Camp Conflict

Li Qi did not have much of an opinion on the matter.

Different people did different things.

He knew nothing about tactics and understood nothing about war. His first two worlds had both been Peaceful Worlds. Even if Li Qi had achieved great things in his previous two lives, none of it could be put to use in this world's military.

Right now, he was merely an ordinary Squad Leader.

Well, a slightly famous Squad Leader.

But that was useless. His fame could not become his strength.

On the contrary, his fame would only make more people take notice of him, putting him in greater danger whenever he charged across the battlefield.

A few days ago, Li Qi had been cornered by a notable opponent and had nearly died beneath his gun.

Today had been the same.

If Li Qi had not improved his Magic Shield and deflected the enemy bullet, he would likely have died outright today and simply begun his next life.

Of course, if he had not been certain that he could deflect the bullet, Li Qi would not have foolishly charged forward.

After all, Li Qi did not dare gamble on whether he could continue reincarnating after death.

He did not know how many times he could reincarnate, so he treated every life as if it were his last.

Therefore, even if he might be reborn into another life, Li Qi cherished his own life immensely.

Being alive was always better than being dead.

As night gradually fell, Li Qi and the others withdrew from the trenches and returned to the tents behind the lines to rest.

Li Qi's adjutant, Generro, returned to his side with several hard loaves of bread and a bowl of clear soup containing only a few wild vegetables and coarse salt, then handed him the meal.

Li Qi expressionlessly bit into the dry bread and drank the passable soup before glancing up at Generro.

"You were injured today too, weren't you?"

"Just a minor injury. A bullet grazed my calf, that's all. It's already bandaged. But Squad Leader, aren't you going to treat the injury on your face?"

Generro looked at the blood scab on Li Qi's cheek.

It was a wound left by an enemy bullet during his fight with the blond officer today.

Li Qi did not care.

"It's nothing."

"It might leave a scar."

"Wouldn't that be perfect? Then you all would stop treating me like a child."

Li Qi shot Generro a sidelong glance.

Generro laughed at that.

"Squad Leader, your face is so pretty. Wouldn't it be a shame to ruin it like that?"

"Do you want to die once, Generro?"

Li Qi gave Generro a displeased look and pretended to angrily reach for the gun beside him.

Generro's expression changed, and he immediately ran out of the tent.

"I'll go check on Rick! He's still in the infirmary! He must have been charmed by one of those pretty medic girls. I'll drag him back right now!"

Generro ran quickly. Before Li Qi could even pick up the gun, he had already slipped away without a trace.

Rick was another member of Li Qi's Squad and had joined it half a year ago.

He was not very old. Compared to Li Qi, he was only five or six years older, meaning he had only recently come of age.

He was somewhat handsome, but never serious. He always found excuses to linger in the infirmary, though in truth, he went there to flirt with the female medics.

On a battlefield filled with blood, flesh, and the stench of corpses, the infirmary was the soldiers' only patch of purity. It was not just Rick; many people liked to run there.

Only Li Qi did not like it much.

The main reason was that the current Head of Medical Department was a predatory Mature Woman. Every time they met, she would paw at him as though she wanted to swallow him whole, leaving Li Qi with something of a psychological shadow toward the place.

Thanks to that 'big sister,' Li Qi had paid close attention to his health during the missions of the past half year. If he could avoid being injured, he did.

He had even learned some Healing Magic himself. He could treat minor injuries on his own.

That alone showed just how much effort Li Qi had put into avoiding meetings with the Head of Medical Department.

After dinner, Li Qi checked the gun in his hand and the equipment on his body once more, then lay down on the straw bedding and closed his eyes.

For soldiers on the front lines, rest was the most important thing.

Only with sufficient rest could they have enough energy to ensure they would not die on the battlefield the next day.

Yet Li Qi had barely been lying down for long before the sound of an argument outside woke him.

Frowning, he got up, took his Military Blade, and lifted the tent flap to see several privates grappling with each other.

He recognized two of them clearly.

They were Generro and Rick from his own squad.

They were fighting members of another squad. There were three opponents and only two of them, yet the pair was not at a disadvantage.

None of the surrounding soldiers stepped forward to break up the fight. Instead, they cheered from the sidelines as if watching a show.

Li Qi's face darkened at the sight.

He strode over in a few steps, poured magic power into his hands, precisely grabbed the back of Generro's collar, and lifted hard, flinging Generro away.

Then Li Qi grabbed Rick by the collar and did the same thing again.

Throwing his two squad members aside was not enough. Seeing that the members of the other squad still refused to let it go and were about to charge forward again, Li Qi gripped his sheathed short blade, reversed it, and slammed the pommel into the man's abdomen.

As the man bent over from the pain in his stomach, Li Qi swiftly spun the sheath and struck it against his back!

Bang!

In less than ten seconds, Li Qi had brought the situation under control.

Seeing their companion's miserable state, the remaining two squad members did not dare step forward to help. They stood where they were, staring at Li Qi in shock.

"What are you doing?"

Li Qi asked calmly.

"Squad Leader! They struck first!"

Generro and Rick climbed back to their feet. Rick, who was somewhat handsome, immediately pointed at the soldiers they had just fought and shouted.

Li Qi's blue eyes shifted, falling upon the two men before him.

He stepped on the back of the soldier he had knocked down and tightly gripped the hilt with his right hand.

"My squad members say that was the case. So you had better give me an explanation."

"It... it was him... He was the one who touched Rosa first, so we..."

"Rosa?"

Li Qi turned his head to look behind him.

Generro and Rick supported each other as they explained.

"She... she's a newly arrived Second Class Medic. Rick was... talking with her at the time."

As soon as Generro finished speaking, the young man across from them said indignantly.

"What do you mean, talking?! I saw him put his hand on Rosa's ass!"

The cause and effect of the matter were actually very simple.

It was nothing more than Rick, that playboy, relying on his looks to flirt with a medic, only to be seen by these men.

And one of them happened to have feelings for that medic, so they followed Rick here, intending to teach them a lesson.

That was why they had started fighting.

But once Li Qi realized they had fought over something like this, he could not quite control his emotions.

Of course, he knew the Duchy of Uno's military discipline was not as good as he had imagined.

Not only was it worse than the countries on Earth, even the Kingdom of Falor had much stricter military discipline than they did.

But fighting on their own grounds during wartime was simply too stupid.

Of course, that was not important.

"So you admit that you struck first, correct?"

Li Qi forcefully kicked the man beneath his foot, then approached the two soldiers with his Military Blade in hand and looked up at them.

"Then if I attack you, you should have no complaints either, correct?"

As soon as Li Qi finished speaking, his right hand suddenly drew the short blade!

The blade swung toward the soldier directly before Li Qi at a speed too fast for the eye to follow. Yet at that very instant, an angry shout came from behind the soldier.

"Stop!!!"

Clang—

The tip of the short blade stopped a hair's breadth from the soldier's throat.

Only then did the soldier realize what Li Qi had done and the danger he was in.

He immediately collapsed to the ground in terror, scrambling and crawling backward.

Li Qi merely watched him, watching him and his companions retreat. He did not move again, his gaze passing over them toward the person behind them.

"So it's Sergeant Brett."

Li Qi calmly spoke the other man's name.

The man's name was Brett. He held the same Military Rank as Li Qi and was also a Squad Leader.

Li Qi had met him a few times. Since the other man was also a Magic Swordsman who used magic, Li Qi remembered him somewhat.

But Brett was the only one he remembered.

Now it seemed that the soldiers Li Qi had just disciplined were probably members of Brett's squad.