9th Grade Civil Servant In Another World Chapter 102 - Bullet Sponge (1)

For a while, I just kept flopping around like an idiot.

‘What the hell? What did I burn away four years of my life for? Going so far as to risk my life? If this was how it would end anyway, then why.’

When I came to my senses, the day had already grown dark. Johann was nowhere to be seen.

As I got up, tears that had been pooling in my eyes trickled down, and unidentified documents scattered on my body fell in all directions.

Johann must have dumped them there before leaving. While sneering at me as a ‘stupid bastard.’

After waiting for my trembling hands to calm down, I picked up the papers and read them, only to burst out laughing.

「List of Deceased Assets

13 mansions

52 porcelain pieces

174 paintings

Approximately 200 million pelts in cash

Gold bars and jewels worth approximately 98 million pelts

……

Firearms manufacturing plant

……

Leather factory

Clothing company stocks, 130 shares」

“Well, well, you certainly covered all the bases. Go ahead and devour it all!”

My teeth ground together with a grinding sound. My chest burned as I crumpled up the paper and threw it away.

It was a property list of the victims who had been nationalized during the ‘White Raven Order scandal’ last time.

‘Victims, huh.’

Though they were people corrupted by graft, corruption, and secret evil deeds, they were also victims of state power.

In truth, they had been purged by Ossel’s conspiracy, but it was disguised as murders by the White Raven Order.

Anyway, that wasn’t important right now.

No matter how filthily those upper-class figures had accumulated their wealth, no matter how many art collections they had amassed.

What mattered was that among those lists were firearms factories, leather and clothing company shares, and even a large dairy farm in the countryside.

“Damn it!”

I trembled with boiling rage and self-loathing.

“It’s obviously preparation for military supply production!”

When war starts, clothing factories will produce military uniforms, and the farm’s meat and milk will be requisitioned and processed into combat rations.

Why couldn’t I figure out this simple scheme?

Who planned that purge?

Kruger.

Who designated the kidnapping targets?

Kruger.

Who deliberately selected those without proper families to inherit and who owned prime industrial assets to make into scapegoats?

That was also Kruger!

“I should have been quicker on the uptake.”

At that time, I was busy grilling the queen in Rubellia and had only heard a rough account from Hannah, so I didn’t know these behind-the-scenes details.

No, if it wasn’t Ossel, who would have known such things?

But that doesn’t excuse it. I’ve been going around saying Kruger is as cunning and shrewd as a demon. And yet!

I could have at least tried to figure out what criteria he used to decide who among the kidnapped people to kill and who to spare!

“Arrrrgh! You stupid bastard! Die!”

I flopped down on the floor and thrashed around, screaming.

Johann must have investigated the victims long ago and discovered their common traits.

At that moment, he would have realized Kruger’s intentions and quietly prepared. In addition to pulling the rug out from under the war gambling ring after setting up a big game, he must have made various other moves.

Without saying a single word to me! While sneering at me instead!

At this point, he probably had plans ready for when I actually managed to prevent the war through scheming, so either way he wouldn’t take a loss.

“Hah…”

I let out a long sigh and glared at the luxurious ceiling.

Now I need to prepare.

***

“This is 172nd Elkanshter. This is 172nd Elkanshter. Target in sight.”

“This is Blue Eagle. This is Blue Eagle. Operation One. Execute.”

“Roger. This is 172nd Elkanshter. This is 172nd Elkanshter. Squad 1, descend.”

“385th Sonya, descending.”

“111th Katarina, descending.”

“249th Moritz, descending.”

A massive shadow swept across the rugged mountain range. Animals felt instinctual fear at the sun being completely blocked for a moment and burrowed into the grass.

Before the eyes of the Schufaben air force, the Blue Eagles, who had descended along the mountain slopes, spread the panorama of a small city bordering the frontier.

Flying quite high and occasionally obscured by clouds, they could still make out the road leading to the mountain mines and the closely-packed houses.

“Squad 1, descend.”

A voice from the transmitter.

First Lieutenant Maximilian Fisher answered briefly and tightened the reins wrapped around Sonya’s body. Sonya quietly cried out as she lowered altitude.

It was now 9:34 AM.

Time for the city to wake up and move actively. They could identify the ant-like movements of people heading to work or toward the market.

“I always wonder about this, but why Blue Eagles? No matter how large and magnificent blue-feathered eagles are, they’re still hundreds of times smaller than dragons.”

As Maximilian muttered at the sudden thought, laughter from his colleagues flying ahead and behind came through the transmitter.

“I agree. It would have been better to make gold dragons the symbol of the air force. The meaning would be sufficient too.”

“How about suggesting it to Supreme Leader once?”

“This is 172nd Elkanshter. This is 172nd Elkanshter. Enough chatter, focus on the mission.”

Just as he was about to respond saying they were doing just that, the transmitter rang again.

“Squad 1, drop.”

Maximilian let go of the reins he’d been fiddling with throughout the flight and brought his hand to the machine attached to the side of his saddle.

The smooth steel machine ran along Sonya’s flank and belly.

The box attached to the center of Sonya’s belly, packed tight with gifts of death.

When he pressed the machine’s button, a faint metallic clank could be heard even over the fierce wind.

The morning streets were lively yet peaceful.

Hetzen, a small city nestled closest to the border region at the foot of the Colt Mountains.

The residents had been suffering from anxiety until recently.

The Schufaben royal heirs were murdered by Cortana soldiers!

Such shocking and threatening news, followed by a confusing flood of information.

For a while, it was so chaotic that it was hard to even judge what was true and what was false.

The entire country, the entire continent, made a fuss about war threats and focused attention on Hetzen. The city was thickly blanketed with tense atmosphere.

But humans are creatures of adaptation.

When several nights passed without news of soldiers invading the city, the people who had been extremely tense quickly became numb.

Government officials and journalists swarming in was only temporary, and soon the city regained its peace. Residents who had panicked and fled in the early stages of the crisis even returned.

Months passed, and when the joint investigation team produced lackluster results, the threat theory faded.

Even if the Schufaben side’s manipulation was correct, experts generally agreed it was simply an attempt to extract benefits rather than immediate invasion.

In fact, Schufaben was only demanding the dissolution and punishment of the problematic unit, and beyond that was continuing tedious negotiations, asking to revise treaties regarding mana stone exports.

And people vaguely believed that this daily life would continue forever.

Of course, it was a foolish belief.

“Mommy, what’s that?”

A child holding tightly to his mother’s hand while toddling along on a shopping trip pointed at the sky. The woman, busy looking at her grocery list, finally raised her head.

Her heart sank. All the passersby around were looking up at the sky with either bewildered or serious expressions.

A businessman in a suit, a housewife like herself, a student who had skipped school to secretly go to the park, a dating couple—everyone.

Somehow the white stones on the road were shadowed gray… The woman slowly tilted her head back.

The silhouettes of massive beings blocked the sun. Over a dozen dragons gathered together and glided overhead.

“Dragons…”

The woman muttered unconsciously.

“Wow! Dragons! Dragons!”

The child, who had only seen dragons in books, jumped up and down with joy.

They weren’t unequipped. Besides saddles, they had some kind of square boxes hanging from their bellies.

When she realized that, the boxes opened. And heavy black objects rapidly fell toward the ground.

“Kyaaaaaaaaaah!”

The businessman nearby let out a terrible scream that tore through the air. The woman unconsciously hugged her child and tried to run.

BOOOOOOM!

Soon, her body vanished without a trace. The shopping basket and notebook burned to ash as well.

“Five Blue Eagles soar through the clouds. Five Blue Eagles soar through lightning. Take off, take off! Charge at the enemy! Descend! Descend! See the enemy’s blood!”

First Lieutenant Maximilian Fisher hummed the cheerful air force song. The song that had started with him alone gradually became a duet, then a trio, and finally a resounding chorus.

“Five Blue Eagles soar through the clouds!”

Bang! BOOM!

“Five Blue Eagles soar through lightning!”

BOOOOOM!

He could feel hot air rising from below. The park trees below were burning red.

“Take off! Take off! Charge at the enemy!”

Screams were buried between destroyed roads and collapsed buildings.

High-explosive bombs that had condensed mana beyond known limits were made into clusters and scattered countless times. When bombs dropped from dragons opened their mouths wide, countless submunitions scattered out.

The Blue Eagles used the dragons’ power to carry numerous bombs, then flew over the city center endlessly dropping them.

A steel rain falling on the city.

Operation name: ‘Shock and Awe.’

It was a secret operation conducted by selecting only the 30 most loyal among the precious dragon pilots, of whom there were barely 500.

Despite the gravity of the situation, the operation details were very simple.

During the few hours when the border area between Schufaben and Cortana would become a vacuum for investigation and punishment, the air force crosses the border. Burns the city below the Colt Mountains. Threatens the Cortana government in time with the declaration of war. Rampages freely through Cortana’s skies, which lack a proper air force, conducting a show of force.

It wasn’t a battle to be nervous about at all. Rather than a battle, it was a one-sided massacre.

But it was an honorable mission.

It was taking the first step toward reclaiming the lost homeland, which had been the Schufabens’ long-cherished desire.

His Excellency the Supreme Leader Friedrich Kruger had taught in his book <Struggle>,

That small land we all know will become the nation’s breathing hole, the continent’s heart, and the driving force for humanity’s advancement!

“Five Blue Eagles soar through the clouds!”

As the voices of the Blue Eagles in the sky rose higher, so did the screams of the people on the ground.

They were enemies illegally occupying Schufabens’ rightful territory. They deserved to be swept away.

That’s why the Blue Eagles were joyful.

The bombardment continued endlessly and the city was stained with blood. In the ruined schools and squares, hospitals and parks, people scattered and tried to hide, but it was futile movement.

Because bombs were concentrated wherever movement was detected.

The Blue Eagles’ requiem ended.

Finally, when no trace of life could be seen in the small city, satisfied, they drove their dragons north.

***

“At last, our nation’s land has returned! After more than 200 years!”

A luxury hotel in Lüdelheim District 3, Schufaben’s most affluent area.

The people sitting around the top-floor secret space all had vacant expressions, listening in a daze.

Radio sounds filled the settled silence. The host, Supreme Leader’s puppet, enthusiastically explained why this war was justified.

“Crazy bastard…”

Oscar’s muttering spoke for everyone’s feelings.

An entire city had been devastated.

The air force flew to the capital and burned the royal castle, while knights detained the king.

The Cortana government, panicked and confused by the swift strike, raised the white flag on condition that no more killing would occur.

It was 12 hours after the war began.

“What are we going to do now?”

“What do you mean, what?”

When Erika sighed, I snapped back irritably while sitting on the sofa, shaking my leg and biting my lip.

“Calm down, Lucas. Anyone can make mistakes. You’re the same.”

“A mistake? Yeah, it was a mistake. A mistake that should never have been made!”

I lashed out angrily at Daniel. He shrugged and exchanged glances with Richard.

“It was a fatal mistake.”

“Hey, Richard…!”

Oscar was shocked, but Richard wore his usual monotone, benevolent expression.

“Therefore, please atone. To us who trusted you.”

“You trusted me? You, Richard?”

When I asked blankly, he calmly nodded.

“I trusted you.”

“……”

I was speechless.

“Brother.”

Georg broke the silence.

“What should we do now?”

I touched my stinging lip. Blood was seeping out little by little. After roughly wiping it on my clothes, I looked around the room.

Everyone except Fa-Elhar, who remained in the desert, and the Redan company employees was gathered.

Daniel, Assad and Hannah, even Namir, who was muttering, ‘Was leaving home the right thing to do?’

Everyone was looking at me.

‘Damn it, how did it come to this?’

It was a fleeting thought.

‘Homeland recovery! Homeland recovery!’

Suppressing the Lucas inside me who was going mad with joy, I opened my mouth.