9th Grade Civil Servant In Another World Chapter 106 - Bullet Sponge (5)

‘Should I be happy about this?’

I looked at the two eyes that couldn’t even blink, frozen in terror, and thought for a moment.

‘When I think about it, I did catch him in a weak moment……’

No, that’s a bad move.

I want to become friends with the boy king, not make him submit to me. I shouldn’t do that either. It would only make the situation even more unpredictable.

“Woof woof woof! Woof woof!”

“Colin, stop.”

I restrained Colin, who was barking fiercely with his teeth bared, and carefully released the boy king’s wrist.

I pulled out the dagger stuck in my gambeson and returned it to him, putting on the gentlest smile I could manage.

“Next time, aim for the throat, Your Majesty.”

“Hheuh……”

The king, who had knelt beside me, turned deathly pale, then flushed red as if about to burst, not knowing what to do with himself.

Shallow breathing sounds flowed from his mouth like a half-deflated balloon.

“Haah, ha……”

I quietly wrapped his hand and pushed it away from my chest.

“You should get some rest now.”

I spoke gently to him with compassion, as if comforting him.

“Would it be alright if I escorted you to your bedchamber?”

“!!!”

The king, whose face was scrunched up as if he were about to cry, shook his head frantically.

Then he opened and closed his mouth as if trying to say something, but in the dark room lit only by moonlight, it was hard to make out the shape of his lips.

“You want to go alone…… Yes, Your Majesty. As you wish.”

The king struggled to his trembling legs and headed toward the fireplace. That must be how he came in.

After he crawled away and disappeared, I let out a long sigh and got to my feet.

“Come here, Colin.”

I took Colin, who was panting and rubbing against me, and headed to the bedroom.

Even when I’d looked around earlier, I’d felt it, but with the unfinished walls lacking interior coating, the hollow and empty atmosphere couldn’t be called cozy by any stretch of the imagination.

I dragged my exhausted body toward the bed. I took off my shirt and put on my pajamas. I wanted to take off my gambeson too, but who knows when someone else might attempt an assassination.

Poor, poor boy king.

Even if I die, nothing will change.

I need to let him know that fact first.

‘For now, let me get some sleep……’

I sink into the soft mattress.

***

The next day became extremely busy.

“Did you rest well last night, Your Majesty?”

After finishing breakfast and meeting with the king, the face of the boy king—no, Edvart Piast—who had been restless, turned pale.

After a few seconds, having composed his expression, he barely managed to move his fingers.

“Good morning. What brings you here?”

The chamberlain was reading the words aloud, but within them I seemed to hear the frightened, delicate voice of a boy who hadn’t even reached puberty yet.

For some reason, I felt bad, as if I had cruelly tormented him.

“I came to pay my respects. Your Majesty, as I mentioned yesterday, this foreign minister is following Supreme Leader’s orders to protect Your Majesty. Please do not doubt my sincere intentions.”

Of course, I thought whatever I said wouldn’t reach Edvart at all, and my prediction was correct. He just nodded mechanically, wanting to escape this situation.

‘It’s no use right now.’

I withdrew gently for the time being.

I summoned Brigadier General Eric Wagner.

“Long live the Great Supreme Leader! Did you call for me, Commander?”

“Long live Supreme Leader. Yes, Brigadier General Wagner. We have a lot to do starting today.”

“Yes! Please give me your orders!”

“Take notes. First, politely bring back the officials and ministers who fled. We need to set up a military government office to handle administrative affairs. We’re severely understaffed, so we have no choice but to borrow the hands of locals.

Since many are already dead or have fled, leaving us terribly short-handed, replace them with nobles or influential people who listen well and don’t rebel.

That work alone will take several days, so make sure to report to me intermittently as you proceed.

Cortana hasn’t escaped from monarchy yet, how primitive. I hear the noble-born parliamentarians also wield strong power. Was the parliament building left intact? Bring all the parliamentarians too.

We need to first identify who held power before we can take that power for ourselves, don’t you think so?”

“You speak wisely.”

“What exactly is the composition of our army that’s currently stationed here?”

“Two infantry battalions. The 30 air force personnel who conducted the air raid on the first day returned that same day, and we heard that fewer than 10 personnel were dispatched from Ferint and Ossel, but since they’re not under our jurisdiction, we couldn’t get precise information. I apologize.”

I paused for a moment.

“Knights from Ferint came?”

“Yes. The details of their mission seem to be classified.”

“Hmm, I see. I’ll hold a military review around evening. It would be good to call Ferint and Ossel too.”

“That’s…… difficult. We don’t know if they’ll listen to us. We can’t even be sure where they are or what they’re doing.”

“We can at least try, can’t we?”

“I will obey your orders.”

Honestly, I don’t expect those arrogant bastards to listen to me at all, but I should at least make the attempt.

“Oh, by the way, what happened to Cortana’s military? We need to render them completely incapable of action. If we’re not careful, they might become warlords.”

“Ah, we have prepared materials on that matter.”

The brigadier general rummaged through the files he was carrying and respectfully handed me something.

“Cortana’s total military strength is estimated at around 10,000 men. Of those, the 500 guarding the royal castle were completely wiped out in the attack the day before yesterday. Beyond that, they maintain about 20,000 mercenaries in constant employment.”

“The mercenaries of the Kashan Principality are famous.”

“We didn’t have time to disarm them.”

‘Ha, so that’s how it is. I expected as much, but……’

Without realizing it, I bit my lips and skimmed through the military organization in the documents.

The Schufaben army had really only occupied the royal castle. While the confused Cortana army failed to respond properly, they had seized trains and advanced at lightning speed.

That mobility was praiseworthy, but what were they planning to do afterward?

‘Kruger, you bastard, you really threw me into a death trap……!’

30,000 on their side. Just counting the troops guarding near the capital Carlton makes 10,000. Meanwhile, we have 2,000. And no further reinforcements……

‘What the hell am I supposed to do?!’

I wanted to hold my head in my hands, but I restrained myself and maintained silence for a moment. Only the sound of breathing and my rustling through papers echoed in the office. I could feel Brigadier General Wagner stealing glances at me, pretending not to.

Finally, after checking through to the last page, I spoke calmly.

“Right, you must be frantically busy too, and I’ve kept you too long. Before we receive guests, we should handle the corpses recovered in the royal castle. Identify as many as possible. When that work is finished, hold a joint funeral including the deceased royal couple.”

The brigadier general’s hand, which had been diligently taking notes, stopped.

“A funeral, you said?”

“Is something wrong?”

A faint but anxious expression appeared on the brigadier general’s face.

“Commander, forgive my presumption, but is it really necessary to hold a funeral? After all, this Cortana is merely a magic stone production base. There’s no need to put so much effort—”

“Brigadier General.”

“Yes, Commander.”

“Are you the one in overall charge here?”

“No, sir.”

“Then shut your mouth.”

“Yes!”

After Brigadier General Wagner left the office, I pressed my temples hard. My mind and body were already growing weary.

Cortana cannot become a magic stone production base. That fact is all too clear.

But I absolutely cannot reveal it.

If the secret leaks out, setting aside the immediate chaos that would ensue, Kruger would have my head. Just like the previous king, I must keep hiding it. For the time being.

“Well, someday there’ll come a time when I’ll have to reveal it whether I want to or not, so I’ll have to wait.”

I stretched and turned around.

“Captain Himmel, could you bring me paper and ink? Oh, and Cortana newspapers too, by type. Three days’ worth from the day before yesterday until today will do. I need to write a script.”

***

“I knew this would happen! That’s why I said we needed to complete the statement as quickly as possible!”

“Lower your voice. You think you’re the only ones whose heads are aching right now?”

“Now, now, everyone please calm down and let’s discuss this rationally.”

“How can we be calm now?! The Continental Conference that just got off the ground is about to overturn like a wagon with a broken wheel!”

“Then what exactly do you suggest we do?! Does sitting here squawking loudly solve anything?”

“Well then, do you have some other method? If you do, why didn’t you propose it earlier?”

“Hmph, such primitive people.”

“What did you just say!”

The scene at the ‘Continental Conference Headquarters’ near Prime Minister Rubellia’s residence was absolute chaos.

Shifting blame and pointing fingers at each other was among the milder reactions, while some were gesticulating wildly and foaming at the mouth.

Once these people who had pretended to be refined ladies and gentlemen lost their composure, they revealed the most savage aspects of anyone.

Prime Minister Rubellia and Continental Conference Chairwoman Silvia Bertrand pressed her throbbing head.

A political deal with the queen.

The queen had made Silvia lead the Continental Conference revival to put the brakes on Schufaben’s movements.

In exchange, she promised to fully support Silvia for the remainder of her term as prime minister and help her build a reputation as the ‘Iron Lady’ behind the scenes.

However, Schufaben’s mad Supreme Leader Kruger had delivered a devastating blow……

With a swift surprise attack, Schufaben had taken Cortana, and while maintaining silence for two full days of continental chaos, the continental nations grew even more confused by their lack of response—a vicious cycle.

‘Was it too much to attempt after all?’

The Continental Conference was an organization created about 200 years ago to stop Schufaben’s warmonger king. However, when Schufaben self-destructed through internal strife, it fizzled out and disbanded.

And now, despite being revived with grand ideals, it was following the exact same path as history.

At this point, doubt crept in—hadn’t it been the wrong decision to try to stop Schufaben through such gentlemanly methods?

Schufaben had secretly developed new weapons.

A weapon still called simply ‘the big bomb’ because its exact name wasn’t known. They had heard it was a bomb with more than ten times the mana input of existing ones.

Such technology to condense that much mana—if applied to various things, it could be a revolutionary invention that would change the world.

As expected, those Schufaben bastards were ignorant and savage warmongers, Silvia cursed inwardly.

But finding a way to stop those warmongers remained elusive.

With Cortana’s mines fallen into their hands, they would be mass-producing those ‘big bombs.’

If they sent armies to help, they would surely suffer tremendous losses.

Knowing this, weren’t they just making noise with their mouths about what to do? Setting aside idealistic goals like ‘protecting small nations.’

It was a kind of hypersensitive reaction born from fear.

No one knew when Schufaben’s army might come knocking at their doors.

Countries that had prepared thorough defenses would handle it better than Cortana, but precisely because of that, they had no capacity to rescue Cortana.

‘In the end, we have no choice but to do as Her Majesty the Queen instructed……’

Yesterday, Marianne I, who had summoned Silvia to White Palace, had given orders with a very calm expression.

“Everyone.”

“We can’t just sit here—we need to liberate Cortana as quickly as possible. If magic stones keep flowing to them, there really will be no answer!”

“It’s already too late! The railway export route is still intact, so they must have already resumed operations.”

“That’s exactly why we need to move before it gets any later!”

“Don’t be irresponsible. Pontinell isn’t going to provide troops anyway!”

“Everyone!”

Bang bang bang!

When Silvia struck her wooden gavel and shouted loudly, the conference hall instantly fell silent.

“Everyone. Please calm down. Have you forgotten that the Continental Conference was created to safeguard peace? We mustn’t give in to this degree of crisis.”

“But since there’s no good solution, this commotion is arising. Everyone’s nervous about sending armies because they might leave holes in their border defenses, but we can’t just stand by and do nothing……”

“So, let’s wait.”

Silvia spoke decisively with a solemn expression on her face, which was beginning to show wrinkles.

“It hasn’t even been three days since the war broke out. Each nation has already decided to halt magic stone exports to Schufaben, so it’s too early to take any additional measures. So everyone should inspect their home country’s armies and strengthen their defenses so they won’t fall to Schufaben. Helping Cortana comes after that……”

“Prime Minister! Urgent news!”

The door burst open and a secretary rushed in.

“Secretary, mind your manners. We’re in the middle of an important meeting.”

“I apologize. Please listen to the radio!”

He held out a large radio. It was tuned to Cortana’s frequency, receiving sound albeit unstably.

“……citizens of Cortana, greetings. This is Military Governor Lucas Redan.”

A clear voice echoed through the great conference hall.