pew-pew the evil Sandfolk who bullied us and drive them away together?”

Yulian sighed inwardly, though he kept smiling and nodded. “That’s right. So please do me this favor. Keep it secret, and don’t let anyone else find out. Remember, Mr. George Pearce, this is extremely important to the outcome of the entire battle!”

Seven-year-old military enthusiast George Pearce straightened his back and gave Yulian a perfectly proper salute. Then, as though carrying the highest command, he marched away with great spirit.

Time passed quickly. Yulian had barely swallowed his food when someone arrived beside him. But it was not the bronze-haired Alliance mercenary. Instead, it was Baka and Yoyo, both looking troubled, accompanied by two others—one old and one young.

Both newcomers wore light cowboy outfits. The older man was Asian, like Yulian, while the younger was an utterly unremarkable white youth. The latter could be set aside for the moment. As for the old man, he was difficult to describe.

Yulian could not help feeling that the old fellow’s bearing was utterly at odds with cowboy clothes. He ought to have been wearing a felt hat and a sheepskin coat, with a long-stemmed pipe slung over his back and a riding crop in his hand. That would have suited him much better. And if he had also been wearing two box cannons with red ribbons tucked into his belt, the picture would have been perfect.

The old man held his cowboy hat against his chest and smiled at Yulian with genial dignity. The young cowboy, meanwhile, seemed somewhat timid, his smile stiffened by ingratiating nervousness.

“Commander, I… well… Mr. Wang…”

Sergeant Baka the bear-man was as he had always been: ferocious beyond measure on the battlefield, yet honest, clumsy, slow-witted, and hopelessly tongue-tied with his own people. After stammering for a long while without knowing how to begin, he turned pleading eyes toward Yoyo, who had already grown impatient.

Yoyo spoke rapidly, at nearly a rap-like pace and rhythm. “This is Mr. Wang Yougui. He runs a ranch and plantation nearby. Mr. Kelvin is his employee. Commander, Mr. Wang says he can organize everyone and gather thirty able-bodied young men who can take up arms. He wants to know whether you might be able to lead them in raiding the enemy for some supplies.”

Yulian felt that the surreal events he had encountered that evening were becoming excessive. One absurdity had followed another, with no concern whatsoever for whether a person could endure it.

“Young man, I know this is asking too much, but… well, we really had no other choice. That’s why I swallowed my pride and came to you. The entire convoy is about to run out of food. We thought everything would be fine once we reached the city, but who could have known it would turn out like this?”

Mr. Wang Yougui, dressed as a cowboy yet still resembling a rustic landlord from his homeland, twitched the corner of his mouth and sighed. “I understand the situation more or less now. They say there are at least a million enemy troops outside the city. Even if the God of War himself came, he couldn’t drown that many men with a single flood! We certainly can’t get into the city. So… so we can only ask you to think of something.”

Yulian fell silent for a moment and glanced toward a heavy transport truck in the convoy. In both tonnage and sheer bulk, it was second only to Councilor Jiang’s kodo beast. It was the sort of vehicle that could crush a swift dragon beneath its wheels and withstand bullets and artillery fire with its armor. In terms of defense alone, it was practically an armored tank capable of charging straight into battle.

“Is that your truck?” Yulian asked.

“Yes. I bought it on installments, and I still have five years of payments left…” The old man sighed. “When we fled, I loaded it with all the spices we had just harvested. If I’d known, I would have filled it with grain instead.”

The drought-resistant spices of New Yumen were extremely valuable. They were important raw materials for many fine and everyday chemical products, and even for numerous luxury goods. Unfortunately, they were entirely useless for filling empty stomachs.

“But… we can’t just sit here and watch everyone else starve and freeze, can we? And we certainly can’t abandon them. Young man—no, Commander, you mustn’t abandon them!”

Baka and Yoyo were both startled. The young cowboy was left completely dumbfounded.

“Wait! Who said we were going to abandon them? Does everyone already know?” Yulian was shocked as well. If word of such a thing got out, several hundred civilians would surely fight to the death. At that point, would he shoot them or not?

“Heh. Do you think I don’t know what that little brat Dong is like? I’ve known him since he wore split-crotch trousers. If he hadn’t talked me into it, I never would have come all the way out here to grow spices. Wouldn’t it have been better to stay home and tend my several hundred acres?”

The old man ground his teeth, then remembered there were outsiders present and quickly added, “Commander, Little Dong isn’t a bad person. He just gets carried away too easily. Now that he’s become a councilor, everyone around him is a pack of good-for-nothing bastards.”

“Uncle, have you said that to anyone else?”

“How could I say such things aloud? It would cause an uproar!” The old man shook his head. “But I’m only a useless old man. Even if I risked what little dignity I have left, I couldn’t make the others share their surplus food, clothes, batteries, and the like.”

He paused. Ashamed, he did not even dare meet Yulian’s eyes. His lips moved hesitantly.

“I’ve read a few books myself. With so many enemies, they must have a great deal of food and supplies every day, right? Could you… could you think of some way to take us on a raid? We don’t need much. Just enough to help everyone hold out a little longer. I don’t believe the Governor’s Office can ignore Tulong being surrounded on such a scale. If we can hold on for three days—no, perhaps only two—that should be enough. I know this is extremely dangerous, and in principle we shouldn’t be imposing on you…”

He gave a helpless sigh. “But this is all the manpower I can gather. They’re willing to go with you. Don’t let this old man’s appearance fool you. When I was young, I still had to undergo a month of militia training every year. Every year, I was the best in our whole district.”

The old man raised a thumb. The young cowboy eagerly spoke up as well.

“Commander, my name is Kelvin. My brothers and I can all fight. Just give us the order. As long as we can bring back food for everyone, I’ll be the first to charge! Commander, please… There are old people there, women, and children—so many children…”

Yoyo was utterly at a loss, while tears were practically being squeezed from Baka’s face, caught somewhere between that of a brawny man and a wild beast.

“Not one word of this is to leave your mouths. Not even Ina can know. Especially you, Yoyo. If I find out you’ve let the secret slip, then before the others can riot, I’ll stuff you into a tank cannon and fire you out together with an ion beam!”

Given what Yulian knew of the “Scarlet-Eyed Witch,” if Ina learned the truth, she really might knock the councilor unconscious and dump him in a swift-dragon nest.

Yoyo hurriedly covered her mouth and nodded. Only then did Yulian continue.

“I’m grateful for your courage and sense of responsibility. But, Old Mr. Wang, Mr. Kelvin, matters are still nowhere near the point where ordinary citizens like you need to risk your lives. I promise you that everyone will have food tomorrow. You can wait patiently for the situation to improve.

“That said, I welcome your offer to organize all the able-bodied men who can fight. I need to arrange defenses at the mountain pass and on the summits on both sides. I do need the manpower.”

The old man still wanted to say something, but after Yulian repeatedly assured him, he could only let the matter rest for the time being. Once everyone had departed, each lost in thought, Yulian suddenly realized how many promises he had made that day.

If he did not want to be crushed beneath the weight of them, he had better resolve these matters quickly.

Yulian waited another hour, until most people had returned to their vehicles to rest and the entire camp had grown quiet. Even the children’s crying had gradually ceased. Only then did the Alliance adventurer named Asher Stein finally approach, dragging his feet the entire way.

He concealed himself in the shadows between two Black Panther tanks and stood two meters behind Yulian. Even Ina would have failed to notice that someone was hiding there without looking carefully.

“Mr. Asher Stein, I presume?”

Yulian turned around and poured him a small glass of wine.

The mercenary eyed Yulian suspiciously, then leaned down to smell the aroma of his favorite drink. He hesitated for a moment, but the involuntary thirst rising in his throat finally won out, and he accepted the glass.

It was excellent wine, naturally—Yulian had taken it from Ina. Besides watching television dramas, the girl was fond of good cigarettes and fine liquor. She really was a good girl. Yes, any girl who did not care for designer handbags, jewelry, fashionable clothes, luxury cars, or melodramatic displays of vanity was a good girl.

Asher needed only half a second to confirm that the wine contained nothing suspicious. He drained it in one gulp, then split his lips in a shameless, oily grin.

“You know me? Ah, I suppose you heard about me from little George?”

He had already made up his mind. He might have accepted another man’s wine, but if Yulian wanted him to do any sort of favor, he certainly had no intention of agreeing.

“All right. I sympathize deeply with you and with the plight of those refugees. But there’s nothing I can do now. Old Mr. Wang may have a heroic heart, but his proposal is not practical. You won’t obtain any supplies, and you’ll only expose this excellent hiding place to the Sandfolk. The mouth of the valley is narrow, but how many attacks by a million Sandfolk can so few people withstand?”

“And what do you think we should do?”

“Hey, isn’t it a little inappropriate to ask a foreigner about something like this? Warrant Officer, I’m only an ordinary mercenary…”

“You are not an ordinary mercenary. You graduated from Training Camp Class 827 of the Adventurers’ Guild, though you never formally joined and instead chose to become an independent adventurer and mercenary. Your current affiliation is under Saint Corey Security. You are a psychic who has awakened the ‘Wanderer’ astral ring and are currently a First-Ring Traveler. You specialize in swordsmanship and marksmanship. You have mastered the second and fourth forms of the Adventurers’ Guild’s ‘Nebula Guardian Swordsmanship,’ as well as the classical ‘Norda Gunfighting Art.’ You are also proficient in Psychic Haste and Catlike Fluidity, along with at least three psychic combat techniques.”

The mercenary’s smile froze.

Was this what he called “hearing about me”? He might as well have dug up the names of his ancestors eight generations back.

“You’re… uh, one of those intelligence people? National Intelligence? Defense Intelligence? That doesn’t make sense either. I’m still a nobody. Even the Empire’s Observatory has no reason to spend that much effort investigating me.”

The National Intelligence Investigation and Statistics Bureau, commonly known as National Intelligence, was the Community’s national intelligence agency. Defense Intelligence referred to the Military Intelligence Integration Bureau under the Defense Council. Both were important military intelligence departments of the Blue Planet Community and were somewhat famous internationally.

“National Intelligence, Defense Intelligence—they’re all a bunch of incompetents! I’m their grandmaster.”

The corner of Yulian’s mouth lifted.

“In any case, let’s get straight to the point, Mr. Stein. I want your employer to encounter a small inconvenience. Nothing that will threaten his life. I simply hope you’ll watch quietly and see how things unfold.”