Chapter 112
Chapter 112
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 112
Chapter Title: Reform Program (6)
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The dazzling sun hung high in the midday sky.
Grains of sand dripped steadily from the blazing sky.
Of course, it wasn't actually raining sand.
In truth, it was just the sand falling from my hair onto Conan beneath me.
"Haa..."
Breathing heavily, I stared intently down at the woman I'd barely managed to subdue.
At her, who held the exalted rank of Commander yet had personally disguised herself as a lowly foot soldier.
A prodigy who had risen to such a high position at just 24 years old.
"I've beaten you, Conis Bright."
I recited the alias listed on the roster.
Then, quite naturally, I added her real name.
"Or rather, Commander Conan."
The woman, her arms pinned to the sand and her breathing ragged, froze in place.
Her fine eyebrows knitting sharply together.
"You... how the hell did you know who I am?"
She had been certain her disguise was flawless.
What kind of commander would wear nothing but a thin white t-shirt and grapple personally with a warden from some backwater prison?
It was the sort of thing no one could picture without prior knowledge about her.
"How could I not recognize you after you displayed such overwhelming power so openly? I hold you in the highest regard, you know."
"You respect me?"
Golden eyes peered cynically at me from beneath her disheveled lavender hair.
"Listen, my face isn't exactly well-known to the public. What makes you think you know enough about me to 'respect' me?"
Here I was, a man straddling her midsection.
Her body temperature had spiked from the humiliating defeat just moments ago, leaving her flushed and hot.
Yet she swiftly regained her composure and eyed me warily once more.
But the information I had on Commander Conan went far beyond just her rank.
"Fair enough. You were with Intelligence back in your officer days, so your face was never really exposed. And you've only just assumed command, haven't you?"
"Is this the intelligence-gathering prowess of the Bakar Mafia? Looks like you have a spy embedded in our ranks."
Her eyes gleamed with the resolve to overhaul entire departments upon her return to the military.
Indeed, she was the terrifying sort who could be purged right after the Princess's death.
"A spy? The Minster Guard would never stoop to such tactics. It's just that..."
To evade her razor-sharp gaze, I spun a plausible tale.
Weaving in subtle hints from my past life's memories.
"I've always admired the military, so I attended several commissioning ceremonies in person. I was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of you back then."
"Even then, my identity was a secret—I only appeared for a few minutes. And you remember that?"
Conan propped herself up on her elbows, lifting her upper body with effort.
Sand cascaded beautifully from the sensual curves of her figure.
She leaned in until our noses were mere inches apart.
"That just shows how sincere my admiration for the military is."
"In that case, recite the military's 'mission' for me."
I quoted the creed I'd drilled into my subordinates until their ears bled during my days as Imperial Knight Commander.
"As guardians of the Empire, we must uphold three virtues until our dying breath."
First, loyalty.
Second, honor.
Third, devotion.
I ticked off each finger as I recited the virtues and their explanations flawlessly.
Even the Imperial Knights occasionally forgot these details, so her scoff was understandable.
No one could have imagined such military doctrine coming from the mouth of a corrupt noble family's scion.
"What are you, some kind of military fanatic...?"
There are those types who go crazy for uniforms and weapons despite never serving.
Conan eyed me with confusion, wondering if I was one of them.
"You can look it up later, but back in the Academy, I actually submitted an enlistment application to the military."
I covered my mouth with a wistful expression.
Turning my head away, I murmured in a deeply sorrowful tone.
"Of course, I was rejected back then because my body was too frail. I've always wanted to repay the Empire for safely raising me in its bosom all these years, but I failed."
I gazed at the Commander with misty eyes.
Clenching my fist tightly.
"Becoming warden was my way of contributing to the nation, even if just a little. I learned that wardens get reassigned as penal unit commanders in wartime."
Conan's lips parted slightly as she listened.
The warden's role in reforming into a penal unit leader was ancient manual stuff, long hushed up as unethical cannon fodder tactics.
For anyone to dig that up was downright bizarre.
"This guy really respects the military...?"
My words were starting to blur the line between suspicion and belief.
The abdomen beneath me grew warmer by the second.
Her conscience pricked at the thought of mistreating a young man who truly loved the military.
"..."
All the while, I'd been smirking inwardly with malicious glee.
In truth, my Academy enlistment bid was a desperate escape from bullying.
And my penal unit knowledge came from my time as Imperial Knight Commander.
"Forgive me. A disgrace from a notorious family like mine nearly sullied the sacred military."
I clutched my chest, muttering bitterly.
" scum like me has no business idolizing the military."
"No, that's not... Hey, are you crying right now?"
Conan tentatively reached toward my face.
I whipped my head away and replied swiftly.
"My tear ducts dried up long ago. I shed enough tears when my enlistment was rejected."
My expression unchanging.
"I'll abandon those pipe dreams now. A silkworm must eat mulberry leaves, after all."
"..."
Conan pondered if she had crushed a young man's dream of the military he so admired.
Yet doubt lingered on another front.
'This guy... is he really just some ordinary count's son?'
No matter how military-obsessed, knowing Intelligence identities didn't add up.
Only one type could access such top-secret info.
A foreign spy.
Derek Minster, secretly meeting Bakar's king and employing Bakar natives.
Very suspicious.
As an Intelligence alum, Conan knew the drill.
The precise way to test for Bakar agents.
"Fine. Your military trivia is impressive enough—I'll buy it."
"Thank you."
"That said, why don't you get off me already? Planning to stay atop me forever?"
"My apologies. As you wish."
I rose obediently as instructed.
The moment I shifted to my knees...
"...!!"
Conan grabbed my pant leg and slammed me to the ground.
Then she mounted me in reverse.
Pinning my crotch firmly with hers.
"Definitely not Bakar-trained. If you were, your left hand would have moved on instinct during my ambush."
Her hands pressed hard into my hips.
Her sensual gaze and posture felt strangely captivating.
"As I told you."
"...Get up."
Conan rose indifferently, dismissing it as a light test.
But the watching men all covered their mouths.
As if sensing something she alone missed.
"...?"
The Northern Commander turned to them with the world's most innocent expression.
True to form, the kind who unwittingly became men's first loves.
Meanwhile, I lounged leisurely on the sand.
"Forgive me, but your superb ambush left me too stunned to move."
"You little..."
The purple-haired beauty snorted.
Pulling down her t-shirt to cover her exposed, toned abs.
"Quit exaggerating. You're stronger than me—why play weak?"
"I have to protect your pride as a general. That ambush was fierce."
Perhaps because it was her first time being lifted by a man.
Only now did Conan's cheeks flush red.
Seeming most irked by losing in raw strength.
"Camillia, why on earth did she send such a..."
And so the first Reform Program event ended in my victory.
The losing side faced punishment.
"Alright, time for the losing knights to take their penalty."
The delinquent knights sighed deeply.
"Lost already irritating enough—now penalties too?"
"Unbelievable..."
For these hopelessly obtuse fools, I bellowed loudly.
"Your punishment: 200 push-ups each. The slowest gets sandbags on their back."
"You're kidding! After that martial bout, how do you expect us to?!"
The blond male knights protested vehemently.
But their complaints died instantly.
"They're already doing it over there."
The top performer from the bout had begun her push-ups.
With three sandbags stacked on her beautifully split deltoids, no less.
"Wh-what the hell...?"
The knights gaped at her freakish strength.
In the end, they had no choice but to follow Conan's lead and start.
After the martial event wrapped, a brief rest period followed.
Conan washed up cleanly, then slipped secretly into my office.
"Here to concede the bet."
Her uncombed hair made her look like a fluffy lavender foal.
Especially those justice-filled eyes—they really nailed the resemblance.
"Yes, I've been waiting."
The office was empty.
Deathly quiet, as if some dark deed was about to unfold.
Even the vice warden was absent, leaving her visibly uneasy.
She swallowed hard, watching me warily.
Tensing at what I might do to her.
"You have no idea how long I've awaited this day. Ever since glimpsing your face from afar, I've longed for it."
"........."
Conan bit her lip in humiliated anticipation.
Thinking I meant something sordid, her body heated up.
Her freshly washed hair drying on its own.
"Well then, shall we?"
I extended a rough hand toward her.
Conan squeezed her eyes shut.
"Commander? Why close your eyes?"
"Huh...?"
Conan slowly cracked her eyes open.
Then she realized.
The shady warden's hand hovered before her chest, halted.
A thick stack of documents rested in his palm.
No less than dossiers on traitors secretly trading with foreign powers—despite their military affiliations.
"Derek Minster, what in the world is this...?"
"Intel I've compiled on subversive elements."
Conan cautiously flipped through the ledger.
Quickly confirming it was genuine, not fabricated.
Easy enough for an Intelligence veteran like her.
"This what you wanted me to have? I figured you were the traitor."
"Why would I sell out my country? The money I rake in here is too good."
I shrugged—why slaughter the golden goose?
Scratching my own freshly washed hair.
"What I want is for this nation to last forever."
Warm noonday sunlight poured into the office.
Amid golden waves mirroring her eyes, I flashed a bright smile.
"Nowhere's safer than a place guarded by the likes of you, Commander Conan."
"........."
The military powerhouse who'd only ever suspected me fell silent for a moment.
Clutching the precious intel I'd handed over.
She could have sold it abroad and lived far more luxuriously.
Yet her words—trusting the military, herself included—echoed in her mind.
"I'll hold onto this for now. But why give it to me instead of Camillia?"
Conan posed her final question.
In response, I recited a military chain-of-command ironclad.
"Reports always go to your direct superior first—that's what I learned."
Never bypass to the Chief of Staff, no matter the issue.
That shakes the top brass handling vital state affairs and deceives mid-level accountability.
Conan finally let out a small laugh.
"Never thought I'd see a guy like this..."
A refreshing purity pierced her stoic soldier's dignity.
Like smiling instinctively at a beautiful painting, I smiled too.
'Please protect Princess Sis by my side this lifetime. And this Empire too.'
I watched the sturdy foal's retreating back with satisfaction.
She'd serve as a solid breakwater.
Only once she was fully gone did I slump onto the sofa.
Like a limp snake.
"Phew... nation-building is exhausting. This should buy a few days of peace."
But my assumption was a grave miscalculation.
While I let my guard down...
An unthought-of guest had visited the underground cell where Conan was staying.
"........."
Conan returned with a softened expression, moved by my apparent loyalty.
Descending the underground stairs, she murmured softly.
"Maybe he's more decent than I thought."
She who trusted no one.
True loyalty in the ranks was rare.
Never one to take interest in others.
Yet this strong, patriotic man sparked her first faint smile.
But.
That smile froze solid moments later.
As Conan pulled open the door to her private underground cell.
"Your face looks much brighter. Who knew you could smile like that?"
An unexpected visitor had appeared out of nowhere.
"Camillia...? Didn't you have a meeting today?"
"So you knew. That I was busy today."
"And you came here anyway, knowing that?"