War Genius Daniel Steiner (Not)
War Genius Daniel Steiner (Not)
Frien's interrogation skills were exceptional.
So much so that it seemed less a talent and more a true calling—she had extracted confessions from every member of the enemy platoon in less than a day.
While it was only natural that the soldiers would start talking the moment their platoon leader confessed, the fact that it happened at such a ridiculous speed was undeniable.
For context, the intelligence staff officer Pelf, who had directly witnessed the soldiers' torture, once described Frien as 'a demon with the face of a saintess.'
It was an open secret that the soldiers guarding the entrance to the temporary interrogation center also agreed with Pelf's testimony.
All things considered, the public assessment was perhaps a bit harsh, but no one could deny that Frien had rendered distinguished service.
Thanks to this, when Frien reported the next day that she had 'not only identified the enemy's operational frequency and Morse code encryption but had also completed cross-verification,' the division commander burst into hearty laughter and praised her lavishly.
The next person to receive praise was Daniel Steiner, who had taken Frien on as a subordinate early on.
The division commander, who appeared to have completely shed any negative feelings toward Daniel, announced that he would entrust the planning and execution of an operation using that information to the chief of staff.
And so, at present.
Daniel was in his private quarters, discussing which operation would be most effective.
"I suspect the most suitable location would be the gorge located near the division. If we drive those bastards into a gorge with only one escape route, we can annihilate them easily."
With several staff officers in attendance, the intelligence staff officer Pelf was the first to voice his opinion.
The other staff officers also seemed to find it sound and offered no dissent.
Only Frien, who had been recognized for her merit and was now attending the operational meeting, was tilting her head quizzically.
It was as if the phrase 'Isn't there an easier way?' were written right on her face, so Daniel had no choice but to ask.
"Lieutenant Frien. Do you have a better method?"
When Daniel called her name, Frien looked surprised.
Her eyes seemed to ask whether it was truly acceptable for her to voice her opinion, so Daniel gave a single nod.
Having received permission, Frien turned to the staff officers and casually opened her mouth.
"The enemy infantry brigade will use etherium ore to perform spatial movement to the coordinates we transmitted, yes? I was just thinking, couldn't we plant landmines there in advance?"
If the enemy's spatial movement were guided to a point already planted with landmines, they would trigger the mines the instant they moved, causing a chain of explosions.
She was asking whether it was truly necessary to drive the enemy into a gorge and lie in ambush when victory could be secured so easily.
Though not a humane method, it was certainly the easiest way to annihilate the enemy.
The staff officers were well aware of this, but there was a reason they had not spoken of it aloud.
Because slaughtering the enemy without even asking their intention to surrender, from such an advantageous position, bordered on inhuman conduct.
Yet Frien, with utterly innocent eyes, was essentially saying, 'Can't we just kill them all?'
It was fair to say that when it came to the enemy, Frien's humanity was completely absent.
The staff officers who witnessed Frien's absent humanity naturally turned their gazes to the chief of staff, Daniel.
Because, according to the circulating rumors, the person who had educated Frien to be that way was none other than Daniel Steiner.
—How in the world did you brainwash that delicate woman.......
—The Chief of Staff may be an excellent soldier, but he might not be fit to be called a man of character.......
—When I think of it as being for the Empire's sake, it's not that I can't understand.......
Convinced that Daniel Steiner's influence was behind Frien's mentality differing so drastically from that of an ordinary person, the staff officers each privately aired negative sentiments in their minds.
'I didn't make her like that! She's just always been that kind of kid!'
Daniel, feeling pressured and wronged by those looks, let out a dry cough and turned to Lucy.
"Adjutant? Do you personally think Lieutenant Frien's statement is reasonable?"
Daniel was hoping that his adjutant, Lucy, would criticize Frien's words as 'inhuman conduct.'
Because if his adjutant, who had been by his side the longest, refuted Frien's claim, the staff officers would finally realize that 'it wasn't that Daniel Steiner was a cold-blooded fiend, but that Frien was simply odd.'
"It is reasonable, but inefficient."
The problem was that Lucy, also being a test subject, lacked humanity to a certain degree herself.
If Frien had voluntarily discarded her humanity, Lucy's had been forcibly taken from her, but anyone unaware of the full circumstances would not perceive the difference between the two.
"From a macroscopic perspective, keeping the enemy alive as prisoners is more beneficial than slaughtering them. We can gain advantages from prisoner exchanges later, and we can mobilize them for operations if necessary. Therefore, the landmines should be laid on the enemy's retreat path."
Lucy's red eyes blinked slowly.
"Once they realize they are trapped in a gorge with a retreat path that is a minefield, they will all lose morale and surrender. It would also be a good method to make a show of the Allied troops moving toward the retreat path and wait until they step on the mines. That is all."
At her clean explanation, devoid of any superfluous detail, the staff officers nodded one by one.
It was because they all knew that what Lucy said was the most efficient course of action.
However, thanks to Lucy, who answered like a machine, the misunderstandings the staff officers harbored toward Daniel only deepened.
Confirming that the staff officers were unknowingly or knowingly watching his reaction, Daniel quietly closed his eyes and thought.
'Lucy aside.......'
He would never ask for Frien's opinion in a public setting again.
*
Five days later.
An Allied Nations infantry brigade.
"Gentlemen!"
Brigade Commander Rapahol, standing on a hastily erected platform, shouted loudly.
Before Rapahol, assembled on the desolate field, were as many as three thousand soldiers.
"We are participating in a historic operation today! As a result of our nation's scientists relentlessly researching and developing etherium ore, we can now freely handle the spatial movement of mana disasters! This is a progressive advancement and, furthermore, the very starting point that will lead our military to victory!"
The sound of artillery began to be heard from the front lines.
It meant the Allied armored division had begun its advance toward the enemy trenches.
"As you know, we shall infiltrate the enemy's rear and strike the command post of those imbecilic Imperial troops! The Imperial Army, having lost its command post, will undoubtedly collapse like dominoes and become a leaderless rabble! Be careful! You might get nauseous from the piss those bastards let loose in fear!"
At the brigade commander's joke, small laughter spread among the soldiers.
Watching those soldiers, Rapahol suddenly changed his expression and shouted.
"Today! We will show the Empire's imbeciles the might of the Allied Nations! Therefore, all soldiers, fight with conviction! It is time we show the Empire's cowards that we are seizing a most progressive victory! Is it not!"
Cries of affirmation could be heard from all around.
Feeling that the soldiers' morale had reached its peak, Rapahol raised his hand.
"Then, let us show them the fear of the Allied Nations! Begin the advance!"
No sooner had Rapahol finished speaking than calls of acknowledgment followed, and officers and soldiers alike took out refined etherium ore from their pockets.
These were fragments linked to the etherium ore of the platoon that had crossed the front lines.
As they broke the ores one by one, light spread out here and there.
After confirming that the soldiers were disappearing, leaving only afterimages, Rapahol also took out the ore from his pocket.
Rapahol, who had infused his hand with mana, broke the ore, and blinding light claimed the surroundings.
*
When the light vanished, the place Rapahol arrived at was a broad gorge.
And since they were located deep within the gorge, it was a space with limited ways out.
The moment he saw that landscape, Rapahol felt a sense of dissonance.
'......What in the world is going on? Clearly, the coordinates were said to be a place where the enemy command post could be visually identified.'
This place matched none of the received intelligence.
The soldiers who had moved with Rapahol were equally bewildered.
"Where is the enemy command post?"
"Where the hell are we?"
"This isn't what we were told?"
They were all just looking around, not realizing they had been deceived.
In the midst of that, light continued to flash as more soldiers stepped through, and the gorge began to grow increasingly cramped.
Watching the agitated soldiers, Rapahol issued an order as calmly as he could.
"......12th Battalion. First, secure your field of vision by getting out of this gorge."
"Understood!"
It was the moment the battalion commander who had received the order moved to lead his soldiers out via the sole retreat path.
Kwaaaaang─
Amid the explosive roar, flames and lumps of earth shot up in all directions.
The shockwave tore through the air, and at the same time, soldiers near the blast point were sent flying.
As clods of earth and bloody water swirled in the air and fell, the soldiers' screams rose a beat later.
With tinnitus ringing in his ears, the 12th Battalion commander cried out at the top of his lungs.
"Landmines! It's a minefield! Halt movement! Halt movement!"
Rapahol, who had been crouching with his soldiers, finally came to his senses.
Slowly raising himself up, Rapahol spotted the 12th Battalion returning through the thick smoke.
While everyone was dumbfounded, a voice came through a loudspeaker from somewhere.
— Ah, ah. Can you hear me?
The voice, amplified by the loudspeaker, pierced through the ringing in his ears.
— You are currently surrounded. I repeat. You are currently surrounded.
Lifting his head toward the voice, Rapahol spotted a man in an officer's uniform standing on the cliff of the gorge.
To the man's left and right, figures who appeared to be grenadiers showed themselves, rifles aimed.
Even by rough estimate, their numbers seemed to be at least in the hundreds.
— As of now, a single word from me will expose you all to artillery fire. I would advise against any attempt to slip away. I shall provide no separate explanation as to why; you have just experienced it.
As his breathing calmed, the smoke spreading across the gorge settled.
— Therefore, discard your weapons and surrender. This is the first and last mercy I will offer.
Only then could Rapahol see it—the Golden Cross Medal attached to the uniform of the man now holding a loudspeaker and urging their surrender.
'Daniel Steiner......!'
Fury surged within him at the thought that he had fallen into a trap laid by that bastard.
Rapahol gritted his teeth, but if he did not accept this offer now, it would mean nothing but a dog's death.
His fists clenched tight in resentment, Rapahol took a deep breath, drew his pistol, and threw it to the ground.
No matter how many scenarios he considered, he realized that the moment they had set foot in this gorge, escape was absolutely impossible without Daniel Steiner's permission.
"......Everyone, surrender."
"But......."
"Did I not say, surrender!"
As the brigade commander ordered surrender, the sound of weapons being dropped to the ground came from all around.
It was a brilliant achievement accomplished by the 7th Division's chief of staff, Daniel Steiner, in a single hour after the battle commenced.
Rapahol, steeped in a sense of defeat, looked up at Daniel Steiner and felt an overwhelming sense of powerlessness.
'The Allied Nations stand at the forefront of spatial movement technology. They have developed a technology that even the Empire has not been able to put to practical use. But that man, as if mocking us, used the Allied Nations' technology against us.'
From atop the cliff, the shouts of Imperial soldiers ordering them to discard their weapons and kneel could be heard.
The Allied soldiers, who had been burning with fighting spirit, began to kneel one by one, fear in their hearts.
Daniel Steiner was looking down at those Allied soldiers impassively, as if they were placed in the palm of his hand.
'......He isn't even rejoicing, despite having won an overwhelming victory.'
As if victory were simply a matter of course for him.
Seeing that, Rapahol became certain.
'As long as Daniel Steiner remains unslain.......'
The Allied Nations would never be able to win.