Many Problems on the Central Front (3)
Many Problems on the Central Front (3)
From the Military Inspector General's increasingly rough expression, Hildea felt a thrilling sense of liberation.
Who would have thought she'd get a chance to unleash everything she wanted to say against a senior member of the central Noble Council like this?
In the first place, the very fact that Marquis Corbel had personally journeyed all the way to this harsh North was something previously unimaginable.
"...That is too excessive a demand."
"Then the negotiations are over...."
"Wait! Hear me out to the end!"
Hildea and Piel waited with great interest for his next words.
"If the western region of Einschvan is incorporated into the county, the Count will possess territory no less than that of the Carlton Marquis."
Hearing that, Piel thought.
Just how vast is the Carlton Marquis territory, anyway?
"Though I have brought full authority, guaranteeing such a major interest is burdensome."
Hildea understood the meaning behind his words.
The reaction Piel had tipped her off about beforehand.
'Did Piel call this a rebate demand?'
"Coincidentally, the Count is currently single. My third son is not yet married...."
Swiik!
The titanium alloy machete was drawn in an instant, then slid back into its sheath.
"...."
The mustache under Marquis Corbel's nose slowly drifted downward.
Unable to even blink, he was frozen under Hildea's snarling glare.
"How dare you spout such bullshit, you filthy old pig."
The moment the marriage proposal left his lips, Hildea had instinctively glanced at Piel.
She couldn't suppress the disgust welling up from within, and her hand had reacted faster than she expected.
'Hildea-nim, there is no need to yield at all. The Marshall family stands behind you.'
Piel's assurance that summary execution would pose no problem depending on the situation had made Hildea confidently draw her sword.
"Expel the Military Inspector General from my barracks immediately."
Hildea had genuinely grown sick of negotiating and said this as she stood up.
Piel took one step forward.
"Commander-in-Chief, you seem overly agitated. Please, allow the Marquis and myself to talk a little further."
As he spoke, Piel winked.
Hildea realized he was misunderstanding the situation.
She was truly furious, but he thought she was deliberately pretending to be angry.
'Didn't he call it the bad Commander-in-Chief, good Duty Officer strategy?'
Though she hadn't intended it and had been about to flip the board out of anger at the disgusting marriage talk.
Hildea decided to play along with Piel and suppressed her rage internally.
"Lieutenant Colonel Marshall shall handle it. I can't stand the sight of him any longer."
After storming out of the office, Hildea quickly pressed herself near the window and observed the situation inside using her ki sense.
After all, Marquis Corbel was a knight who handled mana, while Piel was just a frail ordinary young man.
***
I won't let this stage that Hildea set up for me before leaving go to waste.
'How dare he try to siphon off my rank badge ATM.'
From the very moment Hildea marries another man, my promotions would turn into cold leftovers.
There's no way I could ever stand by and watch that happen.
"You have touched the Commander-in-Chief's reverse scale, something that must never be touched. Now it's all over for any direct conversation between the Marquis and the Commander-in-Chief."
"...Your name and rank?"
He certainly asks fast.
If he knows he's been pushed off a cliff with a rope tied around his waist and me holding it, he ought to show a bit more docile expression.
"Lieutenant Colonel Marshall."
"A name I've never heard before."
"Isn't the important thing not that, but drawing out the dispatch of reinforcements from the 3rd Army, which defeated 2,000 Ancient Tree Monsters?"
I deliberately put a strong emphasis on '2,000'.
The slight flinch in the Military Inspector General's reaction confirmed it for me.
"Since you can't trust the Southern subjugation forces that fled in defeat without doing anything against the Ancient Tree Legion, only to falsely report wiping out half of them."
"Wh-What are you talking about?!"
It's all found out, pal.
"Additionally, you must guarantee us unlimited local requisition rights. Then I will take responsibility and persuade the Commander-in-Chief.
It absolutely must be requisition rights in the name of the Noble Council. A guarantee from His Majesty the King will not do."
"You say you can persuade her? Perhaps...."
"Please do not harbor any rash misunderstandings about our relationship just because I happen to look this way. The Commander-in-Chief is someone married to the sword, and to promotion."
Honestly, these peace-spoiled bastards immediately think of office affairs or whatever.
"Additional local requisition rights guaranteed by the Noble Council? Is that truly enough?"
"Of course, you will need to personally offer a separate token of sincerity for making her mood so unpleasant."
"...I will. First, ensure the Count makes a swift decision. Even at this very moment, the Viscounty of Potashu is being trampled."
When I confidently took the lead in the negotiations, the Military Inspector General seemed to look at me anew at last.
"Lieutenant Colonel Marshall? Judging by your accent, you seem to be from the Central-South, not the North."
"It is an obscure family, so you would not know it."
If I had my way, I'd like to ask how things are in Count Anbelrum territory.
But I can't give any clues to this suspicious old pig.
"I am truly counting on you. Please do your best to persuade the Commander-in-Chief."
That's why you shouldn't have pressed the seizure button by bringing up marriage talk.
Damn, now that I think about it again, I'm getting angry too.
"Take this as pocket money for the Lieutenant Colonel."
A thick pouch of gold coins appeared before my eyes.
That ring the Marquis is wearing, that's a subspace magic tool.
"That subspace ring would seem appropriate as a personal token of sincerity."
"Wh-What did you say?"
"Give it to me now. Quickly."
"D-Do you even know how much is currently inside this subspace ring?"
"Is there a lot inside? That's even better. Hand it over, quickly."
"L-Lieutenant Colonel!"
I maintained my gaze fixed on him and kept my hand outstretched.
The Military Inspector General's fat cheeks quivered before he finally took the ring off and held it out.
"I will take responsibility and persuade her. Please rest assured and wait in your quarters."
"You had better."
The Military Inspector General, leaving behind a not-so-intimidating growl, returned to his quarters.
I checked the subspace ring.
'He's been saving up quite frugally.'
To carry around a secret stash of 10,000 gold. His household finances must be doing well.
The spatial capacity was much smaller than the subspace bracelet Rebecca gave me, but it still seemed to hold the volume of several large warehouses.
***
The negotiations proceeded that very day.
Marquis Corbel, who had full authority, left all compensation in writing in the name of the Noble Council.
The signing session.
Marquis Corbel tensed up sharply at the sound of Hildea casually asking Lieutenant Colonel Marshall in front of him.
"Lieutenant Colonel, by the way, wouldn't it be better to move after receiving the food supplies and 100,000 gold first?"
"If we do that, everything will burn down before the supplies and gold are even sent."
"Is that so? But what if they don't keep the promise after everything is finished?"
"Southern nobles do lack credit, true. In that case, the Commander-in-Chief can personally lead the troops down and execute a forced collection."
Marquis Corbel suppressed his feelings and spoke.
"The promise will absolutely be kept...."
At that, Hildea turned back with icy eyes.
"It's fine even if you don't keep it. For me, that might be more entertaining."
The Marquis resolved that he absolutely must ensure this Sword Master wench would never have a reason to come down for a forced collection.
'Damn it, I can only hold the reins by maintaining supplies just barely above the brink. Because of the last 1st Army rebellion, when we increased the supply volume, the Northern military started running wild.'
The Marquis pondered various defensive measures on how to control the North's rampage in the future.
Right now, the priority was defeating the landed Elves' Ancient Tree Legion, so he was merely letting it slide.
***
Hildea, whose territory had been doubled, was overjoyed enough to leap.
Once the two of us were alone, she shed the guise of the cold and ruthless Commander-in-Chief and delighted like the youngest daughter of a conglomerate who just received a submarine yacht as a gift.
"Lieutenant Colonel Piel! I shall grant the western territory as Piel's fief! Won't you become my vassal?"
She says she'll give that vast land as a vassal fief.
I don't know if she trusts me or just lacks greed.
"Does it make sense for a vassal to possess a territory far larger than their lord's?"
"But if not you, who else could handle that place? Even now, isn't the territory holding out on the relief grains you regularly send?"
"Well, that is true, but...."
"It is also my token of gratitude to the Marshall family. So please, accept it."
"...If that is the case, I shall gratefully accept this fief."
We formally concluded a vassal contract, and I received the land west of the Baltics River, which had been under the jurisdiction of the 1st and 2nd Armies, as my fief.
When I straightened my kneeling knee and stood up, Hildea was looking up at me with a deeply flushed expression.
"Do you realize? You are the first fief vassal I have ever accepted."
"Am I your first, Hildea-nim?"
"You are. And you will likely be the last."
"Territorial expansion has only just begun."
I intend to sweep up everything north of the Dwein River, including the Marquis Oltain territory.
"There will be many more fiefs to grant to other commanders, such as Vice-commander Basel-nim and so on."
"I was considering granting them all to you?"
"...."
"In return, promise me. That you will guard my side till the very end."
"I have already sworn my loyalty."
"Not loyalty. A promise."
"...I promise."
Hildea continued speaking with a highly flushed expression.
"I hope the general rank insignia arrives quickly."
"We must dispatch the support force before that. If the rear falls into chaos, it will be bad for us in the long term too."
Though honestly, I wonder if it really will be.
"I have also already thought of the first order I will give once I become a general."
"What order is that?"
Hildea smiled haughtily and tapped my shoulder.
"An order for your promotion to colonel."
"...."
"Because a general can exercise direct authority over field grade officer promotions."
"...So that's why you demanded the general promotion we hadn't previously discussed."
"It's too frustrating seeing you stuck in a rank that doesn't match your caliber. I wish you'd quickly reach the same rank as me."
This is a bit touching.
She had been keeping my promotion in mind, knowingly or unknowingly.
"Have you ever heard it said? That real military life begins at colonel."
"Yes, I've heard it."
I heard it during a dinner party from the USFK commander.
Back then, it didn't really sink in.
That's the world of stars for you.
"To be honest, I started my military life at lieutenant general, so I don't really know."
"...Pardon?"
"I mean that I don't truly understand what it feels like to be commissioned as a second lieutenant and take months just to reach colonel."
I was momentarily dumbfounded.
Then I realized Hildea had been joking to tease me.
This bewitching thing, really.
***
Without wasting time, we decided to immediately organize a support force and dispatch them.
The commander would be Colonel Dvill, one of the two Sword Imperial-level fighters in the 3rd Army.
Naturally, Hildea, Rebecca, and I remained here.
Before selecting the troops.
With all the knights assembled, I explained the core of this dispatch operation.
"We must become heroes. We cannot sweep them away too easily.
We must allow the rear nobility, knights, soldiers, and territorial residents to sufficiently witness and experience just how catastrophic the Elven invasion is."
We would aim for the most dramatic moment to execute the subjugation.
An operation normally avoided out of concern for troop losses.
But.
"Do not worry. As long as we have this machete and mandrake, we can subjugate them with ease and without losing a single person."
"And with the glucose compressed biscuits, we can fight forever without tiring!"
"There will be no defeat!"
Even I can't imagine it.
Constantly replenishing calories with glucose biscuits.
Awakening all latent potential with mandrake roots to unleash combat power beyond limits.
A knight order armed with absolutely unbreakable machetes suffering defeat... no, I can't picture any casualties occurring.
Rebecca stepped forward.
"Piel, can't I go too? This is truly a battlefield I desperately want to join."
Seeing as we're heading to the rear areas, Rebecca seems to be itching to go as well.
"You cannot. When our support force shows itself in the rear, we must prepare for the situation where the Elf Legions lying in wait within the Forest of Life and Death strike down immediately."
"Could information really be relayed that quickly?"
"We must move under the assumption that such magic exists. Since we will be using it ourselves."
"...?"
"...?"
"Piel, what do you mean by that?"
"Could there possibly be a magic tool capable of communicating with a support force hundreds of kilometers away?"
"There is."
It's called a shortwave radio.
An ultra-long-distance communication device capable of planet-wide communication using the ionosphere.
Its security is just as vulnerable, but there's no need to worry about that here.
'Still, I should set up a minimal verification cipher.'
"The most important thing is the unlimited local requisition right. We must use this truly usefully and frugally."
The Military Inspector General might have considered it something akin to a light local procurement right.
But I intend to make a proper big score out of this opportunity, never knowing when it might come again.
The talent capable of fully understanding this highly advanced plundering plan of mine without any misinterpretation....
"Lieutenant Colonel-nim! Lieutenant Colonel-nim!"
At that moment, Luna raised her hand high.
"You mean to focus on plundering the rear territories, right? I can do that well!"
"Captain Luna, did you just say plundering?"
"Yes! Is it not plundering?"
"You, pass."
She caught my meaning immediately.
A 7th-class mage who hates the rear nobility more than anyone.
A perfect talent to entrust with our friendly unit plunder operation.