—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
[Discharge Paper]
Colonel Drake Brown, commander of the 808th Security Battalion, quietly stared at the letter placed on his desk.
Now that he had made the decision, he felt lighter.
What was it about this lousy position that he had clung to it for so long?
Drake lit a cigarette as he swallowed the empty feeling inside him.
Despite it being the brand he smoked daily, today it tasted unusually bitter.
Drake took about three puffs before grimacing and stubbing out the cigarette in the ashtray.
Since it had come to this, maybe he should try quitting smoking.
With a new mindset, that is.
In fact, Drake Brown had been slightly out of step with the President’s mainstream faction since the terrorist incident in the Republic of Bostania.
Although nothing major had happened, the 808th Security Battalion was responsible for the President’s close protection.
Of course, it wasn’t solely the 808th’s fault.
Neither the Strategic Security Agency nor the Intelligence Command had anticipated any signs of terrorism.
No.
To be precise, even that terrorism was no different from a false flag operation orchestrated by President Mikhail Bismarck, so it was natural that they couldn’t predict it.
However, for a soldier in charge of security, that day’s incident was a great disgrace and a blemish.
It was from then on.
Drake Brown lost most of his right to speak at official occasions.
He attended the meetings, but he was nothing more than a wallflower.
Although Drake Brown was known to be particularly tactless among the members of Graveyard, he wasn’t foolish enough to not detect even this atmosphere.
As he once had a close relationship with the President, various requests that were almost too much for a colonel had been coming in, but they all disappeared without a trace.
The dung flies that had persistently clung to him no matter how many times he pushed them away now didn’t even come near Drake.
It wasn’t that he wanted such power.
No, perhaps if he had accepted their filth and smeared it all over himself, he wouldn’t have been excluded like this.
He might have even secured his promotion to general in the next promotion review.
Drake was an unnecessarily upright person.
Now that the military was mostly under control, he was a person who wasn’t very important to the President – rather, he was a hindrance.
All he wanted was loyalty to his country.
In the end, had even that President turned out like this?
From the beginning, what he harbored in his heart was not loyalty to the President, but loyalty to the Empire.
The President was the one responsible for that Empire, so whether he liked it or not, he naturally had no choice but to be loyal.
As Drake was bitterly pursing his lips,
“Commander!! It’s an emergency!!”
His aide burst through the door.
“Emergency? What emergency?”
“An urgent telegram has been delivered from the eastern communication node! Currently, rebel forces are advancing south towards the capital Hoenbaren! They say battles are breaking out in the east as well!!”
“Rebel forces…?!”
Drake’s eyes widened.
“The Supreme Command and the Capital Defense Command are in an uproar! Emergency declarations are now being broadcast!”
He jumped up from his seat and headed to the next room where his aide and orderlies were waiting.
On the TV mounted on the wall, breaking news was being broadcast from the Imperial Public Broadcasting.
[We have news that some corrupt soldiers, disgruntled with the newly applied military innovation plan, are leading their troops towards the capital. Currently, President Mikhail Bismarck, the government cabinet, and the military police are busy working to resolve the situation…]
[The Capital Defense Commander has declared his intention to summarily execute any rebel soldier who enters the capital immediately according to military law. Emergency standby orders have been issued to each unit, and a level 3 military alert has…]
[We ask citizens to remain calm and trust the military police…]
“A coup d’état?”
“Yes, Commander. We need to put our troops on standby for deployment right now!”
Drake Brown bit his lip hard.
What on earth was happening in the middle of the night?
It was truly a bolt from the blue.
He knew that a considerable amount of discontent had accumulated among the soldiers regarding personnel issues in the military, but a coup d’état, seriously?
‘This cannot be tolerated.’
Although he was the commander of the 808th Security Battalion who had already lost all his limbs and been abandoned by the President, his patriotic loyalty remained unchanged.
Just as he was about to prepare to suppress the rebellion by urgently mobilizing his subordinate troops following his aide,
“Sorry, but I can’t let you do that.”
“…!!!”
From a space that should have been empty, a blurry figure shimmered, and then a head of lush blonde hair appeared.
Both Drake Brown and his aide immediately recognized the face of the woman who had appeared out of nowhere.
“Charlotte!”
“How can a Class 1 military criminal be here!?”
Just as the aide was about to reach for the pistol on his waist,
“Whoa, it’s better not to move that hand. I’m in quite a hurry.”
Charlotte pulled out a small detonator from her chest.
It was a suspicious red button that anyone could see.
“I’ve planted a bomb in this official residence. If I press this button, boom! We’ll all fall into the afterlife together. I’ll press it right away if you try anything funny.”
“Charlotte, you… Are you serious? And that eye patch…”
“Yes, Drake. Have you ever heard me speak empty words?”
Charlotte answered with a cold expression as she looked at her old friend.
“I’m sorry we’re meeting like this after such a long time… but it seems we have a lot to talk about.”
“…”
Drake looked back and forth between his aide and Charlotte for a moment, then bit his lip hard and ordered his aide to put away his gun.
“Right, I had a mountain of things I wanted to ask you anyway, Charlotte. This might be for the best. But first, let’s make one thing clear.”
Drake’s eyes flashed.
“This coup d’état, is it possibly related to Commander Luthers Edan?”
To which Charlotte answered cleanly.
“Correct.”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
‘Next is… here! The 7th Army Aviation Group.’
Screeeech!!
A military SUV with blaring sirens left clear skid marks on the road as it raced along the outer circular road.
The one behind the wheel was Lea Gilliard.
She had been in charge of supplies on the Empire’s northern-central front lines, full of all kinds of unreasonable terrain including winding mountain roads and gravel-strewn paths.
In terms of driving skills built up over that time, she could say she was even better than Luthers Edan.
Naturally, she was put in charge of communication with “support and direct control units” near the capital, which were quite far apart from units within the capital.
This was also thanks to prior coordination with Arwen, who had regained her memories.
Arwen, using her position as “Chief of Inspection,” was able to exert limited influence on military personnel rights before the emergency personnel order was issued.
The support and direct control units near the capital that were changed in this way were staffed with commanders who would “join or ignore the rebels in case of emergency” according to Arwen’s intentions.
It was also because the President wasn’t particularly interested in anything other than key positions in the military, including the Capital Defense Command.
This was the limitation of Mikhail Bismarck, who had been controlling the military for over a decade but didn’t properly understand its structure.
And the 7th Aviation Group was a unit commanded by Colonel Lydia Glenova, a member of the Graveyard who had lived with Lea and Luthers.
Among the soldiers from the Graveyard in this cycle, she was a person who, like Durand or Heinz, didn’t harbor much resentment towards Luthers.
If told the full story of the events that had unfolded after the end of the war, she would gladly stand on Luthers’ side immediately.
With each turn of the steering wheel, her ponytail, tied tightly in a single strand, swayed in all directions.
Due to the nature of the Army Aviation Corps operating helicopters and air weapons, they were often located in satellite cities near Hoenbaren rather than in the capital itself.
The 7th Aviation Group was no exception, so Lea was finally able to arrive at the group headquarters after performing acrobatic driving that made her head spin.
“Who are you?”
“Oh, I’m an operations planning officer from the Supreme Command.”
As the troops on guard duty at the checkpoint attempted to stop her, Lea responded glibly.
She had prepared her identification in advance.
Using Akasha, the ultra-high-performance quantum computer that had performed brilliantly even against the Titans, forging an ID was child’s play.
She had even registered a fake entry in the Defense Personnel Information System database, so there was no worry about being caught.
However,
“Um… I’m sorry, but… the Group Commander is currently absent.”
“What?”
“She left urgently by helicopter for the capital Hoenbaren 15 minutes ago. Apparently, there was an emergency summons order from the Supreme Command…”
Lea felt as if she had been suddenly hit on the head.
In the scenario of the Akasha-Oracle systems that Charlotte had looked into, there was no possibility of Lydia being absent.
“Wait, how did this…”
Lea turned her head to look at the capital Hoenbaren twinkling far away in the darkness.
The movement of the suppression forces was faster than expected.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
[Your Text Here]
