If You've Stepped into the Mud, Give It Your All
If You've Stepped into the Mud, Give It Your All
Frien, thinking she had heard the answer she wanted, quietly closed the door.
While Daniel felt inwardly relieved at the sight, Velaf spoke, unable to hide his bewilderment.
"I-I'm sorry. I had no idea that Lieutenant Colonel Daniel thought so highly of my daughter."
A misunderstanding seemed to have occurred, but Daniel did not clarify.
Since their father-daughter relationship was clearly strained, he didn't want to say something careless to Velaf that might get back to Frien.
So, merely nodding vaguely, Daniel cleared his throat.
"There's no need to apologize. I have no intention of forcing my opinions on others. More importantly, shouldn't we get to the main point?"
"Pardon? Ah... the main point. Understood."
Velaf raised a hand, adjusted his glasses once, and then spoke.
"Actually, our Glory's Holy Flame Cathedral has two major requests to make of Lieutenant Colonel Daniel."
"Two?"
"That's right. The first request is for you to show the believers that Lieutenant Colonel Daniel has a connection to Glory's Holy Flame Cathedral."
"...Why do you need that?"
Velaf began his explanation to the perplexed Daniel.
"As the war drags on, you probably know that people's willingness to donate has decreased drastically compared to before."
Aside from facing economic difficulties, there were more and more people who believed that if they had money to donate to the church, it was better spent supporting the soldiers to end the war quickly.
Relatedly, some churches had even suspended activities or closed their doors.
Rumors even started circulating that churches were places that robbed people's money in the name of God, so from the head pastor Velaf's perspective, he was going crazy.
It was a time when he was gripped by fear that if things continued this way, Glory's Holy Flame Cathedral might follow in the footsteps of the other small churches.
That was when Frien, who had returned to her hometown on leave, took the podium.
Standing before the podium, Frien mourned the death of war hero Daniel Steiner and gave an extreme speech declaring that the Allied Nations must be erased from this world.
Calling for the annihilation of the Allied Nations in a church that advocated mercy and love?
Velaf was appalled at the time, but the reaction was surprisingly not bad.
No, it gained explosive popularity to the point where cheers and shouts echoed.
"I'm not sure if I should call it fortunate, but after the service where Frien mentioned Lieutenant Colonel Daniel, word got around and the number of believers visiting Glory's Holy Flame Cathedral gradually increased."
And around the time the congregation had returned to pre-war levels, news spread across the Empire that Daniel Steiner was actually alive.
People who heard the news rejoiced at Daniel Steiner's survival as if it were their own, letting out cheers.
Festivals were held not only in the capital but also in the provinces, and as a result, Glory's Holy Flame Cathedral was able to secure an explosive increase in believers.
By now, it had reached a point where there were more believers than before the war.
"After Lieutenant Colonel Daniel returned alive, the number of believers grew larger than before the war. But as the believers increased, various issues started arising."
"When you say 'issues'?"
"Some people began questioning whether Glory's Holy Flame Cathedral was truly connected to Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Steiner. That's why we sought to invite Lieutenant Colonel Daniel to the church this time."
Daniel let out a low laugh.
Listening to it, he was dumbfounded.
"So, you're saying you want me to let you keep doing business using my name."
When Daniel said it so bluntly, Velaf broke out in a cold sweat.
"Lieutenant Colonel Daniel? We don't have that intention. If you felt displeased, allow me to apologize..."
Daniel raised a hand to stop him.
He decided to hear the story out first.
"What is the second thing Glory's Holy Flame Cathedral wants to ask of me?"
The atmosphere Daniel gave off changed to something peremptory.
It was an attitude as if he was treating a subordinate, but Velaf could not express dissatisfaction.
Because right now, the church's lifeline was the influence of Daniel's reputation.
"The second thing we want to ask..."
Velaf swallowed hard and said.
"We would like you to make the people who protest every day in front of the church disperse. Originally it was just a small scale, but at some point the numbers started growing. Now, it's become so big that it even threatens the believers coming and going from the church, which is a huge headache."
"What kind of protest are you talking about?"
"Huh? Ah. Fundamentally, it's an anti-war protest. They criticize and condemn our church for idolizing the war-mongering Lieutenant Colonel Daniel. We've tried to conciliate and persuade them in our own way, but it just hasn't worked."
Anti-war protests? He knew anti-war protests had noticeably decreased after the Total War Speech, so he couldn't understand how a large-scale protest was happening here.
"Pastor. Do you happen to know at what point the scale of the protest increased?"
"Hmm. As far as I remember, the number of participants in the protest rapidly increased starting a month ago. Some radicals even throw rotten fruits and vegetables at the church, so we are in a very difficult situation."
Daniel furrowed his brow after listening to Velaf's story.
'If it was a month ago...'
It was when he went to provide operational support to a forward base located on the border of the Kingdom of Belmore.
'Those bastards had been preparing since then.'
They leaked information to the Kingdom of Belmore externally, and incited the citizens internally, instigating anti-war protests once again.
It was to diminish Daniel Steiner's standing using the anti-war protests as a pretext.
Even if Daniel Steiner died in the battle against the Kingdom of Belmore, they intended to slowly ruin his image so that the people wouldn't deify him.
They probably planned to start from the provinces and gradually spread once the church raised the white flag.
'They were even more disgusting than I thought.'
It was literally as if they had picked a fight in the mud.
They were using all sorts of tricks to drag Daniel Steiner into their mud pit so he'd be covered in the filth.
Clearly, among the protest participants, the proportion of operatives who were paid or acting on orders would be greater than those purely wanting peace.
'What should I do...'
How could he turn their plans into foam?
'No. Just turning it into foam wouldn't satisfy me.'
He needed to create a backlash and cut off their hands so they could never pull this kind of stunt again.
Daniel, who had been fiddling with the armrest of the sofa, looked at Velaf as if an idea had just come to him.
"Did you say some radicals throw rotten vegetables or fruit?"
"Ah. Yes."
Daniel gave a faint smile at the answer.
"Then they could get so excited that they end up throwing bricks."
"Pardon? It's possible, but in the past month or so, they have never thrown a brick. If someone were to get hit by a brick, wouldn't it be a huge problem?"
"Pastor. The fact that they haven't done so isn't important."
Leaning forward, Daniel tapped the table as if to signal concentration.
"What's important is that they *could* throw bricks."
The moment they threw a brick, they would cease to be simple protesters.
If someone were hit by a brick, the nature of the protest would change to a violent one, and Imperial soldiers would have grounds to punish them as rioters.
"Surely you don't mean... Lieutenant Colonel Daniel..."
But Daniel shook his head.
"How could I? Even if they throw bricks, I will absolutely not punish them. However, the entire process will be reported by a mysterious journalist and spread throughout the Empire."
Daniel reached out and grabbed his cup.
Since they said it was top-grade coffee, he wanted to try the taste.
"I'll contact the journalist, so Pastor, please publicize it."
"...You mean publicize it?"
"Yes. Publicize the news that Daniel Steiner will visit Glory's Holy Flame Cathedral tomorrow. So that the fish who took the bait come swarming in."
Daniel said, savoring the aroma as he held his cup.
"I will personally persuade them."
Having finished speaking, Daniel took a light sip of his coffee.
Apparently, the claim that it was top-grade coffee wasn't empty; the taste, with its not-too-acidic flavor, pleasantly filled his mouth.
Inwardly impressed, Daniel set down his cup.
"And..."
The clinking sound resonated quietly in the empty reception room.
"If you wish, I will allow you to continue doing business using my name. However, in that case, Glory's Holy Flame Cathedral will have to grant my requests without any conditions from now on."
Although he was phrasing it indirectly, he was saying he'd make Glory's Holy Flame Cathedral his personal tool.
A flustered Velaf hurriedly spoke.
"L-Lieutenant Colonel Daniel? That is an unfair proposal."
"Unfair, you say..."
Daniel let out a playful laugh and shrugged his shoulders once.
"I'm just bewildered that the person who has profited from my name all this time is saying it's unfair. I don't want to, but if you keep this up..."
Suddenly wiping the smile from his face, Daniel stared straight at Velaf.
Daniel, gazing at Velaf with pitch-black eyes, quietly spoke.
"I will show you what's truly unfair."
A short silence passed between them.
Velaf felt his body stiffen like prey that had seen a predator's teeth.
Realizing Daniel wasn't joking, Velaf slowly lowered his gaze.
"Lieutenant Colonel Daniel's proposal..."
Velaf squeezed his eyes shut and continued, his voice shaking.
"...I will accept it."