The War Is Over
Beep. Beep. Beep. The radar feed streaming live from the unmanned reconnaissance drone showed nothing. Not from the fortress line, not across the main battlefield, not even at the edge of the continental shelf.
All eyes in the room turned at once toward the imposing man. The supreme commander, resplendent in his uniform, finally opened his mouth.
“The war is…”
“…over.”
“Waaaaaaah!”
“Victory for humanity!”
The single declaration filled the command center with a thunderous roar. Soldiers embraced one another in joy, wept for comrades who would never return, and some even shared passionate kisses. The supreme commander watched them with a faint smile before turning to the man seated beside him.
“This is all thanks to you.”
“No, sir.”
The reply was short. Though the man rarely showed much emotion, the supreme commander could tell he was genuinely glad. Relief, regret, liberation, and a tangle of other feelings colored that single sentence. The commander placed a hand on the man’s shoulder and added,
“The glory of being a war hero belongs to you, Brigadier General Lutus Edan. What will you do now? Humanity owes you an enormous debt.”
He meant every word. Without Lutus Edan—the undefeated commander, the Lion of Defense, the Empire’s sentinel who had held the impregnable Graveyard Fortress at the very front line—humanity would have fallen to the Titans long ago. Despite his rough temperament and the baffling orders that earned him little affection from his subordinates, he had proven himself through results alone. The supreme commander resolved to use every ounce of his authority to support this great hero.
Lutus pondered the question for a moment, then spoke. His answer was one no one could have possibly foreseen.
Three days after the victory, Brigadier General Lutus Edan abruptly announced his retirement from the military. Even those who had never gotten along with him were stunned.
“Suddenly…? What do you mean?”
“Thank you all for following orders from someone like me. You won’t have to carry out any more incomprehensible commands, and those grueling drills are finally over.”
“Commander!”
His farewell was as curt as the five years they had served together. With nothing left but his final order, he spoke.
“Dismissed.”