Chapter 66
Chapter 66
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: The Ball is War (2)
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I repeated it once more in my mind.
Fuck, you bastard. You deserve to get trampled to death by a runaway horse on the street!
No matter how much I belonged to the Crown Prince's faction, I couldn't just ignore a summons from one of the imperial princes as a noble of the Reich Empire.
Right now, I was supposed to be loyal to the Crown Prince, but before that, I was a noble holding a title from the Reich Empire.
In the worst case, if I refused a summons from a member of the imperial family, they could slap me with some bullshit charge like insulting His Imperial Majesty the Emperor.
At least if he'd said to meet at the ballroom, I could've gotten away with, "Ah, sorry, I have to go see His Highness the Crown Prince. I'll head there now."
But the Fifth Prince had gone so far as to say to come at my convenience, leaving me no room to escape.
"It's an honor. Then, if I may presume upon your kindness, would it be alright if I visited at a time that's truly convenient for me?"
But I wasn't some job applicant going in for an interview—this was them reaching out to meet me first, so I held the upper hand in setting the time.
The Fifth Prince had probably never had a subordinate treat him this way before... but what could he do?
He'd made the offer first, so the least he could do was wait a little.
The Second and Third Princes at least had the support of several counts in the Noble Assembly and other titled nobles, giving them control over at least one province's worth of power.
But the Fifth Prince's faction was less than half that, and after the Crown Prince claimed Bisocia in the Chekovia expedition, they'd practically lost all presence.
The count smiled as if he'd expected me to respond this way.
Well, yeah, it would be weirder if I, who'd risen this far thanks to the Crown Prince, jumped at the offer to switch sides like a dog snapping at a bone.
"Duty calls, so no helping it. If possible, come by within the next week—at the latest, the week after. Give notice the day before, and His Highness will make time personally."
"My thanks for your consideration."
"No need. Oh, and my son at the Staff College brought home your lecture notes, saying they were quite interesting. I read them, and they were refreshingly new. I never expected a lecture on strategy and logistics like that. I'd love to hear your reasoning straight from you."
And just like that, we chatted casually for about thirty minutes on his army days and my lectures.
Honestly, with the fact that the Fifth Prince had called me just to screw me over, I couldn't remember a word the count said.
Still, I managed to keep the conversation going without showing any panic, so that was a relief at least.
Meanwhile, Laura had been through plenty of real combat with me, but she'd never witnessed political maneuvering like this firsthand.
She looked way more flustered than I did, fidgeting awkwardly.
I placed a hand on her shoulder, patted it lightly, and said in a cool voice,
"Calm down, Lieutenant. His Highness the Fifth Prince isn't trying to drag me to an imperial trial or anything—he just wants to recruit me. Nothing to worry about."
In truth, it was a huge deal.
Because if I couldn't properly explain this to the great Crown Prince, my standing in the faction would narrow dangerously.
The Crown Prince's faction was already full of guys who'd advanced slower than me despite being higher up, and others jealous of how much better I was doing.
Why else would some poor major general have blabbered nonsense trying to step on a mere lieutenant colonel in front of the Crown Prince during the Bisocia battle, only to have his promotions frozen?
So, those itching to impeach me over this would come crawling out like mad—I'd bet both wrists on it.
And on top of that, the Fifth Prince was one of the crazier ones in the empire, where conceptual types were common.
At least the Crown Prince was wise; even if I screwed up big time, as long as I didn't betray him, he'd probably just delay my colonel promotion to quiet the grumbling from other faction members.
And that delay would be on the level of a normal lieutenant colonel to colonel timeline.
Usually five to ten years at least, so becoming a colonel in my late twenties wouldn't be an age issue.
But if I got assigned to a division with lazy, end-of-career colonels as deputy division commanders with nothing better to do, that'd be a nightmare.
I could end up wearing my lieutenant colonel insignia, mopping floors happily with the division HQ orderlies, rolling around without any subordinates of my own.
Colonels who'd given up on promotion had nothing to fear except dishonorable discharge...
"But sir, won't this cast doubt on your loyalty?"
"No need to worry. Actually, the more you worry, the more you give our enemies an opening. As long as I don't blatantly betray His Highness the Crown Prince, the worst is a delayed promotion."
I said that, but who didn't know the real score?
Still, showing panic now would just give the Second and Third Princes' types—who wanted to pry me from the Crown Prince—ammunition to shake me loose with the same tactic.
Then they'd try to hook me with stars as bait.
'Haha, this is really nothing. For real.'
That's why I was bluffing like this, pretending it was no big deal.
Proof? The nobles from various factions who'd just witnessed the Fifth Prince's man proposition me were glancing our way under the guise of chit-chat, observing.
So I enjoyed the fine wines and food at the banquet until their attention faded.
I borrowed a pen and paper from a nearby servant, wrote, "The Fifth Prince summoned me to recruit me," folded it small.
Then Laura and I headed to where the Crown Prince and his faction were.
True to the Crown Prince's faction, he was surrounded by several generals, senior officers, ministers, department heads, and administrators chatting in small groups.
Surprisingly, the young lords from titled families in the faction—stripped of their family halo, with no real connections—were at the banquet but stood off to the side, not joining this group.
"Administrative Secretary Blantz, that's what I'm saying—increase army supplies, and we can feed the troops better, right?"
"Listen, Captain. I've already reported it to Supervisor Blanc. Supplies will improve for sure from now on."
"Ha... Lately, my wife's terrifying every night. Once you're on central staff duty, she comes looking every single night. You know how army officers get fit and firm, right? She loves that..."
The talk was about half work, half personal gossip.
Considering my position, I could've thick-skinned my way in, handed the Crown Prince a quick note, and bailed.
But I deliberately joined a group of guys around my rank chatting.
"Sorry to interrupt your pleasant talk. Mind if I join you?"
At my words, the lieutenant colonels—each at least fifteen to twenty years my senior—stiffened, shooting eyes that said they were uncomfortable and I'd be doing them a favor by staying out.
But then they compared the Silver Knight's Sword Cross Medal on my suit tie to the gold cross around their necks and said,
"Lieutenant Colonel Jaeger is always welcome. But we're talking about our kids right now... You might not fit in much."
Truth be told, I had some sense and no desire to butt into random lieutenant colonels' chatter.
My position was already seen as colonel-level or higher in the faction, soon to rise further.
Plus, with a twenty-year age gap, it'd be awkward anyway, and barging in would just get me called clueless—so I'd come prepared for that.
We ended up trading five minutes of pointless talk, and one by one, the lieutenant colonels drifted off to grab wine, more spaghetti, or steak.
The smaller groups around me started paying attention.
And the core group with the Crown Prince and Count Venner noticed the disturbance in the faction gathering and turned my way.
As expected, I let out a big sigh of relief, bowed to the Crown Prince,
"Rise, Lieutenant Colonel Jaeger. Don't be so stiff at a ball—it's making everyone else uncomfortable."
As he spoke, he extended his right hand. I gripped it with both of mine, thumb holding the note I'd prepared in my right.
For someone as grand as the Crown Prince, accepting a mere lieutenant colonel's bow and telling him to rise was already lavish favor.
"I'm jealous, seriously jealous... When that guy's getting stars, will I even make colonel...?"
"Ha, that's life. Staff College professor at that age, plus the Crown Prince's favor..."
Griping voices filled the air, but none of that mattered now.
Meanwhile, the Crown Prince read my note, scowled, then tossed it to the floor, laughed, and crushed it underfoot like spotting a crawling bug.
"You crush bugs underfoot. Seems like bugs are swarming around you lately—handle it appropriately and report back."