In the tallest wooden hut in Fookby Hill, a colonel with three silver crescent moons on his shoulder slammed the table and cursed. "Is there something wrong with your head or was it kicked by a donkey?
You know there's a grudge between them, yet this Fitney said he was going to teach Claude a lesson. You even put them in the same squad!
Are you trying to cause trouble for the corps?
Now that such a big thing has happened, how are you going to give the army an explanation?
Speak! "
The one being scolded was First Lieutenant Sideri. He was the one who made Fitney the temporary squad jarl of Claude's squad. Of course, Fitney's own efforts were also a big part of it.
It was just that no one had expected things to turn out like this, with the entire army knowing about it.
"I didn't expect things to turn out this way either. I just feel that this Claude is too unruly and unruly. He sent six veterans to the infirmary the moment he entered the camp.
That's why I'm worried that regular veterans won't be able to keep him in check. That's why I wanted to send Fitney over to teach him a lesson. That way, he won't be arrogant enough to do as he pleases in the camp, "Sideri explained with a pale face.
"What the hell are you doing as a judge? Don't you even look at the files?!"
The enraged colonel grabbed the cup on the table and smashed it on First Lieutenant Sideri. The tea in the cup splashed on his uniform.
The colonel slammed the table. "This Claude is a candidate recommended by Viscount Felidos. He's our old regimental commander and a veteran of the corps. It's rare for him to write a recommendation letter to recommend Claude. He thinks he's a promising talent.
Most, who was in charge of the training of the new recruits, gave Claude a very high evaluation. Out of more than 400 new recruits, he only managed to get 17 good scores. Claude was ranked first.
"Also, everyone knows the cause of the fight in the canteen. It was the veterans who started the fight that caused them to be sent to the infirmary.
The corps only punished Claude 30 times for the sake of balance, but that didn't mean Claude was unruly.
During the investigation after the incident, the members who shared the same tent expressed goodwill towards Claude and felt that he was a trustworthy comrade.
Lieutenant Sidley, I don't know why you have such a deep prejudice against this Claude that you have overlooked his excellent performance in the last few months of recruit and NCO training.
As a military judge, you should treat every enlisted soldier fairly and not deliberately make things difficult for them.
You'll be suspended for now. You're not suitable to be a military judge. We'll see where you'll be assigned when the army notifies us … "
"Aye, Colonel Mentock, at your command," answered Lieutenant Sidri, standing to attention.
"Leave us." Colonel Mentock did not give Lieutenant Sidri a friendly look.
"Understood."
Sidri puffed out his chest and saluted before turning to leave. However, his steps were a little unsteady, showing just how flustered he was.
There was a row of puppet-like lieutenants in the room. Mikes, Most and Gilp whom Claude recognized were among them. However, they didn't make a sound or move during Colonel Mentock's outburst, trying their best to be a good background wall in case the colonel's anger shifted to them.
Colonel Mentock sat down on a chair, exhausted. He picked up the two letters on the table and looked at the labels on them. He shook his head with a bitter smile. "Our old regimental commander has given us a lot of trouble!
I really don't understand how he thought of recommending Baroness Maria's disciple to join our corps.
Since he's a herbalism student, wouldn't it be better for him to wait two years and pass the novice herbalist exam before joining? Even if he becomes a sergeant major now, he'll still have to go to the battlefield. How are we going to explain it to Baroness Maria if we lose our regimental commander? "
There was also a stack of letters on the table. They were all addressed to the same name, Claude Ferd.
The two letters that Colonel Mentock picked out were also addressed to Claude. Unlike the other letters, these two letters had a golden rose and thorny emblem on them, indicating that the sender was a member of the royal family. Looking at the address at the bottom, Baron Normanley's mansion, it was obvious who had sent the letters.
If not for the two letters from Lady Maria, the incident of an injury during training would not have alerted the entire regiment, and Colonel Mentok would not have been sent to deal with the incident in the heat of the moment.
"Colonel, Claude didn't clearly state that he's Baroness Maria's herbalism student when he enlisted. We don't know anything about it," Gilp said as he stepped forward.
"It's precisely because we don't know that it's difficult for us to handle."
Mentock sighed. "If nothing had happened, we could've pretended that we didn't know about it after his training. Whether he lives or dies on the battlefield will be up to his luck. It won't have anything to do with us.
But now that something like this happened during training, it's all our fault. Damn that Sderi, did he have a screw loose? How could he do something like this? He's basically throwing us into the fire! "
Seeing the confusion on the faces of the officers, Mentok smiled bitterly and stood up. "You should all know that the war won't take more than half a year. It's very likely that our kingdom will declare war on the five countries of the anti-Austrian alliance in June this year. At that time, we'll attack Nasri and Sidins Duchy.
"The first corps to participate in the attack will be us, Bluefeather, Crimsondragon, and Gryphon. The problem is that the ministry of the army hasn't made up their minds yet. Should we attack from two different directions or should we focus our forces on one direction first and defend the other before retaliating?
"If we attack from two directions, should Bluefeather attack alone or with another corps? There's still the question of who will be the leader and who will be the deputy.
"If we attack from one direction first, will Bluefeather be left behind to defend?
"Our corps commander is currently in the royal capital discussing with the ministry of the army. He hopes that we will either attack alone or be the leader of the joint attack. We can't be left behind to defend or be the deputy of another corps.
I heard that the corps commanders of Crimsondragon and Gryphon have also gone to the ministry of the army. Do you all understand what I mean? "
Of course they did. The eyes of the lieutenants in the room glowed. Once war broke out, as long as they were lucky, glory and achievements would be at their fingertips. There wasn't a single officer who didn't like war. It was their stepping stone to promotion.
That was especially true given that Bluefeather had only had a few skirmishes at the border in the past 20 years or so. They had never had the chance to participate in the war.
Now that war was drawing near, who wouldn't want to gain merit and soar in the future?
As for why the corps commander would go to the royal capital to discuss with the ministry of the army, everyone knew. The two countries bordering Aueras, Nasri and Sidins, had long since built all sorts of defensive facilities at strategic points along their borders. Just like a crab, it had a hard shell that had to be cracked open in order to eat the delicious crab meat inside.
If they couldn't lead the attack, Bluefeather would definitely be sent to attack the defensive facilities. It wasn't that they couldn't take them down, but they would definitely suffer heavy casualties.
What they feared the most was that they would have to pay a huge price to crack open the hard shell, only to have no choice but to retreat and rest, leaving the fruits of victory to the other corps.
"But, Colonel Mentok, what does this have to do with Claude's case?" asked Mikes.
"Of course it's related," Colonel Mentok sighed. "His potions teacher is Baroness Maria, and Baroness Maria is His Majesty's trusted sister. She goes in and out of the palace and is like a family to the Queen and the princes. Her words carry a lot of weight in His Majesty's heart.
"If Claude had stayed in our corps and trained as an officer, there wouldn't have been any problems. Whether he would be able to make a name for himself on the battlefield would depend on his performance. Even if he died on the battlefield, Baroness Maria wouldn't be able to say anything.
"But now, he's injured twice right after joining the corps. The first time, we could say we didn't know anything about it. It was a sudden incident caused by a veteran provoking him to retaliate. Both of them were injured and sent to the infirmary. Our punishment was that both of them were at fault and they were locked up for three days after they recovered.
But now, that damned Sderi messed everything up. He purposely transferred Fitney to be Claude's squad jarl, giving him a chance to take revenge on Claude.
"Now, Claude has to be bedridden for at least two to three months to recover. What would Baroness Maria think if she found out about this?
Would she think that we're purposely making things difficult for her disciple? Especially after Claude's excellent results and evaluation during the new recruit training, he was targeted and sent to the infirmary for revenge. That would become our corps' responsibility. "
"I heard that Baroness Maria doesn't like to get involved in the affairs of the country, nor does she like to help people get jobs. Many people have tried to speak to His Imperial Majesty through her, but she rejected them all," Maxx said.
Mentok sighed, "That's why we can't offend her.
We don't expect her to speak up for Bluefeather. We just hope that she doesn't ruin our plans.
Think about it. If she finds out that her disciple was injured by someone trying to take revenge on him, all she has to do is say a few bad things about Bluefeather to His Imperial Majesty. I'm sure Bluefeather won't be able to take the lead on the offensive. We might even be sent to defend.
"That's why I got mad at Lieutenant Sidra. He's always been proud of his noble background and looks down on commoner soldiers.
Perunt told me that he had been holding a grudge against Claude for rejecting his criticism during the investigation of the fight in the canteen.
That's why he had Fitney transferred to Claude's squad as a jarl. That's why we're in such a difficult position now.
The first time, Claude didn't write a letter to Baroness Maria about the fight in the canteen. He only mentioned that he was done with the new recruit training and that it would be officer training next. The rest were just greetings.
What we didn't expect was for Baroness Maria to write two letters in a row.
The first letter said that she had taken Claude's younger sister, a fifteen-year-old girl called Angelina, as her disciple. She believed that Claude's sister was more talented than him and wanted to bring her to the royal capital to be groomed. However, the girl refused, saying that she needed to take care of her mother and brother.
The contents of the second letter surprised us. Based on our investigations, Claude helped Baroness Maria's butler set up a real estate development company in Whitestag. He came to an agreement with Viscount Wenisk, who was in charge of the construction of the naval base, and sold the entire community to the navy, earning Baroness Maria a huge sum of money.
That's why Baroness Maria thought highly of him and even discussed the future of the company with him in the second letter.