The Little Prince in the Ossuary

Chapter 14. The Little Prince in the Ossuary (14)

# lntermission, Charm

Human beauty is not as natural as one might think. Just by not taking a shower for a few days, it can make someone look much less appealing. In a crisis of global scale, where society’s whole infrastructure is paralyzed, how much can we protect our own beauty?

Likewise, in 「Days After Apocalypse」, a character’s charm stat is affected by the community’s sanitation level and the accessibility of sanitary supplies and beauty products. For example, if a character’s charm is at 100, their actual charm could plummet below 10 in a community without a sanitary facility. However, unless the community’s stability level is low, this penalty can be removed by stocking on sanitary supplies.

If you don’t like this system, don’t worry. We have just the perfect DLC, 「Fatal Charm」, ready for you. Fatal Charm is a DLC that will fix your character’s charm stat to its maximum value, so that you, the player, can receive the benefits of having a high charm stat regardless of the constraints that should be present in a realistic world such as Days After Apocalypse.

Oh, you’re worried about the game’s balance? Well, guess what? We don’t care! Our company was finished a long fucking time ago. We’re just doing it for the money*. You guys just buy our DLC.

# Journal, Page 39, Camp Roberts

Although we already completed one procurement mission, there should still be some supplies left in San Miguel worth a couple more visits. After that, we’d have to go further south, all the way to Paso Robles. The city used to house around thirty thousand inhabitants before the Morgellons outbreak, thus it should be larger and have more mutants than San Miguel. Therefore, the order of who would get deployed first became an important matter. The ones chosen to go out first would have an easier mission.

Just as anyone could’ve guessed, it was Captain Magath who took the first deployment. Being a senior officer, he was close to the battalion commander and the operations officer. Lieutenant Capstone was last in the list. I heard it was the lieutenant himself who chose to take the hardest task. For me who belonged to his company, it was bad news.

Corporal Elliot who was still confined to his bed called for me and told me a surprising fact. He said that there were other reasons, besides what was already known, for the military to take refugee volunteers. It was because many soldiers had become mentally unstable upon losing their families when the San Francisco area and Sacramento’s defense line collapsed.

Even for me, it was quite obvious. It wouldn’t have been such a big problem if they were the federal military, but these people here were National Guard units. They were people from this region.

I asked Elliot if he was okay. He said he did lose touch with his parents, but he’d been on the outs with them so he didn’t care. It was a dark story that I would’ve never expected to come from such a bright person. While I stood puzzled, not knowing how to respond, Elliot suddenly started laughing. He then told me not to worry too much about it as he gave me a slap on my back.

# High risk, high return (1), Paso Robles

For a streamer, the refugee training exercises weren’t interesting enough to show to the viewers. For a second, Gyeoul thought of just skipping them with Time Acceleration but soon dropped the idea. A small growth speed buff would apply to the members of a faction if their faction leader joined the training. If he skipped it with Time Acceleration, this buff would also be lost. It wasn’t such a great gain, but at the early stages of the game, these small gains were important.

Lieutenant Capstone looked worryingly at the refugees that Gyeoul brought along with him. Barely half of them looked like they’d be useful when fighting mutants. Not to mention their ages or genders, their nutritional and hygienic conditions were very poor. Gyeoul, thus, had to spend a considerable amount of time persuading Capstone to accept them.

Due to the fact that the camp had a limited number of vehicles, it had been decided that only one company could be deployed at a time for procurement missions. Although there were still more vehicles left in the camp, they were reserved for emergencies. Lieutenant Capstone and Lieutenant Charlie’s turn to deploy arrived around four days after the operations began.

The distance from Camp Roberts to Paso Robles was only about 17 kilometers. However, it took them a little more than three and a half hours to travel there, for they had to clear roadblocks, like abandoned cars scattered across the road. Fortunately, they didn’t encounter many mutants on their way. Otherwise, it would have taken them longer.

“There it is, Paso Robles.”

Private Guilherme, already soaked in sweat, muttered as he pointed south. The outline of the city was visible over a trailer turned over by the side of the road. “Back on board!” The shout brought the refugees back to the truck.

The destination was 24th Street, which was located in the southern area of Paso Robles. Because it was impossible to search the entire city in one go, this operation was limited to the northern end of 24th Street, which was roughly one-twentieth of the city’s total area.

The convoy stopped at the entrance of 24th Street. There were four gas stations in total on both sides of the road, the signs of which read Shell, Chevron, BP, and ARCO, along with some hotels and restaurants.

Same as last time, two soldiers were assigned to every 10 refugee participants. In place of Corporal Elliot, Sergeant Latchman joined Gyeoul’s squad. Other than his excessive usage of the word ‘fuck’, he didn’t seem like a bad person. None of the soldiers in Lieutenant Capstone’s company that Gyeoul had met so far had personality problems, to begin with. ‘Just like the saying, ‘As is the king, so are the people’,’ Gyeoul thought.

Just to the north of the gas stations, some of the refugees spotted a McDonald’s. As it was the nearest restaurant, most of the participants clamored, almost begged to make a stop at that place. The only thing they cared about was filling their quota. But their plea was met with Lieutenant Capstone’s flat refusal.

“As we’ve explained earlier, our destination is a meat market about a kilometer north from here. The shop used to sell sausages and canned ham in bulk, so all of you should be able to fill your quota if we can just secure that place. I thought we were through with this, why are you complaining all of a sudden?”

The team eventually moved on, but the refugees didn’t stop murmuring complaints. The soldiers’ face crinkled up at their nonstop mumbling. The people who Gyeoul brought, on the other hand, remained quiet the whole time due to Gyeoul’s prior order.

The mission team proceeded as they cleared the vehicles out of the road. Due to some cars with flat tires, the work was quite laborious and tiring, but thankfully, the surrounding area was neither built like a big city, nor was it full of noise, so it was easy to detect mutants and neutralize them before they could cause any harm.

There were not many mutants lurking inside the market either. Both the U.S. military and the participants were greatly delighted by the sight of the truck filled with boxes of canned meat. No one doubted that at this rate, they’d be able to finish this mission without a hiccup.

But contrary to their hopes, the team was met with an unexpected situation. It was the abrupt halt of the Humvee leading the convoy. The issue wasn’t with the vehicle, but something far more serious than that.

“Sir, we’re picking up a distress signal on CB channel 9.”

CB channel 9. It was a citizen’s band channel reserved for sending out distress signals.

All work was immediately put to a stop. Upon being called by the soldier in the Humvee, Lieutenant Capstone entered the vehicle and picked up the radio himself. The refugee participants kept on throwing glances at him, their eyes filled with apprehension. They were clearly worrying that they’d be forced to participate in the rescue.

After a while, a loud thud was heard from inside the Humvee. It was Lieutenant Capstone hitting the windshield with his fist. Something seemed to have gone wrong. He then stepped out of the Humvee and called the officers, senior soldiers, and a few of the leader-ish participants. He laid out the map on the hood of a vehicle and began his explanation.

“We just got a radio call that there are teachers and students locked up in this Daniel Lewis Middle School. We don’t know how many of them there are or in what kind of situation they are, but they are asking for help, so we can’t just ignore it. Before we take any actions, ask questions now, if you have any.”

Sergeant Latchman raised his hand. He spoke as soon as the lieutenant permitted him.

“Did we get through them?”

“We tried, but we couldn’t. The radio signal we sent should be enough to cover the whole city… but for some reason, it didn’t seem like they could hear us. And now they’ve stopped sending signals. I presume that they are turning on the radio for short periods to save battery.”

This time, a sergeant named David Siris raised his hand.

“Sir, I’m sorry to say this, but they are just too far away from us. If we decide to go rescue them, we’ll have to travel east and all the way into the heart of the city. First, we don’t know how many people we’ll have to rescue, second, we don’t have time to clear up the road for the trucks, and third, we don’t have enough people. If we just rush in without a thorough plan, we’ll just end up being wiped out, let alone accomplishing the mission. So, I suggest we return to the camp and finish our mission first, and then come back with reinforcements to rescue them.”

“Fuck you, Siris.”

The one who spat out the curse was Sergeant Pierce.

“Think if you have a brain. Those young kids still wet behind the ears, they might be trembling in fear, not knowing when the help will come, or if it will ever come. We don’t know if those kids are safe right now, or if they can survive the night. And you still want to go back without even checking up on them? Don’t you think we have to at least send someone to check their status? If we really can’t rescue them because there are too many, we can have them stay there and protect them until reinforcements arrive!”

“Sir, I wouldn’t have said that if even half of our troops had come with us. All we have is less than one platoon of soldiers, demoralized refugees, and that’s it. Not enough to carry out a long-distance mission. We can’t even force the refugees to partake in this mission, we have to ask them. And how many of them do you think will willingly volunteer for this dangerous mission? Also, if you look at the aerial reconnaissance photos that we received in advance, there are a lot of mutants roaming around the city’s main street, which we’ll have to pass through to get to the school. And on top of that, the sun’s about to set. You do know that mutants are more active after sunset, don’t you?”

“God damn it! Then what are we supposed to do?”

Gyeoul was still wavering on whether or not to volunteer for this task. He would have volunteered if it wasn’t for the promise he made to his faction, that he would make sure they’d all return safely. This kind of sudden mission usually had good rewards.

Knowing that the discussion would lead to no particular conclusion, Lieutenant Capstone made radio contact with the camp. But much to his dismay, the answer he got from the camp was negative. They said it was difficult to send reinforcements because the situation in the camp was grave, and it was currently impossible to deploy rotorcrafts, for the blockade policy banned the use of aircraft for transportation purposes. To make matters worse, they ordered all soldiers to return to the camp, as they could not risk losing any of them. The lieutenant protested, but it seemed like the operations officer was resolute. Since there wasn’t much time left before sunset, Lieutenant Capstone ended the communication, seemingly brought to heel.

‘That’s what I thought.’

It wasn’t hard to predict the answer. There was no way for a sudden mission caused by the scenario computation of the Control AI to be naturally resolved without the player’s intervention.

Sergeant Pierce asked with a suspicious look, “Don’t tell me you’re planning on going back like this, are you?”

“I understand your feelings, but you know we have to follow orders…”

“Those motherfucking Nazis also said they were only following orders.”

In response to Pierce’s angry comment, Lieutenant Capstone pointed to the refugee participants in a calm gesture.

“It’s not just about the order, sergeant. These people here are also civilians we have to protect. They only volunteered for the procurement mission, not a rescue mission. If we deploy them for a different mission, it would be a contract infringement.”

“As if that’s important….”

“We are not just risking the lives of the people here. If we fail, the people back at the camp will also be in danger. We cannot make decisions based solely on one’s moral values. Sergeant Pierce, if you keep doing this, I’m going to have to punish you for disobeying orders.”

The sergeant looked aghast at the lieutenant, but it didn’t faze him at all.

Gyeoul also thought Lieutenant Capstone had a point. Currently, the camp was in a difficult situation where it was virtually impossible to conduct field missions without the help of refugee volunteers. If their arbitrary decision resulted in casualties, it’d be hard to recruit enough volunteers for the next procurement mission. If that were to happen, the only result waiting for the camp would be destruction. That was why the lieutenant’s judgment was reasonable.

“Goddamnit! All right. They said they can’t risk losing soldiers? Then there’s no problem if the refugees volunteer for the rescue mission, is that correct?”

The sergeant then turned to the refugee leaders with a menacing look, but they all everted their eyes, none of them uttered a single word.

The sergeant roared even more furiously. “Come on, are you fucking serious? Do you Asians all have small hearts just like your teeny-weeny dicks, huh? Can’t you just raise your arm for justice?”

“Whoa, you’re being racist now. Also, stop making us the bad ones. Just as Siris said, there’s nothing we can do about it.”

“I have a 5-year-old son waiting for me at the camp. I understand the situation, but I can’t risk my life for that.”

“We’ve only been trained for a day or two. Don’t take us as you, soldiers.”

“To be honest, you guys just think of us as meat shields, don’t you? ‘No rewards if the accompanying soldier fails to return, there may be punishment in some cases’, eh? How’s that different from saying ‘die instead of the soldiers, if you don’t, we’ll punish you’. But sure, I’ll join the procurement team even if I have to follow that rule because it’s for my own sake. But risking my life to rescue others? Ha, forget it.”

Words of complaints surged out of the refugee leaders’ mouths. And this was just the time needed for Gyeoul to finish his contemplation.

“I’ll go.”

“What?”

Sergeant Pierce looked at Gyeoul and glared at him with a frown. Not because he didn’t like what he said, but because he couldn’t believe his ears.

“But promise me that the people I brought with me will return to the camp safely. It was a promise I made with them”

“Kid, you might have to go alone if no one else joins you.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Haha, you’re seriously badass,” Sergeant Pierce laughed. But contrary to his reaction, the refugees’ faces had turned a few shades darker. It was when they were busy trying to excuse themselves that the boy decided to step out. Of course, they were unhappy with the boy’s decision.

And as if to prove it was true, several favor revision notifications popped up in one corner of Gyeoul’s sight. Obviously, the downward revisions belonged to the refugees, and the upward revisions belonged to the soldiers.

Lieutenant Capstone, despite having shown an upward revision, urged Gyeoul to reconsider.

“I acknowledge your courage, but I cannot allow that. It’s too dangerous.”

“There are kids out there, even younger than me. We can’t leave them like that.”

“Hmm… You should at least ask the other refugees about this.”

Of course, there was no point in asking. The majority of the participants were from factions hostile to Gyeoul. And even if not, accepting the mission that their leaders had already rejected would be considered as an act of treachery.

‘Looks like I’ll be going alone. Well, that’s not bad either.” By the time the boy thought so, a refugee seemingly having an internal conflict slowly raised her hand.

“I’m not sure if I can be of much help, but I can’t let our boss go alone.”

“Boss…?” Gyeoul tilted his head as he stared at the girl questioningly.

“Yes, you’re our boss. A bit smaller than the others, but still.”

Following the first volunteer, two more people raised their hands. One short half-bald middle-aged man and one stoutly-built young man.

“We need to start earning our keep, don’t we?”

“Yeah. Especially for what he gave us in advance.”

But Gyeoul couldn’t let his guard down. They were those who had a cold gleam in their eyes when the boy had made his announcement, those who wanted to take his place.

Looking conflicted, Lieutenant Capstone silently stared at Gyeoul for a while, then carefully opened his mouth as he swept his face with his palm.

“I am so sorry we cannot assist you. If it wasn’t for the order…”

“Don’t blame yourself. We all know that it’s not your fault.”

“Before we leave, I’d like to request some additional ammunition, a radio, and some food and medical supplies. Ammo is for dealing with mutants, and the radio is for communication. The rest is for the trapped students in case they need them.”

“Absolutely. That’s the least I can do.”

Though the lieutenant said it as if it was a matter of course, Gyeoul knew it was, in fact, not a simple matter. What the lieutenant was doing right now was sending armed civilians to somewhere outside his control. If command were to find out, he could be punished. That was the burden that Lieutenant Capstone was willing to endure on behalf of them.

The lieutenant handed Gyeoul a duffel bag with canned food, and another bag filled with ammunition, pills, and bandages. The boy also received a backpack-like radio, tagged AN/PRC-119, the buttons of which seemed too complicated to handle. But as if having read his mind, the lieutenant called up the signaller and taught him how to use the radio.

“I’d better get going if we want to arrive before sunset. Hope I can see you tomorrow,” Gyeoul said as he stood to attention and saluted

“I’m sorry to have to leave you with this dangerous mission. God bless you till we meet again.”

The soldiers then shared a brief moment of farewell with the boy. Private Guilherme even gave him a hug.

“Stay safe, kid. We’ll be there as soon as we can, alright?”

“Look who’s talking. You’re the one who should be careful. Don’t end up in bed like Elliot.”

“Haha, you son of a…”

But half-way through his sentence, the private suddenly picked up his gun and fired a shot over the boy’s head. Despite the silencer, the sound was deafening as it exploded right next to his ear. But Gyeoul wasn’t surprised, his high-level 「Survival Instinct」 had already captured a presence approaching from behind him.

Turning around, the boy found several bodies sprawled over the road. Even from afar, their putrefying skin was easily visible.

“Let’s move.”

With that, the boy and his group set out on their way. Under the evening sun, four shadows stretched over the asphalt road.