"Captain Kyle, this isn't what we agreed on. Weren't we supposed to come to the Northern Territory to fight? How did we end up patrolling and laying railways all day?"
The young man complained as he patted the rifle slung across his back. "The last time I pulled a trigger was at the training grounds in Castel. I only came because I heard there was going to be a war!"
Kyle sighed as well, rubbing his belly. It had once been nothing but hard muscle, but now it had grown noticeably rounder, covered in excess fat.
The expedition truly differed from what they had imagined.
When the railway reached the Northern Territory, everyone had braced themselves. Before, they had still been within the Prince's territory. Now, they had entered enemy land.
How would those dukes treat them? Drive them out? Negotiate? Or attack outright?
The Expeditionary Force had prepared themselves.
But they had never expected to be ignored.
Yes, ignored. Since arriving in the Northern Territory, they had faced no attacks, no probing—nothing. It was as though no one cared about them at all.
Nor had the Expeditionary Force been laying tracks through empty wilderness the whole time. The rails and armored trains had passed through numerous towns, but when the locals saw that they had no intention of entering the cities, they simply paid them no mind.
At first, the Expeditionary Force thought it was an enemy scheme, that they would attack once the troops lowered their guard. But this scheme was far too elaborate.
They laid tracks day after day, while the dukes of the Northern Territory stubbornly refused to acknowledge them.
They had to admit that the enemy's scheme had worked. The Expeditionary Force was now thoroughly slack, and even the political commissars were having trouble restoring