Youjo Senki - Volume 2 - Chapter 6

[chapter] VI Ordeal of Fire 

PRESENT DAY, LONDINIUM 

I always get depressed this time of year. 

Good evening, everyone. 

This is WTN Special Correspondent Andrew. 

…Today, we won’t be bringing you the usual documentary. 

We’ll still be looking back on what happened during the war, but today we’ll be doing it with a prayer. This will be a memorial broadcast. 

First, let’s talk about the disturbance in the Arene-Roygen region. The video you’re all seeing right now is invaluable archival footage of residents of the occupied area revolting against the Imperial Army… This program contains numerous violent scenes. What happened during that time? Because our aim is to confront the truth, we’ve been granted permission under the ethics code to broadcast this material, but viewer discretion is advised. 

Now then, are you still with us? What you see in the upper right-hand corner of your screen is Karelian Cathedral. It was also the scene of a tragedy we’ll discuss later on. 

All right, we’ll keep the prefatory remarks to a minimum, as we’re connected to the venue of the memorial ceremony now. Here is video of the commemoration of the victims of the suppression. This year, we can finally see ambassadors from each country in attendance. 

The controversy goes on, but we should be glad the reconciliation process has reached the point where the two nations are having a joint memorial. 

After all, this is a day to remember: They’re unveiling the new Karelian Cathedral, raised out of the wreckage by the citizens’ own hands. 

The city of Arene burned. This is the story of how its people overcame their suffering and rebuilt. 

Tonight, we discuss this wartime tragedy with an eye on those who are thinking of the future. 

Here is Arene in the immediate aftermath, ruined. 

This was recorded in secret by a newscaster from the Waldstätte Confederacy, which was one of the few neutral countries. 

Can you tell that the partially collapsed building in the foreground is the famous white cathedral Karelian? 

This all started when a hunt for partisans turned into a military clash. Arene had always been staunchly anti-Empire. It didn’t even take a day for skirmishes to develop into a full-on uprising. We’re told that the Imperial Army was shocked upon receiving the report that anti-Empire riots were spreading and that they no longer had control over the city. 

“This could cause the collapse of supply lines servicing the Great Army on the front.” 

Having made this judgment, the army feared the collapse of the front, where it had dedicated its bodies and souls, and it responded without mercy. 

Upon receiving word that anti-Empire riots had broken out in Arene, Major General (at the time) von Zettour proposed a swift, ruthless way to “cope.” Major General von Rudersdorf of the Operations Division immediately called an emergency meeting of the Imperial Army General Staff and got the operation approved as a joint proposal from the Service Corps and Operations. With that, the army had permission to send military forces into the city. 

One of the main points of controversy, even today, is that the Imperial Army unhesitatingly chose to gain control of the city with not police power but the army. 

From that decision, it is generally believed that the Empire regarded the uprising as irregular warfare, and people speculate that the mission given to the Imperial Army units envisioned not suppression of the partisans but elimination. 

On that point, the Empire argued at the time that partisan activities or the support of them was to forfeit the protection of the law of war. 

And so the flames engulfed Arene terribly quickly. 

We have here testimony from citizens of Arene who just barely escaped. They’ve told us that they weren’t revolting but that their protests had simply intensified. 

…Of course, history tells us that no matter how things started, the Empire’s reaction was fierce. 

Due to some documents being lost and others remaining classified, we don’t know the details, but a battalion-size, possibly larger group of mages was the first to attack. 

After receiving what barely counted as a warning, the citizens were beset by a storm of mages. 

“They gunned people down like they were so many targets in a firing exercise.” 

“They got ‘points’ for shooting people.” 

“People had blocked themselves in, so they used heavy-explosion formulas to bombard whole districts.” 

These are all painful memories of the tragedy being shared today. 

Even counting only the confirmed deaths, the city of Arene lost half its population that day. The worst incident occurred at the Karelian Cathedral I mentioned earlier. 

The swift, disproportionate mage assault they witnessed was only the vanguard. Once a train brought in a multitude of reserve units to sweep through and gain complete control of the city, the residents were left with few places to hide. 

To protect themselves and their families, the only options remaining to the men and women who took up arms were to put up a hopeless resistance within the city or risk a desperate escape through enemy forces. 

But with no other way to do battle, the sad reality is that the citizens were forced to barricade themselves in. The great majority of them took refuge in and around Karelian Cathedral. 

The actions the Empire took in response to this are still debated today, and they have many critics. At the same time, you can’t help but notice a strange discrepancy between the complicated laws and common sense. 

After all, legal scholars agree that the massacre wasn’t in violation of any laws of war. To you viewers at home, that fact must come as a shock. 

It’s not as though citizens participating in the armed uprising were wearing military uniforms. They were irregular combatants. In other words, international law didn’t even guarantee them the rights of prisoners. 

Perhaps that’s why the Imperial Army surrounded them and gave a word of warning. 

“Release unaffiliated members of the general population immediately. We can’t allow your slaughter to continue. We demand the release of imperial citizens according to article 26, paragraph 3, of the Rules of War on Land.” 

Records of what the citizens did are sparse, due to the chaos. But we do know that a small number of pro-Empire people attempted to escape and were shot in full view of the Imperial Army. 

Now, why did this tragedy occur? 

It recent years, scholars have pointed to the possibility that it was an unforeseen result of Republican propaganda. They had been expressing their intent to dispatch a rescue to take the city back. 

Some Republican soldiers were even prepared to fight the Empire. 

A number of historians say that atmosphere spread to the populace of Arene. More than a few suggest that the arrival of Republican Army mages led the citizens to make the wrong decision. 

And in fact, many of the survivors report a prevailing attitude that they could hold out until the Republic saved them. 

Then the Empire issued its last warning. 

“This is a warning for the irregular combatants of the armed revolt. In accordance with article 8, paragraph 5, of the Rules of War on Land, I demand someone meet with our representative to discuss the subjects of the Empire you so unjustly imprison.” 

In response, the city of Arene said, “We are the citizens of Arene. There are no prisoners. We are just people asking to be free.” 

And so, according to the Rules of War on Land, since there were no prisoners and no imperial citizens among the irregular combatants occupying the city, the Empire carried out an operation to capture it. 

In order to avoid the heavy responsibility for each soldier that would result if they went into the city and had to visually confirm their targets, they aimed to cause widespread fires via artillery bombardment from positions surrounding the city. 

A portion of the documents shows that they had chosen targets that were likely to spread the flames as proof-of-concept for a firestorm. 

This notorious atrocity perpetrated by the Imperial Army is commonly known as the Arene Massacre. 

We have with us Professor Walter Halbom of Londinium University. Professor Halbom, we’ll jump right into it. Why did the Imperial Army take such drastic military action with no hesitation? 

“Well, you have to understand how the imperial soldiers were thinking. Their paradigm tended to have military leanings. To put it another way, they wanted to apply that logic to everything. 

“In other words, they were thinking in terms of strategy and whatnot. 

“You can probably understand the significance of riots behind the Western District Army’s front for guys with that mind-set. 

“Let’s take this step-by-step. First, the Empire’s Arene-Roygen region has always contained sparks of partisan resistance. The Imperial Army hypothesizes that someone is inciting the area’s anti-Empire faction. 

“I think the real problem was that that possibility couldn’t be completely denied. 

“And if you consider that the uprising cut off the western Imperial Army rear areas from the front, the rest is simple. 

“What the Imperial Army General Staff feared first and foremost at the time was the western army getting pinned down before they could scrape together the troops for a unit to suppress the revolt. Most of the Empire’s forces were committed on the Rhine lines, so an attack from the militia while the troops were pinned down by the Republican Army might have been enough to cost the Empire the western industrial district. 

“The second possibility was that the revolt would stay contained within the Arene-Roygen region. In that case, they would be able to protect the industrial region, but…Arene was a major city on the supply rail line. I think that played a major role. 

“Because, you know, if there is pressure on the supply lines, the troops won’t be able to fight for very long no matter how tough they are. 

“The potential was there for the Empire’s worst-case scenario to come to pass—at least, it wouldn’t have been an unexpected line of reasoning for the imperial side. 

“We can see that the anti-Empire movement uprising gave the Empire a tremendous shock in terms of strategy. 

“I myself can declare, from my experience serving, that the mere notion of the communication lines to the rear becoming paralyzed is terrifying for anyone. 

“So I think the Imperial Army was imagining the Republican Army Command would throw their weight around. If that happened, the imperial forces would be requested to urgently eliminate the resistance, but they would have to worry about Republican mages joining and strengthening it. 

“At that point, the army was already short on troops for the front, so stabilizing the rear at the same time was a practically impossible demand. 

“With these two difficult problems, the Empire now faced a major dilemma. The only good thing—or perhaps, the disastrous thing—was that they had an intercepting mage unit as reinforcements. 

“The mage units Command kept on hand as reserves for the army had a measure of firepower. That gave them the option to suppress the separatist independent movement. 

“Of course, if they mobilized them here, they wouldn’t be able to use them to resist an invasion. 

“Naturally, that led to worries that the main battlefront could collapse. Additionally, in a battle to capture a city, the mage units would really only be good for intimidation and diversions. 

“But on the front lines, they could wipe out or repel enemy units. 

“Should they prioritize fending off attacking Republicans? If they did that, with the rear devoid of soldiers, the revolt was liable to spread. If that happened, it could have a markedly negative effect on the supply lines, causing enormous losses in a battle of attrition. On the front lines, where they were already fighting close-pitched battles, it was hard to imagine they would be able to take such losses. 

“So should they put down the revolt first? But spending the time of their only reserves to suppress the revolt could prove fatal. If the reserves got tied up and lost time and the Republican Army broke through, the invasion could result in an immeasurable increase in casualties. All the lives lost countering the sneak attack and pushing the enemy back would have been lost for nothing, and that would not be acceptable. 

“For the Republican Army, on the other hand, success was guaranteed. No matter which objective the Imperial Army chose, the Republicans would achieve something in the end. 

“It is here that the Imperial Army commits an obviously atrocious deed, leaving a mark on history no country should make. 

“Who ordered it is unclear. We don’t even really have a record of who carried it out. These were truly soldiers who had to be left out of the records. 

“While they were soldiers of the finest caliber who pulled off a miraculous defensive battle, they were also the lowest of the low who deeply stained the Empire’s honor. 

“Now in the postwar period, many soldiers criticize them. Personally, though, I defend the people who were put in that difficult position. Under the circumstances, they had no alternative options, and additionally, it came down as an order. 

“What is certain is that someone saved the Empire’s battle lines, although I have to say, the method is not one I personally agree with.” 

Thank you, Professor Walter Halbom. 

Now, take a look at this next video… Professor Halbom offers this internal document from the Imperial Army General Staff. 

She might call it “an extreme form of ‘practicality.’” 

Command has removed her restraints. Wisely, to achieve victory, they took away her limits. These are the orders of the army, of the Empire, and as a soldier, I am forced to obey. The impulses that were successfully suppressed with logic will be unchained for this great cause. Or perhaps it’s that the cause she had to hesitate will disappear. 

Whose responsibility is it when a beast bites into a meal thrown in front of it? I believe those responsible are none other than the ones who threw the sacrifice to the starving animal. 

*A scribbled note discovered in a wastebasket at the Imperial Army General Staff Headquarters 

MAY 4, UNIFIED YEAR 1925, THE RHINE FRONT 

“As chief of staff, did you know this might happen?” the army corps commander generously pretended to ask, trying to hide the tremble in his voice at the seriousness of the situation. 

Actually, though he was controlling his expression, he was seething internally. The Republican Army had moved far more quickly than the Empire had anticipated. 

News had come in that, completely contrary to their expectations, mage reinforcements, albeit a small number of them, had entered Arene. 

Arene’s defenses would probably grow stronger as more time passed. Meanwhile, our plan has utterly failed. The initial confusion had finally been brought under control, and they were getting a grasp on the situation, but he wanted to shield his eyes from the pathetic spectacle of panicking troops. Is this really our Imperial Army? 

Even the suppression unit the central General Staff promised them had gotten held up, and this was the result. He wanted to chew out the Railroad Department, who was responsible for managing the schedules, and ask what the hell they had been doing. 

But the necessity of such complaints showed how bad the situation was in Arene. If the trains that ran through there were paralyzed for even a day, the supply line delivering tens of thousands of tons of ammunition and food to the front would be physically disrupted. Unless each division was sent at least five hundred—but a thousand, if possible—tons of supplies, the frontline troops would find their ranks thinning out. That statistic was now basically the General Staff’s nightmare. 

To make matters worse, there was no alternative line. Arene was a main relay point that even had a switchyard. There were branch lines, yes, but as for whether or not they could serve the front, the hopeless, pale faces of the Railroad Department members said it all. The Imperial Army was realizing again what an Achilles’ heel logistics trouble was when invading—especially after cutting off its enemies up north. 

So for a moment, what crossed the commanders’ minds was the furious scolding they would unleash on the Feldgendarmerie, since they had failed to quash the sparks of rebellion. 

The army corps commander wasn’t the only one softly sneering, “You good-for-nothing freeloaders.” 

He didn’t know where the military police’s precious Feldgendarmerie had been napping, but talk about lazy. If you have a siesta custom, get your asses back to the countryside. Though no one said it out loud, they all groaned and spat on the ground. 

Circumstances were so lamentable that someone murmured, “We could have avoided this if we had one of our brave, loyal mage companies.” 

The situation was rapidly deteriorating. They couldn’t help but fear the worst. 

Riots in the rear. Thanks to that, the units were stuck. 

If we move the front, won’t the Republic react? As long as that worry remained, they had to keep movement of troops to a minimum. But if supplies were interrupted for even a few days, they would soon lose the ability to fight. 

So the threat in Arene had to be eliminated. Well, that was easy to say. It would be very difficult to get rid of the rebels quickly now that Republican mages had joined them. 

“Yes, sir, there was some idea. Operations, please explain.” 

But as expected, you could say, it took the staff corps very little time to collect their analyses of a scenario like this. Plans made in advance may not be everything, but they can help you tackle your problems. 

“Sir. We have a plan drawn up from a purely military view to achieve a very limited aim that was created as part of strategy research.” 

“What? Is it actually usable?” 

The only issue was whether what they came up with was usable or not. 

After all, the situation was bad. A half-baked scheme wasn’t going to cut it. He would accept anything as long as it solved their problem in one shot. 

…But from the sound of it, he couldn’t expect too much. 

“Well, it will definitely achieve certain results. But it will require a, uh, very important decision to be made…” 

Just spit it out, he stopped himself from shouting. 

“We don’t have time for this. Tell me what it is.” 

“Yes, sir. It’s a plan by the war college’s strategy research committee submitted with the idea of eliminating enemy units building defensive lines in an urban setting, including mages, in an extremely short amount of time.” 

As far as the dubious army corps commander could tell, it sounded like an effective plan. If the strategy research committee at the war college had submitted it, that meant they acknowledged its practicality. If they could really use it to quickly take out mages and other defenses in an urban setting, the plan would be invaluable in their current predicament. 

“…This is quite groundbreaking, isn’t it? Why didn’t it get passed around to all the armies?” 

If it’s so useful, then why not share it? 

“Does it violate the Worms Convention?” Perhaps wondering the same thing, the chief of staff voiced a possible worry—an international treaty. 

They imagined that the rapid capture of a city and elimination of resistance would be difficult without using gas or heavy artillery. Of course, gas wouldn’t be allowed in a city. And even the General Staff probably didn’t have a plan to defend against gas. 

“No, the legal specialists say it doesn’t conflict with any existing treaties.” 

“Even better. So what’s the problem?” 

There shouldn’t be any reason to hesitate if it’s legal. Honestly, we don’t have a second to lose. 

They didn’t have time to debate with the legal specialists. The army corps commander banged the table in irritation and urged the hesitating staffer on with his eyes. 

“The plan was written on the assumption, from a purely military point of view, that there are no noncombatants in the city, only enemy forces.” 

“What is that supposed to mean? How can we use something based on such an improbable assumption?” 

He nearly shouted that it was stupid. There aren’t any cities where only enemy soldiers live. 

Cities are mostly civilians. At most, civilians with militia among them. And they had confirmed when they occupied Arene that many civilians lived there. 

“Well, we’d create those conditions by following a legal procedure.” 

Both the one answering and the one asking spoke in a monotone to conceal their emotions. 

“In short, it’s a sort of deceit. According to the legal specialists, the plan is only valid upon ruling out the existence of noncombatants, so we’ll just make sure there are none.” 

“…So we’d just be killing everyone regardless of gender or age?” 

It was unmistakably clear. In everyone’s heads appeared an urban battle. Yes, a bloody slaughter in the guise of an urban battle. Everyone understood that if they were being told to take this rotten fight seriously, they couldn’t bother with legal practicality. 

“We would employ the simple, straightforward method of burning the city down.” 

I just want to be done with this is what the tone of the Operations officer seemed to say as he continued the requested explanation. He wasn’t the only one who wished there was nothing to continue. 

“A fire attack? Well, that’s classic. But against mages?” 

“Have you ever heard of a firestorm?” 

A terrifying report or a proposal from hell. The one who thought of this was either a lawyer so cunning the devil would invite them to join forces or a criminal. This way of thinking is practically inhuman. Only a devil who forgot their reason and conscience in their mother’s womb could come up with such a tactic. 

That someone would equate having the technical capabilities for an operation with actually doing it… Are they deranged? 

“No, it’s the first time I’ve heard of it.” 

“It was proposed after the idea was verified by looking at large-scale conflagrations of the past.” 

Urban warfare has many different legal constraints. The topic of the research was how the army should deal with them, but nobody would have thought to look for a plan that removed them. 

No, for better or worse, outside of the specialists, no soldiers felt like confronting the laws at all. To put it nicely, you could call them simple; to cast it negatively, you could say the army had an anti-intellectual streak. So they weren’t used to explanations of legal principles. 

But from a soldier’s point of view, the rules of engagement were to some extent self-evident, and indiscriminately shooting civilians was like police groping for a solution to a hostage crisis and deciding to shoot all the hostages along with the criminal. Certainly, apprehending the culprit would be the highest priority, but would you arrive at a plan to eliminate the hostages instead of save them? Ideas that are purely unthinkable for a normal person are a soldier’s common sense. 

Of course, there is the delicate issue with military wisdom that the ethics and morality tend to be old-fashioned, due to the inevitable reference to wars of the previous era for its standards. 

Still, a soldier’s way of thinking was generally rational. This way of thinking was such a single-minded pursuit of purposive rationality that it was anomalous. 

“It seems they’ve arrived at one conclusion, which is that, ideally, the operation should be carried out by mages with fire attacks.” 

“Never mind the theory. Has it been put into practice?” 

“When it was attempted on army exercise grounds, a phenomenon approaching the projected results was achieved. If fire attacks are coordinated from multiple locations, it’s plenty possible to create.” 

And when he understood, the army corps commander was frightened of the plan his army had received. 

…Ohhh, oh God. 

Why, why must I do such a thing? 

Why must I be ordered to carry out a plan conceived by the devil? 

When I respond to the immediate summons, an Intelligence officer wearing the rank of captain meets me. In other words, I’m sure he is the bearer of bad news. Having made that conclusion, Tanya takes a deep breath to brace herself. 

Always be calm and collected. 

But that thought promptly crumbles. That’s how shocking the news is. The news that… 

“The rear has been cut off.” 

One of my forerunners gave me a piece of advice: “What’s important when being brought bad news is whether or not you can find the silver lining.” 

Ever since then, I’ve remained faithful to it. 

For instance, right now, I have a cup of real coffee in my hands, a treat from the rear headquarters, and I’m glad I’m not drinking it because doing a spit take or choking on it would have been a terrible waste of such a valuable item. 

…Of all things, the rear is cut off? The supply lines? 

“Yes, Major von Degurechaff. It’s a partisan uprising.” 

“Now?!” 

What occurs to me is Republican leadership. The rear cut off. The collapse of logistics. If that happens, our entire army could be sent fleeing in a disorderly panic. 

Even a child could imagine that much. The partisan movement intensifies at a strategic point in the rear while the Imperial Army’s main forces are pinned down? There’s no way the Republicans won’t pour oil on that little fire. And after such libation, there’s no way the partisans won’t go a little pyromaniac. The logic is self-evident. 

No doubt, a huge fire is about to start raging. Detrimental situations tend to go downhill fast. There is only a handful of exceptions. 

“Yes, now, ma’am.” 

I want to tell this situation to eat shit. 

Tanya’s natural reaction to the news is for her facial muscles to tense. The command personnel are all wearing expressions of pensive distress. I probably have the same look on my face, too, Tanya observes in a somehow calm way, with a tinge of self-derision. Maybe I shouldn’t look this way in front of my subordinates, but all I can do is wish. All the officers who heard the news got the same look on their faces, and they’re probably just as self-conscious. 

“What’s the situation?” 

“The military police and some of the troops garrisoned there are doing their best to bring the area under control, but it seems things are getting worse fast.” 

“That’s no good. Can they put it down?” 

In a way, it’s as bad as I expected. The inept Feldgendarmerie screwed up, so they got caught when the fat hit the fire. If we leave them alone, the rear will get burned. But if we put out the fire, our front lines will get trampled. One wrong move, and it’ll be trench warfare without ammunition or food. 

No matter how optimistically you look at this, it’s bound to be an utter disaster with piles of corpses. We should even be prepared for the lines to break. 

“I don’t know, but I think we need to be ready to respond.” 

“Right. Give standby orders. Make sure we can move as soon as we get the word.” 

What I’m hoping, what I’d like, is for this situation to settle down on its own. It could happen. But my optimistic speculation that the fire might just fizzle out misses the mark. 

In reality, my wish means nothing, and the situation rapidly deteriorates. Signs of a Republican offensive are confirmed, and Command is forced to make a decision. 

As a result, we end up in the pursuit of pure military logic and nothing else. 

The deciding factor is a report that Republican Army reinforcements have joined the partisans. At this point, the army reaches a conclusion that is quite straightforward. As long as there is a line that can’t be crossed, holding it has to be made priority. 

“An airdrop?! Crud! They’re mages. The Republican Army is conducting an airborne operation! Looks like they’re meeting up with the rebels!” 

Shrieks from Control. 

If they were just armed insurrectionists with no mages, it would be hard to put them down, but there was the possibility that police power would be enough. Or maybe it could be resolved with a division of infantry. 

But in urban combat up against mages, even heavy infantry will have to prepare for insane losses. After all, a city is a three-dimensional battlefield full of cover and obstacles. It doesn’t get shouted from the rooftops, but it is said that mages actually do their best work in urban battles. So this will have to be a serious fight. 

“Is someone intercepting them?” 

And that’s why mages helping to defend the city is so hugely significant. Just one infantry division plucked from the mustered reserves would probably be enough to suppress an armed mob, even if it took a little time. With the manpower of the police and Ministry of the Interior, they might have been able to suppress them, even if they had to shed some blood to do it. 

But once mages are the defenders of the city, it’s different from intercepting on flat ground or from defensive positions, and military intervention is required. But even then, just throwing a ton of matériel at them won’t be very effective. You need to literally disregard any damage and capture the city district by district. 

For that reason, mages should be stopped with their weak point, air-to-air combat, and there should have been an air defense network covering 360 degrees. That was how it was supposed to be. 

“They didn’t make it in time and got diverted.” 

But there is a glaring chasm between the plan and our present situation. There should have been some leeway in the rotation of the aerial forces, but it has been broken down for a while now. The Imperial Air Fleet was basically out in full force every day and having trouble making up for losses in the Rhine Air Battle. 

The air units have more types of missions than expected—not just securing supremacy in the sky. As a result, the plan created before the war started meant absolutely nothing when it met the reality of borderline overworked air units being mobilized for missions they weren’t expecting. It was only once the air units had been sent in that the military began to understand the necessity of the types of missions they could perform; the army is much more aware of how important controlling the sky is than they were before the start of the war. 

Dacia, where the ones who soared through the sky ruled everything, has been taken as a model case. For that reason alone, perhaps you can say? Or precisely because of that?—the Imperial Air Fleet put all their forces into securing command of the air near the front lines. 

As a result, they’ve succeeded in stabilizing the battlefront and managed to establish a degree of supremacy in the sky. It’s somewhat ironic that they should be lacking the forces to prevent a sneak attack in the rear… This is practically like Norden with offense and defense reversed. 

“This is bad. We can’t let them secure a bridgehead.” 

“So it’ll be a counter-mage battle? Against mages who are ready and waiting for us?” 

Yes, that. The longer it takes to suppress them, the worse things will get. 

We don’t know how many mages they sent in, but if we consider how many it would take to organize a resistance, we can get an idea. After all, the Imperial Army pioneered this tactic. We understand it even if we don’t want to. 

“…Major von Degurechaff. Report to the commander’s office immediately.” 

And so. 

Things happen without anyone making a definite decision. 

History, to a surprising extent, is a series of miscalculations. 

APRIL 13, UNIFIED YEAR 1924, RESEARCH ROOM 17 (JOINT STRATEGY RESEARCH MEETING HELD AT THE IMPERIAL WAR COLLEGE) 

“As you can see, as the war situation changes, the chances of combat in a city will become extremely high.” 

The instructor finishes his explanation in front of a war map spread on the desk. It was a review of the war situation touching on how the Imperial Army has been making a comeback bit by bit on the Rhine front. 

The two armies are still competing for a scrap of barren land, but the Imperial Army has been gradually advancing. Progress is progress, even in baby steps. It’s huge that we’ve gone from being invaded to being able to plan a counterattack. 

And that’s why at this new stage, all variety of combat in Republican territory is starting to sound more realistic, thinks Tanya. 

It’ll come down to urban warfare. 

It’s difficult to imagine the Republic simply neglecting key strategic cities that function as transport terminals. And unfortunately, a lot of civilians must live in urban areas. Some of them will certainly have taken shelter or been evacuated, but we have to assume that enough people will stay behind to keep the city functioning. 

“So the General Staff has tasked us with coming up with ways to handle urban warfare.” 

As Tanya expected, the task the instructor has for them is planning countermeasures for just such a battle. 

The law of war is extremely critical of involving noncombatants in urban battles. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but supposedly there is a trigger clause that allows unlimited economic sanctions against countries that purposely attack in a way that involves noncombatants. 

Actually invoking the clause would be up to each individual country, but…it’s still a troublesome provision from the Empire’s point of view. That’s why this request was made—it’s necessary to capture a city without giving the major powers a rallying cause. 

Of course, even if we did that, it would only buy us time. After all, geopolitically the other powers have plenty of reason to intervene. 

Well, that’s why we should try to keep them from intervening for a bit longer. 

“To be frank, the only option we’ll have if we don’t involve noncombatants is to surround and starve them into submission.” 

Everyone present knows how unrealistic the request is. 

But despite knowing the extent of the problem, they understand well enough to curse to hell how critical it is strategically. That’s why she uses an indirect expression shrouded in rhetoric to say, Don’t order us to do the impossible! Crying like that is all that is ever possible under political pressure. 

She said to surround and starve them into submission, but it would be incredibly difficult to keep them surrounded until the city finally fell. Even sending in three times the force of the enemy would put an unimaginable burden on Logistics. 

“I think we can free ourselves from this type of issue by leaving the front lines where they are and devoting ourselves to defense until the enemy can’t take it anymore.” 

Purely in terms of the principle of concentration of force, it’s better to defend than invade. Even though that is only one of the assumptions made internally, more than a few officers think that way. Even they want to win, thinks Tanya. Still, she thinks again. The officers of the Imperial Army aren’t excitable enough to think they can fight a war with their arms and legs tied up. 

“But we were able to do it in the Entente Alliance.” 

“Consider how much stronger we were, please. Besides, doing it that way is why we now have so many troops stuck up there.” 

Though she is listening to the debate going on before her, Tanya has already accepted the fact that it’s impossible to be considerate of civilians in urban warfare. Even the American Army tried to conduct urban warfare with kindness to civilians and is now stuck writhing around in agony. 

In this age of total war, Tanya has no choice but to give up on kindness to civilians. 

What’s worse, most of the surplus forces are tied up in the north and west. The burden on the supply lines has far surpassed prewar estimates. We’re up against small powers that we beat in terms of both muscle and population, and this is where we’re at. A huge war between the major players will require full power not to get eaten alive. At this rate, it’ll be impossible. Tanya regrets it, but they are no longer in a position to observe international laws and fight with concern for civilians. 

Even with an industrial base that can manufacture a vast amount of matériel, the supply lines are shrieking, and the people in charge of logistics in the rear are flailing around, trying to prevent a shortage of food and other consumables. 

“…I don’t mean to be rude, but is this discussion really necessary?” 

That’s why she interrupts. Aware that she’s not being very cute, she speaks calmly in a deliberately flat tone. 

Normally you would be rebuked for such a comment. But Tanya didn’t think she would have any problems. 

“That’s a bold remark from a student, Degurechaff. Tell us what you mean.” 

“Yes, sir. Encircling and starving the enemy is a leisurely tactic from medieval times or, at best, a previous era.” 

Specifically, the Ottoman’s siege of Vienna or Napoleon’s campaign in Italy. An army fighting a modern war can’t use tactics from an earlier period when there weren’t even railroads. 

If you’re going to end up using that strategy, you’re better off not fighting. 

“So…” 

True, there aren’t many realistic options besides starving them into submission. She understands that. But that’s a problem that everyone is aware of. 

We aren’t gathered here to debate something so well understood. 

If you can’t brainstorm, it’s better to look for a legal loophole. 

Setting aside feasibility, failing to consider every possibility would be a big mistake. 

As an individual with what passes for an intellectual education, it would be an inexcusable error. 

Therefore, Tanya is simply convinced that even if it’s just debate for the sake of debate, they should try approaching the issue in a different way. 

As someone who, in a way, is familiar with urban warfare as historical truth, the question is how to fight an urban battle. 

“…shouldn’t we try to think of a way to make fighting in a city legal?” 

Urban warfare is restricted by international laws? Groping for a way to defeat them besides urban warfare is like playing by their rules. It’s like negotiating an important deal at the other party’s office. 

You’ll never win that way. What you need to do is flip the situation so they’re coming to negotiate with you. 

In other words, isn’t it possible to shift our point of view and ask how to make urban warfare legal? Of course, having seen Iraq and Afghanistan, I seriously refuse to actually do it. Having thought that, Tanya realizes, But if we could lay waste to whole blocks like they did in Warsaw, this urban warfare thing would be a cinch. She even begins to calculate. It would be a pain to go into all-out war, but it’s definitely a possibility. 

“…Degurechaff. Haven’t you learned about the war of law in your classes?” 

“Yes, I completed the subject. It’s terribly interesting.” 

I hadn’t studied laws since I was a student taking Jurisprudence (including constitutional theory) and Civil Law A and B. I did learn a little about international relations theory, international administration, and international law. In that sense, getting the chance to study law, the ruler of civilization, was genuinely fun. 

And that’s why she can make her declaration with confidence even in terms of the legal basis. There’s nothing wrong with her idea, and it doesn’t come into conflict with any legal principles. 

“…So you’re saying this with that experience in mind?” 

“Yes, Instructor.” 

After all, any law has room for interpretation as a matter of course. That’s why there are so many opportunities for jerks to twist them to fit their aims and annoy the rational marketplace. Legal opportunists can even profit from something as time consuming as patent litigation… That’s why in litigation societies like the United States, there are a ton of lawyers waging great legal battles. Basically, what you can and can’t do under a law changes any number of times depending on how it’s interpreted and enforced—to the point where some peaceful island nation can be a weird country that says it doesn’t have an army while equipping it with all kinds of fantastic weapons. Well, that’s a better idea than abandoning the notion of an army completely, but it just goes to show how broadly laws can be interpreted. 

What’s wrong with the ever-serious Empire doing a serious reinterpretation of the law? To Tanya, it’s nothing but an utterly natural course of events. 

Of course, domestic laws are ultimately interpreted by the one with the sovereign rights, His Imperial Majesty the Emperor, and impinging on his authority is prohibited…but the military studies international laws; they’re totally safe. Tanya believes, without question, that gray is white. 

“It’s a problem of interpretation. Anything the international laws do not expressly forbid is only restricted depending on one’s interpretation.” 

“Specifically?” 

“This is only one example, but there is a clause that says, ‘Armies are prohibited from indiscriminately attacking areas where there are noncombatants.’” 

If you just look at that, it seems like you couldn’t possibly fight in a city. Tons of noncombatants live there. But think of it flipped around. The enemy is limited in the same way. After all, armies have the duty to protect. 

“At a glance, it appears to be a clause that restricts the attacking side, but naturally, it also limits the defending side. It’s possible to demand that they protect those in the shelters according to law. In other words, if they don’t take the evacuees and withdraw…it’s possible to interpret that as meaning there are no civilians.” 

“…I see. And then?” 

If I have permission to continue, then I’ll do so. 

Well, legal debate is half-sophistry, half-finger-pointing. A court might make the final decision, but the way each country interprets the law has a major influence on international legal cases. 

“According to the law of war, we both have the duty to protect noncombatants. So we’ll be expected to do everything in our power to fulfill it. It depends on how you work it, but I think we can use it.” 

For example, what would happen if we had a small unit infiltrate an area where civilians lived, and we got attacked? If there was even one stray shot fired our way, we could turn it into a justification. Well, that’s an extreme method. There’s a more legitimate way to go about it. 

“Or if we make them tell us there are no noncombatants, the restriction will be instantly lifted.” 

“What?” 

“If they say that every person down to the last civilian will resist us. If we interpret that as meaning that every last civilian is militia, then we don’t have to recognize any prisoners’ rights.” 

…The former Yugoslavia said all their citizens were soldiers. Then if everyone’s a soldier, we can blow them up and it won’t be a war crime would be the logical end to that interpretation. That said, if you pursue this sort of interpretation to extremes, it’s possible to twist reason itself. 

So of course, justice and fairness are warped as well. 

Yep. And? What about it? Concepts are concepts, and bad laws are still laws. In the first place, this is a world where a god or a devil—this Being X guy—is getting his way. If you want to think seriously about the question of what justice is, maybe the guy who stipulates the world should be at war is the evil one. 

In other words, I’m just one good person doing my duty. 

QED. 19 

X-DAY 

Luckily, an army corps commander summoning a mere major is exceedingly rare. But the army corps commander probably had a hard time being happy about the infrequency. Exceptional though it was, it meant there was a chance he might have to summon this monster again someday. 

Telling him it was only a possibility wouldn’t make him feel any better. 

“Rejoice, Major von Degurechaff.” 

“Sir.” 

Doing his best not to look directly at the monster straightening her posture in front of him, the army corps commander accepted that it was for work and met her. As far as he could tell from a normal person’s perspective, mages were more than a little foreign. 

They were humans who could fly by their own power and use magic to interfere with the world. Even if he understood them logically, when he met one face-to-face, his emotions couldn’t catch up. 

But this he could state confidently: The principles behind the actions of this major in front of him were impossible to understand using anyone’s logic or emotions. Her inorganic eyes compelled you to conclude that her thoughts, her frameworks, her way of being were all warped. She may have had blue eyes and a pretty face, which probably gave a gentle impression, but the emotions in those eyes said everything and made her look different. 

“You’ve got a special mission from the regional command.” 

She was commissioned before her age hit double digits. 

When he had heard that, he had laughed and said, “A fabled child soldier, then?” But when he met her, his first impression was combat machine. He immediately corrected his perception of her, but he didn’t begin to think he had understood her. The reputation that had preceded her—for a recipient of the Silver Wings Assault Badge, she looks like a fairy, albeit one who was born to fight—must have been true to the letter. Maybe it was her symmetrical features, but she seemed like the type who might get called a vampire behind her back. 

“The orders will be issued at 1422.” 

When she had been ordered to do some simple field training, she had, unbelievably, taken her recruits on a night raid against an enemy outpost trench. And yet the unit’s loss ratio was surprisingly low. Though they fought hard with dauntless bravery and got results, their loss ratios were lower than that of all the other units. Honestly, if that was all, she would be a great soldier. 

She’s too perfect. There’s nothing about her to criticize; she’s so logical and has achieved so much. So no one can stop her. It makes sense that Lieutenant Colonel von Lergen failed when he tried to eliminate her. Well, the legal specialists letting her go and the Foreign Office giving up are probably bigger factors… 

“Promptly eliminate the enemy mage unit that has penetrated the rear city of Arene. After that, join up with reinforcements and suppress the city. That is all.” 

Republican mages had dropped into the city of Arene in the rear, in a sense, completely outwitting the imperial lookouts. On top of that, the partisan riots were growing. If they couldn’t suppress Arene, they couldn’t use the railway. If they couldn’t use the railway, logistics would get cut off. 

And then, the army corps commander concluded, somewhat self-mockingly, if the logistics got cut off, they would starve. At that rate, even a child would be able to understand where the war was headed. 

For exactly that reason, the brass was not fooling around. No, they had probably already braced themselves. Their determination could be felt in the orders. 

Apparently, if there was no other way, they wouldn’t stop at turning Arene to ashes. 

Evacuation orders had already been issued at this point, as well as a curfew to prevent people going out at night, accompanied by a stern warning. If things proceeded according to the plan he’d been given, if the rebels didn’t obediently surrender, the entire city would be “dealt with appropriately.” 

And she was so trusted to get things done that she would be assisting. Well, she was frightfully capable. 

“Any questions?” 

“If you could tell me what size of enemy force to expect…” 

“At least a battalion.” 

The vanguard would be the 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion. They would be sent in to eliminate the mages obstructing imperial suppression of the city. 

Really, the top seemed reluctant to burn Arene. They must have been thinking that resolving things without burning it would be best. The artillery and air units had only just been ordered to prepare to attack, so they weren’t ready to do it at a moment’s notice. 

So is it as an alibi, then, that they’re to issue a warning to surrender after the 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion eliminates the mages? The problem was that if the people of Arene didn’t lose their will to fight with that, there would be no options left for the Imperial Army. 

“What kind of troops?” 

“Apart from a small number of Republican mages, they’re militia. Many citizens of Arene have already become casualties.” 

But there was another horrible truth right next to him. The magic major before his eyes had presented striking views on international law at the war college. And these were not your average “striking views.” 

To speak in extremes, she had a brain diabolical enough to foresee today’s situation and come up with a solution. 

After all, I know she’s the one who came up with the justification to sacrifice the people of Arene in this operation. 

General von Zettour in the Service Corps gave me all the details, but I never thought I would regret taking her on this much. 

That bastard, he should be more considerate of his superior’s stomach. 

“How sad. By the way, I overheard a little bird twittering about partisans…” 

“It’s a problem for me if you can hear too well. You must have mistaken some other sound.” 

“So our enemy is the Republican Army, then?” 

Just in case. Yes, she was only checking to make sure their enemy was the Republican Army. Who does that? A normal officer wouldn’t even wonder. On the Rhine lines, “the enemy” meant “the Republican Army.” 

“Isn’t that a given? They don’t follow the Land War Convention. We need to get in there and protect the noncombatants.” 

But he could see why she reconfirmed her definitions. This wasn’t a mission you could perform if you didn’t know what enemy meant. 

“So we’ll get to flex our muscles. You mean that we should buy time cheerfully despite being fatally outnumbered?” 

“Ha, Major. You can choose victory or Valhalla, either one you like.” 

“Is that an order to annihilate them and win, sir?” 

Well, I can see how it could be interpreted that way. 

Cause widespread destruction, theoretically with no legal restrictions. Is there any other way to win? 

It’s like we’re ordering a bloodbath. There won’t even be combat. 

Even if you believed the war college’s interpretation of the laws was correct, this plan was clearly designed with a massacre in mind. 

And I heard rumors she was involved in the plan. This expression, this calm… Maybe the rumors are true. That was how inhuman she was. 

“Yes, and yesterday at 1100 hours Arene was given an evacuation warning. So you can assume the entire city has already been captured.” 

“Which means?” 

“The higher-ups are saying to eliminate everything. Legally, only the Republican Army units are there.” 

I’ll just be frank. There’s not really any reason to hide it. After all, the only thing this war machine soldier needs is permission and orders. 

She adheres to the rules. That is, she doesn’t do anything beyond them. Apparently, she limits herself in a strange way. 

“How awful. It’ll be hell no matter what we do,” Major von Degurechaff said coolly. 

But then why is she smiling so happily? 

What is that delighted smile glowing on your cheeks?! What are those fangs peeking out of your mouth?! Why are you happy enough to grin? …You vampire. 

“…A battle to capture a city is a fight against time.” 

I hope no one noticed that I just flinched, thought the army corps commander, sensing that he was distinctly afraid of her. 

“The city is already under enemy control, right? So can’t we lay waste to entire blocks?” 

“Major?” 

“If civilians were there, they would limit us, but if the city has been overrun, then no worries.” 

No worries about what? He deeply wanted to ask what she was planning to do, but he held back. He told himself it was surely better not to know. 

“But this is really too bad.” 

With this, the die is cast. 

For the one responsible, there was probably no die more nauseating. 

“Yes, it’s really, truly awful. But we’re soldiers. If it’s an order, we have to burn even the beautiful city of Arene.” 

You devil. Zettour and Rudersdorf, you wicked men. 

Apparently, they’ll do anything to win the war. They would literally do any and everything. 

They mean to win this war by any means necessary, even if they go insane. Soldiers they may be, but they’re cracked. 

“…No one should ever be a soldier.” 

“You’re right about that. But not everyone gets to live the life they want.” 

That’s right, Magic Major von Degurechaff. 

But there is probably no one more suited to being a soldier than you. Perhaps you feel at home in hell on the Rhine front. 

I was wondering why I was summoned from my standby dugout on the forward-most line to the safe command dugout farther back under the highest-priority orders, and now I have a mission to eliminate enemy mages invading a key location in the rear. Fighting enemy mages is a totally ordinary mission. 

The difference this time is that the “field” will be a city. Not just any city, but Arene, a critical node in the Empire’s rail transport network. According to the orders, we have to be prompt and speedy… Use any means necessary to eliminate the enemy is the missive from my superior’s superior’s superior. 

Having wrapped her head around the situation in her own way, it doesn’t seem so difficult. Her position, in a nutshell, is like being told to crush the Prague Spring. 

The enemy mages are apparently joined by a battalion-sized militia, so it’s a simple order to take care of the uprising along with their tanks—the mages—with our artillery. 

If the order is to crush this mob, Tanya is almost bored, knowing history and how common such orders were. Of course, considering the supply lines are in danger, it’s not a trivial mission. Tanya is well aware of that. 

But that’s all. If a riot starts, just give the order to put it down. She double-checked so many times because she was startled that the local army corps commander had to call her, a frontline officer, over to discuss it. 

Once she realized the orders were simply to deal with a mob, she could barely keep herself from grinning. This isn’t going to be so hard. And it’s a great chance to get away from the front lines. 

Having made that conclusion, she dashed over to her battalion’s headquarters to start getting ready just a little while ago. 

…Then I finally realize that there’s something bothering me about the written orders I was given. We’re legally in the white, but then why do they hint at the possibility of indiscriminate strategic bombardment? 

If the remaining troops don’t surrender after we eliminate the enemy mages, the next steps are terrifying. When Tanya realizes that, she kicks her brain into high gear. Yes, the WTO, 20 who crushed the Prague Spring, were the WTO. It’s not as if they were acting under a banner of democracy or anything. In other words, history can denounce it. 

After all, this plan calls for doing as much damage as possible to stone buildings using high explosives and explosion formulas. Militarily, it’s a great idea and will expose the buildings’ flammable innards. 

After that, I guess we just drop mainly incendiary bombs? No, we can probably burn things fine with artillery time bombs. If all the Imperial Army units assembled here concentrate their fire, Arene will end up having something in common with Dresden. 

…It’ll be a massacre even if we don’t screw up. Ehh, but we’ll basically be substituting artillery for carpet-bombing, so it’s like in the Warsaw Uprising; it is within the realm of the typical. 

One regrettable thing is the gray zone where those bombings will be evil for the country that loses, but the ones the winning country conducted don’t even get questioned, much less written off as a result of said nonexistent questioning. One wrong move and I could end up nominated as a war criminal. I refuse to put myself in such danger. 

But wait, that’ll only happen if the Empire loses. Which means that supposing we don’t lose, if I refuse to follow orders at this point, I’ll be shot for insubordination, fleeing before the enemy, et cetera. 

After all, orders are orders. And at this point, there is nothing wrong with the ones I’ve received. I have no grounds for refusing them and no reason to worry. I don’t even know if my superiors would listen to me if I tried to talk to them. Well, there may not be time for that, anyhow. 

On the other hand, I could devote myself to actions with no legal issues now, but given that laws were retroactively enforced in the Military Tribunal for the Far East, I’ll definitely need to be humane. And on top of that, I have to act in such a way that a bunch of people won’t accuse me of things later? You mean I have to pretend to be nice? 

In that case, obeying the laws to the best of my ability won’t cut it. What the heck? But I guess my life is in danger unless I act humanely? I’d like to take it easy on the people, but doing that for no reason and ending up low on achievements will be problematic… 

No, wait. I have a reason. I have a bunch of burdensome new recruits with me, don’t I? With them slowing me down, the other units will probably arrive by the time we finish eliminating the enemy mages. At that point, we can say we have casualties and withdraw. 

Then I don’t have to get my hands dirty. At least, if the battle takes some time to unfold, maybe I can pull my punches without anyone thinking poorly of my abilities. Ah, if this was going to happen, maybe I should have been more understanding of the recruits. 

Hmm? Ugh, but the commander is the one held liable. What would happen if one of the new recruits accidentally shot a civilian? It goes without saying that I, their leader, would either face a tribunal or a kangaroo court. But I guess if the Empire wins, the tribunal wouldn’t be so bad. 

If I’m lucky I can expect to be acquitted. Of course I can. It’s a question of how much responsibility I can really be expected to take for these newbies. But if we lose, I’ll probably end up the victim of revenge. That would suck. I thought this was a good idea, but now it seems like it’s not going to work. 

For a moment, she considers a way to keep it a secret. Should I just eliminate all the witnesses? But she immediately puts a lid on her indiscretion, as even massacres have survivor testimonies. 

Almost zero is not zero. And with a look at history, you can see that any number of witnesses can be created. How many countries would hesitate to create a witness where none existed? 

“…I’m so not keen on this,” murmurs Tanya, because that’s all she can do in this situation. There’s not even much time left until the sortie. And her talented unit is such a bunch of war nuts that when they heard there was a sortie they assembled right away. 

We can probably already transition into sortie readiness. If this was going to happen, I shouldn’t have had them get prepped ahead of time. 

With eyes like a dead fish’s, her pleasant features distorted, Tanya has mixed feelings watching her subordinates as they ready themselves with an irritating briskness. She wonders what she should do. 

People might think I’m hard-line imperialist just because I received that superficial decoration. No, they must. If that’s the case, the life waiting for me will be pretty unpleasant. Just take a look at Germany. No one who was a zealous Nazi during the war met a good end. People still give the SS a rough time. About the only ones who got decent treatment were the ace pilots. Even so, after the war, albeit for a brief time, many of them were interned by the communists. Is there no loophole? I can’t get interned like Hartmann. 

…No, wait a minute. There was one guy. There was a soldier named Rudel 21 or something. He was hard-core—we’re talking reinforced concrete—anticommunist and pro-Nazi. But after the war, he even managed to enjoy his life pretty well. Him. I’ll emulate him! 

To Second Lieutenant Grantz, it sounded the same as usual. 

“Okay, battalion, we’re going on a picnic!” 

From readiness level two, they were assembled, and he’d run so as not to be late. When he arrived, he was met with the commander, a displeased frown painted across her entire face. She wasn’t just irritated, she was furious, apparently, with nowhere to vent her anger. 

This can’t be good. 

The other day they’d been made to follow a unit of enemy mages fifty kilometers past the enemy lines in what was called parallel pursuit. 

He had to at least be ready to venture out to the enemy trenches by night. 

“Those idiots in the air let enemy mages slip past, and they’ve invaded Arene.” 

But the words that came out of her mouth would have hit him hard even if he had been expecting them. He’d heard whispered rumors, but having it confirmed by a superior officer was demoralizing. 

The disheartening truth was that a major supply relay point had fallen. 

Anyone who learns the trains that bring them their food won’t be functioning after the next day can understand how huge an impact on logistics that will have. Even a private can comprehend that war without supplies is a strategic nightmare. 

The situation was so tense that even ever-indifferent Major von Degurechaff couldn’t conceal her bad mood. After all, Grantz himself had been shocked to hear the rumor that enemy mages had invaded the rear by airdrop. How could we miss the transport planes gliding into our airspace? 

“And apparently they joined up with the militia. Arene has fallen into the Republican Army’s clutches.” 

That was bad news. But honestly, what did it actually mean? For a moment, Grantz and some of the other mages couldn’t quite grasp the gravity of the situation. The battlefield paradigm required no thinking past Eliminate the enemy. 

In other words, as far as Grantz and the others knew, the situation would be resolved if they eliminated the militia and the mages. Defending an entire city probably wasn’t possible with just mages and militia. With no infantry arm, occupation was a dream within a dream. The militia could compensate to some extent with numbers, but he didn’t think they could hold up in real organized combat. 

In contrast, the 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion was, for better or worse, a child of war that had learned to fight on the front lines and made achieving results their standard. 

“Naturally, we’re taking it back.” 

As she says it, Tanya herself is convinced that as a legitimate-enough conclusion, recapture is the only option. It’s a kill-or-be-killed battlefield. All they’re going to do is change positions on it. Compared to the horror of supplies being cut off, sortie orders are somewhat familiar. Both Grantz and Tanya tended toward agitated thought patterns, so they felt attacking was just what you did on the battlefield. 

“Now here’s the tricky part.” 

Even though she always conveyed their simple operation objectives without wasting any time, she took a deliberate breath. 

When he looked around, the other officers’ faces were tense, too. 

What the heck could it be? Grantz braced himself slightly. 

“Arene…” 

Grantz waited in uncertainty for her next words but then realized something with a shock. She said “Arene” and isn’t sure how to continue. 

An officer who would indifferently order a charge on hell was hesitating. 

She was shaking something off and doing something she found difficult to endure. 

Whatever it was was grim and oppressive. The unit had fallen completely silent, and nothing made a sound. Something was wrong. The soldiers who had been distracted by the impending sortie began wondering what was going on. 

Then, as if to interrupt their thoughts, she managed to continue. 

“Arene is now occupied by the Republican Army. Troops, to take back the city, we need to eliminate all the Republican soldiers.” 

Huh? That sounds totally straightforward. If Republican mages have joined up with the militia to occupy the city, it’ll be too dangerous if we don’t eliminate all the mages. Doesn’t that go without saying? 

Would it even be hard? Grantz didn’t really understand. 

No, actually most of the replacements didn’t see anything different from normal orders. They would be told to go as always, and then they would. That’s what they thought. 

Hoping to see if anyone knew what was going on, Grantz glanced at Weiss. The first lieutenant’s face was just slightly stiff. That seemed strange. He looked clearly nervous and shaken. Then he took a deep breath as if he was trying to steel himself. 

Steel himself against what? What was so horrible that it could rattle a Rhine front old stager so experienced he could be called a veteran? 

“It goes without saying, but firing on noncombatants is strictly prohibited; however, as we’ve been given permission to cause property damage, that won’t count.” 

She emphasized the rules of engagement. Their ROE was utterly ordinary. If there was anything of note, it was the exemption from responsibility for property damage. But even obtaining that exemption was part of normal procedures. 

“Furthermore, before engaging the enemy mages and after eliminating them, we will issue warnings to surrender.” 

Am I…am I missing something? A vague, confusing anxiety enveloped him. 

“Be sure to temporarily cease combat while the warnings are being issued.” 

She was giving them the same instructions as any sortie. The only difference was that it would be a city battle. 

Of course, a few of the constraints would be different. But even with those alterations, the primary objective of eliminating the enemy mages wouldn’t change. 

…At least, it shouldn’t. 

If he thought harder about it, maybe the warnings? But it’s obvious that an urban battle will have fewer casualties if you have the enemy surrender instead of finishing them off. And if they refuse, then you just conduct the moderately obnoxious battle to mop them up. 

“If they accept the warning, that’s great. If they don’t, we transition to wiping them out. That is all.” 

And actually, the tone of his superior’s voice was utterly flat, concealing her emotions as always. If they surrender, that’s great. 

If it didn’t work out, they would transition to taking them out as usual—totally normal. 

If pressed, he had to admit something felt strange. He sensed some kind of dissonance, something that didn’t sit right. That said, should I really be getting distracted right before we sortie? Having made that conclusion, he began performing the final pre-sortie checks on his computation orb and rifle. Rather than being unable to use his weapons on the battlefield due to insufficient maintenance, it was better to forget his other thoughts. 

The recruits had had it beaten into them that learning was the first step toward survival, and with each passing day, they were growing more familiar with war. 

The next thing they knew, they were on the battlefield that Major von Degurechaff had led them to as planned. 

“Bravo Leader to Combat Control. It’s a Named! Sending data now. Please confirm.” 

As expected, the Empire’s response was prompt in the strictest sense of the word. They sent over a battalion of mages in a matter of hours! 

Apparently, they’re taking this quite seriously. I guess the pain of air-dropping in was worth it? 

The commander of Mage Second Company of the Republic’s special ops forces, Lieutenant Colonel Vianto, was somewhat relieved to find some meaning in the operation he hadn’t been terribly keen on. Though he’d been nervous, he’d done it. He finally had the wherewithal to glance at his annoyingly stiff hands. 

The Republic was in a fairly tough spot. It had been looking forward to Dacia’s participation in the war, only to have that backfire. Republicans had to grit their teeth and watch the Entente Alliance collapse after the fleet tried to prevent the landing operation but didn’t make it in time. This nightmare was slowly wearing them out. 

The Republic’s below-the-surface contact with the Commonwealth was an open secret, but the Commonwealth was acting for its own national welfare. As a condition for its assistance, the Republic was liable to lose all its overseas interests. 

Considering the gravity of endangering its voice as a major power, the Republic felt a need to resolve things on its own to the extent possible. 

We need to push them back as far as we can before the Commonwealth joins the fight. It was for that political reason that Vianto was carrying out this crazy (to him) rear invasion. 

I can’t believe they pulled the so-called raison d’état card. 

“Data confirmed… The Devil of the Rhine? They brought out the big guns.” 

But apparently when it came to raison d’état, counting your chickens before they hatch worked. They had succeeded in drawing the unidentified Named known to every soldier on the Rhine front off the main lines. 

It was the Named who excelled in high-maneuver warfare and long-range firing, as did the elite unit she commanded. They were an annoying bunch who, as a mobile unit in the Imperial Army, defended a sizable territory; taking them out was high priority. 

This unit was even capable of mobile defense. Drawing them away from the front lines was more significant than drawing away any other mage battalion. 

Diverting this unit with a veteran Named, who could strike at their weak points, had an important effect on the battlefield that couldn’t be measured with numbers. 

“That said…they won’t be easy. I’m not looking forward to this fight.” 

Capturing a city the size of Arene would require several divisions of ground forces. It was up to the Imperial General Staff whether to scrape them away from the front lines or mobilize reserves, but apparently, they had gone all in. If only they would have underestimated us and sent troops in piecemeal. 

In any case, if they could hold this transport terminal, the Empire’s supply lines would dry up in less than a week, which meant they would definitely get results if they could hinder enemy reinforcements for just a few days. They could only hope that the troops on the front could pull off a major counterattack during that time. 

“Charlie Leader to Combat Control. You’re telling us to fight that battalion at range?” 

Even for an elite special ops force, fighting the Devil of the Rhine at a distance would be tough. 

They had anticipated doing little more than chipping away at the enemy. 

“No changes to the operation. The long-range fighting was only to distract them anyhow. Work to delay them.” 

If it didn’t work out, that was fine. There hadn’t been terribly high expectations for the ranged fighting, so it was no problem. 

Maybe a line of distracting fire? The point is to force them to evade, tire them out, and break up their formations. Anyhow, slowing them down is crucial. Time is on our side. 

““Roger.”” 

They promptly began their maneuvers according to the plan. 

Some mages lurking in buildings opened up with harassing fire. 

Those shots weren’t very likely to connect in a major way, but on the other hand, they couldn’t simply forgo it given that their enemy was Named. 

And after all, disciplined fire was the Republican Army’s specialty. If the enemy flew slowly, they could score direct hits. 

“The enemy mages are breaking. They’re evading our sniping.” 

But apparently, they were dodging the attacks. Well, that would be the natural thing to do, but Vianto had hoped to deal at least a little damage. As it is…we’ll only do a tiny bit or barely any. 

“But huh, they sent in a whole battalion right away. They’re making snap decisions that ignore the effect on the front sooner than I expected.” 

And they responded even quicker than we heard they did, which is a pain. With his plans upset, Vianto wanted to pull his hair out—even if it was good that they had managed to weaken the enemy’s frontal attack. If the Empire was committing a battalion of elite mages with no hesitation, he and his men had to be ready for the arrival of far more ground troops than anticipated and much sooner than expected. 

They must want to take Arene back as soon as possible. In the worst case, where they’re prepared to withdraw from the lines, things could get hairy. 

“We’re containing the Devil of the Rhine with two companies. What else can we do?” 

These were mages trained for special missions. Two companies of them had been sent in. Containing the Devil of the Rhine was really only one of their objectives, but his adjutant wasn’t talking nonsense. 

“So urban warfare is the key? But we won’t even last two weeks!” 

If the enemy was really focusing on them more than they had anticipated, this would be awful. 

At first, they thought it would be a simple charge or that maybe there would be a company of mages at most. If they were up against an augmented battalion all of a sudden, their enemy was determined. 

And Vianto’s biggest headache was their readiness to send in a Named. 

“Once the counterattack starts on the front, pressure from the enemy will decrease. Most importantly, the troops should be able to break through their defensive positions once the supplies are cut off, don’t you think?” 

“That’s just wishful thinking. I hope we succeed, but it’s going to be rough.” 

We have friendly backup and met up with the partisan militia, but what will happen when real ground troops show up? They would have mage support, and the Empire had more firepower than the Republic on a fundamental level. As far as ammunition, all the Republicans had apart from a small amount of air-dropped supplies were local stockpiles and what each mage had on them. 

They wouldn’t be able to last long, and they would probably take heavy casualties. Even worse, we’ll probably end up fighting with the civilians as our shields—something we should be ashamed of as soldiers. 

…Some of the believers in raison d’état even thought that in a worst-case scenario they could run the partisans into the ground to buy time. It was logical, but it was an ugly side of their nation. 

“So in the worst case, we continue delaying and try to cause as much damage as possible?” 

“That’s our only choice. Either way, a soldier is a rotten thing to be.” 

Humiliatingly, their duty was, basically, to faithfully carry out this operation to make civilians their shields. When they were told it would make winning the war possible, they had no choice. 

But there was no operation that put his raison d’être as a soldier more into question than this one. As Republican soldiers, for the Republic—to have Republican citizens die was a rotten business. 

“The enemy vanguard has entered the Air Defense Identification Zone! They’re rapidly approaching the city!” 

But even he was a soldier. He knew that while thinking could be meaningful, there was a time and a place for it. If he didn’t, he would have been dead long ago. 

“Commander, then we should—” 

“I know. Here they come. Prepare to ambush!” 

Once the enemy was closing in, his conflicted thoughts toward his mission had to be put off until later. He would do everything in his power to survive—because regret was a privilege reserved for the living. 

Have you ever been ordered to eliminate a fearless enemy assaulting an area in the rear? I haven’t until now, either. Thus, while I’m happy to have enjoyed such good fortune previously, I want to lament my current situation. 

But I want to do a proper job without letting anything stand in my way. I realized recently that I’m the kind of person who lives to work. I want to be proud of myself for being a levelheaded person who can think with common sense. 

…is the sort of thing Tanya is thinking, pretending to be upset about what a sad era it is when one gets intercepted just for flying through the sky as she deftly evades the long-range disciplined fire the Republican Army is so proud of. 

Even if the beams are no stronger than the lasers shot by some organic resource recovery unit that’s hostile to the human race, the hit rate is far lower simply by virtue of the fact that humans are spotting. 

Well, I do dodge them fairly seriously, since if one hit me it would be powerful enough to potentially pierce my protective film and outer shell and cause me to fall. Maybe if I poured mana into Type 95 with all my might I could withstand them, but that would be psychological suicide, so I hesitate to do that. In which case, the best thing to do is evade. 

“Engage! They’re fast! They know what they’re doing!” 

That said, just as it’s difficult to win a hundred of a hundred battles, it seems like breaking through unscathed will be impossible. The artillery fire is so dense Tanya is amazed in spite of herself; their history of beating up on nothing but second-rate forces in Dacia and Norden has come back to bite them. 

It’s good that everyone could evade a counterattack on a scale they didn’t anticipate. In the process, though, their strike formation has gotten pretty disorderly—even though the formation was designed to counter the Republic’s disciplined fire. She is forced to acknowledge the painful realization that they won’t be able to get past the enemy firing positions with speed and spread-out maneuvering alone. The idea that speed is armor definitely has a few flaws. 

We’re still fine for now, but up against big believers in firepower like the reds, we might be in trouble. 

“Lieutenant Serebryakov, sorry, but I’m weirdly tired… Can I get a tonic?” 

As she thinks, the fatigued voice of Lieutenant Weiss comes over the radio, and Tanya frowns unconsciously. Tired? My vice commander who was put through the mill on the Rhine and in Norden is tired after just this? 

Tanya promptly throws her adjutant some alcohol—soldier fuel—as she has her go take a look, and her question is cleared up when Serebryakov’s panicked shriek comes over the radio. 

“Lieutenant Weiss, you’ve been shot! Hurry, stop the bleeding!” 

“What?” 

“You didn’t notice?! Let’s get this tourniquet on! Hurry!” 

From the first aid discussion and Serebryakov urging Weiss on, Tanya realizes the former was correct and sighs. Instead of subordinates who don’t have enough fighting spirit, I have berserkers that get hyped up on too much adrenaline to register that they’re injured; there’s something vaguely depressing about that. 

I didn’t even give him meth and this is what he’s like. It’s hard to know whether I should rejoice that I have the best soldiers or lament that I’ve gathered a bunch of war addicts. 

“…How’s the numbskull who didn’t even realize he got hit?” 

“It’s not life-threatening, but I think it will be difficult for him to continue fighting.” 

“What? Well, there’s no helping it. Weiss, fall back.” 

Still, what suddenly filled my mind was apprehension about losing my capable assistant. Despite being a war nut, he’s one of the ones with common sense, and more than anything, it’s particularly painful to have the chain of command affected so greatly in the heat of battle. But Tanya is already switching gears because she knows she needs to consider not only current interests but solutions to future issues. 

As the most sensible among her men, the good First Lieutenant Weiss seems to have a few thoughts about this operation. If he’s dropping off the battlefield, that means that one of her above-average mages nearly got shot down. Normally, Weiss would be the kind of mage to attain Ace of Aces level. 

…If it wasn’t a fluke, the Republicans are awfully capable interceptors. 

“But, Major—” 

“It’s fine; fall back. You’re just one person; we’ll be all right. Instead of slowing us down, round up the others who’ve been hit and RTB.” 

It’s great to be serious, but if those serious personnel leave, that’s a problem. With no other reliable people around, I’m the only one left. I’m the one sensible person among all these war crazies. Talk about a nightmare. 

It goes without saying that I’ll be exhausted both physically and mentally. People who can remain sensible during such an abnormality as war are exceedingly valuable. It’s hard to keep a unit who has lost someone like that under control. 

Sensible people—they generally keep their heads in a crisis. These modern individuals who can value reason and the market are the ones who will sustain the capitalist society to come. To squander them on this waste called war is truly horrible. 

What will the Empire’s economy be like after the war if it throws away its best and brightest like this? I don’t even want to think about it. 

Should I convert all my wages into gold and goods while I still can? I have a feeling that win or lose, the Empire’s future won’t be terribly bright. 

“Understood… I wish you luck.” 

“You think too much. You hesitated, right? You big idiot. When I get back, you’re gonna get it.” 

But first I have to survive this. It’s annoying and I’m not motivated, but I have to crush the pro-Republic fellows holed up in Arene. 

As a person, it’s not a very nice thing to do. Logically, it’s easier to eliminate them, but no one will compliment you for violating human rights. Yes, I’m philanthropic, and as such, I don’t want to get innocent people mixed up in this. 

Even though legally there are no problems, something surely gave good, conscientious Weiss pause. In other words, reluctance and hesitation hindered his maneuvers, and as a result, he got hit. Well, it’s not as if I don’t understand. 

But to say one thing, if I were in the same position as him, I would have wanted to shirk responsibility in the same way. So about that part, I’m jealous. Geez, you’re that averse to taking part in a massacre? 

Well, I don’t like it, she mocked herself, but circumstances call for the death of the partisans of Arene. 

I’m only taking part in a broad sense. I’m just doing nothing, like those three wise monkeys—see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. 

In contemporary law, it’s omission. But I’m not the direct subject of the act. In other words, the issue is whether I have the duty to report it or not. 

Even Rudel bombed tons of Soviet tanks, ships, fighter planes, and armored trains, and he didn’t have to go to prison. Basically, all he did was sortie, and that in itself wasn’t a problem. 

Good. If I’m just doing my duty as a single soldier, there shouldn’t be any real issues. 

Ohh, laws are wonderful. 

“Ma’am. My apologies.” 

That said, as long as there are issues at all, I won’t be enthusiastic about it. 

Of course, I’m pretty sure there aren’t any military operations you can really shout yee-haw and serve in with gusto. I end up wondering why we have wars. 

Even today—why am I conducting this irrational operation? 

Tanya is really at wits’ end, but she doesn’t long for death enough to lose herself in thought in the middle of a battlefield. She switches gears to focus on dealing with the task at hand. 

“It’s fine. You can’t help being you. Okay, Lieutenant König, take over Lieutenant Weiss’s command.” 

“Roger.” 

I have no choice, so I reorganize command at my discretion. Either way, our mission is counter-mage combat with, at most, some containment. 

If there are healthy enemy mages out there, we have to beat on them to some extent. 

“All hands, prepare to swoop in for a close-quarters fight. Watch out for ambushes. These guys are capable. If you take them lightly, you’re liable to get burned.” 

“Commander. The enemy mages are withdrawing! They’re going to shut themselves up in the city!” 

But that plan was designed with the idea in mind that the enemies would sortie to intercept us. 

“Ngh. Never mind. Abort the charge. Just keep the pressure on.” 

Put another way, it’s our job to take on the mage ambushes on the periphery of the city, nothing beyond that. 

In other words, if they remove any mages from the attackable areas around the edges of the city, Tanya’s mission will be mostly accomplished. 

In short, if they drive the enemies to positions where they couldn’t reach the bombers or artillery, their part will be over. 

“Commander?” 

“All we have to do is drive them off. Once we’ve pushed them away, we’ll issue the warning to surrender.” 

“…Are you sure?” 

It’s precisely because they understand what that means that several members of the company express hesitation. Of course, these aren’t the types to hesitate to attack once we’ve transitioned to mopping up, but it isn’t as if they can’t foresee what’s about to happen. 

“It’s not our job. At least, our job is to counter the mages. It doesn’t include urban warfare.” 

But Tanya has already taken a practical attitude. Since she is focused on how to keep the dirt on her hands to a minimum, nothing is higher priority than getting out of there after issuing the call for surrender. 

This is an easy job. Even if someone ends up dying as a result, it won’t be by my hand. 

In that case… 

“…Understood.” 

Despite their hesitation, no one continues to object—for better or worse. In other words, no matter what they might have wanted to say, they’re all mature enough to swallow it. 

Business is basically stoicism. Entertaining, layoffs, or a boss you just can’t stand—there are so many things that must simply be endured. So if you can avoid them, there aren’t many reasons to waver. And if you’re a soldier, orders are a great excuse. 

“Contact the artillery and the bomber unit. Tell them we’re issuing the surrender warning.” 

All that’s left is to get them to take over. If the enemy surrenders, that’s great. If not, the bombardment will put an end to it. That’s all. 

Well, I know this isn’t the type of enemy to meekly surrender, so it’s practically a foregone conclusion, but still. 

In other words, we’ll have them become our justification. 

“Do you want protection?” 

“Second Company, you’re on direct support.” 

Still, the best is to issue a warning. If they’re logical, there’s a nonzero chance that they choose to surrender. If we issue a warning first, it’s also much easier emotionally, and most importantly, if there is a trial, it can be used as evidence in my defense. 

“Okay, let’s give them a call.” 

We don’t lose anything by warning them. In which case, it’d practically be a betrayal of capitalism not to do it. 

We pretty much know they’re going to reject our offer, but I might as well give it sincerely for my own reasons. It’s definitely worth it. Actually, I’d really appreciate it if they would surrender at this point. Time and ammunition are precious. 

Well, in reality, a ton of them surrendering would be the bigger burden on Logistics. And the brass doesn’t expect them to give themselves up, so they’re already assuming there will be a fight to wipe them out. I think we should hedge, but since cutting costs is also important, I can’t fault them for their conclusion. 

Sheesh. Well, there’s no reason for us in the thick of it to think that far. 

Guess I should get things rolling. 

“Release unaffiliated members of the general population immediately. We can’t allow your slaughter to continue. We demand the release of imperial citizens according to article 26, paragraph 3 of the Rules of War on Land.” 

A nominal request to release civilians. That said, the only imperial citizens who would be in Arene, what used to be a Republican city, are soldiers or civilian army personnel. 

They were probably killed or lynched back when the revolt began. Even if there are survivors, I don’t imagine they’ll obediently let them go. There’s a greater chance they’ll off any survivors out of spite. 

I can’t believe they actually wanted this scenario. It’s like the monumental difference between talking about a nuclear apocalypse in a sci-fi novel and actually waging nuclear war. 

“You’re watching, right? See anything?” 

“…Yeah, they shot someone. Here’s the video.” 

And as expected, the militia shoots someone dead and shouts something obscene. Well, it’s the type of thing an undisciplined militia is likely to do in any era. That’s why a proper army and a militia are two different things. Freedom fighters are all well and good, but freedom without order ends up with major internal strife, a kind of environmental hazard. These guys are hopeless. They could have done this themselves, but instead they had to involve citizens engaged in wholesome economic activity. 

Yeah, so in that context, they’re probably shouting, “Go to hell, imperial bastards!” Something like that. 

Well, that’s how people who aren’t used to war tend to behave. They may believe in some noble principle, but as long as they aren’t trained, they’re slaves to emotion. So I suppose this is just what’s bound to happen when an undisciplined organization of civilians has guns. 

Just like a functioning member of society, a soldier, even in uniform, is useless without training, and you obviously can’t expect that much of a militia. In other words, this underscores the claim of economic theory that human capital is so important. 

“HQ, I’m sending video. Requesting permission to begin immediate rescue.” 

At the same time, this is a big chance. Nominally, we’ve fulfilled our duty of issuing a warning. 

All that’s left is to join the extermination, but if possible, I’d like to avoid that out of consideration for my future political position. It’s a simple reason, and anyone would exempt me from responsibility. 

This is the perfect chance. The marvelously just cause of protecting my fellow countrymen is right here in front of me. 

What army could reproach a soldier for saving its own civilians? At least, rescuing captured imperial subjects is a politically clean act. Perhaps it doesn’t have much meaning from a military point of view, but all that’s left now is the annihilation phase. 

So this is the phase during which your political conduct matters. The fact that I didn’t participate directly during the battle but was engaged in rescuing fellow countrymen should work as a get-out-of-jail-free card. 

At least, it should be a justification. 

“HQ, roger. Get it done.” 

“Pixie 01, roger. I’ll proceed immediately.” 

Okay, saving people. Let’s do a good deed. For myself. Whoever said, The good you do to others will always come back to you, had a way with words. 

To Grantz and Visha, it was a massacre painted as mopping up. No, Visha took it a little better, since she knew the ropes. She at least understood the danger of hesitating on the battlefield. 

For Grantz, it was purgatory or perhaps simply hell. 

“HQ to all participating units. Transition to cleanup. Get rid of the Republican Army.” 

Red flames added color to the black-and-gray world. Then a faint flashing was all he could see. His distracted consciousness registered a noise coming from somewhere, orders to the entire theater from HQ. The voice on the radio was so level he was shocked by how unreal it sounded. 

But the significance of it was orders. Yes, orders. The individual Grantz was in this place on orders. 

I came here, I pulled the trigger, I killed the enemy. No, what I killed was a person. 

And he could recognize the strange tingle in his nose that had begun some time ago. Even though he was used to the smell of the battlefield, a stench was irritating it. It was the smell of burning human flesh. A freshly charred corpse whose odor wasn’t masked by the reek of decay. The air, sticky with protein, stunk horribly. 

He was sure he was out of things to throw up, and yet he did everything in his power to keep any acid from spewing out his mouth. He was getting used to actual combat, perhaps. The fact that Second Lieutenant Grantz had the ability to try to understand the situation meant he actually had some presence of mind. 

The surrender warning and the attempt to separate the civilians from the militia had been only a short while ago. Technically, it was probably a procedure to allow them to consider the civilians militia. Anyhow, as soon as the civilians didn’t have to be defined as noncombatants, the Empire had begun a merciless attack on the city. 

Luckily, he was engaged in the Imperial Army’s prisoner rescue mission. It seemed strange to him that Major von Degurechaff cared for allies over the enemy, but that feeling was gone in an instant. She was probably just deciding according to priority. 

That is, soldiers are the shields of the nation’s people, so if the question is whether eliminating the enemy or performing a rescue is higher priority, it has to be the rescue. 

Apparently, it’s a question of value standards. To put it another way, she honestly doesn’t mind trading the life of an enemy for the life of a fellow countryman. Thanks to that, even if it was only during the short time before the bombardment started, they were able to rescue some of the people held captive in the city. 

“We’ve already crushed all hostile organized resistance. Now just take out the remaining holdouts!” 

The Republican civilians were full of fight, and in a conceptual sense, they certainly meant to do battle with the Empire. They had consciously stood up to protect the Republic, and the bodies and corpses of recovered army employees made their intent to do harm very clear. 

But that didn’t mean Grantz could enjoy the scene playing out before his eyes. 

Meanwhile, the unit’s superior officer, Tanya, is content to look on as the cleanup progresses fairly smoothly. 

They used high explosives to smash the roofs of stone buildings. Once the flammable items inside were visible, they dropped incendiary bombs inside. To prevent the fires from going out, they used more high explosives to shatter the buildings, creating gusts of wind to help the conflagration spread. 

Then more incendiary bombs. That repetition set all of Arene ablaze in a few short hours. 

The barricade the civilians erected meant nothing. 

Not only that, but the Republican mages probably even ended up getting roasted in the flames. Surely the city already looks more like hell than those Buddhist paintings that supposedly depict it. 

On that point, Tanya’s feelings are simple. God must be so upset about this—if he exists. 

Anyhow, Being X apparently isn’t nice enough to lend a hand in this sort of disaster. Well, what can you do? Humans are the only ones who can save humans. Forgetting that and clinging to religion must be our weakness. 

That said, Tanya believes that such a weakness has produced massive changes in the history of mankind. Which is why she’s keeping her hands clean and going to save the imprisoned military employees. 

She takes the action that the collective consciousness of those weak people would want her to and praises herself for being a realist who doesn’t neglect to create excuses for the future. 

Meanwhile, for Grantz, who didn’t have the wherewithal to guess at his superior’s inner thoughts, the only thing keeping him sane were his pristine, pure white hands. He could defend himself by saying that he had made it through without shooting any noncombatants. He was rescuing people, not massacring them. 

On this battlefield, that was only a type of fiction…but as long as he could maintain it, it provided consolation. 

Unfortunately, Battalion Commander Major von Degurechaff’s surrender warning and the militia who rejected it sent his fiction crumbling to bits in no time. 

Their battalion was the vanguard in this fight, and if it hadn’t been for their good cause, the rescue of imperial subjects, they would have been in there participating in the killing. Now, he and his unit, the 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion, had to perform their original mission. 

“Pixie 01, roger. Requesting target.” 

Having swiftly and soundly recovered the imperial prisoners, the battalion had regrouped and was waiting for its next orders. What everyone knew without hearing it was that it would be the mission they were meant to do, an attack. Everyone mentioned it in ambiguous terms, but unbelievably, Major von Degurechaff apparently intended to participate in the horrible thing happening in Arene…firsthand. 

Whether the people of Arene even had the means to stay alive, much less fight, was doubtful. But neither the Imperial Army Command, Battalion Command, nor the individual commanders could be satisfied yet. As long as those people existed in front of them, they would devote their all to the task and accept no alternatives. 

They knew no other way to resolve the situation. Everyone was reluctant to say it, but if asked officially, they had to acknowledge that there were orders for a pursuit battle. And their commander was trading messages with HQ in her usual tone of voice, telling them they had regrouped, and pressing them for the unit’s next orders. 

“HQ to Pixie Battalion, the remaining enemy mages are acting as a rear guard as they retreat. Can you eliminate them?” 

“I see them… No problem. We can do it.” 

As part of his training, he was assigned to the headquarters company. The notion that the commander thought he had potential made him happy, but that naïveté had been an awful mistake… It meant he had to hear the worst news. To think he was meant to learn her style of command! 

Following Major von Degurechaff’s gaze, he could indeed see a somewhat orderly group of people. They were at a visible distance—there was no mistaking them. And it was true that bringing up the rear were a bunch of fellows who looked like the Republican Army mages, albeit covered in wounds. 

But the view, unique to mages with a boosted observation formula, told him the people beyond the beat-up mages were only people. Yes, people whom he couldn’t imagine were capable of fighting. On their faces were anger and fear, plus despair and the faintest hope that they might escape. By the time he realized it, Grantz himself was unexpectedly awash in a feeling that was difficult to understand. Are we really going to rip away those people’s last protection? 

“After you eliminate the rear guard, the plan is for the artillery to finish off the remaining enemies. We request that you take no more than ten minutes.” 

…But Command didn’t seem to want to let the group of “enemies” go. Of course, they were an army. Grantz knew in his head that they were an army. But his emotions screamed, Are you really—? Are you really going to let that happen? 

But his superior didn’t voice any objections whatsoever. The orders to mop up the remaining adversaries who were trying to deploy protective formulas to defend the people from Major von Degurechaff, from the artillery—they were orders to get rid of the mages trying to help the people escape. 

But Grantz had learned that his commander would give such orders matter-of-factly, with no trace of emotion… That was the right way for a soldier to be. She isn’t wrong. She isn’t…wrong… 

“HQ to Pixie Battalion. That is all. Over.” 

The wishes of the superior who closed out the transmission were no more and no less than that. 

Kill them, they said. 

Once they were gone, the protective formulas would disappear instantaneously. After that, Grantz had no doubt the artillery would pulverize the people. The artillery wouldn’t know the true identity of the “enemies,” so they would naturally do a great job. At least we’re only fighting the mages; we won’t be shooting the people behind them. But he could still guess what would happen next. 

No, he knew quite well what would happen. We’re destroying their last shield. 

“Pixie Battalion, roger that. We’ll do our best.” 

The moment the mages were eliminated, those people would also be blown away. Concentrated artillery fire. On desolate flat country that hardly had any rubble, much less trenches. It was stranger to think they would survive. 

Above all…why would artillery open fire on civilians who had no idea how to live through a bombardment? This is insane. 

“…Commander, please reconsider this! If…if we eliminate them—” 

Before he realized it—he could hardly believe it himself—he was giving his opinion to a superior. 

He could sense that his face was deathly pale. 

He had practically committed insubordination. He had argued against an order that came down from Command. That wasn’t the type of thing a mere second lieutenant could say to a battalion commander. Plus, he was essentially rebelling against the orders. 

“Enemies of the Empire will be laid to waste. That’s great.” 

“But, that’s—” 

Maybe that was why he hesitated, but he had still objected. 

Grantz was so confused he hardly understood what was happening himself, but he spoke up to try to stop Major von Degurechaff. 

But she remained unfazed. “Lieutenant Grantz. The enemy you let escape can take up guns again—to shoot us.” 

Yeah, probably. Their expressions were filled with loathing. Undoubtedly—undoubtedly—the Republic would gain zealous new soldiers from their ranks. Since they hated the Empire, the army would have no issues with their will to fight. 

So you tell us to kill them? You’re telling us to kill someone who could be an enemy? 

Perhaps she recognized his conflict, or perhaps she said it for no reason, but Major von Degurechaff added an important point at the end. 

“If you don’t shoot the enemy, they’ll shoot you. We have to at least open fire until someone tells us not to. It’s an order, after all.” 

Then before he knew it, he’d been knocked to the ground. He could feel dirt in his mouth. Well, more like mud. 

His face complained of the pain where he’d been struck, but he was hazily conscious. Maybe her decision to sweep his feet out from under him instead of kick him down was born of kindness? 

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that. This is an order. Pick up your gun. It’s time for work.” 

Yes, it’s an order. I know I have to do anything I’m ordered to. 

Because it’s an order. Fuck. An order… 

Hello. Long-distance trains aren’t very comfortable, are they? First class is a lot better, but sure enough, in wartime it’s really only “better.” On top of that, since the army’s railway guns and supply trains are prioritized, the schedules are seriously off. 

About all I should be doing in this situation is reviewing documents or sipping coffee (although it’s cold). For confidentiality purposes, not only are radios jammed, but I can’t even leave the first-class cars. What is that about? 

Yeah, the food is relatively decent, since it’s provided by the train. That said, you can’t really relax and enjoy a meal with this mood. 

On top of that, the menu’s tone-deaf main dish is beef stew. 

Yes, normally I’m quite happy to eat stew, but at the moment, I’d rather not. 

I mean, it’s good and all. It’s tasty, but I just saw an awful lot of things on the battlefield I just came from, so it’s a bit heavy. I acknowledge that it’s delicious, though. Yeah, I don’t think a meat doria would have made it down my throat. 

Tanya is grumbling facetiously. 

A super-fun legal debate and actually implementing those ideas are two different things! For instance, what’s the point of ludicrous proposals that maybe there aren’t any civilians because all your nation’s citizens are soldiers due to universal conscription, or total war, or whatever? 

Normally something like that would never be realized. The problem is that the plans that logically would never be used and the pressures of necessity both exist in reality. What an outrageous age we live in. 

People use up their kin and throw them away as if they’re not human. If they were at least using them in a clever way, they’d have room to debate, but this is completely random. Unforgivable waste, and on top of that, the idea of recycling to use resources efficiently hasn’t been developed. No, they’re practically ignoring it. 

Honestly, I want to ask them how much human capital they’re planning to invest in this. Considering the cost and the time it takes to cultivate a mage, they really can’t be dropping dead all over the battlefield. 

Even worse, a college graduate who continued on to get his PhD—a scientist—was stationed on the front lines until just the other day. But if we neglect science, we’ll fall behind the enemy’s new weapons and technology. Agh, I have no interest in dealing with what would happen if, say, the enemy had radar and VT fuses and we didn’t. 

If they’re implementing the Manhattan Project and our scientists are dying on the front lines, isn’t that playing for the wrong team? I mean, that mad scientist should die, but apart from that… 

Dr. Einstein may have been no good as a military man, but he contributed to the nation, which makes him better than a rank-and-file soldier! Don’t they know that rather than giving guys like Einstein and Nobel guns, they need to give them pencils and make them do calculations?! Of course, anybody with a touch of crazy like the mad scientist is a different story, but still. 

Having mad scientists contribute is about as meaningless as standing Nobel up on the forward-most line. Having Nobel study nitroglycerin would be much better for society. He was also a wonderful guardian of human capital who advocated for peace in order to prevent wasting resources. 

In other words, everything is for the future of humanity. 

Alfred Nobel had a great reputation as a guy who “became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before” (as per Wiki), but there was no one who valued efficiency as much as he did! 

If it were me, I would want to add, “He worked to protect human capital.” 

Ahh, why this extravagant waste of human capital? If there are plenty of posts and not enough talent, we can just pull them off the front lines. Don’t you think this is why we’re lacking talent? 

Supposedly they are finally correcting this… 

Well, all I can do is rewrite these notes as a formal opinion to turn in. 

I’m on a train, but since we’re at war, there isn’t even any good scenery to look at, so I’m bored. 

I’ve been summoned, though, so I guess I have to endure it. 

Perhaps we’ll have some breathing room after thoroughly crushing Arene. The unit was given leave, and the higher-ups will consider where to station all the troops that were assembled. Well, I expected that much. 

But why am I the only one who has to appear at the General Staff Office in the capital? 

I sincerely reviewed my conduct to try to find anything that would warrant me being called in, but I don’t think I made any mistakes. 

Yes, we saved lives and eradicated the enemy mages. 

And before that, on the Rhine lines, I even received a decoration for my daring exploits, albeit in a simple battlefield presentation. 

I don’t think any of my behavior has been problematic. 

And I don’t recall any slipups in terms of controlling my subordinates, either. I adhere strictly to regulation in the battalion because there is no way I’m getting stuck in a military tribunal for mismanaging my reports like Mr. Yamashita. 22 

I have zero tolerance for abuse of prisoners. Due to the temperament of my unit, we rarely have prisoners, but I can say with confidence that we never torture or abuse our captured information sources. Unlike the amateurs who take more prisoners than necessary and then tear their hair out over how to feed everyone, we don’t take on more than forty-eight people can handle; it does make things somewhat easier. 

I have an ideal unit that both adheres extremely close to international laws and devotes themselves to their missions, which is nice and easy; they don’t give me much trouble. So why am I being called in? 

“Excuse me. Long time no see, Major von Degurechaff.” 

I’m nearly lost in my meandering thoughts when they’re interrupted by a familiar voice. A man wearing a mid-ranking officer’s coat stands in the entrance to my compartment. Before I wonder who it is, I look at his face and more or less understand the situation. 

“It certainly has been a while, Major Uger. Good to see you’re doing well.” I stand up, hastily remove my cap, and bow. Well, etiquette might also require that I let down my tied-back hair. Luckily, there are no rules enforced so inflexibly near the front lines. 

Hmm, but I heard that Major Uger got a post in the rear. I think it was either with the army’s Railroad Department or Logistics. 

Of all the officers in my class at war college, he’ll probably go the furthest. He had already been promoted to the middle ranks when I got my captain’s commission. He’ll probably make it to lieutenant colonel rather quickly for someone not serving on a battlefield. 

Ahh, I’m jealous. After you serve in Logistics, you usually end up either in the General Staff or an instructor position at the war college. It won’t hurt me to stay on good terms with him. 

“Yes, I’m glad to see you in one piece, too. I heard about Arene. Sounds like it was rough.” 

“I’m afraid military secrets are involved, so I can’t give you details…” 

And since we were in college together, we’re a bit closer than acquaintances. Or really, although class reunions and the hierarchy of commissions operate in the background, they still influence officers to have ties to one another—connections. 

“That’s fine. Today I’m basically on an errand for General von Zettour. Are you, too?” 

Aha, I guess I should say. He must be here as a messenger. The poor guy is really getting run around. 

“Do you know something?” 

“…Well, I suppose I can tell you…” 

Can he keep a secret or not? Well, Major Uger is fairly sensible, so I’ll be happy he trusts me. 

There’s nothing more handy and essential than connections, influence, and a network. 

“The army’s Railroad Department is being asked to plan urgent transportation into a war zone. I’m going to report that.” 

“…I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t see what that has to do with me. At most, won’t I be one of the field officers being transported?” 

The Railroad Department performs a critical role in the Empire, where we use interior lines strategy. If the rails can’t move troops smoothly, our force can’t get where it needs to be in an efficient way, and we can’t concentrate our fighting power. Then the Great Army is like an elephant with a body, so big it can’t move. 

A department that important probably gets asked to plan urgent transportation into a war zone fairly often. 

That’s fine. 

But why does that overlap with the reason I’ve been summoned? 

I don’t mean to sound smart-alecky, but I’m a mage. And I’m a battalion commander—nothing more than a tactical component. At most, I’d be asked to get on such and such a train to go to such and such a place. Or, since I can fly, they might tell me to zoom off somewhere under my own steam. 

There shouldn’t be any reason to call me all the way to the capital. 

“It’s where they’re going that’s the problem. The higher-ups are apparently planning to pull the Rhine lines back.” 

“The Rhine lines… You mean, we’ll retreat?” 

The shock keeps Tanya from understanding what Uger has said for a moment. 

We pushed so hard only to pull back? 

“That’s right. I guess they mean to fall back and make them bleed.” 

Fall back and make them bleed… So that’s what they’re doing? Hannibal’s Cannae, on this scale?! 

“…That’s unexpected. It’s drastic, but an interesting idea.” 

Agh, I guess I’m losing my edge. The Concorde’s failure isn’t funny anymore. We should adhere to the rule that says not to lament the money you’ve invested in an unprofitable enterprise but rather lament any further loss. My time on the front lines has really rusted my economic, rational sensibilities. It’s horrifying. 

Or does Being X mean to destroy this faithful believer in the modern, practical spirit? I have to stay conscious of the context—that I’m in this war-torn world he was blabbing about. Terrifyingly, my senses of the market and what’s rational were on the verge of numbing. 

Ahh, war is such a crime. I want to escape this human madness and wastefulness as fast as I can. We should quit this war with actual bombs whizzing around and have economic wars instead. 

“Still…pulling back?” 

But, hmm, General von Zettour has come up with a surprising idea, thinks Tanya with unstinting admiration. 

It would take time and effort to push the lines forward, that’s for sure. A retreat isn’t so hard. And actually, even if the enemy pursues us, we can expect fewer casualties than if we charged at heavily defended trenches. It’s not a bad idea. If we organize the uneven lines, we should be able to face them head-on. 

And well, striking into Republican territory gives their supply lines the advantage, but if we retreat, it’ll be easier on ours. 

Of course, the plan will only work if they go along with it. 

“That’s why the information is so tightly controlled… It seems like we’re going to be putting on a bit of an act.” 

“An act?” 

“Listen, Major. That mess in Arene destroyed our supply lines. We can’t maintain the front anymore.” 

…Hold on a minute. 

That’s the story we’re telling about our retreat? 

No matter how inept we think the Republicans are, surely they’ll at least send out scouts. 

“Isn’t that a bit of a stretch? Whether through a third power or a unit participating in the battle, I’m sure the truth will leak out.” 

“No, just the opposite. We’ll spread propaganda through the other country. ‘The heroic citizens of Arene resisted and practically destroyed the Imperial Army’s railroad.’” 

Wow. I’m genuinely impressed. I’m no propaganda expert, but I can imagine how effective this could be. I honestly never expected someone in this world, and at such an age, would come up with this brand of information warfare. 

I’m struck once again by how wonderful the human race is, so truly adaptable. 

Of course, it’s absurd that they can be this wise and still fight wars… 

Well, behavioral economics attempts to explain the human ball of contradictions from an emotional angle. 

I’m sure it makes many interesting points. 

The citizens of Arene gave their all and fought so bravely, so fiercely, that the Imperial Army lines were shaken. The moment someone shouts, You would waste these gains? levelheaded debate will be overwhelmed by a torrent of emotion. 

“You mean we’ll take away all their choices?” 

Bravo. It’s a reproduction of the dance Bismarck made Napoleon III do. The Ems Dispatch incident is a truly classic feat of diplomacy. Even a mere sensible person like me can appreciate it. 

This is essentially a provocation. 

Well, if Bismarck’s move was a provocation, maybe this is more like coaxing. Well, I’ll leave the detailed categorizing to the academics, but I still want to praise this move with a bravo from the bottom of my heart. 

“That’s right. Even if they don’t come to help them, all it will take is someone to whisper, ‘They abandoned them.’ It can’t hurt to send around that kind of disinformation.” 

“It’s a marvelous idea. I’m surprised he thought of it.” 

Well. 

The Republican administration will probably hate getting a reputation as the type that watches resisting civilians die in the middle of total war when they need the unity of their people. 

A nation can’t expect its people to accept its logic that a small sacrifice will benefit the majority. 

Really, the only ones who declare something like that are the Soviets or their ilk, although in Pol Pot’s case his “small sacrifice” was about a third of the population. 

Well, some nations go to war under the pretext of protecting their citizens, so I guess it balances out. 

Deploying troops because of murdered missionaries is a cliché by now. The Empire has a few past conflicts along the same lines. 

Of course, purely as a diplomatic issue, a country shouldn’t be lazy when it comes to protecting its citizens. Or rather, the people pay taxes to be protected. Even in a night-watchman state, the people want protection from their government, so that should be provided. 

In that sense, security is the nation’s duty. Well, it probably only goes so far, but still. 

Oh, I’ve gotten quite off track. This is no time to let my thoughts wander. 

“But what does that have to do with me?” 

How does a mere field major like me fit into a grand strategy like that? 

I honestly have no idea. Really—how? 

In principle, it’s better for confidentiality—there’ll be fewer leaks—if fewer people know, so I’m sure it’s on a need-to-know basis only, but I have to ask. 

“It’s simple. Apparently, your 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion will be the rear guard for the retreat.” 

“…They think far too much of us.” 

Actually, considering what happens to people who know too much… The civilian method is to give people a large retirement allowance or pension to keep their mouths shut. Yeah, that gets expensive. Hence, all the criticism of how much golden parachutes cost. 

Conversely, if you want to keep costs down and resolve things in a practical manner, you can render people incapable of talking. And if you can accomplish it legally on a battlefield, it’s a no-brainer. 

…Is this to threaten us into staying quiet about Arene? The thought sends a chill up my spine. 

Maybe I’m thinking too hard, but it sure seems like my loyalty is being questioned. It’s true that in a pinch I prioritize my own safety, but…I’ve still been getting results for them. And I’m pretty sure I’ve been displaying my allegiance to the organization at every opportunity. 

No, maybe they found out I hesitated in Arene? But I don’t recall that resulting in any failures. Plus, I have the great excuse of protecting our own people. 

Yeah, I want to believe there are no issues. Then why are we getting stuck as the rear guard? 

“Your mission will only be a delaying defense, but it’ll be rough, I’m sure. You’re probably being summoned to discuss it.” 

“A delaying defense when we’re half-enveloped? Losing half of my troops won’t buy us time.” 

We got asked this question all the time in the academy, but I never thought I would actually be put in this situation. 

It’s possible, but I’m not doing it and Let’s try it are very different things. 

It’s easy to say pretty words like, I’ll use my subordinates as a shield, but to actually do it takes a tremendous amount of discipline. 

At least, it’s too much to ask of a young officer like me. 

“Half…? You’d be basically wiped out…” 

“Yes, I’m sure we would be. I never thought I’d end up having to actually implement a scenario from the academy’s oral exam.” 

I want to shout, Surely, you must be joking! but nothing would be more pointless. I feel like I have at least a little understanding of Major Uger’s personality. 

Basically, I don’t think he’s the type of guy to joke around. 

Besides, as long as I have no idea why he would lie to me, it’s safer to assume it’s the truth. In other words, I’m going to be the tail end of the army performing delaying action as we retreat? What an elegant way to indirectly tell me to drop dead. 

Am I allowed to say that this is something they should have a family of warriors like the Shimahdzus 23 do and not mere mages? I just barely manage to control my urge to flee out the window of the car. Running away now won’t improve my situation one bit. I have to think how I can resolve this—no, how to survive. I need to find a way out. 

Fortunately, my subordinates are all capable shields. I may need to use the Shimahdzus special, the sutegamari fighting retreat. Maybe I should apply to license it. Gotta follow the rules at all times. 

“You’re overthinking it. It won’t take that long. Won’t you basically be on lookout?” 

“On the perpetual battlefield, you have to be prepared for the worst, though, you know? Not that I enjoy having that temperament…” 

My hope is that they just get the lines moved back in a hurry so we don’t have to suffer. In other words, it’s only a hope. I can’t risk my life on this sad, little chance. We have to be an ultra-vigilant rear guard. What the heck? 

If I was going to feel this sick, I shouldn’t have eaten that beef stew. I wanna throw up. Was the reason Rudel drank milk because his stomach couldn’t handle anything more than that? 

No, I think he was serious about nutrition and just a total battlefield addict. 

But maybe I should take a page from his book and drink some milk; it’d be good for my health. I’ll take some time to seriously consider this later. 

“…We’ll do our best and try not to take too much time.” 

“I appreciate it, Major Uger.” 

Anyhow, what the heck. 

It’ll be fine if I can go to General von Zettour directly and get him to take back the orders later, but… 

If they’re trying to shut us up, he definitely won’t. 

No, even if he doesn’t turn down my request, the danger of being disposed of will never quite leave us. 

In that case, I might have to consider surrendering to the Republic in order to survive. Well, no, I guess that would be dangerous, too… It’s so unlucky that we accidentally sunk that Commonwealth vessel. At worst, I would be sacrificed for long-term friendly relations between the Commonwealth and the Republic or whatever. Actually, that’s definitely what would happen. 

If that’s true, then the first thing I need to do is get out of this jam. 

“Either way, as long as we’re soldiers, we do what we must. That’s how it is, right?” 

Damn it. I have to pretend I don’t know anything and survive. Of course, the ideal would be if this is all a misunderstanding. 

It’s better to be pessimistically prepared than think optimistically and fail. If you’re assuming you’re fine at the cost calculation stage and you put too much trust in a 5.7-meter standard for sea walls, what happens? 

Of course, a corporation has to be conscious of costs. Rather, I think a nation that wages a war with no sense of cost is far madder. I choose to firmly support peace. That said, I’m all for intervening in a region in order to secure limited interests. 

The costs of a war waged by a practical economic agent should be capped within a permissible limit. And how about the escargots’ standards? Power plants? More like fortresses. Well, the actual fortresses they build have pretty well-known reputations, in various senses of the word, e.g., the Maginot Line. 

Ahh, this is no good. It appears my intellectual curiosity and purity are making my mind wander. 

“Either way, Major von Degurechaff, for now, we’ve reunited. How about a toast to mark the occasion?” 

“All I have is ersatz coffee, but if that works, I’m happy to.” 

Anyhow, next time I’ll make sure to have some milk on hand. Incidentally, for some reason, the Empire is famous for its milk.