Side Story 2

[Translator – Angel Dust]

[Proofreader – Prototype]

Side Story 2

“Hmm.”

Hmm. Uh-huh.

“Fucking hell.”

I’ve tried so hard not to use that kind of language for a while now.

I’ve returned from being a sergeant in the Imperial Army to being the son of House Adelheit.

The people around me are no longer those who casually engaged in crude banter.

They are nobles who must adhere to a certain level of decorum and etiquette.

The language and behavior accepted in the military are not suitable for the esteemed company I now keep.

So, as soon as I left that world, I shed all traces of it.

“This is absolutely fucking ridiculous.”

But even so, this time, I just couldn’t hold back.

I think I underestimated those damn fools.

There’s no way they would have done this otherwise.

* * *

“...Your Majesty?”

One day, after my niece’s first birthday celebration had concluded, the Emperor suddenly summoned me.

As soon as I greeted him, he said—

“You know, brother-in-law, I had hoped that my reign would be a time of peace.”

He had hoped his reign would be a time of peace. That means it’s no longer the case.

I gulped involuntarily at the Emperor’s shocking words.

“Your Majesty, is there something happening that I’m not aware of?”

“Something happened a short while ago, brother-in-law. I didn’t want to inform you, but I figured it’s better to tell you in advance since you’ll find out eventually.”

A chill ran down my spine.

A sense of dread washed over me, like a stain I couldn’t wash away.

Please, no. Not now. My niece’s birthday just ended, and I’m in my final year.

I don’t want to get dragged back into this.

I don’t want to worry about other things. No, to be honest, I was hoping that there wouldn’t be any other trouble I’d have to deal with.

“We’ve received a top-secret report from the Special Task Force. It seems the South is becoming turbulent again.”

“...”

“If it were just the South, I wouldn’t be this worried. It’s inevitable that their discontent will resurface eventually, so it might even be better for it to happen sooner rather than later.”

However, this time is different. Sounding the trumpet of war isn’t just about that level of mobilization.

It means deploying all of the Empire’s regular forces to the front lines, and gathering recently discharged soldiers to form a reserve force, ready for deployment.

“Fortunately, if this incident turns out to be the work of some anti-Imperial agitators within Avileshti, and if Lasker wisely chooses not to break their ties with us, then we’ll finally be able to put an end to the Great Forest War.”

In other words, they’re saying to hell with the elves’ sovereignty and intend to push the Imperial army beyond the Great Forest, deep into the south, to crush all resistance.

The elves will fiercely resist, but that will be ignored.

The Empire has come to believe that problems should be solved with force rather than dialogue.

The elves who complain about this will be the ones who become rebels, so the Empire is convinced that it’s in their best interest to crush them all at once.

“The important thing here is that there’s only one thing left to do.”

Yes, this is where it really begins.

The reason the Emperor summoned me. The reason he’s telling me all this.

It’s not just a simple explanation of the situation. Even though he’s my brother-in-law, he wouldn’t tell me such important information for no reason.

There’s something I have to do. Something I can do well.

Something only I can do, that’s what the Emperor has decided.

“Unfortunately, the Empire is now desperately seeking peace.”

Sometimes people have a big misconception. They think that martial artists are violent. No. It’s just a job. No one becomes a martial artist because they want to beat people up.

People also have another misconception. They think that a country that has been constantly at war will always want war.

People there have become so numb to it that they’re always ready to fight, or so they say.

‘No.’

That’s not true either. Those who have experienced more battles are the ones who shy away from conflict.

Many of those who advocate for peace after a war are veterans.

They know war better than anyone, and they don’t want others to experience its horrors.

It’s only been a few years since the gunfire ceased in the Southern Great Forest.

If another war starts now, the war fatigue among the Imperial citizens could become severe.

Even if we have justification, it becomes meaningless if the people are psychologically exhausted.

“But in the end, we must take away the candy of peace from them and give them the poison of war.”

“...”

“I’m truly sorry to ask this of you, brother-in-law. Please understand.”

There’s only one way to mitigate the inevitable war weariness that will grip the nation.

It’s to use me, the war hero the Empire has recently been promoting.

That way, we can achieve a storm-like result in a short war.

More importantly, until we’re certain, more than half of the Empire’s Imperial army can’t be in the South.

Instead, they need to be vigilant about the movements of Lasker and Avileshti.

[Translator – Angel Dust]

[Proofreader – Prototype]