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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“This is a restricted area.”
The Security Agency personnel, led by the reinstated Brigadier General Werner Grimm, faced strong resistance from the researchers upon entering the Defense Industry Agency.
The researchers had come out from the entrance and blocked the Security Agency from forcibly opening and entering.
“We have business in that restricted area.”
“While I don’t fail to understand the Security Agency’s position, this is still a special management area of the Defense Industry Agency. You can only enter with our authorization.”
Franz Dahas, the head of the Defense Industry Agency, said with a stiff neck.
Ha.
It was a situation that left Werner at a loss for words.
Of course, if they compared ranks, Franz Dahas, the head of the Defense Industry Agency, was indeed higher than Brigadier General Werner Grimm.
But the Empire was a militaristic society with a façade of democracy.
Once His Excellency the President had guaranteed independent investigative authority, a mere head of the Defense Industry Agency couldn’t refuse.
“Are you defying even His Excellency the President’s order?”
Werner raised the level of pressure.
But Director Franz remained steadfast.
He even sneered.
“Haha, Director Werner. I think you’re misunderstanding something. We’re on the same side.”
“…?”
Werner frowned at that suggestive remark.
“Do you think we, well, wouldn’t know a single order from His Excellency the President? His Excellency earnestly told us not to let anyone in.”
Those words caused agitation among the Security Agency members who had come to investigate.
“And let me tell you. No matter how much our own family’s mutt keeps barking at the family members, it will be kicked out.”
Franz’s eyes flickered.
A calmly delivered threat.
Even if Werner Grimm wouldn’t back down from a fight with anyone, he was picking a fight with him.
It seemed he wasn’t just a pushover after all.
However, at the blatant insult, Lieutenant Colonel John Hobbes, who was assisting Werner, shouted angrily.
“You son of a bitch, what did you just say!!”
“Hey, Lieutenant Colonel. Don’t get too cocky just because you’re a newly promoted paratrooper.”
“This bastard, really…!”
John was about to explode with rage when Werner intervened.
“Enough, stop it, Lieutenant Colonel.”
“But Director…!”
John was about to say something but shut his mouth as soon as he saw Werner’s expression.
Because it was the expression he had seen many times.
“A paratrooper? Aren’t you the paratrooper? Pushing out the previous head of the Defense Industry Agency, who was involved in the design of Akasha, and swallowing that position whole.”
[T/N: to explain there is kind of a joke in the military where people laugh at paratroopers because they don’t really do anything anymore but get all of the reputation and glory]
“…Brigadier General Werner. Watch your words.”
Franz tried to save face after being hit, but—
“The Security Agency is loyal to His Excellency the President, not someone like you who can be swayed.”
“Y-You dare…!”
“Hey, Franz. You should understand when you’re treated this well. It’s not because we’re afraid of you, but it means be careful before we rush in and tear out your throat.”
“…”
He couldn’t even get back at Werner, who was glaring at him as if to kill him, overwhelmed by his spirit.
It was only natural.
Someone who had never been on the battlefield and had devoted his entire life to technological research in the center couldn’t possibly deal with a war hero who had transcended dozens of deaths.
“Since you say it’s His Excellency the President’s order, we’ll return like this today, but next time, we won’t back down so easily.”
With those words, Werner Grimm turned around and disappeared, leading the Security Agency personnel.
Even if they didn’t show it, there were plenty of ways to look into it.
‘Moreover, the more they react like this, the more suspicious it is.’
His wariness towards President Mikhail Bismarck was also growing.
No, it wasn’t suspicion, but certainty.
Now that he had completely swallowed the Empire, he was an ambitious man who wasn’t satisfied and wanted to grasp the world in his hands.
What wouldn’t that man do for power?
As they reached the place where the car they had ridden was parked, John spat as if he was unlucky.
“This is why I hate those damn scientists.”
“Still, it wasn’t good to react emotionally, John.”
“…I apologize.”
In any case, there were procedures in an organization.
Of course, even if the Security Agency had also diligently followed those procedures to get here, they couldn’t ignore the other side’s procedures either.
If it could be done by simply intimidating them, he wouldn’t have needed to realize the weaknesses of his enemies by dying several times.
“Instead, we’ll have to approach this in a slightly different way.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll tell you that gradually. Leave the Defense Industry Agency matters to me, and go back to the Security Agency to finish the task I asked you to do earlier.”
“Understood. Then where are you going again, Director?”
“This will be the first and last time I’ll go find that friend on my own.”
With those words, Werner Grimm got into the driver’s seat of the military tactical vehicle.
His destination was the western part of the Empire.
Drakchich, famous for its dense forests.
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It was a region famous for its vast natural treasures and its autumn foliage that filled the horizon.
The Empire had now fully entered winter.
The boundaries of the forest, which had been filled with colorful autumn leaves, were now covered in a layer of pristine white snow, shining untainted by anything.
And in a small cabin near that boundary line, a man was chopping firewood.
Chop, chop.
As he walked through the snow that had piled up almost covering his shoes, the man who had been chopping wood turned his head and looked at Werner.
Bushy beard.
Long-grown hair.
The man who had the same appearance as Luthers Edan before leaving the Graveyard put down the axe he was holding.
“Commander Luthers.”
“Long time no see.”
“How did you know I was here?”
Although he had retired from the military, his eyes were still alive.
“Reconnaissance Battalion Commander.”
“Just call me Durand Sterling, Luthers.”
Not everyone had decided to remain in the military after the disbandment of the Graveyard.
Quite a few had decided to be discharged.
A world without Titans was close to the paradise they had always dreamed of, and they had left the military to pursue their dreams and forge their own lives.
In fact, someone like Werner Grimm, who was clinging to the past, was the odd one out.
Likewise, Durand Sterling was also one of those who had left the military with the dissolution of the fortress.
He had always been particularly fond of forests, mountains, and nature, even during his military life.
Along with the victory commemoration, he had liquidated all the assets he had accumulated and settled in Drakchich, his old hometown.
Together with his own custom-built two-story log cabin.
“First… it’s chilly, so let’s go inside.”
“Sure.”
Werner Grimm followed Durand inside the cabin with a slightly relaxed expression.
Entering the house, furniture decorated in a very traditional style caught his eye.
A taxidermied reindeer, a huge bearskin rug on the floor.
A leather sofa placed on the leather rug, and a rocking chair swaying on top of it, facing a crackling bonfire.
“Classic.”
“You know my taste well.”
Durand Sterling said as he poured the firewood he had chopped earlier into a corner of the room.
“I heard you had definitely retired.”
“I did.”
“Well, you wouldn’t leave the military so easily.”
Durand tied his messy, flowing long hair tightly, as if he understood everything.
Even when he was in the Graveyard, he was like that, but now his appearance was closer to a hunter than a soldier.
It was his original, more fitting appearance.
After all, he was a descendant of hunters, born and raised in a family of hunters.
Now that the war was over, he was continuing the family business on the outskirts of a quiet city surrounded by nature, just like his parents and ancestors had done.
“So? What’s your reason for coming all the way here?”
“I want you to do a job with me.”
At those words, Durand Sterling twitched his nose.
It was a habit he showed when he was preparing to refuse something.
“You still haven’t fixed that habit.”
“Why do I need to fix it? I’m the only one here anyway.”
“Don’t you have a girlfriend?”
“If it’s a man with this appearance, hunting on the outskirts of the city, wouldn’t they just run away in horror?”
“You’d be quite good-looking if you just took care of yourself a bit.”
“I don’t want to hear that from someone who was told that by Lea every day.”
“…Hmm.”
For a moment, Werner felt like he was suffocating.
That was true.
“Anyway, I have no intention of working again. If it’s about the commotion in the Republic of Bostania, forget it.”
“It’s not that. It’s to protect our family.”
“Family…?”
Durand’s eyes met Werner’s squarely.
“Are you talking about the kids from the Graveyard?”
He could tell just by the look in his eyes.
There was a reason he had risen to the position of Reconnaissance Battalion Commander.
His ability to quickly grasp true intentions and make judgments was the basic of the basics as a reconnaissance officer.
“Yes.”
Werner Grimm held out a poster with Charlotte’s face printed large on it.
It was a wanted poster with a bounty.
“580 million…? What the…”
Even Durand, who was usually indifferent to worldly affairs and showed a calm reaction, was visibly surprised.
Werner looked at him with his arms crossed.
“She’s being hunted by the President. I don’t know what’s going on, but since he’s so desperate, it’s only a matter of time before she’s caught.”
“So you want me to bring Charlotte here?”
“No, she probably won’t come even if you tell her to.”
Werner remembered Charlotte’s appearance as she looked at him a few days ago.
She already had the face of someone prepared to die.
“But you can help Charlotte. Especially you, Durand, had a particularly special relationship with her.”
“…Well, that’s because she was like a younger sister from the same neighborhood—.”
“So help me out one more time.”
Werner spoke with a voice filled with sincerity.
He had made a mess of things by trying to block past connections with his own hands.
To make up for that mistake.
Of course, he had to wake up the people from the past one by one, who were no less than anyone.
“I need you now.”
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