Echoes of the Graveyard
“Karin, Edward. You two are free to wander around. I’ll just stay here.”
Werner nodded as he spoke. Karin hesitated, glancing at him with uncertainty. Back in Branberg, she had been too busy dismantling the remnants of the Revolutionary Front and arresting officers alongside the military police to enjoy the banquet. Though she hadn’t said it aloud, her disappointment had been obvious. Werner Grime wanted her to enjoy this one without restraint.
“Really. Go on.”
“Th-then I’ll be off.”
It wasn’t a gathering of soldiers alone. If anything, there were more civilians than military personnel, making it a good opportunity for Karin, who had been cooped up in the fortress, to meet people outside the army.
“What about you, Lieutenant Edward?”
“Banquets aren’t really my thing either. I’ll stay by the Director’s side and assist. Go enjoy yourself.”
“Yes…! Thank you!”
Karin hurried off with quick steps. Werner Grime watched her go and, for a moment, thought of Leah Gilliard. At the last banquet, Leah had given off exactly that same feeling. But he quickly buried the thought. He had sworn not to regret. Projecting Leah Gilliard onto Karin Maven would be a mistake. It might even mean crossing a line without realizing it.
He downed the harsh liquor that stung his nose and turned his gaze away from Karin.
Werner Grime had once again claimed a corner of the banquet hall. Unlike the deep-green uniforms that stood out clearly, the Security Bureau’s jet-black attire blended in. Without close inspection, it could easily be mistaken for police or another civil department’s uniform, making it less conspicuous in a place like this. Werner was quietly grateful for that. The last thing he needed was to draw attention and run into Drake.
As he stood quietly observing the hall from his corner, just as he had in Branberg, Edward, who had been sipping wine with his arms crossed, spoke up.
“Colonel Drake Brown… wasn’t he a comrade who served with you at Graveyard, Director?”
“He was.”
“Then why do you seem so uncomfortable around him? I’ve heard about your bad blood with the Inspector General, but…”
“Graveyard is a past I’d rather not remember.”
What Werner had buried in the depths of his memory was a grave of unknowable depth. How many people had been buried there, or how many he himself had buried— even Werner Grime no longer knew. Digging up that forcibly sealed grave would only unleash an irreversible tragedy. In that sense, Drake Brown was one of Werner’s old wounds.
Drake Brown had been the assault battalion commander at Graveyard. Later, he became the hammer of the Central Front that pounded against the Titans, rising to the position of commander of the 1st Assault Brigade. A clash of titans. Where Lutus Edan excelled in strategy, Drake Brown excelled in raw power. Even setting aside all other heroes, there was no doubt about his ability—he had competed with Lutus Edan for the next command of Graveyard itself.
Of course, while they had competed, their relationship was never a pure rivalry. It was more accurate to see them as inseparable comrades, even soul-bound partners. Brothers who had shed blood together since their first commissioning. Yet just as deep as the trust they had built was the blood staining Drake Brown’s hands—every bit as thick as Werner’s own. It was only natural to feel guilt toward one’s closest comrade and friend.
“If that’s the case, I understand. Not every comrade you fight back-to-back with turns out to be a good person.”
“You don’t keep in touch with your old comrades either.”
“Heh, well, that’s true. I don’t care anymore. Those traitors.”
Lieutenant Edward Roman had ended up at Forbidden Lake because of wartime insubordination. It had been a de facto suicide order—digging trenches on a worthless plain and fighting a delaying action with no strategic or tactical value. Even Edward, a former enlisted man with no higher command education, had immediately sensed how absurd the order was. To save everyone, Edward, who had come from the elite Capital Corps, had taken the lead. The entire company rose up, and the order from above was eventually rescinded. But the fact that Edward had committed collective insubordination remained unchanged. Under normal circumstances, it was a crime that could have warranted immediate execution. Worse still, the officer who had issued the problematic order had deep connections with local power brokers. The incompetent superior had tried to prevent the situation from escalating by swaying Edward’s comrades. Mounting pressure. Sweet carrots dangled before them. In the end, the comrades who had once stood with Edward turned on him. Edward Roman, respected as a warrant officer, was dragged away like livestock to the slaughterhouse, arrested by the military police, and brought before a military tribunal. Of course, he never received an actual sentence; instead, he was effectively demoted and buried at Forbidden Lake.
That was why Edward deeply empathized with Werner’s attitude.
“Just thinking about it again makes my blood boil. But Director, why me?”
“What do you mean?”
“There’s Captain John Hobbs, who outranks me, and sharp Dante as well.”
“There are things I’d like the Ordnance Chief to keep an eye on.”
Werner said this while gazing into the distance.
“Pardon?”
“There’s an old saying: know your enemy and know yourself, and you need not fear the outcome of a hundred battles.”
“…”
Edward Roman fell silent for a moment, trying to grasp the meaning. Then his eyes widened.
“Pardon?! Director? No, even so, surely you don’t mean…”
“No one can predict what might happen.”
Werner looked at the Führer with clouded eyes, who was happily conversing with others. Thanks to the Security Strategic Agency’s efforts, the domestic situation had stabilized. It was because Mikhail Bismarck had judged that conditions had improved that he had begun actively pushing for the five-nation summit that had been discussed since the end of the war. The moment his weakness was resolved, he had opened the path to the international stage. He didn’t even bother to hide his intentions.
“Have you reviewed the report Lieutenant Dante submitted?”
“Ah… you mean the foreign intelligence report. I have.”
The Security Bureau’s stage wasn’t limited to the Empire alone. The Führer had already marked other nations that had survived the Titan war as potential enemies.
“What do you think was the reason the Führer suddenly included us in the delegation?”
The answer was already decided. Edward didn’t bother replying and simply downed the rest of his wine. His mouth felt dry.
“He wants us to see it with our own eyes. The situation in other countries.”
It was an excellent answer. From Arthur Philias’s perspective and Werner’s own, the separate mission given to the Security Agency was to assess the Republic of Bostania’s war capabilities.
“That’s why I brought the Ordnance Chief along. There’s also going to be a victory parade. We’ll be able to see their weapon systems with our own eyes.”
“So that was the hidden meaning behind this assignment… Haha, now I understand.”
Edward set down his now-empty glass and muttered bitterly.
“Humans really don’t change. Never satisfied with what they already have, always reaching for more with their greedy hands…”
Werner didn’t respond to the cynical remark. He agreed, yet it was also a value he endlessly denied. He knew the brilliant humans who had stood by his side. Edward and Karin, who were with him now, were such people to Lutus Edan—no, to Werner Grime, who was beginning a new life. But one thing was certain: at the very least, the Führer before them fit Edward’s description of humanity. Even at this summit, he might exchange pleasantries on the surface, but beneath it all, he would be calculating his own estimates. Even the immediate issue at hand involved “territory,” didn’t it? It had only been half a year since the war ended. The brutal struggle that had risked the fate of the nation against the Titans had weakened not only the Empire. If other nations showed weakness at this summit, the Empire’s cunning wolf would surely bare its fangs.
—If not for the Titans, these were countries where war could have broken out at any moment. Right now they shared the joy of victory, but there was no way to know what lay beneath. Who among them truly harbored treacherous intentions? The President of the Republic of Bostania? Or the Empire’s own Führer?
If that day truly came, where would Werner Grime’s gun be pointed? Just as Supreme Commander Arthur Philias had said, there was no way to know right now. Not even for Werner Grime, who had regressed forty times.
That was when someone began slowly approaching the two men engaged in their heavy conversation. When Werner recognized the face, he simply let out a deep sigh. He had known it would come to this.
“…Why are you here?”
The voice was cold, far from welcoming. Werner replied in an equally dry tone.
“It’s been a while, Lieutenant Colonel Drake.”