Volume 4 Chapter 47 Demotion
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
”My failure to attack the super-sized Junk Ship was classified as an inability to carry out combat orders. In other words, I was granted the leniency of being ruled ‘unfit for duty’ rather than ‘refusing a direct order,’” I thought.
However, since I had only taken ill during the reconnaissance mission, it was undeniable that I could have attacked before that point. Consequently, I wasn’t cleared of wrongdoing; I was sentenced to three days and two nights of solitary confinement in the nude and handed a demotion.
Calling it a demotion might be a bit of a stretch. I went from being the Torpedo Department Chief to an artillery squad leader. It was just a one-rank drop, and since it didn’t mean a demotion from Second Lieutenant to Sergeant, my pay stayed exactly the same.
Great, middle management again. There isn’t a world in existence where a manager gets to do whatever they want. It’s the same old story: getting pushed from below and hammered from above. I honestly wouldn’t have minded being demoted all the way down to a grunt.
The problem, however, was that my superior officer was now Tatyana, the former leader of the Artillery Department squad. She spent time in the Golems Battalion, so she was a soldier to the core, but she was a person of principle who never asked for the unreasonable. I thought she was an ideal superior officer. I supposed the Captain had a good eye, choosing not to make Katarina, who was my equal, the Department Chief.
The real issue was my subordinates. Compared to the technical demands of the flight crew, the Artillery Department only required Mana (magical energy). I wouldn’t call them stupid, but they were a rough bunch, typified by Sergeant Bebel. She was a soldier to the bone, driven by her own desires for better or worse. We’d faced death together, so we knew each other well, but her personality was that of a total delinquent. I guessed the saying held true—if you hang around with mud, you get stained. The other girls had that same delinquent streak. To put it nicely, they were free-spirited. To put it bluntly, they were trashy.
When night fell, they lounged on the deck in nothing but their underwear, hooking up with the men on the ship.
It was the day after I’d spent two nights in a row dealing with Maria that I gave my greeting as their new squad leader. At lunch, with the entire Artillery Department present, Department Chief Tatyana conducted the handover.
”Tch. You should’ve just dropped down to Private—then I could’ve really had some fun with you,” Bebel said, while the other members just giggled.
Thank god. If I ended up serving under someone like that, I’d be finished. I was relieved I hadn’t fallen that far. Though, considering that even new recruits started as non-commissioned officers or Corporals, a Mage would never actually be assigned as a Private.
”This is the shift board,” Tatyana said.
What Tatyana handed me wasn’t so much a board as a wooden frame for fitting in pegs. You inserted three-hour shift pegs and six-hour break pegs into the slots labeled with names. By the way, because it was trendy, I’d set the Torpedo Department’s rotation to three hours on, six hours off. I did it to avoid the kind of bias that happened with an eight-hour, three-shift system, where you ended up working the graveyard shift all the time. But then people started asking for things like six hours of work and twelve hours of rest, and when I granted them permission to keep the rotation structure as long as they didn’t change the time blocks, it turned into a huge headache.
I’d just ignored it as Chief, but now it was my turn to manage it.
After finishing a self-introduction that really wasn’t necessary, I stayed in the Dining Hall to go over some other handovers with Ms. Tatyana, when a tall, skinny girl with natural curls walked up. After giving a sloppy salute, she touched one of the ring-shaped piercings in her ear and opened her mouth.
”I’m probably gonna start my period tonight, so can you swap shifts with me?”
What a pain in the ass.
”And who are you swapping with?” I asked.
She pointed at me, but if I swapped, I’d be working consecutive shifts. After being chained up and wrung dry by Maria, I wanted to rest properly tonight.
”Can’t you just take it for me, Squad Leader?” she asked.
”No can do. I was tied up, so my back is killing me,” I replied.
I was actually really pushing it. I answered while rubbing my lower back.
”Tch. Useless. Knew someone who got demoted wouldn’t be any good,” she said.
Are these kids from a dysfunctional classroom or what? I never expected to be told that to my face.
”Ms. Tatyana, have you been dealing with this?” I asked, surprised, and she gave a bitter smile. She’d really had it rough.
* * *
”Hey, your name is… Sabby, right?” I asked.
”You calling me without honorifics? I’m older than you, use ‘ms.’ when you talk to me!” she snapped.
She was one year older, and while she was acting high and mighty, she was supposed to be the youngest in the Artillery Department. There was no compliance or labor standards here. And on top of that, it was the military.
”Shut it. I’m your superior officer, so watch your mouth. Ugly,” I said.
I said it clearly and felt great, though she was just an average-looking face where calling her “ugly” still left a bit of guilt. Still, maybe her self-esteem was bruised despite not being a beauty, because she grabbed me by the collar.
”You watch your mouth, you shitty brat,” she said.
She was clearly in a foul mood and spitting out garbage, but honestly—was this woman an idiot, even if she was a Mage? She tried to pull me up with the hand she used to grab my collar, but her hand hit my chin.
I used Mind-reading (telepathic ability) quickly. This woman’s consciousness was stained with rage, but her Mana was low. I drained half of it.
”You piece of—” she started.
She must have realized I’d sucked her Mana out, because she let go while cursing at me.
”Did you guys not do any close-quarters training against Mages?” I asked.
I hadn’t been watching the Artillery Department’s training, so I reflected on that a bit. Beside me, Department Chief Tatyana looked apologetic.
”Are the others like this too?” I asked.
To be honest, I hadn’t talked much to the lower-ranking members of either the Artillery Department or the flight crew. I only joined them for morning runs and Core Basics exercises.
”Well, I suppose so. They didn’t really talk back to me, though,” Tatyana replied.
So, it just meant I was the only one being looked down on. Former Squad Leader Tatyana always had good posture and a presence that made her hard to approach, though.
”Sabby, you got something to say?” I asked the tall girl, who was leaning on the table to keep herself standing after having her Mana drained.
”What was that, you shitty brat?” she asked.
”You still don’t get it? I’ll knock you out, strip you bare, and hang you up, you moron,” I said.
I stood up, grabbed her collar just like she’d done to me, and shook her head while spewing my own threats. Sabby looked completely shocked, as if she hadn’t expected me to go that far. I doubled down and told her I was serious about stripping her naked.
”Squad Leader Larry, could you maybe leave it at that? I’ll make sure to have a word with her later,” Sergeant Bebel said.
Sergeant Bebel, who had been on rear-guard duty, approached after seeing things go south. She was a comrade-in-arms who had survived death-defying situations with me during the Larland War of Independence. She’d also raped me once during sedation, but, well, I’d forgiven her for that.
The Artillery Department has five female Mages, including myself as squad leader, Sergeant Bebel, and Sabby. They can use Coilguns (magnetic projectile weapons). They were critical combatants in close-quarters combat.
We were about to head to the Amazoness Royal Capital, and we might end up in a war. If the squad fell into chaos just because I became the leader, the entire crew might not make it back alive.
I had to do something.
* * *
The next morning, after a night of sleeping soundly without chains, I joined the morning Torpedo Department training. The Torpedo Department included the Artillery Department and the flight crew, and this training was held jointly.
Before the meal, everyone except those on duty gathered on the foredeck to do some light calisthenics, followed by running laps around the ship. There was stair climbing involved, and the whole thing took about ten minutes, but by the time I finished running, the southern sun had risen, and the Sailor Suit was sticking to my skin from the sweat.
After that, we did Mana sparring, and the Artillery Department performed maintenance on the Coilguns and artificial shishi-odoshi (deer scare water devices), while the flight crew performed maintenance on the fixed-wing drone.
Sabby wasn’t there since she was on duty, but I sparred with all the other squad members. Sergeant Bebel aside, the others had even less Mana than I expected, making the number of times they could fire their Coilguns or artificial shishi-odoshi pretty shaky. It meant that even if the Coilgun cartridges remained, their individual Mana would be depleted, making it impossible to fire.
If I’d kept working as the Department Chief, I never would have realized something like this.
I ate breakfast and immediately went into rear-guard duty. I was paired with a girl from the flight crew named Nora. She was the pilot who had been scouting the Junk Ship the other day.
”Things seem tough, huh,” she said as soon as we met.
Well, it was tough, but I told her honestly that it was easier than being Department Chief.
”Is that so?” she asked.
”That’s so,” I replied.
When your rank drops, what you have to think about changes. Until now, as Department Chief, I had to think about the operation of the entire ship, but now I only really had to think about the Artillery Department. There were plenty of difficult problems, but I didn’t have to think about everything from every angle, so the energy consumed by work was much lower.
That day, we were thirty kilometers from the Southern Continent, so there were no ships or islands in sight. I listened to her talk for a while.
Her name was Nora Krum. Nineteen years old. She was from Great Norden Island and enrolled in the OldenMagic School in the Sabaski territory. Apparently, even after graduating, she didn’t return home but got a job at the newly established navy in Kure.
”Because my home is cold, you know,” she stated.
She stated the reason she didn’t return home after graduating quite simply.
”Plus, I use Simple-type Magic, so there isn’t much demand for me even if I went back to the island,” she added.
It seemed that in developing regions, Medical Magic was always prioritized. She said she learned to pilot the fixed-wing drone after she got hired by the navy. She also said that everyone else in her squad, except for Katarina, graduated from Magic School and got hired by the navy.
”Ms. Katarina is just so enviable—she’s beautiful, smart, and can use Mana so freely,” Nora said.
Hearing that, I wondered—was Katarina really blessed? I had my doubts.
Nora herself was slim, but I thought she counted as a beauty too. Her hair was brown, and her eyes had very little pigment, making them look like a pale green.
”I wanted to be born with blue eyes, you know,” she said, as if she’d noticed my gaze.
Apparently, she had an older sister who was a beauty with a body that could rival Katarina’s, and her eyes were blue. She married into the family and was now working as a fisherman.
”If my sister had come to Kure, she definitely would have fallen into your clutches, Second Lieutenant Larry,” Nora said.
Does she think I’m an incubus or something? The time passed while we were having such aimless conversations.
I finished my shift before noon, but I went back to my room to fill out the squad’s attendance sheets. My room was the same as when I was Department Chief. That was because there were no other private rooms available, and Tatyana told me it was fine to keep living with Katarina.
After I finished my work and was settled in for a nap in that room, someone entered.
”It’s been a while,” she said.
The one who climbed onto the bed was Pamela. She snuggled up as if we were going to share a bed, resting her chin on her hand to peer down at me.
”That area of yours still hasn’t recovered, has it,” she said.
I told her that after being drained three or four times a day, two days in a row by Maria, it was impossible for at least another two days.
”I understand. I simply wish to be close to you like this,” she said.
She says such cute things. Since that was the case, I grabbed her small, loli-framed (childlike body type) shoulders and pulled her into a hug.
’Fufu, I’m so happy,’ she said.
Because our skin touched, she spoke to me via telepathy (mind-to-mind communication).
’Apparently, they plan to hoist “Izumo” onto the sand during high tide this evening,’ she added.
They’re going to pull out the iron arrow embedded in the hull, then? Just as I thought. By lifting it onto the sand at high tide and waiting for low tide to expose the engine area above the waterline, they could cut the arrow, remove it, drain the seawater, and perform emergency repairs on the open hole. Then, at the next high tide, they’d escape the beach. If they didn’t remove the arrow, it would affect the ship’s speed and potentially widen the wound, so sooner was better.
’My, my. You’re quite energetic, aren’t you,’ she said.
’Ah, you idiot, stop. It stings and it hurts,’ I replied.
’It’s fine, isn’t it? Look, it’s already become so stiff,’ she said.
I beg you, please wait until tomorrow. I managed to plead with her enough to get her to wait for now.
In the evening, I went to take my shift at the bridge. The Captain, the bridge crew chief, the deck crew foreman, as well as Katarina and Tatyana were all there, discussing the arrow situation. It made me feel a bit lonely to realize I used to be part of that circle. It seemed Maria would be the one doing the cutting.
”Ten o’clock position, distance three hundred meters. A boat is approaching straight on. Likely a fisherman,” a report came from the bridge.
For some reason, the room grew restless at just that.
”What do you think, Larry-kun?” the Captain asked me.
”Why not bring Alyona over and have her act as an interpreter?” I suggested.
Alyona had been brought to Hodayn Port as a slave and had learned to speak a bit of the local tongue. We were quite a distance away, but since almost no one lived there, it was possible they shared a common language. If that was the case, it was highly likely that their vocabularies would be similar.
If we could understand the words, we could communicate to some extent.
My suggestion turned out to be a huge success. Although the local language of the approaching fishermen was different, they did business with ships from near Hodayn Port, so we were somehow able to make ourselves understood.
However, since the fisherman’s words were translated by Alyona into Russian, and then heard by Pamela and translated into the Schweilitz language, it was all a bit questionable.
The fishermen said they had come to sell us the shrimp they had caught that day. If possible, they asked for cloth instead of Turku currency or gold.
So, I showed them some worn-out linen sheets, and they traded two large baskets of shrimp for them, and told us about the ports further ahead.
According to them, two days’ travel from here was a place called “Water Port (O-Pia)” in the local tongue. It was in the middle of a desert, but it was a place with abundant fresh water, and they said trading ships heading east often came there to buy water.
They also told us another important piece of information. This place, they said, was not the country of the Amazoness.
”In the first place, it seems it is not a country,” Alyona said.
Alyona had a troubled look on her face. The Amazoness country, the Nymphai Kingdom, was only the part centered around Ram in the south.
From the fishermen’s perspective, they provided gold or supplies in return for having their villages protected. It sounded like a relationship between a restaurant paying protection money and the Yakuza (Japanese organized crime).1
The Amazonesses do not interfere in internal strife. However, they protect them from those who would harm the villagers or steal their property. Around this time last year, some children were kidnapped by a trading fleet. The Amazonesses spent a full month chasing that fleet and brought back eight out of the ten children.
I thought we managed to gain some fragmentary, yet valuable, information.
Indeed, when we arrived at Water Port (O-Pia) two days after removing the iron arrow, while there were Amazonesses present, they made no contact with us, and naturally, they didn’t lay a hand on us, just watched.
Five days from there. Beyond the white sandy beach, we could see the reddish-brown houses and the white Viscount’s Palace. We had finally arrived at the Amazoness Kingdom, Nyunpai’s Royal Capital, Ram.
Every morning, I trained with the ill-tempered crew members, and the initial friction had disappeared. I understood the strengths of each and every one of them. I had also taught them combat simulations, so I thought they could handle movements suited for battle to some extent.
We’ll get through this, and we’re going home.
—
Summary:
Larry reports for duty as the new artillery squad leader after his demotion, finding himself at odds with a group of insubordinate, delinquent-natured female subordinates. He manages to assert his authority over a challenging squad member, Sabby, through a demonstration of power, while Tatyana tries to maintain order as Department Chief. The chapter concludes with Larry settling into his new routine, only to be interrupted by a visit from Pamela.
The crew of the Izumo prepares to hoist the ship onto the sand to remove a debilitating iron arrow from the hull. Larry successfully negotiates with local fishermen to gain intelligence about the regional political landscape and the Amazoness population. After completing repairs, the vessel successfully arrives at the capital city of Ram, marking a significant milestone in their journey.
—
Trivia:
1 Larry was sentenced to three days of solitary confinement in the nude, though he retains his pay after his demotion.
2 The Artillery Department squad members use Mana to power their equipment, and their individual mana reserves are surprisingly low.
3 Bebel and Larry have a complex shared history involving combat and past sexual encounters.
4 Nora Krum’s home island of Great Norden is cold, which prompted her to seek employment in the warmer climate of Kure.
5 Katarina remains in the room with Larry, and they appear to share living arrangements as colleagues.
{1} The repair plan involves utilizing the tidal cycle to expose the engine area for arrow removal and patching.
{2} Alyona acts as a crucial linguistic bridge, translating local dialects through Russian to reach the crew’s common language.
{3} The Amazoness presence is decentralized, functioning more like a localized protective guild than a unified national government.
{4} Larry has spent his mornings training with the crew, successfully reducing the initial interpersonal friction.
—
Translation Notes:
Notes:
• Ho – Ho is the family name of Oliver, a 17-year-old deck crew member and comrade of the protagonist. As a member of the military unit that defended Garao Village, the young man was ultimately murdered during a night watch, slaughtered alongside Marx-san.
• Katarina – A tall, voluptuous 30-year-old Izumo flight squad leader and Chief Researcher in a sailor uniform. A volatile, telepathic Mage with mission authority, she maintains formal decorum while commanding her crew to return safely. She pilots drones under Larry but harbors an intense, possessive desire to mercy-kill him if captured. She pressures Rhein and is the protagonist’s jealous, abusive mistress and captive.
• Captain – The middle-aged commanding officer of the Izumo is outwardly calm, experienced, and traditional, masking a ruthless, pragmatic leader who prioritizes vessel survival over subordinates and civilians. While rarely reprimanding his men, he will execute deserters. Bebel reports directly to him, holding orders to return to Kure should the protagonist fail to return from their mission.
• Tatyana – This sailor-suit-wearing, 31-year-old divorced mother of two from Viscount Bizan is a disciplined Magic Academy Assistant Professor and practical, no-nonsense Izumo Section Chief. Commanding from the bridge with direct efficiency, this former 101st Golems Battalion member is loyal to her Captain, shares an intimate bond with roommate Katarina, and serves as Larry’s superior.
• Bebel – Sergeant Major Hagen is a confident, high-mana artillery NCO aboard the Izumo in the protagonist’s division. A Larland War veteran with white teeth and a blunt, teasing demeanor, she uses aggressive, dark humor to motivate her squad. Once rescued by the protagonist, she knows his past, frequently provokes him with mischievous comments, but acts protectively to save him from danger.
• Mana – A non-commissioned officer and liaison who previously had their mana drained by Larry.
• Maria – Strikingly beautiful, six-month-pregnant Universal Church bridge mage and Suez crew member who handles her Captain’s dirty work with sadistic precision. Thomas’s widow and daughter of Ifens and Therese, she possesses gorilla strength, lethal combat skills, and massive mana rivaling a Major. Adept in coilguns and interrogation, she uses Princess Nikaure’s memories for intel and holds a grudge against Larry, on whom she exerts significant physical and magical demands.
• Mar – A battle‑hardened veteran, clad in worn armor, uses door panels as shields and captures enemy crossbows; Larry’s comrade who teases him about his sister‑in‑law’s pampering, known as Martin to his companion Edmond.
• Corporal – A combat engineer with shattered legs and ribs who admires Captain Bours.
• Mage – Elf mage and shut-in engineer who stands watch in the engine department, managing the ship’s boilers. They are highly reclusive, irritable, and fiercely resistant to any orders coming from the Torpedo Department.
• Sabby – The protagonist’s subordinates include a tall, lanky, curly-haired artillery Corporal with high mana, who is crude, rebellious, and motivated by incentives. The other is a polite, anxious Amazoness who uses formal language but acts like a restless country bumpkin. She questions the protagonist’s identity, struggles under pressure, and reports his condition to Pamela.
• Larry – A dark-haired, weary 16-year-old former reincarnation, this cynical Second Lieutenant serves as the Izumo’s chief engineer and middle manager. A pragmatic Mana user who founded the Fee Grand Principality, he wields coilguns, drains mana, and handles drones despite past-life trauma. Cynical of Maria and the Captain, he mediates crew drama, negotiates foreign talks, and is restrained for refusing orders.
• Larland – A fallen kingdom, marked by its royal lineage of eight distinct princesses, has reemerged as a ruthless invading force. Driven by the loss of their homeland, these royal heirs now lead an aggressive campaign that threatens the entire region, turning former neighbors into desperate targets as they fight to reclaim power.
• Nora – A nineteen-year-old pilot from Great Norden Island who operates the flight crew’s fixed-wing drones.
• Sabaski – A family name associated with the Dean of the Simple-type faculty, held by a Marquis and nominal Vice Admiral who serves as the Lord of Kure. This high-status figure holds Camillo in high regard, referring to him as a master, detailing key institutional, regional, and personal relationships.
• Saba – A surname belonging to Nikaure.
• Pamela – An elderly Elf/Amazoness elder mage and Engine head from the Great Forest, this healer wears sheer negligee robes and black undergarments. Warm, teasing, and motherly, she is the protagonist’s telepathic confidant, dryly observing his manhood. This authoritative mentor joins expeditions, works with Kenze in Rhein’s rotation, manages Aljona, and visits Larry’s quarters despite guard duty.
• Pam – An escort to the protagonist who is observant and loyal.
• Izumo – The iron-hulled ship serving as the primary vessel for the protagonist and his crew.
• Alyona – A devout Rus Orthodox interpreter aboard the Izumo, whose physical features resemble Maria. Once happily married, she was enslaved by the Hodayn Administrator and retained by Rhein. Though she seems timid under the Captain’s orders—prompting Larry to leave her behind as dead weight—beneath her submissive exterior lies a latent sadistic streak capable of clinical cruelty and easy dominance.
• Al – Alberto (Al), a massive red‑haired man recently wed to Mary, lives near the Dish Basin. He’s a companion of Hans, helping intimidate and rally elders as a villager and leader.
• Schweilitz – This kingdom, featuring towering academy spires and a full military arsenal of Royal Army troops, forces the protagonist to return. Ruled by a king involved in a hostage exchange, this political power holds a captive feared for execution. It also ordered the confirmation of Princess Rosa’s corpse, driving a scheme that the Queen has caught onto.
• Rus – A neighboring power deeply involved in regional politics and mediation, best known for annexing the Kingdom of Larland.
• Pia – A Nurnhügel mage in a hooded robe with a bust rivaling the late Henrietta, this heavily pregnant level-3 healer’s assistant pilots golems and drones. Under military protection while seeking legal emancipation from slavery, she is rumored to have a child with the protagonist. Submissive yet cynical, she speaks with archaic authority but fears arrest for her past Haritz escape.
• Viscount – A noble of the Rus who insisted on bringing reinforcements to the defense of the city.
Please bookmark this series and rate ☆☆☆☆☆ on here!
Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
Leave a Reply