The Adjutant Appears
The Adjutant Appears
While I was still in disbelief, Ernst looked at me.
His eyes were brimming with anticipation, as if saying, 'My capable subordinate has done it again!' — which only doubled the pressure I felt.
"Just how did you manage to melt that tight-lipped scholar? Tell me, so I can pass some advice along to the interrogators."
At Ernst's words, Sergeant Bendelin also looked at me with a smile.
I understood why. Since I had turned off the microphone during yesterday's interrogation, neither of them knew what had been said inside.
As an interrogator, Bendelin naturally wanted to know how I had persuaded such a tight-lipped prisoner.
But no matter how much I thought about it, I had simply had an ordinary conversation with Reginald.
I didn't possess any actual interrogation techniques, so hearing a question like that only left me feeling awkward.
Just as I was struggling to find an answer, Bendelin spoke up in a bright voice, as if trying to lighten the mood.
"I've seen many cases in my time as an interrogator, but I've never seen anyone wrap things up as swiftly as Captain Daniel Steiner."
"Oh. Is that so?"
"Truly. After the Captain walked out of the interrogation room, that son of a bitch Reginald said he'd cooperate with the Empire in a voice that sounded like he was about to burst into tears — it was so satisfying!"
He had been about to cry? That straitlaced-looking Reginald?
"What's more, most interrogators resort to shouting or violence the moment they enter the room, but Captain Daniel kept speaking to him with a calm, gentle smile the entire time. It was positively dignified!"
Bendelin. He was a decent man, but his flattery was way over the top.
I wanted to stop him, thinking he was exaggerating too much, but Ernst seemed to take it all at face value.
He was watching me now with even greater expectation than before.
"Hearing the Sergeant's account makes me all the more curious. Just what did you talk about with Reginald?"
He had asked twice now. Remaining silent after being asked twice was not proper conduct for a subordinate.
I had no choice. After hesitating briefly, I answered.
"It was nothing special. I simply brought up Reginald's family a few times."
At the mention of family, not only Bendelin but Ernst flinched.
Even a few officers nearby who had been subtly eavesdropping glanced over.
An inexplicable silence descended around me.
Just as I was wondering what was up with the atmosphere, Ernst cleared his throat and nodded.
"It is the most effective method, after all. Did you hear that, Sergeant? Take Captain Daniel as your example."
"Ah. Absolutely! I now suspect I may have been far too soft on the prisoners until now."
......I felt like they were misunderstanding something in a very strange way.
The vibe was off, but I decided not to offer any explanation.
My experience told me that opening my mouth to explain in a situation like this only ever led to even worse misunderstandings.
So I simply gave a nod, and Bendelin snapped a vigorous salute.
For some reason, his salute was a little stiffer than when I'd first seen him.
"Well then, I shall return to the military police! Enjoy your meal!"
"Do so. You've had quite a journey coming all the way to GHQ."
At Ernst's reply, Bendelin turned with mechanical precision and walked off like a toy soldier.
Just as I was wondering what that was about, Ernst picked up his utensils and spoke.
"In any case, congratulations. You've racked up another merit by getting Reginald to open his mouth. Honestly, your competence these days has been astonishing. At your age, I could barely manage the tasks I was given."
What I really wanted to say was that this merit had absolutely nothing to do with my own intentions, but saying something like that in front of the Deputy Chief of Operations Staff was a surefire way to get chewed out.
"You flatter me."
So I simply feigned humility and picked up my utensils.
As I was cutting into the steak that had been served, Ernst spoke up as though the thought had just occurred to him.
"Ah. That reminds me — about your adjutant. They'll be assigned to GHQ today. They may have already arrived by now."
Adjutant? I lifted my head and blinked vacantly.
"......You mean an adjutant?"
"Yes. Did I not mention it before? I told you that once you became a full operations staff officer, you'd be assigned an adjutant. I hear the higher-ups put in some effort to get you an elite adjutant suited to your rank."
Seeing my dazed expression, Ernst smiled.
"I heard you've been pulling a lot of late shifts lately with the increased workload? It's only natural for an operations staff officer to be busy during wartime, but now that you have an adjutant, you should be able to lighten the burden somewhat."
"That would certainly...... be the case."
"This will be your first direct junior, won't it? Be sure to guide them well."
"Understood."
I gave Ernst a calm reply.
I was doing my best not to show any signs of joy, but inside, my heart was soaring on clouds.
'I finally have an adjutant of my own!'
No. Let me correct myself. Given that I had gone through two accelerated promotions, saying 'finally' was rather premature in terms of timing.
Of course, such trivial facts didn't matter much.
What mattered was that I now had an adjutant.
'And an elite handpicked by the higher-ups at that......! I won't have to be buried in work this much anymore.'
The thing I had felt ever since I was promoted from 'acting' operations staff officer to full operations staff officer was that the workload was far too heavy.
As a low-ranking staff officer whose primary job was to review documents and forward them to my superiors, reports and approval requests flew in from all manner of places.
Truly critical documents went straight to the top, but in wartime, there were far more outlandish requests and reports than one might imagine.
To cite one example, there was the request from a certain regimental commander that went: "Our troops wish to drink their beer cold, so please resupply us via fighter aircraft."
After hesitating for a moment, I had approved it without holding it back and sent it up to my superior — and somehow, it received final approval, and I ended up actually seeing fighter planes hauling beer kegs through the sky.
Requests like that were pouring in without end, so I never had any time to spare.
Getting to leave on time the way I had yesterday was a lucky break.
At this rate, I was going to die of overwork and escape this mortal coil before ever escaping the Empire. So when Ernst told me, just in the nick of time, that an adjutant had been assigned to me — of course I was delighted.
As I was lost in thought about my adjutant, Ernst, who had finished his meal first, picked up his napkin and wiped his mouth.
"Ah, right. This afternoon, spend your time in your private office rather than the operations staff room."
"......Would that be acceptable?"
"Yes. Shouldn't you have at least some time to get acquainted with your new adjutant? It would be awkward to have a personal conversation in the staff room, after all."
Ernst was a hundred percent right.
I gave a faint smile to indicate my agreement.
"Thank you for the consideration, Deputy Chief of Operations Staff."
Though the staff room was no battlefield, in the event of an emergency, I would need to trust my adjutant with — no, entrust my back to them.
Building a rapport with my adjutant was therefore one of my most important duties.
*
After finishing my meal with Ernst, instead of heading straight up to my private office, I wandered around outside GHQ for a while.
It was to buy a gift for my new junior.
After some deliberation, I ended up buying a few loaves of bread from a nearby bakery that would make good snacks, instead of a bouquet.
A bouquet, pretty as it was, had no practical use — filling the stomach with bread seemed like the better choice.
Returning to my GHQ private office, I stood before the door with the bread bag in hand and took a deep breath.
'I felt a little nervous.'
The adjutant waiting inside the office right now was probably just as nervous as I was.
Only five months ago, I had been the one in that exact spot, waiting for my superior and breaking out in a cold sweat.
The memory was still vivid.
When I had been first commissioned, far from receiving any gifts, the moment I reported for duty, that bastard Karl Heimlich had showered me with abuse.
Recalling the humiliation and trauma from that day, I resolved to be as good to my junior as I possibly could.
As for the work, I planned to start them off with only easy, simple tasks so they could adapt.
'Alright.'
Fully armed with the mindset of an excellent senior and superior officer, I smiled and opened the office door.
"Have you been waiting long? I'm a little late — I stopped by the bakery near GHQ to pick up some bread we could snack on. To share with you, of course......."
As I was speaking in a friendly tone, I took in the adjutant's appearance and froze before I even realized it.
The adjutant, who had turned her head gently toward me, had a slightly disheveled bob cut.
The short hair falling to just above her neck was an elegant silver-white, like sunlight settling upon a snowy field.
In stark contrast to the clean, beautiful color of her hair, both of her eyes were a blood-red crimson.
Her gaze was sharp, but she showed no hostility. Her expressionless face simply looked that way.
She was a truly sophisticated and graceful woman.
If I had not known her true identity, I surely would have thought so.
Lucy Emilia.
She was the protagonist-grade character of the game 'Empire of the Emperor' — and the slaughterer known as the nightmare of the Empire.
So why on earth was this Lucy standing neatly dressed in an Imperial Army uniform inside my private office?
"......."
"......."
I stood still for a moment with my eyes locked on hers, then closed the door for the time being.
'Wait a minute.'
Why was Lucy here? Wasn't this the period when she should have been in the thick of action on the front lines?
In the first place, why had someone affiliated with the Allied Nations become my adjutant?
'......A spy?'
Both the Allied Nations and the Empire were heavily engaged in intelligence operations, so it wasn't entirely unreasonable to think she had infiltrated GHQ as a spy.
'But why?'
Why, of all the countless posts available, had she come as my adjutant?
Absolutely dumbfounded, I furrowed my brow and shook my head.
'My frequent late nights must have finally driven me to the point of seeing things.'
No matter how I thought about it, there was no way Lucy could be here. Yes. Absolutely not.
Filled with renewed conviction, I opened the office door once more.
"......Captain?"
And shut it immediately.
Even on a second look, that was unmistakably Lucy.
She was not one bit different from her in-game illustration.
'Why is this happening to me.......'
It was truly not easy.