—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Phew…”
“Good work, Commander. After tomorrow, all the schedules will be over.”
“You’ve worked hard too.”
Drake Brown stretched his body.
The summit, which had seemed unnecessarily daunting, was now facing its final schedule tomorrow.
With the schedule to return home at noon, the official events would end tomorrow.
Now, it would be fine to relax a bit.
However, saying they would return home was no different from saying they had to finish various tasks that had been put off for a while.
It wasn’t just about simple paperwork or meetings.
The mysterious radio transmissions and letters.
As the commander of the 808th Security Battalion, it wasn’t something he could easily let pass.
“Battalion Commander, have you heard anything separately from the headquarters?”
“Ah, you mean the radio transmission from before? The decoded content has arrived.”
Drake Brown let out a deep sigh at the battalion commander’s nonchalant appearance.
“Why didn’t you inform me right away?”
The battalion commander’s expression stiffened as he realized his mistake.
“Ah… Well, you seemed too busy, Commander.”
“No matter how busy I look, that’s not an excuse! Is that an excuse that should come from the commander of the elite unit guarding the capital?!”
“I’m sorry! Commander!!”
The battalion commander, who had been relaxed, jumped up from his seat and shouted.
Anyway, whether it was this guy or that guy, they were too immersed in peace.
If even the 808th Security Battalion was like this, the discipline of other units would be needless to say.
“So what was the content?”
“It was really nothing… The signal coming through that radio was Morse code, and according to the information department head, it was confirmed to be a signal used by the Central Military District Command 5 years ago.”
Central Military District 5 years ago?
Drake’s eyebrows furrowed.
Wasn’t that where the Graveyard was located?
“So what was the decoded content?”
“Don’t fight, help him…”
“What the hell does that even mean?”
The battalion commander shrank at Drake’s words.
“I don’t know. That was really the only content transmitted. And the address from which the letter was sent was also the Graveyard…”
Crunch.
Drake Brown’s teeth gritted.
At first, he thought it might be a sign of terrorism.
But this was truly a malicious prank, wasn’t it?
Moreover, it was a prank that directly targeted him, the commander, not the President.
If they were targeting the President, they wouldn’t have sent such a warning message.
“Tell them to forward it to the police and request an investigation. We can’t overlook this.”
Who on earth could it be?
Drake Brown couldn’t hastily point to one person.
Drake also couldn’t say he had no enemies at all.
Rather, he had quite a few.
The Graveyard was a unique fortress even within the Empire.
Whether in a good or bad sense.
As a result, as the signs of humanity’s victory gradually became clear, there were occasional checks from the outside.
Those who took the lead in protecting the people of the fortress at that time were Deputy Commander Arwen Orka and Assault Battalion Commander Drake Brown.
They had gained a lot of recognition, and also received a lot of envy and jealousy.
Now that Arwen Orka had become the Inspector General, they probably wouldn’t dare to touch the Inspection Department, so they might be casually poking at the easy target, the Security Battalion Commander.
If it was those who had seized the opportunity to engage in tyranny now that the war was over, it made sense.
Even the part about not trusting His Excellency the President.
And the part about not telling Arwen Orka.
It felt like the pieces of the scattered puzzle were fitting together.
Making His Excellency the President, who was ‘a little more cautious’ than others, suspect him.
And telling him not to let Arwen, the Inspector General, move.
It was a plan that was so shallow that it made him want to laugh hollowly.
“Anyway, know that I won’t let it slide if something like this happens again.”
“I’m sorry…!”
“Then you may go.”
As Drake waved his hand irritably, the security battalion commander hurriedly bowed his head and left the commander’s lounge.
‘Luthers, I wonder if you felt the same way.’
The higher the rank, the heavier the weight of the burden on the shoulders.
Even at the battalion level, commanding only about 500 personnel, it was like this.
How heavy were the shoulders of the commander of the Graveyard, who had the largest number of personnel among the fortress commands?
Drake still had memories of laughing and chatting together during his company grade officer days.
There were many things he felt bitter about at that time, but now that everything was over, he couldn’t help but look back on those actions.
An extension of the thought he had the other day.
Although he had thought about trying to improve their relationship, he couldn’t open his mouth when he actually faced him again.
“…Phew.”
Except for the memorial service, there was no time to be together in tomorrow’s schedule, so in fact, there was no opportunity to talk to him during this trip.
Someday, another chance would come.
Drake brushed it off like that.
Since there was plenty of time left after the end of the war, there would be at least one opportunity to pour out their empty hearts to each other.
Drake pressed his tired eyes with his fingers and silently fell into thought.
There were mountains of things to do besides improving his relationship with Luthers.
Apart from the mysterious radio transmissions and letter incidents, he also had to meet Brigadier General Arwen.
It was because Lieutenant Colonel Charlotte Evergreen had urgently arranged a meeting.
‘She didn’t contact me for months after transferring, and now she contacts me.’
If possible, it wouldn’t be bad to meet together with Lea Gilliard and Heinz, who were making a name for themselves in the armored division.
The fact that Luthers was working in the National Security Agency under the alias Werner Grimm…
‘For now, it’s right to keep it a secret.’
It was a personnel appointment directly made by His Excellency the President.
A mere lieutenant colonel like himself couldn’t spread rumors all over the place.
Especially in the case of Arwen, she might have stormed into the National Security Strategy Agency right away.
However, such trivial thoughts disappeared from Drake Brown’s mind.
The memorial park visit schedule to decorate the conclusion of the monumental summit.
Drake was paying his respects not far from the President, in tune with the requiem played by the Bostanian military band.
Boom!!
The red flames rising before his eyes.
Before he could even grasp the situation, Drake threw himself towards the President.
It was an instinctive movement.
An action derived from the will to protect.
“Your Excellency! Are you alright?!”
Drake, who had rushed in to protect the President with his back, quickly helped the fallen President to his feet.
“Drake…! What is happening now!”
“It’s a terrorist attack. We must evacuate immediately!!”
In the chaotic scene where screams and explosions echoed from all directions, Drake quickly began directing the security personnel who had belatedly arrived.
As Drake Brown supported the President and moved forward, the security guards surrounded them like bees protecting their queen.
But there was more than one terrorist.
A police officer in a bulletproof vest ran towards the group.
What he pulled out was an old-fashioned revolver.
It might have been simply to subdue the terrorists, but Drake’s intuition told him it wasn’t.
“Bring back my sacrificed sister…!! You warmonger bastard!!!!”
The police officer with a distorted face pulled the trigger of the revolver.
Bang!
The body of the President of the Republic of Bostania, who had been evacuating nearby, fell to the ground with a thud.
Next, the police officer’s gun was aimed at the President.
His sanity had long been lost.
He was just shooting to kill everyone in sight.
Drake threw himself towards the line of fire without hesitation this time as well.
Bang!
The police officer, shot through the forehead, collapsed while spilling blood.
There stood a man in black holding a pistol, his blue eyes flashing and his body covered in blood.
Drake Brown felt a chill run down his spine at the sight of him.
“Take it, Drake.”
He handed over the pistol he was holding.
Due to the nature of the memorial park, external personnel were not allowed to carry firearms, but he had somehow managed to sneak one in.
Drake, who received the pistol, quickly checked the magazine and calmly approached Luthers.
“I don’t know the number of terrorists. There are quite a few. They seem to have come fully prepared.”
It was a very familiar sight.
The somewhat powerless and calm atmosphere he had seen at the banquet hall had completely disappeared.
Before he knew it, Drake was unknowingly using his original name to answer.
“I will protect His Excellency the President, so Luthers, you—.”
“Yes, leave the terrorists to me. And…”
He pointed to his subordinates taking cover in the corner and added,
“Take care of those two as well.”
With those last words, without a moment’s hesitation, he walked through the crowd.
Luthers Edan—Werner Grimm just silently moved forward.
Indeed, just as he had done in the Graveyard.
Seeing that appearance clearly engraved in his memory, Drake Brown couldn’t even utter an answer.
He was still alone.
Even though the terrible war had ended.
He was still left alone on the battlefield.
***
Luthers Edan quickly moved his feet and ran through the park.
Ignoring the hands of people pleading for help and passing by the pitiful voices calling out to him.
They weren’t important.
What was important at the moment was eliminating the enemy rather than rescuing people.
He pushed the injured and shouted threats.
As the frightened people lay on the ground, a man holding a gun in one hand and running towards where the leaders had gathered entered Luthers’ sight.
Furrowed brows, rough breathing, a gaze fixed on one spot, trembling fingertips, and fear and anger evident on his entire face.
Reading all those emotions, Luthers picked up a stone lying on the ground.
Then he threw it towards the man with all his might.
The stone, which had traveled almost in a straight line, struck the back of the man’s head.
Crack! With the sound of something shattering, the man’s body toppled forward.
Got him.
Luthers quickly approached to retrieve the pistol the man was holding.
He had given the one he was using to Drake.
At that moment.
“Ugh, you… bas… tard…!”
The man who had been lying on the ground pulled out a detonator from his pocket.
A suicide bomb.
It was too late, both in distance and time, to fully react.
Just as Luthers was quickly turning his body to minimize the damage as much as possible.
Another gunshot rang through the air.
“If it had exploded like that, you would have been a goner!! It’s unlike you to not get your head straight?!”
Drake Brown.
He had hurriedly approached and extended his hand towards Luthers.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Was it akasha? The one sending that anonymous message? How does that work? Is it gonna be timey wimey stuff happening?
I’m pretty sure it’s Akasha sending the letters. And most likely, Akasha is trying to help Luthers. From my speculation, humanity probably wiped out each other in the future, so Akasha, with it’s quantum mechanics, saw the future and is trying to prevent that through Luthers and graveyard personnel, since ultimately, it’s goal is to “Save Humanity,” whether it’d be from the titans or from itself.
Nah I don’t need this b 😡 stard’s “freandship” 🤮🤮🤮🤮