The next morning, by imperial decree, my confinement in the detached palace was formally lifted.
“His Imperial Majesty has said he will transfer Lord Ian Harper’s affiliation to the military.”
“……”
“I, too, have been ordered to end my guard duty and return to the military. It seems we’ll be seeing each other in the command building from now on.”
Amber, who had brought me the news, let out a deep sigh with a bitter expression.
I owed Amber a great deal, so I quietly apologized.
“…I’m sorry for deceiving you all this time, Sir White.”
“No… It’s all right. I’ve heard the circumstances, and… it’s not as if I don’t understand. Still, the fact that I was deceived makes me a little sad.”
Amber shook her head slightly and turned away first.
“…I think it will take some time before I can be as close to Ian as I used to be. I’m sorry. I’m the sort of person who gets hurt easily by things like this.”
“……”
“I’ll see you in the military.”
And so, my affiliation was transferred not to the Crown Prince’s Office, but to the headquarters of the Imperial Military.
From the comfortable life of a civil official in the imperial palace, I had been driven overnight into the jaws of death.
My position was special advisor.
As for my status, since I was not a soldier, I had no rank—but in truth, I was no different from an ordinary enlisted man.
‘Special advisor, my ass. That’s just a nice way of saying I’m serving in the ranks without rank…’
Moreover, now that I had been branded as the fake prince who had made a fool of the great empire, I would have no excuse even if the people in the military treated me with every sort of contempt and ridicule—perhaps even outright lynching.
I steeled myself to endure that much and moved my feet.
But the military’s reaction missed my expectations completely.
“Oh, you’re here! Ian Harper!”
“Hahaha! So you’re that gutsy fake prince, are you?”
The moment I opened the door to headquarters and stepped inside, burly officers covered in scars clapped me on the shoulder and burst into hearty laughter.
Flustered, I blinked.
“……Um, you must all know who I really am. Do you not hate me?”
“Hate you? Bullshit! Maybe those bookish bastards who play politics would make a fuss, but soldiers like us don’t care about that sort of thing.”
A general with a sword scar across his face laughed loudly and slapped me hard on the back.
“To protect your family and the people of your homeland, you put your one life on the line and crawled right into the heart of an enemy nation. A man ought to have at least that much guts and loyalty! In our military, we value a real man who risks his life to protect his family, like you, far more than some cowardly little shits with noble blood who hide behind others. Isn’t that right, men!”
“Yes, sir!”
I was moved by the rough and fiery welcome unique to the military, so far removed from the damp intrigues of the political arena.
If anything, I was grateful for this atmosphere where the barbarous temperament peculiar to nomadic peoples still remained.
“Everyone, quiet down. Do you think the operations conference room is a marketplace?”
Just then, with the sound of military boots, Victoria entered the headquarters.
Her face, which had been covered in blood only the day before yesterday, had healed cleanly as if nothing had ever happened.
She looked at me and gave a slight nod in welcome.
“You’re here, Ian.”
“Your Highness.”
“Welcome to the military. Now that you’ll be joining the expedition against the Kingdom of Laurent, you should at least know what kind of enemy we have to break through. Intelligence planning officer?”
At Victoria’s call, a middle-aged staff officer with sharp features approached and saluted.
“You called, Your Highness?”
“Yes. Before the meeting begins later, brief Ian on the Kingdom of Laurent. We can’t have him sitting in the meeting knowing nothing.”
“Understood. Lord Harper, this way.”
The man led me to a table where a large map of the continent was spread wide.
“I will brief you on the Kingdom of Laurent, which we must strike this very spring. If there is anything you do not know, ask at any time.”
He pointed with a baton to a vast mountain region in the western part of the continent.
“Do you know how to read a map?”
“Roughly.”
“Good. This is the Kingdom of Laurent. A great kingdom that rules the enormous mountain ranges and basin lands in the west of the continent.”
On the map were drawn the massive mountain lands that encircled the western continent like a folding screen, and in the very midst of those rugged mountains, a vast and fertile great basin hidden within.
“The Kingdom of Laurent is blessed with terrain in which all its lands except the north are surrounded by enormous natural mountain ranges. Even the north, where there are no mountains, is blocked by a snow-covered plateau more than three thousand meters above sea level.”
“My God. I’d heard it was a natural fortress, but I didn’t think it was to this extent… Still, since the land isn’t that large, its population can’t be very high.”
“Not at all. Its territory is on the smaller side, but its productivity is absurdly high, so the population is absurdly large. Lord Harper, do you happen to know roughly how large the empire’s population and territory are?”
“I believe the population is roughly seventy-five million. Its territory takes up seven-tenths of the entire continent. I heard the north accounts for about two-tenths… so this place is about one-tenth?”
“That is correct. And yet its population exceeds fifteen million. That information is probably from around ten years ago, so it may be even higher now.”
“My God. Even the entire population of the north combined is less than ten million, isn’t it?”
“Exactly. The land is narrow, but the weather is warm and bountiful all year round, and because it is surrounded by mountains, water is abundant. Farming can’t help but thrive, and so the population is that large.”
“Fifteen million people living gathered together on such a narrow patch of land? That’s an incredible population density.”
At my question, the staff officer nodded gravely.
“Now I will explain how to attack the Kingdom of Laurent. Across the entire continent, there are only two entrances through which one can enter Laurent. And at both of those places stand natural mountain fortresses.”
The chief of staff moved his baton and indicated the two routes.
“The first is a path that circles all the way around the plateau region in the northern part of the continent and then heads south. The advantage of this route is that there is only one enemy fortress blocking the way. If we break through there, we can advance directly into the heart of the Kingdom of Laurent.”
“Then shouldn’t we go that way?”
“Getting there itself is the problem. The route of march to that place is an extremely harsh plateau region more than three thousand meters above sea level. It is difficult even to breathe, and it is cold and arid, making it impossible for a large army to move while maintaining supplies. Furthermore, it borders the northern grand duchy, so there is a fatal risk that, if things go wrong, we could be attacked from the rear by the northern army. The Grand Duke of the North being allied with the Kingdom of Laurent is essentially an established fact.”
“……”
“That is why the second entrance, the one our imperial army has traditionally chosen—and the one we must advance through this time as well—is the route that passes through the western plains.”
The chief of staff pointed to a section on the map that passed through a broad plain and narrowed into a gap in the mountains.
“The weather here is mild, and wide flatlands continue right up to the walls situated between the mountains. It is the optimal road for a large army to advance, and maintaining supply lines is very easy as well.”
Judging only from the chief of staff’s explanation, the western route seemed far more reasonable.
“The problem is… in exchange for convenient supplies, there are two formidable walls there that we must break through.”
He unfolded a detailed diagram enlarging the terrain on the map.
“Even if we somehow capture the first wall after crossing the plains, that is only the beginning. What lies beyond that wall is a region that exists solely to protect the first wall—nothing more than a very small basin wedged between the mountains.”
“A military city, then. What about the second wall beyond it?”
“In order to enter the great basin where the capital of the Kingdom of Laurent and its fifteen million people reside, we must pass through that narrow little basin and once again scale the enormous second wall lodged in the deepest part of the mountains.”
“So their defensive line is double-layered. Then, in our empire’s past expeditions, did we usually suffer defeat because we failed to break through the second wall?”
At my innocent question, not only the officer explaining things to me, but also the other generals gathered in the conference room all fell into a bitter silence at once.
“I will explain from here.”
“Ah, Chief of Operations!”
The Chief of Operations, who had approached at some point, spoke with a bitter expression.
“……It is shameful to say, but over the past two hundred years, our great empire has attempted dozens of conquests of Laurent—and not once have we even managed to get past the first wall. We have always been forced to shed blood while merely battering the bricks of the first wall, then withdraw.”
“……”
“His Imperial Majesty, who assigned you here, said that you are a creative and brilliant man. Someone who sees what we cannot see, or thinks of something new. So, I ask you to do that here as well.”
I looked down at the map.
Troops that would have to begin on the plains and be forced into the narrow gap between enormous mountain ranges.
Layer upon layer of massive double mountain fortresses.
An absolute defensive line that the mighty army of the great empire had hurled itself against for two hundred years without even opening the first gate.
The emperor was now pushing me forward, telling me to go and capture this absurd iron fortress.
And if I failed, I was to repay it with my death.