Between Lies and Truth
Between Lies and Truth
After persuading the protesters, Daniel felt faint and knelt down on one knee.
It was because the bleeding had momentarily drained the strength from his body.
As the bewildered crowd watched, Frien rushed over and supported Daniel.
After administering emergency healing magic, Frien shouted to the crowd.
She begged anyone to call an ambulance immediately.
Daniel tried to dissuade her, saying his condition wasn't that serious, but Frien, drawing on her knowledge as a medical officer, absolutely refused to back down.
Frien once again earnestly implored the crowd to call an ambulance, and several people nodded and called it in to a nearby hospital.
Thanks to that, an ambulance arrived shortly after and transported Daniel and Frien.
Having safely arrived at the hospital, Daniel underwent a precise diagnosis by the medical staff, and the doctor in charge was inwardly surprised.
Because, thanks to Frien's healing magic, the wounds Daniel had sustained had completely healed.
The efficacy was on a completely different level from ordinary healing magic, so the doctor clicked his tongue and concluded there was no need for surgery.
However, he opined that it would be best to remain hospitalized and monitor his condition for the time being, and Daniel accepted this, becoming temporarily admitted.
And so, a day had passed since then.
"Lieutenant Colonel Daniel."
Frien knelt beside the hospital bed, quietly gazing at the sleeping Daniel.
Looking at Daniel, who had a bandage wrapped around his forehead, her heart grew heavy with tangled emotions.
"...Honestly, I don't quite understand. What the Lieutenant Colonel could possibly gain by driving yourself so harshly like this."
Carefully, Frien reached out and took Daniel's hand.
"But I believe that Lieutenant Colonel Daniel would never make the wrong choice. Surely, you are struggling with complex political interests so convoluted that a fool like me cannot comprehend."
Frien's eyes slowly half-closed.
Her antique eyelashes lowered along with them.
"I don't know what kind of fight you're in, but I hope I can be of help. Just like how, in those old days, Lieutenant Colonel Daniel saved me when I was on the verge of collapse."
Frien remembered.
The conversation she had shared with Daniel, who was then just a Second Lieutenant, in the military police detention center.
"Back then, I was about to give up on everything. I was desperately denying it, but deep down I knew. The fact that I had been abandoned by my family and my house."
A normal father would not drive his daughter, who knew nothing of the world, into the military.
By any measure, that could not be called love for one's daughter.
And yet, Frien had not accepted the fact that she had been abandoned by her family and her house.
Because the moment she accepted it, she felt she would collapse on the spot and never be able to rise again.
Regrettably, the standard for Frien's life back then had not been herself, but her family.
"I tried to earn my father's approval, but it didn't work out. After all, I couldn't even properly complete the training course and ended up locked in a detention cell. So I cried a lot, you know? Because I thought it was all over."
At that moment, Daniel, who had been sitting beside her, had frowned and spoken to her.
─ Seems you've also forgotten that a soldier of the Empire must not show tears so carelessly.
His tone had been tinged with irritation, but Frien knew well that its essence was warm.
Daniel, who had told her not to cry, had shared a short conversation with Frien, and in that conversation, she had received no small amount of comfort.
"You told me that my will was noble. I don't quite know why I was so happy about that, given that I was a person forced into military service by family pressure. Perhaps...."
Perhaps it was because it was the first sincere compliment she had received in her life.
For Frien, whose every action had been negated for the single reason that her mana was black, Daniel's heartfelt praise had been something special.
Frien, who smiled a shy, bashful smile, lifted Daniel's hand and brought it to caress her own cheek.
"Later on, when I was deployed to support the Lieutenant Colonel on an operation, I cannot tell you how happy I was. What was even better was that the Lieutenant Colonel had no preconceptions whatsoever about my mana."
Not only did he have no preconceptions, Daniel had also told Frien that her mana was excellent.
Because black mana, which not a single ray of light could penetrate, inherently possessed a concealment effect.
Furthermore, hadn't Daniel, in his conversation with Velaf this time, said that Frien was a devoted and capable subordinate?
For Frien, who had lived isolated from not only her family but also the world, Daniel's existence, which affirmed her, was like a single ray of light sent from heaven.
Therefore, she could not dislike him.
It was a fate where she had no choice but to come to like him.
Frien, who had been savoring the warmth of Daniel's hand against her cheek, slowly closed her eyes.
"In the future as well, I, to Lieutenant Colonel Daniel...."
Just as a confession that was not quite a confession was about to take place, the hospital room door slid open with a rattle.
When she opened her eyes to see who it was, a man wearing a trench coat stood there with a fedora on his head.
The man froze for a moment, seemingly flustered by the scene before him, then soon removed his fedora and entered.
"I apologize if I've disturbed your time together. I am called Bölm, the editor-in-chief of the Melbaroten Newspaper. I have an urgent matter to convey to Lieutenant Colonel Daniel, so I came to see him."
A person from a newspaper company? Frien didn't quite know why he had come, but thinking that now was not the time, she rose from her seat.
"The Lieutenant Colonel is currently sleeping. Even if it is urgent business, it would be better to visit after the Lieutenant Colonel has rested...."
While Frien was speaking, Daniel's hand, which lay on the hospital bed, twitched slightly.
He had reacted as the surroundings grew noisy.
Slowly opening his eyes, Daniel looked alternately at Frien and Bölm in the hospital room and furrowed his brow.
"...What is it?"
To the question of what business had brought them so early in the morning, Bölm answered first.
"Lieutenant Colonel Daniel. I came to see you because I have something urgent to convey regarding yesterday's incident."
He had come to have the content reviewed because they needed to publish the report faster than other newspapers.
Daniel, who understood, exhaled softly and sat up in bed.
"Frien? I have something to discuss with this person, so you may leave for now."
"Understood."
Frien, who answered without complaint, exited the hospital room.
Once the sound of Frien's footsteps faded after she closed the door, Bölm opened the briefcase he had brought.
He took out several developed photographs from inside and handed them to Daniel.
"These are some of the better ones among the photographs taken yesterday. Please look them over and tell us which one to feature on the front page."
Nodding, Daniel received the photographs.
The first photograph showed the protesters and Daniel in a standoff.
The second showed Daniel, bleeding from the forehead, shouting at the protesters.
Seeing that, Daniel swallowed discreetly.
'I looked like that?'
It was fearsome. Far too fearsome.
'He's scary....'
Letting out a dry cough, Daniel examined the next photograph.
This time, it was a scene of Daniel embracing the male protester and comforting him.
He was still bleeding from the forehead, but the focus was on his humanitarian side.
'It captures the violence of the protesters and, at the same time, the consideration I staged, all in a single frame.'
Thinking this was exactly it, Daniel snapped his fingers.
"Have this photograph featured on the newspaper's front page."
"Understood. Then, for the headline, would something like 'Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Steiner, Who Showed Mercy Even Before the Violence of Protesters' be acceptable?"
After pondering for a moment, Daniel handed the photographs back to Bölm.
"Change it. It must be emphasized that those who committed the violence were the 'anti-war' protesters. Also, the word 'mercy' is a term structured as looking down from above. It could provoke a backlash."
"In that case, how about...."
"Something like 'Anti-War Protesters Turned Rioters, Yet Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Steiner Who Considered Them' should work well."
As Bölm nodded and received the photographs, Daniel continued.
"For follow-up articles, continuously mention the violence of the anti-war protesters. We must imprint upon the public the impression that those who engage in anti-war protests are rioters. That way...."
Daniel, who looked up at Bölm, narrowed his eyes sharply.
"They won't ever stage such petty protests again."
*
Once outside the hospital, Bölm took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
'When I talk to that man, my breath catches strangely....'
He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but every single word seemed to be laden with an oppressive pressure, making it difficult to converse easily.
Having wiped away all the sweat and put the handkerchief back into his coat, Bölm looked around and found Tom.
He was a founding member of the newspaper company Melbaroten, and also the person Daniel Steiner had planted among the protesters this time.
Since the mission was over, he had been waiting in front of the hospital so they could join up and return to the Imperial Capital.
"Tom!"
When Bölm called him, Tom turned his head.
However, there was an unmistakable air of tension about him.
Bölm, finding it curious, approached and spoke to him.
"What are you trembling like that for?"
"Well, you see... the task Lieutenant Colonel Daniel ordered me to do...."
"You completed the mission well, didn't you? So what's the matter?"
Tom shook his head as if to say that wasn't it.
"I wasn't the one who threw it."
At that, one of Bölm's eyebrows twitched.
"...What? What do you mean you weren't the one who threw it?"
"Exactly what I said. Just as I was about to throw it, some other guy picked up a brick and threw it. I memorized his appearance and immediately reported it to the police, but...."
"Was he caught?"
Tom nodded.
"Uh, yeah. He's probably been caught as a flagrant offender and is being detained in a police station holding cell right now."
Relieved by that, Bölm let out a sigh.
"If the culprit was caught, that's not a bad thing. If the culprit is someone who's been active in the protest movement for a long time, the Imperial Daily won't be able to make claims about it being 'Daniel Steiner's staged act.'"
The culprit being caught as a flagrant offender was good news.
Even so, he truly hadn't expected there to actually be someone who threw a brick.
'I did think Lieutenant Colonel Daniel was bleeding strangely heavily....'
Come to think of it, if it were a fake brick, it should have shattered upon impact, but it hadn't even broken.
'To think it was a real brick....'
It was nothing short of a miracle that the brick had only grazed his head.
After all, the doctor's opinion was that there would be no abnormalities in his body.
'Anyway, that's that, and....'
Bölm glared at Tom.
"Go right now and tell Lieutenant Colonel Daniel the truth. No matter how small the lie, the moment it's exposed that we deceived Lieutenant Colonel Daniel, there's no telling what will be done to us."
"I should do that after all, right? Alright...."
Tom, having affirmed Bölm's words, was about to enter the hospital.
"Wait. Wait, Tom."
Bölm, who had stopped Tom, fell into thought for a moment.
Feeling something strange, Bölm quietly opened his mouth.
"Tom. Didn't we clearly decide to become a government-patronized press that publishes falsehoods for Lieutenant Colonel Daniel?"
"...Didn't we? That night, you cried and wailed, saying you'd made a deal with the devil."
"But have we ever actually told a lie?"
The report that Baron Hendliem was connected to Kembel of the Liberal Society Party had been the truth.
Though Daniel had denied it for political use, the Melbaroten Newspaper had never told a lie.
In this protest incident as well, the person who threw the brick had been identified as a member of the protesters, so the fact that they had committed violence was also not a lie.
Having gone over all of that, Bölm opened his mouth with a somewhat mixed, awkward expression.
"...Aren't we just telling the truth?"
A silence hung between the two of them.
Tom, who had been blinking blankly, slowly opened his mouth.
"Huh? Now that you mention it...."
Because it wasn't wrong.