Eternal Winter's Reign - Book 2 - Chapter 26 - Fanfare (Patreon)

On Top of the Wall at Delta Base

Gerard lets out a light yawn as he stands atop the wall in the middle of the night, keeping watch over the surroundings from his post. And spread throughout the walls, dozens of other guards can be seen doing the same thing. Because they can’t be too loose with security. Not when a frozen one could attack at any moment.

Especially when the eternal winter rolled back in close by.

Gerard has been feeling exhausted both mentally and physically ever since the change in command within the base. Mentally due to the increased security measures that the doctor put into place, making up for the chairman’s lacking security and leadership skills, and physically due to his training with the frost infused.

Even the daughter is a force to be reckoned with, since she never rests. Something the guards of the base have learned very well by now through just how many times she asks them for sparring matches.

What’s even worse for them is that she is quickly improving to be even better than they are when she was at first only keeping up due to her stronger physical prowess.

Soon enough Gerard is sure she will leave them all in the dust and win their battles through skill alone.

And to his surprise, he couldn’t be prouder of the young girl.

He’s not the only one to feel this way either as a lot of the soldiers at the base have taken a liking to the young girl.

Her father, on the other hand, still terrifies Gerard no matter how many times he sees the man. Which isn’t often. A factor that doesn’t help in being brave towards him since it keeps him unused to the man’s presence.

Unlike his daughter, who is adorable, willful, and stubborn, he is intimidating, hard to get a read on, and powerful. So powerful that the air around him the last time Gerard saw the man was lightly frosting over, even inside of the building.

And Gerard doesn’t think the man even realized it himself.

Gerard lets out another yawn as he covers his mouth before looking out over the wall again and then stiffening up slightly.

What the…

He narrows his eyes and leans slightly over the railing of the wall to find more than a few frozen ones approaching the base. But that’s not what catches his attention first.

What catches his attention the most is the glowing blue crystal being carried towards the wall by a man amidst the frozen ones as the man slaughters the frozen ones without batting an eye.

Gerard gulps before blowing a whistle, announcing to everyone on the walls that the base is under attack. Then an alarm rings out from deeper in the base, blaring over the base itself.

Soldiers begin filling the walls as those on break join him and even more who were asleep also join him on the walls. And soon enough the doctor herself arrives before she frowns at the sight of the second lieutenant massacring the frozen one as round him while still approaching the base.

“Looks like he was successful,” the commander of the base says, before suddenly a smirk stretches across her face. “That could work.”

Then she turns around again and leaves the walls while calling out, “Raise the gates when he calls for it.”

“Understood, ma’am!” Gerard shouts, his eyes following the doctor until she leaves his sight.

He turns back to look over the wall where he finds the second lieutenant stopping about a dozen meters in front of the front gate where he then fights with all of the frozen ones. So Gerard glances at his direct superior officer, Warrant Officer Larks, and finds the woman narrowing her eyes slightly. Then the woman raises her hand and declares, “Aim!”

Gerard quickly turns back to the frozen ones and raises his rifle, bringing the scope to his eye.

“Fire!” the warrant officer shouts, and Gerard quickly begins firing at the frozen ones around the second lieutenant, who turns to look at the base walls before giving a light nod of his head and returning to slaughtering the frozen ones.

Gerard pulls his face back from the scope for a second and blinks in surprise before smiling and returning to firing again.

I think he might be a good person after all. Just quiet.

For some reason Gerard just feels this way despite only having seen the man give an appreciative nod of his head.

The private continues firing his rifle, taking out one frozen one after another until all of the frozen ones in front of the base are taken care of. Then he pulls his face away from the rifle and looks directly down at the ground where he finds the second lieutenant moving around and absorbing the energy from all of the corpses.

Gerard can’t help but feel a little bit jealous about the clear path to power that the second lieutenant has, but he doesn’t let it get to him.

Second Lieutenant Alexander North, heir to the North Archduchy, turns back around after absorbing the energy of the last corpse and raises his arm into the air, closing his fist seconds later with the crystal still held under his other arm.

Cheers break out amongst the soldiers and for some reason Gerard joins them. Then the gate begins to rise, and Gerard sees the second lieutenant disappear into the base beneath him.

And even after the second lieutenant leaves, all of the soldiers continue cheering, showing their excitement at seeing the man at work. The strongest man in their base.

I feel like I understand him a little bit more after that. Only a little though.

Gerard smiles at that before looking out over the wall once more at the piles of bear, boar, spider, and all other sorts of frozen one corpses.

And I know that he is even stronger than I thought he was.

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