Turbulent World (2)
"Hoo..."
"You've worked hard, Commander. After tomorrow, all the schedules will be wrapped up."
"You worked hard too."
Drake Brown stretched his arms wide. The summit that had seemed endlessly tedious was finally facing its last day tomorrow. With the return flight scheduled for noon, the official events would end tomorrow. There was no harm in easing the tension a little now. However, returning home also meant finishing the various tasks he had set aside.
It was not simple paperwork or meetings. That unidentified suspicious radio transmission and the letter. As the commander of the 808th Guard Regiment, it was not something he could overlook.
"Battalion Commander, has there been any separate word from headquarters?"
"Ah, are you referring to that radio transmission? The decoded content has arrived."
Drake Brown let out a deep sigh at the battalion commander's casual tone.
"Why didn't you report it immediately?"
The battalion commander's face hardened as he realized his mistake.
"Ah... well, you seemed too busy, Commander."
"No matter how busy I look, that's no excuse! Is that the kind of excuse a commander of the capital's elite unit should make!?"
"My apologies, Commander!!"
The battalion commander, who had been lounging comfortably, shot to his feet and shouted. Everyone was too softened by peace. If even the 808th Guard Regiment was like this, the discipline in other units was probably worse.
"So what was the content?"
"It was nothing important... The signal coming through that radio was Morse code. According to the intelligence chief, it matches a signal used by the Central Military District Command five years ago."
Central Military District from five years ago? Drake's eyebrows furrowed. That was where Graveyard was assigned.
"And the decoded message?"
"'Don't fight. Help him.'"
"What the hell does that mean?"
The battalion commander shrank back at Drake's words.
"I don't know. That was the only content transmitted. And the address the letter was sent from was also Graveyard..."
Grind. Drake Brown's teeth clenched. At first, he had thought it was a sign of terrorism. But this was nothing more than a malicious prank. And it was aimed directly at him, the commander, not the Chancellor. If they had wanted to target the Chancellor, they wouldn't have sent such a crude warning.
"Tell them to hand it over to the police for investigation. We can't let this slide."
Who on earth was it? Drake Brown could not hastily point to any one person. Drake himself could not say he had no enemies. In fact, he had quite a few. Graveyard was a unique fortress even within the Empire, whether for good or ill. As a result, once the tide of humanity's victory began to turn, external checks had occasionally come in. Each time, the ones who stepped forward to protect the fortress's people were Deputy Commander Arhen Orca and Assault Battalion Commander Drake Brown. That meant they had shown their faces often and received plenty of envy and jealousy in return.
Now that Arhen Orca had become the head of the Inspectorate, they probably could not touch the Inspectorate, so they were poking at the easier target—the Guard Regiment Commander. If those who had seized the opportunity after the war were causing trouble, it made perfect sense. The warning not to trust the Chancellor. The warning not to tell Arhen Orca. It felt as if the scattered puzzle pieces were finally fitting together. They wanted to make the 'somewhat more cautious' Chancellor suspect him. And they wanted to prevent Arhen, the Inspector General, from moving. It was a plan so shallow it almost made him laugh.
"Anyway, if something like this happens again, know that I won't let it slide so easily."
"My apologies...!"
"You may go."
When Drake waved his hand irritably, the guard battalion commander hurriedly bowed and left the commander's lounge.
'Lutus, I wonder if this is how you felt too.'
The higher the rank, the heavier the burden on one's shoulders. Even commanding a mere five hundred men as a regiment commander was like this. How heavy must the shoulders of the Graveyard commander, who had commanded the largest force even among the fortress headquarters, have been?
Drake still remembered laughing and chatting together during their lieutenant days. Back then, there had been many grievances, but now that everything was over, he could not help but reflect on those actions. It was an extension of the thought that had suddenly occurred to him last time. He had wanted to improve their relationship, but when he actually faced that face again, the words would not come out.
"...Hoo."
Since tomorrow's schedule had no time together except for the memorial ceremony, there had been no opportunity to speak during this event. Someday another chance would come. Drake let it go at that. With so much time left after the war's end, there would surely be a chance to lay bare their hollow feelings to each other. Drake pressed his tired eyes with his fingers and fell into quiet thought.
Besides improving his relationship with Lutus, there was a mountain of work to do. Separately from the suspicious radio and letter incident, he also needed to meet Brigadier General Arhen. It was because Lieutenant Colonel Charlotte Evergreen had urgently arranged a meeting.
'That guy didn't even contact me for months after transferring, and now he's reaching out.'
It would not be bad to gather everyone, including Leah Gilliard and Heinz, who was making a name for himself in the armored units. The fact that Lutus was working at the National Security Agency under the alias Werner Grime...
'It would be better to keep it hidden for now.'
He was a person directly appointed by the Chancellor. As a mere colonel, he could not spread rumors everywhere. Especially in Arhen's case, she might storm straight into the National Security Agency. But all those miscellaneous thoughts vanished from Drake Brown's mind.
The memorial park visit that would conclude the historic summit. While Drake stood not far from the Chancellor, paying respects to the requiem played by the Bostania military band, it happened.
BOOOOOOM!!
Red flames surged before his eyes. Before he could even grasp the situation, Drake threw himself toward the Chancellor. It was an instinctive movement. An action born from the will to protect.
"Chancellor!! Are you all right!?"
Drake, who had rushed over as if shielding him with his back, quickly helped the fallen Chancellor to his feet.
"Drake...! What is going on right now!"
"It's terrorism. We need to get you out of here immediately!!"
Amid the chaos where screams and explosions echoed everywhere, Drake began quickly directing the security personnel who arrived late. As Drake supported the Chancellor and moved forward, the guards surrounded them like bees protecting their queen. But there was more than one terrorist. A police officer in a bulletproof vest charged toward the group. What he drew was an old-fashioned revolver. It might have been simply to subdue the terrorists, but Drake's intuition told him otherwise.
"Bring back my sacrificed little sister...!! You warmongering bastard!!!!"
The police officer with a distorted face pulled the revolver's trigger.
Bang!
The body of the President of the Republic of Bostania, who had been evacuating nearby, collapsed with a thud. Then the police officer's gun turned toward the Chancellor. He had long since lost his reason. He simply shot and killed everyone in sight. Drake once again threw himself into the line of fire without hesitation. But—
Bang!
The police officer, a bullet through his forehead, spewed blood and collapsed. Standing there was a man in black clothes holding a pistol. With blue eyes flashing and his body covered in blood, Drake Brown felt a chill run down his spine.
"Take it, Drake."
The man handed over the pistol he had been holding. Due to the nature of the memorial park, external personnel were not allowed to carry firearms, but he had apparently managed to sneak one in anyway. Drake, who received the pistol, quickly checked the ammunition and calmly approached Lutus's side.
"We don't know the number of terrorists. There are quite a few. It looks like they came with clear intent."
It was an all-too-familiar sight. The somewhat listless and calm atmosphere he had shown at the banquet had completely disappeared. Before he knew it, Drake was answering using his original name.
"I'll protect the Chancellor, so you, Lutus—"
"Right. Leave the terrorists to me. And..."
He pointed to his subordinates huddled in the corner and added,
"Take care of those two as well."
With those final words, he advanced through the crowd without a moment's hesitation. Lutus Edan—Werner Grime—simply moved forward in silence. Just as he had in Graveyard. At that sight, so clearly etched in his memory, Drake Brown could not bring himself to reply. He was still alone. Even though the horrific war had ended. He was still left alone on the battlefield.
***
Lutus Edan quickly moved his feet and sprinted through the park. He shook off the hands of people begging for help and passed by the pitiful voices calling out to him. They were not important. What mattered right now was eliminating the enemy rather than rescuing people. He pushed aside the wounded and shouted threats. When the frightened people dropped to the ground, a man holding a gun in one hand and running toward where the leaders had gathered came into Lutus's view. Furrowed brows, ragged breathing, eyes fixed on a single point, trembling fingertips, and fear and anger etched across his entire face. Having read all those emotions, Lutus picked up a stone rolling on the ground. Then he threw it at him with all his strength.
The stone flew in a nearly straight line and struck the back of the man's head.
Thud!
With a bursting sound, the man's body pitched forward. Got him. Lutus quickly approached to retrieve the pistol the man had been holding. He had already given his own to Drake. At that moment—
"Guh, gurk... you son of a... bitch...!"
The sprawled man pulled out a detonator from his clothes. A suicide bomb. Both distance and time were too late to react properly. Just as Lutus quickly turned his body to minimize the damage—
Another gunshot rang through the air.
"You would've been done for if that had gone off!! Get your head straight, that's not like you!"
Drake Brown. He had rushed over and extended his hand toward Lutus.