The Talkative Noble and the Desperate Me

A single sausage went down with some dark bread that had been soaked soft, followed by a good amount of potatoes boiled completely soft, and finally a cup of coffee that still tasted terrible.

"Damn it~"

Morin finally felt like he came back to life.

Yet the slight unease in his heart never dissipated.

He wiped his mouth and found Sergeant Klaus and his orderly Hans.

"Let's go, come with me somewhere."

Morin took the two of them, borrowed three bicycles from the supply unit, and rode straight toward the only large cathedral in the city.

That place was also the location of the highest commanding point in the entire city.

He intended to climb the bell tower; he wanted to see the situation outside the city with his own eyes.

The cathedral had not been affected during the previous battle, looking solemn and respectful.

After explaining his intentions to a somewhat nervous-looking priest at the entrance, the priest who could speak Saxon hesitated for a moment, but still led them to the stairs of the bell tower.

"Klaus, Hans, you two chat with this priest, figure out the general situation in the city, and see if there are any abnormalities."

Morin gave the instruction, then stepped alone onto the spiral staircase leading to the top of the bell tower.

The stairs were narrow and steep, and the light was dim.

When he pushed open the small door leading to the top floor, he discovered that someone was already here.

Lieutenant Ludwig of the Teutonic Order, as well as another armored knight driver he did not recognize beside him.

The former was holding binoculars, seeming to also be observing the movement outside the city.

Seeing Morin come up, Ludwig lowered his binoculars and said something to his companion beside him.

The driver named William glanced at Morin with some surprise, then nodded, turned around, and went down the stairs.

At the top of the bell tower, only Morin and Ludwig remained.

Morin did not speak, gave a salute to Ludwig, and then walked over to the wooden railing, raising his own binoculars as well, looking toward the northeast direction of Seville.

Cities in this era lacked tall buildings, and the cathedral bell tower, serving as the high point, possessed an incomparably wide field of vision.

The plains, woods, and roads outside the city were all clearly displayed before his eyes.

However, he did not see any signs of large-scale assembly by the Royal Army; everything appeared overly peaceful.

"Their retreat is very orderly, without any signs of chaos."

"It doesn't look like a rout, more like pulling back a fist, preparing to strike a heavier blow... Your worries are indeed justified."

Morin lowered his binoculars and turned to look at him.

Ludwig was also looking at him, his gaze carrying a sense of inquiry and curiosity.

"To be honest, I really find it hard to connect the present you with that Morin I saw at the banquet in Stuttgart."

Hearing the other person's words, Morin froze.

Could this be another acquaintance?

"You seem very surprised?"

Watching Morin's unfamiliar expression, Ludwig smiled:

"It's not that strange either, after all, you always circled among various noble ladies at banquets and wouldn't focus your attention on me."

"Then I really am sorry, Lieutenant Ludwig, next time I will definitely pay more attention to you."

"..."

Ludwig genuinely did not expect Morin to reply like this, and a belly full of words ended up being held back, but he still stared closely at Morin and continued:

"Yet I really cannot figure out how someone like that could show such a brave, perceptive side on the battlefield."

Was he probing my background? Or simply curious?

Morin's brain spun at high speed, only to find that he had no way to explain at all.

Although he had already recalled quite a bit of the past of this body's original owner, there were still plenty of blank spaces for him.

Thus, he chose the safest way to respond—silence is golden.

Ludwig also seemed not to expect his answer; he leaned against the railing and talked away on his own like a chatterbox.

"Still, this is fine; the empire's army needs brave warriors like you, rather than trash who can only boast at banquets..."

"Ah, and Lady Cecilia, I wonder what her reaction will be once she learns that you've transformed into this state~"

"I heard that one of her telegrams went directly to General Mackensen's Command Headquarters, making the old general furious..."

He rambled on, completely unconcerned about whether Morin responded.

Meanwhile, Morin was surprised that Lieutenant Ludwig seemed to know quite a lot.

Yet he did not chime in either, simply listening quietly from the side, committing these pieces of information about the original owner to memory one by one.

The most important thing was learning that the "noble lady" who sent the telegram was a woman named Cecilia, though it was still temporarily unclear what kind of relationship the original owner had with this lady.

"Right, it now appears that my high-and-mighty younger sister misjudged things this time as well."

"You have a younger sister too?"

"..."

The expression on Ludwig's face shifted continuously before finally calming down.

"It seems Second Lieutenant Morin recovered from the shadow of being rejected on the spot quite quickly; I didn't expect you to forget Patricia so fast."

Hearing Patricia's name, a blurry shadow of a blonde-haired girl flashed across Morin's mind; just as Ludwig said, it seemed he still had some interactions with her.

However, Ludwig did not dwell on this topic and soon chatted with Morin about other matters, which also made Morin realize that this noble driver... was a chatterbox.

The two stayed on the bell tower for a long time, only leaving one after the other once they confirmed there really was no unusual movement outside the city.

When Morin returned to the peripheral urban area where the troops were stationed, he discovered that the scene here had already changed drastically.

The residents of Seville, upon confirming that those entering the city were the National Army and their allies, emerged from their homes one after another.

It was evident that the National Army and the International Brigades enjoyed quite good popular support among the people of the Kingdom of Aragon.

At least that was the case in Seville.

Enthusiastic citizens spontaneously brought out the bread, cheese, and wine—which were not very abundant in their homes—to reward the soldiers who had "liberated" them from the rule of the Royal Army.

In tow, they, the "allies" of the Saxon Empire, also shared in the benefits.

The soldiers of the National Army and the International Brigades cautiously accepted the food handed over by the citizens, honest smiles blooming on their faces; the entire square was filled with laughter and a peaceful, joyous atmosphere.

However, the Saxon soldiers remained somewhat on guard, because after all, this was another country to them, and the Royal Army soldiers who had fought them previously were essentially also composed of civilians from the Kingdom of Aragon.

Therefore, Morin completely understood their reaction. In the military history classes he studied in his past life, it was also mentioned that after the German army invaded Belgium during World War I, they fell into a state of extreme paranoia due to attacks by guerrillas and some Belgian citizens.

Added to the pressure brought by several defeats early in the war, some German troops engaged in attacking civilians and violating military discipline upon entering towns.

Just as Morin was pondering whether he needed to pay attention to maintaining team discipline and preventing similar situations from occurring, the thing he worried about happened anyway.

A street in the distance suddenly grew noisy, civilians screamed and fled, while soldiers gathered toward the spot one after another.

When Morin rushed to the scene, he simply felt that some metaphysical presence must exist on his body.

Otherwise, why would he encounter precisely what he feared most?

He saw a few Saxon Empire soldiers at the doorway of a residential house, holding their guns and confronting the surrounding soldiers of the National Army and the International Brigades.

They had some cheese and cured meat strung together with ropes hanging from their bodies, obviously just searched out from this residential dwelling...