Chapter 55
Chapter 55
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: Suppressing the Rebellion (1)
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Do as you're told—that's what it means to be a soldier.
The moment we received the order to suppress the civil unrest, our battalion headed straight for the city where it had broken out.
The local administrator came rushing out barefoot the instant we arrived.
"Are you Lt. Colonel Schumacher? Thank you for coming all the way to this remote backwater."
"If there's trouble in the Empire, rushing there is my job. But who are you?"
"I'm Max Schmidt, accounting section chief for Rakoba City. The mayor has been taken captive by those wicked rioters."
Hearing that made my head throb right away.
What the hell were the garrison commander and his guards doing?
They were once competent officers, NCOs, and soldiers from the Imperial Army, recommended for this post...
How could these lunatics let mere rioters—no, rebels—steal the mayor from under their noses?
How the fuck does a city even run like this?
If things were just a little more backwards here, they'd be making jelly out of eels.
"What the fuck are these guards?"
"We're sorry. The garrison commander and all the other officers are detained right now..."
"You fuck up managing the garrison and think you'll just cut off the tail by blaming them? I won't stand by and let this slide."
In a democratic country, you don't go to jail just for protesting.
Unless you're swinging at cops or crossing obvious lines.
But in the Empire, organizing a protest can get you the death penalty, purpose be damned.
Even just participating can drag you into serious shit.
Let alone a full-blown rebellion.
'Leaders and participants alike—executable.'
"Please, have mercy."
"Beg Fortuna for that. Who's the senior official here?"
"The deputy mayor."
"Goddamn it, bring the deputy mayor here right now—before I tie you to a stake and blow you away with a cannon!"
In the Empire, local officials get a pass for a rebellion in exactly one case.
Severe famine.
When everyone's starving, unrest is inevitable unless King Sejong himself shows up.
So they don't blame the bureaucrats.
But here, it's obvious these rotten fucks botched everything.
"This is driving me insane."
Not long after, the deputy mayor came sprinting up, panting.
"I'm the deputy mayor of this city. Sorry I'm late."
"How the hell did you manage things to let a rebellion erupt?! Are you insane?!"
By Imperial bureaucratic rank, I'm above this guy.
Only a mayor would be my equal.
He's at least thirty years older than me to climb that high, but with the garrison this pathetic and the rebellion...
These are full-blown corrupt officials.
No need to mince words with rotten scum like them.
"I'm sorry, truly sorry!"
"What made the citizens rise up?"
"We only collected taxes as per Imperial law."
"Watch what you say in front of me. Get fancy, and the Imperial Supreme Court will rule it perjury."
"We gathered new artisans to build an industrial zone in the city recently, but we were short on budget... so we levied extra taxes."
The words "extra taxes" made my head ache again.
Obviously, they planned the zone but skimmed funds everywhere, then squeezed the people to cover it.
"I see. Extra taxes."
"We were a bit harsh in the process—that much is true. Sorry, Battalion Commander."
"If that's the truth, I'll put in a good word for leniency."
The deputy mayor and the other city officials around brightened up.
"Really?"
"Building an industrial zone isn't for the city's growth? Development benefits the farmers too, right?"
"Please, we beg you..."
"The investigation isn't over yet. First, I need to talk to the rioters who started this."
The deputy mayor waved his hands frantically at my words.
"Commander, those bastards deserve to die. You could get hurt trying to negotiate with them."
The prick who turned citizens into rioters sure has a lot to say.
Then again, if I bought their story and crushed the rebellion quick...
Punishments for the mayor, officials, garrison, and bureaucrats would lighten up big time.
Death sentences down to three years in prison.
But that's not fair.
"That's for me—with His Majesty's orders—to decide."
With that, I drew my sword emblazoned with the Imperial crest.
Showing how valued I am in the Empire.
"Lieutenant Lina, Lieutenant Monita."
"Yes, sir."
"Assemble the battalion in five minutes."
The key to solving any problem is always on-site.
So I'll go to the site.
The gates of Rakoba City were firmly shut.
Refusing entry to a mere city administrator was crime enough.
But locking out the Imperial Army on Imperial orders?
I could shell the walls right now and get off scot-free.
"Open the gates."
"W-We can't. We're just protecting our lives and property..."
"Better open while people are still asking nicely."
Violence makes for good dialogue.
More precisely, showing you can wield it forces them to the table.
Nukes do the same.
Even that lunatic on the moon made them to negotiate survival.
"You'll slaughter us if we open? We know rebels like us won't be spared."
Lina whispered from the side.
"Looks like the ringleader's stirring up the masses. Saying surrender to the Imperial Army means no mercy."
"That's my read too."
"They won't open easy. What's the plan?"
I looked up, observing the soldiers on the walls.
Determined expressions, steady voices, eyes full of rage...
They've steeled themselves to die.
No dealing with people resolved to defend to the death.
'The resolved-to-die are that much stronger.'
"Commander."
"Lieutenant Dorothea."
"They look scared shitless, don't they? Frightened rats scatter at one big noise. We just show them we're in control first."
Monica pointed to our battalion's artillery.
"How about a demonstration of the Imperial Army's might and what horrors we can unleash?"
"Not a bad idea."
Even hearing just one side, it's clear the city's bigwigs are the villains here.
No need for pointless bloodshed.
Keep it small-scale, resolve it fast.
"This lieutenant colonel's name is Michael Schumacher. I figure you've seen it in the Imperial papers at least once."
The soldiers on the wall started panicking at that.
"That's Lt. Colonel Schumacher?"
"The one who wiped out a division with a single battalion...""We're fucked, aren't we?"
I never wiped out a full division.
Just ambushed a division-scale supply unit with one battalion for massive damage.
True annihilation needs over 30% killed or critically wounded...
'Wasn't quite that bad.'
But the Imperial papers use it for propaganda: our battalion nearly annihilated a division.
"Battalion, take aim."
At my order, the soldiers leveled their muskets at the guards on the wall.
No live rounds loaded inside.
Dead bodies would make this messy and huge...
Blanks only.
"Fire."
With that, over five hundred soldiers fired at the walls.
Naturally, no one died.
But the guards atop the wall began shaking like leaves.
"You've got one big misconception I'm correcting now. This battalion commander didn't come here to play house with you."
The sword at my hip isn't for swinging.
It's a warning it can be swung.
"Refuse to talk, and everyone inside gets exterminated."
"For real?"
"What do you call ignoring an army on Imperial orders?"
I asked them.
Then answered to sate their curiosity.
"Traitors. Pests and mold that must be eradicated for the Empire's peace—at once. This battalion commander was born bearing the mission to kill every last traitor."
I held up two fingers.
"Open the gates now and talk, or become traitors and die with your families inside. Choose."