Chapter 55
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Translator: Wjin
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: Squad Evaluation (2)
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Hearts of General has one clear difference from other strategy games. That is, all systems, including personnel assignment, are unlocked according to rank.
If a typical tactical strategy game starts you out as a supreme commander capable of easily commanding hundreds of thousands or even millions of troops...
Then in Hearts of General, without applying any special mods or changing game settings, every player must start as a Second Lieutenant.
So, at the beginning, all you can do is raise your squad members like pre-setting hero units, increasing their individual stats simultaneously.
Expand your military accomplishments to get promoted repeatedly, and through random events like obtaining artifacts or encountering special unit formations, actively intervene in the world war that will occur five years later.
That was the basic framework of Hearts of General.
That was also the reason I was reluctant to join either Soni Chepelin's Special Response Brigade or Sigismund Vlakovic's National Gendarmerie.
First, the Special Response Brigade led by the Grand Archmage.
It seems good for building military accomplishments, but it's far from sufficient for creating a primary support base. As the name implies, it's treated as a special forces unit. It would be much better to just make connections there for now and join later.
Next, the National Gendarmerie.
Since Lieutenant General Sigismund personally favors me, I might be able to secure a position as an adjutant, corresponding to a Lieutenant.
If that were to happen, it would be a tremendous advantage, allowing me to accumulate influence in the group closest to the central power, controlling the strongest force within the entire Ukran military.
But the problem is that I'm not a politician.
My [Politics] stat is maxed out, but that's only a stat for a soldier. It's one thing to talk my way through a battalion or division commander, but it's completely unknown whether I could talk my way through civilians or nobles.
So, I wanted to take a position in charge of research or education if possible. Not a training camp, but a unit that truly establishes doctrines and tactical strategies.
First, lay the foundation, and then face the world war as a field commander.
***
Probably, just like the incident at Belgorod Fortress last time, it's likely the scenario where the Sovye Empire enters first, as Soni Chepelin said.
Next, the Prussian-Breton Allied Kingdom from the Free Alliance Army will enter to protect the buffer zone in northwestern Ukran.
The Reinhardt Empire, influenced by the Prussian-Breton participation, will then enter, and this small duchy will be completely annihilated.
However, this also means that if we can somehow delay Sovye's initial invasion, we could turn the tide of the battlefield.
Sovye enters, followed by the Allied Kingdoms, and then Reinhardt enters as an ally of the Sovye Empire.
In other words, if we endure the first Sovye invasion, the Allied Kingdoms won't even have a pretext for Reinhardt to intervene after them.
While dragging out time like that, if we can lead a coalition of other neutral nations and pressure the Sovye Empire from all fronts...
We could pave a way for the Ukran Duchy to survive this damn war.
And to do that, we ultimately need excellent technology to back us up.
But...
One of those core technologies is being born right now. And it's being born from the hands of someone whose first impression was a 'stuck-up, know-it-all senior officer who only talks about his own things.'
This is awesome!! Victor Zelensky? He'd definitely recognize its value!! No, if he doesn't, then he's an idiot!
I couldn't hide my excitement and abruptly lifted Debra Bennett's hand. Perhaps not expecting such a fervent reaction, Lieutenant Debra's face was visibly flustered.
"Ah, no... Squad Leader, I know it's an amazing technique, but it's still just a Fire Ball, right? The output isn't even high... I was planning on improving it with your squad's help for the remaining period..."
"Of course! I will help you with the improvements with all my might!"
It was an unexpected, tremendous achievement.
***
"Fire Ball!!"
KWANG-!!
The lump of fire Lumia shot was about to hit the magic barrier when it was neutralized and disappeared by another spell.
"Not bad. But the weaknesses are too obvious."
"In what way?"
"It's like siphoning off some of the mana used to form the magic barrier, keeping the barrier's form, and then engraving a separate spell formula on it, which the caster then activates directly. Is that right?"
"Hmm... That's correct."
Debra's reaction was one of disbelief at Claude, who could immediately grasp the principle just by looking at the spell once.
Truly a war hero. The insight born from the difference in experience was bound to be immense.
"First, since it's activated with the naked eye, it's vulnerable to lightning-element spells that have a fast activation speed. After all, to activate the spell formula, the caster must accurately perceive the timing of the magic."
He began to mercilessly list the shortcomings of the prototype Dispel-Defense spell that Lieutenant Debra Bennett had established.
"Second, its effectiveness is maximized only against magic that strikes a wide area with weak energy, like the Fire Ball you just used. As the contact area narrows and power is concentrated into a single point for penetration spells, its defensive efficiency actually drops compared to a standard magic barrier."
Debra stared blankly at Claude's words, then quickly pulled a notepad from her chest pocket and began to write.
"Lastly, why Magic Missile? The fact that its power is lowered to that of an elementary magic is only up to the same elementary level. If it stays like this, it'll be pierced the moment it faces intermediate-level magic."
Just from Claude's explanation, it was clearly a prototype. No, it was a spell that hadn't even reached that level yet, so it was quite impractical for actual combat.
But if he had the knowledge to point out even the flaws so clearly, didn't that mean he also knew the solutions?
"Then what should I do?"
Lieutenant Debra Bennett asked with eyes full of expectation toward Claude, who had pointed out parts the developer herself hadn't even noticed yet.
The answer that came back was—
"I don't know either."
"Excuse me?"
"If I knew, I would have either quit this shitty army and gone to a magic tower or been in the magic development department long ago."
It was a brutal fact. Not just me, but Debra Bennett also froze at the completely unexpected answer.
The only one to butt in was, as expected, Bell Mayer.
"What do you mean you only list the flaws and don't give a solution?"
"Ha, please. I'm not a researcher of magic spell formulas. I'm a soldier."
"You're so irresponsible. Just like always."
"Sergeant Bell, Master Sergeant Claude! Please stop!"
Lumia frantically tried to mediate as she saw the two of them snarling, looking for any little thing to latch onto.
Then, Roxana, who had been standing silently watching the demonstration, spoke up.
"...I don’t know about the first flaw, but wouldn’t the second and third be solved if the density of the mana that makes up this spell formula increased?"
"Actually, that's the same thing. The first one ultimately depends on my reaction speed, so that's an unavoidable part."
Debra also nodded in agreement with Roxana's opinion.
"But if the mana density increases, the efficiency naturally drops. The amount of mana I can use is limited."
It was an extremely fundamental statement.
The issues Claude pointed out ultimately stemmed from the insufficient output of Debra's prototype Dispel-Defense spell.
First of all, for the 'Dispel-Defense' spell in Hearts of General to be practically commercialized, the development of various magic spell formulas, including equipment called 'Mana Artifacts,' must come first.
Even if Lieutenant Debra is a once-in-a-generation genius, it's only natural that it's impossible to immediately improve a spell derived from a simple idea to the point where it can be used in actual combat.
It was like a modern unit appearing in the medieval era for 'some reason' in terms of civilization.
It might be possible for limited use, but without other research preceding it, improvement or mass production was absolutely impossible.
She, too, had keenly realized that fact.
"Tsk... Then I shouldn't show this during the evaluation. I'll have to show it as a supplementary research result after the main evaluation is over."
She could only smack her lips in regret.
"No, that's not what I mean...!"
"Do you have another idea, Private Roxana?"
"If we use my and the Squad Leader's mana to brutishly raise the output... I meant to say it would be more than enough to use during the evaluation period."
"?????"
At Roxana's completely unexpected suggestion, everyone's eyes except Claude's widened in shock.
"I'm clumsy at handling mana. I can't do tricks like engraving separate magic spell formulas on a magic barrier like the Facilities Management Officer."
She was a Mana Sickness patient.
A problematic body where it's dangerous to use too much mana, and also dangerous to use too little mana, causing it to accumulate in her mana core beyond a certain level.
That was why she enlisted in the army as a magic soldier.
There was no place better than a magic battalion to freely use mana and receive emergency mana replenishment in critical situations.
"But I can pour out explosive mana all at once... It's inefficient, though."
"Private Roxana, you mean...!"
"Please teach me this spell formula. I promise I will succeed with this magic in this squad evaluation."
Roxana's green pupils flashed.