ISHM 03

Chapter 03

I followed the man to the naval headquarters. That cruel sound still lingered in my ears.

After walking for a while along the road on the opposite side, I saw a large, modern building. The neatly laid tiles below gleamed in the sunlight.

As we entered the building, a soldier as big as a bear spotted the man and came running frantically. Then, standing at attention, he spoke.
“Colonel, have you arrived?”

The man gave a brief salute, and the soldier lowered his hand. Then he looked at me and asked,
“And the lady accompanying you is…?”

The man introduced me as a bereaved family member. The subordinate was about to guide me.
“Ah…! Then this way—”

The man raised his hand to stop him.
“I’ll guide her myself.”
“Yes?”

The soldier widened his small eyes in surprise. Then he scratched the back of his head with his thick hand, hesitated, and stepped back.
“Y-Yes, then…”

As we continued down the path to the basement, the navy personnel were all moving busily.

Even while doing their tasks, whenever they spotted the man, they immediately stopped to salute. When they noticed me following behind, their faces betrayed curious glances.

But it wasn’t particularly important to me.

“Have the other bereaved family members already come by? Ah… it seems there’s no one else from outside besides me.”
“Most of them have.”

The man opened the door at the bottom of the stairs as he answered.

Here too, the navy greeted him respectfully. As we walked further, someone approached.
“Commander, we have recovered all the personal effects from the Baltic Fleet. We should be able to deliver them to the bereaved families within the timeframe.”

Commander…?

The way the navy personnel had been addressing the man had been irritating a corner of my mind since earlier.

Naval Colonel, Baltic Fleet, Commander…

After a moment, I realized where this discomfort came from.
“Johannes Schultz?”

I looked up at the man in surprise. His tightly closed lips parted slightly, letting out a faint sigh.
“You… are Baron Schultz?”

At my barely audible words, the man raised an eyebrow and looked down at me with an indifferent gaze.
“If you’re asking about my birthright, then yes.”

He gave a brief affirmation.
“My goodness.”

I stood still for a while, unable to speak.

I had thought I alone bore all the misfortune. But the person enduring it firsthand was right in front of me.

This man had not only witnessed his father’s execution directly but had to hear all the condemnation from the people gathered at the harbor.

And yet, how could he remain so calm? How could he face those painful moments without trying to avoid them even a little?

“How—”
“Are you asking if it doesn’t affect me?”

I slowly nodded. Johannes Schultz didn’t answer and kept walking.

We moved silently down a long, stark white corridor. At a certain door, he stopped, took hold of the handle, and said:
“I simply believe that committing a crime deserves appropriate punishment. That’s how my father taught me.”

I instinctively inhaled.

There was no trace of trembling in his voice. It was as if he were speaking about someone else’s wrongdoing entirely unrelated to himself.

“But how can you have absolutely no doubt? What if it was a false accusation—”
“Would that change anything?”
“Huh?”

He slowly turned his head and stared at me with his blue eyes.
“A soldier must obey the orders of the military commander, regardless of reason. Right now, that commander is the royal family.”

I couldn’t say a word. Perhaps it was just my imagination, but I thought I caught a flicker of sadness in his eyes.

“This is the mortuary. Would you like to see it?”

He asked again, his face hard, if I was ready to face my father’s body.

Instead of answering, I slowly nodded, and he pulled the door open.

The mortuary was colder than anywhere else. A strange smell filled the air, a mixture of sharp chemical odor and the scent of corpses.

I carefully looked around and found a bed with a nameplate bearing my father’s name.
“The decay is worse than other bodies, so it may be unpleasant.”
“…It’s fine. I need to see with my own eyes that it’s really my father.”

I said that boldly, though it lasted only for a moment.

“Ugh.”

Facing the corpse, nausea hit me instinctively. I quickly covered my mouth and stepped out of the mortuary.

After taking a long moment to catch my breath, a wave of disgust washed over me.

How sad would my father be?

Gathering myself, I entered the mortuary again.

My father’s body was so disfigured it was nearly unrecognizable. On top of that, the stench was overpowering. Dark purple stains marked his body; it was horrifying.

I was shocked all over again.

Could a corpse, so decomposed it was hard to identify, really be my father?
“Is it really my father…?”

I wasn’t expecting an answer. I simply needed to say it aloud to face reality.

Johannes didn’t answer either.

I examined my father’s motionless body and held his hand. The corpse’s hand, which I had never touched before, was damp and slippery.

I saw the navy personnel guarding the mortuary turn away, unable to watch. But I had no time to worry about them.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

The cold touch of a lifeless body with no warmth whatsoever. Now it truly sank in.

My father was really gone.

Then I realized that the hand I was holding was slightly different from the one I had felt before. I quickly lifted the hand to inspect it.
“…This isn’t my father’s hand.”

I looked up at Baron Schultz in a hurry. His eyebrows rose. I scrambled to explain.
“My father’s right index finger is bent. I’m sure! So… I mean, my father must still be alive…”

I couldn’t finish the sentence.

Then, the only navy member who had not turned his head aside cautiously spoke.
“Um… I’m not sure if I should say this, but the hand may appear straightened temporarily due to swelling during decomposition.”

“But—”
“All personal effects collected from the body do belong to Corporal Prim.”

Baron Schultz interrupted me as he handed over a box of personal effects placed in a corner.
“Ah…”

My fleeting hope vanished instantly. A dazed feeling gripped me.

It was true.

A navy badge engraved with the name Isaac Prim, his uniform, the handkerchief I had embroidered as a gift.

Seeing my father’s belongings made my tightly held emotions surge.

Tears I had been restraining threatened to spill, so I opened my eyes wide and pressed my lips together. I gripped the folded shroud covering my father’s body tightly, trying to hold back the flood of emotion.

Meanwhile, all the navy personnel guarding the mortuary left. Only Johannes Schultz remained by my side.

I heard his quiet voice.
“You may cry.”

Those simple words from someone who had suffered the same pain reached me more as comfort than anything else. Even if he meant nothing beyond that.

Finally, the tears I had held back poured out. I sank to the floor in front of my father, burying my face and sobbing.

A large hand hovered for a moment before gently patting my back.

I let out my grief by his side for a long time.

After finally collecting myself, with Baron Schultz’s help, I completed the application for the death insurance.

Putting a monetary value on Isaac Prim’s death was pitifully small.

“Only six million Berks…?”

It was absurd and miserable to face such calculations immediately after losing my father, yet I had to live in the reality before me.

“Corporal Isaac Prim’s insurance wasn’t much to begin with. The military sometimes advanced his salary, and even then, he was only a soldier.”
“But if he hadn’t been deployed, he wouldn’t have fallen ill!”
“I am just a low-ranking officer. Complaining to me won’t change anything. If you’re in a hurry, go to someone higher up in the military and ask.”

The soldier waved his hand dismissively.
“I see…”

The lives of those who fought for the country and died alone were worth less than a month of luxury for high-ranking nobles.

“If you keep pressing, it becomes difficult for us. We have to explain individually to each family member.”

The soldier glanced around, saw no one else was listening, and lowered his voice.
“Duke Schultz embezzled a huge sum, so there isn’t much insurance money left for the deceased soldiers’ families.”

It was a memorized, rigid answer. Almost as if he expected me to blame Duke Schultz.

It was hard to believe. The compensation given to other families of fallen soldiers was also minimal. After saying this, he basically shooed me away.

When I arrived home, the mailbox was stuffed with letters.

Most were overdue taxes or water bills.

“Ha…”

Poverty didn’t even allow me the chance to mourn my father.

Without a moment to remember his final moments, I had to earn money to face the reality before me.