A War Hero With No Regrets – Chapter 77

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“It’s really true…”

Werner Grimm bit his lip after confirming the personnel order.

For something called an ’emergency’ personnel order, the number of people affected was larger than expected.

How could so many people be transferred or dismissed from their current positions when it wasn’t even the regular period for personnel changes?

The intention was obvious to anyone who looked at it.

Another purge had begun.

Now that the Holy Cross Brigade was continuing its peacekeeping activities in the Republic of Bostania.

The President would likely dispatch more troops to Bostania.

If things continued that way, the Republic would naturally become dependent on the Empire’s military power.

In the end, it was all about justification.

Appointing Heinz Bismarck as the brigade commander and the vanguard of the plan born from his ugly greed was also to fulfill his justification.

If Heinz succeeded in the operation, he could naturally package his family as a ‘family of war heroes’.

But what if he failed the operation and was injured or killed?

That alone would be an excellent justification for intervening in the Republic of Bostania.

Let’s never forgive the rebels who murdered our sons and daughters, he would say.

Either way, the value of his name and bloodline would increase.

The President of the people, who had deposed the Emperor and risen to the top, had now begun preparations to make himself the new Emperor.

There was no one in the capital to stop him.

If this coup failed, then truly irreversible things would happen.

He was already the one wielding absolute power.

During the long war, the Imperial Diet, which had at least existed, became just a shell of an institution, and now it was no different from something that had just changed its name in the cabinet led by the President.

This was also why Werner was being extremely cautious.

For him, the President was a completely different type of enemy from the Titans he had fought through several cycles.

Simply killing him wouldn’t solve the problem.

Since he had already taken control of everything in the Empire, if they didn’t want to see the Empire split and collapse, they needed someone to replace his vacant position.

This restricted Werner Grimm’s actions.

Looking at the state of the Republic of Bostania, there was no guarantee that future wouldn’t become the Empire’s.

No matter how evil the leader was, or how terrible the things he had done.

The absence of a strong leader inevitably led to division.

‘That’s why I tried to promote Arthur Philias as the next President….’

The problem was that Arthur’s foundation wasn’t fully built yet.

Moreover, crucially, there was no card that could reverse public opinion in one go.

The Titans sleeping in the underground of the Armaments Bureau?

Depending on what the original purpose was, that could even be seen as a choice made to ‘protect the Empire’.

A stronger message was needed for the public.

In other words, something like the Titans were artificial life forms created by kidnapping innocent Imperial citizens, or that the President was actually a Titan…

A decisive blow that would make even the President’s staunch supporters turn their backs.

“…Wait.”

As he continued to examine the personnel order, Werner realized there was something off about it.

“These guys were the President’s closest aides. Why are they being sent to such remote positions…”

Until now, the President’s pattern before a purge was to demote people who could be harmful to him to remote positions and virtually force them to retire.

If they didn’t submit during that process, the next step would be to subject them to military law with strange reasons, just like Major General Dietrich Halder had received.

It was truly a petty method.

When all one’s honors and positions were about to fly away, how could anyone keep their head held high?

He filled the resulting vacancies with his own close associates.

That was the reason why President Mikhail Bismarck had been able to completely tame the military under his feet after the end of the war.

But in this personnel order, many of the President’s close aides had been removed.

Of course, the President was someone who would mercilessly cast aside even close aides if he didn’t like them, but this time something felt strange.

‘Rubendorf was a figure who could have been considered for the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, so why was he thrown into the abyss?’

‘Why was the Air Force Operations Commander replaced?’

The Strategic Security Agency was also an organization responsible for counterintelligence and information warfare.

For a new organization, it had an extremely tight information network and was projecting strong influence both domestically and abroad through extralegal authority.

The reason for creating such an organization despite existing ones was none other than the dispersion of power.

It was evidence that the President didn’t trust his close aides from the beginning.

But Rubendorf, the Chief of Operations at the Army General Staff Headquarters, and Air Force Operations Commander Peltz had been the President’s closest aides for a long time.

There was no reason for them to be cast aside like this without any precursors or trends.

This confused Werner Grimm.

Anyone could become a target of purge.

However, the figures written on this document now were the meritorious retainers who had played a decisive role in the President’s control of the military.

Was he saying that the hunt was over and now he would devour them?

Just like war heroes like Werner?

But something about that didn’t sit quite right.

It was then.

A contact came from an officer belonging to the Inspection Department whom he had reached out to in advance, just in case.

A mid-level manager — a major — who handled practical affairs under Arwen.

“I’m sorry, the entire Inspection Department has been in such chaos. I couldn’t contact you earlier.”

“What exactly happened?”

“Chief Arwen Orka, no, the former chief, is currently under investigation by the military police.”

“What do you mean…?”

Investigation?

“The charge is involvement in a conspiracy to rebel. I myself didn’t have a good time at the military police until just now, even if it was just lip service…”

“Please tell me more details.”

Involvement in a conspiracy to rebel?

Arwen?

Werner’s breathing trembled slightly.

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The first thing Arwen did after regaining her memories was to erase all traces of her visit to 38 Neudink.

Luthers would never want them to regain their past memories.

He had always been that kind of person.

He would give his side to his beloved lovers, but he would never allow them to bear that burden.

Everything recorded in this Last Shelter was also a kind of independent action passed down from previous cycles’ Arwen Orkas.

Even Luthers didn’t know that he had left such records in this place.

In fact, memory recovery through Akasha was largely fragmentary.

It wasn’t about awakening all memories, nor did it make one’s head particularly smarter.

To describe the exact sensation, well.

It felt like watching a long movie.

That feeling when the ending credits roll up, and as you stand up from your seat, your heart aches with lingering emotions.

However, unlike a movie strictly shown on a screen, the narrator was oneself, and the difference was that it was what one’s previous cycle self had experienced.

That was why she chose to write a diary.

What happened, how it felt, what mindset, what thoughts, what actions, how those around reacted.

She obsessively wrote down and documented all the information from each day.

It was the duty that Arwen Orka, aide to war hero Luthers Edan and deputy commander of humanity’s last bastion the Graveyard, had to fulfill.

Unlike others, she acted in a way that could help Luthers’ regression, even if just a little.

Even if he started a new life, the information contained in Akasha would never disappear.

Separately from Luthers’ experiences.

It was the method Arwen chose to lighten his burden a little, and also a way to develop herself further.

After backing up all that data, Arwen plugged in the multi-purpose USB she always carried.

There were some important documents that President Mikhail Bismarck had asked her to analyze, but at this point, who cared about such things?

After the massive 2TB of text was completely transferred, Arwen cleaned up all traces of her presence at 38 Neudink and slowly made her way out of the bunker.

The elevator that hadn’t been working until just now was suddenly operating normally.

Was it really just a ghost’s prank?

But she was no longer afraid.

She had experienced death thirty-nine times.

The time to be afraid of ghosts or hallucinations had long since passed.

Rather than being afraid, she would make friends with them if anything.

“Phew…”

Arwen took a deep breath.

It had been broad daylight when she arrived, but as she emerged from the bunker, it was the middle of the night with countless stars twinkling.

It was a beautiful sight, but Arwen’s mind was already filled with nothing but thoughts of Luthers Edan.

He wasn’t dead.

She could be certain of that.

The Luthers she knew would never die, nor would he allow himself to be taken down easily.

Even if it meant burning his own body, he was the type of person who would stubbornly take in everything with his eyes until the very end of that cycle to prepare for the next one.

Arwen suddenly recalled something he had once said to her.

-I really don’t know what the President is thinking. But one thing is certain, that man is definitely not a superman or a saint.

-Someday, when the time comes, we might have to properly confront him.

It was certainly so.

The suspicious actions of the President that she couldn’t recall when she didn’t have her memories now struck Arwen’s consciousness.

A series of actions to control the military.

His reason for placing her, who had reported Luthers Edan, in the position of Inspection Chief with strong authority.

And yet, she realized anew how much she had grown during all the time she had spent with Luthers Edan.

“…He’s probably opposing the President now.”

Even if Luthers had really retired because he was tired, there was no way President Mikhail would have left that alone.

Now, the task for her, a disgusting traitor, was set.

While searching for Luthers Edan’s whereabouts.

“Predict and prepare.”

It was time to prepare one step ahead of the man she had loved, and would love in the future.

That was the job of an aide, after all.

It was the moment when a bird of prey, which had been mistaken for a mere bluebird in a cage, spread its broken wings and soared high.

Graveyard Deputy Commander, Arwen Orka.

She who had been with Luthers Edan was, like her lover, an eagle that tore apart its prey.

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