Do Your Own Revolution

#114

‘This is not an ordinary situation.’

My head ached from the continuous situations that kept coming.

The monsters that pushed in from the coastline were a new type, different from those appearing in the North, and they were specifically targeting Irene.

That fact.

Adding to that, the fact that the monster spoke made me feel like I would lose my mind right then and there.

However, organizing the situation takes priority over being surprised.

Looking at the shattered corpse of the monster with holes in it, I thought.

‘From what I heard about hybrids and such, the reason they’re looking for Irene isn’t friendly.’

To retrieve what that muzzle babbled about, the ‘Queen’s Factor.’

In other words, I now had my own reason to close the rift in the North.

‘If there’s any consolation, it’s that I’m the only one who heard the monster speak.’

At least there won’t be any need to reveal Irene’s identity.

While I was thinking that.

“Sir-!”

A group of knights accompanied by automatons was approaching while calling out to me.

It seemed they had rushed over after confirming that Reina’s automaton was destroyed.

“It was our oversight. Who would have thought a pure-breed would remain among the corpses…!”

“Are, are you alright?!”

“Yes. Thanks to Young Lady Reina’s doll, I ended this without injury.”

Ah, I need to play politics. Politics.

With a smile full of pretense, I said that, and the knights finally seemed relieved as they wiped their chests.

After finishing such ceremonial concerns and thanks, I returned to the conference room located inside the barrier.

There, knights gathered around the Margrave were discussing countermeasures.

“The passage the monsters used?”

“We got communication from the drilling equipment. They came from a rift located on the ocean floor.”

“For a rift that showed no reaction for decades to suddenly become active again…!”

“…We must hurry with the expedition.”

“Your Lordship!”

Margrave Kassel muttering with a heavy expression, and the knights shaking their heads at such a Kassel.

Seeing that, I got a rough idea of the situation.

The current situation caused by Irene’s appearance.

The knights advised that the Margrave should stop the ongoing expedition plans, but the Margrave seemed to think differently.

This is just the beginning.

Before a larger situation occurs, the rift must be closed.

“Your Lordship.”

I never thought I’d say this with my own mouth.

With feelings like swallowing needles, I opened my mouth toward the Margrave sitting in the center of the conference room.

“I’ll go with you as well.”

“…!”

“B-Brigadier General Eugene?!”

“Sir. What’s with this sudden…!”

When I said I would directly enter the Great Rupture, the knights of House Korhonen gasped.

“I cannot permit that.”

The one who said that was the Margrave himself.

He looked at my face for a moment, then slowly opened his mouth.

“You are a guest who came to the North. Originally, you shouldn’t even be participating in battles like this.”

I understand what he wants to say.

He must mean that while it’s already shameful to involve an outsider in battle, they can’t involve them in something like an expedition.

“I haven’t finished the task you requested yet, and there’s still much information I haven’t heard from Your Lordship.”

Looking at the Margrave who said that, I reminded him of the deal we had previously made.

“Just as I was about to start working, how can you leave beyond the rift like this?”

After acting all high and mighty saying you had a lot to tell me, now you’re deciding life and death on your own?

‘Besides, truthfully, there are parts that prick my conscience.’

This extraordinary situation and invasion from the rift were certainly caused by us.

While it would be perfect if we could handle it with the North’s help, we can’t leave such a debt to future collaborators.

“Haha, right. I can see how you might think that.”

As if understanding my intention, a low laugh flowed from behind the Margrave’s mask.

“Very well. Then I won’t decline…”

Just as the Margrave was about to say something more.

“In this serious situation where monsters have invaded the barrier, are you still talking nonsense about expeditions, Father?!”

At the hoarse voice from the conference room entrance, several knights turned that way.

A thin face with a fierce expression.

A man wearing an elaborately decorated noble uniform rather than the black clothes typically worn by Northern knights.

‘Finally here.’

First Son of Korhonen, Russell Korhonen.

The assassination target that the count entrusted to me finally showed himself.

“You’re late, Russell.”

“I was handling ore trade business in the Northern border region. During that, I heard news that the barrier was invaded and hurried back.”

Taking off his coat and handing it to an attendant, he strode over and raised his voice while leaning on the conference room table.

“Father. The North is truly at its limit now. We need the Knight Order’s support!”

“Haven’t I said no.”

Russell suggesting they request help from the Knight Order, that is, the magic noble faction.

However, the count’s stance was firm.

“Northern matters must be resolved in the North. If we borrow outside help without doing so, who knows what demands they’ll make using that as leverage.”

“Then, what about that Imperial Army general?”

What about me?

While father and son were having a lively fight, why suddenly drag me into it?

While I was thinking that, Russell pointed his finger at me and raised his voice with veins bulging in his neck.

“Not only did you bring in the Imperial Army, but even their Special Magical Power Unit commander to the North and now involve them in the expedition? Are you saying this isn’t the Imperial Army interfering in Northern affairs?!”

“I apologize, but my helping His Lordship with the expedition is purely for personal reasons.”

I should step in here.

Taking a step forward, I clearly drew the line while looking at Russell.

“Eugene, Lorentz…”

“If the Imperial Army intended to interfere in House Korhonen’s autonomous territory’s affairs, I wouldn’t have come here in the first place.”

I would have just sent a request to the Special Magic Unit and dispatched about a company’s worth of personnel.

I might get some nagging from Erich, but we could send at least five airships, which would be much more convenient.

“However, the reason I’m not doing that is because of His Majesty’s orders.”

Bringing the Imperial Army into Northern affairs would violate the contract with Korhonen.

That’s why I came here alone, without bringing my subordinates.

“Tch.”

Unable to find words to refute my mention of the Emperor, Russell clicked his tongue.

“…Aren’t you sick of that saint act yet.”

Russell muttered in a quiet voice, as if not meant to be heard.

Hearing that voice, I recalled what Reina had said.

‘Brother Russell couldn’t understand father who sacrificed even his own life to protect the territory while claiming to protect it.’

I don’t want to live like father.

Saying that, Russell gave up his position as successor and joined the magic noble faction, they said.

While staying outside the fold like that, as the magic noble side’s connections greased various wheels, he became enchanted by their words and tried to hand over Northern land.

In exchange for the gold, power, and titles they offered.

‘And the Margrave who noticed this is trying to use my hand, an outsider, to kill Russell who is trying to divide the North.’

The way this family operates is quite something.

Looking back and forth between the confronting father and son, I drooped my shoulders from the fatigue washing over me.

“Eugene. Eugene.”

While thinking that, someone pulled on my clothes from behind.

“What is it?”

What’s she doing coming into the conference room?

I asked that to Irene who pulled on my back, and.

“… …… ……”

“…Huh?”

While listening to what Irene whispered in my ear, I asked back as if unexpected.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

Irene nodding slowly.

Looking at my face that seemed surprised, she spoke in a clear voice.

“I want to go together with Eugene too.”

“……”

Irene trying to do something of her own will.

This was the first time since leaving the Elcidore mansion.

My already complicated mind felt even more jumbled up.

The monster’s rift existing in the deep sea.

What in the world is trying to happen in there.

***

“I didn’t expect the Imperial Army Commander-in-Chief to visit without notice like this.”

Formal.

And at the same time, words containing thorns.

The renowned magician with six stroke magic imprint and Kalhyram Empire Magic Corps Commander-in-Chief, Schultz Pendleton.

He looked at the middle-aged man tilting his coffee cup with nerves on edge.

Keiren Buckenheim.

The Emperor’s confidant who controlled the entire Imperial Army had visited him without any notice.

“I apologize for not contacting you in advance. It’s because the matter is that important.”

“An important… matter?”

“Please look at this.”

Saying that, Keiren took out a document from the briefcase he was holding and handed it to him.

A document titled [Kalhyram Army Integration Plan].

It was a confidential Imperial Army document with the Imperial Intelligence Department’s censorship and the Emperor’s seal.

‘To show such a confidential document to me who is practically a potential enemy. What kind of ulterior motive is this?’

While thinking that briefly.

After confirming the contents and plans written in the document, Commander-in-Chief Schultz’s face trembled.

“L-Lieutenant General Keiren! This is…!”

“It’s a plan ordered by His Majesty and carried out by me. For the past 2 years, my staff officers and I have been focused solely on this.”

Saying that, Keiren’s gaze turned to the document Commander Schultz was holding.

2 years after the war with the Republic ended.

What Keiren did during that time was a major retirement operation of the Imperial Army and royal organizations.

Under the pretext of reorganizing the command system according to lessons learned after the war.

However, Commander Schultz who saw the plan could immediately notice its true intention.

“Currently, the Imperial Army has different command systems due to their respective factions and various political interests.”

The Imperial Army, Magic Corps, Intelligence Department, Royal Guard, Imperial Guard Knight Order, Special Magical Power Unit, Knight Order, etc.

However, as the originally separate Emperor faction and military faction were bound into one sphere of influence, changes occurred in the divided military organizations’ command systems.

The cooperative relationship built between the Imperial Guard Knight Order and the Imperial Army military.

Based on that, Keiren is trying to integrate all military groups existing in the Empire into one massive military organization called the ‘Kalhyram Army’.

A plan assembled with surprising sophistication.

As a soldier, Commander Schultz couldn’t help but marvel at the deployment and structure diagrams Keiren had drawn up as he flipped through the document.

‘If the military organization is reorganized like this, the Empire’s scattered military power will be consolidated into one mass.’

It would become an enormous power incomparable to now.

And what they’re preparing through such grand integration.

That is…!

“His Majesty.”

Commander Schultz who examined the plan opened his mouth with a trembling voice.

“Does His Majesty the Emperor plan to conquer the Republic?”

Keiren silently nodded.

A preemptive strike against the Republic.

While an electrifying thrill ran through his whole body, Commander Schultz discovered something strange in the integration plan he was reading.

‘In the list of military organizations to be integrated… the Knight Order is missing?’

He checked again just in case, but there was nothing he had missed.

An omission?

No, that’s impossible.

There couldn’t be an omission in such a persistently and meticulously organized chart.

Then this is…

‘They excluded the Knight Order from the Imperial Army to be integrated…!’

There was no place for the Knight Order in the new Kalhyram Army to be launched.

And only after confirming that could Commander Schultz understand why Keiren had come to him.

With victory in the war against the Republic, the Emperor’s support was at its peak. In such a situation, if the Emperor announces the conquest of the Republic and eliminates the Knight Order’s place there…

‘The very reason for the Knight Order’s existence disappears.’

It was certain.

The large-scale conquest plan against the Republic.

The Knight Order thoroughly excluded from the reorganization plan.

The Emperor and military are trying to completely finish off the magic noble forces from Imperial politics through this war.

They’re trying to brand them as an evil nobles’ private army without any justification for existence!

‘In such a situation, he came to me and showed me this plan.’

Due to the emergence of the massive Special Magical Power Unit group and the weakening of the Knight Order, the Magic Corps had become an entity caught in between.

The Magic Corps was a gathering of noble-born magicians, but intermediaries who didn’t possess enough qualifications to enter the Knight Order.

Meanwhile, for Keiren, the military’s supreme commander, to visit him… had a simple meaning.

The Knight Order and Kalhyram Army.

Magic nobles and the Emperor faction.

Choose one of the two.

Commander Schultz swallowed dry saliva.

Keiren. No, the Emperor was now… presenting him with options.

‘While the Emperor faction is on the rise, the Emperor is already elderly. Since the heir Meldir was the magic nobles’ puppet, the Empire will fall into the magic nobles’ hands the moment the Emperor dies.’

If they could just get through the current situation, it would be advantageous to take the magic nobles’ hand.

Just as Commander Schultz who thought that was flipping through the documents.

“…Wait, a moment?”

Schultz’s eyes widened as he looked at the top of the Kalhyram Army organization chart.

The Emperor as supreme commander.

Below that was Keiren who was to be appointed as Kalhyram Army Grand Marshal, and the military leaders and high-ranking officials appointed as heads of organizations under him.

And rising to the same ranks as them was the ‘Special Magical Power Unit.’

A massive organization gathering all the Empire’s magicians, absorbing both the Magic Corps and Imperial Guard Knight Order.

The name of the one who would command the massive magician corps rivaling the entire Knight Order was…

[Eugene Lorentz]

Confirming that name, Schultz widened his eyes in disbelief.

The Special Magical Power Unit moving under direct orders from the Emperor rather than Keiren’s commands.

Being the head of that unit meant rising to the same rank as Keiren.

‘The same position as Lieutenant General Keiren? Giving such enormous power to a young soldier not even twenty?’

It was impossible.

Such an unprecedented personnel appointment was not something to be done for an ordinary soldier!

At least an Imperial Prince. Or someone even higher…

……

………

“No way.”

Finishing his thoughts, Schultz asked Keiren.

“Could it be that His Majesty’s successor…”

“As expected of Major General Schultz. Your quick understanding makes conversation smooth.”

Saying that, Keiren spoke to him in a lowered voice.

“Decide, Commander Schultz.”

“…!”

“Whether to move forward with the new Empire, or disappear into the back alleys of history with them.”

Hearing those words, Schultz silently clenched his fist.

If the Emperor’s plan was real.

He had no options left.

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