The War to End All Wars (4)

Andrei knew little about Edan personally, given their brief acquaintance. However, he was well-versed in Carno’s mannerisms when interacting with others. Grandiose pride was not merely a military prerogative but a Belfast trend.

Ever fashion-conscious, Carno would not overlook such mainstream sentiments.

While they had only met face-to-face a handful of times, the General could discern Carno’s subtly deferential demeanor towards Edan – a basic skill all authoritative figures honed for sizing up fresh acquaintances.

After Edan’s departure, Andrei had inquired about this from Carno during their next meeting:

‘Say, Carno.’

‘Yes?’

‘For reasons unknown, you seemed rather impeccably dressed today.’

‘Is the individual not unfamiliar?’

‘True, yet I do not recall you exhibiting such acute attentiveness previously.’

‘What preposterous insinuations. How mortifying.’

While unvoiced, Carno’s choice of words, tones, and nuances differed slightly based on the individual’s standing.

Initially, Andrei had assumed it stemmed from the visitor’s foreign renown, warranting extra discretion.

Yet if Edan possessed a distinct identity, Carno’s reactions acquired profound implications.

This ultimately provided the decisive impetus for Andrei to directly confront Edan with his suspicions.

“…Might you perhaps have a request for me?”

That succinct query carried profound subtext.

Such phrasing is commonly employed when soliciting minor favors from business acquaintances:

If Edan responded, ‘In that case, any insights benefiting weapons exports would be appreciated–’ it would imply perceiving Andrei as a mere business partner.

Then his painstaking deductions would be incorrect, likely prompting acquiescence to the trivial request.

Conceding a minor quid pro quo for an erroneous judgment seemed inconsequential. Retracting after the response would prove more embarrassing.

‘However, if not…’

Simultaneously, subordinates might employ that query when endeavoring to impress superiors.

With shoulders squared and stance firm, a confident ‘Indeed, I have desires’ could ensue.

While Andrei could not yet determine his required stance, he opted to hear the response before preemptively speculating.

“You mentioned desires?”

“Quite literally. Might there be something you require from me, Magician?”

“Yet you must be terribly occupied, General……”

“Consider it a small indulgence on my part.”

This tentative probing alone indicated lingering uncertainties precluding outright conviction.

In ordinary circumstances, Edan might have provided further hints until certitude materialized or indulged in some mischievous banter given the opportunity:

‘Ah, so you have deduced thus far. Yet the time for revelations is not nigh……’ Subtly needling while withholding complete disclosure could prove entertaining diversions.

Of course, this presumed the absence of urgent wartime exigencies that had gradually eroded even Freugne’s resilience after repeatedly witnessing abysmal examination performances despite providing the actual answers.

“And if I desired more, how would you respond?”

“Ordinarily, I ought to refuse… yet I can only hope the endeavor merits such value.”

After contemplatively drumming the desk, Edan responded:

“So your eyes have opened.”

“…?!”

“You have already grasped the essentials. Join us.”

Even after hearing the truth, he remained entrenched in obsolete strategies and tactics – vestiges of an era defined by Belfast’s hubris and underestimation of the Demonic Tribe.

Yet he acknowledged the self-evident: without Belfast, the Belfast Army could not exist.

And confronted with the mounting losses from the frontlines, he had gradually accepted the necessity of embracing any means to achieve victory in this war.

Nodding as if entranced, Andrei underwent Edan’s condensed combat primer from that day forth.

Just as mountaineers ascend swiftly by following blazed trails and grasping pre-installed guide ropes rather than scrambling blindly from the base, Freugne’s promotions alone proved insufficient without facilitators to provide that initial uplift.

As one of the most pragmatic among the uninitiated, Andrei was an ideal candidate.

“I fail to comprehend. Why must we retreat?”

“Naturally, with declining morale and combat power, obstinately clinging to an overstretched defensive front will only invite piecemeal annihilation.”

“Yet that would permit those Demonic vermin to defile our sacred homeland……”

“Attempting to safeguard everything will inevitably result in losing it all.”

Of course, comprehensively remodeling someone’s mindset was an arduous undertaking:

“Insisting on that path will assuredly lead to ruin. Surely you do not desire such a future? Let us bide until Glasgow’s reinforcements arrive and regroup. For the Demons will undoubtedly launch a massive offensive, which we must exploit.”

“Your rationale for retreating is understood. Yet how can you assert such certainty regarding the Demonic strategy?”

“Ah……”

“Allow me to elucidate my perspective, commencing with the Armiene Mountain battle four days prior–”

Even shackled by peculiar obstinacies, he remained an undeniable expert.

Indiscriminately dismissing his elaborate technical justifications would only undermine credibility.

Hence, Edan did not attempt persuasion.

Convincing him that a nineteen-year-old layabout from beyond the borderlands could glimpse the future was equally infeasible.

“You require direct witnessing before belief, then?”

“No, I simply–”

“Very well. We shall revisit this in two days’ time. Here, take these projected Demonic routes, just in case. Peruse them at your leisure later.” s believe through observation, and as successive frontline evidence arrived over the ensuing days, Andrei could only grudgingly acknowledge its veracity.

The battlefield unfolded precisely as Edan had foretold.

Ultimately, while unable to provide a satisfactory explanation for these preternatural insights, their accuracy remained unimpeachable.

And on the battlefield, only victory mattered – whether through fortuitous stumbling, brute force, or strategically brilliant historical feats.

Finally, Major General Andrei attained conviction. Though still bewildered by the enigmatic source, this sufficed.

“You may now depart, General. Take this.”

“What is this…?”

Before dismissing him to the frontlines, Edan handed Andrei a coin embossed with a clover emblem.

“Proof of your affiliation with us.”

“…’Us’?”

“Indicating your continued value to our endeavors.”

And as few things exhausted one as relentlessly as zeal,

Edan provided tangible remuneration alongside this token of fealty.

Donning the guise of procuring newly developed equipment and armaments, the General spent a week receiving the requisite knowledge and future liaison protocols, returning to the warfront imbued with a giddy sense of belonging.

While his longtime acquaintance Carno’s role as the liaison and his own prolonged organizational ties contributed to this disorientation, they were not the sole factors.

As the adage proclaimed, the more one knew, the more one perceived.

Indeed, thoroughly internalizing the practice examinations had illuminated the Demonic strategies and tactics.

And he could already discern officers potentially under the organization’s influence.

Andrei could scarcely fathom the depths to which this entity had infiltrated the republic.

Yet the organization remained distinct from the war itself.

And where he turned, others remained oblivious.

“What is the meaning of this?!”

His aide’s incomprehension was palpable.

“Retreating before those vile Demons?!”

Andrei could empathize, having once harbored similar perspectives.

In the wake of the previous war’s losses, humiliations, and the hero’s demise, only a ravaged homeland remained.

That vital essence propelling one to sacrifice all for ceaseless advancement – the wellspring of that life force was pride itself.

‘We cannot cede even an inch of sacred soil to those accursed Demonic fiends!’

An admirable resolve, yet reality seldom obliged ideals.

With logistics, manpower, and training quality sorely lacking, where lay the basis for such grandiose pride?

‘Our ammunition is depleted. The supporting battlemages have all perished. What are our orders?’

‘Urghh……’

‘Urghh?’

‘…The vital essence! With human courage and resolve blazing forth, nothing is impossible!’

‘So, complete nonsense then–’

‘Arrghhhh! We can prevail!! Chaaargeeee!!!!’

Thus, this outlandish spiritual dogma had emerged as a byproduct for reconciling that dissonance.

Yet the aging General had long internalized life’s wisdom. Peering beyond the veil into the future had transformed him.

“You seem unconvinced.”

“Indeed.”

An incompetent commander might have labored to convince his subordinate through elaborate rationalizations – a protracted, tedious process liable to devolve into fruitless debates while appearing transparently self-aggrandizing.

He had merely received Edan’s directive without substantiation.

And his subordinate remained enshrouded by impenetrable pride, impervious to reasoned appeals.

Hence:

“Is this insubordination?”

“Sir?”

“Then perish.”

“No, wait! That is not my intent, I merely… have doubts……”

Swiftly resolved, requiring neither justification nor prior knowledge – only unadulterated facts, eliminating any possibility of counterarguments.

“You question your superior’s orders?!”

“No, Sir. I misspoke.”

Behold its unequivocal efficacy.