9th Grade Civil Servant In Another World Chapter 132 - Another World Military Commander (4)

The massive city lay shrouded in silence. At least, that’s how it felt from within the parliament building, protected by magic.

But out in the city proper, military officers bustled about recruiting volunteers, and rich and poor alike were busy packing their belongings to prepare for evacuation.

There was no way to be unaware of such circumstances.

These were the thoughts of the man sitting quietly in the speaker’s seat of the great assembly hall, glaring into empty space—Anton Milov, Prime Minister of this nation called Batalland.

“Is he still in the chapel?”

After maintaining silence for quite a while, Anton’s question prompted his secretary, who had been standing guard beside him, to nod.

“He’s praying, sir.”

He wanted to rush to the royal palace immediately and grab that man by the collar, demanding to know what the hell kind of prayer required all day.

Certainly, if he had been just a little younger, he wouldn’t have hesitated.

But now he knew methods other than violence to get his way through. Many methods, in fact.

‘Pray to God for your whole life.’

Anton turned around with a sharp tap, tap of his cane, sneering inwardly. Behind him, he could see the members of parliament murmuring anxiously.

“It seems His Majesty lacks the will to overcome this national crisis.”

His weighty words intensified the murmuring. However, Anton continued without batting an eye.

“Therefore. I, Anton Milov, Prime Minister of Batalland and Speaker of Parliament, propose an emergency vote according to Article 88 of the Batalland Constitution. From this moment, martial law shall be declared throughout Batalland, and wartime operational control shall be granted to Parliament and the Prime Minister. Those who agree, please raise your hands. If a majority agrees, the vote shall take immediate effect.”

“Wh-what on earth…!”

“This is an outrage!”

“Isn’t His Majesty clearly the supreme commander of Batalland’s military!”

Royalist members began exclaiming in shock and chattering noisily. However, the members of Anton’s Nationalist Party displayed a resolute will, as if to say what must come has come.

“Where is that esteemed supreme commander right now?!”

“How desperate must things be to bring out Article 88 of the Constitution, which hasn’t been applied once since 1870!”

“No, that was an evil law from the start!”

“Wasn’t it a clause stating that if the king cannot perform his duties due to death, illness, etc., command authority transfers to the Prime Minister! This is a complete misinterpretation!”

Anton carefully surveyed the great assembly hall, which had become a scene of chaos.

The members shouting at each other were at least better than this disgraceful display.

Dozens who hadn’t even appeared in parliament today had not only evacuated their families but fled abroad themselves.

‘For members of parliament to have so little faith in their own country.’

Anton clicked his tongue, though he could understand their feelings to some degree.

The ruthless advance of the Schufaben army was that terrifying, and not just the members but the entire nation was in panic. The capital Orhim was no different.

No, if it had only been the strength of the Schufaben army that was the problem, it might have been manageable. It might even have become an opportunity for the people to unite.

Like those dreamers who were still enlisting as volunteers, their eyes spinning with propaganda about standing against Schufaben to defend the homeland.

He heard there were such people even among the sons and daughters of parliament members…

Honestly, Anton wanted to stop them.

Because the Batalland army right now was so far from normal it was embarrassing to even call it an army.

The idea that Batalland was a military power was an outdated prejudice.

Since 1870, after the republican uprising. The king had been reducing and dismantling the Batalland national army for decades.

The stated reason was budget shortfalls.

It was a reasonable argument. Batalland had always been bent under the weight of maintaining its military.

But the king simply couldn’t trust the national army. The military he had invested in so heavily had turned its guns on the royal family, swayed by republican propaganda.

However, the military officers had their own grievances. The Batalland national army was massive in scale but its internal situation was truly a mess.

‘That horrible food.’

Anton recalled soup mixed with sawdust. Someone had clearly been skimming money in the middle.

In any case, the uprising failed.

You could tell from the name “uprising.” If it had succeeded, it would have been called a revolution.

With the reduced military budget, the king built up the Royal Guard and lined his own pockets.

Everyone knew this, but since politics were stable and life was reasonably tolerable, no major backlash occurred.

Honestly, a certain degree of luxury was considered natural.

It would be strange for the king of Batalland, with territory five times larger than Schufaben, to live modestly and in poverty.

Such were the simple thoughts of the people, still stuck a hundred years in the past.

Anton watched the members screaming and fighting, then tapped the floor with his cane.

“This is an emergency. The authority to put matters to a vote lies with the Speaker, so please respond. Will you accept the proposal?”

The Speaker of Parliament then raised his hand.

“I accept.”

The failed uprising had achieved results. The successors to the republican forces, called the Nationalist Party, had advanced into parliament and grown to this extent.

Enough to even produce a Speaker.

“Boooo!”

“We oppose this hasty administration!”

“Stop, stop! Please express your opinions through voting!”

Just as the great assembly hall was about to become noisy again, the door burst open.

“Prime Minister, urgent news!”

All eyes focused on the messenger who had rushed in, sweating.

“Cofen has fallen!”

At her shocking cry, the air in the great assembly hall instantly turned cold, and an eerie silence filled the room.

“Is, is that really true?!”

Someone’s question burst out intensely.

“It’s true, sir. An officer from the 2nd Corps who survived without being captured has just arrived.”

“Why are we only hearing this news now! Where did you sell the telegraph equipment!”

“The telegraph facilities were destroyed in the early stages of battle.”

At the desperate answer, the members’ faces hardened.

Cofen was only 150,000 setins from the capital Orhim. At the speed the Schufaben army had shown so far, they would arrive in three days.

Anton gripped his cane and limped forward, moving toward the frozen members. His leg, injured during the past uprising, could not be healed by any doctor or healer.

For this reason, he was called the ‘limping Prime Minister,’ but he didn’t mind.

“We’d better proceed with the vote quickly. What do you all think?”

There were no objections.

***

After that, Anton worked himself to the bone.

He gathered all the soldiers he could muster and deployed them around the capital, declared martial law to control the citizens, and busily exchanged messages with other countries through diplomats.

The king finally showed his face when news came that Cofen had fallen.

“What is the meaning of this outrageous act, Prime Minister!”

Anton looked at the king quietly.

Sunken cheeks and vacant eyes. His face was clearly marked by illness.

For the past ten years, he had been locked in a power struggle with this man. He had been as solid as an insurmountable wall.

But now the king was old, and after the queen’s suicide a few years ago, he had become a weak man clinging only to God.

“We are currently at war, Your Majesty. Even at this moment, Batalland’s young men are constantly bleeding. Yet where has Your Majesty been for the past two days?”

Anton asked bleakly, then called the soldiers who had come with him.

“Escort His Majesty.”

“Guards! Guards!”

The king squawked, but no one came running. His guard unit had already been dissolved a few hours ago and absorbed into the national army.

Since it was carried out as a surprise operation, the guard leadership couldn’t respond properly.

The Schufaben army remained still. They simply stayed quietly in Cofen, as if watching the situation, as if waiting for something.

Three days later. Urgent news arrived.

“The Orhim forest is on fire!”

When smoke suddenly appeared visible in the distant sky, he had sent his secretary to find out what was happening, and the words he shouted after returning in a panic were quite something.

“The Schufaben army set the fire.”

“Crazy bastards.”

A laugh escaped before any curse.

They must think their own encampment will be safe.

Or perhaps…

“Which way is the wind blowing right now?”

“Uh, well…”

“Hurry and find out.”

As expected.

According to the meteorologists, this time of year mainly brought southeastern winds.

Orhim had old but solid stone walls and was surrounded by a river, so the flames couldn’t invade the capital.

But it would be enough to shock the citizens seeing flames spreading right up to the riverbank. The refugees would be trapped.

“Cunning.”

The next day brought even worse news. No, rather than hearing news, he could see it with his own eyes.

A group of dragons soaring through the smoke-filled sky toward Orhim was clearly visible even from the Joint Chiefs of Staff conference room window.

“Has our air force been deployed?”

“Yes, I just gave the deployment order and am on my way back.”

“What about air defense?”

“No problems.”

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs answered heavily.

However, moments later, the situation turned dire.

“Prime Minister! Our air force is being helplessly defeated! They say the enemy is shooting bombs while sitting on dragons!”

“Prime Minister! The refugees who poured in have turned into a mob and are attacking the soldiers trying to control them! The east gate has already collapsed!”

Anton pressed hard on his throbbing temples.

“First, buy us some time. So the citizens can evacuate.”

Anton instructed the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and headed to his office. It was because of a report that a messenger from Queen Rubellia had arrived.

But the person waiting for him was not the queen’s messenger.

“Who are you?”

“As you probably know, I’m Lucas Redan. I’ve come to make a deal.”

A pale-faced young man with black hair answered calmly and offered a handshake.

***

“Ugh, I think I’m going to throw up.”

Even at dragon speed, it took over half a day to reach Orhim.

Well, I had expected as much, which is why I asked to be put in a large box so I wouldn’t run out of air.

No one would know that inside one of the bomb boxes attached to Elizabeth’s belly, there was a person instead of a bomb.

“I should have brought some food.”

Sitting blankly curled up in the dark box, I grew hungry.

I must have dozed off from anxiety and nervousness.

“Lucas, Lucas, can you hear me? Lucas? Hey!”

A whispering voice pierced my ear, and I snapped awake, grabbing the faint light seeping from the voice transmitter.

“I can hear you, over.”

“I was worried something went wrong. Everything okay? Over.”

“Fine. Except for being hungry and sleepy, over.”

“The commander’s in quite a state. Over.”

Ian chuckled. He seemed to have regained his composure after being tense with fear last time.

It was his naturally optimistic personality. Fear of the Supreme Leader was an unavoidable instinct for any Schufaben citizen.

“I can see Orhim with the naked eye now. Looks like orders will come down soon, so I’ll keep the voice transmitter on. Over.”

“Got it. Over.”

Soon Ian’s voice faded and only the fierce wind sounds filled the box.

I felt sorry for burdening Ian with such a heavy load, but right now he and Captain Himmel were about the only people I could trust on this battlefield.

Actually, rather than trusting Ian, it was more like blackmail…

‘He had no choice but to accept because of my position.’

Ian doesn’t know that I’m the head of the White Raven Order or that Kruger and I are using each other.

The image Ian has of me would be exactly my public persona.

A hero with a story like something out of a novel.

At least he doesn’t seem to dislike me or find me unpleasant.

‘I have to keep trying my best. So Ian doesn’t die.’

Of course, that’s assuming he keeps his mouth shut.

About an hour later.

From the voice transmitter, which had only been carrying Ian and his colleagues’ casual banter, came the heavy voice of Battalion Commander Captain Tim Belf.

“We’ll arrive at Orhim soon, so let’s review the operation plan. Our objective is scorched earth.”

“Huh? What?”

“Battalion Commander?”

“This differs from our operation plan.”

Murmuring sounds crackled through from various places.

“There were orders from Supreme Leader to maintain secrecy until just before execution. Our duty is to break the enemy’s will to fight. Operations will continue until we achieve unconditional surrender. We have sufficient supplies, but if operations are prolonged, supplies will be procured from the homeland.”

“Battalion Commander! But…!”

“Enough. Who are we?”

“We are Blue Eagle! Proud soldiers of the great Supreme Leader!”

To Captain Belf’s question, all 49 Blue Eagles responded in unison.

“What is a soldier’s reason for existence?”

“To carry out our mission!”

“That’s all.”

The resistance subsided.

Listening to this, chills ran down my spine.

‘What kind of cult is this?’

That son of a bitch Kruger is trying to do exactly what he did in Cortana, just on a larger scale.

‘I knew it!’

The orders I received didn’t mention scorched earth or anything like that. He must not have trusted me. And these Blue Eagles too.

To prevent them from refusing orders, he tells them the plan just before bombing, making it impossible for them to do anything but comply.

Soldiers who fail to refuse orders in time will be unable to overcome their guilt and will try to rationalize. We did the right thing.

‘No, damn it! I have to stop this!’

I bit my lips and desperately racked my brain. I have to stop this insane war crime.

‘Gamble after gamble. But I absolutely have to do it.’

Otherwise, I’ll go to hell.

I whispered as quietly as possible, trying to be drowned out by the wind.

“Ian, Ian! Drop me near Orhim.”

“What? No way, how can I do that in this atmosphere?”

Ian also answered very quietly.

“Make up some excuse and land for just one minute! Say Elizabeth is sick or something! Do you want to drop bombs on that city?”

“Damn it!”

Just then, chaos erupted everywhere.

“It’s the Batalland air force!”

And the box shook violently, causing me to roll around inside it.

“Agh, ugh!”

The aerial battle had begun.