A few hours later.
Southeastern coast of Victoria Island.
Wreeeeeee-!
A raucous air raid siren suddenly blared across the peaceful coastline.
Without a moment to react, an imperial bomber squadron emerged, slicing through the sea mist and swarming in. As if mocking the camouflaged anti-aircraft positions, they slipped through the blind spots at low altitude.
"Bombs away!"
Hundreds of high-explosive bombs tore through the air in unison.
KABOOOOOOM-!
A massive radar structure bent like taffy.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tang-!
The AA batteries belatedly opened fire, but against an enemy who had calculated everything, it was futile.
The lead aircraft leisurely turned away after reducing the radar station to ashes. And the follow-up bomber squadron brazenly approached the AA positions.
Shwooo- BOOM! BANG!
A colossal blaze that engulfed the shoreline flared up, sending up vast heat shimmers.
*
Tap-tap-tap-tap-
New Continent Victoria Colony, Provisional Intelligence Bureau.
The ceaselessly ringing telegraph finally stopped. The communications officer handed over the decrypted message.
"Director. A communication from the Empire."
Sidney's eyes rapidly scanned the paper as she received it.
『Second Air Corps air raid a great success. Sector D-4 enemy radar base and air defense network annihilated.』
"Hah..."
The moment she confirmed the words, a deep sigh escaped her involuntarily. The eight agents who gave their lives. Their sacrifice was not in vain. The first button for the fatherland's reconstruction had been fastened without incident.
But her gaze stiffened at the next sentence.
『Additional information: Half of the coordinates provided by the Party were enemy ambush AA traps. At the suggestion of Jaeger Combat Group Commander, the Imperial Army anticipated this in advance, bypassing the AA network's blind spots to strike, suffering zero casualties.』
"......"
Sidney's two fists tightened fiercely.
'Traps...?'
Sidney had believed this was the correct answer. Not just the agents' sacrifice—she had cross-verified this intelligence several times.
'Half of the coordinates provided by the Party were enemy ambush AA traps.'
Yet the sentence sent from the Empire cruelly, dryly informed her that her efforts had been in vain.
Just then, the communications officer beside her spoke in a rather excited manner.
"Director, the Empire has expressed gratitude for our agents' sacrifice and bravery. They said the provided intelligence allowed them to completely neutralize the enemy's air defense network... and hope for such close intelligence sharing in the future..."
But the communications officer's voice did not reach Sidney.
'Still not enough.'
She bit her lip tightly.
She had lost her homeland due to her own incompetence. And half of the intelligence she had bled her heart out to extract, in an attempt to somehow make amends, was false.
'I... the same mistake...'
Profound self-loathing.
She had to admit it. The position of a nation's 'Intelligence Director' was too much for her, still young.
A past where all her predecessors were purged and she, much younger, rose to director. Thinking back now, even that had been Galich's cunning scheme from the start, when he was the Civil Labor Party leader.
Setting up a politically immature, easily controlled chess piece.
The result was disastrous. When she first took the director's seat, the Intelligence Bureau was a mess of parliamentary checks and internal division. No training, no equipment, no intelligence, no personnel—nothing.
All she had was youthful recklessness.
So she gave her all in everything. Always personally commanding the field, standing at the vanguard of operations, living a painful life in a foreign land. She even endured that bastard Max Jaeger's filthy harassment with her own body.
And she lost her country. So focused on keeping the Empire in check, she failed utterly to predict the Londinium riots or the betrayal of the capital's defense forces.
And even now.
『...were enemy traps.』
From beginning to end, Sidney Welsley was dancing in the palm of Prime Minister Galich.
'How on earth did he know?'
But Max Jaeger, the Imperial Army Lieutenant Colonel, was different.
He saw through the intelligence she had painstakingly believed to be perfect in an instant. Not stopping there, he cautiously re-verified it, perceived the enemy's trap, and led the operation to a 100% flawless success.
In the void left by self-loathing, an inferiority complex crept in.
"Haah."
Sidney shook her head, forcing it away. Pressing her heated glabella with her fingers, she steadied her breathing.
This was no time for idle self-reproach. Her homeland was destroyed, the mainland fallen to the reds. The only lifeline left was the Empire.
Stripping away all personal feelings, Max Jaeger was, in a word, a genius.
He was someone she needed to get close to, cooperate with, and even benchmark to emulate in order to restore the fatherland.
Suddenly, the humiliating memories of what she had endured from him flashed through her mind.
The memory of sneaking into his room disguised as the maid Elly and being toyed with. That horrible, sticky moment when she had to endure degrading sexual service to preserve her virginity.
"Director?"
But at the communications officer's call, Sidney immediately pulled on the cold mask of the Intelligence Director.
"Reply to Imperial Command."
Her voice was without a single tremor.
"Tell them we will immediately activate the intelligence network to the next phase."
*
Radar base destroyed, enemy air defense network neutralized and traps seen through.
The Imperial Air Force's success was merely the start of an enormous avalanche.
"Entering target area airspace! Bombs away!"
"Release! Release!"
"Drop everything-!"
KABOOOOOOM-!
The Imperial Army was, literally, on a roll.
Dozens of bombers crossed the strait and bombarded the Victoria Island coast. The targets were the enemy's remaining air defenses and military logistics facilities.
"Enemy aircraft sighted! Nine o'clock!"
Each time that happened, allied interceptors marked with red stars swarmed up like flies. But, as before, one-sided hunting was impossible.
Dudududududung-!
"Target confirmed, engaging!"
The Imperial 109 fighter squadron, equipped with auxiliary fuel tanks, dove steeply as if they had been waiting and caught the tails of the enemy planes.
Thanks to the auxiliary tanks, the operational range limitation had been overcome to some extent.
There was no longer a need to leave the bombers and return home, so the fighters hunted the enemy to the last, maintaining their altitude advantage.
"Shot down!"
"Switching to next target!"
For the People's United Republic, they were like grim reapers of the sky.
Thus, one day. Two. Three.
The Imperial bombers continued their persistent, precise pinpoint strikes.
"Coordinates confirmed. High-explosive bombs releasing."
BWOOM! BANG!
The trenches and AA gun positions built along the coast were flattened as soon as they were discovered. The air force base runways were rendered inoperable, cratered beyond use.
On the map, the markers for enemy air defenses began to vanish.
And so, finally, the sky was breached.
Next to step up was the Imperial Navy.
"Range 15,000 yards. Enemy coastal batteries and remaining fleet sighted!"
"Main guns, load armor-piercing shells!"
"Turret rotation complete. Firing solutions completed!"
"All guns open fire. Fire."
KABOOOOOOM-!!
Admiral Lützow, Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Fleet, began to roil the strait like a fish in water. It was a move to not only solidify naval supremacy but also to prepare for the army's forthcoming amphibious operation.
"Hit! Enemy ship secondary explosion! It's sinking!"
The enemy's defensive line built on the coast was literally being pulverized. A living hell where air force bombs rained from the sky and battleship main guns poured in from the sea.
"Starboard three o'clock, torpedo wake! Enemy submarine!"
The submarine's desperate struggle was useless. The sonar had already been activated.
"Destroyer squadron, prepare depth charges. Evasive maneuvers unnecessary, just push them down."
Tutututuk- plonk! plonk!
KABOOM! BANG!
Chain explosions erupted in the deep. A massive column of water shot up, and shortly after, submarine debris surfaced along with black oil slicks.
"Good. Continue with minesweeping operations from here."
Now, both sky and sea were beginning to be dominated by the Empire.
The plan Max Jaeger had devised in the Imperial conference was being completed precisely, without a single deviation.
Only one thing remained: the amphibious operation.
Only the hardest, bloodiest war, where the army would plant the flag itself, remained.
*
Imperial Capital, Isenburg.
It was Field Marshal Ludwig from General Headquarters who summoned me, busy with preparations for the amphibious operation.
"Attention!"
I saluted at my adjutant's command. Field Marshal Ludwig before my eyes tapped my shoulders and personally affixed new rank insignia.
Three silver-glowing edelweiss blossoms.
"Congratulations. Colonel Max Jaeger."
"Thank you, Field Marshal. I dedicate myself to the Empire's victory."
I had become a colonel just one year after commissioning.
An unbelievable, miraculous promotion for an infantry officer of common orphan birth.
[Rank increase (Lieutenant Colonel -> Colonel) confirmed.]
[Congratulations on your promotion!]
[You have acquired a massive amount of experience for the promotion.]
What greeted me upon returning to my office was the system window and a new mission befitting a colonel.
'Your combat group... no, your brigade will be the vanguard of this amphibious operation.'
Though some groundwork had already been laid, it was still a grim mission. It meant being the first to jump onto a beach raked by enemy machine guns and anti-tank guns.
'Three weeks remain until the amphibious operation. I'll back you up, so make the strongest brigade you can by then.'
Recalling Field Marshal Ludwig's message, I began my work.
*
Three weeks remained until the start of the amphibious operation, but I had already finished preparations to establish the brigade before that.
The first thing was, of course, personnel matters.
I fully utilized my granted authority to elevate many of the factions and subordinates who would become my hands and feet. With the organization grown and a dangerous amphibious operation ahead, trustworthy men needed to hold key positions.
The first day after moving to the new brigade commander's office.
"You called, Colonel."
Franz and Walther entered. My seniors and comrades from the Ashwood Forest days when we led an infantry platoon together, but now they were loyal subordinates.
"Walther, Franz. Congratulations on your promotion to Captain. Now you'll need to take charge of infantry battalion companies."
"Loyalty! We will live up to your expectations, Colonel!"
I assigned both under Serafina. Having coordinated since our Ashwood Forest days, Serafina would surely control the two of them well.
Subsequently, I also carried out reward leave and promotions for NCOs and soldiers.
"Sergeant Gunter. Manage the juniors properly."
"Yes, Colonel! Hey, you corporal bastards, can't you salute properly?! What's with that posture!"
"To the Brigade Commander~ Loyalty~!"
"You son of a bitch!"
Thwack! Thwack!
The bear-sized Sergeant Gunter punched Kurt's head. Kurt giggled even as he was hit.
"It's because I'm happy, happy. To serve as an NCO under the Lieutenant Colonel... no, the Colonel. Isn't that basically guaranteed for life?"
"...I share the same sentiment."
Beside Corporal Kurt, Corporal Klaus holding a sniper rifle stood crisply. Both had become corporals through battlefield commissions.
'Status analysis.'
[Name: Kurt]
[Rank: Corporal]
[Status: Cunning, joy at promotion]
[Emotion: I hope I can just coast on Colonel Jaeger's coattails forever.]
[Name: Klaus]
[Rank: Corporal]
[Status: Calm, nervous]
[Emotion: I must live up to the Colonel's trust.]
In this way, former Ashwood Forest platoon members were organized directly under my brigade's command.
And then.
Click.
The office door opened, and Hanna entered.
On her shoulders were three seagulls.
"Loyalty! Master Sergeant Hanna Meyer, you've worked hard again today!"