A Journalist's Spirit Transcends Time
A Journalist's Spirit Transcends Time
After eating with Daniel, Kartman didn't head straight home but instead made his way to the Security Bureau.
Entering the building, Kartman stepped into the 5th Department, which handled intelligence gathering and espionage within the Security Bureau.
The intelligence analyst, sensing a presence and turning his head, saw Kartman, flinched in surprise, and rose from his seat.
"Inspector Kartman, sir! Didn't you say you were going home for the day?"
"Ah. Well, you see... First, take this."
Kartman held out a coffee toward the analyst.
Coffee? The analyst looked puzzled but accepted it, and Kartman spoke.
"On my way home, I suddenly got curious about something and turned back. You know me. Once I get curious about something, I'll go without a wink of sleep until I figure it out."
The analyst nodded, still slightly dazed.
After all, there wasn't a soul who didn't know that Kartman had been vigorously racking up achievements within the Security Bureau.
"So anyway, could you possibly look into something for me?"
"What kind of investigation, sir?"
"I'm curious about how many military doctors who served on the Eastern Front sustained eye injuries and ended up with aphasia. I'd like you to limit your search to those with brown hair."
The analyst, taking a sip of the coffee in his hand, asked with a puzzled look.
"Is that all? Sir, as you know, the units currently operating on the Eastern Front are composed of multiple field armies. There are up to 17 corps alone under the field armies, and you want me to investigate all of them?"
"I'm well aware it'll be tough. That's why I brought a bribe."
"Inspector, if I told you to go get tortured and offered you a cup of coffee in exchange, would you do it?"
Sweat beaded on Kartman's forehead.
"Not just one cup, I'll buy you a hundred. As an excuse, I was in a position where getting other information was awkward, so I had no choice."
The analyst let out a sigh and nodded as if he couldn't help it.
"If it's information you want, sir, there must be a reason. But this will require a comprehensive investigation, so it'll take a long time. We'll also need cooperation from the Central Intelligence Department."
"No problem at all. It's not an urgent matter."
The analyst glared at Kartman once as if he were genuinely displeased, then sat down and began his work.
Watching this, Kartman stroked his chin once, reminiscing about the dinner meeting.
'I don't want to suspect Captain Daniel Steiner, but...'
Getting clarity on this could do no harm.
*
The next day.
Before heading to the staff office, I entered my personal office to get ready, and sure enough, Lucy was already there, seated.
Naturally, her wig was off and she wasn't wearing her sunglasses.
"You've arrived, Captain."
As always, a toneless greeting.
You wouldn't think she was the same person who had set off a bomb yesterday and escaped over a wall.
Looking at Lucy with a sour look, I walked over to my office desk and sat down.
"...Did anything unusual happen yesterday?"
I opened a drawer and asked subtly, but Lucy didn't even look at me, merely continuing to review documents.
"After work hours, I returned straight to my quarters and rested."
"Is that so. On my way to a dessert shop, I ran into a strange woman and had a bit of a hard time."
"I see."
Seeing her put up a wall of indifference, I was dumbfounded.
I got caught up in your mess all day and ended up coming back without even tasting the dessert.
I shot Lucy a disapproving look, then pulled out the day's documents from the drawer and sorted them.
As I placed the documents, sorted by priority, into my bag, Lucy glanced over at me and spoke.
"...By the way, just how strange was she?"
Was she fishing for information? I hesitated for a moment, then stood up and spoke.
"She wore sunglasses indoors."
"What else?"
"Either she had aphasia or just couldn't speak properly. And her pride was dirty-thick, so even when I offered to help, she refused me several times. I wonder how she manages to get by socially. Such a pitiful woman."
Lucy closed her mouth and stared at me blankly. No, "glared" would be more accurate.
"..."
"..."
The atmosphere grew icy. The probability of assassination was rising in real time.
Sensing danger, I let out a dry cough and walked toward the door.
"Let's drop the small talk and head to the staff office. We shouldn't be late."
"...Understood."
Leaving my office, I entered the staff office together with Lucy.
I had intended to walk straight to my desk, but I stopped short.
Because the staff office personnel were gathered around the central conference table, buzzing with chatter.
"This is a masterpiece."
"I agree. For something so hastily made, it seems quite well done."
"But the personnel department's processing is remarkably fast. It hasn't even been a day since the article ran..."
What were they talking about? Puzzled, I approached them.
"What are you all looking at?"
At my question, Operations Support Staff Officer Captain Dengel turned around first.
"Oh! Captain Daniel! The owner of the poster is right here!"
"Poster? What in the world do you mean..."
I cast my gaze down at the table and froze solid.
Because a photo of me, looking straight ahead with a furrowed brow and raising my hand to point a finger, had been turned into a poster.
Beneath my photo, the propaganda phrase 'Your Fatherland Wants You!' was written in large letters.
'What is this, some kind of Uncle Sam?'
Dumbfounded, I stuck out my tongue.
"Just who made this? In the first place, that pose I did yesterday was meant to tell the reporters not to take pictures. To make a draft-encouragement poster completely unrelated to my intention, what a discourteous..."
"Captain Daniel. This matter was directly ordered by the head of the personnel department."
"...The discourtesy was mine. Looking at it again, it's perfect."
Having swiftly shifted my stance, I nodded in affirmation.
Looking at me, Dengel smiled and spoke up.
"Captain Daniel. I'm aware you're already on the early promotion list, but aren't you piling up merits a little too zealously? I never even dreamed you were active after work too."
A staff member who was listening in from the side interjected.
"Captain Dengel. Do you think Captain Daniel is doing this for a promotion? He is practically a paragon of the military, so of course he's working hard to make the Empire greater."
"Ah, ah. I misspoke. Well, I suppose it makes sense; with my salaryman mindset, Captain Daniel operates on a whole different level from where I stand."
If I had my way, I wanted to confess the truth—that a crazy woman in sunglasses had set off a bomb—but I was too concerned about Lucy nearby and couldn't possibly speak honestly.
In the first place, it was questionable whether anyone would even believe me if I told the truth.
"You flatter me."
And so I had no choice but to feign humility and leave.
I walked over to the operations staff officer's desk and pulled out my chair, speaking as I did.
"Adjutant. Do you happen to have today's newspaper?"
"Yes. I'll bring you a copy."
Seated in my chair, I took the newspaper Lucy handed me.
I wanted to know just what the article had said for the head of the personnel department to select me as a propaganda soldier.
When I opened the paper, just as I expected, the photo of me I'd just seen was on the front page.
【Captain Daniel Steiner Does It Again! Mafia Organization Annihilated!】
Even the headline was dizzying.
I let out a low groan and skimmed through the contents.
『Captain Daniel Steiner, who once saved Her Highness the Imperial Princess from a terrorist attack, is once again a topic of public conversation following another major exploit. According to a reliable source, Captain Daniel reportedly carried out a solo covert operation to eradicate a mafia organization that had been flourishing in the imperial capital.』
Just as I expected, it was full of fabrications.
I held it in for now and read further.
『...After this great effort, Captain Daniel Steiner spoke to the gathered citizens. "This was not something I did alone. It is the result of all of us doing our part for the Empire from our respective positions." The citizens could not help but be ecstatic at Captain Daniel's words.』
My head throbbed.
They had taken what I said, added other words to it, and written it deceptively as if it were the truth.
Feeling I couldn't read any more, I folded the newspaper and tossed it toward the corner of my desk.
Seeing me do this, Lucy opened her mouth to speak.
"I heard that, thanks to you, Captain Daniel, the corrupt officials connected to that mafia organization were also caught. Most of them reportedly accepted bribes and helped the mafia smuggle opium."
"...Was that in the newspaper too?"
Lucy nodded.
Thanks to that, I had a bad feeling.
'This'll be a problem if the higher-ups get the wrong idea from reading this...'
No sooner had the thought crossed my mind than the door to the staff office burst open and Ernst walked in.
"Daniel! Captain Daniel! Are you here!?"
Seeing him search for me with such an elated face made me not want to answer.
But I couldn't actually ignore him, so I stood up and rendered a salute.
"Ah. There you are!"
Ernst accepted my salute and approached me.
"Captain Daniel! Rejoice. I just came from a meeting, and the Deputy Chief of Operations Staff said he wants to see you sometime when you're available later. You know what that means, yes?"
The Deputy Chief of Operations Staff was the person with the second most authority in General Headquarters after the Chief of Staff.
Why in the world would someone like that want to see me? A sense of unease ran down my spine.
"Captain Daniel."
Just then, Lucy spoke to me with a smile—a rare sight.
"It seems you'll be able to join the Deputy Chief's inner circle now. Congratulations."
Lucy probably only smiled to play the role of a 'dutiful adjutant', but to me, that smile felt somehow as if she were mocking me.
"...Thank you."
I answered sourly and turned my gaze toward the window.
Contrary to my gloomy heart, dazzling sunlight was beautifully illuminating all creation.
It was a brutal summer.