Ch.204Episode 11 – All Quiet on the Northern Front

# Armies from around the world gathered in the north, each operating in their assigned territories.

Most were elite guards or special forces sent from pro-imperial dictatorships, but the imperial government heavily promoted the narrative that “countries worldwide have sent reinforcements to aid His Majesty the Emperor.”

However, the foreign correspondents weren’t focusing on the Church’s Holy Knights, the Magic Tower’s Mage Corps, or the dispatched units from dictatorships. Instead, they were fixated on individuals who, though acting independently rather than as part of a collective, attracted all the spotlight due to their special status.

Camilla, Lucia, and Francesca.

These three were currently the most closely watched figures in the north.

## Episode 11 – All Quiet on the Northern Front

Camilla, Lucia, and Francesca were each carrying out self-chosen missions in different areas.

First, Lucia devoted herself to caring for refugees and the wounded.

Drawing on her experience as a military healing priest, she fought to rebuild the medical system throughout the north, treating diseases and injuries. Lucia would leave her quarters before sunrise to knock on refugee shelter doors, care for patients in hospitals until sunset, and then personally conduct mass for the faithful trying to maintain their devotion before finally returning to her quarters.

She did all this while leading the Holy Knights of the Relief Order and healing priests who followed her.

Her actions truly lived up to her title as a saint of the religion, and this was the path she had chosen for herself.

Next, Francesca focused her efforts on restoring infrastructure.

She used her magical knowledge, including alchemy, to repair the road transportation network. With a small group of mages recruited from the corps, Francesca repaired roads and railways throughout the north. Roads that had turned to mud from repeated freezing and thawing were neatly restored by spirits summoned by mages, while railways frozen solid and at risk of derailment were melted with flames, allowing trains to move before the water froze again.

Although Francesca lacked Lucia’s ability to inspire followers, the authority of the Secretariat was sufficient to command obedience. Even from the haughty mages of the Magic Tower.

Indeed, she lived up to the reputation of the Ranieri family, a prestigious magical lineage.

And finally, Camilla.

Camilla participated in activities to remove the coniferous forests, the north’s greatest threat. More precisely, she was assigned to such operations.

The military government headquarters coveted Camilla’s abilities but expressed concerns about involving a civilian (officially, Camilla was known to be an ordinary college student) in military operations. They worried about what might happen if Camilla, who couldn’t even read a map, took a wrong turn somewhere.

But contrary to their concerns, Camilla faithfully fulfilled her role.

She burned part of the coniferous forests that had been troubling the imperial army in the north, providing the biggest clue to solving a problem that the military government headquarters had been pondering for years.

Thanks to this, the military government headquarters now placed unlimited trust in Camilla. This too was a path she had chosen for herself.

So what was Camilla doing now?

“……”

*Slurp!*

“Ahh!”

“……”

“Oh? You’re here?”

Camilla, wrapped in a military blanket, peeked out a hand and waved. Judging by its stiff texture, the blanket was a newly unwrapped A-grade one, and the mug in her hand wasn’t military issue but privately owned.

Having returned from burning the day’s portion of coniferous forest, Camilla appeared to be taking a rest.

I found her in the duty room of the division headquarters I was visiting on business, curled up in her blanket like a caterpillar, sipping something.

*Slurp!*

“Isn’t it cold outside? Come in and sit down. It’s warm in here with the heater.”

“Um, Camilla. What are you eating right now?”

“Oh, this?”

Camilla held up the mug she’d been sipping from and smiled broadly. The contents looked dark like coffee, but from the sweet smell wafting up, it was hot cocoa, not coffee.

I examined the packaging scattered on the duty room table.

Imperial Army combat rations. Breakfast menu. Lunch menu. Dinner menu. All three main meal packages had been opened, along with candy, snacks, honey, and sugar packets that came with them to provide calories.

I was familiar with these items from my practical assignment at the Imperial Branch of the Military Intelligence Agency.

For reference, these were meant to be eaten over the course of a day.

So not a single meal, but spread across three meals, you know, that kind of thing.

Just looking at the packaging, you could see “Breakfast Menu,” “Lunch Menu,” and “Dinner Menu” written in large letters. I now noticed a civilian bag of potato chips had also been opened.

Adding up the calories from the three main meals and the accompanying side dishes would probably reach four digits. I couldn’t make out the first digit. Though my eyes were drawn to it, I didn’t really want to read that number.

“…Camilla. That cocoa.”

“Yes.”

“Did you get it from here?”

“Yes.”

Camilla answered with a bright smile. Only after hearing her answer did I notice two cocoa sticks rolling around at the bottom of the packaging.

I asked one final question with a trembling voice to confirm.

“Did you eat all of this?”

“Yes!”

“……”

I grabbed Camilla’s cheek and applied pressure.

As her snow-white cheek stretched out, Camilla, who had been sprawled under the blanket, suddenly sat up.

It was like witnessing the miracle of a Line 1 beggar standing upright at the terminal station.

“You greedy pig… Do you have any idea how many calories this is? Huh?! This is meant for combat troops who are running missions until they drop, and you ate it all in one sitting, not even over a day!”

“Gyaaah…!”

“Oh my god. This is driving me crazy.”

I released Camilla’s cheek and let out a deep sigh.

I really can’t deal with this.

*

“How was today?”

“No major issues.”

It had already been three days since we arrived in the north. The first day was spent in simple meetings and sleeping in our quarters, so we’d really only been active for about two days.

That doesn’t diminish the significance of everyone’s efforts, though.

“I heard the speed of burning the northern coniferous forests is much faster than expected. I was worried when they said you couldn’t use flight magic, but the fire spreads much better than I thought.”

“Hmm, that’s fortunate.”

Camilla had burned a considerable area of coniferous forest. An entire section that an imperial infantry brigade had been responsible for turned to ash in just two days.

This might sound insignificant, but what mattered wasn’t the area but the terrain. The section she cleared with fire was beyond the rugged terrain of the Naroda Mountains, where vast plains stretched out with no obstacles except for a small river.

In other words, once that area was breached, whether demons or monsters, they could head straight to populated areas across the plains.

No one knew whether they would go to the major cities crowded with refugees or to where the command was located, but the result would be essentially the same—the major cities of the north would be left defenseless.

But today, Camilla had cleared that area.

The coniferous forests that had been hiding demons and monsters turned to ash, and with no terrain features left to conceal them, demons wouldn’t dare venture into that area. Most importantly, they could now build outposts on high ground to monitor enemy movements. That alone meant Camilla had more than fulfilled her duty.

For reference, the military government headquarters had estimated it would take Camilla at least a week to clear that area.

“But I finished it in one day.”

“It took you two days.”

“Oh, come on!”

Camilla jumped up in protest, arguing that yesterday was just getting acclimated to the north, and she’d only really started working properly this morning. To be fair, she had a point.

But it still took two days…

“…Ugh! Fine. Let’s just drop it.”

“Camilla. Just be honest. You’re not upset because I didn’t acknowledge your achievement, but because I took away your food.”

“Who said I was upset about having my food taken away…!”

You did.

Of course, I kept quiet, thinking I might get hit if I actually said that.

After the brief commotion, we sat down calmly to chat.

“What are Lucia and Francesca doing?”

“Working, of course.”

“That’s not what I meant…”

Lucia and Francesca were traveling around the north, each fulfilling their roles.

Lucia, who took the lead in helping the poor and refugees, was going around shelters and hospitals with Holy Knights and priests centered around the Relief Order, treating people.

Generally, when conflict breaks out, people tend to flee to safe areas, so most refugees flocked to major cities. Places with military presence, maintained public order, food, medicine, and so on.

And the more people gather, the higher the probability of disease outbreaks. This isn’t always true, but statistically, it tends to be the case.

Especially in the current situation, where people’s immune systems are weakened from lack of food and the medical infrastructure has collapsed.

That was Lucia’s battlefield.

“Lucia is overwhelmed taking care of patients. I heard from the priests there that some kind of epidemic has broken out and it’s quite chaotic.”

“An epidemic? Like influenza?”

I nodded. Winter epidemics were circulating throughout the north.

Honestly, diseases like the flu aren’t considered particularly dangerous in developed countries. The same goes for the Empire with its advanced medicine.

But when the flu spreads during wartime, it’s a different story.

“With refugees’ immune systems significantly weakened, influenza is causing deaths. The hospitals are full, so each shelter has set up its own separate facilities for isolation, and well… you can imagine the rest.”

Each shelter was implementing its own countermeasures, but that was the problem.

How could good solutions emerge when everyone faced different situations? Some shelters had such poor hygiene that waste flowed on the floor, some lacked space for proper isolation, and some had run out of medicine and couldn’t provide treatment.

In this situation, people were dying every day.

Some spread the disease without knowing they were infected, some deliberately spat in wells to spite others, and some shelters even expelled flu patients, causing them to freeze to death.

Military chaplains and medical officers dispatched from the army were trying to help, but with railways damaged by the abnormal cold wave, they couldn’t receive medical supplies from the rear, so they were essentially helpless.

“Not all refugee shelters are in terrible condition, but the situation is certainly not good.”

“It might be much more serious than we expected…”

“Yes… probably so.”

In that sense, Lucia was like a ray of light.

Her healing powers had reached a level where she could reattach a half-torn beast-folk tail in one go, restore a leg broken for years to its original state, and repair nerves in fingers that had been severed and reattached—truly miraculous.

Thanks to her, the north’s medical system was slowly showing signs of returning to normal.

“There’s still a long way to go, but it will eventually return to normal, I suppose.”

“And what about Francesca? Is she doing alright too?”

“Francesca?”

Francesca’s situation was much better. She was operating in the rear.

Unlike the frontline areas of the north where movement was restricted by martial law and heavy snowfall, many areas in the rear still had functioning infrastructure. A prime example was the administrative capital, Novonikolayevsk—the city with the military government headquarters and the Grand Duke’s body.

Of course, saying the situation was good was only relative; in absolute terms, it wasn’t.

In other words, Francesca’s location was also pretty messed up.

I changed my wet socks as I organized my thoughts. Snow must have gotten in without me noticing.

“They were checking the mana lines to repair the railway, and guess what? Someone had cut and stolen kilometers of mana lines.”

“Mana lines? What are those?”

“Oh, think of them like power lines.”

Mana lines are similar to power lines. Like those black cables hanging from utility poles that we commonly see.

Camilla pulled her blanket closer and tilted her head, asking with a puzzled voice:

“But why would someone cut mana lines?”

“You know how power lines have copper inside, right?”

“Yes.”

“Mana lines similarly have wires made of minerals like copper inside. They’re made of minerals with high mana conductivity. People cut them to sell.”

“…They cut them to sell? Really?”

“Yep. If you take enough, they fetch a pretty good price.”

Cutting mana lines carelessly can be fatal. Just as high-voltage current flows through power lines, strong mana flows through mana lines, so even decent mages can die if they mishandle them, let alone ordinary people.

Of course, stealing mana lines is a serious crime, and if caught during wartime (with martial law declared), one could be executed for espionage rather than theft. Sabotaging infrastructure is a task performed by intelligence agencies or special operations units during wartime.

As a result, the military government headquarters, belatedly recognizing the situation, ordered the local police and military police to catch the culprits. They needed to recover the lines quickly to avoid delays in restoration work.

“For now, they’re trying to find any remaining mana lines in the Empire, but that will take quite some time. So they’re focusing on salvaging whatever rail lines they can.”

“If those rail lines are restored, will supplies come to the front?”

“Yes. The volume transported by rail is significant.”

The reason I knew exactly what was happening with the others scattered throughout the north wasn’t for any special reason.

I simply had people assigned to them who reported back to me.

I asked Camilla, who was fidgeting inside her blanket:

“Oh, right. Did you meet Pipin?”

“Pipin? That military person? Of course I did.”

On the second day of our northern dispatch, I assigned one of my subordinates to each of them.

Charnoi, a nymph, went to Lucia, with whom she shared religious views and got along best.

Jake, a special operations veteran with multiple overseas missions, was assigned to Francesca to blend in with the mages gathered from around the world.

Finally, Pipin, a former naval intelligence officer, was assigned to Camilla.

There was no grand reason—I simply assigned Pipin to Camilla because he was the most fluent in Kienese after me.

Anyway, thanks to this arrangement, I could receive real-time reports on Camilla, Lucia, and Francesca’s activities without leaving my seat. I planned to visit them occasionally, but I couldn’t always do so.

Camilla, who said she had greeted Pipin, smiled broadly as she shared her story. Of course, since it wasn’t appropriate to discuss inside, we had to step outside briefly.

I dragged Camilla, who had been comfortably lying down, outside, but she didn’t complain. She understood well that such conversations shouldn’t be held indoors.

We walked along the street with winter winds howling, quietly conversing.

“He seemed like a nice person! Come to think of it, I’d seen him from afar before, but yesterday was the first time we properly talked.”

“Is that so? That’s good.”

“I saw him handling a radio yesterday, and it seemed to have radio functions too.”

“…Radio? Ah, that’s because it’s a frequency-waterproofed device. You probably heard him intercepting imperial military communications, not listening to the radio. Though it might have been an actual radio.”

“That’s fascinating.”

“Honestly, I find it more fascinating that you ate an entire day’s worth of combat rations in one sitting…”

“Oh please, stop…!”

*

After that, life continued in a routine pattern.

Camilla burned coniferous forests and fought monsters at the northern front lines, Lucia traveled between refugee shelters and field hospitals just behind the front lines saving patients, and Francesca struggled between local officials and thieves as she repaired roads and railways in the rear.

My routine wasn’t much different.

When I woke up in the morning, I would shower, put on a suit, and leave my quarters. According to imperial military regulations, soldiers must wear uniforms, but I wasn’t an imperial soldier. So I wore a suit. Wearing ceremonial dress would mark me as a foreign soldier, but in a suit, people assumed I was a civil servant.

I had time to eat breakfast, but the gloomy northern weather and the sight of refugee processions killed my appetite.

After leaving my quarters, my first stop was the military government headquarters.

I would drink a cheap Magic Tower-made coffee mix (I don’t understand why these are found in military bases in every country) and head straight to my office.

I called it an office, but there was nothing special about it. The military government headquarters had simply placed a desk and civilian terminal in a storage room they had been using. I would spend some time there warming my frozen hands and feet until Lieutenant Lyudmila, my interpreter and guide officer, would come to tell me it was time to go to the conference room.

That’s how my day would begin.

“Yes… thank you all for attending promptly this early morning. Today we will discuss the Naroda Mountains…”

Meetings typically began with discussions about the activities of Camilla, Lucia, and Francesca.

Camilla’s story, being the highest priority, came first, followed by Lucia and Francesca in an order that varied depending on the day’s situation.

Of course, no meaningful conversations took place in the meetings I attended. I was a foreign military attaché, after all. To protect imperial military secrets, the military government commanders were careful with their words in front of me. So only superficial, insubstantial topics were discussed.

If a topic related to classified information was about to come up:

“Do we have any assets left to monitor the posture of flying demons?”

“Well, there’s one air surveillance base still operational in the mountains—”

“……”

“Ah, that’s not what I meant…”

An officer who was about to disclose the location of newly deployed air surveillance assets quickly closed his mouth and tried to take back his words. Just as militaries around the world try to hide the locations of air defense assets like radar or surface-to-air missiles, the imperial army also wanted to keep the locations of such units secret.

Of course, I was officially known as someone who couldn’t understand Kienese at all. So I just blinked my eyes with a clueless expression and asked Lieutenant Lyudmila:

“…Lieutenant, why has the meeting stopped? Is there an emergency?”

“Well, you see…”

Most meetings proceeded in this manner.

The military government commanders would have me sit there, interrogate me for information they wanted, but share none of what I wanted to know. If the person sitting there couldn’t understand the language, they might have been frustrated, but unfortunately for them, that wasn’t the case with me.

Because I understood Imperial language. It was the result of three years of undercover work in the Empire.

After mentally noting the air defense unit location leaked by the careless officer, I rushed back to my quarters as soon as the meeting ended to prepare a report for my company. Most of this work involved transcribing what I had overheard in the meeting room.

Now, if I took this to the Abas Embassy in Petrograd using my northern access pass issued in the name of the Defense Minister, the Military Intelligence Agency would obtain imperial military secrets from the north.

“Let’s see, my schedule to visit the embassy in December…”

Of course, I wasn’t just doing espionage. Well, I was here to spy, so I was doing my main job, but that’s because my profession was an intelligence officer.

I was also faithfully serving as Camilla’s companion.

“Attaché! The Saint is looking for you!”

“Tell her I’m not here. I don’t want to carry stuff.”

“But she’s already here…”

“What exactly are you doing hiding here?”

“Kyaaak! Kyaaaak!”

Being called by Lucia to do some delivery work for relief supplies.

“Attaché. We need to install a new communication network here, how should we do this?”

“Why are you asking me, Miss Mage?”

“Don’t they do this in the military?”

“I’m just a ground-pounding infantryman… Aren’t there any mages who’ve served in the military?”

“None of us have served. University students are exempt from military service.”

“…So why are a bunch of civilians playing soldier?”

“Pardon?”

“Nothing. Let me see that.”

Being called by Francesca to organize lines and install communication networks.

“Aha. So that’s why you looked so unwell!”

“Don’t even mention it. That magic broke the line so many times. But Camilla, do you need something? Why did you suddenly call me?”

“Could you help me read this map?”

“…What?”

“I don’t know how to read maps. How do you read this? The compass keeps spinning, so I can’t tell which way is north!”

“There’s Pipin. Pipin. Or any of the other soldiers.”

“Well, actually, I asked them first…”

“…And?”

“They all seem unable to read maps properly. We climbed all the way to high ground, but they kept saying this doesn’t seem like the right path and wanted to turn back.”

“……”

Being called by Camilla to read maps for her.

I wondered why they kept dumping these miscellaneous tasks on me, but it was hard to refuse when they asked for a little help while I was visiting.

Anyway, I too worked diligently in my position. I think I at least did my fair share.

However, as with all workplaces, working hard didn’t reduce the workload. If anything, my work increased.

Most of it was related to communication or the three women’s activities, but…

“Minotaur horn powder, harpy bone fragments, advanced alchemy grinding tools, magical reagents, holy water from the Lien River, silver rosary, chalice with amethyst, moving dragon-shaped chocolate from the Magic Tower… What is all this?”

“These are items requested by the Hero, the Saint, and the Alchemist. They’ve already passed customs, but to clear them, we need approval from the Military Governor who exercises administrative authority in the north.”

“So you’re here to ask for permission.”

“Yes.”

“……”

“Oh, by the way, I removed that chocolate listed at the very end. If anyone asks, just say it was lost in transit.”

These kinds of tasks were added too.

To make an excuse, the Empire’s administrative procedures were too complex and cumbersome for the three foreigners to handle, so I, with my minimal knowledge, ended up taking responsibility.

I wondered why they hadn’t brought such items in advance, or why they hadn’t included them in the regular supplies brought in by the Church or Magic Tower, but I didn’t bother asking. Lucia or Francesca would probably respond, “Couldn’t we have loaded even a heater in the space for my belongings?”

Fortunately, the military government headquarters didn’t interfere much. How could they refuse when the Hero, Saint, and Alchemist wanted to bring in items they needed? Besides, the headquarters was too busy with the wartime situation.

Anyway, the imperial military wasn’t in a position to worry about such trivial items.

Thus, we gained some administrative privileges to import and export items to and from the north, limited to the three women’s belongings. It was an unexpected benefit.

That day, I immediately sent all the information I had collected to the Abas Embassy in the capital.

Fortunately, the information safely reached the embassy.

“That’s great! Congratulations!”

“Thanks, Camilla.”

“But you know…”

Camilla, standing on her hands with her feet against the wall, spoke to me in a trembling voice.

“Could I… come down now?”

“No, you cannot. Stay hanging there.”

“Hiiing…!”

Camilla trembled her arms and made dying noises.

For reference, she was currently being punished for smuggling chocolate.

*

The eventful day in the north was gradually coming to an end.

In the distance, sirens and broadcasts announcing the blackout could be heard.

[We inform all citizens. As of 20:00 hours, a blackout order is issued for the entire northern region. Citizens, please follow the authorities’ control in an orderly manner…]

[The blackout targets include: advertising lights, sign lights, street lights, outdoor work lights, indoor lights, vehicle lights…]

Military vehicles with loudspeakers drove around the city announcing the blackout. When the broadcast was heard, people hid inside buildings as if they were cockroaches exposed to light.

Hospitals, police stations, homes, factories, even the military government headquarters—all of Novonikolayevsk was plunged into complete darkness.

Under the cool moonlight, a military vehicle slowly crossed the desolate road.

I pulled the blackout curtains I had bought during the day and lay in bed with the indoor lighting dimmed to a minimum.

The military radio I had set up at my bedside spewed out the frequencies it had caught.

-‘Citizens, did you have a safe day today? For those of you preparing for tomorrow, today we have new information…’

After living in the north for about 5 days, I naturally learned something.

Whether due to the powerful high-concentration mana flowing from the rift or jamming by signal intelligence units, broadcasts from other regions couldn’t be received in the north.

In other words, in the north, only broadcasts from northern media outlets could be heard.

And typically, when war breaks out and martial law is declared, the military first takes control of the media. This is necessary to prevent the enemy from capturing broadcasting facilities and conducting black propaganda.

In other words, all broadcasts now, including this radio, were being aired after passing through the censorship of the military government headquarters.

-‘…May peace be with all subjects of His Imperial Majesty.’

After rattling off a pathetic closing line, the MC mumbled something about returning for the next broadcast. Yeah, now it feels like I’m in the Empire.

I recorded the newly intercepted content on a recorder and organized it as data. Even propaganda-filled reports can become useful material in the hands of a skilled analyst.

After about two hours, I finished organizing the data and could finally lie down in bed. For reference, Pipin, Jake, and Charnoi had been asleep for a long time.

Lying in bed, I covered myself with a blanket and recalled Charnoi’s report from today.

‘Charnoi. Have you completed your tasks for today? Why is there no report?’

‘Today the priests gave me quality honey candy… Natural honey collected from the monastery of the Church, sanctified and made into candy… It has a nymph-friendly taste…!’

‘No, I’m asking if you did your work.’

“……”

Honestly, at this point, maybe Charnoi could be dispensed with.

No matter how I looked at it, she seemed like the most useless surplus personnel, so I assigned her to Lucia, but now this surplus personnel was sticking right next to Lucia, lazing around, which infuriated me.

Still, Lucia seemed to like her. And she hadn’t been caught by the Imperial Guard or the Counterintelligence Command.

As bedtime approached, all sorts of useless thoughts came to mind. I set my alarm for wake-up time and closed my eyes again.

“……”

Just as I was about to fall asleep, the phone rang.

Checking the number on the display, I saw it was a call from Francesca. Wondering if something had happened to her, I immediately got up from bed and answered the phone.

“Hello. Administrator? What’s the matter at this hour?”

-‘Attaché. Would you like to see something interesting…?’

“Something interesting…? What’s that suddenly…?”

I wanted to ask if she was talking nonsense because she wasn’t fully awake. Or maybe she was drunk or high.

But Francesca’s next words were quite intriguing.

-‘Remember when I suggested we make a bet…?’

“Yes, I remember.”

-‘It seems I’ve won this bet…’

From the other end of the phone, Francesca continued:

-‘The black market. Would you like to come see it with me…?’