SDFG 05

Chapter 5

 Silent Cry

The man, slightly furrowing his brow, pushed open the tightly closed barracks door and stepped inside.

The empty barracks came into view. The man clicked his tongue briefly, hesitated for a moment, and then turned to walk out again.

Sasha was gone.

No matter how much he searched the area around the barracks, the child was nowhere to be found.

The thought that the child couldn’t have gone far crossed his mind, especially considering the number of dogs in the base. As he was leaving the barracks, he noticed something he hadn’t seen before—a faded drawing and bloodstains on the floor.

After briefly inspecting the bloodstains, the man moved forward with steady steps toward the distant barracks. He first headed to the quarters where Eisen stayed.

“Eisen, assemble everyone.”

Upon hearing the man’s words, Eisen, who had been lying on his bed, immediately jumped to his feet.

“Y-Yes? Suddenly… Understood, Major.”

Eisen, with a confused expression, answered with respect, taking a cautious step back as he noticed the man’s serious face.

Weeeeee.

An alarm sounded throughout the barracks. It was a device used for urgent calls.

Everyone immediately rushed outside. Once assembled, the number was quite large. The soldiers, standing at attention, were quickly scanned by the man’s gaze until his eyes stopped on one particular person.

“Hermann, Sergeant. What happened to your hand? It was perfectly fine during morning drills.”

“U-Um, I got injured in combat!”

“In combat? Did someone bite your hand in the heat of battle?”

There was a clear bite mark on Hermann’s hand. The man repeated Hermann’s words, then slowly walked toward him. He finally stood right in front of Hermann and kicked him in the stomach with his long legs.

Gah!

The sudden shock caused Hermann to shrink back, and he collapsed to the dirt ground.

“Get up.”

With the simple command, Hermann stood up like someone having a seizure.

“Then explain your bloodshot eyes.”

“…Cough, well, it’s not—”

The man pulled out the revolver he always kept in his holster.

The entire infantry unit gasped in shock at the man’s actions but quickly masked their expressions.

Eisen was no exception.

The mad killer who would not be stopped once he started—this was another nickname for the major.

He chuckled briefly, then scratched his forehead with the finger that held the gun before quickly wiping the smile off his face.

Click!

Without a second thought, he loaded the revolver and pressed the muzzle against Hermann’s temple.

“What difference will it make if a piece of trash disappears during a war?”

With a disinterested tone, Hermann’s massive body began to tremble. He was slowly crumbling under the pressure and fear.

“Tell me, where did he go?”

“H-He ran down the hill… I swear, I didn’t do anything! I—I couldn’t do anything! Please believe me!”

The major looked at Eisen and gestured toward Hermann with his chin.

Hermann’s fate was sealed. Anyone who fell out of favor with the major would end up like this.

Eisen understood that the gesture meant to tie him up so he couldn’t escape.

Eisen shook his head as he watched the major walk away in the distance. He then kicked Hermann once more in the shoulder.

“Crazy bastard. Tie him up.”

The soldiers nearby moved with ropes. Trembling, Hermann tried to retreat, but he was slowly being dragged back by the approaching soldiers.

Graaah!

Screams of agony echoed around the barracks.

The man slowly made his way down the hill, towards the path, careful not to stray too far. He figured that if the child had run away, it wouldn’t be very far.

The sky was growing darker.

The man glanced around and then crouched down to the child’s eye level, carefully scanning the area.

Under the second military vehicle, he spotted something small. He stood up and walked over.

He knocked twice on the vehicle’s door.

“Come out.”

His voice was quieter than usual. The child, who had been hiding under the vehicle, slowly crawled out and looked up at the man.

The child’s body was covered in dust. Wearing clothes that didn’t fit properly, the child began to brush them off with small hands.

The child stood awkwardly in front of him, clutching the hem of their shirt tightly and cautiously looking up at the man.

An awkward smile appeared on the child’s face.

As the man looked at the child, he saw a large bruise on the child’s pale face and blood trickling from the corner of their mouth.

“…”

“What are you smiling for, looking like that?”

The man raised an eyebrow and said. The child immediately dropped the smile and stared back at him with wide eyes.

It was clear the child didn’t want to cry in front of him, but this was not the child’s usual behavior.

The battlefield that Sasha would have to endure in the future would be much colder than this. So, enduring everything from a young age was not necessarily a good habit to form.

“I mean…”

The man didn’t know how to comfort the child. With a deep sigh, Sasha flinched and lowered his head as if he had done something wrong.

After some hesitation, the man bent down to meet the child’s eye level.

“I’m sorry. It’s my fault you had to go through this. Don’t hold it in. It’s okay to cry.”

When Sasha heard this, he lifted his head in surprise. His eyes widened as tears slowly began to fall, one by one.

The child didn’t make a sound, not even a sob.

It was a heartbreaking sight—tears that were filled with sorrow yet had no voice.

“You… Let’s go.”

From a young age, Sasha had been a child who laughed more than he cried. Just seeing a falling leaf would make him giggle, and he was that kind of child.

So, he didn’t want to cry. He didn’t want to be pitied by anyone. He wanted to leave only the best impression of himself, especially for this man, who was his only lifeline.

But to be told that it was okay to cry, even though it wasn’t his fault, felt like cheating.

Sasha hesitated to hold out his hand to the man. The memories of the terrifying man earlier had made him freeze, as if his body had already learned to react this way.

Realizing this, the major quickly withdrew his hand. He continued to watch Sasha, who was still silently crying.

“Sasha, do you know what your name means?”

At the man’s words, Sasha glanced down at his feet and then shook his head. Despite learning many languages, it was clear that he didn’t understand it, likely because it was a Salvadoran native name.

“It means ‘comrade.’ The moment you were given that name, you became my comrade.”

The name the man thought of at that moment was the name of the beloved dog of his grandmother, the matriarch of the Grenfel family.

The dog had been alive 15 years ago and likely passed by now.

But even so, the man felt a moment of impulsiveness and compassion and told Sasha the meaning of his name.

Just like that time when he had said to live instead of family, he could not abandon Sasha, who was trembling and crying.

“…”

Sasha mouthed his name softly. The man smiled, his lips curling up as he watched Sasha’s face brighten in an instant.

“I want my comrade to be happy.”

Sasha’s eyes, which had been filled with fog, cleared up. Soon, his eyes softened as they filled with even more tears, but now with a gentle and kind light.

After hesitating for a moment, Sasha reached out his small hand. The man gladly took the child’s soft hand into his.

The warmth from the child’s hand made the man feel a crack in the wall deep inside him that had long been built.

Holding the man’s hand, Sasha walked beside him. The man’s precise steps were accompanied by the sound of military boots, which somehow sounded like a soft melody.

Whenever Sasha tried to catch up with the man’s pace, a soft breeze from the past spring would blow. It was a warm and gentle breeze, too tender for the desolate battlefield.

The last few remaining giant trees on the hill swayed their leaves, gently shaking as if greeting the child and the man walking together.