Lance Corporal (2nd Adjutant), Reichel Schwertspinne, Russiva Imperial Year 782 Month 3, Day 11, Sturm Army Camp, Deutsche Imperial Army

Reichel groaned.

Reichel felt her body being half-numb as she lazily raised her eyelids, Only for her eyes which got used to the darkness to be suddenly bathed by a bright light.

'Goddammit.'

But even if it felt blinding to her eyes she continued to widen her eyes even more instead of closing them, knowing that her eyes would adjust quickly to the level of darkness almost instantly.

And sure enough, within seconds the sight of an almost-blinding bright light had been changed with the scene of a wooden ceiling.

It wasn't like it was an unfamiliar ceiling though, It was a ceiling that Reichel had been more or less was used to seeing considering she also spent a great deal of time here helping healers deal with minor injuries of the recruits.

She was in the infirmary.

Reichel's back raised until she was in a sitting position. And she could see that she was in an isolated patient's room, instead of the main quarters of the infirmary which was like a huge rectangle where hospital beds were lined up so walls wouldn't have to be made for each and every bed to prioritize efficiency.

These isolated chambers were more like inn rooms in a sense rather than an actual medical-bay for soldiers.

They were typically reserved for high-ranking noblemen in case of an accident to place them in care befitting of their status, or high-ranking officers for the same reason. Normal people would have no chance of being brought inside one.

Except for a few exceptions.

"I'm...a war hero now?" She muttered to herself.

Reichel only realized this, that was the only explanation how a lowly commoner would get her own room.

Reichel couldn't help but keep a smug grin on her face, realizing what her other rewards might be. Yes she was probably being too optimistic on the rewards thing but it wasn't wrong to hope as long as it was for her own benifits.

She tried to surpress her smug with her hands but then was suddenly informed of the alteration to her arms.

They were currently wrapped in pure-white bandages, Except they were actually far from pure white since there were a lot of crimson blood-red stains all over her arms. Reichel put her right hand to feel her forehead only to feel that it was covered by a bandage that was also covered with dried blood.

'I really got beaten up huh?' Reichel couldn't feel more ashamed that she was almost killed by a goblin, Much less a goblin who believed that he carried the will of the dead.

"Tch." She clicked her tongue in frustration after she realized that couldn't get over the fact no matter how many times she tried to forget it ever happend, Such was the pain of having a perfect memory.

It was then that she felt a chill on her back, followed by a shrill-sounding version of her own voice that peered into her heart.

'You suck like hell.'

*BANG*

Reichel struck out with her fist behind her, only for it to hit the wooden wall behind her and leave a crack on it as well as a loud sound that sounded like a hammer hitting plywood.

She looked around behind her only for her own eyes to confirm that there was indeed only a wooden wall behind her.

'What was that...just now?' Reichel thought to herself as she scanned the room for any hidden presences, but found none.

She was about to get up and remove her bandages, Until she suddenly heard the sound of boots making contact as they collided with the wooden floor.

'Somebody's coming!'

*KWAK* The door opened itself like someone was barging in, Making even Reichel startled. And the person who intruded upon her room was no other than...

"Lance Corporal, You're awake!" Second Sergeant von Habsburg, Reichel's direct superior in command.

'Although I don't think he'd be my superior anymore after I had the merit of capturing the enemy commander...' But considering how she didn't like to be called by her own name when her fellow soldiers do it, being called Lance Corporal was more than just Reichel's cup of tea.

"Yes, I'm awake." Reichel said as she gently smiled towards Wilhelm, which gave Wilhelm a chill on his spine. He remembered about the time when she was bitch-slapped by Maurius but eventually forgot what happend again when he noticed something peculiar.

"Lance Corporal, What happend to the wall? Your first action upon waking up from a 2 day sleep was to destroy military property?"

"..." Cold sweat started to drip down Reichel's bandage-covered forehead.

"I...thought I was still in battle." She decided to just lie through her teeth, since that would just make everything simpler.

"Ah..." Wilhelm understood where Reichel was getting at, Even Private Chlust...actually Lance Corporal Chlust now had nightmares just as he was recovering from his injuries from the past 2 days.

He only just remebered that even while Reichel was a natural-born soldier, she was also just a girl first and foremost. He couldn't help but be sorry for her who was sent to battle within her first month of volunteering as a soldier from Group D.

She was almost killed and driven to her limits when she went for the enemy commander in a single breath, That was no feat. She had captured the enemy commander while Wilhelm himself was drowning in his own terror for about an hour, after finally being driven to fight when he saw the corpse of his dear friend Veit with an arrow on his head, which terrified him even more.

Wilhelm considered himself lucky, By pure luck an arrow managed to go just between his thighs, avoiding his 'manly jewels'.

"2 days...Also what's that you're holding in your hand?" Reichel asked Wilhelm what he was holding in his right hand, Looking at it in anticipation.

Well it would make sense that she would look at it in anticipation, Since it was understandable that she would crave it after sleeping for 3 days.

It was food, Or more specifically mushroom stew made with some mushrooms that Wilhelm foraged inside the forest.

He foraged the mushrooms himself and gave them to the head cook as ingredients, and when the Head Chef, who had a very much favourable opinion of Reichel, made sure to put some extra finesse when he cooked everything.

'I'm pretty confident in my eye for mushrooms though.'

"Ah this? This is for you." Wilhelm handed the large bowl to Reichel, along with a spoon to help her consuming it.

She took the spoon and started taking large amounts of the soup, without actually giving regard for the high temperature. Wilhelm was a little bit worried at first but when he saw how Reichel was chugging down the soup without any problem he could only get used to it.

'Mmmm, It's a little bit spicy.'

If Reichel could actually even see notifications she would have grabbed Wilhelm by the neck and strangled him to death. But luckily she couldn't, as she dismissed the poison as a 'spicy' taste.

"Lance Corpor--I mean First Sergeant--"

*Khwack!*

Reichel started to choke on her soup as soon as the words 'First Sergeant' reached her ears.

'First Sergeant?!' Reichel could barely believe it, She skipped more than 2 ranks and went up straight to First Sergeant in a single battle.

Although she couldn't believe it was that easy at first, But then she suddenly remembered how she swung multiple times and took down tens of goblins with each swing.

'Fufufufufu, So they couldn't afford to let such a talented warrior just sit on the rank of Corporal huh? As expected of the most merit-based promotion system in the region.' The Deutsche Empery, although quite not fair with the treatment of nobles and commoners, found themselves slowly prioritizing the talented overachievers over the aristocratic underachievers.

It wasn't quite at the level that aristocratic underachievers would lose their job once they were found incompetent though, but for talent people all over this section of the continent, they found the Empery's promotion systems more suited for oppurtunistic people such as themselves.

This made the Empery look like a 'land of oppurtunity' of sorts for people outside the country, and when the system was officialized a few years ago the Empery received a large boom in their staff number.

Thus a large notable number of the Empery's staff consists not only of foreigners, but also creatures of other race.

Wilhelm started to panic as she saw Reichel coughing as she put down her bowl, But Reichel only put her hand up to say she was okay.

*KOFF*

*KOFF*

Reichel used her fist to strike at her own chest twice, until finally the piece of food stuck inside her throat dislodged itself and successfully went inside her rather complicated digestive system.

The scene of a teenager choking on soup was quite comical since there was barely even anything choke on, But Wilhelm couldn't smile because he knew just how dangerous choking could be to somebody's life.

After coughing a little bit more to free her throat, instead of continuing to chow down on her soup, Reichel suddenly remembered something important.

'Right!'

"What about the prisoner?" Reichel wanted to know more about the state of the goblin she painstakingly spared with so much effort and debate. She couldn't ever forgive the people of this camp because of the way she had to act over the past month, But she really would go on a killing spree if they kept wearing down her patience.

"Ah him, He's at the one of the cells at the army camp outside."

Reichel took a breath of relief as most of the anxiety she was holding within herself vanished in an instant, as if it was magical.

'Seems like they're not all that incompetent.'

"Have they gotten any new information?" Reichel was eager to find out if there was anything they tortured out of the goblih, but more than that she was more eager to find out if the goblin had information that was confidential enough to be counted as 'merit'.

'No, that's not good, my expression is slipping.' Reichel could barely keep her poker face up as she was thinking of the possibility she might get promoted past First Sergeant.

"No, He's not budging a bit since nobody in the Sturm Army camp can speak Czuch, so Lt. Colonel von Radnitzer requested for some Interrogators from the Imperial Capital to be sent for information gathering."

Although a large number of the recruits in the Sturm Army camp are filled with...well...recruits, It just so happens that none of the people there speak Czuch. Which was quite understandable since although foreigners are accepted into the army with open arms, they most likely get deployed at the more dangerous parts of the battlefield.

'Which is kind of a dick move in my opinion, But also a great move.' The general populace would care much less if it was foreign soldiers who died on the battlefield instead of their own blood, This would in turn lessen civil unrest if the Empery ever received a large loss in the battlefield.

And since that No Man's Land was the safest battlefield, It was the perfect place to place greenies in.

'Anyways...back to the main subject.'

It was a wise move to not touch the prisoner until the specific personnel arrived, Especially if you couldn't even speak the same language. It had Reichel's recognition that the incompetent fools in this army didn't just force the prisoner to try to speak their own language, or tried to communicate with signs.

It was then that Reichel noticed something very significant was amiss.

"No wait, Interrogators? Not torturers?" Reichel was geniunely hoping that she heard Wilhelm wrong.

It was weird in Reichel's view, Why would they send for Interrogators instead of Torturers? Interrogators use conversational and psychological techniques to get information out of the captive, But goblins weren't something that you could reason with.

Pain was a survival function of every body, It gave off an unlikeable feeling to the brain that made the body ignore any kind of danger to itself. And humanity had found a way to make the use of it so they could have what they want.

They honed it to perfection, From the Dark Ages up to the Modern Ages back on Earth, Up until torture and enhanced interrogation was completely illegalized by human rights activists in the Advanced Ages during 2050, Humanity honed it and efficiencized it to perfection over the course of more than a thousand years, through countless generations.

From ripping you innards out while you were still alive, Hanging you in the air horizontally and planting a bamboo tree over you so it could impale you slowly as it grew up, Cutting off small pieces of limbs little by little and soaking them with versatile liquids, Simulated drowning, Being burned by the stake, Crucifixion, Pulling out your nails one by one, Feeding you to the dogs alive, Forcing a centipede inside your ear, The Brazen Bull, The Heretic's Fork, Impalement, Neck Torture, The Tub, The Iron Maiden, Judas' Cradle, The Lead Sprinkler, The Rack, Thumbscrew, and so much more.

Humanity was full of sick bastards who knew no borders in morality.

Monsters among monsters.

Yet what about this world?

"Yes, Interrogators. We can't use torture techniques on citizens of another country after all." When Wilhelm said those words Reichel's mood once again turned sour as her gentle expression crumbled under a scowl.

'This fucking idiotic camp!' Reichel found herself steaming in frustration once again as she stood up from the white bed, ignoring Wilhelm's protests for her to rest.