Chapter 78
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Translator: Wjin
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: Night of the Empire (2)
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“Alright, let's do a final check before we deploy. All company commanders and staff, gather ‘round.”
With about two hours left until departure, the officers of the 8th Assault Magic Infantry Battalion, myself included, gathered in Soni Chepelin’s office. It was the final briefing.
“The objective is the Limansk Armory in the Praphit region of the Sovye Empire’s northwestern territory. We are to retrieve the Omen Pearl stored there.”
Soni Chepelin pointed at the map with her baton as she spoke. I’d heard this countless times, but she was reminding us of our purpose once more.
If the enemy had mixed mages in with their thieves to assault the fortress, this time we were deploying a proper combat unit to turn that facility completely upside down.
In modern times, even for the sake of retrieving a ‘stolen item,’ such an operation would face immense backlash. But here, in an era where the concepts of espionage and localized warfare weren't yet firmly established, it was possible.
We’d infiltrate by airship and slip away by airship. Even in the Reinhardt Empire, airships were not a well-known weapon, so even the Sovye Empire would have a hard time guessing our method.
Furthermore, this operation was one Soni Chepelin had poured her heart into for months. To prepare for any unforeseen circumstances, everyone, including myself, had been provided with cover identities as members of the Sovye Empire’s rebel faction, the ‘Red October.’
With such blatant evidence, even the Empire’s counter-intelligence agency would find it impossible to uncover the truth. We were giving them a taste of their own medicine from the Belgorod Fortress incident.
How can I be so sure? It’s because it was the exact method that backstabbed me every time I played as the Sovye Empire.
Whenever you hear news of a facility being blown up or attacked, it was always the Red October.
At first, you dismiss it as a plot by ‘reactionary’ forces. But later, as your rank rises and you look into the details of those attack incidents, you realize they were mostly acts of sabotage from the outside, not internal operations.
Similarly, right now, they would never imagine that a Ukran special forces unit had attacked their own facility. They probably won't even realize the armory was attacked until a few days have passed.
“The 3rd Battalion of the Special Response Brigade will take charge of the deception, making them think we escaped by land.”
“Have those people been operating within the Empire’s territory this whole time?”
“They’re working in collusion with the Red October side.”
She really was a terrifying woman. Not just Direct Action, but she was even conducting Unconventional Warfare. Her personality might be a bit odd and loose, but her tactics were worthy of the last hope of Ukran.
‘Which makes me wonder why Ukran was always a doomed nation in the main story... Did a coup happen or something?’
As I was lost in thought for a moment, Soni Chepelin, who noticed it with ghostly intuition, flicked a finger right in front of my face. Tap!
“Captain Enok, you’re not focusing.”
“My apologies.”
“Then, what is the role of the 1st Company in this operation? Captain Enok, why don’t you tell us?”
Tsk, tsk, she’s trying to corner me the moment she catches a flaw. But who am I? An officer who survived all sorts of hazing in the K-military. The operation overview and assigned missions had been drilled into my head ever since the initial plan was distributed.
“The mission assigned to the 1st Company is to infiltrate through the northern gate of the armory and neutralize the forces stationed in that area. Two platoons will be deployed to the main headquarters of the guard company to suppress the troops, and the other two platoons’ main objective is to seize the armory to the west of the gate.”
As I spewed the answer without hesitation, Soni Chepelin, perhaps not expecting this, casually scratched her cheek.
“Hmph. Alright, you had time to be distracted, I suppose.”
“My apologies. I will focus.”
“Anyway, the rest of you captains should memorize the objectives as clearly as Captain Enok did. You all did well when we cleared out the bandit lair last time, but since we’re up against a regular army this time, it won’t be so easy to achieve.”
“Yes, understood!”
The other officers answered in a loud voice. Lieutenant Nikolai, the 2nd Company commander standing next to me, poked my side and chuckled.
As the 2nd Company was assigned to follow our leading company and clean up the remnants, I had exchanged quite a few words with Nikolai while preparing for this Night of the Empire operation. During that time, he must have felt we’d grown close enough to joke around like this.
After the final briefing ended.
I stood outside the barracks with the 2nd Company commander and put a cigarette in my mouth.
“Got a light?”
“No, I’m good.”
Setting aside how close we’d become, he was the first smoking buddy I’d made since coming to this world. Before I knew it, we were even speaking informally to each other. I’d heard from other platoon leaders that he was approachable, and it was certainly true.
Scritch—, Whoosh!
Striking a match and lighting the cigarette, the familiar, acrid smoke刺激 my lungs.
“So? How are the soldiers’ morale?”
“My company, well... everyone’s taking it pretty calmly.”
“That’s because you’ve got a bunch of unique platoon leaders packed together. I’ve heard all sorts of stories about your company being full of weirdos.”
How would I know? It felt like some kind of fate that had been carried over from the 3rd Battalion. I never even dreamed that the new faces would be strange too.
As I let out a deep sigh, Nikolai, who had just finished his cigarette, flicked it away and added.
“Still, you’ve formed a solid identity, right? The platoon members are tightly bonded.”
“We’ll only know after we’re actually deployed in an operation.”
“True...”
Nikolai Hilbert ground out the last remaining embers under his boot.
“This is where it really begins.”
How long can we survive? The 2nd Company commander muttered. His eyes were still sharp and full of will, but he couldn’t shake the anxiety lurking behind them.
“I’m heading back. You guys get ready too.”
“Don’t worry. Everyone will return safely.”
Nikolai waved and disappeared into his company’s barracks.
Anxiety, agitation, expectation, fear. Carrying these different emotions.
Finally, the bell signaling the onset of dusk rang out.
“As of 19:30 hours, Operation Night of the Empire is now in effect. All personnel, board the airship!”
“Boarding—!!”
At Soni Chepelin’s command, over a hundred combat troops boarded the airship.
Ukran’s revenge against the Sovye Empire had begun.
Northwestern territory of the Sovye Empire.
Limansk Armory.
In the dead of night. A group of about ten figures waited before the armory’s entrance for the gates to open. They were all mounted on horses. Already cloaked in the darkness of night, they wore robes that made it impossible to identify them with the naked eye.
Eventually, the guards turned on the magic lamps installed at the entrance, and only then did the group’s appearance become visible, no longer shrouded in darkness.
“State your identity!”
“Lieutenant Colonel Egor Ivanov. Inspector of the Empire’s Intelligence Directorate.”
The man standing at the very front replied as he removed his robe. The voice that pierced the gloomy darkness startled the soldier in charge of the armory’s security, who quickly opened the gate. A moment later, a man came scrambling out from inside the armory.
“Inspector, comrade!”
The one who greeted them was a non-commissioned officer on the night shift at the southern guard post of the armory. He saluted sharply, and the man on horseback returned the gesture with a clean military salute.
“Welcome, comrade. I didn’t expect you to arrive at this late hour.”
“Something came up along the way. Well, didn’t we make it before the day was out, as promised?”
He laughed nonchalantly and entered the armory.
The Empire’s Guillotine, Lieutenant Colonel Egor Ivanov. The news that the high-ranking inspector of the Intelligence Directorate would be visiting had already been reported, but no one had dreamed he would arrive in the middle of the night.
‘He pushed through even with reactionary bastards swarming nearby.’
Master Sergeant Maxim Stepanov, serving at the Limansk Armory, clicked his tongue. As a border region adjacent to Ukran, the Praphit region where the Limansk Armory was located was a holy land for anti-imperialists and criminals alike.
The rugged terrain extending from the Karpath Mountains, which formed the border, made it extremely easy to conduct guerrilla operations. Because of this, the Limansk Armory was a unit that was attacked by all sorts of reactionary forces at least once a quarter.
Therefore, even skilled fighters would usually avoid even approaching this area once the sun went down. Yet, the inspector’s party had kept their promise to arrive before the day was out.
‘Impressive.’
As expected of a member of the Intelligence Directorate, which wielded power rivaling even the Imperial Guard, the de facto direct subordinate of the Emperor.
“By the way, Comrade Squad Leader, could you guide us through the facility? Would it be alright if I step away for a moment?”
“Ah...! Of course.”
The reason the Intelligence Directorate personnel had visited the Limansk Armory was simple. It was to observe the ‘experiment’ that was proceeding smoothly.
“I have already awakened the guard company commander. He will be here to escort you shortly, Inspector.”
“Is that so? That’s welcome news. I was worried I might have disturbed his rest.”
“Not at all, how could that be? We can’t let the efforts of the Inspector, who pushed through the darkness to get here, go to waste.”
“Truly worthy of the elite troops managing the Empire’s front lines. The Great Emperor will remember your hard work.”
“Thank you, Inspector!”
Master Sergeant Maxim Stepanov bowed his head sincerely. The Sovye Empire’s military had very few promotion opportunities compared to its enormous size. Maxim himself had been stuck at the rank of master sergeant for six years already.
If he could serve the Inspector well during this inspection, perhaps he could make his achievements known. Lost in the fantasy of another stripe being added to his shoulder epaulette, Maxim wagged his tail and clung to the Inspector’s side.
“This way, Inspector.”
“Hmm.”
They slowly made their way to the armory’s underground facility.
At that moment, the two airships that had departed from Ukran were just crossing the border into the Sovye Empire.