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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“Charlotte, I…”
After hearing the whole story, Drake Brown held his head in both hands.
Could this really be true?
Cultivating Titans underneath the capital?
Deliberately releasing those Titans to build a pretext for intervention in the Republic of Bostania, with the intention of swallowing up their territory?
It was a mad idea.
So much so that it made him shudder and boiled his blood with murderous intent.
It was a foolish thought that only those who had never fought Titans could have.
Those creatures would never be under human control.
Hadn’t someone tried experiments before?
In one fortress, self-proclaimed scientists came to the front lines and took dying Titans, only to be unable to stop them when they suddenly started dividing, leading to total annihilation from inside the fortress.
At another front, while experimenting with radio waves that supposedly only affected Titans, they ended up attracting a dormant giant Titan, resulting in a catastrophe where five layers of trenches were completely devastated.
There was a reason why Luthers Edan, the Graveyard Fortress commander, would angrily drive away anyone who spoke of “controlling Titans” or “groundbreaking inventions to repel them.”
He thought it had all ended… but now they wanted to recreate that horrific war?
It would be extremely fortunate if it ended with just the Republic of Bostania.
The next target for those creatures, after gorging themselves on humans and increasing their numbers, would naturally be the entire continent.
It was clear that the Empire would not be free from their clutches either.
“According to Oracle’s near-prophetic calculations… the newly emerging Titan forces will be several times more cunning and systematic than those we faced before.”
“You mean… they’ve learned?”
“Yes.”
Charlotte’s eyes sparkled.
“We need your decision, Drake.”
“Haa.”
He let out a deep sigh.
Of course, it was clear what was right and wrong.
Drake was a soldier who had fought Titans all his life.
He couldn’t turn his back on a comrade who had been unjustly branded a fugitive, but if they were secretly cultivating Titans on top of that…
But at the same time, he was also the commander of the 808th Security Battalion.
“This is a coup d’état. A military rebellion. You know that, right?”
“Of course.”
“It means I could arrest you right now without any problem.”
“Why are you beating around the bush? Drake, you know too.”
“…”
“An emergency mobilization of military personnel has been issued. But you, who should have been the first to hear about it, are completely neglected right now.”
“My chief of staff will be handling things well in my place.”
“Are you pretending not to know because you don’t want to accept it? Or are you just stupid?”
Charlotte spoke with a sharp voice.
Every minute and second was crucial.
For Luthers’ plan—no, for the best future Charlotte had seen—Drake Brown’s cooperation was indispensable.
Although he had been pushed to the sidelines, his position as commander of the 808th Security Battalion was not something that could be dismissed as just another colonel.
“All you need to do is provide information. Nothing else is necessary. You won’t have to point a gun at the President.”
“Charlotte.”
“You idiot!! Look me in the eye!”
Finally unable to hold back, she untied her eye patch.
A discolored white eyeball.
Drake bit his lip hard.
“This is the result. Do you know how many deaths I’ve experienced to see the best scenario where the Empire doesn’t perish? Ousting the President and instating Arthur Philias as the Empire’s new President! That was the only solution I found.”
At that moment, Drake inadvertently let out a bitter laugh.
“Ha.”
“You’re laughing? You find this funny—”
It was an incredibly complex situation.
Although he was being scolded one-sidedly, why did this sensation feel so welcome?
Perhaps it was because this was like the Graveyard.
Unlike Charlotte, Drake didn’t have memories of the past.
Nevertheless, he was overwhelmed by a sense of some indescribable emotion welling up.
Happiness? Nostalgia?
He wasn’t sure what it was, but one thing was certain.
That the values and thoughts he had held until now were merely defense mechanisms.
“I just don’t know. Maybe I’ve been waiting for a day like this. Foolishly falling for the idea that I could assist that gloomy President without knowing my place…”
Drake lifted his bowed head.
“For now, I’ll do everything I can.”
Luthers was waiting for him.
The way things ended might not have been good, but he was still their eternal commander and a trustworthy classmate.
Love for classmates, love for country.
It was time to engrave these unchanging values in his heart once again.
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“Ah, listen well. This is the final warning. All rioters currently causing social unrest, disperse immediately. This is the last warning. If you do not disperse, we will arrest you. We cannot guarantee what may happen in that process!”
“Damn military bastards!!”
Don Matteus sensed that his capabilities were rapidly diminishing.
The rival gang in Hoenbaren, which had colluded with the President’s faction to set him up, had been sent to the afterlife together, from the boss to the lowest ranks.
After tidying up his business and dealing with those who had been disrespectful, Matteus unleashed his faithful dogs onto the streets.
They were thugs by nature and those who chose the path of thuggery in these times of war typically had one thing in common.
They were simply beasts.
If they saw a store, they destroyed it.
If they saw a man, they beat him.
If they saw a woman, they beat and raped her.
It was an incredibly simple algorithm.
As Hoenbaren was already filled with a year-end atmosphere, citizens who had been out late were helplessly caught up in the riots.
“Those bastards…!! They don’t listen! Shoot! Shoot!!”
Ratatatata!!
Ratatat!!
Naturally, from the military and police perspective, there was no reason to go easy on Matteus’ gang.
With urgent news of a coup in the north and unidentified units defecting in the east, there was no time to waste on thugs.
After one warning, the actual shooting began.
Having received the President’s approval, the military and police deployed for suppression were merciless.
However, Matteus couldn’t just sit there and take it either.
“Fuck, you think you’re the only ones with guns? We have them too, you bastards!!”
Bang! Clang! Ratatat!!
It had only been about a year since the war ended.
Military supplies that had been lost during that time were naturally forgotten.
In a situation where even ordinary citizens might have a pistol stashed at home, it was unlikely that Matteus’ illegal gang would have come armed with just clubs.
“Squad leader!! These bastards have guns!”
“Crazy bastards…!! Armored vehicle, call in an armored vehicle!!”
“What are you gonna do with an armored vehicle? We’ve got anti-tank missiles too, you pig bastards!!”
If they hadn’t prepared for this, they wouldn’t have been able to root out the hostile organizations that had nested in Hoenbaren.
Ratatatata!
Ratatat!!
The exchange of gunfire between the two forces showed no signs of ending soon.
And at the same time, the chaos wasn’t limited to just the main city area of Hoenbaren.
“Battalion Commander, something’s strange. Armored vehicles are passing in front of our position.”
The mechanized battalions widely spread across the Baltan suburb were receiving increasingly bizarre information.
Reports indicated that equipment withdrawn from the front lines was now controlling the city center of Baltan.
“Isn’t it a mechanized infantry battalion from another brigade?”
“Th-that’s the thing, the equipment deployed in the city now are outdated armored vehicles. As far as I know, there are no units in the capital using such vehicles anymore…”
Anyone who looked into it a bit would have felt something was off, but the problem was that even the battalion commanders had no idea what was currently happening.
They had heard that forces from the Western Command were being mobilized.
So it might be the Western Command forces that had deployed immediately, right?
It was even more confusing because while the capital had been supplied with front-line equipment, the 33rd Mechanized Infantry Brigade’s armored vehicles were still in use by regional commands.
“Are you sure about this? Do you know what will happen if we misjudge at such a critical time?!”
“I-I’m sorry!”
“And why isn’t the 3rd Battalion moving out?”
Moreover, there were things even more apparent than the unidentified mechanized infantry roaming the city.
“Battalion Commander, the 3rd Battalion says they’ll remain on standby at their base.”
“What?! What nonsense is that! Put the 3rd Battalion Commander on the line right now!”
“This is 3rd Battalion Commander Gilbert. What’s the matter, 1st Battalion Commander?”
“What’s the matter? More importantly, 3rd Battalion Commander! What do you think you’re doing?! You need to move your position so we can move according to the plan!”
“I’m not moving. No, I can’t move.”
“3rd Battalion Commander, are you saying you’re disobeying His Excellency’s orders!?”
“Think what you will. If you have time to get angry, you should listen to the radio.”
Click.
The 1st Battalion Commander stared blankly at the receiver as the call suddenly cut off.
What was going on?
In the end, the 1st Battalion Commander had no choice but to follow the 3rd Battalion Commander’s advice and listen to the radio.
“Signalman, turn on the radio right now!”
“Ah… Yes!!”
Beep, screeeeech—
From the wireless radio that was rarely used, a somewhat familiar voice began to be heard.
[Hello, citizens of the Empire and soldiers of the national army. I am former Prime Minister Josef von Brünel. I am here now to expose the ugly truth behind President Mikhail Bismarck, who currently holds power…]
Josef von Brünel?
Wasn’t he the one who was dismissed from his position as Prime Minister a few months ago and reportedly returned to his hometown?
It didn’t take long for the 1st Battalion Commander to realize something was amiss.
[As soon as I received the dismissal notice from the President, I was immediately removed from my position and dragged to a secret detention camp called Ashblinka where I suffered unimaginable torture.]
[There, from an 80-year-old former imperial servant to a 17-year-old illegitimate child of a nobleman, anyone who could potentially threaten the regime was rounded up and subjected to inhumane treatment-]
“Good heavens.”
With the appropriate stage and actors prepared, it was now time to advertise widely and prepare to welcome the guests.
The full-scale battle for public opinion had begun.
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[bro this shit is straight up diabolical the president is so fucked]
