TS Medic's Battlefield Diary - v1c2

[HOW LONG ARE YOU GONNA SLEEP, YOU MAGGOTS!!!?]

It’s my fourth day on the Western Front.

[This platoon will be infiltrating enemy territory! Get preparations ready immediately!]

[Understood!]

In the pre-dawn hours, before the sun had even risen, I was awakened by Platoon Leader Garback’s angry voice.

I’m not really fully awake yet, but it seems like we’re going to be deployed immediately.

Uuuu……. My whole body hurts from sleeping on the ground. I miss my bed back in the orphanage.

[Platoon Leader Garback…… Eh, now!?]

[You moron! You gonna back talk to me!?]

I quickly changed into my uniform and started weapon inspection, but my colleague, a newbie Second Class Private…… Salsa-kun, if I remember his name right, had spoken out of turn and got punched for it.

I do wonder why would anyone deliberately go and step on a landmine?

[No, not at the last minute like this, if you could have told us in advance……]

[You b*stard! You must be a spy! Why should I explain important military plans to you!?]

[I- I’m sorry! It hurts! Please don’t hit me!]

That’s right. As mere foot soldiers, we shouldn’t expect to be informed about when we’ll be deployed.

Just as it is now, orders to deploy can suddenly come.

[Marrue’s Senior Infantry Detachment, with three others, have finished their preparations.]

[Allen’s Recon Squad, with two others, have finished their preparations.]

[Second Class Medic Touri has finished her preparations.]

[S- Second Class Private Salsa! Finished preparations!]

[Alright.]

Garback Platoon is a 10-member squad commanded by Sergeant Garback as the Platoon Leader.

However, the squad currently has less than 10 members because there were 3 casualties in the battle 4 days ago.

Afterwards, at the request for replacements by the Platoon Leader, Private Salsa was added to our squad, bringing the current total to 8 members.

Incidentally, Salsa-kun is a newbie who arrived at this battlefield just 4 days ago. In other words, he’s a same-day colleague.

[Marrue’s unit will lead the way, while Allen’s unit will stand by my side. Touri and Salsa will follow right behind me.]

[Understood, Platoon Leader.]

The soldiers, with determined and resolute expressions on our faces, responded with vigor to Platoon Leader Garback’s orders.

As a matter of fact, I’ve been receiving lectures under Head Medic Gale for the past three days, so I haven’t even had the chance to exchange greetings with them yet.

I was suddenly forced to work as a team with people I had never talked to much. I’m anxious.

However, it was probably a good thing that we didn’t get too close with each other.

It’s unlikely that everyone here will live to see the night after all.

[Ohh, that’s a magic squad for you. There’s gonna be almost no work left for us huh.]

Today’s attack began with a long-range bombardment by the magic squad.

Slowly, over a period of several hours, they burned down the encampment and traps that the enemy would have built.

This is a common tactic in this world.

Before launching an offensive with infantries, kill the enemy soldiers with plenty of bombardment by attack magic. And by ensuring less damage on the infantry side, they can secure the new territory.

[It’s amazing.]

[Frustrating, but they have the leading role in a war. Compared to us, who desperately try to cut the heads of the rushing enemies, they, with those sneaky magic attacks from afar, can expand occupied territory more with less damage.]

[Then, why don’t we just have them bombard the enemies every day?]

[That’s because they use up a lot of magic stones for it. No amount of budget’s gonna be enough for an everyday bombardment.]

“Moreover……”, the Platoon Leader continued.

[If the enemy reads our attack and empties the position we plan to bombard, that will just be a hit on our budget. We can’t bombard the enemy unless we are sure that the enemy is in that position.]

[I see, I’ve learned something.]

[Good. Then, that bombardment ends in 5 minutes, and that will be the time we will charge. Our platoon’s current objective is to advance to the riverbank, and if possible, secure the river in coordination with the other units.]

Proclaiming this, the Platoon Leader ferociously smiled and drew the sword bayonet on his hip.

[Now, the slaughter begins. Let’s fuck up these rotten invaders!]

With those words, Garback Platoon charged into the enemy camp.

The result was terrible.

[Platoon Leader! Out of nowhere, flames suddenly rose and———–]

[YOU SH*THEAD!]

To our surprise, there was nobody there when we charged in.

Not even a single corpse was there, just an empty, scorched enemy camp.

The Platoon Leader, who had been dubiously inspecting our surroundings, soon heard angry shouts from the surroundings and hurriedly declared our retreat.

[We’re pulling out! This position is gonna be bombed soon! They freaking read our strategy! What the heck is the Gen. Staff Headquarters doing!?]

[H- Help me, I’m gonna die! I’m gonna burn to death!]

[You stay there and burn to death, you d*mned fuckwit!]

Private Salsa is rolling around in the flames that suddenly erupted from the seemingly empty ground.

It’s probably one of those Installed Magic Circle traps.

From what I heard, these traps are like vicious land mines that will burn you if you step on them.

For them to have set such a trap in advance, it seems that the enemy really knew about today’s offensive.

[Vigorously roll on the ground! I’ll smother you with soil to put out the fire!]

[H- Hot! Please, quickly!]

[Ungh!]

I couldn’t just leave a colleague who started on the same day as me, so I helped him put out the fire by covering him with soil.

Then, we ran together toward the Platoon Leader and the others who had already begun to retreat.

[M- My leg!!!]

[……, Got it. Wait a moment.]

However, Salsa was unable to run and tumbled on the spot.

From what I can see, his legs were severely swollen with blisters and he was not in a condition to walk.

[…… <Heal> …… <Heal>]

[Ahh, haaaahhh……]

[I cast another layer of heal, so even with my sloppy magic, it should make you a little better.

This Healing Magic of mine feels no different from some good luck charm.

As a result of repeating that, Salsa’s swollen legs have slightly subsided.

It was still quite a severe injury, but I can only use my heal 2 times in a row.

[If you still can’t run with that, then I’m sorry, I would have to abandon Salsa too.]

[Ugh……]

[I’m not strong enough to run with you on my back.]

[Got it. I’ll run. I will run so don’t leave me!]

Salsa, who was probably still in a lot of pain, stood up on the ground and started to run again.

Having confirmed this, I also resumed retreating as fast as I could.

It seemed that the magic bombardment from the enemy had begun, and the sound of explosions and cries of agony were echoing from everywhere.

[Haahh, haahhh, haahhh! I’m gonna die, seriously.]

[Yes, we can only pray to God, can’t we? Let’s just hope the bombardment doesn’t come in our direction.]

We ran.

Frightened by the sound of explosions, in pursuit of the senior soldiers who had already run far ahead of us, we ran.

From all directions, there are explosions and raging fires that seem to be the enemies’ attacks.

If those hit us directly, there would be no way for us to stop them.

[……Haahhh….. Haahhh……]

By nature, I’ve never been someone physically fit.

In my previous life, I was a gaming addict who didn’t get enough exercise, and in this life, I was a bookworm who stayed in the orphanage’s library.

Geez, how long have I been running?

I’m able to run thanks to the abnormal secretion of adrenaline due to the threat to my life, but under normal circumstances, physical activity of this level would have rendered me unconscious long ago.

[I don’t wanna die! I don’t wanna die! I haven’t even repaid my mother with anything!]

[If you’re lively enough to shout, then please run.]

Salsa was surprisingly lively. Despite the pain in his legs, it seems he’s still got enough energy to scream while running.

As for myself, I could only taste blood every time I took a breath.

[Uwaaaaahhhhh!]

A few hundred meters of running next to the endlessly noisy Salsa……

Very fortunately, me and Salsa were able to retreat to our army’s rearmost position without taking a direct hit from magic.

Here, enemy fire would not reach us.

[……………….]

[Arehh? O- Oi! Touri!?]

Right after reaching the goal, I don’t remember anything.

From what I heard, I had apparently lost consciousness.

And then, Salsa-kun had apparently carried me to the Medic facility.

[YOU D*MNED FOOL!!!]

After waking up……

I was summoned by the Platoon Leader, and what awaited me was a punishment with an iron fist.

[Why did you use Healing Magic without my permission? Why did you disobey my retreat order and rescue Salsa!?]

[I’m sorry.]

It seems that the fact that I rescued Salsa and delayed my retreat was taken as a violation of his orders.

That wasn’t my intention by healing Salsa, but it would be better not to say anything unnecessary here.

[You feeling compassionate ’cause you two started at the same time? Do you even understand how much trouble you’ve caused around you because of that!?

[……I don’t know.]

[I see, well let me tell you. It was purely by chance. By chance, both you and I were able to return without coming under enemy attack. We were very lucky, eh?]

[Yes, we were very lucky.]

As soon as I answered that, I felt a dull strike towards my stomach.

It seems that Platoon Leader had me in the stomach.

[—————–]

[Now, let’s put things into perspective. If I had the misfortune to be hit by their bombing attack. And then you, who decided to be late because of that f*ckwit, finally reached my position.]

[Yes———–]

[Then, you. Do you have any mana left to rescue me?]

Saying those words, he repeatedly slapped me on my cheeks.

And then, finally, with an extremely annoyed look on his face, Platoon Leader kicked me as hard as he could.

[That’s exactly what you did. You risked my life to save the life of a newbie who is no better than a maggot.]

[My apologies.]

[You must have the permission of your superiors to use your Healing Magic! Using magic without my permission is inexcusable!]

[I’m sorry.]

[In the first place, your Healing Magic is basically never to be used to anyone but me! What makes you think I went to the trouble of calling for more Medics!? It’s so that I can raid deeper into the enemy lines and end this war!]

Platoon Leader’s outrage was severe.

The intensity of his assaults tore my uniform, and my flank, peeking through it, was red and swollen.

The pain was so great that I could hardly speak back.

[You need discipline. You will skip lunch today, and you are to stand upright in front of my tent until the sun goes down.]

[……Yes.]

That was the punishment imposed on me.

It was past noon and the sky was dyed red.

As I stood still with bruises all over my face, Salsa spoke to me.

[Sorry, I’m really sorry.]

[This is my blunder. You don’t need to worry about it.]

To be honest, I do question Garback’s corporal punishment. It seems inefficient to beat a subordinate at a level that will hinder their ability to fight tomorrow and the days after.

However, thinking about it again, asking for permission from one’s superior for the use of Healing Magic is an extremely obvious thing to do.

I was definitely at fault for neglecting to ask for confirmation and acting on my own initiative.

[However, if Touri hadn’t saved me, I……]

[—–would have died, Platoon Leader decided to abandon you after all. You don’t need to worry about my punishment, but please do feel gratitude for saving your life.]

[T- That’s obvious!]

Salsa started looking at me as if I was some sort of Goddess.

Hmm, this might not seem like a good idea.

[If you do feel indebted to me, I’m starving, so could you share a bit of your dinner with me?]

[……O- Ohh.]

[After that, we’re even.]

[That’s cheap, I owe you my life……]

To be honest, I don’t intend to get along with him very well.

Well, I mean, there’s a 90% chance he’s gonna die after all.

I haven’t spent much time with him yet, but he seems quite careless, can’t read the mood, and doesn’t appear to be a highly skilled soldier who would likely survive until the end of the war.

And I’m the type of person who would be very hurt if someone I befriended died.

If I’m just going to end up getting hurt, it’s better if I don’t get along with her in the first place.

Love isn’t something needed.

[Well, it’s fine. You would feel hungry if you skipped lunch.]

[Thank you. Well then, I have to stay standing here until the sun goes down.]

[Ou. I was also just called here by Platoon Leader. I’ll be excusing myself then.]

Saying that with a salute, Salsa walked into Platoon Leader’s tent.

This is about the right distance between comrades in arms.

Not too friendly, but not too hostile either.

We can cooperate with each other in battle, but in private, we don’t talk much.

Even though it might just be for a short while, I think I can get along with Salsa-kun.

[YOU FREAKING IDIOT! FOOL! TRASH! JUST GO AND FREAKING DIE!!! IF YOU WANNA THROW THAT LIFE SOMEONE ELSE PICKED UP, HOW ABOUT I JUST DEAL WITH YOU MYSELF!!!?]

[I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry————-]

A few minutes later……

He was made to stand in front of the tent, more seriously injured than I was.

[…………………]

[…………………]

Salsa’s face is swollen, and he’s bleeding in some places. Black liquid is dripping from his nose, and his right arm…… seems to be broken.

As expected, that’s already beyond establishing discipline in people. Perhaps, for the next few days, even if he tries to take care of it with Healing Magic, he’d probably not be able to withstand combat-related activities.

No matter how I look at it, Platoon Leader’s actions are just inefficient.

[D*mn it, it hurts……]

[Ummm…… What have you done now, Second Class Private Salsa?]

[I forgot about the noon briefing……]

[Huh.]

But well, I guess this guy is also pretty much the same.

For Platoon Leader to hit him so hard, I wonder if he had already decided that he couldn’t be corrected anymore?

[Ummm, it really hurts a lot, you know? Touri, could you secretly use Healing Magic on me?]

[The reason I was reprimanded was because I used magic without permission. If I were to use magic without permission while receiving punishment, Platoon Leader would definitely execute me.]

[……Guess you’re right.]

Is this man really reflecting at all? Is he planning on throwing me into another storm of corporal punishment?

Besides, if I’m gonna use my Healing Magic, I would use it on myself first. I’m still seriously wounded here.

[Also, sorry, Touri. I was told I wouldn’t be having dinner tonight……]

[…………………..]

………………….