The Prime Minister of Velanos Is Afraid
The Prime Minister of Velanos Is Afraid
Daniel's audacious retort threw the officer into confusion.
'He doesn't know Daniel Steiner?'
The Empire's war hero, the man who caused a worldwide uproar with his Total War speech, was none other than Daniel Steiner.
Even in Bellanos across the sea, anyone who read the newspaper or listened to the radio couldn't possibly be unaware of Daniel Steiner's existence.
And yet he claimed not to know who Daniel Steiner was, so the suspicion only intensified.
'And on top of that...'
The man before him exactly matched the physical description of Daniel Steiner that headquarters had forwarded.
He wore sunglasses so his eyes weren't visible, but his facial features also perfectly matched Daniel Steiner's portrait.
The officer glanced back and forth between the portrait and Daniel once more and spoke with difficulty.
"...If possible, would you mind removing your sunglasses. Once I've confirmed, I won't detain you any longer."
At this, Daniel let out a low murmur.
He had expected it, but the officer wasn't backing down easily, and it was giving him a pounding headache.
'If I take off the sunglasses, my identity will be exposed. But...'
Think about it from the officer's perspective.
Could a junior officer forcibly take a Bellanos civilian into custody just because his appearance was similar?
Even if he had the authority, he wouldn't act rashly before receiving permission from his superiors.
'The Empire complies with international law, after all.'
If he denied it again, the officer would radio his superiors to get permission for the detainment.
Daniel figured he could buy time that way and then exploit an opening to escape, so he raised his hand.
"Didn't I tell you."
Grasping his sunglasses and slowly lowering them, Daniel glared at the officer with a cold expression.
"That I don't know who he is."
The officer, meeting Daniel's eyes, felt as if his entire body had frozen solid.
That was because the sharp, wolf-like gaze was exactly the same as the one depicted in the portrait.
Panicking, the officer reflexively started to salute, but then hesitated at a sudden thought.
'Wait a moment. The reason he keeps insisting he doesn't know...'
There must be a good reason for it.
The officer swallowed dryly and ran through Daniel's achievements in his head.
The primary contributor to the Nordia Invasion Operation.
Holder of the Empire's Second-Class Patriotic Medal of National Selection.
Holder of the Empire's First-Class Order of Diplomatic Merit, the Golden Cross Medal.
The youngest field-grade officer in history.
The core figure of the Princess Faction who ended the struggle for the succession to the throne.
A great orator who united the people with his Total War speech.
Even a brief list of his monumental achievements was this extensive.
Feats others found difficult to achieve even once in a lifetime—Daniel had conquered them all.
To that extent, Daniel Steiner was a brilliant staff officer.
So much so that an ordinary person could never dare to guess his thoughts.
'Surely, concealing his identity must be part of a classified operation I'm not aware of.'
The officer, having grasped everything, bowed his head instead of saluting.
"I believe I understand what you mean. I shall take my leave now."
The officer showed his respects by raising his hand to the brim of his service cap and lowering it slightly before turning away.
The soldiers also bowed their heads toward Daniel and began following the officer out of the inn.
Daniel watched this scene in bewilderment.
'What the...? He's just leaving?'
Daniel couldn't quite grasp the officer's true feelings, but it wasn't a bad thing.
Thinking he had dodged a bullet, Daniel hurried up the stairs and entered his inn room.
'I don't have much time. If I'm going to run, now's the right moment. The officer left, but he'll still have this place under watch.'
The officer would certainly report to his superiors that he had found a man whose facial features matched Daniel Steiner.
In that case, it was easy to predict that someone with higher authority from headquarters would come to verify, accompanied by soldiers.
Daniel, thinking he had to slip out of the Empire's encirclement before they arrived, turned to the window and froze.
"....."
Daniel could see four massive surface combat ships waiting in the harbor beyond the landing ships and supply ships moored at the docks.
Faced with a fleet so large that Tentarbahém Port seemed small in comparison, Daniel let out a hollow sigh.
'They sent a fleet that size... just to find me?'
Daniel, who had expected at most one ship, felt an incomprehensible dread.
'...Are they out of their goddamn minds?'
He simply could not, by any stretch, understand Selvia's obsession with him.
And no matter how he thought about it, it didn't seem like he could break through that encirclement and escape.
*
In the early morning, Bellanos Cabinet Minister Lowell Tailwiss was racking his brain in his office.
'Why did an incident have to occur precisely in our own territorial waters...!'
Ever since the Empire's diplomatic vessel was sunk after entering Bellanos territorial waters, Lowell had been losing sleep over the Empire's endless demands and statements.
Especially when he received the notice from the Empire to 'open the borders,' he had felt his head spin.
Because opening the borders was practically the same as letting the Empire station its military in Bellanos.
It was a notice that a neutral state should never accept, but due to the terror attack in Bellanos territorial waters, they had no grounds to refuse.
Thanks to that, the Empire's fleet had entered Tentarbahém Port without bloodshed and was beginning its operations.
Now that the Empire had stationed its military, there was no telling what demand it would make next.
Fearing exactly that, Lowell had issued an order through the Military Intelligence Agency to find whoever opened the territorial waters to the terrorists as quickly as possible.
It was all to escape the Empire's influence by finding the culprit quickly and handing him over to the Empire.
'If the Empire finds the culprit first, rather than us...'
The Empire might criticize Bellanos's incompetence, demand the personnel lists of its military, and then attempt to interfere in internal affairs.
It was around the time Lowell, wanting to prevent that at all costs, was praying with his eyes closed.
Tok-tok─
Lowell opened his eyes at the sound of a knock and spoke.
"Enter."
The office door opened and the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency entered.
The Director, his expression tense, saluted Cabinet Minister Lowell and then walked to the center of the office.
"Your Excellency. We have succeeded in finding the culprit who colluded with the terrorists. The culprit is said to be the commander of the 12th Naval District Defense Command, Colonel Edbol."
It was welcome news to Lowell's ears.
Lowell's face brightened and he clenched his fist.
"That's a relief! How did you manage to single him out?"
At Lowell's words, the Director hesitated for a moment before speaking with difficulty.
"Apologies, but it wasn't the Military Intelligence Agency that singled out the culprit. Edbol came to the Military Intelligence Agency and confessed."
"...He confessed, you say?"
"Yes. I hear he came to the Military Intelligence Agency with an absent-minded expression and confessed his crimes. However, there is one odd thing...."
The Director paused for a moment before speaking.
"According to Colonel Edbol's statement, Daniel Steiner's private organization came to his house. He reportedly begged for his life, saying he had been threatened in some way. He was terrified out of his wits."
A silence fell between the Director and Lowell.
Lowell's mouth moved as though his throat was parched, and he swallowed dryly.
"So... you mean to say it wasn't the Military Intelligence Agency that found the culprit, but Daniel Steiner's private organization that identified him? That they threatened and got Colonel Edbol to confess?"
"That appears to be the situation."
According to the Director, this meant Daniel Steiner hadn't simply been lying low since surviving the sinking.
Using his own death as a disguise, Daniel Steiner had been secretly operating in Tentarbahém.
As his thoughts reached that point, Lowell's breathing started to grow ragged.
'No way...'
Lowell knew that his daughter had recently invited a guest to the mansion.
That was because most of the mansion staff were Lowell's people.
He had been too busy to pay much attention to that news, but now, realizing Daniel Steiner was not only alive but had been active all this time, cold sweat ran down his back.
Feeling an ominous premonition, Lowell hurriedly reached for the telephone on his desk.
Lifting the receiver, Lowell spun the rotary dial like a madman.
After a few rings, a voice came from the other side.
─ Daddy? Why the call at this hour?
It was a languid voice, as if she had just woken up.
Lowell, having organized what he wanted to say, spoke as calmly as he could.
"Ref. Listen carefully. I have one thing to ask you about the man you invited."
─ Who? Oh, you mean Rivelard? He was a decent guy. Good sense of humor too.
"That's not what I'm trying to ask! His description... I mean, do you remember the description of the man when you first met him?"
The Empire had investigated the hut after discovering Daniel Steiner's uniform on the shore.
To be precise, they had tracked down the owner of the hut.
The hut's owner was an old man living near the coast, and he had kept a document listing the items and clothes discarded in the hut.
After receiving that document, the Empire conducted cross-verification and confirmed that sunglasses, a hat, and a few articles of clothing had disappeared from the hut.
The Empire shared that information with the Bellanos government in real time, and thanks to that, Lowell knew exactly what attire Daniel had been parading around Tentarbahém in.
Therefore, Lowell was trying to verify through the description whether the person who contacted his daughter was indeed Daniel Steiner.
─ Why on earth are you asking about that? You're not going to nag me about it now, are you? You're the one who said it'd be fine since he was just an illegal immigrant and gave permission. Just so you know. Anyway, his description...
Even as she grumbled, Ref searched her memory.
─ Hmm. First of all, he was wearing a fedora on his head and was wearing sunglasses. On top of that, he was in shabby cotton clothes, the color was brown on top and gray on the bottom, I think. They were clothes an old man would wear, but they oddly suited him. Maybe because he's handsome?
After hearing Ref's story, Lowell's hands began to tremble.
It was because her account matched the information received from the Empire.
'Daniel Steiner... not only independently searched for the culprit, but also made contact with my daughter?'
His illegitimate child, whom he had kept secret from the world, no less.
Unable to discern Daniel's intentions, a sense of dread crept over him.
Just as he was desperately hiding his fear in the heavy silence, Ref's voice came through.
─ Oh. And what was it? He told me to pass on a message to my worthless father. Ah. I remember now.
Mimicking Daniel's voice, Ref spoke.
─ You'd better conduct righteous politics. Something like that?
At this, Lowell felt as if his heart had dropped into his stomach.
No matter how you looked at it, that was a threat aimed directly at him, the Cabinet Minister.
After several ragged breaths, Lowell answered that he understood and slowly put down the receiver.
"I was wrong."
A gloomy light settled into Lowell's eyes after he hung up the phone.
"I was dead wrong."
Gritting his teeth, Lowell unconsciously began to sob.
"It wasn't the Empire we were dealing with...."
His sobbing was like the self-reproach of a man who had given up everything.
"Our enemy is..."
Closing his eyes and clutching his hair, Lowell spat out a voice choked with anguish.
"Daniel Steiner. That very Devil himself..."