Why, of All People, That Bastard
Why, of All People, That Bastard
The performance hall was enveloped in silence.
In the moment you kill me, the Empire's future vanishes.
That arrogant declaration had pushed the terror of the gunshot to the back of everyone's emotions.
Moreover, in the eyes of the crowd, Daniel had appeared astonishingly composed in a situation where he might have been killed.
As if what he was worried about was the Empire's future, not some paltry life of his own.
That image, which seemed to transcend human limits, was more than enough to inspire awe.
While the crowd gazed blankly up at Daniel Steiner, the man gripped the pistol tightly.
"You think I can't! If I set my mind to it, scum like you...!"
It was the moment the man put his finger on the trigger.
"You piece of trash!"
The officer who had shouted struck the man on the head with the grip of a revolver.
At the same time, the man let out a single shriek and collapsed to the floor.
As the pistol the man had dropped fell to the floor and rolled, a soldier who had arrived belatedly hurriedly picked it up.
The man, subdued in an instant, let out a groan, but the officer paid no attention.
"You dare attempt to attack Brigadier General Daniel!? You vermin bastard!"
The ringing tone of voice was oddly familiar.
Daniel, who had been examining the officer's appearance to see who it was, broke out in a cold sweat.
'It's Frien.'
The officer's identity was none other than Frien.
She had burst into the performance hall and subdued the man the moment the gunshot was heard.
Just as he was thinking her actions were remarkably swift, Frien kicked the man with her military boot.
A dull sound rang out and the man's back arched like a shrimp, but Frien did not stop.
"You dare! You dare! Scum like you! Against the Brigadier General!"
Anger-fueled violence continued.
She could not help but be furious at the man who had tried to assassinate Daniel.
But even so, excessive force was not desirable.
Hearing the murmuring rising among the crowd, Daniel opened his mouth.
"There is no need to cause a commotion here. Take him away."
No sooner had Daniel's words ended than Frien, who had been trampling the man, turned around and hurriedly saluted.
"Understood! I will take him away and deal with him!"
He could not know what she meant by "deal with him," but he decided not to ask.
When Daniel nodded, Frien ordered the soldiers to bind the man.
The man, who had been thrashing in pain, was bound with rope and dragged out of the performance hall.
Once the commotion subsided, the crowd's gaze naturally turned toward the podium.
Daniel, standing atop the podium, remained silent and looked around at the crowd.
On the surface, he looked like a young general with an iron will, but Daniel's inner thoughts were different.
'...Is it really all over?'
He was simply scanning the crowd diligently because another terrorist might be hiding among them.
Daniel, having confirmed there were no other terrorists here, felt relieved and was about to leave when he hesitated.
Because he saw the crowd holding their breath and waiting for his words.
Only then did Daniel understand.
The words he had hastily thrown together to buy time had stirred no small emotion in the crowd.
If he left here without saying anything, he might get beaten up.
Thinking he could not remain silent, Daniel opened his mouth in the stillness the crowd had created.
"Citizens, you saw what happened. And you must have wondered."
Daniel's grave voice filled the performance hall.
"Why did Daniel Steiner not take cover? Why did he not dodge?"
A few members of the crowd nodded.
"Do you think I was not afraid? If I were my past self, I would certainly have fled without looking back. Because life is precious. One must be alive to do anything, no?"
Small laughter spread among the crowd.
Daniel, who had been smiling along with them, suddenly turned serious.
"However!"
At the weight in his voice, the laughter spreading among the crowd stopped.
"Having risen to the rank of Brigadier General, I know that I must not beg for my life against the threats of subversive elements! My fearing death is an act of deceiving the courage of our soldiers! And furthermore, it is a betrayal of the expectations of our citizens!"
Daniel raised his voice.
"Those filthy Allied Nations and the Republic believe we will be afraid! They hope we will tuck our tails and run like frightened puppies! But are we afraid? I ask you, citizens of the Empire! Are we afraid!"
Everyone gathered in the performance hall cried out in one voice.
─ No!
As if they had completely forgotten that a gunshot had just rung out in this place, the crowd was cheering.
"Citizens! What happened today will be remembered by history and witnessed by the world! The fact that the Empire knows no such thing as fear! The fact that we will fight back even at the risk of death and burn the enemy nations to the ground!"
The moment Daniel's words ended, the crowd waved the national flags they had brought and roared in unison.
─ The Empire knows no fear!
─ Daniel Steiner! Daniel Steiner! Daniel Steiner!
Amid an atmosphere that lay somewhere between fervor and madness, Daniel lightly bowed his head.
He intended to end things here because if he continued the speech any further, he felt he would not be able to handle it.
Daniel, who had turned around leaving the crowd's roar behind him, flinched in surprise.
Because Lucy was staring at him intently with her red eyes open wide.
"...Adjutant? When did you come up here?"
"I came up onto the stage the moment I heard the gunshot. Because I thought that if Brigadier General Daniel were attacked, I would have to block it. Fortunately, such a thing did not happen."
"Right. Since First Lieutenant Frien subdued him in time."
Lucy gave a slight nod in agreement.
But her face held a hint of suspicion she could not quite place.
Unable to hold back the question, Daniel spoke as he walked.
"What is it?"
"A small question has occurred to me. Compared to bringing a pistol into the performance hall, that man's behavior was exceedingly crude. As if he had come not to carry out an assassination, but to show everyone the scene of attempting an assassination."
Daniel was about to say that not everyone was a capable assassin like her, but stopped himself.
There was no need to give her an opening to pick at his words.
"There is no need to dwell deeply on matters already past. More importantly, is the condition of the direct command unit that GHQ assigned to me satisfactory?"
"Yes. Everyone is awaiting Brigadier General Daniel's orders."
"Then things will move quickly."
Since he had unintentionally been subjected to an assassination attempt, it was only natural that public attention would explode.
Daniel, whose head was already throbbing, came up with a clever scheme.
"Tell them to hasten deployment preparations."
Daniel, who did not want to be hounded by all manner of reporters and Imperial Household people, spoke while looking straight ahead.
"Because there is no need to waste time."
*
A few days later. Penbark, the former capital of the Allied Nation Edria.
The office of Defense Commander Colonel Dolbaf.
"Hmm..."
Dolbaf, seated in front of his work desk reading the newspaper, rubbed his chin sullenly.
'Despite the Republic having entered the war, the war situation is not progressing particularly favorably. Though compared to when the Allied Nations faced the Empire alone, we can breathe a little easier.'
The Republic, having declared war, was pouring in offensives, but the Empire was maintaining its front lines better than expected.
This was partly thanks to the Empire having rushed troop redeployments after detecting the Republic's war preparations in advance.
'Well. Not bad, I suppose.'
Thanks to the Imperial forces that were originally supposed to be on the Eastern Front withdrawing northward, Penbark had become even safer.
Because Penbark was originally a region that held only symbolic value as Edria's former capital and was not an easy place to use strategically.
'The east and south are mountainous terrain, so even if occupied, it is not suitable as an advance base. The population is low, the transportation network is a mess, and there are barely any industrial facilities.'
It was a place almost embarrassing to even call a city, but Dolbaf was satisfied in his own way.
Because as long as he was the Defense Commander of Penbark, he generally did not have to go out to fight.
'Peace within war. Not bad, I must say...'
Dolbaf, who had let out a low laugh, closed the newspaper and picked up the sandwich on his desk.
Listening to the chirping of birds from behind him, just as he was about to take a bite of the sandwich, the door slammed open.
He looked to see who it was and found it was his adjutant.
"Berot, you son of a bitch. Who enters their direct superior's office like that—"
"That's not what matters right now!"
His breathing was ragged.
Puzzled, Dolbaf furrowed one eyebrow.
"Why? Did Central send a directive saying they're cutting down on luxury food items?"
"It's far more serious! They're coming right now! I'm telling you, a brigade-scale enemy force is coming!"
At the words that the enemy was coming, Dolbaf broke out in a cold sweat.
But he quickly regained his senses.
"Contact Central. Tell them we urgently need reinforcements. We'll hold out as long as we can in the meantime. But why here, of all places? What crazy bastard? Who's the enemy commander?"
"That's..."
Berot paused briefly before speaking.
"It's Brigadier General Daniel Steiner."
Dolbaf dropped the sandwich he was holding.
In the heavy silence, Dolbaf's face turned deathly pale.
Only after a long moment did Dolbaf clutch his forehead and clench his teeth tightly.
"Oh, fuck...!"