New Position (2)
The beautiful melody of the violin and the clear notes of the piano filled the banquet hall. It was hardly a proper banquet hall—just an indoor training ground specially decorated for the victory commemoration event. Still, it was packed with mouthwatering food and drinks that no one had been able to enjoy during the war. That alone was enough to call it a banquet. The kitchen staff had clearly put real effort into the preparations today.
Yet contrary to expectations, the atmosphere in the hall was heavy and subdued. It was all because of the bombshell Lutus Edan had dropped right before the banquet began.
“Ha… that was too sudden.”
“Weren’t we all expecting it? Once the war ended, Graveyard was bound to be disbanded anyway.”
“We knew that, but did he really have to say it during the victory ceremony?”
“Who the hell knows what that bastard commander is thinking. Maybe he just wanted to kill the mood. Look around—this isn’t a festival or a celebration.”
The staff officers huddled in a corner, sipping wine and muttering complaints or curses. They had never thought highly of the commander to begin with. Lutus Edan was the kind of man who ordered them to devise operations that weren’t in any manual, hurled incomprehensible abuse at them, and insisted there were enemies in B03 even after it had been confirmed clear—wasting precious shells in the process. He routinely ignored directives from high command. Since the staff officers were always the ones punished for his arbitrary decisions, they had no reason to look upon him kindly.
Besides…
“Ah, I was planning to expose him myself, but now that he’s retiring on his own, it feels strange.”
Charlotte Evergreen, the supply chief, who had been quietly listening, added her own remark. Her beautiful golden hair swayed with the motion of her head. The neatly trimmed short cut gave her a sharp, distinctly cold impression—the reason she was nicknamed the Ice Witch of the Supply Division.
“And what might our witch be implying now?”
“…Intelligence chief!! I told you not to call me that!”
It was clearly an embarrassing nickname, and Charlotte Evergreen herself hated it with a passion. Her voice echoed through the hall, drawing everyone’s attention for a moment before it scattered again. The general reaction was simply, “There she goes again.”
She hurriedly set down her wine glass and covered her face with both arms, grinding her teeth as she spat curses at the intelligence chief.
“You son of a bitch, do you want to die!?”
“Whoa. I was wondering when it would happen. Finally blew up.”
“The intelligence chief scored one, wahaha!!”
Her foul language clashed violently with her elegant appearance and refined name. It was no wonder she was the mascot of the staff. Before battles, people would deliberately ask Charlotte for a string of curses—calling it a victory incantation.
“Huu…”
Realizing that getting angry only hurt herself, Charlotte took a deep breath to calm down. Another staff officer asked curiously,
“So what exactly did you mean, ma’am?”
She finished her wine in one gulp and continued, wiggling her fingers.
“Commander Lutus has embezzled more than just a few items. Do you have any idea how many false reports he sent to high command?”
Those were things that had gone unchecked because battles had been fought almost daily. With allies dying on the front lines, the supply division had no luxury to audit every single item. But as the fighting gradually died down and victory became certain, Charlotte realized that the quantities of many supplies under her management didn’t match the records.
It had been wartime. Rifles, small arms, food, and other consumables were often issued without proper documentation in urgent situations. By now, finding items whose paperwork and actual counts matched was harder than finding discrepancies. But strategic weapons were different.
“Did he grow a pair, or was he just stupid enough to steal things that would be caught with the slightest investigation?”
Missiles. Artillery shells. Mines. White phosphorus rounds. And even the prototype hydrogen bomb.
“He really devoured all of that?”
“How would I know? I can’t believe it either.”
The staff officers’ faces hardened in shock.
“…If this is true, it’s a serious crime.”
“It could even warrant the death penalty.”
“They wouldn’t execute a war hero, though…”
The commander’s poor reputation was understandable. Who would like such a twisted, self-centered man? Yet even a worm has its talents—Lutus Edan’s battlefield insight surpassed that of any other commander. He was essentially the one who had made Brigadier General Lutus Edan a war hero. And now that same commander, whom they had thought was merely unpleasant, turned out to be a criminal facing a court-martial.
“But are you really going to report him?”
One staff officer asked anxiously. Charlotte couldn’t answer honestly. Lutus was indeed detestable, but stripping him of all honor and sending him to a military prison felt like a separate matter. It left an uncomfortable feeling in her chest. There had been times when the two of them were alone and the commander would crack jokes.
“…Forget it. He’s retiring anyway. No reason to see him again. He’ll be forgotten soon enough.”
It was something only the supply chief could say. She knew how serious all of this was, but she also knew how easily it could be buried. Yet there was one thing Charlotte had overlooked.
“I’d like to hear more about that.”
“…!!?”
“A-attention!!”
The gathered staff officers snapped to attention and saluted crisply. Silver hair cascaded over the epaulets of her dress uniform. It was Brigadier General (designate) Arhen Orca.
“Deputy Commander Arhen…”
“So… Charlotte, what exactly did that man Lutus do?”
Her jewel-like eyes sparkled. Charlotte sensed she could no longer escape.
===
Thud. Thud.
The sound of footsteps echoed through the empty cavity. Lutus Edan had just delivered a scathing speech before the victory commemoration ceremony. Escaping the chaotic atmosphere, he headed straight for the heart of Graveyard Fortress.
[The helicopter is scheduled to arrive in two hours.]
Lutus checked the message on his smartwatch. It had arrived before the speech, so roughly thirty minutes remained now. The banquet was in full swing anyway. He had no desire to run into anyone, so he intended to finish his business quickly and leave.
He arrived at the central core. There stood a massive hexagonal pillar connected by countless cables—the ultra-advanced quantum computer, Akasha.
“…”
Lutus stared at Akasha in silence. Over the course of forty regressions, it hadn’t only been his comrades at Graveyard who had stayed by his side. The quantum computer Akasha had also been a silent observer and companion throughout his journey.
Lutus closed his eyes briefly, bowed his head in gratitude to Akasha, and spoke.
“You’ve been a great help all this time as well. As my final order as fortress commander, I command this.”
[Please input your command.]
“Delete every record I have ever written. Including everything related to the past.”
The war was over. Humanity had achieved a glorious victory, so the records stored in Akasha were no longer needed. They were memories he no longer wished to recall, so he simply wanted to erase every trace completely.
[All records and command logs deleted. Input confirmed.]
“You’ve worked hard until the very end.”
Lutus Edan left a bitter smile and gently stroked Akasha’s surface. Akasha possessed no emotions, yet in this final cycle it was the only entity that still remembered his past. The thought left him with an inexplicable emptiness.
“Lutus Edan.”
A familiar voice came from behind him.
“…Arhen.”
A woman with an angry expression was staring at him. Lutus sighed and tried to walk past her. Just seeing her face brought back painful memories. But Arhen grabbed his wrist tightly and held him back.
“Stop.”
Meeting her turquoise eyes directly made his breath catch. No. If I weaken here, everything I’ve done will have been for nothing. Lutus hardened his resolve. There could be no more regrets.
“You’re getting awfully arrogant for a brigadier general. You’re only scheduled for promotion, aren’t you?”
Lutus mocked her in a sarcastic tone. The hand gripping his arm tightened.
“…You really are despicable to the very end.”
“That’s not something you say to the hero who saved humanity.”
“You didn’t save humanity. We all did.”
Her voice carried clear anger. She was warning him not to be arrogant either.
“I just received word from high command. You relinquished your position as Graveyard commander even before the ceremony.”
“…”
“So right now, you’re not my superior or anything else. In fact, as acting commander, I’m the highest-ranking officer at Graveyard. Do you understand what that means?”
“No, I don’t.”
“It means I can expose every sin you’ve hidden behind that indifferent expression.”
She hadn’t intended to be this hostile. Arhen had never doubted Lutus’s military capabilities. But after hearing Charlotte’s story and connecting it to all the suspicious actions she had previously overlooked, Arhen—who valued discipline and order above all—could never forgive her former superior. Especially when she knew exactly what kind of tragedy military supply corruption could cause during wartime.
“I nearly died because of you several times. The way you treated people like objects, that look in your eyes, that tone of voice. In the end, you never saw us as comrades. You saw us as something else entirely.”
Disgusting. Arhen’s sharp words stabbed into Lutus’s heart. But if he had been the kind of man who would break from something like this, he would have done so long ago, in those distant memories he had left behind. Lutus shook off her hand and replied coldly,
“So what? As long as no one died, it’s fine, isn’t it?”
At that moment, a sharp slap struck Lutus across the cheek.
“What…? As long as no one died? Have you forgotten your subordinates lying in the field hospital right now? Don’t you feel any remorse?”
Arhen bit her lip, her hand trembling with rage.
“I wanted to think well of you, even a little… but you really were selfish to the very end.”
Tears welled in her eyes and streamed down her cheeks.
“Get out. Just get out… Never set foot in our military again. Leave this place!”
“…I was planning to anyway.”
Lutus turned without hesitation and walked away from Arhen. Even that sight seemed to fuel her anger further. She added in a voice filled with spite,
“I’ll make you regret this, crying and begging.”
Lutus didn’t answer. Instead, he fled toward the helipad as if escaping. The slapped cheek didn’t hurt at all. He simply clutched his tattered heart.
===
The deepest part of the fortress, where chaos had erupted, now held only the light and hum of the ultra-advanced quantum computer Akasha. The highest priority was the data left behind by Brigadier General Lutus Edan after countless regressions. Thanks to the nature of quantum computing, Lutus had been able to record everything he had experienced in data form. Even if he died and regressed, as long as Lutus Edan’s existence remained in the military personnel database, the information he had accumulated would be passed intact to the next cycle’s Akasha.
The Akashic Record that had allowed humanity, driven to the brink of extinction, to launch its counterattack.
Yet the memories Lutus Edan had left behind could not be deleted after all.
Brigadier General Lutus Edan >> Graveyard Akasha Access Denied.
Confirmed that the subject’s personnel record has been deleted from High Command DB.
The subject, Lutus Edan, no longer possesses the required authorization.
[… … …]
Command has been rejected!
Even Lutus Edan had not anticipated this.