Chapter 9
Chapter 9
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: Faster Than the Enemy (5)
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The identities of these higher-ups were exactly as I had expected.
They were officers of the Hessen Republic, dressed in uniforms.
The distinguished gentleman seated in the chair smiled at me.
"Surprised that a demonstrator leader is an honorable officer of the Hessen Republic?"
Not surprised at all.
But I pretended to be.
Acting like I knew everything would only arouse suspicion.
"I never dreamed that officers of the Hessen Republic were directly managing the demonstrators."
"Such maneuvers are necessary to secure complete independence from the Empire."
"But why reveal your identities to me?"
The officer grinned at me.
"You were an Imperial Army officer, and I am an officer of the Republic... but we're both officers, aren't we? Officers are the finest talents who lead the nation."
"That's true."
"If you contribute sufficiently to our Republic, we'll give you a chance to start anew here."
"You mean..."
The Republic officer grinned at me again.
"We'll commission you as a Republic officer."
I know it's a lie, you brainless lowland pig bastard.
You think I don't realize you're planning to squeeze more information out of me with false hope because the intel I've brought is useful?
If you're going to scam someone, at least make it believable.
For now, I'll play along.
"Really?"
"Your fiancée—Lina, was it? Would you want to make your wife suffer?"
"Thank you!"
"But there are conditions."
"Provide information helpful to the Republic. And lend your personal strength to eliminating the Republic's enemies?"
There's a saying: Deceive your allies first to deceive the enemy.
It means you must prepare meticulously and thoroughly when running a con on someone.
Scamming isn't admirable...
But a great general—no, any officer—must be able to lie to the enemy without batting an eye.
Just like I'm doing now.
"Do both."
"The commander of the Imperial Army's 12th Corps believes the Hessen Republic won't dare touch them."
"Do they see us as pushovers?"
"Yes. The Empire has 360,000 standing troops and can mobilize up to a million with conscripts... but the Hessen Republic can't match that."
"I see."
"That's why the 12th Corps has lax sentries who slack off on duty, frontline soldiers heading out in uniform to drink, and all-around loose discipline. Morale is low, and in combat, they'd tremble at the mere sound of gunfire."
The 12th Corps isn't so cowardly they'd shake just from being thrown into battle.
Everything else is true, though.
"Intriguing."
"And I know which unit in the 12th Corps has the sloppiest sentries. The 14th Regiment under the 12th Corps has the weakest defenses. Their colonel is just an old man waiting for retirement, and his subordinate officers are incompetent."
The 14th Regiment's commander is just biding his time until discharge.
He's no incompetent fool.
"Noted. Anything you want? I'll provide as much help as possible."
"I want to take my fiancée Lina and return to the Empire."
"......That's out of left field."
"We've been politically purged by the Empire, but we're former officers. If you guarantee our identities, we can easily infiltrate Republic brothers and sisters into the Empire's interior. And with financial support..."
If we said we were going alone, this officer would object.
It'd scream escape attempt.
But if we're under surveillance by others, he'd think differently.
Taking dozens of surveillants with us...
Means entrusting my life to them.
'Dozens of men who could kill me on a whim if things go south.'
"I'll assign about ten men, led by Guten from our organization. He'll keep tabs on you."
"Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Republic."
With that, I immediately took Guten and his group back to the 12th Corps' garrison.
The spy act continued.
Guten, executive of the Hern Republic radical independence group.
Following orders from Major Adelbert, the organization's de facto leader, he was surveilling Schumacher.
"Mr. Guten, now you and the organization members have become Imperial citizens. This should reduce restrictions on your activities in the Empire."
"Impressive maneuvering."
"Just slipped 500,000 marks to the Imperial officials, and they whipped up citizenship papers in no time. Military service obligations are marked as fulfilled, so no worries about being drafted."
Guten couldn't help but be impressed inwardly.
Bribing was one thing, but buying off officials so quickly to secure Imperial citizenship and expand their operational range?
Even accounting for his status as a former officer, it was masterful.
'I need to report to the major that he's a talent we must absolutely recruit.'
"Well done. With talents like you, intelligence gathering and operations will be a breeze."
"Speaking of which, how are the other operations going?"
"We're doing odd jobs near the 13th Regiment as you suggested, keeping an eye on things. The soldiers' discipline is indeed lax."
All this was just a play scripted by Michael.
Imperial officials weren't so sloppy as to hand out citizenship willy-nilly for bribes...
But he'd shown his medals and quietly strong-armed them into producing ten papers.
Through officials, word had also reached the 13th Regiment's commander that enemies would strike soon.
The current lax appearance was a brief retreat for a step forward.
But it looked like everything was going smoothly, so Guten had no choice but to trust him.
"That's good for us, isn't it?"
"It is. Thanks to you, everything's proceeding according to plan. With citizenship secured, if we get jobs as cooks or laborers in the unit..."
Without becoming officers, accessing military secrets is tough.
But success as laborers?
It'd give a rough sense of unit operations—whether it's running smoothly or on the brink of chaos—and the layout.
"No need for that."
"What do you mean?"
"Christmas is just days away, right? The day to celebrate Fortuna's blessings."
"So what?"
"According to a female officer I knew personally through my wife, the regimental commander plans to grant nearly all soldiers leave on Christmas Day. The few left behind will just nominally guard the post while grilling meat and drinking inside."
Nothing boosts unit morale like letting them feast on booze and meat.
Best welfare when you can't send them home for the holidays.
From Guten's perspective, though, it meant they could strike on Christmas with minimal losses.
He needed to report up immediately.
"Feel free to verify."
Guten decided to trust the man before him, Michael.
He'd secured IDs for easy Imperial activity.
He spat venom at the Empire on cue, cursing them as heaven's damned scourge.
He kept feeding Imperial secrets, all verified accurate through cross-checks.
'This'll be true too.'
"I'll have Ronald spread the word to our comrades. If this provocation succeeds, I'll recommend you as essential to the nation."
Schumacher just grinned.
Guten took it as goodwill toward him, hope for the Republic's success...
But reality was a cesspool—about to plunge even deeper.
Scamming people isn't easy.
You have to fabricate plausible lies and plant 'illusions' that make them feel real.
Time flew by, and it was now Christmas Eve...
"Let's have just one drink to toast the operation's success."
Having earned some trust, I was now recognized as one of their comrades.
To celebrate, we'd bought a bottle of wine to share.
"Cheers to our Republic's victory!"
As Guten, the leader here, toasted and they drank, everyone except Lina and me began to succumb to drowsiness.
"You... you bastard... you tricked us?"
"The tricked are at fault; the tricker is innocent—that's war. Didn't you know?"
Once they were fully asleep, Lina and I bound them all and handed them over to the regimental commander.
Now the local skirmish would truly begin.