Calling it a camp was generous. There were only a few barracks and a watchtower built from white stone. The watchtower was a pointed round tower twenty meters tall and five meters in diameter. Its top floor was a circular lookout room with a clear view in every direction.
The soldiers in the watchtower had already spotted Leo. A tall, thin soldier excitedly leaned out from the tower and shouted toward the barracks below, "Deputy Squad Leader Ignaz Smith! The Battalion sent an officer! He's here to announce your promotion to Squad Leader!"
Leo frowned. What the soldier had said was quite different from what he had been expecting.
Four stone barracks stood beside the white tower. An open yard lay between them, directly facing the tower entrance. Before long, six people emerged from the camp. The Deputy Squad Leader was the last to leave the barracks, a man in his thirties wearing the uniform of a Warrant Officer Class II.
Deputy Squad Leader Ignaz Smith froze for a moment when he saw the Warrant Officer Class I insignia on Leo's uniform. Then unmistakable disappointment appeared on his face. If the Military Administration Office had sent an officer to announce Ignaz's new appointment, it would not have sent a young Warrant Officer Class I.
Leo ignored their whispering and shouted, "2nd Lookout Squad, fall in!"
Leo did not carry himself like an inexperienced seventeen-year-old boy. It was easy to see that the newly arrived officer had been tempered by battle and bloodshed.
Apart from the two soldiers in the watchtower, who were forbidden by their duties from leaving their posts while on watch, everyone else formed ranks in front of Leo. The whispering died away. Leo pulled out his appointment order and barked, "Shut up! There is no regulation in the Unicorn Legion that allows you to whisper to each other while standing in formation!"
Once all six men before him had fallen completely silent, Leo's gaze swept across each pair of eyes. Some of those who had been talking moments earlier no longer dared meet his gaze.
There were three exceptions: a boy who was clearly still very young, a bearded soldier, and a cook wearing an apron around his waist. Those three showed no obvious objection to Leo's arrival and merely studied him with curiosity.
Leo unfolded the parchment appointment order and read it out word by word. "The position of Squad Leader of the 2nd Lookout Squad, 3rd Platoon, Coastal Company, City Defense Battalion is currently vacant. Warrant Officer Class I Leo East is hereby appointed Squad Leader of the 2nd Lookout Squad!"
After Leo finished reading the appointment order, silence settled over the camp. The soldiers looked at one another, exchanging meaningless glances.
Leo frowned at Deputy Squad Leader Ignaz Smith and waited for the man at the center of the issue to say something. Leo was only seconded here and would soon leave. He had no interest in whatever little schemes were brewing in this place.
Ignaz raised a hand in salute and, with his eyes shifting away, said, "Welcome, Squad Leader..."
He seemed to be trying to force out a few more words, but after a long while, that was all he managed.
Leo frowned. "I don't care whether you welcome me or not! I have only one requirement: obey my orders unconditionally!"
He swept his gaze across the squad again. "Now, report your names!"
Starting with Deputy Squad Leader Ignaz, the men called out their names one after another. The young boy was called Little Locke, and he smiled when his eyes met Leo's. The bearded soldier was Oliver Conney, his eyes almost hidden beneath thick eyebrows. The cook was Tim Fielding.
That was enough. Those three were at least worth Leo's attention. The others were openly hostile toward him, and he could not be bothered with them.
Leo dismissed the squad and kept only Deputy Squad Leader Ignaz behind. Ignaz had already recovered from his disappointment and accepted that he had not been promoted to Squad Leader. Leo waited for Ignaz to speak first, while Ignaz remained silent and waited for Leo's orders.
In the end, Ignaz was the first to give in. Offending the new Squad Leader was not a wise decision, especially when the new Squad Leader looked this hard to deal with.
Ignaz coughed. "Squad Leader, would you like me to explain the situation of the 2nd Lookout Squad?"
"No rush," Leo said. "I'll have plenty of time to learn about the squad later. I heard from the battalion commander, the Viscount of Chaumont Castle, that the previous Squad Leader was hanged as a spy. Tell me what happened first."
The awkwardness in Ignaz's expression finally gave way to some animation when the subject came up. "Squad Leader, what is the Battalion's position on what happened with the previous Squad Leader?"
"Position?" Leo replied. "There is no position."
Ignaz half closed his eyes. "I understand... The Battalion intends to let the matter die quietly..."
He sighed in resignation, then continued. "On the night the West Empire fleet invaded, the previous Squad Leader assigned himself and poor Little Brown to stand watch together in the tower. But even after the West Empire fleet sank two of our galleys at the entrance to the naval port, no warning signal came from the watchtower.
"I hurriedly led some men up the tower, only to discover that Little Brown had already been brutally killed by the previous Squad Leader. The previous Squad Leader had escaped down a ladder he had prepared in advance on the seaward side of the tower.
"I led the men after him and caught him before he could reach a small boat waiting to pick him up. I handed him over to our superiors in the City Defense Battalion. I thought the higher-ups would at least record a merit for me..."
Ignaz fell silent. Leo knew what he wanted to say.
Deputy Squad Leader Ignaz had merely mitigated the damage. He had not changed the fact that the 2nd Lookout Squad had made a fatal mistake. As a consequence, the City Defense Battalion itself had also committed a grave error that could no longer be remedied.
"Ignaz, what you did at least kept your entire squad from being hanged as spies," Leo said. "There's no need to be disappointed or regretful."
It was a cruel way to put it, but Ignaz knew Leo was telling the truth.
Leo continued, puzzled, "That night, did none of the three lookout squads give an early warning?"
Ignaz looked toward the devastated naval port to the north. "The 1st Lookout Squad was stationed on the cliffs north of the naval port. The West Empire fleet sent a small elite landing force ashore and wiped out the 1st Lookout Squad very early.
"The 3rd Lookout Squad was on the southern bank of the Loire River estuary, quite far from here. So that night, none of the three squads in the entire Lookout Platoon managed to perform their role."
Leo nodded. He finally understood what had happened that night.
Ignaz led Leo to a stone building. "Squad Leader, this is where you'll be staying. You're the only one with a room of your own."
The house was built from stacked stone and had very small windows. The damp sea air had not spared the inside of the building. It was difficult to say whether it was more humid indoors or outside.
Leo put down his luggage and immediately stepped back outside. Ignaz was still there, standing in a daze and lost in thought.
Leo walked past Ignaz toward the other stone buildings. Ignaz jolted out of his daze and hurried after him.
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