A Capable Subordinate Who Assists His Superior
"This operation will be a full-scale effort by the entire regiment."
She continued the explanation in a flat, emotionless voice. The details of the operation itself were nothing special. The gist was that while the 2nd and 3rd Battalions staged a diversionary maneuver, the 1st Battalion would lead the main assault.
"That concludes the briefing. Give it your best from your respective positions."
As Helga finished the operational rundown, the regimental commander brought the meeting to a close in a low voice. The officers snapped off salutes in unison, then began dispersing one by one into a heavy silence.
I, too, had turned to leave the barracks.
"Captain Reinhardt, Lieutenant Jäger—stay behind for a moment."
Major Helga's voice caught us from behind. Serafina and I halted in our tracks, while the other officers shot curious glances our way as they filed out of the briefing room. Erika gave us a brief once-over before taking her leave as well.
Once the heavy door closed, only four people remained: the regimental commander, Helga, and Serafina and me. Only then did the commander let his stiff expression soften as he approached us.
"Captain Reinhardt's 2nd Company will be the tip of the spear for this operation."
There was weight in the commander's voice. He gestured toward a folder lying on the desk. On its cover were the words 2nd Company Combat Readiness Assessment and Ashen Forest Operation After-Action Report.
"What you accomplished in the Ashen Forest was more than a simple victory. You struck at the enemy's core with minimal losses, and responded with agility to an unforeseen variable. Lieutenant Jäger, your judgment in particular was most impressive."
"Thank you, sir."
I bowed my head with a dutiful reply—but in that very moment, I quietly activated Status Analysis.
Status Analysis.
A climb into central politics, is it.
I smirked inwardly. He'd dressed it up in grand talk about the fate of the Empire, but in the end, this old fox's real motive was his own advancement. Not that I minded. An ambitious commander was bound to give his subordinates more chances to earn glory.
The commander smiled with satisfaction and cast a glance at Major Helga. She pointed across the map with her command baton as she explained.
"The key to this full-scale offensive is speed and surprise. The 2nd Company will take the vanguard, striking the most vulnerable point in the enemy's defensive line—the eastern flank—to create a breach. The main force will then surge through that hole and drive straight into the enemy's heart."
Her explanation was crisp and clear. When she finished, Major Helga handed the baton she was holding to Serafina.
"Captain Reinhardt will explain the 2nd Company's detailed deployment herself."
"Understood."
Serafina stepped forward and accepted the baton from Helga. The moment her snow-white fingers closed around the ebony shaft—
"……!"
Serafina's fingertips twitched ever so slightly. Not enough to drop the baton, but a shudder ran through them as though she'd been jolted by electricity. I didn't miss it. For an instant, her complexion drained to the pallor of paper before the color came rushing back. She gripped the baton firmly again, pretending nothing had happened.
But I had seen it. She had just gritted her teeth. The pain must have been that severe.
…Here we go again.
I activated the skill immediately.
Status Analysis.
"…As instructed, the enemy on the eastern flank is expected to be the most vulnerable, so the 2nd Company will attack that point with artillery support."
Serafina continued her report as though nothing were wrong. Her voice didn't waver, but the joints of the fingers wrapped around the baton had gone white as paper. I kept my eyes fixed on her status window. The line suppressing excruciating pain through sheer willpower refused to leave my mind.
"…The 1st and 3rd Platoons, as the main element, will break through the center, while the 2nd and 4th Platoons serve as the reserve, supporting from the rear. That is the basic framework. But what matters most is—"
She raised her arm to point at a spot on the map with the baton.
"Ngh…!"
Serafina couldn't hold it in—a small moan escaped her lips. Her complexion was now visibly ashen, and the tip of the baton lost its aim, wandering aimlessly through the air. The wavering baton finally began to slip from her sweat-dampened hand.
"…Captain Reinhardt?"
The commander's genial eyes sharpened in an instant. Major Helga, too, furrowed her brow and stared at Serafina's trembling arm with a puzzled look. The air in the briefing room froze solid.
It finally boiled over.
Hidden Trait:Mana Overload — a chronic internal injury. Currently seizing.
I confirmed the words currently seizing floating in the status window. There was no time left to hesitate. I stepped forward. The eyes of the commander and Major Helga turned naturally toward me.
"Captain, if I may—just a moment."
I stood beside Serafina and reached out, smooth as anything. My hand settled lightly over hers where she gripped the baton. Her chilled, bloodless knuckles warmed under my palm.
Touch of Attunement.
Ding—
Touch of Attunement (Lv. 1)
In that instant, through my palm, I felt the flow of mana rampaging inside her body. No—flow wasn't the right word for it at all.
It was a glacier, frozen solid, so brittle it seemed it would shatter at any moment. Countless tiny shards of ice ground against one another within it like awls, carving into each other, generating a savage cold and pressure that bored down to the marrow.
The vicious chill seeping through my palm crawled up my spine, and an involuntary shiver ran through me. I understood the moment I touched it. This was nothing my Level 1 skill could casually handle.
Even so, I had to do what I could. First, I pictured it—an image of a thin, warm thread of water flowing over that massive glacier.
And a small stream trickled out through the point where my hand met hers. It ran across the surface of the glacier and pooled into a tiny spring. From that spring, the ice began to melt, slowly.
The target's bio-energy is being stabilized.
"Hh…!"
Beside me, I heard Serafina swallow a tiny breath. The trembling in the hand gripping the baton stopped, and a faint flush of color returned to her ashen cheeks.
Status Analysis.
Is that enough?
But I soon frowned. The spring that had grown as it melted the ice abruptly stopped expanding. Looking closer, the water at its edges kept freezing and thawing in cycles. If I mapped it to parts of the body, it was around the wrist. That seemed to be the limit.
To melt more of the ice… raising the skill level would be the surest way. Or expanding the contact area.
Through Serafina's hand, I had barely managed to suppress the seizure, but a full cure seemed out of reach.
That was as far as my thoughts went—but this was no time to stand there blankly. The gazes of the commander and Major Helga were needling into me like pins. It was time to cover for the fact that I had suddenly laid my hand over a superior officer's.
I moved our overlapping hands naturally. The baton drew a clean arc across the map, and its tip came to rest on a single point.
"The point the Captain was about to indicate is right here—the junction where the enemy's supply routes intersect. We strike it preemptively to sow chaos, and then…"
At my smooth recovery, the stiff expressions on the commander and Helga eased considerably. They looked at me the way one might regard a capable subordinate deftly covering for his superior's slip.
And in that brief moment, Serafina regained her composure. Gently drawing the baton free of my hand, she picked up where my explanation had left off.
"Lieutenant Jäger is correct. The supply route must be severed first."
She took over my briefing and continued in a voice that had, at some point, steadied itself.
"The breakthrough in that sector will proceed after a bridgehead is secured with the support of the headquarters engineers, and…"
I quietly withdrew to my place. Soon, Serafina's report concluded, and silence settled over the briefing room. The commander was the one to break it.
"Excellent."
With a satisfied expression, he gave a single light round of applause. Major Helga, standing beside him, nodded without a word.
"Captain Reinhardt's airtight planning, and Lieutenant Jäger's quick thinking in perfectly covering for her. Seeing the two of you work in tandem, I can already picture this operation's success."
Status Analysis.
Fortunately, both of them had chalked Serafina's stumble up to a small mistake and moved on. And really, didn't it make sense? Freezing up and flubbing a line during an important briefing in front of your superior—it happens to everyone.
Having let it pass, the commander delivered his final words to us.
"That will be all. Now go and prepare for the real thing. May the glory of the Empire be with you."
"For the Empire!"
Serafina and I saluted in unison and turned to leave.
And the moment we stepped out of regimental headquarters, Serafina summoned me to the 2nd Company command barracks.
"Lieutenant Jäger, follow me."