The Struggles of a Destitute Nobleman's Second Son on the Battlefield

 Chapter 5

"I couldn't stand my father's legal wife. She was a typical libertine* noblewoman who lived in the capital but demanded money from the estate without even setting foot here. The child she bore wasn't of the Bartfault lineage but from an affair. Despite mutual feelings towards each-other my father had to treat mother as a concubine just because of her commoner status. My siblings and I were treated like servants or slaves by her children."

[T/N- the term libertine although used for men mostly but is a gender neutral word , it means extreme left ideologies supporter]

I meticulously brewed a cup of tea and salvaged some pastries that endured the prior chaos before settling beside the bed.

Leon is still lying down, as usual, but I can't push him to do anything strenuous.

"I discovered that the detestable legal wife had intentions of bartering me off to some noble hag as I come of age . I can't let that happen no matter what, forcing my hands to devise measures for my own safeguarding."

I've already been privy to analogous narratives from the baron and his wife.

"The future for us poor noble children who won't succeed the title usually falls into three categories: those with wit become merchants, those with ambition become adventurers, and those strong arm become soldiers. Despite being sharp, I lacked connections as well as any grand ambitions, So I naturally chose to become a soldier. If I were to turn back on soldiers duties affiliated with the military without a valid reason, I would end up being blamed instead."

Having been raised as the daughter of a great aristocrat, there existed a realm of lower-class aristocratic realities unbeknownst to me.

"When I reached the age to accumulate savings and retire, my plan was to quit my job, relocate to the countryside, and live a leisurely life with my retirement savings. My only motivation for engaging in actions against the air pirates was to earn as much money as possible. Patriotism and justice were concepts completely foreign to me."

It was a motive that those who revered Leon as their paragon should not be privy to.

"Everything changed when the war with the Fanose Principality started. My focus on earning money became my downfall. Despite my youth, I had many achievements, so I was sent to the front lines. It was too late to regret."

It's ironic how his exceptional qualities ultimately precipitated his own cornered situation.

"I killed someone for the first time in battle. After shooting an enemy soldier who cursed me while looking at my face, I vomited on the spot.I fought so recklessly that I looked down at my thighs and felt disgusting ,before I knew it, I was leaking urine. I realized then that fighting sky pirates was different from killing enemy soldiers. I wasn't cut out to be a soldier."

Leon's journey proved to be markedly different from the perceptions of others. The stark realities of the battlefield, surpassing even my own imagination, were an unfamiliar terrain, as I have never taken another's life, despite prior altercations.

"A comrade I shared breakfast with vanishes by nightfall. By dawn, their gear's gone, replaced by another. The superior from a fallen noble family who treated me to tea between training, the senior who only talked lewdly and tried to lure me to a brothel, the hot-blooded fool of a comrade filled with patriotism. People I knew disappeared as if they never existed."

Was the inability to witness the demise of acquaintances a divine mercy or a retribution for taking lives?

"I've also had to fill out death reports for one who was hit by enemy fire next to me. Just a few hundred words on paper for a his entire life. It's absurd how fragile and light life is, making it seem foolish to struggle to live."

His words deeply pierced my heart. Many upper-class nobles excel in arithmetic, hence they perceive their subjects merely as numbers, not as people.

"My promotion was simply due to the fact that all the other veterans died, and I was only one alive and kicking. A teenager as a frontline commander is laughable. Despite facing near-death experiences, I always came out with minor injuries. I couldn't even die to escape this filthy life. I'm trapped in this hell-hole forever."

Viewing death as salvation is a natural psychological response to unbearable reality.

"The worst was during the final battles nearing the end of the war. When I rushed to headquarters for orders, all the senior officers were gone. They abandoned us soldiers and fled themselves. I realized in shock, 'Ah, I'm going to die today.'"

What for god-sake what exactly I'm hearing?

The nobility is esteemed because of their fulfillment of the societal duty of noblesse oblige, protecting their territories and people. The thought of these people being upper echelon of country make my stomach churn.

"Realizing it might be my last day, my mind become oddly clear. I gathered all the soldiers and rallied them, 'If we're going to die, let's go out in a blaze of glory! Like heroes praised in military songs! Let's show those bastards in the principality our strength!' It was pure and utter desperation."

I can't blame Leon. He simply fulfilled his role in the given circumstances.

"I deliberately leaked information about the fleeing officers to the enemy. We ambushed the pursuing enemy forces just after they passed our base. It was a reckless display, where we threw everything—our lives, armor, bullets—into the fray. We turned the entire unit into an attacking force*."

[T/N - I am speaking comparing it to real world - when a unit {primary have 3-4 battalion (48people)} engage in action, few division makes up frontal attack force,they are the ones who engages enemy first. Then there are long range division- they support the frontal attack division, then defender their job is to not let enemy soldiers to go to rear of their force, and then the reserves. Leon says he basically ditched all of that and went to head on fight]

Presumably, the entire unit became dead soldiers*. The overconfident commanders of the principality fell for the trap and vanished like dew on the battlefield.

[T/N - not literally, she says they became like living zombies . I mean no regards for their well-being just charging into the enemy lines]

"As I felt blood gushing from the left side of my face after my armor was sunk, I don't remember much but about desperately escaping. When my senses came back, I was being transported to the kingdom's field hospital. That's where my war ended. No, it should have ended."

As Leon finishes his story and takes a sip from his cup, I follow suit, drinking the tea. But the lukewarm tea fails to warm me up.

※　※　※　※　※

"'it should have ended'?"

Frowning at the implications, I wonder if for him, the war still isn't over.

"When my wounds began to heal, I was awarded medals and a huge promotion from a reckless brat to a Viscount. They asked me to stay in the military, but I retired due to my injuries. I just couldn't bear the thought of killing or being killed anymore."

Leon might have had the talent of a soldier, but his personality didn't suit the role. It his choices wasn't surprising.

"Just as I was dreaming of a leisurely life after getting the territory, I noticed something strange."

"What happened?"

"I couldn't sleep at night, heard noises in quiet places, feared sunlight, felt eyes on me from behind."

In a world abundant with supernatural entities, it is inevitable that certain species are confirmed to exist solely as incorporeal spirits, yet their manifestation within human settlements remains exceedingly rare.

"It became apparent when suddenly my field of view became filled with horrors of battlefield while having dinner with my family. I didn't understand what was happening; I just tried to protect myself. When I regained consciousness, I was tied to a chair with ropes. My father and brother had bruises all over, and my younger siblings and ladies of our house were in tears."

I am rendered speechless by the peculiarity of this anomaly. What precisely happened to Leon?

"According to everyone, I suddenly went berserk. While my father and brother restrained me, they let the rest of the family escape. Tables and chairs were overturned, and broken dishes scattered across the floor. I wanted to believe it was a lie, but the blood on my hands and the traces on the carpet confirmed the truth—that I had gone berserk."

Although our acquaintance is brief, I can attest that Leon is not the impetuous sort prone to bouts of rampage.

"From that day on, I started having nightmares when I slept. Enemies I shot, comrades I fought alongside, new recruits who believed in me and fought through my strategies. They were all people who died in the war."

A chill runs down my spine. Could it be ghosts?

"When I saw a doctor, I found out that my mind was messed up from the aftermath of the war. Going berserk was one of the symptoms."

[T/N- that's a real occurrence, in 1980's many WWII Veterans testified that they have these PTSD's when they were diagnosed. So be extra cordial to your family members who is actually serving the army] 

The human mind is surprisingly fragile.

When it experiences anger, sadness, fear, or pain beyond its capacity to endure, it may resort to regression, forgetfulness, or even personality dissociation to avoid collapsing.

And if abnormal conditions persist, the mind may excessively adapt to the environment.

In other words, Leon's mind adapted to the harsh conditions of the battlefield to survive.

And now, the peaceful environment is abnormal for Leon's battle-hardened mind.

"Every time I went berserk, my family suffered. It's painful to see them act like nothing's wrong because they're all kind. The scariest moment was when the settlers clearing the grasslands appeared as enemy soldiers trying to kill me on the battlefield. I can't even distinguish friend from foe anymore."

With a self-deprecating tone, Leon's eyes were fixed on the empty space above.

"When I realized that everyone would be happier without me, I thought the best I could do was to lock myself away in a place where no one would approach. That's why I built this house. There's only me here. No one else gets hurt."

This separate residence serves not as a fortress, but as a prison to confine himself.

I can't bear to listen anymore.

I could only cover my face with my hands.

┳⁠━━━━⁠━⁠⁠━⁠━⁠━━━⁠┳⁠

Author's Note

┻━⁠━━━━⁠━━⁠━━━⁠┻

This was a flashback from Leon's past. I imagined what it would be like if Leon, without any cheats, served as a mere soldier. While Mob Sekai may appear to be a glamorous otome game world, overall, it is a harsh environment, so I depicted intense battlefield scenes. Nevertheless, I felt that some parts were too intense and opted to omit them. I drew inspiration from accounts of returning soldiers suffering from PTSD, a common reality. If Leon were to barricade himself with a gun and engage in combat with the police, it would resemble a scene from Rambo (First Blood). I also considered that Leon might be too formidable as a high-spec soldier, but given that the main storyline portrays him battling against enemy nations, it is deemed acceptable. In Mob Sekai, Leon is talented but possesses stats inferior to those of the capture targets and lacks special abilities, akin to the performance of a unit without unique capabilities. With Knights & Magic joining the fray, I wonder if Mob Sekai will also become part of Super Robot Wars?

Raw-Link

┳⁠━━━━⁠━⁠⁠━⁠━⁠━━━⁠┳⁠

Translator Note

┻━⁠━━━━⁠━━⁠━━━⁠┻

As You can see I made some changes in this chapter.

1st - I Used Angie as the main narrator & it will be continued as such too avoid confusion.

2nd- I don't if you noticed or not I changed Angie's speech pattern as shopicasted. She is Duke's Daughter so it will remain such it will differ only when she is with leon, and Leon speech was little rough but not to casual as he also a noble and don't have modern world memory. Suggest me If I should change this or you want other speech pattern for them of or other character. Please leave your comments in Novelupdate comments section.

Now time for the real announcement I lost my job 2 Months ago I was getting by till now but this month will be tough so I will be doing some serious job-hunting (for now part-time) so there will no chapters till 15th of May . After that I will update weekly as before. Thank you for the understanding.

~~~Ending~~~