Do Your Own Revolution

Chapter 61



#061

“How is it? Can you see anything?”

“Yes, sir. The Republic bastards are swarming all over.”

At an Imperial Army observation post on the Western Front.

In response to the senior soldier’s question, a soldier operating the telescope connected to the observation balloon answered with a horrified expression.

“Three more armored trains seem to have arrived. They’re packed with weapons and ammunition.”

“These persistent bastards. We’ve killed so many, yet where did all these crawl out from?”

That was the Republican Army for you – kill one, three would crawl out; kill three, nine would walk out.

Overwhelming numbers, and the overwhelming resources to sustain those numbers.

If it weren’t for superhuman groups like the Knight Order and Magic Corps, the Empire would have long since been trampled under their military boots.

And now, with revolutionary winds blowing within the Empire.

The mages who protected them were leaving the front lines one by one.

“At this rate, I wonder if we’re really going to lose… Huh?”

Just as he was muttering that.

When he spotted an alien object in the center of his view, the observer’s eyes immediately widened.

“S-Senior, what… is that?”

“What do you mean ‘what’? I taught you all the names of Republican Army equipment, didn’t I? Did you forget already?”

“No, that’s not what I mean…”

“Aish!”

The sergeant roughly pushed his junior aside and put his eye to the observation equipment.

“Stop stammering and speak properly! Just what did you see…!”

But his shouting didn’t last long.

The senior soldier’s eyes widened instantly when he saw the image output on the observation equipment.

“I-Insane…”

Red-painted armored trains with bear emblems carved on them.

And bizarre shadows disembarking from those trains one after another.

Boom- Boom-

It felt like he could hear their footsteps even though they were kilometers away.

Large mechanical bodies made of steel, heavy artillery mounted on their shoulders.

Heavy machine guns attached to both hands, and the red bear emblem carved in the middle of their bodies…!

“Contact headquarters! Hurry!”

“W-What?! We still have three hours until the regular report time…”

“That’s not the issue right now!”

The panicked senior soldier barked at his junior who still hadn’t grasped the situation.

“It’s the 1st Guards Armored Division! The Republic’s Armored Infantry! The Red Bear has been deployed to our front!”

“A-Ah…!”

Armored Infantry.

Upon hearing those four syllables, the junior soldier finally started running frantically toward headquarters.

“Fuck… fuck…!”

The arrival of the Armored Infantry that should be at the central battlefront had a simple meaning.

It meant that an unprecedented Republican offensive was about to begin right here.

The soldier’s hands trembled as he gripped the observation equipment.

“They said this was just a small-scale front line on the outskirts, what’s going on all of a sudden…!”

The higher-ups who received the report would probably be in chaos too.

Soon, an officer with a pale face would come running to verify if they saw things right.

As the senior soldier continued watching the observation equipment in preparation for that moment, he suddenly doubted his eyes.

“Wait. What’s that now?”

The Armored Infantry disembarking one after another from the red armored trains.

Some of them were pulling chains, dragging something massive out of the train cars.

Covered in red plating, with all sorts of restraints and mechanical devices embedded…

A four-legged beast?

“No, not a beast. That’s…”

Tentacles writhing between the steel plates.

And that distinctive glow between the eye sockets.

Upon confirming that, the color drained from the soldier’s face.

“Could that be… a monster?”

***

“Grooooar-!”

Thud-!

A massive body over 3 meters tall collapsed to the ground with a scream.

It looked like five human limbs had been dismembered and reassembled like a Power Rangers combining robot.

Tentacles covering that body, along with slime and blood coating almost every inch.

It was a monster that had emerged from a rift formed on the outskirts of the front line.

“Search mission complete.”

“Whew!”

“Damn, we almost died…”

After that lukewarm first meeting, I and the members of Special Magical Power Unit 1 had to endure insane amounts of work.

Though not as bad as the Eastern Front which had been completely devoured by monsters, this Western Front was also part of the contaminated zone – aftermath of the previous Great War.

Dig a trench and you’ll find a monster that’s made its nest underground, search a forest and instead of wild animals, you’ll get a 10-year-old monster playing peek-a-boo – it was one of those otherworldly hellscapes.

But why dig trenches in such an insane place, you ask?

When such doubts arise, you should think in reverse.

Most of the western border region was land so contaminated you couldn’t breathe without a gas mask.

This place where monsters popped out from time to time was actually the safest space to station troops.

‘Thanks to that, at least we don’t have to worry about the Republican Army pushing in from the side, so I guess that’s fortunate.’

Whenever I think about this, I’m reminded again of just how mentally deranged this game world’s setting is.

And the most deranged of all are the humans who keep waging war without rest even while the world has become like this.

Crunch- Crunch-

While I was withdrawing the troops who had completed their mission, Irene’s tentacles protruding from my shadow started devouring the dead monster’s corpse.

Eat up lots, Irene.

Grow big and strong so you can crush all these humans.

Just give me the monster core later.

“So, what’s next on the schedule?”

“Commander’s meeting in two hours. They said everyone must attend without exception.”

“Everyone without exception, meaning the Knight Order and Magic Corps too?”

“Yeah. Direct orders from Major General Beckier.”

A meeting presided over by the division commander must be quite significant.

Thinking that, I immediately turned my steps toward the central meeting room.

“Lieutenant Eugene Lorentz. Reporting in.”

“Have a seat. Knight Order members, this way.”

“Very well.”

The meeting room was already filled with numerous field-grade officers.

The reason a mere lieutenant like me could be here was because I led the unique military unit called Special Magical Power Unit.

‘Of course, the fact that I’m Keiren’s adopted son probably has something to do with it too.’

One of the Emperor’s closest confidants.

And an Imperial military genius who, just as in the last Great War, was single-handedly holding back Westraine’s offensive on the entire Western Front.

Regardless of what the Knight Order or Magic Corps might think, Keiren’s position within the Imperial Army was absolute.

As his adopted son, I too was receiving corresponding expectations.

“As you all know, after we blocked their last major offensive, the Republican Army seemed to be laying low for a while.”

Following the staff officer’s voice leading the meeting, several black and white photographs quickly passed by.

Burning Republican airships and Republican soldiers collapsing under artillery fire.

These were photos from Westraine’s large-scale offensive a few months ago.

“Haha. Even thinking about that operation now…”

“Without being completely insane, it was truly an unthinkable strategy! Good thing it succeeded…”

“It succeeded, so isn’t that what matters? All thanks to Lieutenant General Keiren’s insight…”

Some expressed admiration. Others jeered.

The Knight Order commander and officers each added their opinions as they recalled that time.

‘Rapid front line breakthrough using mobile units, simultaneous deployment of engineering corps to lay railways, and indiscriminate bombardment from armored trains that bypassed the front line using those railways.’

This ridiculous operation planned by Keiren caught the Republican Army off guard, and Westraine’s first offensive failed miserably.

Of course, they had to completely burn precious armored trains and railways in exchange, but it was a cheap price to pay for stopping the first major offensive.

As I had experienced in the game, it was a tactic that completely overturned common sense.

“However, despite inflicting such losses… the Republican Army is preparing for a second offensive.”

The staff officer who said this immediately showed the next photograph.

“T-That…!”

“The Armored Infantry Unit, why are those guys who should be at the central front…”

What appeared in the photo was a massive body over 2 meters tall, armed with thick armor and heavy weapons.

The Westraine Armored Infantry that I was quite familiar with from the game.

Moreover, that red bear emblem carved on their chest…

‘Klaus Medvedev. One of the Revolutionary Army’s collaborators.’

“Such numbers of Armored Infantry, I’m speechless.”

While I was thinking this, a voice came from one side of the meeting room.

“Division Commander Beckier. Withdraw the front line to the rear immediately.”

A man wearing not an Imperial Army uniform, but elaborate blue clothing.

It was Viscount Rylen Backford, commander of the 3rd Knight Order of Sutherland dispatched to this front.

“Mind your tone, Lord Backford. The authority to move Imperial troops lies with Division Commander Major General Beckier. Such commanding tone…”

“If you don’t move, our Knight Order will completely withdraw from this front.”

Before one of the field officers could finish speaking, Viscount Backford’s bombshell statement swept through the audience.

“Even if we withdraw the front line, we’d only lose a few civilian villages we’ve been using for supplies, right? I don’t think it’s that big a loss…”

“Reconstruct the trench lines? Preposterous! Do you know how long it would take to rebuild trenches of this scale…”

“That’s for the Imperial Army to worry about. What does it have to do with the Knight Order?”

“What did you just say?!”

“You dare open your mouths when you eat and sleep in trenches we dug…”

“Then try stopping those Armored Infantry without the Knight Order! Wouldn’t that solve everything?!”

“You people really…”

Ah, here we go again with this nonsense.

Starting with Viscount Backford, his subordinate knights and the field-grade officers started bickering back and forth.

The meeting room had already devolved into an emotional argument.

A heavy sigh escaped Major General Beckier’s lips as he watched this.

“N-No, that won’t do, Division Commander!”

Just as the chaos between the Imperial Army and Knight Order was about to begin, a voice burst out from among the field officers.

A skinny man with a lieutenant colonel’s rank insignia.

With his large glasses and haggard face, he reminded me of Erich who would be buried under paperwork at company headquarters.

“Lieutenant Colonel Midwell. What is your reason?”

The division commander, who had been observing the increasingly noisy situation, questioned for the first time.

Lieutenant Colonel Midwell, visibly tense, swallowed hard before speaking.

“Th-The villages we use for supplies! We c-can’t abandon the people living in those villages.”

“Villages?”

“Villages? Why bring that up suddenly…”

Questions erupted from both the Knight Order and other Imperial Army officers.

Nobody seemed to understand what he meant.

But the lieutenant colonel, having found his voice, collected himself and continued speaking.

“The p-people living in those villages aren’t just ordinary civilians. They’re local collaborators who have lived in the Republic border region for decades, providing us with terrain information and supply routes!”

“Hmm?”

“Hooh, now that you mention it…”

Hearing this, Major General Beckier rested his chin on his hand, lost in thought.

Watching his silent, closed-eyed expression, Lieutenant Colonel Midwell desperately squeezed out his voice.

“M-Moreover! The villagers already have a history of collaborating with the Imperial Army and have even received Imperial citizenship! If the Republican Army comes in, they’ll all…”

“Haah…”

But that didn’t last long.

Viscount Backford, who had been silently listening, let out a sigh.

“I’m at a loss for words. Major General Beckier. Since when did the Imperial Army become such a humanitarian organization?”

“…”

The major general’s brow furrowed as he listened with his eyes closed.

“Are you saying we should face those Armored Infantry to save a few dozen local collaborators? In this situation where we’re outnumbered both quantitatively and qualitatively?”

“With the Knight Order’s cooperation, we can maintain the front line!”

“But that process will consume a considerable number of knights. You’re saying we should expend the Empire’s most crucial fighting force to save a few local collaborators? Is that the Imperial Army’s will?”

The knights’ cold gazes turned toward Lieutenant Colonel Midwell.

“T-That’s…”

Watching this, I let out a brief sigh.

To be honest, they weren’t wrong.

Withdrawing the front line and waiting for reinforcements before restoring it, or concentrating forces on another front.

For the Imperial Army, that would be far more beneficial.

‘If it weren’t for the Revolutionary Army being an unstable factor, that is.’

Villages abandoned by the Imperial Army’s retreat during the war between Westraine and the Empire.

The villagers, betrayed by the Empire in an instant, would naturally be consumed by revenge against the Empire.

Then, after the Imperial Army leaves and Westraine’s invasion is imminent…

‘The Revolutionary Army will end up protecting these people.’

Villages abandoned by the Imperial Army.

Revolutionary Army saving the villages.

Revolutionary newspapers spreading this fact, and trust in the Imperial Army hitting rock bottom.

It was a familiar situation.

In [Revolution Empire]’s main story, the Revolutionary Army gained the support of Imperial citizens by repeating exactly this routine.

While the war was a crisis threatening the Empire’s existence, for the Revolutionary Army it became a perfect opportunity to win over public sentiment.

‘Moreover, if Klaus has appeared here… We don’t have time. We need to eliminate them as soon as possible.’

Armored Infantry Corps Commander, Klaus Medvedev.

Also known as Westraine’s Red Bear.

If not eliminated in the early story, he’s a promising monster who grows to rival the 12 magic nobles.

A hardcore republican who can’t even consider being won over or cooperating with the Empire.

Meeting him this early in the war was rather fortunate for me.

“Lieutenant Eugene Lorentz. Permission to speak, sir.”

Taking advantage of a moment of silence, I requested permission to speak from Major General Beckier.

“How impudent! A mere lieutenant daring to interrupt a meeting of commanders and knights…”

“I apologize, but…”

Where’s that dog barking from.

Though one of the knights sneered, I pushed back without backing down.

“I requested permission to speak from Major General Beckier, my commanding officer. I don’t think this is a matter for civilian organizations like the Knight Order to interfere with.”

When I emphasized the words ‘civilian organization’, the knights’ expressions immediately turned hostile.

“What did you…”

“Speak, Lieutenant.”

The major general’s permission came faster than the knights could get riled up.

As expected of an officer chosen by Keiren, his skill at managing situations was impressive.

Thinking this, I slowly opened my mouth.

“Our Special Magical Power Unit has over 200 magical power awakeners, all of whom possess two stroke or higher magic imprint.”

“W-What? 200?!”

“Wait a minute. What’s this suddenly…”

The knights’ expressions turned to bewilderment at my words.

Their surprise was natural.

This unit’s existence was one of our special secrets.

“Therefore, Major General. Please withdraw the Knight Order as they requested.”

“…!”

Savoring the speechless knights’ gazes, I addressed Major General Beckier.

“Our Special Magical Power Unit will hunt down the Republic’s bear.”

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

Tip: You can use left, right, A and D keyboard keys to browse between chapters.