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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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While the world was in turmoil over the unprecedented situation that occurred in Saint Francis, Republic of Bostania, the Empire’s President Mikhail Bismarck stood before the Imperial citizens.
In front of the Presidential Residence located in the capital Hoenbaren, there was a large square.
The President, who had stepped onto the platform, looked at the people filling the square.
It was a national address.
He cleared his throat once and spoke in a voice that seemed to cover the entire square.
“Citizens, I witnessed all kinds of terrible tragedies in the last Great War. The formidable Titan forces filling the horizon, the spirits of the Empire screaming the names of their loved ones as they died!
I, and all of you, will remember. The tragedy of people who were joking and having dinner together just yesterday turning into unidentifiable chunks of flesh overnight.
But we overcame all of that and stood tall. Those who held guns on the front lines returned to the embrace of their families, and festivals were held throughout the cities of the Empire. On the day the victory against the Titans was declared, we laughed to wash away all our sorrows.
And we looked up at the clear sky with faces full of hope, anticipating the peace to come! Because this moment was truly the everyday life that those who fought and crumbled with us wanted!
But citizens, I narrowly escaped death in Bostania. If the bomb had exploded even a little closer, if it weren’t for the bodyguards who jumped in without hesitation to protect me as soon as the situation changed! I would have met my death in that distant foreign land.
Now look around once more. I’m talking about our unfortunate neighbors who are in extreme chaos even though the war has ended.”
The President raised his hand toward the direction of the Republic of Bostania and shouted.
“That could have been us! The capital Hoenbaren could have been set on fire, the Empire could have been divided into east and west, and hundreds of thousands of people could have been caught in a nuclear explosion and died en masse in the city!
Now we must make a decision. We must never turn a blind eye to our neighbors who fought alongside us against the Titans! As a nation that has finally achieved peace and yearns for peace more than anyone else, we have a duty to help those groaning in pain and chaos!”
He clenched his fist and pounded his chest with a bang.
The speech broadcast live nationwide.
People stopped in their tracks and focused on the President’s image beyond the screen.
“Citizens! Answer me! Should we just stand by with our arms crossed and watch our neighbors having their hard-won peace taken away and even their daily lives shaken to the core? Do you want to be like the cowardly emperor who turned his back on them, saying it’s their problem to deal with when the existence of Titans first appeared in Borslava?”
“No!!”
The citizens responded to the President’s words.
The President’s authority was already firm.
It was partly because a series of purges had worked well, and his ability as the actual leader of victory was unmatched by anyone.
In the first place, whether it was the Revolutionary faction or the Imperial faction, the President’s complete victory was a foregone conclusion from the moment the blade swung by the National Security Strategy Agency and the military prosecutors cut them down.
His relaxed gaze was no longer limited to just the Empire.
“Then, loyal citizens of the Empire! Shouldn’t we willingly extend a helping hand to those neighbors who are suffering in chaos even though the war has ended?”
“That’s right! That is right!!”
“I, Mikhail Bismarck, as the legally elected President of the Empire by the Imperial Parliament and your representative, will declare!
Soon, the Empire will officially dispatch a relief volunteer corps consisting of carefully selected individuals to the Republic of Bostania.
They are not for the purpose of war, but solely to help the Republic regain the peace it has lost!”
“Woooooo!!”
“We have always struggled! We did in the past, we do now, and we will continue to do so in the future! Now that we have broken out of the eggshell, we are looking at the vast horizon!”
“Mikhail! Mikhail! Mikhail!!”
“The only ones who can help the Republic, our comrades who fought together against the Titans, are us, the Empire! Let us go forward for the eternal peace of the world, strong and great Empire!!”
The President finished his speech and slowly descended from the platform.
Before long, the voices of people chanting his name covered the huge square.
He, who had been passionately delivering his speech with an agitated expression throughout, could finally show a faint smile only behind the platform where no one could see.
Isn’t a true ‘superhuman’ one who utilizes even variables as a formula for victory, though it turned out a little different from expectations?
President Mikhail Bismarck raised his fist tightly to his pounding heart.
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“So it has come to this.”
Werner Grimm smoked a cigarette while looking at the President disappearing beyond the screen.
Look at that figure leaving while receiving the cheers of tens of thousands of people.
The authority of the President in the Empire had already grown to a tremendous extent.
Werner recalled what the President had said to him in one of the cycles.
-You are so much like me.
-You’re already looking far into the future. Unlike others. Moreover… that attitude of not hesitating to do anything for it.
-I think I know why your comrades are more loyal to you than to me.
-If it weren’t for the Titans, you and I would never have been able to coexist.
-My hidden rival that no one knew about, but in the end, we both ended up being defeated. How resentful!
Hoenbaren, the last line of defense.
Looking at the burning capital of the Empire, President Mikhail Bismarck bit into the capsule containing poison without hesitation.
An obsession bordering on madness to maintain his dignity as the President even in death.
From the moment he was first called to be the head of the newly established National Security Strategy Agency, he had already seen through the President’s true intentions.
The Republic of Bostania was already under the President’s hand.
Then he had to see how far the President could go first.
Using the power possessed by the organization called the National Security Strategy Agency and the symbolism of war hero Luthers Edan, he had to pull the members of the Graveyard as far back from the battlefield as possible….
It was at that moment.
Bam!
Second Lieutenant Dante Bay opened the door to the director’s office and entered without even knocking.
Werner, who had just entered a time of contemplation, frowned and looked at him.
It was an important moment.
The act of sacrificing one’s life had to be done under a meticulous and thorough plan without fail.
But seeing Dante Bay, who rarely showed his emotions, with a pale expression, Werner sensed that something serious had happened again.
He must have been tasked with investigating the Defense Industry Agency.
There was only one reason why he would rush into the director’s office with such an expression.
“I’m sorry, Director. But there was something I had to tell you.”
“Is it the worst-case scenario I thought of?”
“I think so….”
He handed a piece of paper to Werner and added,
“A few weeks ago, I confirmed that a miniature high-density hydrogen bomb was taken out of a secret armory and weapons research institute under the Defense Industry Agency.”
“Fuck… I hoped it wouldn’t be true.”
Crunch.
Werner Grimm gritted his teeth.
Should he disclose this information right now?
No.
The national public opinion had already turned towards the President.
This information had to be kept as much as possible and detonated at a decisive moment….
“But there’s one suspicious part, Director.”
“What is it?”
“On the official document, it’s listed as ‘taken out’, but when I hacked into the internal network and checked, it was listed as ‘lost’.”
“…?”
It was incomprehensible.
Lost?
It was common to process items taken out as lost.
He had become skilled in handling corruption during his forty regressions.
But on the contrary, it was rare to process lost items as taken out.
Unless it was an item where ‘the fact that it was lost alone would overwhelmingly raise the issue of responsibility’.
Of course, a miniature hydrogen bomb was a weapon that more than met that criteria.
If it were to explode in the Imperial capital?
It would really become uncontrollable.
There was a high probability that it was processed as ‘taken out’ to avoid national confusion or cover up the responsibility.
But what on earth would make them lose a hydrogen bomb?
The secret armories under the Defense Industry Agency boasted unrivaled security among the Empire’s numerous military facilities.
And they lost a weapon of mass destruction that should have been guarded under the strictest security procedures?
It was impossible unless it was loaded onto a nuclear submarine or a nuclear bomber and the entire aircraft was submerged.
“Find out more about this part.”
“Actually… I was seriously concerned about that part too, so I checked it in more detail….”
The second lieutenant hesitated and stammered.
“It seems like an insider from the Defense Industry Agency embezzled it. No, rather than embezzling, it would be more accurate to say they stole it.”
“What?”
“And… the person currently suspected of illegally stealing the weapon of mass destruction in question is—.”
Werner Grimm’s eyes widened.
“Charlotte Evergreen, one of your old comrades.”
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So now Charlotte’s story