Three days later, at a special military tribunal temporarily convened in the Elancia City Hall.
The judge advocate's resounding voice echoed through the chamber.
"Defendant Valery! Do you admit to the charges of bombing the Grand Cathedral of Elancia and committing arson in the residential districts of innocent citizens, resulting in countless casualties?!"
The atmosphere of the courtroom was not merely solemn—it was utterly grim. The gallery was packed not only with high-ranking generals of the Imperial Army, but also figures from the interim government including Henri du Dubois, and representatives of Elancia's citizens, their faces seething with fury.
But the defendant himself, Valery...
"Shh, shh... Quiet, keep quiet... He might hear us..."
He was in a grotesque state, to say the least. Bound tightly to a chair, his unfocused eyes stared into empty space.
"The light's getting in... Close the door. Close the cabinet door! Close it! Close it, I said...!"
It was sheer incoherent rambling. The ringleader of the brutal terrorists who had spearheaded an armed uprising in the heart of the Republic, attempted to assassinate the Imperial Princess, and ultimately reduced even the thousand-year-old cathedral to ashes.
The onlookers watched him with a mix of horror and revulsion.
'Status Analysis.'
[Name: Valery]
[Status: PTSD, Ego Collapse, Claustrophobia]
'He's completely broken.'
"Defendant! Answer the question properly! Do you think you can escape the gallows by pretending to be insane?!"
"I-I'm not insane... That thing is watching from beyond the wall. Listening to everything..."
The judge advocate, massaging his temples as if nursing a headache, finally raised his gavel.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sound of the gavel striking down with irritation.
"Although it is deemed impossible to conduct a proper examination due to the defendant's state, the evidence of his anti-humanitarian terrorist acts and treason is already overwhelming. Therefore, this court finds further proceedings unnecessary!"
The sentence followed.
"For the crimes of treason, arson, terrorism, and mass murder, the defendant Valery and the twelve ringleaders of the Revolutionary Army... are all sentenced to death by hanging! The sentence will be publicly carried out tomorrow morning in the square before the ruined Cathedral!"
"No! Don't! It's coming! The thing is coming—aaaaagh!!"
Even until the last moment, as he was dragged away by the military police, Valery continued his frantic struggle.
And so, the trial concluded. The Revolutionary Army's atrocities were met with the gallows.
But the citizens of Elancia were not satisfied with that verdict alone. They poured out into the square, hurling stones at the revolutionaries being led away.
"Those demon spawn who burned my house! Kill them now!"
"Hanging? The noose is far too generous a treatment for those bastards! Drag them out here immediately!"
"Death is a luxury for you scum...!"
'Status Analysis.'
[Status: Boiling bloodlust, rage about to erupt, desire for revenge.]
I silently turned my steps toward the temporary detention center where the transport vehicles were heading.
In front of the detention center, a sea of citizens brandishing clubs, stones, and torches had already gathered.
"Lieutenant Colonel!"
The commander of the military police company who was controlling the scene spotted me and rushed to render a sharp salute.
"The citizens' resistance is too fierce! If you give permission, I will fire warning shots and forcibly disperse them!"
"No. Lower your firearms."
I gave the order.
"Withdraw the troops. Leave only the minimum administrative personnel inside the detention center, and order the rest of the military police to return to their barracks and rest."
"B-but the security will be breached...! If the enraged citizens storm in, we won't be able to stop—"
"That can't be helped. Our troops' fatigue from the days-long mop-up operation is extreme. We cannot waste stamina unnecessarily."
The military police commander's eyes widened.
"Let us judge those insane bastards with our own hands!!"
"Uwaaaaah—!!"
"Imperial Army, don't block our way!"
Beyond the windows, the citizens' shouts surged like a tidal wave. The commander made the same decision I had.
"I-I will carry out the Lieutenant Colonel's orders!"
My task complete, I slipped out of the detention center building. The shouts of the citizens, realizing the cordon had been lifted, pounded against my eardrums.
"It's breached! The Imperial Army has opened the way!"
"Drag them out! Drag those insane bastards out!!"
Crash! Shatter!
The flimsy barricades collapsed, and the first-floor windows of the detention center shattered to pieces.
"G-get away! Don't come near! I-I'm not here...! Don't come aaaaagh!!"
"Save my daughter, you demon spawn!!"
"Is this the revolution you spoke of?! Beat them to death!"
Thwack! Thwack! Crack!
The dull, rupturing sounds of clubs pulping flesh and stones crushing bone.
Revolution (革命).
To change (革) fate (命). The grandiose word's end, ultimately, was being trampled into bloody chunks of meat beneath the feet of the very people they had so desperately sought to save.
I approached my dedicated adjutant, Hanna, who had been waiting on the outskirts of the detention center.
"...Is this how it ends?"
She murmured.
"Honestly... aren't they bastards who deserve far worse than just dying like this?"
"As if. You think they'll die just like that?"
I gestured with my chin toward the detention center.
Thwack! Thud!
Even through the wire fencing, the sound of the collective lynching was clearly audible.
"The citizens of Elancia aren't fools. They'll know to hold back on their own."
"...So that they suffer for a very, very long time?"
"Naturally. Anyway, the situation is over. Let's return."
"Yes, Lieutenant Colonel."
And so, we made our way out onto the streets.
It was already late night, the moon high in the sky. The streets of Elancia, shimmering under the moonlight, were a scene of utter devastation.
The Grand Cathedral, now transformed into a colossal stone tomb. And the black sewage and muddy torrents sweeping through the streets, all because of the floodgates those bastards had destroyed.
The mop-up operation against the Revolutionary Army had succeeded, but the problems they had left behind were only just beginning.
'Status Analysis.'
I used the skill on the citizens who had been driven out onto the streets.
[Target: Citizen A]
[Status: Loss of Residence]
[Target: Citizen B]
[Status: Malnutrition, Exposure to Contaminated Water]
[Target: Citizen C]
[Status: Fatigue, Low-grade Fever & Abdominal Pain]
My brow furrowed of its own accord. It was more serious than I'd thought.
"Cough, cough...!"
"Mom... My stomach... it hurts so much..."
Early symptoms of waterborne disease. Having drunk contaminated water and slept amongst the filth, it was a natural outcome.
At this rate, an epidemic would break out... and Elancia, which the Empire had barely managed to take control of, would be laid waste.
"Ugh, the smell..."
Hanna, walking beside me, pinched her nose and grumbled.
"Lieutenant Colonel, is this really alright? Just breathing makes me feel like my lungs are rotting."
"How could it be? The underground floodgates of the Cathedral have burst, and now the entire city has essentially become one giant septic tank."
"Ugh... Anyway, I saw Captain Elise earlier when we passed by the medical corps..."
Hanna shook her head wearily.
"...She was practically half-dead. Looked like she hadn't slept a wink for days and nights on end."
"...Good grief."
My personal physician.
"It seems impossible to return immediately, then."
I promptly turned my steps.
"...? Lieutenant Colonel, where are you going? The newly arranged temporary quarters are..."
Hanna followed, bewildered. I answered briefly.
"The hospital."
"Huh...?"
*
Elancia Central Hospital.
Upon arrival, the inside of the hospital was an uncontrollable scene of utter pandemonium.
"Please help! My child!"
"Doctor! Where's a doctor?! I tell you, he's burning up with fever!"
"Ah, please don't push! Didn't I say we'll see you in order?!"
Citizens showing early symptoms of waterborne disease from drinking contaminated water, and Imperial Army wounded from the mop-up battle, were all tangled together in a chaotic frenzy.
Pushing through the dense crowd, I opened the door to Elise's private examination room.
"......"
The scene inside the examination room was devastating in a different sense from the chaos outside.
"Next... next patient... please state your symptoms..."
On the desk, empty cans of military-issue instant coffee and paper cups were piled up literally like a mountain range. Beyond that coffee mountain, a half-glazed Elise was clutching a chart and nodding her head in a constant, bobbing daze.
'Status Analysis.'
[Name: Elise von Kleist]
[Status: Extreme Sleep Deprivation, Overwork, Caffeine Poisoning]
[Emotion: I wish someone would just knock me unconscious.]
The rational and elegant Medical Corps Captain was nowhere to be found.
In her place was a zombie who looked like she might keel over from overwork at any moment.
"Captain."
When I approached and tapped lightly on her desk, her unfocused brown eyes looked up at me.
"Oh my... Lieutenant Colonel..."
Her voice was drawn-out and infinitely lethargic.
"Today... isn't your scheduled examination day... Don't tell me the mana congestion has returned...?"
"It seems your eyes are too bleary from the sheer number of patients, Captain. That's a problem for later."
I said with a dry laugh.
"At this rate, the medical officer is going to be carried off from overwork before the patients."
"Haa... That really might be true..."
Elise buried her face in both hands and let out a deep sigh.
"Look outside. Because of those insane rioters, the drinking water source has been contaminated, and patients with stomach aches and low-grade fevers are flooding in. At this rate, an epidemic will spread uncontrollably..."
Uncharacteristically for the usually rational woman, complaints poured out. It must mean she had reached her limit.
"What do you need most right now, Captain?"
"Right now? It doesn't matter what... Whether it's the ridiculously insufficient manpower, or medical supplies, or anything..."
I nodded my head, then gestured to Hanna, who was waiting outside the door.
"Hanna."
"Yes, Lieutenant Colonel!"
"Contact the military police and the engineers by radio immediately."
With that, I strode out of the examination room and into the corridor that had become a pandemonium.
'Captivating Eloquence.'
[Skill 'Captivating Eloquence (Lv.3)' is activated.]
"Everyone, attention!!"