Chapter 34
After Henry, the enemy commander, declared his surrender, the battlefield was quickly brought under control.
Caught off guard by the unexpected ambush, the Kingdom Army soldiers lost all will to fight and fell to their knees. The officers, apparently convinced they could no longer turn the situation around, also gave up and surrendered themselves as prisoners of war.
“Move quickly, you damn rats!”
“Under normal circumstances, you’d all be dead by now! Be grateful to your merciful Company Commander!”
As was customary for soldiers on the victorious side of a battlefield, they shouted at the prisoners while herding them along.
‘Why are they creating such a hostile atmosphere…….’
Just as Daniel, frowning, was about to step forward and say something, Lieutenant McCall approached him.
“Company Commander! We’ve finished counting the personnel!”
“Good. What about casualties on our side?”
“Of the 207 men, 16 became casualties. Four were killed, while the other 12 suffered only minor injuries.”
They had subdued a battalion-sized force, yet only four men had been killed.
Even taking the success of the operation into account, it was an astonishingly favorable casualty ratio.
A hollow laugh escaped Daniel before he knew it.
“This is troublesome…….”
He had managed to distinguish himself while carrying out operational support, which was definitely a problem.
If things continued like this, General Staff Headquarters would make Daniel the commander every time it organized a unit for operational support.
That was one of the situations Daniel wanted least of all.
That was why he had been smiling wryly to himself, but Lieutenant McCall interpreted it differently.
‘Even after achieving such a magnificent feat, he’s still not satisfied……!’
For Lieutenant McCall, it was a level of thinking so lofty that he could hardly comprehend it.
It became clear that Daniel had not been given the titles of General Staff Headquarters’ ace and the capital’s hero without reason.
As Lieutenant McCall watched him with awe, Daniel let out a low sigh.
“Now let’s prepare to head for the outpost. Tell the entire force that we’ll depart after a short rest.”
Daniel would have liked nothing more than to spend several more days circling around the area before joining up, but now that they had captured prisoners, they could no longer delay.
If one of the prisoners broke his bonds and escaped while they were dawdling, it would be disastrous.
In the worst case, the Kingdom Army might even send a mobile force to rescue the supply battalion, so it would be safer to join the outpost as quickly as possible and ensure their safety.
“Yes! I’ll relay your orders, Company Commander!”
McCall shouted energetically, then left for the place where the soldiers were gathered.
As a result, Daniel was left alone. He absentmindedly turned his gaze and spotted Prien leading the Kingdom soldiers.
Prien was speaking softly with a smile, while the Kingdom soldiers gasped for breath in terror.
‘What on earth is Prien saying to the prisoners…….’
Daniel was worried that Prien might violate international law in wartime.
Even when planning the raid the previous day, Daniel had dismissed Prien’s suggestion that approaching the enemy dressed like a civilian would make them easier to deceive.
For the record, disguising oneself as a civilian and attacking the enemy was clearly a war crime.
When Daniel explained that, Prien had looked genuinely curious and asked, ‘They stopped being human the moment they joined hands with the Allied forces, so how could this be a crime?’ The thought had sent a chill down his spine.
‘At least Prien’s on our side.’
If the enemy had a nationalist lunatic like that, dealing with them would be extremely troublesome.
Turning his gaze from Prien, Daniel looked at Lucy.
As she had at General Staff Headquarters, Lucy was escorting the prisoners in a businesslike manner.
Daniel had wondered whether Lucy might resent the attack on the Kingdom Army, an ally of the Allied nations, but Lucy’s expression was calmer than he had expected.
In fact, when one of the prisoners had just resisted and charged at Lucy, Lucy had knocked him unconscious by clubbing him over the head with the butt of her rifle.
Daniel could not tell whether Lucy was merely putting on a calm act or genuinely did not care about the Kingdom’s destruction, but for now, he was relieved.
‘At least I won’t have to worry about getting shot by Lucy for the time being.’
The Allied side probably regarded the Kingdom as little more than a disposable pawn, so they would not go out of their way to help it.
Relieved inwardly, Daniel lifted his head as he felt the world gradually brighten.
He could see the sun slowly raising its head above the ridge in the distance.
It was the first light announcing the arrival of morning.
*
Outpost on the Nordia front.
Division Headquarters, temporary operations center.
“Something’s wrong. The aerial reconnaissance results show no sign of their supplies dwindling.”
“Indeed. By now, their supplies should have been running dry…….”
Three regimental commanders, a brigade commander, and numerous battalion commanders and staff officers were seated around the large table in the headquarters operations center.
The division commander, the highest authority at Division Headquarters, had summoned them under the pretext of holding a tactical conference.
【6th Magic Armored Division Supreme Commander / Major General Felderahm, Division Commander】
Seated at the head of the table with a stern expression, Felderahm listened carefully to what they had to say.
At the same time, he racked his brains over why they had been unable to capture the coastal city of Nordia.
‘The Northern Army Group’s advance northward was easy. Before even two weeks had passed since the start of the advance, they had occupied territory amounting to three-tenths of the Kingdom.’
It had been nothing short of a lightning advance.
Believing they could sweep aside the Kingdom at this rate, the military high command spared no support, and thanks to that, the Imperial Army continued to receive reports of victory.
However, the Imperial Army had now run into an obstacle.
The Kingdom Army’s resistance had grown so fierce that the front could no longer be pushed farther north.
Consequently, General Staff Headquarters had issued orders to capture the coastal city of Nordia.
The plan was to capture Nordia, a strategic stronghold, and thereby make movement by sea easier, allowing them to attack the Kingdom from both directions.
It was an excellent plan. Since no one had raised an objection, Felderahm had successfully encircled Nordia with his division.
After successfully encircling the city, Felderahm devoted every effort to cutting off the Kingdom Army’s supply routes leading into Nordia.
The reason was simple.
The moment supplies to a besieged city were cut off, it would be plunged into panic and exhaustion.
Not only would the morale of the soldiers and civilians fall, but social order would collapse, allowing epidemics and disease to spread.
If everything went well, they might even secure the enemy commander’s surrender.
It was the ideal way to achieve the greatest victory while minimizing friendly casualties.
‘But…….’
Things had not gone as planned.
The Kingdom Army’s armored division stationed in the coastal city of Nordia had suffered no interruption to its supplies.
That was what puzzled Felderahm.
With the help of the Imperial Air Force, which had successfully secured air superiority, they had already sunk enemy supply ships traveling by sea several times.
On land, his armored division was guarding the area thoroughly—without leaving even enough room for an ant to pass through.
Yet the Kingdom Army’s armored division was still receiving supplies on time.
Troubled by this succession of absurd circumstances, Felderahm turned toward Brigade Commander Heinrich.
“Heinrich. Can you even guess what’s going on here?”
Unfortunately, Heinrich shook his head.
“I have no idea how they’re managing to receive supplies, either. But Headquarters says it has sent a staff officer to help us, so perhaps we should wait a little longer.”
“……A staff officer to help? Ha. Don’t tell me you mean that Daniel Steiner.”
Having spent years with the Northern Army Group, Felderahm also knew of Daniel Steiner.
It would have been strange if he had not, considering all the uproar Daniel had caused in the capital.
But Felderahm did not trust Daniel in the slightest.
He found it hard to believe that Daniel had amassed so many achievements in only half a year.
‘No doubt the capital manufactured him into a propaganda hero.’
He was most likely a hero artificially created by the capital to raise the conscription rate.
Of course, Daniel had personally been responsible for some of those incidents, but common sense made it difficult to believe that every one of his actions had not been fabricated.
Felderahm understood Headquarters’ desire to secure more soldiers, but even so, weren’t they granting Daniel far too much credit?
‘Besides…….’
What Headquarters needed now was not some eloquent staff officer, but a capable warrior who could produce results.
‘They’re sending a mere greenhorn staff officer as operational support.’
Just as Felderahm, disappointed in several respects, was about to sigh,
“D-Division Commander?”
It was the soldier who had been standing nearby on radio watch.
When Felderahm turned to see what was happening, the soldier spoke with a dazed expression.
“Captain Daniel Steiner’s company has arrived here. But apparently there are casualties. Of the 16 casualties, four are dead and 12 have suffered minor injuries……”
What? They had suffered 16 casualties in something as simple as a march, four of them dead?
Even if they had made a forced march, it was difficult to understand. They had dawdled so badly that they were six days past the original arrival date, yet had still suffered 16 casualties?
‘What a pathetic commander……!’
He was the sort of commander who should never be sent onto a battlefield.
Just as Felderahm was thinking that he would hold Daniel accountable and send him back to the rear when he arrived,
“And……”
The radio operator swallowed hard and spoke as though he could not believe what he was saying.
“The company led by Captain Daniel Steiner found and subdued an enemy supply battalion on its way to join Division Headquarters. We have a report that, out of the supply battalion’s 327 personnel, 135 were killed, while 192, including the battalion commander, were captured……”
Silence fell over the operations center, where opinions had been flying back and forth.
‘……What?’
Faced with such an absurdly impressive result, Felderahm and every other officer gathered in the operations center stood there dumbfounded, their mouths hanging open.