Ch.185Episode 10 – Turn Your Course to the North-Northwest

# The Conflict with the Demon Race: Heading Toward the Fifth Year

However, right after Camilla, Lucia, and Francesca arrived in the Empire.

A new wind began to blow.

[“Solution Urgently Needed”… Cardinal Raphael Urges Support for the Kiyen Empire.]

[Lushan Federal Kingdom Discusses Draft Resolution for Military Support to Kiyen Empire.]

[Inquisition Holy Knights and Magic Tower Mage Corps to Deploy Additional Forces… Moving North Next Week.]

[Empire Defense Ministry: “Will Launch Offensive Around Spring”… Will the War Situation Change?]

## Episode 10 – Turn Your Course to the North-Northwest

“What are you reading?”

Camilla suddenly appeared, poking her head out like a turtle.

“The newspaper.”

I neatly folded the newspaper I was reading and tossed it onto the table.

On the yellowish paper, a general from the Empire’s Defense Ministry in combat uniform was confidently briefing reporters about the war with the demon race, alternately scanning the journalists. That was the front page.

Camilla, seeing the moving photograph in a paper newspaper rather than on a monitor, read the text with a look of fascination.

“It’s already causing a commotion. Anyone would think the conflict was over.”

I moistened my throat with sparkling water.

Forget about adjusting to the time difference—they’re popping champagne before the banquet has even started.

It had been just an hour since we disembarked from the airship. We were waiting for the first diplomatic event at the banquet hall.

Except for the church officials, Fatalia diplomats, clergy, and mages who had been waiting since last night for Lucia and Francesca, there was still no one at the venue. Of course, the Abas diplomats were also waiting.

By the way, Lucia and Francesca were still being held up. Being such important figures, people wouldn’t let them go easily.

As one person left, two more would approach, creating a scene where the venue was clearly divided into two groups.

The Church and the Magic Tower.

Clergy and mages.

I heard that people from the Holy Knight Order and Mage Corps, which were dispatched a few years ago, and the Empire’s Defense Ministry had also sent representatives. But they seemed to be arriving a bit later since they were all stationed in the north.

While I was surveying the venue and entrance to familiarize myself with the attendees.

Camilla slightly raised her head with her gunpowder-infused blue eyes.

“This is interesting. Isn’t this all propaganda?”

“Of course.”

Officially, reporting and coverage in the Empire are conducted in a free press environment.

But considering that there are government agencies censoring the media, and that every newspaper has information police, Imperial Guard agents, and counterintelligence command officers stationed there.

In reality, all newspapers and broadcasts in the Empire are under government control.

“It’s exactly like the Namsan era style.”

“Namsan?”

“The South Korean Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Planning Agency used to have their domestic headquarters at a place called Namsan. They’ve moved elsewhere since becoming the National Intelligence Service, but back in the Namsan days, KCIA agents would frequent newspaper and media companies.”

The Central Intelligence Agency, Defense Security Command, Public Security Bureau, Ministry of Culture and Public Information, and so on.

During the military regime era, agents dispatched from each agency would gather and operate in South Korean media companies. If those people didn’t approve, articles couldn’t be published, and even filmed scenes from movies or dramas would be completely deleted.

What if you ignored that?

“You’d be dragged to Namsan and ‘eat seolleongtang.’ Well, actually, seolleongtang was so expensive back then that they probably used jjamppong broth that came with Chinese food delivery instead.”

“Oh…”

“Of course, they don’t do that these days. In the past, they would openly beat you up, but now it would cause too much trouble if they got caught. Unless it’s something really serious, they just take your statement and let you go.”

By the way, Dmitri was a prime example of that “serious matter.”

He wasn’t just out of favor; he was caught engaging in anti-establishment activities. That’s why he was even tortured.

“Ugh. That gives me chills.”

“Don’t speak carelessly in the Empire. Especially if you say things like supporting a republic or abolishing the monarchy, you’ll be in big trouble.”

Camilla brushed off her goosebumps. She hugged her arms and whined that the air somehow felt different.

I leaned back in my chair, sighed, and looked up at the ceiling.

What can you do?

In a world where you have to squeeze out even a grain of patriotism to survive.

“A leader should be an object of fear, not affection. Some philosopher said that long ago, and watching the dictators around here, it seems true.”

“Wasn’t that Machiavelli? I think I saw it in ‘The Prince.'”

“Oh, right. It is Machiavelli.”

-Knock knock.

“Officer?”

“Hm? Oh, Administrator.”

Francesca was standing behind me, having approached without notice. She looked at me and Camilla in turn, then gently smiled.

“It seems the event will start soon. We received a message from the Deputy Ambassador who just arrived downstairs.”

No sooner had she finished speaking than people began entering the venue one by one. Judging by their appearance, they seemed to be guests invited to the banquet.

I put away the newspaper and stood up, trying to dust off my formal attire.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

Suddenly, a subtle lavender scent lingered before my face.

Francesca, who had stepped closer, neatly cleaned the dust from my formal attire with magic.

After the magic gathered at her fingertips dissipated and she adjusted my agilette once more, Francesca returned to her seat with a gentle smile.

Standing frozen in place, wondering what had just happened, Camilla approached me with tiny steps and whispered.

“Are you two dating?”

“……”

I quickly flicked Camilla’s forehead before anyone could see.

*

Time passed in an instant.

December, as a new year was coming to an end. The conflict between the Empire and the Demon Realm was entering its fifth year, and it had been nearly half a year since I became a defense attaché.

I was gradually adapting to the nature of diplomacy and becoming accustomed to attending diplomatic events.

This was a hotel banquet hall. By convention, it was the venue where the Empire’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted the first official event for heads of state or government.

I walked around the banquet hall, observing the attendees.

“Oh! Who do we have here. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ambassador.”

“It’s been a while, Prime Minister.”

The Imperial government sent Prime Minister Stolypin as its representative. Having started his public service career when the current Emperor Nicholas VI ascended to the throne, he was a politician who had assisted the Emperor and overseen domestic affairs for decades.

Given that he was accompanied by ministerial and vice-ministerial officials from the Foreign Ministry, Interior Ministry, and others, it was clear that Prime Minister Stolypin was representing the Imperial government at this banquet.

Notably, there was no one from the Imperial family.

While it was understandable that the Emperor, known for his seclusion, wouldn’t attend, it was surprising that no Imperial family members, including the Crown Prince or other princes and princesses, were present.

However, the absence of royalty did not diminish the prestige of the event in any way.

First, the Church.

“Salvē rēgīna! Glory to the great descendant. I am Ferretti, the commander of the Order of St. Andrea. It is an honor to meet you, Saint Lucia.”

All prominent clergy active in the Kiyen Empire attended the event. Not only the bishops but also selected parish priests and laypeople from each diocese came.

The most notable person was the Holy Knight Commander who introduced himself as Ferretti. From the moment he entered, he exuded an aura quite different from other clergy.

And for good reason—he came wearing armor.

-Thud!

As the Holy Knight in full plate armor knelt, all eyes in the venue turned to him.

People murmured since he was clearly not a normal person, but the bishops themselves just smiled pleasantly as if there was no issue.

In other words, among the Church people, only Lucia found his appearance strange.

Lucia looked at the Holy Knight Commander with a voice clearly showing concern. A twenty-something rookie worrying about someone well over forty—it was a peculiar sight.

“Glory to the warriors who fight like dragons. Commander Ferretti, I know this might be an impertinent question, but are you not uncomfortable?”

“Not at all! I am absolutely NOT uncomfortable, Saint! Haha!”

“……”

He’s insane.

Commander Ferretti of the Order of St. Andrea laughed heartily and waved his hand.

“It is an honor to meet you. This is not just flattery, but my sincere words.”

“Is that so? I’m surprised that you wanted to meet me, Sir Ferretti.”

The Holy Knight scratched his eyebrow with his thick finger and smiled gently, as if embarrassed to speak.

“Actually, I’ve seen you from a distance before. Two years ago, when my subordinates were poisoned while hunting Moloch, I saw you helping them.”

“Ah…!”

An exclamation escaped Lucia’s lips.

“Moloch—that’s the demon that spewed poison. I remember it was a fierce battle.”

“That’s right! It was a glorious battle!”

“I didn’t know you were there. It’s an honor to meet you again like this.”

“The honor is all mine! Haha! The inquisitors and exorcist priests also wanted to come, but unfortunately, they were urgently deployed for an operation and couldn’t make it. It would have been wonderful if they could have joined us.”

The two seemed to know each other. It wasn’t strange for them to have crossed paths, as Lucia had served as a healing priest, and Ferretti was a Holy Knight fighting demons in the north.

Originally, not only Holy Knights but also inquisitors and exorcist priests from the Inquisition were supposed to attend the banquet, but it seems they couldn’t come due to some urgent matter. Nevertheless, the Church’s attendees were impressive.

I quickly committed the overheard information and the Church personnel’s details to memory.

Next was the Magic Tower. This group had attendees from a truly diverse range of fields.

Basically, all mages affiliated with the Magic Tower attended, along with scholars, technicians, researchers, Magic Department staff, and even combat mages active in the north and mages affiliated with the Imperial Army.

A representative figure among them was Evangelos Risidike.

“Evangelos Risidike.”

The mage with striking sky-blue hair removed his hat, placed his hand on his chest, and bowed. When Francesca extended her hand, he naturally pretended to kiss the back of it, making a sound.

“I pay my respects to the daughter of the great mage Ranieri, father of the founding.”

“Likewise. Have you been well?”

“Graykia is a place with no windy days compared to Fatalia. Still, thanks to the arrangements of our ancestors, I am living peacefully.”

I had heard of the Risidike family.

Risidike was a family founded by a great mage who led the military victory in the war against the Church, making it one of the prestigious magical families with a great mage as its founder, like the Ranieri family.

Although it was difficult to build military achievements like their founder since the Magic Tower had no organization that could be called a regular army, I recall that they had recently seized military authority by dispatching mages to the Magic Tower.

Ferretti from the Church, Evangelos from the Magic Tower.

Two figures leading two of the three military groups in the north attended the banquet.

Since the Imperial Army stationed in the north was managed by the Military Government Command, and the Military Governor never left the north, these two were the only ones here with the most information about the northern front.

Lucia and Francesca were engaged in busy conversations with Church and Magic Tower personnel, including Ferretti and Evangelos. Camilla was quietly sitting and eating, but while everyone hovered around like insects, no one dared to approach her.

I slowly approached Camilla while surveying the party venue.

“Are you okay, Camilla?”

“Yes!”

Camilla answered with a bright smile. I placed her hand on mine and helped her up from her seat.

“Would you like to walk with me for a bit?”

“Sure. Where are we going?”

Where would a diplomat attending an event go?

“To work.”

Of course, to work.

*

A defense attaché is a military diplomat.

Spiteful people keep saying strange things about spies and such, but military intelligence gathering is only a small part of an attaché’s role.

Is attending diplomatic events everything? Not that either.

While it’s true that defense attachés perform various diplomatic activities such as attending military academy entrance and graduation ceremonies, officer commissioning ceremonies, military open house events, military exchange activities, defense industry exhibitions, and military parades, these are also just part of an attaché’s role.

So what is the real role of an attaché?

Meeting people.

“Hello? I’m Fredrik Nostrum, newly appointed to the Abas Embassy.”

“Ah! The famous one. Pleased to meet you. I work at the Magic Engineering Institute…”

This event was not only meant to welcome Camilla, Lucia, and Francesca but also to invite diplomats to discuss the Empire-Demon Realm conflict.

In other words, it was a diplomatic event related to defense.

The venue included people invited from the Empire’s Defense Ministry and organizations related to the defense industry, and I naturally made contact with them.

“I’ve seen the press release from the Kiyen Empire’s Defense Ministry. It’s embarrassing to admit, but having just been appointed, I’m not familiar with the situation here. If it’s alright with you, could I hear about the news from the north? I’ll find out soon enough, but I’d like to prepare in advance.”

“Well… I don’t see why not. What would you like to know?”

Kiyen Empire Defense Ministry International Policy Planner,

Kiyen Empire Foreign Ministry Security Cooperation Section Chief,

Imperial Army Headquarters Logistics Staff Chief,

Policy Office Public Relations Officer,

Political Affairs Director,

Information Operations Section Chief,

Current and former generals,

Master Sergeant Major,

Defense-related researchers,

Defense industry company directors, and so on.

There was even a secretary from the office of a member of the parliamentary defense committee.

Seeing the member talking with a foreign ambassador in the distance, I looked around curiously, and the secretary recognized me first and approached.

“I’ve heard a lot about you, Attaché Nostrum. I also worked at the Defense Ministry.”

“Is that so? Where did you work?”

“I was briefly a policy planner. Not an executive, just a civil servant.”

“You worked in a good place. I heard there’s a famous square near the Empire’s Defense Ministry; you must have seen it often during your commute.”

“Akropskaya Square. It was an office where you could see the fountain and statue right away if you opened the window and turned your head.”

The Empire’s Defense Ministry recruits some staff from the civilian sector. Even though they only turned a few positions over to civilians to avoid being criticized as a militaristic state, the fact that someone worked there meant they were capable.

Either they were smart, well-connected, or wealthy. One of the three.

“Are you married by any chance?”

“Yes.”

“Son? Or daughter?”

“I have one daughter.”

“Would you like to have dinner together sometime? It would be fine if your family joined us.”

“That sounds good.”

I scribbled something on his business card with my fountain pen, then exchanged cards with him. Meanwhile, Camilla carefully observed my actions.

“You look busy.”

She smiled gently.

“Is it okay for me to be here? I don’t want to interfere with your work.”

“You’re not really in the way, so it’s fine. Let’s sit down and rest for a bit.”

We each grabbed a drink and sat down.

In the corner of the banquet hall, some people gathered in small groups to chat, while others quietly smoked cigarettes in the corner. It was a struggle to conserve energy for the marathon-like event ahead.

A carbonated drink with bubbles rising to the surface. Sitting in the provided chair, I tasted the refreshing fruit-flavored beverage.

Looking at the half-empty glass, I clicked my tongue softly.

“This is so typical of the Empire. Look at them coming to events in military uniforms, just like a militaristic country.”

“What’s wrong with military uniforms?”

I gestured with my chin toward the chests of the Imperial Army generals. They were covered in medals.

“Look, look at those medals. They’ve run out of space on their chests and the medals are going down to their stomachs. At this rate, they’ll get breast surgery just to have more space for medals.”

“Hmm! It is a bit excessive.”

As Camilla and I were giggling and chatting, Lucia and Francesca, who had spotted us, began approaching.

Having dressed up for the event, the two were clearly noticeable even from a distance.

“You’re here? I saw you passing by earlier, and you seemed to be suffering terribly.”

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say suffering.”

“Finally free, I see.”

“Welcome. Let’s all have a drink.”

“Did you see what people were doing earlier? Hovering around trying to talk to the Hero.”

“My goodness, you saw that while talking to the Magic Department people? You’re very observant.”

Lucia and Francesca approached with their characteristic smiles. Camilla welcomed them warmly, and soon we each claimed a chair and could rest comfortably.

Lucia sat down with a modest posture and smiled kindly.

“The Holy Knights are very passionate. They seem to have experienced quite a lot in the north.”

“What’s happening in the north?”

“I heard battles occur almost daily. The rear areas are relatively safe, but with refugees pouring in, there are disruptions in medical care and rations, and administrative gaps due to a shortage of management personnel.”

Well, that’s just fantastic news.

Francesca chimed in. She crossed her legs, sipped her drink, and added:

“There are also reports of demons occasionally coming down to the rear areas through the mountain ranges. Apparently, there are monsters that infiltrate not only through the mountains but also via rivers.”

“Mountains? Can’t they just burn the mountains down?”

“Who would do that? Even if all the mages deployed at the front were reassigned to the rear, it would take at least a few months to burn the mountain ranges.”

At those words, I stared at Camilla. Sipping her drink, Camilla tilted her head as if asking if I had something to say.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“It seems you already have work to do in the north.”

“Burn the mountain ranges? Well, there’s no Greenpeace here, so no one to stop you.”

Camilla and I looked at each other and snickered. Lucia and Francesca, who were listening to the conversation, asked what Greenpeace was, but we just laughed and evaded the question.

As we were laughing and chatting, taking a short break.

Suddenly, a strange event began to unfold.

*

It was when the atmosphere in the banquet hall was reaching its peak.

While diplomats and officials were face to face, attachés and generals exchanged information, scholars and researchers debated, and Holy Knights and combat mages who bumped into each other frowned and moved away.

A group of people began to approach.

They were soldiers.

“Attaché Fredrik Nostrum?”

“That’s me. Who might you be?”

A man in an Imperial Army uniform addressed me. Judging by his insignia, he was a colonel. That’s equivalent to a colonel in Abas.

The colonel, with a small build and a sharp, snake-like impression, extended his hand for a handshake. He introduced himself as being in charge of international cooperation at the Defense Ministry.

“I heard you’ll be attending the military exchange conference between the Kiyen Empire and the Kingdom of Abas starting tomorrow. Is that correct?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Although we’re meeting for the first time, I’ve come to introduce one of my people to you.”

People?

At the colonel’s gesture, an officer from the group stepped forward.

“This officer will serve as your interpreter. Having majored in linguistics and being proficient in the Abas language, I believe there will be no communication barriers between us. She can interpret not only everyday conversation but also military terminology without any issues.”

“……”

“Introduce yourself.”

The officer extended her hand. It was a woman.

“I am Senior Lieutenant Lyudmila Ivanovna Smirnova. Please call me Lyudmila.”

Her Abas pronunciation was very fluent.

“…I am Major Fredrik Nostrum, newly appointed as the attaché to the Abas Embassy.”

I took her outstretched hand.

And as I slowly shook it, I thought.

A long time ago, when I was active in the Church.

I met quite a few Imperial diplomats, and some of them were even intelligence officers.

And clearly,

I spoke with them in the Kiyen language.

Fluently enough not to need an interpreter.

“If you need interpretation or translation, please call me anytime.”

So what the hell is this about?