Chapter 33

Upon hearing my words, Corporal Glendi went back to the soldiers with a face full of loyalty and delivered the orders.

…Throwing in some nonsense about how the Company Commander had shown incredible foresight.

While the soldiers prepared for battle with determined faces after receiving the orders, I climbed up a nearby hill with Lieutenant McCall.

To confirm if the intel Lieutenant McCall reported was accurate.

“Of course it’s you, Captain Daniel. There’s always a plan behind every move you make.”

…For some reason, Cadet Prien followed along too, but I didn’t particularly stop her.

Ignoring Prien’s chatter, I reached the top of the hill and received the binoculars from Lieutenant McCall.

“That way, sir Company Commander.”

When I turned the binoculars towards where McCall pointed, I could see an open area a bit far away.

In that open area, Royal Army soldiers in uniform were diligently preparing their camp.

After increasing the magnification on the binoculars and scanning around…

Several transport vehicles stacked with all kinds of supplies came into view.

They contained food, fuel, ammunition, medical and military equipment, radios and batteries, as well as barbed wire, sandbags, mines, and concrete for setting up defensive lines – they were brimming with them.

“…It’s definitely the supply unit.”

The number of soldiers exceeded 300. That’s battalion-level size.

“…But…”

This amount of large-scale supplies would correspond to at least a brigade or even a division level.

As far as I know, the only Royal Army force of this scale nearby is the Ironclad Division guarding the coastal city.

But that place has already been surrounded by the Imperial Army, so how are they planning to supply them?

Though curious, that wasn’t the most important thing right now.

Putting down the binoculars, I turned to Lieutenant McCall.

“There don’t seem to be many experienced in combat, am I right?”

“Yes. Judging by their ranks, most are new recruits. The veterans are either at the frontline or have mostly fallen, so the Royal Army had no choice.”

“In that case, it’ll be all the more convenient to cook them up. Cadet Prien?”

Prien looked at me with shining eyes. To be honest, it was a little unsettling.

“…You said you knew sacred music, right?”

“Yes. When I was younger, I used to be part of the church choir. I was even selected as a soloist!”

A soloist meant someone with exceptional singing skills and technique within the choir.

Well, the future Prien can infuse magic into her songs to empower soldiers, so it’s not surprising.

Of course, I couldn’t ask the current Prien to show off such skills.

She probably doesn’t even know exactly what her abilities are yet.

So there’s no other choice but to use what we can utilize right now to gain an advantage in battle.

“After all, if it’s a battle we can’t avoid, it’s best to minimize friendly casualties.”

Since that directly affects my own survival.

Having calculated this in my mind, I grabbed Prien’s shoulder.

“Cadet Prien. Your role in this attack will be crucial. Can you trust me from now on?”

There’s no better talent for deception tactics than Prien.

Prien’s blank expression quickly turned into a bright smile.

“Yes! For Captain Daniel, gladly!”

Dawn.

Taliyam, a Kingdom soldier standing guard with his comrades, stopped mid-yawn.

He could hear soft singing coming from beyond the forest.

At first, he thought he might have imagined it, but the song was getting closer.

“What the…?”

“Huh? It’s just one person… And unarmed…”

The woman walking closer while singing with her eyes closed was clearly wearing the Empire’s uniform.

There was no mistaking she was an Imperial soldier.

However, the uniform was covered in dirt in places and its ends were torn.

“A deserter?”

“Don’t know… But damn, that singing is amazing.”

Prien was singing sacred hymns.

With every step Prien took closer, the beautiful song praising the gods spread throughout the area.

For soldiers who lacked entertainment, this was quite stimulating.

Before long, the soldiers lowered their rifles and started listening to Prien’s performance.

Some even crossed their arms, completely forgetting about their rifles.

This wasn’t proper behavior for soldiers on watch duty, but no one pointed it out.

After all, it was just one weak woman without any weapons.

And she seemed like a deserter anyway.

Seeing no need to stay vigilant, the guards started chatting among themselves.

“Reminds me of old times. When I went to church with my parents as a kid, they always sang these kind of hymns.”

“Yeah. This war needs to end soon so we can go home. Damn Empire bastards…”

“But what should we do with her? She walked here on her own, maybe trying to defect?”

“Don’t know. But before reporting to the battalion commander, why don’t we taste her first? She looks pretty decent.”

As the soldiers chatted and snickered about what to do with Prien, she got closer and closer.

Taliyam, who had been chatting with the others, suddenly felt something odd.

“…Wasn’t the forest darker than usual?”

The area behind the woman approaching the campsite was unusually dark.

Normally, you’d at least be able to make out vague shapes, but it was like everything was hidden behind a curtain.

Feeling something was wrong, Taliyam tapped the shoulder of the soldier in front of him.

“Hey, isn’t this strange? The forward vision is too dark.”

But the soldier just chuckled.

“Taliyam, you coward bastard. You worry too much. Today’s clouds are hiding the moon, that’s why it’s darker than usual.”

No, that couldn’t be it. He’d stood guard countless times before.

As Taliyam started feeling uneasy, he looked around at the other soldiers, but they were all deeply engrossed in talking about home and women.

Just then, Prien arrived right in front of the camp and finished her song.

Thanks to that, the guards’ attention focused back on Prien.

“Fellow soldiers of the Kingdom who’ve joined hands with the United Nations.”

Prien smiled sweetly with her honeyed voice.

“May you all fall straight into hell.”

At that moment, Prien simultaneously retracted the mana she had scattered like a curtain behind her.

Then what was revealed were two hundred Imperial soldiers.

Every single one of them had their rifles perfectly aimed at the Kingdom soldiers.

“Wha-!”

That’s when Taliyam realized.

Prien had used magic to amplify her singing voice purely to mask the sound of two hundred soldiers’ footsteps.

But realizing mistakes too late is useless.

As the guards froze in confusion, Daniel spoke with his dry voice.

“Fire.”

The moment those words left his lips, flashes erupted from the rifles of the Imperial soldiers.

Bang bang! Boom!

The sound of gunfire woke Colonel Henry Fuera of the Supply Brigade.

Wondering what the noise was, no adjutant came to report.

As he blinked dazedly, the gunfire continued.

“Wha, wha…!”

Realizing something finally, Henry hastily put on his uniform, grabbed his pistol, and rushed out of the command tent.

The scene outside the tent left him utterly shocked.

Flames and smoke were spreading everywhere.

Black-uniformed Imperial soldiers could be seen occupying the campsite amidst the chaos.

Whenever soldiers rushed out of the military tents upon hearing the gunfire, they were instantly killed by the Imperial soldiers’ bullets without even getting to scream their final cries.

“What… What is this…?”

Had the Imperial Army discovered their supply route? How? Why?

His mind couldn’t process the shocking situation.

As Henry’s eyes darted around, he noticed a man approaching the command tent.

Amongst the cacophony of screams and shouts, a black-haired Imperial officer was walking elegantly.

Something about his appearance seemed familiar. Then Henry noticed the Gold National Order of Goryeo medal pinned on the officer’s chest and immediately recognized him.

“Danielle Steiner…!”

Isn’t he the hero worshipped by the Empire?

Henry trembled with fear as he raised his pistol and aimed it at Daniel.

“Don’t come any closer, you monster!”

Daniel stopped in his tracks.

As they faced each other in silence, Daniel slowly moved his lips.

“If you wish to kill me, shoot. I won’t stop you.”

“Do you think I can’t shoot you!?”

“No. You can definitely do it. But what will happen to your soldiers if you kill me?”

Henry’s hand shook.

Because he understood what Daniel was implying.

“An empire army without command will be no different from wild oxen. They’ll try to kill all the Kingdom soldiers here. But we can change that terrible future.”

Daniel’s voice sounded like the devil’s temptation.

“Commander, order your surrender immediately. Then I’ll also order my troops to cease fire. Please think about your subordinates. Think about the sorrow their families will share.”

Make the decision while you still can to save more lives.

That serpentine rhetoric made Henry grit his teeth.

It wasn’t wrong. Stubbornly insisting on resistance out of sheer stubbornness would only result in everyone dying pointlessly.

Though Henry wasn’t especially competent, he wasn’t an incompetent commander either.

As Henry let out a low sob and lowered his gun…

He had no other choice.

“Surrender…”

Henry dropped his pistol as his hand went limp and muttered.

“…I surrender.”