9th Grade Civil Servant In Another World Chapter 167 - The Paradigm of Lies (5)

“Have you awakened, Commander?”

“Mmm, good morning!”

The sun was already high in the sky. Through the wide-open window, I could see a beautiful garden bathed in spring sunlight.

I yawned so wide my mouth might split and greeted Captain Himmel. She brought me a meal while I wore silk pajamas and showed no intention of crawling out of bed.

“Captain, your civilian clothes look quite different. And a skirt, no less.”

“Is it strange?”

Captain Himmel, who had wheeled over the tray, turned this way and that to look down at her clothes.

It was an elegant and pretty dress. The waist was slightly gathered, and the sleeves were a bit puffy too.

Rather than tight-fitting clothing, it was a comfortable style that fell to her calves, which considerably concealed Captain Himmel’s bumpy muscles.

“No, it suits you well. Especially matches your skin tone and hair.”

“Thank you.”

When I gave her a thumbs up, the captain bowed her head slightly.

Well, it wasn’t a lie.

Captain Himmel’s tanned brown skin and the cream-colored dress matched surprisingly well, and the short haircut and design that revealed her neckline were a perfect combination.

“Mm, pretty, yes.”

It was quite excellent for something borrowed in a hurry.

This was the White Palace.

Specifically, the deepest area surrounded by several gardens. A place only the Queen, her close associates, and the head chamberlain could enter.

In the past, princes and princesses had lived here, but after they all grew up and left, it became the Queen’s resting area.

The White Palace was vast.

Compared to Schufaben’s Supreme Leader’s residence, this place was about three times larger.

When I stayed in Rubellia, I had enjoyed the Queen’s favor and frequented the palace, but I hadn’t seen even half of it. Naturally, I had no idea such quarters existed.

The Queen had faithfully honored my request to ‘hide me.’

“Mm, as expected, the White Palace’s chef is excellent. Captain, would you like a bite?”

I held out a sandwich slathered with cream, but Captain Himmel stiffly shook her head.

“I’ve already had breakfast.”

“Really? Then I’ll shamelessly eat alone.”

The captain stood at attention beside the bed. Since this was the Queen’s palace, she couldn’t wear her sword at her waist.

Having someone standing there while I lay comfortably alone made me feel somewhat guilty.

“Sorry for treating you like a servant, Captain. But I’ve suffered so much hardship, haven’t I? And when I return, who knows what torture awaits me, so let me rest comfortably while I can.”

“It’s fine.”

Even to my shameless joke, Captain Himmel gave only a bland reaction. But she surprised me by suddenly sitting up at her next words.

“From the moment you saved my life, didn’t I decide to become your person, Commander?”

“Oh… how touching.”

I muttered awkwardly while looking at the expressionless Captain Himmel.

“Still, I’ve put you in mortal danger far more often than I’ve saved your life. Don’t you resent me for that?”

“No.”

It was a resolute answer. I chuckled and gestured.

“That’s a relief.”

After finishing the sandwich, I leaned back against the fluffy bed. I sipped coffee while unfolding a newspaper.

The headline on the front page made me grin wickedly.

「Lucas Redan Missing?! The Truth Schufaben is Hiding!」

***

Sophia Kohl was a journalist.

That was what she thought comprised her entire identity.

Twenties, female, youngest daughter, patriot, trilingual speaker, university graduate.

Such things gave Sophia no sense of belonging. She was purely and simply a journalist.

Technically she was a radio broadcast writer working at a radio station, so quite different from field reporters who ran around on their own feet.

Still, she was a journalist.

She received newspaper articles, topics collected by staff members, and reporting guidelines from the Supreme Leader’s residence, then wrote scripts in the booth. Recruiting guests and coordinating scripts with hosts was enjoyable work too.

But on the other hand, she also had a desire to visit real ‘field sites.’ Wouldn’t seeing with her own eyes let her write news more vividly?

So when orders came down to allow war correspondents after over six months since the war broke out, Sophia immediately applied for deployment.

The radio station had other writers besides her, but none wanted to go to the battlefield. Only Sophia was full of enthusiasm, so the deployment was easily arranged.

It would be a lie to say she hadn’t felt solemn resolve. But what she felt even more strongly was excitement.

She was beside herself with immature anticipation of finally becoming a ‘real journalist’ and the joy of going to do ‘the most wonderful work of her life’ for the first time.

Would she make the same choice if she went back?

Even after seeing all this carnage, would she have made the same choice?

Corpses, corpses, corpses.

She couldn’t even count how many deaths she had witnessed.

A thousand? Ten thousand? Perhaps a million?

She wandered the battlefield with a photographer, enduring the stench, watching busy soldiers running about.

She refined and sanitized all those events into writing. But those scripts were never read on the radio. From home base came telegraphed warnings to ‘stop doing useless things.’

Of the thousands of pages of manuscripts she typed, only those that weren’t lies but weren’t the truth either were selected—absurd heroic tales, praise for Commander Lucas Redan, determined soldiers… such stories.

The ‘real’ war stories she wanted to show were always missing whenever she listened to the radio.

She had expected this to some degree.

From the beginning, she had harbored resentment toward reporting guidelines when writing scripts at the station. She kept her mouth shut since openly rebelling would get her killed for nothing.

But she didn’t know they would so thoroughly pick out only the meaningless content from manuscripts sent from the battlefield, and she didn’t know censorship would become much stronger than before, changing over half the manuscript content.

‘Modest success’ became ‘great victory,’ ‘exhausted soldiers’ became ‘heroes who know no surrender,’ ‘horrific death’ became ‘glorious martyrdom’—cleverly modified.

At first she was furious, then it became ridiculous with repetition, and now she felt no emotion at all.

It was now April 1904.

About six months had passed since she followed the army around the border areas of Pontinell and Rubellia.

Now Sophia couldn’t even be certain whether her past self and present self were the same person.

Was she still a ‘journalist’?

“Useless work…”

“Hey, Sophia! It’s time.”

The sunset was beginning to fall.

Sophia, who had been crouched on the ground outside the barracks soaking up sunlight, got up at the photographer’s call.

Today was the day she had arranged to interview military doctors and medics.

People who wore inefficiently white gowns and ran around the battlefield full of gunfire, carrying corpses and treating patients.

No one knew whether this manuscript would be used just because she conducted the interview.

Actually, the situation on the eastern front had long since been pushed out of the news, with battles against southern island nations like the Kashan Principality and incidents of clashing with Rubellia at sea receiving attention instead.

On the eastern front, all material for proclaiming Schufaben’s victory had been exhausted, leaving only stagnant war conditions and daily mounting casualties.

Still, Sophia had to continuously send manuscripts according to her contract, so she decided to seek out people who suffered but received no attention.

Most military doctors were so steeped in overwork and all-nighters that they had no time to answer a reporter’s questions, but fortunately she had obtained permission for an interview from one military doctor.

***

“Excuse me.”

At the dusky twilight hour, Sophia and the photographer entered the lit temporary medical ward.

As soon as they opened the door, the smell of blood wafted over.

In beds dirtied with blood lay patients asleep from painkillers, while military doctors, medics, and nurses moved their hands busily.

“Who— ah, you must be the reporter.”

Though half his face was covered by a mask, it was a military doctor with impressive platinum hair soaked in sweat and kind eyes.

“I’m sorry. You came for the interview, but we have an emergency patient. If it’s alright with you, could I answer questions while performing surgery?”

“Ah, yes, of course.”

The two sat awkwardly on simple chairs after the nurse gave them disinfectant to wash their hands and faces.

“Please introduce yourself first.”

“I’m Richard Enke. Before commissioning, I was the director of a small surgical hospital, and I’m currently serving as a military doctor with the rank of first lieutenant.”

“Thank you. What kind of patient are you treating right now?”

“A patient with abdominal gunshot wounds. The bullet lodged in his lower abdomen caused multiple organ failure, but fortunately hasn’t progressed to cascading functional shutdown yet. If we quickly remove the bullet and stop the bleeding—”

“Ah, sorry. Could you explain it a bit more simply?”

“In short, it means his internal organs were nearly destroyed. If the bullet had penetrated just a little deeper. Quick surgery is key.”

“Ah, I see. But are you sure it’s okay to do the interview?”

“Yes. It’s fine. Blood.”

As the nurse fitted a blood pack into a complicated-looking device, blood began flowing to the patient through transparent tubes. First Lieutenant Enke was concentrating on suturing the damaged organs.

Sophia, who had been staring blankly at the scene, snapped to attention when the photographer poked her in the ribs and continued her questions.

“First Lieutenant, among the patients you’ve seen, who was most memorable…”

First Lieutenant Enke answered every question thoroughly in a calm voice while moving his hands quickly.

His eyes were warm, and his answers were concise.

Honestly, Sophia was impressed.

She genuinely thought it was wonderful how he never stopped his hands while constantly talking, performing surgery like a machine. Like light was emanating from his body.

About an hour later, the surgery ended.

“He should survive. As long as blood supply comes on time.”

After the patient was wheeled to the recovery room, First Lieutenant Enke removed his bloody gloves and washed his hands.

“You’ve really worked hard, First Lieutenant. This is the last question, so I’ll proceed quickly.”

Sophia looked at her notebook and hesitated for a moment. Should she really ask this?

But soon she steeled her eyes and opened her mouth. This was the only thing she could do in this hell.

“First Lieutenant, I understand you mainly work in the medical ward near headquarters. Unless it’s very urgent, you’re not deployed to combat zones.”

“Yes. That’s correct.”

“So I’m asking… if you know any rumors circulating at headquarters, could you tell me? Even trivial things would be fine.”

“Rumors? Well.”

First Lieutenant Enke, who had removed his mask, smiled ambiguously.

“For example.”

Sophia took a deep breath.

“Rumors that the commander has gone missing.”

For a moment, cracks appeared in his smile.

The first lieutenant had maintained an extremely focused expression or warm expression throughout. Sophia was startled to see his eyes suddenly sink into emptiness.

“Missing.”

“Ah, hahaha! This person made a slip of the tongue! No, it’s not that! We know it’s just a baseless rumor! We’ve kept you too long, haven’t we? You must be tired, so please rest now! Come on, let’s get out of the way!”

The terrified photographer forcibly pulled Sophia up and dragged her out.

“I’ve told you how many times to break that habit of acting on your own! Don’t ever do such dangerous things again! Even battlefields have eyes and ears! Do you two want to be shot together?”

Sophia half-listened to his angry scolding while looking back through the medical ward door that hadn’t fully closed.

First Lieutenant Enke was standing still with his shoulders drooping as if lost in deep thought.

***

“Your Majesty, thank you. To grant my request so quickly.”

“Hoho, Luca, you always make requests that benefit both me and Rubellia.”

It was a leisurely afternoon.

I sat at a table set with sweet desserts and cool drinks, playing chess with the Queen.

“Well, that’s true.”

When I shamelessly nodded, the Queen laughed.

“You should learn some humility.”

“I’m sorry. Humility, modesty—such things don’t suit me well. By the way, this is impressive. I didn’t expect my missing person article to cover all the newspapers in just one day.”

“When you’re in a position like this, spreading rumors is quite easy. Aveline and Ludovic worked hard.”

“You mean that Aveline?”

“She’s officially on vacation right now. She’s probably traveling around Le Chapen diligently spreading rumors.”

“I see. And Sir Ludovic Herbé. He’s played a major role in our plan, but I can’t even express my gratitude.”

I thought of Rubellia’s Chief of Security Ludovic Herbé.

A close associate of the Queen who had led the Continental Conference investigation team last year and worked in coordination with me.

Before that, when I was stirring up Rubellia’s social circles, the Queen had introduced us and we had formed a friendship.

“It’s regrettable. Since I’ve returned to Le Chapen, I’d like to meet friends from my ‘little prince Luca’ days.”

“Hoho, Luca! They’ll all look at you with love-hate feelings. They nearly got branded as traitors and lost their fortunes after investing in the Redan company.”

“It couldn’t be helped.”

“Don’t feel sorry. Anyway, your disappearance is being hotly discussed at social parties.”

Clack!

The Queen placed a chess piece and smiled brightly.

“I win.”

I looked down at the ruined chessboard.

“I congratulate you on your victory, Your Majesty.”

“It’s hardly a victory. You’re catastrophically untalented at chess.”

I followed the Queen as she stood up suggesting we take a walk.

Ah, the weather was nice, the sunlight warm, my belly full, and the birds singing prettily.

If I could stay in such a place forever. If I didn’t have to return to that hellish chaos.

But I had to return, and that’s why I was thoroughly preparing.

To create even more chaos.

How long would it take for news of my disappearance to flow into Schufaben?

Two weeks? A month?

Kruger wouldn’t allow such lax control, so it might take even longer than that.

In any case, I had to cause maximum confusion.

Or so I thought.

“What, already? Already?”

Just one week later, I opened my mouth wide upon hearing the information Aveline had brought.

“Sophia Kohl…”

I was surprised by that name suddenly popping up.