chapter_0155

154 – National Decision

154 – National Decision

Meanwhile, at the Imperial City Assembly.

In the Liberty Socialist Party leadership office.

“Your Excellency, congratulations on taking the Imperial City.”

A young man in a neat suit said, handing Duke Belvar coffee.

His name was Kadem.

He was a member of the aristocratic coalition who became the new leader of the Liberty Socialist Party after Kemble went to prison.

Duke Belvar, who was sitting on the sofa, took the coffee, and Kadem sat across from him.

“I’m relieved that things seem to be going according to plan. As expected of Duke Belvar. Lately, I’ve become more and more convinced that I made the right choice in siding with you.”

Duke Belvar frowned at Kadem’s flattery.

“Don’t be reckless. Now is not the time to celebrate victory.”

“You mean it’s always good to be cautious. I understand. By the way, I heard that you have imprisoned the Emperor on the top floor of the Imperial Palace. What are you planning to do about it?”

“To the outside world, we’ve said that His Imperial Majesty is taking a rest after being shocked by the death of the late Emperor. The Imperial Daily is also spreading the article.”

“Hmm. A kind of stalling tactic.”

“Just because we’ve seized the Imperial City doesn’t mean we’ve seized military power. We need to make the first move before the outside world notices the situation in the Imperial City and reacts.”

Kadem glanced around and lowered his voice.

“When you say make the first move?”

“There will be a large-scale personnel reshuffle. We need to neutralize the Emperor’s faction generals to prevent any unforeseen events.”

“I see. And then…”

“I will announce that I will serve as regent until His Imperial Majesty recovers from the shock and regains his sanity.”

Hearing the plan, Kadem understood to some extent why Duke Belvar had come to him.

“Would you like me to help appease the people?”

“Yes. If I step up to be regent, the people’s dissatisfaction will surely increase rapidly. Especially since most of the Imperial City citizens support Selvia, there will be a lot of backlash. To quell that dissatisfaction, I will promise tax cuts.”

Cutting taxes in the middle of a war was tantamount to weakening the military.

Most of the taxes went into the creation and procurement of military supplies.

However, the people, who were burdened by the ever-increasing tax rates, would certainly view Duke Belvar’s promise of tax cuts positively.

People tend to focus on short-sighted gains.

“When the citizens’ dissatisfaction has decreased, you must come forward to represent the aristocratic coalition’s position. Argue that it is right for me to be regent, and repeatedly insist that the aristocratic coalition will only pursue reforms for the people.”

“Indeed. After cutting taxes, we can agitate by saying, ‘The Emperor could have cut taxes, but he didn’t! The Emperor didn’t care about the people!'”

“I’m glad you understand. Once more people begin to agree with us…”

A smile spread across Kadem’s face as he gained a small realization.

“A republic. If we do well, we may be able to depose the Emperor and declare a republic.”

“It’s a distant future, but it’s not entirely impossible.”

“Wow. As expected of Duke Belvar. My humble mind can’t keep up.”

Duke Belvar clicked his tongue at Kadem’s flattery and stood up.

He had conveyed the general plan, so there was nothing more to do.

“I’ll let you know when it’s time to act, so take good care of the assemblymen and party members.”

“Of course.”

Kadem, who had stood up awkwardly, bowed his head.

Duke Belvar stared at Kadem for a moment, then turned and left the office.

Duke Belvar walked to the entrance of the Assembly and stopped.

Because Pelliston, the Deputy Director of the Intelligence Agency, was waiting at the entrance.

Pelliston, who was fidgeting, approached Duke Belvar as soon as he found him and bowed his head.

“Duke Belvar.”

“…What’s going on?”

Pelliston hesitated for a moment before opening his mouth.

“The Allied Nations’ 12th Armored Division failed in their surprise attack.”

Hearing Pelliston’s words, Duke Belvar quickly looked around.

After confirming that no one was listening, Duke Belvar lowered his voice.

“Failed in their surprise attack? Why?”

“I heard that Daniel Steiner anticipated the enemy’s surprise attack and secured a retreat route. Thanks to Daniel Steiner securing the retreat route, the main force was able to retreat quickly, so the 7th Armored Division suffered no significant damage.”

“What?”

The fact that he had anticipated the surprise attack was absurd, but the fact that he had escaped safely made his head ache.

Daniel Steiner’s survival was a bigger misfortune than any other setback, and Duke Belvar glared at Pelliston.

“Prevent him from getting off the front lines.”

“How can I…”

“Make up an order from the Emperor or something and stop him! The moment that bastard has other thoughts, everything could turn to ashes!”

Duke Belvar was yelling, but there was a slight tremor in his voice.

Pelliston, who was looking at Duke Belvar, who seemed to be gripped by fear, bowed his head deeply.

“As you command.”

Because there was no other option for Pelliston either.

*

Daniel, who had heard from Intelligence Staff Pelf that the division commander had died, headed to the command tent.

It was to cross-verify whether Pelf’s words were true.

As Daniel quickly walked into the command tent, all the Officers sitting at the table stood up.

They turned to Daniel and bowed their heads as if they had promised to do so.

“Division Commander.”

“We’ve been waiting.”

“…Division Commander.”

Their low voices told him that there was no need for cross-verification.

Some of them had black soot on their faces from the aftermath of the bombing, as if they hadn’t even been able to wash properly.

Daniel, looking at the faces of the Officers, walked to the vacant head seat in the tent.

The seat where the division commander should have been sitting was empty.

‘This is crazy…’

He hadn’t thought that the division commander would die in a bombing, so he couldn’t shake off the shock.

But he couldn’t just stand there blankly.

The staff gathered in the tent, as well as the commanders of the units, were all looking at Daniel.

Daniel, noticing the subtle cracks in their faces, slowly opened his mouth.

“…Before I receive the damage report, I’d like to make one thing clear. Perhaps the staff gathered here and the commanders of each unit are aware of it.”

The cracks in the faces of the staff and unit commanders stemmed from distrust.

“The fact that the Imperial Intelligence Agency gave us false information.”

The distrust stemmed from the Intelligence Agency’s aerial reconnaissance analysis.

The Intelligence Agency had clearly informed the 7th Armored Division that the enemy was defending from a defensive position.

But when they advanced, there was no sign of the Allied Nations at the defensive position.

It was a blatant lie.

“We were played by the Intelligence Agency’s false report and were ambushed by the enemy. What do you think this means?”

“It means those bastards have joined hands with the Allied Nations.”

It was the words of the regiment commander leading the armored Grenadiers.

As he growled, voices of agreement spread here and there.

Daniel raised his hand to calm them down and spoke calmly.

“If it is certain that the Imperial Intelligence Agency has joined hands with the Allied Nations, this is not a situation that can be overlooked. They have not only driven our allies to their deaths, but also insulted His Imperial Majesty.”

“Then what should we do?”

“The most certain way is to inform His Imperial Majesty of this fact, but if the Intelligence Agency is corrupt, other departments will not be in good condition either.”

Sighs were heard here and there.

The Reconnaissance Battalion commander, who had a serious expression on his face, opened his mouth.

“Our allies have betrayed us, and the enemy is right in front of us. This time, thanks to the Chief of Staff… no, the Division Commander, we were able to retreat with minimal damage, but we will soon reach our limit.”

“Damn it! If we continue like this, we’ll all die like dogs!”

“That’s right. What’s even more terrible is that if we are isolated here, no one will know about the Intelligence Agency’s atrocities. The damage to the Imperial Army will be even more severe.”

Murmurs arose again, and feelings of unease floated in the air.

Daniel, who had remained silent among them, thought.

This was an opportunity to return to the Imperial City.

“Someone must inform them of the Intelligence Agency’s atrocities.”

Everyone’s attention was focused on Daniel’s words as Division Commander.

“Now that it is certain that the Imperial Intelligence Agency has joined hands with the Allied Nations, there is no point in defending the front lines. They will try to destroy our army in an even more meticulous way.”

“Then…”

“If communication has been contaminated, we must go directly and deliver the message. However, the Intelligence Agency could not have betrayed our allies on its own. There must be a ringleader.”

In Daniel’s view, that ringleader was Duke Belvar.

Otto, the Director of the Security Agency, had told him that “Duke Belvar will cause a storm.”

‘I didn’t think he’d come out so recklessly…’

Since he had started a life-or-death fight, it was necessary to respond properly.

“If the ringleader has collusion with some of the military, the situation becomes complicated. They will try to stop us from delivering the message to the Imperial City.”

The armored Grenadiers regiment commander swallowed hard and said.

“Then are you saying that we should mobilize the military and head to the Imperial City? If the enemy finds out that we are leaving the front lines, won’t they immediately launch an attack?”

“That’s unlikely. The enemy bombed their own defensive position to surprise our army. You saw with your own eyes that the defense facilities as well as the supply facilities were destroyed.”

There is no advance without supplies.

The Allied Nations will not advance until they have repaired their defensive position.

Even if they were to force an advance, the front lines were wide, and the Imperial Army was spread out everywhere, even without the 7th Armored Division.

Unless all the Allied Nations on the front lines launched an all-out offensive, they could not penetrate a certain distance on their own.

Otherwise, the unit with the damaged supply lines would be exposed to a surprise attack and destroyed.

In addition, the 7th Armored Division had about 3,000 Allied Nations prisoners of war, so they could stop the enemy’s advance through negotiations.

The unit commanders, having finished their calculations, looked at each other and nodded one by one.

“We will follow the Division Commander. After all, if the Division Commander hadn’t secured our retreat route, my unit and I would have died in enemy territory.”

“I will also inform them of the atrocities of the Intelligence Agency bastards rather than being isolated here and slowly dying.”

“Give us your orders. We will be with the Division Commander.”

As the unit commanders were enthusiastic, the staff also agreed in silence as if there was no other way.

Daniel, who was embracing them, nodded with a serious expression.

“I will order as the Division Commander of the 7th Armored Division.”

Daniel took a short, deep breath and opened his mouth.

“Unit commanders, return to your respective positions and declare that you will not condone the Intelligence Agency’s actions of joining hands with the Allied Nations and driving our allies to their deaths. We will take this opportunity to root out all the traitors who are committing treason!”

As the atmosphere in the tent heated up, Daniel shouted loudly.

“So tell all the troops of the 7th Armored Division!”

Daniel narrowed his eyes sharply.

“Prepare to retreat!”

Author’s words (Author’s afterword)

I’m so sorry for being late…

As I was writing, the story kept getting longer and I couldn’t stop…

This unworthy author… I’m a bad person who’s always late… but I hope you know that I’m always thinking of you, the readers…!

Thank you for watching today…!

Then I won’t see you tomorrow!

…April Fool’s joke.

Let’s see each other again tomorrow!