I Have Returned
I Have Returned
Daniel Steiner's words were conveyed to Belvar through the Intelligence Bureau's Deputy Director Feliston.
Seeing how terrified Feliston was as he relayed Daniel's words, Belvar calmed him by saying, 'I have a plan for everything,' and sent him back.
However, contrary to what he told Feliston, Belvar had no such plan.
Because he had never imagined that Daniel Steiner would persuade the Guards Division Armored Regiment to join his cause.
It felt as though a tangled thread had turned into a knot that could no longer be undone.
'...How devastating.'
Belvar, seated at his desk in the mansion's study, slowly poured wine into an elegant glass.
The red wine caught the moonlight and took on a deep hue like blood.
'Where did it all go wrong...'
Belvar slowly closed his eyes and sank into recollection.
In the past, once Celvia was confirmed as the Emperor's successor, Belvar had rallied all the dissatisfied nobles.
Having formed the Noble Union in this way, Belvar put forth the opinion that Daniel Steiner's power must be weakened, citing the threat it posed to the Imperial Household's authority.
The vast majority of nobles concurred, so Belvar immediately moved into action.
After all, it was Belvar who had ordered Kembel, who was then leading the Liberal Society Party, to leak Daniel Steiner's location to the Kingdom of Belmore.
Yet Daniel Steiner had emptied the forward base on the very day the Kingdom of Belmore attacked, as if he already knew his location had been exposed.
Crown Prince Blef, unaware of this fact, ordered an advance and fell into Daniel Steiner's ambush, suffering heavy losses and being taken prisoner.
'He must have figured out then that Kembel, the leader of the Liberal Society Party, was a traitor.'
He didn't know the precise details, but it was clear Daniel had extracted information in exchange for releasing the crown prince.
After returning to the Imperial Capital, Daniel obtained inspection authority from Celvia and began rooting out traitors in earnest.
Almost as if issuing a warning to the Noble Union.
If it had ended there, Belvar could have united the Noble Union into a single force.
Sacrificing Kembel, who was nothing more than a pawn, to strengthen the union's solidarity would have been a profitable trade.
Belvar undoubtedly could have laughed at Daniel Steiner's rashness and advanced to the next stage.
But Daniel Steiner did not move as expected.
Even though he must have extracted information from Kembel, he did not continue with the subsequent investigation.
Around the time Belvar began to sense something was amiss, a newspaper published an exclusive report stating that 'the collaborator who aided the traitor Kembel was Baron Hendliem.'
That was not information a mere newspaper could have uncovered.
It must have been Daniel Steiner turning a newspaper into a mouthpiece to disseminate the information.
Just as Belvar was wondering why Daniel was resorting to such tactics, Daniel publicly defended Hendliem at an official function, saying, 'Baron Hendliem is not that kind of man.'
That was when Belvar understood.
Daniel Steiner wanted to fracture the Noble Union.
Although Belvar had discerned Daniel Steiner's true intentions, the Noble Union was not of one mind.
They openly spread rumors that Baron Hendliem might have sided with Daniel Steiner.
Sensing instinctively that the union would inevitably collapse the moment its solidarity broke, Belvar issued the order to execute Baron Hendliem.
While Hendliem's death did prevent the solidarity from breaking, a sense of fear began to stir within the union—conscious or not—that Duke Belvar held the power of life and death over them.
Once fear begins to manifest as discontent, it becomes uncontrollable.
The moment even a few discontented nobles sided with Daniel Steiner, Belvar's position would plummet into ruin in an instant.
That was why Belvar had proceeded with his plans immediately upon the former Emperor's passing.
He believed he needed to act swiftly before Daniel Steiner consumed his power base.
To finish the job completely, Belvar had even reached out to Count Kaledra, the de facto leader of the Allied Nations.
'Yet I could not kill Daniel Steiner.'
Rather than achieving results, he had been repelled—though he had minimized the losses, hadn't he?
If the troop numbers had been significantly reduced, he might have managed to hold out somehow, but thanks to Daniel, who had sensed something suspicious and secured a retreat route in advance, the 7th Armored Division still maintained its full fighting strength.
He was no mere hero any longer—he had ascended to the rank of a great commander.
'And this time, even...'
Daniel had even persuaded the Guards Division Armored Regiment—which Belvar had dangled as bait to justify the creation of a suppression army—to join his side, leaving Belvar with no further options.
He had been ignoring the truth all along, but now he had to admit it.
Daniel Steiner overwhelmed Belvar in every respect.
With a face thick with the pallor of defeat, Belvar gripped his wine glass tightly.
'I will not flee.'
Running away would be futile anyway—Daniel Steiner would track him down somehow and kill him.
Better to stand and fight to the end in the Imperial Capital than to prolong his life so wretchedly only to die.
'And besides...'
He needed to buy time in the Imperial Capital so that his family could escape.
'Don't think for a moment I'll hand my family over to you.'
Belvar slowly opened his eyes and raised his glass.
"Even if I die in the Imperial Capital..."
A resolute will dwelt in his eyes.
"My family shall carry on the great ducal lineage!"
Belvar shouted loudly and drank the wine to steel his resolve.
But Belvar did not know.
The fact that a listening device had been planted beneath the very chair he sat on.
*
When morning broke, Daniel ordered the 7th Armored Division and the Guards Division Armored Regiment to advance on the Imperial Capital.
The unit commanders responded to Daniel Steiner's orders without a word of complaint, and a long column formed heading toward the Imperial Capital.
This procession occasionally passed near farmland or urban areas, and each time, the citizens who witnessed the majestic sight of the 7th Armored Division and the Guards Division Armored Regiment added their own remarks.
"...What in the world is that? Ain't that the army?"
"Of course it's the army, you fool. But what's the army doing heading for the capital?"
"That's what I'm sayin'. They're headin' to the capital, not the front. Did somethin' happen in the capital?"
"Dunno for sure, but don't go pretendin' you do. Just keep your eyes down and do your work."
"Yeah, best do that. Nothin' good comes from pickin' fights with the military."
One farmer who had been chatting while watching the procession inadvertently let out a murmur of admiration.
"But dang, though. It really is somethin' else."
The endless column of tanks felt as though massive hulks of steel were churning up waves.
The noise produced by each violently imposing tank as it moved in orderly formation sounded like the growling of savage beasts, possessing a power that made one's pores prickle.
On top of that, the sight of armed soldiers staring straight ahead and marching like machines exuded an iron will.
"Dunno who's in command of that army, but they're about as good as a king."
"You said it. I mean, at that scale, they could turn a whole city to ash, couldn't they?"
"'Course they could. That's what an army's for."
The region through which this army passed might as well have been under the dominion of a king.
As the farmers marveled, the army continued its advance, and after several days, it finally reached the wartime capital entry control line.
"Huh?"
Sergeant Volker, the officer in charge of the checkpoint, felt the ground tremble from the tanks' movement and hurriedly came out of the guard post.
What met his eyes was a body of troops on the move, accompanied by countless tanks.
Even at a rough estimate, it was a force nearing 20,000 men, and Volker could do nothing but suck in a sharp breath.
The other soldiers were just as astonished.
"Sergeant, what should we do? The inspection..."
Volker, having belatedly come to his senses, shouted.
"What fucking inspection, you crazy bastard! You wanna get shot dead trying to inspect them? Open the entrance now! Even if we don't open it, it's gonna get opened anyway!"
Nodding, the soldiers moved quickly to clear away the barricades and barbed wire.
As Volker grew increasingly anxious, the troops of the 7th Armored Division drew steadily closer and began entering the Imperial Capital, one by one.
It was an unauthorized entry, but no one stopped them—nor could anyone stop them.
Just as he was wondering how to report this to his superiors, a single military jeep broke away from the column and pulled over nearby.
A puzzled Volker approached, and the jeep's window slowly rolled down.
At the same moment, Volker snapped into a salute almost reflexively.
It was a face he could not help but recognize, no matter how much he might have wished otherwise.
"C-Colonel Daniel Steiner, sir!"
Seated in the back of the jeep was none other than Daniel Steiner.
Frozen in place without realizing it, Volker gauged Daniel's expression and ventured a question.
"...Do you have any words you wish to relay, sir?"
Daniel, who had been staring straight ahead with tired eyes, quietly opened his mouth.
"The citizens of the Empire and His Majesty the Emperor."
Daniel raised his hand and lightly adjusted his sleeve.
Having brushed the dust from his sleeve, Daniel turned his head and looked at Volker.
The gaze caused Volker to feel as though his breath had been cut off.
"And inform the traitors lurking in the Imperial Capital."
Daniel's eyes, fixed on Volker, narrowed sharply.
"Tell them Daniel Steiner has returned."