Do Your Own Revolution

#060

Boom-! Boom-!

I got up from my seat, using the distant cannon fire as my alarm.

“The weather is quite artistic.”

It was the moment when yesterday’s weather forecast came true exactly.

The weather was slightly cloudy, and the Republican Army’s shell rain that started from the morning was expected to continue until this afternoon.

Just another peaceful day on the Western Front.

“Company Commander.”

In the tent barracks set up behind the trench.

As I entered the operations room, pushing aside the curtain with the Imperial flag painted on it, Erich, wearing an Imperial Army uniform, saluted me.

“First those three, and now you’re mocking me too?”

“Well, you are my superior officer, aren’t you?”

“I see you’ve developed a sense of humor while I was away.”

When I said that, Erich dropped his salute with an embarrassed smile.

From the third year of military academy until commissioning.

While the trio and I were eating monster blood and dirt on the Eastern Front, Erich was handling administrative work in the rear.

But that doesn’t mean he was living the sweet life at headquarters like other noble children. Of course not.

‘The cadet who wrote the supply plan. What was his name again?’

‘Erich Eismann, sir.’

‘Eismann! Good. Not from a magic noble family either. Bring that fellow to me right now. Tell him Western Front Commander Keiren Buckenheim really wants to meet him.’

‘Pardon?’

That’s right.

The ‘rear’ where Erich was assigned was the Western Front Operations Command under Keiren’s command.

After reading Erich’s assignment “General Theory on Imperial Army Supply Issues and Frontline Supply Planning,” Keiren immediately ran to the military academy and kidnapped Erich.

From that day on, Erich became Keiren’s faithful house-elf, being worked like a graduate student who couldn’t go home. What a heartwarming story.

‘Eu, Eugene…!’

That’s how Erich and I parted, and where we met again was right here on the Western Front.

When I met Erich again after three years, he looked like something between a zombie and a mummy as he clung to my feet and started crying.

“It was like hell…! Daily paperwork floods and emergency responses, and on top of that, assassins showing up at every turn…!”

“You’ve been through a lot too.”

“But thankfully, now that we’re working together, you won’t work me as hard as Lieutenant General Keiren, right?!”

Looking at Erich who asked with desperate eyes, I patted his shoulder as if to say not to worry.

Erich, who had suffered as Keiren’s slave, was now destined to suffer eternally as the supply officer of the Special Magical Power Unit.

Ah, thank you father for raising our Erich into such an excellent administrative slave and sending him to us.

Welcome, Erich.

There’s no paradise where you run away to.

“Haaah-! Mission complete!”

“Lower your voice, Ortega. We almost got discovered.”

“There wasn’t much movement from the Republican Army. Looks like they’re regrouping after their initial offensive.”

Following them into the operations room were Ortega, Matt, and Guille.

The three were drenched in sweat.

They had just returned from scouting the Republican Army trenches with some unit members they had selected.

It had already been a week since meeting these honorable first-generation Special Magic Unit members.

According to the three’s assessment, the unit members’ physical abilities were outstanding beyond question.

However….

“Something, something just isn’t right.”

“You felt it too? Indeed, the current unit members are…”

“Hmm….”

Though the three had spent all night training with the unit members, they all wore somewhat unsatisfied expressions.

“Why? Did they disobey orders? Or desert?”

“No, nothing like that.”

Common occurrences at the front.

When I asked that, the three slowly shook their heads.

“They follow directions properly and keep up well with training. But…”

“How should I put it, there feels like there’s a wall.”

“A wall?”

Despite appearances, these three had been rolling around battlefields since their cadet days.

They’d seen recruits crying over dead comrades, shot deserters trying to flee, and wallowed in alcohol afterward. They were veterans who had been through the thick of battle.

For guys like that to say this meant something wasn’t quite right.

As the two hesitated to continue.

“This is just my thought but…”

Guille, who was standing in the middle, slowly opened his mouth.

“It seems like someone who’s already leadership material has emerged among the unit members. They’ve already formed their own hierarchy, and it feels like they’re treating us merely as messengers who relay orders.”

“Ah.”

Now I understood.

Unit members selected solely based on magical power aptitude, ignoring all disqualifying factors like background and criminal history.

It might be called the ‘Special Magical Power Unit,’ but in reality, these people were barely even a military group.

A motley crew created by mixing criminals and misfits.

And I had to transform these people into a powerful armed force that could threaten the Knight Order and Magic Corps.

‘This is quite a high difficulty for a first mission.’

Though I thought that, it was too late to complain now.

I had already delivered this project to Keiren 4 years ago, and Keiren and the Emperor had made my nearly delusional plan a reality.

Now it was my turn to show results.

“I get it.”

What our unit members are thinking.

And how I should act.

“Guille. You said there were no unusual signs from Westraine?”

When I asked that, Guille immediately nodded.

“None. Intelligence reached the same conclusion.”

“Good. Perfect timing.”

At least we have some time.

Thinking that, I spoke to the officers looking at me.

“Let’s have an inspection, it’s been a while.”

“What’s with the sudden inspection?”

“He probably has something to say to those newly commissioned brats.”

“Shh! Shh! He’s coming up.”

I can hear all your whispering.

No, maybe they want me to hear it?

Thinking that as I climbed onto the platform, I could see all the unit members gathered at once.

“It’s your Company Commander. Seeing you all after a week, everyone looks good.”

As I said that while looking around at the unit members’ faces, clicking tongues could be heard here and there.

They probably found it distasteful that an officer much younger than them was acting like their superior.

They were excellent rebels indeed.

“I heard from the platoon leaders. Apparently, you don’t seem to see us as your superiors, is that right?”

“……”

“Pfft.”

The gathered unit members looked indifferent, as if it wasn’t their business.

Some even openly sneered.

This was a situation I had anticipated from when I first conceived the Special Magical Power Unit.

“Suddenly, let me introduce myself.”

I slowly began and spoke with a smile.

“My name is Eugene Lorentz. Rank of Lieutenant. I am a member of the Duke Buckenheim family, one of the 12 Great Magic Houses, and the adopted son of Lieutenant General Keiren, the Western Frontline Commander.”

The unit members’ expressions increasingly soured at my self-introduction full of showing off and bragging.

I know it’s painful, but bear with me a little. This is all build-up.

Thinking that, I spoke to the unit members.

“And you who have come under my command are byproducts that have fallen from your respective positions.”

“…!”

The occasional sneering sounds ceased, and a cold silence took their place.

I continued speaking without waiting for any response.

“From the Knight Order, from the Magic Corps. Or dregs that have fallen from this Imperial society.”

“…!”

“And you probably thought this unit you’re in is an incinerator for disposing of those dregs, right?”

From prisons, from detention centers, from jails.

Those who were transferred here from the Empire’s dumps and put in the unfamiliar uniforms of the Special Magical Power Unit.

Though none of them said it out loud, they must have all thought so.

“A suicide squad that supplies magic imprints and weapons to prisoners and pushes them to the front lines to fight until death.”

“…!”

“A disposable group of recycled criminals meant to kill as many soldiers as possible and be destroyed in a single battle!”

“Hey, Eugene…!”

Startled by my sudden words, Erich tried to stop me, but I continued speaking.

“Bugs gathered from riffraff to reduce the losses of the precious Knight Order and Magic Corps! Isn’t that what you thought?!”

“You son of a…!”

“Are you trying to mess with us?!”

Finally there was a reaction as I continued provoking from the platform.

Curses and shouts full of resentment. Curses aimed at me.

But the underlying emotion was none other than fear.

‘These guys must know too.’

A group like a time bomb about to explode, with magic imprints and weapons given to prisoners and criminals.

Coldly speaking, the only way to utilize such people would be as disposable resources.

“Get down here right now, you arrogant bastard!”

“Company Commander or whatever, I’m going to kill you right…!”

“Has any one of our officers ever said such things to you?!”

My raised voice cut through the jeers of the unit members.

“That you’re disposables! That you’re a suicide squad to be used and thrown away! Has anyone ever said even one such word?!”

“…!”

If we were going to make such disposables, we wouldn’t have gone through complicated preparations like giving magic imprints to the trio and testing them from the beginning.

We could have just mass-produced Elcidore’s magic imprints containing the Mark of Control, brainwashed all the criminals, and thrown them in. That would have been the end of it.

‘But that wasn’t enough.’

What I wanted was the complete downfall of the magic nobles.

What I needed for that wasn’t simply a group of battle maniacs throwing away their lives.

A new mage unit of the Empire to replace the Knight Order and Magic Corps.

An organized Imperial army formed to deal with the real enemies – Westraine and the monsters.

That’s what the Special Magical Power Unit I envisioned needed to become.

So…

“I’ll say it once more!”

I amplified my voice by activating my magic imprint.

The magnificent magical power emanating from the five-stroke magic imprint.

Though they felt fear at that terrifying power, the eyes of the unit members glaring at me didn’t die.

I liked those eyes very much.

“I am a member of the Duke Buckenheim family, one of the 12 Great Magic Houses, and the adopted son of Lieutenant General Keiren, the Western Frontline Commander. I am one of the Emperor’s closest confidants, holding the noblest status in the Empire!”

“…!”

“I personally gathered you all, and I will personally command you! Don’t you understand what this means?!”

I could see light dawning in some soldiers’ eyes.

I didn’t expect them to follow me immediately.

This was just a spark.

By lighting it, I would finally obtain my army.

“You will fight the Empire’s enemies together with me!”

My status. My position. The people backing me.

All the things I had built up during this long – or perhaps short – possession.

I proclaimed these things as I shouted to them.

“And at the end, we will become the Empire’s most glorious army!”

Among the confused soldiers, some soldiers let out cheers.

This much was enough.

Now that I had planted the spark, all that was left was to wait for the fire to rise.