The current relationship between the people in the Winter Mountains was as complicated as tangled spools of thread.

Iron did not want to be hit with some backlash so he did not touch him carelessly. He first sent out Corporal Charles while he gathered some information. The first people that Iron targeted were the soldiers that brought supplies to them.

“Loyalty!”

“Nice to meet you. Is this all for today?”

“Yes. Command is trying to send as much as they can but there seems to be a limit to how much we can move at once.”

He deliberately approached the soldier and chatted with him. There were quite a lot of things that he could pick up from these soldiers since they supplied food from place to place via the balloon. 

He was not aware about who among the executives were affiliated with Sergeant Sean but he thought that it would be a bit difficult if he recklessly moved against a person under a commissioned officer.

Iron was currently only a lieutenant so gathering information from the executives was a bit hard. He couldn’t just pretend to be close to them since he had only eaten a little jjambap and there would be complications if he recklessly tried to get close for information. So, he went ahead and targeted the soldiers. And it seemed like this decision was effective. 

Iron always mobilized his soldiers to help the supply soldiers whenever they delivered their supplies. This led to their stay here, albeit short, to be more leisurely and carefree. Because of this, he naturally became close with them to the point that they could chat freely.

“Ho~ So, Captain Franco and Captain Paulo are rivals?”

“That’s right. Captain Deross who’s in charge of the 7th~9th outposts is said to be neutral, but he’s just a coward.”

“Even though he’s the captain of one of the special search teams?”

“I think it’s because he did not have any backing? But I believe it’s just because he’s just not good enough to break through them.”

Iron nodded upon hearing the soldier’s words.

After hearing the supply soldier talking behind Captain Deross’ back despite being his subordinate, Iron could now roughly organize the current situation.

The information that he had received from the supply soldiers was now more than enough for him to gauge the situation of this place. 

‘So, this is a face-off between Captain Paulo and Captain Franco? Hmm… Then, that means that Captain Franco also has someone behind him.’

When Iron thought of this, he opened his mouth and asked the supply soldier.

“The Search Unit Commander must be having a hard time?”

“The former Search Unit Commander said that he had lost a lot of hair because of this.”

“Aigoo! He must have worked so hard.”

“But he’s now in Command so he’s probably living comfortably now. Actually, he wanted to become the logistics unit commander but… what a pity.”

The previous unit commander was  promoted to colonel so he directly climbed to the Command. And since the colonel’s role in Command was like that of a section chief, Iron could easily infer that he had quite a lot of connections there. 

However, what was clear was the fact that the former search unit commander had a good relationship with his soldiers. After all, the supply soldier in front of Iron was currently cursing about the incumbent logistics department leader.

‘Letting go of such a person…’ 

Iron couldn’t help but frown.

He realized that the distrust and conflict between the executives and the soldiers was much greater than what he had imagined. At first, he thought that the former search unit commander was incompetent because he sat on the sidelines and did not choose any lines. But it seemed like that was not the case at all.

Currently, Captain Paulo’s line and Captain Franco’s line were fighting against each other in the Winter Mountains. 

‘I don’t know how far Captain Franco’s line is connected.’ 

For Iron, it was a bit troublesome to think about Captain Franco. After all, Captain Franco was his immediate superior so he couldn’t just carelessly move against him.

In addition, there weren’t any executives that would help him since he was still young and had no experience in the new unit that he was deployed in. The nature of this place made it so only the strong were respected. So if an executive like him could not control his soldiers then he would have no other choice but to collapse.

“Did they send me here on purpose?” 

The more he listened to the soldiers, the more Iron realized that he was placed in a messy situation.

Captain Paulo, a Major (Jin), was the company commander in charge of the 1st~3rd outposts. Meanwhile, Captain Franco was the one in charge of the 4th~6th outposts. However, Captain Paulo was currently trying to take over the 4th outpost by bringing in Sergeant Sean to his side. If Captain Franco loses his influence here, then Captain Deross, who was neutral as of the moment, would begin to lean towards Captain Paulo. 

Captain Paulo was a Major (Jin) so he was a Major that was slated for promotion. If the 4th outpost was taken over by Captain Paulo through Sergeant Sean’s domination then Captain Franco’s power will drop sharply. 

The former search unit commander had dispatched a completely new personnel and promoted Jack Doyle as the current vice outpost leader to prevent this from happening but there was nothing he could do since he was a complete novice in this place. Perhaps this was the reason why Carl Gustav, the current commander of the search unit and the captain of Ghost, dispatched Iron in this outpost.

They told him that the reason why he was dispatched here was because the location was close to the previous location of the divine beast. But it seemed like they were trying to close the fierce fight between the two captains by dispatching a completely new talent that did not belong to any faction. 

“Ha… I hate political fights.” 

He thought that he wouldn’t deal with any political fights since he was in the military. But Iron’s face hardened the longer he listened to the situation in this place. It seemed like he was being caught in a deeper and more complicated political fight than he had expected. 

Iron had suffered from political fights and was rolled around until the end of his previous life. This was one of the reasons why he left the North and fled further to the Northeast. He had hoped against hope that this place wouldn’t be caught in any political fight since this place was busy dealing with monsters. But it seemed like all of his hopes were dashed.

However, even if he had the means, Iron was still young and still could not openly contribute in this political fight. So, he continued to gather information from the supply soldiers.

But before he could even finish gathering information, Corporal Charles and the vice outpost leader met trouble.

“Outpost leader.”

Sergeant Sean visited Iron and stared at him. Sergeant Sean only came to find him when he was reviewing his documents and was already long done with his training. 

“Do you have anything to say?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s hear it.”

Sergeant Sean couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous when Iron looked at him after giving him permission to talk. 

“The soldiers have a suggestion.”

“Suggestions?”

When Iron tilted his head and asked him, Sergeant Sean nodded his head and continued to explain. 

“The stairs between the guard posts are currently covered with ice and are extremely dangerous. Someone needs to work on it.”

“Work? The soldiers need to work?”

The soldiers needed to work because the stairs are dangerous.

Iron looked at him as if what he was saying was absurd. He had served in the military in the modern times and he knew full well that soldiers were people who would never suggest increasing their work uselessly. Of course, they would readily suggest it if it directly affected the supply route. But as far as Iron knew, the supply route was periodically paved. 

“So, what do you want to do?”

“I think we need to break the ice.”

“Hmm… You’re saying that it’s slippery, right?”

“That’s right.”

He felt that what Sergeant Sean had suggested was plausible. After all, once the ice that was stuck in the stairs remained there, someone would slip and their life would probably fall in danger.

“So, which side is the most urgent?”

“It’s the 4-1 outpost.”

“That’s the bottom. Isn’t that connected to the 3-8 outpost? But the supply route is also a part of the 3-8 outpost so we don’t need to take care of that. Right?”

Sergeant Sean’s lips shut for a moment upon hearing Iron’s words.

“We’re suggesting that we should collaborate and do it together with the guard posts next to us.”

“So, you want to do it together?”

“That’s right. The 3rd outpost leader said that it would be good to work together with us.”

“Then, shouldn’t you suggest that to the company commander? If it’s something that has to do with the company next to us, then a line would be crossed. You know that, right?”

Even if Iron was the outpost leader, he still needed to listen to the company commander since he belonged to his company. Although the outpost leaders were given some autonomy, they still needed to inform the company commander of the things that they would do, especially if it was a work that dealt with an outpost belonging to the other company. 

“We’ll have to discuss this with the company commander first. Do you have anything else to say?”

“…None.”

“Then, you can go out.”

Sergeant Sean saluted Iron with an expression that looked like he ate some shit. When Iron saw Sergeant Sean’s expression, his expression started to turn cold. 

“You’re trying to reach your hands out to me? Hmm…”

As soon as he saw him try to move and bring the outpost to that line, Iron immediately called for the vice outpost leader.

“Did Sergeant Sean suggest that you, the vice outpost leader, join his line?”

“No.”

“Even indirectly?”

“Uhm…”

It seemed like there were no direct proposals but there were plenty of indirect ones. But since the vice outpost leader refused to do so it all came to this.

Upon knowing this fact, everything started to turn clear for Iron.

“First of all, please send this to the company commander, vice outpost leader.”

“Are you going to Captain Franco’s line?”

“I don’t really intend to get on any line. I don’t need that kind of thing.”

Iron stared at the vice outpost leader as he continued to speat.

“Vice outpost leader, do you feel a bit of pity for Captain Paulo’s line?”

“I don’t exactly feel like that.”

“Then, that’s what all that matters. I’ll report this to the company commander and take care of the rest myself so that I don’t get caught in any of their webs.”

The vice outpost leader stared at Iron with a bit of trepidation. He felt like Iron was now going to make his move.

“By any chance… are you going to make your move now?”

“Well, I learned about a lot of things already. And the company next to us is trying to eat our outpost. Isn’t it weirder if I stayed still?”

Jack Doyle nodded heavily at Iron’s words.

He was still unaware of Iron’s skills, connections and lineage but he knew that his confidence was not groundless. This conclusion was based on his intuition. Besides, he was a young graduate that would remain in the history of the Northeast Academy forever. All of these things served as his basis for trusting him. 

“If you need my help in anything, I will do my best to help you.”

Iron pondered for a moment after hearing the words of the vice outpost leader. Since he was going to move by himself, there was no need for the vice outpost leader to move.

Then, he suddenly remembered the outpost that would be empty once he moved. 

“Hmm… Well, there’s something that you can do to help. Please take good care of the outpost while I’m away.”

“Yes?”

Jack Doyle stared at Iron in confusion. Iron couldn’t help but smile when he saw his expected reaction from the vice outpost leader.

“I think it’s high time that I punish the cheeky bastard of a sergeant.”

Jack Doyle’s expression hardened when he heard Iron’s declaration.

“Outpost leader, Sergeant Sean…”

“Ah! I investigated everything. It’s fine to touch him.”

“If that’s what you say…”

It would be strange if he tried to dissuade his outpost leader after he had said these things. So all Jack Doyle could do was nod his head in agreement.

Iron smiled when he saw him nodding like that.

“I’ll screw up the sergeant bastard personally. The vice outpost leader can take care of the rest of the punks. You can do that, right?”

“Yes.”

“Ah! Just so you know, I will be taking all of the corporals except for Charles. So there won’t be any particular problem in the outpost. Just manage it properly.” 

“Yes? What do you… Where are you going?” 

Iron smiled wickedly as he stared at the vice outpost leader who still couldn’t understand what he meant.

“Do you know what’s the most annoying thing in the military? It’s when an old sergeant drags you to take on the work of a supply officer.” 

The vice outpost leader still looked lost.

“Well, there’s something like that. Everything comes from experience so just trust me and leave things up to me.” 

With that said, Iron began to prepare to move. He wanted to bring them along and experience the bloody hell that he had experienced back in the modern times.

The first thing that he did was to search through the documents. He wanted to find the worst work that one could do in an outpost. Then, he looked at the places that they could go before deciding their first destination. To be honest, Iron was not doing this just to screw them around. He was actually concerned for their health. He wanted to help the sergeant who had grown fat after skipping all of the night duties and patrols to get back in shape. This was the reason why he was looking for the hardest place to work at so he could work them properly to the bones.

“Oh my! I didn’t know that there was a place like this?” 

Iron’s face was painted with an evil smile after he found the perfect place in the pile of documents in front of him.

***

Notes

[(Jin)]  (진) – In KR military, they add the (진) after the rank of the person once they are confirmed for promotion. (진) literally means change or alter in this case. They add this to show that the person was slated for promotion. This was implemented since the time for promotion and the completion of the promotion exams were different. For normal people, their rank would remain the same unless they truly get a promotion, but for those in the military having this (진) means a lot. Rankings are very important in the military and they don’t really know when they are slated for promotion so once this (진) is attached to their ranks, it means that they’re definitely going to be promoted, it’s just a matter of time.

[Search Unit Commander] – I think I previously used Captain for this, but any leadership position could either be called captain or commander. I used commander here to avoid getting mistaken for the other captains. The Search Unit Commander is Carl Gustav.