Chapter 35
After arriving at the division headquarters in the forward base with the prisoners, Daniel sent the wounded soldiers to the medical unit and unpacked.
After catching his breath, Daniel wanted to have a glass of officers’ supply liquor (whiskey) to ease the fatigue built up in his body, but the timing was not right.
“Captain Daniel Steiner? The Division Commander requests your presence.”
Without even having time to rest, Daniel nodded and followed the Division Commander’s aide to the temporary operations center.
The exterior was intact, but once he went inside, stone fragments and pieces of wood lay scattered throughout the corridors.
At first glance, it was completely different from the splendid yet tidy corridors of the General Staff Headquarters, which reminded him of a hotel.
‘Well, they did drive out the Kingdom soldiers who had originally been stationed here and occupy the building…….’
He could hardly complain that the cleaning had been inadequate.
In the first place, demanding cleanliness on a battlefield where bullets were flying was practically insane.
As Daniel walked along, forming a few impressions of the temporary operations center, he eventually arrived at the operations command post on the third floor.
The aide knocked and announced Daniel’s arrival, and a voice from inside called for them to enter.
The aide nodded once and opened the door, allowing Daniel to see Major General Felderahm seated at the head of the large table beyond it.
Felderahm, whose massive frame made the broad table look small, was staring at Daniel with his thick eyebrows raised.
He was intimidating enough on his own, but countless high-ranking officers were also seated in a row around the table.
The lowest-ranking officer among those present was a major.
It would be fair to say that all the shining stars within the division headquarters had gathered here.
He felt as though his breath were being caught in his throat for no reason.
Heinrich caught his eye and subtly raised a hand in greeting, but Daniel found it nothing but uncomfortable.
Suppressing an inward sigh, Daniel walked into the command post and gave a crisp salute.
“Division Commander! I heard you called for me!”
Felderahm let out a low chuckle and returned his salute.
“Yes. I called you in to cross-check whether the radio operator’s report was accurate. According to the report, you attacked an enemy supply battalion, killed 135 men, and captured 192. Is that true?”
Daniel shifted to an at-ease position and answered while looking straight ahead.
“I was merely lucky.”
“Enough with the modesty. There are too many things that luck cannot explain. More importantly, Captain Daniel Steiner, have you discovered the enemy’s supply route?”
The supply route? He had merely intercepted the supply battalion on the way. He did not know the route itself.
“I’m sorry, Your Excellency. I don’t know the route.”
“Is there a chance we could learn it by interrogating the battalion commander of the supply battalion you captured?”
“From my conversation with him, he seemed like a strong-willed man. Even under severe torture, I doubt he would be likely to divulge any information.”
Groans arose from various parts of the room at Daniel’s answer.
With everyone desperately trying to discover the enemy’s supply route, Daniel’s answer was perfectly suited to disappoint them.
But no one here dared to criticize Daniel.
The accomplishments he had achieved shone too brightly to be obscured by a few disappointing words.
“I like your honesty. You’re much better than the other staff officers who are all talk.”
After glancing once around the people seated at the table, Felderahm looked at Daniel again.
“Then, Captain Daniel, tell me what supply route you expect the enemy to be using. I don’t mind if it’s only a guess. I want to keep every possibility open, regardless of the direction.”
Everyone’s eyes focused on Daniel.
Amid the heavy silence, Daniel thought,
‘Wait a moment. If I spout nonsense here…….’
He would not merely disappoint the Division Commander; he could also leave a bad impression on every field-grade officer present.
Wouldn’t this be the perfect opportunity to send his performance evaluation plunging into the abyss?
There could be no better opportunity. After taking a deep breath, Daniel blurted out whatever came to mind.
“An underground tunnel…… In other words, a tunnel beneath the ground.”
The command post stirred at the suggestion that the enemy’s supply route was an underground tunnel.
A colonel who appeared to be a regimental commander narrowed one eye and spoke.
“Now, Captain Daniel. Isn’t that joke going a little too far? The distance from the point where you attacked the supply battalion to Nordia is approximately 58 kilometers. Are you saying a tunnel that long exists?”
It seemed that they could accept the possibility of an underground tunnel, but had never imagined one could be that long.
If they knew that Vietnamese soldiers had built underground tunnels stretching 250 kilometers, they would probably faint on the spot.
But to people who had never experienced the Vietnam War, an ultra-long underground tunnel was not merely unfamiliar—it belonged to the realm of the unknown.
“Common sense makes it difficult to believe that an underground tunnel 58 kilometers long exists!”
“But the enemy is receiving supplies without any naval or air support. They’re doing so despite breaking through our airtight encirclement! An underground tunnel would explain everything!”
“No matter how solid an encirclement is, it must have gaps. It’s more realistic to assume they’re moving back and forth through one of those.”
The officers around the table began arguing back and forth.
Daniel, who had unintentionally provoked the argument, could do nothing but sit awkwardly in silence.
As their voices gradually grew louder, Felderahm raised a hand to restrain them.
“Enough. Let’s hear more of Captain Daniel’s reasoning. Is there a reason you’re certain the enemy’s supply route is an underground tunnel?”
There was no reason. But if he wanted to make one up, he could invent as many as he liked.
“The enemy soldiers were all lightly armed. It was as though they never expected to encounter the enemy. If they had been supplying their forces by breaking through our encirclement, the soldiers should have been heavily armed.”
“That isn’t sufficient reason.”
“I agree. However, every one of those lightly armed soldiers was carrying a portable flashlight. It was as though they wanted to move through dark places as quickly as possible.”
Flashlights? It was not strange for a soldier to carry a portable flashlight, but portable flashlights were not included in the standard gear of Kingdom Army supply units.
“Hmm.”
As Felderahm tapped the table thoughtfully, Daniel spoke.
“If the enemy really did use an underground tunnel to transport supplies, you must order a search operation immediately. This is an obvious opportunity.”
“Why do you think so?”
“After subduing the supply battalion, I inspected the unit and found that they had radios, but all the batteries had been removed. They probably did so to avoid interception.”
Everyone present knew that the Imperial Intelligence Department had seized control of the Kingdom Army’s communications.
The Empire had also succeeded in perfectly deciphering the Kingdom Army’s coded messages, so the Kingdom Army was currently extremely reluctant to use communications equipment.
Then why was this an opportunity? As Felderahm pondered the question, he arrived at a vague realization.
‘The enemy’s supply route…… could become our invasion route!’
Since a battlefield was full of all sorts of variables, it was normal for supplies to be delayed by a day or two.
It was also common for supplies to arrive as much as a week late.
Since the supply battalion had avoided communications, the armored division in Nordia would only know the simple message from the logistics headquarters that ‘supply support has departed.’
That meant they probably did not know that the supply battalion had been attacked by the enemy.
What if they took advantage of this gap to locate the underground tunnel, sent in a magic mobile forces brigade, and marched all the remaining division’s forces toward Nordia?
‘……It will fall!’
He could almost see Nordia, that supposedly impregnable city, falling with incredible ease.
Exposed to enemy attacks from both inside and outside, the Nordia Armored Division would surely raise the white flag without putting up any meaningful resistance.
Felderahm shuddered at the truly devilish tactic.
Felderahm’s hands trembled with excitement, but he soon regained his composure.
‘The tactic is perfect. But this is a matter of possibility.’
It meant that the tactic could only work if everything Daniel Steiner had said proved correct.
Frankly, he could not believe every word of a mere captain serving as a staff officer.
‘But…….’
It was an issue worth placing a wager on.
“……Very well. Captain Daniel Steiner, I’ll choose to believe you this once. I’ll order every available personnel, including the search battalion, to thoroughly search the area near where the enemy supply battalion was located.”
“It is an honor to have earned Your Excellency’s trust.”
Daniel spoke seriously, but inwardly he was smiling.
‘An underground tunnel? That’s absurd.’
To be honest, Daniel’s opinion was similar to that of most of the officers around the table.
Using an ultra-long underground tunnel to transport supplies was not remotely reasonable. It was clearly absurd.
It was more realistic to assume that a hole had been opened somewhere in the encirclement and that the enemy was using it to transport supplies by land.
‘Even if there happens to be an underground tunnel…….’
Unless the Kingdom Army were idiots, they would have hidden it thoroughly, so it would not be easy to find.
‘As a result, I’ll become the one responsible for throwing the Imperial Army into confusion…….’
His performance evaluation would plummet, and he would easily earn the Division Commander’s resentment.
Then he would be able to cover up the ‘competence’ he had stumbled into with ‘incompetence.’
Thinking that he might even be able to take off his uniform if he was lucky, Daniel smiled faintly.
Felderahm drew a sharp breath when he saw that.
‘He’s smiling? Is he really that confident in the operation he proposed?’
Even capable staff officers normally grew anxious at the thought that their guesses might be wrong, but Daniel was smiling instead.
And he was doing so while discussing the massacre of the enemy that would follow if the operation succeeded.
As a result, Felderahm felt his impression of Daniel change completely.
‘The headquarters elite staff officer? The hero of the capital?’
Those were laughable titles.
Felderahm stared at Daniel and formed a fierce smile.
In Felderahm’s eyes, Daniel Steiner was an excellent warrior who hungered for blood.
*
Late at night.
The division headquarters’ subordinate search battalion.
“Are there really underground tunnels nearby?”
“I don’t know. They told us to dig, so we have to dig. Honestly, I don’t believe it either……”
The search battalion’s soldiers grumbled as they walked on.
Headquarters had suddenly ordered them to search the area where the enemy supply battalion had been captured, and they had already been wandering around the vicinity for six hours.
Yet they could barely find even animal burrows, let alone an underground tunnel.
Just when they began wondering how long they would have to continue this ridiculous task,
Thud…….
A sound like stepping on metal rather than earth tickled their ears.
They looked down to see what it was, but the object was covered by branches and countless leaves, making it impossible to tell what they had stepped on.
“What is it? Why did you stop?”
“No. Didn’t you hear that just now? I think I stepped on something. I-Isn’t it a mine?”
“What? Fuck! Wait a second. Don’t take your foot off it!”
The soldier carrying his rifle on his back knelt down and cleared away the branches and leaves around his comrade’s foot.
What was revealed was not a mine, but a massive metal door.
The soldiers stood blankly for a moment, then exchanged glances and backed away.
“Could this be…….”
After silently coming to the same conclusion, the two men grabbed the handle protruding from the metal door and opened it.
A pitch-black interior spread out before them.
“Flashlight. Turn on the flashlight.”
The soldier nodded, raised his flashlight, and pressed the power button.
Click─
The light spread out in a fan, illuminating a staircase leading underground.
At the same time, the soldiers froze in shock.
There was no room for doubt.
“This is…….”
The Kingdom Army’s underground tunnel that the division headquarters had ordered them to find.