Chapter 20
After indirectly hearing a death threat through the CCTV, I went to the office and ordered Lucy to stop working.
Afterward, I finished lunch with Lucy, showed her the facilities available to officers at General Staff Headquarters, and returned to the office.
I handled most of the afternoon's work myself.
The reason was simple.
I had a feeling that if I dumped more work on Lucy, I might really get killed.
It was unlikely, but if Lucy, driven mad by an excessive workload, pulled the revolver from the holster at her waist and fired, I would be in serious trouble.
So from now on, I planned to go about my work in a way that would provoke Lucy as little as possible.
“Captain.”
After we had finished all of the afternoon's work, Lucy organized the documents and looked at me.
“It's time to leave work.”
Had it really gotten that late already?
I raised my head and looked at the wall clock. As Lucy had said, the hour hand was pointing to six o'clock in the evening.
I wanted to leave General Staff Headquarters humming a tune, but there was no way I was going home with Lucy. Who knew what she might do?
“Go ahead. I'll stay behind and do some additional review……”
“Then I'll stay too and help you, Captain.”
“……I was going to say that, but I think it would be better to leave work. Let's go.”
Clearing my throat, I stood up, draped my officer's coat over my arm, and picked up my briefcase.
Lucy also finished getting ready to leave and stood up.
I opened the office door and stepped into the hallway, with Lucy naturally falling into step beside me.
Carrying a briefcase and walking just like me, Lucy suddenly tilted her head in puzzlement.
“Captain? You don't look well. Is something wrong?”
It was all because of you, you crazy bitch!
That was what rose to the roof of my mouth, but I endured it with superhuman patience.
“My stomach's just a little upset. Don't worry about it.”
After saying that, I maintained my silence and walked outside General Staff Headquarters.
I walked all the way to the eaves, then slowly came to a stop.
It was raining. Not a downpour, but a delicate drizzle falling softly from the sky.
At that, Lucy, who had come up beside me, said in a troubled tone,
“It's raining. The weather service said it would be clear all day……”
“Pathetic.”
Even the weather service in a much more distant future occasionally gets its forecasts wrong, so trusting today's forecast and failing to bring an umbrella was foolish.
“An Imperial officer must always be fully prepared for worsening weather.”
I pulled a folding umbrella from my briefcase.
After thinking for a moment, I held the umbrella out to Lucy.
“Take it. I don't want my direct subordinate to look like an idiot going home in the rain.”
“Pardon? But……”
“Don't make me say it twice.”
Keeping things professional while showing a reasonable amount of kindness was the quickest route to prolonging my life.
Lucy looked at me in surprise, then raised both hands and accepted the umbrella.
“I'll make good use of it, thank you. But are you really sure? If I take the umbrella, you'll have to walk home in the rain.”
“There's a spare in my office. I'll just go get it.”
In fact, there was no spare.
Still, I lied because I wanted to avoid walking under the same umbrella as a spy.
Lucy gave me a meaningful look, then nodded and opened the umbrella.
“Then I'll see you tomorrow.”
Lucy bowed her head and walked away.
I watched Lucy's retreating figure and let out a sigh of relief.
‘I survived.’
Sharing an office with a spy who might kill me at any moment was unbelievably exhausting.
‘That aside……’
Now I had no choice but to stay at Headquarters until the rain stopped.
Just as I was considering handling tomorrow's work in advance since I was stuck at Headquarters, it happened.
A steam-powered vehicle with a long bonnet and a slim body drove in from the distance.
It was a modern-era car reminiscent of the Doble Model E, but since it had been released more than twenty years earlier even in this era, it was regarded as obsolete.
Once internal-combustion vehicles became popular, only old men or cheapskates drove something like that.
And as far as I knew, the owner of that car possessed both traits.
Screeeech─
The vehicle drove up to the building entrance and came to a clean stop.
The person in the driver's seat was, unsurprisingly, my superior, Colonel Ernst.
Ernst got out of the car and was about to enter General Staff Headquarters when he spotted me and broke into a bright smile.
“Oh! Captain Daniel! I was just looking for you—what an incredible coincidence!”
“……Did you say you were looking for me?”
“Yes. Didn't I say I was going to speak with someone from the Imperial Household? I received a wonderful proposal there! You'll be happy to hear it too.”
I was already getting anxious.
Secretly breaking into a cold sweat, I asked,
“What do you mean by a wonderful proposal?”
“You've heard that the Imperial Household is holding a banquet to celebrate the Northern Army's victory, haven't you? Very graciously, they've sent invitations to both me and you.”
“Pardon? No…… I can understand inviting you, but why invite me to the banquet?”
I was asking sincerely, but Ernst lightly poked me in the side as though he had taken it as a joke.
Perhaps because he had received an invitation from the Imperial Household, he looked to be in an especially good mood.
“My, my, you've gotten so used to being modest, haven't you? With all the achievements you've racked up, how could the Imperial Household not invite you? So don't worry about it and come along with me.”
……This was a problem. I genuinely didn't want to go. I wasn't joking.
As far as I knew, if it was a banquet celebrating the Northern Army's victory, a terrorist attack would surely take place.
I didn't know exactly what kind of terrorist attack would occur.
It had merely been written in one line in the game's historical chronicle.
In any event, I wanted to stay as far away from unknown danger as possible.
But there was no way an ordinary captain could refuse an invitation from the Imperial Household.
Was there no way out? As I racked my brain, I looked at Ernst like someone clutching at straws.
“Chief. I don't know whether you'll believe me, but I have an allergy to the Imperial Household. It's an illness whose symptoms worsen whenever I see noble and exalted personages. So could I perhaps not attend……?”
Ernst frowned, unusually for him.
There was a faint look of disgust in his eyes, like that of a teenager hearing a dad joke for the first time.
“Captain Daniel.”
“Yes.”
“Please don't say something so absurd.”
“……Yes.”
With the atmosphere this subdued, I didn't think I could express my desire not to attend any further.
Thus, regrettably, my attendance at the banquet was confirmed.
*
Meanwhile, at the Imperial Eisenkrone Palace.
Second floor of the Imperial Library.
“Your Highness.”
Selvia, who had been deciphering ancient documents with several books spread across the desk, raised her head.
An old soldier stood there in a uniform bearing a golden-wing insignia on the shoulder. He was Lieutenant Colonel Hartmann Edelstein, the princess's chief bodyguard.
Having confirmed who had called her, Selvia lowered her gaze and turned the page of the ancient document.
“What is it?”
Her tone was cold. It also meant that she was engrossed in interpreting the ancient document and did not want to be interrupted.
But this time, Hartmann could not simply let it pass.
“The chief lady-in-waiting in charge of your wardrobe asked me to speak with you. She says it will be difficult to prepare for tomorrow's banquet when Your Highness has no interest in dressing up and stays in the library all the time.”
Selvia let out a low sigh.
“Then tell the chief lady-in-waiting that studying tactics and strategy during the time spent dressing me up would be several times more beneficial.”
“Your Highness.”
“Hartmann. I have no intention whatsoever of becoming eye candy for the people attending the banquet. We only managed to push the Allied Nations back in the north, yet they're holding a celebration……”
Selvia trailed off and shook her head as if it were ridiculous.
“If it were up to me, I would have put the money spent on the banquet toward national defense. What on earth is Father thinking?”
A smile appeared at the corners of Hartmann's mouth.
Her attitude was so humble that it was difficult to imagine such thinking from someone born to lead.
However, her dislike of socializing could bring disadvantages in the long term.
“Your Highness. Banquets are the foundation of social relations, and social relations are politics. Moreover, broadly speaking, a nation is an assembly of people. Excessive socializing may turn the people against you, but having no social life at all could turn the aristocracy against you.”
Historically, those praised by only one side do not last long.
“The one who rules over both factions and holds them beneath his feet is the emperor—a leader who commands the most powerful army in the world. Do you understand what I'm saying?”
He was not wrong, but she still wasn't keen on it.
As Selvia resisted through silence, Hartmann spoke as if he had just remembered something.
“Ah. Come to think of it, I hear Captain Daniel Steiner will be attending this banquet as well. You're acquainted with him, aren't you, Your Highness?”
At the name Daniel Steiner, Selvia's shoulders flinched.
─ If my death can save your life, that alone is enough for me. A soldier exists to protect the people of his country, after all.
Even now, his words remained unforgettable in her mind.
There was no harm in keeping him close. If possible, she wanted to make him an ally.
Selvia let out a single cough and closed the ancient document.
“……All right. Call the chief lady-in-waiting. I suppose a little dressing up wouldn't hurt.”
She spoke matter-of-factly, but Hartmann could see that her ears had turned faintly red.
‘It seems Your Highness is not particularly adept at hiding her feelings.’
Could it be that a talent named Daniel Steiner had pleased her so much?
With a subtle smile, Hartmann nodded.